I hear that Jane Fonda wants to open a dialogue with Viet Nam Veterans. In July of 1972 “Hanoi Jane” Fonda visited America’s enemy, North Viet Nam in their capitol city of Hanoi. She yucked it up with the locals and manned this anti-aircraft gun not far from the infamous Hoa Lò Prison, known colloquially to the American captives as the “Hanoi Hilton” where they were tortured and demeaned. Those brave men were forced to provide propaganda for the Communist regime but Ms Fonda offered it up with a smile.
That isn’t all of Jane Fonda’s transgressions. She also made other propaganda for the Communist North Viet Namese including this radio broadcast. To add insult to injury, she called our returning POWs liars that hasn’t been tortured.
Jane Fonda’s conscience is now getting the best of her in her old age and she wants to “open a dialogue with Viet Name Veterans.” I hope those men never forget her traitorous acts. I was just a little kid when these events transpired and really learned about their implications as I grew older, but I’ll never forget.
With the advent of the M3 magazine, Magpul decided to give you any color of magazine you wanted, as long as it was Black. Since then, they’ve been working on their materials and with this new Sand color, they are introducing a new material solution that will hold up to the rigors of use with firearms. Not only is it stronger than the current Black material but it can also be dyed to other colors or even distinctive designs and camouflage patterns.
SAND
SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE GEN M3 LINE OF PMAGS, THERE HAS BEEN A RECURRING THEME IN REQUESTS FROM OUR CUSTOMERS, AND THAT HAS BEEN A CALL FOR COLOR OPTIONS. UNTIL NOW, THE GEN M3 LINE HAS BEEN MANUFACTURED ONLY IN BLACK. WE’VE BEEN QUIETLY WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES ON SOME THINGS, AND WE’RE FINALLY READY TO SHARE ONE OF THOSE WITH THE WORLD.
We’re introducing a new color to our line. This color, officially named “Sand”, is as much an overall material development as it is a color development. “Sand” is a light, “non-black” color that closely matches some of the lighter tones in popular military camouflage patterns as well as many environments on the current battlefield. In addition to being less significant in the IR spectrum and ideal for many desert environments, this new material has several other meaningful benefits.
STRENGTH
This new Sand colored material shares many of the properties and components of our latest black material. Endurance, reliability, chemical resistance, stability, and other parameters are exactly the same. The main difference, due to some proprietary developments in composition, is strength. The GEN M3 AR/M4 PMAG is extremely resilient in black. However, as tough as our basic black material is, the Sand material is even stronger. We’ve seen very significant increases in feed lip drop and other rough handling tests from -60F to 180F—to an extent that it made our initial results hard to believe. Similar proportional increases in the other magazines in our line have been seen in our testing. With this increase in drop strength, we still see the resiliency that makes the PMAG what it is—Feed geometry does not change, unlike metal or softer polymer magazines—and so reliable feeding is not affected by this punishment.
ADDITIONAL COLORS
In addition to its physical properties, the color of the Sand material was chosen for another reason. It serves as a perfect foundation for water-based dye processes to change the color of the material or add camouflage patterns without adding surface thickness or scratching off with use. You can see some of the results of a few minutes with common RIT dye and cellophane wrap in the inset photo. If paint is the desired method of camouflage, “Sand” forms a great basis for this also. Dyed magazines can serve as the base for additional paint pattern options.
Expect to see the new “Sand” material making its way through our magazine line very quickly. We’ll have some video tutorials about using dye and paint to change the appearance of this material coming soon.
Check out this new magazine color as well as the entire line of Magpul products on their newly updated website.
The Rapid Targeting and Ranging Module (RAPTAR) – Solver is a joint project between Applied Ballistics and Wilcox Industries. It is an improvement over the original model providing IR Laser, Visible Laser, IR Flood, and Laser Range Finder along with the Applied Ballistics Solver. The system also takes into account Temperature and Humidity, Inclination, Cant, and Heading Reading as well as optional GPS inputs.
Tap Rack Holsters doesn’t just make holsters. They’ll tackle any moldable carrying challenge. For instance, they make simple wallets for your credit cards.
The new Vertical Envelopment Pack or VEP was developed to attach directly to an armor platform. It can easily be flipped from the rear to the front in order to access gear or to get it off your back such as when riding in a vehicle.
They’ve developed a couple of mag pouches that integrate into the pack as well. Look for a write up soon.
