Review: Strike Industries - Tactical Sling Catch

Image swiped from Strike Industries

Here is s great little accessory I picked up recently, that I wanted to share with you all. I saw this reviewed by the great guys at Jerking The Trigger and Soldier Systems and whilst this puts me pretty far behind the pack, I don't mind, because basically, I'm a hobbyist, and my "what if" postulating is a bit distant from what most of their readers face. However, this is, as I said, a great little accessory.

Here's the situation, you have your item of choice on a sling, over your shoulder and across your body. The strap may have padding, it may be nice, soft nylon tubing, or may be a strap of heavy canvas. Either way, you are lugging important and precious kit on a strap that is using your neck as a fulcrum. No matter how soft, wide or padded, once you get moving, it sways, bumps and begins to chafe, saw, pinch or dig into your neck.

That becomes a lingering distraction, uncomfortable, and consistent. You've got a pack on, a chest rig, or some kind of vest, because that's what you're loaded up with. That just adds to the problem. What to do?

This is where the Tactical Sling Catch by Strike Industries comes in. What they have produced is a piece of reinforced PX polymer, which forms a hook to keep your sling up off your neck, and bear its load.
The catch is light and just flexible enough to be resilient enough, but stiff enough to carry the weight of your slung item of choice, be it a 35mm Cannon or the most specifically, the lead-spitting kind. The catch has three main components, the primary of which is the outward facing sling catch, which is broad, deep and tall enough to accommodate a variety of slings securely, without being a snag-risk for the environment as you move about. Two loop wells allow the twin 6" hook and loop strips to be fed through to attach it (More on this later).

The "outward" edge of the base plate has on its underside a harness retaining hook, two wedge shaped projections which catch the edge of whatever you mount the sling catch to, and help keep it from sliding inwards towards your neck. I found this secondary retention really assisted when I put a load on my 215 Gear sling. I had worried that the whole sling catch accessory would just rotate around on my shoulder piece, but with that retainer, it held fast. Under the base plate were six little spikes, which further added to the stability of the catch.

The primary means of attachment however is the two strips of hook-and loop supplied. One hook, one loop field, each 6" long. This gives enough room to wrap through the two loop-wells, around the shoulder piece, and back onto each other to give a very secure, adjustable connection. You can see here that I ran those strips through the PALS/MOLLE loops that were on the top of my rig's shoulder strap and from there, cinched it up tight under the shoulder strap. Lateral and horizontal movement halted!

The PX plastic is low-friction, and well molded, with rounded edges and wide angles wherever there will be sliding action. I found that I could move my sling around freely, remove it smoothly, and bring my item of choice up to bear quickly without even noticing it was there. When jogging about, ducking, weaving with the sling slack, it stayed "mounted" and didn't slip free, so that when I then when "hands free" the catch did its job smoothly. Similarly, when I had tension on the sling, bringing to bear, the sling catch was doubly useful, as it did indeed keep the sling off the side of my neck, and kept me from yanking my head, or chafing my neck.

I'm really impressed with this catch. I can recommend it to anyone who wears a sling for any length of time. My big-lens camera weilding soul-sealer friends might be just as interested as my "running about in cammo" friends. I can see these being useful to the hiker, tourists, camping, or anyone who has to sling something for extended periods of time. I'm thinking of getting a couple more, to affix to my bags and other rigs. Well worth it.

Review: Platatac MAC Front opening panel

I made some additions to my collection of rigs recently, and wanted to give you a heads up. As you're probably aware, if you are a regular reader, I am all in favour of modular, adjustable and multi-function gear, because I'm of the mind set that when disaster strikes, you will need to adapt to the situation, rather than simply stick with a static plan and outlook. Things will NOT go according to plan, and having a means to quickly adjust is of vital importance. So when I look to add to my collection of things, I look to what I already have, and how I can make sensible additions, rather than just "another cool gadget, gizmo or piece of kit to lug around". Or at least, I try to. I think with this item, I was spot on the money, however.

This is the Platatac MAC Front Opening Panel which I picked up as a very attractive and highly recommended bundle with the MAC BackPack I strongly recommend if you are looking for a good deal, to check it out. I'll be looking at the MAC BackPack soon, but for now, lets look at this Front Opening Panel.



So, how does the Front Opening Panel attach? There are Fastex style shoulder buckles which mirror the shoulders of the MAC Front Panel and mate with the Back Panel buckles, feeding through the D-Loops, and elastic webbing, if that is the way you want to go. The side buckles also mate to the back panel, in the same way, although these buckles are not used with the MAC Front Panel, if the plate carrying Modular Cummerbund is worn, The "back" side buckles fold away into the Back Panel. You can see it above mated to the the MAC BackPack here.


The MAC Front Opening Panel is designed to work with the MAC back panel, which is the back piece of my previously reviewed and much loved Medium Armour Carrier. The idea being that in situations where a "low level carriage option" is required, the front armour carrying panel can be swapped out for the lighter and breathable front piece.

That "swap-out" component is of considerable interest to me, because whilst wearing my MAC front panel, with its inserted Ikea-cutting-board strike plate substitute is all good and well, (mock all you like, I don't have access to ballistic plates, and thankfully don't have a clear and present need for one, but that cutting board will stop or slow and cut or thrust I've put at it, and spreads out blunt force considerably) sometimes a rigid, closed front panel is cumbersome and not fit for purpose.

The Front Opening Panel features a top row of 5 PALS/MOLLE channels, and three rows of 6 channels below this, as well as a heavily stitched reinforcing webbing for the shoulder straps including two loop-fields for attaching the shoulder strap ends. The bottom of the Panel also features a couple of the adjustable hook-and loop and press-stud belt attachment loops which are a great addition and can really assist in securing the vest, both vertically and horizontally.

As well as integrating with the MAC Back (and MAC BackPack) modules the Front Opening Panel offers the option to one more accessory that I made use of recently. In the spirit of "time to get our of Dodge" disaster preparedness, I wanted to have a little experiment, and perhaps some fun whilst at it. I strapped Tactical Baby into her Baby Bjorn carrier, and then threw my Mac Front Opening Panel / Back Panel / Gunslinger Belt combination over the top.

Laden down with pouches filled with bottles, formula, nappies, wipes, snacks for Triceratops Girl (out of shot), I was able to effectively load up a days worth of family needs and other needful accessories, (yes, like my laser-tagger) and spend the day milling through the crowds at Manifest. Tactical Baby was rocking out her "Zombie Hunter" patch and I wore her, her needs, and carried Triceratops Girl on my off-arm, tagger at the ready (or slung) in the other.

To do this, I just strapped the Bjorn on, filled it with Tactical Baby goodness, threw the rig on and buckled it up> it needed a couple of placement adjustments, because both she and I needed to be comfortable, and I needed to be able to get at all my pouches, or they would have been redundant. All in all, it worked out really well. I now have a Tactical Baby compatible load-out. Need to get ear protection for her though, you know, to drown out the zombie moans and such...

So. The Platatac MAC Front Opening Panel: definitely a success. It offered me a lightweight, breathable low profile platform to both carry my accessories, but also to mate to my back pieces. That modularity will mean that I will be able to fit out this piece, and have it "ready to attach", to my other pieces, in moments, giving me more grab and go options, should disaster strike.

Review: Schrade Army 10 Knife

I had the good fortune to get my hands on another knife to add to my collection. I've been quite busy at my day-job shunting pixels and yelling at vendors about patient safety to do much writing, but it's remarkable how a piece of good steel in the hand makes one feel better. So, in this blade, I am trying to recover my mojo, as it were, and get back on the horse so to speak. Without further ado then, let me present the Schrade Army-10 Knife which was sent to me from the folks at LEGear.

This is a fighting knife, branded as being "US Army" by Schrade which is cool, and I can totally get behind that, it fits both my accent and heritage, being a (dual-Australian/) American citizen and my father having been A US Army veteran (Vietnam, 1969-70) so, as you might imagine, I have a soft spot for the Army. However it's branded, it's the mettle of the metal that I'm most interested in, however.

Lets go into that shall we?

This is a moderately sized, fixed drop-point blade which measures in at 26cm (10.4") of which 14cm (5.3") is the plain edged blade. It masses in at 280g (9.9oz). Comparing that against the KA-BAR Zombie Killer "Death" Dagger with it's 21cm blade, 35cm overall and 340g in mass you can see that it is a far more wieldy blade. especially if you plan on strapping it to your person.

The metal of the blade is a 1070 High Carbon Steel, which is a tough, hard steel, and is commonly associated with hard-use applications like machetes and the like that can and will take a lot of rough use and abuse such as battoning and chopping. The handle material is black Kraton which is a synthetic rubber, and is springy and soft to the touch. The handle is bolted to the full tang with 4 hex-bolts, and leaves the spine of the tang exposed. I read some comments in researching this knife that the Kraton seemed "flimsy" and "rubbery" but I think this must be from folks used to G10 scales and the like. I found it married to my grip really nicely. The lanyard hole was nicely placed too, recessed from the Kraton.

The back of the tang features 5 crenelations that sunk below the spine and the handle, leaving it flush with the back of the blade, making it snag free, but by virtue of the rubbery Kraton, a good positive grip can be achieved without needing to tense the hand unduly. I was always taught to hold a handle fairly, but without choking it, whether it was a knife, golf-club, sword or whatever. Finesse comes from controlled motion, and a clenched fist is a ridged one.

You can see here the sculpting that is present in the Kraton on the back of the grip, as well as the "US Army" logo and decal on the side of the blade. Which was pretty, and unobtrusive printed on top of the black Teflon coated surface of the blade.

Those sculpted regions in the back of the handles marry up to a reverse grip really well, and the cutout for the lanyard hole in the butt of the knife is still nicely exposed in this grip.

In a forwards grip, the finger notch sits nicely between index and middle fingers, with a raised guard to stop fingers sliding forwards, and again ,that set of crenelations to rest a thumb grip on.

The nylon sheath has some features worth mentioning too. The primary belt loop opens up with a broad hook-and-loop band, meaning you wouldn't need to undo a belt to put it at your waistband. A thigh loop set of lanyards and cord couple this to keep it from flapping on the bounce. A press-stud closing PALS/MOLLE band, and corresponding loops give a downwards-draw carry option. the metal loop at the bottom of the PALS band was a mystery to me though, another attachment point? I don't know. It moved independently to the PALS/MOLLE strip.


The front side of the sheath carries a secondary, Fastex style clip closing pouch, with is attached to the main sheath by both a long and broad hook-and-loop field, but also by the straps that wrap around the sheath to form the PALS/MOLLE loops on the back. Having this pouch being removable, gives the option of either stripping it off (at the expense of loosing a layer of additional stability when MOLLE-bound), but also allowing that secondary pouch to be flipped so it opens "upwards" in the event the blade is worn "downwards". That was quite a clever addition. The materials of the sheath are adequate, but not exceptional. There is only one main press-stud closure for the blade, meaning it is not "jump-ready", but as I'm unlikely to be "Airborne" tabbed any time soon, this isn't really a concern for me. The closure does have an odd extra hook and loop layer to it, presumably to adjust the tightness of the closure, but I cant for the life of me think why the trouble was taken, and a second loop wasn't added.

All in all, this is a really nice knife, and I am very glad to have gotten my hands on it. Not the bestial monsters that the KA-BAR Zombie Killer knives are, this is a mid-sized blade for serious working people who need to get a job done, but space is at a premium.

I think I will be adding this to one of my chest rigs and experimenting with how best I want to carry it, because I certainly do want to. Often.

Tentstile 2: Update!

You may recall a while back I posted a Wish-Lust item, the rather amazing suspended Tentsile tents and they have put out a press relief, and posted on their Facebook, about a crowd-sourced version of their tents, to make them a little more accessible to the average buyer. The following is from their press release:

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Introduction:
Due to the phenomenal level of interest generated by the Tentsile brand since April 2012, we have developed this design for all those who have expressed their support, interest and enthusiasm over the past few months.
Tentsile 2 offers the same unique suspended outdoor experience as the original range but, due to some key adaptations, can also be set up on the ground and be offered at a more attractive price point.
100 units of the Beta version of Tentsile 2 will be released as part of our crowd funding program. Recipients will asked to participate in a user feedback session which will inform the final design, ready for general release in Spring 2013.

Brief Description:
If set up in the air, the tent is entered through the door in the bottom fly sheet. During ground based use, the entrance is through the large front window, giving access to the tensioned fabric floor which provides an incredibly comfortable living and sleeping space.
In suspended position, the tent has a storage area beneath the beds and each hammock benefits from its own window, insect mesh and clip loops. The central pole also boasts an adjustable table with cup holders.

Materials:
All sheet materials are fire retardant, UV resistant and rot proof. 2 Ounce silicon coated nylon fly sheet.
6 Ounce PU coated texturised nylon Hammocks.
50mm Webbing strap frame.
30mm Aluminum central pole.
1 x Aluminum sleeve and hub piece. 350mm/


Weight Capacity:
The Tentsile Range 2, is manufactured to carry the weight of 3 adults and their gear.

Recommended maximum load capacity:
400 kg 800 lbs

Set-up Time:
As with most things, practice will reduce the time it takes to set up a Tentsile. In a new and untried location, Tentsile 2 set up will take about 20-30 mins. This is reduced to 5-10 mins if you have used the site before and know the locations of your high level attachment points.

Prices:
BETA Version - $1049
Retail Version - $1499













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The IndiGoGo campaign can be found here: so that you too can get involved and see if you can afford one of these awesome tents yourself.

Review: First Spear Oagre Tactical Vest

I was very fortunate to receive one of these
Operational Assault Ground Reconnaissance Exploitation (OAGRE) Tactical Vest made by First-Spear from the folks at LEGear. You may remember I reviewed a couple of things from their lines, the Maxpedition SITKA bag and iPhone holster, and they were kind enough to hook me up with this cool vest. Cool to review and cool to wear, but we'll get to that. The first thing I noted was the sheer amount or real-estate on it. Not being a plate-carrier, like my Platatac MAC, it doesn't have to conform to the function of fitting armour plates, and can wrap right around the body. This is First Spear's khaki, which is a tab more brown than the Platatac khaki.

The main front zipper which secures the vest, is supplemented by three ITW G-hook closures, in adjustable webbing, which not only give a rock-solid close to the vest, but also allow for it to be secured shut without being fully zippered up, a benefit in hot conditions.

As far as PALS/MOLLE real-estate goes, there are 5 rows of 8 channel loops at the bottom of each front panel, with an additional 5 channel row on top and a 4 channel row above that. A loop field for name and designation tapes sit adjacent to the top MOLLE loop, as well as an additional downward loop of webbing, (mirroring one on the bottom, which correspond to the attachment by more G-hooks for the First Spear Beat Up hard plate armour.) Remember that this is a vest, not a plate carrier, but having that option would be a welcomeP one, for those in need. Each of those loop-fields features an access buttonhole, to feed cables or tubes, as needed.

The shoulders have a high friction panel at each shoulder, giving a good place to rest the butt-stock of a rifle or simply the straps of a pack, and afforded a nice solid placement. Those panels didnt move or slip, even when the vest was "naked". The shoulder straps also featured tube and cable securing elastics. On the back lay 7 rows of 6 channel PALS/MOLLE webbing. A drag handle is secured with a narrow hook-and-loop piece, to reduce snag risks, and is sewn down the whole length of the vest. A second hook-and-loop patch gives another ID point.


The front and back panel are joined at the waist by a series of buckles and webbing, which in and of itself isn't too exciting, but they allow for a variety of sized and shaped wearers, and the excess webbing is kept tidy by a very cool method: A Tactical Toggle is integrated in the end of each webbing, and bundles it away by rolling and looping with the shock-cord end. Clever use of an ancient system.

Here are a couple of close ups of the metal G-clips and nylon Tactical Toggles. It's also worth mentioning the "downwards through-MOLLE" quick-release belt loops, featuring a hook-and-loop and press-stud closure, and Fastex style quick release, these give the wearer the option to fasten the vest to a belt, useful if you've ever found yourself dangling upside down. Having your kit sliding up around your ears does not make freeing yourself (or force-pulling your Lightsaber) any easier.

One thing absolutely worth mentioning is the use of closed cell foam pads, in the shoulders, at the waistline and lumbar region of the vest. Secured and kept in place with pockets, these pads act as a buffer between you and your kit. Especially useful if you are going to be laden down with a lot of steel to sling, the placement of the pads acts to cushion the bottom most rows of MOLLE, where pouches would intersect bony hips (mine especially). These pads are easily removable to replace or augment, and First Spear suggest they add to the positive boyancy of the vest. Certainly do no harm in that regard. The back panel also has a hook-and-loop strap for securing a hydration bladder, up to 3L in capacity.


Additional to  all the innovative closure systems, intergrated padding, ample PALS/MOLLE real estate and loop-fields, one thing I haven't yet touched on is the material itself. At just over 1kg (2.24lbs) and made from a heavy-duty mesh, the entire body of the vest (apart from the shooter-shoulders) is breathable, and wicking. This is a rig for the greenhouse and the sandbox, for sure. The construction of the whole vest is excellent, with closed seams and heavy stitching. This is a dependable and feature rich platform that would give the wearer many many options.. Options are always worth having, especially in a medium to low-profile vest such as this.

Review: Platatac SCAR Mini Chest Rig

It's been a while since I've covered any purpose made tactical gear, having spent quite a few posts going over the pretty awesome set of birthday knives I received (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) so I wanted to get back into it with some really functional and multifaceted kit, such as seen with this, the SCAR mini Chest Rig, by Platatac. I took a departure from my usual khaki colour scheme, mostly to allow an option of distinguishing one set of kit for another when romping around doing Stargate LRP.

Unlike my full MAC rig, which I'd reviewed a while back, which offers front and back, side to side and sternum to belly coverage, with all the bells and whistles, the SCAR mini rig is a substantially cut back, being in principle a front piece, with shoulder and waist straps to keep it on. However there are still a number of features that Platatac have added to make it more than either just a plate carrier, or mag-rig.

The bottom half is made up of s set of four integral shingle pouches, each with a drainage grommet and featuring a three row, ten channel PALS/MOLLE field. Each of the shingles is closed by a loop of shock cord which feeds through the top row of MOLLE loops for each pouch, and back rough additional row of MOLLE loops above e shingles, Wu a reinforced tab of webbing for each shingle to act as a draw-toggle. Each shingle is reported as being able to carry 2x M4 magazines, or a single Styre magazine.

As well as the thorax belt of shingles, above is the SCAR rig features a sternum piece which offers a further three rows of six channels of PALS/MOLLE attachment goodness, although the heavy fastex type chest buckles do cut into the available space a little, and would make for a very snug fit if a pouch was fitted adjacent to them. This sternum panel is interesting in that it is not permanently attached to the chest straps, but rather feature a pair of press-stud loops which attach either through the plastic D-loops or webbing loops on the shoulder pieces. As well as the PALS/MOLLE field, this sternum piece also features a hook-and-loop closing map/document pocket at the top lip.

Looking at the inside surface of the rig, you can see the wicking mesh that lines the otherwise all 1000d cordura construction, but also the back of the shingle/thorax region has a built in pocket, and the sternum region a corresponding wide band of elastic material to accommodate a chest-plate, should that be required for your kind of activity. (as with my full MAC rig, I'll probably cut down a polycarbonate cutting board to fit in mine, for look and feel if not the innate properties of a cutting board). However, and here is where the SCAR rig shows the clever design thoughts put into this range of products, again, if all you need is a magazine platform, and are not going to be wearing a plate, the sternum piece can be unclipped from the shoulder straps, and folded down behind the thorax belt, dropping your profile, and heat retention.



The wide shoulder straps, which feature loops to secure cables or hydration tubes loop around the arms and fasten back around under the arms, and a similarly broad waistband secures the rig with another large fastex style buckle on one side. I found that when jumping about, the shoulder straps tended to slip somewhat, which is a situation I'd rather avoid in a crisis. To avoid this, I took the MacGuiver approach, and swapped out one of the shingle shock-cords and fitted it as a loop behind my shoulders. This might act as a slight delay if I had to shed the rig entirely, rapidly, but I'm not expecting to be sprayed with acid-for-blood xempnomoroh gore any time soon. Returning the now bereft single to normal function was just a matter of looping the cord through two sets of MOLLE, and as I also dnt expect to be dealing with extra tall magazines any time soon, not having at extra slack isn't much of a worry to me.

This is a pretty cool rig, a lightweight, low-profile platform, which I intend to use to supplement my available loadout options depending on the situation I find myself needing to respond to. Adapt, innovate overcome.

Video Review: Ontario Black Wind vs meat & bone

In the final of these three posts demonstrating the abilities of the KA-BAR Zombie Killer knives, Dead-On Annihilator, Stanley FUBAR and Ontario Blackwind, I will leave you with the abilities of the Blackwind, which I reviewed a while back. This now out-of-production blade is loosely based on a Japanese sword, being a single edged, two handed blade. This one is considerably shorter than a "standard" katana, and far less curved, being all but straight. It does lend itself to techniques that I am familiar with however, and I have used it extensively as a horticultural tool, hence my nickname for it, my "tree-chopping sword"


1 Ontario BlackWind vs beef leg-bone, following the KA-BAR Zombie Killer collection. Watch for flying bone fragments, which impressed the hell out of me. That's why I wore safety glasses!

2 BlackWind vs pig head. Now, this head already had some damage done, in the form of penetration tests from the KA-BAR's, but the damage dealt by the Blackwind goes way beyond this. I only have a little experience test-cutting, and have been away from kendo training for some time with an ankle injury, so my form was off, but it certainly got the job done, from a standing cut-chop point of view. (We generally practice a moving cut-slice in kendo) but fairly happy with how these two cuts felt, given the targets and placements.

All in all, I was very happy with these tests, the items I tested, and lastly, the great stocks I made from the leftovers. I hope you liked this series of posts, feel free to comment and make requests for my next video demonstration and review.