Review: maybe 5.11 Tarani x14 karambit

We have friends who heard that I have a thing for knives, and fixing broken things, and they send a mashed karambit they were very proud of my way. It looked like it had been stood on, popped the main blade fixing screw, and some of the torsion spring and locking mechanisms had bent and warped. The belt clip had two missing screws, but the blade was in good shape, if a little blunt. I got out my TORX screwdrivers and set to work.

Once I found a spare main fixing screw I had in my parts-bucket, and bending and hammering the frame lock spring back into shape I was pretty satisfied that I'd rejuvenated the blade back into a functional state. The thing was, even fully screwed together, it seemed ... wobbly. I held it in my hand and looked at the 5.11 logo and Tarani branding and thought to myself "is this something that Tom Davin would have released?" I had some serious doubts.

I did a web-search on the listed data "5.11 Tarani X14 karambit" and all I came up with were Russian language YouTube reviews, and an Ali Express listing for a 5.11 Tarani x14 karambit.

I asked Omega for the 5.11 CUB Tarani Karambit that I got fer her a couple of years ago and held them side by side, the difference was immediately obvious. Even if the "x14" was an entry level, budget version of the "CUB", it just seemed too different, with a torsion spring rather than a linear liner lock. The molding of the scales was also a little bit off, not sharp enough or well finished enough to be a match to the 5.11 logo.  The scales and the frame were also not fully flush.

That might have been because of the damage it had sustained, but it seemed more likely, due to poor construction in the first place.

At full length it makes a 16 cm (6.3") arc, with the blade making up 7 cm (2.7"). At it's widest, the blade is 2.8 mm thick, and made out of 440 steel, half serrated for extra bitey cutting needs, and is apparently hardened to a 55 HRC rating. The surface is oxidation coated, for rust prevention, and marked with a very convincing 5.11 logo on one side, and the Tarani logo on the other. Weighing in at 120 g (4.25oz, it's quite light and lithe in the hand, the ring-loop fitted me well, although the gaps within the frame meant that if I gripped tightly, they could have dug in.

Its a nice enough knife if you're not looking for reliability, or quality and want to look badassed with your karambit. I will happily address my thoughts if 5.11 get back ti me, but overall, my impression was that this was a poorly put together piece.

Review: Propper -Pistol Rug

As first seen on Breach Bang & Clear today ... 

Here's an interesting piece from Propper, with some pretty specific uses. This padded, zipperable case is marketed as a pistol carriage case, and here's what I thought of it. Constructed of durable Cordura material on the outside, and with a quality zipper set along two and a half of the three sides, the case is both well put together and well presented. A leather foot fits along the base of the zipper, to ensure it remains secure and adds to the overall finish of the piece. This is the Propper Pistol Rug.

Propper offer this in 8", 11" and 13" sizes, the two I have are the . Probably the best feature of the case, is the all-encompassing soft closed-cell foam that fills the middle of each panel. This foam runs right up to the very edge case, and is faced with a soft fabric lining. This will keep your gold-inlay and pearl handles safe and scratch free, but for me the best part is that that soft foam keeps whatever you have stored in the case pinned in place, and yet doesn't silhouette against the outer faces. You don't get any indication of what is inside it once its zipped up.I have a base-guitar case that I carry swords around in from time to time, like some sort of Aussie nordic metal mariachi, and apparently you can do the same thing with firearms too.

Living in Melbourne, Australia, its rather difficult for a regular citizen to own a handgun; not impossible, but there are a lot of red tape to get and then maintain the appropriate licenses. I've not gone down that path, but I do have a reasonably good mock-up training tool at my disposal. This solid aluminum cast of a Walther P99 gives a decent look-and-feel. You can see that you can also carry a reasonably big knife like my Super Colubris in one of these too, to the same effect. Both are contained nicely by the bag and can take a fair amount of abuse before the tools contained slip around and reach an edge, away from the padding.

One very clever piece of design is that the metal d-ring located at the closed-zipper end of the bag, as well as acting as a lanyard loop if needed, can also act as a locking point, for you to slip a little padlock through to offer you some additional security. Sure, it won't stop a dedicated evil-do'er or zealous airport boarder-security professional, but it will certainly keep little-hands and drunken idiots off the dangerous tools. It will also limit the chances of an accidental exposure of your particular piece. Especially important if you want to transport your tools without flashing the neighborhood. It isn't armoured, it isn't waterproof, it isn't high-speed. It's just a padded bag, but we well thought out one.


When filled and zipped, the bag will slip nicely and inconspicuously into the bottom of a pack, again without silhouetting or drawing unnecessary attention to itself. With no other external features other than the logo, it's stealth without LOOKING like it's stealth, which is perfect for the casual carrier. Security through obscurity.

[Late note:] I managed to swing a play with one of these simulation/training Glock's this week and the Pistol Rug seemed to work perfectly. I managed to stop myself from wandering off with the pew pew toy and thus will live to play another day.

Home Front: Reader pistol ownership answers

I had four intrepid readers contact me answering my questions about their pistol ownership, and I am grateful for their trust and openness is laying out for what to some is a rather contentious topic.I wanted to gauge what pistol owners had to say about their decisions, training and mindset. In Victoria, Australia, where I live unless you are in the Federal or State Police, a licensed private security guard or a competitive sporting shooter, there is very limited civilian pistol ownership here. 

I grew up in a staunchly "no-gun toys" house, with exceptions made for my 1977 Han Solo and Stormtrooper blasters (which I still have). I did manage to trade my way into owning a .177 break-barrel air pistol whilst living in Dubai, UAE, in 1989, and left behind in Calgary, Canada in 1991. My dad gave me his Vietnam era Army pistol instruction, and I plinked away at paper targets, bottles, cicadas and the like. I did some quick draws, turn-and-shoots and the like, and generally made like a teenage Billy The Kid.

 Other than that, I've only had a limited experience with live firearms and some with laser trainers.  This is why I go out to the people with the experience to ask the questions. 

Obviously, I only have the replies from those who wanted to and did reply, so it's a subsection of my readers, but I think these folks have some interesting views and offer some insight to why people carry, what they carry, and how they carry. 

So, here are the answers to my questions from four pistol owners, all from the U.S.A., with LEO and Mil experience in some capacity in all four respondents. Lets hear it from their perspectives: 

How much pistol is too much pistol? 

• Ed N: A pistol is all about what you intend to do with it. If you are carrying it concealed you want something comfortable that you can wear all day. I don't like to go any smaller in caliber than a 9mm. If you go too big, you won't carry it and it becomes useless.

what is your current go-to pistol? 

• Ed N: In the woods I carry a Glock 20sf 10mm. Day to day, I carry a Ruger Lc9 9mm. For plinking, I prefer a Glock 34 9mm.  
  
  • I did have a question. When out in the woods, what might you expect to need a pistol for? Hunting? Defense? And if so, what and from what?
    • Ed N:I am much more worried about the two legged problems than I am 4 legged. I am not a hunter and would go well out of my way to harm an animal unless it is an immediate defense situation or survival was in question. I carry the largest caliber pistol with the largest capacity I could find because in the end, I just want to be prepared for anything. When I went camping, I used to carry a 44 magnum. Honestly, they are just a little too loud and reloading can be a problem in a pinch. The Glock 20 in 10mm seemed like the best compromise. I say all of this having never had to shoot at anyone or anything in the woods in all of my years carrying. I keep my pistol concealed and don't broadcast it and have never had a problem. However, I carry it for the same reason I carry a firestarter I have never had to use outside of practice. I would rather have the option there when I need it, than wishing I had it. And there is a pretty dramatic trade off. A couple pounds is a lot when you are hiking in the woods. Having a large pistol concealed on your person, (because having it in my pack would defeat the purpose of being prepared), is tiring. But in the end I would not do it any other way.

• Hunato (CONUS):Sig Sauer P238 
• Richard (Virginia, USA): EDC a Glock 19. Also carry a Glock 26 during the summer months when the 19, as small as it is, is to much with holster for the humidity. 
• Rob (Pennsylvania, USA): My go to pistol is a 1911.  I have a full custom on order, and I should have it soon.  Right now, my 1911 is a Sig Nitron.

what caliber and cartridge, and was this a deciding feature? 

• Ed N: 9mm is my go to caliber. With modern ammo it is the equal to 357sig and 40 with almost no ballistic differences. 9mm allows more rounds and a lot of options. You can pick up fmj (full metal jacket) rounds for cheap practice and jhp (jacketed hollow points) for self defense.  
• Hunato: .380 various PDR (price forces choice) 
• Richard:  9mm hollow point. 9mm has enough strong power and the size allows for a bigger magazine capacity. An additional deciding factor was that my wife is more comfortable with the recoil than a .40 or .45.
• Rob: The caliber I prefer is the .45, It was not the deciding factor in my choice, I just like the .45 caliber.

what is your motivation to own a firearm? 

• Ed N: Self defense and it is just fun to shoot. I have been shooting for 25+ years and it is a Hell of a lot of fun. 
• Hunato: I am a free man in a Republic.  I have children under my roof and two legged wolves (literally) come down my street time to time. 
• Richard: Raised around firearms in a law enforcement and military household, so firearms safety began as soon as I could walk. After my service, my father gave me a sidearm, and I have carried ever since. It is always better to be prepared and [not] need it, than need it and not have it. 
• Rob: I grew up on a farm and was always around firearms.  When I got into law enforcement as a career, naturally, the pistol training came with it. 

 

what was your motivation to carry a firearm?

• Ed N:I started off in an action oriented career before giving it up and going for money instead. I have been shooting and been around guns most of my life. 
• Hunato: Travel and home defense.  I also enjoy the sport of shooting. 
• Richard:  (as with reason to own)
• Rob: Even without my career choice, this world is getting dangerous.  I would carry a pistol regardless.

 

do you open-carry, concealed-carry or store-secure?

• Ed N: I conceal carry 99% of the time. I have friends that are very open-carry oriented, but I can do without the hassle of a soccer mom feeling threatened by a pistol on my hip and calling the cops. In my opinion, it is best to keep it completely concealed and hidden away from private eyes.
• Hunato: On some rural land I own, open carry.  Out and about conceal carry (license) at home ALWAYS store secure.  My oldest child was 8 before he realized we even have firearms 
• Richard: I am fortunate to live firearm friendly state (Virginia) and carry concealed ever day. During the weekend, I may carry openly while running errands, and when I do that carry a Glock 17. 
• Rob: Conceal carry.

 

what features of your pistol made it appealing for your use?

• Ed N: Overall size, grip comfort, ammo capacity, and accuracy with the pistol.
• Hunato: Can be carried condition One with high reliability, thumb safety (1911-ish design) my wife and I carry identical weapons, interchangeable. 
• Richard: I have stuck with the Glock family as they are inherently simple and safe to operate. In addition, if my wife is carrying the 26, and I am incapacitated, she can reload using the spare magazines for my 19 or 17 as I always carry at least two additional. 
• Rob: My Sig is the standard Sig pistol.  However, my custom 1911 was ordered with Heine ledge sites, a light rail, and a magazine well.  These, to me anyway, are needed for a true combat style pistol.

what training have you had?

• Ed N: I have had and later taught gun safety and target shooting. I actually spent more time learning tactical shooting with a shotgun than a pistol. While a pistol is the best self defense weapon, overall it does not compare to a long-gun.
• Hunato: Scouting Merit Badges, Law Enforcement Explorer Academy, Concealed Carry Permit Class, Active shooter class 
• Richard: My farther is a firearms instructor with the state, and have also trained during military service, although not as extensively as I do with my dad. With him, quick draws, fire from concealment, weak hand operations, threat identification, and more 
• Rob: Like I said, I grew up around guns and used them my whole life, for not only hunting, but target shooting as well.  I learned the safety issues surrounding guns at an early age. After high school, and during college, I joined the military, where my training continued and became more advanced.  Finally, my law enforcement experience has continued my training over the years.

what regular training do you perform?

• Ed N: I shoot on a semi-regular basis. Currently I hit the range about once every month. I tapered off a bit a couple years ago when ammo prices went through the roof. 
• Hunato: Monthly Range Day, weekly Dry Fire practice (including draws with Blue Gun). I used to think the NRA was "over the Top".  Now, after NY, PA, CT, MD, CO, PA, IL, CA, DC, and the English, Oz, NZ, and Canadian removal of self defense rights, I am a member. 
• Richard: As accuracy requires constant up keep, my wife and I go to the range at least monthly, more so if our schedule allows. In addition to that, we will randomly load a dummy round to simulate a failure and build muscle memory. I hope this answers your questions, and to add additional information, both my wife and I are ccw licensed in multiple states. We carry to ensure we do not become victims, and offset if that is also not putting ourselves into a situation where that could occur. Neither of us have ever had to resort to our firearm as a civilian, and hope never to need to. But I believe that I would rather carry for another 50 years, before seeing harm come to a loved one, and not have the tools to save them. 
• Rob: I continue to receive training through my department, and I shoot when I can on my own.

So, thanks to all the folks who sent me in replies, and I hope I've represented you all well.  It makes for an interesting read, and I am pleased to see responsible gun-ownership mentalities in place in all the replies. 
Be responsible, stay safe. I hope that none of you ever feed the need to use your pistols for anything other than because it's fun to shoot guns, or to put food on the table!

For those who object to all of this (and are still reading) , or thick skinned gun owners don't mind a very Australian ribbing, here's Jim Jeffries talking about an Australian take on the very American gun-culture.

And finally, to throw my own hat into the ring, if I had my choice of pistols to own, it would likely be the 
H&K SOCOM Mk23-Mod 0, being a "big gun that holds a lot of bullets", because I would want to put a lot of big rounds on target until it went away and accessories are what I'm all about ...

Review: StatGear - SuperVizor rescue hook

I have a collection of rescue hooks, from my EDC Benchmade Figure 5 that sits in my pocket along with my CRKT Eat'n'Tool along with my bigger Gerber model which lives on my webbing, and my dear-departed Benchmade 8Med and Gerber cutters. I've been fortunate not to have to use any of them in a crisis, but I've found great utility in having them for cord, strap and packaging cutting.

The SuperVisor Kickstarter took a familiar concept, and found a particular aspect to improve. The SuperVizor is pitched as an auto-escape tool and was designed by a Avi Goldstein, a NY-City Paramedic who has cut his teeth with several Kickstarter projects now.

It has a sleek, minimalist design which includes a 440 stainless steel seatbelt cutting blade and a tungsten carbide tip window punch at the tip. Having a dedicated window punch was a rally nice addition, especially when considering the likelihood of needing to break glass in similar situations you'd need a seatbelt cutter.

The hook has a molded nylon finger grip for the index and middle fingers and a little tab on the outside for the ring finger to lay on for extra stability and leverage The back of the hook has crenelations for thumb positioning and grip. The blade was wide enough to take bunched seatbelt webbing without an issue, but not so wide as to be a safety worry.

The real innovation, other than the glass-punch is that as part of the set, it includes a nylon sheath with an elastic strap, with hook-and-loop closure to keep the SuperVizor attached to the sun visor of your car.

I have a Zulu Nylon Gear MOLLE visor so if I wanted I could (and have in past) mounted a rescue hook directly to the MOLLE, but in this instance, and in most people's PALS/MOLLEless car interiors, you can securely affix the SuperVizor to the sun visor and have this tool at your fingertips to extract yourself, and your loved ones, in the event of a crash or off-the-road misadventure. The sheath has a small retention tab to hold the hook in place, and secures very firmly to my visor, I've not had any concern wit hit falling out, or shifting in my peripheral vision, even over some pretty poor roads.

There is a current Kickstarter going on, for the same set up, but with an expanded range of colours, so if you're keen, look them up here.

Events: Melbourne Gun Club - Come and Try day

I was asked out to go clay target shooting by my step-father, as he is thinking of joining a new club, in order to maintain his shotgun license, and the club he selected puts on a regular "Come & Try" sessions for those interested in trying the sport of clay target shooting.

I've only ever been out shooting once with a .22, target and rabbit shooting with a friend of mine as well as lots of laser tag, paintball and the like, so going shotgunning was a new experience for me. The Melbourne Gun Club is equipped with a variety of ranges:

• X2 Olympic Trench Grounds

• x8 Down The Line (DTL) Ranges

• x7 Skeet / ISSF Skeet Grounds

• x1 Five Stand Layout

We were shooting Beretta under-over 12guage's supplied by the club, which were very cool, with shell extractors and nice actions, as far as I could tell. They had heated up a fair bit by the time the end of the hour and a half of shooting came to a close, with many hands having used each gun, there was a visible heat shimmer, and the metal parts had heated up quite a bit, making them uncomfortable to hold off the wooden parts, no surprises there.

To participate in the MGC "Come & Try" events you must be over 12 years old, wear closed shoes and no camouflage clothing or singlets, and adhere to a strict no alcohol policy. A firearms license is NOT required, which is very convenient given the difficulty in acquiring one here. Upon arrival and payment will need to sign the visitor's book for insurance purposes, but again, this was a very relaxed process, and my ID wasn't checked. Perhaps this was a mistake on the day, or I slipped through, but I found it odd, given the rather draconian personal ownership laws here.

The "Come and Try" introduction includes coaching and supervision by experienced members of the Club who were keen to make sure my time was safe and rewarding. That said, my safety briefing was "wear earplugs" and "point it that way" as two instructors flanked us, and hand-loaded us one round at a time. I was really surprised at this very lax seeming methodology, and can only presume it was because of the location and number of staff on-hand.

I got to shoot at two of the Down The Line ranges, where the targets come straight at you, arcing up and hanging in front of you, ready to blast into dust. We then moved down to the skeet range which was really challenging, as they were far less forgiving, and required a higher level of gun-skill, especially in calculating leads, something that laser-tag doesn't help with.

I found that shotguns were quite forgiving to aim, at the ranges and target situations we were using, which was also no surprise, but I had anticipated more than a simple dot sight at the muzzle end of the guns.

I hit more than I missed so I'll call that success. Proper shoulder placement and cheek weld was crucial, not only for repeatability and accuracy, but also recoil mitigation and cheek slap.I've heard all about it, and we've all seen some hilarious YouTube clips, but it was quite a different thing to see and feel it in person. Watching some little people get bucked around in their attempts made me glad each gun was only being singly-loaded, but experienced instructors.



I asked about the effective range of the guns and loads we were using, and unsurprisingly was told that it was around the edge of the ranges, up to the berm that marked the boundaries. "you'd feel it if you were up there, that's for sure". We were shooting 12ga #9 1250fps loads, which seemed to be very light, and my step-father agreed, commenting the rapport of the shots was quite a lot sharper than he was used to. Most of the rounds we fired were fresh, but some instructors also did reloads, which we could tell by the slightly differing rapports we heard.


I also asked about the chokes used, and was told they were set up specifically for the kinds of shooting offered, which was no surprise either. One interesting tidbit I asked about is that in side-by side, dual-trigger guns, each barrel often has a different choke pattern, giving the user a selectable option based on situation.

There were a range of people in attendance, from a gaggle of blokes all out for a lark, to several families with mum, dad and the kids all out for a blast, some for the first time it looked like, as well as some loners, and us. Apart from some of the little folks and less prepared, who sometimes took a bit of a heavy kick or cheek slap, everyone seems to have a really good time, and the cheers and applause from the gaggles at different ranges certainly made it seem like everyone was having a good time.

Unlike many other sports, there are very few physical limitations to participating, Gender is all but irrelevant, you need to be strong enough to wield and shoot the guns, and agile enough to track the targets as they cross your line of sight. You may fire up to 25 shots whilst at the "Come & Try" session, although I think I only got about 20, due to circumstances and crowds on the day. I also got to meet with a member of the Australian shooting team, going to San Antonio TX next month, good luck!

Review: Platatac - Cool Under Tactical Shirt

Here's an item I had completely overlooked in the back of Tactical Baby's wardrobe (where I've taken to storing my less-often worn gear, as she hasn't yet accumulated a whole lot of outfits, and only the one camo vets ...) I pulled it out as part of a upcoming post detailing different camo in an Australian setting. I wanted to test out DPM pattern and remembered I had a shirt to go with my pants. It turns out that shirt was one of the very cool 

Platatac’s CUTS (Cool Under Tactical Shirt) and I wanted to tell you a thing to two about the CUTS design.

The CUTS Special Projects is Platatac's next generation in under armour tactical uniform shirts.

The CUTS are specifically designed as an improvement over standard BDU shirts, with lightweight, moisture wicking fabric in areas where body armour contacts the body. This aims to promote cooling when using body armour in hot environments.

The shoulders are constructed from 3D air mesh giving padding for both comfort when using load bearing equipment and airflow.

The sleeves are constructed from a heavy 100% Cotton ripstop fabric which is built to last. The sleeves also feature upper arm pockets with two sets of loop-fields each allowing the attachment of multiple patches and also include a webbing flap allowing the wearer to secret a IR Square with minimal effort.

On the version I have, there is also a axillary pocket on the left forearm for use as a map panel, much like the wrist mounted Recce wrist pouch , as well as twin elbow patches, which will take elbow pads, and are held in place by hook-and-loop tabs.

The cuffs are able to be cinched in with hook-and-loop straps to eliminate drafts and cover up exposed skin.  The neckline has a half-zip, to give you good venting when you need, and also features a hook-and-loop fixing mandarin high-collar, which keeps stray brass, grit and bugs out.

It has a really good, long fit, something I really look for in a shirt, as I have a long body, and even longer arms so having a full length shirt keeps my shirt tails tucked in, and my wrists covered up.

The material on the torso is very comfortable, especially under load, and whilst the cotton of the sleeves is fairly heavy, they bear up to rough use really well. I've crawled around in the scrub and run through brush with this, and had not had any trouble.

These are a pretty technical garment, but if you find yourself in rough environments, wearing packs or chest-rigs this is the kind of shirt you'll want to have.

Events: Security Expo 2015

I had the good fortune to be invited to attend the 2015 Australian Security Exhibition & Conference a couple of weeks ago, which shows it pays to stay in touch with local industry events, so I took a long lunch one day and attended.

The Security Exhibition Conference is the most highly recognized security industry event in Australasia. This year was its 30th anniversary.   The event is billed as the must-attend event for all security professionals from installers and integrators to end users. It's not exactly my comfort zone, and it was great to see what other new industries show themselves to their peers.

The Security Exhibition showcased  170 leading brands in one place and allowed visitors to identify the newest and brightest industry innovations. My best explanation for what I saw, is that there were cameras. Lots of cameras. 3/5 of the expo was camera or camera related.

Thermal cameras, low light cameras, super hi-def cameras. Cameras in does, cameras on poles, cameras on drones. All the downstream systems to process all of that, facial recognition systems, networking, storage, scanning systems. A lot of camera stuff.

About 1/5 of the expo was access-control: ID badges, doors, code-pads, RFID scanners, readers and writers, and the like. Some locks and barrier systems too.

One thing I noted that was curiously absent, from my way of thinking was any counter-technology. There were no lock-picks, code-breakers, spoofers or any other sort of bypass tools, but I suppose that kind of thing might be at an even more secret expo.

Even then, getting into the Security Exhibition & Conference isn't that easy. I had media-type entry, but otherwise they accept professionals in the security industry and end users responsible for sourcing the latest products, services and technologies to manage security threats and protect vital business assets. Entry is otherwise restricted to industry professionals only. People not in this category are not be admitted at any time. Proof of identity and industry involvement may be requested at the door, I had my patches on, and cards at hand, but wasn't challenged, having been invited.

It was a very interesting event to visit, and I made a couple of contacts that I will be following up, such as with Defence Systems Australia, so stay tuned for a post about them. If you are interested and actively in industrial and corporate security I'd heartily recommend attending.

Probably not too useful to the backyard prepper and urban scavenger, unless you're into grey-hatting.