Product Reviews

Day 3 at Blogorado was a bust. The front sight blade fell off again, despite being affixed with Permatex liquid gasket. My theory was that a Superglue bond would be too brittle, and that liquid gasket, being a bit more flexible, would stand up to recoil better. No dice. After curing for a couple of hours (which may not have ...

Day 2 at Blogorado was gorgeous, with a temp of 65 degrees, 15% humidity, and an elevation of 4500 feet. I started with Magtech 124 grain FMJ, listed by manufacturer with a muzzle velocity of 1109 fps. There was a failure to fire on round #35 (#185 total) when the slide did not go fully back into battery. The failures ...

Photo credit: Jennifer Hast The MC1911SC Ultimate is a compact, officer-length 1911 by Turkish manufacturer Girsan, imported by EAA. Built on a forged aluminum frame, it boasts a number of nice features, including contoured surfaces to eliminate snags, an extended beavertail, extended ambidextrous safety, conical barrel for more positive lockup, G10 grips with a capacity window cut in the side, ...

Okay, Girsan, let’s do this. Today begins the 2000 round challenge of the Girsan MC1911SC Ultimate 9mm, imported by EAA. If you’re unfamiliar with the 2000 round challenge, ala Tamara Keel and Todd Louis Green, read about it here. We’ll clean and lube the pistol according to manufacturer’s specs, and then put 2000 rounds of different types of ammo through ...

We were asked by the nice folks at Micro BVM to evaluate their product. The Micro BVM is a full-functional adult BVM with mask, oxygen tubing and reservoir, fully compatible with most aftermarket PEEP valves. The manufacturer touts it as being 75% smaller when stored than a standard BVM.It is indeed packaged in a rugged, compact case, making it a ...

Nifty gun storage solution from EAA, the importers of Tanfoglio pistols.

This appeals powerfully to the lazy in me.

One rapidly growing trend in the firearms and self-defense industry is an increased focus on first aid and medical care, to the point that the IFAK nightstand pocket dump photo is becoming as ubiquitous as the EDC pocket dump. Alongside John Q. Instagram Influencer’s photo of his personal gat and knife, is usually a micro trauma kit and a tourniquet.And ...

I learned to wingshoot with a Winchester Model 37A chambered in 3″ magnum 20 gauge, my first real shotgun. My friends all had HR Toppers chambered in .410, and I remember feeling smugly superior to them because my Winchester was an objectively nicer shotgun. But that HR Topper was a ubiquitous firearm in the south; seems like every kid had ...

One of the more intriguing rifles I encountered at #NRAAM2018 was the switch-barrel rifle from Omega Custom Rifles. Omega is a veteran-owned company based in Meridien, TX, and features a product line of bolt-action rifles built on custom Stiller actions glass-bedded into carbon fiber stocks, but the really part is the option to switch barrels in the field in a ...

One of the neater doohickeys I saw at the NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas was the Mag Pump magazine loader. I can think of plenty of times on the range when I spent more time loading magazines than I did emptying them, and had the sore and skinned up thumbs to prove it. The times I’ve had the opportunity to ...

One very enjoyable part of this year’s LANREMT EMS Conference in my home state was the opportunity for several of the conference speakers to take a fishing charter with Captain Mike Ledet out of Cocodrie, LA. Mike’s a full-time deputy for Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Department and does all of their maritime and water rescue. He’s been a fishing guide in ...

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”  ~ Groucho Marx A worthy goal of any life is to aspire to be the person our dog thinks we are. I’ve been blessed enough to have two once-in-a-lifetime dogs in my life, and their love and companionship marked me ...

Spent an enjoyable night this weekend re-reading J.L. Curtis’ second book, The Grey Man: Payback. Payback is a strong sophomore effort from Curtis. Jim addresses the criticism of The Grey Man: Vignettes with an eye to honing his writing craft, and as a result, his second book is an even more entertaining yarn than the first. The plot development is ...

I’m not quite sure when J.L. Curtis and I began following each other’s blogs, but I became aware of his writing chops almost seven years ago when I was writing the Perspectives series with Matt G. and Babs, RN. Old NFO sent me a submission for a prospective third installment, from the bystander’s perspective. Honestly, it was a terrific read. Sadly, ...