It’s National Police Week. Please take time to remember the fallen and thank those who work the streets every day.
Archives
All posts by thriftstoretactical
As promised in my long-term follow up on my SOE Cobra belt, I’ve given the Talon Tactical Ring Buckle Gun Belt in brown several days of EDC and have some first impressions for you. Honestly, today is the first day since I got it last week that I haven’t worn it. I’m impressed.
The weight of the belt, or lack thereof, was the first thing I noticed after receiving it. It’s a featherweight compared to other riggers or Cobra-buckle belts. Constructed of a double-layer of proprietary 1.5″ webbing, the belt uses custom glass-filled nylon rings as the buckle system. Most riggers belts use a heavy buckle and/or v-ring, but the nylon rings on the Talon belt make traditional buckles feel like bricks. The two layers of webbing are held together with six rows of stitching: two near each edge and one in the center. The edges are nicely finished, with heat applied to the ends to prevent fraying. The construction of the belt shows serious stitching skills. Talon knows their nylon. Mike at Talon Tactical informed me that their belts are designed to adjust up 2 inches and down 2 inches from the listed size, so I ordered a 34, since I’m a 32 without gear but up to a 36 depending on what I’ve crammed inside my waistband.
Being so light–and relatively thin–the belt did not immediately win me over as a heavy-use gun belt. I have labored under the assumption that to support all my EDC gear, the belt has to be stiff and substantial. I carry a G17 with light, a spare mag, a Surefire 6P, my badge, and a BUG with reloads in my pants pocket. That’s a lot of weight. The Talon Tactical belt, though, proved me wrong.
I immediately put the belt to use as soon as I ripped it from its package. The belt is rigid, but flexible. Imagine one-and-a-half layers of SCUBA webbing (if that were possible), and you get the idea. It was easy to thread through my pants and holster/mag pouch, and it was a breeze to thread through the nylon rings and cinch tight. And once cinched to a comfortable tightness, my gear stayed put. There has been no sagging, no flopping, and no rolling over of the belt since then. The belt formed to my gear and waist, and I could go about my day without even thinking about the belt.
While I have yet to put the belt to any hard use, it has proven itself a very capable concealed-carry belt. Most importantly, it’s thrifty–at only $40.50 shipped, it beats most gun belts by $20 at least. I’ll have a long-term follow up after more time with the ring belt, but I’m impressed so far.
About eight months ago, I got a 1.5″ Rigid Cobra Duty Belt from Original SOE Gear, and I posted a first-impressions review of the belt. Everything I said in that review still holds true, so I won’t repeat what I wrote in that post. Instead, I’ll focus on two aspects of the belt that have become apparent in the eight months of use.
I’ve worn the belt almost every day, and it’s been threaded through belt loops and holster loops and mag pouch loops hundreds of times. This use illustrated the stiffness of the belt and what hard kydex belt loops will do to the inner loop velcro. First, the stiffness of the belt is what I love most about the belt and what I hate most about the belt. Once the belt is on, it’s stiff enough to comfortably support any EDC load. Seriously–if you could find someone to make custom kydex for a M1 Garand, you could wear it on your hip and not care. It conforms to my waist very well, and it has never created pressure points or pinch spots. However, it is sometimes too stiff. (That’s what she said.) It can be a little bit of a chore weaving the belt through pants loops and holster loops, especially if the holster loops are tight and rigid. While I wasn’t sweating and cursing after putting the belt on, it wasn’t the easiest thing to do. I’m the kinda guy that wears my jeans for a few days in a row, though, so it wasn’t a daily feat of nylon, denim, and kydex origami.
All of this threading through belt loops also took its toll on the inner loop-velcro lining of the belt. The velcro was stitched to the belt just a bit in from its edge, leaving it open to polymer pillaging. It started to unravel worse than a sweater in a Weezer song. Every few weeks, I have to cut loose threads from the belt. The loop is still securely stitched to the belt, so it really seems to be more of a cosmetic issue. Eventually, there won’t be any loose end left, so the problem will solve itself.
I’ve also started to wear the belt as an outer low-profile duty belt and competition belt. You can see pics of the belt in action from the photos of my first shooting match. I bought a cheap Bianchi inner belt covered in hook velcro off eBay, which I mate with the SOE belt. While the Bianchi belt is pretty flimsy, it creates a very solid system once the SOE belt is in place. I can leave items mounted to the SOE belt and easily don or doff my gear. Plus, I can wear the belt with my suit, since the Bianchi belt will fit my dress pants’ belt loops. Under a suit jacket, the SOE belt looks pretty classy, I think. And not many will suspect that I’ve got a full load-out of gear under my jacket.
For a belt that was about $70 after shipping and got to me in less than 3 weeks, the SOE belt is an excellent choice for a Cobra belt. It’s comfortable and more than capable of carrying the heaviest EDC load without flopping or sagging. And aside from fraying velcro, the belt has held up well to daily wear.
Stay tuned for a first-impressions review of the ring-buckle Gun Belt by Talon Tactical–at only $40.50 shipped, it might be the thrifty alternative for those wanting a gun belt, minus the Cobra buckle.
In December, I bought a prototype compact Timberwolf frame from Lonewolf Distributing for the Glock 19/23. I then set out to build a custom G19 from a used slide and lower parts I bought on Gunbroker. I was giddy once it came together–I thought the more 1911-like grip angle and other features of the custom frame would perfect what Glock called perfect. I was wrong. Your mileage might vary.
To be clear, there is nothing wrong with the frame–aside from maybe the texturing. I like my guns super-grippy. I love the lines and the picatinny rail. And the mag release is awesome–if I could put one like that on all my Glocks, I would. But the grip angle doesn’t work for me. After thousands of rounds through stock Gen3 and Gen4 G17s, I can’t shoot the Twolf nearly as well as my stock pistols. And I grew up shooting 1911s.
So, I had to be honest with myself. I’m a Glock shooter, and my hands crave the godawful hump that is the backstrap of a Glock. It’s very difficult to admit that, but it’s true. So, I made the difficult decision to part with my Timberwolf, and if you’ve followed TST, you probably saw the post about it. That sale, though, has fallen through.
I’ve decided to transform Pauline into a stock G19–well, I’m keeping the threaded barrel. So if any TSTer has a stock Gen2 or Gen3 19/23 frame and wants to trade for a compact Timberwolf frame, email me at thriftstoretactical@gmail.com. I’ll trade even-stevens and ship to an FFL if you’ll do the same. Someone out there will love this frame more than my muscle memory does.
Here are the pics from the shooting match I went to a few weeks ago. It was my first time shooting competitively, but I had a blast. I placed 12th out of 40 shooters, which I guess isn’t horrible. In case you’re a gear freak like me, I’m using my Rogue Tactical Concealment Operator holster and LFI Custom Kydex mag pouch on an SOE 1.5 Rigid Cobra Duty Belt. I’m running the SOE belt as an outer belt, mated to an inner hook velcro belt. I’ll have a post up soon about that setup. Oh, and I’m shooting Roxanne, my department-issued, box-stock Gen4 G17 with a TLR-1S mounted.
Two years ago today, Bryan from ITS Tactical wrote an excellent article on the Parker Jotter, his $10 tactical pen. Read it–he goes in depth on why you don’t need to buy the hype or drop a Benjamin for a quality writing utensil that can also be used as a last-ditch weapon. About two weeks ago, I went on my own quest to find a quality steel pen with attributes similar to the Jotter. I have used Pilot G2s exclusively for almost 7 years, and while I love how they write and their inexpensive refills, the plastic barrel and rubber grip seemed cheap. And since I’ve started wearing suits more than a uniform–I know, sellout–they don’t scream class, either.
You can find the Jotter for about $10 or $11 online, but several sites also charge shipping. I didn’t want a Jotter badly enough to pay up to $5 to have it shipped. So I shopped locally, and the only store I found the Jotter was Office Depot, which had them in stock for $11. Not a bad price, but this is Thrift Store Tactical, remember. I’m a cheap bastard. So I had a Jotter in hand and was still perusing the plethora of pens, when a Zebra F-701 caught my eye. My traffic FTO always used a Zebra F-301 to take notes or write citations, but it’s plasticy-knurled end didn’t catch my eye. But the F-701, in all stainless with a knurled grip, screamed tacticool ruggedness. And it was only $8. (You can get them on Amazon for $5.18, with free shipping on orders over $25.)
That was all my thrifty peepers needed to see. With a stainless steel barrel and the option to refill with inexpensive Zebra F-series refills, the F-701 seemed to be what I was looking for. Once I got it out of its package, I noticed the pen has an excellent feel to it. It has enough weight to feel substantial but not heavy, with the weight centered toward the tip. The pen feels balanced, not top heavy. The knurling on the grip reminds me of mini-Maglite tubes, with enough grip to provide purchase but not pain.
The tip clicks out smoothly and glides over paper while writing. My only complaint is that the .7mm tip seems to write thinner than my .7mm G2’s gel ink. But that’s probably due to the gel ink spreading out more. I’ve gotten used to the thinner line, but I might try a larger-tipped refill when this one finally bites the dust.
Sleek and solid, the F-701 seems at home in the pocket of my dress shirt or uniform shirt, and it’s all-metal barrel would provide an adequate last-ditch weapon if needed. For an $8 tactical pen that will do more pen-ing than tactical-ing, the F-701 gets my vote. I will probably still pick up a Jotter in the future, but this stainless Zebra fills my needs very well.
Just a reminder, you’ve got less than 24 hours to get in on SpartanTC81 Reviews’ giveaway:
https://rafl-fb-tab-app.s3.amazonaws.com/487006628016082.html
And be sure to get in on Freedom Munitions giveaway–you might win 500 rounds of 9mm:
Gander Mountain actually has Bersa BP9CCs in stock! $430 probably isn’t that thrifty, but I don’t know if I’ve seen the BP in stock, like ever:
My buddy John Smith compiled a list of some giveaways going right now. Free is as thrifty as it gets, you know:
Angry Swede Tactical Solutions
You’re welcome. And thanks, John!
The winners of the 3300-fans giveaway have been selected at random. Congratulations to the winners! If your name follows, you have 24 hours to contact me at thriftstoretactical@gmail.com
1st Prize, 1 free pistol course from TST Training: Jay Pearson
2nd Prize, a set of grip decals from Tractiongrips: Joseph Dunleavy
3rd Prize, a set of Thrift Grips universal grip decals: Shayne Zroback
4th Prize, a TST decal: Kevin Davis
TST 