RECOIL 30 – New Products

Got the urge to add a G34 to the collection, but space in the safe getting a little tight? Why not upgrade your G17 with a KE Arms KE34 Echo slide and save a little room. CNC’d from stainless bar stock, a complete slide plus RMR weighs in at 12.4 ounces, which is a hair less than the stock slide on our Gen 2 Glock 17. By hogging out a bunch of weight up front, recoil management is made easier and your factory recoil springs work just fine. At a recent range session, we were making consistent 100-yard head shots with match ammo, so this dog will hunt.

Make:
KE Arms
Model:
KE34 Echo Slide
MSRP:
$739
URL:
www.kearms.com

Camelbak’s Urban Assault is an OCD sufferer’s wet dream. Pockets for days. There’s an admin pocket with sleeves for pens, a mesh-backed stash pocket up front, a slash pocket, water bottle pocket, and two full-size compartments with more internal organizers and padding to protect a 15-inch laptop and a tablet. There’s even a hidden security pocket for a wallet or passport. Plus, there’s a small laser-cut PALS field across the front for more pouches. The back panel has a removable stiffening insert and there’re external cinch straps. Our favorite feature, though, is the bright interior that makes it easy to see what’s going on in the depths of the bag’s nylon innards. It’s perfect for the hardscape crowd who can’t bring themselves to run a messenger bag or a briefcase.

Make:
Camelbak
Model:
Urban Assault
Capacity:
1,950 cubic inches (32 liters)
Weight:
2.7 pounds
MSRP:
$189
URL:
www.camelbak.com

If you’ve got a vehicle, you’ve got a reason to run one of Dark Angel Medical’s new Vehicular Individual Safety Rigs (or VISR). It stows a basic gunshot treatment kit in the empty space that once held your Metallica CDs. Pull the red handle and you’re holding a trauma pack that includes hemostatic gauze, nitrile gloves, a mini compression bandage, a set of HALO chest seals, compressed gauze, an eye shield, a nasopharyngeal airway, Mylar blanket, a tourniquet, and mini-trauma shears. There’s enough gear to maintain an airway, stabilize a penetrating chest injury, and pack a wound while providing protection from infection for the responder. The VISR is ideal for any patrol vehicle and also a great way to keep life-saving equipment on-hand for those of us who spend time at the range.

Make:
Dark Angel Medical
Model:
Vehicular Individual Safety Rig (VISR)
Weight:
3 pounds
Colors:
Black, brown, grey
MSRP:
$157
URL:
www.darkangelmedical.com

Marking cleared rooms is a basic tenet of military and law enforcement door-kicking operations. Assaulters drop break-and-shake-style chemlights in rooms they’ve cleared so teams moving behind them know it’s safe to bypass the space. Preparing the dozens of chemlights needed for a hit can take 20 to 40 minutes the night before. Units can save time by using BFG’s MARCO preloaded chemlight dispenser. With the magazine-looking device in an accessory belt-mount, guys can crack and drop 2-inch chemlights effortlessly. And the cost is about the same as a bundle of slower deploying, heavier, 4-inch chemlights. Final pricing is not yet set, but BFG says the loaded dispensers will be about $40, and the accessory belt mount will be another $40.

Make:
Blue Force Gear
Model:
MARCO – Marking and Recognition Chemstick Organizer Dispenser
Capacity:
30 2-inch Cyalume ChemLights
MSRP:
$80 (estimated)
URL:
www.blueforcegear.com

Troy’s Special Operations Compatible Carbines (SOCC) product line is based on the company’s new SOCC CQB-optimized AR rifle and includes a few, new matching accessories. Most interesting is the SOCC transparent BattleMag. The magazine is identical to the standard Troy BattleMag in nearly every way except for its translucent body. This makes it easy to get a round count at a glance, and you can even see enough to know what kind of rounds are loaded. It’s got the same texturing as the original BattleMag for positive grip, but the SOCC mags don’t come with the shock-absorbing extended floor plates. Instead, they’ll ship with standard flush-fit floor plates. The BattleMag’s polymer is resistant to biological, chemical, and impact exposure.

Make:
Troy Industries
Model:
SOCC BattleMag
Compatability:
AR/M4/M16, HK 416, FN SCAR
MSRP:
$15 each
URL:
www.troyind.com

It’s an AR-15 world and the guys at S2 have had enough of those cross-bolt safeties found on shotguns. They figured out a way to adapt an AR-style rotating fire control selector to work on Remington 870/1100 series (shown) and Benelli shotguns. S2 says it should be installed by a licensed gunsmith or armorer, but we swapped the push-button safety on our 870 with the rotating selector in about 10 minutes. The idea is sound; using the same muscle memory imprinted by thousands of firing sequences on an AR to get things going when switching over to a scattergun makes sense. Just be aware the new selector only works with pistol-gripped shotguns, and the ergos are better with some grip shapes and angles than they are with others.

Make:
Signature Solutions (S2-USA)
Model:
Remington Safety Selector Switch
Compatability:
Only works with pistol grip-equipped shotguns
MSRP:
$48
URL:
www.s2-usa.com

Budget AR shooters should check out ALG Defense’s latest addition to its Ergonomic Modular Rail family: the austere V0-E. This handguard combines the simple lines of an unperforated 6061-T6 aluminum grip surface with a set of short Pic rail mounting points up front. The result is a no-frills setup that really doesn’t give up much in the way of functionality when compared to its highly sculpted peers. There are built-in QD sling swivel sockets and accommodation for an iron-sight-friendly, co-witness top rail section. The handguard is held in place with a 2-inch 7075-T6 aluminum barrel nut that’s installed without the need for a torque wrench. The V0’s value comes from the reduced machine time used to make it. The V0 omits the venting and lightening slots we’re used to seeing on most handguards, resulting in a bit of added heft. That’s a worthy tradeoff for shooters who value the weight of their wallet over the weight of their rifle.

Make:
ALG Defense
Model:
Ergonomic Modular Rail V0-E
Available Lengths:
10, 13, 15 inches
MSRP:
$80 to $90
URL:
www.algdefense.com

VZ Grips is one of the first names to come to mind when people talk about upgrading their handgun’s factory pistol grips to something more stylish, functional, or comfortable — or all three combined. The company recently released a lineup of AR accessories, from rails and hand-stops to — you guessed it — pistol grips. The grips are made out of a solid piece of G-10 with an ergonomic 17-degree angle and are offered in five different textures and four colors. Comes with stainless steel hardware. Made in the USA.

Make:
VZ Grips
Model:
AR Grips
Lengths:
Standard (4 inches) and shorty (3.75 inches)
MSRP:
$95
URL:
www.vzgrips.com

Grey Ghost Precision continues to expand its reach into the firearm market with its own house-branded Glock barrels for the G17 and G19. The 416r steel, broach-cut barrels are double honed and nitride finished for easy care. They have SAAMI spec 9mm NATO chambers, have a constant diameter, and use a 1:10-inch twist rate that’s close to Glock’s own 1:9.84-inch twist rate. GGP says it’ll have threaded versions shortly, and to keep an eye out for its drop-in custom Glock slides that should be on the shelves by the time you’re reading this.

Make:
Grey Ghost Precision
Model:
9mm Barrels for Glock 17
Twist Rate:
1:10-inch right-hand twist
MSRP:
$180
URL:
www.greyghostprecision.com

If you teach, you’ve no doubt wasted time doing mental gymnastics trying to align POAs with POIs as students waited not-so-patiently to get to the good stuff. The Simple Marksman Adjustment Reference Table (S.M.A.R.T.) card is a simple, durable tool that answers that one oft-heard question, “OK. And that’s how many clicks on this optic?’ It’s a slide rule that almost eliminates the math involved in getting guys zeroed at distances from pistolwork to 400 meters. Dial up the distance and the window tells you what fraction of an inch you get per click for popular sight systems including M4/M16 irons, commercial BUIS, Deltapoints, RMRs, Aimpoints, EOTechs, ACOGs, and more. To further simplify things, the fractions are rounded up to finger-friendly numbers.

Make:
Zero Bravo
Model:
S.M.A.R.T. Card
Material:
Die Cut PVC (made in the USA)
MSRP:
$15
URL:
www.zerobravo.com

HoneyBadger ammo features a non-expanding, auger-tipped pistol projectile that Black Hills developed with Lehigh Defense. Black Hills says the bullets cut through barriers that plug most hollowpoints, while creating larger, deeper wound channels. Available previously in .380 and .38 Special, the all-new HoneyBadger 9mm and .45 ACP rounds were designed to provide optimum performance in ballistic gelatin while avoiding over-penetration, and the .44 Magnum is an ideal hunting round. We’re told by Black Hills the rounds are not only capable of producing outsized wound channels, they are also practically barrier-blind. We’ll be evaluating the 9mm 125-grain loads in gel as soon as we get a chance.

Make:
Black Hills Ammunition
Model:
HoneyBadger Ammunition
Calibers:
.380 auto 60 grain, 9 mm 125 grain subsonic, .38 Special 100 grain +P, .45 Auto 135 grain, .44 Magnum 160 grain
MSRP:
Not available at press time
URL:
www.black-hills.com

This bottle opener will take your tactical tailgating game to the pro level. Pop-tops are no match for the AR.5 and its mil-spec 6061 aluminum body, even if you’re consuming them at a rapid rate. These mini AR receivers are made in-house by Nelson Precision Manufacturing according to a shelved technical data package the government bought by accident while developing the M134 Minigun. Silver lining. Anyway, we can’t think of a better way to safely combine your love of America’s rifle with your love of a cold one.

Make:
Nelson Precision Manufacturing
Model:
AR.5 Bottle Opener
Material:
Type III Hard Anodized 6061 Aluminum
MSRP:
$30
URL:
www.nelsonprecisionmfg.com

W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. has a storied history — thanks in part to its V-42, which is so timeless that the company is now reproducing this dagger. Why so enduring? The stiletto was issued to the 1st Special Service Force, aka The Devil’s Brigade, an elite American-Canadian commando unit formed during World War II. So, it’s fitting that the company has released the Case BESH Wedge, a dagger inspired by the V-42 and designed by Brent “Besh” Beshara, a custom knife-maker and a veteran of the Canadian special forces. It features two diagonally opposite chisel-ground bevels that meet at the tip to form a third edge, giving it more strength than a typical dagger point. Comes with G-10 scales and a Blade-Tech sheath. (The Case BESH Wedge shown here with the V-42, top.)

Make:
W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.
Model:
Case BESH Wedge
OAL:
12 inches
MSRP:
$390
URL:
www.wrcase.com

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