We just heard from the folks at Outdoor Retailer that they are looking for a larger venue to host the show. This is one of the events we head attend to find out what new products and players are moving between the tactical and outdoor markets.
“Outdoor Retailer (OR) and the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) are engaging the industry in a consultative and comprehensive approach to determine the best growth path and location for the future for the semi-annual outdoor trade shows. The initiative is necessary, as participation in the evolving outdoor industry event continues to grow beyond the current facilities available at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, host city since 1996.”
“A formal discussion period will launch soon within the “Collective Voice” website, however everyone is welcome to visit the site at www.outdoorretailer.com/collective-voice, a destination for learning about the event’s history along with a small list of venues in the nation that could host the current show while engaging in ongoing discussions in a secure moderated online forum.”
Read MoreI remember when Rudy Project eyewear was a niche product going after bicyclists in the US ten years ago. Their designs, quality and optical qualities were made them very popular in Europe, but it’s took them a while to break into the US market. Perhaps it was the price, or the strong competition from familiar US optic companies like Smith and Oakley, but they have been steadily shipping away at market share in the premium sport optic realm.
I say this because I’ve noticed more guys in my USPSA shooting match squads using Rudy Project eyewear in the past year. I’ve been shooting with their photochromic Genetyk eyeshield myself and have been pleased with the optical clarity, weight, protection and ventilation. We’ll have more about them, but in the meantime have a look at Rudy Project’s first tactical catalog for the US market.
Read MoreWe’ve updated our initial reporting on the contract award to include the delivery schedule and a little more background. Check it out here.
Remington has the following to say about the contract award:
US Army Awards M4 / M4A1 Carbine Contract to Remington Arms
4/24/2012 MADISON, NC – Remington Arms Company, LLC (“Remington”), a member of the Freedom Group family of companies, is pleased to announce the award of an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for the procurement of a maximum of 120,000 M4/M4A1 carbines by the US Army Contracting Command in Warren, Michigan, on Friday, April 20, 2012.
“It is a great honor to be awarded this contract from the United States Army,” said John Day, Vice President, Remington Defense Division, former Marine, and Iraq War Veteran. “Our workforce is extremely proud to be adding this combat-proven carbine to the Remington Defense family alongside our combat-proven sniper rifles, suppressors and shotguns. We will produce these carbines with the same diligence, attention to detail, and quality that snipers and shooters worldwide expect from Remington.”
The M4 and M4A1 carbines are the US Army’s primary individual combat weapons and will be produced by Remington to the US Army’s M4 technical data package. The Army has initially ordered 24,000 M4A1 carbines from Remington; deliveries will start in September, 2013.
Read More
Yes, you could take that headline two ways… I just saw that a team of kinesiology researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst just received a 2.5-year, $975,000 grant through the Navy Health Research Center in the Department of Defense to study how the average 100-pound equipment load carried by soldiers affects their survivability, likelihood of injury and ability to carry out missions.
Have a look at the release from UMASS, AMHERST:
“Load is not a new issue for field commanders to consider,” says Van Emmerik, who is director of UMass Amherst’s Sensory-Motor Control Laboratory. “But while past studies typically focused on how load affects gait and the lower body, we will for the first time look at how the upper body, trunk and head coordinate in a soldier who is burdened by a heavy load, which is a fundamentally different and a more complex situation.”
Read MoreTriple Aught Design, more commonly referred to as TAD, has some new items released for spring. A Merino wool short sleeve shirt, ten pocket “covert” pants, and an update to the Ranger Hoodie LT.
Click the pics to jump to the product specs, and we will look at reviewing some of these in the near future.
Read More
The U.S. Army has been buying M4 carbines through an exclusive arrangement with Colt since 2002 (though the first Colt M4 contract was awarded in 1996). But, as of 18:20 today, Remington Arms has become the Army’s new supplier of M4/M4A1 carbines. According to Kevin Doell, spokesman for PM Soldier Weapons, the Army took its last delivery of Colt manufactured M4A1s in November, 2011 with no more deliveries outstanding.
According to the Department of the Army’s Chief of Legislative Liaison, the Army today executed a delivery order to buy 24,000 M4A1s worth $16,163,252.07. The rifles will be made at Remington’s factory in Ilion, N.Y., from the Colt technical data package and will cost about $673.10 a copy. That’s a significantly lower price than the final order of Colt produced M4A1s the government paid $1221 for in a 2010 contract.
Fedbizops.com lists the award with a contract award number W56HZV12D0056 but provides no links to the original solicitation. Doell confirms that this award was for the Army’s 2011 M4/M4A1 carbine W56HZV-10-R-0593 solicitation posted 6/14/2011.
John Day, Vice President, Remington Defense Division, confirmed the contract award. “We will produce these carbines with the same diligence, attention to detail, and quality that snipers and shooters worldwide expect from Remington,” Day said.
The order comes as line 001 on an IDIQ contract for up to 120,000 carbines worth $83,924,089.00, though U.S. Army Contracting Command lists the “Max Potential Contract Value $180,000,000.00.”
The delivery schedule has Remington producing 2000 M4 carbines a month. Remington’s first delivery of 1000 rifles is due in August, 2013, then 1475 are due a month later. After this two-month ramp up, full rate production is expected at 2000 rifles delivered monthly through June, 2014 with a final delivery of 736 rifles in July, 2014.
The award comes as the first M4 carbine contract let after the US Army acquired the rights to Colt’s Technical Data Package in July, 2009. While the Army signed a 10-year exclusive contract with Colt in 1999 to produce the M4/M4A1, the Army does not own the TDP. But, the Army is now allowed to provide it to second sources of production under a licensing agreement that goes back to the original 1967 M16 contract. The M4 is a derivative of the M16.
George Kollitides, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Group and Remington Arms, said, “Over the past four years, we have made a substantial investment in Remington’s ability to compete in the government small arms space by modernizing our production facilities, focusing our research and development on end-user requirements, and ensuring consistent and repeatable quality in a high volume, high mix manufacturing environment.”
I haven’t heard from Colt, yet. But I expect them to be fairly quiet until the protest period has ended. I did speak with one industry executive Saturday morning that suggested Colt is already close to it’s production capacity. He mentioned Colt’s March, 2011, M240L machine gun contract award may have had an effect on the Army’s latest award decision. One of the criteria for the award takes into account a manufacturer’s ability to meet a delivery schedule and the Army may view the M240L contract stretching Colt’s production resources.
Any of you that were about to buy milspec parts for your guns, now’s a good time. I’m sure Remington is about to go on an OEM parts buying binge. While they will likely forge their own upper receivers, lowers receivers, bolt, bolt carrier and barrels, they will have to subcontract for small parts such as ejectors, extractors, fire control groups, springs, and pins just as Colt does.
Read Remington’s press release after the break:
Read More
Surefire is now offering “K2 Energy” branded rechargeable CR123 batteries for use in their LED flashlights. The SF2R charger comes with a pair of rechargeable CR123 for $29, and a pair of batteries is $12. The batteries will last for more than 500 charging cycles, saving a significant amount of money. But, the rechargeables offer about half the runtime of a set of primary CR123s.
Getting a charger and a second set of batteries for backups for $41 will net a savings of about $800 considering a 12-pack of batteries costs $20. So, even with the reduced runtime, this should be attractive to anyone on a budget (read, all of us!).
But, there are some caveats worth noting when using rechargeables in flashlights. Rechargeable batteries have a little power spike as they start to deliver power. Surefire’s LED lights can deal with it, but the power spike can cause older incandescent bulbs to burn out. So, stick with the primary CR123s for vintage lights.
Read More
Joonho “JK” Kim can draw. Need proof? Look at this drawing he did of Chris Costa. Sure, he looks badass. What you don’t know is that when Costa was posing, he was actually eating a Twinkie in his boxers while checking his voicemail. So, yeah, JK can make anyone look like a badass.
So, why draw Costa? Why not. JK’s earlier work “Spirit of a Warrior” features a badass with a Spartan-looking shadow. Turning to Costa, the man has a gladiator fetish and a following. Heck, even his Beard has a following. And, it turns out, Costa’s been looking for a way to satisfy his fans’ hunger for autographs and pictures; so here we are. JK does his thing, Costa takes care of his fans. Win-win.
JK will offer a series of seven drawings, the first of which is available today from JK’s website, www.tacticaldrawings.com, for $45. The remaining six drawings will follow at roughly 3-4 month intervals.
Costa is giving 100 percent of his proceeds to the Stars and Stripes Foundation. JK’s invested his time and talent heavily in this project. He can’t afford to donate 100 percent, so JK’s donating a portion of his proceeds to Stars and Stripes Foundation as well as his church.
I know what you’re thinking: “$45 for a drawing? Of Costa?” These are not shop wall pin-up posters. This is an 18” x 12” water-colored, pencil drawing printed on 100 pound matte paper using a digital press bearing Costa’s digital signature.
Consider all the work that went into the drawing. JK spent 20 hours researching and preparing. He made period-specific props from cardboard and found a gladiator-esque model to guide his representation of the “spirit” warrior. He roped-in Pima County Deputy Sheriff Avery Cox as the model. (As an aside, JK told me, “I feel sorry for any criminal caught by that guy.”) He added some of his own touches to the armor, but the shoulder, arm and shinguards are period-accurate, as is the shield. Russell Crowe fans may recognize the helmet is inspired by the one worn by Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the film, “Gladiator.”
So, all that work and we haven’t even gotten to Costa, yet. JK worked from photos of Costa and his gear. From his shades to his shoes, it’s all there in detail. I jokingly asked JK if the beard was the toughest part to get right. “Actually, the LaRue was the hardest part,” JK told me. “Chris’ gun has a unique rail configuration and it was tough to get the rail covers right.” I’m glad the man’s priorities are in the right order. In all he racked up another 40 hours drawing and coloring the piece.
“The artist gets his share. If not for the JK, this wouldn’t happen, it’s not like I could draw this myself. JK’s allowing me to do something cool that profits Stars & Stripes Foundation,” Costa told me. “Am I going to make a profit on my T-shirts, my patches, and other stuff? Absolutely, I’m trying. But this is different.”
“I think it’s important for people to see that Costa Ludus is a small company starting in the red and we’re trying to do the right thing,” Costa explains about the idea of donating his share of the artwork profit, ”and one of those things is this project.”
If you haven’t seen JK’s work, you should check out his portfolio. He does custom work for agencies and individuals that want to memorialize or commemorate people or events. He’s heavy on the law enforcement art because that is his background at the moment. He’s been the Pima County, Tucson, Ariz., Sheriff’s Dept. and Regional SWAT chaplain since 2005. So he’s been immortalizing his boys while using them for models. You might tell from the lines in his work that he studied sculpting as a student in South Korea before moving to the U.S. in 1981.
Read More
It’s the last day to enter Camelbak’s photo contest. The hammer drops at midnight tonight. Send them some photos from your deployment and you could win a Motherlode, gloves, or a water bottle. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/CamelBakTactical/app_209251325847278
Sling mounts are a funny thing, some people like love QD sockets, some hate them. Other people feel you can only trust a sling that weaves through a mount, others hate the restriction of not being able to pop the sling off. I make no attempt to sway people one way or the other, but a new company named Fortis is taking a familiar spin and going ultra light weight.
The Fortis Rail Attachment Point (RAP) is a hard coat anodized 6061 aluminum mount which affixes to a standard 1913 rail by way of an allen head screw. The entire mount, including the screw and back plate, weighs in at .35 ounces, which makes it the lightest weight QD rail mount I’ve ever come across. We got ahold of several of these, and had no problems mounting them to rails. The machining is well done, and all edges are rounded. The QD socket itself is anti-rotational, and to test how well the mount held up we locked it to a rail, then stood on the weapon while jerking on the sling. I’ve seen other QD sockets pop when this is done, but there were no such issues with any of these. The Fortis RAP takes up very little rail space, and can mount facing up on down, or side, top, or even bottom rails if you are so inclined.
Fortis is a new company and doesn’t yet have a website, but the RAP is currently available for $19.95 through Weapon Outfitters as well as other online vendors. Fortis also offers the mount with a heavy duty QD swivel, which raises the price to $29.95. The Fortis RAP is made in the USA.
Recent Comments