Somebody finally figured out a way to keep dust from entering the M4 through the magazine well. Tango Down’s Advanced Reliability Combat magazine has a special lip that seals up the well when locked into place.

A squishy gasket called a “sand seal” shuts out the even the finest dust found in Afghanistan, said Tango Down president Jeff Cahill at Shot Show 09.
But that’s not the only new thing about this polymer magazine.
“It’s a modular design that has never been done before,” Cahill said.
It’s made up of two parts. The portion that goes into the magazine well is straight while the exposed portion is curved. The two parts are bonded together, so they won’t come apart, Cahill promises
The design eliminates friction that occurs when other continuously-curved polymer magazines are inserted into the straight well.
This lets the magazine drop smoothly from the weapon when you push the magazine release button.
The ARC mag also has no removable floor plate for increased strength. It also means you can’t take it apart.
For cleaning, Tango Down has included slots in the follower to let any dirt escape. You soak it in hot, soapy water,  rinse it and let it drain.
The new magazine is the result of four years of work with U.S. SOCOM to develop a magazine for the Special Operations Combat Assault Rifle. SCAR was designed to use the same size magazines as M4.
It will be available in late January for $29.95 each. There will also be a civilian version, without the gasket, for plinking on the range. It’s $24.95. The mags will come in desert tan, dark earth brown, foliage green and clear.

 

Wiley X eye pro are popping up in lots of places other than the battlefield. At the Wiley X booth, a monitor played video of sports stars and celebrities – including William Shatner – wearing various designs of the company’s high velocity protection, ANSI rated eyewear.

Representatives at Shot Show displayed some of their designs for the ladies, including extra-large, Elton John/Paris Hilton pink frames with names like “Lacey,” “Ashley,” and “Dalila.” The only one I could imagine wearing (if I HAD to wear “girl” glasses) was the P17NP. Not too butch, not too sweet.

If you happen to check out the Wiley X website, and you watch the commercial of the stud photojournalist making pictures under fire without any body armor on…we’re not all like that. I’ll take the body armor, the Kevlar – and the eye pro.

The boot has an eight-inch shaft and comes in women’s sizes as well (even the half sizes!) They retail for approximately $155 through Source One Distributors (S.O.D.), come in colors like OD and desert tan, and are made in America.

The solar panels fold down to roughly the size of a Trapper Keeper and under ideal lighting conditions will charge the 9450 RALS in less than eight hours.

Manufacturers take note – if you can make your products lighter, more portable, more durable and not to mention multi-purpose – you might please a whole lot of people.

Both helmets come with Ops-Core’s own Occ-Dial adjustable fit band and Head-Loc chinstrap, FAST-Arcs side mounted accessory rails with a night vision lanyard system that holds the optic to your face with two bungie cords, and Velcro in all the right spots for battery holders, fireflys, and what ever else you need on your head.

MSRPs are $593 and $882 for the Bump and Ballistic, respectively. Get them in Foliage Green, Urban Tan, Black, Mutli-Cam and MARPAT.

 

Made in the USA eyewear kingpin Smith has stepped into the tactical arena today with the launch of the Smith Optics Elite Division. The line is a handful of eye-wrappers from goggles to casual looking shades with ballistic protection.

The Aegis is positioned in the middle of the lineup as a full-view, tapered eyeshield. The trick bits include a mechanical lens changing system that uses two levers (see the pics) to positively lock the lens in place for a fast, frustration-free lens change. The tapered arms should slide under a set of ear-muffs at the range. Cost is about $85. More snaps from the Show Floor after the break.

 

McNett Tactical’s new Rank Away spray-on odor eliminator is designed to use on stinky tactical gear, boots, gloves and anything else you have been wearing for months on end.
The secret is in the silver. Silver controls bacteria. Cool.

The company whipped the concoction after soldiers asked if McNett had a solution to gear funk, Jessica Skowlund, sales executive for McNett Tactical.
“They were like ‘dude my gear has some serious rank to it. I need to get the odor out,’” she said at Shot Show 09.
You just spray it on and wait 12-24 hours for it to cure. The more you use it, the more the silver builds up and better controls odor, she said.
Rank Away costs $5.99 for a 4 ounce bottle.

Dual Release Buckle: The DR Buckle is a slap-on-the-forhead simple mod of a side release buckle that uses a cord to retract the buckle wings inside the housing. You pull the cord and the buckle releases. It turns the quick, two-finger buckle squeeze into an even faster pull-and-go. Since it uses gross motor skills it should be easier to operate in stressful situations. Costs about $0.30-$0.40. See and read about the FastMag and Gillie-TexTactical Link after the break.

FastMag: The FastMag is a stackable M4/M16 mag carrier that uses a variable tension clamshell design to hold mags right-side-up or upside-down on your PALS webbing. The grip tension can be adjusted by the placement or removal of a large elastic strap that runs around the case. While it doesn’t seem possible, it holds loaded 30-round mags upside-down securely for combat ops. Costs about $29.

Gillie-TexTactical Link: The Gillie-TexTactical Link is a non-inrared-reflective plastic carabiner. It replaces those metal ‘biners that negate all the effort and money Uncle Sam and PEO Soldier spent on uniform items to reduce your IR signature on the battlefield. The Tactical Link can hold about 200 lbs. of accessories and ITW made it clear that its not for anything other than holding gear. Costs about $4.

 

The Maxi Field Planner holds 8.5 x 11″ waterproof calendar pages for all the days in the year. The outer cover is made of Cordura nylon and has a Velcro name tape strip. There is a zip front pocket and a carrying handle. It comes in Black, Tan or ACU digital pattern.

The inside of the cover has multiple pockets and pen slots. The Maxi Planner has been available since November. But all this rugged organization will cost you about $200.

The Armed Forces Uniform Repair Kit gives you a variety of patches from 3 x 3″ to 5 x 7″. Place the patch over the hole, rub with the back of a spoon (or a rock, or the MRE “something”) and 45 seconds later you are ready to move on. The patch is ready to be washed 24 hours later.

The fabric is flame resistant and can be used on NOMEX, NYCO and DEFENDER M, and comes in ABU, MARPAT and ACU.

Oh yeah – they have seat patches as well. Thank goodness.

Blackheart claims the 8180, at six pounds, has the same hang time as five 5590s. And the 8180 takes up far less space than five 5590s.

Zinc-air batteries have been around for a while in hearing aids and a few vehicles, and the military is not a stranger to them. With the correct adapters they will power ASIPs, SATCOM/HFEI, even your old SINGCARS.

When you are out on a mission with 40+ pounds of gear hanging off of you, it might be nice to have little less weight and lot more power.

The Ultimate Survival Technologies Sparkie weighs about three times less than the popular Blast Match and is also more compact.

The spring-loaded striker stores inside the orange or tan handle and pops out with a light squeeze.

It creates a descent amount of sparks when pushed down with a finger or pressed against pushed against a hard surface.

Sparkie retails for 14.99. The compact size is very handy, but it’s only good for 100 strikes. For about $8 bucks more, you get 10,000 strikes with the Blast Match. Hmmmmmm.

 

Knights Manufacturing Company has figured out how the iPhone can help snipers become more efficient at their deadly art.
Yep. The ingenious iPhone, which can play videos, display pictures and text can now help snipers calculate their long range shots on the hightech touch screen.

Knights Manufacturing Company recently created a shot calculator program to work with Apple’s new iPhone.
“I think the future is going to be in finding better ways to acquire targets,” said C. Reed Knight, CEO of Knights Manufacturing, at Shot Show 09. “It’s our first attempt at a smart rifle.”
You can buy the Bullet Flight program off of iTunes for $11.99. Once it’s downloaded to your iPhone, you have to program in what type of rifle you and scope you are using.
Then you enter details about the shot such as range to target and wind conditions and the iPhone does the rest.
It tells you how to adjust your scope to bring your shot on target.
Knights Manufacturing is also working on a prototype mount and protective case so you can attach your iPhone to your rifle. Both should be available by March and cost about $100.

Strider Knives has designed a new bayonet it hopes to market to the military. It resembles the basic lines of the issue bayonet, but like all Striders it’s extremely rugged.

The blade is CPM S30V, a popular high-carbon stainless steel. The tang extends all the way to the latch plate for increased strength.

Strider designed the bayonet for Zero Tolerance Knives, which will market it as the ZT Bayonet D9. It should be available in the military supply system and have an NSN by June, said Duane Dwyer, co-owner of Strider Knives, at Shot Show 09.
Dwyer also said that the goal of the effort is to eventually win a contract to replace the current bayonet. For those who want to buy it, it should cost under $200.

The grand daddy of flashlights everywhere gave us a peek at their newest headlamp. The tiny Trailfinder Micro is the smallest of Energizer’s headlamps. It’s about as thick as a fingertip up front and the battery compartment, around back, isn’t much bigger than the AA battery it contains.

It’s waterproof and sleek and has three functions. It’s got a button for max brightness, 60 lumens, hold the button down and it ramps up or down to any brightness setting between 100% to 6% of its max output. The other button activates a red light. It runs for 2 hours on max, a lot longer if you use it dimmed down. Specs and another pic after the jump.

Model: HDL1AA0DE
Power source: 1 AA
Lamp: White Cree LED + 2 additional LEDs
Modes: 3 -White,Adjustable Brightness from 100% to 6%, red
Runtime: 2 Hours
Max Output: 60 Lumens white light
Weight: 58g without battery
Dimensions: 3.75 x 1.25 inches

If you’ve got the cash, now you too can have a street-ready version of the weapon special operators will soon take to combat. In late December, FNH USA LLC began selling the first production models of its new civilianized Special Operations Combat Assault Rifle. “Everybody wanted it,” Tommy Thacker, product manager for FNH USA, said Jan. 15 at Shot Show ‘09. “It’s a big thing.”
FNH officials said that the company would likely introduce a civilian version of the 7.62mm SCAR sometime next year but no date has been set yet, Thacker said. The only real differences between the new 16S and its military big brother: it doesn’t have the full automatic option and the three separate quick-change barrel system.

The SCAR 16S semiautomatic rifle is chambered for 5.56mm and features a 16.25-inch barrel. U.S. Special Operations Command selected FN in 2004 to develop two versions of the SCAR to replace its M4 carbines and other M16 series weapons. In addition to the 5.56mm version, there is also a heavier military version in 7.62mm.

It does have the six-position adjustable stock that also folds against the right side of the weapon for compact carry. The sights, the rail system and overall handling are also the same. The 16S is also equipped with a special muzzle compensator that greatly reduces recoil, Thacker said. “There is no muzzle climb,” he said describing how the shooter feels “straight recoil” to make the weapon more controllable.

The 16S weighs 7 pounds and measures 37.5 inches long overall with stock fully extended and 28 inches long with the stock folded. It retails for about $2,700, but because it is so new, some have sold for it for more than $9,000. “What they are selling for now is whatever anybody is willing to pay,” Thacker said.