The Mind is the Weapon, Everything Else is a Tool

For gun nuts, there are some conversations that are never finished. For instance, a perennial topic on firearms boards is what is the best caliber for a defensive handgun. 9mm, .40 caliber and .45 ACP are all popular options. But .357 and .44 Magnum kill people just as dead.

The Lurker's is that it's all about finding the right tool for the job. Military police have far different needs than an undercover narc in Philly, to pick two examples at random.

Another perennial topic of discussion is whether the M-16 family of weapons (M-4, AR-15, et cetera) are better than the AK series of weapons. The answer is that they're both great weapons systems. The AK-47 and AK-74 are great short to medium range weapons that do not require a lot of maintenance. Both weapons are reliable manstoppers. However, everything mechanical will eventually fail, so have a backup plan when your rifle doesn't go bang when you pull the trigger, even if you're carrying an AK.

The M-16 family is lightweight and compact and accurate at long range, partly due to the few number of parts (and the direct impingement reloading method). It does require frequent maintenance, especially in dusty environments like Iraq.

The M-4 is essentially a compact M-16 and is very handy for commando type operations or close-quarters battle (CQB).

I think the M-16 series is perfect for police in the U.S., it doesn't have a lot of overpenetration when used with soft or frangible ammo. It's light and quick to point.

The M-16 with its 5.56mm round and the M-4 with its even shorter barrel lose much of their appeal in a mountainous environment like Afghanistan, to my mind. There you need a larger caliber for the longer distances. The SCAR or M-14 seem better suited.

Camo thyself

The head & neck outline is incredibly distinctive. That's why the Israelis wear Mitz'nefet on their helmets. I read that it's Hebrew for clown hat. :-)

Kit Up recently discussed the US Army's resistance to camoing one's helmet and rifle.

Luckily I'm a civvie so I can camo anything I want. And I want.

Future of Body Armor: Flexibility

Defense Tech has a post on the future of body armor with liquid body armor for limbs and a flexible ceramic product called Ceraflex.

Current ceramic plates provide Level Four protection (against rifle fire) but are fragile and can be damaged when the wearer "hits the deck" to avoid incoming fire. Current ceramic plates also may shatter on impact and not provide multi-hit protection.

Ceraflex would solve several of those problems.

DIY Camo for the Kevlar Helmet

This helmet camo is made of burlap strips, an old army-issue wool sock, and a splash of landscaping fabric (the darker brown).

I was inspired by this post about the Cabbage Patch helmet cover.

I haven't purchased a helmet cover yet (but I have added some paint camo to my helmet, so I improvised the following.


Illustration 1.1: Helmet front view



Illustration 1.2: Helmet side view



Illustration 1.3: Helmet other side view



Illustration 1.4: Helmet back view

Afghanistan, Land of a Million Alamos

Lots of interesting photos and coverage of the Afghanistan debacle at Michael Yon's website. Here's a link to where he discusses the land of a million Alamos.

The New York Reload

Been poking around at The Gun Zone and ran across this interesting tidbit about backup guns vs hideout guns that I thought I'd share.

[T]here is a considerable difference between a back-up weapon (which could even be a boot knife) and a hideout weapon...

[Let us define] a back-up pistol [as one] of the same basic caliber or size as your primary weapon a "second gun," particularly when it is carried in a holster meant for a quicker draw than a .25 or .32 auto in your hip pocket or a zippered pouch would be. Weapons which are small enough to be very well concealed (including when your coat or jacket is off) are more properly called "hideout" weapons -- and a well hidden knife still qualifies as a hideout weapon...

[Before practice the] choice of drawing the second [or backup] gun versus reloading the primary weapon [was] discussed... [During practice] I noticed... a hesitancy to drop or throw the primary weapon on the ground!

Remember the concept of "you fight like you train?" If you baby your equipment in practice, you'll probably do it in a real fight as well. If your equipment is very fragile, then you need either tougher equipment or pre-arranged protection and preservation procedures for that equipment in the field.

However, after a few people dropped their pistols from around waist level most, but not all, of the rest of the shooters followed suit. Several shooters knelt down to reduce the impact to their weapons, and then stayed down as they drew their other pistols. Very good! A couple of people bent down to place their weapons on the ground, then straightened back up to shoot; this critically wasted time. Not so very good! |Too Well Armed?|

A New York Reload, btw, is when you draw your second gun rather than reloading your first gun.

Murder most foul

Killing In The Name Of, originally uploaded by stublog.

New Ballistic Resistance Standards

Just last month, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released a new standard for body armor.

Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor NIJ Standard-0101.06 (July 2008)|PDF|

Police One has a nice collection of information regarding the new ballistic standard.

The new standards were established in response to concerns from the law enforcement community about the effectiveness of body armor currently being used by officers. NIJ developed the enhanced testing program in partnership with the National Institute of Standards Technology, Office of Law Enforcement Standards....

Matt Davis, President and CEO of Armor Express says. “The reason they came out with an updated standard is to ensure that the law enforcement community is adequately protected from the threats they face. As the threats constantly change, so does the need to have newer standards for body armor.” |New body armor standards highlight importance of 'wearing your shield' (Hannah Simons) - Police One|

As of this writing, only one company has successfully passed the new NIJ standards for ballistic protection, Safariland.

Several vests from Safariland's line have passed the new NIJ tests, according to Police Magazine.

This article by PoliceOne's Doug Wiley discusses the new NIJ tests, "the new [0101].06 testing mandates... for the first time require an artificial aging process where body armor is tumbled for 10 days at 149 degrees at 80 percent humidity..."

Baker Batshield

Officer.com has some intel on the Baker Batshield.





It seems like it would dramatically reduce mobility, it certainly turns you into a much tougher target from the front.

Covert Plate Carrier

I'm modeling the lo viz plate carrier from Blackhawk here.



The plate carrier is loaded with a pair of titanium and aramid stand-alone plates.



Here it is under a polo. Not bad concealment.



The titanium plates only weight about a pound together, so it's reasonable comfortable and cool... for body armor anyway...

Firearms Safety: Double Feed Kills SKS shooter

I own an SKS, so I was interested in a post from the Firearms blog about an SKS operator being killed by an accident at the shooting range.

Sounds like a substantial amount of contributory negligence on the shooter's part to me.

Army of One

When the zombies come, I'll have a few things waiting for them...

Lurker's new armored vest

I recently bought a new vest from Blackhawk and steel plate. The armor is designed to be "quick release" and is thus a CIRAS vest.

The plate is "stand alone", so it's designed to stop bullets and shrapnel without the addition of any "soft" armor. This plate is NOT a rifle plate, it is only designed to stop pistol bullets. Rifle plates are often made of ceramics, which aren't as durable as steel plates. Life is full of trade-offs...

I added some burlap strips to the molle front to break up the outline.




Here's the back of the vest, I haven't decided if I'm going to add burlap yet... I might just add burlap to a camelbak and/or assault pack and "marry" them together.



Here's the steel plate. It's 10 by 12 inches and weighs a good five pounds. Nobody ever said that becoming bulletresistant was fun or lightweight.

Soft Armor Redux

Artec is a new ballistic fabric on the market, it's a para-aramid like Kevlar and Twaron.

Armor Express is using Artec in their new Seraph vests. The Seraph vests are quite light according to Tactical-Life.com.

On Duty Gear has a write-up of an Armor Express shoot test.

The Seraph is considerably lighter than Armor Express' Quantum Armor. The Quantum is 1.05 pounds per square foot while the Seraph is .73 pounds per square (both in level 2 protection).

But the Seraph retails for almost twice as much, such as at the 911 Store.

My favorite RKBA propagandist: Oleg Volk

In case you haven't discovered Oleg Volk, he's armed self-defense's best propagandist, a literal poster boy for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA). (Note the holstered Glock in the linked photo.)

If this ad doesn't make a freedom-loving individual want to own a gun, nothing will.

VIP Armor by Fortier

This firm, Fortier and Company, specializes in armor for executives and bodyguards. They will custom tailor items to hold ballistic material as well. Not inexpensive, but so often, you get what you pay for.

Zombie Killing Goodness: RCI's rotating shotgun magazine

Just saw this post at the Firearms Blog about a new rotary magazine for shotguns that can provide up to 23 rounds for a converted semi-auto shotgun.

It does look heavy... but for premises defense against zombie hordes, 2 or 3 of these things lined up would be just the ticket.

Ballistic Blankets and door panels

Police 911 also sells ballistic blankets and custom-made door panels.

Stand-Alone Plates and Titanium

911 Police Store has a variety of trauma and rifle plates available for sale.

They have a variety of materials. Ceramic, polyethylene, steel and titanium are available in combination with aramid fabrics and soft rubber covers.

I like Titanium myself. Same strength as steel for half the weight, although many manufacturers seem to mix titanium and steel together.

Ballistic Combat Boots

Check out these combat boots designed to protect against land mines.

Concealable Body Armour

Fortis concealable body armour looks like it would easily concealed under a dress shirt, unfortunately I cannot find anyone in the US who sells it other than Brigade QM, who won't sell it to civilians.

Least Expensive Option: Trauma Plates

Bulletproof Me sells trauma plates that are NOT designed to stop rifles. They could stop a handgun round or a baseball bat, but definitely not a rifle.

The advantage is that they are inexpensive.

5 inch by 8 inch plates are only $15-40, depending on material type. Combine that with a Blackhawk Lo-Viz plate carrier (also $40) and you've subtle front armor for less than $100.

Alternatively, you can get 8.5 inch by 11 inch Level IIIA plates here for $90, ostensibly for a notebook.

Undercover Body Armor Options

First, a minimalist vest for $275 is available here.

Second, BulletProof Me sells a jacket with a built-in vest for roughly $700.

Third, Survival Armor produces a deep cover armor carrier here, the carrier is available at AFMO and the body armor itself is sold by GMS Tactical.

Fourth, bulletproof backpacks are available.

Been there...

Post by a medic in Iraq with some footage of used body armor.

Body Armor Acronyms

BCS - Beez Combat Systems (a firm)

BALCS - Body Armor/Load Carriage System

CIRAS - Combat Integrated Releasable Armor System |Wikipedia|

ESAPI - Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts

ICW - In Conjunction With

ICW plates are designed to be worn with soft body armor and their armor rating assumes they are used in conjunction with a certain level of soft body armor.

LBV - Load Bearing Vest

NIJ - National Institute of Justice

PPI - Protective Products International (a firm)

RAV - Releasable Assault Vest

RBR - RBR Tactical (a firm)

RRV - Rhodesian Reconnaissance Vest (A style that carries a front plate and molle straps on the front)

SAPI - Small Arms Protective Inserts

XSAPI - Improved Small Arms Protective Inserts

N.B. XSAPI is more a military design spec more than an industry standard at this time. See this June, 2007 Military.com article and this November, 2008 Defense Review article for more.

Stand Alone Body Armor Plates

With body armor, there's always a trade-off between mobility, comfort and protection.

Some operators prefer using plates only without soft body armor:

First, from someone who claims to be a combat veteran.

Originally Posted by SW-Shooter:
Does anyone actually use these without the ballistic armor? I just can't figure out why you would.

Because if you have the right plates, they do the lion's share of the work at stopping stuff, and the ballistic panels are basically just padding. Nice, but unneccessary with the right plates. I can speak only for myself and my little band of happy cutthroats, but...

Pounds may equal pain, but bulk is something I've found to fatigue me more in the long run, because padding = bulk, which means I have to force simple movements and full range of motion is a freakin' pipedream. Less bulk = more mobility, and I prefer having a chance to get the hell out of the way BEFORE letting the plate get tested by a bullet smack. Mobility hurts less, and fatigue brought on by bulk and weight further reduces what mobility the two allow. Admittedly, it's a gamble in threat areas where shrapnel is a possibility, but is that your environment?

I don't use ballistic panels. I've taken a hit in the front plate with a Dragunov round, and an AK shot later the same day, so I already know that stand-alone plates work without the padding, and mobility is roughly the same plates-only as it is with panels-only, whereas plates & panels = stupid slow. It felt like the Jolly Green Giant hit me with a ball-peen hammer (D'OH!) and the bruise was positively HDTV-color, but that's any hit you take.

I can imagine a lot of folks tossing their hands up in horror at the thought of plates with no ballistic cloth, and I understand why, but it works with stand-alone plates. Which may justify somebody's "use-in-conjunction-with" plate purchase
__________________
Light a man a fire, you keep him warm for a night.

Set a man on fire, you keep him warm for the rest of his life.

|Link|

Next, word of mouth from an airsoft forum that SEALs prefer to wear just plates (not even a helmet).

You know, with most SF it's really a matter of opinion. I spent some down time chatting with a force rec. guy and he did gripe about a narrow selection. I belive his exact words were: "We get like to pick out most of our loadout, but if you want to be able to f-ing converse or whatever, then be a SEAL." He also said that on the ops they ran with the SEALs, that most of them were wearing 5.11 pants,underarmor tshirt, and plate carrier bc of the heat. no soft armour vest, no helmet. LOL, I think that's what he meant by his previously mentioned statement. Anyways, just had to write. It's always cool when you meet up with a SF guy still serving. |Link|

Finally, some random guy who uses steel plates only as an option for low profile armor:

FWIW,
I use steel plates for concealment. I would rather have a heavy set-up than walk around being that guy.

Steel is not optimal by any means if you plan on getting in a gun fight, but for low-pro stuff, it's less obvious and easier on the wallet. |Link|

Dyneema Video Testing

Anything can be staged, but this is an interesting video purporting to torture test Dyneema vests by a Finnish company, Combat Protective Equipment |AT|SR|. They burn the vests for 30 & 60 seconds before shooting them with handgun rounds. One test involved 30 rounds from an H&K MP-5.

They also shoot their tactical vests with 7.62 NATO rounds (from a G3 or G3 clone I believe).

Bullet Resistant Fabrics

There are basically 2 types of bullet resistant materials currently.

The first class of fibers are "aromatic polyamides," the two terms merge into the portemanteau of aramid (See Wikipedia).

The other type of fabric is polyethylene (or simply PE). Bullet resistant polyethylenes have high molecular weight. Low molecular weight PE is used in all sorts of "wicking" fabrics.

PE is generally sensitive to sunlight and heat. Bullet resistant panels are typically housed in "carriers" made of nylon and cotton that help protect the panels from UV and heat.

One new class of PE fabric is Dyneema. Dyneema is "ultra high molecular weight polyethylene" or UHMWPE (See Wikipedia). Dyneema is a very lightweight and flexible bulletproof fabric that floats, so it is good for naval operations.

Aramids, on the other hand, have excellent heat resistance. Kevlar and Twaron are chemically similar to Nomex (the material used to protect NASCAR drivers from flame).

There are 2 different ways of manufacturing aramids, however: woven and laminated. One example of a laminated aramid is Goldflex. The fibers are essentially sealed in a matrix, which creates a more comfortable (and less bulky) fabric.

According to this forum post, laminate aramids are not as strong as woven aramids:

Vests with Goldflex or any other hybrid laminate materials have a record of deterioration which begins almost immediately after manufacture. This deterioration is accelerated by water/humidity/perspiration (vests get hot!) and has been responsible for issued vests failing to stop ballistic threats on many documented occasions. Contact shots have also been known to burn through them (brand new vests) like butter. Stick with 100% Kevlar or Twaron which have a proven record of working after decades of wear under most environments. Kevlar and Twaron are a little heavier and are more stiff but you may as well wear something that works. Another advantage is that Kevlar/Twaron can often be found at a lower price since it is considered "older" technology.

A good resource for comparing the two types of fabrics is the Handbook of Composites avaialble thru Google Books.

MANPADS - Sounds like a diaper

MANPADS are man-portable air-defense systems, like Stinger missiles. According to this tidbit, the Somali pirates may have acquired them, and they are game changers.

The Press Trust of India reported an Indian Navy statement of concern that the Somali pirates now have acquired shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles [or man-portable air-defense](MANPADs). If confirmed, the connections and resources that would enable Somalis to acquire MANPADs from the international gray arms market would signify they are a much more organized and serious threat than simple Somali clansmen trying to provide for their families.

Of greater tactical significance, the use of rapid response teams flown in helicopters has been key tactic responsible for putting the pirates on the defensive. MANPADs would increase the risks and tend to neutralize that modern advantage. |Nightwatch, March 23, 2009|

Stingers helped drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan and they may well affect how international navies deal with these pirates.

Are Surface Navies Obsolete? Ship-killing ICBMs say YES!

According to this Defense Review article, the Chinese have adapted ICBM's to track and destroy naval units with conventional explosives.

Even if true, that doesn't necessarily mean that surface navies are obsolete, just much less useful against the Chinese and their client states.

Drum Fed Shotguns: AA-12

From Futureweapons. The AA-12 would be terrifying at close range.

The 12 gauge grenades they mention later in the segment would be bad ass.

Mag Fed Shotguns: Saiga

Saiga shotguns are Russian made and fed with a magazine and would definitely be some sweet zombie killing machines, especially these models with a lot of gunsmithing refinements from R & R Racing.

Here's a music video of people enjoying a short-barreled Saiga shotgun.

Personal Defense Weapons: P90 Review

Get Some!

Historical Weapons: MP40 vs. Kar 98