Safariland is the company for duty holsters. They probably equip more police officers than any other holster maker in the world. They’ve produced concealment holsters before, but they’ve always seemed like an afterthought in the grand scheme of things. That’s until now, and the Safariland Schema.
The Schema is a low-profile IWB rig aimed at the appendix market. It’s currently being produced for firearms from Glock, Shadow Systems, Taurus, SIG Sauer, and Springfield Armory. The main focus is on the smaller guns, and my example is for the SIG P365XL. The Schema is a different take on the minimalist holster. There are cuts placed here, and there are done to maximize the minimization of the holster.
What you end up with is the lowest profile possible on an IWB holster. We’ve seen the traditional IWB rigs, and we’ve seen those zany, fairly unsafe minimalist rigs. This falls in between those two and offers you a minimalist holster that doesn’t sacrifice safety or support.
The Schema – A Quick Peak
The Schema is an all-polymer design with a single clip. It comes with a claw that helps with AIWB concealment and pushes the holster back toward the body. Safariland designed the Schema with optics in mind and doesn’t get in the way of my big ole Shield RMSx.
The single clip allows you to adjust the cant as well as the height of the holster very easily. Untighten an Allen key, make your adjustments and tighten it back down. Not a whole lot to it, and sometimes simplicity is good. Sorry to say that you lefties are left out once more, and it’s right-handed shooters only.
Strapping It On
The Schema pops on and off nicely. A hook under the clip secures it to your belt and once attached, it’s locked on and doesn’t move. The holster blends in seamlessly and disappears under your shirt and pants. Small guns tend to do that, and the Schema does it well. Appendix can be tricky in the comfort department.
Like any appendix holster, you aren’t likely to forget you are wearing it. However, it doesn’t poke and prod unnecessarily. The little rig clings tight to the body without rubbing you wrong. I had a little fear that things would get pinched between the gun and the skeletonized portion of the holster, but my fears were unfounded.
In Action with the Schema
With a little help from the Mantis Laser Academy, I got a good mix of both live and dry fire reps in place. The Schema does allow you to get a nice full grip on the gun and to draw with complete and total confidence. It’s easy to get a natural firing position prior to drawing, which helps you get that good, solid presentation.
Of course, I can’t not have a complaint. I’d be able to carry this holster a lot more often if the clip was tuckable. Seeing as how it’s detachable, it seems like Safariland could produce upgraded options in the near future, but who knows? A tuckable clip would allow me to carry it during the day job and not just when I’m off work.
A New Age
It took Safariland long enough to really enter the concealed carry market. The Schema marks a new turn for Safariland, and it’s an odd turn, to say the least. It’s a handy holster that keeps up Safariland’s reputation for quality and consistency. It’s a little different and a great way for Safariland to enter the concealment market wholeheartedly. At 40 bucks, it’s a tough holster to beat.
The Sig Sauer P365 X Macro with Holosun EPS and Streamlight TLR-7A
The Sig Sauer P365 X Macro entered the market as a fairly radical departure from what the P365 was originally, a micro hi-cap 9mm.
In that small pistols place we have a new compact. It’s a medium frame pistol with higher than average capacity and a slimmer profile than we’re used to seeing. It’s approximately the size of a G19, P10C, or P320C, but then slimmed. It takes about the same space as the Springfield Armory 9mm EMP 1911.
The slimmest and most comfortably carriable 17 rounds on the market, along with the now standard ability to mount common lights and red dots.
Rethinking the mid-size pistol, the return of the “compact”
The X Macro is competing in the space of the pistols I mentioned above, the Glock 19, CZ P10C, and Sig’s own P320C. These traditional compacts have been the core of popular carry guns for years, decades in some instances.
In a ‘shocking’ bit of marketing, Sig is borrowing on their popular micro-9’s name to drive attention. This is a compact pistol, although they have several compacts already in their catalog. Even before we even talk about competing brands the P229, SP2022, and M11-A1 join the P320C models in occupying the space the X Macro looks to inhabit also.
GAME CHANGER?
Sort of?
It’s the only native slim 17 round frame at the moment in a modern striker pistol. The G48+Shield Mags and Hellcat Pro are 15rd guns. The Masada Slim can take a native 17rd magazine (Jericho) but its frame and grip are 13rd length.
This means that, for the moment, the P365 X Macro industry leads as the smallest/slimmest 17 round frame. Also one of a handful of 17 round capable pistols that have reduced dimensions. It is giving us duty pistol capacity while reimagining compact frames as more than just a slightly shorter grip and slide. Manufacturers have finally targeted width as a reduced dimension without resorting to single stack.
A P365 in a Wilson Combat grip module and 12 round mags sitting atop the X Macro
The most dramatic departure from the hi-cap micro-9’s the P365 X Macro exhibits is not in the capacity, it is in the frame design. Extending magazines isn’t new. We’ve taken that to its logically absurd extremes for awhile now.
Ruger LCP extended magazine.
Returning to a conventionally railed frame and making the frame thicker in a few spots, the trigger guard most notably, compared to slimmer legacy P365 frames steps it back into the mid-size/traditional compact pistol field. We are returning the expected features found on traditional compact pistols. The interchangeable backstrap inserts are another legacy feature from the full and mid-size category and they are back also.
The pistol can comfortably mount a TLR-7A (or any light that size) and work in compatible holsters. The large backstrap fills out the grip in the way smaller P365 and P365X grips couldn’t. I purchased the built up WC grip for my P365 for that reason, it is unnecessary on the X Macro.
Why Slimmer?
There have been good ways to manage a full size or midsize pistol and a light, including an X300, but those options are still sizeable in IWB holsters. Those pistols and ancillaries take up substantial carry real estate, I would hesitate to call them truly comfortable as compared to manageable. The light and red dot sight do necessarily increase the gun’s footprint.
Even using smaller lights the large frames are… well… large. The P320 AXG is a large, smoothly actioned, heavy pistol and it shoots like it.
I’ve carried it in a Floodlight, it works. Exceptionally. But nothing makes the pistol itself smaller. It was manageable, not comfortable. We don’t need to rehash the old saw about a pistol being comforting and not comfortable either, its a silly argument as humans require comfort to optimize. Comfort lowers the chances of fatigue, injury, and distraction. Comfort is a component of safety.
Now slimmer pistols, slimmer lights, in complementingly svelte holsters are going to have their say on that space requirement moving forward. The reason pistols like the G43 and S&W Shield dominated the carry market upon their introduction and sold like mad was comfort and convenience, now the X Macro is offering those qualities at a 17rd capacity.
I don’t see this as changing the game, we are not inventing comfortably framed pistol sizes, lights, optics, or compensators here.
The P365 X Macro and its peers have nicely begun the full optimizing of the compact pistol and subcompact pistol by tackling that trickiest dimension of width. With that we will likely witness a shift as full size pistols maintain their popularity in their roles, but the traditional compacts and subcompacts, G19 and G26 as examples, will be ceding ground to the new compacts and new subcompacts.
The G26 hasn’t been spoken about with much seriousness in years, fading to an ‘ I already own it and it works well enough’ state of existence like an old small pickup truck you have no reason to sell.
The three dimensionally reduced pistols will overtake the older compacts as the dominate designs for carry. We will witness the legacy compact fade in popularity, we have already in many respects, the way we’ve seen older rifle styles fade to obsolescence. With pistols it will very likely be a quicker rate of turnover. Those physical dimensions directly influence how comfortably carriable a pistol is, therefore they impact someone’s daily carry habit.
A rifle is not a contact point for most of us everyday, to say nothing of continuous contact. Whether your rifle is wearing a rail designed last month or last decade, or a rail at all, whether it is free floated or not, none of those will greatly impact your daily comfort with the rifle. The new standards for pistol sizes can and will influence daily comfort, that comfort/performance equation has driven the dimensional and capacity race over the last several years.
We saw the market go down to the mini-380’s, then the micro-9’s, and now swinging back into the “hi-cap” micro-9 or slim-9 category. The .30 Super Carry may also get its say in the space. People who carry daily are more likely to adopt a change for their daily comfort. People who are getting into carry are more likely to pick these newer comfort centric options initially. It will be the long list of people who occasionally carry, or have settled comfortably onto a pistol, that are least likely to be moved to adopt a newer gun at this point in time.
This is where the P365 X Macro is ‘changing the game’ as it were, though I think that is too much the buzzword, it is continuing our transition to the new three dimensional era of compact pistols and I believe it has set the standard to match for the new mid-size on most things.
Getting it right
Both 17+1, optic equipped (Holosun EPS) and light equipped pistols.
I’m not going to wax hyperbolic here about the P365 X Macro, it shoots.
I pull the trigger, the round does down range, the pistol recoils and gets ready to do it again. And again… and again. The P365 X Macro has continued that trend every time I ask it too and I’ve been carrying it since mid-August.
The longer recoil spring assembly and the compensated slide make this a pleasant pistol to shoot, especially compared to the legacy P365. Splits were notably faster and the recoil transfer is notably less. The littler P365X with its shorter recoil assembly is snappier, a trade for the size savings. The P365 X Macro exhibits very comfortable recoil characteristics, inhabiting that middle ground of recoil impulse where only a significant increase in mass of the frame and slide are going to tame it by any further noticeable degree.
I carry and shoot alloy framed guns because of the smoothness in operation and the recoil characteristics. I carry small frames and polymer frames for size and weight savings. Features that push the feel of small polymer frame guns back toward their larger alloy framed family members make me happy. The X Macro makes me happy.
Optic mounting comes standard, pick any slim profile dot. The light rail handles a smaller frame light well and makes deciding to forego a light to save on weight and space a much less pressing concern for the carry gun. You can ask of the P365 X Macro almost anything its larger sibling or competitors can do and it will do it.
That is all very well done.
To do better – The critique list
A new pistol with issues? Perish the thought, right?
No, the P365 X Macro isn’t perfect. My model has perhaps the most looney toons feeling trigger I have ever pulled through. It isn’t heavy, but it feels like pulling on a lever labeled ACME and watching the catapult launch Wile E. into orbit rather than the predictable sear release that my P320 has. This might just need breaking in. This might need me swapping a few bits. It isn’t a great trigger, it is a functional one.
But even with that the gun is flat and accurate. Your trigger experience may vary or it may match.
The second issue is magazine finish, I have never met a pair of mags who so desperately wanted to be Autumn basic and deck out in orange. I know they’re new and it was a rush to get them going, but the regular 12 rounders seem much move averse to surface rusting than these new 17’s that shipped with mine. This could be an issue specific to when my magazines got their finish finished. I’m ordering half a dozen more when they come available.
Magazine finish didn’t seem to fight rust and wore though rather quickly and trigger press kinesthetics are, at best, functional. No issues on function. The Holosun EPS Carry is working superbly with it.
This is my EDC gun, it will remain my EDC gun for the foreseeable future. I recently dropped the TLR-7A and went with a reduced profile holster from PHLster, however carrying with the light was not cumbersome either and remains a good option for those wanting or needing it.
One final point of note for this, and noted for other pistols wearing a comp or with a comp. Specifically on shooting from close retention, you have gas being redirected up and out on a short barrel and slide. This means shooting next to your body is going to gas you, no getting around it. You’re going to catch some of the burning powder and hot gas if the muzzle is near your body. This point of note for a specific shooting condition set needs to be accounted for so a buyer can plan accordingly. Some folks like comps. Some folks do not on “fighting” pistols. This one is comped and shoots very pleasantly because of that.
Final final note, wait for a decent price on the P365 X Macro. PSA gets them and sells them for $799.99, this isn’t worth paying double that on an auction just to have right now. It isn’t.
Unless it is because its your money, you can’t take it with you. Do what you want.
Final
The P365 X Macro is a perfect carry pistol, if you want a mid-sized 17+1 pistol with a compensator, optic, and capable of adding a light or laser right out of the box. It isn’t the only carry pistol. It won’t be the carry pistol of choice if any feature on it doesn’t fit your use case. There are other excellent options from other excellent manufacturers. There are cheaper options, smaller options, larger options, heavier and lighter options.
But after all those considerations were considered and the options optioned, I stuck with this one.
DRGO member Mark Hamill, MD recently let us know about his team’s newly published paper on how firearm sales across the states correlate with crime and murder. (Short version—they don’t.) Specifically, “Legal Firearm Sales at State Level and Rates of Violent Crime, Property Crime, and Homicides” will be published in the January 20023 edition of the Journal of Surgical Research. It should be available online through November.
Dr. Hamill is an associate professor of surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha specializing in critical care and trauma surgery. Yes, he’s one of those physicians who put back together victims of “gun violence”. Yet he didn’t get infected by the public health virus and has been looking at gun laws, the consequences of gunfire, and the realities of gun ownership and gun carrying in themselves.
Hamill and his co-authors do a similar service in their new study showing that there is no “association between increased lawful firearm sales and rates of crime or homicide.” These are not casual conclusions or simple correlations based on artificially constructed controls, like so much agenda-driven work that tries to undercut the value of gun ownership. Hamill et al stay reality based, using consistent, deep statistical analysis based purely on solid official statistics compiled over decades, state by actual state.
Please read the abstract (and the paper, if you can access it via your subscription or institutional affiliation). This is the kind of work that is incontrovertible no matter what your politics. It underlines the fact that the thesis that restricting legal gun use would reduce crime, death or injuries is null.
There is reason to believe that privately keeping and bearing arms as protected by the Constitution really reduces those tragedies. But all that is necessary is to prove that doing so doesn’t cause or increase them, which many studies like these, expert panels and good surveys support. With no societal utility for infringement, there’s no case to be made.
With good work like this, Dr. Hamill risks being tarred by the “mainstream” medical and media establishment as beyond the pale, the same neighborhood Dr. John Lott, Jr. resides in their imaginations. It is not a comfortable place to live, but the integrity and quality of their work makes such ostracism a badge of honor. Like Lott, Hamill has the courage of his convictions and the strength to stand tall by them. Thank you, Mark!
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— DRGO Editor Robert B. Young, MD is a psychiatrist practicing in Pittsford, NY, an associate clinical professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
I’ve developed a growing interest in the mouse gun concept, the little calibers. Calibers like .22LR, 25 ACP, 32 ACP, and similar little fellas. It’s easy to find some solace in the realm of 9mm and even .380 ACP, but maybe there is a space for mouse guns. To be fair, if you asked me if I wanted to carry a pocket-sized .380 or a pocket-sized .32 I might pick the .32 ACP.
Less recoil and more confidence in my ability to hit the target might overwhelm ballistic capability. The more I think about and invest in mouse guns, the more I’ve learned they have a place in some situations, although they remain a niche option.
Have a Decent Reason
Why would you carry a mouse gun in an era where the P365 exists? It’s a good question, and if you can’t answer that, then you might not need one. If your answer is it’s because it’s convenient, I might ask you to reevaluate. If you are going to settle for something in the mouse gun category, then have a good reason.
Mine is because sometimes I just can’t accessibly carry a larger weapon. Most of the time, this is due to how I’m required to be dressed for my day. I also know that when I’m dressed in this manner, my likelihood of encountering danger is lower than average. I can accept the trade-off in ballistic capability.
Understand the Downsides
Handguns, in general, tend to be weak weapons. They are terrible fight stoppers, and when you step down to a mouse gun, you need to recognize that problem. Be realistic with your expectations, and understand your weapon’s capabilities.
It’s likely harder to shoot and harder to shoot well. It’s smaller, so there is less to grab, and capacity is probably low. At the same time, these rounds are weaker. Recognizing the downsides is kind of like being an alcoholic. You have to admit it first.
Be Ammo Picky
Oh boy, you have to be picky with your ammunition Shot placement is on you as the shooter. However, your ammo has a job. It needs to penetrate deep enough to reach something vital. The standard most commonly accepted by the defensive firearms industry is 12 inches through properly calibrated ballistic gel.
A lot of these mouse gun rounds tend to be fairly poor penetrators, doubly so if they are jacketed hollow points and are designed to expand. A lot of the knowledge you apply to purchasing standard defensive ammunition goes out the window with mouse guns. You might need an FMJ to reach the distance needed to just down a bad guy.
Research your caliber and specific load, and on top of that, research how that load performs out of the barrel length of your gun. As a defensive shooter, you need to know how it performs and understand it.
Reevaluate Your Skills
I’m not a pro shooter, but you give me something P365XL-sized with a red dot, and I’m pretty sharp when I need to be. You start shrinking that platform, and my skills seemingly vanish. Not vanish entirely, but at least significantly deteriorate. A smaller gun is harder to shoot, and you shouldn’t rely on the skills you’ve built with a bigger gun.
Use time standards and make sure you understand your skills with your mouse gun. You might pass the Dickens drill with a Glock 19, but doing the same with a Beretta 21A might be a bit more challenging. You might need to adjust your expectations and plan around that.
The Mighty Mouse Gun
Little guns haven’t gotten a ton of love in the last few years. It’s tough to justify when micro-compacts have taken over the landscape. Even so, they are not entirely useless. They have their place, and I’d love to see some more modern 32 ACPs. That might not be on anyone’s docket, but I can dream. Carry a mouse gun and carry it confidently. Just be realistic in your expectations and the reality of the mouse gun.
If you’re unfamiliar with the capability of a flintlock rifle, which was a common arm employed by American militiamen in the Revolutionary War, Flannel Daddy’s video above is a fantastic intro. The founding fathers understood its capabilities, and that it had advantages over the smoothbore muskets the British Army employed, particularly in the accuracy department. To wit: The founding fathers enthusiastically employed better, more capable, privately owned guns than were the military standard of the day.
Addressing the argument we’re dancing around, if you’re unfamiliar with it, bless you and your sheltered life: Anti-gunners will often propose banning any gun that wasn’t known by/available to the founding fathers. Ignoring the obvious absurdity of the argument that the inalienable rights written down by the founding fathers only extend to the technology available at the time (otherwise the internet, telephones, fax machines, and ballpoint pens would not be covered by the 1A), let’s take a look at this commonplace argument and how to counter it when encountered in the wild. AR-15’s certainly didn’t exist in the 18th century, but that point alone does not actually mean anything, particularly when considering the context of the era the founding fathers lived and wrote the Bill of Rights in.
First of all, the Continental Army grew from citizen militias which were as old as the colonies themselves. Most colonies required all able-bodied (usually those capable of strenuous physical activity, aged 16-60) men to keep, and be ready to bear arms in action with little notice. They were mustered periodically to practice functioning as a paramilitary unit, and were often the primary line of defense against native raiders. They were considered a local extension of the British Army, and were expected to have arms of modern military quality. After all, they were often deployed alongside the army (the most modern and powerful one in the world, at that), and needed to be similarly capable and equipped. The founding fathers knew this, many viscerally as they had been members of, or fought alongside the colonial militias in the British Army.
By the time of the “Boston Crisis” of 1774, American militias had over a century of combat experience. Particularly in New England, militias had by then developed a specialized branch of younger (typically <25y/o), enthusiastic, reliable, and more highly trained men, with arms supplied by the government, who were expected arm up and turn out with “a minute’s notice”. They were hand picked by regular militia commanders, essentially the first specialized American elite military unit, appropriately named “Minutemen”. By the American Revolution, they accounted for about a quarter of the New England militia’s roster, and were among the first to fight. Does this sound like a force that would turn down an AR-15 if you handed them one? We don’t think so, and we suspect the founding fathers wouldn’t either.
The militia, and the Minutemen in particular, employed tactics considered “ungentlemanly” by the standards of warfare of the day. Anything besides moving over open terrain in massed formations was considered terrorism, and the American irregular forces that made up the bulk of the early American revolutionary military took great pains to employ those “terroristic” tactics. The greater range and accuracy of their rifles meant that they did not need to fire in massed volleys to hit the enemy, and could even target NCOs and officers to disrupt their more numerous, and often better trained foe.
It should also be noted that especially early on, there were no government stores of small arms, artillery, or warships. Significant portions of the Continental Navy were converted merchant ships, armed with privately purchased and owned cannons, commissioned as privateers. The same goes for the cannons and small arms used by the Army.
Lastly, repeating arms absolutely existed during the founding fathers’ day. From the Puckle Gun (which makes an AR-15 look like a .22), to the pepperbox pistol, and the 22-shot Girardoni Air Rifle, capable of bringing down large game.
So to bury this argument once and for all, let’s take a look at what history has to say about what the founding fathers would have thought of an AR-15, shall we? We have: -A nation at war with privately owned arms of all kinds, from swords and pistols to cannons and warships. -A preference for top-of-the-line rifled flintlocks that exceed the capabilities of the British Brown Bess musket. -An understanding of repeating arms, and period employment of such by hunters, the Austrian Army, and even Thomas Jefferson himself. -An appreciation for ingenuity, engineering, and leveraging every possible advantage over the enemy to achieve unlikely success, even if that makes some label them “terrorists”.
We think you’re capable of looking at the above and coming to your own conclusion, but if nothing else, keep all this in mind the next time you find yourself facing what may be a well-intentioned argument, however poorly supported by observable history it may be.
U.S. President Joe Biden holds up a ghost gun part while announcing new measures by his administration to fight ghost gun crime at the White House in Washington U.S., April 11, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Biden and his administration have been far from silent on pushing for gun control, specifically an Assault Weapon Ban after each of the major incidents regardless of circumstances.
Every slaying, they seem to think, can be solved or made less lethal if only we’d ban semi-auto firearms and limit magazines to 10 rounds. No word on how in the wide wide world of sports they expect to get hundreds of millions of semi-auto weapons out of circulation currently, prevent murders, suicides, and accidents with any weapon other than a semi-auto, or prevent the manufacture of new ones from 3D printing and other simple production mediums.
But that won’t stop him from making the noise.
NPR sat down and asked one of their experts,
Let us see what they came up with. I’ve been unsympathetic to NPR as of late, they’ve held onto several untenably stupid opinions as ‘fact’ when it comes to gun control and other subjects. Even if you personally do not care for firearms, even if you dislike firearms in private hands, that doesn’t dissolve responsibility as a conveyor of information (especially publicly funded), from coming at the information objectively and with aggressive reason.
From NPR,
NPR’s A Martinez speaks with gun control expert Robert Spitzer about President Biden’s push for an assault-style weapons ban after recent mass shootings in Colorado and Virginia.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Biden is seeking to pass a ban on assault rifles before the end of the year. He’s making that pitch in the immediate aftermath of several deadly mass shootings across the U.S. in recent weeks. Democrats have made this proposal dozens of times in recent years, but they have been able to get it done, mainly because many Republicans in Congress oppose any type of gun control. So will it be different this time around? For more, we turn now to Robert Spitzer. He’s a distinguished service professor emeritus of political science at SUNY Cortland and an expert on gun policy. Professor Spitzer, what kind of pitch does President Biden need to make to push increased gun control legislation through Congress before the end of the year?
ROBERT SPITZER: I’m not sure there’s anything he can say that will make the Senate move. It’s important to remember that the House of Representatives has already passed an assault weapons ban bill and included in that a limit on large-capacity magazines, which arguably is even more important. But as you just discussed, the Senate has a full plate. The spotlight will be on the Senate when it comes to assault weapons and possible action. But it’s hard to imagine the Senate mustering 60 votes to enact a new assault weapons ban.
MARTÍNEZ: You know, professor, I was going to start off by asking you how likely it is that he would be able to push gun control legislation through Congress because usually, the answer is not likely. But not even a pitch, no pitch at all you think could crack the Senate?
SPITZER: Well, he might want the Senate to take a vote. And other Democrats might want a vote to be held, as well, just so that they’re on record on the issue. The assault weapons ban idea is supported by most Americans. It’s been floating around a long time. And so for political reasons, there might be a push to go ahead. But with so much on the Senate’s plate and on Congress’s plate, I think it will be a difficult haul. And the question that he will need to ask is whether that’s where he wants to put significant political effort in the short time between now and when the new Congress convenes in January.
And here we stumble across the real goal of making this noise from the White House.
This isn’t about the safety of the American people, there is no realistic way that the White House can accomplish anything with a ban and I’m done believing they’re just altruistically stupid. This isn’t tackling the myriad of problems that result in violent conclusions. This isn’t about assessing why young people seem to be committing an appalling number of excessively violent attacks, or why urban violence is so substantially increased.
This is about saying the right things so that they ‘tried’ the right amount to point at those who didn’t vote for it and blame them. It is all about passing the buck and not being held to blame for something they are actually blameless for already, but their voter base gets grumpy and they can win political capital.
MARTÍNEZ: What about executive action to overcome the gridlock?
What about directing the DoJ, you know… something he is in charge of, to follow through on more NICS Denial cases, put resources into making sure NICS is as up-to-date, easy to access, and constantly functioning as it can be. Perhaps make certain their are enough NICS examiners and data folks as compared to IRS agents since the number of bodies in the ground due to 1099-EZ’s is significantly lower than violent crimes.
SPITZER: President Biden issued some executive actions this past summer pertaining to the gun issue. And he probably will be looking at a way or may be looking at a way now to tweak existing rules that could affect gun policy. But it’s important to remember that executive orders are not the vast, sweeping, unlimited powers that many people ascribe to them. And he this summer, for example, said that they would tighten up on gun dealer regulations and on restricting ghost guns. And especially moving on ghost guns, I think, will be significant in terms of executive actions. But it’s not clear that there’s a whole lot more he can do within the realm of executive orders and other unilateral actions because important policies are still framed by Congress.
So… no. He won’t do anything meaningful because meaningful wouldn’t line up with politically advantageous. We’ll be promised he is trying but no complex action will be taken and certainly no action that would put him at odds with his necessary voter bases, he’s got two years to look useful enough to get re-elected and hope that the Republicans are foolish enough to run an annoying meme-grade candidate that won’t make him look like the slack jawed buffoon who cost them so dearly this midterms. The only reason the Dems weren’t taken to the cleaners was some of the more imbecilic decisions of the Republicans.
We have gridlock instead, and maybe that’s for the best. But Biden is still going to cry and “try” for something with this Congress, so at least he can blame them. He won’t even have to blame them long since the new Congress will seat and then the actions of the old one won’t matter so much anymore.
It’s just political hot potato.
MARTÍNEZ: Biden has also mentioned red-flag laws, the lack of enforcement of red-flag laws around the country. Now, those are state laws. What could Washington do to increase enforcement of red-flag laws across the country?
Remember the BSCA? Are you telling me the BSCA, the most meaningful and comprehensive piece of gun legislation in a generation as Biden told us, isn’t doing diddly to curb violence? What about that boyfriend loophole!? Surely that loophole being unlooped has saved people, right?
SPITZER: In the bipartisan gun bill that Congress passed and President Biden signed this past summer, there was a provision to encourage more states to adopt red-flag laws and to provide funding for them. And he’s – at the least, I would think would want to be very public to encourage states to move ahead in doing that. Nineteen states have red flag laws in place right now. And one of the problems we’ve seen is that often, the enforcement of these laws is pretty spotty, and knowledge of red-flag laws is very limited. And red-flag laws are typically triggered when a family member or somebody who knows somebody who owns guns and who makes a threat against others or against themselves then goes to the police to begin the red-flag law process to perhaps remove guns from the person. But you’ve got to be able to know that you can do that before the process begins. And much more publicity could be issued surrounding that. That’s not an executive order matter, per se necessarily, but it’s something that could be done to increase the effectiveness of red-flag laws.
So it is as vague an ineffectual as predicted.
People are reluctant to snitch on their neighbors and family. Judges, doctors, and cops are reluctant to be professionally liable for wrongly flagging someone. I don’t think that the ‘publicity’ is what is lacking, its that there was no hope it would work to begin with.
MARTÍNEZ: I remember as candidate Biden, he had promised to hold gun manufacturers accountable and repeal a law that provides protection for gun-makers. What kind of an impact would that kind of move make?
How? How would Biden keep this absurd promise?
We just said he wasn’t going to be able to move legislation, so how would he manage a repeal of the PLCAA and why would it have a positive effect?
SPITZER: If Congress decided to move ahead with changing the law to allow lawsuits against gun manufacturers to proceed, that would be a major, major change. It’s not on the agenda, and it is not something to my way of thinking that the president could advance through unilateral presidential actions.
Oh it isn’t, the President just lied for political capital. Gotcha.
It would be a major change, an absurd one that tied up money of manufacturers defending spurious lawsuits for people misusing their products.
MARTÍNEZ: It sounds pretty hopeless for people that want some movement on this, professor.
It should, especially after Bruen. Stop screwing around with the ease bake oven solutions that solve nothing and start working on the individual criminal environments of the cities and counties that are the problems. Those socio-economic environs will require tailored approaches and solutions specific to their unique situations. None of them, and I do mean none of them will be perfect or foolproof but they can, over time, rebuild confidence in the civility and rule of law within the spaces.
SPITZER: Well, the only other question, I think, is whether movement could be made separately on limiting large-capacity magazines because that’s a major problem.
No, it isn’t. This argument is stupid and demonstrates a willful lack of understanding of how a firearm operates. Magazine capacity is not a problem, it is a strawman argument that relies on perfect responses to perfect situations and the magical disappearance of literally hundreds of millions of durable magazines from ever being used in a crime again.
Gun control is one of the ultimate expressions of ‘stupidly altruistic’ by using no critical thinking. Just pass the law and things will get better, we promise. Don’t ask how, you’re just a gun extremist if you do.
MARTÍNEZ: Gun control expert Robert Spitzer, thanks for your time.
SPITZER: You bet.
So none of my faith in NPR’s deep and critical journalistic problem solving has been restored by this interview. Gun control continues to be the Utopia Fantasy of ‘if everything goes right than nothing will go wrong’.
If we just had a few more rules against shooting people indiscriminately then people will stop.
Sounds stupid when you put it that way, doesn’t it.
I asked you what you thought SilencerCo produced, and you took more than one guess I’d make some serious judgments about you. Although, if one of your guesses was charging handles, you’d be right. SilencerCo made their name, literally, with silencers or suppressors for the pedantic. They recently dived into a different world, but you can bet it’s still related to suppressors. The GDCH, or Gas Defeating Charging Handle, is their latest non-suppressor design.
Gas Defeating gives you a bit of a hint of what it does. One of the problems with suppressed, direct impingement ARs is that the gas they use to cycle can be tossed right into your face when you run a suppressor. The increased backpressure created by the can makes this an annoying issue. Annoying and potentially hazardous in the long term. That gas carries lots of carcinogens known to cause cancer and lead poisoning.
The GDCH uses an O-ring to create a seal to prevent or even eliminate gas blowback.
The GDCH Gas Blowback
My can is still sitting in NFA jail, sadly, but my local SOT is kind enough to let me take it for a spin here and again. With the GDCH in place, I took my Colt EPR to the range and let loose with about 120 rounds of standard M855. The difference between the presence of the charging handle and the lack of it is day and night.
It makes a big difference in reducing gas from a 16-inch barrel. It’s basically gone. Keep in mind I’m outdoors, and that always makes a perception difference. Shooting indoors might change things, but there is a clear reduction.
SBRs and short AR pistols also tend to be fairly gassy, even without a can. The GDCH also helps in that department. We dropped it in a DD MK18 and launched a few rounds downrange, suppressed and unsuppressed, and again the difference is clear and noticeable. It’s perfect for an SBR or AR pistol kit.
I’m less annoyed, oh, and I’m also breathing in less poison.
The GDCH As a Charging Handle
So the GDCH blocks gas fairly well, but it still has to be a charging handle. How does it work as a charging handle? Well, it’s huge, ambidextrous, and made from 7075 aluminum. It works great! The big beastly charging handle is easy to grip and rip from either side. You can easily blade the thing and do the caveman’s palm to the thing.
The handle portions are rather large and curved inward, so your grip is positive and easy to grab. It currently sits under an LPVO and provides me way more room than I need to charge my gun and keep it up and running. No pinching or rapping of my knuckles is required.
The GDCH works as both a means to avoid gas to the face and as a fantastic charging handle. SilencerCo has expanded in the right direction, and much like their cans, the GDCH is cutting edge.
One of the most interesting and perhaps underrated handguns of all time is the Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless. The 1903 is a product of John Moses Browning’s engineering genius. The pistol is attractive; it is so thin it is downright svelte. The pistol was called the Model M internally at Colt and the Pocket Hammerless in advertising. The pistol isn’t a true hammerless pistol as the hammer is simply hidden from view. Browning designed a .45 Auto with a hidden hammer along with many other prototype pistols indicating the 1903 pistol is an example of his thoughts at the time. The 1903 had in place many of the advantages of the later Colt 1911 .45 automatic. These included a removable box magazine, a slide lock safety that made the pistol safe for carry with the hammer cocked and to the rear, and a grip safety that prevented the pistol from firing unless the grip were firmly depressed. The pistol fit most hands well and was no larger than needed for the .32 Automatic Colt Pistol chambering. While similar to FN produced handguns the Colt seemed to have an American profile in comparison to the Browning 1910 pistol.
The Colt 1903 is a straight blowback handgun without the complications of a locked breech. It was popular when introduced and Americans widely accepted the new self loading pistol. While the impression exists that the revolver was more popular in America and the self loader practically universal in Europe quality self loading pistols were very popular in American. The flat profile and increased number of shots over the revolver was appealing. The small caliber .32 ACP was much more powerful than the .32 Smith and Wesson revolver cartridge. As an example the 71 grain full metal jacketed .32 ACP breaks about 1,000 fps from the Colt while the .32 Smith and Wesson Long’s 98 grain round nose lead bullet exhibits 680 fps in a four inch barrel hand ejector revolver. Penetration, the single most important component of wound potential, was better with the .32 ACP round. The Colt with its nine rounds of ammunition was obviously the better personal defense handgun than a small .32 caliber revolver. During the life of the Colt 1903 some 572,000 were manufactured. In addition another 134,500 Colt 1908 models were sold. These were the Colt 1903 in .380 ACP caliber. The 1903 Model M handguns were produced in four variants. They were popular with cops, especially detectives, bad guys and civilians. While I prefer more smash than offered by the .32 ACP cartridge it was more powerful and with more penetration than the common .32 revolver cartridges of the day and the .380 ACP even more powerful. When armed with a Colt automatic you had a fine handgun well worth the price.
Colt was a pacesetter in the introduction of reliable self loading handguns. Colt’s pistols changed the handgunning world forever. Smith and Wesson offered the oddball .35 Smith and Wesson, which was really a generation behind the Colt 1903 when introduced. Savage claimed Ten Shots Quick with their pistol and the Savage .32 was interesting, but it did not handle as well as the Colt. Colt manufactured excellent double action revolvers and the 1911 .45 but did not neglect the small pistol market either. The Colt was most famously carried by NYCPD detectives. It was a favored lady’s gun and was the piece carried by Eleanor Roosevelt during her travels. Fictional characters also used the Colt 1903. Humphrey Bogart hefted either a 1903 or 1908 in Casablanca and early Dick Tracy detective comics had the fearless detective armed with a Colt 1903. Real bad buys such as John Dillinger and the very bad girl Bonnie Parker, from the other side of the fence, carried the Colt 1903 as a backup.
The Colt 1903 was very popular worldwide. Records show that dozens of Japanese Army and Navy Officers ordered Colt automatic pistols for personal use. Considering the size and weight of the underpowered 8mm Nambu I would have preferred the Colt as well.
The pistol was issued to general officers as the official sidearm, along with a holster and spare magazine. The 1903 saw use with CID personnel. The 1908 handgun was purchased by the Shanghai police and saw a great deal of action. The pistol was air dropped into Europe and snuck in by OSS agents. Many resistance fighters were armed with the Colt 1903 pistol. The movie Operation Anthropoid depicts this use accurately, and the price many of these brave men and women paid. The pistol was trusted worldwide as a reliable accurate and lightweight handgun. After the end of World War Two the Model 1903 was no longer manufactured but remained in use for decades longer, including serving as the General Officer’s Pistol until the 1970s. Today a modern replica is licensed by Colt and manufactured by Advanced Armament Corporation. This pistol follows the General Officer’s Pistol pattern, with a parkerized finish and wooden grips.
The Colt Model M as the factory referred to it was among the lightest Colt self loading pistols at 24 ounces. The pistol is 6.75 inches long and only 1.15 inch wide. No wonder John Dillinger had one under his shirt on that hot and sultry day when he was shot dead by FBI agents. The pistol features a grip safety and a slide lock safety. The handgun was touted by Colt as safe with only the grip safety in use as a safety measure. The ‘flipping sear’ arrangement indeed made for a very safe handgun. I have carried the Colt 1903 as a backup to the Colt 1911 and find the similarities in handling make for a very nice pair. While there are more modern choices the Colt 1903 is well made of good material and I would not hesitate to trust an example in good condition for personal defense. Modern lightweight 9mm pistols caused the retirement of my 1903 for this purpose some time ago.
When the new breed of ultra compact .32 ACP pistols was introduced beginning with the Kel Tec polymer frame pistol it was fashionable to provide an illustration of the new pistols beside the larger Colt 1903. While there is a size difference there is also a difference in combat ability. The .32 ACP pocket pistols basically fill the niche once owned by small .25 ACP pistols. They are difficult to hit with past a few yards. The Colt 1903, in comparison, is as accurate as many service pistols. I have fired mine extensively. With the CCI Blazer 71 grain practice load I have fired a five shot group into a spacing of less than two inches at 15 yards. The pistol’s practical accuracy is limited by the small sights but then they were the norm for the day. In fast paced combat drills such as the Applegate Point, in which the pistol is quickly brought to bear and fired as soon as the slide breaks the plane between the eyes and the target, the Colt 1903 is a very fast handling pistol with a high hit probability. The Colt 1903 is a great handgun, with a rich history and much practical value.
Variations – There are four primary variations of the Colt 1903, not counting military versions that were parkerized. The first model featured a four inch barrel and barrel bushing. The next model, beginning in 1908, has a 3.75 inch barrel with barrel bushing, the third type have the short barrel but no barrel bushing. The final version introduced in 1926 has the same 3.75 inch barrel and bushingless barrel and also a magazine safety that prevents the pistol from firing if the magazine is not in place.
Leather for the 1903 – There are a number of custom makers that offer good quality leather holsters for the Colt 1903. World War Supply offers a replica of the original military flap holster, complete with a cleaning rod as originally issued. This is a good addition to an original Colt pistol. Wright Leatherworks is among a very few makers offering quality leather for the Colt 1903. I have used the Wright inside the waistband holster for the Colt 1903 pistol. Well made and with an excellent fit and finish this holster allows good concealment of the flat and light Colt 1903. This holster is still ordered occasionally and the company keeps a mold available, indicating that folks are still using the Colt 1903 as intended.
Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP serial number 15Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless .32 ACP serial number (Lisker Collection – photo courtesy of Coltautos.com)The Colt 1903 is an iconic handgun rich in history. Both the newspaper and the pistol illustrated are reproductions. Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless .380 ACP serial number 8533
Smith & Wesson appears to be stepping away from the letter and number naming convention and going for more descriptive titles in their new pistols lines. The Equalizer was a clear and blunt stab back to the whole ‘the firearm is the great equalizer’ mode of thought and this next entry follows that same style. The Competitor is equally unquiet about its existence and intent as a pistol meant to hit the competitive circuit out of the box.
From S&W,
SPRINGFIELD, MA., (11/29/2022) – Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ Global Select: SWBI), a leader in firearm manufacturing and design is excited to introduce a new member of the M&P metal-framed series, the Performance Center® M&P®9 M2.0® Competitor®.
Built for competition right out of the box, this metal-framed 9mm pistol is designed to give competitive shooters the edge. The Competitor comes with a 5-inch barrel, has an enhanced sear for lighter, crisper trigger let-off, and includes a flared magazine well for fast and efficient reloads. Boasting a new look, the aggressive lightening cuts on both the top and sides of the slide ultimately reduce the amount of weight in front of the chamber and, in return, help improve the recoil balance point. The slide is cut for optics, includes a fiber optic front sight, and blacked out serrated rear sight. The Competitor comes with an oversized mag release that is reversible for both right and left-handed users and ships with a total of four magazines. Choose from models available in 10+1 or 17+1 round capacities with a Tungsten Gray Cerakote® or black Armornite® slide finish. Smith & Wesson is proud to introduce the Performance Center M&P9 M2.0 Competitor.
The Competitor has an MSRP of $999.00
Check out the new Competitor and all Smith & Wesson products at www.smith-wesson.com.
To stay up to date on all of the latest news and events, connect with Smith & Wesson on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
The introduction of the Metal Frame line would naturally lead to the competitive field as the heavier frame guns are very popular in those spaces. This will compete against the 2011s, the weighted frame 320’s, the CZ Shadow 2’s, and the other stout and low recoil 9mm pistols.
I love the M&P frame, it is one of the comfiest I have ever shot. I love metal frames, my 226, 229, and AXG attest. Now I can acquire the alloy of them both.
Glocks can be anything you want them to be. At SHOT 2022, I saw that in living color. I stumbled across two kits that were of immediate interest to me. I like odd, weird, and seemingly bizarre stuff. The two kits I ran across were the Meta Tactical Bullpup which turned your Glock into a bullpup rifle. The second was the exact opposite, the Recover Tactical P-IX. It actually reverse bullpupped a Glock.
Recover Tactical is an interesting company. They produce a lot of weird products for various platforms that seem odd and maybe make you scratch your head. While their products tend to appear odd, they tend to be pretty dang useful. Things like the RT 20/20, their grips that ad Picatinny tails to guns without rails, and many more. Is the P-IX another handy piece of gear?
The Recover Tactical P-IX – The Basics
This isn’t your traditional Glock chassis kit. It AR-izes your Glock pistol. Unlike a traditional Glock chassis, the entire Glock is enveloped here. It places the Glock in front of the trigger, and the pictures do it way more justice than my written words ever could. Just look at it. The magwell is your Glock grip.
You have to attach a charging handle to your Glock slide, then drop it into the P-IX. Three latches lock the gun into the P-IX, and you are ready to rock and roll. Installation is super easy.
The design features a built-in safety, a new magazine release, as well as numerous additional rails. Across the top, we get what’s essentially a full-length optics rail, just in case your Glock needs an LPVO.
At the front, we also have two side rails and a small bottom rail. At the back, we have a threaded portion designed to accept an AR-15 type buffer tube for attaching a brace or potentially a stock if SBRs are your thing. You can even swap the standard grip out for your favorite AR-15 grip. The front is wide open, so you can attach most cans without issue as well.
What’s the Point of the P-IX
The most obvious advantage is the ability to add a brace or stock in the event of an SBR. This makes it easy to stabilize the weapon and increase your effective range. It handles much more like a CZ scorpion than a Glock with the P-IX.
The presence of numerous rails across the bottom, type, and side makes it easy to add various accessories. This includes optics, like red dots, or even bigger and better optics. Don’t forget being able to add more powerful lights that offer rifle-like performance or even IR lasers for the goons out there.
Why the P-IX over a Glock? Well, this is still a handgun, and even in states like California, you can get a Glock Gen 3. That same state makes it plenty tough to get semi-auto rifles, but tossing a Glock into the P-IX gives you some of the same benefits. (Although lord knows what is illegal in Cali, so this isn’t legal advice)
It’s also a pretty cheap way to try out the Cheek Pistol concept.
Review of the P-IX
I dropped my Gen 4 Glock 17 into the P-IX and locked it down. Installation is easy, and it takes very little time to do so. It takes more time to attach the charging handle than anything else. Once attached I took it to the range to give it a little test fire.
I’ll go ahead and get the worst part out of the way now. The P-IX has an absolutely terrible trigger. It’s super heavy, long, and spongy and is about as bad as a trigger can get. Even so, the additional stability the P-IX offers allows you to extend your effective range. I can hit targets at 50 yards with a Glock 17 a portion of the time. Toss the Glock 17 in the P-IX, and I’m hitting it every time.
Unlike other chassis kits, the Glock sits in the same place every time, so the zero doesn’t shift when removed and reinserted if it does shift, it’s not notable out to 50 yards.
Reliability isn’t affected either. It’s had zero issues over a few hundred rounds with various magazines. The wide-open ejection port keeps things nice and reliable and prevents the casings from locking up the slide.
The P-IX offers great ergonomics, well decent ergonomics. The safety is very AR-like and easy to use. The magazine release is placed well but is not tactile by any means. It’s tough to know how hard to press it to release the mag, so just go whole hog until the magazine drops out. The P-IX and a brace make the Glock easier to control with a reduction in recoil and muzzle rise.
Yay or Nay
The P-IX isn’t for everyone, but it’s a solid little piece of gear. Glock chassis kits certainly aren’t for everyone, either. With that in mind, the P-IX does what it promises without creating any issues with your gun. Sure it might be silly for some of us in a free state, but for others, it might be a fun range toy. On my next range trip, I plan to remove the brace and try the cheek pistol concept, so wish me luck.
This is an attractively sized pistol that shoots like a big gun.
The SIG P365 has earned a reputation as a reliable and useful concealed carry handgun. It isn’t useful for competetion or service use but it is a purpose designed concealed carry and protection handgun. The P 365 has a small foot print and is easily concealed in a quality holster. If you enjoy firing the SIG P365 you will enjoy the P365 XL even more. The XL variant features a longer barrel and slide than the P365. The result is a pistol with more weight a better balance and a longer sight radius. In some situations you may really need the edge in concealment offered by the P365, but for most of us the P365XL is easily concealed. The pistol is optics ready and also has a taller grip that accommodates a 12 round magazine compared to the original ten round magazine. This long slide version of the popular P365 9mm isn’t a large handgun but per my testing it shoots like a big gun.
The gripping surface officers a good balance of adhesion and abrasion offering a solid gripping surface when the hands are cold, wet or sweaty. A good feature is that the pistol offers a rail for mounting combat lights, a big improvement over most small handgun. The pistol features a straight trigger an improved design over previous P 365 pistols. The slide features cocking serrations both forward and rear. The extractor is a robust design while the ejection port is generous. The magazine release is an unusual triangular design. A tapered magazine and generous magazine well makes for rapid speedloads. The slide release is easily reached. Takedown is simple enough and the pistol is easily maintained. The sights are SIG’s XRAY type three dot tritium night sights. Night sights or self luminous iron sights are essential to all around the clock defense. All in all this is a credible capable and nice looking package.
The pistol was lightly lubricated on the long bearing surfaces and barrel hood before firing. The magazines are well designed and reliable units. However they are very difficult to load to full capacity. Loading to ten rounds isn’t difficult. Stiff springs are essential to reliable function. The eleventh and twelfth round, however, were pressed in only with difficulty. I would recommend loading 12 rounds, locking the slide to the rear, and dropping the slide to give the shooter a total 12 round capacity. For most of the test I loaded ten rounds in the magazines for convenience. Most of the loads used were Winchester Ready 115 grain FMJ along with some Browning FMJ loads. The pistol was fired at 7, 10, and 15 yards. Most of the firing was accomplished in quick down and dirty drills. I drew quickly from concealment and quickly getting on target. I fired double taps, hammers, and controlled pairs depending on the range. The pistol gets on target quickly. Good accuracy is a result of the excellent trigger and sights. I did not explore the red dot option. For those who prefer optics the SIG P365XL will accommodate.
The pistol never failed to feed, chamber, fire or eject. The SIG P365 gets on target quickly and good center of mass hits are easily obtained at 7 to 10 yards for those who practice. The pistol isn’t useless at 25 yards it simply demands attention to the sights and trigger and more time in affirming the sight picture. I fired the pistol with the Winchester 124 grain +P hollow point a modern loading with excellent wound potential. At nearly 1200 fps this is a hard hitting load. Recoil is there but the pistol isn’t difficult to control. I finally settled down to fire the pistol for absolute slow fire accuracy. Firing from the MTM Caseguard K Zone firing rest at 15 yards I fired the Winchester 124 grain +P and the Winchester 115 grain FMJ, firing five shot groups. The FMJ loading put five into two inches and the +P put five into just a little smaller group. The SIG P365 XL is among the most attractive concealed carry pistols. It is worth a hard look.
During the test I used a DeSantis Mini Belt Slide, using it for an original P365 fired for comparison and the P365XL as well.
SIG P365 XL 9mm
Length: 6.6 in. Height: 4.8 in. Width: 1.3 in. Weight: 21 oz. Barrel Length: 3.7 in. Capacity: 12 rounds
The P365XL is a great shooting handgun with good reliability.SIG X Ray sights are among the best in the business.The SIG P365XL is a thin but capable handgun.DeSantis offers first class gear for concealed carry.The SIG’s flat trigger is an advantage.
I hear this one once every cycle or so, that the Founding Fathers could not have envisioned a world of repeating firearms. It is an interesting take and holds water if you are willing to ignore a tremendous amount of information, but it is not an accurate one. We’ve been trying and succeeding in inventive ways to make repeating firearms for centuries.
Click the video and watch Ian enlighten you.
The semi-automatic and automatic are just mechanically advantaged repeating firearms. But the real leap to making these work was the metallic cartridge. Repeaters existed longer before the constitution was ratified than the nuclear bomb came afterward. Multishot firearms are old tech.
WHERE IS YOUR AWB NOW PELOSI? Image via Fightlite.
The argument always seem to rely on alleging that firearms are tremendously more lethal nowadays. They aren’t, firing five or six times out of a modern handgun or rifle is roughly as dangerous as firing five or six times out of a firearm from 400 years passed. What we got better at was making the components, we make everything efficiently so that a shot could be taken as close to at will/need as manageable.
Way back in the day, I combined an armored panel from Premier Armor with an armor-carrying shirt from Tru-Spec and inspired both companies to work together. Now, years and years later, Premier Armor has refined the system into something more concealable, comfortable and offers better protection. The Everyday Armor T-Shirt 2.0 makes some improvements but retains the same level of protection as the original.
The Everyday Armor T-Shirt is built around the 7.75 x 12.75-inch plates. These provide superior protection and are easier to conceal than your standard cut plate. The T-shirt fits tight and clings to the body and features a number of reinforced areas to support the weight of the plates without the shirt bending, sagging, or compromising.
The big change to the Everyday Armor system is that the armor inserts for the bottom instead of the top. This makes it much easier to put the shirt on and easier to take off. They also added Concealment Channels that pull the shirt tighter to the body for increased concealment.
How The Everyday Concealment T-Shirt Works
It’s a fairly simple setup. The shirt fits incredibly tightly, much like an Underarmor style sports shirt. The tight shirt holds the panels in place and secures them in one location. The shirt itself is moisture-wicking, fairly lightweight, and breathable. The large panels offer plenty of torso protection, and the tight nature of the shirt keeps them in place.
The two panels offer you total protection front and rear. Concealment does require some form of an overshirt. Toss on a button-down shirt, hoodie, or hockey jersey, and the panels effectively disappear. The shirt fits quite tight, and the panels won’t get in the way of your draw by any means.
In practice, the shirt is quite comfy, and the plates don’t rub you raw. You can expect it to get a little warm where the plates sit. It’s a bit like a sweater in the area, and harsh, hot environments will make things a little rough, admittedly. It’s a sacrifice worth making if you need body armor.
Getting the Everyday Armor T-Shirt 2.0 setup takes no time at all. Turn the shirt inside out, insert the level IIIA NIJ Certified plates and then toss it on. Boom, like that, you are ready to roll out like the uparmored tank you are.
Why Concealable Armor?
For most of us, this seems like an extreme item to EDC. Most of us likely don’t need armor every day, but there is certainly a niche of people who could use an item like this. If you’ve received credible threats, then armor might help save your life.
If you’re like me and you worked repo at one point or another, then concealable armor can be quite handy. In my state, a repo man isn’t even allowed to carry a gun. There is likely a wide number of situations why you might want some credible protection from ballistic threats.
The Everyday Armor T-Shirt 2.0 comes as a complete package and gives you peace of mind that conceals as easy as your SIG P365.
In this somewhat disjointed episode, Jack and Caleb are joined by the disembodied voice of Keith where they talk about the guns of the various Batman franchises.
I’m just an icon and a tinny robot voice for this one as I was recording on at bar on their terrible WiFi while my truck got fixed around the corner, but its a great episode about nerddom and gun portrayal in movies. Sometimes realism is not the vibe to go for.
