You hear the term “non-permissive environment” used frequently within the concealed carry community.
Unfortunately, the discussions tend to be somewhat superficial. And, from what I’ve seen, they don’t take into account a lot of the consequences and negative outcomes.
In this video I take a look at the different types of is types of non-permissive environments, how they differ from each other, and how I approach them.
The anti-civil rights groups aren’t winning at the ballot box, and they aren’t winning legislatively. That doesn’t mean they aren’t winning. The Anti-civil rights groups, like Everytown For Gun Safety, The Brady Groups, and other anti-gun organizations, have discovered a new way to wage war on your rights, and it’s called lawfare.
Lawfare is a tactic used by repressive regimes to label and discourage civil society or individuals from claiming their legal rights via national or international legal systems.
In most cases, a little thing called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act protects gun companies, ammo companies, and firearms dealers from lawsuits when their products are used illegally. That hasn’t stopped these organizations from attacking. In reality, they don’t have to win. They can cause a firearms company to hemorrhage money simply by suing them.
Sure, the lawsuit might be thrown out, but only after a hefty amount of legal fees are paid to do so. Polymer80, the biggest 80% lower and Glock frame manufacturer out there, recently shut down. They outright stated they couldn’t afford to keep fighting the various lawsuits they had been subject to.
Lawfare has been used against Remington and Bushmaster successfully. The company was already bankrupt, but the main gain by these anti-gun groups is the ability to target the advertising firearms companies, too. Everytown For Gun Safety is currently using that angle to target Daniel Defense. Companies like Lucky Gunner have been sued several times to varying degrees of success, although they’ve seemed to be successful at fighting these organizations.
The main organization behind the lawfare against the gun industry is Everytown for Gun Safety and its varied offshoots. The gun control industry is unsurprisingly funded by billionaires, namely Michael Bloomberg, who helped found the organization and remains a large funder. Now you know if you’re wondering where an organization would get the money to file these lawsuits.
Philanthropy.com has called Bloomberg “the most dominant figure in the gun-violence prevention movement.” New York Mayor Eric Adams has called Bloomberg “the modern-day Paul Revere” of the gun control movement. The New York Times reported in a 2020 article that Bloomberg had spent 270 million dollars to strip gun rights from American citizens. According to Philahthropy.com, Everytown for Gun Safety spent 48 million dollars in 2020.
This is a well-funded attack on American rights.
Outside of shutting down small American businesses and killing American jobs at companies like Polymer80, the effect of lawfare has been felt. Personally, I’ve signed tons of waivers and disclaimers in the last few years. Almost all of them stated that the XYZ gun wasn’t built or intended to be used by children. I’ve been writing about guns for ten years now, and until 2022, I never saw anything even remotely close to these disclaimers, warnings, and agreements.
A friend who works for a major firearms manufacturer told me that the term “youth” is gone from the gun industry. Things like Youth stocks don’t exist anymore. Now, they are mini stocks and bantam models. Or they simply list the LOP measurement. Firearms designed to teach children to shoot safely don’t exist anymore. No one is willing to risk advertising them as such.
I fear we’ll get to a point where clubs and ranges won’t be interested in letting accompanied children shoot. States will make it impossible for them to hunt. The change will come slowly, and eventually, the goal is to wipe out safe and responsible gun ownership within a generation.
The ultimate goal of these acts of lawfare is to end gun rights. They treat firearms like cigarettes, which is an absurd notion.
We have tons of organizations out there fighting for gun rights. They are winning in the courts and at the ballot box. The current lawfare trend is a small group of people, namely billionaires with armed security, attacking American rights. As we’ve seen with elections and laws passed, the United States doesn’t want their nonsensical gun control. They’ve taken the fight elsewhere.
I’m no lawyer. I think we could form a group that’s funded by donations to help these gun companies. They can resist and fight back against these lawsuits. The groups focusing on laws and fighting for the Constitution certainly have their hands full. Still, this is a front we can’t surrender. All the rights in the world won’t mean anything if the gun companies are shut down or will only sell to LEO and Mil customers.
We have to resist lawfare, fight back, and help the future of gun rights remain bright.
Continued from Part 2…
Shooting the Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless from rest is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done in reviewing any firearm. The combination of its extremely heavy double-action trigger pull, the annoying wall before the trigger breaks, the dinky sights, and the overall size of the gun made it difficult to shoot for groups.
Properly managing the trigger on this revolver requires a good bit of leverage from the distal joint of the trigger finger. However, if one’s hands are bigger, it can be difficult due to the grip shape and the revolver’s sinus. I did the best I could to wrest some accuracy off the bench. Quite frankly, never having fired the archaic .38 S&W or any vintage Smith & Wesson top-break revolver, I was impressed with some of the potential accuracy that shined through.
Removing the human element and the physical limitations of said human trying to shoot well, it appears both the revolver and this mild-mannered cartridge are fairly accurate. I’d love to see what I could accomplish with this cartridge from a larger K-frame Smith & Wesson, like the lend-lease Victory models that were sent to Britain chambered for .38/200 during the Second World War.
For simplicity’s sake, I did all of my shooting at 7 yards, both supported off a bag and freestyle. I also took the opportunity to use my recently purchased Garmin Xero C1 chronograph to log the muzzle velocities of the three different .38 S&W loads that LuckyGunner sent me for the review.
The three loads included the Fiocchi 145 grain coated lead round nose Cowboy Action Load, the Fiocchi 145 grain FMJ RN Heritage load and the Magtech 146 grain lead round nose cartridge. I shot 20 rounds each at two different 10-round groups and over the chronograph.
Group sizes and chronograph data are depicted below. Overall, all three loads from Magtech and Fiocchi spit out similar performance. From a user experience perspective, the Magtech lead bullet loads provided the most “authentic” shooting experience. It delivered both the distinct smell of lead bullet gunsmoke and the extra smoke that fills the air around the shooting bay.
Like most archaic revolver cartridges, the .38 S&W has been loaded with lead round-nose bullets for most of its life. Having never fired either a Safety Hammerless or the .38 S&W round, I’m not sure how to describe the felt recoil. It was closer in feeling to the push a .38 Special vintage steel J-frame than I expected, and the report was the same.
It definitely didn’t feel harsh or explosive like shooting a full-house .357 Magnum revolver, either.
Across all three loads, the muzzle velocity mean is 619 feet per second (FPS) from the Safety Hammerless’ 3 ¼ inch barrel. During shooting, I also noticed that the Safety Hammerless’ auto-eject system removes spent casings more thoroughly with swift movements and orienting the rear of the cylinder to face the deck.
Taking advantage of gravity is also helpful, but overall, the spent brass from these factory-loaded rounds was easy to eject. I got 1-2 empty cases stuck under the revolver’s star by not being quick enough with the auto-eject mechanism.
Because the distance to the target was only 7 yards, 99% of shot dispersion is assumed to be my “error.” Regardless, I still included shot-group data below.
After the ordeal of shooting the Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless for groups off a bag, I also decided to shoot ten additional rounds freestyle from each box of cartridges. I shot at 4-inch circles traced over the piece of cardboard I used as a target, and these freestyle groups don’t seem much different from the rested groups above.
Ultimately, shooting the Safety Hammerless freestyle contextualized the revolver candidly. It’s a purely defensive gun and meant to be fired at defensive-sized targets; its sights are too vague for any true precision.
Ironically, many of this ancient revolver’s elements still live on due to their usefulness in personal carry. Anno 1887, the year Smith & Wesson took a new departure by launching the Safety Hammerless, was a long time ago. It has been 137 years, to be precise. Yet many cues from the Safety Hammerless are still relevant to the present-day guns sold by Smith & Wesson and other gunmakers.
Consider the Smith & Wesson J-frame Model 40 Centennial family and all of its modern snub-nosed descendants like the 640, 642, 442, 340, 940, and the like. These classics were built around a hammerless J-frame with a five-shot capacity, a double-action-only trigger, and a very similar grip shape.
The original Model 40 Centennial itself even included the same grip safety as the one on the Safety Hammerless. Doing some research for these articles, I even caught a gentleman in a YouTube video proclaiming that J-frame 5-shot HKS speedloaders will work with the Safety Hammerless, too.
137 years later, traces of the S&W Safety Hammerless’ DNA are still present today in the latest Ultimate Carry J-frames. The new Ultimate Carry series, which originally debuted at SHOT Show 2024, also descends from the Model 40 lineage and represents a fresh take on a modern J-frame carry revolver. Much the same way, it could be argued that the Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless set out to be the Ultimate Carry of its day back in 1887.
Special thanks to Lucky Gunner for providing some .38 S&W ammunition for this project.
Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.
Spend enough time on IG, and you’ll see EDC pocket dumps and nightstand dumps of everyday carry gear. People doing layouts of their carry pistols, defensive knives, tactical flashlights, medical gear, spare magazines, etc.
The risk is that we can get so caught up that it’s easy to let fantasy supersede reality.
As Claude Werner says, your concealed carry loadout is METT-TC dependent.
In this week’s video, I talk about maintaining a balance between the preparation for violence and maintaining realistic and reasonable expectations.
I firmly believe that the reason Jesse James stood out from the rest of his gang was the alliteration in his name. Everyone knows Jesse James, but names like Frank James and Cole Younger are only known to cowboy historians and Western fans. He might be tied with Billy the Kid for outlaw fame.
Mr. James was a Bushwacker early in his life. Bushwackers were guerillas in the Civil War who fought for the Confederates. After the war, he became a bank robber and outlaw. He is often romanticized as a Robin Hood-like outlaw. In reality, he took advantage of the frontier lawlessness and used violence to get his way.
Almost 150 years ago, he was assassinated by Bob Ford, and since then, dozens of different guns have been credited as Jesse James’ guns. It’s entirely possible that he was quite the gun collector, and these were authentic outlaw guns, but that’s simply not the case.
Jesse James married a woman named Zerelda, and his mom was also named Zerelda. Yeah, it’s an odd one. Zerelda means armored battle maiden in Teutonic, so it’s a pretty sick name. Zerelda James, Jesse’s mom, was married three times and had eight children, but according to what I can find, only two became outlaws.
She wasn’t spared from Jesses’ actions. A raid led by Alan Pinkerton of the famed Pinkerton detective agency firebombed her home. She became famous in her own right as the mother of the famed outlaw. After the death of Jesse and during the trial of Frank James, the American consumption of Jesse James was at an all-time high.
Dime novels were popular, although unapproved by the James family. With interest at a high, it wasn’t long before people began stumbling onto the farm owned by Zerelda James. Zerelda James saw an opportunity and took advantage of her son’s fame and his death. She began offering tours of the farm where he had grown up.
Zerelda was an industrious lady. The tour ended at the grave of Jesse James. It sat outside her window. Famously, they buried him deeper than most to help keep grave robbers away. Tourists could take pebbles from the top of Jesse’s grave for just a few more coins. When the pebbles ran dry, Zerelda would go to the creek and gather more. This is just one example of her industrious nature.
With that in mind, she realized there was an extra income stream she hadn’t tapped into. Jesse’s guns.
If you were a mega fan of Jesse James and you stuck around long enough and pried hard enough, Zerelda might show you some of Jesse’s guns. If you pried a bit more, she might even sell you one. It only made sense that people wanted to own a gun belonging to Jesse James. He was an outlaw. He made his living by wielding guns, robbing banks, and fighting it out with lawmen.
Jesse James was a man made by his guns. Who wouldn’t want a gun owned by the famed outlaw? If you wanted one, Zerelda would sell it to you. Plenty of happy customers left with empty pockets and a gun from the famed outlaw. Or did they?
They certainly had empty pockets. Jesse James never owned the guns these tourists purchased. Zerelda, as the enterprising woman she was, would sell guns, often rusted, inoperable weapons on the second-hand market, as Jesse’s guns. This lead to a number of folks who proclaimed they owned a Jesse James gun, but in reality, they were scammed.
There is something poetic about that. Even after his death, his name was used to steal money from others.
Due to the prolific sales of fraudulent guns credited to the outlaw, the market for his guns is interesting. Anyone proclaiming that they are selling a Jesse James gun has to provide a vast amount of provenance. For example, a listing at Heritage Auctions proclaims that a Colt 1873 Peacemaker is the “Most Thoroughly Documented Jesse James Gun to Ever Appear at Auction.”
The auction lists an impressive historical provenance, including speeches, letters, and similar examples of ‘proof’ that the gun belonged to Jesse James. It’s been well known that Jesse carried a Colt Peacemaker.
The NRA Museum housed an S&W Scholfield that belonged to Jesse. Say what you want about the NRA, but their museum is amazing.
The Library of Congress has a photo of a 44 Hopkins and Allen 1873 pistol that is said to belong to James. It’s complete with the skull-bashing grip.
Those are three of his confirmed handguns. There is also a variety of rifles credited to his name. While many of the supposed Jesse James guns have been debunked, a fake would still be valuable. The legend of Zerelda and her fraudulent guns is its own interesting story, and if you could prove it was a fake sold by Zerelda, it would still likely be highly collectible. Personally, I’d love one.
F.A.B. Defense is a supplier to military and police units in Israel, and as such they’ve been busy since the October 7th invasion. Since then all of their production had been dedicated to supporting the IDF and IPD. They’ve finally caught up though, and are now able to offer the new Ultimag G2 windowless 30 round M16/AR15 magazine.
F.A.B. Defense designed the Ultimag G2 to be an improved windowless variation of the original Ultimag magazine. It uses all-new internal geometry, reinforced feed lips, and a new follower design. The solid design of the Ultimag G2 makes it a little more affordable than the windowed Ultimag as well.
The Ultimag G2 was designed for military and law enforcement users. It features an identification area for marking your mags and a multi-textured surface for enhanced grip when handling and reloading. Internally, it has an extended-life spring that allows for full magazine storage. For take-down and cleaning, it uses a simple, tool-free design. The G2 comes with a bright blue follower for last-round identification.
For more information, please visit: www.FAB-Defense.com.
The UCO Fire Starting Kit is a must-have for any outdoor adventure. It includes three separate fire-starting tools cleverly packed in a sturdy, waterproof, fireproof, and reusable metal tin. This kit offers three unique ways to ignite a fire, giving you the flexibility to choose the method that best suits your circumstances.
The kit includes a UCO Survival Fire Striker Ferro Rod, which worked as expected, especially on cotton balls and dryer lint. It has a mini-multitool striker that can be a prybar, hex wrench, and pop the top of a cold one!
The red handle is bright and easy to find when left on a rock or log where a fire may be built. The Ferro Rod is the equivalent of a Light My Fire brand Scout model. It makes strong, hot sparks and remains compact. It could even be added to another kit or live on a keychain.
Well, close enough. UCO StormProof matches are designed to be a reliable fire-starting tool in the most adverse conditions. They are windproof and waterproof, ensuring they light quickly and consistently even during heavy winds, rain, or snow.
With a burn time of up to 25 seconds, these matches give you ample time to ignite other materials. Their extended length also provides added safety, preventing your fingertips from burns. UCO StormProof matches are valuable to any survival kit and are ideal for lighting campfires, stoves, and gas barbecues.
I’ve used these successfully when I had a well-arranged fire lay beforehand. It never took 25 seconds of burn time. It’s more like 2 seconds, which is my goal when processing natural tinder or making feather sticks. Bravo UCO!
UCO SweetFire matches are a unique and eco-friendly fire-starting solution. They are made from a sugarcane by-product called bagasse, a renewable biofuel infused with vegetable wax for a longer burn time.
Unlike regular matches, SweetFire includes tinder built-in, allowing it to burn for up to 7 minutes, making fire-starting more efficient and reliable, even in adverse conditions. These matches are also storm proof, capable of relighting after being submerged in water, offering a significant advantage in outdoor and survival situations.
I traveled to Palawan, Philippines, for a jungle camp trip and used the SweetFire matches to help secure a much-needed jungle fire when there was a break in the rain. If you know, you know. When every source of tinder and kindling is beyond damp and soggy, you grasp every resource and skill you can muster up. Cooking and heating water was done when nature allowed it.
The UCO SweetFire to the rescue. Everything you thought you knew about making fire is negated in humid conditions. Forget friction fire or ferro rods in less-than-ideal situations and subpar tinder. When “Fire Now” was needed, the UCO SweetFire delivered despite my lackluster kindling.
Stateside, the SweetFire was the perfect ignition and tinder source when used in a twig stove. Once it was loaded with proper kindling and fuel, the SweetFire was added to the bottom and left to do its thing!
Always use a firm surface, such as the one on the matchbox, when lighting matches. Keep the box closed for best results. If the striker or the box becomes wet, allow it to dry out before using it again. In the meantime, use a spare striker. If the matches get wet, ensure they are wiped dry before use. Simple and effective!
Remember to strike the match away from your body or downwards, and watch out for any bystanders, including our furry friends. When you’re lighting it, be cautious because sparks can fly off. Once you’re done, run the match under water or bury it in the soil for several seconds to ensure it won’t start any unintentional fires.
The UCO Fire Starting Kit is loaded with options to help you start your fire. It can be used as a kit and boiling container or separated and added to existing kits.
For more information, check out UcoGear.com.
Is there a home for drones in your prepping plan? I’ve been giving this a lot of thought lately. There are several uses a prepper might have for a drone.
If you have a bad storm come through, whether we’re talking about a tornado, derecho, or just a run-of-the-mill hurricane, there’s a fair chance you’ll end up with some damage to your home or property. Rather than climbing a ladder to the roof, you can use a drone to check things out.
A drone can fly out to check fence lines as well as determine if other trees in the area look to be damaged. You can do the same for your neighbors, of course. You might even be able to use a drone to figure out exactly where your trampoline ended up.
Extending a little further out, you can use drones to see if any power lines are down in the immediate area, causing possible hazards if you need to leave. If your power is out, you might be able to see the extent of the outage.
Let’s say you need to evacuate your home and you run into a traffic jam. You could use a drone to fly ahead a bit and see what’s causing the problem. This intel can be used to make an informed decision as to whether you want to stay there or try a different route.
Drones can be similarly used to check all of the roads in the immediate area. If you decide to abandon the main route, you can fly up and see where traffic is lightest. The viewpoint could also reveal hazards you’d otherwise not see until it’s too late. One example would be roadblocks, whether planned and manned or just fallen trees and the like.
If time is of the essence, drones can help you find the path of least resistance and allow you to get out ahead of the crowd.
No, we’re not talking about arming drones, though obviously, that is a thing that exists. Instead, we’re focused on using a drone as an information-gathering tool. If the local area has devolved to where the rule of law is sketchy at best, you can use drones to keep an eye on your perimeter. With just a little practice, you can fly them quite high and get a true bird’s-eye view of the area.
Some models are equipped with night vision, which expands their use a fair bit. If you’re not afraid to spend a few bucks, you could even purchase a drone with thermal imaging capability.
While there is an argument to be made that deploying drones can alert people to your presence and perhaps even your location, the value of the information drones can provide to you may outweigh those risks.
One of the first arguments I hear against purchasing one is that it could be rendered useless in the event of an EMP (electromagnetic pulse). Even if drones are still working, GPS (global positioning system) functions may be down.
While all of that’s true, drones could prove quite useful in any disaster that doesn’t involve EMP. Personally, I’m okay with those odds. Also, drones only need GPS for a few of their higher-end functions. Most, if not all, drones can be flown manually.
Of course, drones run on electricity, so you’ll need to have a way to recharge the batteries. Many preppers these days have accounted for some sort of energy production, such as gas or solar-powered generators.
As with any tool, you need to weigh the cost versus benefit. Everyone’s situation is different. Good quality drones aren’t cheap. There’s also an investment of time in learning how to use one effectively. For many people, this isn’t something you’ll be able to master in just an hour or two.
That said, there’s a lot of value in having an extra set of eyes, particularly if those eyes can see much further than you can.
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice seized over 350 Chinese websites linked to selling Glock switches, suppressor kits, and more. That’s a pretty big bust, at least it seems to be. The websites are linked to China, which has been a fairly famous exporter of NFA-violating options. I believe I should be able to order a Glock switch or suppressor off the internet and have it arrive with Prime Two-Day shipping, but the Federal Government seems to have a different opinion.
According to the Justice Department, the websites were targeted for selling Glock switches and screw-together suppressors. The Feds apparently purchased a variety of Glock switches and suppressors. They confirmed they were shipped from China and marked as necklaces and toys to avoid Customs scrutiny.
According to the Feds, these Chinese websites “… represent a large-scale, organized effort to import illegal switches and silencers that turn ordinary firearms into deadly automatic weapons. HSI has worked diligently with our partners to systematically dismantle this network of websites to uphold our nation’s import laws and to preserve public safety,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Krol for Homeland Security Investigations in New England.
“HSI cyber investigations work to keep illegal switches and silencers out of the hands of criminals who use them to commit violence and facilitate crime in our communities,” he concluded.
Glock switches have become a surprisingly common sight amongst American street gangs. We’ve seen several high-profile incidents in states, most with strict gun control, carried out by criminals with converted Glocks.
The Feds claimed they ‘seized’ 700 Glock switches, 87 suppressors, as well as 59 handguns and 36 long guns. Nowhere does it state that the Chinese websites were selling guns. This is pure speculation, but I think the long guns and handguns came from seizures from U.S. Citizens.
When they seized the websites, they seized records of sale and were able to track down purchasers of said illegal items. I’m also betting the Fed purchased a ton of switches and fake suppressors and filtered a lot of taxpayer money to China in this scheme.
While the feds are likely giving themselves a big pat on the back for seizing these 355 Chinese websites, what they aren’t saying is that it doesn’t really matter. The folks in China selling these items remain unaffected. American federal agents can’t go to China and arrest these people. This likely just represents a minor inconvenience to the Chinese side of the operation.
They’ll just set up new websites. It’s not exactly hard to do. The feds will likely continue to play a game of Whack-a-mole with the various Chinese sources selling Glock switches and suppressors.
While I believe that you have a right to own suppressors and machine guns, I will straight up tell you not to order them from China and shady websites in general. I don’t think you’re doing anything morally wrong, just stupid. The Chinese only care about their profit margins, and the feds care about arrest statistics.
In the middle sits us who appreciate the 2nd Amendment. If you give the Chinese your cash, the feds will take your years. These Chinese websites don’t care about your privacy or security. They don’t even have to give it to the Feds. It’s likely there for the taking. The domains are seized. Any companies that have hosted the websites will gladly give the Feds a key to the kingdom.
That means your address, your name, credit card information, and everything they need to put you away for your best years.
Websites like Wish and Alibaba have become memes over the years for the crazy counterfeit goods they sell. Wish sells tons of firearm goods, and famously, it sells Glock Switches, suppressors, and more. You might wonder why those websites haven’t been seized. Neither does Amazon, which has sold Glock switches for years as airsoft parts.
These websites are large, funded by billionaires, and will immediately comply with federal requests for your records. There is no safe way to buy these items outside of NFA compliance. Just don’t do it. You will get caught, and then you’re a felon who can’t even vote to preserve gun rights. Unfortunately, we will have to fight and rally against the NFA to make it easy and legal to buy what we want when we want it.
If you’re a camp cook, or do some spontaneous food prep in everyday life, then the new CIVIVI Hid Thumb Stud knife may be just what you need. Even if you don’t cook, but like a good-sized EDC knife, this one has a lot to offer.
Okay, I have to say I find the name a little odd, but the design is slick. The CIVIVI Hid Thumb Stud Knife has a definite Santoku style to it. It’s obviously geared toward food prep, but it should work for much more than that. The tall blade gives clearance on a cutting board. It also ensures that your hand is well away from the edge if you’re doing other tasks.
The Hid has a 4.14-inch long blade of 12C28N Swedish Stainless steel. Civivi classifies it as a reverse tanto, but it’s pretty classic Santuko styling. It’s a high flat grind, which should be great for slicing and food prep. The blade is available with either a satin finish as shown, or a black stonewashed finish.
As the name implies, it has a pair of ambidextrous thumb studs for one hand opening. The blade opens using a Caged Ceramic Ball Bearing, which should be very smooth based on the other Civivi folders I’ve used.
The handle is a generous 5.7 inches long. It’s made from textured G10 and should provide a solid grip, even when messy from food prep. The nested liner lock area also acts as a finger groove on the handle. Handle colors are OD green, black, or brown. The handle is fitted with a reversible wire pocket clip, set up for tip-up carry.
Build quality on all of the Civivi knives I’ve handled has been excellent. The Hid is a unique design that should fill a handy niche for food prep or general EDC and outdoors use. MSRP on the Hid is $99.70.
| Model Number | C23008-3 |
| Model Name | Hid |
| Overall Length | 9.83″ |
| Width | 1.69″ |
| Overall Height(Include Clip) | 0.69″ |
| Blade Length | 4.14″ |
| Closed Length | 5.7″ |
| Blade Thickness | 0.12″ |
| Handle Thickness | 0.53″ |
| Knife Weight | 5.2oz |
| Blade Material | 14C28N |
| Blade Hardness | 58-60HRC |
| Blade Grind | Flat |
| Blade Finish | Satin Finished |
| Blade Type | Reverse Tanto |
| Handle Material | G10 |
| Handle Color/Finish | Brown |
| Pocket Clip | Tip-Up, L/R |
| Clip Material | Stainless Steel |
| Screws / Thumb Stud Material | Stainless Steel |
| Pivot Assembly | Caged Ceramic Ball Bearing |
| Locking Mechanism | Nested Liner Lock |
| Designer | Ostap Hel |
| MSRP | $99.70 |
For more information, check out Civivi.com.
Aren’t shoulder holsters just so flipping cool? Maybe it’s because I’m a child of action movies from the 80s and 90s, but I’ve always loved shoulder holsters. My first holster for a cheap German single-action .22LR revolver was a shoulder holster. Literally a craptastic Uncle Mike’s holster. They have a charm that an appendix carry rig will never have.
It’s a bit like a medium frame .357 Magnum revolver with a stainless finish. It’s charming in a way a Glock can never be. However, we all admit the Glock is the better combat weapon. So, with that in mind, is the shoulder holster still a relevant option? Specifically for concealed carriers? We aren’t in a 1980s buddy cop show, but maybe the shoulder holster still has some relevance.
Shoulder holsters tend to excel in niche scenarios. They can be a great option for someone driving a lot or taking a long road trip. Last year, I went to Texas on a 12-hour road trip. I wore a Galco Miami 2 and my P365XL, and I was quite comfortable. Beyond comfort, it’s also really easy for me to draw from a shoulder rig while seated.
Plenty of folks can draw quickly from an appendix holster while driving, but for me, 12 hours of driving with any appendix rig sounds like torture. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe the fact I’m a big guy in a small car. Accessing a strongside holster can be slower while seated, and pocket carry goes out the window.
The shoulder holster seems to rule in situations where the user is forced into a seated position for a long period of time. It’s tough for me to find other situations where the shoulder carry position would be beneficial. Maybe if I was stuck driving a tank or patrolling through a jungle, it would be nice, but neither of those relates to concealed carry.
There used to be a benefit to wearing full-sized guns. It used to be easier to conceal a full-sized rig with a shoulder holster. It still is, but modern appendix rigs and the appendix position conceal full-sized guns better than shoulder rigs.
There are many downsides. A good shoulder holster is expensive. Plan to spend a minimum of 100 dollars to buy one. Most shoulder holsters are also leather rigs, and leather requires constant monitoring and maintenance. Users will have to ensure the holster doesn’t get floppy, or it could pull the trigger.
One of the few companies that produces modern polymer holsters is Safariland. (To be completely transparent, I create content for Safariland.)
Another issue with shoulder holsters is how slow it is to draw from. You’ll never get a sub-second draw; depending on the rig, you might never get faster than 1.5 seconds. An appendix rig, even in a vehicle, can be faster than that.
You also have to wear a cover garment, which means a light jacket or overshirt. That’s a hassle and a half.
One of the most prominent issues with shoulder rigs is how easy it is for someone to take your gun. It’s literally presented outward, and anyone can just reach forward and grab it. Most retention devices won’t do much for you. The ALS on the Safariland rig might be the least accessible to unauthorized takes, but it could still become a fight for your gun.
In most situations, no. They are not very relevant and not the best or even a good option. In some limited roles, they can be handy, like long road trips, but that’s niche. It’s a very expensive option for a very niche use case. If you’re shopping for a concealed carry holster, your money would be better spent with a premium polymer-type AIWB/IWB rig from a company like Phlster or Harry’s Holsters.
Shoulder holsters might not be all that relevant these days, but they are still pretty cool. The only time I’ll wear a shoulder rig is if I need to LARP as a 1940s investigator or if I’m going on a long road trip.
When Meindl reached out to me to try this Toskana Trail Walker, I initially turned them down. I’m not someone who normally buys shoes or boots online. It’s just hard to get the right fit, you know? I’ve run into that before with other companies. But as I was chatting with their rep, he managed to convince me to give them a shot.
And am I glad he did!
We’ll get into the details in a second, but here’s a spoiler. These are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn.
Made in Italy, the Toskana Trail Walker from Meindl is built for comfort as well as stability no matter what sort of terrain you’re facing. There is Gore-Tex lining to keep you dry on rainy days and premium suede leather construction that’s handsome and comfortable.
Comfort Fit® Last and Comfort Fit® cork footbeds give you a fit that feels like each shoe was custom-made for your feet. Their proprietary technology results in an anatomically correct fit with a wider foot box. As someone with wide feet, this is definitely appreciated.
The multigrip sole provides amazing traction on virtually any surface, from dirt to gravel to concrete. At the same time, while the sole is thick and sturdy, there’s plenty of flex, so it doesn’t feel like you’re walking on pieces of wood.
The Toskana Trail Walker is 4.25 inches high. This is definitely more shoe than boot, and that’s fine with me. The pair weighs 2.30 pounds. This isn’t an ultralight footwear option, that’s for sure. However, for years I’ve been wearing low-cut boots that tip the scales at nearly a pound more for the pair. So these didn’t exactly feel like boat anchors.
The Meindl website advises ordering one full size down from your Brannock or current U.S. shoe size. However, I ordered the same size that I wear in everything else, and it fit fine. Your mileage may vary, as they say. These take 40-inch laces. Mine arrived with red laces on the shoes and black laces in the box.
I mentioned at the outset that these Toskana Trail Walker shoes are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn. I’ll add to that statement by saying that there was zero break-in period with them. They felt great right out of the box. I can’t say that this is the first pair of footwear I’ve had like that, but it’s pretty rare.
I’ve worn these shoes every day since they dropped on my doorstep. They’ve gone on a couple of hikes, puttered around in the yard, and even went along on a two-day semi-business trip to a knife manufacturer in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They’ve felt amazing everywhere I went.
On trails, they provided excellent traction, even when the terrain was muddy. Full confession, I did slip once. But that was due to getting tangled in some brush because I wasn’t watching where I was stepping. Totally my fault, not the shoes.
In addition to hiking, I spent a few days in an industrial setting, on my feet for upwards of 10 hours a day, standing and walking on concrete floors. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Trail Walkers did there. While I can’t say I was exactly invigorated at the end of each day, I didn’t feel like I was going to collapse into a puddle of aches and pains either. I’m counting that as a definite win.
I can’t recommend the Toskana Trail Walker highly enough. It not only surpassed every expectation I had, it set the bar pretty high for any footwear to follow. Find them online at MeindlUSA.com.
[For transparency, Meindl provided a pair of these shoes to me at no charge for the purposes of evaluation. This has had zero impact on my opinion of the shoes or on this review.]
The firearms used by the United States military have been cataloged extensively. Every small variation of these various weapons has been cataloged and collected. What’s not so clear, and often cloudy, is the military’s use of suppressors. The reason why it hasn’t been cataloged extensively is that until relatively recently, suppressors haven’t been used in great numbers by modern military forces. However, the history of suppressors in military use is downright fascinating and likely goes further than you know.
Hiram Maxim designed the first silencer in 1902 and received his patent in 1909. He continued to develop suppressors for hunters and plinkers and often touted their usefulness beyond martial use. However, he also saw the advantage of military contracts. He created the Model 1910 to sit offset and allow the user to maintain the ability to use their sights.
The US military purchased Maxim Model 1912 suppressors and a limited number of Moore suppressors. Both were tested, but neither was adopted wholeheartedly. The military didn’t see the benefit. Maxim continued to develop the Springfield suppressors and would release a Model 15 designed for the Springfield.
The first time we saw military use of suppressors was during the American Punitive Expedition to Mexico in 1916. A silencer-equipped sniper squad followed General John Pershing into Mexico. Sadly, there don’t seem to be many records of what the squad did or how well the suppressed rifles worked.
Americans were only involved in about 180 days of fighting in World War I, but it is unclear if any suppressed sniper rifles ever found their way to combat in American hands. We know some soldiers brought suppressed rifles. The US Army did order 9,100 suppressed sniper rifles, but the war ended before the order was fulfilled.
While we are focused primarily on American military use of suppressors, it’s worth mentioning that British snipers used silencers to great effect during the war. This included Maxim suppressors. They became known as the Whispering Death amongst the Germans.
One of the best stories concerning suppressors and World War II comes from the time ‘Wild’ Bill Donovan, head of the OSS, met with President Roosevelt in the Oval Office. As the President dictated a letter, Donovan fired a round from a suppressed High Standard HDM into a sandbag, told the unbelieving President he had done so, and handed him the still smoking gun.
The High Standard HDM was one of many silenced weapons used during the war. Springfields with suppressors were fielded in limited numbers. The Brits devised the Welrod, which entered American OSS hands. The OSS also wielded M3 Grease Guns with internally suppressed barrels.
World War II saw a rise in special operations and espionage as the war reached all corners of the globe. Suppressed weapons became valuable tools for commandos who were blowing up airfields and sabotaging Axis war efforts. The weapons were used for assassinations to cover troops’ tracks and avoid drawing attention when necessary.
This gave suppressors new life inside the United States military. They became demystified, and with the development of special warfare units, they grew in commonality.
In Vietnam, the United States faced long-term guerilla warfare. The Vietnam War created modern special operations forces. Asymmetric warfare put a new focus on special operations, and special operations troops needed suppressors. Suppressors don’t completely eliminate noise, but they allow troops to hide their positions longer, making them harder to find in a firefight.
Special Operations troops commonly used submachine guns with suppressors, including the Swedish K and UZI. Suppressors from companies like Sionics and the HEL M2 suppressed the M16A1 rifles, a blessing for special operations troops. Handguns like the PPK would be surprised and could operate reliably due to the blowback action. Nielsen devices wouldn’t be invented for another decade.
However, the Navy did develop the Mk 22 MOD 0, a suppressed S&W Model 39. This gun became known as the Hush Puppy. It was developed to eliminate sentries and guard dogs at close range. It was suppressed and featured a slide lock that prevented the slide from cycling, which cut the noise to nothing.
There were lots of experimental suppressed weapons. This includes M1 carbines, a Silent Sniper Rifle firing a massive subsonic cartridge, a silenced revolver, and more. The Vietnam War made the suppressed weapon a common sight in special operations units.
From Vietnam til now, we have seen a shift in suppressor usage. Special Operations troops, snipers, and similar cool guys had suppressors, but they began leaking to the infantry. Marines carrying Mk 12s carried suppressors. Suppressors from Knight’s Armament, Qual-A-Tech, and more have entered the scene.
The Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon comes with a suppressor and aims to arm all infantrymen with a new long-range rifle option. The Marine Corps conducted a massive experiment with infantry-suppressed weapons and is going full steam ahead. Suppressors are commonly issued amongst infantry Marines and the M27 IAR.
Suppressors allow troops to hear commands, maintain situational awareness, and make troops tougher to find at moderate to long ranges. The cat is out of the bag, and the United States seems dedicated to a future of suppressed weapons with modern fighting forces. These are no longer tools dedicated to special ops troops, but the average Joe will be toting a suppressed weapon for the foreseeable future.
Continued from Part 1…
The specific revolver depicted above has been in my family for some time. Unfortunately, I’m not fully aware of its history other than it was purportedly built in 1907, according to a serial number lookup. It’s likely a newer 5th model change revolver.
Fundamentally, this double-action-only revolver works like any other, with both the internal hammer and trigger feeding off mainspring tension to function correctly. The trigger is interlinked with a hand that actuates the ratchet on the cylinder. It also actuates a rudimentary but precise cylinder stop. It’s worth noting that more than a century later, the timing on this revolver is impeccable.
Due to their nature, Safety Hammerless revolvers have a very long and heavy trigger pull. I’d estimate the one on this specimen to be at least fifteen pounds. Unfortunately, my digital trigger pull scale is too sensitive to measure this trigger reliably. Its pull is smooth, but it’s just horrendously heavy and long. I suspect this has to do with the configuration under its sideplate and the physical distances between the major internal components.
Cylinders on modern Smith & Wesson revolvers rotate counter-clockwise, but this isn’t true of these earlier 19th-century designed guns. Safety Hammerless cylinders spin clockwise, and for that matter, their sideplates are found on the left side of the frame.
The biggest novelty of this revolver is its sophisticated top-break mechanism. The frame and barrel conjoin in two places: on the bottom, where both parts hinge and pivot, and on the corner, where both parts are secured by a spring-loaded latch. This latch, which also serves as the platform for the rear sight, is unlocked by the thumb.
Like any modern revolver, Safety Hammerless models also include a star and ejector rod to manage brass. However, the rod itself is inaccessible from the outside. Instead, it’s automatically actuated when the action is broken open, and the barrel hinges past the first ⅓ of its arc to dead bottom. This movement is elegantly executed and speaks to the fit-and-finish standards that these guns of old needed to simply function.
The surfaces that make contact with each other on that lower portion where they hinge are extremely polished and smooth and have more in common with a mechanical watch than a handgun. After the barrel pivots to dead bottom, the star and ejector assembly spring back to their resting position, allowing the shooter to insert five fresh cartridges.
The barrel on my Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless measures just short of 3 ¼ inches from the start of the forcing cone all the way to the muzzle. Throughout the product lifespan of the Safety Hammerless product family, the 3 ¼ barrel length was the default standard for both .32 and .38-caliber top break revolvers.
The barrel, topstrap, and pivoting juncture that mates into the frame are all elaborately machined from a single piece of steel. (For what it’s worth, during its heyday, Smith & Wesson ads used to boast about the quality of its steel compared to those used by their competitors in their Safety Hammerless clones, especially when .38 S&W ammunition shifted from black powder to more modern smokeless propellants at the industry level).
Regardless, it’s hard not to appreciate the intricacies in manufacturing. Especially considering how many steps it takes to mill, machine, and finish off what is essentially the front half of this revolver from a single piece of metal. I also couldn’t help but notice the relative thinness of the barrel walls. Then again, the .38 S&W cartridge has never been a hot screamer.
Similarly, the half-moon bladed front sight on this particular Safety Hammerless is directly affixed onto the top of the barrel. The rear sight is part of the T-shaped spring-powered latch that locks the top break action in place. It’s one of the most diminutive rear sights I’ve seen on any gun.
It amounts to two tiny ears that make a very shallow U-shaped rear sight notch, which lines up imprecisely (in my opinion) with the half-moon blade front sight. Even at three yards, the rear U-notch was too small compared to the height of the front sight, making shots at a two-inch circle more challenging than I expected.
One of the recurring themes in this article is about the tone the Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless set for the rest of the storied company’s compact and snub-nosed revolvers. The shape of the Safety Hammerless’ grip, its profile, and generous sinus (the space between a revolver’s fronstrap and the trigger guard) was certainly a departure from the earlier grip shape of the S&W Model1 tip-up revolver, whose stocks had more in common with a 1851 Colt Navy cap-and-ball black powder revolver than a Model 36 Chief’s Special.
In fact, Smith & Wesson J-frames are still profiled in this manner. However, skinny stocks like the ones found on models like the Safety Hammerless, Models 30, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, and all of their descendants have not fallen out of favor for stocks that cover a frame’s sinus gap and lend themselves better to double-action focused defensive revolver shooting.
My Safety Hammerless has two black stocks with very fine, almost smooth checkering and the classic Smith & Wesson “diamond motif” over their center. These stocks are likely fashioned from an early polymer material, likely bakelite. The back of the grip itself has a round-butt.
The grip safety that lies over the backstrap of the Safety Hammerless is well-fitted with diamond-checkered surface for extra texture. It doesn’t need to sink too deeply into the back of the grip in order to disengage and allow the revolver’s double action to fire.
For normal adult-sized hands, the Safety Hammerless grips are too small and not comfortable. It’s certainly one of my least favorite aspects about the revolver, along with its hard-to-see and imprecise sights.
In Part 1 of this series, I briefly describe the top-break action and the trigger pull of the Smith & Wesson Safety Hammerless. While the trigger pull is objectively smooth, the travel arc is long and heavy, and I made the educated guess that it breaks somewhere around the 15-lb mark. Unfortunately, it’s heavy enough that I cannot use my digital trigger pull scale to measure the pull weight directly.
It is possible to “stage” the trigger on most double-action revolvers by carefully controlling it with the trigger-finger. However, the unit on the Safety Hammerless is somewhat unusual because if the trigger is pulled back at a slower to moderate pace, there is a very definite wall at 80-90% of the trigger arc.
Its trigger stages itself in a roundabout way, and this is something I had not noticed until I was trying to shoot the revolver for accuracy. Keeping in mind that my specimen is both very old, along with the fact that I have no idea how many rounds of .38 S&W it has sent downrange, I am not thrilled at the weight and sluggishness that the wall added to the final portion of the trigger break. It was annoying enough that it canceled out the overall smoothness of the rest of the trigger’s travel arc.
In fairness to this gun, which is over a century old, there’s no telling what kind of grit, grime, and crud lies underneath its sideplate. I know enough about revolvers that I know better than to remove that sideplate.
To Be Continued In Part 3
Special thanks to Lucky Gunner for providing some .38 S&W ammunition for this project.
One of the common complaints we saddle on shotguns is low capacity. Most repeating shotguns hold anywhere from four to eight rounds of 2.75-inch buckshot. Compared to a modern rifle that often holds 30 rounds minimum, that doesn’t seem like a whole lot. The more I’ve used shotguns and the more training I’ve gone through, I’ve started to think that shotguns really aren’t low-capacity weapons.
While they have a lower capacity than a modern semi-auto rifle, I think context matters. We use the term low to describe something as inadequate based on a specific number. When I think about shotguns in this context, I can say a single or double barrel is pretty much capacity. In fact, the stock capacity of a Remington 870 at four in the tube seems a little low to me, but that’s like a 20-round mag in an AR.
Sure, you can go higher, but 20 isn’t exactly lacking either. We also have to look at weapons in the context in which they are deployed. In a perfect situation, a shotgun would be deployed in a scenario where it works best. Shotguns work best at close quarters. Essentially, they tend to perform very well inside pistol ranges.
In that situation, you have a shoulder-fired weapon without much distance from you to the threat. It’s unlikely you’ll miss with any shoulder-fired weapon. The advantage of the shotgun at this range is the amount of lead it puts into a target per pull of the trigger. You have to aim, but if you are an inch off from a terminal shot, you are still putting so much lead in a threat that an inch doesn’t matter, and you’ll likely stop the threat.
These fights often run over quickly due to their close range, and in that situation, speed matters more than accuracy. Not much more because we still need to stop the threat, but a little more. Whoever gets the lead on target first is likely to win.
Aiming might still be required to shoot a shotgun, but you have more room for error in sight alignment, sight picture, trigger pull, follow-through, etc. You can go faster while still seeing excellent results.
Shotguns become low-capacity weapons when they are deployed in situations where they don’t excel. In military use, a shotgun is a very niche weapon because most combat isn’t close enough to take advantage of the shotgun. It’s also a poor weapon to use to suppress a target, which is a common military tactic.
In police situations, shotguns fail when asked to do tasks they aren’t suited for, such as the North Hollywood shootout. However, for most police encounters, the shotgun seems like a fine weapon.
That leads us to the civilian context, and I feel the deployment most strongly supports the idea that the shotgun is a low-capacity weapon.
In a home defense situation, the shotgun is in its element. Unless you’re living in a mansion, your home is likely a close-quarters playground. Now, we are in an environment where speed matters just one percent more than accuracy. In this situation, four to eight rounds seem to be enough to go around.
In scouring the internet and Active Self-Protection’s YouTube channel, I’ve yet to find a civilian use of a shotgun that required a reload. I’m not just looking for an example of when a shotgun ran dry, but even when a partial reload seemed necessary. In most cases where a round is fired, only one is needed to end the fight, with two being unlikely and more than three being downright impossible to find.
A home invasion scenario in Texas created a one vs three situation where the homeowner wielded a shotgun. He exchanged gunfire with the home intruders and ended up killing all three with his shotgun.
The benefit of using a shotgun is simple. When you pull that trigger, you’re firing multiple pellets. The best home defense loads typically include eight pellets of buckshot. An eight-round tube is holding 64 projectiles. Doesn’t sound like a low-capacity weapon to me. Misses are certainly rough, but at close quarters, misses are unlikely with a shoulder-fired weapon.
If you land a torso shot with a shotgun, the effect is devastating. It’s traumatic and often a fight-stopper. It’s going to create significant amounts of pain, muscle damage, and blood loss if it’s not fatal.
Since most of us aren’t fending off a horde of ninjas, a shotgun can deal with one or multiple home invaders. If you get to the point where a half-dozen armed home invaders are bearing down on you, then your gun might not be the deciding factor. Rather, it’ll be about how fast good guys with guns can show up to provide support.
In a multiple home invader situation, if it comes down to needing to reload a four to eight-round capacity shotgun, you have two situations at hand. You’re missing entirely too much, or your enemies are climbing over their dead friends to get to you.
The modern defensive shotgun with a modern capacity isn’t a low-capacity weapon. At least not in the context of the civilian deployment of a shotgun. Even with multiple home invaders, it can be a decisive, fight-stopping option for home defense. There might be plenty of problems and downsides to shotguns, but capacity isn’t one of them.
