Aaron is a sergeant with a midwestern police department, where he serves as a trainer, supervisor and SWAT sniper. In addition to his broad tactical knowledge, Aaron is an experienced hunter using bow and both modern and blackpowder firearms.
Ed. Note: In 2013, EOTech introduced a number of new products including the new EOtech 300 Blackout optic. Aaron had a chance to shoot with one and spend time with the company engineers out in Las Vegas. This is his preliminary review of the 300 BLK optic.
Being a user of this company’s products, I was interested to see the new EOTech Model 300 Blackout Whisper at the 2013 SHOT Show.
Another new gun shown at the 2013 SHOT Show is the Kahr CM45 (Model #4543). The CM series of handguns is the economy version of the PM series that Kahr produces. Adding the venerable .45 ACP caliber to the CM series of handguns should bode well for Kahr, as the CM series has been a popular line for the company. Although, not the top of the line offering like the PM series, the CM series still offers many desired features, while allowing a market price far below the PM series.
[Ed. note: The information on the current generation of Knoxx Stock, the Blackhawk! Gen II SpecOps, was previously submitted during the 2012 SHOT Show. For whatever reason, I failed to get it posted properly. Better late than never, right?]
The Blackhawk booth at SHOT Show this year was a little more subdued than in previous years. In the last couple of years, the booth has been full of clothing, duty gear, breaching equipment, and weapons accessories. And there always seemed to be a steady stream of people moving through the booths.
This was the first full year after ATK bought Blackhawk back in mid-2010. The booth was combined into one large area instead of two areas, as in previous years. However, it seemed that the number of items on display seemed greatly reduced. Perhaps the idea was to focus on the most current offerings, as past years had a mixture of old and new. Whatever the marketing strategy was, it didn’t stop Blackhawk from marketing some really nice products. One of those products was the redesigned and improved Gen II SpecOps Knoxx Stock that came out last year.
The first generation SpecOps Knoxx stock was well received as a very versatile accessory option for shotgun shooters. Traditionally shotguns have either had a fixed stock, a fixed pistol grip stock, or no stock at all. The concept Blackhawk brought to shotgunners was to provide the best of all those features in one stock.
At the NRA Convention, I stopped by the N8 2 Tactical holsters booth to follow-up on the pictures I took the night before the show started. There I got to talk with Katie Johnson about what could be one of the most comfortable inside the waistband (IWB) holsters on the market. The name of the company is an acronym for the two founders, Nate Beard and Nate Johnson. Pronounced properly the company name is Nate Squared Tactical.
The N8 2 comes in Original, Original Tuckable, and Professional holsters. Each holster is hand crafted for the highest quality possible. In fact, the two Nate’s are so confident in their patented design that they offer a lifetime warranty from any manufacturing defects.
Each holster has a large backer, or carrier, that completely supports and extends past the handgun in the holster. This backer is kind of in the shape of an inverted triangle with the edges rounded off, with the wider portion on top to support the pistol’s handle, even on full-sized pistols.
The front of the backer is made of high quality, oil-tanned leather, with the back being made of very comfortable soft suede. This suede backing is so soft that you wouldn’t think twice about having this holster ride right next to your skin all day long. The suede allows the holster to breathe so your body doesn’t get too hot wearing this really nice holster. In addition, the Nates claim that the natural friction coefficient of the suede displaces the weight of your handgun. This allows you to carry the firearm without its weight pulling down against your waistband.
Always on the lookout for new gear, I spent most of Sunday at the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits looking for the less known vendors and what they have to offer. One of the last booths I stopped by was for Mil-Tac Knives & Tools. Based out of Dallas, Texas Mil-Tac had two knives that caught my attention, and Neal Marx was gracious enough to walk me through their features.
MTF-4 Tanto
The first knife that jumped out at me was the MTF-4 Tanto folding knife. This knife comes with G10 handles, and N690 German stainless steel blade. Although the steel comes from overseas, the shaping, sharpening, and manufacture of the knife is all done in Dallas, with the remaining parts being made in the USA. That blade is also coated in ceramic to increase longevity, strength, and blade sharpness.
The MTF-4 has a really nice look to it, and its opening and closing movements are very smooth. In addition to a traditional locking bar in the middle of the handle that moves into position as the blade opens, the MTF-4 has a locking lever on the top right portion of the handle that will ensure that the blade cannot be accidentally closed.