Loadout Room Guest Authors

A Gun to Ride the River With: The Smith & Wesson 686

Many of the guns I have purchased have been done so with the idea of being the “last rifle” or “last pistol” I’ll ever need to buy. Of course this never actually works out in practice – something new comes along and I catch the bug. Once in a while, though, I find something that is pretty much perfect as-is, and it endures. An example of this phenomenon: the venerable Smith & Wesson 686. It is my One if I could have only one, my hell or high-water sixgun, my “gun to ride the river with.”

Smith & Wesson 686

The 4″ Smith & Wesson 686 is the revolver that captured my imagination more than any other as a kid. Because I didn’t handle many actual revolvers as a kid, my fascination was merely due to the aesthetics of the thing. And I admit that to this day, no other revolver comes close to achieving the perfectly balanced look of the 4″ 686 (except maybe the 3″ and 5″ 686s…which still only come close). But calling a revolver perfect based on looks alone could responsibly be characterized as irresponsible. So why do I consider the S&W 686 to be the perfect revolver (and maybe even the perfect handgun)?

Perfect Revolver — My 4″, pre-lock 686-3.

It’s made to shoot. The 686 is built on the L-Frame, Smith & Wesson’s medium-large revolver chassis. The L-Frame was designed to correct the weaknesses of the smaller, lighter K-Frame with a thicker top strap and heavier forcing cone, while keeping the grip the same size. A few other dimensions in the gun were increased, resulting in a revolver that is designed for hard use with full-power .357 Magnum ammo.

The mid-large dimensions of the L-Frame make the 686 heavy. This is not the worst thing. First, it soaks up recoil like a sponge. You can run the gun hard and run it fast. You can shoot any SAAMI-spec’d .357 Magnum load available, and do so with a smile on your face. The heft of this wheelgun also lends some stability when more precision is desired. In competent hands, a revolver of this size can be counted on to ring steel reliably at 100 yards or more. It is likely that it could also make an ill-intentioned rifleman of mediocre skill downright uncomfortable at similar remove.

Check out the rest of this review on RevolverGuy.com!

Nordic Pocket Saw: The bigger they are, The harder they fall

As an avid outdoorsman, it’s very rare that I find myself unprepared when I venture out into the wilderness. I always make sure to take the essentials, be it a medical kit, proper clothing, or fire starting materials. After using the Nordic Pocket Saw, I came to recognize one area in which I’ve been unprepared. By using a cheap, low-quality pocket saw, I was severely hampering my ability to create shelter.

The Nordic Pocket Saw, in my own opinion, is worthy of praise for several reasons. First, it’s designed by the Swedes. I’m almost certain that over half of that country is made up of dense forest surrounded by some of the world’s harshest arctic conditions. Second, the chains are phenomenal compared to any competition that I’ve personally used. I have owned no less than five different pocket saws, all of which have failed, one of them catastrophically DURING use. When it comes to pocket saws, I have quite a bit of experience and I know what works and what doesn’t. If I had to choose only one for an extended venture into no man’s land, I’d choose the Nordic Pocket Saw.

<br />

One thing worth noting is the quality of the chains on the Nordic Pocket Saw. Any tool that you use is going to require maintenance, no matter what. The problem with the cheap competitors is that the low-quality material makes it extremely difficult to maintain. I’ve had a couple pocket saws whose teeth broke off during sharpening. I can’t stress enough how dangerous this would be if you were relying on them to help you build a shelter or source firewood. The cheap steel simply broke off on the competition, but I’ve barely reached the point that I need to sharpen the teeth on the Nordic Pocket Saw.

When you do get around to sharpening, however, you must use a 4mm round file. This is the perfect size to maintain the sharpness, which will allow you to keep a consistent speed in the wood, making it more efficient. Another small part of the maintenance is to use a lubricating oil on the hinges to keep them from seizing up or rusting. Again, the material in the Nordic Pocket Saw is high-quality, which means you can sacrifice a little bit of maintenance time for more important things like food or rest if you had to.

With my saw, I was able to tackle some fairly large trees with very little trouble at all. In fact, the only reason I really broke a sweat was that I haven’t kept a normal running routine! This saw can take a lot of abuse since it’s made of heat treated high carbon steel. The handles are made of Cordura nylon fabric and are attached to the chain with a triangular steel connector that is very sturdy. There are two teeth to every chain, both of them in opposite directions so you can make cuts going back and forth.

In my first go with the Nordic Pocket Saw, I downed a 4-inch diameter tree in about 20 seconds going at a slow pace. Speeding it up, I was able to drop an 11-inch diameter mammoth in about a minute and a half. The blaze orange handles and carrying case are a great addition to the quality of this product. If I were to drop the saw, I’d never have to worry about losing it in a pile of leaves, while the carrying case does a great job at securing it to my belt. All in all, the Nordic Pocket Saw provides an amazing value at an affordable price.

<br />

Author – Rodney Pointer is a former Army Infantryman. After graduating from Airborne School, he was ruthlessly assigned to Fort Polk, Louisiana to live out his days as a dirty leg. He served with the 2nd BN, 30th Infantry of the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. Following his deployment to Afghanistan, he received a Bachelor’s degree in Intelligence Operations. He currently works as a nuclear security contractor.

5.11 Tactical Expedition Long Sleeve Shirt, SWAT Tested and Approved

The 5.11 Tactical Expedition Shirt is a solid buy. Designed for the tactical professional, 5.11 has a knack for creating attractive clothing with all the bells and whistles. This shirt has them all, dual chest pockets, bartacking at key stress points, shoulder pen pockets, and an overall tough and sturdy construction. All that sounds good, but I put this piece of clothing to the test. Check out the video to see how the Expedition long sleeve shirt performed… and to find out what bartacking means.

Author – Matt Walker is a Texas Law Enforcement Officer of 10 years and serves as a SWAT Officer for his department. He is also the head defensive tactics instructor and holds various instructor certificates such as Krav Maga Force Division Instructor, FBI Defensive Tactics Instructor, Tactical Breaching Instructor and various others. Mr. Walker holds and undefeated Mixed Martial Arts record and is a practitioner of Muay Thai Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Olympic weightlifting.

5.11 Tactical Field Watch

I’m one of those guys that love watches. To me, it is not only a necessity, but it finishes off the “look” of whatever it is that you are wearing. As much as I’d love to have a nice smartwatch, I haven’t been able to pull the trigger on one yet. Why? Truthfully, I not only like the aesthetics of an analog or digital watch, but it really isn’t practical in my day-to-day life (except for the fact that it’d be useful while working out). To me, traditional timepieces just have more personality.

When choosing a watch for work, it not only has to have the “look”, but it has to be able to withstand whatever is thrown at it. That doesn’t mean that it has to have all the fancy bells and whistles either; because hey, I’m a firefighter, not a pilot. However, I expect it to keep time accurately no matter the abuse, and it has to remain relatively unscathed in respects to its finish. Let’s face it, who wants to spend their money on a watch because it looks good, only to have a scratched up POS a day, week or even a month later. Last but not least, I want the option to wear the watch for more than just work, because in the end, “all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.”

Chances are, that if you work in any field such as law enforcement, military, EMS, or fire, you’ve heard of 5.11 Tactical. They are a company that is known for quality, ruggedness, and durability. And (yes, I started a sentence with and), I can tell you from first-hand experience, that their customer service is pretty darn amazing as well.

The 5.11 Tactical Field Watch fits the description above for what I look for in an excellent watch. Over the past two months, the Field Watch has been worn almost daily, whether it has been on shift at the FD, coaching my kid’s baseball games, or heading out for the night with my beautiful wife. My experience with it has been completely positive, which can be very difficult to find when reviewing gear. I can tell you that it has seen some abuse over those two months; from traffic accidents with extrication to training, and worst of all, horsing around with my kids!

<br />

The 5.11 Tactical Field Watch comes with a Nato style band, and my first time wearing one. To touch on that, all I can say is that if you have never worn one, do yourself a favor and get one; they are that comfortable. The watch itself has a good heft to it, giving it a durable feel. But what jumps out at you when looking at it, is the simplicity of it. The numbers and increments on the face are gray against a black background; easy to read, but not screaming to take over the look of the entire piece. There is a small orange window showcasing the current date. To me, having the date on a watch is a MUST. Every task that I perform during my day-to-day operations required time and date stamping and having this definitely helps.

The Field Watch has a uni-directional dive bezel with number markings at every 5 minute/second. On the inside of the bezel, just under the chip and scratch resistant mineral glass, are your markings for military/24 hour time. The hour, minute, and red second hand, all have a Phosphorus Luminescent paint on them that glows with the slightest charge. For you ladies and gentlemen out there that perform dive operations, the Field Watch is water resistant up to 100 meters or 330 feet.

One of my favorite points on this watch though is the finish. 5.11 Tactical knew that this watch would be used by many of us in the actual field. So just to the name it “Field Watch” wasn’t good enough. They finished this watch with Ionic Plating. For those of you not familiar with this process, a layer of titanium nitride and other strong materials are added to the base of the stainless steel and bonded together to create a lasting and durable finish. In fact, it is so durable that it is considered a permanent finish/coating.

As mentioned before, this is the first piece of wearable gear that I haven’t had any issues with of any sort. The 5.11 Tactical Field Watch is versatile; ready for day-to-day operations, but classy enough to wear on a night out on the town.

If you decide to give it a go, make sure to stop back and leave some feedback. Let us know what you think!

<br />

Author – Tony Kuhn

A Brief History of NATO Watch Bands

In designing the Vaer watch, we tried our best to focus on the features and functionalities beloved by wristwatch enthusiasts. While some of our design features, such as the metal case ring and back-loaded case design, are invisible to the untrained eye, there are other features that clearly define the product’s identity.

One such feature is the interchangeable nylon bands. Colorful, comfortable, and waterproof – they’re a perfect match for our minimal, ocean-going timepiece.

A Functional Favorite

The nylon pass-through strap (often referred to as a NATO) is a unifying symbol for watch lovers around the world. Whether you’re collecting Seikos or Submariners chances are you own a few nylon straps. Not only do they provide a cool contrast to a steel or leather strap, they’re incredibly functional. If you own an expensive dive watch (and actually use it in the ocean) the last thing you want is to lose it because of a faulty spring-bar. Even the strongest steel bracelet is only as reliable as the removable spring-bars it’s attached to – if one breaks, your watch is going straight to the ocean floor.

The nylon pass-through strap solves this problem.

Since the band itself forms a full-loop around your wrist, it’s secured independently by each springbar. If one bar fails, the other one will still be there to keep the watch on your wrist.

Military Origins

The origins of this fail-safe design can be traced back over 40 years to the early 1970s when it was issued as an optional accessory by the British Ministry of Defence. Labelled simply as the “Strap, Wrist Watch” it quickly became known as the G10, which was the name of the order form soldiers needed to fill out to get it. It is very commonly referred to as a “NATO Strap”, as a shortened version of “NATO Stocking Number”.

The design of these early military straps is nearly identical to our version. Both are nylon, 20mm in width, and feature a second shorter piece of nylon attached to the buckle. The only key difference is the while the British originals used brass-buckles and keepers our hardware is made of brushed 316L stainless steel. Interestingly, the military straps were also highly customized. While originally issued only in grey, it wasn’t long before British regiments started customizing the straps to match their regimental colors.

Rise to Popularity

While it took a few more decades for the NATO design to catch on outside military circles, today these the bands can be found on an incredibly wide variety of watches. Many renowned watchmakers such as Bremont and Tudor now sell Nylon bands as an optional accessory with their watches – charging as much $100 USD for a single Nylon strap.

Other brands have taken the opposite approach, producing flimsy colored straps, that imitate the style of NATO, but lack the quality and design specifications to make the product useful for anything more than a fashion accessory.

The Perfect Band

We didn’t invent our band design. Nor are we the only ones selling the style.

However, for the price, our version is one of the very best of its kind on the market.

We selected a very dense Nylon weave that is sturdy, while still being supple enough to be comfortable when worn around the wrist. The band features 13 laser cut holes, spaced 5mm apart and spanning a range between 155mm and 215mm. The end of the band is rounded to a circle, and burnished by heat to not split or fray. Attached to the Nylon band, are four pieces of brushed stainless steel hardware – one buckle and three rectangular loops. The hardware is secured by 1mm machine-stitched nylon threading, made to match the color of the band, and stress tested to withstand up to 350 pounds of direct tension.

All together these numerous design features combine into a pretty damn solid strap. Adding in the ocean functionality, easy interchangeability, and opportunity for customization – I think its pretty clear why we believe it’s a perfect match for our watch.

3 home defense firearms that’ll make you prepared like John Wick

You roll to your side to take a quick glimpse of the clock: it’s 3 AM. You’ve been awake for the past 2 hours, trying to go back to sleep. You couldn’t. Something’s off…you can just feel it.

“Ah, it must be paranoia,” you think. When you’re about to close your eyes, you suddenly hear a loud shatter downstairs. You get up. And then, your front door slowly creaks open, bringing a chill down your spine. “Oh shi—” you panicky think before cutting yourself off. You know what this is:

A home invasion.

Your heart starts pounding as you quickly try to find your .30-06 hunting rifle with scope. Beads of sweat roll down your face as your hands begin to shake uncontrollably. You realized that your hunting rifle is downstairs. And then, suddenly out of the shadows, a dark hooded figure emerges. What do you think will happen next?

You’ll either lose your life or your precious valuables. Why? Because you weren’t adequately prepared for a home invasion. How do you prevent that from happening? By getting prepared. And one of the first steps in being prepared is getting yourself a SOLID home defense weapon. That’s why I wrote this article — to show you my top 3 favorite home defense firearms, starting with my first recommendation…

Remington 870 (Shotgun)

Pros: Flexible ammunition types, insanely powerful

Cons: Heavier and harder to carry (compared to pistols), requires two hands to shoot, low ammunition capacity (compared to rifles)

Why use a Shotgun for Home Defense?

Because they’re scary as hell. If ANY intruder hears a sound of a shotgun, they’ll most likely bolt for the door… and will never step foot on your property again. But that’s not the only reason you should invest in a shotgun. Shotguns are also extremely versatile. Meaning, there is a wide variety of ammo available like:

Slugs
Buck Shot
Bird Shot

In other words: Shotguns are multi-purpose. They can be used for hunting and target shooting as well as home defense. And that’s not all. Shotguns are incredibly reliable. (More specifically, pump shotguns). They are very easy to use and won’t fail on you — even with minimal maintenance. The best part? Shotguns are pretty darn cheap. In fact, a brand new Remington 870 only costs $300. And if you really look, you could get yourself a used one for less than $150.

Recommended Accessories:

Shotgun Sling: Makes extra ammo easily-accessible.
Red Dot Sight: Allows for rapid target acquisition. The FastFire 3 from Burris is SOLID.
WeaponLight: Flashlights and lasers are a must for shotguns.

Glock 23 (Pistol)

Pros: Easy to carry, lightweight (and compact), requires only one hand to shoot

Cons: Low ammunition capacity (compared to rifles)

Why use a Pistol for Home Defense?

The fact is this: Handguns are some of the best firearms for home defense. They’re also my personal favorite. Here’s why… Accessibility. I carry my Glock 23 almost EVERYWHERE I go. It’s small, compact, light and fairly easy to use. That said, you’d be able to move quicker and quieter through your home. Bruce Willis in Die Hard would probably agree with me. Another reason for acquiring a pistol is because they rarely run into jamming issues, easy-to-clean, and just straight up reliable.

Look: Just do yourself a favor and get a handgun (if you don’t have one already). It’ll protect you everywhere — inside AND outside of your home.

Recommended Accessories:

Grip: Upgrade your stock grip with a grip from a reputable manufacturer for an improved grip quality.
Light/Laser: Will help with accuracy and seeing in low-light conditions.
Holster: A must if you conceal carry. Feel free to read my top 3 essential firearm accessories.

AR-15 (Rifle)

Pros: Higher ammunition capacity, powerful, long-distance shots

Cons: Heavier and harder to carry (compared to pistols), requires two hands to operate

Why use a Rifle for Home Defense?

If you want to be a badass like John Wick, use an AR-15. The reason? It’s INSANELY versatile. The AR-15 can be used for home defense, target shooting, and even deer hunting. How is that possible? The AR-15 is chambered in a 5.56 cartridge and could also shoot a .223 — allowing for a flexible platform. And get this: An AR-15 is actually EASIER to shoot than a shotgun or pistol due to the low recoil and accuracy. If that wasn’t enough for you, the AR-15 also holds a larger total capacity of ammunition. In other words: you can easily take on multi-person home invasion.

Let me make it simple: I highly recommend owning an AR-15. It’s just… awesome. I’m not the only person who thinks so. In fact, the AR-15 is the most popular rifle in America.

Recommended Accessories:

Rifle Scope/Red Dot Sight: Read this article on how to choose a rifle scope.
Front Hand Grip: Allows for MUCH better grip.
Flashlight: Great for low light environments.

Which Firearm Should I buy For Home Defense – Pistol, Rifle Or Shotgun?

It depends on your environment. Want something lightweight and easily accessible? Get a handgun. Live in a rural area and have a lot of distance? Invest in a rifle. However, if you live in a more densely-packed area, go with a shotgun. Also, don’t forget to check your local laws to see which firearm is legal. But most importantly: whatever firearm you choose, make sure to commit to training and practice. As long as you head to the gun range a couple of times per year, you should be golden. With that said…

Now Its Your Turn

These are my top 3 favorite firearms for home defense. Sure, there are hundreds of guns out there you can choose from but these were my top 3 favorites. That said, I’d like to hear from you: What firearm do you use (or plan on using) for home defense? Let me know by leaving a quick comment down below.

Author Bio:

Richard Douglas is a scopes expert with over 10 years of hands-on experience and has been featured on Burris Optics, War History Online and more. No wonder his friends call him the “James Bond of Scopes.” Richard now spends most of his time reviewing scopes and sharing his exclusive findings on his blog, Scopes Field.

Feature image courtesy of Pixabay

Loadout Room Guest Authors

Smith & Wesson 686

A Functional Favorite

Military Origins

Rise to Popularity

The Perfect Band

Remington 870 (Shotgun)

Why use a Shotgun for Home Defense?

Recommended Accessories:

Glock 23 (Pistol)

Why use a Pistol for Home Defense?

Recommended Accessories:

AR-15 (Rifle)

Why use a Rifle for Home Defense?

Recommended Accessories:

Which Firearm Should I buy For Home Defense – Pistol, Rifle Or Shotgun?

Now Its Your Turn