Ranger

Interview with a Patchmaker: Megaton Morale

After this year’s SHOT Show, I put up a small article covering some of the best Morale Patches I’d found while walking the floor of the convention center. The article did considerably better than expected, showing that the patch addiction may have spread further than epidemiologist’s may have initially thought. At the behest of Vince Vega (one of the admins of the Motivation Patch Black Market, a Facebook group dedicated to the buying, selling and trading of morale patches), the idea for a follow-up article was concocted. Vince introduced me to the owner of Megaton Morale, a patch designer/seller. Below you’ll find the words that were exchanged on that fateful day.

1) Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Jason Gray (Grayson Jay on Facebook) and I am the owner of Megaton Morale. I
have been a member of the Motivational Patch Black Market since early 2015 and have been
collecting morale patches since 2014. I enlisted in the Air Force in 2005 and still serve to this
day.

2) How did you get started in the patch making world?

My journey into the maker side of patches has been filled with a great deal of trial and error. In
the Spring of 2015, I decided to try to make a few bucks to help fund collecting and it was a
huge bust. I ended up giving away most of the patches I made. I learned that designing,
making and selling patches was not as easy as it looked and decided to focus on just collecting.
Later in 2015, I decided to take another crack at making with another design and failed again.
Despite multiple failures, I had my first successful design in the winter of 2016 where I released
the Freedom Frag! Eventually, the Freedom Frag transpired into a series of multiple designs
which is still produced to this day.
Even though I had a lot of trouble trying to find a genre the morale patch community liked, it was
the community itself, specifically the members of Motivational Patch Black Market that inspired
me to keep on driving. The journey did cost me a lot of time and money, but I would change
none of that if given a second chance.

3) What are the basic steps in designing a patch?

The first step in any design is formulating an idea. When this occurs, it is important to write
down your idea or do a rough sketch of it to help you remember. Once you have an idea,
asking for input from others is important just to ensure others understand the concept of your
design before you move forward. Once you are set on your idea, this is when the design and
art process begins. Once the design is complete, a computer mockup or vector file needs to be
created/completed to communicate with the machines used. Eventually, you will reach the part
where a sample is produced. The sampling process is where you can fine tune the patch to
ensure you can give the community a good product.

Interview with a Patchmaker: Megaton Morale — Some patches are designed collaboratively, such as this one co-designed with Megaton Morale by Golden Tiger Works

4) Do you design and manufacture your patches in-house, or design them and outsource the construction?

The initial design/concept of a patch from Megaton Morale is done in-house. I then outsource
works to graphic artists to create the design digitally. Once the design is complete, I then
outsource the manufacturing of the design.

5) What are the main categories of patches, and what are the pros and cons of each?

Patches can be found in forms such as embroidered, woven, printed, PVC (rubberized) and
various other methods. Each type of patch does have pros and cons, but ultimately the
collector gets to determine what they like.

Embroidered

PROS: Details, (lower) cost, traditional.
CONS: (Less) durability, loss of small design details (letters), fade over time.

PVC

PROS: Durability, small details are easily achieved, waterproof.
CONS: Cost, heavy.

Woven/Printed

PROS: Cost, the design is easily achieved.
CONS: Loss of details, no 3D effect.

6) Some of these patches end up being very valuable. What turns a patch into a popular
collectible?

This is a great question! Do not be alarmed if you see a patch on the secondary market
fetching prices in the $100’s or even $1000’s! What determines the price of a patch on the
secondary market is supply and demand. If only 50-100 patches were sold and collectors do
not want to let them go, the price will generally go up!

7) If some average joe wants to get some patches made up for a unit or just themselves to
collect and sell, what guidance would you give?

They need to be honest. They need to ensure they are creating their own design and not
violating copyright or intellectual property laws.

My thanks go out to Jason for taking part in this interview, as well as Motivational Patch Black Market administrator Vince Vega for setting it up. Below you’ll find a discount code link for Megaton Morale, good through April 15th 2019. Check it out!

https://www.megatonmorale.com/discount/LOADOUT

Rex Nanorum

@Rexnanorum

Megaton Morale photos used with permission

Dot Torture: Improving handgun accuracy

n a few recent articles, I’ve covered a number of different shooting drills one can do to improve their shooting speed, accuracy, and target discernment. Today, I’d like to take a more in-depth look at one of them, “dot torture”.

This specific drill was created by David Blinder of Personaldefensetraining.com. It’s an excellent accuracy drill that starts out at three yards and consists of 50 total rounds. Once you are able to get a perfect score, you can either extend your distance or add time hacks to make it more difficult. As it is, many shooters have remarked on how much more difficult it actually is, versus their expectations. Besides simply standing and shooting, dot torture also has weak side shooting, reloads and holster draws. It shouldn’t be the only drill you shoot, but it is an awesome example of benchmark testing to objectively and repeatedly measure your skill growth or atrophy over time.

Good shooting and stay sharp!

-Rex Nanorum

@Rexnanorum

Vortex Crossfire: For close-in work

Vortex Optics has what are among some of the most often discussed (and sometimes polarizing) optics you can find on the web. While their supporters point out the company’s cost-to-quality ratio, excellent warranty and successful track record, their detractors mainly seem to find fault in some of their products being made overseas. In my experience testing and reviewing Vortex’s products, I have been really impressed with their entry-level optics. As usual, I had to put aside my earlier opinions when it came time to give a fair review to the Vortex Crossfire red dot.

The Crossfire is a small little optic weighing in at only 5.2 oz and 2.5″ long. The skeletonized mount allows for low mounting and lower 1/3 mounting. 100 MOA of vertical and horizontal adjustment come in 1 MOA increments. Waterproof, multiple coatings on the glass and with an anodized exterior, the Crossfire has amply considered protection and performance. Up to 7,000-hour battery life on a single CR2032 battery (while in the middle of the 11 brightness settings), the 2 MOA dot will be visible for a good long while.

I’ve had the Crossfire for months now. I’ve taken it out a number of times, usually on my ultralight AR-15 build. A couple of features that have really stood out so far are the adjustment caps and the skeletonized mount. The caps I love for their little ridges on the outside of ’em which are designed to easily engage the adjustment turrets. On such a small optic, it’s nice not to need to bring a screwdriver or search around for brass casings to adjust zero with.

While mounting the Crossfire, I wasn’t in love with the mount itself. A spring-loaded claw with a t-10 Torx head screw. It just seemed unwieldy getting it mounted. Ever since it’s been mounted though, I’ve loved it. It isn’t as quick to take on and off as a throw lever, but weighs less as a result. I lose little Allen keys too often, which added to my initial dislike, but T-10 Torx is common enough, I always seem to find an extra.

In use, the Crossfire has held up wonderfully. It’s been rained on for hours on end, been banged up against rocks and has felt the kick of recoil many times. It has held zero wonderfully, and when I performed a “return to zero” test (30 clicks up, 25 right, 30 down, 25 left) it ended up right back where it started.

The Vortex Crossfire could easily be called “king of the entry-level red dots”. There are a few that are cheaper, but the Crossfire is worth every penny of it’s $149 street price. With an excellent warranty (and a reputation for standing by it, every time) you are covered should an issue arise. If you’re in the market for an inexpensive red-dot that will last a good long while, the Vortex Crossfire is well worth checking out.

–Rex Nanorum

@rexnanorum

The Best (and Worst) Quick Access Safes

It’s a scenario you hope will never happen, but want to be as prepared as possible for. It’s the middle of the night. You’re sleeping, and you hear someone kicking in the door. With no time to spare, you have to jump up, shake off the gossamer webs of slumber and get ready for the fight to protect all you hold dear. Lightning fast, crack open your quick access safe and get that gun ready to go.

There is no single right answer when it comes to storing your defensive firearm. Each person’s living situation is different. Do you live with a spouse? Children? Is your bedroom visible from through a ground story window? There are only some of the variables that make up the equation to decide what level of visual and physical security you need. There are always trade-offs when it comes to the reliability and accessibility of your “go-gun” storage. The more secure something is, the slower it is to access it. Electronics are fast, but not as reliable as mechanical locks.

Having access to a much wider line-up of quick-access “safes” than I, YouTube channel Lucky Gunner Ammo has put together a nice video covering the strengths and weaknesses of a handful of options. Check it out and let me know if you’ve found a system that works well for you in the comments below!

Rex Nanorum

@Rexnanorum

NFW Regulator: Captain America’s dive watch

“Submarine portholes, deep-sea dive helmets, race car gauges, adrenaline…. This is the inspiration behind the design of the NFW Regulator (named for the piece of scuba diving apparatus)”. This is the first thing you read when you pull up the NFW Regulator website. The design intent certainly came across in the aesthetic appeal of the finished product. The round, studded “porthole” looks like it would be right at home in any of the many ships I’ve spent time aboard, dating back to my childhood. The gauges look ripped straight from the dash of a gas-guzzling, steely thunderhorse. The looks are spot on, but is it useless bling or does the performance match the visual?

Let’s break down the stats before we get to my experience with the Regulator. As per NFW’s site:

Case: 44mm, forged 316L stainless steel, bead-blasted, Gunmetal Gray ionic plated
Water Resistance: 200 Meters / 660 Feet
Movement: Citizen Precision Quartz chronograph with quick-set date
Crystal: Hardened mineral crystal, anti-reflective coating on inside
Lume: C3 Green SuperLuminova
Dial: Circular brushed silver with silver subdials
Bracelet: Bead-blasted, Gunmetal Gray ionic plated stainless steel with double-locking deployment clasp
Bracelet Attachment: Screwbars, 10 times stronger than standard spring bars

Out of the gate, I want to admit: I usually love good dive watches. I started diving almost twenty years ago, and come from a family of divers with a ton of underwater experience ranging from recreational, commercial salvage and commercial dive fisheries (sea cucumbers). Spending time at one hundred feet below the surface of the Pacific ocean during an Alaskan winter is an experience both personally satisfying, and immensely strenuous on equipment. The tremendous pressure of the frigid water, the corrosive salt-water environment and the terrifically abrasive sand/silt/rocky bottom of the sea routinely combine to reduce expensive gear to tatters. A piece of equipment that can hold up there can hold up just about anywhere.

So when looking for tough gear, look for the extra layers of protection. Stainless steel is great at resisting corrosion, but when you add ionic plating (through which a thin surface layer of ultra-tough titanium nitride is added) ensures the case and bracelet are made to last. One small but noteworthy design feature I’ve seen on high-dollar watches lately is the addition of screwbars holding the bracelet to the case. Far stronger than the usual spring pins which I routinely break, and much easier to remove if you want to swap watch bands. Likewise, when the water resistance is overbuilt to a depth pressure far beyond a reasonable expectation, you can tell NFW is planning for success rather than praying to avoid failure. 660 feet underwater? At 200 feet of depth, you’re blowing through dive tanks and bottom time in a hurry.

One interesting design feature of the Regulator is it’s subjugation of the 60-second hand to the chronograph (stopwatch). The 60-second hand is one of the three small “race gauges” inset of the main face. The long red hand is for the chronograph, as are the other two inset gauges, the minute dial and hour dial. Hit the top right button and you start a mechanical 12-hour timer. Hit it again to stop. Hit the bottom right button and all the chronograph dials whirl back to top dead center. It’s easy to use and much easier to keep track of than a spinning bezel.

Given that I never rebuilt my dive gear after my final year of commercial cucumber diving, I’m not testing the NFW Regulator undersea (sadly). Instead, I’m opting for the next toughest test, one which combines extreme temperature with pressure. For those of you who have studied physics, you may remember that as water freezes, it expands. This is why ice floats (less dense than water), and why beers split if left in the freezer. For a watch, it means a serious test of the waterproofing as the ice slowly crushes into the watch, testing its seals.

After months of uneventful normal wear and usage, I set the freezer to 0°F and gave NFW’s Regulator the Captain America treatment. I tossed it into a ziploc bag, totally submerging the watch underwater. After four days of resting on the rocks, I pulled it out to check it. You can see in the video below, the second hand is still ticking away happily, and the time still matches up to my cell phone (which updates via GPS to the Atomic Clock in Boulder, CO). I tossed it back for more ice-time over Super Bowl weekend, then decided to give the Regulator the thaw. Check out the un-icing of the Regulator:

Runs like a champ. Comfortable. Avoids accidental button presses via a bent wrist (a la pushup position). Tough enough to take your abuse and keep precision time. After all the function, keeps stylish form as well. The NFW Regulator is a serious contender and still comes in at a reasonable $349. Check it out!

–Rex Nanorum

@Rexnanorum

Tubb Precision flatwire springs overview

Growing up immersed in the “gun culture”, was a rewarding and character-building part of my childhood. Being raised in rural Alaska meant the only window outside of subsistence hunting culture was through the monthly gun mags in the local grocery store. When competitive shooting was brought up, one name was repeated over and over. David Tubb. Easily one of, if not the winningest competitive rifle shooter in American history, David is an authority on rifle function and accuracy. While researching the last couple parts to finish up my Ultralight AR build (ver 2.0) article, I found mentions of his flat wire springs. Ok, it’s the lightest I could find. Why? What’s different? Is it better?

After contacting www.davidtubb.com I received an email from the man himself. Sure, he was happy to send out a T&E buffer spring, but when the package came it contained more than just one spring. It had four springs from the Tubb line-up that are AR-10 or -15 related. Here’s a rundown of them, why they’re different and how I plan to use them.

AR-15 Flat Wire Buffer Spring (standard and carbine)
AR-15 Flat Wire Buffer Spring (lightweight for .300 BLK and Whisper)
AR-15 Flat Wire Magazine Spring (30 round)
AR-10/SR-25 Flat Wire Magazine Spring (20 round)

Flat wire magazine spring (L) versus standard wire (R)

So clearly, flat wire spring tech is at the core of all of this. What’s the difference in using 17-7 ph Stainless steel? A few reasons, with answers from the Tubb website:

Regarding longevity

“Why should you use Tubb Precision Flat wire Buffer Springs? Extended life at optimum performance! Many conventional buffer springs are constructed from music wire or non post winding processed stainless steel. Their performance becomes suspect in as little as 500 rounds and can cause rifle performance to degrade to the point that rifle function will change. We fielded many questions from people complaining about “mystery malfunctions” when their rifles get past that round count , and we’ve found installation of a Tubb Precision Flat wire Buffer Spring cures nearly all of them, and it cures them for good.”

Regarding performance

“Due to the superior nature of the materials used, a Tubb Precision Stainless Steel Flat wire spring has the same power as conventionally constructed “extra power” springs, yet provide that extra energy using a lighter spring weight. Correct timing and resistance on the recoil stroke and a controlled rebound ensures reliable feeding with consistent forward thrust. The result is that the rifle functions flawlessly and stays on target better.”

Regarding spring pressure (select passages from included literature and website)

“A 17-7 ph flat wire spring is considerably longer than a round wire spring yet occupies, when fully compressed, only a fraction of what the conventionally designed spring will. (This) spring produces greater power compared to a stock spring (in battery load increase of 22% in Ar-15…). The recoil impulse is softened, allowing the weapon’s gas system to function as intended. There is less rifle movement so the sights stay on target better.

Standard buffer spring variation, 7.5 lbs. Flat wire buffer spring variation, 3.9 lbs.”

Tubb flat wire recoil spring with Taccom3G lightweight buffer

Ok, so more consistency, a longer lifespan for an integral part and better performance. This all sounds awesome on paper, but I’ve got a couple rifles laying around with old springs of dubious condition just waiting for an upgrade. Likewise, I have some old USGI issued 30-round mags that followed me home after my enlistment (and were abused on all 5 of my overseas deployments). I’m going to replace the buffer springs in two AR-15’s, one chambered in .223 and another in .300 Blackout, as well as the magazine spring in one of my USGI mags that’s having “performance issues”. I’ll report back after meaningful round counts have been attained.

If you want to do yet more reading on 17-7 stainless flat wire spring tech, or if you’re wanting to check out upgrades for your rifle, head over to David Tubb’s website and take a look around. He’s a wealth of information for all shooters, competitive or other.

-Rex Nanorum