weapons

Gerber Evo folding knife – Evolve and Overcome

You really never appreciate the lighter things until you experience them. I lug around a wide variety of knives, and most of the time I’m reviewing them for you fine folks. Until the Evo graced my home I never really knew just how heavy these knives are. I’ve carried lightweight knives, but they tended to be pretty small. The Gerber Evo is a lightweight knife that happens to be pretty big.

Specs:

- Overall Length – 7.95 inches
- Blade Length – 3.43 inches
- Closed Length – 4.61 inches
- Weight – 2.8 ounces

Inside the Gerber Evo

2.8 ounces is it, and you get a 3.43 each blade and a nice full sized handle. Knives like the Spyderco Bradley Folder 2 like to brag about being lightweight, but weighs 4.5 ounces. The Gerber Evo is ridiculously lightweight and I can appreciate it, especially with summer bearing down on us. Nows the time to ditch the jeans, heavy gun belts, and button downs for shorts, and t-shirts.

The Gerber Evo sports a partially serrated blade with an aggressive clip point tip. The serration is a bulldog when it comes to cutting and it really chews through anything in front of it. This particular model features a Titanium nitride coating that serves two purposes. First, it protects the blade, and the second is it makes the blade glide.

The smooth nature of the finish allows the blade to glide through materials as it cuts. Going through a long section of cardboard, for example, is where you feel the difference. Of course, the knife needs to be sharp as well, but the coating does make a noticeable difference.

The blade can be opened via a rear flipper or a thumb stud on the blade. The flipper allows the blade to explode open in hurry and is easy to reach and activate. The Thumb stud is a little more methodical way to safely open the knife. It’s also the quieter way in case you need to take out a sentry silently, or I don’t know, open a bag of candy in a movie theater.

The Grip

The Gerber Evo sacrificed nothing to be as light as it is. This includes the grip. It’s a full-sized grip comfortable for my manly 2XL sized hands. One of the ways they reduced weight was the 7 oval cuts in the aluminum grip. This reduces weight and does provide a comfortable grip texture. The grip is thin, and my only complaint is after a lot of work it wears into your hand. However, I don’t see this knife being used for an hours worth of work at one time on average.

Looks that Kill

The Gerber Evo with it’s TI coated blade is a fine looking knife. The blade is long, but thin, giving it a near stiletto appearance. This knife just looks aggressive, without looking bulky. It’s more Bond than Stallone. The Gerber Evo is an excellent little knife that’s made to last and made to work.

*Originally published on the Crate Club Knowledgebase

The Guns and Gear of ‘The Terminal List’

If you’re a guns and gear guy who enjoys reading an action-packed fiction thriller that isn’t too far from reality, then you need to read The Terminal List by Jack Carr. I’ve read several fiction thrillers in the past, but get halfway through and end up losing interest and shelve the book. Not the case with The Terminal List. I can absolutely put myself into the story as I read it and remain engaged the entire time. Get ready for some sleepless nights, because once you start reading The Terminal List, you won’t want to put it down.

The following list is what I extracted from the book as I progressed through reading it. I’m sure I probably overlooked a few items, but this is the bulk of the gear and guns used by James Reece to exact revenge.

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Resco UDT Watch
Glock 19 Pistol
Echols Legend Bolt Gun
Colt M4A1 Carbine
Magpul PMAGs
77 grain 9mm Double Tap Defense Ammunition
77 grain Black Hills 5.56 Ammunition
Blackpoint Tactical Mini Wing Holster
Strider SMF Folding Knife
Half Face Blades Karambito
Dynamis Alliance Razorback fixed blade
Gatorz Blackout Eyewear
Winkler Sayoc Tomahawk
Lockpick set

The 1200 lumen pistol light | Valkyrie PL-2

The tactical light world is chalk full of companies that are trying to reinvent the wheel these days. But it begs the question – Why? At the end of the day, we’re talking about a flashlight that’s mounted to the end of your weapon system. It needs to be reliable, it needs to be bright, and it should be low profile with minimal weight. Well, Olight has achieved that with great success.

The team at Olight reached out to me to test their premium weapon light – the PL-2 Valkyrie. Seeing as how I have used and own most other lights from other manufacturers, I pitted the Valkyrie against the TLR-2 and the X-300 to see how it stacked up against its competitors. My findings were quite surprising.

What really stunned me about this light is that they boast an absolutely impressive 1,200 Lumens. That is double what Surefire says the X-300 is blasting and over four times the lumens from the TLR-2. I was curious if this was a little exaggerated on Olight or if they actually made a 1,200-lumen weapons light. So what I did is I put fresh batteries in all three systems and tested them from my roof overlooking a wide-open lot. Not only was the PL-2 brighter than the other two, but it also had a really nice focus beam and a good amount of wide illumination. This is perfect for a tactical scenario so you don’t get tunnel vision on one singular beam of light and fail to see other peripheral threats.

If the 1,200 lumens weren’t enough of a bonus, the PL-2 is not only waterproof, but it’s also the smallest and lightest out of the three competitors. Coming in at 3.25” long and only weighing 2.28 ounces, this is significantly less of a footprint than the TLR-2 and X-300. This compact size really keeps the carbon off the lens keeping it clearer, longer and also prevents fatigue due to the extra weight at the muzzle.

Another design function that I found pleasing was the almost haptic click response of the on/off switch. Even with gloves, you can feel a firm response to finger pressure making every on and off activation of the light very deliberate. This seemingly simple feature is very critical in a tactical situation so as to not unintentionally destroy your adjusted eyes or give away your position. The Surefire X-300 failed miserably at this task, but the TLR-2 did a good job. I think that the PL-2 switch far surpasses the TLR-2, especially with the seamless use of keeping the light on or only momentarily.

With an attainable price point of $99.95, the Valkyrie should be a must-have for any responsible citizen or law enforcement professional. Olight has tapped on all of my must-haves for a weapon light – Bright, reliable, compact and lightweight. The PL-2 met and exceeded all of my expectations.

Purchase here

Beam Distance (ft)	770
Beam Distance (m)	235
Max. Performance (lumens)	1200
Charge type	Optional charger
Compatible Batteries	2 x CR123A/RCR123A
Light Intensity (candela)	13800
Light Form	Standard hotspot diameter with impressive distance. The perfect all-around beam profile.
Lens / Reflector Type	TIR reflector (big, defined wide hotspot)
Mode Operation	Side Switch
Form/Size Factor	Small size (Car key / Zippo Lighter)
Series	Series PL (gun flashlight)
Unique Characteristics	ambidextrous switch that can be front pushed or side pressed compact to fit all standard pistol sizes narrow and simple design perfect for IWB carry

Aero Precision M4E1 Upper

My first experience with Aero Precision came about 10 years ago in the form of a stripped lower. The build went well and the lower was a breadcrumb on the trail to more parts from Aero. As a gun shop owner, when customers were looking for quality parts at a price that wouldn’t break the bank, Aero was often the recommendation.

When given a shot at reviewing an Aero upper receiver, I chose the M4E1 upper with a 16″ 300 BLK barrel (1/7″ twist) and a keymod rail. The “E” in the name is for enhanced. The area specifically being described here is the handguard and barrel mounting system. The handguard mounting system and upper receiver are part of the same forging, making it an ultra-strong setup that is likewise simple. One can slide his barrel assembly into the upper, tighten using the included wrench, then toss on the rail and button it all up with eight screws. It’s easy, solid and makes for a nice and light upper. This system works not only with Aero precision’s handguards, but also most BAR system handguards.

I took the M4E1 out to the range with a couple hundred rounds to use. I had five different loads available, all pictured below. Ranging from 90 grains to 220 grains, this is a nice variety of rounds with which to test accuracy. The M4E1 was a snug fit in all three lower receivers I own, but too snug in the lower that contains a match trigger. (Side note, that lower seems to be a little out of spec, not fitting right with ANY of the uppers I’ve put on it. Not Aero’s fault here.) So, the day’s testing was to be done at 100 yards with a stock mil-spec trigger. Given a 1-turn-in-7-inch barrel, this usually means the gun will favor the mid-weight and heavier bullets. On to the shooting.

Looking through a boresighted Leupold 1-6x Vari-X VI, I gave a quick three round zero using Remington’s 115 grain UMC. I worked 5 round groups with each ammo type, here are the results from most accurate to least.

Barnes Range AR 90 grains. The bottom 4 rounds were touching. The little guy up top? I wouldn’t worry about that little guy. That was a called flyer, I went a bit spastic on the trigger pull.
Best group of the day. Photo by Rex Nanorum
Remington UMC 220 grain subsonic. Averaged just under 1.5″ groups.
Barnes 110 grain Tac-TX. Averaged just over 1.5″ groups
Remington UMC 115 grain. Between 1.5″ and 2″ groups
Gorilla 208 grain. These groups resembled shotgun patterns. This is normally a pretty accurate round out of other 300 BLK uppers, it simply didn’t agree with the M4E1.

I’ll note I’ve never been uber proficient at nice tight groups. I’ve always been far more successful at speed shooting, so I dialed the Leupold back to 3x and spent the rest of the day shooting and transitioning back and forth across the range. Despite a generous 1.8″ inside diameter on the keymod rail (as to allow suppressors to tuck underneath them), this is a light and responsive upper. Having forgotten my weapons lube in my other range bag, some 10w30 motor oil kept the BCG running smoothly and reliably.

Despite my challenges keeping the groups as tight as I would like, I had no troubles banging various sized targets from 50 to 300 yards with speed. Towards the end of the day I had really begun to realize this upper is capable of much better accuracy than I am. The M4E1 is light, rigid and speaks of quality at every turn. At $460 from aeroprecisionusa.com, this is an upper I’ll recommend. Once I get another range trip (and some practice) in, I’ll update with more accuracy results.

The Spanish Star BM 9mm service pistol

The Star model BM Spanish service pistol was an excellent firearm for its time. The pistol saw service with the Spanish military and police but also was used by the South African Defense Forces and found its way into the Rhodesian bush war. Although it looks strikingly similar to the 1911, the Star BM is significantly different mechanically. The Star pistol has a shorter service life and has recently worked its way into the surplus market of the United States.

The Star BM was manufactured from 1972 to 1992 and in that time only 217,682 were produced. There were no variations made in terms of mechanical function during this time of production. Although, some varied grips and finishes, this was dependent on when they were made and to whom they were issued. Overall, the Star BM did not see much use outside of the routine and it’s not known as to what extent it was employed in Rhodesia. However, the Star BM is an excellent pistol despite being outdated by modern service pistol standards.

The Star BM pistol weighs 35 ounces, has a 4-inch barrel and utilizes 9x19mm caliber bullets. The magazine release is located in the standard location on the grip behind the trigger. The 8 round magazines do not drop free because of the magazine safety/disconnect, a bar that prevents the trigger from being pulled if a magazine is not in the weapon. The manual safety disengages the sear entirely while simultaneously lock the slide, it is very intuitive to manipulate though. The sights are small and bland; an out dated design and style like that of the original 1911’s. The trigger is probably one of the best ones of its time with a crisp break and limited travel, rather than being a straight pull it hinges rearward.

Disassembly is like a 1911 as the slide is pulled to the rear and once the correlating slot lines up, the slide release lever can be removed allowing the slide to come off the front. From there the recoil spring and guide rod can be extracted. The barrel is removed out the front once the barrel bushing is rotated and removed. That brings the weapon into a state of being field stripped. The Star BM 9mm is an exceptional design and functions incredibly well with a high degree of accuracy, it has been replaced by more modern firearms but is still a more than effective sidearm.

Photos courtesy of Author

*Originally published on SOFREP

An Army Rangers Agency Arms Glock 34 Handgun

“Synergy” -noun 1. The interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc. This is a term that expertly describes this Rangers Agency Arms Glock 34 build.

I know my way around Glocks. They’ve been my sidearm of choice since ’93 when I purchased a Gen 2 Glock 23. Since then I’ve owned several models in both 9mm and .40S&W. Currently, with the resurgence of the 9mm, I carry the Glock 19 or Glock 43 as my EDC weapon. But when it comes to competing in a 3-gun match, the Glock 34 is my go-to pistol, as covered in my previous article, “Glock 34, Perfect for 3-gun” And those of you that want to take the performance of your sidearm to the next level, look no further than Agency Arms. Shortly after acquiring a Gen 4 Glock 34, I was talking with the mad scientists at Agency Arms about a possible makeover. Their level of artistry, functionality and downright badassery have always appealed to me. Finally, I would soon own an Agency Arms Glock 34.

Founded in January 2015, Agency Arms could be considered new to the aftermarket firearms scene. However, you wouldn’t know it if you’ve handled or shot one of their highly modified Glocks. The innovation and detail produced by this Veteran and LEO owned company is astounding. No part of the pistol is overlooked during an Agency Arms Glock build. In the next few sections, I will drill into the major component details of an Agency Arms Glock 34.

Agency Arms Glock 34 Frame:

The factory Glock polymer frame has a few things going for it as well as a few against it. The durability of a polymer is second to none as proven in decades of service in both law enforcement and military use. Until the fourth generation Glock, the frames were one size fits all. Now that the removable backstrap is incorporated into the Gen 4 models, the user can customize the fit to a certain extent. Agency Arms takes frame customization several steps further. Glock introduced the finger grooves on the 3rd generation and despite a lukewarm welcome, has decided to continue that design for Gen 4 models. Agency Arms, at the customer’s request, can mill off the finger grooves and add grip stippling allowing the shooter a more adaptable and functional grip.

The trigger guard also goes under the surgical knife reshaping and stippling it in all the right places. The material is removed from the underside of the trigger guard which help the user achieve as high a purchase on the pistol as possible. The trigger well is further opened up and radiused for ease of use while wearing tactical gloves. Just above the trigger on the sides of the frame, you’ll find the “accelerator cut”. An ingenious reshaping of the polymer and stippling allowing a downward pressure on the pistol helping to mitigate muzzle rise for faster follow-up shots.

Agency Arms Glock 34 Slide:

Agency Arms offers 3 different types of slide modifications, Field Battle, Hybrid Special and Urban Combat. I opted for the Urban Combat slide as this is the lightest model they produce. The factory Glock 34 already has a window cut atop the slide. Yet Agency Arms opens it up further and removes additional material along the sides of the slide. The CNC machine cuts 2 new lightening windows on the front sides that also help reduce weight. One of my favorite modifications to the slide is the much-needed addition of front slide serrations. I prefer to press check from the front of the slide and always thought that Glock desperately needed to add these. Instead, Agency Arms answers the call with 6 new front serrations as well as totally reshaping of the existing rear serrations. These have become known as DNA collectors due to their aggressive cheese grater profile.

To put the Urban Combat slide lightening into perspective, an unmodified Glock 34 frame (minus barrel and recoil spring) tips the scale at 15.2 oz. The Agency Arms Glock 34 side weighs only 12.4 oz…with a Trijicon RMR mounted on top! I should have compared the two before mounting the RMR but a healthy dose of Loctite and an excellent zero won’t allow me to remove it at the time of writing. However, this comparison still illustrates how much lighter the modified slide is. Doing a little math and subtracting the known weight of the RMR and mounting plate while adding the weight of the MOS slide plate, I come up with a savings of 3.4 oz or 22% off the factory slide. These weight reductions in no way compromise the functionality or durability that has become a longstanding hallmark of the Glock pistols.

Agency Arms Glock 34 Trigger and Magwell:

No competition pistol is complete without some trigger work. Agency Arms has completely outdone themselves with their complete “hand fitted” trigger assembly. This beautiful flat-faced aluminum trigger is tuned with very little take-up followed by a crisp, audible break. With minimal over travel and a snappy reset, the shooter is back on target for quicker follow-up shots and tighter shot groups. Agency Arms can either hand fit the trigger into your Glock or send the assembly to you for installation. Either way, it’s a huge improvement over the factory polymer trigger. Take a look at Scott’s article covering the Agency Arms trigger here.

With speed of weapon cycling, trigger resets and follow-up shots, we would be missing something if reloading wasn’t addressed. Agency Arms offers a fantastic magwell to help speed up mag changes. This isn’t one of those oversized obnoxious jobs found on a race gun either. This magwell is a strong aluminum piece cut to accommodate a shooter that carries either inside or outside the waistband. A perfect balance between form and function. The installation can either be handled in-house or at home and is available for both 3rd and 4th generation Glocks.

An S3F Solutions Match Barrel can be found in my Agency Arms Glock 34 build. S3F Solutions offers match barrels for Glock 17, 17C, 19, 19C, 21, 24, 34, 34C, 35 and 43 as well as 9mm conversion barrels for the 22 and 23. S3F Solutions and Agency Arms have teamed up to provide the shooter with several barrel options and finishes. Take a look at Mark’s article that goes into more detail about S3F Solutions Match Barrels.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” ~Aristotle

Final thoughts: As they say at Agency Arms, “Welcome to the Brotherhood”. This culmination of parts and fabrication create a synergy that’s unmatched in the modern pistol era. Taking an already very capable pistol and exponentially improving it is no easy task. Agency Arms has absolutely perfected the Glock in my opinion. Lightweight, comfortable, reliable and accurate as hell. Finishing it off in Ranger Green just topped off this beautiful build for me. I had the opportunity to use this pistol at the end of the season for a 3-Gun match and I saw measurable improvement in my times and accuracy. Looking forward to getting more time competing with this Glock 34 next spring. Just need to get through another long snowy winter.