All Outdoor

One of the great things about reviewing outdoor gear is that I’m often pleasantly surprised by the items that come my way. I’ve been camping, hiking, and hunting since I was child, and I was even a Life Scout in the BSA, but I’m still in that phase of discovering what works for me in outdoors settings. One of my recent surprise discoveries is that I’m a bona fide fan of really large knifes, and I find them genuinely useful. I have Falkniven’s 10-inch bladed Thor to thank for that.

All in all, hunting is a pretty safe activity, but things do happen around the camp, out in the field or woods, or conducting any number of everyday outdoor tasks. Every hunter should have some kind of basic or extended medical first aid kit in their primary vehicle, and another one around the camp house or assembly area. They are easy to make up and there is no excuse not to have one.

Many of today’s anglers all too often seem to have the enthusiasm to get themselves all psyched up for a big day of fishing only to find themselves coming in at the end of the day with only one or two bass. They will spend the day casting, re-rigging, running, and loosing lures all the while getting frustrated because the fish aren’t cooperating. Sound familiar? I surely know this feeling and any angler reading this article has had the same feeling at some point and time.

I still remember the very first GLOCK handgun I saw. It was at a Long’s Drug store in Colorado Springs, CO, back in 1987 or 1988. I went to the drug store to purchase a Colt 1911, and saw the GLOCK 17 — at that time, the only model that was produced. I fell in love with it right then and there, and walked out of the drug store with it instead of the Colt 1911. I remember how great the GLOCK 17 felt in my hand, and then having two 17-round magazines with the gun… well, back then, hardly anyone gave you a second magazine with a pistol. I also remember wondering about the material the frame was made out of, and the clerk behind the counter could only tell me it was “plastic” of some sort. Still, I purchased it anyway.

So many gun laws make no sense. In fact, most of them can be picked apart quite easily. But one of the most ridiculous is the fact that suppressors – sometimes erroneously referred to as silencers – are strictly regulated in the USA, and have been for the past eighty years.

Last week, we shared the extensive Cheaper Than Dirt (CTD) Rough Use Destruction Test. This week we’re sharing the two-part cutting test.

There’s not much to this test, which I think makes it a nice break after last week’s. Noss uses the CTD knife to slice through some cardboard and rope, and it does well. If anything, it’s far overqualified for the task of cutting, given its hefty 8″ blade made with 440 steel. Noss was impressed with the CTD’s durability during the destruction test.

Check out the short two-part test below, and catch up on past tests at KnifeTests.com.

What is wrong with the world today?

Not everyone needs or wants to carry a full-sized 9mm, .40S&W or .45ACP handgun with them every single day. Nor do concealed weapons permit holders have a means of concealing some of the full-sized guns in these calibers all the time. I carry concealed every single day, and it’s a chore to properly conceal bigger caliber guns — even some of the more “compact” handguns in these calibers can be difficult to conceal. It takes just the right holster and clothing to conceal many types of guns.

Betteridge’s Law of Headlines stipulates that any time a news story’s headline ends with a question mark, the answer to the question is always “no.” But look at me, breakin’ the rules.

A bowie knife makes a poor choice for caping out a deer head. For this kind of precision cutting work a big, heavy duty blade is definitely not what is needed. Finesse is the order of the day when it comes to getting in close to make small, precise, razor like cuts around critical areas of a deer’s head, ears, eyes, mouth, and such. That is if you are even brave enough to tackle the job. If not, then pay the extra fee to have a taxidermist do it right. You won’t regret it. Some cape cutting mistakes can be fixed, but it may not look natural.

This is an article about alternatives to the normal knife in your EDC.  Here is the first article in this series.

Everybody’s taking about chikungunya, and with good reason. It’s right on our doorstep, and when the inevitable outbreak hits the southeastern US, the disease will spread like wildfire. According to one expert, it could infect 1 million Americans in the first 90 days.

The Nimbus, a concept electric car designed by Brazilian designer Eduardo Galvani from Hemisferio Criativo, looks like something out of a Pixar film–it’s bubbly, shiny and awfully cute. Those aren’t words I tend to think of when I think of the ruggedness of overlanding, but I like that Galvani is thinking outside the box when it comes to adventure vehicles.

Currently on Kickstarter a concept for a modern day cooler called COOLEST has over $2.4 million dollars in backing. The COOLEST cooler is 60 quarts with the following built in features.

I love guns. I love working on things. Therefore, I love working on guns. I don’t have any formal training as a gunsmith, but I get by very well. I’ve repaired parts, made new parts from scratch, and completely rebuilt a nasty old clunker into a great hunting rifle. But there are many things I don’t know.

Defending life and liberty is essential to any and all people, and when a nation has at least some freedom to offer its citizens, that includes the ability to carry firearms, and to use them in defense of life and property.

Gun ownership and the carrying of guns, whether concealed or in the open, are things that have been known to raise a few hackles. But it’s also something that many people love, and which has many positive benefits to society. And in 2015, the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) plans to celebrate those good things. It will be interesting to see how successful it turns out to be.

If you’re like me, you know that covering your face while hunting is good practice, even when it’s inconvenient. Wild animals can learn to recognize the face of a predator, and a light-colored blob like this white guy’s face can really stand out in the woods.

We’ve all been part of these discussions, and we’ve all read a ton of them on forums and blogs over the years: “if you could have only one gun for TEOTWAWKI, what would it be?” A more enlightened-seeming variant on this same theme are discussions that start with, “if you could pick only three guns for TSHTF…”

Great things come in threes–meals, late 90s shortstops (oh man, if we only knew back then), Stooges, ringed circuses, and primary colors. High end lights are no different.