Firts batch of "Pirate tees" arrived!

Yesterday the firts test batch of "Pirate tees" arrived and are looking great! Great quality of print and T-shirt. Also check out the "Keep calm and hunt pirates" T-shirt for kids supporting their mom or dad.



This t-shirt, and some other designs, can be ordered on http://contact-front.spreadshirt.be/

Contact-front designed T-shirts!

For a while now I have been having some great ideas on cool T-shirts. Today I finally took the step to design them and put them online for purchasing.
Check out http://contact-front.spreadshirt.be/
More to come ;-)

If you have any suggestions on colours, logos, just give us a shoot.

An then, there was green ..

Thanks to our friend, Mike from Orca Industries, we got hold of the FN awesome patch in OD. In one of our previous posts Mike made some desert version but on the standard Belgian woodland gear it didn't quite fit in. So after the suggestion to make some in OD, here's the result.

 

Thanks Mike!

The awesome power of the AW!

Here is a small clip during a sharpshooter course depicting the power of the Accuracy International L96 AW using the 7.62mm NATO round.

Night time Force Protection

The following video was taken on board the Belgian fregat F930 Leopold1 during a night time force protection exercise off the coast of Libanon during UNIFIL.
We were firing on a night time marker with FN FNC, FN Minimi and .50.

Loads of Pmags!!!

Look what the postman dropped in today.

A box full of Pmags ;-)

This is the result of a group order for some of my colleague small arms trainers. So let the fun begin.

FN patch

A new addition to my patch collection is this "It's f'n awesome" patch. Being a FN user I just couldn't resist. ;-) And to be honest, the patch says it all!!

I've got some spare patches, if you want one just give me a shout ;-)

Bullet impact as art?!

Yesterday I came across a photographer's portfolio who had the stangest idea to photograph bullet impacts in different materials. The results are quite nice.
The photo's were taken by Deborah Bay and below is her website.
http://www.deborahbay.com/bigbang

Training with the F2000

During last february, it was quite cold, I had the chance to do some training with the F2000 with different optics. Elcan, Aimpoint and Eotech were on the menu. They all work great and have their pros and cons. At the end of the day, there is no best of. The best optic for you, is the one that hits the spot every single time ;-)

CTOMS Slimline CFAK

Last year I attended the trainer course “Tactical Combat Casualty Care” and since then I’ve been hooked on the concept. Browsing through the internet it soon revealed that there is a lot to read on the subject but especially there are a lot of companies with great medical gear and pouches around.

This blog post will focus on some of the TCCC pouches available. These are sold and issued under the name IFAK (Individual First Aid Kit) or CFAK (Combat First Aid Kit).  

The current ABL issued IFAK pouch (more commonly known as the “Caiati trousse”) is a great pouch but it has its shortcomings.

The big advantage of the pouch is that it can be ripped open exposing all the medical gear in one instance.

Negative points are that the pouch stays fixed to the MOLLE compatible vest and can’t be torn off.  If the casualty is facing down with major injuries to the back, getting to his TCCC pouch contents, installed on the chest side, can be rather difficult. Another less positive point is if the CAT tourniquet is stored inside the pouch(to protect from dust and mud) the complete pouch has to be torn open to gain access. Closing it again with the attached velcro is rather difficult and probably impossible when injured.

Contact-front has been looking to construct its own TCCC pouch but it is still in a development stage.

Meanwhile I came across the Canadian company ‘CTOMS’ which produces a wide range of medical supplies and gear. One of their innovating product they sell is the Slimline CFAK.

I managed to purchase one from CTOMS via a friend in Canada because transport to EU is rather expensive. 100$ for one pouch is a little bit too much. Nevertheless, if you would order 1 or 20, transport would stay the same. So buy in bulk I would say ;-)

Looking up close to the Slimline CFAK, I can only say that it is a well thought of piece of kit. First of all, its constructed of 550D Cordura and takes up two Molle channels. The pouch itself is closed with a silent zipper and when opened folds open in two equal parts.

The front of the pouch reveals a separate pouch which is closed with a velcro flap to store the CAT tourniquet. It protects the CAT and you don’t have to pull open the pouch to gain access.

On both sides of the pouch you can find one channel Molle attachment to mount additional gear like for example a Benchmade Safety Cutter or combat Shears.

The zipper is covered by a velcro flap. The two zipper pulls come together at the top of the pouch where there is a pull tab that can be used to “tear” open the pouch pulling the two halves apart.

The inside of the pouch reveals a modular attachment system that can be tailored to personal preference. There is more than enough room to at least accommodate the items that can be found in the ABL IFAK. Except for the triage card and chest seal that have to be folded in two to be able to fit.

The Slimline CFAK is mounted on a platform which is attached on a MOLLE system like the NFM Bear 2 vest. The platform is available as a horizontal or vertical solution. The pouch can be quickly released from the mounting panel in one motion with a pull on the beaded tab. The pouch can be easily reattached with one hand.   

Here you can see the comparison with on the left the issued IFAK and on the right the slimmer CTOMS CFAK.

All in all CTOMS has designed a very innovating TCCC pouch with lot of advantages when looked at other commercialy available similar pouches. 

So true ;-)

ZULU NYLON GEAR mega admin pouch

For a while now, I’ve been looking around on the internet for a big enough pouch to accommodate all my small arms instruction gear like whistle, chrono, instruction sheets, safety briefings, markers, ….  A lot of the time I had to search for a piece of equipment  that was stowed in another place but didn’t know where I’d put it. A nice, large enough, means of stowage, would certainly help me with that. A central place to stow everything I need on the range concerning instruction.

I came across the ZULU nylon gear website and saw their mega admin pouch and ordered one. I have to say they send it very fast with tracking, but it was held up by Belgian customs. Accompanied by an extra 28€ of import taxes it finally arrived two weeks after I ordered it. Due to the tracking I could see that it arrived in BEL about two days after I ordered the pouch.

But it was worth the wait!

I ordered a Coyote Brown pouch without the plastic map insert that can be bought as an option. At first glance the admin pouch is very well made with 1000d coated Cordura. Overall dimensions of the mega admin pouch is 23 cm wide x 15 cm tall x 2,5 cm deep

The admin pouch is big enough to accommodate a A5 booklet. Even the width of the pouch is more than enough for a 2 cm wide booklet.

The main compartment is zippered and has elastic fittings and slots for a wide range of extra gear. The two halfs are held together with a adjustable 550 paracord but this can be removed. This feature is handy when the pouch is installed on a chest rig at chest height so that it doesn’t completely fall open, but stays at a desired angle like a tactical desktop ;-)

On the front side, the mega admin pouch also features an extra admin pouch which is completely covered with velcro for attaching your name tab or favorite morale patch. Inside you can again organize your gear due to the elastic fittings. Next to the front pouch there is another universal pouch which can be used to fit a tactical light, multitool, … The Velcro covered flap can be adjusted to your needs or completely removed.

On left, right and bottom sides there are also extra attachment for additional gear.

On the backside there are provision for Molle attachment to be used in conjunction with Malice clips.

Conclusion, I’m very happy with the Zulu Nylon Gear Mega Admin Pouch. Now I have efficient storage for all my instructional range gear.

Ballistic Effects Testing‏

A nice video depicting the ballistic effects with different calibers.

Pmag for the FNC

If you are interested in the weapon & gear scene you've probably heard of MAGPUL. http://www.magpul.com/

MAGPUL is an innovating company which produces accessories for weapons like slings, sights, handguards, stocks, ... They even designed their own weapon system, the MASADA.

One of their most popular items is the Pmag. Made from an impact and crush resistant polymer construction, it was first announced in early 2007. The Pmag is a 30-round 5.56 NATO Polymer MAGazine for AR15/M16 platform weapons. With millions fielded to military, law enforcement, and commercial users, PMAGs have become the de facto standard for magazine reliability and durability. Since 2007 the Pmag underwent a lot of modification to be compatible with other weapon systems than the AR family. Since some time MAGPUL has Pmag M version which is fully compatible with our FN FNC. (theversion marking is visible on the bottom plate of the mag)

I have tried some Pmags and must say they feel light and platic like, because they are ;-) But after shooting a couple of mags I wasimpressed.

They claim to be stoppage free compared to the Stanag metal magazines. I checked both mags and must say that the follower is much smoother on the Pmag and doesn't tilt when pushed on one end.

Neverthless, the goldon rule still stands: Only put 28 rounds in a 30 round magazine.
Even the Pmag tend to jam the FNC when fully loaded.


I've been using them for over a year now and have had no issues what so ever. They come in a variaty of versions and colours and have their own accesories like a dust cap (included) and magpuls.

From left to right, Stanag metal mag, standard Pmag, Pmag with maglevel.

Once again, they are tough ;-)