New Gear

I've been neglecting this site recently. My apologies to anyone who visits with any regularity.

I have a few new gun-related items to write about. The first is a new red-dot scope offered by Vortex: the Strikefire. This is a relatively inexpensive red-dot that aims at the gap in quality between the $50 Chinese sights found everywhere these days and the $400 and up "serious use" red-dots such as the Aimpoint or EOTech. It uses a single CR2 battery, has a red or green dot, comes with a 2x magnifier that screws into the rear of the unit, and a 30mm ring with your choice of two heights.

I currently have the unit on my AR that I built back a few months ago. I'm using one of the goose-neck style mounts with an Aimpoint ring to get it to the correct height. Unfortunately, I've not had a chance to shoot with it yet. I'll give an update on my findings once I have a chance to wring it out. Right now, my only complaints are that you have to change the colors via the power button. I personally would have preferred a two-position style switch for this instead of having to push the button twice to either shut it off or get the desired color. The order of the colors also reverses itself with each cycle. As far as the dot itself, it still exhibits the same tendency to flare that every red-dot I've ever used has had.

I have also received on Thursday the High Noon Holsters Rock Steady Belt and laminate holster for my CZ 97B (that also works with my 10mm Witness-P) that I ordered back on February 22. Yeah, that was quite a wait but their website does state that their order times are long. It's not like I wasn't warned. Moreover, it looks like the wait was definitely worth it. This belt is exactly what the name describes: rock steady. It's incredibly thick and with the holsters that I've tried, it doesn't even think about sagging or twisting. I highly recommend this belt to anyone who is looking for a good belt to carry any substantial weight on it. Just don't expect to get it in a hurry.

The laminate holster is also a good bit of gear. It's not all that pretty but it does the job and does it well. I'm considering getting another one in their leather line (probably for a Witness-P Carry model in 10mm if I can find one reasonably priced).

Speaking of Witness-P pistols, I had an opportunity to shoot mine again over the Labor Day Weekend. The magazines and new mag catch worked great with nary a malfunction to be seen. I'm now planning to buy a mess of Georgia Arms 10mm (and probably some .45 ACP as well) to break it in right. They have newly loaded 10mm with Gold Dot hollowpoints that are zipping along in the same general power class as the Winchester Silvertips (at least according to Winchester's velocity data which has been disputed as being higher than actual and Georgia Arms' velocity data which has been verified several times by customers). And they're significantly cheaper than the WSTs to boot.