Photos and Article
by Scott Smith | Contributing Editor
One of the newest entries into the “tactical” market is Dickies with the Tactical Relaxed Fit Stretch Ripstop Cargo Pant. These pants have plenty of pockets and the cargo pockets lay flat so the pants look good.
Once a year those among us who are dads get to celebrate; they get to be “pampered” for the day. Fortunately there are many good gift items that allow dads to remember Father’s Day throughout the year. Dads also get to celebrate a way point in their kids’ lives around Father’s Day; graduation. It’s always nice to get a tangible gift to show we care instead of just cash or a gift card; a gift just adds that personal “I cared” touch.
It might seem old fashioned or cliché but clothing for outdoor types is an area that has changed to fit the needs of shooters, hikers—whatever takes you to the field or stream bank. Pants and shirts have become better fitting lighter weight; in general just much more user friendly.
One of the companies making major inroads with shooters is Dickies. Yes, the same Dickies (Phone: 800-342-5437; Online: dickies.com) who have been outfitting those who work with their hands for years. They are now building clothing that lives up to the reputation of their work clothes. Unlike many other brands, Dickies designs clothing to fit men who do not wear skinny jeans; aka men with powerful legs and gluts, real men not models.
The Tactical Ventilated Ripstop Long Sleeve Shirt from Dickies is one of the best designed and most comfortable shirts I have worn with plenty of pockets including a stealth chest pocket.
I have been wearing the Tactical Relaxed Fit Stretch Ripstop Cargo Pant since the SHOT Show and have been impressed. What sets these pants apart from surplus ripstop style BDUs is the material. Surplus ripstop was notorious for chafing, even if the military said it did not. Dickies uses a true stretch ripstop that flexes and moves with you without binding or chafing. Even when driving eight to ten hours the pants are comfortable, something I cannot say about many others. Much of this can be attributed to the expandable waist line and flat seamed rear pockets. Dickies sews a shirt gripper into the back of the waist to keep your shirt tucked in. The DuPont Teflon coated fabric seems virtually stain proof. Trust me, in my travels more than one cup of coffee or Coke Zero has been spilled on them.
When it comes to being able to carry stuff, you will find two thigh pockets that have an inner and outer magazine pocket that can accommodate an AR magazine. They are hook and loop closed; while gusseted, they lie flat to give you a clean looking pant for casual wear. There is a slash pocket on the right thigh that my smart phone rides in. The front pockets are traditional slash with a nice flat at the bottom of each one to allow for discrete carry of a clip knife. The rear pockets are a tradition flat pocket that has a hook and loop closure to ensure your wallet does not fall out. In the center of the back is a hidden slash pocket big enough for many of the small pocket pistols.
The Tactical Relaxed Fit Stretch Ripstop Cargo Pants are available in black, desert sand, tactical green, and midnight. Sizes range from 30-inch to 48-inch waists, with inseams of 30, 32, 34 and unhemmed at 39 inches. I found these pants run true to size and even after several wash/dry cycles they have not shrunk.
Complimenting Dickies pants is the Tactical Ventilated Ripstop Long Sleeve Shirt. This shirt is made from the same fabric as the pants. What this means is you have a shirt that wears like iron and will not print if you wear it untucked as a cover garment. The box hem means this shirt fits and looks good tucked or untucked, a rare feat for a tactical/duty-type shirt. Heck, it’s rare for almost any shirt to fit and look good no matter how you wear it.
What set this shirt apart from others are the ventilation panels that run from the hem to the elbows. These vents do help keep you cool. They also add a degree of stretch so you don’t bind when shooting, lifting or climbing.
The two chest pockets close with hook and loop to give you a clean look. There is a pen loop on the left pocket as well as a badge/radio loop which works well to hang shooting glasses. To secure ID or other items there is a zipper-close chest pocket at the button placket. Last but not least there is a pen sleeve pocket on the left shoulder. Sizes range from small to quad extra-large and the shirt can be had in desert sand, black or midnight. Both the shirt and pants range in price from $49.99 to $54.99, making them more than competitively priced.
5.11 Tactical’s Apex pants have plenty of pockets to carry a large everyday carry load including AR magazines all while fitting like your favorite comfy sweat plants.
A well-known name to shooters is 5.11 Tactical (Phone: 866-451-1726; Online: 511tactical.com). While 5.11 products can outfit you from head to toe and offer enough packs to move a small army; pants are still the heart of their business. One of the newest and most technical pants is The Apex. The heart of this pant is the 6.4 ounce Flex-Tac fabric. While these pants do not stretch like Lycra, they will feel like they do. This is a unique fabric. Unlike many other wonder fabrics, Flex-Tac breaths and dissipates moisture quickly so you don’t get that heat rash type itch.
The other feature that separates The Apex from other “tactical” pants is the cut. These pants do not scream gun person, but look like a casual pant. What does this is the interior gusseted zipper thigh pockets, much like you find on adventure pants. Each pocket has interior pockets to hold two AR magazines and still lie fairly flat. Both rear pockets have an additional pocket to carry a phone or magazine, though they will not cover it. 5.11 did not reinforce the slot at the bottom of the front pockets allowing even smaller clip-it knives to easily attach to the pocket.
To ensure that these pants will allow LEOs or protective specialists to have a more “gray man” look wearing these, the knees are not reinforced. This reduces the weight and enhances flexibility should you need to run in competition or chase a bad guy. If you are wearing these for undercover work there is a hidden cuff key/flex cuff pocket inside the waist. The Apex is available in black, dark navy, storm, tundra, TDU green, battle brown and khaki; in waist sizes ranging from 28 to 44 inches with even length inseams 30 to 36 inches. 5.11 Tactical gives the end user a lot of bang for the buck; the list price is $79.99.
First Tactical’s Canyon Digital Compass is a watch/compass built to look good and function in the field. Even the band fits well and is comfortable.
For those of us who venture out hiking or trek across fields, you need a good watch and a compass. First Tactical (Phone: 855-665-3410; Online: firsttactical.com) is one of the first if not the first company to offer watch/compass that works and is affordable ($139.99); the Canyon Digital Compass. You can get it in black, coyote or OD.
What immediately catches your eye is the size of the protected display; it’s big and clear so you can easily read it when running, swimming (WP to 30”), or are optically challenged like most of us well over 40. You can scroll through the modes: alarm, world time, countdown timer, stopwatch, traditional day/date or compass mode and there is even a digital second hand. I found the Digital Compass to fit well and to be comfortable thanks to the flexible band.
First Tactical calls this a digital compass, so I figured it should be tested against a GPS and M2 Lensatic Compass. What I found was it was +/- 1 degree, which is realistic; this is why we plotted our routes with a terrain map and never trusted just the compass for land navigation. I even tested it against the GPS/compass in my F250 and they matched readings. That said, I would trust this compass to get me out of a bind should I get lost in backwoods country. I cannot give a piece of kit a higher recommendation than that.
The Copperhead from First Tactical is one of the best everyday carry knives I have seen. Virtually perfect size and it gives you a choice of how to carry the blade, a knife built for the user.
Another quality piece of kit from First Tactical is the Copperhead Knife with modified spear point blade. Made with AUS8 steel and G10 handles, this $49.99 knife is built to endure whatever most of us will use a knife for. I do caution against using it for a pry bar; it’s going to break.
With an overall length of seven inches and blade length of three inches this is a good all round knife. The liner lock is secure and the blade is sharp enough to slice a tomato or make short work of packing tape when opening a package. The clip is moveable so you can have blade forward or backwards to meet your needs.
For ease of opening, you will find the ambidextrous thumb bridge. This bridge gives you good leverage and plenty of room to operate the Copperhead with gloved or cold numbed hands. The thumb bridge also acts as a blade stop and is gimped to give you a good purchase when you have to get some oomph behind the blade. My Copperhead has been seen by many of my shooting buds and they all said it’s a keeper.
A couple of new products I found this year are the Stash 1L and SpeedCup 200 ML from Hydrapak (Phone: 510-632-8318; Online: hydrapak.com). These two items address the most important thing humans need: hydration. The problem for outdoorsman of all genres is to reduce weight while ensuring durability. The Stash and SpeedCup address both of these concerns.
Hyrdapak’s Stack 1L and Speed Cup, ensure you have a clean cup at all times and a tough lightweight bottle of water, so there is no excuse for not having water with you.
The Stash 1L holds one liter of your favorite beverage in a non BPA collapsible container that crushes down to one quarter of its filled size. That means when it is empty you can “stash” the bottle in your range bag or hunting ditty bag. Unlike many bladder systems the Stash can be frozen or carry hot liquid up to one hundred forty degrees without fear of bottle failure. I like this bottle for action shooting matches because it fits in my range bag so I can get a refill from any thermal container around the range. With a MSRP of $23, this bottle is a deal that will allow you to reduce the weight of your water supply.
The SpeedCup is something all shooters should have in their gear bag. I cannot count how many times there are thermal water containers on the range but no glasses. This crushable cup folds into the loop on the rim to keep dirt and stuff out of the inside of the cup. At $20, some folks might think it’s pricey, but it means you don’t have to hold your head under the spout of a container or drink out of the hose. Those of us who spend time at matches would be very appreciative of someone who thought to get us these hydration transfer units. They are available at any number of retailers, including Walmart and Amazon.
The last thing we are going to look at for our dads and grads is a belt system and magazine carriers for training or competition from Tuff Products (Phone: 877-883-3776; Online: tuffproducts.com). Tuff Products offers a number of excellent items including their Clip-on Bungee Pistol Magazine Pouch ($20) and Competition Belt System ($60). These two items are some of the finest and most versatile that I have seen and used. I suggest sizing the belt to your pant size, the size ranges are generous.
Tuff Products Competition Belt System and Clip-on Bungee Pistol Magazine Pouch are well made and fit perfectly, without breaking the bank. The BPMP is one of the most innovative mag carriers author has used.
Let’s look at the Competition Belt System (CBS) first. As the name implies it is a system consisting of an inner and outer belt. They attach by hook and loop, making them virtually one unit when mated. The inner belt is one of the most conforming belts I have used. This is important for comfort and gear security. A feature unique to Tuff’s inner belt is sewn cut-offs so you can remove excess from the liner without fear of the belt fraying.
Like the inner belt the outer belt fits and conforms to the body. I have found many competition belts to be anything but flexible, but that was not the case with Tuff’s CBS Outer. The width of the belt fit magazine pouches from popular manufactures so you won’t have to purchase special gear. My Safariland GLS belt slide never moved while testing the belt shooting USPSA’s Area 6 Championship. What was surprising was that with all the gear and pistol carried, after twelve hours the Tuff CBS was still as comfortable as when I put it on. The double hook/loop belt keeper ensured the end of the belt never flapped or came loose on the move while shooting.
The other piece of kit from Tuff Products I used for the Area 6 match was their Clip-on Bungee Pistol Magazine Pouch (BPMP). This pouch uses a heavy duty belt clip to mate the pouch to the belt. Once on, the pouch never moved.
The BPMP uses a bungee to tension the opening. This allows the BPMP to fit double stack magazines for large framed Glocks, Beretta 92s, Sig P226s or double stack 45ACP magazines like those for STI/SVI or Para Ordnance 1911s. While its retention qualities were as snug as a glove, magazines drew from them like a skate on ice. I think this magazine pouch would be ideal for 3-Gun competition, range use and training.
I hope this article will help outfit the next crop of graduates and dads. You will find these items work well and can be had for female grads too. More and more companies are making items to meet the needs of shooters, outdoors people that cross over for street and daily use, like those here. We want our readers to get the most bang for their buck; so do the companies. Once you are geared up; head out to the range to shoot. Remember; shoot straight, shoot safe and have fun.
