BORELLI CONSULTING: Tactical Equipment Reviews

Greatest Hits: 4.5 years later
17 September 2007

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As I sat down to write this week's equipment review it occurred to me that Borelli Consulting has been providing these written evaluations for quite some time now. Looking back I realized that it has been about four-and-a-half years. I certainly would like to thank Blackwater for putting up with me for that long, and I wanted to take the opportunity to look back through some of the "greatest hits" reviews we've produced. At the rate of 52 tactical equipment reviews per year, that gave me well over 200 reviews to sort through. Here's what I found that I think you'll enjoy...

KRISS XSMG
From Transformational Defense Industries

At SHOT Show '07 I saw a new design in sub-machineguns that struck me as evolutionary. I've mentioned it before: the Kriss XSMG from Transformational Defense Industries, Inc. (TDII). What makes the weapon so new and different isn't the 5.5" barrel - been there, done that; it isn't the fact that the gun uses standard Glock .45ACP magazines - other weapons use common magazines too; but this subgun takes the energy from the bolt blowing back and redirects it in a downward path in front of the trigger area. When I first saw it I thought "broomhandled Mauser mixed with Star Wars". When I got a chance to learn more about it and shoot it at the range I came to appreciate the newly developed recoil design. It was a cold day at the range with precipitation that ranged from fat snow flakes to mixed sleet and rain... it was definitely a cold weather test day and we put an ugly mix of ammo through the weapon. Read how well it performed HERE.

Springfield Armory's TRP Operator

In 1982, when I enlisted in the U.S. Army as a Military Policeman, the Army was still using the tried and true Government Model .45ACP pistol. The Army instructors, a collection of Master and First Class Sergeants, swore by the pistol and demeaned the "puny nine-millimeter" round that NATO endorsed. Of course, three years later, things changed. It's nice to know that some things stay the same… well, kind of. Designated as the country's first arsenal in 1794, Springfield Armory closed in 1968 only to be reborn from its own ashes in 1974. With the exception of that brief six-year period, the company has been making firearms for more than two hundred years. To me that means they might know a little something about designing and manufacturing weapons. In the case of the Springfield Armory TRP Operator, they certainly did it right. Check out the rest of this review.

PolyShok 12 Gauge Anti-Personnel / Breaching Ammo

Evaluating ammunition is one of those things that I almost hate to do. Why? Because testing it on inanimate objects is, well, objective. But how it will affect living creatures, animal and human, is subjective. While it's true that physical damage is physical damage and organic systems can only function or survive with a certain amount of physical damage, that "amount" can be drastically affected by the person's psychological, emotional and physical strength. In other words, while one man dies because he thinks he's been shot with a .22, another man keeps fighting even after taking thirty-three 9mm rounds (documented case). In that particular case, a twelve gauge round brought the man down. Shotguns are fantastically destructive weapons. Because of the size of their bore, the payloads that we can load into them can be quite versatile. As a result, we use the shotgun for a collection of purposes from anti-personnel to breaching. Most often we have to have ammunition tailored for the intended use, and it's a rare occasion that you can use ONE kind of ammo for both kinds of work. Well, meet PolyShok: the twelve-gauge ammo that is like no other and is quite adept at both of the specified fields. Read more about this unique 12g ammo here.

BlackHawk SERPA Level III Police Duty Holster

At the SHOT Show 2006 I got to see and - to some extent - handle the prototypes of BlackHawk's Level III Duty Holster incorporating their SERPA locking technology. To be called a "Level III" holster, there have to be three different and independent retention devices built into the holster. In this case the three retention devices are: 1) tension. Adjust it with any philip's head screwdriver. 2) The SERPA lock which secures the trigger guard of the weapon until activated / released by the shooter during the draw stroke. 3) What BlackHawk calls a "Pivot Guard" which is a spring-loaded chunk of polymer which pivots up and over the back of the weapon slide and, again, is released / activated during the natural draw stroke. Various people tried out this holster at SHOT and I admit to taking my turn playing with it. At first I questioned the positioning of the release mechanism for the Pivot Guard, but a little education from BlackHawk personnel quickly changed my point of view (and understanding). I recently received a first run T&E SERPA Level III holster and we're going to take a closer look at its form and function in this review.

XS Sights 24/7 +

So, any excuse to visit Blackwater and shoot free bullets is a good one. Every now and then I actually get invited down there to do something fun and shoot free bullets. XS Sights was nice enough to include me on their list of invitees for a Writers' Round Table event. Now, I hate to say this, but I didn't know anything about XS Sights before attending. I had seen some advertisements for them; I had seen a couple of people with the XS Sights on their weapons; but I never took the time, or had the interest, to get myself educated about XS Sights. Once I learned about them I realized how much I liked them. Learn why by reading the rest of this review.

BlackHawk + Strategos = Night-Ops!

A few years back I had the privilege of attending a Writer's Conference at BlackHawk's old headquarters in Norfolk. One of the highlights of that experience was the announcement of the Night-Ops line of illumination tools. The first product is a 2-cell flashlight powered by CR123 3-volt lithium batteries. That's not uncommon. There are plenty of illumination tools available that work off those batteries, different designs taking anywhere from one to six cells. Nothing amazing there. Stand by. The Night-Ops light as some truly unique functionality built into it. The key to this functionality is the smart electronics that the design incorporates which allow the tailcap to do a lot more than just activate the light or effect an electrical disconnect. The tailcap has three positions in addition to the "lockout" position (patents pending). Since the lockout selection performs no light function, I've learned to generally dismiss it as a function control position. After all, it effectively makes the light do nothing. That's VERY important when you're trying to avoid accidental discharges, but it does not change how the flashlight produces or controls the light. To learn more about the Night-Ops Gladius read here.

BE SAFE!!!

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Don't forget to check out our Recreational Equipment Review looking back across two years at some of THOSE "greatest hits".

This week's Training Article about the impact of media coverage has had on the evolution of our Immediate Response tactics.

For a listing of all reviews in chronological order, GO HERE.

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