There you are, in the team room with the unit. As the new guy, you stand, while others sit. You wait for your team leader to give you instructions. Keeping to yourself, you read your Ranger Handbook for the 12th time since you stood on that parade field receiving the honorable Tan Beret only weeks ago. You hear the clang of metal, as the team leader opens the squad locker, and you see him pulling at a knot of 550 cord, or paracord, and murmur not so gently under his breath. You feel your spine straighten as he turns toward you. He throws the massive entanglement at you. “New Guy, fix this Rat’s Nest.” Today will be a good day, at least you won’t be in danger of looking like you’re doing nothing. For those not looking to re-live the unknotting process, take a look at Quikcord.

Call it paracord, call it 550 cord, anyone who’s had to deal with a rat’s nest, a gigantic knotted mess of the extremely useful material will know what we’re talking about. For those who use 550 cord for professional use or those who consider it a necessary component of any survivalist’s loadout, the one thing that it doesn’t do well is stay untangled. Amidst an emergency, where seconds count, is not the time to discover the 550 cord you were going to use has become a ball of cable that will take no less than 20 minutes to make useable. Inspired by stories like the one above, QUIKCORD has a solution to this problem, and the veteran-owned company is looking to solve a problem that grows as 550 cord continues to ball itself up when no one is looking.

What is QUIKCORD?

In the world that we live in, a knotted ball of 550 cord shouldn’t demand too much attention. There are bigger threats to face, and bigger issues to solve. Any distraction from the mission, however, costs valuable attention. The simplicity of QUIKCORD, then, defines its value. QUIKCORD serves as an all-in-one paracord container, with added utility. One side captures a chem-light/glow stick for emergency signaling, and the other has a small blade built-in for cutting the cord. From both the top and bottom, paracord can be pulled out, snag-free. About the size of a Red Bull can, and made of a molded plastic, the QUIKCORD can fit in pockets, pouches, or a pack, and there it does what it should: go unnoticed until it is needed.

Above: The build in razor takes the hassle out of using 550 cord for small, quick repairs. 

It is easy to consider the military uses for QUIKCORD, and that comes naturally as the product was designed by a veteran. On its face, it looks obvious: a simple device to solve a simple problem. But that’s where the easy part of it ends. What does a review look like? What are the features to evaluate? What should it be compared to?

Above: Though the QUIKCORD doesn’t really belong on a plate carrier, it fits well in a medium sized pouch. 

Compared to What?

The novelty of QUIKCORD gives it an advantage. There’s nothing quite like it in the market. For years, 550 cord has been carried in pockets, baggies, and pouches, so why something new? QUIKCORD is easy to use: it has a place to “capture” the loose end, and the protected blade means less time pulling out a fancy pocket knife, assuming one is carried. The chem light attached can be used as an emergency signal by letting out a few feet of the remaining paracord, and spinning the light like a helicopter blade above one’s head. It’s not a complicated tool, but it works.

Depending on how much 550 cord someone is trying to pack will heavily influence the use of a QUIKCORD carrier. The container will hold about 35 yards of 550 cord, but with practice packing it, a little more can fit in. This roughly takes up the same amount of space if an equal amount of paracord were put into a zippable bag with a chem light as well, so there’s very little added bulk. That doesn’t mean it’s soft and packs flat though.

Materials and Craftsmanship

Confident in its identity, QUIKCORD balances weight, strength, and cost-efficiency. Neither Bomb-proof nor disposable, the price tag communicates a set-it-and-forget-it level of use, that won’t make you wince if you have to replace it. That being the case, we wouldn’t recommend using it as an impromptu hacky-sack.

To test the durability, we did what is expected in this industry: we threw it down a cement path, and then repeated the process after chilling the plastic in a freezer for a few hours. The scuffs added up over time but it never cracked thanks to the plastic used. The lid would occasionally disconnect itself, spilling 550 cord all across the pavement, but resucure each time it was put back together.

Unorthodox Uses

Storage space and weight rightly stand as the lead concerns when setting up a motorcycle, bicycle, or dirt bike for long-distance overlanding. Be it across highway or dirt, the precious space inside saddlebags and panniers cannot be wasted, and as ounces equal pounds, so do cubic inches add up quickly. With a little ingenuity and some awareness of both airflow, and which areas are protected on a motorcycle, a QUIKCORD canister can easily be secured to the frame, handlebars, or exterior of a pannier, thus saving space and keeping the 550 cord available.

When doing this, however, we heavily recommend using a secondary method to contain the loose ends. With the wind constantly tugging at the exposed cord, and the likelihood of branches snagging on it when riding off-road, the last thing one would want is to risk serious injury and destroy their vehicle by 550 cord getting wrapped around the rear tire.

QUIKCORD Conclusion

Does it work? Yes. Does it solve all the worlds problems? No. Is it something everyone should have? Maybe. For those in the military, it has it’s uses, but will not replace the need for, say, 50 yards of 550 cord for Ranger School. At the same time, the new product has yet to grow into all of its uses, and the overlanding community will likely find it very useful. The best part of the QUIKCORD, however, is in its nature as an inventive piece of kit: after a short while of use, it will like go unnoticed, until it gets misplaced, and then the convenience of it will make its point loud and clear.

We’d like to see a few changes, however, some of them which could be solved by a little DIY. A form of Grip Tape on the outside of the cannister would help in cold or damn environments. Other than that, more ways secure it to a frame, bar, or webbing would be just the right thing for future use.

UPDATE and Ordering

If you’re interested in pickup up a Quikcord, head to their website and use code OFFGRIDFAM for free shipping.

URL: www.quikcord.com

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The post QUIKCORD 550 Cord EDC appeared first on RECOIL OFFGRID.

As someone who has spent countless hours in the Great Outdoors and served in the military conducting combat reconnaissance missions, I have come across my fair share of knives.  Eventually, you start to learn that no two knives are created equal and begin to develop a taste for what features in a blade really matter at an individual level.  Experience has taught me that tools the size of a knife can be easily stolen or disappear during a move.  And any tool, despite being looked after with the utmost care, can malfunction or break over time.  Along comes the Terävä Jääkäripuukko, an all-purpose hunting knife from Varusteleka that does not break the bank and does not disappoint!

If you are unfamiliar with the Finnish company Varusteleka, you are missing out on extraordinary gear from a company that takes exceptional pride in their products.  Puukko’s are and have been a part of Finnish culture throughout much of history, and that historical context is the inspiration for the Varusteleka Jääkäripuukko’s creation.  Jääkäri is Finnish for the German word Jaeger, which usually means “elite light infantry,” and Puukko simply means “knife.”  Finland has a long tradition of collaborating with German’s regarding military disciplines, and early in their independence, a group of soldiers went to train with the Germans as Jaegers.  To honor this tradition and the heritage of past warriors, Varusteleka named their puukko as Jääkäri, because it is tradition, that every Finnish soldier carry a puukko, which can be used as a tool or weapon.  Just thinking about the illustrious history and cultural significance of the blade are enough to give one goosebumps and having a knife with such versatility is a feature that cannot be overlooked.

Utility is important to me because I am very much a minimalist.  The gear I carry in the field, regardless of the situation, all have multiple functions.  This is primarily to avoid being overloaded and to make it easier to find what I need as soon as I need it.  The Varusteleka Jääkäripuukko has utility in droves and brushes off a serious beating with nary a scratch. When handling this knife in person for the first time, my initial thought was, “this blade means business!”  The weight feels comfortable, not too heavy as to be cumbersome, and not too light to feel fragile, but an appropriate balance.  Even the edge was impressively sharp right out of the box.  There is a shorter version of the knife from Varusteleka depending on what your personal needs are, but going forward, I will only be discussing the longer design.

Dimensions and Appearance

One first notices the straight back design, making it perfect as a tool used for chopping, slicing and carving.  The traditional puukko birch or bone handle has been replaced by Varusteleka with a durable rubber grip with an unobtrusive finger guard.  This not only allows for non-slip handling in wet or gloved conditions, but it also reduces the need for additional conditioning maintenance that more sensitive materials require.  A lanyard loop protrudes from the butt end of the handle, part of its full tang, and allowing for a multitude of applications.  In face, the width of the blade is such that the lanyard loop could be reliably used to break glass, ice or even bone.

High carbon tool steel gives the blade edge strength to endure a wide variety of cutting tasks without being too brittle.  This steel is surrounded and protected by a slightly softer steel, further enhancing the Varusteleka Jääkäripuukko’s rugged durability.  One remarkable feature of the knife is the beveled spine, exposing an edge of the higher carbon steel in the core, allowing for striking ferro rods and building emergency fires in survival situations.  Even the tough leather sheath is built with substantial sturdiness.  A double fold at the top of the sheath can be fastened with a stud, and a hard-plastic inner liner prevents the blade from damaging the inside.

Varusteleka Ergonomics

There have been moments during my time in the military, or recreationally, when wearing gear was not the most comfortable.  Such has not been the case with the Varusteleka Jääkäripuukko, and the blades wearability can be attributed to its hanging sheath.  Loop it through your belt and the dangling sheath is low enough to be accessible even if you are wearing a jacket or other forms of gear such as a plate carrier or rucksack.  Its flexibility allows the knife to be worn in a vehicle without getting in the way of a seat-belt or jabbing you while you’re sitting in a chair.

Having a rubber handle over the tang has another set of benefits.  This modern twist by Varusteleka over a traditional wood or bone handle improves grip, even in the most slippery of conditions.  In cold or wet conditions, you’ll feel like you have the grasp of a grizzly bear holding on to a salmon in an Alaskan river!

Utility

Probably the most stunning feature of the Varusteleka Jääkäripuukko was how well it performed as a tool.  After admiring is physical attributes, I immediately tested it in the field.  One of the functions a lot of survival knife users want to be able to execute reliably is batoning, which essentially means using a knife as an axe, striking an arm-length stick as a hammer to strike the spine of the blade, forcing it through wood.  Often times this can lead to breaking the blade of inferior quality knife, leading to potential injuries.  What better place to test it out than the frozen hardwood forests of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan?

My jaw almost hit the forest floor when I batoned a forearm thick branch from a fallen tree.  The Varusteleka Jääkäripuukko cut through the wood like a shark cuts through an 80’s surfboard, and with only a handful of strikes, I had a cut and split piece of frozen timber.  Next, I decided to see what its true capabilities were by carving this piece of wood into something useful.  The blade was so sharp, it was able to carve a spoon, the most essential of camping necessities, in less than thirty minutes.  After crafting an eating utensil and a bunch of wood shavings as a result, it was a prime opportunity to try test the beveled spines ability to strike a ferro rod for fire, and it sparked true each time.

Final Thoughts on the Varusteleka Jääkäripuukko

Typically, when the edge of an inferior blade is hammered through frozen wood and used as a carving tool, there is going to be blunting or warping of the metal.  Such was not the case with the Varusteleka Jääkäripuukko.  The blade showed no signs of damage and remained unwrapped by the blunt force of being hammered into a piece of frozen tree limb.  High carbon steel requires a bit more attention when it comes to maintenance, but not much.  Just a little oil to ward the metal from rusting and quick run over something to keep it sharp.  But you would be hard pressed to find such a versatile knife, with this amount of strength and finesse, at such a low cost.

URL: https://www.varusteleka.com/

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The post Varusteleka Terävä Jääkäripuukko Review appeared first on RECOIL OFFGRID.

A plate carrier, a modular handgun, and an AR-15 go hand in hand for more than one reason. First of all, they belong in the hands of military, law enforcement, and civilians. Second, each carries a sense of urgency and personal responsibility. Finally, each takes a shape of its own depending on how the owner chooses to set it up. While a plate carrier set up will inherently bear some subjectivity to the wearer, some rules should be followed as well. Here’s how to set up a plate carrier.

Know the Plate Carrier Rules

The fit of the body armor comes first, before pouches are incorporated. The process of continual refinement reflects both on individual users, and those developing new gear. In the past, plate carriers have gone through something of a pattern resembling orthodoxy-reform-new orthodoxy, where a certain setup was considered absolute and gospel, only to be eventually challenged replaced with a new trend. Many of these were highly directed by various military and police standard operating procedures, or SOP’s.

But in the last years, a much broader approach has become mainstream, with more focus on the end user’s performance and a little more room for experimentation. As a result, a short list of rules cannot be broken, but outside that small circle, guidelines, suggestions, and trends shift depending on use. Above all other rules, propper plate carrier fit reigns supreme.

A Level III, Level VI, or Special Threat Plate is designed to stop a specific set of projectiles. By protecting the heart and lungs, it gives the wearer a distinct, but limited advantage in a violent encounter. The body is made up of timers and switches, and the heart and lungs have the shortest timers if damaged, short of the brain and spine. The front plate, then, needs to ride roughly from the center notch of the collar bone and cover down to about the base of rib cage. The rear plate mirrors this, though typically rests a little higher, with the top edge sitting about even with the tops of the shoulder blades.

Above: First Spear Plate Bags with a Crye AVS Harness. Custom assembly. HSGI Tacos, and KAGWERKS Kit, Disco 32 Tactical PTT, to Kenwood Connector on a Baofeng UV5R. 

A properly fit plate carrier keeps the plates secure when running, climbing, moving through buildings, and diving for cover, all while not inhibiting one’s range of motion too much. The shoulder straps should adjust to set height, and the cumberbund to prevent the plates from bouncing when running. Mags, pouches, and plates jostling and bouncing around rapidly wear out the bearer, and pose a risk of injury when climbing. While most of the weight will rest on the shoulders, a slightly tighter cummerbund reduces this pressure.

Propper Plate Carrier Loadout

As a principle, loaded pouches should ride as close to the body as possible. This may sound like a pithy maxim, but it goes unheeded far too often, at the wearer’s expense. The emphasis on minimalism has gone a long way since earlier days, but can be mistaken for trimming the wrong gear. Those buying their own kit have the opportunity afforded by years of development to choose between a variety of equipment manufacturers, mixing and matching where they see fit.

LVL III and IV at LA Police Gear

The four categories of gear worn divide into ammunition, medical supplies, admin, and the ever ambiguous mission-specific equipment. Though lighter gear of the same capability will almost always be preferred, so long as it performs the same or better, this imperative often pits the good against the great.

Ammunition

The 3-wide, single layer mag “shingle” reigns as as the clear de rigueur of our time, with a mag sometimes referred to as the “speed mag” mounted to the cumberbund on the non-dominant arm side. In the last ten years, the trend has pushed some magazines typically carried on the Plate Carrier to the Belt, with many opting to reload off the belt first as habit. As magazines are expended, fresh mags are shifted first to the speed pouch, so that in the event of an emergency reload, the shooter can go straight to their fastest mag.

Above: Belt: Ronin Tactics Senshi Belt, with G-Code Scorpion Caddies, Blue Force Gear Micro Trauma Kit, Unknown Drop Pouch. 

Magazines worn on the front of the carrier should only “double-up” in very rare, specific circumstances. It’s nearly impossible to translate how badly more gear directly turns into an inability to effectively lay prone behind low cover.
Shop PMAGs at Gun Mag Warehouse

Medical

Often personal medical gear gets stowed on the belt, or according to unit SOP’s. If able to choose for yourself where a personal first aid kit will integrate, pick a location accessible by both hands in the event one receives disabling injuries. Outside of the kit, tourniquets should be distributed across the body where they can again be accessed by both hands.

Individual application will vary, but generally speaking at least one tourniquet should be attached to the plate carrier, even when worn in conjunction with a duty belt. This serves as insurance in the event the belt is lost, or one does not have time to put it on. Recently various forms of “danglers” have sought ot accomplish this, while others opt to use a breakable rubber band or shock chord.

Blue Force Gear Micro Trauma Kit atOptics Planet

Admin

Before chest-mounted cellphones were a thing, the top section of a plate carrier was typically kept slick or an admin pouch with maps, pens, and spare batteries and other miscellaneous items were often placed just above the magazines for easy access. Lately, gear like KAGWERKS or Juggernaut cases have dominated this space, offering users a video-game-like access to information with programs like ATAK.

Above: Toor Knives Vandal, fits on Kit and as a Belt Knife. 

Even when using a chest-mounted computer, it is recommended to have a dedicated admin pouch if one is not designated on a uniform. The U.S. Army’s attempt at putting pen holders on their sleeves might have looked like a good choice, but more often than not, “in the field” those pens were broken before use. Dedicating a specific admin pouch on a plate carrier takes one step out of putting on one’s gear, saving time and making it easier to keep stocked up.

Radios have always presented a difficult decision to the bearer. If carried on the front, they could be accessed easier, at the cost of real estate. If carried on the back, a radio would be out of the way but often forcing the wearer to depend on a teammate to access it if a battery needed to be changed out or a frequency was lost. The black magic element of radios is their propensity to attract Murphy’s Law.

Either way, the most common location to integrate a push-to-talk or PTT, which connects a radio to a communications capable headset, has long been the front non-dominant side of a plate carrier, to allow access while keeping a finger on the trigger of a firearm. Attempts have been made to drop it onto to cumberbund, but this has mixed opinions. If carrying two radios, one does not want to have to think about which PTT they are activating while in the middle of a tense situation.

The back of the plate carrier draws the ire of many a zealous minimalist, as it follows the same rule of motorcycle saddlebags and backpacks: if there is free space, something will end up filling it, quickly adding both weight and bulk. A survivalist plate carrier setup, those preparing for a longer operation, or when carrying larger gear, it is possible to opt for a full backpack instead, worn over the plate carrier. If this is the case, once again, less is more. If not carried in the pack, a water bladder can be attached to the back, so long as it is protected by some sort of sleeve or pouch.

Mission Specific Gear

Those in the military or law enforcement should be able to look to their leadership for guidance with mission-specific gear. Allowing for ingenuity should be encouraged, but limited to training scenarios and vetted for some time before potentially seeing combat.

With a plate carrier load-out, the little things have a big impact, such as finding out where gear pinches, or moves. As each piece is added, the bearer should test it for movement and jostle by donning the plate carrier. Like a backpack, heavy equipment stored further from the body only exhausts precious energy, and potentially gives away one’s position by banging against walls, cars, and other objects.

Keeping a small amount of shock or bungee chord on hand can take the extra play out some things that move, and if a thing can fall out on it’s own, expect it to when needed most. Dampen the noise of metal buckles with electrical tape, Ranger Bands, and elastic sleeves. Trim loose ends, and make sure nothing dangles off the belt or back of a carrier. It will inevitably snag, risking injury, exposure, or destroying equipment in the middle of a high-speed airsoft match.

Final Thoughts

Building a plate carrier is a highly personal process, and requires a fair bit of humility to acknowledge just one is doing so. The difficulty with this kind of equipment is much like a permit to carry: we should truly hope that we never have to use it, and a responsible owner will be honest about their capabilities. A weighted vest helps greatly for improving fitness, and things like the Tactical Games have brought a new opportunity landscape to popular firearm competitions. Accessible by all, and physically demanding, Tactical Games Skirmishes make excellent gut checks to ego, and help trim the dead weight off a plate carrier.

Two extremes stand out in regards to plate carrier setup: the hyper orthodox who demands compliance to a rigid SOP without explaining it to his men, and the rogue experimenter who sticks out by challenging the norm, often with no specific problem to solve. Millions of hours of experience from the last near 20 years of war slowly trickle into gear companies, and the change is often slow, tempered by the reality that we’re dealing with serious life-saving equipment.

More on Plate Carriers, Bulletproof Vests, and Body Armor

• Front Toward Enemy: Survival Plate Carriers and Chest Rigs.
• Plate Carrier Setup: Upgrading the Tyr Tactical PICO-DS.
• Devcore Plate Carrier in a Backpack.

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