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Top-notch Kydex: A Review of Gray Fox Strategic Kydex gear.

Gray Fox Strategic. 100% high-quality Canadian Kydex.

A short while after starting Tactical Beaver, we travelled to Ottawa to be guests on the Jody Mitic Podcast and to do a bit of community building.  It was then I met Eric, Owner of Gray Fox Strategic.

Eric makes Kydex.  Good Kydex.  Solid Kydex.  Holsters, sheaths, mag holders, wallets, accessories.  You name it, he makes a quality product to hold your quality gear, and he’s a swell guy to boot!

I recently upgraded the holster to my Glock (17, Gen 4) and a mag holder for my AR platform from Gray Fox and am VERY happy with the result. After my initial fumbling and messing around with adjustments, I finally got it just right.  My Glock fit like a glove.  Fantastic.  With the included Allen key I was able to make it work perfectly.

Arriving in the mail.  Gryphon Glock holster and Gargoyle 5.56 mag holder.
Fully unpacked.  Thanks for the decals!
Ready for action. Fitting and adjustments done.

Same thing goes with the AR mag holder.  Compared to some of the other Kydex things I’ve tested, used and seen, Gray Fox does a solid job of producing quality products.

There is also the accessories category of the Gray Fox lineup.

The Leprechaun clamshell wallet, for instance, is also a great edition to my Every Day Carry (EDC).  It comfortably holds up to nine (9) credit card-sized cards and, after an initial break-in period, becomes easily accessible and usable.

After break-in, the wallet will hold around 9 cards comfortably.

Pros:

  • Quality material;
  • Solid construction and attention to detail;
  • Hard-use capable for everyone from operators to hobbyists;
  • Adjustable for a custom precise fit;
  • Competitively priced;
  • Canadian made.

Cons (not many):

  • Lead time for custom work (but then again, that’s how it goes, so just a fact rather than a con.);
  • Decal can wear off (this happened to the older generation of Gray Fox’s stuff). It has since been remedied by a new application process and the new stuff is solid throughout.
  • Medium-sized product line.  I’d love to buy a boat-load of kydex for everything, but as it is a small operation, Gray Fox is obviously not Safariland or other massive producers.  That said, the attention to detail and construction quality more than makes up for it.  If they don’t have it stock, contact them directly and they should be able to meet your needs.

 

I also like the little keychain I got from Eric as well.  It’s small, simple, but certainly a nice addition to the keychain collection.  Lots of locks mean lots of keys, so this works for me.

Weighs nothing, holds keys, looks cool.

Though I haven’t had the privilege of testing out the entire lineup of Gray Fox’s, however I do look forward to checking out their collaboration with Delta 2 Alpha Design making kydex for their projects.  Contact them directly for more details.

In closing, Gray Fox Strategic uses quality custom-shop Kydex for all of their products at very competitive prices and is made in entirely in Canada.  You will never regret investing in quality gear.  Nuff said.

Check them out.  They will even do custom jobs by request.  Give them a should directly here.

Till next time, stay crafty.

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After Action Report: Covert Entry Concepts – Toronto

On the weekend of 28-29-30 July, 2017, True North Tradecraft hosted the first-ever offering of The CORE Group’s Covert Entry Concepts course in Toronto.  We had 9 students, an excellent venue, great food and of course, fantastic training.  (To read my review of the course I attended in Maryland, click here.)

Training materials before.
Training materials, after.

Friday evening saw the group meet up, make introductions and immerse themselves in Street Thief, a mockumentary based on a thief.  Though not “real”, it did accurately illustrate how an actual thief does what they do, ideas for protecting against such things and using the same methodologies in conducting security assessments and Red Team-type attacks.  That, coupled with some yummy pizza (no Hawaiian, you’re welcome Rob) made for a good evening.

Mmmm..pizza.

Starting bright and early on Saturday morning, we hit the ground running getting into the principles of physical security, locking mechanisms and the basics of attacking them.  This was framed within the construct of proper evaluation and approach vectors for attack and assessment.

The tools.

Thanks to The Lucky Penny for providing scrumptious snacks and endless coffee to get us started and keep us going.

Freshly baked and delivered food and coffee made a huge positive impact on all of us.

The entire day was fast and furious.  We hit on a vast breadth of topics and brought it all to practice very quickly.  The students were introduced to various locks and their corresponding pick and bypass tools.

Checking out a tubular lock pick.

Wafer locks, pin & tumbler, dead bolts, combination locks, padlocks, warded locks, etc.  The pace was fast but students picked-up the skills quickly and began to progress through to more difficult locks.  After everyone felt they were getting the hang of it, we moved right into impressioning and key casting.

Key impressioning. Money for nothing and your checks for free.
Key casting. Delicate but really interesting if done correctly.

Saturday had some tasty lunch too…

Rob enjoying a fine Canadian poutine. Now he has a standard to measure all others by.

The rest of the day was spent discussing elevators and their uses in Red Team operations and physical security, safes and other miscellaneous related content.

We finished off the evening as a group at a fantastic nearby Mexican restaurant where the food was excellent and the tequila and mojitos flowed.

Mmmm…guac and tequila.
So much food. So good. Cheers all!

Sunday, though rough for some more than others, continued the same high tempo.  We dove right into more elevator stuff and more impressioning challenges.

One challenge was who could impression a key properly before anyone else.

The second was the T-Rex Challenge.  Picking a lock while a electronic muscle stimulator is hooked-up to one’s forearms.  It’s a laugh for all.

Those arms are shaking. Doesn’t matter how tough you are, it was crazy.

That winners of each challenge got some stuff from our friends at Delta 2 Alpha Design (The Lolly and The Mark, and stickers, each.)

After we all stopped laughing and got feeling back in our arms, we carried on to lock bypassing, familiarization with various tools and techniques associated with it and giving them a trial run.

One of the students using an Under Door Tool to rescue someone (Rob and another student) from the bathroom.

We then transitioned to removing/replacing tamper-evident seals.  A very delicate operation to say the least, this portion of the day was slow-going and painstakingly irritating when impatience wrecked it all.  That said, it was very interesting in its method and application.  We also discussed security posturing, use, strength and limitations of seals and tamper-evident devices along with best practices.

Making tamper-evident not-so-evident. Steady hands.

To round out the weekend, we finished on a high note with restraint escapes.  Dealing in escaping unlawful custody while restrained by handcuffs, nylon zip ties, duct tape and cord.  The more you know, the better prepared you will be.

Aftermath of zip tie escape.
Tools of the trade.

 

One of the most important parts of the learning was the manner in which it was delivered.  Rob’s easy-going and humorous nature, coupled with his expansive knowledge and professionalism made for a relaxed yet powerful learning environment.  He is an exemplary instructor and trainer and is so giving of himself and his knowledge.  That and he couldn’t get over how no one carried guns.  Yay Canada.  It all makes a huge positive difference.

As with all experiences of this kind, there was so much more we covered and were exposed to that it simply wouldn’t do it justice to speak to here.  There is only so much you can read about or learn from on YouTube before you hit a wall.  Well-delivered, quality, in-person training has no substitute.  I recommend this training to anyone interested in these skills. In the end, an excellent group made an excellent class.  Congratulations to all.

Certificate. It was all worth it.

We are excited about how everything went that we are already planning our next offering.  Keep tuned to the Blog (and Instagram and Facebook) for more details.

Thank you to Rob and to all others who helped make this happen and make it great (See below) and thank you to all who attended.

Till next time,

Stay Crafty.

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Kennedy Tactical Concepts – Masterclass Pt. 2

(*all images courtesy of Kennedy Tactical Concepts – I had my hands full) (*for more information on KTC and training, click here).

This is part 2 in a series documenting my involvement in the Kennedy Tactical Concepts Masterclass.  Part 1 is available here.

Session 2 with TJ was on Wednesday July 26th at the Night Owl on College St., Toronto. (The usual spot).

Again, the environment was pleasantly realistic as we headed to the basement level of the Night Owl.  We even had a band setting up while going through the techniques.

This week’s topics of practice were as follows:

  1. Combative Control Positions/positioning;
  2. Combative Control Transitions and;
  3. Takedowns (in combination with #1 & 2).

As with the previous format, TJ began with introductions, an overview of what we would be covering for the night, a warm-up, and then we got right into it.

The realistic environment makes for a better appreciation of the realities you would be facing.  A bar, stools, a stage, musical instruments, concrete walls and of course, a dirty cement floor.  Though the Combative Control Positions and Transitions were not striking per se, they were very dependent on speed, agility and technique.  After an hour of practicing and building upon each technique, we moved on to takedowns.

Starting slowly at first, we quickly moved to full-speed with follow-throughs.  The result was fluid takedowns with a high degree of comfort in executing the movements.  We also worked on improvising all the techniques of the night against larger and smaller opponents as we were all of differing heights.

Of course, I was sporting my awesome shirt from www.tacticalbeaver.co Yes, you should Fear The Beaver.

Solid training.  The next day I was sore as hell, but at least I wasn’t bleeding on a bar floor.  I’ll be at the next one.  Stay tuned and Stay Crafty.