Tag: Jody Mitic Podcast

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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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Personal Skills and Group Contribution: Why Community is important to your survival and resilience.

No man is an island.

No matter how good you are, how skilled, how knowledgeable, at some point you will reach an obstacle you will need help with.  This applies to survival, escape and evasion, operations and regular day-to-day life.  Sure, your skills and know.how can take you far, but to truly excel, you need a TEAM. A community.

Special Forces operators and secret agents are all incredible individuals, trained to exceptional levels of skill and fitness.  But what makes them truly formidable is their ability to leverage all of those strengths to super-humal-like heights to seemingly perform the impossible.  That level of mutual support, leveraging of skill-sets and strength in numbers can achieve feats that no individual ever could.

Some of the best “team” shows do this very well.  One of my favourites, Burn Notice, for instance, has 3 main characters – Michael (the burned ex-spy), Fiona (Michael’s ex-girlfriend and IRA operative) and Sam (ex-Navy SEAL).  By themselves, they are all formidable, capable and able.  But when one of them finds themselves in a jam, the other two are able to support the operation in ways that the solo member just couldn’t handle themselves.  The show The A Team also does a great job of this in using the team members’ individual skills to achieve the team goal with great efficacy.

This translates to life as well.  Regardless if you’re trying to learn something, build a business from scratch in your basement, whether a disaster or start a blog, you’ll only get so far by yourself.  Sure, you can learn everything about wilderness survival, but if you fall and break your leg, you will have no one to help you.

In building Tactical Beaver and True North Tradecraft, I have learned more and more that although personal skillets, perseverance, drive, sacrifice, dedication and a bit of luck will do wonders for growing a project, it’s the people you meet and connect with – the ones you build a COMMUNITY with – that will ensure your success in the long run.  I am thus very humbled and privileged to continue building our community of amazing people who are all “lone wolves” in their specific ventures, but together we all succeed.

Below, I have listed some of those community partners.  It is because of them, and many individuals, that we have been able to grow.

That is the power of team.  No individual could have gotten Bin Laden, or Hussein on their own.  It was a team effort.  There are always exceptions to the rule, but by and large, teams can accomplish feats unattainable by an individual.

The best team is one made up of lone wolves working together.

So whatever the task, challenge or obstacle, do your best by yourself, learn  and train and be the best you can be, and then find a group of like-people.  Then become a team.  Then you’ll be unstoppable.

Till next time,

Stay crafty.