by David Crane david@defensereview.com January 6, 2006 Anyone who knows anything about the custom/semi-custom tactical 1911 pistol field knows how hugely competitive it is out there. That’s one of the reasons why the Phoenix-like rise of Nighthawk Custom over approx. the last year and half is so intriguing. Considering the speed and surprise Nighthawk Custom has exhibited in establishing its …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com All photos contained in this article were taken by, and are the exclusive property of, DefenseReview.com. Click on photos below to view them full-size. While DefenseReview was at the ArmorShield USA booth at IACP 2005 Miami, we ran into Patrick Connors and Heath Fleener from LE Gear Tactical LLC. Both men were toting around some Grade-A …

by Bob Taubert One of the driving ideas behind the adaptation of the "Black Rifle" and its varmint caliber ammunition was to lighten the load of the ground pounding Infanteer. That was achieved through remarkable engineering, but it didn’t take long for the soldier to reverse the situation. The new light weight rounds enabled the trooper to up his basic …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview received the email message below from Bill Berry, who heads up the 5.11 Challenge, which was created by 5.11 Tactical Series. Not too long ago, DefenseReview wrote about the very cool 5.11 H.R.T. Watch, which was designed for snipers. The watch sports a titanium case and incorporates a ballistic computer that calculates all of the …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com On April 21st (2005), Sporting News published a story by Stan McNeal about a new line of performance-enhancing contact lenses designed and developed specifically for athletes, soon to be marketed and sold under the name "MaxSight". MaxSight contact lenses are the product of a seven-year development partnership between Nike and Bausch & Lomb. Currently, the lenses …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview readers might remember the article we wrote on Patriot Arms, Inc. high-end custom sniper rifles back in May, 2004, titled "High-End Silenced Sniper/Long-Range-Interdiction Rifles from Patriot Arms Inc.". That article was basically a recap of Al Paulson’s excellent article on Patriot Arms that he wrote for "Special Weapons for Military & Police". Patriot Arms Inc. …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Click on digital photos to view them full-size. All digital photos accompanying this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and are the property of DefenseReview.com. DefenseReview recently got a chance to view a few interesting new products at the Larue Tactical booth at SHOT Show 2005. The first are the new LAMSA Weapons Systems/BEAMSHOT/Larue Tactical Soldier's Laser …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Click on the digital images of the 5.11 H.R.T. Tactical Watch/Ballistic Computer (below) to view them full-size. All photos are the property of DefenseReview.com. This product is, hands down, one of the coolest new tactical products DefenseReview got to view and handle at SHOT Show 2005, and it’s not even a weapon system. Rather, it’s what …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com February 05, 2005 Looks like the U.S. Navy SEALs just got a brand new tool for the War on Terror. The boys at NSWC Crane (Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane, Indiana) have apparently been busy little beavers over there. One of the projects they’ve been working on is this little .50 BMG badboy. It’s …

by David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com January 17, 2005 In the future, our infantry forces might employ non-lethal "laser dazzlers" to blind and disorient enemy soldiers, insurgents, and terrorists in order to capture them alive and preclude the need to kill them, so we can interrogate them. Or, the high-tech weapons can be used as a precursor to …