Yes, I'm doing a gun review. The DP-12 by Std. Mfg. LLC of New Britain, CT.

Today we're going to look at the DP-12 by Standard Mfg. of New Britain, Connecticut. 

Std Mfg DP-12

It's the new large capacity bullpup shotgun on the market. Set to go up against the UTAS UTS-15 and Kel-Tec's KSG, it's approaching the idea from a new direction. Rather than two tubes feeding a single chamber, they basically took two shotguns and melded them together. It's chambered to 3" so any 12 gauge ammo you can find will fire from it, but I'd test any short shells before using them.

Initial impressions were that this is a well constructed, robust shotgun. The balance when unloaded is biased to the aft. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but when loaded it has a nice center of gravity. There's plenty of rail on top for mounting optics, lasers, etc.  I just put a cheap red dot for range testing today and it worked fairly well.  The controls are logical and follow the basic AR setup. They're also ambidextrous. The slide lock is on front of the trigger guard and easily reachable and usable by the trigger finger. The front pistol grip comes standard on the shotgun and is solid to the slide. Something that's looking to be a problem with the Kel-Tec and a couple of incidents of self inflicted wounds when the front pistol grip has come off when racking.  The loading/ejection port is open and easy to inspect.

Loading is straight forward and easy. Racking the slide back allows you to load the barrels and sliding it forward closes the ramps and loading the magazine tubes is easy. Also, these tubes truly hold 7 3" rounds each. Unlike the KSG or the UTS which kinda/sorta holds 7 rounds of 2 3/4" shells if you really cram them in.

Firing is easy and the follow on shot is quick.  Recoil is very manageable. Loads from 2 3/4" bird shot up through a couple of 3" turkey loads really had very little difference. Part of this maybe the weight, it's basically two pump shotguns you're carrying. But the recoil was still fairly straight back with very little muzzle climb.

Racking is easy and forgiving. One doesn't need to slam it back and forth to get it to work unlike the UTS. It will take a little training to get used to the Bang-Bang-Chunk action since the slide won't unlock till both barrels are fired.

As mentioned above, the follow on shot is quick due to the double barrel configuration, and the slide throw is not too long.

All in all it's a nice shotgun to shoot.  Now keep in mind this is not your grandfather's turkey gun or the next big thing in skeet/trap shooting.  This is a compact maneuverable shotgun that holds enough rounds to keep your worst nightmares at bay. In other words, this is a great home defense shot gun. It's short enough that you can swing it around in hallways or doorways with out any difficulty while still carrying enough rounds to deal with the threat.

There are some things that I'm not too fond of.  First off, the weight. Like I said it's basically two pump shotguns in one frame and while I can't say that it's double the weight of the UTS or KSG, it is definitely heavier by a few pounds loaded or unloaded.

The safety is familiar but lacks that positive lock in position that I'd like to feel when moving it.  Currently it just rotates to the stop without locking into position once it's there. The other big issue I have with the safety is that it wont move to safe if only one chamber has been fired and the other one is still "hot". Which means you'll have to fire twice no matter what or manually release the slide and eject one live round with one spent to get the safety into the safe position.

The shotgun has no way of knowing if the chamber is loaded or empty.  Say you load 6 rounds in one tube and only 4 in the other.  You'll end up at some point with one chamber empty and depending on which one it is you'll get a click-bang or bang-click before the slide will unlock and you can rack the next round(s).

There is no "field stripping" this shotgun. You need a couple of allen wrenches to disassemble it. I'm a big believer that you should be able to do basic cleaning of any gun without having to resort to a gunsmith's bench to do it.

And finally, the price. Currently they're only available from CheaperThanDirt.com and they're retailing at $1395.00 each. Hopefully they will come down as they get more of them out there, but CTD bought the first 30,000 units so, don't expect other vendors or a price change anytime soon.

I hope that Std. Mfg. addresses the safety issue. You should be able to put the shotgun on safe even if you don't fire both barrels.  As for the safety feel and the one empty chamber issues, while they would be nice to solve, I won't lose any sleep over them.

So, I give this shotgun a thumbs up. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it.
 

A tale of two....

knives.

As you are well aware, I'm not one to do product reviews.  That being said, here's one. Warning, lots of pics. For me, anyways.

For a long time now I've been living on those 10 dollar blister pack folding knives for EDC.  I figured it was time to 1) Stop doing that, and 3) Look at getting an assisted opening one for EDC.  Being the cheap pilot that I am, I didn't want to spend 5 bajillion dollars on something that was going to get used, abused and possibly lost.  So, after hunting around and talking to a couple of people I picked out 2 knives for my initial foray into the Pocket Knife arena.

The Kershaw Cryo and the CRKT K.I.S.S. ASSist.

 

Both knives  were available for under $50. Both approximately the same length folded as well as blade length.  Each used a different assist method.  The Kershaw with it's flipper and the CRKT using their patented Fire Safe (tm) system.  I've carried both for only a couple of days each now and I wanted to get my initial reactions down.  First off, neither knife came in a blister pack, so you didn't need a knife to open the knife. If you know what I mean.   The Kershaw had a standard blade while the CRKT had a tanto style blade.

 

 

Out of the box, the CRKT disappointed me with it's relatively poor initial edge.  While the Kershaw was, out of the factory, sharpened nicely enough to shave the hair off my arm.  I suppose any knife sharpener at a gun show could improve the edge on the CRKT, but I'm just one of those guys that likes things to be right out of the box. Point to Kershaw. Other than that, I much prefer the tanto blade style.  It's held up better to the uses I put knives to over any other cut.

Other things.  In the above pics, you'll notice the CRKT has a much longer pocket clip than the Kershaw.  In fact the Kershaw's clip was small enough that I sometimes had problems trying to catch the clip on the pocket edge and the Kershaw also sometimes wouldn't slide on easily.  But neither knife felt like it was too loose or would accidentally work out of the pocket.  And it may be that the Kershaw clip just needs to be worked in a bit more. But point to CRKT on the clip length.  But, the clip on the CRKT can only be mounted in the one spot, so if you're left handed or like to keep your knife on your off side, then you'll be fumbling with the knife to get it spun around to open.  The Kershaw, on the other hand has 4 positions that the clip can be mounted to.  Meaning, tip up or tip down, strong side or off side, the knife can be clipped such that you can one handed draw and open the knife without any fumbling to get it into position.  Point to Kershaw and that ties the knives up in the clip department.

Both use assisted opening mechanisms.  Of the two.  I have to give it to Kershaw's system.  Much easier to use than the CRKT, never failed to go all the way open and locked, no matter how I tried to soft flip it. Very simple. Place your finger on the stud, press down and it's open and locked.  The system on the CRKT on the other hand took me a minute to get used to and a bit of practice to get down to the point of muscle memory. It's a two step process to open. You press down on the stud with your thumb and then press outward to open the knife. And I found if you soft press it outward, it sometimes wouldn't fully open and lock.  That's a biggie with me.  I want a folder to positively open and lock when I open it. Speaking of, the locking mechanisms for the two knives.  The Kershaw uses a frame lock and the CRKT uses a stud lock.  Both are solid and about on par for getting unlocked.  But I'm giving this to Kershaw. You need less fine motor movement to disengage the Kershaw lock than the CRKT's. I tried to take close ups of the locking mechanisms, the pics are a bit fuzzy, but here they are anyway.

You can see in the top pic, the upper right is the stud that you have to press down and push out to open and to the left of the brass colored pivot is the lock. If you use my thumb in the lower right as reference you can see how small that unlock stud is.  Verses the Kershaw where you just have to sweep the frame lock out of the way.

Neither knife is especially uncomfortable in the pocket.  Not too heavy, not too wide to sit on.  Although as you can sort of see, the CRKT is much thinner. 

In fact the CRKT with clip was no wider than the Kershaw without. But again, I haven't run into that as an issue carrying either.  I suppose if I have a day where I'm driving 5 or 10 hours, but we'll see when that happens. 

Other things, the Kershaw blade folds down into the frame with the entire blade covered.  The CRKT when closed only has a guard that covers the edge on the outer half of the blade. The paranoid lizard part of my brain kept looking at the knife and saying, "you're gonna cut your hand open every time you open that fool thing!" Style wise, I do prefer the CRKT over the Kershaw.

Overall, I've been leaning towards the Kershaw for what I'll grab off the dresser when I get dressed in the morning.  But again, I've only been carrying either for a couple of days each.  We'll see what long term sees, I guess.

Accusations fly....

Last weekend I was accused of being a gear-do.  Now, since I'm always on a limited budget and thus I have to be careful about what I get and why, I was a bit surprised, to say the least.  I'm not one to rush out and get the latest doodad or gizmo just because.  Well, aside from the latest AR build that is.  But in my defense, that build took more than a year to finish and on an AR, "just because" is a valid enough reason.

But since I'm labeled as one, I thought I aught to do a gear review.  In for a penny, in for a pound.  Or maybe, damned if I do, damned if I don't would be a better one.  Anyway, here goes. My first gear review.

For my first gear review I'm going to review a rifle carrying case. After the latest slew of builds I was left with two rifles without a carrying case.

The two on the right.

My first thought was, "Cool, two carbines. I'll get a double rifle case.".  The more I thought about it though, the less the idea appealed to me. Because I would only be carrying both rifles at the same time on very few occasions, namely Blogorado and events like that.  The M1 Carbine just wont get shot that often.  The occasional range trip really.  It's not going to be a hunting rifle like the AR or the M14 are.  Also, my rifle bags tend to be bulky for whatever reasons, I figured I didn't want to make one doubly so.

So, I sat down and mentally listed what I wanted in a carbine rifle case.  Since most of my ready range stuff had migrated to a separate range bag, I decided I didn't need a case that could carry everything for a trip to the range.  That cut down on size.  I wanted something that I could carry around easily.  By that I mean in and out of the Jeep without having to fold the back down.  I also wanted something that didn't scream rifle.  So, I had a list of sorts.  Something discrete, with a shoulder strap or straps, needn't carry more than the rifle and maybe a couple of mags,

So, I went hunting and found this.

It's available at Cheaper Than Dirt.  It's called the covert carbine discreet rifle case.  Which aside from being named by the Departmental Office of Redundancy Department, really fit the criteria I had in mind. 

It doesn't scream rifle. It does scream equipment, but unless you're a gunnie, you won't immediately think rifle.  It holds the AR, in a broken down form, and two mags quite nicely.  Has carrying handles or a shoulder sling that can be tucked into a pocket in the back, and three pockets on the front for other items. 

See, it can fit a 16" barreled AR Carbine plus optic and a couple mags with no problem.

Granted with the Trijicon on it, it has to fit crosswise, but that's just the way the optic is mounted.  You could just as easily remove the optic.  Everything will still fit in it. 

Things I like about this.  Size for one.  It's easy enough to move it in and out of the Jeep without having to do any fancy maneuvers. The center padded divider.  Your rifle isn't going to beat itself up when it's broken down and in the bag. In fact the padding all the way around this bag is nice for protection. The carry options.  The carry handles are good enough, solidly double stitched. In fact the construction quality of the whole thing looks to be on the better side and I'll keep you up to date on how it holds up to daily use. But the real ace is the shoulder strap.

It's nice and wide where it needs to be, namely across the top of the shoulder. So, even as light as this bag is, it wont ever dig into the shoulder if I have to trek it in the bag any length of time. And it's truly ambidextrous.  Either bottom strap can be buckled in to the bottom of the shoulder strap and the other either tucked away or buckled to the side of the strap to add stabilization.  So, you can easily set it up for offside carry if that's your concern.  The back of the bag has plenty of breathable fabric to help keep it comfortable in hot weather or if you're carrying it for extended periods.

Things I don't like.  The red straps on the inside of the bag.  Yes, they would be good for extra security for the rifle upper and lower, but I don't see a need for them really and they just get in the way.  The three front pockets are basically useless with the rifle in the bag.  There's no give to them and with the rifle on the inside anything you put in them is gonna be sticking through the front or poking your rifle in the bag.  If they'd made them with some way to expand along the sides, that would have been better. Maybe a bit more MOLLE webbing.  There's some on the shoulder strap, but that's about it. But then, a lot of that would have defeated the idea behind the whole "discrete" thing.

I've had friends point out that some states get all PSH'y if you have an assembled rifle in your car and this would be perfect for toting your AR to the range and back, rather than that giant blue plastic case that it came in.

Others of you out there are going to scream that the rifle is disassembled and therefore useless if I happen to need it in a hurry.  First off, I'm not a first responder.  I'm probably never going to need the rifle in a hurry like that.  If, by some wild stretch of the imagination, I did end up like that, my situational awareness is shit and I deserve what I get.  Secondly, come on guys, it's two take down pins.  Last night, because I knew you'd make this argument, I had the thing out of the bag, assembled and loaded in under 30 seconds.  In the dark. If you can't slap two take down pins in faster than I did without the blindfold, then you need to review your understanding of the AR platform.

So, there you go Vine, this geardo has done a geardo review for you.  I didn't rush out and buy the shiny, or pick the first thing I saw that had "tactical" in the title.  I figured out what I needed, what I wanted and got the best bag to fit the requirements. Although maybe that makes me a thinking man's geardo. hmm....

New EDC knife.

As some of you may or may not know.  I lost my favorite EDC pocket knife while trying to get back from deepest, darkest bad continent.  So, I had to replace it. 

What I had before was a Boker Subcom like in this link.  I loved that thing.  It may have been small, but it fit nicely in the hand, was flat enough that it's not uncomfortable to sit on for good periods of time, held an edge through daily use, had a thick enough blade that it wasn't going to easily break using it to pry or as a screw driver, and the blade was multifunction enough that I could use it to open envelopes or open... other things to the bone.  Had a nice little clip sturdy enough to hold it in the pocket or on the belt without popping off or slipping away.  In short it was the best knife I'd found for EDC in a long while.  The only issue I had with it was it was a liner lock, not a frame lock.  But that's a personal thing.  I feel that liner locks may collapse more easily than a frame lock.  Mind you, I have no experience or evidence to prove that.  The lock looked like it engaged well enough that I probably would never had had that issue.

So, having found something that worked well for me, I wasn't going to spend weeks and loads of money finding something new.  When I went to replace the Subcom, I found that they had a new Chad Los Banos Subcom Titan available.  Still had the good clip (now titanium), and 440C Stainless Steel blade.  But now, the frame is titanium.  All the features that I liked about my original Subom are still there, but just enough improvements to make it worth it to get this and not just replace my original Subcom F.

Below are some pics of mine.  The bottom pic has a quarter in it so you can get an idea of scale.  This may seem like it's too small to be an effective knife.  But honestly, it fits into the hand very nicely and once you have a grip on it, it's not gonna slip out of your hand easily.  And open, it's overall length is 4 1/2" with a nearly 2" blade length.  Plenty long enough unless you have hands like Matt G, or Gigantor the freakishly large being from Planet Bigtron 4.

While it may not be truly ambidextrous, the clip can be flipped from top to bottom and the thumb stud is on both sides of the blade.  But if you want to know all the specs, just follow the link to the Titan above.



Oh and for the record,  while this may have turned into a product review and praise piece.  I bought this knife with my own money and am not being compensated by Boker or their US subsidiary for this post.