EDIT: Because apparently this needed clarification, that shirt went through two summers with the same gun under it. I changed mag floorplates and... BAM! ...holed in a month. As mikee pointed out in comments, since aluminum oxide is, you know, used as the abrasive on sandpaper, this probably should not have come as a surprise. Hey, Hilton Yam: Outstanding product, but maybe you should consider some clearcoat? Someone should bring this to his attention.
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| The abraded area is a couple inches square. |
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26 comments:
I have more than a few shirts with holes worn from carrying stuff.
(IWB appendix carry for the Baby Glock)
It happens...
Shirts are one thing; Sport Coats and Suit Coats are another and I've gone through almost a dozen of 'em...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
I didn't realize how often I was wearing my 5.11 pants until I noticed the wear holes that had resulted from carrying a folding knife in my rear left pocket and a spare magazine in the left thigh pouch (although it was mostly from the feed lips rubbing the bottom of the pocket, not the the base pads).
I may have had to retire a sweater as well due to the hole it developed right over the hammer of my P220.
Ya pay to play. My little Smith 640 in a horse hide pocket holster hasn't worn through anything yet. :)
My Fenix PD30 light rides in my left front jeans pocket. The clip chews up the edge of the pocket and the "ears" that guard the on/off switch wear a little hole about an inch up. On the other side my Leatherman has rubbed similar holes in the denim in similar places.
To a knowledgeable observer those little patches mixed with 5.11 boots probably screams "armed" but I don't particularly care. If I have to retire a pair of jeans a little sooner than I would otherwise it's a small price to pay. Now to figure out what to do with the salvageable denim.
BGM
Try the plasti-dip goop on the floorplates. Available in grey.
Anodized aluminum...
is aluminum oxide...
is an abrasive used in sand paper.
So yeah, makes sense, says Mr. 20/20 hindsight.
I am harder on clothes than that. Maybe polishing the floorplate would do the job?
I am aware that carrying guns abrades things. I have noticed this in the last twenty years of carrying guns.
Thing is, see, I've had this particular summertime cover shirt longer than I've owned the pistol that was under it. It survived at least one summer of 1911s w/checkering. (But the checkering wasn't on a part of the gun that bore against the shirt when sitting in a car or whatnot.)
ANY-way... When I switched floorplates on the M&P... the same M&P I carried under that shirt through the summers of 2011 and 2012 ...it ate a hole in it in a month. Just thought folks might like to know.
So, what you're saying is that there is a product that needs to be brought to market. Contact the 5.11 people and pitch them a concealed carry line with reinforcement in the areas that wear through. They could even put your name on it: The TK-CCW line of clothing. Their current line of cover shirts could use some work.
Now to figure out what to do with the salvageable denim.
Save it to make quilts. That's what my wife does.
Synthetics tend to wear better and dry better in the summer heat. In the summer, I wear mostly synthetic fishing-type shirts as cover garments. But honestly, I haven't had too much wear trouble. I usually wear OWB and my 3913LS is about as snag-free as they get from the factory.
-Rob
My elbows must be made from a similar material because I been wearing through long sleeved shirts faster than ever. Gonna start ironing patches on the inside before I wear them from now on.
That may be why 10-8 & Apex are working on a plastic M&P basepad due out later this year:
http://modernserviceweapons.com/?p=2895
Revolver Rob,
As noted above, the problem was not with "snags", but rather with the texture of the baseplate material itself. Think very fine Emery cloth...
My 5.11 pants have worn over time just where my Keyring O' Doom rides, on the right thigh below the D-ring. (shrug)
I am a bit surprised that nothing else has become ventilated from the keys, or any of the other rubbish I haul around - even the Kershaw Chive + no-name baby multitool in my rear left pocket haven't chewed their way to freedom. (My butt would like to note that they're still discomforting to sit on all day.)
Just judging from the pic, title, and first line, I thought you were about to report the loss of a baseplate in snowfall. :)
Tam,
That should have been obvious to me, when I looked at the picture, but it brings clarity to the pilling around the hole, indicating abrasion. That's a real shame. Could you try polishing the side(s) that are most in contact with your cover garment?
I guess none of my guns are aggressive enough in their textures to be too concerned about this, but I can definitely see how that would happen.
-Rob
RevolverRob,
It's not aggressive in texture at all; it's merely matte anodized aluminum, like the frame on your 3913, only without a clear coat.
Further, when I am sitting in a car or leaning back on the sofa, the fabric is ground between the mag baseplate and the back of the seat in a way that it's not with even an aggressively-checkered 1911 MSH or frontstrap.
Tam,
anodizing should be as smooth as the surface that is coated. Well, unless the plating house screwed up somehow.
If 10-8 shrugs this off, strip the anodizing off with a chemical bath. Drat, now I can't remember what the chemical is...
Then you need to discern what sort of finish that part has, and if you need to polish it.
Then use Aluminum Black to darken them.
Redefines the term "Printing" when used in context with CCW, don't it?
O.T. Tam I found you a new house! And it's FREE!
http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_23282329/lake-superior-lighthouse-free-right-taker?source=most_viewed
Might get chilly in the winter though.
Spray them with some clearcoat or knock down the finish with 400+ grit sandpaper.
I'd say if you're having abrasion problems, the machining was done improperly prior to the anodizing (anodizing changes the hardness but not the texture of the surface to which it is applied).
Or the machining was done properly but the surface finish was spec'd too rough for the application.
Be aware that even the stock Beretta M9/M92 magazine baseplates ate their way through several of my ACU tops over the span of 14 months or so... It may be that metal is just a bad choice for any application where rubbing on cloth occurs. Those M9 magazine baseplates are pretty smooth.
or just grab some gunkote of your favorite color. Shoot it, heat it and away you go.
Aluminum brought to a mirror finish is completely possible (see if you can sweet-talk a polisher at your nearest plating shop. I'd offer, but I closed my shop years ago). Then hit it with the aforementioned aluminum black
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