What is better than cool preparedness gear? Free cool preparedness gear. The folks at QucikClot are/were shipping free samples of their product to anyone who signed up at their website. I, of course, signed up and promptly forgot about it. Todays mail brought a nice sample package of their product that will go into the first aid kit I carry in my bag. If you don’t know what QuickClot is, very succinctly it’s a product that is applied to heavily bleeding wounds to promote the quick formation of a clot and thereby stop the bleeding. Go watch ‘Shooter’ and you can see the main charcter use it to treat one of his gunshot wounds…which is pretty much what its mostly used for. It’s a granular powder that is poured into the wound although the new product, which is the sample they sent me, is a gauze pad filled with the stuff. The original product exhibited an exothermic reaction (it got very hot) when used and this new product is supposed to have a reduced exothermic reaction. Of course, it beats bleeding to death, now don’t it?
The literature with the sample says “At less than $8.00 for each packet of QuickClot 1st Response…” indicating that its going to be somewhat affordable. The package also contains a very verbose and clinical description of a “porcine model of vascular injury” that included “bilateral transaction of femoral artery and vein”. In short, the cut open a pig and tried to get it to bleed to death. According to the text, all the pigs survived to go on to be used in other experiments. Out of the frying pan…
Nonetheless, it would seem this is a very good product for when things have gone beyond the gauze-pad-and-tape level of boo-boo.
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One of my vendors is closing out on the Chip McCormick 8-rd. blued (w/ basepad) Shooting Star .45 ACP mags for the 1911. I was toying with getting some for myself. If anyone is interested theyre $11.25 ea. Sugg. Retail on these things is around $17~. Minimum order of four. I’ll be calling Monday to check on availability.
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Speaking of things that go ‘boom’, I got two additions to my gun safe today. One is another Glock 19 (2nd gen) with night sights. Cant really have too many of those. The other gun is something Ive been wanting to buy for the last several years but never really got around to buying: a Beretta 21A. Why the 21A? Couple reasons – first, I’ll take .22 LR over .25 Acp anytime. Second, I have a few spare magazines from the last time I owned one of these things about ten years ago. And, finally, not that I would ever use it…I still have my DeSantis wallet holster for the 21A. ATF decreed a few years ago that these holsters magically turned your handgun into an NFA weapon (specifically, because the gun no longer looks like a gun..and, yes, theres a rule that guns have to look like guns..that’s why cane guns and their ilk are verboten) and thus I cant use it with my 21A. But back when they were legal they were very cool. The gun was sandwiched in this leather taco and when it was in your pocket it looked just like a fat wallet. And, best of all, you could pull it out of your pocket, put your finger through the fingerhole in the holster, and whip off all seven shots without taking the gun from the holster. (A cutout at the back of the holster lets the slide move to and fro.) So, when someone demands your wallet you can say “Here ya go” and change the would-be muggers career choice.
My experience, by the by, is that the 21A prefers the high velocity stuff…so I go with Stingers.
The other problem with Quick Clot is that it apparently sets like a lump of concrete and has to be dug out of the wound, which produces additional tissue damage. I do have some Quick Clot powder in my kit, but I’ve ordered some CELOX, and the CELOX will be my go-to hemostatic in an emergency. I also have a couple of Hemcon bandages and a C-A-T tourniquet in each kit.
thanks for the info about the preferred diet of the 21A
CAT Tourniquets are VERY good gear! Our Battalion Surgeon couldn’t stop singing their praises and everybody in the unit was issued two before going down range. Probably one of the most useful parts of the TCCC class was the emphasis that the tourniquet is not evil, and it does NOT automatically mean the casualty will absolutely have to lose the limb. During surgery, blood flow to a limb is often stopped for up to six hours, and currently in Iraq, it’s not uncommon for CasEvac to get a casualty from the fight to the surgeon in under an hour for priority cases.
Naturally this doesn’t mean you should run around applying tourniquets willy nilly just for giggles and leave them in place for six hours 😉
The greatest thing about the 21a is the trigger pull. Well, and the tip up barrel.
My mother has VERY limited hand and arm strength. The 21a is the first (and so far only) pistol we’ve found that she can hold up, work the action on, work the trigger on, and handle the recoil of. Many guns have two or three of those qualifications, but no others so far have had all four.
Latest-generation styptic pencil…will have to research everything mentioned more carefully.
Yep, I learned about them from an Army medic. Definitely part of the gear you want to carry if you’re going to be under fire. A word of advice to anyone who might add them to their gear: Carry them open (in other words, don’t carry them with the velro fastened to form a loop). The advantage of these are that they can be used quickly with one hand. If one hand is all you’ve got, you may not be able to open them for use if you carry them closed. I’ve heard from medic friends about a couple of guys bleeding out after getting shot in the arm because they couldn’t get them open.
While I’m at it, another useful “under fire” gear item currently in use in Iraq: A carabiner on a 25-foot cord. If you get hit and are unable to walk/run, you can toss the carabiner to your buddies (the other end of the cord being tethered to you), and they can pull you to safety without exposing themselves to the gunfire.
Beware of “constructive possession.”
.45 mags
coincidentally I own a new PT1911 and need some mags…
+1 to the group buy idea.
We were shown the video of Quikclot being used on the pig last time I went through our SABC class. I was impressed. The pig was bleeding so fast the Doc literally scooped blood out of the wound prior to using the Quikclot. The bleed stopped fast when the stuff went on. I don’t know if the video can be found online, I’m sure it would enrage PETA.