I told Roger I would give him an update when the weather changes as to my experience with the ETP and EPP. I was fortunate enough to be one of the beta testers and from the get go I thought these tiny pieces of equip were great, but that review is in the early pages of this thread so I will not harp on that. Today after work I had a few hours to kill so I packed up and went to the range. After a solid session and it starting to get dark I figured it would be a good time to give the ETP and EPP another look. Where I live it was in the mid 30's with wind chills in the 20's today. With my fingers freezing numb and stiff I decided to break down the 2 AR's I had with me, one was a DDV1 without the enhanced pins installed and the other a BCM build with the BAD enhanced pins installed. First I started the break down with my gloves on. The DD gave a bit of trouble, those that shoot in the cold know that this is usual for the pins to stiffen up and at times seem like they are not going to move. Another thing I could not get a good grip with my gloves on the standard pins that are on the DD, it is not a huge deal but something that can add time on to a situation where very second matters. Using a round works but again this is a time where the cold only adds time and frustration, sometimes a scratched lower or a dinged hand. After messing with the standard pins a few times I took the gloves off and used my bare hands. In the cold my hands get slippery and it is hard to get a positive grip on the pivot pin and take down pin heads. Again not a huge issue but still a pain in the ass.
I then moved to the BCM with the enhanced pins installed. First with the gloves, easy, those groves in the pin heads really make a solid difference, even the small ones in the enhanced takedown pin. The pins did not reenact the small seizing effect that the standard pins yielded, I am sure it was due to the better grip on the pins themselves. Without gloves it was just as easy. Positive locking both while removal and install. The round indent in each pin is also great, they just work. While I had both rifles apart in front of me I decided to de-install the EPP and reinstall it, something many have done in the chilly cold but all who have done it know it can be a pain in the ass in any climate and it is anything but fun. The magnet and detent index mark made this a breeze and I seriously had cracked a small smile at how much easier it is.
The last test was letting a friend I brought along try to give both rifles a quick upper/lower breakdown. He is absolutely inexperienced when it comes to anything related to firearms, of course I safety checked both rifles and with some instruction I let him start. He started with the BCM with the enhanced pins installed and the break down went off effortlessly. When he started to break down the DD he looked stumped and asked if something was different about the way the pins come out or how it is taken apart, after assuring him they break down the same he swore the rifle with the standard pins had something wrong with it, of course it did not.
Final thoughts, while I know most of this feedback is repeated information and many individuals break down their rifles every day in temperatures below 0 with out an issue, I am just saying that we all know in cold weather even common things can become a bit tedious, our hands are not as fluent and comfortable, gloves may be worn etc and it makes small things harder to do. The ETP and EPP is a nice addition specially with experiences, climates like today. It becomes more obvious to me as to why BAD decided to integrate some of the features that they decided to incorporate with the ETP and EPP. Lots of though went into these and I will say it again they will be replacing all previous builds and they will be in all future builds.


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