BFG Vickers Cobra!

[Dport]

Fastex type buckles do break

No one is arguing that. But how often and under what type of use?

I think it is a matter of defining your personal requirements and then buying the gear that suits your needs best.

ETA: If you want the best and can afford to buy the best when it comes out all the time, more power to you! And if you can, let me know what you do for a living, so I can plan my second career!

[Stephen_H]

If I spent a lot of time on little bird skids or fast roping I think this would be a VERY worth while investment. There have been recorded instances of weapons getting lost over training areas because a plastic side release buckle wasn't properly secured or gave way under load.

I very specific application to be sure, but if it wasn't the best it wouldn't be a Blue Force Gear product.

Stephen

[Dport]

If I spent a lot of time on little bird skids or fast roping I think this would be a VERY worth while investment.

Stephen, I agree with you 100%.

[C4IGrant]

No one is arguing that. But how often and under what type of use?

I think it is a matter of defining your personal requirements and then buying the gear that suits your needs best.

ETA: If you want the best and can afford to buy the best when it comes out all the time, more power to you! And if you can, let me know what you do for a living, so I can plan my second career!

I have seen them crack and break in a simple vanilla carbine class. I also see it on forums from time to time. I imagine that most are broken without having to jump out of an airplane.

C4

[militarymoron]

i'm not surprised if you've seen SR buckles fail - there's a lot variety in manufacturers and materials, so who knows which ones failed. i've seen some plastic hardware used on slings that i didn't feel were the best quality available and wouldn't personally choose for sling hardware.
anyways, i agree - it all depend on a person's needs and what's at stake. nothing wrong with offering a sling that has the most fail-safe hardware for those who need or want it.

[M4Guru]

I just take the fastex off completely. I have a QD rear loop if I really need to detatch the sling. If it's about to kill me or something I also have my Strider universal sling wrench on my vest...

[Kisara]

I've seen various plastic buckles break, mostly by trunk lids, car doors and being stepped on when dismounted from the weapon. Jeff Gonzales told us in a class that he wasn't fond of plastic buckles on slings, and he's definitely been there and done that.

So far, under normal usage I've only broke a CQB Solutions one and the buckle on a "Maxpedition" gun case I won in a raffle. CQB (now aka Specter Gear) now uses a metal buckle in that application, and the Max I threw away. I would have probably thrown it away even if the buckle didn't break, but that's another story... Glad it was a freebie.

I also have my Strider universal sling wrench on my vest...

[Larry Vickers]

FYI the Cobra Vickers sling was developed for a specific group of US Military Spec Ops end users - they were already using some equipment that utllized the Cobra buckle and was familiar with it and wanted a version of my sling with said device

Ashley did a bang up job as usual and we decided to offer it as a version of the VCAS

For most applications the fastex is just fine but in any situation where the sling could be used for life support then the Cobra has merit

Cheers

Larry Vickers

www.vickerstactical.com

[militarymoron]

just following up - i took a look at the cobra buckles i had, and both types (2" and 1") get harder to release the more load is put on them.
edited to add - by the way, have any of you had or seen a QD button swivel fail - pull out of the socket etc?

[M4Guru]

just following up - i took a look at the cobra buckles i had, and both types (2" and 1") get harder to release the more load is put on them.
edited to add - by the way, have any of you had or seen a QD button swivel fail - pull out of the socket etc?

I had some QD buckles that were out of spec and were too long to lock into the socket. The ones I use now I have tried and they work fine. I recommend testing them thoroughly to make sure.