Crusader Cooking Set, test I

Ok, so I tried the cooking set inside. Here is what I did; I used 16 oz water, measured from my Nalgene bottle. The water was room temp, roughly 78*. I poured the water into the metal canteen cup, lit the gel, started my timer, put the cup on the cooker, and waited. Here are the times I achieved:
From start to first bubbling: 6 minutes, 48 seconds. There was never a true boil achieved. The water did begin to boil, with occasional small bubbles, but never a rolling boil. The gel flamed out at 10 minutes, 27 seconds.
I think that the water was likely hot enough to either make noodles in, or to add to a freeze dried dinner-but certainly not enough to boil water for consumption. That being said, there is enough room in the cooker itself to stuff little pieces of wood, if needed, to keep the flame going. I may try that on the the second test.
Overall though, this is my baseline for testing. I will do an outdoors test this weekend.

BCB Crusader Cookset

I haven't written anything of substance in a while, so I figured I would jump right back into it, by doing a review of a nice, robust, outdoors product. Today I am going to discuss the BCB Crusader Cookset. This is, from what I understand, standard issue with the British forces. The set consists of the following items: a plastic cup, the water bottle (1L capacity, I believe), the cooker, and the holder. Lets start with the holder.

The model I currently have is an older style canteen holder. It DOES hold the entire set completely, albeit a little on the tighter side. The closing mechanism is a sort of plastic clasp. The back of it is a padded loop, with snaps, designed to snap over a web belt )or any belt, but, the thicker, the better). It looks to be ideally suited for a 2" wide belt. There are also aftermarket holders for these, one of which I have ordered. They are a little larger, and have MOLLE straps on the back, as well as a shoulder strap of sorts. I have seen them in DPM (british camo), black, OD, and digicam. I am quite sure there are other colors out there as well. If none suit you, there is always spraypaint :).

Next up, the canteen itself. This is a 1L canteen, and is marginally bigger than the standard USGI 1qt ones issued to American forces. The canteen itself is black, and is a little thicker than the US ones. In my opinion, it is a little more rugged. The black color actually aids in warming up water in the container when placed in the sun. This is good for winter use, as you can place ice into some water, set it out in the sun, and let the bottle go to work. The neck of the bottle is a little wider as well, exactly for this purpose. The cap is attached via a molded plastic lanyard. There is a loop that attaches it to the bottle, and a molded button attached to the cap. My experience, and others I have read, this breaks fairly quickly. Mine broke in the first 2 months of use.

Next up is the plastic cup. This cup, from what I understand, is usually ditched by troops. As a soldier, I can see that happening. However, as a civilian, I like the cup. It allows you to eat & drink at the same time. Putting a hot beverage in the cup, and making ramen, or something similar, in the canteen cup, works out for me. Besides, you dont burn your lips on the plastic. The cup holds 22 oz, full to the top, according to my highly accurate Nalgene measuring device (a water bottle).

The canteen cup is made out of stainless steel, and comes in 2 finishes; black (pfte coating) or stainless. Mine is black. It is similar to the USGI canteen cups-hip shaped, with two swing out handles. The cup itself holds a full 28 oz-almost as much as the USGI issue canteen! This thing is built rugged as well-being made out of SS, it should stand up to some abuse. The pfte coating on mine is starting to wear out a little, but, I am not too concerned.

The last part of the kit is the cooker itself. This is simply another piece of stainless steel, shaped similar to the canteen cup, but slightly larger, to allow the cup to rest on it. There is a hinged arm that opens up for storage in the holder, and closes to put the cup on. There is also a little burn cup in it, where you put fuel into (more on that in a moment).

This all fits together into the holder. You put the burner in first, with the concave part against your body, and the arm of the burner raised. Next, in goes the canteen cup, which nests right into the burner, when its open. Then, the canteen fits in next. Last, the plastic cup goes in, inverted, as a sort of lid. Close it up, and you are good to go!

A couple of notes. First, you will want to throw some extra stuff into the bottle holder. The older issue holder will make this a little harder than the newer ones. In mine, I have the following items stuffed into the holder: a titanium spork, a LightMyFire Scout firesteel, 8 Pur waterpurifcation tabs, and 3 greenheat gelpacks (fuel).

Now, about the gelpacks. These neat little items are gelled fuel. From their site, this is Ethanol derived from sugarcane and other renewable agricultural resources. Its, safe, clean, non toxic, non explosive, burns clean, and only emits water vapor and EXTREMELY low CO2 emissions. Translation; in an absolute emergency, this can be used indoors, without any ill effects (it IS still fire though, so, PLEASE, use common sense). Best of all-when its burned, there is NO mess to clean up!

Ok, so thats the kit. I plan on doing 2 tests with this. The first, indoors, in a controlled environment. I want to test boil & burn times. Boil times are between 6-8 minutes, from everything I have read, and burn times are approximately 15 minutes.

This past weekend

Well, my plan to do an overnighter didnt turn out that way. My old National Guard unit is being deployed to Afghanistan, and they had their sendoff yesterday. So, I spent the majority of the weekend with friends I still have in the unit. Additionally, I also attended their ceremony yesterday, and some BBQs a few of the guys had. So, the only REAL time I got outside this weekend, other than BBQ & Beer, was some shooting. So, I will talk about that :).
Up until this weekend, I had a S&W M&P 9c. This is Smith & Wesson's military & police model pistol. The 9c is a compact version, in 9mm. I have owned this pistol for roughly a year, and was very happy with it. It fit my hand well, shoot pretty good, and was easily concealable (you cannot open carry in MA). Although I was satisfied with this, I wanted a full size version for 2 gun classes & competitions. The advantage of a FS vs. a compact is that it is heavier, rendering it easier to control. The downside is it is bigger, making it harder to conceal. To me, thats an OK tradeoff-I wear large button down shirts to conceal anyway.
So, a little over a month ago, I put some feelers out, to see if anyone was willing to trade. I got some replies, most wanted a little $$ thrown their way-rightfully so. I priced a new one, if I were to trade mine in, and the difference was $280. A little high, but it was within my price range.
Then, I had someone on a forum I belong to state they would be interested in a trade, straight up. I contacted him, and we agreed to meet up, and if we are both satisfied, we could swap & fill out the paperwork.
I drove down there, both pistols were looked over, both parties agreed, and we exchanged pistols, filled out & filed th paperwork. No money was exchanged, it was an even trade. The new FS one I got had all of 50 rounds fired through it. A pistol break in period is 3-500-so, in essence, I got a NEW pistol. AND, to top it off, the trigger has been done. In MA, a legal trigger in a NEW pistol is 10 lbs. This SEVERELY reduces your accuracy, as a 10# trigger is HARD to pull. The job he did on it, reduced it to 5#-which is VERY light. Its exactly where I wanted it-a solid pull, but nothing that would throw the pistol off, resulting in NOT hitting what I wanted to. I was ecstatic!
So, off to the range I went yesterday. The weather was about 85, sunny, no wind. I put 150 rounds through it. First thing; I need to get used to the trigger. I found myself slapping it, as I am used to a harder pull. With time, I will get used to that. Second thing; the bigger pistol is easier to shoot, overall. The larger frame, and the subsequent weight increase, allows for quicker follow up shots. And, it simply feels better as an extension of my arms. One thing I noticed with this is that I cannot detect trigger reset. Essentially, trigger reset is when, after pressing the trigger to the rear, if you slowly release it forward, you will feel the sear engage again. This is trigger reset. All pistols do it differently, some you can feel, some you cannot. Trigger reset is important as that is the breaking point for pressing the trigger to the rear again. This is something I am going to fix.
So, thats my limited outdoor experience this weekend. This coming weekend, I am going canoeing on the Saco. This is a camping trip-we are tenting on a shore somewhere, and drinking. So, there will be minimal gear writeups. However, I will likely do an overnight in the White mountains, as I will be in the area. If I do, I will most certainly do a writeup at that time!