New Gerber Axe/Breaching tool

not2sharp said:
It's looks and sounds like pure worthless junk. To light to chop, too weak to pry, too big to carry; so what's it good for?

I would rather go with this:
Stanley_Hand_Tools_55-09_64_Oz_18_inch_FatMax_Xtreme_Fubar_Functional_Utility_Bar.jpg


n2s
Click to expand...

really... that's the tomohawk "breaching tool" you would choose?
 
rustyrazor said:
really... that's the tomohawk "breaching tool" you would choose?
Click to expand...

Combination tools are always a bad choice. I have a fubar in my trucks tool kit, I figure it can help to clear some bent metal, for instance to clear an obstruction out of a wheel well in order to restore mobility. If you want an axe, then by all means add one, but the thing in the OP hardly qualifies.

n2s
 
It's also a good idea to consider how the tool is going to be deployed. Is it going to be carried around in a vehicle primarily and only used during assaults or vehicle rescues? or is it going to be carried on your person.

At work, I have various breaching tools at my disposal. Some are specialty tools designed to be worn by our breachers. They are generally lighter, compact and some have telescoping handles. There is a lot of give and take when you go with a lighter piece of breaching equipment. The biggest negative is that lighter tools don't generally perform as well as their full sized counterparts. i.e. longer pry-bars, such as a Hooligan provide more leverage.

I've seen breaching equipment evolve over the past 29 years that I've been using it. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused enough need for people such as Daniel Winkler and Ryan Johnson/RMJ Tactical (to name a couple) to design useful speciality pieces of equipment. As well as some larger companies to offer well designed/quality pieces of breaching equipment.

Other companies, "design" useful looking pieces of equipment without considering intended use/deployment method. Which dictates, material choice and overall design. I believe, the designers at these companies look at quality/proven designs and say "How can we manufacture this for $40, or whatever amount?" Then they "design" it with the end goal of being under cost, not performance. The sad part is, they probably make more money selling an inferior piece of equipment to someone who doesn't know any better.

ok, rant mode off...


Jim
 
JWAJ has a great point... someone who can pull any one of 11 tools off the rack on their Humvee to suit a particular task has a way different outlook on the situation than the lone breacher who has to take things like size/weight/carry options into consideration when choosing his preferred tool. that being the case, most of them have a pretty good idea of what is going to work and what won't even if they can't afford the RMJ or the Winkler and I'd like to think most of them aren't fooled by a lot of the crap put out by companies looking to hop on the bandwagon.
 
I think that would do a number things really...poorly.
Armed with a Estwing Riggers hatchet and a Stanley flat bar...I have taken apart alot of stuff.
 
I love the Estwing Rigger's Axe. That thing was a "tactical 'hawk" decades before the term was coined.
 
Looking at the original photo of the Gerber, the prying end appears to be bent upward (note the shadow under the tip), as opposed to being uniformly flat with the rest of the tool. It also seems very thin for its advertised usage ...
 
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