Reviews

Infinity Ammunition

img_9520Just imagine, you’ve just finished building your first two AR-15’s. You set up a day to finally throw a little lead down range at one of the nicest shooting ranges in the area, pay your fee, get your targets and ppe (personal protective equipment) and head to your lanes. All the months of acquiring gun parts, finding deals, and putting it all together comes down to this moment…lock and load, the range line is hot! BANG! That first round goes off flawlessly and just feels sexy, BANG! The second round gives ya a warm and fuzzy in the trousers. Everything is going great and then CLICK… fear comes over you, you got a squib load.

Let’s rewind a month or so prior to that day, to when I got myself 500 rounds of 55 grain .223 ammo from a little company out of Melbourne, FL called Infinity Ammunition. I had found them thru the explore page on Instagram (aint technology great?) and decided to give them a whirl, cause they have some awesome prices. After thoroughly going over my rifles to ensure that it wasn’t a problem with them, the range officer, my highly knowledgeable gun sensei buddy, and myself determined that it was the ammo that was the problem. Needless to say, after spending close to 200 bucks on ammo, I was a little… let down let’s say. The next day I shot them an email about what happened and explained that although it was inconvenient, I understood manufacturing processes and that when you’re pumping out thousands of rounds of ammo per day, there’s a chance you could run across a bad batch due to a multitude of things. Here’s where the impressive part happens, THE NEXT DAY I received a phone call from the CEO of the company apologizing for the mishap and assuring me that it would definitely be made right one way or the other. I decided to send them back the ammo (along with the bad loads I had identified), and like the stand-up company they are, they paid for return shipping. Id estimate a week went by, when the ups man came knocking at my door, it was my new batch of ammo! Infinity’s CEO contacted me again to let me know that it in fact was a batch issue that they had contained, and that they threw in a little extra for the inconvenience. I don’t know about y’all, but that’s top-notch service to me, In a time where most customer service is nonexistent in most companies, they stood out, admitted the fault, and moved forward amicably.

I went to my local indoor range just to put a couple mags worth to the test, ZERO problems. I got to say, I was thoroughly impressed with Infinity Ammunition, and it feels good to support a smaller, in state and fairly local business. They offer round counts of anywhere from 50 up to 10000 ( subject to availability ) and calibers of 9mm, .40, and .45 in pistol and .223 & .300 blackout in rifle, along with reloading supplies and brass, and remanufactured ammunition. They ship thru UPS as well. So if you just so happen to be looking for quality ammo at a very reasonable price, head over to Infinityammo.com and do some looking around, guaranteed you’ll like what you see.

Quality: 4 pints out of 5

Price: Varies

Website:  www.Infinityammo.com

 

Thorogood boots

img_9521“There are two standing orders in this platoon, 1. Take care of your feet and 2. Try not to do anything stupid, like get yourself killed” Lieutenant Dan Taylor- Forrest Gump. I suppose that statement didn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense back in 1994 when I was 8 years old, but it damn sure does now. Working in any industry, and especially the power industry I’ve learned that paying the extra coin for a good quality pair of boots is well worth it. The fact that I’ve found a HIGH QUALITY and AMERICAN UNION MADE boot, well that’s just the icing on the cake. So light up some tobacco and grab your favorite beverage while I give you the rundown on Thorogood boots.

I’ll start out by saying this; I’ve had many pairs of boots in my day. Timberland pro, wolverine, Carolina, Georgia boot, hell I even had what I thought to be the holy grail of steel toes in the Redwing Irish setter (see previous article), they all pale in comparison to my Thorogood 10″ Wellington pull-ons
. Generally, I don’t purchase pull on boots because previous pairs have provided little to no ankle support and have always flopped off my foot when I walked making it miserable. The Thorogoods fit like I had them handmade just for me, just snug enough around the foot so that my foot doesn’t slide around and blister, while giving me support around the ankle to help with when I walk on the ever changing surfaces of a power plant i.e. gravel, grating, diamond plate, concrete, and grass. The inside of the boot, to me, is just the right amount of cushion and breathability, which definitely helps on those long 12 hour shifts when it seems like everything is going wrong and you barely get a chance to sit down.

Another great advantage to these boots is that they are pretty damn waterproof. When I first got them, I put mink oil on them to help the leather break in well and last a good while, and help with keeping my feet dry when it decides to downpour here in the sunshine state. Two nights ago, I put them to the test. It just so happened that a rainwater sump pump quit working and I was tasked with hooking up a portable submersible pump to evacuate the area of standing water ( lucky friggin me, right?! ). Oh did I mention the water was anywhere from 4-8 inches deep in some spots? My boots came through like a champ, my feet would have been completely dry if it weren’t for splashing water actually going down into my boot from the top.

Now for what you all really wanna know, PRICE! In general, Thorogood boots run anywhere from 155-225 dollars, depending on what style you’d like. Mine were 184.95 plus tax and shipping, which for the performance of the boot, is an excellent price to me. There is a large variety of boots to choose from so you can be stylish AND work your ass off. Oh and the cherry on top? They give a discount to members of other unions as well.

 

Rating: 5 pints

Pricing: Around $155.00 – $225.00

Website: Thorogoodworkboots.com

Leaf by Oscar: Island Jim #2

IMG_2679Until recently, in my area of Florida, it was difficult to find anything from Leaf by Oscar which of course included the Island Jim. Thanks to the cigar bombing list I’ve been lucky enough to try a few and this time when I was sent an Island Jim #2 I knew I needed to write about it for a couple of reasons. First, they are difficult to get around here, next they look amazing, and third I knew exactly which prop I was going to use, (come on you know my love of toys…excuse me deluxe action figures) and so the photos began. After the “photo shoot” with the cigar and its model it was time to smoke it. Luckily Distinguished Ruffian_Juice was free to go grab some drinks at one of our local hang outs, The House of Brews.

The initial look of this stick is delightful. The wrapper is smooth with light veining and none of it heavy. Its shape is that of almost a torpedo with an unfinished foot and an open head. The construction feels solid with no dead or open spots to be found. The smell from the body was not overbearing and gave off notes of leather, wet grass, and a bit of nuttiness. From the foot these odors were more prominent and gained slight spice and coffee notes.

Lighting is easy thanks to the “shaggy” foot that everyone seems to be referring to it as. I chose not to cut the head since it was already open. The draw offered little resistance and it was easy to get a nice, full mouthful of medium weighted smoke that delivered all the flavors this cigar had to offer.

From the first draw I immediately picked up the peppery taste that I noticed from smelling the foot. That flavor was well complemented by the taste of nuts and a distant flavor of hay. As I continued to smoke, the construction of this cigar held up to its looks. There was a consistent even burn with no runs and a tight greyish ash that held for 1.5” to 2” before falling off each time. I made it through the first half with virtually no change in flavor, which was fine by me since it was fantastic.

As I neared the second third of the cigar the spicy flavor started to take a back seat to new heavily roasted coffee tones and a bready taste becoming more prominent. While the change this late in the cigar was unexpected it was not detrimental to the smoke. It didn’t change my over all opinion of the stick rather it added a new dynamic to it that made me more interested. With this new flavor I smoked this cigar down to the nub until it began to burn my fingers and then used my knife to hold it until I could smoke no more of it.

In total this is a great cigar. Aesthetically it is a great looking cigar, the construction is phenomenal, the lighting is easy, the draw is comfortable, it provides plenty of medium weighted smoke and the flavor is well balanced and more than enjoyable. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a cigar in the medium to not quite heavy range and it is great for either daytime or a nighttime smoke.

 

Wrapper: Nicaragua Jalapa

Binder: Honduran

Filler: Unreleased

Honduras
Size: 6.5 x 52

Taste: Medium body.

Website: Leafbyoscarcigar.com

Price: Around $10.00 a stick depending on location.

Rating: 4.4 out of 5 pints.