Project - Baikal IZH-46M Gasket Replacement

The repaired IZH-46M with one of the little blue gaskets just visible as a flash of blue at the breech. Also seen with one of our scalpeldashi in sapphire blue, a Kuru Toga Advance by Uni, and a tin if .177 Crossman Premier hollow point pellets.

We’re not manufacturing these, check them out here.

The Baikal IZH-46M, I would argue one of the greatest airguns of all time. Why? Three reasons really: it is exceptionally good at what it does (shooting accurately), it is extremely convenient to shoot (no air cylinders to run out, or accessories to grab, just the gun and tin of pellets and you’re good to go), and it was very very modestly priced (about 500$ in its day). No surprise then it was an extremely popular airgun. Unfortunately, for reasons I’m not entirely sure of, they’re no longer readily available at least in the United States. If I were to guess, I’d say this was caused by some combination of the Russia embargo and Kalashnikov Concern’s financial turmoil. Either way, whole guns and spare parts have been rather hard to come by.

Despite my glowing praise for the gun, there is at least one minor shortfall: the breech can be “closed” such that the gun will discharge but not properly latched. Making this relatively minor oversight will result in popping out both breech gaskets, one of which will remain sitting on the bottom face of the breech if you’re lucky while the other will be injected into low earth orbit never to be seen again. (note on the IZH technical diagram this is part #19 and is labeled “packing ring” which is an accurate description) Thus did I fall into this trap inadvertently, and find myself in need of AT MINIMUM one breech seal. Of course two is one and one is none, so really half a dozen or so would be ideal with a way to acquire a potentially unlimited quantity.

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A blow-up diagram of the BAIKAL IZH 46 M. Highlighted parts indicate the difference between the 46 and 46M variants. The part replaced in this blog post is labeled #19.

Here is the pickle though: while some clever engineering could have made this breech use standard O-rings, the 46 uses what so far as I can tell is a proprietary tapered gasket. Like most things engineered by Russians, it is a stuperb solution to the problem, possessing elements of extreme mechanical cleverness and a bizarre divergence from GMP.

So here I am, with one gasket and looking for an easy way to duplicate it. Whipping up a nice high-resolution silicone mould based off the one positive I luckily still had seemed the obvious choice, and so I prepped a container and the gasket. Unfortunately, as I discovered, the manufacturer most likely used a high sulfur urethane to make the gasket. This sulfur poisoned the platinum catalyst, and so the silicone failed to cure all around the o-ring. This was an abject failure.

The dastardly #19 gasket itself, here seen prepped for direct mould making. Little did I know…….

I didn’t have much hope for this, but on a lark I modeled up a 9 cavity mould, printed it out, and figured if it failed at least it didn’t take that much time. Silicone was generously poured to fill, and left to cure.

A 3D printed mould. There is no way this could possibly work…… could it?

I remember distinctly looking at this sad little pile of silicone thinking that there was absolutely no way it could possibly have worked…….

Here is the mould in its “poured” state. Silicone doesn’t stick to cardboard, so at least this scrap won’t have been wasted in this experiment.

…..but sometimes life surprises you for the better. It is always better to be lucky than skilled, but when you’re struck with both in one moment, savour it as it is a rare beauty. Not only did it work, it worked fantastically well producing 9 perfect little gaskets.

No freaking way. IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!! 9 perfect little #19 gaskets, perfectly formed, ready to nip off and install.

A moment’s work with a Scalpeldashi (I always carry one for a reason) to pop one off and clean up the edges a smidge, and we’re in business.

Two little buggers nipped off with a scalpeldashi. The one of the left still needs a hint of trimming before installation, the one on the right is ready to go. I swear I’m not trying to whore this scalpeldashi, I really do carry it everywhere and use it constantly. They are just so much thinner and sharper and better than Xacto blades, you have no idea.

SUCCESS! The fit was perfect and the seal was exceptional. Velocity, performance, and accuracy have all been fully restored, and now, at least for this part, there is a hypothetically limitless supply so I can go about losing them as fast as I care to. This begs the question: what other “irreplaceable” airgun seals might I someday blow which now I can replace? Time will tell.

The repaired IZH-46M with one of the little blue gaskets just visible as a flash of blue at the breech. Also seen with one of our scalpeldashi in sapphire blue, a Kuru Toga Advance by Uni, and a tin if .177 Crossman Premier hollow point pellets.

Project - MPX Magazine Baseplate

On the left is an original SIG SAUER MPX ban-state magazine, on the right a de-restricted magazine with full capacity.

The SIG SAUER MPX, a very popular gun at the moment. There has, for somewhat baffling reasons to be honest, been a resurgence in the popularity of pistol caliber carbines. I personally had thought this trend had died in the 90s’ with the proliferation of rifle caliber platforms in comparable sizes. But for some reason, they’re back. Shooting the MPX, owned by a friend of the company, I can see why too: it can be shot at pistol-caliber-only ranges, it is reasonably accurate, it is cheap to shoot, it is essentially devoid of recoil, and it is fun.

A friend of the company recently visited with his MPX. Moving from a ban state to a free state, he has a surplus of neutered 10 round magazines, otherwise identical to their full capacity brethren, but limited by a follower block which is an integral part of the magazine floor plate insert. At 50$ per magazine, almost highway robbery for a plastic magazine if you ask me, his ban-state collection is worth the value of a whole new firearm.

Here we can see the follower block of a restricted SIG MPX magazine next to replacement MPX magazine floor-plate-inserts. These serve to control the spring and retain the baseplate without limiting capacity.

SIG glues their baseplates on ban-state magazines, but a few firm taps with a mallet or a little judicious application of a heat gun will readily break them loose and allow them to slide off. You can then remove the magazine floor plate insert w/ restrictor. But how to hold the magazine baseplate on then? You could simply cut off the restrictor, however if you wanted to go backwards you’d then be stuck.

3D printing to the rescue! 15 minutes of design and a little printing later, there you have it: a brand new magazine floor plate insert to allow full capacity in a SIG MPX magazine.

A few firm taps with a mallet, maybe a little work with a heat gun, will remove the baseplate making the floor plate insert (restrictor) accessible. Pop it off, pop the new one in, and you’re good to go.

For obvious legal reasons, if you are living in a ban state, we do NOT suggest you modify your magazines to give them an illegal capacity. In general it is our strongest recommendation, should you choose to enjoy firearms, you do so in a safe, responsible, and lawful manner.

Light of Xiuhtecuhtli

Scale can be a difficult thing to comprehend and convey. Numbers, sizes, and distances beyond a certain point start becoming intangible. Can you really picture in your head what precisely ten miles or a million of something looks like? Probably not, it is just too big to wrap your head around in most cases. So by example, we try to make scale relatable. (more on units/scale at the bottom)*

Lance of Ra, 2.6 million candela lighting a moutain side 1.61 miles away. 

The Lance of Ra is the most powerful LED thrower ever produced. At almost 3 million candela, it is good for 2 miles of ANSI throw. That is a lot, and in an attempt to demonstrate that we did some photography showing it illuminating a spot on a mountainside 1.61 miles away, paired of course with a satellite image giving a sense of the distance. 

Satellite map measurement for the above image of the Lance of Ra, showing a mountainside illuminated 1.6 miles away. 

But in that Lance photo there is another mountain ridge, just to the left of the one targeted. That ridge is part of a much MUCH larger mountain, which happens to be 4.27 miles away. Once again, for scale and measurement, we have a satellite image. 

A satellite image for the LoX image, showing the mountain 4.27 miles away. This is the furthest target we've yet found, as the LoX is capable of illuminating targets 9 miles away. 

If you hadn't guessed by now, we're going to illuminate that mountain. We even have enough power in the wash to illuminate the "near" mountain which is "only" 1.6 miles away. 

The Light of Xiuhtecuhtli, or LoX shown here illuminating a mountain top 4.27 miles away. In the wash on the right of the beam, you can see the 1.6 mile mountain from the Lance image illuminated with waste light. 

Welcome to the Light of Xiuhtecuhtli, named for the Aztec god of fire. With >50 million candela and >6000 lumens on tap, it is aptly named. This gives the LoX the power to reach out and touch targets 9 miles away (ANSI throw). It is a really unbelievable amount of performance, easily illuminating almost all clouds for example. Finding a place to really stretch its legs, and an evening clear enough to photograph it, was challenging. Ten mile visibility, the meteorological maximum air clarity standard, doesn't exactly occur between mountaintops nightly. 

What else is out there which compares to the LoX you might be asking? Not much actually, the LoX may be the most powerful flashlight ever made. (flashlight being defined as a hand held light source) The current most powerful common thrower is the BLF Giga Thrower. A very popular light, the BLF GT spits out about 1 million candela give or take and about 2000 lumens. The very similar Astrolux MF04 does a little better at about 1.3 million candela, again give or take. The Maxabeam is also eclipsed several fold, which is a mere 12 million candela. The closest light in performance is the 52 million candela Maxablaster, which has about the same throw but at a fraction the lumens. 

So where does the LoX stand? Right now it is a functional mule, a working test-bed for the optical and electronic architecture of the flashlight. This is why the numbers are all nicely rounded, this design is a long way from production, more performance may well be found if development is continued. Depending on customer response we may build this out into a complete product. 

*Candela is lux (light intensity) relative to distance, as lux obviously will vary wildly with distance. While for technical reasons it generally shouldn't be measured at 1 meter, as it produces inaccurate results, 1 candela is defined as 1 lux at 1 meter. ANSI throw is a standard for converting candela into beam distance, essentially a level playing field for comparing how far a light will project a beam. 

Product Introduction - Slingshots

VHammer TTF in walnut and black paper micarta

Funny enough, through a confluence of circumstances, we ended up making slingshots without ever properly introducing them. Things all got started when one of our members, a long time entheusiast, decided he wanted to design and 3D print himself a Bill Hays Harpy. A little strength and safety testing later (the slingshot failed at 344 pounds force) and other people started wanting them. This turned into a secret menu on our website devoted just to slingshots. Eventually, when we were ready, we made this public; a whole new category of product. 

Our Nit slingshot in lightning strike walnut. 

What started with a single design quickly blossomed into our biggest product range. Slingshots allow for an incredible diversity of materials and shapes, so this really is a playground for us to play with design. 

Our Weaver slingshot shown here in translucent blue (near) and graphite over copper (far) 

Project - Custom Santoku

Completed santoku with lightning strike walnut handle and copper ferrule. 

Funny enough, if the snowy pictures don't make it obvious, this project was completed in December of 2018. Now summer, sweltering in heat and high humidity, it is refreshing to look at these pictures and write up the project. The purpose of this project was simple: provide a functional, elegant, and unique pair of gifts to two dear friends of the company for Christmas. To this end, a wickedly thin ground Japanese style kitchen knife with a little STO flair seemed like just the ticket. 

The first step was acquiring the stock blade. We went with a traditional japanese forged white steel blade done in the western inspired santoku style. These blades are ground for the hand, we went for right-handed, and are wickedly thin and sharp. How thin exactly? Almost zero ground, this example measuring approximately .08mm thick above the microbevel that forms the apex. The Japanese white steel, so named because of the color paper in which it is wrapped, is a low-alloy carbon steel fantastic for easily forming and holding incredibly sharp edges. 

The base blades, here with one handle removed. As you can see the original poplar handle and plastic ferrule are functional but leave much to be desired when it comes to beauty.

These blades aren't sold naked though, in this form they come with plain poplar handles and plastic ferrules. Perfectly functional, but not very pretty. This is what we're here to change. Step one is getting the existing handle off. This proved harder than you might expect. Ultimately the easiest and safest method proved to be cutting the ferrule, cutting a groove in the back of the handle, and driving a cold steel chisel into said groove from the back. This way the wood is split from the blade without damaging it. Note, the blade was installed via a hot tang sunk into a hole drilled into the handle. This is a very firm method of installation, difficult to reverse by simply pulling the blade out. I should note that, at some point, one of us came to our senses and masked the blade so it wasn't quite so dangerous to handle. 

Drilling the walnut blank

We cut blanks from some scrap walnut laying around, using the existing handles as a rough length guide. From there we had to drill out the tang part of the handle. This was something of a guess because we're going to burn in the tang later, so how large a hole you need to start with will depend on your specific wood's burn-out rate as well as tang width. You see half inch here, and next time around I'd go with considerably smaller as the tang sank in effortlessly. 

Lathe turning the walnut blank to maximum external dimensions. This is for bulk material removal only, as nothing on the handle is actually perfectly round. 

Once drilled, the lathe comes in handy to remove the bulk of material from the handle and ferrule area. It is worth noting that these handles aren't round when they're done, they have something of a D shape, and the ferrules are oval, but a lathe is a quick and efficient power tool to rough the oversize square blank down to the maximum dimensions of the oval and D respectively. 

Forming the ferrule area. 

A nice sharp chisel is the tool of choice to finish bringing the front of the handle to the oval cross section for the copper ferrule. Not pictured, a section of copper pipe was cut off using a pipe cutter, deburred, and crushed in the vice to form the correct oval shape. It was then traced onto the front of the handle. 

Pressing the copper ferrule onto the walnut handle for the santoku blade. 

The ferrule was then pressed on. Remember snug is good. From there the handle was masked and the ferrule ground flush with the front of the handle and buffed. The ferrule was then masked and the handle taken over to the belt sander to sand down to finished D profile and brought up to 1000 grit. 

Heat burning the santoku blade into the handle. 

It is rather difficult to operate a hot knife, blowtorch, and camera at the same time, so you'll have to settle for a picture of the aftermath. Tangs on these knives aren't hardened. The blade was masked with a wet rag and the tang heated with a torch. We had expected with the density of walnut much pressing and maybe multiple attempts would be necessary. Surprisingly, it literally fell and sank in like this, no force necessary. Next time we'll start with a smaller hole. 

Angry angry pixies were applied to the handle, lightning striking it, and leaving the scarring you see here. Not pictured was the time spent giving it one final go-over with sandpaper prior to finishing. For a finish we went with flax seed oil. This is food safe and polymerizes nicely, albeit slowly over the course of a week or two. The blade itself was coated, and it was poured and sloshed around inside the tang area as well assuring it'd be protected from corrosion. The one "down side" if you will is that flax seed oil isn't a neutral finish, it is quite yellow, and this can be seen on the blade (which was also coated) in the completion photoshoots. Now the knife is finished and ready for wrapping and gifting. 

Reflections on completion

Completed santoku with lightning strike walnut handle and copper ferrule. 

Night Vision Spotting - IR Illuminators

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The compost pile, a favorite hangout for local rodents. Custom aspheric IR illuminator at only ~60 meters as seen through our digital night vision setup. 

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A local predator shows up to hunt one of our spots. We left him to it. 

Rodents..... they're a problem. Poison creates ecological issues, trapping is indiscriminate, however night vision combined with an airgun can take a good bite out of the local population if you're so inclined. 

In this particular case we're using a digital night vision rig that sees into the infrared spectrum (hence the odd colors, leaves reflect IR light so appear white), which blissfully uses the existing scope via an adapter. And, of course, we're using an STO Custom IR illuminator. We'll need to test further, but with just a crescent moon out we could easily spot beyond 500 yards with it. This system on a more powerful rifle would be ideal for larger game at longer range, such as coyotes. 

Excellent brightness is the key to sharp high resolution images, in this case at about 60 meters to the target area, I had enough light and resolution to watch individual insects fly, and see the spider's eyes in the grass. Of course, using a lamp has an added benefit of lighting up the eyes of anything with tapetum lucidum. This includes our rodent prey. 

Turns out we weren't the only ones hunting rodents that night. This local cat showed up to hunt our spot, or perhaps we were hunting his. Not to fear though, we hit up a couple other spots and had a successful night. 

We're now on Instagram

Eye of Sekhmet figured bubinga over copper, Benchmade 42

If you prefer your content with fewer words and more pictures, check us out on instagram!

PUT A TRIT ON IT!

Convoy S2+, Nichia 319a 4000K guppydrv, orange tritium vial

As part of our ongoing efforts to put tritium vials on literally everything, may we present to you our mod for the metal switch Convoy S2+. 

Why this light? Well it is sort of odd coincidence, but one day we noticed everyone here at STO was carrying a modded S2+ with a metal tail switch. The mods are all different, and vary greatly in terms of their relative sanity, but they all have the common thread of a metal tail switch because we all love how crisp and clean of an interface it allows. This particular S2+ is one of my personal EDCs, hence the weathered look which is hard earned, and is a pretty mild combination of new driver, upgraded thermal management, optical tuning, and a Nicha 319A in 4000K. It combines good visual acuity for tools and small parts up close, but still has enough go-juice to illuminate targets out to about 150 yards. (subjective real-world distance observations, not ANSI based) 

Convoy S2+, Nichia 319a 4000K guppydrv, orange tritium vial

So how to mod these lights for a nice big trit? There were several goals we wanted to achieve regarding placement. First and foremost we wanted the illumination to be visible from both the rear of the light, and from the side with as wide a viewing angle as possible. This makes the light very convenient to spot under the maximum number of circumstances. Most pointedly, when it is sitting lens-down on your nightstand, it shouldn't need a specific orientation to be very visible so it is quick and easy to grab in the dark. (presumably next to the trits in your pistol sights) Second, we wanted the trit to be held as securely, well supported, and as protected as was reasonable. The reasons behind this are obvious, but they run somewhat counter to the first requirement; the more protected the trit is, such as machined into a solid deep slot, the less visible it would be. Third and finally we wanted as much of the trit's light to be used as possible. End-on installation for example is very easy to do, but only a tiny fraction of the trit's total light exits the end. 

Convoy S2+, Nichia 319a 4000K guppydrv, orange tritium vial

What we settled on is a machined side-slot and a saddle cut into the side of the tail switch housing. It seems simple and obvious once you see it, and we feel it accomplishes our goals very well. When the light is head-standing, and your eye is parallel to the top of it, the trit is directly visible from almost 360 degrees rotation, and where it isn't directly visible there tends to be enough spill that the light's location is obvious anyway. The trit is also, of course, very visible when viewed from the rear. It is well protected, being several milimeters below the top of the light, below the metal switch housing too. And, finally, it is securely held at both its ends and center, as it sits in a saddle cut into the switch housing. Retention could be further increased by adding adhesive underneath the full length of the trit where it rests against the inside rear face of the light, however so far this hasn't proven necessary. 

Spyderco Military titanium-g10 black S30v blade, deep blue tritium vial

And that is how we did it. Now we just need to get trits onto every single other piece of EDC equipment. 

Project - Print Durability Demonstration

Our Storm of Ra, a light with an impressive lumen/throw ratio and an entirely 3D printed chassis. 

With the advent of new technologies come obvious questions: how good is something? Will it last? How is this different from a consumer grade item? In the case of our lights with major 3D printed components, we've repeatedly gotten these sorts of questions, no doubt spurred with less-than-positive experiences with prints off of earlier more fragile 3D printed technologies (such as early SLA) or brittle PLA printed parts off consumer grade 3D printers. We can say that these prints are different, they're done on custom built professional grade 3D printers, strong and impact resistant polymers are used, structures are designed for durability, etc, but what about a more tangible demonstration? 

A thin, light weight, and elegant slingshot design called the Harpy from Bill Hays. This interpertation clocks in at just 41 grams. 

A recent personal project from a member of STO was an excellent demonstration of this performance. This individual wanted to make a slingshot, print it out, but before use wanted to test strength. After all, if the fork on a slingshot were to break off the results would be unpleasant at best, dangerous at worse. The design is based off the Bill Hays Harpy, which has very slender and comparatively weak forks. So we clamped it up in a vice, attached some paracord to the forks, put a load cell in the middle, attached the other end to a winch, and pulled until it broke. 

Remember this is the same material we make most of our flashlights out of run on the same machines. The result? Well for starters we had to get a larger load cell, as our standard 50 kilogram one wasn't enough. Failure occurred at 156 kilograms (344 pounds), and amazingly our camera captured the PRECISE moment of failure. Keep in mind this wasn't a solid print, an exercise in maximizing strength, or anything else like that. Just an experiment to see what a fairly normal print profile would endure. Remember this slingshot only weighed 41 grams, meaning it held 3.6 thousand times its own weight. 

Funny enough, we had the opportunity to repeat the experiment on a slightly more robust slingshot fork design. Our load cell is only rated to 300 kilograms. We chickened out at 260 kilograms (570 pounds force), with NO FAILURE TO THE FORK WHATSOEVER. Below is a gallery of the before, after, and a lousy peak force image taken from far far away behind a tool cabinet. 

The pairing of a 3D printed fork/grip/rest assembly with carbon fiber tubes to form an extremely strong but lightweight slingshot. 

So we hope this goes a little distance toward answering the question of how strong our printed parts are. They're certainly not indestructable, nothing is, however they are remarkably robust. 

Our Lance of Ra showing here a semi-translucent 3D printed head. 

Ferro Rods - Product Introduction

Our ferrocerium rods next to one of our scalpeldashi and sheath. 

Every EDC needs a good fire source. Ferrocerium rods are BY FAR the most reliable and longest lasting option. Each rod can be scraped by anything from the back of a knife to the edge of a rock or broken piece of glass to produce sparks in excess of 5000 degrees Fahrenheit, and this can be done thousands of times on each rod. No batteries to go dead, fuel to leak out, flint to get wet, just reliable hot ignition strike after strike. We offer ours with a variety of cool and exotic handle options, perfect to toss in your pocket or loop on your keychain. 

A night exposure showing the shower of sparks off one of our ferrocerium rods. With a little practice, you don't need a proper tinder ball, this can light more substantial materials. No delicate ember-transfer game here. 

Project - Hasselblad XPan Lens Shade

Hasselblad XPan with our reproduction lens shade. Note the original lens cap function remains unaffected.

For those not already aware, Hasselblad are the makers of some of the finest film cameras ever made. The XPan is a discontinued panoramic 35mm film camera, which is to say it uses the standard, or at least what used to be the standard, 35mm film however takes non-standard exceptionally wide (panoramic) exposures on it. In an era when 35mm film cameras are falling in value like rocks (take the Nikon F5 for example, arguably the finest pro 35mm film camera body ever made, they were over 3000$ in the 1990s and now can be had for an order of magnitude less), unusual gems such as the Hasselblad XPan are skyrocketing in price. 

Hasselblad XPan with our reproduction lens shade.

A friend of the company, and lucky owner of a few Hasselblads, came to us with an issue. The 45 and 90 mm lenses for the XPan each came with an usual lens shade. To my knowledge, the number of lens shades produced matched the number of lenses, they were never sold as after-market. Unfortunately the design was rather delicate and prone to cracking over time. Broken ones now are expensive, pristine ones even more so, and that is if you're lucky enough to even be able to find one. Could we precisely replicate the design? 

The lens shade alone. Here you can see on the bottom left an embossed indexing mark for installation alignment. (same positioning as the original)

It took a few tries, but as you may have guessed from the images the answer is obviously yes. We did up a couple, both in full opacity black polymer, using ABS for some and Polycarbonate Alloy for others. The shade matches the original design profile and style, and attaches via the original bayonet mount indexing off a small mark. Use of the original cap is even preserved. Why the two materials though? A function of lens shades isn't just to protect the lens from flare, but to protect the objective and the entire camera from bumps, scratches, and god forbid a drop. ABS offers a great finish, good impact resistance, and good durability. Polycarbonate Alloy however has EXCEPTIONAL impact properties and elongation at break. This makes for a lens shade even better able to mop up the odd bump and keep running. In both cases the bayonet mount on the shade is intended to, in the event of a catastrophic drop, act as a mechanical fuse, sacrificing the shade to absorb energy rather than transmit it to the camera mounts potentially breaking them. 

Bayonet mount at the base of the lens shade.

And there you have it. Lens shade for an exotic antique irreplaceable film camera? DONE!


update 6.28.19
If you liked this, check our our latest blog post on body and lens rear caps for the XPan HERE.

Scalpeldashi - Product Introduction

Our Scalpeldashi, seen here with copper or bronze composite handles. 

The unholy union between a scalpel and a kiridashi, the Scalpeldashi is a long running concept we've been slowly simmering. All sorts of different production technologies have been experimented with, the end goal being to keep the design beautiful and exotic but the price reasonable. This production run is available in an exotic copper and bronze composite. 

Schwag intro

STO arc lighter, custom scalpeldashi in copper w/ carbon fiber sheath, Eye of Sekhmet, 1858 black powder .44 caliber revolver

Schwag, AKA branded merchandise. The world seems to be filling up with everyone's branded T-shirts, sweatshirts, beanies, socks, etc. We wanted to do something a little more gadget/EDC specific, a little more STO. Enter these two types of lighters. A fire source is an important part of any good EDC lineup. We offer not one, but two, different styles. Both are brass and offer a good sense of weight in the hand. 

The first is an arc lighter AKA Tesla lighter. This particular model offers dual arcs in an X shape. These things are fantastic because they charge off micro USB, and produce an extremely hot ignition source. To use simply flip it open, and depress the glowing blue button. 

STO arc lighter

For those more traditionally inclined, we offer a kerosene (lighter fluid) based option as well. Initially we wanted Zippo brand lighters, the American classic, however we stumbled across these which we like a lot better. Instead of a thin stamped case and spot welded hinge, each half is machined from a solid brass billet. The hinge is integral, milled right in there with it. A small rubber gasket seals the lighter when closed, minimizing gas leakage, which is another major design improvement. 

solid CNC machined brass STO lighter, custom FDE Convoy S2+, custom copper scalpeldashi w/ carbon fiber sheath

Lance of Ra vs. BLF Giga Thrower

Lance of Ra vs. BLF GT. Here you can see just how much heavier the GT is, sinking into the snowbank. 

We've gotten the question several times now: how does the Lance of Ra compare to the BLF Giga Thrower? Well our sample of the GT is finally in, so we can answer!

Performance: 
The BLF GT is about half the output of the Lance, our sample meters at slightly less than half the standard 2.6million of the Lance.

BLF GT vs. Lance of Ra

Size: 
The short version is that the GT actually a pretty similar length and head diameter to the Lance. The Lance is slightly longer, however you can separate the battery tubes and use a pair of 18350s in the Lance to make it a hair shorter than the BLF GT if that is your thing.

Very similar frontal surface areas between the two lights. Here you can see though that the reflector on the GT isn't perfect, it has a bit of an orange-peel texture to it. This probably contributes to why it has less than half the Lance's throw performance. 

Weight: 
This is the killer here with the BLF GT. Without batteries a Lance is 1.165 kilos, thanks mostly to the hybrid head that houses an internal heatsink, but isn't entirely metal. The BLF GT is 1.775 kilos without batteries. If you figure an 18650 weighs about 45 grams, that makes the Lance 1.255 to the BLF GT's 2.135 kilos fully loaded. Almost twice the weight for not quite half the throw.

With all those batteries, we're thinking a lumen-throw combo upgrade is in this GT's future......

And all this leads into our only major gripe with the GT. The tube diameter is a bit too large and tube a bit too slick to comfortably and securely wield such a heavy light. The battery numbers are also a little comical, if you figure 15$ per protected cell a full matched set of batteries for the GT cost as much as the pre-order price of the light itself, but that seems to be in keeping with the light's intentionally comical nature.

All in all, we think the GT has real potential as a host. All that power on tap, it seems like it is just begging for a major lumens upgrade. As an aside, the GT fits nicely in our large Hard Case.

*edit* 
For those who interpreted this post in a negative way, please understand we didn't intend it that way. We like the GT as it offers a lot of performance at a very modest price (about 1/5th the price of a Lance at its pre-order price, and about 1/2 the price of a Lance at its projected retail price). That huge battery capacity and thermal mass also mean it has massive potential as a host. We have plans for the GT. So fear not. We bought one, we know many of our customers who purchased Lances also got one. So far we think it is a great light, and that it is going places.

Storm of Ra Hard Case

These are solid cases, robust, well padded, and weather tight. Each is filled with two tiers of pluck-able foam, and can easily fit a Storm of Ra with room to spare for batteries and a handgun, other optics, or whatever else you may want. The case is actually so generous it can, on the diagonal, accommodate a whole Lance of Ra, or horizontally accommodate an LoR with the battery tube unscrewed to half-length. The lid and latches open to firm detents, so stay open while you work with the contents. There is a pressure purge valve should you ever move from high to low altitude and wish to open the case. 

Project - CZ455/KRG mag well

What did you think we were kidding when we said we were serious about precision shooting? 

So we're big on precision here at STO, and this goes well beyond just lights. All of us shoot, and in the realm of shooting precision is also king. CZ, if you didn't know, isn't just one of the best values in firearms going, they're flat out just one of the best. In part, this is because they make their own cold hammer forged barrels last I checked. The result is an absolute tack driver of a system, but in this case let down by the factory stock. This gun started life as a CZ455 Suppressor Ready. The original American style stock was not well suited for precision shooting, both in its lack of consistency, and in its lack of adjustability for LOP and cheek weld. In the factory configuration, the gun hovered around or just over 1MOA factory at 100 yards. Some was the original stock, some was the little quirks/difficulties of shooting it like the original trigger. 

CZ455 in a KRG chassis. With Lapua ammunition, the gun is effortlessly sub MOA. 

A trigger job made delivering consistency easier, but really what the rifle needed was a proper chassis. Now here comes the disclaimer: everyone has their own preference for chassis systems. I personally prefer XLR Industries Evolution/Carbon over all the other options out there. Unfortunately, they didn't have a CZ455 inlet available, really there was just one option: Kinetic Research Group. Now I have the odd gripe about this chassis, but they do still have it where it counts: ACCURACY! After install, the gun went down to a consistent .5-.75MOA 5-10 round shooter at 100 yards. A real tack driver. Ever try to cold-bore an egg at >200 yards with no more than 10 shots on a .22? This gun makes people think it is easy... until they try it on their own rimfire. 

The CZ455 Suppressor Ready with its factory stock and trigger. (optics and suppressor obviously not factory) 

So KRG it was. One of the major gripes though, and the subject of this post, was the magazine well. You'd expect it to use its own magazine system or interface seamlessly with the stock CZ magwell. Instead there was a frigging monstrous hole in the bottom of the rifle. When you want to insert a new magazine you either have to fumble around like a virgin in the dark, bumping into all the wrong things in a desperate attempt to get it in, or flip the gun over to change mags. This is slow, annoying, inelegant, and if you bang the nose of the top round into something hard with a corner you just got a flier. This is a problem that needed solving, clearly. 

KRG chassis magazine well as they expect you to use it from the factory. As you might imagine, achieving insertion with this setup is every virgin's nightmare. 

Just about everything starts with an idea, progresses to a CAD model, goes through a few prototype iterations, and then reaches its final phase. Why should this be any different? 

Prototype of our flared magazine well insert. The white ABS shows every rub, scuff, and apprentice mark necessary to get it to fit which, while ugly, makes design adjustments for the next round vastly easier. 

We prototype with 3D prints all the time, this isn't news to anyone, but our reasoning for using white filament may be less obvious. You see, any time you're trying to fit something, there will be interference. Using white ABS means that, wherever something rubs, it becomes very obvious. Similar principal as to why you don't wear a nice white shirt in the shop. Turns out the front corners needed a little trim in order to fit. No problem.

The final part, seen here in 20% carbon fiber reinforced nylon. The nylon has excellent chemical resistance, while the carbon does technically increase rigidity however in this application it really is just for sex appeal since the part isn't particularly structural. 

The corners tweaked, it was time to move to the final version. The issue becomes chemical resistance. ABS has somewhat poor chemical resistance, and firearms are notorious for having various aggressive chemicals used on them for cleaning and protecting. We went with 20% carbon fiber reinforced nylon, the nylon for its exceptional chemical resistance and the carbon fiber just because we can.

Magazine well installed. Much much better. Note the front action screw is still accessible, a deliberate design choice. 

And there it is, all grown up, so proud. The results so far have been excellent. The part is actually half friction half mechanical fit, no adhesives or screws required, just a little coaxing with something flat and your hand or a small hammer to tap-tap-tap it into place. The rear hooks under the trigger guard and the front rotates down and wedges in place. Mag insertion is now effortless, simply justify the rear of the magazine against the real edge of the magwell, allow the flare to guild the magazine into place, and slide until it clicks. 

Magazine well seen here with magazine inserted. 

Have one of these CZ455-KRG setups and are suffering from the same problem? Send us a message, we can manufacture one for you. 

And complete! What a joy this rifle is to shoot. While that can on the end may look large, it is a special design we developed in-house to be flow-through which significantly reduces backpressure keeping both gun (in semi-autos) and suppressor much cleaner, yet unlike OSS designs it doesn't make major concessions in volume. On this gun it is absolutely hollywood quiet, considerably quieter than SCO Octane45 or Omega. It was manufactured on an ATF Form1. 

Lance of Ra Soft Case

Lance of Ra, >2,600,000 Candela, and a beautifully fitting lens case. 

So you purchased one of our Lance of Ra lights. Congratulations, the longest throwing LED light on the market is quite the machine. But it isn't exactly small, how do you lug it around? One of our customers, James Abadi (who gave us permission to credit him by name), came to us with the perfect solution: a lens bag or more specifically THIS lens bag. 

We wanted to test it for ourselves before handing out this recommendation, and we're pleased to say that it is an excellent fit for both the original LoR and the current internal bezel style Lance (1.0 and 1.3 respectively). 

PROJECT - fixed blade EDC

Spyderco South Fork w/ customized IWB carry solution. 

We're big on EDC here, and big on cutlery, two things which should surprise nobody. The issue at hand is how to discretely carry a nice fixed blade such that it can be carried comfortably and drawn/sheathed quickly, easily, and without a risk of slicing anything. 

Simple enough concept. Fixed blades in their common kydex (or comparable) sheaths are a pain to carry IWB. And this is odd, because firearms in my humble opinion, are far and away the easiest to carry IWB. Knives though are just uncomfortable, difficult to re-sheathe, and you're always at risk of slicing one of those sexy love-muffins you have hanging over your belt from a few too many cheeseburgers. 

All the hardware needed to mount a kydex sheath on an Aliengear backer. 

So enter our idea of making a hybrid sheath carry system. We could have scratch-built this, but Aliengear stuff is so cheap and convenient we decided to start there. One hardware pack, two clips, and a large backer. For this grand experiment I'll use a personal favorite of mine, and one of the best screaming deals in the cutlery industry, the Spyderco - Phil Wilson collab: the South Fork. 

Conveniently one of the mount holes for the Spyderco G-clip matches, so secure that first, adjust cant to your preferences, and prepare to drill the second mount hole. 

Step one was easy. The existing "shell" mounts were in the correct alignment, and the sheath already had a mounting hole in a good location from it's use of the G-clip, so I started there. Now to make another hole to fit the other mounting screw and alien-green standoff spacer. Those standoffs are critical here because they allow you to space the knife up off the sheath. This gives you that critical distance you need to not only avoid muffin-slicing, but allow for easy re-sheathing of the knife even with your belt pressing it inward. 

Pilot hole is drilled with an under-sized bit through the fastener hole from the back. This assures correct alignment. 

Positioned the sheath at the angle I wanted, and made sure the hole would clear the blade, before drilling a pilot hole from the back.

Pilot hole has been drilled, and will act as a center for a larger bit that'll open the hole up to its final diameter. 

Pilot hole from the back down, now use that as a center to drill the correct size hole in the front. 

Full diameter hole has been drilled. 

Tada, done. Just add another standoff and screw and it is ready to go. 

Mounted. Knife on IWB backer? Done!

Done. Seems like all that extra space on the side is just begging for a mount for a spare magazine. Either way though, I'm calling this project a success. Now the knife is comfy to carry IWB and can easily be inserted or removed form the sheath. The standoffs add a little thickness, and the extra leather above separates those love-muffins from the blade path. Took less than 15 minutes. You'll note I didn't trim the excess leather below. My thought is that this could be fairly modular. Instead of having a backer for every knife, as long as I have mounting holes in the sheath I can swap any knife I want onto the backer. Perhaps it wouldn't quite accommodate a Busse Battle Mistress, but a quick look suggests it'll happily fit an ASH1. Wouldn't that be a thing to add to the EDC lineup? 

Looks to me like it is just begging for a mag carrier combo. 

Spyderco South Fork w/ customized IWB carry solution. 

Happy thanksgiving!

Storm of Ra >600,000 candela, 8000 emitter lumens, 6000 BEAM LUMENS, 4000K, translucent blue accents. 

Happy thanksgiving everyone! From now through Monday we're offering a 15% discount site-wide. Enter the code ODDH88J at checkout!

Storm of Ra models have been restocked, warmer tints are now available, as are translucent blue accents (pictured below) which look absolutely killer at night. The last run sold through in a week, so get these while they're hot.

Storm of Ra inventory update

Storm of Ra seen here with a custom 300WM long action, and all the other toys needed to shoot well over 1000 meters. 

Our Storm of Ra inventory has been replenished, and we've added new emitter options so you can pick between 4000 and 5000K. Get 'em while they're hot.

Storm of Ra seen here with a custom 300WM long action, and all the other toys needed to shoot well over 1000 meters.