With the start of the new year comes the responsibility of making sure that your everyday carry and other kit is ready to go. Here are some recommended things to change out and/or inspect:

• Replace flash light batteries. Handhelds, headlamps and weapon-mounted lights. Take the old batteries and mark them for training use only.
• Replace smoke detector batteries. Save yourself from fire and and annoyance of the "low battery warning" going off at 02:30.
• Check tire pressures. Check these and make sure they are still good to go. Rapid changes in temperature can often cause your tires to be down several PSI.
• Replace carry ammo. The defensive bullets in your pistol MUST go bang when you need them. Constant use can degrade primers and cause bullet setback if regularly chambering rounds. Defensive ammo is cheap given the alternative if it doesn't work.
• Replace carry magazine. This is the magazine that absolutely must chamber a round every time. It's probably a good idea to replace this every other year and inspect/clean to remove lint, dirt, etc annually.
• Replace optics batteries. It's hard to "put the dot where you want the bullets to go" if there is no dot.
• Clean/lubricate weapons. Inspect for wear, check for rust/corrosion, lubricate with Slip2000 EWL.
• Replace desiccant packs in the safe. Bad things happen to your guns when these get saturated with moisture.
• Loctite holster screws. Wearing your holster every day has a habit of working the screws loose. If you can move the screws at all, it's a good idea to undo them, clean the threads, put a couple drops of "Red Loctite" on them to keep them secure and refasten the hardware on your holster.

Set yourself up for success in 2019 by taking a few moments to ensure that your EDC and other gear is ready to go.