These are the new KEL-MET KM 1001 chain link handcuffs in stainless steel, from Poland. I used to have a pair of KM 1000 before, and I thought these were the same but they aren't! These are the newer model used by Polish police I believe, but are also military certified and even have a NATO stock number!
These have a 3 pawl mechanism, some rudimentary anti-shim at the beginning of the pawls and they are made of stainless steel with no coatings, so that they are hypo-allergenic, that means they are more skin-safe for more people than a typical nickel-plated handcuff.
Because these are made from all stainless steel, instead of the typical hardened carbon steel with nickel plating, they are thicker, meatier and a bit more heavy than a typical chain handcuff. They weigh 356 grams.
They have a twisted chain instead of a plain flat chain. This could add some anti-snap technology to make it harder or impossible to "break" the handcuff chain by binding it up.
The double locking area protrudes slightly (though the pin is concave which helps) and it is too narrow for Smith & Wesson key double locking pins on the end of their keys.
These have no back-loading capability, though I was not impressed with their early attempts at back-loading on their rigid handcuffs. If adding back-loading means a handcuff will not double lock on the last solid click, then it should not be added, in my opinion. So I like these a lot.
They have mirrored sides, meaning the keyholes are facing the same way when applied to the wrists in the same downward motion. Some other manufacturers (typically eastern, but there are others) use one mould for their handcuff bracelets and so you end up with one keyhole facing the front of the hands and one keyhole facing the body, which is just goofy and lazy in my opinion!
The 3 pawls tend to act as one single pawl because the internal spring has no split in it, meaning if one pawl is pressed down, all the other 2 pawls will drop also, so this is something that could easily be improved upon by adding a split spring so that not all 3 pawls are controlled by one single spring.
All in all, I like these handcuffs even more than the rigid ones they do.
btw here are links to both the product page and the NATO certifications:
http://www.kelmet-defence.eu/km-1001-stainless-steel-handcuffs.html
http://www.kelmet-defence.eu/kelmet-certificates.html
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment