Since the RMT is warrantied against manufacturer defects, this occurrence fell under that warranty and V Development Group immediately sent Bill a replacement RMT. Bill sent this RMT back to me for inspection and I will be forwarding it to the manufacturer for further inspection. I was told that this was a very uncommon failure of the RMT which has not normally been seen.
Having a further conversation with Bill, he told me that this particular RMT was used for about 1.5 years averaging about 25-30 courses per year, and about half of those would see at least a demonstration of this RMT's function on the low end, and on the high-end students would use it numerous times during the stress course and other medical blocks. During Bill's "stress course" in many of his classes he requires students to have their hands covered in Canola Oil and then apply a tourniquet, while under stress, in between shooting. Many students opted to use Bill's RMT for this section of the stress course, since if they carried a CAT / SOF-T that one use would immediately render those tourniquets no longer fit for personal, or real-world, use. A conservative estimate would put the number of applications of this particular RMT in the 300x range. By any definition, this was a successful failure of this particular RMT.
This RMT was originally light tan but appears dark tan due to the use/canola oil. The exact breakage point was the lever arm of this particular generation RMT.
The lever arm came off the actuator mechanism where you can see the spring metal exposed at the top.
The rest of the RMT, while dirty and clearly used, is still intact.
The leather bite/pull tab is still functional although clearly showing signs of wear.
As you can see the lever arm is very dirty after prolonged training and the failure point can be seen where the lint is in the above photo. The two connections should be closed, but they are broken with seperation.
The track/teeth of this RMT appear to be in good functional condition. I know a lot of people were worried about the track/teeth of the RMT and how they function over time and use, this RMT has seen a lot of both and has no issues.
The metal retaining loops have lost some of their finish but are still functional.
The 1.5" Tactical RMT (NSN 6515-01-527-3841) was recommended by CoTCCC in May of 2019, confirming what many have known about the RMT as an excellent upgrade for tourniquet training and EDC setups. I want to also point out that since people want to compare and contrast the RMT against the CAT / SOF-T, you can see many reasons why the RMT is, in my opinion, the "go-to" EDC and training tourniquet in my previous article about it, The RMT and Why You Should Carry One.