D’oh Canaduh

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10

Minding my own business. not (purposefully) hurting anyone, and B. sends me a text asking if I would be interested in this:


Well, geez, man….I don’t know. I gotta figure out what it is first. Alright Google…show me what you got. “1305 21 102 8445-0004 7.62mm” returns a few images, including this one:

Hmm..Appears to be Canadian 51’st State-ish. Interesting because if it was from Canuckistan, shouldn’t all those markings be in French also? Or, maybe this stuff predates that bilingual nonsense.

I usually am hesitant to purchase this sort of thing because you never know what storage conditions this stuff was in. However, sometimes its a risk worth taking.. especially if the price is right. So, I made an offer and I’ll pick this stuff up later.

By the way, the .30-06 ammo I picked up in the above-mentioned post was made in 1959 by FN and had been stored sealed in those nice .30 cal cans for almost 60 years. And it all shot flawlessly, and, as I recall, virtually all the tracers lit up. This simply confirms that quality made ammo, packed and stored well, will last indefinitely.

I still have several battlepacks of 7.62×51 sitting on the shelf, so this will be a nice addition. I’ll need to see if there’s anymore where this case came from.

 

Property hunting

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27

Still hunting for property. It seems like whenever I find something that looks reasonable, there’s some little thing that queers the deal. And, before everyone chimes in with ‘perfect is the enemy of good enough’ or ‘if you wait for the perfect piece you’ll never find it’, I’m quite aware of that, thank you. However, there are some things that I’m simply not willing put up with.

Whats the criteria? Well, theres a couple things:

Minimum of 20 acres – Way I see it, this gives me enough space for privacy and various additions to the landscape as I see fit. I have no upper limit except for what I can afford. Im willing to go down a bit in acreage if it gives me something that is of paramount importance –  running water, pond, a spring, well, mineshaft, caves, etc. A 35-acre parcel with no water vs. a 17.5 acre parcel with a year-round spring? No contest.

Price – I’m really trying to keep it below $200k, but I can stretch it maybe 10% if something is really attractive.

Roads – Absolutely dont want a piece that is bisected by a road. I’ve seen quite a few properties that seem ideal and then you look at an overhead view and there’s some road running right down the middle. I have found a couple pieces where the road either dead ends at the property, which is rather nice, or the road paralells one side of the property which is acceptable. What I dont want is a road cutting the property in half so every Billy Bob in the county can go roaring across my property at 3am.

Neighbors – Obviously the fewer the better. One thing Im noticing is that a lot of people build right on the edge of their property line so as to butt right up against the piece I’m looking to buy.

Terrain – I dont want something thats all vertical, and I don’t want something that is basically a parking lot with grass. A little rolling is ideal with some high points and flat spots. Trees and more trees.

Elevation – I’d like to keep it below 5000′ and certainly not up near 6000′

Proximity – I need it to be within reasonable (2-3 hours) of my current location so that I can reasonably get there on weekends and days off to perform work. There’s plenty of stuff six hours from me, but I need to be closer for the purpose of working on the place on the weekends. And, while Im not living here forever, I can’t just pull up stakes and move to an empty stretch of dirt. There’s that ‘in between’ time where I’m going to have to live here, and work on projects there…..and that means the closer the better, within certain parameters.

So, its a bit of a balancing act. For example, I’ve found a few pieces that were hundreds of acres within my price range, but they are basically flat-as-a-cookie sheet prairie where you can watch your dog runaway for three days. Nope, want more timebr, cover, and terrain.

Contrast that with the place that had lotsa trees, a year round spring, privacy, but was all vertical…an entire sloping side of a mountain.

And the place that has 20 acres, a developed well, a two-car garage on a slab, fiber internet, and phone. Annnnnd….neighbors butted up right against the property line with a huge house and several garages.

Like I said, I understand that ‘perfect’ may not exist. I am willing to accept 95%, 90%, or maybe even 85% of what I want. But…there’s some stuff that is just a dealbreaker.

I can only afford to do this once, so I wanna make sure I get it right the first time.

 

 

Prognastication

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13

The current president is not eligible for a second term, so he is effectively a ‘lame duck’ right out of the gate. Since he doesn’t have to worry about re-election, he’s free from the political compromises that one has to consider when a re-election is desired.

For me, it isn’t too early to start thinking about 2028’s election. Considering the polarization (and even Balkanization) going on in politics right now, I suspect that there’s a better than even chance that the Democrats will win in 2028. And, if they do win, I have no doubt they’re going to want to restamp their brand all over the political landscape. I expect rollbacks and elimination of most changes done by the current administration, but I also am confident that some ‘punitive’ measures will be exacted against those deplorables who didn’t side with them in 2024 (and 2016). And whats the best way to punish those flyover-country peons who voted against their betters? Banning large pickup trucks? Busing ‘peaceful migrants’ into their areas? Or…how about the more politically palatable bromide of ‘gun control’?

If the Democrats manage to swing the election, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to leverage some of that ‘mandate’ with the voters in order to push through an assault weapons ban of some sort. And, yes, I am very aware that I say this pretty much every election….but even a broken calendar is right once a year. It may not have happened in the last administration, and it may not happen in this administration, but that doesn’t guarantee it won’t happen in the next election. So, lets run some numbers…

As of today, there are approximately 183 weeks to the next presidential election. $20 a week will give you about $3600 to spend on ‘last minute’ gunstuff purchases right before the election (though you’d be a fool to wait that long to make those purchases. Have you learned nothing from the last bunch of panics?) Currently, $3600 gets you a Glock, mags, a quality-tier AR, plate carrier, and ammo.

I don’t know if any of you are old enough to have been gunnies at the begining of the Assault Weapons Ban of ’94, but for those of us who were there, the memories of the stupid prices that were asked for things like ragged 30-around GI mags makes an impression. With Magpul mags running about $10 each in bulk you’d be silly not to have dozens.

But..you do you. I learned my lesson years ago and will have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who, three and a half years from now, suddenly starts throwing a hissyfit about how they can’ find any mags/guns/ammo on the shelves and when they can the prices are outrageous.

Ammo older than me

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12

Went to the range today to, among other things, function test the GP100 I picked up the other week. I brought along some of my usual .357 ammo, but I also had a dog’s lunch of .38 Special that had been cluttering up my shelf for a while. It was a mix of factory ammo, including tracers, going back quite a ways. None of it was newer than the 1990’s and some of it, like the tracers, were well past 50 years old. (Peters went defunct just after WW2)

How’d they shoot? Well, I’d like to say it all shot fine but that’s not true. I had two failures due to light primer strikes. Both on the same brand/headstamp. I think what happened there was that the primers were seated a bit high. Both fired on the second strike. Everything else shot fine. And, yes, the tracers lit up…not 100%, but most of them. The ammo, however, did function and the bullets went downrange which is the important part.

I bring this up because there is often the question of ‘how long is ammo good for’ or ‘how long will ammo last’. In addition to today’s episode, I’ve shot stuff a hundred years old that fired no problem. Heck, I had a buncha 1950’s vintage FN .30-06 ammo a few years back that fired perfectly. The answer to the question of how long ammo will last (and by ‘last’ we mean how long will ammo perform properly) is, basicaly, forever IF stored properly…in an airtight, moisture proof container, like an ammo can.

Now, having said that, do you know where the not-optimum storage place for ammo is? Your gun. The ammo you carry around in your gun on a day-to-day basis is exposed to elements, moisture from your body, and a few other environmental factors. And it will still work just fine years down the road. However…there is no point in taking chances so I personally fire off my carry ammo every so often and replace it. Usually annually, but Im kind of a paranoid that way. You can probably swap it out every other year and be just fine. For me, though, I swap it out every year.

So there you have it…stored properly ammo, in this case some .38 Special, will last a lifetime…easily. Class dismissed.

Spraypaint

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13

As I’m sure you can gather from various posts I’ve made, I tend to go for military ammo cans as my container of choice. Unfortunately, theyve gotten harder and harder to get over the years and when you can find them they are often not in new condition. Most of the time, any ammo can you come across is in a more-than-used condition. Broadly, as long as the lids close, the mouth of the can isnt deformed, and the gaskets are present, they’re good to go. However, the do tend to get a bit of rust at the corners and on the bottoms where they often receive a good bit of abuse and scraping.

Usually, I just wipe the cans down and hit the high points with a quick spray of Rustoleum in an appropriate color. I was doing that the other day and I ran out of spraypaint. Ok, no worries..head to the store and get another can. Here’s where it becomes a pain the rear… what brand Y calls ‘Olive Drab Green’, brand X may call ‘Hunter Green’ or ‘Moss Green’. And while ‘close enough’ will probably suffice, I really prefer to get the paint color as close to original as possible. In fact, I did pick up some spraypaint the other day that looked like it would be the right color but, no, when the spray hit the ammo can it was quite clear that while it was a nice matte green, it just wasnt the right green. Grrrr.

So, I decided I’d hit the major stores here in town and see if I could find the ideal paint. Was up at Lowe’s shopping for spraypaint (Home Depot’s selection of green absolutely sucked.) Found this:

This was absolutely perfect. Blended almost perfectly with the color of the ammo can. The nozzle produced a wide vertical spray, so a couple quick side-to-side passes did the trick, it dried fast, and it didnt drip or run. So impressed I went back for an extra can. So, if you’re needing to touch up your ammo cans, military gas cans, etc, and want the near-perfect color…this is what you want. “4293 OLIVE” UPC 7 24504 06895 2

I found it at Lowe’s for a few bucks cheaper than Amazon. High recommend.

 

Complacency…the curse of the prepared

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19

I’ve mentioned it in the past, but it really is difficult to maintain one’s focus and intensity in preparing for the end of the world when you have electricity, hot water, a freezer full of food, and a job. And we know that graveyards are full of people whose secondary cause of death was complacency. We let our foot off the gas and we don’t notice it until we suddenly realize we’re miles from where we want to be and time is almost gone.

I often joke to people that I do my best, fastest, copious, and efficient work when I have gun pointed at my head. And, if you really think about, there’s always a metaphorical gun pointed at our head – our own mortality. Memento mori….we’re all gonna die. But it’s easy to forget that and we wind up dawdling and wasting time.

It’s just so easy to forget that there are wars going on…military wars, culture wars, economic wars, and personal wars. It’s easy to forget about the unpredictability of groceries when you’re fat and not hungry. It’s easy to forget about the fragility of power systems when the lights are on. It’s easy to forget about the vulnerabilities of supply chains when there’s gas in your truck. You get the idea.

I can only speak for myself, of course, but I’m betting that some of you also slack off a bit in the good times (or the not-bad times). What do you do to regain that focus and intensity? Watch ‘Threads’? Start making lists? Resolve to be more diligent? I know I can’t be the only one who sometimes slows down and starts to lose steam in terms of living a life of improved resilience and decreased threats.

What do I do? I think back about times when I was living pretty close to the edge… no money in the bank, no food in the fridge, no marketable skills, that sort of thing. Days where twenty bucks was all the money in the world. You only have to be hungry a time or two to really appreciate the fundamental things that make life bearable – shelter, food, water, heat, and a way to pay for them.

I bring this up because I was thinking that I have gotten a bit soft lately. I used to have a somewhat intense focus on making sure I had the mechanisms and supplies in place to get me through pretty much anything that might come along and kick me back to those lean days. It seems like the further away I get from those times, the less focus and intensity I have… which is wildly counterproductive because, holy Crom, have you watched the news lately?

So…if you’re like me and think that maybe you havent been running the preparedness wagon on all eight cylinders lately and you need a little more octane in the tank, I suggest you settle into a comfy chair, relax, and think back to the utter and absolute craptacular moments in your past, be pleased that theyre behind you, and then use their memory to fuel your resolve to get back into the mindset that gets things done. Make a list if you have to. Get an accountability partner. Promise yourself an awesome reward if you hit your goals. Whatever it takes, man.

It isnt a certainty, but I’d say the odds are good that someday you, me, and everyone else are gonna get caught up in something thats gonna make us glad we prepared as much as we did and sorry we didnt prepare as much as we should have.

Only you know what works for motivating you, but whatever it is I recommend you start doing it if you havent already. The world is an uncertain place and there’s not a lot of room for complacency.

The dream is always the same

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17

Ugh…I had weird dreams last night. The most notable one was that something big had happened…the sort of event where youre definitely not showing up for work and its time to crack open the box that says “Do not open unless TEOTWAWKI”. Me and a friend were in my basement getting our gear ready because we were going to have to leave and be unable to come back. They were so panicked they just grabbed a small bag of essentials and beat feet. I was left there wondering how I was going to get all this important gear out of here without their help. And, naturally, I then woke up.

This is my subconscious’ way of telling me I a) need friends who won’t flake out at the first sign of trouble and b) I need to get the Beta Site purchased and up-and-running so I can split my preps between two locations and avoid these sorts of unpleasant-decision-making moments.

The fantasy I have, among others (looking at you, Jennifer Lawrence), is that I keep my current residence while I acquire the secondary property and build my little bunker. While thats going on I split half my gear between there and here. Once its done, I squirrel away most (75%~) of my stuff there, and keep enough here to enable me to get there or to sit things out here until I can get there. Then, when Im ready to sell the primary property, I take the rest of the gear, and my fat equity check, and head to the secondary on a permanent basis. Its a simple plan, it just isnt easy.

But, if you want to make Crom laugh, tell him your plans.

 

Patriots Day

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7

Its that time of year again. Head to the range and work on your freedom-maintenance skills. This year is 250 years of BFYTW.

“The price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time and with utter recklessness.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

But…freedom means other things as well. Being prepared gives you another type of freedom…the freedom from worry, stress, and insecurity. You can starve to death as a perfectly free man. Guns and ammo, absolutely….but the instruments of freedom don’t stop there. Gold, food, land, fuel, information, friends…all are arrows in your quiver. Don’t get pigeonholed into thinking its all about the guns.