One of the staple topics that gets beaten to death regularly on survival forums is the “guns to keep caches at your [BOL/BOV/cabin/cache].” The post usually starts of with someone saying how their normal end of the world gear is a nice Rock River AR, a tweaked out Springfield 1911 and maybe a nicely appointed 870. Then they’ll start talking about the guns they have hidden away ‘just in case’…and it’s an SKS, Mosin Nagant, and maybe a HiPoint or two.

How does this make sense? Yes, anything you store off site is going to be at risk for loss and you want to keep potential losses low. BUT…think about it: if you have to resort to the guns at your cache or family hunting cabin then you’re life has hit a point where you want the best you can get, right? I mean, if those guns are good enough for your offsite stash then shouldnt they be good enough to be your primary guns?

I bring this up because I love the notion of disposable gear but with a high quality to price ratio. On a good day I can buy a used Glock for $300 but thats still more than I want to risk losing on a ‘truck gun’ or ‘stash gun’. At the same time, I am not going into Katrinaville with a HiPoint pistol. But…there is a gun out there that is high quality, reliable, and cheap enough that if you lose it you don’t really cry….and is far more confidence inspiring than any Bersa, Taurus, or HiPoint.

This is a Ruger P95. It is supremely rugged, and I’ve yet to pay more than $200 for a used one. It’s a gun I am perfectly comfortable leaving under a car seat or in an ammo can under the porch with no real concern if it gets stolen, at the same time it is a gun I’d feel totally comfortable facing hordes of zombies with. These guns are ridiculously cheap on the used market, are built like tanks, have as few parts as the Glock, are lightweight, and run about as reliably as anything costing three times as much.

While I tote the Glock around day to day, I’d have no reservation carrying the Ruger. Although Ruger orphaned the P-series pistols two generations ago (the Ruger SR and Ruger American are Rugers latest failures at capturing the police/military market) they are still plentiful because they were inexpensive. Need proof? Go look at photos from ‘gun buybacks’….there’ll always be a P-series in there somewhere.

This one rolled across my desk when someone said I could have it for $200. It’s an outstanding choice for a gun you don’t care what happens to but it still worthy of carrying through an episode of The Walking Dead.

So, before you spend money on a HiPoint or Bersa, go look around and see if you can’t find one of these.

Remember that old headline?

The paper was so certain that Truman would lose they went ahead and set the type and printed the paper….assuming it was a done deal.

Behold:

So certain was I of a Clinton victory, I ordered these at the last minute. But..since Trump won does that mean this was a bad purchase? Nope, not in the least. They will cost more later. And someday they will be unavailable. All Im losing here is opportunity cost.

I am at a loss to explain why so many people in the blogosphere seem to think we dodged a bullet. We didn’t dodge a bullet, we just got a different finger on the trigger.

Yes, Trump did say that he supports the Second Amendment (whatever that means), but he kinda has a history of saying and doing whatever needed saying/doing to achieve his desired result. There are pictures of him smiling happily with the Clintons, and there are quotes of him glowing about Hillary. Clearly, he ‘goes along to get along’ at times.

How many people in this picture are you certain about in regard to their dedication to your gun rights? The correct answer is: Two. The one on the left is unproven, the two on the right are proven in their lack of dedication.

My point is, you don’t know with any certainty what he’ll do. When some Prozac warrior shoots up a schoolbus and Feinstein/Schumer are dancing in the blood as they work on their ‘commonsense, reasonable’ legislation can you really say with 100% certainty “Ahhh, he won’t sign that!”?

Look, I hope like hell that Trump has a pro-gun position on things and sticks with it. But I don’t know that. And I (and you) won‘t know that until it’s put to the test. So for that reason, I think anyone who thinks “Oh, I’ve got plenty of time to gear up now that the election is over” is taking a big risk and being foolishly short-sighted.

Evernote tells me that I’ve been a bad survivalist – I haven’t run the EU2000 since June. June!! Well, I have had a lot on my mind. Anyway, I needed to run the generator for a while, run it under load, and I needed to get the leaves blown out. So…..

Let’s kill two birds with one stone.

Took about five pulls for the EU2000 to start up, but then it ran like a champ. Moved the leaves around for about a half hour and called it good. Note to self – once a month, stupid!

Some of you may wonder why the electric leaf blower rather than gas. Honestly, it’s one less engine for me to have issues with later. Plus, in this case it was a great way to run the generator under load. For those who are curious, that’s a run/hours meter on the case of the EU2000. I also keep a copy of the startup/shutdown directions fastened to the generator.

So…genny works and is ready for whatever comes. One less thing to deal with.

The general consensus of the survivalist community is that the EU2000 and the rest of the EU series from Honda are the go-to choice for small quiet generators. Indeed, I would say that whenever I read posts about people using their generators in an emergency, 90% of the time the generator they are using is the Honda. Highly recommend.

As usual, Cracked.com nails it……..

I’m going to explain the Donald Trump phenomenon in three movies. And then some text.

An excellent job explaining that this previous election was the Democrats Dien Bien Phu in the Culture War.

However, much like the Versailles Treaty, Dien Bien Phu set things up for a larger conflict later.

One of the more justifiable Federal holidays. Go take a vet to dinner or a lapdance, depending on their age.

Okay, so now that the hangover from drinking all those liberal tears has worn off, what’s the speculation on the future? Well, anything I say is clearly not worth the electrons and photons it’s printed on … I adamantly thought Hillary would win. In fact, I put money on it in the form of several hundred standard-capacity magazines. But, take it with a grain of salt..

Obama has two months to throw out a slew of spiteful executive orders and pardons to throw gravel under Trump’s wheels. Not only is he a man with nothing to lose at this point, he’s a man with nothing to lose AND an axe to grind.

Trump himself is impossible to pin down. There’s photos of him out there gladhanding with Clintons and saying warm things about Hillary. Clearly, Trump is enough of a player that he says what he needs to at that moment to get what he wants. That means, really, we can’t say with any certainty what his position on guns is.

And the Republicans….they were willing to throw Trump under the bus and dance on his grave. Now…well…Paul Ryan was on TV with a mouthful of crow. I think they realized that for all intents and purposes, T. was a third-party candidate. They’ve either gotta get on his coattails now and at least look like theyre playing ball or they risk angering his very motivated base. Could it be enough to turn the Republican party back to the right? We shall see.

I really do think the big surprise in the election came from something we all thought about but didn’t think would happen – people who were going to vote for Trump kept it to themselves. Thats why the polls were wrong.

Anyway, as a paranoid right-wing anti-government survivalist, I’d say: change nothing. Keep doing what you’ve been doing. Don’t let your guard down and think the threat has passed because of who won the election. We know our enemy didn’t get elected, but we don’t have enough to go on to know that the person who did win is our friend.

Mike DIllon, of Dillon Precision fame, has died. I am an unabashed user of his products and recommend them without hesitation. I also cannot say enough about their world-class customer service. As a survivalist, being able to reload my own ammo efficiently and accurately is a pretty big deal, and the Dillon 550 and RL1050 have been my go-to for quantity reloading for almost 30 years. I hope his company keeps up the good work he started now that he’s gone.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Mike Dillon. Mike left us on the morning of November 7th, 2016. He leaves behind a large family including wife Carol, sons Stephen and Christopher, daughter Stephanie, and 9 grandchildren. Mike’s legacy has touched the lives of countless people worldwide. He revolutionized the ammunition reloading industry and made it what it is today. Mike also redesigned and manufactured the M134 Minigun that is now in service in the United States and foreign military forces. As a passionate aviator, he worked for TWA as a 2nd officer for 13 years and later made a name for himself as a writer for Air Progress Magazine. He is recognized by some as being the one who started the warbird restoration movement in the 1960’s.

Mike’s dedication to his family, his customers, and this country was exemplary. We hope to continue the legacy that Mike Dillon worked so hard to build and we will never forget the impact that he has had on us all. We take comfort knowing he is flying in the blue skies of heaven above.

 

Dude…I voted for him and even I don’t believe it.