“Whenever he gets into a fix
he reaches into his bag of tricks..” – Felix The Cat theme song
Asked what the hallmark of the prepared is, I’d say its a toss up between a firearm and the backpack. (In fact, my coat of arms should be a pair of crossed 870’s and AR’s over a backpack.) But I think the nod goes to the backpack.
For the last several years I usually travel my day-to-day with my Dana ‘Lewis’ daypack. I bought it many years ago when Dana was still a made in the US. Its a regular size daypack, like what you see every college kid packing around. It has a few nice features, like redundant closures – if a zipper breaks theres always a strap/buckle system to use as backup. A nice touch. Although a ‘civillian’ pack, its durability and versatility has made it an almost constant companion for me. During hunting season I change out the contents and it goes as my survival/hunting pack. Its deficient in some areas, not enough attachment points, for example, but Ive been satisified.
And then this shows up today in UPS. I am mightily impressed and when it comes to gear, Im a tough customer.
Material is heavy Cordura-type fabric. Should handle sliding around in truck beds, tumbling off cliffs, getting soaked, getting dirty, etc, with aplomb.
All stress points (and even some non-stress points) are double stitched…at least. Some are triple stitched. Some are quadruple stitched!!!! Yowza!
Padding in the straps is generous. Strap attachment points are reinforced quite nicely. Shoulder straps include a sternum strap and the usual D-ring and web attachment points.
There are three compartments, all accessed by zippers. The inside of the main compartment is lined on the bottom (which also has a drainage hole) with blaze orange material to make hunting objects easier. Nice touch. 2900 cubic inches is the advertised capacity of the bag.
Top of the bag sports a serious drag handle and covered drinking ports. (Could also run radio cords through as well.)Theres Molle-style webbing on three sides of the pack as well as attachment points on the bottom of the pack. Compression straps on the sides and top of the pack allow for rolled up gear like ponchos or field jackets.
This is a seriously nice high-speed, low-drag pack. I’d feel not the slightest bit of hesitation to load it up and toss it out the back of a truck at forty miles an hour, drag it behind me in a river crossing, As much as my Dana has been a good piece of gear, Im not one to let sentimentality stand in the way of an upgrade. Price is about the same as what I paid for my Dana about seven years ago – $110. This would be an extremely well spent $110. Im going to investigate the rest of their gear and if its as well made as this thing, Im going to have to do some serious ordering from them.
All their gear is made in the USA, by the by. While I’ll buy gear from anyone if it meets my needs for quality and funtion, I prefer to buy American.
A quick perusal of Tactical Tailor’s website shows some very nice modular pockets to add on. Im in love…truly!
I called the LMI’s to come by and check this thing out…thats how impressed I am with it. Expect some field reports about this thing over the summer.
Welcome to the family!
I’ve had one of those packs for years. Mine’s in khaki, and was made before he started putting orange in the bottom. (It still has the drainage grommet and lining, just in O.D.) I had him throw some extra webbing strips on the shoulder straps so I could carry a mag pouch or radio on my off-side front. I also have a couple of matching mag pouches that clip on to it, but they’re for 30 round magazines because I got them before I discovered that 20 rounders were more convenient. We camp out of it all the time, and it has held up very well.
Wow, lots o’ neat shtuff on that site.
Damn you for giving me one more thing to spend non-existent money on, heh heh.
weapon choices
This looks like a great pack. They seem to have some other nice products as well. I found your LJ from Kitiara’s from SMJayman. Definitely got me thinking about being better prepared. I look at your list of supplies and thoughts as a starting place. One thing that I have little experience with is firearms. I shot an M-16 in Basic at West Point, but got super sick, dropped out, and have never picked one up since. Been thinking about learning for a while now and finally am ready to make a purchase.
An acquaintance thru a co-worker is selling a Ruger P90, a Ruger Mini-14, and a Mossberg 12 gauge with a 20″ barrel. For various reasons, this seems to be the right “package” to start with. So. If I could pick your brain as to what I should look for in each weapon, what a reasonable price is, and any etc you can think of, I would greatly appreciate any comments.
Thanks,
Dave
dvand@comcast.net
DAYPACKS
I use those drab colored daypacks, usally from a dumpster or goodwill source, modify as to needs. On a limited budget so gear and supplies are either homemade or from discount stores. plus that a scruffy looking pack draws less “official concern” about town. Even in the deepwoods, if you look like a “hippie”, others don’t get concern about what you got in your pack.
have fun! Wildflower
Nice pack. I don’t much care for the default green though. What does “OD” look like?
Re: weapon choices
Yeah, thats pretty much a TEOTWAWKI package deal. The Rugers have two great strengths: ruggedness and economy. Their weaknesses are ergonomics and magazine availability (in my opinion).
The P90 is probably the most durable handgun around. (This is not the same as reliability.) I’ve read tests where theyve cut off half the slide and fired 5000 rounds, plugged the barrel and fired a round and then replaced the barrel and fired another 5000 rounds, etc, etc. Very rugged, very durable.
The Mini-14 is a really reliable gun but its accuracy isnt that great. However, for its purpose, its ‘accurate enough’. Magazines arent nearly as ubiquitous as AR mags which is why I tend to push people towards the AR. However, if I found a deal on a Mini with, say, half a dozen mags or so, I probably would pick it up as an ‘extra’ gun for houseguests and party crashers.
Mossberg 12’s are a good choice. Economical and durable.
Prices? Hmmm….assuming its a modern (181- series) Mini, the base gun with one mag and no scope would be $400~.
Ruger P90 in 9mm shouldnt be more than $300.
Mossberg shouldnt be more than $200 unless its a 590 or some other ‘special’ model.
Thats the default green that you saw…olive drab.
Ahhh…duh. Black it is then. Need a ready-pack filled with “needful things” in case of an emergency. Food, clothes, gold bullion, money and a hand gun with some ammo. As an Eagle Scout I always believe in being prepard and all.