Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

The big Missoula gun show is this weekend. Thus far, Ive been able to show some pretty good restraint. Although…there is an IMI/AA Uzi Model A in 9mm that is sorely tempting me. $900, used. Hmmm.

Primers seem to have come down a bit. Theyre in the <$30/m range.  I might be tempted to get a few bricks. No sign of match primers though.

Saw plenty of the usual stuff…a lot of AR’s, a smattering of FALs and AKs. Magazine prices were reasonable and ammo was still in short supply.

Interestingly, there were more ‘personal’ guns for sale than usual. The economy has hit people hard and some of them are suddenly deciding that the gun safe could use a little more room and they could use a little more money in their pocket. Its still early, but I suspect its a buyers show.

Ran into John Trochmann, of course, and said hi. He has a very nice Barret with scope, case, spare mags and ammo for $10k. A serious piece of hardware, but then again these are serious times we live in.

Tomorrow is my birthday so perhaps I’ll treat myself to some cheap little luxury at the show. We’ll see. I received a birthday gift today from my dad, a gift certificate to Kifaru so suddenly I have some choices there that I wasnt expecting. Love the Kifaru gear, though, so this was a wonderful and very generous gift.

Other than the Uzi did I see anything at the show I couldnt live without? No, actually. There were plenty of things that would be nice to have, but nothing that I regard as ‘must have’. Which is good since money is so tight these days anyway. By the by, everything you wanna know about Uzis.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

What do you suppose Custer thought as he saw the increasing number of Indians circling his position and his own forces dwindling under their attack? I mean, yeah, he probably thought “Crap, I shouldn’t have left those Gatling guns behind” but do you think there was a point where he figured there was no way out and that any further fighting would be pointless? I imagine there was a point where he knew there was no way he could save himself or his men and that he was going to die. So, I wonder, why didn’t he just drop his pistols and wait for the inevitable end?

In the heyday of survivalism one of the common comments made about the possibility of a US-Soviet nukefest was the classic “If it happens I hope Im sitting right under where the missle hits”. Another great standard of stupidity was “If it happens we’re all dead anyway”. These statements were usually given by people when confronted with the option of preparing for surviving a nuclear exchange or doing nothing. The worst of the bunch not only resigned themselves to the defeatist attitude of “we’re all dead anyway” but would discourage others from preparing because if no one was prepared to survive such an exchange, the logic goes, theyd be more likely to avoid one. Those who thought they could survive a nuclear war would, they said, be more inclined to participate in one…remove their chances of survival and they won’t throw nukes around. (A fascinating idea that only really works if both sides play by the same rules.)

Fact of the matter is that regardless of what you do, youre gonna die eventually.  Superstitions about an afterlife aside, once your dead you’re pretty much done with existence. The only variables, really, are how long you live and how well. (And, to a degree, how well you die. Technically, we’re in control of that to some degree but theres still plenty of room for the unexpected terminal event.) Personally, Id rather die fat and well-rested in my sleep in a warm bed, in a nice house, on a quiet, cool peaceful night than to die emaciated and filthy, on my knees, coughing up blood as I watch joyous thugs ransack my house before setting it ablaze.

So, if we accept the fact that we are gonna die someday (and if you can’t accept that fact, boy are you in for a surprise someday) whats the point of preparing to weather life’s disasters? You die two years from now or thirty years from now youre still dead, yes? So why go through all these expensive and elaborate steps that we take to preserve our safety and comfort? Same reason that, as I read it, Custer kept going until he was dead – our number one motivational imperative is to survive.

Look at what goes on in the animal kingdom…pretty much every animal’s number one priority in life is to survive, at least long enough to ensure a new generation of that animal. Only under the most extreme circumstances do animals willingly risk their survival … almost always in defense of their young or defense of their social group (hive, pack, whatever). When we see animals exhibit behavior that is counter to their survival we usually discover those animals are diseased or deranged in some way. Theyre ‘mad’.

So what does it say about people who refuse to prepare against threats to their own survival? Or about people who actively discourage or disparage people who take measures to protect themselves? Are they diseased and deranged? Are they somehow twisted in their thinking that they are going against their own instincts of self-preservation? I doubt it. I think that the people who do these things aren’t delusional, they’re either being purposefully ignorant of the threats against them or they’re quite aware of them but choose to pretend they don’t exists and prefer not to be reminded that they do exist. And, as Rand pointed out, reality exists whether you choose to believe in it or not.

On the other hand, one could argue that one thing that separates us from animals is our ability to control and regulate our instinctual behavior. If we were unable to do that, we’d be living in a fairly anarchistic and chaotic world. Those crazy preparedness freaks are people who can’t rationalize or intellectualize past their lizard brain instincts..theyre no better than primates in a jungle. Two sides to every argument, I suppose.

Reality has a predictable way of bending people to its will. (Or it crushes them completely.) I would bet you that there are less people today ‘against us’ and more people ‘with us’ in terms of being prepared. There will be huge differences of opinion as to just what exactly it is we are preparing for, but I think it is the rare individual these days who looks at the person cutting their debt, stocking up on food, cutting their living expenses and asks ‘why’.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Next Saturday is my birthday. If you have a few extra stun grenades or a couple acres of arable land you don’t really need, feel free to send it along with a birthday card. Crom will bless you for it.

My birthday list is actually fairly short this year. The economy sucks, people are losing jobs, so why would I ask someone to buy me something expensive? However, this year I only have three things on my list – a Kifaru Scout pack, a cast iron wok from Lodge, and a  SureFire E2D LED Defender. Pretty simple tastes.  Really, though, I’ve been quite happy when my friends just drop by a 12-pack of Coke with ‘happy birthday!’ scrawled across it.

My birthday will occur right smack in the middle of the three-day Missouula gun show – the largest show in the great state of Montana. I plan to spend all three days there looking at stuff I cannot afford and saying hi to familiar faces. Its a great show, always a full house, and tons of awesome stuff there. If youre in the neighborhood you should check it out.

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Remember how after the feds pulled off their little stunt at Waco many people asked ‘why not just wait them out’? Well, here’s a case where someone did just that. A guy has been holed up on  his property for ten years and the local cops know he’s there they just don’t feel its worth the hassle of getting him. His original crime carried a sentnece of…you guessed it…ten years. And for ten years he’s been hanging out on his property. Its an interesting read with some humor and a good dose of WTF and tinfoil hattery.

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And finally, when shopping for that hideout pocket gun here’s a very handy chart showing the most popular and common ones with their relative sizes.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Nope, it wasn’t your imagination.

While I remembered to make sure the internet hosting bills are paid I kinda forgot the domain renewal was up.

Ooops.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

An impromptu five-shot 100-yard shootoff with the local PD sniper.

I won.

To be fair, we swapped rifles and he won on the next five rounds so it isnt that he’s not a good shot, its that his department-issued rifle isn’t really as suited for the task as it could be. Im sure if he brought his privately owned .308 it would have been a different story.  Still….it was fun.

ETA: By request:

Me: CZ550 in .308, H-S stock, single set trigger, Farrell mount, IOR 10×56 scope with MP8 reticle, 26″ barrel, Harris bipod

Him:  Stock Rem. 700 heavy barrel .308 with Leupold 1-piece base and 3-10x scope with duplex reticle. Other than a camo paintjob it was pretty much a stock gun.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Hmph. For some of us, they never left.

Jason Hodge, father of four children from Barstow, Calif., says he’s “not paranoid” but he is concerned, and that’s why he bought space in what might be labeled a doomsday shelter.

It’s good that someone is thinking about the future and taking steps to protect themselves. What Im curious about is if this is some sort of ‘band-aid’ approach….will someone buy into this program and then figure they have nothing else they need to do. I mean, this isnt like buying homeowners insurance where you send a company the check and then your responsibility ends. However, I suspect thats whats going to happen. Folks will sign on for one of these time-share shelters and figure thats all they have to do…and when the power goes out they’ll stand around helplessly not realizing that theres more to being prepared than just sending a check to some yahoo with a refurbished missile silo. You and I know better, though….right?

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

A  nice article about artesian wells. I had heard the term in the past but it was interesting to read exactly how an artesian well differs from other types of wells. An artesian well figured prominently in the classic post-apocalyptic novel “Alas Babylon”. I remember as a kid drinking from fountains that had water that smelled as artesian water is supposed to smell – like rotten eggs because of all the dissolved minerals – but I dont think Ive ever come across an artesian well here in Montana. Perhaps our geological makeup doesnt lend itself to it. I’ve seen plenty of natural hot springs out here, but I dont think Ive encountered any artesian wells. If they do exist here, they’d certainly be a nice asset to have on a piece of property. Anyway, its a fascinating article and worth reading.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Whats been around for a few years now and how has it held up?

Tactical Tailor 3-day bag – This is the bag I carry around almost daily. I had to replace one fastex buckle when I slammed it in the truck door and shattered it. Other than that incident, it has held up with virtually no signs of wear. Theres plenty of dirt and grime on the straps but other than that it has held up as well as you could want. I’ve had it for about five or six years now and it shows no sign of needing replacement. (ETA: Received it 3/19/2004)  Its gone hunting, on airline trips, tossed around in the back of trucks, thrown onto concrete, dragged over rough ground, fallen on, sat on, shot off of, and given some typical usage in the field. It gets a thumbs up and high marks from me. Would I buy another one? Sure, although I think Im going to start leaning towards Kifaru for most of my pack needs since their products seem to have more versatility with the additional attachment points and molle webbing. The drawback, of course, is that the Kifaru stuff is pricier than the Tactical Tailor stuff by a good margin. If I couldn’t get the Kifaru bag, I’d get the TT bag with no reservations at all.

Leatherman Wave – Something like four or five years I’ve been carrying this thing around every day and I have had no problems with it. Blades lock up tight, everything unfolds smoothly, and the selection of tools seem to fit my needs. I’ve had it wear holes through two sets of jeans, but that’s to be expected. The Leatherman multitiool has been utterly ignored and neglected except for the occasional sharpening and it shows no signs of wear or failure. A couple of the newer models of Leatherman interest me. I’d like to try playing with the Skeletool…it has a built in carabiner-style clip for attaching it to gear and that seems rather handy.

Wilderness instructor belt – been wearing this for about two or three years now and the non-buckle end of it is starting to fray and split. Not a big deal, but there are high-quality copies of this belt out there that feature polymerized ends to prevent that sort of thing. Otherwise the belt and its Velcro have held up fine….hardware is perfect and everything works as it should. I need to get another one or two to keep as spares. I used to prefer leather belts but the heavy-duty stiff nylon belts like this one don’t seem to develop the stretch and ‘memory’ that the leather ones do. Plus, they don’t ‘creak’ and are a bit quiter.

Glock field knife – I’ve at least eight years on this thing and its starting to show. The dark non-reflective coating on the blade has given way to a plum-colored finish on the metal but otherwise the knife has held up quite well despite the abuses I sometimes subject it to. It has cut steel banding, paracord, dug holes, been hammered through deer pelvises, submerged and left wet, and just generally subjected to the kinds of things you do with a working knife. Oh…and I’ve run it through the dishwasher a couple times to get the deer fat and blood off of it after a successful hunting trip. The scabbard is exactly as it was when I got it out of the box years ago…no wear whatsoever. The blade has been sharpened several times, and theres a nick or two, a gouge here and there on the false edge but other than what is essentially cosmetic wear this thing is ready for another ten years or so of use…at least. I don’t think you can damage this knife without doing something exceptionally stupid. And for $25 it’s a bargain for the abuse it’ll take. Buy a bunch of ‘em.

Some of these items were pretty expensive to buy in terms of upfront cost, but over time they’ve proven to be inexpensive in that they never needed to be replaced. This is a good example of the old saying about “Pay for quality once”. Im normally a very…oh lets say “thrifty”…kind of guy so when you put two items on the counter in front of me and one is four times the cost of the other I am, naturally, going to be drawn towards the cheaper one. But sometimes you gotta bite the bullet

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Natural disasters–such as a flood, hurricane, or blizzard–often come without warning. Stocking non-perishable food items ahead of time (and choosing wisely what you include) will help you weather the storm with less stress.

Be sure to read the followup:

Best Foods to Stockpile for an Emergency

Ever see those posts or articles where folks talk about what they think the ideal calibers are for ‘your survival battery’ or some nonsense like that? Predictably it goes something like this: .22LR, .223 (or 308 or 7.62×39), 45 ACP (or 9mm or .40) and 12 ga. There might be a few folks swimming against the current who will say things like .30-06 or .44 Magnum, but generally I would guess that when you look at anyones list of their ‘survival guns’ those calibers make up 90% of the entries. This post is the opposite of that. This post is the calibers that shouldn’t make up your little stash o’ apocalyptic guns and why. As always, this is purely subjective and you’re probably going to disagree. Fine with me, man….opinions are like fundaments..everyone has one.

The recent ammunition shortages are something everyone is aware of and its been blogged about quite a bit on the interwebs. I saw one argument for stocking up guns in bizarre calibers on the logic that all that was left at WalMart were the weird calibers of ammo (.41 Mag, 10mm, .32 Magnum) and therefore your guns should be in that caliber because when all the ammo is picked over those are the calibers that will be left. I usually try to have some decorum when disagreeing with someone but I gotta say, that’s a stupid argument. If the cartridge is oddball enough that its going to be ignored in a panic-buying craze it is probably also obscure enough that most stores won’t have it. Additionally, if the cartridge is obscure or cultish enough that theres such a small base of people shooting it, the selection of guns is probably going to be pretty dismal.

An example of what Im talking about. I had a buddy who wanted a .30 caliber semi-auto rifle capable of being quickly reloaded. Throw some ideas at me….M1A? HK91 clone? AK? AR-10? .30 Carbine? FAL? All good ideas, right? But he was adamant that the ideal gun to meet this criteria was a 1941 Johnson (the gun, not the outboard motor.) So for the price of two of any of those  rifles I just mentioned he got a 10-shot .30-06 that could be fed with stripper clips and had absolutely zero aftermarket accessories and virtually no spare parts support. (His earlier attempt at .30 caliber perfection was a Remington 7400 with ten-round magazines.) Same fella thought that in a revolver the .32 Magnum was the perfect cartridge. So he bought a couple of Smiths and started reloading for the .32 Mag. Good thing because walking into the average gun shop and finding a good selection of .32 Mag ammo is a fools errand. His other choice of a semi-auto ‘battle rifle’ was a tossup – he had a Ljungman AG-42(b) in 6.5×55 and a Remington Model 81 in .35 Remington. Both will spit a bullet out the end of the barrel each time you pull the trigger but finding ammo isn’t exactly a walk in the park. For the money he spent on these dead-ends he could have gotten some very boring, but very easy-to-feed, firearms that would have made more sense logistically and probably been better adapted to what he was expecting to encounter. But, some folks have their own ideas….

Theres a handful of rimfires awailable today. Used to be you only had two to choose from – the .22 LR and the .22 Mag. (For a brief time Remington had a 5mm RF but that sucker is ancient history, a hundred years ago there were rimfires all the way up to .50 cal. And the Swiss used a .41 rimfire for quite a while in their military.) Now you have the two .22s and a couple .17 variants. Pretty much any of the other rimfires are superior to the .22 LR…the Mag and the .17 Mag have it beat for speed and flat trajectory but whats the most common of the bunch? .22 LR. A brick of 500 .22 LR is cheaper than a brick of any of the other rimfires, the guns are common as grass, and while the cartridge has some limitations we pretty much all know what they are and use it accordingly. The other rimfires are great, its just that when it comes time to scrounge ammo from under the seat of a truck, out of someones garage, or even off the ground at the local shooting range the .22 LR will outnumber the other rimfires exponentially.

5.45×39 is the latest incarnation of the AK series of rifles. It can be had on the surplus market pretty cheaply these days but it is still less common than its 7.62×39 parent. Additionally, far more AK (and SKS) variants are out there in 7.62 than there are in 5.45. If you can stock up on 5.45 to the point where the availability outside of your ammo bunker is unimportant, great….but given the choice between the two I’m going with the 7.62×39 over the 5.45. Yeah, the 5.45 is a better cartridge, but the better cartridge is the one you can actually find and the 7.62 is going to be more common, in my opinion.

.41 Magnum and 10mm Auto are great cartridges but have been relegated into the ‘niche’ or ‘cult’ category. I think Ted Nugent is on the right track, toting a Glock 20 around all the time. Great power, excellent trail gun. Ammo availability? Slim compared to it’s weak sister, the .40 S&W. When you don’t know where youre next box of ammo is coming from it’s a good idea to stack the odds in your favor by having something that youre more likely to find. .41 Mag is almost the exact same story – good caliber, thin selection of guns, good luck on the ammo.Really, if your auto is in something other than 9mm, .40 or 45 youre probably going to have a tougher time finding ammo than if it was in one of those calibers. Ditto for .38, .357, .44 in the revolvers.

.30-06? Im conflicted on that one. The only thing even close to being an acceptable self-defense rifle in that caliber is the Garand and I’d take any .308 MBR over a Garand any day of the week. Stuck with .30-06 I’d probably take the FN49 over the Garand. Its probably the most common cartridge around for a bolt gun, and the fella with a Garand will probably never have trouble finding ammo. This is a case of a good cartridge, just a bad choice of guns available. I go with the .308….it’ll do pretty much everything the .30-06 will in weights up to 165 gr. But is available in much better firearms.

If you’ve got some time to kill, pick a list of your favorite cartridges for the particular apocalypse you predict, and go visit five random gun shops or hardware stores…ones you’ve never been to. See if they have your favorite calibers in stock as a standard item they usually carry. If not, maybe its time to rethink what youre planning on going to the zombiefest with.

I’ve got some favorite cartridges that enjoy shooting (..44 Special, 7×57 Mau., etc.) but they are not even on the radar in terms of my long term logistics. When the wheels fly off of civilization I think I’ll be much better served with the guns chambered in cartridges I can actually find ammo for than with the guns that are chambered in pet cartridges that are ’special order’ at many gun shops.