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

The big Missoula Gun Show was this weekend. Its the biggest in the state so attendance is de rigeur. I was trying to be a good boy, I really really was. But, sometimes things happen.

I was walking along the aisles and a casual acquaintance from previous shows called to me from behind his table. I said hi and we chatted a while. As I was chatting I started playing with some of the stuff on his table. Specifically, a Browning HiPower. Blued with Pachmyer grips, adjustable sights and comes with seven magazines. Price? $475.

You like the HiPower, he asked?
Yeah, I have a few, I replied.
Make me an offer. Im in a bargaining mood.

Now, I had no desire to get another P35. I already have a few. But, just to be polite we did the dance some more.

I dunno, man. I’d just lowball you and then your feelings’d be hurt.
:::shrugs::: Worst I can do is say no.
Okay. How about $400?, I think ’surely he won’t take $400 for a genuine Browning…’
Done.
And in my head Im thinking…’crap, I dont think I even have $400 on me. I wasnt expecting him to go for it!’. So I quickly borrowed $50 from a friend and took away my new pistol. Its a used but very clean later model HiPower. Belgian/Portugal, although my other ones are Belgian/Belgian. This one would be a nice candidate for a little tweaking over at Cylinder & Slide…mostly, I like the guns ’stock’ but I would swap out the sights and add a bit more pronounced safety lever.

So I put away my new toy and wandered arround promising myself ‘no more purchases’. See, Im a cheap guy and no matter how good the deal I always have guilt and buyers remorse afterwards. And yet….

Sitting on a table was a Ciener Atchisson .22 conversion for the AR-15. Actually, there were TWO. One looked older than the other. One was missing the magazine. Hmmmm…wouldja take less for the pair, especially since one is missing a magazine?

Next thing I know, I have two AR-15 conversion kits in hand. (Actually, one is an M16 kit since it features the parts necessary for functioning in a full-auto. [note that the parts dont make the gun full auto, the gun has to be fully automatic to start with]) Wandered a bit more and -surprise- found a guy selling these magazines. So, I’ll probably keep one kit and sell the other to help defray the costs.

Last item I picked up was a 14″ .44 Mag. barrel for my Contender. That was really a luxury purchase but it’ll be nice to haul around in the woods this year instead of a nine pound rifle. Currently I have a Contender carbine in .30-30 with a Choate stock and it weighs maybe four pounds. Its a delight to carry in the woods for long periods. But, a gunnie needs something to play with every once in a while and the price was right.

Other than that, there were no real interesting purchases. I did unload a few cases of MRE’s. Since I got dealer status with Mountain House I found that a case of MRE’s takes up a space that can hold much more days worth of food using the MH product, so I figured Id thin down my stash of MRE’s a bit. I singlehandedly lowered the prices of MRE’s at the gun show.

Took the P35 to the range and it shot wonderfully. I forget how much I like those things. I carry the Glock but thats because of its durability and price. But, the Glock has no real character…which is fine for what its intended to be – a simple functional tool – but the P35 has some style and character to it. Too bad theyre (normally) so expensive.

The .22 conversion kits were tricky. They need to be cleaned very badly and I think I need to experiment with different types of ammo. The bulk Federal didnt doo a very good job of cycling things. I very much want to get these kits running smoothly.

Today is my day off from work so Im off to Goodwill to stock up on canning jars at $0.15 ea. My new canner will arrive Thursday.

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

Well, I managed to break the handle on my pressure canner the other day. The pressure canner is still functional (and safe) but next time I exert some significant elbow grease to unlock/lock the lid Im probably gonna tear the handle off. So…time for a new pressure canner it seems.

Unfortunately, the one I would like to get is about twice the cost of the one I just broke. However, it really is a case of getting what you pay for. The one I want doesn’t use a gasketed lid so theres no issue of storing a spare or checking for decay/damage. Also it’s a bit bigger and more heavily made. Oh…and the handles aren’t as fragile.

Why a pressure canner? The obvious reason is to allow me to can things for later (perhaps much later) consumption. Oh sure, it can also double as an autoclave for sterilizing things or as a vessel for distilling water but its main purpose for me is canning. How else would you preserve something you grew or killed without a freezer?

If you haven’t explored the notion of home canning, I recommend you at least pick up a book or two on the subject. The guys who crank out those ‘For Dummies’ books have one on canning and food preserving, and it’s a pretty decent book.

In addition to a pressure canner (which is the most expensive part of the whole proposition) you’ll need jars, lids, bands, tongs and a few small kitchen tools you probably already have. Assuming you don’t break or damage the jars and bands (which are reusable) the only real consumable are the lids which are a strict one-time use item. However, you can buy ‘em in bulk at a lot of internet sites and that drops their cost down considerably.

In terms of ease of use, well, these things have been used by rural grandmothers since FDR was introducing state sponsored wealth redistribution. How hard can it be? There are several good books on the subject and although it may appear intimidating it’s actually very simple…just tedious in some ways. Its very much like reloading…a lot of prep work, a set routine that needs to be followed, and then a finished product that can hurt you very badly if you mess up.

Obviously the main thing is to not do a poor job and wind up killing someone with a heaping helping of botulism at dinner. While that is certainly a possibility if you screw up, those sorts of mistakes are generally easily spotted. All the texts tell you what to look for to ensure that your jar of food has sealed properly and isn’t contaminated with some sort of biological nasty. I was extremely concerned about screwing things up but after the first couple batches I know what to look for and if I have anything less than %100 confidence in a particular jar it gets dumped.

What have I been canning lately? I picked up a recipe for a soup that the wife likes and seems to eat daily. (Getting the recipe is a story for another day and Im not permitted to share the recipe so don’t ask.) So..when I make up a gallon or two of the stuff half gets put away in the fridge for immediate use and the other half gets canned and put back on the shelf for later use. If she gets off work and is hungry and can’t wait for something to thaw, and doesn’t feel like cooking, she can grab a jar of the soup off the shelf, dump it into a bowl, nuke it and have dinner. No muss, no fuss.

The market for canning supplies is, as you may imagine, seasonal. Obviously the demand will be high during summer/fall when gardens are being harvested and all those cukes, tomatoes, beans and pie fillings are being put up. After that its pretty much a slump until next spring. (Although the market never really goes flat…theres always someone putting up canned venison or Christmas preserves or somesuch.) End of season sales sometimes occur giving the opportunity to stock up on lids or jars…keep an eye open.

As I was editing this (yeah, I do edit these things and I still manage to have the frequent grammatical train wreck…) a customer came in and mentioned that the local Goodwill store had canning jars. Hmmmm. I headed over there and, sure enough, they were unpacking several boxes of them. Some looked new, some looked used and only one or two seemed to have any indicators discommending usage (obviously you don’t want a cracked or chipped jar…esp. do not want chips on the mouth of the jar where the sealing takes place.) All looked like they could use a trip (or two) through the dishwasher (if the dead bugs in some of the jars were any indication.) Prices were $0.15 for the small and $0.29 for the large. So…I’m gonna have to head back there later when I have the truck and pick up a few dozen. On the way back I checked out the other ‘thrift’ store a few doors down from me. Large jars were a couple bucks each…so, as you can see, theres something of a bargain going on over there at the Goodwill.

And, I have been recently informed that for my birthday (which is today, actually) someone will be getting me the pressure canner I wanted as a gift. Serendipitous, that.

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

Someone commented asking why I was worked up about the Mountain House supply issue when I have been going to the LDS cannery. Valid question, I suppose. Quick answer: one has stuff that the other does not.

The LDS cannery is limited to dry goods. That means no meats. MH at least has chicken, beef and pork available. And, while I can appreciate the streamlining that would occur in my logistics if I were to become a vegetarian, that just ain’t gonna happen.

In case no one has ever been to one of these cannery facilities before (and I hadn’t ever been to one until this year) here’s a fast rundown of whats available: 3 different beans, nonfat milk, rice, sugar, wheat (hard and soft), apple slices, carrots, macaroni, oats (regular and quick), onions, potato flakes, spaghetti, refried beans, coca mix, flour, pancake mix and drink mix.  You can buy the stuff in either #10 cans, mylar pouches, or in bulk (25# sacks).

Not a bad selection, but you can see how it could get a bit boring and perhaps a bit difficult to work with in terms of variety.

Now, supplementing the stuff from the cannery with some freeze dried ground beef, some canned tomatoes and a few spices and you can whip up a Bolognese sauce for spaghetti, a cacciatore, or a half dozen other dishes. So, yeah, the LDS cannery offers a good selection of staple goods…I just want a broader selection to expand my menu planning. Some facilities will allow non-members to use them, some will not. (The one I went to was not open to non-members.) However, they may allow a member to bring a guest…which is how I’ve been going. If you can find a buddy or acquaintance who is a church member and get them to bring you along as a guest, I highly recommend it.

You might want to keep in mind that as things get more interesting in the world, access to the LDS facilities may get tightened up so that resources are always available for members….so the sooner you get there the better, most likely.

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Speaking of putting things into storage, I did a casual inventory of a few things the other day and surprised myself in that I was short in a couple areas (and long in a few others, which didn’t surprise me). Most glaring was that I had about a bit less .22LR ammo than I thought. Fortunately, I had enough in the ‘shootable’ ammo category to transfer to the ‘storage’ category and get me back up to where I want to be. (Normally, we buy two bricks of .22 ammo every time we hit WallyWorld. That ammo gets put on the shelf with the ammo we normally use for plinking and whatnot. When it starts to pile up [since we don’t get out shooting as much as we’d like] into a quantity exceeding 5k rounds, 5k gets pulled and moved into storage and whatever is left over is allowed to accrue until it hits 5k rounds again. In this manner a good deal of .22 gets socked away.)

Other than the .22 ammo everything was pretty much as I expected although one or two food items were a bit lower than what Id like them to be. Easily fixed with a quick trip to the store, though.

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I’ve been reading a book lately Im going to go ahead and recommend. “Island In The Sea Of Time” by S.M. Stirling (ISBN 0-451-45675-0). Stirling is the geek who wrote the ‘Dies The Fire’ trilogy that started off well and ended absurdly. Succinctly, Stirlings books involve modern society getting thrown back into a Middle Ages (or earlier) level of technology, for whatever reason. Invariably, the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism…the nerds with the plywood shields and swords playing King Arthur) wind up becoming the saviors of the world by virture of their ‘swordsmanship’. Its easy to get the impression that the author got his ass kicked a lot in high school and decided to write a book where the SCA geeks become the heroes. Anyway, the premise of ‘Island’ is that for the typical ‘reason that is never explained’ the island of Nantucket, with buildings, occupants and everything else, vanishes from the twentieth century and winds up in 1250 BC. Its an interesting story about modern society forced to adapt to having no resuplly, limited fuel, no outside food sources, etc. as well as having to deal with hostiles (within and without) and form a local government. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. And, true to the authors penchant for SCA geekiness, theres a bit of that. But as people like myself lament in these sorts of books ‘why the hell don’t these people fashion simple blackpowder firearms???’, in this case they do exactly that which, to me, shows a certain amount of real-life logic.

Anyway, it’s a good read and I recommend it. If nothing else its an excellent form of entertainment to second guess the story and ask yourself how you would cope with the lack of [ammo/electrical power/flush toilets/propane/toilet paper/etc].

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I sold a customer a PTR-91 a few weeks ago and he ordered a couple of the OEM surplus HK G3 .22 conversion kits that have been on the market lately. He brought it by today for me to look at and get some pictures of. The kit comes in a fitted wooden case and consists of a barrel sleeve and insert, bolt assembly, 2 20-rd mags (weighted to feel like full .308 mags) and a cleaning kit. As it turns out HK did at one point offer an HK91 conversion kit in addition to the G3 conversion kit. Whats the difference? The HK91 kit was meant for semiauto guns and has a ‘tail’ on the bolt assembly that is not present on the G3 (fullauto) .22 conversion. As a result if you pull the bolt handle all the way to the rear with the G3 conversion in a semiauto gun, the hammer will hang up and you’ll have to disassemble the gun. Not a big deal, simply pull the bolt back far enough to chamber a round and let it go.

Lets talk math. The kit is approx. $500. That, my friends, is a lot of money. However that’s also what you would expect to pay for 1000 rounds of quality .308 ammo these days. So for the cost of 1000 rounds of .308 you can have a kit to shoot ammo that costs $12/1000.

Put another way:
$500 = 1000 rounds of .308, next 1000 rounds is $500
$512 = kit and 1000 rounds of .22, next 1000 rounds is $12

Whats the purpose since recoil and ballistics will be different than when using .308? First of all, familiarity. You can practice snap shoot drills – bringing the rifle up, quickly getting a sight picture, flipping the safety off and taking a shot – for about 1/20^th the cost of doing it in .308. Its an excellent way to practice trigger control and sight pictures and get the immediate feedback that is only possible with life-fire.

Still gotta get the Ruger built up as an AR trainer, though.

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

This showed up in snail mail today:

This is an update on Oregon Freeze Dry’s #10 can situation. Because sales remain high, we continue to be unable to meet all #10 can needs. OFD is allocating as much of our Production Capacity as possible to this market segment, while still allowing us to meet requirements in other markets.

Unfortunately, we cannot open sales to all previous dealers, nor are we accepting new dealers. We continue to sell allocated quantities to our long-time, largest customers/distributors.

We expect this situation to remain through most of 2009. At this point, we are not able to predict when we can open up sales to all dealers.

In addition, we feel as a company we have not been strict enough on dealer requirements, and it is important dealers are only established Preparedness Market and/or Camping related Businesses. We also intend to have a stronger Suggested retail Pricing Program to eliminate ongoing discounts. Due to these concerns, OFD will implement two new programs:

• Wholesale Delaer Requirements
• Minimum Retail pricing Program

Prior to re-activating each account, new and Current Dealers will be required to re-qualify based on the new program requirements.

Read into this what you will, folks. Some people say this is because .gov has ordered a huge purchase of food from these guys. That seems awful unlikely since .gov already has long-term food ordering programs in place for their MRE contracts. What this is is OFD seeing the opportunity to make some big bucks in a hurry by eliminating some discounts and getting rid of the nickle-n-dime dealers that made small orders. Nothing wrong with that, its just good business to them. What it means to you is that the natives are restless and if you havent gotten your needs squared away in this department you better do something about it soon before this stuff is unavailable at any price.

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

And 60# of Hard Red Wheat later, we are back…

Smaller crowd at the cannery this time, but thats cool by me. I stick out less that way.

Out of sugar, but wheat was to be had and I took a dozen #10 cans of the stuff. Also grabbed a can of apple slices to incorporate into my next wheat cereal cooking adventure. This is my third trip and each time I try to make a good impression with the volunteers running the place so that at some point I may be able to come by unaccompanied. This time I was actually given some ‘literature’ to take home. I like to think this means they think well of me.

Turns out they do, as I suspected, have a couple smaller electric can sealers that they let members check out for their own use. Hmmmm. This would be exceptionally handy for thos times when I want to can something that they do not normally can up there. (And they wont let you just bring in a 50# sack of whatever to can.) Be nice to have some of the dried whole corn canned. Same for some pasta and other dried foods.

So…still likin’ the Mormons.

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

‘Nother trip to the cannery this evening with those fun-lovin’ Mormons!

Seriously, if it werent for the religious aspect, Id be right there at the front of the line during the membership drive.

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

When it comes to storing the rather large quantity of food that has been acquired, space and safe storage becomes an issue. Im sure theres optimal ways to do things and methods that are better than mine but I’ll tell you what I do.

The absolute best thing I have found so far, for my needs, has been the adjustable free-standing wire shelving that you would see in most professional kitchens. CostCo usually has them somewhere…about $80 for a 6’ unit that comes with wheels and six levels of shelving. I find these things to be excellent for the task. The wire shelving lets air circulate between layers, keeps stuff high enough off the floor to keep moisture away, each shelf is adjustable for height, and the wheels let me move the unit around if I need to shuffle space in the bunker. If you buy two of these units you can share a set of legs and have a unit three shelves across. Three units gets you a run of five shelf widths, etc, etc. Extra shelving, as well as some interesting accessories, can be found here.  The most valuable accessory are ‘S-hooks’ these are, as you might guess, S-shaped pieces of metal that hook onto the shelf edge and let you hang another shelf from it. For example if you had two freestanding shelves, these hooks would let you hang another shelf between them. Where they really shine are for making your shelving run around corners or for making ‘T’ intersections of shelving. They’re cheap and add a huge amount of versatility.

Originally I fabbed up some shelves using 2×4 and plywood. They were cheaper, no doubt about it but they were not nearly as versatile. It’s a pain in the ass to have to cough up money up front for the wire shelving but its versatility makes up for it in a major way. I have a bunch of these things and love ‘em.

The lowest level shelf is a few inches of the floor because the name of the game here is airflow and moisture-free. I try to space everything so that theres a bit of airflow so packaging doesn’t deteriorate from moisture, mold or damp. I usually store the 5-gallon buckets on the lower shelves since they are the most resistant to environmental concerns. Even if there were a foot of standing water the buckets would be okay and as an extra layer of insurance the contents of the buckets are in sealed Mylar bags. So…most durable packaging goes on the lower shelves.

Each shelving unit, by the way, is about 4’ wide so its not that hard to come up with 4’ of wall space somewhere to store it. Many people say that they just don’t have the room to store any large quantity of food…I hate to make sweeping generalizations, but I think if you’re serious about being prepared you’ll find the room. Just use common sense: store away from heat and cold (no uninsulated garages), away from chemical contaminants (don’t store it next to the bug killer), away from damp and wet (don’t store it in a hole under your garden shed). Wheres that leave? Closets, under bed, topmost layer of kitchen cabinets, finished basement, etc, etc. It really doesn’t take up that much room. (All the other crap we accumulate to be prepared, well, that’s another matter altogether.) Although they cost more, the shelving is also available in 12” rather than 18” deep…for where space is really tight.

Like I said, I prefer the steel wire shelving but if you don’t wanna spend that kinda money just make sure to store your stuff in such a manner that its off the floor (imagine a pipe break or sump pump failure), not contacting the walls, and arranged to let air circulate.

A few other things to think about:

Think about weight and stability. Putting the 1-gallon glass jars on the topmost shelf might be a bad idea if things get knocked around a bit. The wire shelving I use comes with ‘guardrails’ so stuff wont fall of the ends of the shelf. Think about it…. Ground tremors, hasty movement of contents on shelves, etc can all wind up knocking things off. Arrange accordingly.

Anything not in a can, bottle, or heavy duty packaging needs to be repackaged. I use heavy plastic locking storage pins for the cardboard/paper packaged stuff. This keeps it all in one place and keeps everything dry and safe if theres an environmental issue. (‘Environmental issue’ is shorthand for ‘stuff in the air like [water, rain, snow, mist, moisture, dampness, dust, dirt, etc.]’)

If you worry about people seeing your stash, or just want to keep it protected to keep light and dust off it, covers are available to complete cover the shelf and its contents. You can make your own, obviously, or you can buy them ready-made complete with zipper access.

In short, if you can free up a 48”x18” (or even a 48”x12”) footprint somewhere then you’ve got room to sock away at least several months worth of food.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but Ive been quite pleased with the wire shelving.

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

Fascinating article Uncomfortable Answers To Questions On The Economy. A very nicely laid out article explaining, as best I can tell, the current economic situation and generally saying that, as if we hadnt figured this out, its gonna get worse before it gets better. Some highlights:

Something has clearly gone wrong with the economy. But how bad are things, really? And how bad might they get before better days return? Even to many economists who recently thought the gloom was overblown, the situation looks grim. The economy is in the midst of a very rough patch. The worst is probably still ahead.

Job losses will probably accelerate through this year and into 2009, and the job market will probably stay weak even longer. Home prices will probably keep falling, shrinking household wealth and eroding spending power.

…..

The fate of the economy now rests on the shoulders of the American consumer, whose spending amounts to 70 percent of all economic activity.

When people go to the mall and buy televisions and eat out, their money circulates through the economy. When they tighten their belts, austerity ripples out and chokes growth.

If the economy is counting on my spending to help it out of the current situation, I think theyre in for a disappointment. My goal right now is to spend as little as possible, convert it into inflation-proof goods, and play it very, very close to the vest. And I know Im not alone in that plan. I don’t think theres anyone in this country who isn’t of the mind to check their purchasing. Let-the-good-times-roll spending is what created this situation and now we’re told spending will get us out of it?

Anyway, its an excellent article, two pages so its a short read, but I think its very informative and I recommend you take a look at it.

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

I don’t pretend to understand exactly whats going on in the economy. I understand that the value of the dollar declines and foreign goods become, to us, more expensive. I understand that fuel prices increase and prices of other good increase accordingly to reflect the higher shipping. But, really, much of this is abstract. Its just something you read about. What drives it home for me is that as I putter around town I see more and more businesses closing up and buildings going vacant. In some areas its like a ghost town. That seems much more ‘real’ to me. It’s a bit disturbing…I see new businesses come in and a few months they’re gone. Someone’s dream of prosperity and success chucked into moving truck and the rest into a dumpster. The ‘For Lease’ sign goes back up and its someone elses turn. I suppose it’s a form of economic Darwinism, but its still a bit gloomy to see all these empty commercial spaces and Going Out Of Business signs. It does absolutely nothing to diminish my pessimistic outlook and my desire to play it safe.

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Ground up some wheat in the superblender the other day. I tell ya, that VitaMix is living up to its hype around here. Since I have a good bit of wheat tucked away I figured I’d try some cooking with it. In this case, I was interested in a breakfast cereal-type grind. So…dump in a cup of wheat and grind it up to about the consistency of pretzel salt. Recipe calls for 3:1 water:wheat with a little salt. It was interesting. It took about 15 minutes to cook and the result was a chewy, extremely filling cereal. I added a bit of brown sugar and it was quite good. Very satisfying. I figure if I throw in some dehydrated fruit it would make an excellent breakfast. In terms of economics its about…mmmmm…about a dime….for the rather large serving I wound up with. (I used 1/3 cup wheat and 1 cup water and had plenty of cereal..plenty…) Next up will be grinding a much finer grind and mixing it with dehydrated eggs to make pasta dough. After that, we’ll move on to the baking portion of the program.

The local Mormon cannery offers wheat in #10 cans, 5# Mylar bags or in 25# sacks. I have mine in 15-gallon blue barrels but I think next trip I’m going to see if I can get at least a dozen or so cans. I may also pick up another couple blue barrels and load them up as well. Couple hundred pounds oughtta do the trick.

At this point in time, Im fairly content with the amount of food I’ve got squirreled away. It may get boring at times, but I’d say at the very least we’ve got nine months of food put back and, in reality, probably closer to 12-15 months depending on the menu planning. It aint all rice and beans either…theres a goodly amount of rice, to be sure, but theres also pasta, meat, eggs, canned vegetables, MREs, potatoes, etc, etc. Just from a mathematical standpoint the wheat I have on hand right now could, at the rate mentioned in the earlier paragraph, provide breakfast for about a year. Shake it up a little with scrambled eggs, fruit compote, hash, and a few other traditional breakfast foods and I’d say we’ve got The Most Important Meal Of The Day covered for about 14-18 months.

I want to point out that this sort of thing isn’t exclusively an End Of The World stockpile. Very often if theres a product we eat that has a good shelf life and winds up going on sale at a very good price we’ll pick up a rather large quantity of it and rotate it through. The advantage there is that it saves a lot of money and, if things get weird, we have that stockpile sitting here. Its sort of a buffer… Lets say you like canned chili. You use one can a week and its normally $2.79. One day theres a sale..dollar each. You pick up four cases. You now have 96 cans of the stuff. When you want your weekly dose you pull one can from your stash and then replace it with a new one on your next shopping trip. Each week one old can gets used, and one new one gets added. If things turn bad, you’ve got those 96 in reserve.

Of course, this sort of thing only works with stuff that has a decent shelf life but you’d be surprised whats stuffed into a can or retort pouch these days. (Esp. meat…check the canned meats section at your local megamart sometime. Theres some amazing stuff that’s getting put away into room-temperature packaging…shrimp, chicken, turkey, beef, pork…the whole gamut of animal flesh.)

Unfortunately, when you have a mountain of food sitting around its not as simple as just letting it sit there and forgetting about it until you need it. How do you store all this stuff? More on that later….

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

Went down to the GunPimp today to just say hi and see what was new. Surprisingly, they actually had something that got me a bit excited. I’d been reading about the new USA-made Steyr AUG clones but gun magazines always review stuff that we never actually get to see in the market place. Gunvaporware, I suppose. Well, this time they had two of these AUG-knockoffs…designated STG 556. One had the integral scope, which I heartily dislike, and the other had the now ubiquitous picatinny rail. Because the gun is a bullpup design theres a good portion of that barrel that’s actually stuffed way back into the receiver. The result is that a 16” barrel sticks out the front of the gun a lot less than 16”. The end product is an extremely short gun. This thing was in the rack next to an assortment of CAR-15’s and M4geries and this gun was easily about 4” shorter. Its pretty much right at the legal minimum overall length limit. This is not a true copy of the AUG…one major difference that left me scratching my head was an AR-style forward assist. The gun does retain some cool AUG features such as quick detachable barrel (which really doesn’t add much to compactness since the thing is so short already), ambidextrous ejection, and fold-up foregrip. It appears that while the mags will work in original Steyrs the reverse is not true so it’s a pretty proprietary mag. Obviously, I didn’t get to shoot the STG 556 but it handled very, very nicely. Its definitely a one-hand gun. I could see it being an extremely nice package for vehicle use, in tight confines, and other situations where a short barrel is useful. Price tag wasn’t cheap…$1700~ for a .223 is a bit much, but an original AUG will go for about twice that and you’d still be stuck with the kludgy integral Steyr optic. If I didn’t have a footlocker full of AR’s I might give one of these things a go, but at this stage in the game I am not adding another magazine into my logistics table. But, if you’ve got the money, it might make a fun addition to the gun collection and turn out to be a very nice shooter. If nothing else its not another M4-knockoff like you see everyone at the range with these days.

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I was cleaning my rifle today and, as I sometimes do, I took the opportunity to play with the mil-reticle ranging system. Theres a building a few blocks away with a roof access door that I can see from my shop. Well, I measured my own door which turned out to be an even 36” across (1 yard, right?). I figure the door on the building I was looking at was probably the same width. I ranged it through my scope at about 3 mils. So, the formula is [size of object in yards] x 1000 and then divide that by mils to get range. So: (1yardx1000)/3mils=333.33 yards. Now, how to check that distance. This is where it gets interesting. I use my GPS to take the coordinates of where I was and the coordinates of where I was glassing. Then, using a little Pythagorean math come up with the distance. Here’s how:

(a^2) + (b^2) = (c^2) is the formula

Heres the short version:

Take your position in UTM coords. You get two numbers, your x and y axis. Take the coords of your target, also in an x,y format.

Example: your location is xxx,yyy your target is aaa,bbb.

Subtract xxx from aaa, call that number N

Subtract yyy from zzz, call that number P

If the numbers wind up being negative, ignore the negative sign. We just want the difference between the two numbers.(Meaning if you get –1542 just call it 1542 [Number freaks will remind me that the negative is irrelevant since squaring a negative will always result in a positive])

Now the easy part: (N^2) + (P^2) = LASTNUMBER

Find the square root of LASTNUMBER and that’s your distance in meters.

So, I entered the coords of my shop (where I was cleaning the rifle) and the coords of the building I was scoping and wrote a quick spreadsheet to do the calculations. Result? 348 yards. Off by about 45 feet (15 yards). I attribute that to the difficulty of holding the rifle steady and the crosshairs dancing, also the door is located at the center of the buildings flat roof, not at the edge of the building and the edge of the building is where I stood to get the coordinates…so theres a bit of offset in there.

My point here, however, is that if you use the long/lat coordinate system on your GPS its a lot harder to tell the actual distance between two points. UTM is much, much easier to do math with..unless you can tell me what the difference in miles/yards is between 2 minutes and 32.879 seconds in a hurry.

Its an extremely easy bit of work to come up with a fast spreadsheet to cover the math.