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

Off to gun camp with the girlfriend. Two days of defensive handgun and 'tactical rifle' (read: AR1-15).

Its a fairly healthy haul to Billings (5-6 hours depending on conditions). I really need to come up with a standard list of items for roadtrips. Something I can throw in the back of the truck and be done with. Maybe thats what I'll do while riding as passenger…work on lists.

Its rained for the last several days here and I cannot remember the last time that happened. (Okay, maybe I can…summer of 2000 when we had the really bad fires. Never been so glad to see rain.) Gotta pack some raingear for this trip as well as some cold gear since you just never know around here. (We did, after all, have a 4th of July snowstorm once.)

This class is giving me the opportunity to swap out some 55 gr. ammo from stores with some 62 gr. M855 steel-core green tip. (Or maybe its ss-109… I keep mixing them up. And, yes, I already have the link to the AR-15 Ammo Oracle, thanks) A little bit of extra penetration is always nice, although, really, the softpoints are probably a better choice from the terminal performance standpoint.

I wanna bring the FAL just to give it a go at this course but thats too many guns to haul around. I also wonder if they'll let me do Glock reloads using my 33-rd mags….Im betting the answer will be 'only if those are what youd actually carry as a spare mag'. Funny thing is, I sort of already do…I've three of them on my TT pack in an MP5 mag pouch.

9mm ammo is running low what with these classes. I need to pick up at least another couple cases. Same for .223. Doing good on .308 though..I bought a couple cans of the very nice Radway Green stuff a few years ago and have shot almost none of it.

I need to sit down and inventory all the ammo anyway. I know I've got about 12k in .22, another 1k in 12 gauge, and probably 3k in .38…. not sure what else (although I know theres a good bit…I've got shelves five layers high loaded with full ammo cans).

Of course, as we all know, TEOTWAWKI might not require very much ammo at all but why not play it safe, y'know?

Went on a little geocaching the other day. Gave me a chance to try out the Blackhawk Hydrastorm Predator that I picked up a few weeks ago. I’ve lately come to eschew Blackhawk gear for its Made-In-Vietnam angle, but I’d already plunked the money down on this thing so I’ll go ahead and use it. The bladder features a seam running down the middle which effectively forms two channels for liquid to fill…what this does is keep the bladder from blowing up like a balloon. nice touch. The new Bite Me valve did seem nicer than the Camelbak’s and it definitely delivered more water. Shoulder straps were comfortable and generally the product performed well. Some sort of retainer for the tube would have been nice to keep it from flopping around but thats a quick fix with a rubber band or spring clip.

My GPS uses 4 AA batts, like many other GPS. I stuffed mine with lithium batts since the GPS sits idle for long periods of time and that can sometimes be a drag on regular batts. I think I put those lithiums in three years ago and I now finally need to swap them out. So, with infrequent use, three years out of the lithium batteries. More expensive up front, but worth it.

Cant say enough about UTM. Some people still want to use the long/lat hour-minute units. This is fine until you get a question like how far is a minute? A degree? An hour? With UTM you subtract one number from the other number and thats your distance in meters. Piece of cake. Where its really, really handy is for using pythagoreum (sp?) theory to figure your distance. Take your location on a map and draw a dot, draw a dot at your target location. Draw a line between the two. Draw a triangle so that the line you drew is the long leg of a right triangle. (a^2) + (b^2) = (c^2), right? So measure leg a, leg b and do some math and you know exactly how long leg c, the line you drew, is. Try that with degrees sometime.

Other gear this trip:
UM84 holster for the Glock 17 – Good protection, easy attachment to belt, protects gun nicely. Good holster.
Boonie hat – run that baby though a stream, shake excess water off, put hat on head and brace for the glacial cold that will wash over you. And it keeps the sun out of your eyes to boot.
Motorola radios – Litte Talkabouts came in handy. I crossed the stream and hunted for a trail on the one side while the girlfriend waited on the other and I could let her know what was going on. Handy that.

There was also sundry gear that was taken that simply wasnt used so I wont go into any detail on that.

The trails immediately split right at the trailhead and I think we took the wrong one which is why we didnt find the cache we were looking for. Next time we’ll take the fork on the right and see what happens.

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

Went on a little geocaching the other day. Gave me a chance to try out the Blackhawk Hydrastorm Predator that I picked up a few weeks ago. I've lately come to eschew Blackhawk gear for its Made-In-Vietnam angle, but I'd already plunked the money down on this thing so I'll go ahead and use it. The bladder features a seam running down the middle which effectively forms two channels for liquid to fill…what this does is keep the bladder from blowing up like a balloon. nice touch. The new Bite Me valve did seem nicer than the Camelbak's and it definitely delivered more water. Shoulder straps were comfortable and generally the product performed well. Some sort of retainer for the tube would have been nice to keep it from flopping around but thats a quick fix with a rubber band or spring clip.

My GPS uses 4 AA batts, like many other GPS. I stuffed mine with lithium batts since the GPS sits idle for long periods of time and that can sometimes be a drag on regular batts. I think I put those lithiums in three years ago and I now finally need to swap them out. So, with infrequent use, three years out of the lithium batteries. More expensive up front, but worth it.

Cant say enough about UTM. Some people still want to use the long/lat hour-minute units. This is fine until you get a question like how far is a minute? A degree? An hour? With UTM you subtract one number from the other number and thats your distance in meters. Piece of cake. Where its really, really handy is for using pythagoreum (sp?) theory to figure your distance. Take your location on a map and draw a dot, draw a dot at your target location. Draw a line between the two. Draw a triangle so that the line you drew is the long leg of a right triangle. (a^2) + (b^2) = (c^2), right? So measure leg a, leg b and do some math and you know exactly how long leg c, the line you drew, is. Try that with degrees sometime.

Other gear this trip:
UM84 holster for the Glock 17 – Good protection, easy attachment to belt, protects gun nicely. Good holster.
Boonie hat – run that baby though a stream, shake excess water off, put hat on head and brace for the glacial cold that will wash over you. And it keeps the sun out of your eyes to boot.
Motorola radios – Litte Talkabouts came in handy. I crossed the stream and hunted for a trail on the one side while the girlfriend waited on the other and I could let her know what was going on. Handy that.

There was also sundry gear that was taken that simply wasnt used so I wont go into any detail on that.

The trails immediately split right at the trailhead and I think we took the wrong one which is why we didnt find the cache we were looking for. Next time we'll take the fork on the right and see what happens.

Interesting post over in the Guns community. It lends a bit of validity to my idea that you dont put all your eggs (or guns) in one basket. Fella has a CCW. According to him, he’s walking along at night and gets accosted by a homeless guy with a knife. Our guy puts his hand on the butt of his pistol and tells knifeguy to back off or else. Knifeguy exercises better part of valor…and then calls the cops on CCW guy who gets arrested and then has his house entered by the cops (while he is in custody elsewhere) who then take all his other guns. Heck, you can read it for yourself here:
So, unless this poor guy has some LMI’s who can give him ‘loaners’ or has a separate stash of thundertoys elsewhere he is now gunless. Whats interesting to note is that this was out of nowhere…it wasnt ATF storming the place with tanks, it wasnt the UN and FEMA, it was mutant cannibal zombies. It happened in a non-TSHTF situation..just an average day.

Now, Ive been in this situation and lucked out in that I had buddies who were more than happy to loan me duplicates of what was taken. (Another very good reason for standardization…buddy loaned me a Browning P35 and I still had leather, mags, parts, etc, for it.)

Moral of the story: there doesnt have to be a societal upheaval for the cops to find a reason to get into your home. Once there theyre going to see all that ‘crazy survivalist’ stuff or your ‘assault rifles’ or your ‘anti government literature’ and what started as a dog-bites-child complaint or some other crap is going to become a ‘Local area police discover weapons cache’ sort of thing in the paper.

Resolved: Eggs. Basket. Basket. Basket.

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

Interesting post over in the Guns community. It lends a bit of validity to my idea that you dont put all your eggs (or guns) in one basket. Fella has a CCW. According to him, he's walking along at night and gets accosted by a homeless guy with a knife. Our guy puts his hand on the butt of his pistol and tells knifeguy to back off or else. Knifeguy exercises better part of valor…and then calls the cops on CCW guy who gets arrested and then has his house entered by the cops (while he is in custody elsewhere) who then take all his other guns. Heck, you can read it for yourself here:
So, unless this poor guy has some LMI's who can give him 'loaners' or has a separate stash of thundertoys elsewhere he is now gunless. Whats interesting to note is that this was out of nowhere…it wasnt ATF storming the place with tanks, it wasnt the UN and FEMA, it was mutant cannibal zombies. It happened in a non-TSHTF situation..just an average day.

Now, Ive been in this situation and lucked out in that I had buddies who were more than happy to loan me duplicates of what was taken. (Another very good reason for standardization…buddy loaned me a Browning P35 and I still had leather, mags, parts, etc, for it.)

Moral of the story: there doesnt have to be a societal upheaval for the cops to find a reason to get into your home. Once there theyre going to see all that 'crazy survivalist' stuff or your 'assault rifles' or your 'anti government literature' and what started as a dog-bites-child complaint or some other crap is going to become a 'Local area police discover weapons cache' sort of thing in the paper.

Resolved: Eggs. Basket. Basket. Basket.

Went down to the Deer Lodge gun show. It was held in the ancient prison there….25′ high sandstone walls, lotsa poured concrete, very bunkerish. Picked up a pair of German surplus military ponchos. I like these better than the US ones for a couple reasons. First, the material is a bit heavy-dutier thatn the lightweight nylon stuff on the US model. Yes, it translates into more weight to carry but I think its an acceptable tradeoff for actually staying dry when you use it as a groundsheet or overhead cover. The snaps that run along the ledges are such that both sides (‘heads’ and ‘tails’) can be mated to each other so you can come up with some interesting fabrications using multiple ponchos.Another very German touch is that there is a snap in the middle of the poncho that the top of the hood fastens to. This means that when you have the ponch set up as an overhead cover the headhole is closed up and the hood isnt flapping around. … clever. Anyway, they were $13 each and very worth it in my opinion. They’ll roll up into a roll the size of a 2-cell D flashlight so the space they take up wont be too bad. A good purchase. Without exhausting the list, in addition to keeping you out of the rain, they can also be used to create sleeping bag bivvy sacks, improvised stretchers, ford rivers by wrapping your pack in one, groundsheet on damp ground, etc, etc, etc. A very versatile piece of gear.
=====
Great news on the Preventing Starvation (And Bowel Activity) front. My contact in the WY NG is going to be coming up for a visit and wants to know if Im still willing to trade for late-production cases of MRE’s. Hell yes! 12 meals in an impervious cardboard box that I can throw in the back of a truck and vamoose? Sign me up!
=====
Local gunpimp has some new .223. Polymer case stuff. Picked up a case of 500 rounds and was taken with how light the ammo was. I absolutely do not trust it to work flawlessly but its fairly cheap ($75 retail/500) so I might use it for practice or something while saving the SS109 for that rainy decade.
=====
Still havent gotten around to making that Mountain House order yet. Need a time when Ive got a hundred bucks that isnt doing anything…and that aint very often.

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

Went down to the Deer Lodge gun show. It was held in the ancient prison there….25' high sandstone walls, lotsa poured concrete, very bunkerish. Picked up a pair of German surplus military ponchos. I like these better than the US ones for a couple reasons. First, the material is a bit heavy-dutier thatn the lightweight nylon stuff on the US model. Yes, it translates into more weight to carry but I think its an acceptable tradeoff for actually staying dry when you use it as a groundsheet or overhead cover. The snaps that run along the ledges are such that both sides ('heads' and 'tails') can be mated to each other so you can come up with some interesting fabrications using multiple ponchos.Another very German touch is that there is a snap in the middle of the poncho that the top of the hood fastens to. This means that when you have the ponch set up as an overhead cover the headhole is closed up and the hood isnt flapping around. … clever. Anyway, they were $13 each and very worth it in my opinion. They'll roll up into a roll the size of a 2-cell D flashlight so the space they take up wont be too bad. A good purchase. Without exhausting the list, in addition to keeping you out of the rain, they can also be used to create sleeping bag bivvy sacks, improvised stretchers, ford rivers by wrapping your pack in one, groundsheet on damp ground, etc, etc, etc. A very versatile piece of gear.
=====
Great news on the Preventing Starvation (And Bowel Activity) front. My contact in the WY NG is going to be coming up for a visit and wants to know if Im still willing to trade for late-production cases of MRE's. Hell yes! 12 meals in an impervious cardboard box that I can throw in the back of a truck and vamoose? Sign me up!
=====
Local gunpimp has some new .223. Polymer case stuff. Picked up a case of 500 rounds and was taken with how light the ammo was. I absolutely do not trust it to work flawlessly but its fairly cheap ($75 retail/500) so I might use it for practice or something while saving the SS109 for that rainy decade.
=====
Still havent gotten around to making that Mountain House order yet. Need a time when Ive got a hundred bucks that isnt doing anything…and that aint very often.

Cleaned the AK from shooting it the other day. I really gotta hand it to the Commies, its been almost 60 years and very little has come along to challenge the AK’s reliability. Ergonomics suck, accuracy is only so-so, but by god it goes bang every time you pull the trigger.
=====
World sitrep remains relatively unchanged…actually, no, thats not true…I want to say it seems quieter but its probably just a) the media not keeping up with ongoing threats since they arent ‘fresh news’ any more and b) the threats are shifting from military/terrorist to economic. Actually, theyve always been economic, its just that sometimes its more pronounced than others. Fuel prices seem to have levelled off at the ‘high’ end of the spectrum but summer tourist season has yet to arrive and that will certainly boost prices a bit. Not that I really have anywhere to go, Im more interested in seeing what effect, if any, it will have on the prices of day-to-day goods (i.e. groceries) that require extensive shipping.
=====
I was cruising around the internet and noticed that alot of people (and outfits) are getting into the cargo container modification game. One website I read said that the US brings in about 9 million of these things every year but only sends back a third of that since its cheaper to leave them at the dock and pay a fee on them than it is to ship them back across the ocean from whence they came. Result is that , at least in coastal areas, you can get containers fairly easily. (Or, as easily as anything involving hauling large objects by truck can be.) While I wouldnt want to live in one year-round on a permanent basis, they seem like an interesting way to make a decent and relatively portable temporary cabin or retreat. Then, of course, theres always my dream which is coating the thing in a few layers of roofing tar to waterproof it and burying the thing in the side of a moutnain.
=====
Havent done any geocaching stuff in a while and I’d really like to. The weather, at some point, is going to be getting better around here and it would be nice to spend the time outdoors in the sticks. Still need to get the topo mapping software I want. Could be verrrrrry handy.
=====
‘Good Eats’ had an episode on pouch cooking. Basically, you take some food, put it into an aluminum foil envelope, and leave it on the coals to cook. No muss, no fuss. Nice option for when you have to cook on something other than your usual range. I’ve got a small Volcano cookstove (which I recommend, by the way) and I’ve cooked pork with onions and pepper in about fifteen minutes this way and it was darn good. As a result, I try to keep a goodly amount of aluminum foil on hand which is a good idea anyway since it has lotsa uses. (Great for lining cookware when camping so you dont have to wash your pots and pans…tear up a few large sheets, fold em over nice and small, and tuck them out of the way for use later.) Come to think of it, I should experiment some more with this method.
=====
Still need to work on emergency lighting options for the bunker
Still need to work on radio communications
Still need to work on more storage options
Still need to do alot of stuff

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

Cleaned the AK from shooting it the other day. I really gotta hand it to the Commies, its been almost 60 years and very little has come along to challenge the AK's reliability. Ergonomics suck, accuracy is only so-so, but by god it goes bang every time you pull the trigger.
=====
World sitrep remains relatively unchanged…actually, no, thats not true…I want to say it seems quieter but its probably just a) the media not keeping up with ongoing threats since they arent 'fresh news' any more and b) the threats are shifting from military/terrorist to economic. Actually, theyve always been economic, its just that sometimes its more pronounced than others. Fuel prices seem to have levelled off at the 'high' end of the spectrum but summer tourist season has yet to arrive and that will certainly boost prices a bit. Not that I really have anywhere to go, Im more interested in seeing what effect, if any, it will have on the prices of day-to-day goods (i.e. groceries) that require extensive shipping.
=====
I was cruising around the internet and noticed that alot of people (and outfits) are getting into the cargo container modification game. One website I read said that the US brings in about 9 million of these things every year but only sends back a third of that since its cheaper to leave them at the dock and pay a fee on them than it is to ship them back across the ocean from whence they came. Result is that , at least in coastal areas, you can get containers fairly easily. (Or, as easily as anything involving hauling large objects by truck can be.) While I wouldnt want to live in one year-round on a permanent basis, they seem like an interesting way to make a decent and relatively portable temporary cabin or retreat. Then, of course, theres always my dream which is coating the thing in a few layers of roofing tar to waterproof it and burying the thing in the side of a moutnain.
=====
Havent done any geocaching stuff in a while and I'd really like to. The weather, at some point, is going to be getting better around here and it would be nice to spend the time outdoors in the sticks. Still need to get the topo mapping software I want. Could be verrrrrry handy.
=====
'Good Eats' had an episode on pouch cooking. Basically, you take some food, put it into an aluminum foil envelope, and leave it on the coals to cook. No muss, no fuss. Nice option for when you have to cook on something other than your usual range. I've got a small Volcano cookstove (which I recommend, by the way) and I've cooked pork with onions and pepper in about fifteen minutes this way and it was darn good. As a result, I try to keep a goodly amount of aluminum foil on hand which is a good idea anyway since it has lotsa uses. (Great for lining cookware when camping so you dont have to wash your pots and pans…tear up a few large sheets, fold em over nice and small, and tuck them out of the way for use later.) Come to think of it, I should experiment some more with this method.
=====
Still need to work on emergency lighting options for the bunker
Still need to work on radio communications
Still need to work on more storage options
Still need to do alot of stuff