I guess I spoke too soon…ol’ Johnny Trochman was there at the show after all. While he is definitely a proud wearer of the tinfoil chapeau he does have a very nice selection of things that would be useful to those in our particular interest. Plus, for pure fun and games, nothing beats a case of these:

The parachute flares are especially fun if you’ve a creative mind and a modicum of McGyver in you…coupled with a rat trap, cordage, and a few odds and ends, they can be used to make perimeter warning devices. Plus, theyre just fun to play with. If you’ve the mind, you can use the smoke cannisters just as creatively. It would be interesting to dissect one and see if the pull-ring igniter could be replaced with something electronic.

AR and AK rifles were aplenty, though there did seem to be a lack of used Glocks there. Ammo was available at the usual prices, but, as is the norm, .22 ammo was somewhat scarce.

The only thing that made me covetous was a rather worn HK91 for $1800. Honestly, I’d take the $1800 and buy a pair of PTR-91 rifles and not feel that i’m really missing anything other than a little prestige.

All in all, a rather good show. There’s one here in town at the fairgrounds this weekend and I plan on walking through. Its a rather smallish show, but any gun show is usually better than no gun show.

Grrr….I hate when good gun deals come my way and I’m not in position to take advantage. I’ve an opportunity to pick up a couple FALs built by a well-regarded gunsmith, and a parts kit, for a stupidly low price. And, of course, I don’t have the resources to do it.

FALs are great guns. To me , their weak spot are the marginal sights. Otherwise, I like them for their ergo and reliability. I think the gas-piston AR10 is probably the pinnacle of .308 MBR…AR ergonomics and FAL reliability. If, that is, the design can handle it…. need to see more endurance testing. But, a guy I knew had a SIG AR10 and it seemed like the perfect .308.

Tell you what, though…whether youre a fan of the FAL, AR10, G3, or even the M1A, get them and their mags now because it’s a certainty they ain’t gonna get cheaper between now and the end of the year.

Ok guys, everyone who asked me for pricing info…you need to get your list of what you want in to me TODAY so I can see if we have enough interest to make this happen. Send my your list and be sure the subject line is “Group buy” or else it’ll get caught in the spam filters.

Need to hear from you soonest so I can do the math and see if this is gonna happen.

zero@commanderzero dot com

The 25th of this month (Friday) will be the cutoff date for determining how we’re doing on the Mountain House group buy. If you want in, you need to send me the list of what you want by the 25th. Once everyone has that info in, I’ll add it up and if we hit the magic numer then the call will go out for payment. Payment is to be in the form of cashiers check or US postal money order. Why? Because if you send a personal check then we can’t do anything until it clears and thats usually a week or two. But…no one sends anything until we’ve determined that we have enough orders to meet the minimum.

Recap: I need your list of what you want by Friday. Whatever you want must be divisible by six. Six cans, twelve cans, eighteen cans, twentyfour cans…you get the idea. Four cans? No. Eleven cans? No. Divisible by six.

Reminder: another week and a half until this MH group buy thing hit’s the finish line.
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Cheapest AR from a manufacturer whose name you’d actually recognize: CDNN has a S&W no-frills AR for $600. If you can live with an AR from someone you never may have heard of, you can find them as low as $500 for a complete gun. Novemeber 5th you won’t be able to find it at twice the price.

And before folks chime in with the “Yeah, but those are dealer prices”…so what? Most FFL’s charge around $20-30 to do a transfer, so have them order one up for you and youre still way ahead of the game.

If your tastes run to .308, get a PTR-91 for $850. Well made .308 battle rifle at a giveaway price.

Now is the time to buy if you plan on making some profit from the coming Dark Times.

The end of the month approacheth. If you want in on the MH group buy, let me know. If you already have the info, start making a list of what you want and get it to me at your convenience so I can figure if we have enough participants to make this happen.
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Hmm…with Sanders effectively out of the running, it looks like it’ll be Trump vs. Tramp or Cruz vs. Cooze. I’m confident that Trump won’t get the nomination, and that it’ll go to Cruz instead. (These aren’t necessarily endorsements….I’m just saying this is what I think will happen.) In a Cruz/Clinton race..well…get those magazines and AR lowers now. Like, today.

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CostCO had Scepter manufactured gas cans the other day. Sadly, these cans use the outrageous CARB-compliant nozzles so they are fairly useless. However, there are plenty of places to buy replacement nozzles that actually work. I don’t like plastic gas cans, but these are at least a little better, IMHO, than the old Blitz plastic cans. (The Blitz seemed a little thin in the plastic department.)

This is about ten bucks cheaper than what Amazon has them for, so…not a bad deal. Assuming youre okay with plastic gas cans. I prefer metal NATo/’Euro’ cans, but for feeding the lawnmower and snowblower these would be okay.

Years ago I did a group buy (or maybe several of them) on Mountain House stuff. MH has a certain minimum order threshold that has to be met in order to get discounts on shipping and whatnot. In the years since I last ordered a pallet of goodies from them they have added quite a few new products. So….

If I can get enough people interested in going in on a big purchase of #10 cans (and perhaps pouches), then I’ll do another group buy. Its pretty simple…you’d email me a list of what you want, either PayPal or send a money order for the total, and when the truck gets here I break up the order and pack it up, calculate and pay shipping, and send it along. Everyone wins.

But…to do it requires several thousand bucks in orders. If anyone is interested, email me and I’ll send you back a price list and other info. At the moment, it looks like any order must be divisible by six cans per box, but you can mix/match for those six…or twelve, or eighteen, or whatever. Shipping will be by actual weight per box of six cans. When everyone has their wants listed, if it adds up to enough to get the shipping and discounts, then payment will be requested and the order placed. When it gets here, I’ll repackage it and forward it on. Same as last time.

Ideally, we’d be looking at placing the order at the end of the month and delivery is usually a couple weeks after.

email is zero@commanderzero.com . Subject line should be “Group Buy” or else it’s just going to get caught in my spam filters.

I like Dave Ramsey for his financial advice,and his straightforward approach to money. I’ve lived under his ‘no debt’ guidelines for the last ten years and I have never had a day where I woke up and thought “Geez, Im sorry I listened to that redneck. I’d feel better with a car loan, credit card debt, student loan, and personal loan hanging over my head.”

Now, I don’t agree with everything ol’ Dave says…I can live quite happily without the religious moments, and I have a different opinion on charitable giving, but by and large I’m something of a fan.

This article is interesting.

Popular financial radio show host Dave Ramsey caused a firestorm on Twitter last week when he weighed in against the “fiduciary rule”—the controversial pending Department of Labor regulation that would impose new restrictions on a vast swath of financial professionals who handle IRAs and 401(k) accounts. Yet, Ramsey was only echoing concerns about the costs of the rule already expressed by Members of Congress from both parties.

As I read it, it says that if you give financial advise to the general public that’s cool, but if you give specific advice to one person (like a caller on your radio show) regarding their particular investments..well…you need to be under the microscope of .gov. Thats the same .gov that, as Ramsey famously opines, is known for it’s ability to wisely handle money.

Cui bono? Well, all those financial advisors who charge money, for starters. Read the article, it’s interesting although a bit short on detail. But it’s an excellent example of the classic scenario of .gov ‘doing something’ and having no clue about the fallout and who gets caught up in it.

This is sorta on topic with preparedness because, in my opinion, ol’ DR gives good advice that a survivalist would be wise to follow – stay outta debt, have reserves built up, keep thinking about the future, and transfer risk.

Further reading:

Will DOL’s “Fiduciary Rule” Silence Dave Ramsey?

What if Dave Ramsey were held to a fiduciary standard?

Springlike weather is not the same as spring.

But…it’s close enough that it’s time to start riding the bicycle again. Even with gas being around $1.80/gal. (and ain’t that grand?) there’s no reason to drive if I don’t have to. My work, banking, mail, and grocery needs are all met within a short distance from my house. I usually only drive when its either wet, cold, or I have to haul stuff.

For the survivalist who wants a way to stay mobile when the Lord Humongous has choked off the gas supply, a good mountain bike is tough to beat. I’ve been riding the same one for the last ten years now and other than a spring tune-up and the occasional tube/tire replacement it has held up very nicely. I tuck a hat, gloves, FAK, tube kit, and some odds and ends in the rack and Im good to go.

Just from a non-EOTW standpoint, it’s a good idea to have one (or more) goo d bikes around. It saves money on gas, gives you some exercise, lets you see parts of town that you normally wouldnt (alleys, trails, places you cant take a motorized vehicle, etc.), is stealthily quiet, and has the added benefit of being an excellent way of getting around roadblocks, clogged traffic arterials, and down backwood trails/paths.

As with any other piece of kit, you have to know how to take care of it. Here’s some precious posts on various bicycle issues:

Bicycle
Biking season approaches
Day of bicycle stuff
FAK foibles
Fixing Fak foibles