Oh, the things that people walk through the door with. No need to go looking for ammo, sometimes the battle packs coming looking for you.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Random musings
Paratus, the holiday of preparedness, is coming up. This year it falls on September 18th. There is a FAQ up about it if you care to read it. In the spirit of the individualist nature that Paratus represents, you don’t ‘make a list and check it twice’. Why? Because:
- We’re already on someone’s lists somewhere
- Checking it twice is the same as checking it only once, since one is none and two is one
- OPSEC
But in the back of my head I think I’ll probably have a few folks to send Paratus gifts to. It’ll be a fun and somewhat humourous diversion.
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Summer in Montana is here. This is the optimum time to do shooting and outdoor-related stuff that you really don’t feel like doing when it is ten degrees outside. My plan for the summer is to pick a small handful of rifles and laboriously work up ideal loads for them. My plans are to work with the Ruger GSR, my flagpole 7×57, and my .44 Contender. I am especially curious to play with GSR since it’s limited optics make tight groups a challenge…but its not a rifle meant for shooting groups, its a rifle meant for shooting objects. That means that while it may not shot a 1″ group at 100 yards, it will hit a mammal-sized target reliably at, say, 300. (Which, really, is kinda Coopers original spec for the thing.) Regardless, its a very pleasant, and satisfying solitary project. I look forward to it.
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There’s some buzz in the news about (yawn) new gun laws to be passed by the administration. The buzz is that ‘high-powered’ handguns like the AR/AK pistols will get dropped into some NFA classification or some such. I dunno, man…I think the barn door has been open too long on that one. Last time the fedgoons arbitrarily reclassified a firearms into that sort of category was back when the Street Sweepers, USAS/Daewoo shotguns got lumped in as Destructive Devices. There probably weren’t nearly as many of them in people’s hands as there are AR pistols these days. Still, stupider edicts have come out of the unstable minds at ATFE, so I suppose anything is possible. My money is still on this ‘wrist brace’ thing coming to a head. We’ll see.
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It’s still over a year until the Presidential election. Does that mean its too late or too early to start stockpiling?
Single-serving burn gel
I’m a big fan of the Water Jel burn relief product. This stuff is the most awesome thing in the world for taking the pain out burns. Years ago I made the mistake of picking up a lawnmower by the exhaust manifold. Ow. I literally could not sleep unless my hand was clutching a bag full of ice cubes, the pain and ache was that strong. Nowadays, I slap some of this stuff on it and -presto- the pain goes away. Nothing magical, its just a topical anesthetic, but when you burn yourself, especially on parts of the body that really make you feel it…like fingertips…the stuff is a wonder.
I keep the large bottle of it around the house but thats really too large for most first-aid kits. Fortunately, they offer single-serving ‘ketchup packets’ of the stuff. Several of these are going into the various FAKs that go in the hunting/fishing bags. Nine times out of ten the burns I get outdoors are the simplest and stupidest ones….those stupid wire handles on the canteen cup. Its a long day of chasing Bambi, you stop to heat some water on the esbit stove to mix up some lunch, your hands are a little cold so you don’t notice how hot the wire handles are at first, and…ouch. And while burns are never fun, the ones on fingers..esp fingertips….really suck. So…a couple packets of this stuff will go into each FAK.
As I was ordering the stuff up offa Amazon I noticed they even make a ‘military’ kit that is suitable for white phosphorus injuries. Kinda cool, although if I’m in a situation where there is a genuiune risk of Willy Pete injuries then things have truly gone off the rails.
I’d posted a while back about Water Jel but didn’t mention the extremely convenient single-serve packets. I ordered them up a few days ago and they just arrived. Figured I’d mention it because it is some really awesome stuff and there’s really no excuse for not having some in your kits when you can get it in something as convenient and small as the single-serving packets.
Article – Not my apocalypse: a black woman reads a white-guy prepper magazine
Apparently, those darn prepper magazines are a hotbed of coded racial injustices. I am especially WTF’ed by this jewel:
Because, apparently, in this womyn’s world, having gear that you worked hard to acquire is privilege. As if someone just dropped a gold Cabela’s card in your lap and said ‘go forth and prep’. But, this chick is no doubt of the mindset that whenever you have more than her (or people who look like her, have the same plumbing as her, or the same economic mobility as her) that is an ‘injustice’ or ‘inequality’.
There’s actually a much more sinister implication here. This womyn, who is ‘of color’, seems to imply that the ‘prepper culture’ caters mostly to white males. If thats the case, and there is indeed a lack of ‘preppers of color’, is that an indictment of a publishing and marketing industry that is racist or does it show that the notion of self-reliance, taking care of ones self, being responsible for your own well-being, and independence from government support is a mindset not supported by the ‘of color’ community. Or, to put it in a very racially charged, but much simpler context, are white people more inclined to resist being in a state of dependency on others and .gov than non-whites? Now that’s a tack the writer should have taken. Rather than ask ‘why is the demographic for this magazine mostly white males’ perhaps she should be asking ‘why aren’t more non-whites interested in this’.
From a devils advocate point of view, I suppose you could make the argument that in our society the ‘marginalized’ segments (the people of color, the ‘econmically unprivileged’, etc.) simply cannot afford to spare the money, time, and other resources since they are already at a deficit on those resources compared to the white population. Or, put another way, if most other racial and ethnic groups are earning less, then they have less time and effort to put towards this sort of thing…they’re too busy just trying to catch up.
Honestly, I know absolutely zero non-white survivalists. In fact, from a strict racial standpoint, I’m the only one I know (I’m 50% ‘other’ ingredients.) But part of that, no doubt, is because I wound up living in a place where the population tends to be rather homogenous. Still, as I diddybop across the blogosphere I find very few survivalist or prepper blogs that aren’t being done by someone not ‘of color’. Oh, there are some exceptions…the ones I have found tend to be less about survivalism and more about ‘urban homesteading’, ‘organic gardening‘, and that sort of thing, which does kinda come into the preparedness Venn diagram. In fact, the only black person I’ve ever even read about who comes close is this fellow. (And I had to dig back over seven years to even find that.) Wiki.
As a commenter to the article said, the outrage the author shows about the overwhelming white maleness of the prepper magazines must be how he feels when he flips through Jet and notes a decided lack of not-of-color people. Face it, some things target a niche or demographic that tends to be very homogenous. And there’s nothing wrong with that if that homogenous nature is due to a simple lack of interest from others and not a result of exclusionary policy.
I’ve met dozens of people over the years who are into preparedness in some form or another…some religious, some not. Some male, some female, Some gay, most straight. Most rightist, some leftist. Most race-indifferent, some rather race-conscious. But everyone across the board was some shade of white person.
Do I think that the prepper magazines out there are full of images of white people and absolutely vacant of positive images of non-white people? Somewhat, yes. Do I think it’s because of a racist mindset? Uh, no..I think it’s because when you’re trying to sell magazines you sell to the market you think exists for that magazine.
As an interesting project, if anyone can find me some preparedness-themed blogs that are run by ‘people of color’, I’d like the links so I can go check ’em out.
Article – Couple missing for 2 weeks found in California wilderness
Knutson’s body was near a white car and Bedwell was inside the vehicle, he said.
That last sentence is curious. So the white car was not the same one that the woman was in? Did the woman stay with the vehicle and the husband went off for help and found another car?
Perhaps staying with the vehicle isn’t so great an option when the clock is ticking on your need for insulin. Bad story all around. Be interesting to follow this and get more details.
Thoughts on the PTR
People throw the phrase ‘battle rifle’ or ‘battle carbine’ around and it always sounds a little…weird…to me. I suppose you may want to differentiate between youre hunting rifle that you knock down deer with and your ‘just in case’ FAL thats sitting in the closet, but ‘battle rifle’ always sounds kinda hokey. But..what else do you call it? Your ‘social rifle’? I usually just call it a ‘rifle’ and, maybe, depending on the context, ‘defensive rifle’. Anyway, Friend Of The Blog, Ryan at TSLRF, has been mulling a .308 defensive rifle. I threw my two cents in and suggested the PTR.
The PTR is a fairly accurate copy of the HK91. There are several copies of HK rifles out there, and there are a few ‘niche’ or ’boutique’ makers who make a very nice (and very expensive) product, but in terms of mass-market stuff its either Century or PTR. My feelings on Century is that it is the ballistic equivalent of treasure hunting at the sight of old outhouses….you might find a jewel once in a while, but most of the time what you find is crap. (Not withstanding their new milled AK which I may have to get two or three of.)
Personally, I rather like the FAL. But economically, if you’re wanting a .308 semiauto for the day the wheels fly of civilization, and you’re on a budget, you would be hard pressed to find a better value.
Eliminating the exotic stuff, here’s the rundown of whats available in .308 these days that fits the bill and isn’t some super-rare oddball thing (like a .308 Galil or Valmet): AR-10, FAL, PTR, M1A and maybe one of the AK-pattern .308s. I’m limiting this discussion to stuff based on platforms that have been around a while…the AR-10 being the newest. Stuff like the KelTec RFB or other gunny-come-lately need to be around for a while so we can see if they have legs or not.
Whats your budget for the gun and it’s necessary gear? Well, let’s say, mmmm, $1250. Let’s also not cheap out and go with the absolute cheapest [rifle/mag/etc] we can find. We want what works. So, while the Century FrankenFAL may be 1/2 the price of a DSA, it is not a contender because it’s simply a crapshoot in terms of its manufacture. LWRC and SIG don’t have anything for less than $1250 at the moment. S&W has some ‘bargain’ AR-10 rifles but nothing on Gunbroker is less than $1250, and while Remington makes one as well I’m holding off on any of their new stuff until they get their act together in terms of QC.
A basic rifle suitable for defensive use, not a target, match or hunting gun:
- SA M1a Standard, synthetic, green, $1250
- PTR 18 inch barrel, black, $900
- AR-10, Windham Weaponry – $1082
- DSA Voyager – $1125
Magazines? You’ll need a few. Assuming OEM or similar quality..no Tapco, no USA, no Korean/Chinese. Magpul is ok.
- AR-10, on average about $20 ea.
- PTR, $3 aluminum or $10 steel
- M1A, $15-$30 depending on source. OEM is about $30
- FAL surplus mags, $15..$20ish for newer
So, working within our arbitrary $1250 budget, and not counting mags that came with the gun, we get:
A Springfield Armory M1A with no extra mags
A PTR-91 with 116 extra mags
An AR-10 with 8~ mags
An FAL with 9~ mags
Or, to work it from another angle, a rifle and 30 mags would be:
M1A – $1700
PTR – $990
AR-10 – $1682
FAL – $1575
So, from a ‘bang for your buck’ standpoint the PTR seems to be at the top. But, that isn’t everything when it comes to these matters. What about reliability, ergonomics, modularity, etc, etc? The AR-10 platform is the newest and thus doesnt have the track record of the others, but it seems to be as reliable as most other piston designs. The PTR, while based on a design that has been extremely reliable, suffered a bit with the early guns. Newer PTR rifles (within the last couple years, and all “GI” models) have corrected the fault that caused rifles to choke on tar-sealed surplus ammo. So, assuming you have one of the rfiles made in the last couple years, it should be as reliable as any HK.
Ergonomics suck but, for me, theyre no more awkward than an AK. If you really wanna go nuts, you can have the receiver sent out for the paddle mag conversion to make it ‘true’ to a G3 but I find that the magazine release isn’t a big deal. The AR-10 wins, hands down, on ergonomics, by the way.
The PTR, with a railed handguard, is about as modular as any other gun. There are provisions for folding, tele, and regular stocks. New guns can be had with railed receivers, making optics much easier to mount, and the rifles are accurate enough that a scope really is worth the investment….the guns are capable of very fine accuracy.
Do they eat the brass? Not to the point you can’t reload it. Someday I’ll take the gun, one cartridge, and a loading press to the range and fire/reload the same case several times to prove it. Until the, though, believe me…you can reload the cases just fine.
So, Im not saying the PTR is the best rifle for anyone. For me, who wanted a .308 in a proven platform without breaking the bank, the PTR fit the bill nicely. From a logistics standpoint, it is at the top of the list with cheap mags and spare parts availability (for now). Some folks prefer the AR-10, some folks (including myself) prefer the FAL, but for the guy who wants a quality, reliable, semi-auto and it’s accessories at a reasonable price…well, its pretty hard to beat.
Estate stuff and meeting folks
What a weird day. I moved a piano for someone with the help of a professional wrestler.
The father-in-law of one of my wife’s coworkers died last week and I was asked to come out and evaluate the gun stuff. If you spend any time around guns, and people know youre kind of a ‘gun guy’ you eventually get called for these sorts of things. There was a bunch of reloading stuff, but it was mostly older presses and dies. There were, however, lotsa primers, some powder, and a small stash of .22 ammo and I wound up carting off a bunch of it.
As I was leaving, I asked the gal there if, since I was already there, could I help them with anything else as they were packing up the house. Well, she said, could you move the piano out to my truck? Uhm..sure..but not by myself. No problem, she says, a friend of my dads is on his way here…maybe the two of you can do it.
The friend, as it turns out, was Keith Hart of the Hart wrestling family. A gentleman in his early sixties but in good enough shape that the two of us managed to haul a piano down the driveway and into the back of a Tacoma. I don’t remember much about him but I do remember his brother dying in an accident during the introduction of a match. He was a nice guy and we chatted a little about pro wrestling (he says it really is fake, but a lot of times it ‘turns real’ when the two guys get their blood up), and also talked a little about working out. His deadlift was 500# in his prime. Pretty impressive. He’s apparently a substitute teacher now and lives a couple hours north of here in one of the border towns.
So, an interesting day….got a buncha primers and powder, and got to work up a sweat with a professional wrestler. Another interesting day in Montana.
ETA: Here’s what I
was graciously and generously permitted to take for myself…….
See the red button? Push the red button.
Reason #27 why I love Amazon….radio remote fire control systems for $25. For launching your model rockets and fireworks remotely…yeah…thats the ticket. How do you see something like this for sale and not have the wheels in your head suddenly start spinning into overdrive?
ETA: And they make a party pack!
Powerwall
So you guys saw this? Tesla Motors, as a development in their car-battery technology I am assuming, says they are going to be offering a ‘plug-n-play’ battery that will be suitable for home use. Now, you and I both know that ‘home use’ means a few lights, some entertainment devices, and other small-draw items, because you ain’t running your refrigerator, freezer, well-pump, furnace blower, and hot water heater off a battery small enough to hang on your wall. Oh, you could run a household like that off of batteries but it would be a battery (or battery-pack) the size of a cargo container.
Really, this is a brilliant move for Tesla if they pull it off. The car side of their business is obviously heavily invested in battery technology, so if they develop an uber-battery it would only make sense to put out out into other, non-auto markets as well. The market for $200K $100k electric cars is probably pretty small compared to the market for $3500 batteries that, ideally, work better than any existing backup battery or off-grid-cabin battery.
My own efforts as of late are still in the DIY/beginning-hobbyist stage. I’m planning out a small battery system to maintain a charge off of household current when the power is on, and to be used for DC applications (lights, radio, battery charging, security system) when the power goes out. But thats a much longer post (or, really, couple of posts).
In a happy little world, I’d have something like one of these batteries up at my very-attractive, yet heavily-reinforced concrete off-grid Beta Site. The world would convulse into spasms of chaos, I’d pack up and head to my little quiet bastion of security, and patiently wait for things to calm down…all the while enjoying LED lighting, radio communications, laptop, and security surveillance. Ah, the great American (survivalist’s) dream.
Go read some Heinlein sometime, or just Wiki it, and look up “Shipstone”. In the books, the shipstone was a revolutionary technology that greatly improved batteries. Or, as the book says, “To call a Shipstone an improved storage battery would be to call an atom bomb an improved firecracker.” In the book, shipstones didnt create power, they simply acted as containers for it. And you could stuff a lot of power into one. Every so often someone comes up with some ideas in battery technology that looks similar to Heinlein’s fictional supercapacitor. About eight years ago the big thing was ‘nanowire‘ technology that would, allegedly, increase a lithium-ion batteries output by 10x. Haven’t read much about it since then.
Anyway, if Tesla has made any strides in the battery arena, I think it would be a classic example of a business having a small branch or division that was ancillary to their main business become more profitable than the main business. Serendipity.
Article – Missing sisters survive 2 weeks in woods on Girl Scout Cookies, cheese puffs
Stayed with the vehicle and survived. This is almost, but not always, the case. However, it is the outcome often enough that staying with the vehicle should be the preferred choice.