• This looks highly interesting: http://www.sunmeadow.net/hot_meals.html – A self-heat meal I was previously unaware of. Looking for all the world like a ‘self heat’ out of an Axler book.
• Wiggys makes and sells poncho liners and theyre on sale…
• Interesting and overpriced can organizer…but you could crib the design if youre the DIY type
• Other powdered eggs to try…seems a good price if its a decent product. Someone try it and get bac k to me.
• A survival site

=====
In New Orleans, Self-Sufficiency Is the Theme

Highlights:
“People are doing themselves a disservice if they think the governmentis going to take care of them,” said Phyllis Parun, a New Orleanscommunity activist who Wednesday organized a workshop on hurricanepreparedness in her Bywater neighborhood, and got the American RedCross to lead it. “It’s fend-for-yourself time.”
…
“People are doing themselves a disservice if they think the governmentis going to take care of them,” said Phyllis Parun, a New Orleanscommunity activist who Wednesday organized a workshop on hurricanepreparedness in her Bywater neighborhood, and got the American RedCross to lead it. “It’s fend-for-yourself time.”

Theres an old joke that a Conservative is a Liberal who got mugged. Perhaps a survivalist is sheeple that spent a night in the Guantanodome. Hey, whatever it takes….the more people feel independent of .gov’s teat the better off we all are.

My buddy points out to me that 13/16″ at 200 yards is .38794016311611415297579278210326 MOA. Why, yes, he is an engineer..why do you ask?
=====
I’ve decided, for several reasons, to get a second job. My primary reason is to sock away money so that the girlfriend can quit her job to go to school. However, a small portion of this anticipated increase in income is marked for more goodies. Specifically, magazines and AR receivers. Im having a crisis of faith in regards to the 2008 elections. If the Democrats wind up winning I can totally forsee the return of the AW ban…and even if nothing changes I think we all agree extra guns and magazines is never a bad idea or investment. There are, of course, other things I want to get but the guns and mags are the noly things I want that are likely to be legislated out of my reach. Not alot of legistalionfloating around on MFCs, MREs, FDFs, and the like.
=====
My math says that a .30 168 MK at 2800 fps that is +2″ at 100 will be -.3″ at 200 and around -6″ at 300….
=====
Interesting LJ for today – akobsessed

U.S. Plan For Flu Pandemic Revealed

Lets hit the highlights…..

….

The Treasury Department is poised to sign agreements with other nations to produce currency if U.S. mints cannot operate. The Pentagon, anticipating difficulties acquiring supplies from the Far East, is considering stockpiling millions of latex gloves. And the Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a drive-through medical exam to quickly assess patients who suspect they have been infected.
…..

To keep the 1.8 million federal workers healthy and productive through a pandemic, the Bush administration would tap into its secure stash of medications, cancel large gatherings, encourage schools to close and shift air traffic controllers to the busier hubs — probably where flu had not yet struck. Retired federal employees would be summoned back to work, and National Guard troops could be dispatched to cities facing possible “insurrection,” said Jeffrey W. Runge, chief medical officer at the Department of Homeland Security.

The administration hopes to help contain the first cases overseas by rushing in medical teams and supplies. “If there is a small outbreak in a country, it may behoove us to introduce travel restrictions,” Runge said, “to help stamp out that spark.”
…

Operating the largest health-care organization in the nation, the VA has directed its 153 hospitals to stock up on other medications, equipment, food and water, said chief public health officer Lawrence Deyton. “But it’s a few days’ worth, not enough to last months,” he added.

Anticipating that some nurses may be home caring for family members — and to reduce the number of patients descending on its hospitals — the VA intends to put nurses on its toll-free hotline to help veterans decide whether they need professional medical care. At many VA hospitals, nurses and doctors would stand in the parking lots armed with thermometers and laptop computers to do drive-through exams. Modeled after its successful drive-through vaccination program last fall, the parking-lot triage is intended to keep the flow of patients moving rapidly, Deyton said.

…

“Any community that fails to prepare — with the expectation that the federal government can come to the rescue — will be tragically wrong,” HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a speech April 10. The administration is posting information on the Internet at http://www.pandemicflu.gov/ .

Ignoring the logistical element of what will basically amount to infrastructure failure (what with normal commerce disrupted and all) the economic hitw ould be enormous. With people not going to work, how are those mortgage payments being met? Bank holidays and moratoriums from federal edict?

So my fellow LMI finally got his chronograph back from the shop. (And, broadly speaking, theres only one reason you send a chronograph back to the manufacturer for repair…so lets not ask ‘why was it at the shop?’) In order to calculate bullet drop, time of flight, and all those other fun things that would help in making my .308 experiences more accurate ones, I need to know the exact velocity of my loads…not the guesstimate that the reloading manual suggests.
Cut for table and image..and boring ballistics

Went to the gun show yesterday. Even though Im not necessarily looking for guns (or gun related items) gun shows are still outstanding venues for purchasing the sundry items that make the uncertain future a bit easier to bear…poncho liners, ammo cans for storage, first aid gear, optics, camping stuff, mil surp clothing, etc, etc, etc.

Didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without, although there were some very nice goodies. A few .50 bolt actions, a slew of FN products (probably because of a promotion FN has been running where a dealer gets a free FN gun if they purchase five FN guns) with the PS90 being noticeably absent, some decent scopes, John “Militia Of Montana” Trochmann had his usual books and gear although his eyepatch was missing, and no sign of Randy Weaver at this one.

I wasn’t really looking for much. Cant really afford much right now. I did pick up a few pairs of EMT shears which my first aid kits have been lacking. Otherwise I pretty much passed on everything. The only things that even tempted me were some SA .308 battle packs for the FAL. There was almost no, nada, none,zip Wolf 7.62×39 to be found. Nor were there any of the ‘off’ brands like Silver Bear, Barnaul, etc, etc. Read into it what you will. Also there were plenty of AK’s in attendance but not a lot of steel magazines for them. I did see the new betamag for the Mini-14 (and given the reliability of the Ruger platform, I’d bet the Mini would run the full mag just fine whereas the AR might jam after 75 rounds or so…that’s just opinion. On the other hand, the AR would at least put the bullets where you point them, where they go out of the Ruger is anyones guess.)

Ok, I forgot….there was one item I saw that I wanted and that was the military sleep system. Inner, outer and Goretex bag. Ive been wanting one of those for a while now. One of the LMI picked up a couple and they looked mighty good to me. Usually about $150 and probably worth it.
=====
Rumblings in the UK about bird flu complete with a recently publicized document about government plans to press former emergency workers into service to drive trucks of food and supplies through afflicted areas. I’m still on the bird flu fence. However, even if bird flu doesn’t make the jump to humans (and I’m not saying it won’t, Im just making a point here) all it’ll take is the announcement of a few dead geese in a Washington cornfield to start the panic buying and shopping that makes these things self-fulfilling prophecies. Take Hurricane Rita for example, the hurricane killed less people than the evacuation did. Bird flu itself might shut down a city but the announcement of bird flu, whether theres a threat or not, will do it just as well. So even if bird flu is a bust in terms of being transmitted to humans you’ll still get the same chaos as if it had.

My interest in bird flu isn’t necessarily that I’ll contract it. I tend to lead a fairly reclusive life with little face-to-face contact with people…its not like I share an office, elevator or bathroom with 150 other people in a company. Its just me, the girlfriend and a few people at arms length at the bank and post office. (And, yeah, both of those places are fine breeding grounds for germ transfer…fortunately both are also completely replaceable with online transactions.)

No, my concern is from the effects of bird flu. Disruptions in trucking and delivery of goods, the fast and sudden disappearance of chicken from the meat department at Albertsons (so stock up now, kids!), the economic slowdown as a result of decreased productivity, etc, etc, etc. Sure, I’ll go through gobs of hand sanitizer and bleach the living hell out things but my real concern is availability of food, travel restrictions, inflation, scarcity of goods and that sort of thing.

The handwriting is on the wall that the natives are restless. Ammo shortages, FDF shortages, .gov plans and contingencies, etc, etc. Apparently theres a large contingent of people out there who are thinking ‘just in case….’

Speaking of spare parts….

The girlfriend shot a few hundred rounds through her G19 the other day and had disassembled it for cleaning. She laid the parts out on the tray table she was sitting at and prepared to clean. She bumped the table, knocking the recoil spring assembly and slide off the table. The slide landed on top of the recoil spring assembly and broke the plastic recoil spring guide. The usually captive unit was now non-captive.

Could the Glock work in this state? Yes. However, disassembly would be harder because the spring would have to be compressed to remove it from the slide.

So…OEM part is $5. There are four on the way. So then the question became one of:
Glock OEM @$5 vs. aftermarket steel assembly for ~$25

Here’s how I see it.

OEM parts are always the first choice in most cases. (Yes, there are exceptions like some AK, AR and 1911 parts but Im makeing a sweeping generalization here) The OEM assemblies will be used and extras kept on hand. Since they are OEM they should be 100% reliable as the previous ones in terms of gun functioning. However, if some circumstance arises that precludes getting replacements in the future, the steel one is available.

Why not use the steel one upfront and just not bother with the OEM ones? Because I think the reliability of the gun will be better with jen-yoo-wine Glock parts rather than aftermarket. I cant prove it, I just feel that way. Is the OEM part better than the aftermarket one? Probably not…it is, after all, plastic. However, this part didnt break in use…it broke when it was removed from the gun and subjected then to impact. ALthough Im sure it has happened, it seems less likely that this sort of breakage occurs in actual use.

Regardless……..

OEM parts for the Glock and a couple aftermarket versions of those parts in case the OEM’s become unavailable.

Resident Glock guru smjayman was nice enough to give his suggestions and I recommend he be heeded. Recap:

He also mentions the takedown lever and spring in later posts.

Sources? http://www.lonewolfdist.com/ http://www.topglock.com/catalog/extras.htm

girlfriend: ..I need to put some fertilizer in the ground when we ge tthe rototiller.
commander_zero: Great, we’ve got a bunch of Mircale Gro that we can use.
Captain Insano: Miracle Gro? You cant mix that with diesel and make anything interesting!

Just another day at the Zerostead…………

,Rawles SurvivalBlog has a mention today about spare parts. This is something I’ve thought about a good bit. After all, if the situation is dire enough that you need to carry around your firearms every day and depend on them then the situation is also probably going to be dire enough that heading down to the local gunshop for a spare recoil spring or roll pin is going to be out of the question.

I try to keep all my stuff for my various guns in one place (excepting of course, redundant backups). That is to say, in this example, I try to keep all of my 1911 ‘support gear’ in one convenient bomb-proof container…in this case a ‘tall’ .50 cal. can. Contents? Have a look:

LJ cut for your pleasure

Shortages, unavailability and outright “we haven’t had those for a while now” are usually the hallmarks of Something Going On. Usually it takes place immediately before or during a Big Event. Much like trying to buy snow shovels right before a blizzard or bottled water during a hurricane.

The two biggest examples of shortages that I am aware of taking place right now are a) ammo and b) FDF (freeze dried foods).

Anyone who is looking for cheap .223 and (esp.) 7.62×39 can tell you that it’s fairly hard to find at the moment. I have heard many rumours and only a few of them seem plausible.

• AK/AR ammo, like Wolf, is being diverted to fill overseas demand and contracts due to the war (given the huge amounts of 7.62×39 being found in Iraqi bunkers this seems unlikely, although logistically it may make sense to simply order in containers full of ammo rather than try and coordinate bringing it in piecemeal from across the war zone.)
• AK ammo, like Wolf, is being used to fill huge contracts with the US military to be used for foreign-weapons (meaning “AK47”) familiarization training with troops here in the US before they ship out (This seems very plausible to me.)
• The largest importer is tangling with BATFE/other agencies and that’s slowing it down. (Heard one person ‘in the biz’ mention this but that doesn’t explain the lack of ‘no name’ ammo out there.)
• Increased fuel costs have led to prohibitively high shipping costs and that is affecting imports.

Please don’t add your own theory or facts about this…my point isn’t about why theres a shortage. My point is that there exists a shortage for some reason.

FDF is also in the ‘backordered’ category these days…at least as packaged in #10 cans. The guys at Mountain House tell me that after Katrina, product demand spiked and then calmed down a bit but is now high enough again to result in backorders. Cause? Beats me. Im guessing bird flu hype and continued Katrina aftermath.

Will these shortages end? Of course…nature abhors a vacuum and so does business. As long as theres folks wanting cases of FDF and 7.62×39 theres going to be someone willing to fill that need. In the meantime this is an excellent example of why you stockpile this stuff when the sun is shining, the paychecks are steady and all is right in the universe. “Don’t wait until you are thirsty to dig a well”, etc, etc, etc.

I’m doing ok..I’ve got a good stash of .308 and 7.62×39 in the bunker…not as much as I’d like (it never is, y’know?) but its enough to handle anything short of a Somalia-type of infrastructure collapse. Plenty of #10 cans of Mountian House but these shortages definitely make me want to stock up on more when they become available again.

On the other side of the equation, now is an outstanding time to stock up on 8×57 ammo and 7.62x54R guns & ammo. The Mosin Nagant rifles are dealering out for less than $75 each and a case of ammo is cheap enough to get a gun and ammo for less than $125. Order it through Century Arms and pay flat rate shipping for it…a huge savings when youre shipping 70# of ammo across country. These guns won’t be around much longer….the Yugo SKS’ are starting to dry up and the cheap Nagants won’t be far behind. For a little over a hundred bucks you can have a rifle and a case of ammo to stash away.

There are a few goodies that we all need to stock that are impossible to manufacture ourselves or to find multiple sources for… FDF is usually limited to just 2 or 3 manufacturers. Same thing for lithium batteries, quality radio gear, etc, etc. Some items, like knives, for example, are available from so many different quality makers that a shortage of one manufacturer doesn’t mean much to you. If Buck is out, get Gerber, or Becker, or Glock, or Remington, or Cold Steel, or CK&T, or Spyderco, or…. Get the idea? But some products just don’t have that many alternates. FDF is a very good example of that. Batteries are a good example…I like lithium AA batts for my smaller gear but AFAIK theres only one or two brands offering them. I can get alkaline AA from anywhere but lithiums…that’s another story. Im sure if you sat down and thought it out carefully you could think of other necessary gear/products that have a similar bottleneck.

Obviously one of the biggest possibilities when it comes to a shortage is firearms. They can be made unavailable, literally, with a stroke of the pen. Don’t think so? Think about the 1986 prohibition on new machineguns for civilians and where prices and availability went afterwards. Also OEM (‘factory’) parts can be hamstrung almost as easily. So if you don’t have a spare copy of your favorite gun, at least get some spare barrels, springs and other parts…and for Crom’s sake get another couple of magazines, will ya?. Ammo is also an easy target, so to speak…during the LA Riots the local government there suspended the sale of ammo and guns. If you were out of #4 buck for your 870 you better hope the looters will be sympathetic to your plight.

If you really think youre going to be able to buy what you need when you need it you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. When the power goes out don’t expect to be able to wander down to the local stop-n-rob and pick up a pack of Duracells.

So, todays project, mi amigos y amigas, is to think about what kind of shortage would cause you some grief right now and then go out and negate that problem by stocking up as best you can… take the hundred bucks you were gonna use for steaks, beer and a movie this weekend and buy something a little more lasting and a lot more useful….