Monthly Archives: May 2018

An example of the ‘loaner’ or ‘disposable’ gun

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Tam very nicely linked back to this post and opined in her blog:

But say you wind up with a friend or family member who suddenly finds themselves in a life circumstance where they realize that they need a better way to protect themselves than 911? A crazy ex, a stalker, a neighbor making threats, or just one of those violent criminal incidents that happens close enough to home to be a wake-up call…

If you’re the “gun person” in your family or social circle, this has probably happened to you at least once already. Lately, seeing the occasional sub-$300 fire sale prices on Smith & Wesson Shields and SD9s, I’ve more than once thought about buying one to set aside for just this sort of occasion. “In case of crisis, remove unfired-in-box gat from safe.”

And no sooner had that post hit the light of day than my vehicle decided that it’s alternator had had enough of this mortal coil (get it? ‘Coil’?) and shuffled off to wherever dead car parts go. As a result, my vehicle very inconveniently puttered to a stop. In front of the homeless shelter.

Joy.

So, I called a buddy of mine to come help me push it off the road because I really didn’t want to ask the whiskey-for-breakfast crowd for a hand. My mood was already several orders of magnitude into the red zone and it wouldn’t have taken much to release some pressure in an unprofessional manner. So my buddy shows up and asks how long till the tow truck arrives. “Two hours”, I reply. He looks over at the homeless milling around aimlessly, goes back to his truck, and pulls a beater Beretta 96 out from under the seat. “Wanna borrow this until the tow truck gets here?”, he asks. I thanked him and told him me and my G19 were just fine. But…here’s the big takeaway from that: because he had what amounted to a ‘disposable’ or ‘beater’ or ‘truck gun’ available he was able to offer it to someone else. And a scenario like that is precisely why we have extras, and extras on top of extras – because someday a friend, family member, or other person you care about might be in a bad position and in this way you can offer them assistance. And thats not just guns, guys…. that could be food, ammo, batteries, money, or any host of other things that, when you don’t have it and really need it, are really important.

This is a big distinction from charity. Charity is generalized giving out of some sense of moral or religious imperative or duty. I generally don’t suffer from this particular quality, so my generosity is a bit more selfish – I give to those that add a value to my life, or I give for the satisfaction I get from the act of giving. It may seem like that’s a difference with no distinction, but I see a distinction. I suppose the greatest distinction, for me, is that charity often comes across as an obligation and I am extremely opposed to obligations being forced upon me rather than they being voluntarily assumed.

On a side note, I had my Bag Of Tricks with me as well as my mountain bike sitting in the back of the vehicle so I could very easily have left the area and made it back to base with minimal inconvenience…if I was willing to just abandon the vehicle, which was not called for at that point.

Watergun: grips

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Set of grip screws arrived today. Had some cheesey plastic P35 grips laying around, so no extra cost there. Also had a couple crappy USA Brand P35 mags sitting around that I never got around to throwing out. (USA mags are unbelievably worthless.) Took the followers out and put them into he mags that rose form the depths with the Watergun. Result: functioning magazines.So, all thats left is replace the parts for the rear sight and get the gun coated with something.

Must. Not. Buy.

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Ok, Crom as my witness I am done buying Ruger P95DC’s. I unexpectedly won not one but two auctions last week. That’s a pretty hard punch to the wallet to roll with. So….no more. Done. Finito. Inventory says I’ve got.. well…a bunch. Since my policy is usually to never sell a gun except to purchase another one, I suppose I should remove some of the P89 and P95 non-decocker variants to make room for the two on the way.

In my defense, though, the last one I purchased for $200 plus shipping was virtually untouched, with box and docs:

For a pistol platform that is a tertiary level of backup, I really might have gone overboard. But…a quality, reliable, inexpensive, and somewhat semi-disposable handgun is really not a bad thing to have squirreled away for that Rainy Decade. And, quite honestly, for $200 I cannot fathom a better handgun choice….certainly it is leaps and bounds a better choice than any -arov handgun, and it certainly beats, IMHO, a HiPoint. Remember, guys – after the end of the world there will be no award handed out for the person who managed to make it through the apocalypse with the cheapest gear. Yeah, you could go through Katrina with a Mosin-Nagant and a Makarov…. but why would you? Anyone whose aspirations exceed working as a WalMart greeter can come up with better materiels than that.

If someone I cared about showed up on my doorstep with not much more than the clothes on their back, I like to think I’d be able to gear them up in a manner that would not embarrass or shame me.Guns such as this one allow me to do just that. On the other hand, I have, literally, no people I  am close to who do not already have enough guns in their own stashes to do this sort of thing. But Fate is a fickle and unpredictable thing…so you never know.

Is this a likelihood? Probably not. But I feel better when I have extra guns in the safe, and (normally) I can afford to pick them up every once in a while. And, like the stash of freeze drieds, a couple of these will get packaged for the Deep Sleep and wind up at the Beta Site. Since these stupid things are, relatively, so cheap it isn’t like there’s a tremendous opportunity cost.

Overkill? Meh…maybe. But I think differently about these sorts of things than most humans. I tend to overthink things. For example, if I have a friend or relative that I visit out of state, I can afford to stash one of these there for my use while I’m there and not have to deal with the hassle of flying with a pistol.

My reckoning says I’ve about 25 years left on my meter, and if I were unable to buy any more guns after tomorrow I think I’d be pretty okay…not happy…but okay.

The good news for you? You guys will no longer be bidding against me on GunBroker for these things.

Magazines

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There’s a ratio of magazine:gun that makes me feel comfortable. For a pistol that I plan on shooting and having as an integral part of my long-term plans, I like to have a ratio of at least 20:1. For rifles, thats more like 40:1. That’s not an unattainable goal and, in my opinion, it’s a realistic quantity of magazines if you operate under the guide of “will what I have right now last me the rest of my life if I can’t get any more?”

Having acquired recently two Ruger PC9 carbines that take P-series magazines, my ratio of mags:guns took a bit of a hit. So…off to GunBroker……

Once in a blue moon I can find someone selling a bunch of Ruger mags as a single lot. (Which is how this absurd collection of P-series pistols got started.) I just happen to stumble across someone selling a fistful of law-enforcement restricted P-series mags and, since the guns aren’t exactly terribly popular, managed to nail them down for $100 for the lot…or $12.50@. Good deal for gen-u-ine Ruger mags.

Although it’s not something we usually think about, mags are a consumable. They are disposable. They have a limited usage life compared to the pistol. The person who says “Oh, I’ve got five mags for Beretta 92…I’m all set!” is a short-sighted, ignorant, and unimaginative fool. I’ve covered this elsewhere so I won’t rehash it here, but it’s really hard to have too many spare mags.

Anyway, these will get distributed amongs the pistols, and a couple pistol mag pouches will be set aside for the carbines. And, unless a smoking deal comes along, I think I’ll be pretty much done on this particular front.

 

Floodings

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Between rain and snowmelt, western Montana…esp my little area of it…is experiencing a rather heavy amount of flooding. Rivers are way, way up and low-lying (or is it low-laying?) parts of town are underwater. Fortunately, I live in an are that is pretty much immune to such things. The city would have to be several feet deep in water across its breadth before I’d have to worry.

Nonetheless, it’s a good example of how when you purchase your little chunk of paradise you really need to investigate all the possible threats. “Oh, it only floods once every 200 years” is not as good as “it never floods here”. In addition to floods, you need to think about things like forest fires, rockslides, avalanches, wind storms. and a few other donkey punches Mom Nature likes to administer.

Oh, sure…you can build resilient housing, but better to not be in the path of the train rather than develop a train-proof suit.

On the bright side, the homeless camps (and hopefully some of the homeless) were completely washed away as the river rose about a dozen feet higher than normal. Folks downstream will be inundated with sleeping bags and tents when this thing finally dies down.

In the meantime, I’m just watching it all for the entertainment value. But I kinda did wanna go shooting this weekend and the rain is spoiling that.

Making room

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I’ve another Ruger P95DC coming in and, honestly, I need to make some room for it in my wallet and gun safe by retiring out one of the other Rugers. So…if you want a Ruger P89 that was owned and shot by yours truly, there’s an auction up on GunBroker as we speak. Condition is good, with some bluing wear and some scuffing and whatnot around the triggerguard where some idiot put a wire hang tag on it. But, I’ve shot this thing and it’s as reliable a sunrise. I’ve taken it apart, cleaned and oiled everything, function checked it, and generally made sure it would be ready for that big day when all that stands between you making history and you becoming history is a reliable 9mm pistol.

Go. Bid. And know that your selfless actions will translate into a greater good for..well…me.

Politics and volcanoes

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In typical fashion, Montana pretty much skipped spring and dove straight into summer. Summer means time to do some outdoorsy things like shoot, fish, shoot, hike, shoot, hunt, and maybe shoot some more.

Unfortunately, I am busier than I care to be. I’ve three jobs/business concerns going on and an educational obligation that takes time. But I really, really want to just spend an entire day being lazy at the range and shooting rifles.

Midterm elections are coming up and I was discussing them with someone. We both agreed that the notion that the midterm elections will be a weathervane on national mood. I wonder if political polsters and pundits will have learned their lesson from the last election. I am of the opinion that the people in the last election who went to the polls quietly and avoided/lied to pollsters will be out in even larger numbers. My track record for political predictions is pretty awful, but I think the left whines about their ‘resistance’ but isn’t as motivated to actually get out there and vote as the right. We shall see.

I watched Trump’s speech the other day on pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. While watching that, I also watched a monitor showing live market and metals prices. A few twitches here and there but no real big changes. Either no one was surprised by his actions, or no one really thinks it was a bad idea.

This has been an utterly fascinating presidency so far. There are things I don’t like about Trump but it’s hard to disagree that he really does make stuff happen. He’s not my ideal president, but he’s a lot closer to it than that entitled harpie he ran against.

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Talking about politics is a guaranteed way for me to get frustrated. Swithcing gears…

You see Hawaii is having a little episode at the moment? Here’s a question that I never knew the answer to until recently. Lets say you own a piece of beachfront property in Hawaii. A flow of lava rolls across your property to the sea. As it rolls into the sea it cools and, bsically, becomes new land. Who owns that land? First person to go file a claim or stick a flag in it? Nope. As it turns out, it belongs to the state. I suppose I should have expected that given Hawaii’s fabulously left-leaning policies.

Volcanoes are fascinating players in disaster planning…while you know where the volcano is sitting, you usually don’t know when it’s going to go off. Oh, sure, there are signs but sometimes they go off like a nuke and no one was really expecting it. The Yellowstone supervolcano is always a topic of conversation and speculation when you talk about this sort of thing. I suppose if there’s a volcano anywhere in the continental US that’s likely to go, it’ll be there.

Other than a full tank of gas and a map showing three alternate routes, I’m not sure how you’d best prepare for a volcano. Staying put is probably out of the question. I suppose splitting up your supplies and being ready to completely abandon your location on a few hours notice is all you can do.

 

Thunderboomers

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We had quite the blow yesterday. I was lounging in the yard on my laptop, trying to get some academic nonsense sorted, and enjoying the over cast weather. It got a bit windy and I saw those clouds. The kind that look like theyre cascading over each other like water. Either way, it was time to pack it up and head inside. Sure enough, fifteen minutes later the wind picks up and starts doing its thing.

We had a really nasty blow come through in August of 2015. This wasn’t as bad but I sat on the porchand watched the rain come down and could hear a couple transformers pop off in the distance. Fully expected the power to go out but it stayed on. At least, on my side of the street it did. The guy across the street had a tree come down in his yard and land on the powerline. That side of the street is without power until the power company works it’s chainsaw magic.

Me, I was content to listen to the police radio and watch the tree limbs come tumbling down. Why should I worry? Loss of electricity is only a minor inconvenience in this household. But thats what preparedness is about – being able to not be exposed to as much risk as might otherwise occur.

Tomorrow will be cleanup since there;s dead branches everywhere, but all in all, a quiet  little non-disaster. These summery thunderboomers sure leave a mess behind. Reminds me, I need to get the generator out and run it for a little while. It’s been several months since the last run so I really should get that taken care of.

Words have meanings

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Listening to late-night talk radio, especially some of the more…offbeat…programs (looking at you, Geo. Noory) can really mess with your head. On the one hand, the forecast is for economic depression or massive hyperinflation and if you don’t move your money out of currency and into metals you are doomed…doomed! And then there’s an upcoming global disaster that will lead to famine…unless you stock up on food now! But not before the powers that be decide to enact a scheme to repeal your second amendment rights….so get out here and buy guns and ammo!

I don’t know which is worse, the emotional whiplash or the financial whiplash.

I was having a discussion with a classmate today. He said that todays generation will be less successful than the previous one.  I said that without establishing a baseline of what ‘successful’ meant, the conversation was pointless. His grandfather fled the Nazis and got out of Europe with just the clothes on his bank and not a penny to his name. We both agreed that would probably, to him, qualify as ‘success’. The generation after that? Probably saw raising good kids and having a job as success. That led to the question – what did we think success was?

I can’t speak for anyone else but me….to me, success is safety and security. Having constructed a system , or series of systems, to minimize my exposure to risk and harm and having those systems in place and effective…thats success to me. What does that system look like? It looks like a life without debt, some marketable skills, a paid house, with cash in the bank, gold in the safe, guns on the wall, food in the pantry, fuel in the cans, heat in the winter, and good health. I would say I’m a success if I could stop what I’m doing right this second and not have to worry about any of my needs being met for a year.

It’s different for everybody, of course….folks with kids might say that success is raising your kids to adulthood and having them turn out to be fine adults. Or some folks (notably Gyno-Americans) might judge success by how their relationships with other people are. And, of course, a lot of folks figure success is measured by your bottom line.

I’m not saying any of that is true or not. I’m simply pointing out that when you say ‘success’ it’s pretty good odds that what you think of as ‘success’ may be different than someone (or everyone) else. Nothing wrong with that, though.

Speaking of words having meanings, we throw around terms like ‘collapse’ or ‘end of the world’ but we never really specify what constitutes that sort of thing. Here’s a very interesting piece on how we define ‘collapse’:

And that’s why I hate using the words “civil war” and “collapse”, because they’re not specific. Whenever I read the words “societal collapse” or “economic collapse”, I wonder: collapse to what level? 100% collapse? 50% collapse? (Even a 25% collapse in employment and living standards is going to cause significant problems.) One could argue that we’re witnessing a societal collapse right now — a collapse of established, normative sociopolitical behavior and attitudes. It might be more accurate and specific to say that we’ve entered into a period of societal decline, but it only goes to show just how vague the word “collapse” actually is.

RTWT, it’s quite interesting. Words have meanings, and when you talk to someone about something as important as preparedness it’s a good idea to make sure that you both know exactly what you mean when you say things like ‘collapse’.
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Fun ‘gotta share this’ .jpg for the day: