You know what I really like about being Commander Zero? When I do these posts and website updates I can be a completely different person. I dont have the worries and stresses and headaches of my civillian life. Everything is much more in my control. All I have to worry about is *things*…need food? Get food. Simple. Need ammo? Get ammo? Piece of cake. Nothing more complex than that. Being the Zero is sometimes a vacation from being the ‘real’ me. Its nice to be someone else once in a while.
Onto business……
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The Leatherman Wave is looking like the candidate for the Official Zero Multitool. I’ll go price a few and see if its in the realm of possibility. Because, as the Zero, I’d have to get more than one.
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The weather here has cleared up a bit and theres very little snow on the ground so Ive taken to riding the mountain bike around town again. Great exercise and it very much reminds me that for short-range urban (or semi-urban) transport these things are hard to beat. Traffic becomes almost irrelevent, blocked streets can be bypassed for sidewalks or overland routes, more gear can be carried than if I were on foot, and its certainly much much faster than walking. The only drawback is, of course, lack of protection compared to a car or truck and the relative short range. One other seriously nice thing is that I could throw the bike in the back of the truck and if things got hairy I could always abandon the vehicle and continue on bicycle. (The movie ‘Deep Impact’ highlighted this in a scene where an evacuating family is caught in a monstrous and hopeless traffic jam..the young son survives because he can weave through cars on his little enduro motorcycle.) Which leads me to the midway compromise of a nice all-terrain motorcycle. More range, more speed, more cargo. Drawback is, of course, more inherent risk since you are travelling faster in an unprotected manner. Still, the military has a diesel Kawasaki out now that looks severely tempting. I’ve figured my motorcycle days are behind me since Im not young and invincible anymore, but at the same time there might be some merit to having a fueled and equipped motorcycle ready to go.
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LMI buddy of mine has been collecting the old Jerry Ahern ‘Survivalist’ series of ‘mens action adventure’ books off of eBay. Ah, the heady days of the Cold War. An interesting read in retrospect, twenty years after the series started. Invading Russians, AR-15’s for everyone, no .40 S&W cartridges, ACOGS, Humvees or other staples of warfare and defense in the last decade. Very dated…but still a fun read. By the by, if youre looking for some interesting reading along the lines of ‘Lucifers Hammer’ or ‘Alas Babylon’ try getting yourself a copy of “Patriots: Surviving the coming collapse’ (by Rawles)…a bit heay on the religion and UN NWO conspiracy but still a very very enjoyable read.
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I need to get the DSA scope mount for the FAL. I have the AR and AK for the close-n-cozy moments and I have the CZ550 for the reach-out-and-touch-someone moments but I think the FAL’s niche is with a decent 4x (maybe 6x) scope and a bipod. Something for stopping vehicles at longer distances than the 7.62×39 and .223 but requiring more output of lead than a bolt gun can provide. Something for peppering trucks at four hundred yards, that sort of thing. A Barret .50 would be nice but if I had that kinda money Id be sinking it into Zeros Personal Chariot Of Apocalyptic Deliverence (read: a nice little get-me-the-hell-out-of-here vehicle).
The Leatherman Wave seems to fall in the $50-$100 range, depending on which one and from what supplier.
Personally, I care a Kershaw Multi-Tool–vise-grips pliers, knife on the outside, all other tools on the inside, giving a smooth metal grip on the outside. Not as small as some others because vise grips can’t fold, but quite useful.
Is that the old “John Rourke, Survivalist” series? I used to read those back when they first came out. Lol! Like “Patriots,” there is never a skill he needs that he doesn’t have.
I’ve been thinking more and more of a bike or motorcycle as a get-out-of-traffic quick solution. I have a motorcycle, but I live in an urban area with very heavy traffic and lots of idiot drivers, and it’s a lightweight bike (Kawasaki Vulcan), so I’ve left it at my father’s house, 45 minutes outside of the city. I’m thinking about improving my riding skills, getting a current license, and bringing it back here, just in case. (I do have .308s for those other potential problems!)
I read the “Survivalist” in high school and I’m sure it contributed to my being a survivalist today. I love it as fiction—maybe one day I’ll collect all the volumes. Sometimes a survivalist just needs some hobby themed fiction.
I think James, Wesley, Rawles mentioned that “Unintended Consequences” was a good book but marred by all the kinky sex scenes. Oh well.
Motorcyles would present a good option for the mobile survivlaist, but have you shopped for one of these?
Y’know, I *liked* that movie.
there is never a skill he needs that he doesn’t have.
That always annoys me. In Patriots, it’s “hey, bullet wound! no worries, we have a trauma nurse!” I much prefer the average guys trying to perform abdominal surgery with nothing but a book to go by in The Stand.
This guy from the fal files is making a custom FAL scope mount that theoretically fixes some of the drawbacks of the existing ones. There’s a thread on the board where it’s discussed in detail if you search for the company name.. I’m signed up for one already on faith.. we’ll see.
I don’t think I’ve actually read “The Survivalist” series. I should, just to keep up my good standing in the gun nut community.
My favorite ’80s gun nut-adventure story was the “The Guardians” series. It would have made a great set of adventures for “Twilight 2000.”
Another one I remember was “Deathlands.” Enjoyable at the time, but immediately forgetable.
Awesome. What movie is that from?
Actually, the author of “The Survivalist” series, Jerry Ahren, used to be a pretty big gun writer, writing articles about concealed carry and handgun leather for the most part. He recently bought the Detonics Corporation and announced that he is bringing the pistols back under the Detonics name. Apparently he really believes in the products he wrote about. 🙂
There are actually two versions of the Wave– I personally own the older versions and like them a lot. EMS recently (around Thanksgiving) had them on sale for $50 closing them out for the “New Wave” which came out within the last year. I can’t tell you offhand what the differences are, but if you can find an old Wave, it may save you a few bucks.
I was going to point you to the falfiles startup company, but beat me to it. They have an excellent rep on the falfiles for their individual efforts in the past, so I suspect their collaboration will rock. I have nothing against the DSA scope mount and wouldn’t mind having one, but I have two Tapco scope mounts (1 third generation and 1 fourth generation) that have proven absolutely reliable. The trick to getting the Tapco mounts to work properly is to keep the bolt carrier assembly in the rifle as you install the mount. Make sure to Locktite the mounting screws and tighten them down using an opposite corners method similar to tightening the lugs on a car wheel.
multitools
my 2 cents.
I think there are some great multi tools out ther from kershaw, spyderco, gerber, etc. But I am weight concsious on that stuff. I really like the stirpped down, wight miniamalist ones taht have the basic blade, file screwdrivers. The leatherman super tool is what I carry, and while I am in the market for back up, I keep drifting back to the basics of the supertool for the weight to effectiveness ratio.
Note: I do own a spyderco spyderwrench, way to fucking heavy and big. It rides in the blow out back in the truck, never on my body.
I’ve read all those series. I suppose while we’re throwing around right-wing, gun-toting, post-apocalyptic serials we should mention the ‘Ashes’ series as well.
Damnation Alley
While we’re on the tangent of post-apocalyptic literature—has anybody read a book where it featured a post-nuke sceneario and a trimaran? I read tat awhile ago a would like to pick it up again.
Sounds like Waterworld…..
In response to your question yesterday, I wrote, “I don’t carry a multitool as I don’t like bulky and heavy things on my belt or in my pocket, but I should throw one in my bag.” Which just occurred to me as I wrote it. So I zipped off to ebay and got a Leatherman Wave for $33 plus ~$5 shipping. I can’t find ’em for sale anywhere else for less than $50. The ones for $50 may be a new item, but it’s a prior year’s model. This years 20th anniversary model is going for around $70 and I can’t see a lot of difference. There’s a lot of people on ebay selling them so you could probably use esnipe’s bid group feature to bid on a bunch of them until you get one at the price you want.
That diesel Kawasaki looks cool as hell. I wonder how long it’ll be before I can get my hands on one. I’ve settled on a motorcycle myself for urban transportation, or atleast transportation to the urban area. The road that I live on is curvy as hell and I’ll frequently drive up to 300 miles a day in the bay area. A motorcycle is just the most efficient way to get around, certainly better than my fuel guzzling pickup. I’ve got an old BMW (car) but it needs a clutch and I’m just sick of working on the damned thing without a garage. If you’re going to plan to need to fix automobiles, you’ll also need to plan to have a place to do it. Now that I’ve settled on a motorcycle, I just need to save up the cash to get one, which is the hard part, because I want a new diesel 4wd pickup, too.
Speaking of ACOGs, I saw a guy engage a target at 3 yards with a 4x ACOG today.
On your SHTF Chariot of Doom…I’m using a ’99 GMC Sierra 4WD and it’s okay, but not like my old Scout II. The International Harvester Scout II uses standard Dana differential components, so those are easy to get. Some parts are difficult to find these days, but here’s what you get:
1) Severely tiny turning radius. These things will turn around in one lane if you ask real polite.
2) Granny gear will push it up a tree: very very torquey at the low end.
3) High end will do highway speeds, though it’s noisy if the suspension is stiff enough for offroad use.
4) Fold up rear seat gives you plenty of room for Assistant Gunner and the Acme Civilization Rebuild Kit.
5) No frigging carpetting. Spill a chocolate shake and you can just hose it out. No joke: actually did that the first day a buddy had his Scout…and we’re still friends.
6) It has a carburetor and you can rebuild it. Try that with your post-90 ComputerMobile.
7) There is a manual available for rebuilds and the like.
Just my two-cents’ worth, but I can completely see a dull-black Scout with a Punisher skull on the hood and that “CDRZERO” license plate.
I must again recommend the Wave, even though your opinion already seems to be tilted towards it. I must also recommend the Swiss Tech Micro Plus (swisstechtools.com). even the zero might forget his multitool (rarely, I’m sure), but even your “civilian” personality must have his keyring close at hand at all times – and even a small multitool is better than nothing.
Also, I can’t recall if you ever got around to getting a .22 pistol – a Ruger Mk II will not disappoint, it’s got a kick like a mouse fart, is as accurate as you could want, and is just plain fun to shoot in my opinion. Also, supressors are remarkably easy to manufacture, or so I’ve heard, if you’re into that sort of thing.
I read quite a bit of the Ashes series and enjoyed it until the cannibals showed up. Post-apocalyptic cannibals I can accept, but did he really expect me to believe an entire society of hundreds of thousands of cannibals living underground pre-apocalypse?