Your papers, please.

Posted on by

So it appears that the fine folks running the state of Rhode Island have decided to pull over cars with NY plates and go house-to-house searching for NY residents. No word if they have boxcars waiting at the railyard for any New Yorkers they find.

I can’t recall ever hearing of such actions happening previously. And I can’t imagine the joy of a traffic stop where every. single. person. you pull over is from NY and you have to give them bad news. If you thought New Yorkers were jerks to each other, this will be a whole new level.

But.. this is one of dozens of things that I’m betting many of us never thought about in regards to our ideas about how to prepare for the end of the world. I suppose the savvy survivalist might pull the plates off of abandoned out-of-state cars and keep them handy for this sort of event. Certainly, my plans never included leaving the great state of Montana (we have plenty of room to social distance) so it never occurred to me that ID, WY, ND, and SD, might have folks at their borders saying ‘Yankee Montanan Go Home’. This region is also rather porous in terms of logging roads crisscrossing the hills…you might very well be able to cross into other states without ever having to have your tires hit the pavement.

On the other hand, there is a nationwide groupthink that places like MT and ID are ‘safe havens’ and people with resources are making open-ended vacations to our sleepy little region of the country. It will not end well.

I suppose that as we try to take in lessons from this whole pandemic thing, one of them will be wargaming the possibility of statewide enforced-at-the-border ‘quarantines’. Who knew? But thats really the biggest takeaway from this pandemic experience – the real-world stress-testing of our various preparations/systems/supplies/networks. Certainly, I am finding things that I need to do differently. I’ve no doubt you are as well. But, honestly, the notion of states dropping into a Balkanization mode never occurred to me. Race riots? Sure. Class warfare? Possible. State-on-state violence? Never occurred to me. Although there is a precedence about a hundred and sixty years ago with the War Of Southern Overconfidence..

I suspect in an all-out state-.gov-sponsored shooting war the guys in NY would come out on top. The NYPD alone is something like 40,000 armed guys. Factor in all the other armed city/state agencies and you’d probably be around 100,000 troops. To put that in perspective, Rhode Islands largest city is the capital, Providence, with a population of less than 180,000. Using the ratio of officers:population, NYC’s 40,000 cops for 8,000,000 people is one cop per 200 people. If Providence has that same ratio, that means their department is about 900 men. Being outgunned almost 40:1 would be rather entertaining to watch.

But, obviously that ain’t gonna happen. What will happen, no doubt, is that someone in Rhode Island is going to realize that their grocery stores, gas stations, and businesses get a lot of stuff delivered ‘just in time’ from NY and maybe it might be a good idea to consider ‘message delivered’ and rescind their order.

In survivalist fiction there is almost always that scene where some town or county establishes roadblocks ‘for protection’ to keep the non-residents out. I find it fascinating that it’s happening in real life. I guess its only a few weeks until this:

 

A PDW for Cub Scouts

Posted on by

Right place, right time = Silver Maples at spot + $3. That kinda made my day, along with gas being $1.99.

The Ruger Charger is, basically, a 10/22 pistol. Ruger makes a couple different flavors of them and I have a takedown one of them. But…it’s kind of an unusual piece…specifically: what is it good for? It’s a ‘handgun’ only the broadest sense, it’s not as handy as a rifle, it’s bulky, and I can’t foresee too many shooting scenarios where it’s just what the doctor ordered.

Except one. (And if you’ve read my blog for a number of years, I think you can see where this is going to wind up.)

A month or so back, I came across this at a somewhat reasonable price:

Now, as is, this thing wasn’t terribly useful to me. But the free market abhors a vacuum and I know there are several aftermarket  vendors who can help me capitalize on the modularity of the 10/22 system. This chasis from Enoch was pretty much exactly what I was looking for…slots for Mlok, takes any AR pistol grip, has QD sling attachment points on either side, and just looks cool AF. Ordered it online and:

Note that at the back of the chasis, in addition to QD sling holes, there is a section of pic rail. Hmm…now, what could possibly mount onto that?

Yup. A little ‘wrist brace’ to make things…uhm…bracier? Available with either an aluminum or polymer strut, I opted for the spendier aluminum because apocalypse.Let’s get that puppy on there and see what we get.

By the power of greyskull!………….

And, yes, that is in fact a four-cell chest rig for 10/22 mags. No, I don’t wanna talk about it.

Thats a 10″ barrel on there, and I might throw on a shorter one. The final goal? Well, I kinda wanted a little .22 PDW-style gun that could fit in a backpack. The regular 10/22 takedown would do the job but I wanted the short-barrel option. I’ll be losing that crappo dot scope and replacing it with something a little higher quality.

Oh, and before anyone comments, the folded brace does clear the ejection port. The angle of the photo makes it look like it doesn’t, but thats just bad camera angles doing the talking. The brace originally folded to the left but since I want to be able to hang this thing on my right side from a QD sling I swapped some parts around and made it a right-side folder. Handy, that.

This was a little project I’d been playing with in my mind for a while and when the opportunity came up, I decided to run with it. It is massively economically a bad idea. If you want a compact 10/22 to tuck in a bag, go buy a TD 10/22 and get the Magpul backpacker stock. I was kinda in love with the idea of a PDW-style 10/22 ‘pistol’ and this is what I came up with…impractical, sure, but it’ll be fun to play with. And, who knows, in certain circumstances it might be just what the doctor ordered. Especially if I get the shorter barrel and put my Sparrow suppressor on the end.

McGuyver meets Alton Brown

Posted on by

Well, if I can’t go out to eat then I guess I gotta do my own thing.

A few months back I decided to experiment with chicken enchiladas (hmm..I would have thought there would be two ‘L’s in that). The tedious part is, of course, shredding the chicken. I’m a problem solver…I’m not gonna stand around with a couple forks compulsively shredding a piece of chicken. There’s gotta be an easier way. So, I put my outside-the-box way of thinking to work and… found what I have been told is a brilliant method: I put the chunks of chicken in my Cuisinart with the dull plastic ‘dough blade’ and turned it loose. The dull plastic blade did not cut up the chicken, but it shredded it like you wouldn’t believe. Perfect for my use.

So this week, I’ve had a hankering for a cheesesteak-style sandwich. Basically strips of paper thin beef cooked up with peppers and onions, slathered over a hoagie bun and melt some cheese over the whole thing. So…how to get that beef sliced up nice and thin. Well, I could cook a roast and then try to slice it really, really thin. Or I could freeze some beef and then try slicing it as thin as possible with a sharp knife. Not consistent enough. No… I had to think for a bit. As it turns out, typing ‘how to shave meat’ into Google brings you up a lot of results that have nothing to do with cooking. But…then an idea struck me. I took a simple cheap sirloin steak, threw it in the freezer, and let it solidify. Then, I reached into the kitchen drawer and pulled out one of these.

Worked perfectly.

I grabbed the frozen steak with a gloved hand and with the other hand I started going at the edge of it with the vegetable peeler like I was peeling a carrot. Long strips of paper-thin frozen meat started to pile up. When I had a couple handfuls I tossed em in the frying pan with some onions, green peppers, a shot of Tabasco, and waited for the rolls to get toasted int he toaster oven. Put it all together, melted some provolone on top and it was a thing of beauty.

I have some pork loin and chicken breast in the freezer now to try this on later. I think I may be on to something.

Abundance of caution

Posted on by

Darn inconvenient, is what is! I had to go out and buy a new printer today. Fine. I head up to Best Buy. Some flunkie wearing a safety vest is at the door of the store. He asks me what I want. “I want to buy stuff”, I said. He pulls out a tablet and asks me what model or description of the …”Let’s cut to the chase”, I interject, “can I go in there and look at printers?” “No, we’re not letting anyone in.” “Great.”, I turn on my heel and leave.

Need some packing material to ship packages. Head over to the local newspaper to buy a few end rolls. Get to the lobby doors. Locked. Sign in the window says that for ‘safety’ they’ve closed the lobby and any business can be conducted by phone or internet.

Hmmm.

Some challenges I was not expecting.

Stock options

Posted on by

Well, other than deadly pathogens floating in the air, it was pretty nice the other day so why not take a trip to the range? Gun du jour? The PTR-91 GI model. Merciful Crom, it is a thunderous hammer of righteousness. There is no two ways about it – it’s heavy. But it shoots everything I feed it, and I was able to ring the 100-yd 8″ gong with pretty good regularity. The .308 AR-10 is probably a better choice in every regard (weight, ergonomics, availability, etc.) but dang if that heavy hunk of sheet metal doesn’t inspire confidence.

Realistically though…a little .223 carbine is hard to beat. And speaking of .223 carbine….

Cue the music………

Ta-da! Yes, it is the repro of the classic Ruger GB folding stock…made famous by a crack commando unit that was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. The folks who make this stock called me the other day to tell me it was on the way. Being a fabulously nosey person I asked what the backstory was. As it turned out, the company (Samson) had a pre-existing relationship with Ruger, making parts for them or somesuch. One of the Samson employees kept hassling Ruger to bring back the folding stock for the Mini-14. Ruger kept blowing the guy off, telling him that no one was interested, the Mini was a dated design that wasn’t really selling very well anyway, etc, etc. Finally, to shut the guy up, Ruger gave them the moulds and told them to go make it. Samson put out a pre-order and the response was far greater than what Ruger had imagined it would be. So…with Rugers blessing (and, it was hinted, some licensing fees) Samson picked up the torch and is now making the original Ruger folder stock. But, enough history…let’s drop it on a Mini-14 and get on the jazz.

No lie, I giggled like an idiot after this stock was on. Started whistling the A-Team theme and didn’t stop the whole time I wrote this post.

I’ll be the first to say it, when push comes to shoot, I’d rather have a little AR carbine than the Mini-14. The AR is more accurate, better ergonomics, better sights, better triggers, more modular, cheaper mags, etc, etc. But, there is just something about the Mini-14 that says ‘truck gun’ without going too Burt Gummer. This thing will most likely become a range toy or safe queen. Although…it might become a ‘truck gun’ for under the seat with a half dozen magazines. Telll you what though…I can’t wait to take this to the range and see the looks from people who either a) never knew Mini-14’s had stocks like this or b) people who haven’t seen one in thirty years.

And if you think that’s cute, wait’ll you see the itty-bitty baby PDW I’m putting together later this week.

Too normal to panic, too weird to be calm

Posted on by

I don’t know about you, but the Kung Flu seems a little unreal and real at the same time. I mean, on the one hand all the media are talking about corpses littering hospital hallways, government continuity plans, cordoning off neighborhoods, etc…very dramatic stuff. But on the other hand I look outside my window and…traffic continues to roll by, the lights are on, people bicycle along the sidewalk, etc….but then I go to the supermarket and see empty aisles and purchase limits, my classes are shifted to online, and restaurants are closed….but my  mailman delivers my mail, the gas stations are open, the toilets still flush. It’s like a mixture of messages. Its almost like theres not enough crazy stuff happening to push me into panic mode, but there’s not enough normal stuff to keep me from worrying. It’s a very in-between kinda thing.

One problem I anticipate is remaining consistent and vigilant for the unpredictable length of this crisis. As I said, there’s enough ‘normal’ going on right now that it’s a bit hard to immerse myself in a ‘conserve’ mindset. At the same time there’s enough crazy going on to instill anxiety and dread in me that I should be ‘doing something’. And without that very obvious in-your-face threat, it becomes a bit tough to tread lightly on the Pop Tarts, rice, and bleach.

I suppose part of it is my locale. Folks in the big cities, I suspect, see it a bit more on the ‘panic’ or weird side than we do here in flyover country. Perhaps thats the only thing they’ve got going for them…the situation is such that there is no ambiguity, no half-measures.

The key to succeeding at any endeavour is persistence and discipline. I need to stick to the mindset of ‘London during the blitz’ and not let the lack of blatantly obvious dire threat lull me into a state of complacency (or worse – waste).

But…still got plenty of TP.

 

Prelude to …what, exactly?

Posted on by

The way I see it, there’s some good and bad in this virus thing. The good is that some people will come around to the notion of being more responsible for their own well being and safety. The bad is that .gov is going to start flexing its ’emergency’ powers and once you give a power to .gov it’s pretty hard to take it away.

Meanwhile, my particular corner of the universe is still in a sort of transitional phase. Restaurants are closed and grocery stores are hit hard in some product groups, but there’s still traffic on the streets and people walking around doing stuff. Reading the various news sources tells me not to get used to this sort of thing…any moment now some sort of national quarantine will kick off as hospitals become overrun, supplies dwindle, and we all slide into poverty that will require a ‘reboot’ of our financial system…but with new improvements and features.

I am curious…if a national emergency gets declared will they take the phone off the hook over at NICS and prohibit firearms purchases? Nationwide ‘gun holiday’ as people are told that no firearms sales can be made? Could happen, I suppose. It happens on local levels all the time:

So far, as best I can tell, this Kung Flu thing hasn’t really necessitated cracking open the gun safe and going full Burt Gummer…but it’s nice to have that option. I have spares around for the odd chance that I might need to loan one out to someone who doesn’t have their own, but I don’t forsee that really happening yet.

School restarts, albeit online, next week and I am curious to see what happens. I’ve not received any emails from my instructors explaining how we are supposed to be doing this online stuff, so I need to reach out to them and make sure they didnt send an email or something and I missed it.I hope the powers that be at the school tell the instructors to grade extra-generously to compensate for the Chinese fire drill that is going to take place as classes that were supposedly ‘not available online’ suddenly become available online.

Meanwhile…same old same old. I’m checking he news to keep an eye on what kind  of mischief my local, state, and fed governments are up to, and trying not to panic-buy more stuff.

Regardless of where the virus is, in terms of progressing along its timeline, I think we are still way, way, way in the very early stages of the economic consequences. People are just starting to get sent home or laid off….in two weeks or so, after that first missed paycheck, it should be time to re-evaluate how he situation looks. I’d reckon in a  month or so, youre going to see more stuff in the supermarkets as people out of work tighten their belts and try not to spend. For anyone who has been carrying lotsa debt and not kept up a good emergency fund…..oy, thats gonna leave a mark.

Scenes from CostCo

Posted on by

Went to CostCo last night and was rather surprised. They had stacked empty pallets about chest high on either side of the main entrance. This narrowed the entrance down to a width just wide enough for one person. A chokepoint. As each person entered CostCo they were handed a bleach wipe for their cart. A sign on top of the pallets had a dry-erase board listing what CostCo was out of at the moment. It was a little surreal to see this little barricade at the entrance.

Further in the store were signs reminding people that while CostCo does have a generous return policy, they will not accept returns on a few panci-buying favorites:

Can you see the idiocy here? If you panic bought TP and rice because you didnt have any stockpiled, why wouldn’t you keep it so that next time you’re not forced to  panic buy? If bought TP in a panic and then return it, you’re going to be forced to panic buy again next time. Morons.

The other interesting bit was that CostCo has closed down the food court for anything other than takeout orders of entire pizzas and the like. No sitting down and eating your hot dog and pop.

And, as I discovered, CostCo is also limiting quantities on particular items. For example, one case of bottled water per cardholder.

Interesting times, me boyos, interesting times.

You want Roof Koreans? Because this is how you get Roof Koreans

Posted on by

It seems that some municipalities, in order to avoid crowded jail situations and compensate for ‘blue flu’, are looking the other way when it comes to particular crimes and offenses. Things that might have gotten you a ride in the back of a Crown Vic and a trip to stand in front of the judge are now being adjudicated with warnings and/or citations…or just a stern talking to. (Essentially, British style policing.) Naturally, the media catches up on this and duly reports it..thereby basically telling everyone that it’s okay to commit minor crimes because we don’t have the resources to deal with you. Or, in other words, a low-level indie version of The Purge.

Problem is, low-level crime doesn’t always stay low-level. Shoplifting a 40 oz. from the Korean grocery is low-level…until mama-san catches you and starts screaming and hitting you with her pricing gun. And in his overwhelming desire to GTFO, our low level criminal busts her one across the jaw and runs. And junior sees mom get her bell rung, grabs a baseball but and runs out the door after our low-level criminal. What happens when the two meet is definitely no longer low-level. So, yeah, those ‘let em go’ low-level offenses and crimes can spin outta control pretty quickly. And its all fun and games until someone needs a chest seal.

So, otherwise reasonable people might cast a curious glance at the fella in Krogers with a Sig 226 tucked on his hip. It’s a virus, after all…not a race riot. Why the hardware? Because disasters always wind up bringing out the worst in some people. not all people, maybe not even the majority of people…but some people.

Remember the predicted paradigm of “when the government handouts stop there’ll be looting and burning in the streets?” I guarantee you that right now, in some major population centers, there are people who think they’re going to get checks from Uncle Sam for a couple thousand dollars over this ‘stimulus package’ nonsense. And if that doesn’t come to pass? Well..thats “my money” that I was “entitled to” and next thing you know you get crowds constructively expressing their dissatisfaction by breaking windows and burning cars.

Far fetched? Mmmmmaybe. But more likely the scum down the street in that crazy  house are going to start rattling doorknobs at 3am and lock-checking parked cars since they know that people are going to be loading up on cash and other desirable items ‘just in case’. Garages that are unlocked will be visited at night. Items in your yard might start disappearing. And someone might be keeping an eye on your driveway to see when your car (and by extension, you) are and aren’t home. I suspect that the more rural your location the more likely that you might get the prepper-fiction-classic of strangers rolling up to your house and helping themselves.

Time to roll out the razor ribbon and sentry guns? I doubt it. But it is time to make sure that taking your pistol with you when you leave the house ‘most of the time’ becomes taking your pistol with you when you leave the house ‘every time’. Wanna take it a step further and keep a carbine and mags in the truck ‘just in case’? Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. Me, I keep it simple for now….G17 and a spare mag.

Admin – Posting schedule

Posted on by

Not sure anyone has noticed, or cares, but obviously I have been posting more lately because of..well..you know. In care you’re curious, here’s how it usually works:

I write posts a day in advance. This is because enough happens throughout the day that if I posted as things occurred we’d have three or four posts in a day. I don’t want to do that – I want one post per day so each post gets the maximum exposure. So, I’ll write a post, add to it during the day, and then schedule it for the next day.

When? For the last few weeks new posts are queued to go up sometime between 0001and 0059 the next day. So, if you’re really jonesing, and you’re up late at night, the new post will be up sometime between midnight and 1am. Google Analytics shows me that most of you guys check in around 0600-0900,

Comments are greenlit and posted several times a day.

I check my website email once or twice a day.

So, barring some extraordinary event, it’s one post per day. If you show up at 7am and see a new post then you’ve probably seen all thats gonna be up for that day.

There you go…some behind-the-scenes insight for ya.