Life continues apace. I usually write entries at work and then bring them home on a USB drive….but when you see a week go by without posting you know Ive been forgetful and haven’t gotten the saved posts and the USB drive in the same place at the same time. On the other hand, it means that when I do get my ducks in a row the backlog of posts gets dumped as one long post. You lucky people.
Cuttage
Tag Archives: gear
Korean missles, Glock breakage, bicycles, storage
A little hiatus from posting. Mostly because my civilian life has been pretty full and when I have time to write I’d rather use it for sleep. Still and all, I figured I’d better post …..
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The news has been on-n-off over North Korea’s on-n-off missle launch. For those who came in late, the North Koreans are supposedly going to test a missle capable of reaching the continental US. Let me take a few minutes to say I told you so. I told you so. Several times. This is a surprise to who exactly? However, lets be practical. North Korea is a communist third world basket case that makes Cuba look like Canada. The people are starving, theyre isolated from the world economic community and they have absolutely nothing to bargain with. Then they see the US and the rest of the world making a deal with Iran to give up their nuclear ambitions in exchange for all sortsa goodies. The North Koreans, not being complete idiots despite being Communists, figure they may as well try and get the US to pony up some goodies in exchange for the DPRK dropping its nuclear plans (which they probably couldn’t get to work anyway). Problem is, it appears no one is taking the bait and the North Koreans now have to put up or shut up and get that missle in the air.
Threat to me and my well-being? Minimal. Interesting from a socio-politcal standpoint. Bigger threat to the locals in the region then they are to me. Let ‘em starve.
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Girlfriend had a minor hiccup with her Glock the other day. Trigger return spring broke. This is an old second-generation Glock so theres no telling how many rounds have been put through it. The functionability of the gun remains..still shoot, fire, shoot, repeat….just means that ‘staging’ the trigger becomes an issue. For combat shooting, it’ll get the job done. The part is a $2.50 part and I have four of them on order so swapping it out shouldn’t be a problem. In fact the girlfriend already had a spare spring laying around so she simply replaced it herself and is back up and running. Nonetheless, the moral of the story here is: spare parts.
Its worth pointing out this is the second part she has had break. The recoil spring guide on her G19 broke, another mishap that did not render the gun unshootable but was more of an inconvenience for disassembly. Now this. Aftermarket recoil spring guides are available that appear to be far more sturdy (metal vs. plastic) and perhaps there are some aftermarket springs out there that are also a bit more durable as well. Gotta look.
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Speaking of spare parts, I really need to get a few goodies for my bicycle. Absolutely nothing, short of something with an internal combustion engine, is as good for getting from point A to point B. As Ive mentioned before, you can be sure there are a lot more people in Manhattan these days with mountain bikes just waiting for the next time all vehicular traffic is halted and the only way off the island is by foot…or bicycle.
I need to get a few things…good foot pump, a smaller pump for carrying with, patch kits, extra tubes, chain, chainbreaker, wrenches, spokes, spoke tools, extra wheels, etc, etc. On the bright side, shouldn’t come out to too bad a price and I know someone in the biz so maybe I can save a few bucks there.
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Of course, storing spare parts means having to have a place to store them. Additionally, some things have particular storage requirements. Take ammo, for example, it has to be stored in such a manner as to be dry, protected, accessible and easily man-portable. Fortunately the answer to this problem is, unsurprisingly, the ammo can. Other items are not so fortunate. Almost everything needs to be stored to protect from water. Never know when something is going to be exposed to a broken pipe, flooded basement, rainy night in the back of a truck, or just heaved across a muddy yard. Some stuff is easier to find containers for than others. And good luck with the really heavy stuff like the full water containers (eight pounds per gallon can add up in a hurry) or the bulky stuff like bedding and clothes. Things that cant fit in ammo cans (and there aren’t many considering the huge variations in ammo can sizes) get vacuum sealed and then put into heavy plastic or cardboard containers to protect the sealed bag from puncture. In this manner, the desired level of protection is achieved although not the desired level of durability.
Naturally, theres also a trade-off of accessibility vs. protection. First aid kits are a good example. When you need to use one you usually need it in a hurry, but the contents must be protected from damage and environment at all times for them to be useful. Whats needed is high levels of protection with equally high levels of access…esp. if using only one hand. Kinda makes planning more interesting when you have to start taking that kinda stuff into consideration, don’t it?
AK mag sale, e. German canteens in bulk
Couple of quick notes on gear/surplus:
CDNN has Soviet 30-rd AK mags on sale @ $7.99
And for a decent deal on surplus canteens (New) theres this at Sportsmans Guide.
The canteens seem like a fun buy. For a buck each they’ll make nice little giveaways for a few of the LMI, spares to keep on hand for third- or fourth-level guests during the apocalypse, ‘disposable’ gear for emergency packs, etc. C’,pm, man, theyre a buck a throw!
Gun Show
The girlfriend is now into me for twnetyfive bucks to replace the shotgun slugs she took to her competition today. I hit the Hamilton gun show and found some lovely 50-round boxes (5×10) of Federal Tactical slugs (thats #LE127 RS for you folks keeping track…HydraShock-y goodness!)
Also picked up a brand new , never-been-used set of Dillon .308 carbide reloading dies for $50. Just the thing now that I have the Super1050 sitting on the bench. Time to feed the FAL.
And finally picked up a few ‘raindrop camo’ surplkus Russian-type AK mag pouches.
Things I saw that I wanted:
A couple thumbhole stock Arsenal AK’s for $500
South African battlepack .308
A couple nice HiPowers
Im lucky I escaped with spending only $87
AN/TRC-3A
Happiness.
I picked up a cheap old Radio Shack scanner today for about $30. The reason I needed one was that my AN/TRC-3A seismic intrusion detectors (the wireless ones…I have both kinds – wired and wireless) didnt come with the receiver for the frequency they operate on.
The scanner, however, picks up that freq. juuuuuuuuuust fine. So, I threw some 9v batteries in my ‘#4’ unit and set it on the floor, turned up the sensitivitiy, walked into the kitchen, turned on the scanner and tapped my foot on the floor a few times.. beepbeepbeepbeep. Ah….four beeps, indicating that something has tripped sensor #4.
Setting it up in the yard and adjusting the sensitivity it would go off whenever a vehicle went by on the road about 20 yards away.
Handy devices.
What do I need them for? Well, for one thing, theyre darn handy if youre going camping or hiking and want to know if anyones mucking with your stuff while youre away. I’m sure you can figure out the other useful applications.
Where do you get such fine defensive technology? Why, eBay, of course!
Reloading, Nalgene bottle, vacuum sealing, Carharts
Been busy loading 9mm for the girlfriend. She’s burning up about 300~ rounds a week in practice and doing it on a single stage press is out of the question, and even on the Dillon 550 it still takes a bit of time. The solution, as mentioned earlier, was to acquire a Dillon Super 1050…in addition to pistol calibers it’ll do anything .30-06 length or shorter, which means I can set it up to not only crank out .223 but also .308.
Anyway, she managed to purchase:
8# of Universal Clays for $86 ($10.75 per pound)
5m Win SP primers for $75.55 ($15.51 per 1000)
5m 115 gr. FMJ bullets for $191.50 ($38.30 per 1000)
Brass is essentially free since I have gobs of it sitting here.
Before you ask, she got this stuff at the local ammo remanufacturing facility. Strictly a local thing.
Since we’re using 5.0 grains of powder, that’s about 1400 rounds per pound. In short, we’re looking at around $63.03 per 1000 rounds. Of course, 9mm is pretty cheap these days so the savings realized are less than, say, .45 ACP or .44 mag. Nonetheless, the Dillon 1050 is still an excellent purchase because it will be used on some of those higher dollar cartridges. Should be able to put together .45 ACP FMJ for around $5.95 per box of 50. And .357 Mag JHP for around $4.38 per 50. Naturally, that gets stretched if we switch from jacketed to cast bullets. The .38 Special, for example, with a 150 gr. LRN would run around $3.31 per box of 50. (All of these prices, by the way, assume reloading fired brass that you’ve already been saving.)
So, while the 1050 was a hideous up-front expense ($1500~), it should be a smart long-term investment just from the amount of money it saves on ammo. Also, its nice to be able to crank out lotsa ammo in a short amount of time and sock it away in the bunker. My supply of 9mm was getting low but now Im going to be upping the quantities of everything.
One of the LMI has 16,000 pieces of .40 S&W brass he was formerly trying to load on a single-stage press (sort of a lifetime project, I guess). I told him if he’ll pop for the .40 S&W conversion kit and dies he can come by and use this thing.
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Finally got around to picking up a 32 oz. Nalgene bottle to beat up. For trekking around I like the Camelbaks but for short jaunts the bottle is pretty good. Also, for small things that need to be protected from damage and moisture, they make decent little drysafes for all the little incidentals (esp. electronic incidentals) that you want to keep dry and protected.
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Went to CostCo last week and picked up some chicken. The boneless, skinless breasts are individually vacuum sealed and have the date stamped on them, making them soooooo perfect for the deep freeze. That’s how meat should be packaged, my friend. As an aside, if you haven’t gotten a vacuum sealer to use to take advantage of bulk purchases and sales of meat, you really should. Like many things, there is an upfront cost that can be a little intimidating but it literally does ‘pay for itself’. Example – ground beef is usually $2.99 a pound. I’ve mentioned this before, right? When its remaindered, the price drops to $1.69 a pound. This means each pound is saving me $1.30. Without the vacuum sealer, I’d not be able to store the meat for long term and would have to buy it on, generally, an ‘as needed’ basis. With the vacuum sealer I buy ten pounds and I’ve saved $13.00. After around 100# of meat, the thing has paid for itself…assuming I don’t get any even better deals. Point is, you have to be able to look past those initial startup costs and do the math. Yeah, youre gonna have to cough up $100+ upfront, but it really does turn out to be worth it in the not-so-long run.
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I’ve been wearing Carhart work dungarees lately and have been very pleased with them. They are stoutly built, reinforced, comfy, look like they’ll last forever, and come in a nice subdued olive-green color. I recommend them highly if youre looking for a pair of pants that can shrug off the abuse that would normally kill a pair of jeans. Not cheap at around $40~ a pair, but I would bet they’ll outlast a pair of jeans under the same circumstances. Only drawback – theyre a bit heavy, but like most forms of armour that’s the tradeoff.
Discount meat, politics, Bactine wipes, Battle Bag
Not a bad shopping day yesterday. Hit the bargain meat bin and found 1# bricks, vacuum sealed, of 85/15 (85% lean) Angus ground beef marked down to $1.99. Sealed up nice and tight and in a very convenient brick shape that makes stacking the frozen flesh quite easy. It gets the date written on the package and then its off to the deep freeze. Mmmmm…beefy goodness.
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I do believe I’m ready to give up on the prospect that government will become nicer and less intrusive. The Patriot Act reauthorization is bad enough, but theres a host of other legislation going on that just makes a bad situation worse. Technically, politics isn’t that important to my preparedness except when it conflicts with my ability to get gear… but the more federal police powers that are thrown about the more likely it is that guys like me are going to get under the microscope for ‘suspicious’ behavior. Low profile seems the only recourse.
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Im a bit annoyed with the Bactine antiseptic wipes that I purchased last year. These things are packaged like a little hand-wiping towlette you get with an order of ribs. Little foil pouch (like a condom) and inside is a wet towelette saturated with Bactine. Figured it would be perfect for my first aid kits. Apparently, after time, the packaging degrades to the point that the Bactine starts seeping through the foil paper. Grrrr… so I either have to replace it every year or find something else to use as an antiseptic wipe. Very annoying. Plus, Ive always liked that Bactine smell.
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Blackhawk has a new product out that might solve my quest for a bag for my .308 gear. Its their “Battle Bag”. Lets get this out of the way and call it what it is: it’s a man purse. It’s a shoulderbag with pockets for magazines , radios, etc, etc. Might be just what I need to keep all my .308 gear in one place. No mention of it having webbing but otherwise it seems like an interesting product. Sugg. Ret. Is $100 but who pays retail in this world? Usual colors, but I think I’ll go with the goes-with-everything OD.
The case for cases
As you and I know, the world can be a pretty tough place. If it weren’t, theres be a lot of EMTs and auto body shops out of work. Additionally, since fate is not without a mean streak, when it rains it pours. Take some of the lessons from Katrina for example…some folks had their guns stored in safes. They werent stolen but they sure weren’t dry. (Actually, some guns that were in safes were stolen..by NOPD for their own use.)I’ve seen photos of guns that sat in the sewage-and-chemical-saturated waters for a week or two and they were pretty sad. This time next year youre going to see a large number of very experienced, very talented amateur gun refinishers and stockmakers down there.
So, what can you do? You want something to protect your electronics, guns, documents and other items that dont respond well to immersion, dust, dirt, impacts and abrasions. The answer, naturally, is some sort of protective case. Lets start with the basic simple ammo can…like a quality prostitute, theyre cheap, available, and take a surprising amount of abuse for the money.
Ammo cans come in all sorts of sizes…most people can go their entire lives and never see anything other than the .30 and .50 caliber cans. However, there are bigger (much bigger) cans available. With the exception of the hard plastic cans that are used for certain ammo, most US ammo cans are made of steel, painted OD green, have removable lids, and use a closure that levers the can shut. Waterproofing is achieved with a rubber gasket that goes around the lid of the can. Assuming everything is in good shape these cans will do 90% of what you want them to do…thier only drawbacks are really their limited sizes and that they will dent if you hit them hard enough. When buying ammo cans always check the gaskets to make sure theyre in good shape and that theyre actually there. You also want to make sure the mouth/lid alignment is good without dents and dings that would prevent a good seal upon closure. Even in good condition, some ammo cans will still leak if submerged. For being out in the rain, bounching around in your truck, being dropped into snowbanks and the like they are great…but for actually sitting in a flooded truck under five feet of water for a week, you might be disappointed. However, since ammo cans work so well for most preparedness needs they shouldnt be dismissed. For truly important stuff, I’ll seal the item in waterproof plastic or another container and then put it in the ammo can. Belt and suspenders. Some of the larger ammo cans are well suited for larger things like guns and probably some of the best ammo cans are the ‘rocket cases’ that turn up from time to time. These are about the size of a small footlocker and usually have a lid that is completely removable and is held in place by six locking ‘dogs’. For storing a single longarm the absolute best Ive found is the cylindrical shell container…its got a lid that is padlockable, cams into place to provide a waterproof seal, is extremely durable and has attachment points to secure it to another object using a cable or chain. Theyre big, heavy and hard to find but its almost as good as a Pelican case in terms of durability.
The next step up from ammo cans are the plastic cases that come in various sizes specifically for guns and electronic gear. Pelican is probably the most well-known brand and their products are good. Heavy-duty plastic ‘briefcase’-style cases with locking latches and pressure vents. Usually lined with foam that can be cut to make a custom fit for your gear, they are outstanding weapons and electronics cases. Big drawback is the exepnse…this kind of quality doesnt come cheap. If youre lucky, you can sometimes find used ones locally or on eBay. Scrounging around photography or electronic stores that are going out of business may turn some up as well. The foam inserts can be replaced if you need. A clever trick that eliminates the need to cut the styrofoam in the case to fit your guns is to simply remove the foam entirely and keep your guns in their normal padded soft case and put that inside the Pelican case. Keep in mind that soft cases usually retain moisture so throw some dessicant in there with your gun. Pelican cases are about as waterproof as you can get, are very durable and come in a variety of sizes…they even make cases small enough to hold a GPS or HT radio.
The ultimate in hard, waterproof storage is probably the military-grade cases that are starting to show up. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan has spurred the development of cases to keep the ever-growing quantity of military electronincs dry, clean and sand-free. Additionally, the fast-reaction nature of the conflicts puts an emphasis on portability and survivability (like kicking stuff out the back of a humvee at 50 mph or out the door of a Blackhawk at 30 ft. above the ground). These military-grade containers are designed to be stackable and ‘pallet-ized’ (fit neatly and securely on a cargo pallet) which makes them a good choice for storage. Drawbacks are pricing (about 50%+ more than Pelican) and availability. Used ones turn up on, surprise, eBay frequently but theyre usually well-used and I’d be cautious about the integrity of their waterproof seals.
Is it worth $250 for a Pelican rifle case? Depends. If your going to just take your AR out of the safe and to the range you probably dont need it. If your going to stuff an AR, 870 and Glock in there and hide it out in the rafters of your garage or in a culvert somewhere, then you most definitely need it. I’d feel perfectly comfortable heaving a Pelican rifle case into the back of a truck, bouncing down a logging road and dragging it up the side of a hill in the rain. If I were concerned of an impending disaster that might put my house underwater I would definitely pack the guns up in Pelican cases if i couldnt get them somewhere safer.
My point is that unless your carrying an object with you on your person, or you’ve already stashed it at its final destination, you need some sort of transport/storage container that can protect your vital gun, radio, computer, etc. from the nasty stuff TEOTWAWKI can throw at it. When youve got 30 minutes to pack your entire life into a truck and leave in a hurry you want to be able to grab stuff and fling it into the back of your rig without worrying about it. Youre not going to have time to wrap it up, baby it, gently place it behind the drivers seat wrapped in a blanket. You gotta go and you gotta go now. Its pouring rain, trouble is coming and if it isnt packed and ready to go five minutes ago it ain’t going. Thats when you’ll be glad you packed your mission critical stuff in some hard, weatherproof, tough-as-nails container.
first aid kit musings, waterproof, kitchen cabinet, battery size standardization
Generally, if you have an injury that can be fixed with a band-aid, you dont have an injury. In perusing some of the ‘first aid’ kits at the local shops it seems like theyre mostly band-aids, a couple 1×1 gauze pads and an aspirin. If you have a problem that requires any of those, its not really a problem…its an inconvenience. Does that mean I dont carry band-aids and itty-bitty gauze pads in my kit? Nope..I carry ’em, but I carry alot more than that. Historically, my injuries are usually enormous weeping scrapes and abrasions from bicycle accidents, various stitch-requiring tears and cuts, and the infrequent burn. (I’ve been quite lucky in the osteo department…no broken bones.) In looking at prepackaged first-aid kits it seems they are either way too weenie (anything worse than a deep laceration and youre screwed) or way to extensive and expensive. Now, I have to admit, the first aid kits I carry or keep are not designed for ‘I cut myself in the garage and need a bandage’…certainly, they are good for that sort of thing. Rather, theyre designed for ‘whatever is in this bag is the only medical access Im going to have for at least x amount of days’ so it tends to carry things like rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, betadine, lotsa 4x4s and tape, various non-OTC things, burn gel, lotsa antibiotics, compress bandages, etc, etc. And lotsa stuff to keep injured areas clean and germ-free. To my mind, the most common injuries that Im going to face in an unpleasant sudden ‘wheels fly offa western civilization’ scenario are various cuts and puncture wounds, maybe some burns, the possible gunshot. I cant fix a gunshot wound (except maybe a graze or through-and-through) but I can deal with it alot better with my own kit than some puny 2×2 gauze pads and 1/4″ tape.
Band-aids are necessary, esp. since a small cut can become an infected major problem in short order if its not taken care of……but just band-aids and bactine? Bleah. I (and you) can put together something much more comprehensive for not much more money.
By the way, if you do decide to build your own kit, its alot easier to buy multiples of the contents and make several kits at once. The advantage is that if they are all stocked equally and arranged identically, it makes things easier than making another kit later on when you realize you need one for the car, one for work, one for home, etc. Its also cheaper.
My point is, figure out what possible injuries youre going to sustain and build around that…and especially take into consideration ‘can I get into this bag and open these pouches/packages with my weak hand in the dark when Im bleeding?’. Seriously. ‘Cause if its just you by yourself and you’ve got a problem with your good arm or hand youre really gonna want a kit that you can access easily.
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Post-Katrina New Orleans is rapidly becoming my paradigm for theoretical failure testing…I ask myself “would this be a good [item/strategy/plan] if I were camping out on a rooftop in a flooded out wasteland of a city?”
Its also stressing the importance of portability of items and ,very importantly, waterproofing of containers and items. The ubiquitous GI ammo can gets big nods for being near-bombproof in terms of protection and waterproofing. Loses a couple points for weight and size, though. Pelican cases are great, as are other hard-side waterproof containers. Of course, its also nice if your gear is generally unaffected by moisture. (My Glock and AK, for example, can pretty much be left in a mud puddle for a faw days with virtually no ill-effect.) Critical electronics, though, are easily worth the $ youre going to spend for a good, hard, waterproof case. Pelican makes some small fairly affordable cases that are ideal for small electronics like radios, GPS, palmtops and that sort of thing. And, naturally, if youre going to get a little waterproof hardcase for your electroninc goodie be sure to leave some room in there for some spare batts.
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After the canned goods shopping spree at Albertsons last week I needed to make some space in the kitchen cabinets. My top cabinets are have no shelves and thus items must be stacked and the space isnt utilized as well as it could be. (Jars of spaghetti sauce stacked on top of each other three jars high is just asking for trouble.) Fortunately for $10 a couple shelf standards and brackets were had and some scrap 3/4″ plywood was cut down to fit and the next thing you know -presto- adjustable shelving is in the formerly shelfless cabinet. This frees up a good amount of space since I can now store more in that particular cabinet than I could before. Which means other cabinets now have more room since stuff was taken from them to put in the newly-shelfed cabinet. Moral: utilizing available storage space as efficiently as possible can be cheap and pay off big in terms of giving you more usable space to store things.
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Speaking of batts…..
My plans revolve around exactly two sizes of battery for personal devices: “D” and “AA”. If a device doesnt take them, I find one that does or I modify them to take them. Why? Here’s an example….I was tromping in the boonies earlier this year and the batteries on my GPS were going out on me. I pulled my LED 4-AA flashlight out of my bag and swapped the batteries. The LED light works fine even with near-dead batteries since the power requirements are so small and the GPS continued to chug along for the rest of the day. All because my gear used a common battery size. To be honest, with the advent of LED technology I could probably eliminate the “D” batts from my gear since they are used almost exclusively for MagLites….but there are a few other devices that use them (my AN/PS1 seismic intruder system system, for one). “C” batteries? Getting to be pretty uncommon. The only thing I’ve seen taking C-batts in a long time are vibrators and not much else. 9-volt? Sure, lotsa devices out there use them but I try to stick to the AA’s for those devices. Although they are sometimes hard to find in “D” size, “AA” and 9-volt lithium batts are available at Lowe’s/HomeDepot…. theyre very much worth the extra money. Theyre far more resistant to the affects of temperature extremes and, most importantly, they store for years with little if any degradation of power….meaning that a lithium batt thats sat on the shelf for ten years should still have almost all its original power.
The Japanese are supposedly coming out iwth a new battery technology thats supposed to be even better than lithiums, but I havent found much in the way of details.
So, if you can get your flashlight, GPS, radios, and other goodies to all take one common battery size……..well, you can see the advantages, right?
Bargains
You know, it really doesnt take a huge amount of money give yourself an edge and stockpile the little niceties that will make riding out the next uber-disaster a bit easier.
Case in point:
Package of SIX pairs unlined vinyl mittens for $0.99 – Which means that while the wool mittens are keeping me warm, the cheap vinyl mitts go on over them and keep out wind and evil, cold water. And at that price I can leave a couple pair in the vehicle. Turns any pair of gloves or mitts into a waterproof pair. And, that less than seventeen cents per pair. Cowabunga!
Also from our friends at Cheaer Than Dirt
Used German HK91 dual-mag pouches for $0.99 ea. – And, yes, they will hold FAL mags(and M1A mags.). Theyre heavy guage rubber/vinyl, fit most belts, and are ridiculously cheap. And, kids, the W. German military did NOT make crap…their gear is good.
Seriously…how can you resist a half dozen pairs of mittens for less than the cost of a 20 oz. Coke?
