Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Short version: Two and have a nice day.

Long version:
Census form arrived today. Someone pointed out to me that the census, which we are told to fill out to make sure our good government apportions things correctly, has kinda been slightly misused in the past. Specifically, when the US sent American citizens of Japanese descent to inland concentration camps (and thats what a camp used to concentrate a particular demographic is – a concentration camp) how did they know where to find all those Americans with yellow skin and funny names? From the census, apparently.

Im not saying that if I fill out the census Im going to wind up in a cattle car on a siding leading to a barbed wire encampment. I’m saying that .gov needs to know exactly one thing – how many folks live here. Race? Unimportant. That whole 3/5ths thing is no longer in effect, so whether its two Anglo-Americans or two African-Americans or two Ballistic-Americans it doesnt matter. What? You say it does matter for the sake of drawing up political districts? Dude, you think I support gerrymandering? The notion that we should draw up a political district to encompass a particular demographic in order to give them more voting power? That’s obscene. I categorically will not be a part of something that…corrupt.

So the census form sitting here gets one simple answer: two. If they send someone to the door (whose GPS coords are being logged these days by the census takers, as I read elsewhere) I’m just telling them I’m the house sitter, come back in six weeks.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Pretty much every book on preparedness goes on at length about the utility and versatility of the .22 LR cartridge. Its promoted as ideal for small game, training new shooters, pest control, dissuading bad guys and ‘plinking’. I think probably every one of us started their shooting careers with the little .22…and that’s probably as it should be.

I enjoy shooting although, honestly, my ‘recreational’ and ‘goofing around’ shooting has almost disappeared in the last few years. Now my shooting is mostly about upkeep and refining defensive skills, evaluating guns and ammo, hunting, sighting in guns or other serious stuff.

Nothing wrong with that, of course…the world is a different place than it was five or ten years ago so naturally my focus is going to be on different things as well. Once in a while, though, I do get nostalgic for when I used to sling a rifle and some ammo, get on the motorcycle, drive out of town and spend the day wandering around a pasture shooting gophers.

Anyway….back to the ubiquitous .22.

For the .22 rifle everyone seems to, at some point, champion the Ruger 10/22. Ruger’s little autoloader has been around for a little short of fifty years. In that time it’s pretty much become the benchmark of .22 semiauto rifles. It isn’t the most accurate, it isn’t the most elegant, and it isn’t the most expensive. It is, however, the most versatile and rugged .22 that youre probably ever going to find. Aftermarket parts are more available for the 10/22 than any other .22 rifle. Folding stocks, aftermarket barrels, magazines, sights, etc, etc…theres parts out there to turn your 10/22 into whatever it is you envision it to be.

Like most of Rugers guns, the 10/22 is simple, has modular subassemblies, is durable beyond reason, and priced pretty affordably. Plus, assuming you clean it every so often, shoot decent ammo, and use good magazines, theyre as reliable as can be.

If someone said to me “Look, I’ve only got a limited amount of money. I need a .22 that will take abuse like a White House press secretary, never break, always have parts available in case it does break, be easy to maintain and clean, and be adaptable to different situations…whaddya recommend?” I’d hand ‘em the 10/22 and point them to the internet for accessories.

Other .22’s? For a bolt action .22 I am a huge fan of the Marlins. I am especially a fan of their tube-feed bolt guns. I usually don’t care for detachable magazines in a non-defensive fun since its just one more thing to get lost, so I prefer the tube magazines over the detachable ones. The tube magazines, however, are not without their own problems. Dent one and you may have some feeding problems. I don’t mind the detachable mag for the Ruger because the magazines are ubiquitous…I can get them anywhere.

I’m also a fan of the CZ rifles and I would very much like to get one o their long-barrelled Lux rifles to play with. For ‘serious’ gopher shooting I think they or one of the new Savages would be tough to beat. Savages AccuTrigger system has a lot of appeal and if I were choosing between the CZ and the Savage I think my head would explode at having to decide between those two fine guns.

What don’t I care for in a .22 rifle? Remington autoloaders that get orphaned pretty quickly as Big Green changes designs and discontinues models after only a few years of weak sales. The AR-7 takedown rifles are a great idea and once in a blue moon you get a good one but otherwise they are just trouble. If you want a takedown rifle either get a 10/22 with an aftermarket takedown barrel/stock kit or, as a second choice, get a Marlin Papoose. Personally, a Ruger 10/22 with a Butler Creek sidefolding stock and a short 16” barrel is about as compact as you can get. If you want to go even smaller, get Rugers 10/22 pistol, the Challenger. I hear excellent things about it for accuracy, most parts will interchange, the mags will interchange, and if you feel like doing the paperwork you can make it fit a side folding stock and make a cute little .22 PDW out of it.

In pistols, the choices are a little clearer. The Ruger 10/22 is the most common autoloader in rifles and I would say their Mk II and Mk III semiauto pistols are the most common in the way of handguns. I prefer the Mk II models over the newer Mk III because I dislike many of the new safety features on the Mk III. Like the 10/22, the pistols have a huge following of aftermarket parts and magazines.

Other .22 semiauto pistols worth a mention, in my opinion, are the old S&W 422 series and their variants. Extremely flat and lightweight I think they made excellent ‘kit guns’ for tossing into backpacks and tackleboxes. They haven’t been made in about ten or fifteen years but they were excellent little guns.

Im not usually a fan of .22 versions of fullsize pistols except as used for economical training and practice. For example, why carry a 1911 in .22 except to practice your handling skills? The nice thing about .22s are that they are light and easy to carry, so if Im wandering around the hills I’d rather have a small, compact, light .22 than one that is unnecessarily bulky and heavy. However, for practicing sight picture acquisition, move-shoot drills, etc, etc, I am a big fan of .22 caliber full-scale guns that duplicate the centerfire versions. Or, if available, conversion kits.

For .22 revolvers, pretty much any of the big name brands will be good. A Smith or Ruger or even a Taurus would probably be my first choices. I would stay away from ‘bargain’ brands like imported stuff from EAA or other importers. The quality, especially in the timing of the revolvers, just doesn’t seem to be there.

For ammo, I really like the bulk Federal stuff. I get fewer misfires with the Federal in automatics than any other brand, The Remington, in my experience, misfires too often for my tastes. However, in a bolt gun the Remington seems to perform just as well in terms of reliability. Still, any difference in price is niggling so I just stock up on the Federal stuff. The only exception is that I find my Beretta 21A pocketgun prefers CCI Stingers. I keep a couple hundred rounds around for that gun, but otherwise we just keep the Federal ammo.

Two is one and one is none, so we have several 10/22 rifles. One is in a Butler Creek folding stock, one is a special limited edition stainless with a longer-than-normal barrel, and then theres a couple older wood-stocked ones that are just for knocking around. For folding stocks, get the Butler Creek…theyre rugged, lock up solidly, and work well. For magazines, the Butler Creek steel lip mags are the best, in my opinion. Theyre a bit more expensive than the plastic Hot Lips magazine they also produce, but they’re worth it. I had some BC Hot Lips mags that I bought before the ban in 1994 and they just started acting up a few years ago. The steel lipped mags wont have feeding problems after a decade of use. However, because of pricing, I stock up on the Hot Lips mags. To be fair, I only had a few of the Hot Lips mags during the ban so they got used quite a bit. Im sure that if I had five or six mags to spread my usage over they would have lasted longer.

Succinctly, if I had none of these things and was going to tromp down to the gun store, my shopping list would look like this:
Ruger 10/22, blued or stainless, doesn’t really matter
Ruger Mk II or Mk III, I prefer stainless for the pistol
A dozen Butler Creek 10/22 mags
A dozen Ruger-branded Mk II or MkII mags (they are not interchangeable, so be careful)
Butler Creek side folder stock
.22 Bore Snake
Sling
Holster (careful, the front sight blade on the Mk II/III can hook the inside of a holster and make the gun impossible to remove. Kydex is a good choice here.)
As many bricks of .22 Federal as I can afford

What about the .17 and the .22 Mag? Both are great cartridges and ballistically superior to the .22 LR. However, both are much more expensive and not nearly as common as .22 LR ammo. When I acquire guns I try to make sure its in something I can find ammo for whether Im in a MiniMart in Montana, a hardware store in Houston or a yard sale in Yakima. No doubt about it, theres better rimfire cartridges than the .22 LR in terms of ballistics and performance but none easier to find or as widely supported.

Is the .22 a defensive cartridge? I suppose, inasmuch as any cartridge can be used for such tasks. Detractors will point out that a fella can do a lot of damage before even noticing he’s been shot with one, and supporters will point out that getting shot a few times with a .22 is far more damaging than not getting shot at all. Mel Tappan thought that the .22 was handy for responding to bad guys laying siege against one’s retreat…a volley of return fire from the lowly .22 might make the bad guys think that their victims are poorly armed and thus lure the bad guys closer in for a vicious followup with more powerful weapons. Interesting theory. Truth is, the gun you have with you is far better than not having a gun at all. If all you have is a pocket .22 youre still far ahead of the fella with no gun at all. However, it’s never, ever my first choice if I thought something bad was imminent.

Is the .22 a hunting cartridge? Many folks say that its great for quietly poaching deer. Plenty of dead deer out there, no two ways about it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good first choice for deer hunting. If I were on a plane that went down in Alaska and all I had to forage with was a .22 that’s one thing but fortunately I have better alternatives available to me.

But the .22 is versatile enough that you could protect yourself with it if you had to and you could knock down a deer with it if you had to, but it wouldn’t be easy, it wouldn’t be a good idea, and it would never be a preferred way of doing things. But…if you had to….

If you have a .22 rifle and pistol you like, keep it. Theres plenty of alternatives to my favorites out there. I’m just telling you what I like and why.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Whats up with freeze drieds?

Those arent the exact words but its the gist of an email I got. For better or worse, I’m calling this ‘Freeze drieds 101′.

You guys know what sublimation is? Its the transition from solid to gas, skipping the liquid stage. Like water – When its really freaking cold its a solid called “ice”, when it gets warmer it becomes a liquid called “water” and when it gets even hotter it becomes a gas we call it “steam’” or “vapor”. Freezedried food is dried food that had the water removed through sublimation – they freeze the food and the water in it becomes ice crystals, then the temperature is brought up and the ice directly becomes gas and leaves the food. The result is the majority of the water is removed from the food.

Its more complicated than that though…the whole process takes place in a vaccuum. But, essentially, FD food has virtually all the moisture removed without the moisture leaving as a liquid.

The practical upshot of this is that your food retains its flavors and appearance and, with the moisture removed, is much lighter in weight and a far less hospitable environment for the nasties that degrade food over time.

To use FD food, you normally add water and let the food soak up the moisture that replaces what was taken out. If youve got water and something to heat it with (although you can use cold water if you have to) youre good to go. You can, of course, eat FD food ‘as is’ like a crunchy snack if you are so inclined. FD strawberries and other fruits are amazingly yummy.

So, the FD food has far less weight and a longer shelf life than before it went through the process…making it an excellent candidate for long term storage. Most outfits then package the stuff in either foil pouches or #10 cans (usually with a neutral gas like nitrogen in the can instead of room air). Mountain House, the folks who have been doing this longet than most outfits, rates the pouches at a minimum of seven years shelf life and the #10 cans at a minimum of 25-30 years. Assuming that you store the stuff in the classic “Cool, dark place” and the packaging is not damaged, the real-world shelf life probably bumps up a few notches to “forever”.

So the advantages are:
Maintains flavor/texture/color – Rehydrated properly, the FD’s are probably the tastiest long-term storge food you’ll ever eat.
Indefinite shelf life – Needs no explanation.
Light weight – If youre going to grab-n-go or live out of a pack then the reduced weight is a big plus.

Disadvantages:
Price – Theyre expensive. No two ways about it. Probably the most expensive form of long-term storage food out there.
Size – While weight is reduced, the actual bulk of the food is not.
Availability – Not everything you want or like is available.

So, like anything else, theres some good and some not so good. If you were going to assemble your long-term storage supply of food from nothing but FD’s you’d have to spend some serious coin. The FD’s are, however, an excellent addition to a long-term storage plan that incorporates all the other long-term methods and foods – dehydrated, wet canned, dry canned, frozen, etc.

Some folks think that the more expensive MRE’s and FD’s are ‘yuppie survivalist’ food and, by god, a real survivalist stores rice and beans in empty two-liter pop bottles he salvaged and cleaned out…I can eat for a month for sixty-five cents! Hey, I’m all about long term, inexpensive food. Rice and beans beats the crap out of starving to death, a large portion of the Third World subsists on rice and beans. But…no one eats rice and beans every day at every meal if they dont have to. And while the Third World may subsist on that stuff that doesnt mean much unless you think a Third World standard of living is the way to go. Its worth $40 to me to be able to crack open a #10 can of pork chops or chicken and turn rice and beans into something a little more appetizing. Plus, as I’ve said before, there’s no award for the person who makes it through the apocalypse with the least expense.

Do you need FD food? Depends on what your plans are. I like the portability and convenience. A weeks worth of food, three meals a day, fits into a box 12×18×8. One box like that would take the sting out of getting caught in a Chilean earthquake. The small single-serving pouches are excellent for packs, hunting camps and vehicle storage. The long shelf life means that I can have actual honest-to-Crom animal protein (meat!) with no regard for refrigeration.

For me FD food is a component in a ‘well rounded’ food storage plan – canned, dried, freeze dried, MRE’s and frozen. If theres a circumstance that prevents us from being able to prepare one kind of food, we have another that doesnt need preparation. If theres a circumstance that requires us to leave in a hurry we have a food that lends itself to portability. If circumstance allow us to stay in place with relatively normal cooking ability, we have food for that.

My suggestion to you is that if you want to try the freezedrieds, buy single serving pouches in various flavors and find one you like, then buy it in larger quantities or in the #10 cans. Also buy foods that can be mixed with other storage foods to create more palatable dishes. Freezedried ground beef with stored bulk rice and canned tomatoes and spice makes a meal of Spanish rice that is probably going to be far more appetizing than a plain bowl of steamed rice and cooked beans…again.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

The economy, unsurprisingly, continues to sit at the top of the “Biggest Threat” list. Theres a saying that theres no situation so bad that it cannot be made worse by government. Unfortunately, I think that’s going to be exactly the case. Its hard to miss all the we’re-here-to-help-you programs that the .gov is lining up. And while the powers that be are quick to proclaim that they’re there to “help the working class” and that “People are hurting now” theyre awfully quiet about the financial repercussions of throwing all this money around. It’s a bit dated, but Hazlitt’s book “Economics in One Lesson” says that economics is the study of “looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups”. Simply put, Hazlitt says economics is saying “Yeah, but what happens AFTER that?”

I wonder if anyone is examining the consequences (or fallout) of some of these actions that are being undertaken. I know that there are folks far more learned than I who have a better handle on whats going on and what the consequences will be, but to me it looks awfully discouraging. All of these programs, these benefits, the bailouts, the subsidies, the ‘rebates’ and ‘stimulus money’….they have to be paid for somehow.

Whats this got to do with the price of ammo in Montana? I just don’t see how the economy can do anything except either stay the same or get worse for the immediate future. (Immediate future meaning the next year or two.) And, of course, being convinced that things are going to either stay the same or get worse means that, for me, the obvious thing to do is keep working on the assumption that at any moment there could be a bout of unemployment, bank holidays, inflation or similar tumult.

Best defense? Keep spending down, hold onto cash, go long on durable goods and long shelf-life items, stock up on food and anything else you wouldn’t want to spend money on if you lost your job.

I originally had a post I was working on about the state of the economy and why a person needs to take precautions against it and the more I typed the more convoluted things seemed. Im a big fan of teaching by example, analogy and parable so lemme just go with that. I figure most folks are smart enough to get the idea with having it spoonfed to them.

Not often, but once in a while, when we’re out shopping the missus will ask “Why are we getting that? Don’t we have [amount] of that already?” After all, we have some fairly large amounts of toilet paper, paper towels, soap, toothpaste, cleaning agents, rice, pasta, meat, canned goods, fuel, ammo, blankets, etc, etc. stocked away. Do we really need more?

Every item we have on hand, right now, is one less item we have to buy later. And if later is a time when our incomes are severely reduced or wiped out then all those things we have stored up will be one less thing we have to buy with the precious dollars we have left. The 50# of chicken in the freezer, the extra pair of shoes in the closet, the hundred rolls of toilet paper in storage is less money to spend when you don’t know where the next dollar is coming from.

(The notion of stocking up on the durable and long-term goods to beat price increases, infaltion, etc. is covered in “The Alpha Strategy” which is worth reading.)
Simply put, the best defense against the uncertain future is to have the things you need in place and in quantity so that you aren’t faced with ugly decisions later on about eating versus paying utilities.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Remember the ALICE pack and accessories? Time was, that was state-of-the-art field gear for your average survivalist and I guarantee you that there are still folks out there with bunkers full of ALICE packs and accessories. I’ve no military experience with the ALICE gear but I have gone on a few backpacking trips with it and it seemed good for the task, although a bit heavy. I’m always willing to trade light weight for durability though.

The newer MOLLE and MOLLE II gear is what is currently being used. It’s big advantage is that its a bit more modular through use of PALS webbing. The ALICE system did let you incorporate some modular components (pouches, etc) into the system but nothing like the huge variety the PALS system offers.

,Rawles had a link on his website a few weeks back to a place that was having a sale on brand new unissued MOLLE pack systems and components. I was curious since I only had a few ALICE packs and frames on hand and finding new ones (real ones, not the made in China knockoffs) was getting tricky and expensive. I ordered one complete pack with the idea that if it was any good I’d get together with the local LMI and order the six-pack.

The pack arrived a few days ago and it is, indeed, absolutely unused. Its a decent size for general use and I’ll be playing with it a bit as summer approaches. Since Ive no experience with one, I figured the person with experience would be someone in the military who has been using them recently. I asked the fellow blogger over at TSLRF for some thoughts on the MOLLE packs, esp. compared to the ALICE packs, and he was nice enough to oblige. I recommend you read his post on the subject.

Now, I already have several good backpacks including some stuff from Tactical Tailor and Kifaru, so why the interest? Well, its pretty simple – I wanted some backpacks for dedicated-use, low-activity items. What that means is, if I keep a pack with all my winter survival gear to keep in the truck during the winter I dont want to tie up a $300 pack with it. Since the pack is going to be sitting in storage for 6 months outta the year, why tie up that kinda money? At the same time, if I do need the pack in a critical situation I’d like it to have at least enough quality and ruggedness to get me outta the situation Im in. So…these packs are perfect for that. I can set them up as wintergear packs, BOB’s, whatever and not have a huge amount of cash tied up in packs that may very well see minimal use but still have good quality.

Another attraction, and this should be obvious to those with our particular outlook on things, is that these things are cheap enough to buy enough to have a ‘group standard’ pack or a very healthy supply of redundant spares. Nothing kills like overkill.

So, if you think you might have an interest in these things, check out the links.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Couple things of interest:

Population Explorer – Select ‘Draw Freehand Shape’ and create a box around your target area. Double click to deactivate the shape tool. Then select ‘Analyze shape’. It gives you the population and population density within that shape. So..wanna see if that new property you were looking at is as remote as youd like? Heres a tool to do that. Not sure how accurate it is, but its fun to play with.

In a turnabout, police are the good guys in post-quake Haiti – Apparently when the cops arent being paid and have to rely on the kindness of strangers they stop being corrupt. Imagine that.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — In the hours and days after the city crumbled and the enfeebled government of Haiti disappeared from public view, a remarkable thing happened here: The police showed up for work.

New Orleans PD could take a lesson from this, I’m sure.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Buddy of mine comes into the shop and says “Hey, didja see the guy down the street has ammo cans on sale?” No, I did not. So I headed down there and they had two sizes – 25mm cans and what we call ‘40mm cans’ even though they are seldom actually marked as 40mm. Price was the same though…6 bucks each. Well, to be honest, I have plenty of ammo cans sitting around but theyre one of those things that its hard to have too many of in the right size.

I especially like the 40mm cans (8×18×14) for storing winter survival gear for the truck. Waterproof, airtight, and about as crushproof as you can get. They also work nicely for storing larger items in quantity..for instance, I’ve got a couple in storage that are full of bricks of .22 ammo. Barring anything truly dramatic, these little babies are like time capsules – in twenty years these things’ll be just as solid as they are now. Yeah, theyre heavy and and a bit bulky. But…if youre storing essential gear these things are wonderful. I can leave one of these sitting out in the snow and rain for a couple months and the contents will be just fine. Heck, that’s worth six bucks, isn’t it?
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I’ve been opining for several years now that the big looming disaster in this country was either going to be something along the lines of a terrorist-related nuclear event or a profound economic crisis. I gradually moved away from the former scenario (although I haven’t discounted it completely) and am starting to feel somewhat vindicated on the latter one. What I hadn’t foreseen was what the cause of the economic troubles would be. As it turns out, the source of the problem is, apparently, a whole lotta chickens coming home to roost. Certainly theres enough blame to go around. People are quick to hold the banks’ feet to the fire while largely giving a free pass to the morons who bought houses they couldn’t afford. On what planet does buying a $375,000 house on $35k a year salary make sense? “But we were going to just hold it for a year and flip it as prices went up!”..yeah, how’d that work for ya? In retrospect, though, I suppose it isn’t that surprising…people seemed to be less inclined to be cautious and …prudent?…with their money and credit than previous generations.

I really like to think that people are going to learn their lesson from this Very Interesting Time that we are currently in. I hope theyre going to learn to think about the future. I hope theyre going to factor things like job loss and unexpected emergencies into their plans. I hope they learn that spending more than you make and then expecting sympathy and support when you cant pay it off is a bad idea. I would really like to see people learn that thinking about the opportunity cost of purchases is a good idea. But…Im not naïve enough to think that’ll happen on a grand scale. I think that when this is all over many people will change their habits but not enough to make any real difference.

Have I learned anything? I suppose some stuff. I never really lived too far beyond my means in a long time because I just don’t have that much means to begin with. About the only thing Im taking away from this whole affair is that deciding between [expensive but non-essential item] vs [money in the bank/safe/mattress] isn’t as painful a process as one might think. Theres plenty of times I see something I want and tell myself that I can live without it and wouldn’t I really rather have that money available in case something critical comes up? After a while, it doesn’t seem like a hardship or a deprivation…it just seems like a careful review of priorities.
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An article about the Chilean quake and the likelihood of a similar disaster occurring in the US.

Dude! Of course it can happen here. Heck, it already has at least once. California is supposed slip into the ocean at any moment, if the experts are to be believed. Even if you dont live in earthquake country the resultant crisis in logistics, population movement and resource diversion would stil have an impact on day-to-day living. The notion that something like that cant happen here is just wishful thinking.

And if you dont have enough to think about, try this:

The spate of recent earthquakes, starting with the magnitude-9.3 Indian Ocean event in 2004, follows a 50-year cycle of earthquake activity, McNutt says. The last cycle, in the 1960s, produced the two other record holders for recorded earthquakes — the magnitude-9.5 quake near Valdivia and a magnitude-9.2 quake in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

“We know earthquakes are not uniformly distributed in time; they cluster,” McNutt says. “Now suddenly the earthquakes are lighting up again.”

So, apparently, its ‘earthquake season’. Interesting.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Im waiting for self-appointed spokesman for all things enviromental, Al Gore, to appear at a podium somewhere and proclaim that the recent two-fer of massive earthquakes is the result of global warming. You know its gonna happen, right?

After the Haiti quake, folks probably thought “Wow, that sucks. I guess it could happen here but what are the odds?”. I’m sure now its more along the lines of “Uhh…coincidence. Yeah, one-in-a-billion shot. Nothing to see here. :::pause::: Uhm, where can I find a map of tectonic plates and fault lines?”

As Ive mentioned, Montana isnt impervious to earthquakes but Im putting the risk of a devastating one at somewhere between slim and none. Yeah, theres that whole Yellowstone supervolcano stuff but, really, if the thing goes kablooey every 10,000 years or something what are the odds that my fifty year lifepsan in Montana coincides with when the next 10,000 year eruption occurs? (well, statistically, I guess 1:200..which is, what?, a .5% chance?)

Again, like Haiti, this episode in Chile will be a rare and precious opportunity to examine disaster on a national scale. Chile is at least somewhat more modern and civilized than Haiti so Im curious to see how the whole thing is handled. So far all Im taking away from the Haitian episode is that you cant have enough shotgun sheels, drinking water or long-term food.
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Gun show this weekend. So far havent seen anything truly compelling although I have an awesome find on ammo cans that I need to post about later. I did see a S&W 940 9m revolver I wouldnt mind having. ARs and AKs were in short supply although magazines were not. AR mags are coming down and it appears that $15-20 is the new norm. Primers and ammo are still outrageous and out of stock. I did find a fella selling surplus UM-84/M12 military holsters and I might need a few of them for my P35s. Did pick up a nice UM-84 4-mag 1911 pouch for $10. Thats a ncie little find. Trochmann wasnt there so the pickings in the ’survival and milita stuff’ were a little thin. Did see a semi-auto belt-fed 1919 for $2k. Nice but it seems like those things never work right. I need to go back tomorrow and pick up a few things so perhaps Ill have some pictures when I get back.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Some people have asked me, since the armorers course, what parts to keep handy for the Glock. The course was fairly instructive on that and the attendees contributed their own experiences with what breaks and doesn’t break. (By the by, from what I hear from gun rental ranges the auto that breaks least are the Ruger P series.)

According to the instructor, and this was supported by the attendees, more parts are lost than broken. The Glock has only about 36 parts to the whole gun, a few of those parts are pretty small and can be easily lost. However, the parts that are easily lost are parts that are normally only removed from the gun during a complete takedown which is usually only done when youre fixing the gun or detail stripping for an annual inspection or something. Field stripping leaves almost no part big enough to lose.

Number one on the list is the trigger spring. This is the little coil spring that returns the trigger. Apparently on the 4th gen there have been some minor changes to the surfaces the spring attaches to in order to reduce the chance of spring breakage. The issue of this spring breaking can be removed completely by replacing it with one of the NY Trigger assemblies. These things increase the trigger pull to (supposedly) simulate a pull similar to a DA revolver. However the big plus is that the NYT unit is a zillion times more robust and will not break. So, either two spare trigger springs or two NYT trigger units.
Either unit, according to the Glock catalog, are $1 ea. Total outlay for suspenders-and-a-belt: $4

Recoil spring assemblies have, apparently, been quietly beefed up. Look at the end of your recoil spring assembly. Should have some numbers stamped on it. That same end should have what looks like a nick or notch or groove on it. That notch denotes the newer model. Catalog says $5 ea.

Spring cups are parts that seem to get lost rather than break or wear. $2 per set of two halves. This is a good time to talk about the maritime cups. These things are supposedly to let you shoot your Glock underwater. (Instructor had several stories about this and the foolish escapades people engaged in to demo this feature…notably, several holed swimming pools and bathtubs. Which leads to………….) The maritime cups, ordered from Glock, require LE letterhead to order. However, the instructor told us that the regular cups let you shoot underwater as well..just not as efficiently. He also mentioned that shooting your Glock underwater can lead to personal injury through the conductive nature of the water. Pissing blood and damaged ears were mentioned. While Glock requires some hoopjumping if you order from them, you can find them elsewhere with less hassle. I suppose if youre a SEAL or Ed Norton you might need them over the regular ones.

Various small parts that get lost include:
Pins – there are three (usually). $1-2 each. Trigger pin, receiver pin, locking block pin.
Slide stop lever and spring – $5. Usually damaged from careless reassembly.
Trigger and trigger bar – $10
Trigger mechanism housing with ejector – $5
Assorted small springs $1-2

The major stuff, like barrels and extractors, are a good bit more but other than those almost every part is only a few bucks. You could put together a very comprehensive spare parts kit for less than $50 and if you wanted to go nuts you could make a damn impressive one for about $100. The Glock manual also lists recommended quantities of spare parts to keep on hand per 100, 500, 1000, and 2000 pistols. it is interesting to note that for some parts, the recommended quantity to keep on hand per one hundred guns is three.

So there you have it. Something to take away from the armorers class. Nothing that really changes my plans on what spare parts to keep around, although with the armorers certification i can order the parts straight from Glock so we’ll see if thats any great savings over Lone Wolf, although I doubt it.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Interesting link here about how texting and ‘mobile devices’ saved the day for folks in Haiti. (By the way, according to the article, for a country of around 9 million folks theres about 4 million cellphones. Either cellphones are heavily subsidized or we’ve been misled about the poverty in the country.)

Unsurprisingly, phone networks get overwhelmed in disasters. Perfectly reasonable…everyone is calling their family and friends to check on them or say that theyre ok, right? What many folks don’t know, however, is that text messages use much less bandwidth than voice messages and, in some case, use different routing systems/protocols. The upshot of this is that when you cant get through by voice because ‘all circuits are busy’ you may be able to get through via text.

This isn’t necessarily news, though. During the 9/11 event many people came to discover this quirk. As the networks became overloaded (esp. since some carriers had their towers atop the World Trade Center and thus lost a chunk of their capacity when the buildings went down.) many people found that voice calls were impossible but, surpisingly, text got through.

So, the lesson here is that if you have a phone or device capable of text messaging and you find yourself in a position someday where you cant get through on voice you might be able to get your message out in text.
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Speaking of guns, I took delivery of a gun for a customer today. The gun in question was a Hi-Point pistol. I have heard mixed things about these guns, and everything I read says their carbines are actually quite good. The pistol however……meh. It has a magazine disconnect, which is a nice touch, because if I pull the trigger hard enough the safety lever will move to ‘fire’ and the striker will drop (or strike, or whatever..its really a linear motion rather than an arc.) The gun is strictly blowback. When you get above .380 caliber you don’t see a lot of blowback guns. The way they make it work is twofold – huge slide mass and a stout recoil spring. Dealer cost? $155 in .40 S&W. For all I know, this thing may actually be reliable and accurate but just between you and me I’m not counting on it. If it feeds ball ammo reliably I’d be surprised. It seems like a lovely gun for your average drive-by shooting before you drop it the Gowanus Canal. (Famously referred to as the only body of water in the world that’s 90% guns.)

My point is that if $155 is all you can swing for a pistol…well, keep sweeping those floors and delivering those pizzas because for another $200 you can get a used police trade-in Glock and know the thing will go ‘bang’ every time you pull the trigger.
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Speaking of guns, the fedgoons have determined that sometimes a shotgun just aint a shotgun. 18 USC 921(a)(5) says a shotgun is a weapon ‘designed or redesigned’ to be fired from the shoulder. Okay, sounds average enough. BUT…some shotguns come from the factory these days equipped with pistol grip stocks instead of shoulder stocks. Thus, according to the pointy-headed thugs at ATFE, a pistol-gripped shotgun is NOT a shotgun but “a firearm other than a rifle or shotgun”. So, according to these idiots if you wanna buy a pistol gripped shotgun you must be over 21 (instead of 18 for a regular shotgun) and must be resident of the state of purchase (unlike with a regular shotgun). In short, its treated like a handgun except that, as we all know, handgun shotguns are AOWs and already pretty restricted.

Your .gov at work folks. Is there a workaround? Probably. Throw a shoulderstock on it and – presto – its redesigned to be intended to be fired from the shoulder and is thus back in NormalLand. Have the customer bring the stock back the next day or something. At least…its seems like that would be keeping within the letter of the law.

Think I’m making this stuff up? Page 2 of November 2009 FFL newsletter…also available from www.atf.gov.

Speaking of bureaucracy, that November 2009 newsletter? Yeah, that showed up today. Three months after the fact.

And people wonder why I have such a low regard for these weasels…………