When I win the PowerBall, I am buying this place….

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

I got an email from someone the other day asking my opinion about an eBay auction. A fella was auctioning off a 5-pack of WaterGel. What is water gel? Its a dressing designed for burns. Its ninety-some-odd percent water and provides thermal relief, acts as a heat sink, is sterile, etc, etc. Anyway, I told the guy that they were definitely nice to have and he went ahead and bid (and won) the auction. I mention this because I checked out the sellers other auctions and figured I would share this with you, my viewing public. Apparently this seller deals in lotsa medical gear…much of it a bit too specialized for my needs, but there are some nice deals (100 4×4 J&J sponges for $15, etc, etc.) So, heres the link to the sellers auctions and he has an eBay store as well.

While Im on the subject of eBay, I really should point out that if youre looking for some of the harder-to-find preparedness items eBay is an outstanding place to search. Surplus military radios, police radios, old scanners that still receive 'blocked' frequencies, air filters, combat boots, seismic intrusion detectors, body armour, radiological instruments (which still needs to be calibrated, usually), solar panels, charge controllers, etc, etc, etc. Its all there. Sometimes, depending on the level of obscurity (such as the item mentioned in the first paragraph of this post) you can a very good deal on something that not only is hard to find but would be pretty expensive if you did find it. I search militaria:surplus alot looking for things like TM/FM's, ALICE gear, etc, etc and have been pretty pleased so far. Heck, a few months back there was a house in the middle of small-town middle-of-nowhere Montana for $13,000. Instant retreat. Come to think of it, eBay is also where the girlfriend and I found the radio relay bunker that was ALMOST perfect for us. (You can read about that elsewhere.)

At about this point someone is going to chime in about how eBay is full of scammers, ripoff artists and I-sent-money-and-never-got-anything. *shrug* First off, I wouldnt buy anything off eBay that was 'big ticket' ($500+) without some assurances or other way of making sure I didnt get screwed. Secondly, Ive gotten stiffed once on eBay in the last seven years and fortunately that was for a lousy $13. Like alot of things in this world, dont risk more than youre willing to lose. Obviously, you want to go with a seller who has some seriously high positive feedback.

eBay isnt without risk. Nor is it without headache. eBay and PayPal are hideously, rabidly, fanatically anti-gun…but theres more to preparedness than guns and gunstuff and eBay seems to have a good selection of those things. Before anyone says 'But I found ______ cheaper at….',  I am not saying eBay is the cheapest source of anything..its an auction site so prices are, to say the least, variable.  Im simply saying that for hard-to-find stuff and the occasional incredible bargain eBay is a pretty good place to go.
=====
The Wisdom gun show produced a couple interesting items a few weeks ago. Most notable was the spools of two-strand commo wire. This stuff is handy in several levels. It comes packaged in a donut-shaped spool that is carried in a canvas carrier with sling attachments. This means you basically tie one end to whatever object is at your starting point and as you walk/run the wire plays out behind you…thus you can lay down wire pretty much as fast as you can run. Whats the wire for? Well, its nominal use is for field phones. However, any task/device that calls for two strand wire would be served by this stuff. A few that spring to mind – my seismic intrusion detectors, remote detonated devices, field expedient antanae, etc, etc. The rolls come in various lengths. I've seen them in 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 mile. I picked up a couple new spools of this stuff and will be trying to get some more.  I paid about $10 for each spool and I'd say its worth it…never know when youre going to need to run a half-mile of wire for an observation post or an early warning system.
=====
As was pointed out by someone on my friends list, a Washington DC cop died during a training exercise from, of all things, drinking too much water. The short version is that if you drink too much water in too short a time it alters your body chemistry in a way that can prove fatal. The solution, it seems, is to obviously not drink gallons of water at once and to, if possible, drink something other than plain water…something with the salts, sugars, electrolytes, etc that make up your body's fluids. So, to me, the answer is Gatorade mix. Lotsa Gatorade mix. When I go out in the sticks I usually have a CamelBak that holds at least 100 oz. of water. I also carry a small bottle of Gatorade mix. Why not mix them together in the Camelbak? Well, I could but I really prefer to only use water in the CamelBak in order to keep cleaning and residual tastes/odors to a minimum. Also, it would leave me no source of regular water for other uses (cooking, etc). If I want to drink something other than water, I squeeze some water out of the Camelbak into a collapsible one-liter bottle, add some Gatorade, and mix well. If youre going to go this route, carry more Gatorade than you think you'll need…esp. since you may be topping off your tank with water you purify from streams and creeks. Its also worth pointing out that if you go for a more chemical-based approach to water purification, Gatorade and other drink mixes do a decent job of making the water taste less 'chemical'-y.

I got an email from someone the other day asking my opinion about an eBay auction. A fella was auctioning off a 5-pack of WaterGel. What is water gel? Its a dressing designed for burns. Its ninety-some-odd percent water and provides thermal relief, acts as a heat sink, is sterile, etc, etc. Anyway, I told the guy that they were definitely nice to have and he went ahead and bid (and won) the auction. I mention this because I checked out the sellers other auctions and figured I would share this with you, my viewing public. Apparently this seller deals in lotsa medical gear…much of it a bit too specialized for my needs, but there are some nice deals (100 4×4 J&J sponges for $15, etc, etc.) So, heres the link to the sellers auctions and he has an eBay store as well.

While Im on the subject of eBay, I really should point out that if youre looking for some of the harder-to-find preparedness items eBay is an outstanding place to search. Surplus military radios, police radios, old scanners that still receive ‘blocked’ frequencies, air filters, combat boots, seismic intrusion detectors, body armour, radiological instruments (which still needs to be calibrated, usually), solar panels, charge controllers, etc, etc, etc. Its all there. Sometimes, depending on the level of obscurity (such as the item mentioned in the first paragraph of this post) you can a very good deal on something that not only is hard to find but would be pretty expensive if you did find it. I search militaria:surplus alot looking for things like TM/FM’s, ALICE gear, etc, etc and have been pretty pleased so far. Heck, a few months back there was a house in the middle of small-town middle-of-nowhere Montana for $13,000. Instant retreat. Come to think of it, eBay is also where the girlfriend and I found the radio relay bunker that was ALMOST perfect for us. (You can read about that elsewhere.)

At about this point someone is going to chime in about how eBay is full of scammers, ripoff artists and I-sent-money-and-never-got-anything. *shrug* First off, I wouldnt buy anything off eBay that was ‘big ticket’ ($500+) without some assurances or other way of making sure I didnt get screwed. Secondly, Ive gotten stiffed once on eBay in the last seven years and fortunately that was for a lousy $13. Like alot of things in this world, dont risk more than youre willing to lose. Obviously, you want to go with a seller who has some seriously high positive feedback.

eBay isnt without risk. Nor is it without headache. eBay and PayPal are hideously, rabidly, fanatically anti-gun…but theres more to preparedness than guns and gunstuff and eBay seems to have a good selection of those things. Before anyone says ‘But I found ______ cheaper at….’,  I am not saying eBay is the cheapest source of anything..its an auction site so prices are, to say the least, variable.  Im simply saying that for hard-to-find stuff and the occasional incredible bargain eBay is a pretty good place to go.
=====
The Wisdom gun show produced a couple interesting items a few weeks ago. Most notable was the spools of two-strand commo wire. This stuff is handy in several levels. It comes packaged in a donut-shaped spool that is carried in a canvas carrier with sling attachments. This means you basically tie one end to whatever object is at your starting point and as you walk/run the wire plays out behind you…thus you can lay down wire pretty much as fast as you can run. Whats the wire for? Well, its nominal use is for field phones. However, any task/device that calls for two strand wire would be served by this stuff. A few that spring to mind – my seismic intrusion detectors, remote detonated devices, field expedient antanae, etc, etc. The rolls come in various lengths. I’ve seen them in 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 mile. I picked up a couple new spools of this stuff and will be trying to get some more.  I paid about $10 for each spool and I’d say its worth it…never know when youre going to need to run a half-mile of wire for an observation post or an early warning system.
=====
As was pointed out by someone on my friends list, a Washington DC cop died during a training exercise from, of all things, drinking too much water. The short version is that if you drink too much water in too short a time it alters your body chemistry in a way that can prove fatal. The solution, it seems, is to obviously not drink gallons of water at once and to, if possible, drink something other than plain water…something with the salts, sugars, electrolytes, etc that make up your body’s fluids. So, to me, the answer is Gatorade mix. Lotsa Gatorade mix. When I go out in the sticks I usually have a CamelBak that holds at least 100 oz. of water. I also carry a small bottle of Gatorade mix. Why not mix them together in the Camelbak? Well, I could but I really prefer to only use water in the CamelBak in order to keep cleaning and residual tastes/odors to a minimum. Also, it would leave me no source of regular water for other uses (cooking, etc). If I want to drink something other than water, I squeeze some water out of the Camelbak into a collapsible one-liter bottle, add some Gatorade, and mix well. If youre going to go this route, carry more Gatorade than you think you’ll need…esp. since you may be topping off your tank with water you purify from streams and creeks. Its also worth pointing out that if you go for a more chemical-based approach to water purification, Gatorade and other drink mixes do a decent job of making the water taste less ‘chemical’-y.

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

I dont eat too much of it since I seldom eat breakfast, but I do like bacon. I prefer mine chewy, which is not to say undercooked. I dont like crispy, crunchy bacon at all. No, I prefer it to be chewey..like apiece of roast beef or somesuch. Your buddy, the Zero, scored today at the local Albertsons. Every day I pass by the bargain/remindered meat bin. Perfectly good meat but its on its last day to be sold. They either have to mark it down and hope it sells, or it goes in the landfill and no one makes money. The meat is perfectly fine as long as you either a) use it immediately or b) immediately put it into cryostasis in a nice, big, white, upright freezer that keeps everything at a very lovely below zero…(Its in the basement so it really is below Zero, I guess.)

Todays score? Oscar Meyer Thick Cut bacon for $0.99 per one pound package. I can make enough BLT's for a whole parking lot full of tailgate parties.

Im the first one to say that when the wheels fly off of western civilization electricity is going to be, at best, unreliable. So why a freezer full of meat? The freezer isnt for TEOTWAWKI.. the freezer is for the more sedate disasters and calmities. The 'I lost my job', the 'I cant work until my back heals', the 'No cash until Thursday' sort of incidents. In short, its for taking the weight off the wallet during a personal time of financial trouble. When you dont know where the next twenty bucks is coming from it'll be nice to know that meat will not be a problem.
=====
The freezer, by the by, has not always been hassle-free. I once accidentally unplugged it and didnt know it for about five days. You can imagine the carnage. A $12 freezer alarm would have saved me a couple hundred dollars in meat. Hence, we now have the freezer alarm.

If youre going to do the buy-in-bulk-and-refreeze-at-home deal, which really does save money and is extremely convenient, you need to keep in mind a few things..

• Freeze in small, usable quantities. Do not freeze a 12# block of ground beef unless you think youre going to use a 12# block of ground beef all at once. Lay it on the counter, section it with a long knife and make a dozen 1# packages of ground beef instead. It stores easier and is easier to use.
• When you do break down larger packages into smaller ones, a vaccuum sealer is immeasureably useful. I vaccuum seal anything that isnt already vaccuum sealed.
• When using a vaccuum sealer on meats, esp. chopped/ground meats, its alot neater if the meat is frozen to a solid texture. This means that when your vaccuum sealer is sucking the air out of the bag it wont get full of juices as the bag compresses and squeezes the unfrozen meat. So: subdivide meat in the quantity you plan to use, freeze to a solid/liquid-free state, and then package. For example: I buy a 10# slab of ground beef or maybe a 12-pack of pork chops. I wrap an individual serving in wax paper (to keep it from sticking to the other meats) and stick those dozen or so parcels into the freezer for a couple hours to freeze. Once theyre frozen they get vaccuum sealed. The two hours or so the stuff is in the freezer solidifying in prepartion of being packaged isnt really long enough to promote freezer burn or anything, so when youre putting the meat in the freezer to 'set' dont worry about it being airtight or exposed to the air…you just want to wrap it in plastic or wax paper to keep it from sticking to the next bundle.
• Date the stuff. Real simple: big magic marker with the month and date. Label it if you think youre gonna not be able to figure out what it is.
• Dont just pile the stuff up on the shelf in the freezer. Get a cardboard box (or cut one to fit) to use as a 'bin'. Fill it high with vaccuum sealed frozen chicken breasts, write “Chicken Br.” in big letters on the side of the box and tuck it away on the shelf. Why? Cause the less stuff gets moved around in the freezer, the better.
• Try to rotate stock…freshest stuff up front/on top, take from the bottom/back of the bin
• This is pretty hardcore and I dont do it, but some folks suggested it and you ight appreciate it. Take a digital picture of the inside of the freezer and tape the print to the door. Then, when the power is out, you can open the fridge quickly and know exactly where the item you want is without wasting time (and letting cold out).
• Chest freezers are probably better than uprights since opening an upright freezer lets all the cold cascade out the bottom when the door is open…alot like opening a closet thats filled with water. Chest freezers keep the cold in, since the cold air sinks, but theyre a bit more annoying in organization.
• The oldest stuff I've consumed out of my deep freeze is four year old ground beef. Once thawed it looked and smelled just like recently purchased beef. Cooked up just fine and tasted like it should. Why? Stored in the deep freeze, stayed frozen, was carefully vaccuum sealed and was inspected before cooking. If a vaccuum sealed package loses its vaccuum it doesnt mean you cant use the meat, after all its still frozen, right? However, there *may* be some freezer burn. Big deal. Cut off that portion and feed it to the dog.
• Keep a small flashlight on top , or affixed to the handle , of the freezer so you have a handy light source to use in case you have to access the freezer in the dark or the lighting isnt conducive to reading the labels.
• Even in a perfect environment with no power failures, dont keep the door of the freezer open longer than you have to. If you really need to rummage grab the bin, pull it out, and close the freezer door! Get what you want out of the bin and then put the bin back in the freezer. Do not stand there with the door open rummaging trhough the freezer..youre letting the cold air out, creating more work for the compressor, starting a thawing process and generally being wasteful. The freezer is like a hostage extraction (except with food): plan what you want, get in, grab the goods, get out. Seriously, man..close the damn door.
• The more full a freezer is, the more cold it holds. Your freezer works less to keep a full one frozen than to keep a near empty one frozen. Meaning: it takes less energy to maintain 120# of frozen turkey than it does to maintain a solitary half gallon of ice cream. If your freezer isnt full, fill it up with some bottled water. The plastic bottles wont explode, they can be used in coolers to keep things cold, and if the power goes out it'll help to keep your stuff frozen.
• My resources say you can figure a full freezer will keep stuff edible for three days without power assuming you dont open the door alot and insulate the unit with a blanket or two thrown over it. If the power outage happens in the winter, youve obviously got some better options.
• One more things and then Im off my freezer-soapbox… the method used for freezing meats is the same you should use for freezing ready-made meals. Fore example, if I made a huge amount of chicken creole I'd measure out an individual serving, put it into a square container of some sort, freeze it solid, remove it from the container and then vaccuum seal it, date it, and put it away. Then, when I dont feel like cooking, I can just pull out a package of it, toss the pouch into boiling water or let it thaw and reheat. Handy that.

I dont eat too much of it since I seldom eat breakfast, but I do like bacon. I prefer mine chewy, which is not to say undercooked. I dont like crispy, crunchy bacon at all. No, I prefer it to be chewey..like apiece of roast beef or somesuch. Your buddy, the Zero, scored today at the local Albertsons. Every day I pass by the bargain/remindered meat bin. Perfectly good meat but its on its last day to be sold. They either have to mark it down and hope it sells, or it goes in the landfill and no one makes money. The meat is perfectly fine as long as you either a) use it immediately or b) immediately put it into cryostasis in a nice, big, white, upright freezer that keeps everything at a very lovely below zero…(Its in the basement so it really is below Zero, I guess.)

Todays score? Oscar Meyer Thick Cut bacon for $0.99 per one pound package. I can make enough BLT’s for a whole parking lot full of tailgate parties.

Im the first one to say that when the wheels fly off of western civilization electricity is going to be, at best, unreliable. So why a freezer full of meat? The freezer isnt for TEOTWAWKI.. the freezer is for the more sedate disasters and calmities. The ‘I lost my job’, the ‘I cant work until my back heals’, the ‘No cash until Thursday’ sort of incidents. In short, its for taking the weight off the wallet during a personal time of financial trouble. When you dont know where the next twenty bucks is coming from it’ll be nice to know that meat will not be a problem.
=====
The freezer, by the by, has not always been hassle-free. I once accidentally unplugged it and didnt know it for about five days. You can imagine the carnage. A $12 freezer alarm would have saved me a couple hundred dollars in meat. Hence, we now have the freezer alarm.

If youre going to do the buy-in-bulk-and-refreeze-at-home deal, which really does save money and is extremely convenient, you need to keep in mind a few things..

• Freeze in small, usable quantities. Do not freeze a 12# block of ground beef unless you think youre going to use a 12# block of ground beef all at once. Lay it on the counter, section it with a long knife and make a dozen 1# packages of ground beef instead. It stores easier and is easier to use.
• When you do break down larger packages into smaller ones, a vaccuum sealer is immeasureably useful. I vaccuum seal anything that isnt already vaccuum sealed.
• When using a vaccuum sealer on meats, esp. chopped/ground meats, its alot neater if the meat is frozen to a solid texture. This means that when your vaccuum sealer is sucking the air out of the bag it wont get full of juices as the bag compresses and squeezes the unfrozen meat. So: subdivide meat in the quantity you plan to use, freeze to a solid/liquid-free state, and then package. For example: I buy a 10# slab of ground beef or maybe a 12-pack of pork chops. I wrap an individual serving in wax paper (to keep it from sticking to the other meats) and stick those dozen or so parcels into the freezer for a couple hours to freeze. Once theyre frozen they get vaccuum sealed. The two hours or so the stuff is in the freezer solidifying in prepartion of being packaged isnt really long enough to promote freezer burn or anything, so when youre putting the meat in the freezer to ‘set’ dont worry about it being airtight or exposed to the air…you just want to wrap it in plastic or wax paper to keep it from sticking to the next bundle.
• Date the stuff. Real simple: big magic marker with the month and date. Label it if you think youre gonna not be able to figure out what it is.
• Dont just pile the stuff up on the shelf in the freezer. Get a cardboard box (or cut one to fit) to use as a ‘bin’. Fill it high with vaccuum sealed frozen chicken breasts, write “Chicken Br.” in big letters on the side of the box and tuck it away on the shelf. Why? Cause the less stuff gets moved around in the freezer, the better.
• Try to rotate stock…freshest stuff up front/on top, take from the bottom/back of the bin
• This is pretty hardcore and I dont do it, but some folks suggested it and you ight appreciate it. Take a digital picture of the inside of the freezer and tape the print to the door. Then, when the power is out, you can open the fridge quickly and know exactly where the item you want is without wasting time (and letting cold out).
• Chest freezers are probably better than uprights since opening an upright freezer lets all the cold cascade out the bottom when the door is open…alot like opening a closet thats filled with water. Chest freezers keep the cold in, since the cold air sinks, but theyre a bit more annoying in organization.
• The oldest stuff I’ve consumed out of my deep freeze is four year old ground beef. Once thawed it looked and smelled just like recently purchased beef. Cooked up just fine and tasted like it should. Why? Stored in the deep freeze, stayed frozen, was carefully vaccuum sealed and was inspected before cooking. If a vaccuum sealed package loses its vaccuum it doesnt mean you cant use the meat, after all its still frozen, right? However, there *may* be some freezer burn. Big deal. Cut off that portion and feed it to the dog.
• Keep a small flashlight on top , or affixed to the handle , of the freezer so you have a handy light source to use in case you have to access the freezer in the dark or the lighting isnt conducive to reading the labels.
• Even in a perfect environment with no power failures, dont keep the door of the freezer open longer than you have to. If you really need to rummage grab the bin, pull it out, and close the freezer door! Get what you want out of the bin and then put the bin back in the freezer. Do not stand there with the door open rummaging trhough the freezer..youre letting the cold air out, creating more work for the compressor, starting a thawing process and generally being wasteful. The freezer is like a hostage extraction (except with food): plan what you want, get in, grab the goods, get out. Seriously, man..close the damn door.
• The more full a freezer is, the more cold it holds. Your freezer works less to keep a full one frozen than to keep a near empty one frozen. Meaning: it takes less energy to maintain 120# of frozen turkey than it does to maintain a solitary half gallon of ice cream. If your freezer isnt full, fill it up with some bottled water. The plastic bottles wont explode, they can be used in coolers to keep things cold, and if the power goes out it’ll help to keep your stuff frozen.
• My resources say you can figure a full freezer will keep stuff edible for three days without power assuming you dont open the door alot and insulate the unit with a blanket or two thrown over it. If the power outage happens in the winter, youve obviously got some better options.
• One more things and then Im off my freezer-soapbox… the method used for freezing meats is the same you should use for freezing ready-made meals. Fore example, if I made a huge amount of chicken creole I’d measure out an individual serving, put it into a square container of some sort, freeze it solid, remove it from the container and then vaccuum seal it, date it, and put it away. Then, when I dont feel like cooking, I can just pull out a package of it, toss the pouch into boiling water or let it thaw and reheat. Handy that.

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

I received a birthday gift in the mail the other day. A long sought copy of 'Pulling Through' by Dean Ing. I'd been wanting a copy for years but good luck finding one. Ing apparently did a stint as a 'survival writer' in the 80's before settling into Tom Clancy type thrillers. Not a bad read, the whole book covers a week in the life of a family waiting out the radiation in a bomb shelter. A very small slice of life that I wish was expanded on, much the way “Patriots” covered a lengthier time span. For OpSec I'll withhold names but you know who you are and I thank you for something Ive been wanting for a while. Gracias!
=====
Speaking of Mr Comma Rawles, turns out he has his own blogsite. Really. Here: http://www.survivalblog.com/ A little preachy on the Christianity in spots but otherwise an interesting read. If you havent read his book “Patriots: Surviving The Coming Collapse” I highly recommend it. Sure its escapism with a dose of religion and UN bashing, but its a great technical read in terms of preperations, skills, etc, etc.

Mad props to for the headup.
=====
Went to CostCo and picked up some chicken. I mentioned it elsewhere but I want to mention it again – theyre now selling boneless, skinless chicken breast in heavy vaccuum sealed pouches with date stamping. How utterly cool is that? No more having to vaccuum seal ten pounds of chicken and then write the dates with markers. no sir. Just open the package, dump all the individually wrapped and dated meat into a box, shove the box in the deep freeze and I am Good To Go. Uber convenient.
=====
Did a bit of shooting the other day. I know Ive said it a million times but those AK's are just Stone. Cold. Reliable.

I received a birthday gift in the mail the other day. A long sought copy of ‘Pulling Through’ by Dean Ing. I’d been wanting a copy for years but good luck finding one. Ing apparently did a stint as a ‘survival writer’ in the 80’s before settling into Tom Clancy type thrillers. Not a bad read, the whole book covers a week in the life of a family waiting out the radiation in a bomb shelter. A very small slice of life that I wish was expanded on, much the way “Patriots” covered a lengthier time span. For OpSec I’ll withhold names but you know who you are and I thank you for something Ive been wanting for a while. Gracias!
=====
Speaking of Mr Comma Rawles, turns out he has his own blogsite. Really. Here: http://www.survivalblog.com/ A little preachy on the Christianity in spots but otherwise an interesting read. If you havent read his book “Patriots: Surviving The Coming Collapse” I highly recommend it. Sure its escapism with a dose of religion and UN bashing, but its a great technical read in terms of preperations, skills, etc, etc.

Mad props to atek128 for the headup.
=====
Went to CostCo and picked up some chicken. I mentioned it elsewhere but I want to mention it again – theyre now selling boneless, skinless chicken breast in heavy vaccuum sealed pouches with date stamping. How utterly cool is that? No more having to vaccuum seal ten pounds of chicken and then write the dates with markers. no sir. Just open the package, dump all the individually wrapped and dated meat into a box, shove the box in the deep freeze and I am Good To Go. Uber convenient.
=====
Did a bit of shooting the other day. I know Ive said it a million times but those AK’s are just Stone. Cold. Reliable.

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

Received a Ruger Police Service-Six .357 revolver today. Took it apart for cleaning and was reminded of the love/hate feelings that Ruger products give me. I hate their 'collaborator' mentality that doesnt let them sell folding stocks, hi-cap Mini-14 mags and gave support to politicians who wanted to take away my guns.

On the other hand, their engineering has some shining moments. This pistol can, literally, be completely disassembled using no outside implement except a coin to unscrew the grips. Try that with a S&W sometime. True, when it comes to revolvers I am first and foremost a Smith man, but I can appreciate the rugged brute-force strength of Rugers products. Ten years after the apocalypse I bet there'll be more Ruger .44 mags out there than any other brand, the others having died gruesome deaths earlier at the hands of cruddy ammo, exposure, rust, parts breakage and general malfunction. The Rugers, however, will keep chugging along in all their ungainly, unergonomic glory. Much like an AK.
=====
Surprise, surprise…one of the LMI is going to Iraq (or Afghanistan..he isnt sure yet). He's signed up to drive convoys and repiar trucks for a private outfit. (No, not Blackwater or haliburton.) He leaves Sunday. He'll be gone for at least a year. He gets 10 days off and a plane ticket every four months. Room, board and kevlar are paid for. Weapons not issued nor encouraged but you kow everyone skrits that one. And he gets $96,000 for his one year. He's doing it for the money and for a little adventure. Told him that if he needed stuff sent to him to give me an email. So our happy little fire team will be short one man in case the apocalypse occurs in the next 12-18 months. On the other hand, once he gets back it will be interesting to see what kinda goodies he buys. He is taking some LMI gear to ease his stay..Whisperlite International, couple CamelBaks, SureFire, etc, etc. Too bad they wouldnt let him take his Kimber. I asked if he was worried about getting killed and he said he really isnt. I can see that. Theres thousands of guys over there doing what he's going to do and you only hear about the ones that get in trouble….Id say the odds are with him. Its also unlikely he's going to wind up on some beheading video since Im pretty confident he's the 'go down fighting' type. He was there in the first Gulf War so he has some idea of what to expect.
=====
The Arsenal AK's are really good. I make no secreat about that. Slap a side folding stock on one and is it worth $1100? No…put all the lipstick you want on a pig and its still a pig. Maybe a purebred, maybe a prize winner, but still a pig. The Arsenal AK's me and the girlfriend have were aroudn $600~ ea. Big money when you can get a more accurate AR for about $150 more. Theyre really good AK's, maybe the best available. But for the price of one you could by 1.5 AR-15's, an M1A, most of a DSA FAl, seven Yugo SKS, 20 Mosin Nagant rifles, three Glock handguns or four Remington 870's. Its $1100 for a gun that gives, at best, four or five inches at 100 yards with open sights.
=====
Received quite a few handy books over the birthday season and will be making some recommendations/reviews of them as I finish them. The most interesting so far is a book on 'greywater' management and use. Also got a nice book on container gardening which I find fascinating. I like the idea of growing my edibles in convenient containers that can be arranged to suit my needs.

Received a Ruger Police Service-Six .357 revolver today. Took it apart for cleaning and was reminded of the love/hate feelings that Ruger products give me. I hate their ‘collaborator’ mentality that doesnt let them sell folding stocks, hi-cap Mini-14 mags and gave support to politicians who wanted to take away my guns.

On the other hand, their engineering has some shining moments. This pistol can, literally, be completely disassembled using no outside implement except a coin to unscrew the grips. Try that with a S&W sometime. True, when it comes to revolvers I am first and foremost a Smith man, but I can appreciate the rugged brute-force strength of Rugers products. Ten years after the apocalypse I bet there’ll be more Ruger .44 mags out there than any other brand, the others having died gruesome deaths earlier at the hands of cruddy ammo, exposure, rust, parts breakage and general malfunction. The Rugers, however, will keep chugging along in all their ungainly, unergonomic glory. Much like an AK.
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Surprise, surprise…one of the LMI is going to Iraq (or Afghanistan..he isnt sure yet). He’s signed up to drive convoys and repiar trucks for a private outfit. (No, not Blackwater or haliburton.) He leaves Sunday. He’ll be gone for at least a year. He gets 10 days off and a plane ticket every four months. Room, board and kevlar are paid for. Weapons not issued nor encouraged but you kow everyone skrits that one. And he gets $96,000 for his one year. He’s doing it for the money and for a little adventure. Told him that if he needed stuff sent to him to give me an email. So our happy little fire team will be short one man in case the apocalypse occurs in the next 12-18 months. On the other hand, once he gets back it will be interesting to see what kinda goodies he buys. He is taking some LMI gear to ease his stay..Whisperlite International, couple CamelBaks, SureFire, etc, etc. Too bad they wouldnt let him take his Kimber. I asked if he was worried about getting killed and he said he really isnt. I can see that. Theres thousands of guys over there doing what he’s going to do and you only hear about the ones that get in trouble….Id say the odds are with him. Its also unlikely he’s going to wind up on some beheading video since Im pretty confident he’s the ‘go down fighting’ type. He was there in the first Gulf War so he has some idea of what to expect.
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The Arsenal AK’s are really good. I make no secreat about that. Slap a side folding stock on one and is it worth $1100? No…put all the lipstick you want on a pig and its still a pig. Maybe a purebred, maybe a prize winner, but still a pig. The Arsenal AK’s me and the girlfriend have were aroudn $600~ ea. Big money when you can get a more accurate AR for about $150 more. Theyre really good AK’s, maybe the best available. But for the price of one you could by 1.5 AR-15’s, an M1A, most of a DSA FAl, seven Yugo SKS, 20 Mosin Nagant rifles, three Glock handguns or four Remington 870’s. Its $1100 for a gun that gives, at best, four or five inches at 100 yards with open sights.
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Received quite a few handy books over the birthday season and will be making some recommendations/reviews of them as I finish them. The most interesting so far is a book on ‘greywater’ management and use. Also got a nice book on container gardening which I find fascinating. I like the idea of growing my edibles in convenient containers that can be arranged to suit my needs.

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

Went to the Wisdom gun show yesterday. Im fairly content with my personal armaments at the moment, so Im not really looking for any more guns. I mean, sure, there are more Id like to have but the core needs and core redundancies have been met. Theres only a couple things left I need in the way of thundertoys…a Beretta 21A, a Ruger MkII…thats really about it…

So, when I go to the gun shows Im more likely to be looking for surplus goodies to make my life as Commander Zero a bit more secure.

Rolled into Wisdom (and if your a bit light on the brakes you can roll completely through Wisdom) and found a fella with a table full of surplus gear. Some interesting stuff too. Bandage scissors, still in the wrap, sound-powered phones, machetes, bear suits, etc, etc. What did the Zero find that made him part with his hard earned $? A couple of never used spools of two strand commo wire. 1/8 mile and 1/4 mile. These are spools in a canvas carrier with clips for a sling. One end goes to your phone, you start walking and the wire plays out behind you, and then the other end goes to the other phone (or switchboard), I have 2 1/4 mile coils of European 2-strand but its not packaged nearly as handily as this US stuff. This will go nicely with the TA-312 phones I have.

Also picked up a couple MOPP-suit stuff sacks. Nice camo compression sacks used for keeping your chem-warfare suit in. Make terrific sleeping bag stuff sacks. Camo with compression straps, ALICE webbing, sling eyes and an ID window. Five bucks each. w00t. Took a pass on the very nice, very durable US military water jugs. They were really nice! But, I've already got enough civillian ones so no point sinking $10 into something I really didnt need.

The Big Hole Valley, where Wisdom is located, is a very nice, very scenic area. There were plenty of places where you could look around and not see a house or building in any direction. Places like that are always nice to dream about living on, but unless youre bringing a fabulous pension or a job with you making a living in these places is a major trick. I suppose if you had an internet biz of some sort that brang in around $30-40k a year you'd do okay. Tall order though. On the other hand, if the land were cheap enough it might make sense to buy a few acres now and just hold onto it until later…make some small improvements so you could move there whenever youw anted (or needed) to. Always nice to have a place to go….

Also saw a few interesting vehicles the other day. An FJ-55 Toyota LC (ca. 1970) for sale. Wagon-type vehicle, so no open bed but still lotsa room. $1700. Be a fun vehicle to start teaching myself automobiles on. Make a nice little hunting rig. Saw a very old Toyota LC pickup truck the other day. It must have been 50 years old if it was a day. Looked like it could climb right up the side of a tree. Wish Id gotten some pics.

Ah, the dreams of the armchair survivalist……………