I need to pick up some spare parts for the FAL. Gas tube, springs, gas regulator, etc, etc. Ideally, what I need is to find a place thats selling a stripped FAL parts kit (you know, complete gun except the receiver has been cut in half) and use that.
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So what are my electrical needs as regards to the previous post? I want to be able to run an array of LED lighting for the bunker and the pathway to it. Additionally, I’d like to be able to run a radio (TX/RX…but mostly listening). Thats it. Both items run on DC so theres no need for an inverter. I simply want something that I can set up and forget about until I need it. The biggest caveat is that I want to use storage batteries that wont vent gas when recharging. I’d like to keep the batteries in my basement and dont want gas building up from recharging, so I suppose some sort of sealed battery is the way to go.
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I am becoming a believer in those annoying little bottles of hand sanitizer that people carry around with them. The last couple of times I got sick I firmly believe it was from picking something up on my hands (probably from a handshake) and then used those same hands to feed myself. So now I keep a bottle of this sterno-gel around and use it every so often. I need to get a gallon jug so I can refill the smaller bottles. After the apocalypse a little thing like a 24-hour stomach bug is not going to be something you can just go ahead and accomodate.
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Tested the OEM 31-rd Glock mag the other day. Loads easily, shot reliably. Moral: go with OEM every chance you get.
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Snowed/sleeted a bit yesterday so I donned my Carhart coat. Its like putting on armour. Stiff, bulky material that makes you feel impervious to the elements hurled against it. And they last forever. Carhart outerwear gets the Squeal of Approval.

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

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=187980

Sportsmans Guide has a little solar/battery package thing going on. $150~ for a small 15w panel and a charge controller.

Opinions?

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=187980

Sportsmans Guide has a little solar/battery package thing going on. $150~ for a small 15w panel and a charge controller.

Opinions?

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

So the girlfriend and I have been toying with looking at land purchases. The idea is that although we dont have the money to buy a house/buildings now, we should buy the land now because it surely wont be cheaper later on. Theres one place, 80 Acres with a stream for $120k, that sounds nice. I wouldnt mind burying a cargo container into a hillside just to give me a place to stash stuff until the day the construction starts, but apparently the UK has a nice little industry with portable buildings that look like they just re-tooled a cargo container manufacturing plant. Check this out:
http://www.portakabin.co.uk/productsandservices/products/portable/pullman/

You know, from the “weekend cabin/retreat” standpoint you could do alot worse than rehabbing a cargo container.

So the girlfriend and I have been toying with looking at land purchases. The idea is that although we dont have the money to buy a house/buildings now, we should buy the land now because it surely wont be cheaper later on. Theres one place, 80 Acres with a stream for $120k, that sounds nice. I wouldnt mind burying a cargo container into a hillside just to give me a place to stash stuff until the day the construction starts, but apparently the UK has a nice little industry with portable buildings that look like they just re-tooled a cargo container manufacturing plant. Check this out:
http://www.portakabin.co.uk/productsandservices/products/portable/pullman/

You know, from the “weekend cabin/retreat” standpoint you could do alot worse than rehabbing a cargo container.

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

The weather changes pretty quickly around here. More than once Ive left home in the morning to fifty degrees and sunny weather and come home at night in about 8″ of snow and high winds. Since I usually have my Tactical Tailor pack with me when Im running around, heres what I carry to make things a bit easier:

Case is a Blackhawk Accessory Pouch. Weighs about 6 oz, has two zipper pulls, two compression straps and loops at either end for attachments. Not a bad product but I try not to by Made-In-Vietnam Blackhawk gear if I can help it. The compression straps, in addition to helping keep the overall footprint fairly small, also act as attachment points for looping through ALICE or PALS webbing.

Contents:

• 1 pair wool trigger mitt inserts
• 1 pair trigger mitt shells
• 1 military wool scarf
• 1 Brigade Quartermaster polypro neck gaiter
• 1 Thinsulate superthick watch cap

Trigger mitt inserts – If Im riding my bike and it isnt too cold I'll wear these by themselves to keep my hands warm. They are dirt cheap when purchased in bulk as surplus and Ive about a dozen pair in storage.
Trigger mitt shells – By themselves are pretty warm and great for cutting the bite from the wind. Coupled with the liner they are quite warm and do an excellent job of keeping me from losing fingers.
Military wool scarf – I dont use this very often since its function is easily equalled by the neck gaiter, but if Im using the neck gaiter as a hat or a face mask then the scarf comes in handy to cover my neck. Wound loosely in wraps around the neck and face it provides lotsa warmth. It can also be worn over the head under a hat to give the Lawrence of Arabia look.
BG neck gaiter – one of the best purchases you can make. I bought my first one almost twenty years ago and still use it today. It can be worn as a neck gaiter, hat, earband, facemask and several other ways. It can be stuffed into a small package and carried anywhere (I usually just fold it through my belt so it hangs like a towel on a towel bar..keeps it secure, out of the way, and handy.) I think theyre around $10 and definitely worth it. I just recently bought a spare.
Watch Cap – I posted about this earlier. Found this at WalMart for $4…its made from several layers of material instead of just one and is far superior to the military watch cap. So good, and so cheap, that I went back and bought four more for storage and spares. Best of all they come in the subdued colors I like so much and are made in the USA.

This isnt a winter survival kit, mind you. Its just a 'module' that I add or remove to my pack seasonally to help out in case the weather suddenly gets cold/snowy. The nice thing is that everything is in one place and when May rolls around I can pull the pack out of my bag and stuff it in a closet until September when it goes back into my pack.

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

Hit the Bozeman gun show. And what did John Trochman have sitting on his table but a big box o' parachute flares. Better ones than last time too…..40 second illumination. Yum. Gonna take one out for a test at some point. Price? $5/ea. Worth it for the sheer fun of it. Bought a dozen.

Hit the Bozeman gun show. And what did John Trochman have sitting on his table but a big box o’ parachute flares. Better ones than last time too…..40 second illumination. Yum. Gonna take one out for a test at some point. Price? $5/ea. Worth it for the sheer fun of it. Bought a dozen.

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

This is really quite unacceptable. I've been neglecting my life as Commander Zero lately..in fact, I dont think ive been down in the bunker in a couple weeks. Complacency is the biggest enemy to the prepared (or, rather, to the trying-to-be-prepared). And, as Ive said before, its just too easy to get complacent…its 70 degrees outside, sunny, my belly is full, I've got my pistol on my hip, a few dollars in my pocket, etc, etc,….why worry?

And thats the attitude thats going to put me on line with the sheep when Something Bad happens.
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Picked up seeds yesterday so its time to start getting those bad boys growing. Im looking forward to this years growing season and its produce. Salads are great when you just go in your yard and start munching.
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I've been hearing good things about the surplus Mosin Nagant rifles lately. The ammo is incredibly cheap and the rifles, powerful rifles I might add, are less than $100 ea. Might not be bad to tuck a few away in a corner somewhere and forget about them. They tart up nicely and theyre ballistics are quite good (right around .308 or .30-40 Krag…easily superior to 7.62×39.)
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Still need to work on emergency lighting for my basement and bunker. I did pick up a few tritium marker lights…a very nifty little product. I mounted one over the doorway to the bunker so that even if theres no light I can tell where the entranceway is. What aI really want is a small string of LED lights run off of a battery that is constantly charged off a solar panel on the roof. As ive said before, my big concern is that the battery be a sealed type since I dont want an potentially dangerous gases vented into the basement where the battery would be. On the bright side, it doesnt take a heck of a lot of power to run a string of LED lights so the battery and its capacity doesnt have to be too big.
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Other projects for this year:
More canned goods
Alternate lighting (as discussed above)
More gold/silver
More guns-as-trade-stock
More ammo
Antanae for radio
More books…especially military TM/FM series
Exercise more
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One nagging thought Ive had, as of late…..I worry about someone calling the various gov't agencies and saying Im a cult leader with machine guns or some other nonsense. The goons kick in the door, torch the gun safe, grab all the books on my shelves (anti-government literature, Im sure theyll call it) and pat themselves on the back for a job well done. And I cant tell you how infuriating that would be for me. So…the solution? Easy…dont have all the eggs in one basket. Which I really, really need to work on.