Tag Archives: storage

Cleanup Pt. I of probably too many

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When I moved into my current house, back in the 90’s, I finally had some space to step up my preparedness game. Originally, one room in my basement was dedicated to my preparedness stuff. It has, sadly, over time morphed into my entire basement. And, in fact, it has started migrating into some other rooms as well.

So, whats a survivalist supposed to do? Well, time to cleanup and, possibly, throw out a few things. There are some bins that I havent looked inside in over ten years. And there’s some long term food that is dang near close to the end of that term. So…it’s time to clean up the stuff that ‘seemed like a good idea at the time’ and replace it with ‘best that I can afford’ now that my life has finally hit a more grownup phase.

For example, the 20-year-old MRE entrees sitting in boxes on the shelf. Meatloaf With Gravy and some Chili Mac. These were purchased from Major Surplus back in, probably, the late 90’s or the early 2000’s. What this means is that they are at least 20 years old. Sure, MRE’s have a lngthy shelf life, and I know there’s plenty of guys on YouTube eating MRE’s from the Civil War, but why would I continue to store 20-year-old MRE’s when I can easily afford newer and better product. Especially when each additional year I keep those MRE’s I am getting less and less viability than I would with newer production?

Now, having said that, did I try them? Sorta. I tossed both pouches into a pan of hot water and let them heat all the way through. The Chili Mac smelled okay, looked okay, and the texture was…okay. The meatloaf smelled a tad odd but, hey, it’s an MRE…its not gonna smell like it’s supposed to. The texture was rather spongy and the taste was rather bland. A single bite from each one was enough to tell me that there was no really legitimate reason to not replace these with current production items.

But, as this cleanout continues, I’m coming across things that are fifteen, twenty, twenty five years old. A good opportunity to see how time and storage affects things. It’s also an opportunity to observe the evolution of products…for example, I have a couple of old MagLites that still use the Krypton bulbs and eat D-cell batteries like Pac Man. Compare with the newer LED lights that give ten times the battery life and twice the light.

There’s also a good bit of milsurp in there from when I couldnt afford Kifaru but I could afford Kosovo. There’s some Eastern Bloc stuff down there, for sure.

There was a time I was a poor, struggling, underemployed, wildly irresponsible kid who had no money-smarts. As a result, I’d buy whatever was cheapest that met whatever need I felt was being presented. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate items of better quality, rather, it was that I was unable to afford items of better quality. Fortunately, that has changed. Before anyone jumps into the comments and starts telling me how some surplus stuff is just as good or better than some modern commercial stuff…yes, you are correct. Some stuff is just awesome. But a lot is simply adequate, heavy, bulky, and difficult to find accessories for.

Ideally, I’m doing this cleanup to free up some space and get rid of some things that, really, have been supplanted by better gear. Save it for backup or for remote locations? Probably not…whatever supplanted is probably in storage here in enough quantity that even the backups would be a better quality.

It would be nice to get this done over the course of a week, but unfortunately ny life has hit the point where it seems like I never have spare time to do the things I want to do. But, on the other hand, it’s that evolution into a time-constrained life that has allowed me the resources to replace twenty year old gear.

Case musings

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Someone asked me how I store all those magazines.

Answer: The same way I store anything that I feel is important, worth protecting, and might be in storage for a long time: in a hard, airtight, watertight, crushproof container.

For 99% of the things I put in the Deep Sleep, the container of choice is either a genuine GI ammo can of some kind, or a Pelican (or similar brand/quality) case.

Good, quality, name-brand, effective, just-what-the-doctor-ordered cases are not cheap. Only you know how much risk you’re willing to take to save a few dollars. Will the plastic ammo can from Harbor Freight store gear just as well as a GI ammo can? Maybe. If it’s just going to sit on the shelf in your basement for the next twenty years then all it has to do is sit there, quietly waiting in the dark for that one day when life changes in an exciting new way. And that is when the extra bucks you paid makes a difference. When you grab the can off the shelf, swing it around as you run up the stairs with it, it bounces off the doorway as you grab your backpack with your other hand. You run out the door and it’s five inches of snow and freezing rain as you literally toss the ammo can in the back of the truck into a pile of slushy snow and ice. Then its a two hour drive over bumpy roads until you get to your safe place. Then you drag your gear out of the truck, some of it falls and hits the ground, some bounces off other gear, and some just gets none-too-gently shoved into a corner of the room. Now, your headset radios, battery chargers, cables, batteries, and other gear were in those cans… which would you rather have used to store those items – the $7.50 harbor Freight made-in-China plastic “GI” ammo cans or the $65 Pelican case?

Everything I put away for the future is put away because I have concerns about those things being unavailable in the future. Maybe they are unavailable due to price..or legislative action…or simple supply/demand variations…the reason doesn’t really matter; all that matters is that this particular item is now unavailable and whatever ones I have are the only ones I’m gonna have. So…I don’t mind spending the extra money for what I feel is a heightened level of protection.

Of course, not everything requires a super-high level of protection. A Glock magazine can get dropped, bounced off the concrete, get wet/snowy/dusty/dirty and survive just fine thank you very much. Not the same story for a radio. Or your medical gear. Or your other critical-and-somewhat-fragile gear.

Only you know what is and is not important enough to you to warrant the expense of high-end protection. It’s very subjective. Personally, my opinion is that anything worth putting away for the uncertain future is worth protecting as much as possible so it’s there when I need.

You’re going to have to do some math in your head. If the Made-in-China case affords you 75% the protection of the Pelican or Hardigg case is that 25% difference in protection worth the difference in price? Does the 80/20 rule apply here? As a friend of mine said when I complained about the cost of a motorcycle helmet, “Whats your head worth?”

It seems ridiculous to spend as much on a protective case as you did on the item that you are protecting, but, again, whats it worth to you to have exactly what you need, when you need it, in perfect working condition?

As I said, I’m a bit of an evil ‘yuppie survivalist’ so I spend the dollars for the Hardigg, the Pelican, the SKB cases. Or, if they’ll do the job, the virtually new genuine GI ammo cans. It’s just not worth it to me to go through the pain and labor of buying a piece of expensive top quality gear, house it in a POS knockoff plastic ammo can, and then have the lovely surprise of having that item absolutely not work when I need it most. At that moment the last thing I’m thinking is “Man, sure glad I saved thirty bucks by buying that cheap just-as-good-as-Pelican case.”

 

 

Back the truck up…again

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I’ve been having a heck of a time finding ammo cans lately. And before someone starts in with how Harbor Freight/CostCo/Sams Club/Whoever has brand new ammo cans for sale…don’t. They have brand new ammo can knockoffs on sale. Hecho in China. Will they work as well as US GI ammo cans? Maybe. But a) I avoid buying Chinese goods whenever possible and b) if something is important enough to store in an ammo can, then it’s important enough to  not take chances by saving ten bucks and buying a ripoff ammo can.

So…that leaves hunting down the real deal. Which I did.

Behold the new home of a rather embarrassingly large quantity of Magpul magazines in various calibers.

I prefer the larger ammo cans but these days you really do have to take what you can get. Anyway, these will get stencilled up and filled with Deep Sleep stuff. Then theyare off to a cool, dark place and …see ya in twenty years. Or at Der Tag. Whichever comes first.

 

3-gallon bucket/lids

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One of the problems of survivalism is that once you feel you’ve reached ‘prepvana’ (that nirvana-like level of enlightenment preparedness where you no longer feel the need to to continue with that particular prep item) you lose sight of potential improvements. Let me give you an example. Lets say that when you were preparing for Y2k you laid in a stock of top-of-the-line MagLites and SureFire flashlights. You tucked them away and patted yourself on the back. You have plenty, so now you’re done. And you move onto other projects that need your attention, the whole time thinking you’ve settled the flashlight issue. And, twenty years later, your Y2k flashlights, with their Xenon bulbs and battery-draining designs, are stone clubs compared to todays crop of LED flashlights that sip power from batteries by comparison. But…you wouldn’t have known about the potential benefits and upgrades because you had no reason to track flashlight developments….you’d settled the flashlight issue years ago.

Thats one of the risks of thinking youre ‘set’ on a particular prep and never revisiting it.

I’m sorta guilty of this. I was up at Winco when they first opened and, to my surprise, I noticed that not only did they sell 5-gallon buckets and GammaSeal lids in their food storage section, but they also sold 3-gallon buckets and matching GammaSeal lids. (Clarification: not actual GammaSeal brand but they appear to be identical and are made at what appears to be the same plant in the US.) I had no idea that such things existed for the smaller buckets.

The advantage? Well, it’s a heck of a lot easier for me to keep a smaller 3-gallon bucket of rice on my shelf ready to use than it is a 5-gallon bucket.

For comparison:

So the five-gallon buckets get stored away with the  other stuff and I now simply refill the 3-gallon buckets as needed and keep them in the kitchen where they’re a very handy thing.

And speaking of Winco, before the economy started it’s inflationary shenanigans, the bucket stash looked like this:

Not so much last weekend:

Fortunately, as I’ve mentioned, Home Depot not only selld food grade buckets, but the buckets are actually marked “Food Grade Container” So you know you’re getting the right ones.

 

Re-arranging

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A few years back, a local defunct lumber mill was repurposed into a bitcoin mining facility. As it turned out, bitcoin mining, I am told, uses quite a bit of electrical power and the rumour is that this business managed to singlehandedly generate enough demand to change local pricing and require infrastructure upgrades. Regardless, the business ran for a few years and then recently closed up. One of the things they were getting rid of was a huge amount of the steel wire shelving that I am so fond of. I scored a truckload of the stuff and now have the oddly enjoyable task of adding more shelving to my basement and reconfiguring the stuff that is already there..

With the…hmmm.. let’s call it ‘increase in activity’… in my own stockpiling, increased storage capacity was going to be called for eventually. Might as well get ahead of it.

Other than the increase in stored food, there was also an across-the-board increase in pretty much everything. Cleaning supplies, batteries, TP, toilet paper, dish soap, detergent, and pretty much every consumable you can think of. And that takes space. The payoff? Tremendous peace of mind.

There are a few things I hammer out in this blog over, and over, and over….and one of them is this: you will suffer far more personal, intimate EOTWAWKIs than you will the conventional zombie apocalypse kind. You will experience job losses, unexpected expenses, periods of illness, localized disasters (flood, hurricane, etc.) far more often than you will experience boogaloos. And while cases of MRE’s, .223, and night vision do have their place, you will use them exponentially less than you will use TP, battery lanterns, and wind up radios.

And, as it turns out, keeping all that food, toiletries, extra water, and sleeping bags on hand takes up space. So…new wire shelving. With inflation, economic uncertainty, ‘surges’, and who knows what else coming down the pike it just seems to make sense to keep adding a little here and there, yknow?

Vacuum-sealed clothing after five years

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One of the tasks I performed the other day was reviewing and inspecting the various items I have stashed away in the vehicle for those unseen emergencies. Among all the items is a complete change of clothes. That stuff has been packed away, freezing and roasting, for the last several years and I figured it’d be a good idea to check on them and see how they’re doing.

Answer? They’re just fine. However, I did unpack the shirt and jeans and discover that the plastic bag had imparted a wierd smell to them. Not offensive, just odd…a vinyl-y plastic smell that, after a few hours in the open air, seemed to fade away. Other than that, clothing held up just fine…as I expected. I re-vacuum-sealed everything and put it away for the uncertain future.

Why the vacuum sealing? Well, biggest reason is because if you need a change of clothes somewhere other than home that means you probably got wet, messy, bloody, dirty, or some similar ugliness. That being the case, youre most definitely gonna want clean and dry clothes. And, of course, vacuum sealing also reduces the ‘footprint’ of the clothing by compressing everything down as much as possible. But, when you’ve had to change a tire on a slushy and wet roadway while freezing rain is soaking you through, that bit of vacuum sealing is going to seem more like a Nobel-worthy idea than it is overkill.

Other goodies in there stored equally as well, although I discarded and replaced all batteries just to be safe. And I I updated the spreadsheet I keep of this sort of thing to reflect any changes.

What do I keep around in the vehicle for emergencies? Well, you can get the links to that epic series of posts here.

And, in other news………

16 years in storage

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For my backup heating needs around the house, I went with kerosene. It stores well, has the most BTU’s of pretty much any fuel, and is easily portable. But, years ago, I picked up one of those Mr Heater Buddy heaters as a ‘just in case’ along with a case of 1# propane bottles. I tested the thing out when I got it, put it away, and haven’t touched it since.

Until today.

I was going through some stuff and thought I’d check to make sure this thing actually still worked. I had packed it away in the original box and, surprisingly, I left the purchase receipt in there. So…I can see that I purchased it in December of 2004. (For about $75) Its sat in its box for the last sixteen years.

Okay, lets see if it works. Fished out an equally aged propane container, screwed it into place, turned the switch to Pilot, hit the starter and…*whoompf* it lit right up. Rather nice when something you put away a long time ago works just like it was yesterday.

Interestingly, the Buddy heaters have evolved since I got that one. They have a model that incorporates a battery-powered fan to circulate the hot air. I might get one of those and, since it runs on DC, wire it to run off a large battery.

My go-to backup heat is kerosene and thats one of the reasons I pretty much ignored the Buddy heater for the last four administrations. But, it’s nice to know it stored well. I’ll put it away, pick up a few more propane cylinders (because they have multiple uses and, if you want to carry the idea further, they would have excellent barter value.) Probably my biggest use for the Buddy heater is as a ‘spot heating’ unit for a room or are of the basement where keeping things above freezing is critical.

Gun storage

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Someone asked me in email about what I do, if anything, to package guns for the Deep Sleep. It’s probably a disappointment to most folks who are expecting some sort of long list of ritual greasing, packaging, preserving, etc., but….I really don’t do very much.

Any gun I’m packing away is a gun that probably has a history of ruggedness, durability, and survivability. I’d package up a nice blued Colt Python a lot differently than I’d package up a Glock. Because the guns I’m putting away are usually mil-spec in terms of material and finish, they are already enjoying a head start on being resistant to the threats posed from long term storage.

Really, for most guns all I do is clean them thoroughly, lubricate them normally, pack them into a quality hard case with dessicant, and thats really about it.

I’ve handled guns that have sat around for fifty years in closets, under beds, in attics, hidden in barns, etc, etc. These were guns that were not given any special treatment nor stored in any purpose-built gun vault. Problems encountered have been:

  • Rust – This is usually the most obvious problem. It can be a light freckling all the way to full-blown rust. The cause is, obviously, moisture. The source could be just the ambient humidity in the air, like if you live in Florida, or from an environmental scenario such as leaving the gun leaning up against an object like a furnace duct or other feature that has high temperature swings. The solution is to store in a case that is as airtight as possible along with a handful of dessicant. Most of the guns that I pack away for Der Tag are guns that are already pretty rust-resistant…Glocks, parkerized guns, etc… so I can give them less consideration than, say, a nicely blued Rem 700 or something.
  • Bore obstructions – Be honest…do you always, religiously, without fail, check the bore of a gun that has just come out of storage before you shoot it? Most people do not. I’ve seen plenty of barrels with cobwebs in them, old cleaning patches, and on at least one occasion a mud daubers nest. Some folks say you should plug the bore of the gun with a foam ear plug to prevent anything from getting in there. I worry that traps moisture inside the barrel. I clean my bores thoroughly, run a lubed patch through, then follow up with a few dry patches, and leave it at that. And I always check for obstructions when pulling a gun out of storage.
  • Dried grease – On older military guns (SKS, Mosin Nagants, Mausers, etc) guns were preserved by using copious amounts of grease…not oil. SKS rifles were notorious for having huge amounts of grease saturating them, this method preserves things beautifully but it is an enormous task to get all that grease out of a gun. I’ve had guns that, literally, sweat grease out of the stock when they heat up and this is years and years after I initially got the gun and cleaned it up. Grease that has dried up forms a crusty, hard residue that requires nothing less than sitting around for hours with a heat gun, rags, and dental picks to clear up.
  • Dust mixing with oil – overlube a gun and the oil pools and starts collecting dust, which becomes a sludge, which eventually becomes a caked on mess. I lube a gun thoroughly and then use a rag to try an wipe off the oil I just applied. This leaves just enough to keep the gun safe without overdoing it.

Virtually all of these issues are resolved by using an airtight purpose-built gun case. The $9 Flambeau or Plano gun case is not good enough. Spend $200 and get a Pelican or Hardigg case. A lot of cases, at half the price, claim to be ‘as good as’ or ‘just like’…they are not. When you have to pull your genuine Belgian FAL or pre-ban HK93 out of the rafters, that is not the time to find out that your bargain case that saved you $50 had a crappy O-ring gasket and one side of your rifle has a nice orange sheen to it. The one good and cheap(er) alternative is when it comes to handguns – a genuine US GI ammo can, with good seals, is a perfect container for pistol rug, with dessicant, holding your preferred handgun.

The next question is probably “What else do you store with the guns? Ammo? Tools?”

Storing ammo with the gun is a bit iffy, IMHO. Why? Because the well-oiled gun is in an airtight case. Leave some ammo in there and I suppose there’s a possibility of oil contamination rendering the ammo unreliable. Big if, sure…but if things have gotten serious enough you’re pulling Ol’ Painless outta storage then things are serious enough that the last thing you want is ammo of questionable reliability, no? As an aside, I pack ammo in perfect/good condition military ammo cans. Metal ones. Not the plastic ones that when dropped on a hard surface shatter like my dreams and hopes.

Remember guys, guns have only two natural enemies: rust and politicians.

 

FIFO

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One of my guilty pleasures is that the local restaurant supply place sells frozen dumplings by the case. I toss em, frozen solid, into my steamer and in 15 minutes I have delicious, hot, Chinese(ish) dumplings. No muss, no fuss. Splash some tamari soy sauce on ’em and eat. About as labor-unintensive a meal as you can get.

Except, when I opened the cupboard I found my bottle of soy sauce with but a few dribbles in it. Solution? Trek to the basement, locate the five other bottles on the shelf, pull out the one with the oldest date, return to the kitchen, make a note to purchase more on my next grocery trip, and then have dinner.

I went to Wallywolrd the other day, picked up another couple bottles, wrote the purchase date on them with a Sharpie, and stuck ’em back in storage.

Thats what food rotation looks like. Nothing magical, mysterious, or tinfoil-hat about it. It’s that easy. And it is bloody convenient to not have to halt your meal plans because you need to run to the grocery for something. And it’s especially convenient to not have to run to the grocery when the streets are littered with bodies of the BLM/Antifa/ProudBoy/redneck battles that, I am told, we are all heading for as the looming second Civil War approaches. (Yeah, thats sarcasm….I’m wrong on a lot of things but I’m willing to bet that this time next year the lights are on, the water is running, the shelves are stocked, and it’s not Bosnia out there.)

In other interesting news, when I was at CostCo the other day I noticed that the limits had been removed from some items (notably the torpedo-shaped “chubs” of ground beef I’ve been purchasing) and reinstituted on others (toilet paper). Doesn’t really matter to me, though…I’ve gotten into the habit of buying certain items every weekend, religiously, so a limit of ‘one per trip’ doesn’t slow my roll. Matter of fact, I may have to dial it back a bit because the freezer is way full. Buying another freezer might make sense but for my household, one freezer full of meat is plenty for a good long while. Also, it seems that freezers are a bit hard to come by in some parts these days. Restless natives…….

Box O’ Joy

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This is what addiction looks like. Three Ruger PC carbines (the old style) and a half dozen P95DC pistols to match with the carbines.

It’s also a decent example of what will fit in the Boyt51 rifle cases that are for sale at the local CostCo right now. This is the sort of package that goes up in the rafters or down in floorboards to sit quietly for decades until needed. More importantly this frees up a bunch of needed space in the gun safe. I know that the fact that two of those pistols are blued versus the other four that are not is pegging the OCD meter on some of you..have no fear. I swapped them out after this picture was taken for a couple stainless ones that were in the safe.