Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest

Random Tuesday Thoughts

2013-06-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

-It might be time to re read the Matthew Bracken novels as they seem to be playing out in real life.

-This whole discussion about the NSA, Verizon, etc all data gathering is interesting. First that stuff called 'meta data' matters, modern computers using well designed programs combined with various other open source stuff can come up with huge amounts of information. Think pattern and link analysis that is largely automated based on huge amounts of information. Along these lines the idea that has been posed "it is legal under our law but may not be constitutional" says a lot about the current problems in our country.

-Silver is at 21.5ish right now. If you have a few dollars to spare that is definitely a buy. I cannot say why gold is down either but if you can afford it that is another fine place to park a few dollars.

-Ammo prices seem to be coming down (except .22lr which is going up) but availability is still spotty for sure.

-TEOTWAWKI Blog's post on Resupply Caches is worth checking out.

And the Winner of One Year In Hell Is...

2013-06-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

Chris has won a membership to Selco's One Year In Hell. Send me an email and I will pass on the UN/PW. The winner will have 2 days to claim the prize or an alternate winner will be selected.

-Ryan

Putting Together Bags and Systems

2013-06-17T20:54:00.002-07:00

Alexander Wolfe has been talking about the Good Idea Fairly lately in terms of how it relates to different things, in this case hygiene kits. In choosing what to pack/ carry there are always choices. Sometimes there is an element of personal selection within a given category. A guy I know carries a big knife and a folding saw. Personally I am more of a medium sized knife and hawk/hatchet guy. Both are fine options and personal preference can dictate the choice. Assuming relatively similar capabilities and weight it doesn't matter what people choose.

To some degree I think personal preference can dictate some smaller items that one chooses. Maybe some playing cards, a book, smokes, a pint of booze, whatever. However the amount of weight that goes to discretionary non essential items does need to be seriously managed. 10% probably isn't a bad fraction.

There are inherently choices to be made. The problem is that inexperienced people who do not actually carry or use their stuff tend to choose everything. Hygiene kits that would take care of a model for 2 weeks, seven cutting tools, 4 full changes of clothes, etc. These folks end up with huge bags full of excessive, redundant stuff, they are too out of shape to actually carry any distance. In a fully catch .22 they never use the stuff to get past the point of inexperience. Implied task, start carrying your stuff and using it!

This discussion combined with Joe Fox's book (which I owe a review on) and my general desire to do something productive got me looking at my bags. Part of the change in my setup was transitioning to summer stuff. Since I'm in Arizona the low's this time of year are not exactly low so one doesn't need much warm stuff. On the plus side the weight dropped down some. It went from almost 60 pounds to 44 wet/ 40 dry. I would like to shave a bit more off so it's closer to 40 wet. Went through things looking at what I would be comfortable taking out and did not come up with anything. Maybe a complete bag dump and relook in the next couple days will help me find some stuff to ditch.

Took the new leaner and meaner bag out for a ruck today. While I could carry the heavier one fine the lower weight was sure appreciated.

Anyway I'm not sure where this is going so it's time to wrap it up. In coming days I will be talking more about my gear. Maybe it will give you some ideas or at least make someone go over their stuff.

Flash Give Away: Selco's One Year In Hell Membership

2013-06-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

Giving away a membership to Selco's One Year In Hell. Say you want it or something similar in a comment and you are entered. A winner will be randomly selected in approximately 24 hours.

*The winner will have 2 days to claim the prize or an alternate winner will be selected.

Bug Out Dinner- Ramen Style

2013-06-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

As usual this bug out meal starts with the Solo Pot 900. My Solo Stove is sitting this one out as open flames are sort of uncool during the spring/ summer in dry fire prone Arizona.

The convenient measuring marks on the side were helpful. Just don't have enough good things to say about this pot.

Good old Top Ramen. Not what you call peak nutrition but it will fill you up and keep you going.


I substituted an egg for the tuna fish. The reason is those little foil packets are fairly expensive and eggs are cheap. Dinner was good. Had a couple of the little candy bars that live in our food bags for desert.

Dinner was cheap and pretty decent. Would get bored eating it every day but thankfully I do not need to do that. Since dinner and lunch are the same thing this pretty much covers me going through the meals individually. Some day this coming week I will eat a whole day of bug out food as a trial run.

Gratuitous Benchmade Presidio 5000 Auto Pic

2013-06-15T00:28:00.001-07:00

This is my new EDC knife. It is a Benchmade Presidio 5000 auto. The auto axis mechanism is pretty awesome. Got is used with some scuffs n scratches and a corresponding good deal. Anyway I wanted a Benchmade auto for about a decade. Just recently it seems things worked out to bring one into my life. I am very happy about how it all worked out. The Griptillian was prefectly functional but this knife has a wonderful fit n finish and a lot of class. Sometimes life works so you get something you need and every once in awhile you get something that you really wanted. This is one of those rare 'really want' times. Anyway that's my new knife.

Holsters for Practical Use

2013-06-14T17:38:00.002-07:00

For most pistols you tend to want two holsters. Some sort of a concealed carry holster and an open carry/ tactical type one. Of course the gun and it's concept of use matter; you probably do not need a CCW holster for a Smith and Wesson 629 with a 6" barrel or an OC/ tactical type holster for a Beretta 21A or Ruger LC380.

Typically concealed carry holsters are inside the waistband (IWB). For a long time I used the generic black nylon foamish Uncle Mikes or Blackhawk type IWB holster. These work fine for smaller guns but not as well for larger/ heavier ones. Also as I have gotten older, smarter, less poor as well as carrying much more consistently for all but the smallest/ lightest guns I prefer something a bit sturdier.

For a long time I used a Bianchi 100 professional. It is an excellent leather IWB holster at an affordable price ($40ish). I like that the clip is easy to take on and off. Nothing bad to say about this holster.

Recently I acquired a slightly used Blade Tech IWB holster. This holster is a bit smaller than the dimensions of the Bianchi 100 (unlike some supposed IWB or OWB/IWB holsters that are huge). It is also surprisingly comfortable. It has adjustable cant and retention which are nice. Also a full sweat guard. While it is comfortable the plastic contour ridges necessitate an undershirt (which you can avoid with the Uncle Mikes or Bianchi holsters). On the plus side this holster does not collapse when the weapon is drawn. This means you can reholster one handed which is very nice both tactically and just for convenience's sake.

The other holster type you probably want to have is some sort of an open carry or tactical type holster. This could be a simple kydex OWB holster like a Blackhawk for open carry/ range use or a fancy tactical type holster by Safariland or one of the new companies (Raven Concealment, Bravo Concealment, etc all) making Kydex holsters. On the plus side the basic Kydex holsters are cheap enough that you can have a spare lying around no problem.

Those two really cover the bases, especially if you are able to get ones that suit your needs and body the first go around. Otherwise like many people you will end up with a box of holsters in the closet someplace. Sure you might decide down the road that a shoulder holster would be handy but for most people additional holsters are more of a want than a need.

I'm loving the new Blade Tech holster and it's about time for me to get productive. What type of holsters do you use?

Birdshot For Self Defense?

2013-06-14T07:44:00.004-07:00

An interesting video on the use of 12 gauge birdshot for self defense. This video makes a pretty compelling argument that birdshot is adequate for close quarters type self defense. A several inch deep hole the size of a fist is nothing to sneer at. If you are only worried about close distances and penetration is a real concern this might be something to think about.

We could probably call 00 buck the standard in terms of defensive shotgun loads it's 9x .33 caliber pellets is definitely not something to sneer at. Personally I like #4 Buck Shot it typically has 27x .24 caliber pellets. I like #4 buck for two reasons. First it has a lot of pellets that are IMO still amply sufficient. More pellets means more wound channels. The reason I like this is that it increases the chances a pellet or pellets will hit something very important (vital organ or essential bone) stopping the threat as quickly as possible. Sure 00B's shot is larger with more penetration but there are fewer chances a pellet will hit that artery or bone and stop somebody. Personally I think any sort of 2 3/4 inch BUCK SHOT is a fine choice for self defense. Slugs work too if that is your thing. Right now the bag of shotgun shells by my gun are 00 buck, not the preferred #4 buck, just because when I was digging for shotgun ammo that was the first sort of buckshot I found.

I can not in good conscience endorse loading defensive shotguns with bird shot. The reason is twofold. A lot of really smart people tend to agree bird shot does not penetrate enough to be a good choice for a defensive load. Second and more significantly my concern is that we are turning a 35-40 meter gun into maybe a 10 meter gun. That it's your home defense shotgun which theoretically will not leave home is a fine idea. However when you get into a fight things happen. Both the enemy and Murphy have a role in deciding how fights go. All of a sudden you could be behind a tree shooting at some meth head with an SKS behind a big rock 30 meters away with a shotgun loaded with birdshot. Granted one doesn't want to fight anybody carrying a rifle using a shotgun but that same gun loaded with buck (maybe with some slugs onboard) can fight at that distance.

Anyway those are my thoughts on that.

Night Vision Prioritization

2013-06-13T20:20:00.003-07:00

Commander_Zero said...: First off, congrats on what is probably the most expensive preparedness acquisition short of a dedicated BOV or retreat.

This is kind of interesting from a philosophical, logistics, and mathematical standpoint.

Keep in mind, Im not being critical, Im just curious about your reasoning: you say that the laser/NVD combo is handy but if a person doesnt have one they arent doomed to failure. But you also say that they arent cheap...so here's my question - this kit *seems* like it is a nice-to-have-but-not-essential bit of gear; how did you rationalize its purchase when there might have been other items that were likely to see more usage in a crisis? (Although I admit that I have no idea what your level of preparedness is, for all I know you may have everything else and this was the cherry on the top.)

I'd love to have a laser/NVD combo but I'd probably wind up sinking the money into something else that *I* think is more likely to be necessary for my particular situation...more food, more metals, more armour, BOV, generator & fuel, etc, etc.

Keep in mind, please...Im not being judgemental, I'm just wondering how you arrived at this big-ticket purchase vs. other, less expensive, preps that may have been on your list.

Ryan here: Thanks. This is a complicated and worthwhile question so I will address it here on the main page.

I mentioned that folks should not feel bad if this sort of setup is out of their reach for a couple reasons. First there isn't any point in worrying about things you cannot make happen. I do not have a super duper John Rourke retreat, cannot afford it now and probably never will, so there is no point in stressing it. In the unlikely event I need said super retreat I'm hosed so no point in stressing it. Along these lines I try to keep things here suited to folks of all income/ preparedness funding levels so unless it is absolutely the case I avoid the "you are doomed without this gear" discussion. Second A person does not NEED night vision, there are many scenarios where it would not even come up. However at the same time one does not really NEED an AR-15, a Glock 17, a high end precision rifle, a solar setup, a generator, etc, etc. All we NEED is food, potable water and enough shelter to not die of exposure. Like a lot of things night vision falls into the 'nice to have' category.

So here's my question - this kit *seems* like it is a nice-to-have-but-not-essential bit of gear; how did you rationalize its purchase when there might have been other items that were likely to see more usage in a crisis?

To answer this first I will talk about how things worked in this particular situation. As to how I ended up with a PVS-14. I spent a year in Afghanistan. During that time my personal money and preparedness money accumulated in the bank leaving me with a wad of cash. I wanted to make a preparedness purchase of some type. It came down to a NOD, a long list of $100-$400 items or a whole bunch of long term storage food.

I liked the idea of a NOD for the obvious advantages it offers. The long list of stuff would be nice but I can make those sort of purchases over time while large amounts of cash are hard to come by. A major food purchase all at once didn't make a ton of sense to me as it would (albeit a long time from now) go bad all at once. On the other hand if I made the same purchases over 3-4 years I would have a better chance at orderly rotation and replacement with fresh stock. Also like the list of various stuff I can buy food in smaller increments that better fit into our normal budget. Right or wrong that is how I ended up with the NOD.

As to the laser I sold a rifle and my ACOG (which was replaced by a much more affordable yet still very nice Burris MTAC) to pay for it. So it was more of a shifting of resources within the greater defense/ gun arena than an influx of new money.

As to the philosophy and prioritization. In no particular order I will give some circumstances and thoughts that guided my decision:

-I intentionally prioritized items that could potentially be targeted by some sort of legislation or administrative fiat. Buckets of rice/ wheat/ beans, solar panels and 1978 F250 4x4's are not getting restricted any time soon but stuff like body armor and night vision very well could. Really it is more vulnerable than firearms as there is not any Constitutional protection for these items.

-We move a lot and not across town. This makes compact items that are easy to move imminently more practical for us. A whole lot easier to stick a NOD in a bag then make an additional cross country trip driving 55 in our old F250 13 mpg 'BOV'.

-It is easy to go down the dozen $100-$300 items vs one big one (in this case NOD+laser) rabbit hole. I thought about it a lot. Two things came to mind. First it is easier for me to work those various smaller items into our normal budget. (I've been knocking them off the list) Second when I really thought about it honestly the vast majority of them did not actually offer a new capability. Maybe something a bit lighter, more comfortable, newer, shinier, more tacticool, etc which is all great but those are IMO lower priorities than new capabilities.

- I think it is important to consider if you are building a system to fight, giving yourself the maximum advantage possible, or collecting guns. A person who is building a fighting setup will get a good set of personal weapons as well as a chest rig/ battle belt/ whatever, body armor and night vision if they can afford it and maybe pick up some more guns later. A person collecting guns will probably have a whole bunch of guns and various gear but quite possibly no body armor and certainly no night vision. I am not saying either approach is right or wrong; what I am saying is to think honestly about your goals and if your actions makes sense to support said goals.

-As John Mosby said "NVGs, or to use the older term with which I am far more comfortable, NODs, are a force multiplier of equal or greater value than two or three extra riflemen, when used properly. If you have six rifles of your own, but no NODs, you’re &@cking yourself and your team. Remedy the situation.

- A lot of the cost issue is about perspective. I personally know a guy who has between 75 and 100k in guns (at pre panic prices) and that's not including mags, ammo or parts all of which he has a lot of too. This guy described body armor which runs $500 a pop as ruinously expensive. He also did not have any night vision. By selling a few guns guns he could get body armor for all 4 members of the family and 2 NODs with IR lasers to match. He probably would not even notice the few guns that would need to be sold to pay for this stuff if they were missing. However they would be in a much better place if something actually happened.

-If one can't afford the rough price tag of modern (Gen3) type night vision and a laser that is one thing but continuing gun collecting instead of buying the other fighting gear that one should have is IMO a high degree of foolishness if the goal is defending them self and their loved ones. At best one should consider whether they want to collect guns or prepare to fight people.

I think this gives some insight to why I have made the decision to get into the NOD game. If we were in a fixed normal guy who lives in one place type situation I might have chosen differently but probably not. Anyway I cannot think of anything else to say so it's time to wrap this up.

As always your thoughts are appreciated.

DBAL I2 Initial Impressions and Night Vision Stuff

2013-06-12T19:59:00.002-07:00

Night vision is not cheap. This PVS-14 and DBAL I2 in this picture cost as much as a nice enduro motorcycle or a decent used car. If you can afford it they are an excellent combination. If there is no way you can make that work I would not feel bad about it. You could rock trijicon night sights and surefire lights or consider cheaper Gen 1 night vision. They probably offer 20-25% of the capability (with IR illuminators) at roughly the similar fraction of cost. I can not in good conscience endorse Gen 1 night vision but it probably beats no night vision.

Shown aside the NOD is my DBAL I2 IR/ visible red laser. It showed up a week or so back. The laser also comes with a green vis option for about $200 more. I have heard green lasers can be seen much better/ further by a smart gal named Brigid. Honestly have no use for a vis laser on a fighting rifle so I saw no need to pay more money. For no particular reason put it on a shelf then left it there. Got to fiddling with it a bit today. Will do a brief version of the usual format.

Good: Seems like a quality piece of kit. It is a quality unit with a nice sturdy looking attachment method (though I would zip tie it in place to be safe). A few youtube videos showed that it returns to zero fairly well. I like that it comes in tan. Once the rail is on my rifle will be painted but taking a rattle can to a $800 laser isn't something I like the idea of. So tan is good enough for me.

As to effectiveness of the civilian legal class 1 lasers I can not yet say. A quick net search says dudes are smoking pigs past 200m with DBALs so I think it'll be good enough for me.

The Bad: It runs on a CR-123 which isn't perfect but most lasers I have seen run on them. That battery is one we stock anyway so it's not a huge deal. Do need to pick up another dozen of them though.

Also getting the battery cap screwed on (to install the battery) was a hassle. Maybe mine is odd or it will break in a bit, however it took me 5 minutes to screw the darn cap on after putting the battery in.

The Ugly: I was under (in hindsight I'm not exactly sure why but I digress) the impression that the vis and IR lasers were slaved. Slaved lasers adjust together so zeroing the vis laser would zero the IR. This is not the case, the lasers definitely adjust separately. This makes for a big hassle in that I have to get out and zero the laser at night. Civilian ranges where you can shoot at night are few and far between. To zero an IR laser I'm going to need a fairly known distance and a very stable rest. A bit more complicated than just confirming a zero with a couple rounds shot at a rock way out in the desert. Granted this will be a one time hassle but it will be a hassle for sure.

In the next few days I will order a rail for the AR. If I wasn't mounting a laser I wouldn't bother with the rail. Well now I am so I need to. Personally I bought the laser first as rail's aren't going anywhere. A troy rail will soon be put on my rifle which will be shortly followed by painting and finally Project Upgrade AR will be finished. [Though I would like to get a BCM lower, for no particular reason, just so everything matches.]

When zeroing lasers there are a couple important things to remember. First the adjustments are opposite iron sights or a scope. Instead of moving the point of impact (the hole the bullet makes AKA POI ) to the point of aim (where your sights point AKA POA) you are moving the laser to meet the impact of the bullet. So adjustments are opposite. Example instead of adjusting right 10 clicks to make the bullet impact (POI) on the bullseye (POA) you are adjusting the laser left 10 clicks to make it meet the strike of the bullet.

There are two fundamental options when zeroing a laser. You can have it zeroed for a given distance or parallel. The plus side of a laser zeroed for a given distance is that it is dead on (perfect POA/POI) for that distance. The downside is that it is off to varying degrees at every other distance. Imagine two chop sticks, one is laid over the other at a gentle angle. The further you get away from the converging point the further the chop sticks get from each other. This options would make sense if for whatever reason you know you will shoot at a given distance. The other option is parallel. Think train tracks. If a laser is an inch above and 3/4's inch to the left of the muzzle it will stay there. So at 10 meters it will be an inch up and 3/4's inch left, same at 50 or 100 meters. This is the method used by our Army, at least in my experience. [Of course bullets do not fly strait. However at the ranges it would matter (past 300m for 5.56) you are probably not going to hit a whole lot at night anyway so I would argue that it doesn't matter.] I would rather have the laser consistently an inch up and 3/4 inch right all the time than perfect at one point and off an unknown distance for the rest.

Anyway that's my initial impression of the DBAL I2.

Quote of the Day

2013-06-11T20:39:00.001-07:00

"Security guards aren't allowed to carry guns, I don't have to follow their made up rules."
-Tosh.0

Caches Continued

2013-06-11T17:43:00.004-07:00

TEOTWAWKI Blog asked if anyone actually has caches (obviously bear in mind considerable OPSEC when answering) to which I responded "When it comes to caches I think we can get too narrowly focused to only stuff buried in the ground. A tuff box full of gear and food in Dad's barn is a cache. A couple guns in the basement of a buddy who you visit and sometimes go shooting with is a cache. A rental storage locker a mile from home (or in a neighboring town, whatever) that stores Christmas stuff, off season sporting goods/ lawn stuff and in the back has some gear, food and a couple of hidden guns is a cache.

In that explanation is a combination of things I have done, am doing or will do."

Now the discussion of different potential types of caches has come up. It seems like a worthy one to chime in on. In no particular order here we go.

Contents: Alexander is absolutely right that your concept of use needs to dictate the contents of a cache. What makes sense to have is definitely driven by your plan(s). Two thousand pounds of wheat isn't very handy if you really just need 30 gallons of gas, some water and a couple days worth of food.

That being said I think there is some small, fairly affordable essential stuff that is too useful to not put into just about every cache. A few lighters, a good basic knife, a water bottle, some water purification tablets, a few batteries, a bit of food, etc. You could do this or under $20 if you have the knife already or $50 if you don't. Not perfect but better than nothing. If you need to get into a cache odds are somebody around needs this stuff. If space allows I would add a full change of clothes per family member (including footwear and appropriate outerwear) to that essential stuff.

Types:

-E&E. The point of this cache is to provide you the necessary equipment, clothing and food to make it from point A to B during an escape and evasion scenario. Since you might get away from an ugly scenario barefoot in boxers or gym shorts it makes sense for this sort of cache to have a set of suitable clothes including footwear and some basic survival type equipment, a bit of food and probably a weapon.

John Mosby described the contents of a 5-6 gallon bucket E&E type cache "What survivalist/prepper doesn’t have a metric shit-ton of plastic, five-gallon buckets with resealable lids laying around for food-storage. As long as they are not buried too deep, where crushing from pressure becomes an issue, these are almost perfect cache containers. One bucket can hold almost an entire outfit of gear for one man (LC-2 type LBE, a can of ammunition in magazines, a change of clothes, some boots, and some food. Even a small carbine or rifle, broken down, can fit. A shop-built SMG would be a good fit here, after it had been thoroughly tested for function. Snipped for brevity Ryan)

I think we need to fight the temptation to think all 'hide in the woods' here unless your environment and skill sets really lend themselves to that. Lets face it, bad things sometimes happen to good people. A pistol, some EDC stuff, a change of clothes, a bit of basic survival stuff just in case, a wad of cash and if you are so inclined and can wrangle it a set of clean ID might be a whole lot more useful than an ax to build a cabin in the woods.

[Note- In re reading John Mosby's excellent article on the matter I was able to better organize my thoughts on cache types ~~by blatantly stealing his concepts of cache types~~.]

-Resupply. This would have a resupply of consumables and probably some likely to break key gear. I like the speedball idea. I am familiar with the concept though not in the cache context. For reference a speedball is a relatively small pre packaged set of stuff to resupply a unit in a prolonged fight. It would certainly include ammo, water and medical supplies, a bit of food and some batteries might be included depending on the situation. For folks operating mounted fuel would be included also. This sort of thing would be the perfect between point A and B cache. For those who might plan on a long drive it makes sense to have fuel, a bit of oil, water, some food and a bit of ammo stashed away. Driving beats the hell out of walking but you need a plan to support it.

-Redundancy. Redundancy in alternate locations like the coveted "Bug Out Location" is something survivalists generally understand. Redundancy in place is something I think people often ignore at their peril. Far too many survivalists have all of their proverbial eggs in the basket of their home and out buildings. If their home was lost due to fire or they needed to leave (maybe not by choice) they would be hosed. Even folks who plan on staying at home AKA bugging in would be well advised to spread their stuff out a bit. On a large enough piece of sufficiently isolated property burying stuff a terrain feature away (out of sight and ideally sound from the house) is an option. Other options exist.

Cost: Alexander Wolfe hit on cost. Tactical types and survivalists tend to accumulate stuff. Part of it is the nature of finding the right gear for us. We inevitably work out way through some knives/ flashlights/ chest rigs/ holsters/ in some cases guns that are perfectly serviceable but just don't quite fit us right. These boxes/ bags/ piles of stuff are the perfect starting point for caches. I sort of look at caches as a natural outgrowth of said accumulation. Get to a point where you have a bunch of stuff around, look at making a cache, repeat until you feel comfortable then stop.

[The topic of guns inevitably comes up. I cannot tell you what to do or whether you should or should not include guns in caches. First as John Mosby told me in his ever blunt manner a gun that is cached cannot shoot anybody in the face. It also will not kill a deer or whatever. If you have a basic firearms setup (and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that) thren caching guns does not make sense. However many, probably most, of the people reading this do not fall into that situation. They have a few extra guns lying around, extra's we got as back up's as well as guns we got because they were too good of a deal to pass up or we moved on but could not bring ourselves to sell them, whatever.

If you have more than a couple extra guns lying around I would think really hard about spreading them out a bit. We talked about this before (albeit in the context of gun confiscation) and it brings up a variety of opinions. However I think a rational person can see that having a nice setup of guns at your house and a few that are not really used set away here or there makes a lot more sense than a whole bunch of guns at your house and no backup plans. ]

Other times we do need to procure stuff to go into caches. Cache gear is far more likely to come from Old Grouch's Surplus or Sportsmens Guide than the a cool tactical company or REI. Military Surplus stuff that is rugged, cheap and readily available are perfect candidates here. Ditto bic lighters, Mora and buck 110 knives, etc. If you can afford to toss in a Solo Stove and a bunch of emergency food plus some sweet gear and guns that is cool but not required. When it comes cache raiding time pants the Mrs said you had to stop wearing, a ratty wool sweater from Goodwill, a Mora knife and a Maverick 88 12 gauge will be awesome to have.

Anyway I cannot think of anything else to say and am bored of writing so I will wrap this up. As always your input is welcome.

Crazy Days- Walther .380's, Benchmade Auto Knives, Shotgun Ammo and Trading

2013-06-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

So I owned a Walther .380 for about a week. You might have guessed at that earlier. I had given up on finding the gun I was looking for and the classic small carry auto seemed like a good alternative. One came up and I snagged it. The .380 was a great gun. It was easy to carry and shot like a dream, certainly the most accurate gun of it's small thin size I have shot. Anyway the day after getting it a trade popped up out of nowhere for a slightly wider but otherwise similar sized gun that suited my logistical trail much better. The .380 was screwing up my logistics, had just became redundant and needed to go. Also I sort of spent money on it I probably shouldn't have (not like spending the rent, more like project AR money). Started floating it out there then ended up swapping the .380 off today.

In trade I got $200 cash, a Benchmade 5000 Auto Presidio with the black partial serrated blade (like a used car with 500 miles it had a a few small scruffs/ scratches but otherwise like new), 100 rounds of 12 gauge buckshot, 100 12 gauge slugs, a Magpul CTR stock and 20 5.56 tracers. We also swapped my remaining .380 ammo for 35 rounds of 00B and 200 rounds of #7 shot.

The cash will let me pick up the rail I need to finally complete project AR. The knife is something I have wanted for a long time but have never been willing to pay for. Honestly I just haven't been able to justify it despite trying to do so and really wanting one. Nothing wrong with a Kershaw Blur or a Benchmade Griptillian. No real NEED to spend more on a knife than that which is why I didn't. Anyway a good deal popped up so I took it. Really it is what sealed the deal on this trade. As to shotgun ammo I was semi in the market for it, half because we can use more and half because it's the ammo that is currently available at prices that are reasonable for stocking up. The stock I didn't need, it might end up on my rifle but worst case a nice back up stock isn't a bad thing.

So anyway I spent a good chunk of the day figuring out the deal then after work went and made it happen. Between a cool new knife, a few bucks in my pocket and some more ammo I am pretty happy with the deal. Also the renewed simplicity of my logistical trail is nice.

What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?

2013-06-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

Been eating my way through the garden which is good. Also got some nets put over the tomatoes so hopefully we can eat the second batch. Seam sealed the Swack Shack. Rotated half the gas cans and filled them back up. Will do the others next week.

My DBAL showed up which is cool. Will talk more about that later.

Meant to swap out some stuff in our bags for lighter items that are more suitable for summer down here. Didn't get to it so it'll happen next week.

Anyway that was my week. What did you do to prepare this week?

Close Quarters Carbines, Square Ranges, CQB, Weapons Manipulation and Tactics

2013-06-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

Max Velocity wrote an interesting post called The Great Tactical Training Con. I agree with him in some regards but disagree in others. This stumbles into something I have been thinking about for awhile.

Over the past few years or maybe the last decade the role of the rifle in close quarters fighting has changed. What used to be considered almost solely shotgun territory has become dominated by AR's, AK's, etc all. These rifles hold 30 rounds and reload themselves which is pretty handy. Not taking anything away from shotguns but their primary benefits are low cost, legality in non permissive environments and versatility, not capacity or reloading. At the same time these rifles have come into prominence CQB (close quarters battle) has become the buzz word and all the rage. Though really SRM (short range marksmanship) is probably more accurate. There are all sorts of courses, classes, video's and such to teach you to be a super cool Sammy Seal type guy.

We need to realize that firearms training is a business. As a business the firearms training industry wants to sell people on paying money to take classes. They want to be able to offer classes in as many places as possible, with the lowest overhead possible, to as many customers as possible. Many of them are genuinely good people who want to train people to use weapons to defend their selves but they also like making money.

The average American range is probably a hundred meters wide and a couple hundred long. They have a safe backstop but limited capacity for movement and very little capacity for shooting in different directions. These ranges can support shooting from 0 to whatever meters strait downrange. People can move a bit left or right as long as they still shoot downrange. They can move forward and back also but still shooting must be in the same downrange direction.

Shooting in multiple directions while moving or static is significantly more complicated. Instead of needing a relatively safe backstop in one direction for a fairly narrow arc you need a lot of space. I'm talking roughly 2+ kilometers in any direction you will shoot in to support shooting rifles. Of course a backstop like a rock quarry or a cliff cuts that down a but but we are still talking a lot of space. Due to the lack of spaces that can readily support this type of training it is a lot easier to gravitate to what we call the square ranges. Folks do this because there are many more ranges that can be used for training that way.

CQB as the cool kids call it is simply using rifles to engage targets at close range, we'll say under 50 meters to keep things simple. Lots of ready up drills, turn and shoot, etc. Reloads are of course mixed into all of this. There is movement but it is usually limited to a few steps in whatever direction. This is good stuff. If you use a rifle for home defense you have to know this stuff (if you use a shotgun do the same thing with it).

A person who is not trained in this stuff can make huge strides in a day of instruction. Part of the business side of the firearms industry is that trainers can leave people feeling good about what they learned wanting to take another class. They can offer Cool Guy CQB Sammy Seal Classes 1-6 or whatever.

CQB is important. I have heard it described, I think by American Mercenary, as a survival skill set. That is true I think in that it's how civilians are going to realistically fight with a rifle. Joe the Engineer who lives in the Burbs or Frank the Farmer are not going to get into 300 meter gunfights. They are going to hear something that shouldn't be in the garage, grab their gun then check it out. People start moving and a 7 meter fight becomes a 50 meter fight but we are still within CQB ranges.

Like anything it is too easy to get overly focused in on one thing. The Tactical Tommy types can practice regularly andgo to 20 classes yet never shoot past 50 meters with a rifle capable of 400 meter accuracy. On the other end of the spectrum there are some high power types and sniper wanna be's who are hyper focused on long distance shooting.Which one of them is right? Neither of them are right. They are wrong on the opposite ends. The CQB Ninja needs to learn how to reach out and touch someone. Mr. High Power needs to learn to rapidly engage targets at close range.

There have been some interesting discussions by Mountain Guerilla and American Mercenary about how much of each skill set you need. In general I am a fan of balance. Instead of being great at either end of the spectrum focus on being competent engaging targets at close range quickly all the way out to putting accurate hate on folks a few football fields away. However if I had to get pegged into a more specific answer I would lean towards CQB for civilians whose rifle concept of use is defensive. The reason is that they are far more likely to fight up close than far away. Yes if you stand in the middle of the road in front of the house you can probably see pretty far, however the odds of you being there with somebody on the other end 400 meters away shooting at you are low. On the other hand getting in a gunfight with somebody in your house or trying to jack your car is considerably higher.

I agree with Max that most 'tactical training' is a bit square range focused. However I look at it differently. This training is weapons manipulation. Teaching folks to engage targets, reload and clear malfunctions, etc. While some folks sell it as such this is not IMO tactics. It could be argued this is teaching you how to fight as a civilian in a close quarters situation to which I would agree. However if you want to remove some qualifiers, maybe add some friends and such you get into what I consider tactical training. How to move and engage targets, alone or as part of a team.

The two things are sort of different. Think of weapons manipulations as punching and tactics as boxing. Both are important. Weapons manipulations are essential but they sort of happen in a vacuum. Tactics and small unit training like the stuff Mountain Guerilla and Max Velocity teach to be able to put use your weapons manipulation skills into the realistic environment of the two way range.

Anyway those are my thoughts on that.

Life Update

2013-06-08T15:47:00.003-07:00

Somebody asked so it seemed worthwhile to address it here. Wifey and I are still married with plans to stay that way. Haven't been talking about her or the the kids because they are not here. They went home to see family then Kiddo #2 got sick which extended the visit considerably. Kiddo #2 is better (at least for now and well enough to travel anyway) so they are coming back here in a couple weeks. Wish it would get here faster as I miss them a lot.

5 Guns

2013-06-08T03:09:00.001-07:00

It's well past midnight but I'm still rocking gun porn Friday. The 5 gun topic came up and I feel like chiming in. To make things a bit interesting I will do our family (Wifey and I, kids aren't near age yet) setup then what a hypothetical bachelor setup would be.

Family. Sort of like we talked about before Glock 19, AR, .22, Wifey's .38 and a Remington 870 12 gauge. With that setup I/we can hunt pretty much anything in North America (.223 can kill deer sized game an 12 gauge slugs will kill anything albeit at limited ranges), and defend ourselves.

In a hypothetical batchelor scenario Wifey's .38 would be swapped out for a Glock 26. The rest of the setup G19, .22, Rem 870 and AR would stay the same.

That's my .02 on that.

Friday Rambling Gun Stuff Discussion

2013-06-07T20:11:00.001-07:00

In my recent discussion of the J frame Chris of Arma Borealis mentioned the reload advantage of automatic's vs J frame .38 or .357mag revolvers. For the sake of convenience I am going to break subcompact type automatics into 3 categories: subcompact double stack, subcompact single stack and tiny.

Subcompact double stack: Examples of this are the Glock 26/27 and the M&P/ XD equivalents. These guns offer a lot of firepower in a small package. A 9mm Glock 26 holds 11 and the grip extension (a must) buys you another round. I think the Glock .40 is 10. Unsure about the M&P/XD but they are probably similar. They are also pretty shootable if you have enough grip to get the pinky on it. Also these guns can take larger magazines like a Glock 15 rd or 17 rd mag which is handy. Power is good too as these guns are generally chambered in 9mm/.40S&W/.45acp.

I notice little difference transitioning between subcompact and compact's of the same flavor. Being shorter in terms of length and grip makes these guns easier to conceal than their compact and full sized siblings. Also if the gun is of the polymer flavor (vs a tiny steel 1911 or whatever) they are pretty light. Reliability is comparable to their siblings, a Glock will of course fare better than a Kel Tech. However nothing is free.

The downside of these guns is that they are the same width as the bigger guns. As we saw before a J frame revolver is much thinner throughout (obviously not the cylinder). This means while their height/ length and weight are minimal the width is a consideration. Depending on your method of carry it could be an issue.

As compared to the J frame these guns shoot better, hold a lot more bullets and reload faster but are thicker and this a but harder to conceal.

Sub Compact single stack: Old school examples are the Walther PP/PPK/S/PPK and the Bersa .380. Newer examples would be the Ruger LC9 and S&W Shield. These guns often hold 7-8 rounds. I think some of the .45 models hold 6. These guns offer moderate, at the high end of 8 to a J with 5, to negligible, the mini .45's with 6 to a J with 5, capacity advantages.

The reliability varies. Walther's have been made by so many people over the years with some better than others. In general they are well, German. A precision machine that functions perfectly however it demands good fuel (bullets it likes) and some maintenance to do so. If you cannot do this, or the concept of use does not allow it, then choose another gun. If you can meet the fairly modest requirements these guns will do their job well. Bersa's by every account I have heard will run all day long. The downside is they are a fairly big and heavy .380. The new Ruger and S&W offerings are by every account I have seen built to a professional standard and will perform as such. If you get a Kel Tech or Taurus that is a roll of the dice, some run all day long but many do not.

Power varies between adequate with 9mm to marginally adequate with .380 or weak with .32 (the only .32's I am aware of in this size are the Walther's like Brigid's). IMO as we compare to the .38 the only round that is equal in terms of power is the 9mm.

Accuracy is pretty good. The quality guns in this category are capable of excellent accuracy. The Walther's particular are very accurate. A buddy of mine had a little j frame .38 but at some point realized he couldn't hit squat with it and bought a beautiful Walther PPK/S that shot wonderfully. A HIT with a .380 is indisputably more effective than a miss with a .38/.357mag.

Measured up to the J frame. These auto's are thin and thus easy to conceal. The J is thinner in spots but not by a whole lot. Capacity varies but the reload goes decisively to the semi auto. Power varies from a wash (.38 to 9mm) to decisively favoring the J.

Tiny pistols: Examples of old school ones are the Beretta .22lr/.25/.32. Newer examples are the Kel Tech P3, Ruger LC380. These guns are IMO really in a different class than the J frame. Power sucks to varying degrees, they do not hold many bullets and are often difficult guns to shoot well. Some can be shot accurately and other's not so much. Realistically effective ranges vary from across the room to 'belly gun's. Some manufacturers do not bother putting sights on these guns. The J beats them in every category except concealability.

The real advantage of these guns is that they beat the hell out of knives, fists or harsh words. Short of a speedo/ bikini or nekid they can be carried any time.

Between a small semi automatic or a J frame .38/.357mag both are servicable weapons. Both type of weapons have pluses and minuses. In the last few years a lot of really viable options by professional grade manufacturers have come out on the semi automatic side. On the other hand I can see why there is still a market for the J framed revolver.

I recently handled a Glock with two common modifications; an extended mag release and an extended slide stop. The extended mag release was terrible. It stuck out too far and rubbed like crazy on my side when carrying the gun. Personally I have never had an issue hitting the mag release on a Glock, the extended one is not wider (which might let you hit it instead of missing it if you were off a bit) but just stuck out further, like not needing to push my thumb another 1/8th of an inch really matters. I see no reason for this modification. Maybe it would buy 1/32 of a second which matters to gamers. To me for a practical use CCW/ tactical pistol the trade off is not worth it.

The extended slide stop I was ambivalent about. The part looked similar except a tiny nubbin towards the back that stuck out a small fraction of an inch. Unlike the terrible extended mag release it did not bother me par se but it did not do anything for me either. I've never had an issue hitting the slide stop to bring the slide forward. My thumb sweeps down in light contact with the frame and there is so much surface area covered I can't see how the stop could be missed.

Personally I will stick with a 3.5lb connector and a steel guide rod as my choice Glock mod's.

For my Remington 12 gauge 870P I've done some thinking and plan to stick with a 1 point sling indefinitely. Between cycling the action and (once I get one) using the light there is enough going on toward the end of a shotgun that I do not need a sling up there.

Got a Blade Tech IWB holster as part of a trade. It is pretty nice. An undershirt is important as the edges can be a touch abrasive but otherwise it's comfortable and being able to reholster 1 handed with an IWB holster is nice. A good piece of kit.

Well that is all I can think of to talk about right now. Hope you all have a great Friday. As always input is welcome.

Excellent Linkeage

2013-06-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

John Mosby continues the Combat Rifle Craft discussion

American Mercenary talks IED's

Chris reviews a Gen I night vision device

Teotwawki Blog's You Took Away Tomorrow series

How to spot a concealed firearm. I see a lot of guns. If forced to unscientifically guess I see half to 2/3rds of the guns that are carried concealed in my immediate area. Bulges on the side of the waistline are an obvious one. Right or wrong I assume anybody wearing tactical garb (5.11 pants, Multicam hats with morale patches, etc all) is packing. Obviously folks wearing concealed carry/ photographer type vests who do not have a huge camera are packing. ANYBODY wearing a vest when it is 90 degrees outside is hiding a gun.

It isn't so much that these folks are doing anything wrong in terms of concealment. Just that folks know their own. Potheads can find potheads, gays can find gays, CCW folks can often spot their own. The guns I miss are 1) Particularly small and discretely carried. Hard to tell if somebody dressed normally has a little .22/.32/ .380 in their pocket or 2) The gun is on the side away from me or I just miss it thinking about other things or whatever.

Long Day, Garden and Rucking

2013-06-06T20:56:00.002-07:00

Today really feels like it should be Friday, not Thursday which sucks. The news that our government was pretty much spying on every Verizon Wireless customer certainly did not help matters. It's not much of a leap to guess the same has been going on at AT&T, Sprint, etc all. Cannot say I am exactly surprised but it certainly is not good news. May talk more about that later.

Produce is coming out of the garden which is nice. The birds pretty much got the tomatoes but the cherry tomatoes are getting ripe and I'm working through the lettuce and spinach. It is nice to be able to make a salad out of stuff from the garden. Next year hopefully the garden will be significantly larger and staggered so we have produce for a good part of the summer.

This afternoon once I got home from work I was going to either write something very angry, get drunk or exercise. I try not to write while angry anymore plus getting hammered is not the best idea (especially during the week) so that left exercise. Had to wait till the heat broke a bit so at 6 I went for a ruck. Did a nice 20 minute up, 20ish back walk. The timing worked out great, it was cooling down but I got back well before dark. Carried my get home bag. It is a good idea to try carrying any system you plan to potentially use. While this bag is fairly light (maybe 20 pounds) it's good to make sure it carries right. All was well.

That being said I do need to work out my hot weather gear a bit. A long sleeved cotton t shirt would be the way to go I think. Either a light tan or white. Also I did not have a boonie hat in the bag but there was one in the Rubbermaid that lives in the back of our vehicle. It is a cheapo one that worked but is less than ideal. Have one in my closet full of Army junk that is better. Need to find it and swap them.

Those minor issues aside I am pretty happy with my setup. It has what I want and is not too bulky or heavy. Will give it a look over then probably talk about it in coming days.

On the plus side Person of Interest is on which is always fun. Even better tomorrow is Friday. Hope you all have a good night.

Advanced Urban Combat Techniques

2013-06-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

Hat tip to Paratus Familia Blog for the important instructional video.

Old Economy Steve

2013-06-05T20:24:00.001-07:00

I saw the Old Economy Steve Meme last Friday at work. Spent more time than is reasonable looking at the thread. There were two distinct groups. The first is Generation Y AKA the Millennial generation born from roughly 1980-2000 (though the comments were from the older part) who are bitter about the economy they are coming to age in. The second group were Boomer's of whom most were replying to the Y's using various degrees of sarcasm and the rest were mentioning things haven't gone great for them over the last few years. Both sides have some room to complain.

Generation Y is coming up in a terrible economy. In particular college tuition as compared to wages or inflation or really any other measure has exploded. Finding a job, especially as a recent college grad is very difficult. With the current job market plenty of folks with experience are looking for jobs so why get a Newbie. It is really a terrible time to be young. We do have some very legitimate gripes. The bottom line is we are NOT going to have it as good as our parents. To have similar outcomes we are going to need to work harder, be better educated/ skilled and make wiser financial choices than they did. The American Dream is taking a downturn at best.

At the same time, despite what is happening around us, we cannot be absolved entirely of responsibility for the situations we find ourselves in. Things are hard but plenty of other generations and groups throughout history have had it hard. It sucks but we can do something about it or bitch. Folks who get crazy loans for silly degrees then cannot find a good job who choose to reside in LA or NYC where the cost of living is astronomical are going to have a rough go of it. I talked with a guy about this some years back. To some degree my generation bought into the idea that immediately after college we would have lifestyles equal to or what our parents had in their late 40's-early 50's at the peak of their earning power. Everybody who sold that pack of lies to us, though not with bad intentions, deserves some blame and we deserve a bunch for buying it. So the Soc Major's with massive student loans that cannot afford a sweet new car, a nice house, a fancy vacation every year and to invest like crazy can't really blame everybody else.

As to the Boomers. They did work hard for everything they have. Despite what the Generation Y folks making the memes think many Boomers are not doing very well. As a group they saved like they had defined benefits retirement plans while many do not. Instead of buying a small house and paying it off they moved to larger more expensive houses 2-3 times so close to retirement many have significant mortgages for homes that are under water. Some did very well indeed but many are approaching retirement age and serious problems. Also in the natural cycle of things (with most people) boomers have become fiscally conservative as they aged (well except for social security, medicare, and any other government program/ tax deduction that benefits them;). So sympathy for kids with student loan debt and a hard time finding a job are low on their list of concerns. Seeing a bunch of kids who expect to get everything right away probably grates on them something awful. (Heck I am in the same cohort as these folks and it grates on me)

The boomers did work hard but they had the advantage of coming into the workforce in a much better time. They inherited an awesome economy and on their watch it went down the toilet. Not saying it is entirely the boomer's fault; Europe rebuilding after WWII and being freed from Communism, Asia coming into the modern era, globalization at large and numerous other factors were involved. However the boomers certainly did not help things. Young people are, at least to some degree, reaping what their parents sewed and the picture is not pretty.

This article brought up the valid point that this meme can piss both Millenial's and Boomers off. That might mean it has some truth to it. Anyway I thought this whole thing was pretty interesting. Or maybe I just thought way too much about a funny online thing.

June Contest Announcement!!!

2013-06-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

The broad strokes are this. I want to share and discuss mistakes and outright failures we have made in gear, firearms, food storage and preparedness in general. There is a bit of a facebook effect where we hear about/ see all the super cool stuff others do without the work that goes into it or the inevitable failures of life. In such I think beginners get the worst of it ending up feeling down about their efforts.

My goal here is to share our mistakes and failures for two reasons. The first is that one person sharing a mistake may prevent others from doing the same thing. This is a valid reason in and of itself. The other reason is to make people, in particular beginners, feel a bit better when they inevitable make a mistake. I want them to know that very prepared people make mistakes, sometimes big ones, yet they are not in fact the end of the world. Over the course of this contest I will share some of my personal failures.

So tell me about your failures. A simple email or word document will work. As to length I would like to see at least a couple full paragraphs. Pictures would be nice. If you are uncomfortable using your usual online name just make one up for me to use. Texas Pete 1911 could become Panhandle Colt or whatever.

The prizes will be as follows:
A) 1 year subscription to Selco's One Year In Hell and
B) A Solo Stove. First place gets to choose and second place gets whatever is left.

The Details:

The contest will run from today until midnight 16 June. Winners will be picked in mid June after you have seen all the entries. Details will follow as we get closer. We might vote or maybe I'll just pick.

Submissions will be made via email to theotherryan@yahoo.com. I usual edit guest posts for OPSEC, spelling and grammar.

I reserve the right to change prizes, contest dates or whatever else for any reason. Also I reserve the right to disqualify a contestant or even a winner for any reason, can't see why I would do this but things happen.

So please ask any clarifying questions then get to writing.

Weatherby Vanguard Series 2?

2013-06-04T07:52:00.002-07:00

Looking at trading into a Weatherby Vanguard Series 2 in .308. My concept of use would be as a potential hunting rifle as well as a basic 'precision' rifle. Not looking to build a 3k uuber sniper rifle, just looking for a good affordable gun that I can put decent glass on and shoot out to a few hundred meters.

The stuff I have read online was generally good. If you have input based on personal experiences I am interested in hearing them.

Thanks

Edited to include: Thanks everybody for the input. I decided against making this trade. It'll be (soon via trade or in several months by purchasing) a Savage 10FP or maybe a Rem 700. Probably the Savage.

Transgender Navy SEAL 'Warrior Princess' Comes Out

2013-06-03T20:08:00.005-07:00

To everyone who says there is no way gay's are capable of fighting or serving in the military. Kristin formerly Chris Beck, recently retired Navy Seal, pretty much knocks that one out of the water. Plenty of gay's have served, are serving and will serve. If you served there is a very high likelihood you worked with some individuals who were gay. A few of them you might have been aware of and some others successfully kept it quiet. Some of these individuals are awesome soldiers/ sailors/ marines, most are average and some are not so good. Roughly in the same distribution as strait folks. A lot of things make or break a soldier/ sailor/ marine or guerrilla and sexual preference is not on the list.

To answer the inevitable question. Yes, I have served with gay soldiers. At various times I have worked for them, had them as peers and been in charge of them. I have served with some of these individuals in combat. Also I have no problem literally "sharing a foxhole" with the competent ones.

Seriously folks, Any arguments except than your personal judgement/ bigotry are pretty much nullified. The whole thing is stupid anyway. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to hate people, being gay is not one of them. At least have the intestinal fortitude to say you do not want to be around someone because you do not like/ hate/ fear them; not because they are in any way less capable of doing the job.

The comments for this one should be fun.