Being into preparedness leaves you with various worries that the sheeple usually dont get. Part of it is because we generally think about 'the unthinkable' and do not subscribe to the 'it'll never happen to me' philosophy. Naturally, one of our bigger concerns is that someday Something Bad is going to happen while we are travelling or otherwise away from our fortified homes and bunkers. The irony of having a years supply of food water and fuel stored and then being 2000 miles away from it when you need it is not lost on me. Anyway, the girlfriend, who has of late been reading Aherns The Survivalist series, had a dream last night that she was far and away from the safety and security of Zeroland and stuck on the East Coast when fanatical Muslims start dropping nukes. At that point it basically becomes every post-nuke 'leave the relative safety to wander the wasteland and find your loved ones' movie. The obvious solution is to simply carry with you what you need. Given todays stormtrooper mentality at airports and whatnont, transporting an AR, Glock and an 870, even though perfectly legal, still poses risks. Thats in addition to having to pack along some water purification gear, spare ammo, clothing, boots, backpacks and the usual summary BOB gear. A more practical alternative, if its a place youre going to be visiting more than once (like your folks' place that you visit twice every year), would be to cache a small amount of The Usual Goodies in a nice, sealed, unobtrusive box that you can leave in place. I had to think about this and while I never did anything about it, I thought that one of the best ways would be to get one of those Rubbermaid black-n-gray storage containers in a reasonable size, stuff it with The Usual Goodies (some freezedrieds, water filter, ammo, flashlight, lightsticks, backpack stove, fuel, knife, clothes, etc.) and simply UPS it to my destination a few days before my arrival. When Im ready to leave (assuming I choose not to leave said package there) I UPS it back to myself. Not cheap…probably $30 each way in shipping but, man, wouldnt you want to spend $30 for the relative security it would provide if you got stuck in Chicago, NYC or LA during a blackout, riot or other Really Bad Thing?

Naturally, this begs the question, what would you pack? Well, obviously you cant pack everything you want to…and equally obvious is that certain disasters will call for different goodies (and quantities of goodies). For example, a blackout seldom lasts more than three days and I'll be using up batteries alot faster than I'll be using up, say, soap. Contraversely, if its a riot Im probably going to be using up more ammo than batteries. Naturally, I realize that you cant really pack enough gear to handle trekking 2000 miles back to the heavily armed, well stocked and remarkably friendly oasis that is Zerotopia but I think you can pack enough gear to get you through the immediate crisis until such time as things have calmed down to the point where normal (or semi-normal) transportation services are available.

Your typical BOB is a good place to start. They usually cover the immediate basics of water, food, and that sort of thing. In fact, simply tossing youre average BOB into a hardsided container and mailing it to yourself would put you order of magnitudes ahead of the population.

Anyway, I think that I need to add to the long list of projects Ive been wanting to do…I need to come up with a list of items for a prolonged away-from-base period of time that can all be packaged into a relatively small container for long-term storage, handle the rigors of frquent travel (being shipped around the US), take advantage of local resources to minimize materials needing to be packed (i.e. not needing to pack ten gallons of water since its quite likely local water resources will be available. Simply pack water container and purification instead. [although to be safe a few of the lifeboat-ration packets of sterile water would be a good idea]), and generally give the preparedness-minded individual a serious leg up on the rest of the sheeple. (To say nothing of a nasty surprise to the predatory types…)

Definitely some list-making to do…..

A little range time yesterday. One of the LMI brought along his Rem. 700 and shot a 8/10″ five shot group at 300 yards. I was….humbled. My shooting at 300 yards was, sadly, not quite as good. A bit more than MOA. On the other hand we tossed a couple IDPA/IPSC type cardboard targets out there and they were an easy hit every time. I really need to get a better scope for my CZ…something with repeatable and discernable click adjustments, better optics and maybe a smidge more magnification. (Mr. 8/10″ was shooting a 14x Leupold.)
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While at the range, an assortment of pepper poppers were set up and pretty much everyone shot best when using a Glock.
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Theres a 'Batteries Plus' store not far from here. Im going to head over there and see if they have the suggested batteries from the previous couple of posts.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

When the going gets tough…..

The Glock-manufactured G18 mags have arrived. If you didnt know, the Glock 18 is the full auto version of the Glock 17 (shown in photo). Since the Glock 18 is a machine pistol it needs a fairly healthy magazine…hence the 31-rd magazines. I've been wanting some for myself for a while now….yeah they look John Wayne, yeah you cant conceal them when in the gun. So why have them? Couple of reasons:

a) for a nightstand gun that you  dont want to have to hassle with spare mags
b) for when in a vehicle and you need maximum firepower from your pistol and cant reload due to space, or the fact that youre trying to drive with your other hand
c) Ive been wanting a KelTec 9mm carbine and I refuse to limit myself to a 17 round magazine for a carbine
d) if the ban ever comes back, these things will be like a license to print money

The mag pouch is a Blackhawj MP5 mag pouch. Fits fine.

I bought a Scherer brand mag to use but was disappointed in its reliability. Lessen learned: stick with OEM. I'll be taking these things to the range in a few days to function test. (Which is gonna suck down alot of ammo.)

And, for the big Omega Man moment, a Glock in each hand with a 31-rd mag. Should be entertaining.

Well, since someone asked about first aid kits….

This is the first aid kit I normally carry around day-to-day in my Tactical Tailor bag. Its housed in an Outdoor Research organizer, size M. I happened across the organizer at a camping supply store and thought it would be a good choice and Ive been pleased. Lotsa pockets and it folds out nicely for access. Dimensions? Approximately 7x12x2.

It has a wraparound zipper, a couple loops of nylon at either end and some belt slots. No ALICE/PAL webbing but thats easily fixed with a needle and thread. Open it up and:

The actual contents? Geez, where to start….

Bandage tape, 2×2 pads, 4×4 pads, combat dressing, compress bandages, 2″ rolled gauze, 3″ rolled gauze, antibiotic cream, saline eye wash (also used for flushing out wounds), assorted band aids, larger dressing, alcohol wipes, bactine wipes, aspirin, ibuprofin, butterfly bandages, acetominophin, vaseline gauze, burn gel, non-latex gloves, etc, etc, etc. Heres the image of everything:

Theres a few other things that arent in the picture like tweezers, EMT shears, etc, etc. but it all fits in the zippered pouch. I originally went with a hard plastic container but it wouldnt 'stuff' into tight spaces and it made noise with things rattling around. Im much more pleased with the current setup.

The contents handle the usual everyday injuries of cuts, scrapes, burns and whatnot…but, really, that sort of Mickey Mouse crap is so niggling theres no real need for a first aid kit. No, I wanted something with a little more zip for when I go flying off my bike and into a pile of broken pallets or something. So I went a little heavy on the tape and 4x4s. I can always butterfly bandage my way out of the larger cuts until I can find someone to stitch me up. The kit I keep at my shop is about twice the size and much more intense. Best one is the one I keep at the house…its got everything above and more….ice packs, sterile water, hydrogen peroxide, betadine, etc, etc. But that kit is pretty big and usually stays at home although I sometimes toss it in the truck for long roadtrips.

The kit illustrated above handles most of the things I usually run into. And theres always more stuff to add………….