Hunting weekend

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Went up to theBeta Site yesterday to go hunting. How’d I do? Didn’t see a thing, and enjoyed every moment of it. Why wouldn’t I? Im doing what I want,  how I want, where I want, and every single thing I do is because I want to do it. Wanna just walk among the trees? I can do that. Wanna sit here with a rifle across my lap and see what walks along? Can do that, too. And everything I look at, every rock I step on, and every tree I lean against is mine….it stays theyre or gets removed at my whim. What’s not to enjoy?

Of course, when I go up there I swap out the camera batts and download images from the SD cards. Here’s the highlight reel:

There’s a lot of wildlife activity up there, no two ways about it.

Speaking of hunting season, this interesting post came up in Reddit for Missoula. Apparently this same person is giving a workshop in November for game butchering.

It’s been a long time since I had to disassemble an ungulate, so it might behoove me (see what I did there?) to take a refresher course.

If anyone is curious, my hunting rifle this season is this beast. Is it the best hunting rifle I have? No, of course not. Most accurate? Nope. So why carry it? Thats an easy answer…because it gives me experience and practice carrying it around in the boonies while wearing a pack and other gear. Think of it as LARPing for the apocalypse with the added bonus of maybe bringing some meat home.

Sign of the times

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So whats missing from this picture?

The answer is: a completed Form 3 (Application for Tax-Exempt Transfer of Firearm and Registration to Special Occupational Taxpayer ) form. In other words, my vendor shipped this suppressor (A Griffin GP-7) to me as if it was just any other non-NFA regulated firearm.

This particular suppressor is for a friend of mine as soon as Montana updates its laws regarding NFA stuff. Although on a Federal level this thing transfers like a 10/22 the fine state of Montana says that if you have any NFA toy it has to be registered in the NFA…. well, if the NFA toy is no longer being registered by the Feds, then you cannot register it and therefore are not in compliance with the state law.

My understanding is that there is some legislation planned for the 2027 session to address this. Additionally, ATFE will register (meaning they will add to the national registry) anything you submit, so you could voluntarily add your toy into the NFA registry and thereby be in compliance. From a practical standpoint, though, there is some hint that the State doesn’t really have any interest in pursuing the matter.

I will very plainly say that if you had bet me money a year or two ago that things like suppressors and short-barreled longarms were going to be basically ‘mainstreamed’ as regular firearms I would have bet you a lot of money against. And I am,  of course, delighted to have been proved wrong. For now. But all it takes is a renewal of the tax and we are back to where we were. And, theres nothing to say that a reinstated tax will be $200 and not $2000. So, if I were you, I’d buy as much as I can while I can.

I’d be ordering a few more of these but my vendor has absolutely zero suppressors in stock. Since almost any FFL can order/sell suppressors now, the market for those items has grown exponentially. And I welcome that. But it sure makes getting ahold of things a bit tricky.

Elections are upcoming, so I’d recommend sooner rather than later.

Missle silo for sale – $1.6m

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Well, if youve got a bit over 1.6 million dollars laying around want the last word in survivability…here you go.

Set on 18 elevated acres with sweeping 20-mile views, this one-of-a-kind former missile silo property offers an extraordinary blend of privacy, infrastructure, and potential. Fully enclosed by barbed-wire fencing and accessed by a 100-foot-wide deeded driveway from a paved road, the setting delivers both seclusion and convenience. The underground complex is already equipped with 200 AMP electric service, rural district metered water, and two separate sewer systems- one servicing surface improvements and another dedicated to the subterranean structures. A humidity control system and installed cell phone signal repeater enhance comfort and connectivity below ground, while high-speed fiber internet is available at the property for modern-day needs. At the heart of the compound, the Launch Control Center provides approximately 2,500 square feet of freshly painted space, ready for your vision. The massive silo itself measures an impressive 52 feet wide by 182 feet deep, offering a truly rare structural footprint with endless possibilities. Above ground, a concrete pad is already in place with electric, water, and sewer hookups- ideal for motorhome parking or additional living arrangements. A brand-new, solar-powered 7-foot chain-link entrance gate with remote keypad adds convenience and security, while an aluminum carport provides covered parking or storage. The land itself is equally compelling, featuring excellent conditions for agriculture, gardening, or grazing, along with abundant wildlife including deer, coyotes, pheasant, and geese. With ample space and ideal conditions for solar or wind energy installations, the property lends itself to sustainable, off-grid living or a variety of innovative uses. An added bonus: property taxes remain under $400 annually, as underground structures are not currently taxed by the county. Whether you’re seeking a private retreat, a distinctive homestead, or a truly unique investment opportunity, this property delivers a rare chance to own a piece of history with limitless potential.

Everytime I see one of these, all I can think about is the logistical and maintenance issues that come with having to pump your waste 100 feet against gravity into a spetic tank.

While I think these are awesome in a I’ll-never-have-one kind of way, I’m also a fan of the old AT&T microwave relay stations that dot the countryside. Built to handle a nuclear blast, I looked at one of these 20 years ago. I wish I had the money back then  that I do now because I’d have bought it in a heartbeat.

But, if you want the ultimate bugout retreat, well….it’s only money.

SIGns you messed up

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We’re all familiar with the stories about the self-firing Sig 320 pistols, right? I got some spam from a vendor about police-trade in P320’s…check this out:
The entire gun, with night sights and one magazine, is almost the same price as just the fire-control unit by itself:


Thats embarassing. No police department with a competent legal department can justify buying these things with their perceived problems, and the departments that already have them are throwing them out on the used market as fast as they can for the same reasons..

Do I worry about my P320’s going off on their own? Not really…no more than any other gun, which is say pretty much not at all. I may have a little less faith in it when it is dropped than I would, say, a Glock, but I generally don’t feel unsafe with the SIG. That said, the SIG is something I really only have because of the Flux Raider platform, so it isn’t like its in my everyday carry rotation. (For those who are curious 90% of the time my daily driver is either the Glock 17 when Im not at work, and the S&W 642 when I am. The other 10% of the time is just what I happen to be in the mood for at the time…often its either a HiPower or .357.)

If youre looking for something cheap to stash away, these arent a bad choice. I’d take them apart, inspect them, and then scrupulously follow the factory manual on how to reassemble them.

Weekend stuff

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Well, yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day. It started out cold and by the afternoon I was sweltering up at the Beta Site moving stuff around. As is becoming a habit, here’s a weekly summary of highlights from the cameras:

There is, apparently, no shortage of mule deer up there. Unfortunately, you cannot shoot mule deer in that hunting district. You can drop whitetails but I do not believe I’ve ever seen a whitetail up there. Well, when the apocalypse gets here things like hunting regulations will be a quaint memory.

This weekends trip was mostly just tinkering with the solar panels that I hae up there. I’d left them horizontal over the summer since that was easy and didnt really have a downside. Now that snow has started to show up, I need to move them up at an angle to help keep snow off them and to get as much of the low winter sun as possible.

I’ll be up there next weekend for the start of hunting season. After that, I doubt I’ll be up there every weekend but I’ll be up there at least once a month, if I can, so I can see how the the road conditions change over the winter.

Starting the power part of the equation

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Stopped by one of the solar power companies here in Missoula this afternoon. I explained to them that I need a setup for an off-grid location and specified my needs. It would be running Starlink, some lighting, cameras, recharging small devices, and at a later date possibly a well pump and recharge an electric dirtbike. My concerns are reliability, survivability, durability, and modularity. There is a high likelihood of initial vacancy during winter, meaning no heat will be at the property so batteries will be in a sheltered but unheated environment. System needs to be adaptable to future expansion without srapping whatever is already in place.

Be interesting to see what they come up with.

More deal, more ammo

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Another ammo deal has walked into my life. Unfortunately, this one is an all-or-nothing type of thing which means I need to take in the stuff I have no use for in order to get the stuff I do have a use for. What do I have a use for? 25,000 rounds of .22, some .308, some .223, some 7×57. What do I have no need for? 6.5 Creedmoor, .264 Win., .204 Ruger, etc.

But Im into it cheap enough that I should be able to flip it at the next gun show in a hurry.

I already have something like 60,000 rounds of .22 on hand so I suspect most of this .22 LR will wind up going to the Beta Site bunkers. Maybe gift a few thousand rounds to some friends…ammo is always a good gift.

I pick the whole lot up on Friday, I’ll try to remember to post pics.

That ATFE decision about not enforcing NFA stuff

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First, lets get the funny meme out of the way:

For those who don’t get the joke, just google “gun boating accident”.

The dust hasn’t quite settled yet but after reducing the NFA transfer tax to $0, that move effectively removed the oversight of suppressors and the like since it was a tax regulation that gave them the foot in the door.

So…ATFE now says that, unless your state has restrictions, you can buy a suppressor same as you’d buy a 10/22.

Here’s the catch: any future administration could just as easily re-impose the tax, which means we are back to Form 1 and Form 4 red tape. So, if you believe that you have a need for such items (and you do…or, at least, you will)…buy them now.

According to what I’ve read, fifteen states, including Montana, have state regs in place regarding NFA stuff that keeps you from just treating them like any other type of firearm. Here’s a better telling of it:

It is my understanding that in Montana there is legislation for the 2027 legislative session in Montana to fix things so that Montanans can just make their own SBR’s and buy suppressors over the counter as Crom and nature intended.

In the meantime, strike while the iron is hot. Buy those suppressors and whatnot before the next election cycles put the mechanisms in place to dampen out fun.