Was up at CostCo and the LifeStraws are now $20 for 4 (or $5 each if you’re mathematically challenged). Its worth having one in your vehicle console (“Glove compartment”), hunting bag, emergency kit, and off-site stash.
And…they may turn up as Paratus gifts at that price.
For someone who tries to embrace technology when possible, I have been reluctant to try a red dot scope. No particular reason except that ‘iron sights are good enough’. As a result, I have pretty much zero experience using them.
I may have been missing out. I dropped the Sig Romeo4 XT Pro on my MP5 clone, sighted it in, and…wow. You can shoot a good bit faster when your not trying to line up your rear sight with your front sight, and then lining all that up with the target. Just put dot on target and bang. There is some serious advantage there.
Of course, there’s disadvantage as well since you’re introducing a new failure point…bad electronics, battery failure, etc. But, hey, thats why we keep the open sights, right?
I was really surprised how fast it was to get on target and shoot. I may have to experiment some more with this thing on a true carbine like one of my ARs.
As for the Sig sight itself…well, its a sample of one so I don’t really have anything to compare it against but…it worked and it worked well. Me likey.
Friend Of The Blog, Tam, over at View From The Porch, had a post up with a link to this post about how the best fight is the one you never get into. Or, in other words, “The best defense is still not being there.” (Whcih, by the way, is my number one rule for surviving a disaster.)
The post basically says what I’ve said all along: that bullet parties are the exception rather than the rule, and that statistically your chance of needing to shoot someone is ‘not zero’ but fairly close.
But I take tremendous issue with this line: “First, (and I know some people are really going to be disappointed about this), you are most likely not going to be in a gunfight tomorrow. I can say this with some confidence, because statistically very few people ever need to fire their gun in anger.”
Can you spot the issue in that statement? It’s the use of the word ‘anger’. As a law-abiding, peaceful, I-won’t-bother-you-if-you-won’t-bother-me citizen there is never a need to fire a gun in anger. We don’t shoot people because we’re angry…thats what bad guys do. I can’t really think of a time when you’re justified in shooting someone because you’re angry, I can only think of times when you’re justified shooting someone because you’re scared.
The correct construction of that argument should be that “…statistically very few people ever need to fire their gun in fear.”
Crom forefend that you ever have to shoot anyone for any reason, but if it happens I believe that “I fired in anger” will not help your case nearly as much as “I fired in fear”. It is inculcated the minute we start looking into self-defense that you only shoot “in the gravest extreme”, as one author says. No one should be firing their gun in anger.
Am I being nitpicky about the use of words in the OP’s post? Maybe ‘fire their gun in anger’ was just an expression. Perhaps. I’m a bit sensitive on the subject, and I’ve always been a stickler for precision in language. But, I think that, for me, the only reason to shoot someone, heck..or even point a gun at someone, is out of genuine heartfelt fear for my own safety…not out of anger. Be angry after the incident for the bad guy forcing you to do something that, I assume, you did not want to do. Be angry at him for the way he’s now changed your life and your assumptions about. Be angry at a lot of things. But righteous self-defense comes from a place of fear, not anger.
A while back I posted about how I was rather taken with the Olight weapons light I picked up for my bedside Glock. As it turns out, the one that I got and liked so much, the PL-Pro Valkyrie, has the same footprint as the popular Surefure X-300 series of lights…which means that it fits juuuuuuust right into any holster that accommodates the Surefire.
I mention it because I picked up a Safariland holster a few weeks back that was made to accommodate a Glock with the Surefire light and my Olight-equipped Glock fit it perfectly. Logisitically, its a nice touch.
Speaking of upgrades, I’ve finally decided that, as age comes on apace, it might be time to look into some red dot optics. I like iron sights as much as the next guy but in this age of technology, why not take advantage of the plethora of fast-to-acquire targetting accessories out there.
To that end, I picked up a Sig Romeo4 XT Pro. Its a red dot scope that has a couple nice features and some very good reviews. Notably, there are several different sight images…dot, circle, etc, has a battery life measured in years, and has the nice feature of the dot turning itself off if the gun is motionless for a certain amount of time but then ‘wakes up’ when you pick up the gun. Nice not to have to fumble with turning the sight back on when you need it in a hurry.
I’ll be mounting it on my PTR9 MP5. For my G3 clone, I’m leaning towards the Aimpoint Comp M4 which is what some militaries have done (as well as swapping out the stocks for something more optic friendly).
Ah, I remember those days when iron sights on the AR15 were crisp and clear. Seems a million years ago. Getting old ain’t for sissies. Sure, I can still use the iron sights but theyre just a tad fuzzier than they used to be.
Anyway, I’ll take the 9mm PTR to the range this weekend and see if I can hit the plates faster with the dot than i can with the irons. Should be interesting.
WinCo is at it again. For those of you who are local, or who are willing to make the drive into town, we are talking about the Winco at Reserve & South. They had the Augason Farms products again but his ime with something new…fake meat. They had ‘ground beef substitute’ which as we all know is code for TVP. Now, being a good survivalist as well as someone who reads food labels, i can tell you that TVP is a long-time staple of many preparedness-marketed foods. Real long-term-ready meat is not cheap. But TVP is. So when you roll up on a bucket of survival food and it mentions ‘hearty chili’ or somesuch, check that label. Odds are high that the beef you think is in that stew or chili is actually TVP.
Now, if TVP actually was indistinguishable from the real deal, I would be a supporter of it. But I have tried TVP and I have tried preparing it in a dozen different ways. I have never had an episode where I got a mouthful of it and thought it was indistinguishable from real meat. Maybe if you cook it up in enough taco seasoning and add enough salsa you might overlook it’s non-meat texture and favor but…no.
However….it is a great protein source that stores wll (but then again, so is rice & beans). Anyway, its there if you want it. They are also selling cans of beef stew vegetable blend, so get a can of the veggies, a can of the beef TVP, a gallon or two of water and you’ve got post-apocalyptic dinner in hand.
Whether you like TVP or not (and Im in the ‘not’ camp) you have to be practical and realize that for its intended use (keeping you from starving during the Bad Times) it’s actually a good product. However, its not for me and I’d rather simply store real meat..either canned or freeze-dried.
Anway, its up at WinCo and even if you’re not into the TVP, there’s still some other stuff up there worth picking up.
Hey kids…a gentle reminder that this year Paratus falls on Sept. 15th. For those of you familiar with Paratus, the holiday by and for survivalists, no introduction is needed. However, if you’re new here you should go read the world famous Paratus FAQ and learn about your holiday.
Paratus cards are at the printer and will be sent out at the appropriate time. How do you get on the Paratus card list? Usually by either engaging with me throughout the year, or kicking into Patreon and providing me a mailing address. A smaller percentage of people will get gifts in addition to a card. The gifts will, of course, follow the gift-giving rubric in the FAQ.
An d, of course, you are more than welcome to send me a Paratus card/gift of your own. Make sure to poke some holes in the box so she can breathe 😉
Went to the range for Independence Day and did a bit of shooting because ‘Murica.
Put a Magpul vertical foregrip and backup sights on the JAKL and fired another 100 rounds through it. No hiccups. And the bolt hold open is now functioning with the Pmags, so it looks like after about 300 rounds this thing is doing everything it should.
SO, have my impressions about it changed? Nope. It’s basically an AK in .223 with AR ergos. It has its pluses and minuses over an AR. It’s more compact and it can be shot without cleaning a good bit longer than the AR. Because it has moving parts up front along the barrel, it won’t be as accurate as an AR but it’ll certainly be ‘accurate enough’ for the sort of tasks a gun like this would be called up for.
In .223 there’s a good bit of variety these days…AR, Mini14, AK, AR180, Beretta, Sig, FN, etc. Seems like everyone makes a pew-machine in .223 these days. Not like in the old days. But although the AR still has detractors, (I know a Vietnam vet who swears up and down that the AR platform is garbage, but his experience discounts almost 60 years of development and improvement) it is probably the most developed, refined, and improved semi-auto rifle that ever existed.
When its time to run out the door with a rifle, I’ll grab the AR over the JAKL but that’s mostly because of the long and proven track record of the AR platform. But, I have to say, so far I’m liking the JAKL and plan to do a good bit more shooting with it. At the moment, I’m putting it below the AR but above the Mini14.
It’s Independence Day (if you call it ‘4th of July’ then, for the sake of consistency, you should call Christmas ’25th of December’). Independence comes from self-determination and, as Heinlein said, “…willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, any time and with utter recklessness.”
And nothing says ‘freedom’ like being proficient and prodigious with your thundertoys.
Shoot your fireworks, cook your hot dogs, drink your beer. But those things aren’t what gave us this holiday. Guns and the willingness to use them did.
The range. Go.
Someone pointed something out to me the other day that was utterly fascinating.
This person has a Ford F-150 of relatively recent vintage. Having had the needle on ‘E’, they rolled into a gas station just as the fumes finally gave out and the engine sputtered to a stop. As they were about to refill the truck they figured that this seemed like a good time to rotate the gas from the cans in the bed of the truck. So..dismount the can, put your nozzle on the can, and…..fuel up, right?
Not so fast.
Apparently the newer Ford F-150 (and other ‘capless’ gas tank vehicles) are designed in such a manner that you cannot fill them from a gas can without using a special nozzle. Or, put another way, you cannot just grab a jerry can and fill your rig without the magic nozzle. Did you know this? I didn’t. The person who told me about it didn’t. Guarantee you, though…he knows now.
I am amazed at this. I understand that the folks who design vehicles are, perhaps, not thinking about the times where you’re next fuel fillup is coming from a 5-gallon can someone carried to your base location on a cargo-shelf’ed ALICE pack. But…as survivalists, it would be nice to know that we need a special geegaw to fill the bloody truck from a gas can.
Apparently the vehicle comes with one of these magic funnels but, as you know, one is none and, really, for something as critical as filling your escape vehicle, why wouldn’t you have three or four? Or one paracorded to every other gas can. Fortunately, extras are available.
Moral of the story – if you think the vehicle you currently drive may someday need to be filled from a man-portable gas container of some kind…..actually try doing it. This way you know for sure that it’ll work. The las thing you want is that nasty surprise when you’re by the side of the highway at 2am and you’ve got plenty of extra fuel and no way to get it into your rig.
Tam, over at View From The Porch, had a post about how the .327 Federal pistol will shoot several cartridges – .32 S&W, .32 Long, .32 Mag, .327 Federal, and .32 ACP. She opined that for those of us scavenging for cartidges after the apocalypse, this multi-caliber functionality might have an appeal.
That got me thinking about where we’ve been and where we’re going in terms of the ‘one-gun, multi-cartridge’ pistol. (Note there’s a difference between multi-cartridge and multi-caliber.)
The most common would be the .357 Magnum – it can fire .38 Special and .357 Magnum (and .38 Colt if you somehow stumble into a hardware store that hasn’t been open since 1927). Ditto .44 Magnum, but I’ll bet there are plenty of .44 Mag shooters who have never even seen a .44 Special. The .45 ACP revolvers shot .45 ACP and .45 AutoRim. Smith and Wesson’s seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time .460 Smith and Wesson will shoot .45 Colt, .454 Casull, and .460 S&W. The guys at Ruger have a Redhawk that’ll shoot .45 ACP or .45 Colt. The old Ruger single actions in .32-20/.32 Mag, .38-40/10mm, .45 Colt/ACP, 9mm/357 still turn up but you better make sure not to lose that extra cylinder. (And, really, how hard would it be for Ruger to come out with a convertible double action revolver, hm????) The Survivor/Medusa would shoot pretty much anything in the .38/9mm range but it was kind of a sucky gun to begin with. These are all examples (and, yes, I know there are others) of a multi-cartridge gun….but they are all of the same caliber. Once you get into multi-caliber guns things get more interesting.
A multi-caliber revolver is quite a trick to pull off since a ready barrel change would be required and thats a feature found on very few revolvers. (Looking at you, Dan Wesson.) But, when you get to automatics, its a different story. Ruger had a P89 that was a ‘convertible’ that let you swap between 9mm (.35 caliber) and .30 Luger (.30 caliber) with just a barrel change. HK had a switch barrel auto back in the day (HK4) that let you shoot .22, .25, .32, and .380.
The larger Glocks lend themselves to this sort of thing and I have seen setups where people will have a Glock that can toggle between .40, 10mm, and .357 SIG. When it comes to autos, the real bottle neck is the breechface…the cartridges often need to share a similar rim diameter.
The undeniable king of claiber conversions is the Thompson Contender which is a single-shot but has no equal in terms of versatility and potential caliber changes.
Its an interesting things to ponder….what pistol would give you the highest odds of finding ammunition for it in a crisis? There are people who are quick to point out that if a fella had a 10mm, .38 Super, .40 Smith, or .41 Magnum he could probably have found ammo during the last ‘ammo drought’ when 9mm, .45 ACP, and .357 couldn’t be had for love nor money.
There is a little merit to that. Problem is, if the caliber is obscure enough that people leave in on the shelf during a crisis then it is probably obscure enough that most stores won’t have any of it in the first place. Sure, your local Cabela’s will probably carry .38 Super but the local KwikeeMart probably won’t…so you’re back to square one.
What would be the most common calibers to find for your pistol in a world gone mad(der)? For the autos, I’d think a man with a 9mm would have an easier time of it than a .45 ACP devotee or .40 S&W fan. In revolvers, I’d say the man with a .357 would do pretty well for himself.These are, of course, centerfire cartridges. Probably the most ubiquitous ammo will be .22 LR and having a couple pistols and rifles chambered in that cartridge would be a paramount idea. And, yeah, .22 Mag or .17 Whatever is a zippy little mofo but you’ll find a hundred or more rounds of .22 for every round of any other rimfire you come across.
Of course, some folks figure any cartridge will work if you stockpile enough ammo for it. Well, yeah, that’ll work….if you’re never away from your supply, if your supply remains safe and secure, if you’re supply can last you for your anticipated lifetime, if if if…..
This, in a roundabout way, gets us back to one of those classic survivalist discussions about ‘cartridges for the end of the world’ or some similar hot-stove-league topic. I settled that argument, for me, years and years ago. I’m confident that, given the chamberings of my pistols and rifles, I’ll not have the worst time trying to find ammo down the road.
I was about to say that someday someone will come out with a modular pistol frame that will enable a broad spectrum of caliber and cartridge swaps. And then it occurred to me that we are probably 90% of the way there with SIG’s 320 model that uses the fire control group (FCG) as the legally-defined firearm, letting you buy all the barrel/frame/slide/mag combinations you want without the hassle of federal paperwork.
Hmm. I should investigate that a bit. I’m sure the aftermarket will be jumping onto that platform and getting us all sorts of barrels and whatnot. Hmmm.
