Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
Okay kids, run, dont walk, to: http://www.theboxotruth.com/ to see a guy shooting various guns into bulletproof glass, body armour, sandbags, doors, padlocks, etc, etc. to see what does and doesnt do the trick. Extremely eye-opening … esp. the glass and the sandbags.
Okay kids, run, dont walk, to: http://www.theboxotruth.com/ to see a guy shooting various guns into bulletproof glass, body armour, sandbags, doors, padlocks, etc, etc. to see what does and doesnt do the trick. Extremely eye-opening … esp. the glass and the sandbags.
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
So, I had kind of an idea and I want to bounce it off of you people and tell me what you think….
I was in Sportsmans Warehouse the other day and the Nalgene 32 oz. bottles were $7.50 ea. I was thinking it'd be nice to pick up a few for destructive testing (drop survivability, impact resistance, etc..basically Test To Destruction) and I thought 'Man, I cant spend $30 on something just to destroy it for my own information gathering purposes'. Basically, we're talking about beating the living hell out of a product, in this case a Nalgene bottle, to determine if its a good piece of gear.
Then I started thinking some more, which is where the problems usually start. What if, I managed to get a few interested parties to chip in a few bucks each so I could get a few of these things for testing? We could write up a testing protocol of sorts (10' drop, 15' drop, 20' drop, drop at angle, from moving vehicle, crush test, etc) and once we've all agreed on the tests, I'd go destroy these things (or not destroy them as the case may be). The resutls, with accompanying photos, would go in a Freinds Only post filtered for people who coughed up a couple bucks to find out if a Nalgene bottle can survive falling off a truck at 65 mph.
If it works out well, maybe once a month interested parties would suggest items for testing and it would become a monthly event.
Comments?
So, I had kind of an idea and I want to bounce it off of you people and tell me what you think….
I was in Sportsmans Warehouse the other day and the Nalgene 32 oz. bottles were $7.50 ea. I was thinking it’d be nice to pick up a few for destructive testing (drop survivability, impact resistance, etc..basically Test To Destruction) and I thought ‘Man, I cant spend $30 on something just to destroy it for my own information gathering purposes’. Basically, we’re talking about beating the living hell out of a product, in this case a Nalgene bottle, to determine if its a good piece of gear.
Then I started thinking some more, which is where the problems usually start. What if, I managed to get a few interested parties to chip in a few bucks each so I could get a few of these things for testing? We could write up a testing protocol of sorts (10′ drop, 15′ drop, 20′ drop, drop at angle, from moving vehicle, crush test, etc) and once we’ve all agreed on the tests, I’d go destroy these things (or not destroy them as the case may be). The resutls, with accompanying photos, would go in a Freinds Only post filtered for people who coughed up a couple bucks to find out if a Nalgene bottle can survive falling off a truck at 65 mph.
If it works out well, maybe once a month interested parties would suggest items for testing and it would become a monthly event.
Comments?
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
Generally, if you have an injury that can be fixed with a band-aid, you dont have an injury. In perusing some of the 'first aid' kits at the local shops it seems like theyre mostly band-aids, a couple 1×1 gauze pads and an aspirin. If you have a problem that requires any of those, its not really a problem…its an inconvenience. Does that mean I dont carry band-aids and itty-bitty gauze pads in my kit? Nope..I carry 'em, but I carry alot more than that. Historically, my injuries are usually enormous weeping scrapes and abrasions from bicycle accidents, various stitch-requiring tears and cuts, and the infrequent burn. (I've been quite lucky in the osteo department…no broken bones.) In looking at prepackaged first-aid kits it seems they are either way too weenie (anything worse than a deep laceration and youre screwed) or way to extensive and expensive. Now, I have to admit, the first aid kits I carry or keep are not designed for 'I cut myself in the garage and need a bandage'…certainly, they are good for that sort of thing. Rather, theyre designed for 'whatever is in this bag is the only medical access Im going to have for at least x amount of days' so it tends to carry things like rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, betadine, lotsa 4×4s and tape, various non-OTC things, burn gel, lotsa antibiotics, compress bandages, etc, etc. And lotsa stuff to keep injured areas clean and germ-free. To my mind, the most common injuries that Im going to face in an unpleasant sudden 'wheels fly offa western civilization' scenario are various cuts and puncture wounds, maybe some burns, the possible gunshot. I cant fix a gunshot wound (except maybe a graze or through-and-through) but I can deal with it alot better with my own kit than some puny 2×2 gauze pads and 1/4″ tape.
Band-aids are necessary, esp. since a small cut can become an infected major problem in short order if its not taken care of……but just band-aids and bactine? Bleah. I (and you) can put together something much more comprehensive for not much more money.
By the way, if you do decide to build your own kit, its alot easier to buy multiples of the contents and make several kits at once. The advantage is that if they are all stocked equally and arranged identically, it makes things easier than making another kit later on when you realize you need one for the car, one for work, one for home, etc. Its also cheaper.
My point is, figure out what possible injuries youre going to sustain and build around that…and especially take into consideration 'can I get into this bag and open these pouches/packages with my weak hand in the dark when Im bleeding?'. Seriously. 'Cause if its just you by yourself and you've got a problem with your good arm or hand youre really gonna want a kit that you can access easily.
=====
Post-Katrina New Orleans is rapidly becoming my paradigm for theoretical failure testing…I ask myself “would this be a good [item/strategy/plan] if I were camping out on a rooftop in a flooded out wasteland of a city?”
Its also stressing the importance of portability of items and ,very importantly, waterproofing of containers and items. The ubiquitous GI ammo can gets big nods for being near-bombproof in terms of protection and waterproofing. Loses a couple points for weight and size, though. Pelican cases are great, as are other hard-side waterproof containers. Of course, its also nice if your gear is generally unaffected by moisture. (My Glock and AK, for example, can pretty much be left in a mud puddle for a faw days with virtually no ill-effect.) Critical electronics, though, are easily worth the $ youre going to spend for a good, hard, waterproof case. Pelican makes some small fairly affordable cases that are ideal for small electronics like radios, GPS, palmtops and that sort of thing. And, naturally, if youre going to get a little waterproof hardcase for your electroninc goodie be sure to leave some room in there for some spare batts.
=====
After the canned goods shopping spree at Albertsons last week I needed to make some space in the kitchen cabinets. My top cabinets are have no shelves and thus items must be stacked and the space isnt utilized as well as it could be. (Jars of spaghetti sauce stacked on top of each other three jars high is just asking for trouble.) Fortunately for $10 a couple shelf standards and brackets were had and some scrap 3/4″ plywood was cut down to fit and the next thing you know -presto- adjustable shelving is in the formerly shelfless cabinet. This frees up a good amount of space since I can now store more in that particular cabinet than I could before. Which means other cabinets now have more room since stuff was taken from them to put in the newly-shelfed cabinet. Moral: utilizing available storage space as efficiently as possible can be cheap and pay off big in terms of giving you more usable space to store things.
=====
Speaking of batts…..
My plans revolve around exactly two sizes of battery for personal devices: “D” and “AA”. If a device doesnt take them, I find one that does or I modify them to take them. Why? Here's an example….I was tromping in the boonies earlier this year and the batteries on my GPS were going out on me. I pulled my LED 4-AA flashlight out of my bag and swapped the batteries. The LED light works fine even with near-dead batteries since the power requirements are so small and the GPS continued to chug along for the rest of the day. All because my gear used a common battery size. To be honest, with the advent of LED technology I could probably eliminate the “D” batts from my gear since they are used almost exclusively for MagLites….but there are a few other devices that use them (my AN/PS1 seismic intruder system system, for one). “C” batteries? Getting to be pretty uncommon. The only thing I've seen taking C-batts in a long time are vibrators and not much else. 9-volt? Sure, lotsa devices out there use them but I try to stick to the AA's for those devices. Although they are sometimes hard to find in “D” size, “AA” and 9-volt lithium batts are available at Lowe's/HomeDepot…. theyre very much worth the extra money. Theyre far more resistant to the affects of temperature extremes and, most importantly, they store for years with little if any degradation of power….meaning that a lithium batt thats sat on the shelf for ten years should still have almost all its original power.
The Japanese are supposedly coming out iwth a new battery technology thats supposed to be even better than lithiums, but I havent found much in the way of details.
So, if you can get your flashlight, GPS, radios, and other goodies to all take one common battery size……..well, you can see the advantages, right?
Generally, if you have an injury that can be fixed with a band-aid, you dont have an injury. In perusing some of the ‘first aid’ kits at the local shops it seems like theyre mostly band-aids, a couple 1×1 gauze pads and an aspirin. If you have a problem that requires any of those, its not really a problem…its an inconvenience. Does that mean I dont carry band-aids and itty-bitty gauze pads in my kit? Nope..I carry ’em, but I carry alot more than that. Historically, my injuries are usually enormous weeping scrapes and abrasions from bicycle accidents, various stitch-requiring tears and cuts, and the infrequent burn. (I’ve been quite lucky in the osteo department…no broken bones.) In looking at prepackaged first-aid kits it seems they are either way too weenie (anything worse than a deep laceration and youre screwed) or way to extensive and expensive. Now, I have to admit, the first aid kits I carry or keep are not designed for ‘I cut myself in the garage and need a bandage’…certainly, they are good for that sort of thing. Rather, theyre designed for ‘whatever is in this bag is the only medical access Im going to have for at least x amount of days’ so it tends to carry things like rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, betadine, lotsa 4x4s and tape, various non-OTC things, burn gel, lotsa antibiotics, compress bandages, etc, etc. And lotsa stuff to keep injured areas clean and germ-free. To my mind, the most common injuries that Im going to face in an unpleasant sudden ‘wheels fly offa western civilization’ scenario are various cuts and puncture wounds, maybe some burns, the possible gunshot. I cant fix a gunshot wound (except maybe a graze or through-and-through) but I can deal with it alot better with my own kit than some puny 2×2 gauze pads and 1/4″ tape.
Band-aids are necessary, esp. since a small cut can become an infected major problem in short order if its not taken care of……but just band-aids and bactine? Bleah. I (and you) can put together something much more comprehensive for not much more money.
By the way, if you do decide to build your own kit, its alot easier to buy multiples of the contents and make several kits at once. The advantage is that if they are all stocked equally and arranged identically, it makes things easier than making another kit later on when you realize you need one for the car, one for work, one for home, etc. Its also cheaper.
My point is, figure out what possible injuries youre going to sustain and build around that…and especially take into consideration ‘can I get into this bag and open these pouches/packages with my weak hand in the dark when Im bleeding?’. Seriously. ‘Cause if its just you by yourself and you’ve got a problem with your good arm or hand youre really gonna want a kit that you can access easily.
=====
Post-Katrina New Orleans is rapidly becoming my paradigm for theoretical failure testing…I ask myself “would this be a good [item/strategy/plan] if I were camping out on a rooftop in a flooded out wasteland of a city?”
Its also stressing the importance of portability of items and ,very importantly, waterproofing of containers and items. The ubiquitous GI ammo can gets big nods for being near-bombproof in terms of protection and waterproofing. Loses a couple points for weight and size, though. Pelican cases are great, as are other hard-side waterproof containers. Of course, its also nice if your gear is generally unaffected by moisture. (My Glock and AK, for example, can pretty much be left in a mud puddle for a faw days with virtually no ill-effect.) Critical electronics, though, are easily worth the $ youre going to spend for a good, hard, waterproof case. Pelican makes some small fairly affordable cases that are ideal for small electronics like radios, GPS, palmtops and that sort of thing. And, naturally, if youre going to get a little waterproof hardcase for your electroninc goodie be sure to leave some room in there for some spare batts.
=====
After the canned goods shopping spree at Albertsons last week I needed to make some space in the kitchen cabinets. My top cabinets are have no shelves and thus items must be stacked and the space isnt utilized as well as it could be. (Jars of spaghetti sauce stacked on top of each other three jars high is just asking for trouble.) Fortunately for $10 a couple shelf standards and brackets were had and some scrap 3/4″ plywood was cut down to fit and the next thing you know -presto- adjustable shelving is in the formerly shelfless cabinet. This frees up a good amount of space since I can now store more in that particular cabinet than I could before. Which means other cabinets now have more room since stuff was taken from them to put in the newly-shelfed cabinet. Moral: utilizing available storage space as efficiently as possible can be cheap and pay off big in terms of giving you more usable space to store things.
=====
Speaking of batts…..
My plans revolve around exactly two sizes of battery for personal devices: “D” and “AA”. If a device doesnt take them, I find one that does or I modify them to take them. Why? Here’s an example….I was tromping in the boonies earlier this year and the batteries on my GPS were going out on me. I pulled my LED 4-AA flashlight out of my bag and swapped the batteries. The LED light works fine even with near-dead batteries since the power requirements are so small and the GPS continued to chug along for the rest of the day. All because my gear used a common battery size. To be honest, with the advent of LED technology I could probably eliminate the “D” batts from my gear since they are used almost exclusively for MagLites….but there are a few other devices that use them (my AN/PS1 seismic intruder system system, for one). “C” batteries? Getting to be pretty uncommon. The only thing I’ve seen taking C-batts in a long time are vibrators and not much else. 9-volt? Sure, lotsa devices out there use them but I try to stick to the AA’s for those devices. Although they are sometimes hard to find in “D” size, “AA” and 9-volt lithium batts are available at Lowe’s/HomeDepot…. theyre very much worth the extra money. Theyre far more resistant to the affects of temperature extremes and, most importantly, they store for years with little if any degradation of power….meaning that a lithium batt thats sat on the shelf for ten years should still have almost all its original power.
The Japanese are supposedly coming out iwth a new battery technology thats supposed to be even better than lithiums, but I havent found much in the way of details.
So, if you can get your flashlight, GPS, radios, and other goodies to all take one common battery size……..well, you can see the advantages, right?
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
Changed the layout a bit but, more importantly, added tags for those who keep track of such things.
=====
Know what one of the staples of the various 'survival' and gun magazines is? Usually its some sort of 'versus' article…things like '9mm vs. .45acp' (very popular), 'autmatics vs. revolvers', etc, etc. Another staple that you'll see thrown onto the pages every year or so is the 'selecting a [handgun/rifle/shotgun] for self defense'. Nothing wrong with these articles, while theyre usually informative theyre far from conclusive. My take on it? Theres alot of truth to the old axiom about how 'any gun is better than no gun' and that the 'first rule of gunfighting is have a gun'. Remember the saying 'in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'? Well, in the land of the machete-wielders the man with a HiPoint carbine is king. The point here is that if you have any gun youre several orders of magnitude better off than those who don't have one. Don't think so? Theres dozens, if not hundreds, of people in whats left of Louisiana who would disagree.
Of course, its not as simple as just buying a gun, a box of ammo, sticking them in the closet and calling it done. Honestly, thats what alot of people who arent 'into' guns do. They buy a gun, fire maybe a box or two of ammo, and then lose interest, put the gun on the top shelf of their closet and say 'I'm ready'. Hey, its a busy world…we dont all have time to go shooting two or ten times a month. Its a fact that alot of people who buy guns for 'protection' arent 'gun nuts' and arent interested in a lifestyle, they just want some peace of mind. I can respect that.
So ,you've seen the footage of people huddled in their homes, fearful of looters from New Orleans and decided that you want a gun but you dont think you'll shoot it very much. You want something simple, reliable and of reasonable quality. It should have the ability to dissuade attackers but not be intimidating in recoil. And you dont want to spend alot for something thats going to sit in a closet for most of its life.
Cheap, reliable, effective – select two.
Youre generally not going to get a gun that fits the above criteria for less than $100. Sure, you might luck into someone who wants to unload his .357 in a hurry because he forgot his wife's birthday and needs to get flowers but those episodes are few and far between. Once youre willing to shell out about $150-$200 youre in the ballpark. Between $200-$300 the offerings become more numerous. In the $300-$400 range theres even more to be had and once you pass the willingness to spend over $500 you can pretty much have anything.
Whats my suggestion? For someone who isnt likely to practice much, just wants something to 'keep around the house', and is reluctant to part with much money I'd have to recommend a .38 or .357 revolver. Used police trade-in guns are usually around $160-$200 and are dependable performers. What about those cheap Makarovs, Cz-52s, and Stars? Theyre probably more complicated than the incidental gun owner is willing to put up with. Explaining slide releases, mag releases, chambering a round, safety on, safety off, clearing malfunctions, limp wristing and the like is pretty intimidating for a novice. Handing them the familiar looking S&W and saying 'point and shoot' is far less likely to overwhelm the novice.
For less than $200 you can usually find a used .38 (preferably S&W, Ruger, Taurus or Colt…anything else is dropping down the quality/dependability scale).and a box of ammo. So you have a pistol and fifty rounds of ammo. That can be your 'gateway drug' gun….take it to the range, preferably with a friend who knows a bit about shooting to show you the ropes, and shoot a bit. If you enjoy it you can always get another gun later, a different caliber, or just something different for fun. Keep your 'learner' gun and use it for showing friends how to shoot, as an extra for the spouse, or just as something to enjoy on the weekends. If you discover you dont enjoy shooting you can keep the one gun and know that you have it and can use it if necessary and youre only out $200.
Why not a single-barrel shotgun for $99 at WalMart? Well, any gun beats no gun and if its a choice between no gun or a single-shot shotgun, well, pass the shells. Even shortened (whcih makes recoil a bit excessive) a shotgun is still pretty big for use around an apartment or house. Great stopping power, no doubt there…..but a one-hand, multiple-shot firearm that can be carried easily and used one-handed seems a better choice.
=====
Today is the last day on the 10/$10 deal on canned goods at Albertson's. But here's the fun part, if you have their 'savings card' you get another 50% off…so “10 for $10″ becomes “20 for $10″. Needless to say, I'll be doing more re-arranging in the kitchen cabinets.
The store 'preferred customer' cards seem like a good thing. I know alot of people feel that there are privacy issues involved but I dont see it. I found my card on the ground of the parking lot outside the store….so I use it. But the application process that Ive seen doesnt ask for ID or anything even close. Fill in “Sven Gomez” at “4321 Galts Gulch” and a phone number to some pizza joint and -presto- you get your card. Now, there probably is a running tally of what youve purchased kept somewhere but so what? Without a name they cant really trace it to you, right? I suppose if they really, really wanted they could flag things so that when you went through the checkout the clerk would be alerted as he swiped your card and he could then wave to the nice police officer whose been standing around patiently all day waiting for the card to turn up but that seems pretty unlikely, dontcha think? If you really wanna take it a step further, get a dozen cards and rotate them. At my local Albertsons you can give your phone number and they'll use that if you forgot your card. Pretty easy to remember the phone number of the person in line ahead of you and use it at a later date.
I dont feel that, in this case anyway, my privacy is threatened and it gets me twice as much food at the same price.
=====
Stethoscope and sphg..sphygo..spyh….blood pressure cuff arrived in the mail today. Next addition to the skillset: taking blood pressure. Should be quite the trick since I'll be practicing on the who has skinny arms and necrotishly low blood pressure. If I can get an accurate reading off of her, I should be able to get one off of anyone. (Anyone with a pulse, anyway.)
Changed the layout a bit but, more importantly, added tags for those who keep track of such things.
=====
Know what one of the staples of the various ‘survival’ and gun magazines is? Usually its some sort of ‘versus’ article…things like ‘9mm vs. .45acp’ (very popular), ‘autmatics vs. revolvers’, etc, etc. Another staple that you’ll see thrown onto the pages every year or so is the ‘selecting a [handgun/rifle/shotgun] for self defense’. Nothing wrong with these articles, while theyre usually informative theyre far from conclusive. My take on it? Theres alot of truth to the old axiom about how ‘any gun is better than no gun’ and that the ‘first rule of gunfighting is have a gun’. Remember the saying ‘in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king’? Well, in the land of the machete-wielders the man with a HiPoint carbine is king. The point here is that if you have any gun youre several orders of magnitude better off than those who don’t have one. Don’t think so? Theres dozens, if not hundreds, of people in whats left of Louisiana who would disagree.
Of course, its not as simple as just buying a gun, a box of ammo, sticking them in the closet and calling it done. Honestly, thats what alot of people who arent ‘into’ guns do. They buy a gun, fire maybe a box or two of ammo, and then lose interest, put the gun on the top shelf of their closet and say ‘I’m ready’. Hey, its a busy world…we dont all have time to go shooting two or ten times a month. Its a fact that alot of people who buy guns for ‘protection’ arent ‘gun nuts’ and arent interested in a lifestyle, they just want some peace of mind. I can respect that.
So ,you’ve seen the footage of people huddled in their homes, fearful of looters from New Orleans and decided that you want a gun but you dont think you’ll shoot it very much. You want something simple, reliable and of reasonable quality. It should have the ability to dissuade attackers but not be intimidating in recoil. And you dont want to spend alot for something thats going to sit in a closet for most of its life.
Cheap, reliable, effective – select two.
Youre generally not going to get a gun that fits the above criteria for less than $100. Sure, you might luck into someone who wants to unload his .357 in a hurry because he forgot his wife’s birthday and needs to get flowers but those episodes are few and far between. Once youre willing to shell out about $150-$200 youre in the ballpark. Between $200-$300 the offerings become more numerous. In the $300-$400 range theres even more to be had and once you pass the willingness to spend over $500 you can pretty much have anything.
Whats my suggestion? For someone who isnt likely to practice much, just wants something to ‘keep around the house’, and is reluctant to part with much money I’d have to recommend a .38 or .357 revolver. Used police trade-in guns are usually around $160-$200 and are dependable performers. What about those cheap Makarovs, Cz-52s, and Stars? Theyre probably more complicated than the incidental gun owner is willing to put up with. Explaining slide releases, mag releases, chambering a round, safety on, safety off, clearing malfunctions, limp wristing and the like is pretty intimidating for a novice. Handing them the familiar looking S&W and saying ‘point and shoot’ is far less likely to overwhelm the novice.
For less than $200 you can usually find a used .38 (preferably S&W, Ruger, Taurus or Colt…anything else is dropping down the quality/dependability scale).and a box of ammo. So you have a pistol and fifty rounds of ammo. That can be your ‘gateway drug’ gun….take it to the range, preferably with a friend who knows a bit about shooting to show you the ropes, and shoot a bit. If you enjoy it you can always get another gun later, a different caliber, or just something different for fun. Keep your ‘learner’ gun and use it for showing friends how to shoot, as an extra for the spouse, or just as something to enjoy on the weekends. If you discover you dont enjoy shooting you can keep the one gun and know that you have it and can use it if necessary and youre only out $200.
Why not a single-barrel shotgun for $99 at WalMart? Well, any gun beats no gun and if its a choice between no gun or a single-shot shotgun, well, pass the shells. Even shortened (whcih makes recoil a bit excessive) a shotgun is still pretty big for use around an apartment or house. Great stopping power, no doubt there…..but a one-hand, multiple-shot firearm that can be carried easily and used one-handed seems a better choice.
=====
Today is the last day on the 10/$10 deal on canned goods at Albertson’s. But here’s the fun part, if you have their ‘savings card’ you get another 50% off…so “10 for $10” becomes “20 for $10”. Needless to say, I’ll be doing more re-arranging in the kitchen cabinets.
The store ‘preferred customer’ cards seem like a good thing. I know alot of people feel that there are privacy issues involved but I dont see it. I found my card on the ground of the parking lot outside the store….so I use it. But the application process that Ive seen doesnt ask for ID or anything even close. Fill in “Sven Gomez” at “4321 Galts Gulch” and a phone number to some pizza joint and -presto- you get your card. Now, there probably is a running tally of what youve purchased kept somewhere but so what? Without a name they cant really trace it to you, right? I suppose if they really, really wanted they could flag things so that when you went through the checkout the clerk would be alerted as he swiped your card and he could then wave to the nice police officer whose been standing around patiently all day waiting for the card to turn up but that seems pretty unlikely, dontcha think? If you really wanna take it a step further, get a dozen cards and rotate them. At my local Albertsons you can give your phone number and they’ll use that if you forgot your card. Pretty easy to remember the phone number of the person in line ahead of you and use it at a later date.
I dont feel that, in this case anyway, my privacy is threatened and it gets me twice as much food at the same price.
=====
Stethoscope and sphg..sphygo..spyh….blood pressure cuff arrived in the mail today. Next addition to the skillset: taking blood pressure. Should be quite the trick since I’ll be practicing on the bunkerbabe who has skinny arms and necrotishly low blood pressure. If I can get an accurate reading off of her, I should be able to get one off of anyone. (Anyone with a pulse, anyway.)
Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
Got some good deals at the local Albertson's last night. I mention this not to brag (not that I dont brag, its just that this isnt one of those times) but to illustrate a point I made yesterday – you can add to your levels of preparedness without spending huge amounts of cash. Matter of fact, I would wager that on $10 a week you could put together a hellacious amount of food within a year. But, back to the bargains…
The local Albertsons had its usual weekly “10 for $10″ sale. Alot of times these sales are for the 'store brand' versions of things which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, this time they had one of the staples of my pantry on sale…jars of spaghetti sauce. And not the store brand either…26 oz. Ragu in various flavors – $1 ea. Normally, theyre about $1.50. Over in the frozen foods, the frozen dinners that the takes to lunch for her work were knocked down to $2 from $4@. So, we picked up a case (dozen) jars of spaghetti sauce and we got 5 of the frozen dinners. Thats an outlay of $22 to purchase what would normally be $38. Total savings? $16. Which means it was like getting 8 frozen dinners for free or another 1.3 cases of spaghetti sauce for free. The spaghetti sauce goes in the cupboard, the dinners go in the freezer, and we pat ourselves on the back for saving $16.
The point here is that you can buy food that you normally eat and like and get it cheap enough to stock up if you watch for the sales and strike while the iron is hot.
Also, you dont necessarily need a sale…you just need space. A 1# bag of rice vs. a 50# bag of rice – I havent had to buy rice in a while but in a 50# bag (which gets repackaged to a 5-gallon bucket with lid) it comes out to around $0.25~ per pound. So if you paid more than 25 cents for that plastic bag of rice at the supermarket you could have done better. Ditto for things like pasta, beans, etc, etc.
Enough about this, Im trusting you see my point.
=====
Went shooting the other day. 200 gr. RN out of a k-frame .357 are a bit much. Out of the N-frame, however, theyre juuuuuust fine.
Shot the .308 a bit. Shot 1 7/8″ at 200 yards which is just under MOA for five shots. Finally. One of the LMI let me try some of his handloads. Lapua brass, match primers, Lapua bullets….definitely could see a difference. I've been shooting the less-than-precision-manufactured Remington brass because, honestly, I just happen to have a bunch of it. Looks like Im going to have to order some Lapua or Norma match brass.
Also shot the Yugo SKS. Folks, if you havent bought one of these cheap ($150~) guns yet you are going to be kicking yourself later on …. believe it. Good, solid gun shooting a cheap cartridge capable of keeping looters at bay yet the gun is cheap enough that youre not too concerned if it gets lost or stolen. And, like the AK, its quite reliable. Get 'em while you can.
Ten years after the end of the world I think the most prevalent guns will be Rugers and AK/SKS rifles…..they just. dont. quit.
=====
Winter approaches. The cold weather module is back in my TT bag. Kerosene was running around $22~ for a 5-gallon drum up at Lowes. And I smiled a big smile at myself because when they had it marked down to $5 a drum I bought a dozen and still have them. (Thats bragging.) I really need some new boots and need to get that taken care of…esp. since hunting season will be here soon.
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Fascinating story here about a guy who took it upon himself to drive his personally owned military truck to deliver aid to Katrina victims. He put on his old uniform and sailed through all the roadblocks, got shot at, returned fire, got robbed, and had a very interesting final encounter with three thugs when he stopped to change a tire. I can freely admit I wouldnt have done 1/10th the things this guy did, out of his own pocket, because Im just too selfish in that way. But its a good story and theres some interesting info in there.
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Now that, for the most part, the heroic moments are done with the blame game starts. Police chief, Mayor, Governor, Director….all forming the traditional circular firing squad and taking shots at each other. Is there seriously anyone who didnt see this coming? Certainly theres some folks that seriously need to be run out of town but theres also going to be a few loyal troops falling on their own swords to spare theirl eaders. Regardless, reputations and expections for various organizations like FEMA are going to take damage. Even the Red Cross' sterling image has been mightily tarnished. Matter of fact, after reading here and there about some of the 'our way or the highway' policies of the RC and other organizations, and their utter disdain for local responders and inability to work with other .orgs, I really don't think theres any national-level relief agency that deserves my support. However, from what Ive read there are scads of local/regional .orgs that deserve support and praise. Church groups, VFD's, private companies, and the like. I think organizations tend to do a better job when the affected area is in their home area…it gives them motivation and, this is important, it gives them a certain accountability since they have to live among that population later.
Got some good deals at the local Albertson’s last night. I mention this not to brag (not that I dont brag, its just that this isnt one of those times) but to illustrate a point I made yesterday – you can add to your levels of preparedness without spending huge amounts of cash. Matter of fact, I would wager that on $10 a week you could put together a hellacious amount of food within a year. But, back to the bargains…
The local Albertsons had its usual weekly “10 for $10” sale. Alot of times these sales are for the ‘store brand’ versions of things which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, this time they had one of the staples of my pantry on sale…jars of spaghetti sauce. And not the store brand either…26 oz. Ragu in various flavors – $1 ea. Normally, theyre about $1.50. Over in the frozen foods, the frozen dinners that the bunkerbabe takes to lunch for her work were knocked down to $2 from $4@. So, we picked up a case (dozen) jars of spaghetti sauce and we got 5 of the frozen dinners. Thats an outlay of $22 to purchase what would normally be $38. Total savings? $16. Which means it was like getting 8 frozen dinners for free or another 1.3 cases of spaghetti sauce for free. The spaghetti sauce goes in the cupboard, the dinners go in the freezer, and we pat ourselves on the back for saving $16.
The point here is that you can buy food that you normally eat and like and get it cheap enough to stock up if you watch for the sales and strike while the iron is hot.
Also, you dont necessarily need a sale…you just need space. A 1# bag of rice vs. a 50# bag of rice – I havent had to buy rice in a while but in a 50# bag (which gets repackaged to a 5-gallon bucket with lid) it comes out to around $0.25~ per pound. So if you paid more than 25 cents for that plastic bag of rice at the supermarket you could have done better. Ditto for things like pasta, beans, etc, etc.
Enough about this, Im trusting you see my point.
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Went shooting the other day. 200 gr. RN out of a k-frame .357 are a bit much. Out of the N-frame, however, theyre juuuuuust fine.
Shot the .308 a bit. Shot 1 7/8″ at 200 yards which is just under MOA for five shots. Finally. One of the LMI let me try some of his handloads. Lapua brass, match primers, Lapua bullets….definitely could see a difference. I’ve been shooting the less-than-precision-manufactured Remington brass because, honestly, I just happen to have a bunch of it. Looks like Im going to have to order some Lapua or Norma match brass.
Also shot the Yugo SKS. Folks, if you havent bought one of these cheap ($150~) guns yet you are going to be kicking yourself later on …. believe it. Good, solid gun shooting a cheap cartridge capable of keeping looters at bay yet the gun is cheap enough that youre not too concerned if it gets lost or stolen. And, like the AK, its quite reliable. Get ’em while you can.
Ten years after the end of the world I think the most prevalent guns will be Rugers and AK/SKS rifles…..they just. dont. quit.
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Winter approaches. The cold weather module is back in my TT bag. Kerosene was running around $22~ for a 5-gallon drum up at Lowes. And I smiled a big smile at myself because when they had it marked down to $5 a drum I bought a dozen and still have them. (Thats bragging.) I really need some new boots and need to get that taken care of…esp. since hunting season will be here soon.
=====
Fascinating story here about a guy who took it upon himself to drive his personally owned military truck to deliver aid to Katrina victims. He put on his old uniform and sailed through all the roadblocks, got shot at, returned fire, got robbed, and had a very interesting final encounter with three thugs when he stopped to change a tire. I can freely admit I wouldnt have done 1/10th the things this guy did, out of his own pocket, because Im just too selfish in that way. But its a good story and theres some interesting info in there.
=====
Now that, for the most part, the heroic moments are done with the blame game starts. Police chief, Mayor, Governor, Director….all forming the traditional circular firing squad and taking shots at each other. Is there seriously anyone who didnt see this coming? Certainly theres some folks that seriously need to be run out of town but theres also going to be a few loyal troops falling on their own swords to spare theirl eaders. Regardless, reputations and expections for various organizations like FEMA are going to take damage. Even the Red Cross’ sterling image has been mightily tarnished. Matter of fact, after reading here and there about some of the ‘our way or the highway’ policies of the RC and other organizations, and their utter disdain for local responders and inability to work with other .orgs, I really don’t think theres any national-level relief agency that deserves my support. However, from what Ive read there are scads of local/regional .orgs that deserve support and praise. Church groups, VFD’s, private companies, and the like. I think organizations tend to do a better job when the affected area is in their home area…it gives them motivation and, this is important, it gives them a certain accountability since they have to live among that population later.
