Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Make no mistake about it, these are Chinese-interesting times we are in. Oil is up, dollar is down, metals are way up, and theres uncertainty in the air. Its going to be ugly, its going to be uncomfortable and its going to be filled with alot of stress and sleepless nights, but in the end it will, like every other economic crisis, pass. Im no expert, but Id say that if you dont have one of those doomed adjustable rate mortgages, you have a job, youre not carrying huge amounts of debt, and youre disciplined enough to be careful how you spend your money youre probably going to be just fine.

That is, of course, no reason not to be careful. Losing ones job is a fast ticket to  Desperationville. Hence, todays acquisition.

The folks at HippieMart (Motto: “Can we carry that out to your Volvo/Subaru?”) called to tell me my 30# of orzo was in. Dutifully, I headed down there and picked up three 10# boxes and took them home. Hey, interesting fact: 30# of orzo will not fit in the usual 5-gallon bucket mylar liner. Twentyfive pounds fits just fine, however. So, 25# of orzo safely tucked away in the bunker against the day when there just ain’t enough money to go around, or there aint enough food to go around, or both.

Fortunately, the girlfriend is 100% on board on these matters although, to be fair, while she sometimes will retrieve stuff from the bunker I dont think she’s actually aware of exactly whats in there. Nothing illegal, of course….just some stuff that might make someone scratch their head and say “Dude..seriously…you really think youre gonna need that?” Better to have it and not need it, my friend…

The guys at HippieMart also said they can get me 10# bags of whole egg mix. That would be nice but I need to figure out how to repackage it. I’d like to trundle it up to the local Mormon cannery and use their facility but theyre probably sticklers about not canning anything that they don’t provide. Speaking of, my local Mormon cannery is not open to heathen infidels like myself…gotta be one of the collective. Fortunately, one of my customers who shares my interests said that I could tag along with him next time he goes. Now its incumbent upon me to start nagging him every time I see him.

Alternatively, I could just get my owning canning stuff. eBay seems to have a fairly decent selection. And it would let me do some very creative things like canning ammo (or guns) and mislabelling them as something innocuous like fruit cocktail or something. Admit, that would be pretty cool.

But, my budget isnt ready for that sort of expense.

Anyway, so Ive got an addition to the Bucket O’Food collection. A little more peace of mind, and thats always nice.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Note that with the continuing decline of the dollar against other currencies, most notably the Euro, the cost of spare parts from outfits like HK, Sig, Glock, etc, are probably going to start creeping up. Any parts you need, buy ‘em now because either theyre going to be more expensive at a later date or they may not be available at all. Most likely, both.

The girlfriend and I have PTR-91 HK-clones (HKlones) and find them to be excellent guns. One of my buddies has a genuine HK91 and we shot them side by side, swapped parts, etc. and the PTR was just as good as the HK. Since the Germans switched over to the G36, theres a buttload of G3/HK91 stuff on the market but it aint gonna last long. If you have a CETME, PTR or, you lucky bastard, an original HK I cannot stresss how you need to get your spares now. Right now. As in  “open-a-new-browser-window-this-minute-and-start-shopping” now.Cheaper Than Dirt has OEM telestocks for $160 (backordered at the moment, of course), stock sets for ten bucks (which includes the recoil assemblies so that easily ten bucks of parts right there. Im getting a half dozen sets for spares and making a couple sets of winter camo), mag pouches for ninety-nine cents (fits FAL mags too) and a bunch of other goodies.

Spare parts can be had from  http://www.robertrtg.com/g3.html  … great selection!

We’re actually coming into an era when whatever parts you have on hand now may be all that you can ever have…because of legislative reasons (laws banning imports), logistics reasons (HK no longer makes G3 rifles AFAIK), economic reasons (dollar vs. Euro), or any other reason. It would be insanely frustrating to have your $1000+ rifle sidelined because you couldnt spend $5 for a spare firing pin spring. A hundred bucks will get you enough parts to keep your HK running well into your childrens lifetime. Spend the money. Im a notoriously cheap SOB and if I’m willing to spend money on this sort of stuff you can take that as the most sincere form of encouragement and statement of faith.  Where lies a mans fortune, there lies his heart.

To be fair, Hk guns dont seem to break too often (despite an acquaintance of mine having some faith-shaking parts problems with one of his USP40’s). However, machines are made by men (well, made by machines that were made by machines that were made by machines that were made by men..you get the idea)  and men sometimes have a few too many beers and show up at the gewehrwerks on Monday with a little less comeptence than normal. So…lets have a few spares.

Summary: Its getting worse before it gets better. Buy the spare parts now while you still can at reasonable prices.