There’s just never a shortage of things to spend money on these days. Usually, based on my previous history, when an election year rolls around I wind up spending a fair amount of coin on things like AR lowers and standard-capacity magazines. Having done this for several election cycles now, I’m reasonably comfortable with what I have in terms of those items that I no longer feel the need to panic-buy more…although I want to.
But, the world is, hands down, a more dangerous place these days. I know that, for myself, my level of concern for my safety and security has been elevated for the last couple years. We see it on the news all the time — stuffs gettin’ weird. That weirdness can be distant, like Russia/Ukraine/Hamas/Israel…or it can be local, like homeless camps, home invasions, and impending layoffs. Pick your apocalypse, there’s plenty to choose from.
So, rather than just picking up the phone and ordering another couple cases of Magpuls, I’m trying to be more targeted and discrete in my approach. Take, for example, my recent purchase of a light-compatible holster… It’s something I’ve been wanting for a while but it was always a case of “someday’. Yeah, well, someday is now because it’s a weird world out there we’re in. So I’m really just filling all sorts of gaps in logistical, tactical, and strategic quarters. What does that look like? Well, I’ve got a dry erase board up on my fridge with a list that reads like this: Glock armorers tools, Glock threaded barrel, Glock night sights, ACOG TA-44, propane bottles, 10mm dies, part #121G, Magpul sights, Beretta G conversion, MP5 mag clamps, (more) .223 ammo, etc, etc. It’s a bit of a list. But its a plan..and without a plan you wind up throwing resources around in a very inefficient manner.
And, of course, there’s still that little bugaboo that has been dogging me for years – a chunk of dirt. (Still haven’t seen the perfect place within my price range yet…but I’m being patient and adding to the war chest.)
It’s not an economically easy thing, this whole being a survivalist thing… but, I suppose I’d rather have these things (and their related expense) when I need them rather than the alternative.
CZ – Are you dreading the days after you find your new hideout and have to move the hoard? I’m getting close to relocating across the country and it hurts just to think about it.
No.. I figure it’ll be a gradual process. A truckload here, a truck load there…that sort of thing. I’d think less than a dozen trips, assuming I throw a cargo net over things to let me stack them a bit.
Caution on an extended move out/in scenario. Those neighborhood eyes on either end or location may see opportunity to go and burgle your stuff, at either end, if you are away for any periods, distracted or busy etc. ( move out neighbors out of envy and greed will see no loyalty in your departure,, move in neighbors will see that new guy as an unknown and attempt to punk you for your gear) Rent the biggest truck, get frens to help and do it once and be done. Economy and labor load ease in such a move scenario is tactically not sound. It is a risk mitigation action, necessary in any area, just because realities.
The only downside I can see by moving it all one time is the risk of civil asset forfeiture. Todays Privateer’s (cops) have no problem stealing the contents of the moving vehicle if they see or suspect valuables might be inside. Firearms, ammo and precious metals are deemed by many as instruments of crime and will be seized if the opportunity is presented. You are free to go, but the property will be charged with a crime. This happens everyday in our once free AmeriKa.
I just moved 800 miles and it was a pain in the butt with the gear, freedom seeds and boom sticks….rented my own truck for those things since the movers wouldn’t touch them…..although finding my neighbors in TN are like minded and very friendly/helpful. Almost feels like I’ve been transported to the 1950’s. Still very cautious but got a knock on the door early in the am to see if I wanted to go shooting!!!!
Waiting to find that “perfect” piece of dirt is a fool’s errand I think.
I bought a piece of ground in 2014 that was far from perfect. Since that time I have been slowly transforming it from its “imperfectness” to something that is coming along nicely.
One of the most important aspects is using the transformation time to build relationships in the new environs – including nearby neighbors as well as local officials, business owners, etc. It’s not just the dirt but all of the things around it that matter.
The sooner you start the more likely that the dirt you get will be able to be transformed into a viable solution.
+1
+2, sweat equity on fixers, oldie places that yuppies turn their noses up on, and forgotten boom bust towns, are diamonds in the rough potentials. All are generally better overall big picture wise than box store sized locales requiring swat teams and armored vehicles. Be a pioneer, Forge a path.
I agree, when I was looking had a short list of must haves, like fireplace, welll, septic, full basement, out buildings and acreage. The number of acres was on a sliding scale, so to speak, based on the amenities of the property. I wanted 10 but settled for 8. Building the place into what we want is really what we were looking for. First spring we planted fruit trees, 2nd year we built a new pole barn. After 10 years now i feel “okay” about what we have but there are still things like a off-grid summer kitchen and this year’s hope of a blacksmithing shop. Don’t hold out for perfect but don’t settle for something you’re not ok with either. Finding a retreat is sort of like porn- you’ll know it when you see it.
“Finding a retreat is sort of like porn- you’ll know it when you see it.”
Finally, something I can relate to.
CZ, face it if you can see it,it isn’t what you want. You need to find someone’s hideaway they no longer have a use for and your probably going to find it by local referral. Find the area and get the word out your interested and looking and more than likely a store clerk or diner waitress knows someone that knows someone. A low,low cash price can be negotiated with ” other valuable consideration” otherwise known as what you got to trade.
Whatever your property bounds are, the owner is required to maintain it. Not bad when you are young, but as we age, that amount of work we can do really can take a toll.
If I were in the market for a BO location, I would also factor in having nearby home sites for friends / family to live. At least three locations (a few more better), not next door neighbor but maximum 50 yards away would be able to mount a defense perimeter and watch each other’s backs.
A lone wolf I think will eventually be found and removed handily. The enemy will snipe you and that is that.
Why the TA 44 if you don’t mind my asking? Havent seen many people with that version.
I want a low power optic that performs essentially the same function as a dot sight but with the ruggedness and survivability of an ACOG
If the entirety of GWOT taught us anything it’s that the Aimpoint series of red dots are damn near indestructible.
Yeah there are batteries but with the life of those dots a couple AA’s in a pistol grip will get you through about anything.
I’m actually looking to get an Aimpoint Comp to replicate the Swedes G3 updated platform.
Do you think you will stay in the Missoula area or somewhere in MT if you find a nice lot you can afford or are you looking out of state? Just wondering, I keep hearing that MT is the IN place for the leftist since Yellowstone came out and wonder what your feeling are on that?
I’ll happily leave Missoula county. But its the classic survivalist dilemma – find a place thats remote enough to meet you rwants, but close enough to a job market that you can make a living. Places Ive looked at include Cascade, Helmville, Choteau, Augusta, and a few others in that area.
I live between Helmville and Ovando. I moved out here after the Bitterroot Valley got too crowded. I love it here, but if you still have to work in Zootown the commute is a bitch. Definitely need your bear blaster out here as you already know.
Buy books – real, hardbound, paper books with acid-free paper. They don’t need electronics, they can’t be yanked from your fondleslab, they’re not subject to EMP.
They are knowledge that can be passed down, or be relied upon when needed.
Yes, they can burn or get wet, but those will also ruin lots other things, so you should be prepared for those eventualities anyway.
Craig, Havre and some others probably are, or at least should be, on your list, though Great Falls is ground-zero close to Malmstrom – otherwise I’d say it’s worth a look.
some night sights for your glock…gt distributors carried night sights without packaging a few years back, they were way cheaper then…night sights ain’t cheap any more…like everything right now…
https://www.amazon.com/TRUGLO-High-Visible-Daylight-Low-Light-Compatible/dp/B00070KH5Q?th=1
glock tools…it’s expensive but you get the torque drive for those red dots…
https://store.fixitsticks.com/products/toolkit-for-glock
Especially today. Since an Obama appointed Federal Judge ruled that non- citizens as in illegal aliens can legally carry guns in the United States. Strange that the actual citizenry in many states have to have a permit to buy, carry, ECT. Should be interesting when an illegal from any nation known for terrorism walks into a gun store with no ID. Just a debit card with the grand or more and wants to purchase an AR.
Interesting how they love giving superior rights to individuals who violate our laws to get here. While at the same time doing everything they can to impede and violate the rights of actual citizens who were born here.
Oops. Concerning the debit cards. San Franidiotville is handing out debit cards with $10,800.00 on them. From what I’m seeing these are being passed out when deplaning at the airport. New York City. What a mess. Their debit cards are in the amount of $10,500.00 but you get to stay free of charge in a five star hotel and feed on lobster tail and the best steaks on the planet. Ain’t that just nice of the old Dementia patient. Using our tax dollars in such a frivolous fashion.
That sounds like confabulated fantasy.
Chicago has over 3,000 stuffed in a old warehouse on the southside(soo many code violations it is a lawsuit in the works). Such great hygiene there is the first outbreak of measles in decades (teaching hospitals are sending young Dr.s’ to see what real cases look like). Free food handed out but they’re spoiled and don’t eat it but have set up illegal catering and selling at the shelter. Kind of a mystery why anyone bothers to follow any law.
Buying the things we need to tie together cohesive systems takes more thought than simply panic stacking things deep but it’s also far more useful.
A $50 holster that lets you carry the right gun is far more likely to be useful for you than some more mags in the basement.
“A $50 holster that lets you carry the right gun is far more likely to be useful for you than some more mags in the basement.”
Very good point made there. The BEST is whatever you have on you at the moment you need it. The BEST left back in the safe isn’t doing you any good at all. Though your survivors really do appreciate it being handed down to them..
Following. Yours or many others buying trends are generally tactical in nature, having things, as talismans, is cool and all but not a total game changer. Strategic aquisitions or activities into a long range goal of your big picture agenda is much more important. Just having a few of “muh guns”, but being in a better long view strategic place or personal position is superior doctrine. Folks discuss going country, but if you commute to spend a third or more of your life in a sketchy A.O. because of a job, and need the added income to afford an acceptable yuppie standard or buy moar things, then that is also a failure point biggly. The objective is to get out, and stay the hell out of those blast radius zones that inspired all that buying firsthand. Don’t be hesitant to leave out of your county, your state, and as well exit away from friends, family, familiarities, if it is in your personal larger macro SURVIVABILITY. A downgrade in income earning ability, shifting to a labor or totally different job, and an increased level of hardships or challenges involved as a result of your strategic, long range goals is really just mere inconveniences, just like dealing with normal weather. The adage of location, location, location mantra is succinct and on point, for prepsters and those true acolytes of survivalism. Any where but here, should not be a present tense refrain, and an unfulfilled strategic action. Don’t be a quartermaster sergeant in a warehouse downtown, rather be general that is positioned in both a tactically, as well as strategically superior terrain location. Solid A.O. positions really do aid in staying frosty.
We talk of Montana, Idaho, etc about moving to for peace. But, have you ever wondered if there is ANY place left we can go to just be left alone and let us live out our life in peace? I’m not just talking about the Demo Commies, RINOS fit the same group. It seems no matter what state you go to there those fuckers are. You see folks talking about breaking up the country into red and blue, but if that happens,we get stuck with Republicans and the religious zealots so nothing really changes about assholes seeking more power and control.
You would think they would realize there are some people who are capable of being very dangerous if pushed too far, maybe courtesy of uncle Sam, that should be left alone and in peace for whats left of their life. But NO that just cant happen.
Yea, maybe its due to they know a fiscal collapse is coming and is unstoppable and don’t want to be blamed. Its not just one sides fault for whats coming. I guess some people are happy to rule over the ashes no matter what. But do we HAVE to have war amongst ourselves first?
Well, there was that anarchy-driven CHOP zone afew years back…https://www.historylink.org/File/22870
It’s subjective. What you see as restrictive and confining in terms of .gov control may be considered permissive and weak by someone else. I think there’s already too many rules and restrictions forced on my by .gov, but do I want to see none whatsoever? Not really. I know people, especially in groups, are a buncha dangerous animals and I’d like to have some framework to help keep those animals from hurting me or my property.
I get your point, maybe I didn’t say it clearly. I’m not talking about a lawless Libertarian no rules utopia where you can do what you want. I agree with you there are some that i know on the so called right that I am very concerned about and would probably shoot on sight if the collapse happens to proactively protect my family. I’m just saying I spent most of my time now in “Red” states chasing my outdoor adventure addiction. I see the same issues in each of them as in blue states but to a lesser degree. The old quote of whats the difference between a Dem and A Repub, one runs towards commie utopia and the other just walks to it. Most of the so called red states are run by spineless RINO’s who allow their big cities to turn into woke blue hives and push marxism and do nothing about it as that crap spreads across their state. To me, Its just incrementalism on a slower scale than the blue. So in reality maybe the question is, is there anyplace left in the FUSA that’s not bat shit crazy or going there, where you can live and be just a normal peaceful person and live a peaceful life without having to plan on how to off a bunch of people or them off you? I look at the perversions and depravity that’s being allowed and pushed more and more each day pretty much everywhere in the country and the only response seems to be how can we be even more depraved tomorrow! I was listening to a podcast of several Army officers I used to work with and one said something that rang true on explaining the current status of the FUSA. I hope I can remember it correctly. He said:The Western and American civilizations have already failed and collapsed and are now dead and we are living in the fading echo of them without accepting it ( the so called normalcy bias) and probably wont until the echo is gone and everything collapses at one time and we are totally surprised.
“…we are living in the fading echo of them without accepting it ( the so called normalcy bias) and probably wont until the echo is gone and everything collapses at one time and we are totally surprised.”
Best hope that “everything” includes the rest of the world, or we will be in a world of hurt here. Most of the rest of the world views the USA as Camelot, the shining city on the hilltop. They are stupid enough to think it is built on “magic dirt”, and lots of them want a piece of it. Without the US military as a functional system with the historical warehouse of goodies tail to keep them at bay, everybody and their grandmother will set sail or start marching toward it.
Goverment…. a basic framework nothing more. Gaps are filled by churches, organizations, neighborhoods, friends, etc.
Today people look to the government to fulfill every possible need.