So wheres my .45? Sitting in an oversized ammo can. Why? Well, glad you asked….
All the guns I own that are ‘dedicated’ TEOTWAWKI guns are packaged in air-tight, water-tight oversize ammo cans. In addition to the gun itself, the ammo can also contains literally every support item needed to go with the gun. What I mean is, if you had to leave your abode in a hurry and grabbed your .45 and a couple mags on the way out the door what would you do for cleaning gear? Holsters? Ammo? etc, etc…..
My .45 sits in a pistol rug(with dessicant) in a tall .50 can. Included in the can is :
.45 ACP ammo
Cleaning kit
Bore-Snake
Squib rod
Spare parts (triggers, assorted springs, extractors, firing pins, bushings, grip screws, etc, etc)
Mag pouches
Holster
Belt
Cleaning rag
Lubricant
Extra recoil springs
Exploded diagrams
Pistol lanyard
About 25 spare magazines
Dental picks & toothpicks
Screwdrivers
Brass hammer
Extra grips
And a few other things that escape me at the moment. Its a snug fit, but it all fits in the ammo can.
The nice thing is, I can grab that ammo can and have everything I need for that particular pistol. I’ve similar setups for my revolvers and my P35.
All of my AR support stuff fits in a 40mm can (except the rifle itself, of course).
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How does a person live in Florida and NOT be prepared for a hurricane? Especially when you just had one last month?
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One week until the Assault Weapons Ban expiration. Will it stay? Will it go?
Im going to be talking to one of the local gun store people tomorrow to talk about pre-ordering magazines and seeing if he’s been approached by any distributors yet. If the prices are right, I’ll take 20 Glock mags, 20 10/22 mags, another dozen P35 mags, another 30 AR mags and two dozen AK mags.
In the D/FW area, retailers have already marked down high cap Glock mags from $100 to $20 in anticipation of the sunset.
I like redundancy and applaud preparedness, but would you really take your 1911 kit if you had to bug out in a hurry? I really like your idea of having a complete repair/accessory kit stored with a couple of firearms, but I envision them being stored in various secure locations for resupply. How heavy is that kit? If I could throw it in my truck and go, I think it is reasonable, but if I have to walk or bike out (EMP, local traffic tieups, gasoline shortages, roadblocks, other effects), that is a heck of a load to worry about. If I can pack a heavy kit I would prefer to pack a couple of the rifles and keep the pistols as last line concealed defense. Are you familiar with the Otis cleaning kits? I have a couple of the tactical kits that I have supplemented with .45 brushes and shotgun brushes/patch savers and the pick/brush accessory pack. It weighs under a half pound, fits in a 4 inch cube and can clean *ANY* of my firearms. Very handy for a bugout bag… Out of curiosity, do you keep your mags loaded in the ammo can?
Speaking of storing stuff in ammo cans, you and Kit have posted about buying a .308 bolt rifle… you might want to check out the Aussie .308 surplus ammo currently available packed on 5 round stripper clips, 10 stripper clips to a canvas bandoleer and 4 bandoleers in a .30 caliber ammo can. Great ammo, and prepacked in excellent condition ammo cans. The Aussie ammo is drying up though, so I wouldn’t wait for long…
Okay, seriously, if they are real $20 Glock manufactured hi-caps *please* email me with details. If they are $20 and Glock made and are for the 17/19 I’ll take all of them up to 20 magazines. See if theres a better price for bulk.
What he said!
But would you really take your 1911 kit if you had to bug out in a hurry?
As opposed to….? Grabbing an ammo can and hurling it into the back of the truck doesnt take a whole lotta effort. And factor in that I’ll also be heaving a couple backpacks and more ammo cans in there…
Now, I do have a web belt with holster, spare mags, knife and accesory pouch on it and thats certainly a very bare-bones rig but its just as easy to grab one as the other when barrelling out the door…
stored with a couple of firearms, but I envision them being stored in various secure locations for resupply. How heavy is that kit?
Lets check…damn, bathroom scale is packed away. I’d guess its about 24#. Easily a one-hand package. Im a big fan of off-site caching but even the stuff thats offsite has to be packaged somehow, right?
If I could throw it in my truck and go, I think it is reasonable, but if I have to walk or bike out (EMP, local traffic tieups, gasoline shortages, roadblocks, other effects), that is a heck of a load to worry about.
Certainly its portable enough to toss in the back of a truck. Its also portable enough to fit on an ALICE pack frame with cargo shelf. But, if I were limited to a bicycle or to foot then it really doesnt matter how its packed Im still going to have to leave a huge amount of gear behind…which is where the waterproof, airtight qualities of the ammo can come in handy when your stashing the stuff away for later retrieval.
If I can pack a heavy kit I would prefer to pack a couple of the rifles and keep the pistols as last line concealed defense. Are you familiar with the Otis cleaning kits? I have a couple of the tactical kits that I have supplemented with .45 brushes and shotgun brushes/patch savers and the pick/brush accessory pack. It weighs under a half pound, fits in a 4 inch cube and can clean *ANY* of my firearms. Very handy for a bugout bag… Out of curiosity, do you keep your mags loaded in the ammo can?
I think your possibly misunderstanding me. The stuff thats packed in the ammo can isnt for the sake of carrying around. Rather its to keep all .45 – related materials in one place in an easy grab-n-go envelope. In terms of what I’d actually carry around, I’d go with the minimum of pistol, mags, pocket cleaning kit and that sort of thing. All the other stuff stays at wherever my base of operations would be. The Otis kit is nice but for less money the KleanBore kit that fits in its own handle seems just as nice. I do like the Otis kit for rifle, though. The mags are unloaded except for two I keep in the pistol rug with the pistol…and Im not worried about springs taking a set. Everything I read says that the act of compressing/decompressing repeatedly is what causes problems…compressing and then letting them sit compressed seems to do no harm.
Speaking of storing stuff in ammo cans, you and Kit have posted about buying a .308 bolt rifle… you might want to check out the Aussie .308 surplus ammo currently available packed on 5 round stripper clips, 10 stripper clips to a canvas bandoleer and 4 bandoleers in a .30 caliber ammo can. Great ammo, and prepacked in excellent condition ammo cans. The Aussie ammo is drying up though, so I wouldn’t wait for long…
The Aussie stuff is nice. Probably going to hold out for some of the German or other NATO battle-packed stuff but only in a fairly small (<1000) quantity. The rest will be handloads and maybe some Federal Gold Match.
I didn’t pay attention since I don’t do Glocks, but I will find out for ya.
Gotcha… yeah, I was envisioning more of a “storm troopers pounding on your front door while you slip out the back” scenario than a semi-permanent relocation of base camp. Yeah, keeping everything required in a single location for a quick grab makes sense.
My question about the loaded mags was actually more wondering about possible contamination of the powder and primers by leaking or broken cleaning oils and solvents. Double bagging liquids and other possible contaminants is possible, but the broken glass of a Shooter’s Choice bottle could puncture the protective bags… I still haven’t come up with a cost effective solution for this problem.
Well, you could go the other direction and wrap the magaiznes to protect them if anything breaks.
Er… no. If I keep loaded mags in storage, it is because I might need them in a hurry. Tearing through sealed plastic while in a crisis is a surefire recipe for things to go wrong. I also do not want the solvent to contaminate other items such as the rubber gasket on the ammo can… the best solution I can come up with so far is to use CLP… it is not the best solvent, but it works in a pinch. It cleans, lubricates and protects, comes in a plastic bottle and if it leaks will not eat through most materials. Storing the mags loaded is also more space efficient for packing. It is not ideal, but it is the best I have come up with so far. I was just hoping you had a better mousetrap. 😉
Well, obviously, I cant imagine you needing the cleaning gear in a hurry so I guess thats the place to focus your effots. You could transfer the contents from glass bottles to plastic ones and then secure them in a waterproof-type container. Then put the small plastic bottle into a slightly larger container for extra-safety. Scientific supply warehouses (like Edmunds Scientific) as well as various plastic bottle manufacturers on the web would have these types of bottles but the easiest might be to head to REI or another camping store and see what the have.