Droning on

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45

If you’re into preparedness long enough, you can observe and participate in the evolution of technology as the years go by. For example, forty years ago when I was just getting my feet wet in this particular interest, the Krypton bulb was considered the pinnacle of flashlight technology. Then came a few other specialty bulbs for your MagLite, twenty or so years ago the LED bulbs started to first appear, and now I doubt anyone buys a new flashlight with anything other than a high-output LED bulb. Another example would be optics. Back in the day, if you had a 4x Colt scope mounted to the carry handle of your CAR15 (which we now call an M4), well, you were operating. Then it moved to variables, then holographic and dot sights, then night vision, and now thermals. This was technology that wasn’t only unavailable when I was a kid…it was undreamed of. (At least at the consumer grade.)

I mention this because I recall about ten years ago people were wondering if ‘drones’ had any place in the smart survivalists repertoire. At that point drones were, mostly, an observation device….like airplanes in WWI. And then, much like WWI, some wag decided to bring along a hand grenade to surprise the enemy. Drone combat was born.

That brought me around to thinking what was one of he greatest force multipliers (and greatest threats) for your average survivalist in the last decade or so and I think the answer is…drones.

At the moment, if you wanna blow up a tank in Ukraine, or scout the national forest for elk, you need to sit there with a GameBoy in your lap and a set of goggles on your face. If the hype is to be believed, in the not-so-distant-future we’ll have AI to do the grunt work of drone flying for us. You’ll whip out your KillCopter2000, flip the switch marked ‘sentry/patrol mode’, heave it into the air, and go back to your roadblock as the thing patrols a pre-set flight path and investigates anything unusual…all while your camped around your JetBoil with the rest of your buddies drinking coffee and discussing current events.

Funny thing is, while we’re using all this rapidly evolving technology in drones, scopes, radios, geolocation, and illumination, most of us will be still carrying rifles that are fundamentally unchanged from when they were introduced 60 years ago (AR) or almost 80 years ago (AK). The classics just keep marching on, I suppose. (Especially if the WWI tactics in Ukraine are anything to go by.)

That last statement reminds me…ever do one of those fantasy ‘what if’ daydreams? You know, something like “what if there had been AK’s in the Civil War?”, or “What if a nuclear aircraft carrier were at the attack on Pearl Harbor?” (spoiler…that first one was a book, that second one was a movie.) If you ever wondered what would have happened if the guys in the trenches had automatic rifles instead of bolt actions in WW1…well, youre seeing it. Still a stalemate. Technology can’t make up for staid and outdated military tactics, I suppose.

When it rains it pours

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As if I hadnt already hemorrhaged enough money with the auction from last week, it appears that there’s more to be had. A coworker asked me if I’d be interested in ‘some reloading stuff’ from the estate of his recently deceased grandfather. Ok fine, I’ll look. Digital scales, Redding powder measures, carbide RCBS pistol sets, lots of powder, plenty of bullets, bullet molds, and, of course, the big-ticket item in todays market: primers.

To add insult to injury, my buddy at the coin shop asked if I had any interest in a S&W Shield EZ. Well, no…not really. Until the numbers starting getting tossed around and it became a case of “at that price it makes no sense to NOT get it.”

When it rains it pours.

I have to take the entire lot of reloading stuff, can’t cherry pick it. I very much want the primers, and the assortment of bullets and gas checks are certainly worth picking up…if I can get it cheap enough.

Hayes Otoupalik told me that when you’ve been in this business long enough, you don’t have to go looking for good deals…the good deals come looking for you. Truth.

In addition to the reloading gear, there might be some guns as well. Judging by the collection of reloading gear, there might be a 9mm, .380., a couple Smith K-frames, a 1911, and some varmint rifles.

I am seriously running out of room for this stuff.

 

Auction fever

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A long and expensive week. I wound up spending three days closely following an enormous auction of gun stuff. I wound up buying, among other things, 165 stripped AR lowers.

The goal, of course, is to sell the bloody things to finance other projects…like a land purchase. It takes money (usually) to make money, kids. In addition to the AR lowers I also wound up with a mountain of Magpul AR furniture. This was a liquidation of an AR ‘manufacturer’ [really, an AR assembler] partnership, and everything had to go, go,go. In addition to AR parts galore, there was a respectable amount of ammo but the prices were quite high. I did manage to snag 5,000 rounds of Magtech 124 gr. 9mm for myself, so those will wind up going into the Deep Sleep.

Things that I missed? Well, I bid on almost 200 different lots of AR barrels and got beat out on all of them. Also got beat out on a rather healthy supply of Magpul Pmags. But, I did okay on lotsa small stuff…miscellaneous lots of odds-n-ends. Wound up with a bunch of magazines for guns I don’t even own, so I’ll probably dump the on Gunbroker.

In the end, the goal is to get back my initial outlay quickly, and once thats recovered I can take my time with the remaining items.

In the meantime, my living room looks like a warehouse. On the bright side, though, if there’s a 1994-style assault weaons ban in the next few weeks I may become quite well-to-do.

If anyone is interested, here’s the links to the closed auctions:

 

 

Takes money to make money

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12

Just busy this week, thats all. I’m in the midst of an enormous auction of gun stuff that quite possibly might be putting me into stripped AR lowers cheap enough that I might pass them out as Paratus gifts this year. More details on the auction in a few days.

In the meantime, we are forecasting a bit of heat this weekend, so perhaps after what seems like weeks of rain we will finally have a weekend conducive to yardwork.

 

Stepping off the porch

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I must say, for a fella whose blog is, nominally, not a ‘preparedness’ blog, once in a while Joel hits it outta the park with this simple-but-profound line:

“…I have a strict policy of never leaving my porch unless I’m ready to go to war.“

Now, for context, Joel lives in the lonely desert and in this case he was talking about the risks posed to him and his dog by bold coyotes. But…there’s some good sense in that statement, especially if your anticipated threat is more than just a bunch of tweaker-lookin’ dogs. (Or, as someone once opined, “coyotes look like German Shepherds on heroin”.)

I commented that my similar policy is that I don’t leave my house without the gear necessary to either fight my way back to it, or to abandon it. And, broadly, thats true. When I leave for work every morning I have my Bag O’ Tricks which covers a pretty wide range of possibilities. I also have a good bit of gear (including a thundertoy or three) stashed in my truck. And, finally, I’ve a carbine and plate carrier discreetly tucked away next to my desk at work. Power failure, road closures, civil unrest, earthquake, whatever….if I’m away from my house, odds are I’ve got the gear handy to enable me to either get back to my house or to survive away from it.

I’m pretty sure that by just about anyone’s standards that might appear a bit extreme, but thats the lifestyle I’ve chosen and it makes me….calmer. The odds of me ever having to Omega Man my way from my workplace to my houseplace are virtually none, and I know that…but thats still a more-than-zero chance. On the other hand, it is orders of magnitude more likely that I will be caught away from  my house when here’s a power outage or some other event that precludes the normal ease-of-travel.

Give you an example…back in ’97 a bunch of tanker cars derailed at the town of Alberton, about 30 miles down the road, and the folks there had about the same experience as Chernobyl evacuees. It’s not impossible that a hazardous chemical spill of some type, accidental or purposeful, will shut off my ability to return to my house. Thus, I need to be able to function with whatever resources I have with me or that I can count on at other locations.

And it could be something other than a chemical spill. Police activity, civil unrest, a plane crash, earthquake, gas leak, bridge collapse, etc….all are reasonably possible events that would inhibit my ability to return.

When I leave my house, it’s not necessarily ‘prepared for war’ but it is prepared to not return for a few days at least. In a time of crisis, my house is, for now, the safest place for me to be. It may not always be that way, but for now thats the way it is. It’s the boat that keeps me afloat in the sea of uncertainty. Why would I want to take my chances away from it if I didnt have to..Never get out of the boat.

You do you, of course. What works for me (or that I think works for me) may not be something that you think works for you. But I feel that being prepared every time I leave the house to not come back gives me options. I like having options.

 

 

Be vewy vewy quiet….

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I really don’t want to get too far in the weeds with this, but, as I see it, it could be reasonably argued that there is a utility in having an accurate suppressed carbine of some kind for low-signature shooting at ranges not much past 100 yards. And while a suppressed .22 in a quality bolt gun with a good suppressor on the end is a fine, fine instrument…sometimes you need a bit more bullet mass.

So, how would you do that, exactly? A suppressed bolt action rifle would be pretty much ideal…no noise of the action cycling, no special mods to the rifle to allow cycling with subsonic ammo, etc. (A single shot carbine would give the same benefit but follow up shots would be rather slow…on the other hand, this sort of arm is seldom called on for volume-of-fire applications.)

So…a suppressed bolt action out to about 100 yards. One hundred yards isnt a very challenging distance with a scoped carbine, so almost any caliber will do if it can be kept subsonic with relative ease. The first thing that springs to mind is a 9mm or .45 ACP gun. Pistol ammo is easy to load down to subsonic, and .45 AARP is natively subsonic. Problem is, when was the last time you saw a bolt action 9mm of any worth? (Sure, 9mm Destroyer carbines are out there…but those are novelty Spanish guns. Repros of the DeLisle are out there, but I wouldnt call them precision.) My first thought, and still on my radar, is a Ruger 77/357….a bolt-action .357 Mag that would let me use my 9mm suppressors. Loaded with 200 gr. bullets it should be just fine for the relatively short range while providing a good platform with potential for accuracy….bolt action, integral scope mounts, aftermarket trigger availability, etc. Problem is finding one.

So, I did a bit of research and decided that while I am still going to keep an eye open for the threaded 77/357, I was going to pick up a bolt gun in .300 Blackout. This would let me use my .30 suppressor and the exterior ballistics would be an improvement over a pistol bullet. As a bonus, the Ruger version uses AR15 mags for most applications. (Depending on how you load the cartridge, an average Pmag will work fine, but if youre going to seat bullets out a bit further you might want a dedicated purpose-built .300 Blackout AR mag.)

And thus we got this:

Its a Ruger American® Rifle Generation II Ranch in .300 Blackout. I then changed out the stock for a Magpul stock. I threw the Sig SRD762-QD suppressor on there and fired a few rounds just to see how quiet it is. Gotta say, it isn’t “Hollywood quiet” but it isn’t too far away from it. I need to throw a scope on and I’m thinking that since it’s for fairly short ranges, either a variable 1-6x or a fixed 6x would be the way to go. Why the Magpul stock? A couple reasons..first, and I’m not ashamed to say it, it looks cooler. I like the sling attachment options, the subdued color, MLOK points to attach accessories, adjustable cheekpiece and spacers, and the AK-style mag release.

The only drawback to all this, naturally, is that I now have to work the logistics of a new cartridge. I’m not happy about that, and thats one of the reasons I’m still holding out for the Ruger 77/357. But I must say that the .300 Blackout was certainly ear-safe and deceptively quiet at the outdoor range. I need to go with a friend and have them shoot it as I pace off some distances away from them to see at what distance it becomes virtually inaudible.

A good question might be why not use subsonic .308 ammo? Well, I gave that a lot of thought. There’s a lot of merit to using .308 from a logistics point of view, but my experience with large (comparatively) cases with light loads has been that you get erratic performance. Enough inconsistent performance to make a difference at 100 yards? Maybe. But there was also the concern of mixing up subsonic .308 with regular .308. I don’t mind mixing up subsonic 9mm with regular 9mm (or .45) because my pistols will digest either one just fine. But my PTR-91’s may have other ideas about subsonic ammo. I may revisit this and try some subsonic .308 but it seemed that if there were going to be tradeoffs that had to be made, then I might as well do the ones that get me something more in line with what I think my needs were.

So…theres the weekend.

 

Pro Tip Of The Day

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When you leave the vendor’s store with your two shiny new suppressors, and you have a few other things in your arms as well, and you place the suppressors on the back of the truck box while you unlock the truck….don’t forget that they are sitting there. Don’t get in the truck and drive off. Don’t get halfway to your destination, look at the passenger seat and go “hey, where are the suppressors”. Don’t panic and do a Bat-turn, and drive at excessive(!) speeds to retrace your route.

And, lo, there in the middle of the intersection, were my two boxes. Amazingly, not yet run over by traffic and not taken by passerby.

I was not looking forward to the phone call to ATFE if I had lost them.

How panicked was I? My butt was clenched so hard I’m surprised the seat covers didnt get out of the truck with me.

But, you know what? I checked off the last things on my suppressor wish list – .22(x2), .223(x3), .30, 45, 9mm (x2), Uzi. The really painful thing is…I purchased all of those in the last 60 days. $ouch$.

Unexpected Streamlight

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As you may (or may not) recall, a while back I had posted that I sent Friend Of The Blog ™, Joel, a tactical flashlight for his use in his particularly remote AO. That discussion begat another discussion about the relative availability and wisdom-of-choice between AA and CR123 batteries.

Apparently, this is a case of why choose when you can have both? A generous reader, who is now on the Paratus card list (nicely done, there), sent me a hitherto unknown product. The Streamlight ProTac 1L-AAA pocket tactical flashlight.

Apparently the colloquial term for a device that takes multiple battery types/sizes is ‘dual fuel’ (or, I suppose, ‘multi fuel’). Regardless, this little light runs on either one CR123 or one AA battery. According to the literature, the CR123 gives you about 60% more run time than the AA batt.

First off, mucho thanks to the generous person who, rather than posting to tell me about this item, simply sent one to me as a way of introducing me to the item. Well done, sir…much thanks!

Its a little bigger than the Fenix E12 that I carry around everyday, but it offers a couple extra features the E12 doesn’t…most notably a strobe option.

I’ll set my Fenix E12 aside for a while and carry this thing around to see how I like it. Right off the bat, the fact it can operate on two different types of batteries gives it some high marks. We’ll see how a couple weeks of everyday bumping and dropping (as well as maybe an inadvertent trip though the washing machine) affect it’s reliability. Stay tuned.

And by the way, while we’re on the subject, you do carry a small flashlight in your pocket at all times, right? And please don’t say that youll just use your phone if the need arises… thats just a bad idea for a buncha reasons.

Turning money into not-noise

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Sooooo…..that happened:I’d like to thank the /wallstreetbets autists who made this purchase possible by driving up AMC and and putting my ten 5$ calls through the roof. Got out just as it started to slide back. Better to be lucky than good.

The part that drives me nuts is that I cannot order up a 10″ barrel for the Uzi until the SBR paperwork goes through…and this suppressor will not work with anything except a 10″ barrel. So….gotta wait. But, that’ll give me time to hunt down some subsonic 9mm.