Did you happen to read the Jack London story I linked to in my earlier post? Its rather short but it is absolutely worth the read. I have to hand it to London, he really wrote a very good story in that it conveys the increasing terror and horror of the main character as he realizes he’s going to have some frost nip, to losing a few toes, to losing his hands, feet, and part of his face, to finally realizing he’s going to die. What’s marvelously well done is that at each realization, the man recognizes the damage hes going to take but plays it down and accepts it…the notion that he’s actually in danger of losing his life doesn’t come to the end. Normalcy bias.

Anyway, in the story his fingers and hands are starting to freeze and he can’t manipulate his fingers into holding or lighting his matches. So he manages to hold one in his teeth, light it, and ignite the entire batch of matches in his frozen hands. Hardcore stuff.

Like I said, I carry a lighter, I carry lifeboat matches, and I even carry those cute striker devices. But if my hands are starting to freeze, and I’ve got maybe a minute until my fingers are frozen meat-n-bone popsicles, then I need a fire and I need it right now. Thats when I stop screwing around and go for one of these two devices:

Orion Safety – Fire Pit Pro – Fire Starter for Campfires, Bonfires & Fire Pits – Ignites Damp Wood & Burns up to 7 Minutes – Eco-Friendly – Self-Contained, Waterproof & Windproof Ignition

These babies are basically a sawed off road flare. In fact, a road flare, if you have room for it, is my first choice…theyre cheap and pretty easy to find. The Orion wind up being about $8 each in the 12-pack which is the economical way to go. I mean, you’ve got more than one pack and hideyhole that needs these things, right? Might as well get the dozen.

But, there is still a degree of manual manipulation required to light them. Not much more manipulation than striking a match, but when your hands are swinging from the ends of your arms like meat clubs, you need something with less dexterity requirements. For that last resort option, I love the marine hand flares.

Simply yank the string with your teeth and let ‘er rip. I buy these at gun shows for about $5 each and I always carry two in my bag. Always. They’re available on GunBroker apparently. The ones I get are expired from marine survival kits and lifeboats. As long as theyre in good condition, they work fine. I’ve used ones that expired well over a decade ago and they work perfectly…they have to, they were designed for some serious conditions.

While I’m coming to the end of my thoughts on this subject, I wonder if anyone took away what the real message of that Jack London story was. The message wasn’t that you should have a way to start a fire, or that you shouldnt build your fire under a tree weighed down with snow, or that you should keep your feet dry. No, no, no. The moral of that story was don’t ignore the warnings given to you by more experienced people. Not only should the man in the story have never gone out alone, he should not have gone out at all. He was warned by the old timer that the weather was far too cold, and the danger and risk far too great, to be out there. But the man didn’t listen, and as he came to realize the old man had been right, it was too late. The first rule of surviving any disaster is…what, guys? I’ve told you this before. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? No? The first rule of surviving any disaster is: don’t be there.

If it’s -75 degrees out, don’t undertake to walk several miles in the snow to a cabin that will still be there in a few days when the temperature is warmer.

But, as I’ve said, even in Montana it can be a lovely July day that quickly becomes a hypothermic episode in the blink of an eye. So, forget what Smokey Bear says and always have at least several ways in your pocket to burn down the forest.

Oh sweet merciful Crom….

In a recent conversation, Drew from FosTech, Inc. provided insights into their latest creation – a drum magazine designed for the 50-caliber Barrett M107 and 82A1. With over a decade of experience in crafting drums, the company has now ventured into the realm of the powerful 50 BMG.

This years SHOT show is dropping some interesting stuff…lever action rifles from Smith and Wesson, Palmetto is casting a wide net with rifles, pistols and shotguns,….

The MSRP on that Barrett drum is insane but it sure does peg the needle on the Cool-O-Meter.

I hope I never have a day where I actually need to have a 20-rd drum for my Barrett.

Being Montana, it’s very easy to sweat your bollocks off during the day and, once the sun goes down, freeze them off at night. Even in the middle of July you can get snow up here in the mountains and if you’re stuck somewhere there’s a much-better-than-zero chance that you could be in a good bit of trouble in regards to staying warm and, y’know, not dying. Or worse, you live but without your toes/feet/hands/fingers/ears/nose.

Because that risk is pretty much always present here in the great state of Montana, I go a tiny bit overboard/OCD when it comes to having in my gear a way to napalm the scenery.

Usually, a Bic lighter is the go-to. But it isn’t 100% reliable. Nothing is. That’s why I go for the suspenders-and-a-belt approach. I carry matches in my pants pocket, in my gear bag, and in my outerwear. Why? Because life has a weird habit of creating situations that separate you from your gear.

Matches are usually stored in a match safe. It’s a waterproof container to hold matches and some striking surface. Thats it. Nothing more complex than that. Old pill bottles work perfect for this task, old-school film canisters were ideal, and there are plenty of plastic made-in-China match safes for sale at the local WalMart camping section.

And although it’s doesnt have to be more complex than that, you can make it a bit more complex. I enjoy nice things, I can afford them, and I like giving myself every margin of advantage I can, so I spent the money and went for the rather lovely Exotec Matchcap XL..

Fairly spendy at about forty bucks. But, this is a case of something that will, literally, last the rest of your life and it does have some nice features. I’m a big fan of lanyard attachment points because any piece of gear critical enough to affect your ability to stay alive is critical enough that you want a way to make dang sure it doesn’t go anywhere if you take a tumble or have to run for your life. Subdued green, waterproof, crushproof, has striking surfaces, and, most importantly, holds the large lifeboat matches as well as regular kitchen matches.

If you’re a little more budget-minded, the UCO Stormproof Match Kit is what I used to carry before I started making grownup money. They are simple plastic screw-top match safes with a striker pad on the side. I very much like them and use them as secondary or tertiary level gear. They’re inexpensive enough to be able to buy a bunch to spread across you and your buddies’ gear, but still a good quality product. The UCO comes with the lifeboat matches that are a big upgrade from your standard wooden kitchen match. More about those later.

The UCO product is everything you need, and nothing you don’t. The striker is mounted externally on the safe, which means it can be damaged or get wet. However, anyone with half a brain will always carry an extra strike inside the match case making sure the striker is protected against rubbing up against the enclosed matches. (That why the extra strikers are in itty bitty plastic bags.)

Not to be outdone..the Zippo people, of cigarette lighter fame, have their own version as well. Their Typhoon Match Kit probably takes the prize for best thought out design, but it’s a brick…about the size of a flash bang grenade. What I really like about this thing is that they put a very generously sized striker pad on the bottom of the case and then its covered with a watertight flip-off cap. Lanyard attachment point? Yup. Capacity? I can get 19 of the supersized matches in there along with an extra striker pad. Its worth pointing out that Zippo also makes a similar product that features a sparker and a storage space for a bunch of tinder blocks.

Or, you can channel your inner Dakin and rail about expensive yuppie survivalist toys and re-use the pill bottles you got with your VA meds. Those will work just as well.

As for matches, that’s gotten a bit interesting as of late. Normally, I’d load up on strike-anywhere wooden matches and stuff a couple strike pads in there as well…just in case. Good to go, and never had a problem. But, just because you haven’t had a problem doesn’t mean you won’t. Wooden kitchen matches work great but theyre still just matches…susceptible to wind and rain as you’re trying to light that fire so you don’t wind up a human popsicle. Enter the lifeboat matches – these things are longer than the wooden kitchen match, thereby necessitating a larger match safe. The claim to fame for the lifeboat match is that once it is ignited, you pretty much can’t put it out until it stops flaring. Think of it as a tiny road flare that burns for about 5-7 seconds. I usually do a mix of lifeboat matches and kitchen matches because 90% of the time the cheap kitchen match works just fine. But when its a dark and stormy night, well, the more expensive lifeboat matches come in handy when all thats standing between you and a Jack London story is your ability to build a fire. And, as I recently discovered, they now make a magnum version of the lifeboat match. These things are huge, and you’ll need a matchsafe that was designed to accommodate them, but theyre definitely the first choice for lighting something up in truly bad weather.

L to R: wooden kitchen match, lifeboat match, magnum lifeboat match, Sharpie for scale.

Now, look, I’m the first to admit that 90% of this is gilding the lily…you can stuff 50 strike anywhere kitchen matches and theire striker into a pill bottle and be squared away for less than a dollar. I did that for years and was never ‘undergunned’ when it came time to turn wood into smoke. But, as I said, I appreciate nice things, I can afford them now, and I like taking advantage of some features that were not previously available in this marketspace.

As I said, I like to carry more than one match safe because I like to have backups for critical stuff. And I like to carry one in my bag, in my outerwear, and, finally, in my pants pocket. For that sort of redundancy, the UCO three-pack of match safes is an easy one-shot purchase. But, whatever you decide to do…go the bargain route of an old pill bottle and some kitchen matches, or the evil yuppie survivalist route of something that actually costs money…do something. Portable fire is always a handy trick to have up your sleeve.

Every now and then I surprise myself when it turns out I am lacking in having something on hand that could rightly be considered a ‘must have’. As it turns out, I don’t have near enough paracord.

Military guys can attest that paracord (or 550 cord) is some pretty handy stuff. Unfortunately, like many bits of cool gear, there are always inferior knockoffs out there that will try to catch the poor fool whose only consideration is price.

Real paracord is, usually, seven strands, each strand comprised of three smaller, within a sheath of olive material. Knockoffs are often a couple strands or even just some thin poly twine. Amazon has no shortage of suppliers of paracord in various colors, so read carefully. I went with this.

I usually just wind my paracord up like a ball of yarn, throw a ‘ranger rubber band”* around it to keep it together, and leave it in my Bag O’ Tricks ™. You never know when a hank of the stuff is going to come in handy. For knocking around in the boonies, you definitely want a bunch of this stuff with you for making shelters, repairing gear, replacing shoelaces, etc. The craftier among us will use their grunts-n-crafts skills to make slings, belts, bracelets, handle covers, and anything else that gives them a convenient way to keep a good bit of paracord handy. Go Google ‘paracord project’ and see the amazing things people can do with an unlimited amount of paracord and time.

It’s a little silly to list all the suggested use for paracord because they are pretty much infinite and situation-dependent. Its accurate to say that your imagination and creativity is about the only limit to the use of the stuff. BUT….you gotta have it to begin with. So, if you’re not already roaming the realm with some of this stuff in your gear, its definitely a worthy addition.

* = Ranger rubber bands are cross sections cut from innertubes to make incredibly tough and cheap rubber bands.