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

You guys remember the Allied Armament 50-round drum for the HK that I wound up trying out in my PTR?

I got an email from the evil genius at AA and he announced that the drum is now available for the FAL platform.

We are now releasing our first batches of the X-FAL 50 round drum magazine for the .308 metric and Inch FAL rifles. This is the same capacity as our other magazines and built completely of light weight metal components, there are no plastic parts. See attached picture for more information, at this time we are going to sell small quantities to the public as we ramp up production and seal distribution contracts.

You can buy the magazines direct from me, please email me @ machinegunparts@gmail.com
or
You can buy them via gunbroker.com : http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=199220834

Haven’t had the opportunity to wring one out (although I know just the FALs to put it to the test with) but if it’s built anything like the one I got for the HK-platform it should be an awesome firearms accessory. If youre totin’ and FAl, check ‘em out.

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

Election Day is done. I have mixed feelings.

At this point, Im not entirely sure that any change of faces in Washington can prevent or reverse the course we seem to be on. I’m more interested in what the lame duck politicians will do. For example, if some politician loses the election he knows that shortly thereafter he’s gonna have to pack up and go home. Sooooo…he gets a free pass to do whatever he wants with no repercussions. Its kind of like being serial killer. After you’ve killed a dozen people whats a few more?

I suppose that its possible that the outgoing politicians could be used to bring in legislation that would normally be politically toxic. Theyre already on their way out so why wouldn’t they bring up stuff that would normally be the political kiss of death?
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Deer hunting has, thus far, been unproductive. I’ve been out thrice and seen a few deer but nothing that wanted to sit still long enough to catch a bullet. Interestingly, according to the game folks, more elk are getting pulled out of the wood than deer. Go figure. Elk would be nice but I never really see any…mostly because Im just not willing to work that hard. Elk hunting requires some serious hiking and climbing…and then getting the thing out of the woods when you finally do get it can be a Herculean task. Its one of those things where you can shoot the beasty at 8am and finish dragging it out in the dark around 11pm. Its serious work.

I’m glad that, at this moment, we don’t actually need the meat. We have a good amount in the freezer and we can always buy more. I enjoy being out in the woods with a gun and bringing home an animal is icing on the meaty cake. Plus its always an excellent opportunity to try new gear.
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The bioweapon is progressing. He’s clocking in around 32# or so. He’s getting big enough that if he wants to go somewhere you need to plant your feet and grip the leash because he can exert some force. Fortunately he’s coming around on his training. Its very difficult to believe that just two months ago he was a little furball in a plastic crate sitting at the ticket counter at the airport yapping for his freedom. He’s gonna be a big dog. And a dangerous dog if we don’t raise him right. He’ll be around 80# with a set of sharp teeth and more than a little intelligence. Something like that needs to be under tight control and well disciplined if he’s going to be of any use to us as anything other than a liability and a food-to-poop machine. Ideally, his primary functions will be early warning and threat deterrence. He’s a wonderful puppy and we’re greatly attached to him but, in the final analysis, we have to remember that he’s just a dog. He’s expendable. He’s a one-shot fire-n-forget defensive tool for an insanely dangerous and violent circumstance. And, because he’s a dog, he’ll be gloriously happy to die defending the pack. Until that time, we pay him upfront by giving him the best life possible.

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

We keep a big plastic container in the cupboard full of sugar for our cooking needs. It was running low..just an inch or two left in it…so I figured I’d refill it from our stock of stored sugar. The sugar that I used was from 2005…so its five years old. I took the paper packaging it was in and dropped the entire thing into a vacuum sealer bag, sealed it up, dated it, and stuck it away on the shelf. Opened it up today and it was perfect, loose, and not caked into a rock-like mass from moisture nor contaminated by insect or environment.

Food storage FTW!

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

Friend of the family, world-class photographer, rightful owner of TheHighRoad, and uber-activist for your RKBA… Oleg Volk was kind enough to send along a little something to yours truly the other day.

They are aftermarket magazines for the HK .308 conversion kits for the G3/91 series of rifles. These are the same conversion kits that have been available through various sources recently..most notably Cheaper Than Dirt. Although the kits come with two fabulously over-engineered OEM .22 magazines it might be nice to have a few more. Sadly, to the best of my knowledge no one was making such a thing. Our buddy Oleg, however, knows better and found these things made by A&D, whom I am having a heck of a time finding anything about.

Nex trip out to the range, I’ll drag the .22 kit along and give these things a workout and report back on how they function. If youre lucky enough to have one of the .22 conversion kits you can appreciate that having some spare mags could be handy.

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

I gotta say, hauling a nine pound rifle and a pack up and down hills all morning and afternoon makes me respect those guys in Afghanistan even more. I get to stop and take a break whenever I want, they don’t. And the deer aren’t laying toepoppers in the ground.
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Election day approaches and I am fascinated and eager to see how it goes. I’m not one of those morons who chants “if voting changed anything they’d make it illegal”. I vote. I figure if you don’t vote then you dont really have as much skin in the game as someone who does. I am especially annoyed at people that bitch about the government and then when given the opportunity to do something about it, don’t. I mean, lemme see if I have this straight…you claim that , by god, you’ll pick up a rifle and a Gadsen flag and start shooting to ‘return this country’ to whatever you think it used to be…but getting out once every few years to vote is too inconvenient??? What the heck, man? I’ve heard all the “[elitists/banksters/powers that be/jooze/illuminati/red lectroids] control things, our votes dont mean anything” spiels and I’m kinda annoyed by them.

I’m one of those weird folks that takes voting pretty seriously. I’m of the mind that voting fraud, voter intimidation, etc, etc, should be one of the most serious crimes and treated as such. I’d prefer if folks voted for the same guy Im voting for, but I’d rather they vote for someone else than they not vote at all.

While Im on the subject, one of my favorite jokes on the subject: Did you hear about the Illinois democrat who said that when he died he wanted to be buried in a Chicago cemetery so he could remain active in the party?

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

There have been a couple of back-patting articles in the news lately about the feds preventing some sort of terror attack by a lone individual. In every article it says the same thing – the guy was being led on by federal agents, they convinced him to do whatever it was that they arrested him for, gave him instructions and dummy materials to build his bomb or device, and then arrested him. The article usually says something like “at no point was he in a position to actually use the device nor was the device functional”. And I think “Yeah…not like that time you guys tried it with that McVeigh fella and he pulled a fast one on you.” (And what I mean by that is that I wouldnt be surprised if the Oklahoma City bombing was one of these things where the feds led someone on, gave them bomb making materials, support and ideas and then planned on swooping in at the last moment like in these recent episodes….except someone screwed up and McVeigh wound up carrying out the plan.)
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So when it was all said and done, I did wind up getting two of the military sleep systems that were being handed out at the event a couple weeks ago. Plan A didnt work so Plan B was the way to go. Plan B? Buy ‘em offa someone who got one. So, it wound up costing me more than Id planned but it still beat the surplus vendors and eBay prices by a hefty margin. Need to wait a few more days until the temperature drops even lower and try them out.

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

Here’s a quote from our compatriot at TSLRF:

Maybe the way we live is strange to people but I don’t need to check which day of the month it is to go buy milk, cereal and eggs.

This is part of the statement that preceded it:

They have a young kid and passed some baby clothes onto us. Actually a lot of baby clothes that Wifey offered to pay for but she just wanted to get rid of them. Wifey asked if she could do anything at all like a ride to the store. The gal said maybe next week after they get paid a ride to the grocery store would be nice.

I remember a time when life was very much like that. I also remember I started thinking ahead more and started doing the things to put me in a position where I (and now we) won’t ever have to defer something like buying food. We’ll either have the cash to buy it, the gold/silver to barter for it, or the guns to kill it (and keep it).

But the notion that someday we’re going to be looking into an empty fridge? Not gonna happen.

As an aside, dissect that statement: Maybe the way we live is strange to people but I don’t need to check which day of the month it is to go buy milk, cereal and eggs.
The notion that living in such a manner as to not be so constrained as to have to defer the purchase of essentials like food …is a strange concept to people. I was talking to the missus the other day and she commented that our household income is a hair under the national median….and we live “like kings”. What does that mean? We always have food. We always have heat. We can afford modest entertainment (like Netflix, Internet and WoW), and we can put away ‘just in case’. And we’re happy with it. We don’t have credit card debt, student loans, car payments or anything except a small (<$50k) mortgage. That means that pretty much any money that comes in can go wherever we want. I agreed with her and told her that when this Recession/Depression/Stagflation/Whatever is finally over we'll probably be in the small group of people who didnt really have to change much of their lifestyle or have their lifestyle impacted too badly. Why? We've always lived within our means. And thats what Ryan at TSLRF is saying...that living within your means seems weird to some but the alternative is pretty ugly.

Im not normally someone who drinks self-help KoolAid but…..we read this guy’s book, listen to his radio show and it makes a difference. So much so that the missus has, when his book is on sale, bought extra copies and given them to her coworkers. Its a very simple message – live within your means, get out of debt, stay out of it, invest and save. Some of those coworkers she gave books to took the advice to heart, some didnt. Go listen to the guy’s shows (or podcasts) and if you can pickup a used copy of his book, read it. might not work for everyone but it works for us.

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

This link was brought to my attention.
I think I may have to get one of these.

It’s not just rebels in Afghanistan that love the Hilux. “The Toyota Hilux is everywhere,” says Andrew Exum, a former Army Ranger and now a fellow of the Center for a New American Security. “It’s the vehicular equivalent of the AK-47. It’s ubiquitous to insurgent warfare. And actually, recently, also counterinsurgent warfare. It kicks the hell out of the Humvee.”

And, of course, a link to Top Gear where they left it in the ocean for five hours, set it on fire, drove it through buildings, into trees, down stairs, and basically couldnt destroy it. This may be the idea candidate for an End O’ The World rig.

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

Good news is I have a few (five, actually) of the Glock knives left.
Bad news..no olive drab, instead we have the tactical black ones.
They’re $1 more than the olive drab ones. No idea why, they just are…my vendor couldnt explain it either.
I also have about two dozen of the #1010 Pelican cases left and if you havent gotten any I recommend them highly. Heck, play it smart and get both the Pelican cases and the Glock knives.

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

Egads! I just discovered that big game gun season opens this Saturday. The first week of hunting season is like Beirut during the busy times…….lotsa guys prowling around with guns and the genuine chance for some friendly-fire (or not-so-friendly fire) incidents. However, the nice things about opening week is that it is usually either-sex, either-species of deer. So…your odds are better. “If it’s brown, knock it down”. So I have until the end of the week to get my gear set out. Not a problem, I’d been screwing around with the new Kifaru bag getting it ready and loading it up. I usually only stay out for the day but I like to be prepared in case I get off course and wind up having to spend the night. Whats the gear look like? Here’s a list off the top of my head:

MiniMag LED flashlight
Paracord
German surp poncho
Kifaru woobie poncho liner
Heatsheets bivvy sack [1]
Heatsheets blanket [1]
Esbit stove and tablets [2]
Vacuum-sealed package of matches, firestarter and firesteel. Usually a spare pack of waterproofed matches are I’m my pockets or elsewhere. Always prepare as if you’ll be separated from your gear and all you’ll have is what’s in your pockets.
Two hand flares
Glock knife
First aid kit with Israeli compress/trauma bandage and QuickClot
Compass
Whistle
Platypus hydration bladder – Im really liking the versatility of this. Replace the tube assembly with a cap and it becomes a soft water bottle.
Canteen cup
Waterproof paper and pen – (Because if I have to leave a note sayig where I am and where Im heading it would be nice if it was still legible after the morning frost.)
Cyalume light stick

And a few other odds and ends that escape me (like about 15′ of rope and a game hoist).

[1] = I am impressed with both of these products. They are light, compact and inexpensive. They take up virtually no space in my bag but are a ‘force multiplier’ when used in conjunction with the Woobie. The Heatsheets products block wind (rather important) and reflect heat but the layered with the Woobie underneath, the Woobie will provide a nice layer of insulation as well.

[2] = I need to work up a post about an amazing water bottle, cup, carrier, stove, fuel tab combo that I use that is the absolute shiznits for functionality. Later.

Basically, enough for me to construct a shelter, park a fire in front of it, climb into something warm and wait for search-n-rescue guys to find me. Or, alternatively, let me sleep through the night so I can ’self rescue’ the next day.

It may sounds like a lot of stuff but its all quite compact and, other than the Woobie and poncho, the whole thing takes up about as much space as a football. But its those little things that keep small incidents from becoming Big Hairy Deals. Most of it fits into a claymore-sized MOLLE pouch that goes in my pack.

So, once the pack is..uhm..packed, its time to move onto other things. The PTR is still sighted in from last years Bambifest, although Ill take it to the range anyway because, well, why not? Then I’ll dig out the wool pants (and lemme tell ya, wool pants are marvelous outdoor clothing. Not lightweight but if you like to walk slowly and sit for long spells they are the way to keep warm), the layers, the orange hat and vest and get my gear laid out. Oh, need to get the license too. And I’ll be dragging my never-shot-a-deer-before buddy along with is DSA FAL. We’re going to make an interesting pair out in the woods with our evil ‘assault rifles’.