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

Shotguns are a weird piece of gear. Everyone admits theyre nasty business at close range yet they are usually the last class of firearm to be restricted by a government. Even in places where gun laws are tight you can still own a shotgun even if you cant own a handgun or a rifle. (And, yes, Im aware that in some places shotguns per se are not prohibited but pumps or semi autos are.)

For me shotguns have two purposes. Primarily as a close-in defensive weapon and then secondarily as a game getter.

Why anyone would choose a shotgun for defense is a little bit of a mystery. An M4-style AR is no bigger, holds more ammo, and is more accurate at any distance than the common 12 ga. room broom. “But I just have to point it in the general direction and the pellets will hit the bad guy!”..eh, not really true at short range. Maybe at thirty yards but the inside of my house is a bit shorter than that. And at longer distances, say 50 yards, Im going to get more energy on target with an AR or AK.

I remember reading somewhere about a fella in Iraq, I think he was a military prison guard or somesuch, who carried a shotgun and large quantity of shells figuring it would be just the ticket in that environ. The prison, I believe, was assaulted and in the firefight he came to very quickly realize that when everyone is running around with Ak’s and M4’s the guy with the 8-shot shotgun is at something of a disadvantage. “Curled up in a ball” is what I read but maybe that was just stretching it. Then theres the stories from WW1 (or was it WW2?) about the troops with shotguns shooting German grenades out of the air when the grenades were lobbed at them. Shotguns have a very colorful history in the armed forces.

There used to be some more interesting guns – the USAS12 (a 12 ga. AR styled gun) and the dramatic-looking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armsel_Striker. Both were reclassified by the goons at ATFE as ‘destructive devices’ making them a bit of a headache to own. Lately the 12 ga. AK’s have been getting popular, esp. now that drums are available for them. For sheer volume of pellets one of those AK’s would be tough to top. (Although YouTube has a video of a fella with a belt fed 12 ga. And the Chinese apparently have a belt fed .410.)

Shotguns do have some unique attributes though that make them worthwhile. First and foremost, they evoke a pretty visceral reaction from whomever theyre pointed at. While having any gun pointed at you is pretty unnerving theres something about the gaping maw of a shotgun muzzle that lets the target know its entering into a new dimension of trouble. Shotguns have the ability to shoot ‘specialty’ rounds such as blanks, rubber buckshot, bean bags, Taser rounds, flares and a handful of other marginally useful ammo. The shotgun is getting mileage overseas as a door breacher using special shells. Police departments usually have some rubber buckshot around for breaking up crowds. Someone somewhere makes whatever exotic shell youre looking for.

I keep the shotgun around because it’s a cheap gun to relegate to dedicated house duty, has a bit of authority, and is quite reliable.

For the average pump shotgun theres two names to know – Remington and Mossberg. There are other pump guns out there but either of these two will be your best choice. Autoloaders are out there as are single-shots, side by sides and even lever-action shotguns but for simplicity, reliability, durability, capability and versatility the pump gun is the way to go. While there are some very respectable autos out there the pump gun has the advantage of being able to shoot virtually any shell that fits the chamber…some specialty ammo (tear gas, blanks, etc) may not have enough power to work an auto but they’ll shoot just fine out of a pump gun.

Remington makes their classic 870 and Mossberg offers a dazzling number of variations of their rugged 500-series. Either brand is a winner. The Mossberg is less money, the Remington is easier to find accessories for. Mossberg has a bigger selection of ‘tactical’ shotguns, Remington has a bigger aftermarket base. Personal preference. We went with the Remingtons because of their ubiquity…theyre everywhere. However, I don’t pass up any bargain Mossbergs that cross my path. They can sometimes be found for $125-150 which makes them pretty hard to let go by.

Mossberg usually offers a package that comes with a short ‘riot’ barrel as well as a longer hunting barrel. Like the Remington, the Mossberg barrels are easily and quickly changed out. Winchester used to have some decent pumpguns but for one reason or another I never really cared for them. The old Model 97 and Model 12 guns are great but good luck with parts and accessories. Remington offered their Model 10 pump for a number of years and while it’s a nice gun as well but like, the older Winchesters, parts can be a problem. None of those mentioned, as far as I know, take 3” shells. Browning ran off some copies of the Model 12 and perhaps theyre a better choice…I have no experience with the Browning copy.

Once in a while someone asks my opinion on a shotgun and I pretty much tell them to get the Rem 870 or the Mossberg 500…either one will serve very well in tough times. I like Mossbergs tang-mounted safety, but I like Remingtons magazine tubes that accept extensions. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

Shotgun ammo is pretty straightforward. Buckshot and slugs have their adherents and, quite honestly, at inside-the-house ranges pretty much any shotgun load will put the hurt on the bad guys. At across-the-room and down-the-hall ranges even birdshot doesn’t spread out very much. Excellent ‘mythbusting’ about shotgun ammo performance can be had at The Box O’ Truth…a website that I recommend to anyone who wants to know “Will [gun/caliber/bullet] really do that?” (Especially telling is the performance of the .410 pistols that seem to be the rage these days. Watch the videos and…judge…for yourself their effectiveness or lack of it.)

What about outside the home? What if youre in Katrina-land and youre defending your business or your neighborhood from angry mobs and looters? Well, we do see shotguns in the hands of the cops at these sorts of events more than we see them with rifles so maybe there’s something to that. Still, I think that if I were stuck in some sort of Haitian earthquake scenario I would be better served with my AK or AR than with the shotgun. The only real advantage I see is if I wanted to break up a crowd by skipping pellets across the pavement or shooting non-lethal shells.

I stick with the 12 ga. simply because it is the most common shotgun shell gauge around. Sure 20 and 16 gauge are lighter and more pleasant to shoot. And, yes, anything a 12 will do a 10 will do better, further, harder and heavier. However if you walk into a hardware store, Walmart, gun shop, police armory, or wrecked pickup truck I’m pretty sure you’ll find 12 ga. ammo to be more common than all the other ones. Additionally, many guns and specialty rounds are only available in 12 ga. If you just cant handle the 12 ga. the 20 seems a reasonable alternative. The 16 ga. isn’t nearly as widely represented as the 20 ga., and although the 16 ga. gives better performance than the 20 ga. The availability of ammo for these guns is a factor.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I want a shotgun and some ammo for defense. Skip the theory. Tell me what to buy.” Okay, head down to the local GunMart and get either a Mossberg 500 or a Rem 870 in 12 ga. with the shortest barrel they offer (18-20”). Buy a few boxes of Remington buckshot and slugs (2 ¾” is fine, get 3” if you feel like being a stud). Pick up a case of the cheapest hunting loads they have…usually its #7 shot or something. Go to the range and use the cheap stuff for practicing loading, gun handling, and getting a feel for shooting the gun. When that’s done try your hand with the buckshot and slugs to get an idea of how they feel and where they shoot. Clean your gun, go home, stuff a half dozen rounds of buckshot in the magazine, call it a day. Accessories like a SideSaddle ammo carrier are nice to have as is a mounted tactical light. The usual gold bead front sight is pretty adequate but if you can get a gun with rifle sights you’ll find them more familiar to use.

If you want to take the plunge and go for the undeniably combative, Mossbergs 590-series military style shotguns are the epitome of brutal, gritty encounter-stopping shotguns. The 590’s have parkerized finishes, protected sights, hold plenty of ammo, and even have a bayonet lug…they are the street brawler of shotguns.

What about those pistol grip shotguns with no stock? Well, they cant really be aimed, and firing one from the hip can be done just as easily on one with a stock. For storage they save some space but think about this – when you hold one the distance between the pistol grip and your elbow is where the stock would normally be, right? So when you shoot one, how is it any more compact than if the stock was on it? They look pretty butch and maybe, maybe, maybe theyre the ticket for really tight quarters but otherwise they take away from accurate fire and effective recoil control. The old style top-folding Remington stocks wobble and develop quite a bit of play after a while. The Butler Creek side folding stocks seem to work quite well, though.

Single and double-barrel shotguns are fine guns for sport and can be used defensively as well. They are, however, not my first choice and while inexpensive, simple and light they suffer from the obvious limitation of shell capacity. Maybe you’d never need to fire more than one or two shells in anger but if you did need to youre definitely going to wish you had a different gun. Most pumps hold 5+1 and the more dedicated guns hold 6,7,8+1 depending on barrel length. Contrast this with firing barrel one, firing barrel two, break open gun, pull two shells from pocket, drop one in each chamber, close gun, repeat two more times versus pull trigger, pump action, repeat six times. If the single or double is the only gun you’ve got, well, you dance with the one that brung ya….

Gimmicky stuff of marginal value: those slings that have shell loops on them. They look cool but when you have twenty rounds of buckshot hanging off your sling its going to make shooting accurately a bit more challenging….all that weight swinging around pulling at the gun as you come to stop to take a quick aimed shot. Better off with a belt pouch full of shells or some other convenient carry method.

Bandoleers hold a lot of ammo and theres no doubt they look pretty cool but Im not convinced of their utility. It’s a classic look but I think I’d be embarrassed to show up at a shootout looking like Pancho Villa. If youre going to carry fifty shotgun shells pack them loose in a satchel or one of the large belt pouches.

SpeedFeed stocks hold a couple extra shells in the buttstock and Ive read mixed things about them. After a while they seem to wear a bit and the shells come flying out of the stock under recoil or they don’t come out at all except with lots of annoying fiddling. A stock cuff with a few shell loops would probably serve better.

Flechette rounds seem like a cool idea and when used in something like an artillery round they really are pretty cool…a thousand steel darts whipping through the air shredding everything in their path. Scaled down for a shotgun shell you have a small amount of lightweight projectiles providing minimal shocking power with unreliable accuracy. Looks cool, sounds cool, probably not really cool.

But, like everything else I post, these are subjective opinions. I’ve got a bit of experience with pretty much everything here and I’ve given more than a little thought to the topic. My final opinion, and your mileage may vary, is that if youre looking for a shotgun for defensive purposes you could wrap it all up in an hour at your local gunhsop with a Rem 870 or a Mossberg 500. If you have an old Ithaca 37, Browning A5, or Benelli M3 and they work for you, keep them. For my own needs I’ve found the Rem/Mossy pump guns to be an affordable, rugged way to go and have no problem recommending them.

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

One of the local shops had ammo cans on sale. Six bucks, regardless of size. Well, I dont actually need any more ammo cans but you never really know what you need until you have them. And for six bucks youd have to be insane not to pick up the uber-useful 40mm cans. (Note that the cans may not actually be used for 40mm but theyve come to be called ‘40mm ammo cans’.)

Nice thing about the big ones is that they are airtight, watertight, man-portable and pretty much impervious to anything. ideal for transporting gear through snow, rain, filth and apocalyptic landscapes. Sure theyre a wee bit heavy but thats the proce for nigh-invulnerability.

They also had a few other odd sizes as well and I got a few samples of each. I need a comprehensive field guide to identifying the various ammo cans. I did a quick Google but found no such guide.

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

This is for folks who want to follow the drama over at the Cheap Tree Rat’s board.

Apparently, depending on whose side of the story you want to believe, the owner of the board (or members of his group) gated off a road/trail that, while leading to nowhere and that almost everyone agrees has no value, is (possibly) still town/village property. Folks attempting to use it are (again, according to some reports) intimidated or harassed.

Anyway, I’ve been following the back and forth between them and the Craftbury Selectboard. You can find copies of the minutes of their meetings here. As well you can find some letters to the editor about the affair here. A few more articles.

I post it because so far I havent found any online resources following this whole affair and youre certainly not going to find any over at the Tree Rat’s.

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

This legislation provides for the State Treasurer to accept an Idaho manufactured silver medallion and bar for the payment of fees and taxes. First the State Treasurer will sell these silver medallions and bars to the public at their market value tied to the daily market price of the U.S. Mint’s one troy, bullion style, silver American Eagle. This silver American Eagle will also be accepted by the Treasurer for the payment of fees and taxes. The medallion and bars will be designed by the medallion committee of legislators already referenced in Idaho Code at 671223(3). The initial funds to begin this program may come from presales of medallions and bars, from grants or from the General Fund.

I’m slightly ashamed that Montana didnt come up with this first but Idaho has always been a little more..uhm…’intolerant’…of .gov shenanigans than Montana.
(more linky)

The notion here is that if we get outrageous inflation and the currency devalues, turning the twenty grand you have in the bank into toilet paper, you can still protect your home from the tax man by paying in silver which will have, most likely, appreciated to the point where you can use it to save the farm from the clutches of the property tax enforcers. (some linky)

Nice theory, although I think that if things devolved into the currency being so worthless that you need to pay your taxes in silver (or gold) things have also probably hit a point where its bad enough little details like property taxes are going to be a back-burner issue.

If Idaho passes this thing and starts cranking out their own SpudBucks I will definitely be buying a bunch. Last buncha guys that tried stamping a silver ‘trade unit’ got their nuts in the wringer from the Feds. But, there is certainly legal precedent for states issuing their own currency so perhaps this’ll work just fine. In my opinion if Fred The Grocer will take 1 oz. of silver instead of a twenty dollar bill for my groceries then who has a problem with that? (Well, yeah, the IRS but is anyone shedding tears for them? Didnt think so.)

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

Short version: Two and have a nice day.

Long version:
Census form arrived today. Someone pointed out to me that the census, which we are told to fill out to make sure our good government apportions things correctly, has kinda been slightly misused in the past. Specifically, when the US sent American citizens of Japanese descent to inland concentration camps (and thats what a camp used to concentrate a particular demographic is – a concentration camp) how did they know where to find all those Americans with yellow skin and funny names? From the census, apparently.

Im not saying that if I fill out the census Im going to wind up in a cattle car on a siding leading to a barbed wire encampment. I’m saying that .gov needs to know exactly one thing – how many folks live here. Race? Unimportant. That whole 3/5ths thing is no longer in effect, so whether its two Anglo-Americans or two African-Americans or two Ballistic-Americans it doesnt matter. What? You say it does matter for the sake of drawing up political districts? Dude, you think I support gerrymandering? The notion that we should draw up a political district to encompass a particular demographic in order to give them more voting power? That’s obscene. I categorically will not be a part of something that…corrupt.

So the census form sitting here gets one simple answer: two. If they send someone to the door (whose GPS coords are being logged these days by the census takers, as I read elsewhere) I’m just telling them I’m the house sitter, come back in six weeks.

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

Pretty much every book on preparedness goes on at length about the utility and versatility of the .22 LR cartridge. Its promoted as ideal for small game, training new shooters, pest control, dissuading bad guys and ‘plinking’. I think probably every one of us started their shooting careers with the little .22…and that’s probably as it should be.

I enjoy shooting although, honestly, my ‘recreational’ and ‘goofing around’ shooting has almost disappeared in the last few years. Now my shooting is mostly about upkeep and refining defensive skills, evaluating guns and ammo, hunting, sighting in guns or other serious stuff.

Nothing wrong with that, of course…the world is a different place than it was five or ten years ago so naturally my focus is going to be on different things as well. Once in a while, though, I do get nostalgic for when I used to sling a rifle and some ammo, get on the motorcycle, drive out of town and spend the day wandering around a pasture shooting gophers.

Anyway….back to the ubiquitous .22.

For the .22 rifle everyone seems to, at some point, champion the Ruger 10/22. Ruger’s little autoloader has been around for a little short of fifty years. In that time it’s pretty much become the benchmark of .22 semiauto rifles. It isn’t the most accurate, it isn’t the most elegant, and it isn’t the most expensive. It is, however, the most versatile and rugged .22 that youre probably ever going to find. Aftermarket parts are more available for the 10/22 than any other .22 rifle. Folding stocks, aftermarket barrels, magazines, sights, etc, etc…theres parts out there to turn your 10/22 into whatever it is you envision it to be.

Like most of Rugers guns, the 10/22 is simple, has modular subassemblies, is durable beyond reason, and priced pretty affordably. Plus, assuming you clean it every so often, shoot decent ammo, and use good magazines, theyre as reliable as can be.

If someone said to me “Look, I’ve only got a limited amount of money. I need a .22 that will take abuse like a White House press secretary, never break, always have parts available in case it does break, be easy to maintain and clean, and be adaptable to different situations…whaddya recommend?” I’d hand ‘em the 10/22 and point them to the internet for accessories.

Other .22’s? For a bolt action .22 I am a huge fan of the Marlins. I am especially a fan of their tube-feed bolt guns. I usually don’t care for detachable magazines in a non-defensive fun since its just one more thing to get lost, so I prefer the tube magazines over the detachable ones. The tube magazines, however, are not without their own problems. Dent one and you may have some feeding problems. I don’t mind the detachable mag for the Ruger because the magazines are ubiquitous…I can get them anywhere.

I’m also a fan of the CZ rifles and I would very much like to get one o their long-barrelled Lux rifles to play with. For ‘serious’ gopher shooting I think they or one of the new Savages would be tough to beat. Savages AccuTrigger system has a lot of appeal and if I were choosing between the CZ and the Savage I think my head would explode at having to decide between those two fine guns.

What don’t I care for in a .22 rifle? Remington autoloaders that get orphaned pretty quickly as Big Green changes designs and discontinues models after only a few years of weak sales. The AR-7 takedown rifles are a great idea and once in a blue moon you get a good one but otherwise they are just trouble. If you want a takedown rifle either get a 10/22 with an aftermarket takedown barrel/stock kit or, as a second choice, get a Marlin Papoose. Personally, a Ruger 10/22 with a Butler Creek sidefolding stock and a short 16” barrel is about as compact as you can get. If you want to go even smaller, get Rugers 10/22 pistol, the Challenger. I hear excellent things about it for accuracy, most parts will interchange, the mags will interchange, and if you feel like doing the paperwork you can make it fit a side folding stock and make a cute little .22 PDW out of it.

In pistols, the choices are a little clearer. The Ruger 10/22 is the most common autoloader in rifles and I would say their Mk II and Mk III semiauto pistols are the most common in the way of handguns. I prefer the Mk II models over the newer Mk III because I dislike many of the new safety features on the Mk III. Like the 10/22, the pistols have a huge following of aftermarket parts and magazines.

Other .22 semiauto pistols worth a mention, in my opinion, are the old S&W 422 series and their variants. Extremely flat and lightweight I think they made excellent ‘kit guns’ for tossing into backpacks and tackleboxes. They haven’t been made in about ten or fifteen years but they were excellent little guns.

Im not usually a fan of .22 versions of fullsize pistols except as used for economical training and practice. For example, why carry a 1911 in .22 except to practice your handling skills? The nice thing about .22s are that they are light and easy to carry, so if Im wandering around the hills I’d rather have a small, compact, light .22 than one that is unnecessarily bulky and heavy. However, for practicing sight picture acquisition, move-shoot drills, etc, etc, I am a big fan of .22 caliber full-scale guns that duplicate the centerfire versions. Or, if available, conversion kits.

For .22 revolvers, pretty much any of the big name brands will be good. A Smith or Ruger or even a Taurus would probably be my first choices. I would stay away from ‘bargain’ brands like imported stuff from EAA or other importers. The quality, especially in the timing of the revolvers, just doesn’t seem to be there.

For ammo, I really like the bulk Federal stuff. I get fewer misfires with the Federal in automatics than any other brand, The Remington, in my experience, misfires too often for my tastes. However, in a bolt gun the Remington seems to perform just as well in terms of reliability. Still, any difference in price is niggling so I just stock up on the Federal stuff. The only exception is that I find my Beretta 21A pocketgun prefers CCI Stingers. I keep a couple hundred rounds around for that gun, but otherwise we just keep the Federal ammo.

Two is one and one is none, so we have several 10/22 rifles. One is in a Butler Creek folding stock, one is a special limited edition stainless with a longer-than-normal barrel, and then theres a couple older wood-stocked ones that are just for knocking around. For folding stocks, get the Butler Creek…theyre rugged, lock up solidly, and work well. For magazines, the Butler Creek steel lip mags are the best, in my opinion. Theyre a bit more expensive than the plastic Hot Lips magazine they also produce, but they’re worth it. I had some BC Hot Lips mags that I bought before the ban in 1994 and they just started acting up a few years ago. The steel lipped mags wont have feeding problems after a decade of use. However, because of pricing, I stock up on the Hot Lips mags. To be fair, I only had a few of the Hot Lips mags during the ban so they got used quite a bit. Im sure that if I had five or six mags to spread my usage over they would have lasted longer.

Succinctly, if I had none of these things and was going to tromp down to the gun store, my shopping list would look like this:
Ruger 10/22, blued or stainless, doesn’t really matter
Ruger Mk II or Mk III, I prefer stainless for the pistol
A dozen Butler Creek 10/22 mags
A dozen Ruger-branded Mk II or MkII mags (they are not interchangeable, so be careful)
Butler Creek side folder stock
.22 Bore Snake
Sling
Holster (careful, the front sight blade on the Mk II/III can hook the inside of a holster and make the gun impossible to remove. Kydex is a good choice here.)
As many bricks of .22 Federal as I can afford

What about the .17 and the .22 Mag? Both are great cartridges and ballistically superior to the .22 LR. However, both are much more expensive and not nearly as common as .22 LR ammo. When I acquire guns I try to make sure its in something I can find ammo for whether Im in a MiniMart in Montana, a hardware store in Houston or a yard sale in Yakima. No doubt about it, theres better rimfire cartridges than the .22 LR in terms of ballistics and performance but none easier to find or as widely supported.

Is the .22 a defensive cartridge? I suppose, inasmuch as any cartridge can be used for such tasks. Detractors will point out that a fella can do a lot of damage before even noticing he’s been shot with one, and supporters will point out that getting shot a few times with a .22 is far more damaging than not getting shot at all. Mel Tappan thought that the .22 was handy for responding to bad guys laying siege against one’s retreat…a volley of return fire from the lowly .22 might make the bad guys think that their victims are poorly armed and thus lure the bad guys closer in for a vicious followup with more powerful weapons. Interesting theory. Truth is, the gun you have with you is far better than not having a gun at all. If all you have is a pocket .22 youre still far ahead of the fella with no gun at all. However, it’s never, ever my first choice if I thought something bad was imminent.

Is the .22 a hunting cartridge? Many folks say that its great for quietly poaching deer. Plenty of dead deer out there, no two ways about it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good first choice for deer hunting. If I were on a plane that went down in Alaska and all I had to forage with was a .22 that’s one thing but fortunately I have better alternatives available to me.

But the .22 is versatile enough that you could protect yourself with it if you had to and you could knock down a deer with it if you had to, but it wouldn’t be easy, it wouldn’t be a good idea, and it would never be a preferred way of doing things. But…if you had to….

If you have a .22 rifle and pistol you like, keep it. Theres plenty of alternatives to my favorites out there. I’m just telling you what I like and why.

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

Whats up with freeze drieds?

Those arent the exact words but its the gist of an email I got. For better or worse, I’m calling this ‘Freeze drieds 101′.

You guys know what sublimation is? Its the transition from solid to gas, skipping the liquid stage. Like water – When its really freaking cold its a solid called “ice”, when it gets warmer it becomes a liquid called “water” and when it gets even hotter it becomes a gas we call it “steam’” or “vapor”. Freezedried food is dried food that had the water removed through sublimation – they freeze the food and the water in it becomes ice crystals, then the temperature is brought up and the ice directly becomes gas and leaves the food. The result is the majority of the water is removed from the food.

Its more complicated than that though…the whole process takes place in a vaccuum. But, essentially, FD food has virtually all the moisture removed without the moisture leaving as a liquid.

The practical upshot of this is that your food retains its flavors and appearance and, with the moisture removed, is much lighter in weight and a far less hospitable environment for the nasties that degrade food over time.

To use FD food, you normally add water and let the food soak up the moisture that replaces what was taken out. If youve got water and something to heat it with (although you can use cold water if you have to) youre good to go. You can, of course, eat FD food ‘as is’ like a crunchy snack if you are so inclined. FD strawberries and other fruits are amazingly yummy.

So, the FD food has far less weight and a longer shelf life than before it went through the process…making it an excellent candidate for long term storage. Most outfits then package the stuff in either foil pouches or #10 cans (usually with a neutral gas like nitrogen in the can instead of room air). Mountain House, the folks who have been doing this longet than most outfits, rates the pouches at a minimum of seven years shelf life and the #10 cans at a minimum of 25-30 years. Assuming that you store the stuff in the classic “Cool, dark place” and the packaging is not damaged, the real-world shelf life probably bumps up a few notches to “forever”.

So the advantages are:
Maintains flavor/texture/color – Rehydrated properly, the FD’s are probably the tastiest long-term storge food you’ll ever eat.
Indefinite shelf life – Needs no explanation.
Light weight – If youre going to grab-n-go or live out of a pack then the reduced weight is a big plus.

Disadvantages:
Price – Theyre expensive. No two ways about it. Probably the most expensive form of long-term storage food out there.
Size – While weight is reduced, the actual bulk of the food is not.
Availability – Not everything you want or like is available.

So, like anything else, theres some good and some not so good. If you were going to assemble your long-term storage supply of food from nothing but FD’s you’d have to spend some serious coin. The FD’s are, however, an excellent addition to a long-term storage plan that incorporates all the other long-term methods and foods – dehydrated, wet canned, dry canned, frozen, etc.

Some folks think that the more expensive MRE’s and FD’s are ‘yuppie survivalist’ food and, by god, a real survivalist stores rice and beans in empty two-liter pop bottles he salvaged and cleaned out…I can eat for a month for sixty-five cents! Hey, I’m all about long term, inexpensive food. Rice and beans beats the crap out of starving to death, a large portion of the Third World subsists on rice and beans. But…no one eats rice and beans every day at every meal if they dont have to. And while the Third World may subsist on that stuff that doesnt mean much unless you think a Third World standard of living is the way to go. Its worth $40 to me to be able to crack open a #10 can of pork chops or chicken and turn rice and beans into something a little more appetizing. Plus, as I’ve said before, there’s no award for the person who makes it through the apocalypse with the least expense.

Do you need FD food? Depends on what your plans are. I like the portability and convenience. A weeks worth of food, three meals a day, fits into a box 12×18×8. One box like that would take the sting out of getting caught in a Chilean earthquake. The small single-serving pouches are excellent for packs, hunting camps and vehicle storage. The long shelf life means that I can have actual honest-to-Crom animal protein (meat!) with no regard for refrigeration.

For me FD food is a component in a ‘well rounded’ food storage plan – canned, dried, freeze dried, MRE’s and frozen. If theres a circumstance that prevents us from being able to prepare one kind of food, we have another that doesnt need preparation. If theres a circumstance that requires us to leave in a hurry we have a food that lends itself to portability. If circumstance allow us to stay in place with relatively normal cooking ability, we have food for that.

My suggestion to you is that if you want to try the freezedrieds, buy single serving pouches in various flavors and find one you like, then buy it in larger quantities or in the #10 cans. Also buy foods that can be mixed with other storage foods to create more palatable dishes. Freezedried ground beef with stored bulk rice and canned tomatoes and spice makes a meal of Spanish rice that is probably going to be far more appetizing than a plain bowl of steamed rice and cooked beans…again.

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

The economy, unsurprisingly, continues to sit at the top of the “Biggest Threat” list. Theres a saying that theres no situation so bad that it cannot be made worse by government. Unfortunately, I think that’s going to be exactly the case. Its hard to miss all the we’re-here-to-help-you programs that the .gov is lining up. And while the powers that be are quick to proclaim that they’re there to “help the working class” and that “People are hurting now” theyre awfully quiet about the financial repercussions of throwing all this money around. It’s a bit dated, but Hazlitt’s book “Economics in One Lesson” says that economics is the study of “looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups”. Simply put, Hazlitt says economics is saying “Yeah, but what happens AFTER that?”

I wonder if anyone is examining the consequences (or fallout) of some of these actions that are being undertaken. I know that there are folks far more learned than I who have a better handle on whats going on and what the consequences will be, but to me it looks awfully discouraging. All of these programs, these benefits, the bailouts, the subsidies, the ‘rebates’ and ‘stimulus money’….they have to be paid for somehow.

Whats this got to do with the price of ammo in Montana? I just don’t see how the economy can do anything except either stay the same or get worse for the immediate future. (Immediate future meaning the next year or two.) And, of course, being convinced that things are going to either stay the same or get worse means that, for me, the obvious thing to do is keep working on the assumption that at any moment there could be a bout of unemployment, bank holidays, inflation or similar tumult.

Best defense? Keep spending down, hold onto cash, go long on durable goods and long shelf-life items, stock up on food and anything else you wouldn’t want to spend money on if you lost your job.

I originally had a post I was working on about the state of the economy and why a person needs to take precautions against it and the more I typed the more convoluted things seemed. Im a big fan of teaching by example, analogy and parable so lemme just go with that. I figure most folks are smart enough to get the idea with having it spoonfed to them.

Not often, but once in a while, when we’re out shopping the missus will ask “Why are we getting that? Don’t we have [amount] of that already?” After all, we have some fairly large amounts of toilet paper, paper towels, soap, toothpaste, cleaning agents, rice, pasta, meat, canned goods, fuel, ammo, blankets, etc, etc. stocked away. Do we really need more?

Every item we have on hand, right now, is one less item we have to buy later. And if later is a time when our incomes are severely reduced or wiped out then all those things we have stored up will be one less thing we have to buy with the precious dollars we have left. The 50# of chicken in the freezer, the extra pair of shoes in the closet, the hundred rolls of toilet paper in storage is less money to spend when you don’t know where the next dollar is coming from.

(The notion of stocking up on the durable and long-term goods to beat price increases, infaltion, etc. is covered in “The Alpha Strategy” which is worth reading.)
Simply put, the best defense against the uncertain future is to have the things you need in place and in quantity so that you aren’t faced with ugly decisions later on about eating versus paying utilities.

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

Remember the ALICE pack and accessories? Time was, that was state-of-the-art field gear for your average survivalist and I guarantee you that there are still folks out there with bunkers full of ALICE packs and accessories. I’ve no military experience with the ALICE gear but I have gone on a few backpacking trips with it and it seemed good for the task, although a bit heavy. I’m always willing to trade light weight for durability though.

The newer MOLLE and MOLLE II gear is what is currently being used. It’s big advantage is that its a bit more modular through use of PALS webbing. The ALICE system did let you incorporate some modular components (pouches, etc) into the system but nothing like the huge variety the PALS system offers.

,Rawles had a link on his website a few weeks back to a place that was having a sale on brand new unissued MOLLE pack systems and components. I was curious since I only had a few ALICE packs and frames on hand and finding new ones (real ones, not the made in China knockoffs) was getting tricky and expensive. I ordered one complete pack with the idea that if it was any good I’d get together with the local LMI and order the six-pack.

The pack arrived a few days ago and it is, indeed, absolutely unused. Its a decent size for general use and I’ll be playing with it a bit as summer approaches. Since Ive no experience with one, I figured the person with experience would be someone in the military who has been using them recently. I asked the fellow blogger over at TSLRF for some thoughts on the MOLLE packs, esp. compared to the ALICE packs, and he was nice enough to oblige. I recommend you read his post on the subject.

Now, I already have several good backpacks including some stuff from Tactical Tailor and Kifaru, so why the interest? Well, its pretty simple – I wanted some backpacks for dedicated-use, low-activity items. What that means is, if I keep a pack with all my winter survival gear to keep in the truck during the winter I dont want to tie up a $300 pack with it. Since the pack is going to be sitting in storage for 6 months outta the year, why tie up that kinda money? At the same time, if I do need the pack in a critical situation I’d like it to have at least enough quality and ruggedness to get me outta the situation Im in. So…these packs are perfect for that. I can set them up as wintergear packs, BOB’s, whatever and not have a huge amount of cash tied up in packs that may very well see minimal use but still have good quality.

Another attraction, and this should be obvious to those with our particular outlook on things, is that these things are cheap enough to buy enough to have a ‘group standard’ pack or a very healthy supply of redundant spares. Nothing kills like overkill.

So, if you think you might have an interest in these things, check out the links.

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

Couple things of interest:

Population Explorer – Select ‘Draw Freehand Shape’ and create a box around your target area. Double click to deactivate the shape tool. Then select ‘Analyze shape’. It gives you the population and population density within that shape. So..wanna see if that new property you were looking at is as remote as youd like? Heres a tool to do that. Not sure how accurate it is, but its fun to play with.

In a turnabout, police are the good guys in post-quake Haiti – Apparently when the cops arent being paid and have to rely on the kindness of strangers they stop being corrupt. Imagine that.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — In the hours and days after the city crumbled and the enfeebled government of Haiti disappeared from public view, a remarkable thing happened here: The police showed up for work.

New Orleans PD could take a lesson from this, I’m sure.