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

The addition of another Glock to the stable means that the aggregate number of magazines takes a hit as well as the guns-to-parts ratio. Both need to be addressed as soon as possible.

For me, magazines work on a magazines:gun ratio. If I have three guns and 24 magazines, I see that as an 8:1 ratio. I really, really prefer a higher ratio than that. Something along the lines of 20:1. Someone will, naturally, say that they have five 1911’s and have thirty magazines and that’s plenty. Hey man, whatever works for you. When I buy magazines with an eye towards the future I think of it in terms of how many I may need to last me the rest of my life. Thirty years with no chance of resupply? Quite possible. So, theres no such thing as too much. If the old Assault Weapon ban becomes permanent then that collection of 33-rd G18 mags I have is gonna have to last me the next thirty years…and in a circumstance like that how many is too many?

When it comes to spare parts there is a school of thought that says the best spare parts collection is to have an entire extra gun. This has some merit but it’s a bad (I want to say ‘foolish’) assumption. Here’s why: you have a CZ-52 that you keep in the truck. You have an extra one you keep as a spare parts kit. At the moment you have two handguns. Firing bin breaks, as they do, on your CZ-52 so you take the one out of your other gun and now you have one gun and one pile of parts. That firing pin breaks (CZ52’s are notorious for this sort of thing…replace pin with an aftermarket one at your first opportunity) and now you have two parts kits and no guns. It would have made more sense to buy extras of the part that is known to be prone to breakage, then you have two usable pistols. For the want of a five dollar part you’ve turned a perfectly good handgun into a pile of parts. Buy the spare parts and but the extra handgun…even if you never use it as a parts gun its worth it on so many levels just to have as a ‘spare’.

Right now, our handgun focus is to lean towards the Glocks. (Or, as Glock insists on it, the GLOCKs…yes, all caps.) Specifically, 9mm Glocks. One of the things I love about the Glock is that the spare parts are cheap, cheap, cheap and, broadly, compatible across the entire platform in that caliber. That means that the firing pin for the 9mm full size will work in the 9mm compact and will work in the 9mm minigun. Same for many other important parts. Spare parts logistics is a freaking breeze. Its also highly affordable since the majority of small parts cost less than a few bucks. There are some high dollar parts like barrels and slides but I would bet you that you’ll go through a lot more springs, pins and small parts before you somehow break your barrel.

So…I need to come up with a new order for Lone Wolf and make a list of parts.

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For the last couple of years I have been promising myself to set up a small emergency power supply for running emergency lighting and communications. And, true to form, every year I wind up getting distracted and the whole thing gets shoved even further on the back burner. Bad habit to get into. Especially since my needs are so damn simple – emergency lighting and operation of radio gear – since what I want to use runs on DC current anyway I wont have to deal with an inverter and the subsequent power loss. LED lighting is low-draw stuff so there shouldn’t be a problem with battery capacity there. Radio gear is 80% listening and that uses less power than transmitting. To my way of thinking, one large solar panel, a couple batteries and maybe a charge controller should do the trick. I just need to research it and find exactly the right size for what I want to do. What really clinches this deal is that from where I sit I can look out my window and across the street is a Baterries Plus that sells all the batteries I would need and around the corner from where I am right now is an alternative energy store that would sell panels, controllers and everything else. So, yeah, really, no excuse.

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

Day Two of the Carter II administration. I observed the day in the only way that seemed like a reasonable response – I picked up another Glock 17 with night sights, box and a couple spare magazines. Not ‘high capacity’ magazines, mind you….no, these are ‘normal capacity’ 17-rd mags.

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Things continue apace for us here. A little ammo here and there, a case of food, some more freeze drieds, some silver in the safe, some cash stuffed into a safe place, a close eye on the debt and spending…. We won’t prosper in the upcoming economic adventure but I think we’ll fare better than many others will. The trick will be to stay focused, not get complacent and to be careful not to endanger our own well-being if we choose to help others.

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Since spring is, in theory, ‘right around the corner’ its getting to be time to start some seeds indoors. I need to do a little online shopping and pick out some things. I’d like to make my own roasted red peppers this year so Im gonna need seeds for that. Tomatoes are a must, prefereably some Romas, I also need the usual assortment of herbs, a buncha different chiles, a salad mix blend, cucumbers and that sort of thing. Montana isn’t the best place to grow things that require long hot summers (since our nighttime temps can drop 30-40 degrees) but I’ve had good luck with the tomatoes and peppers. I’d love to grow okra but that aint gonna happen in this clime. Someday when we have a place out in the sticks Im going to have a nice greenhouse made out of glass block, but until then I’ll have to settle for what will grow in the yard. I have this fantasy about being able to grow everything I need to make and can my own salsa and spaghetti sauce…onions are a bit tricky but I think I can swing it. Garlic….not so sure about, gotta research it some.

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Everyone is focusing on the guns aspect of upcoming legislation. This is understandable since it’s no secret that the Democrats would be happy to have my AR’s declared as ‘destructive devices’ and require them to be turned in or be legislated into oblivion. It is worth noting, however, that legislation of other things that matter to us in the realm of preparedness also need to be addressed. For example, a month or so ago the powers that be came down on the simple gasoline jerry can and as a result we’re going to be stuck with the crappy CARB-compliant models. Dealer shelves are already starting to run out of the ‘old style’ cans. My personal favorites are the ‘European’ style cans and those too are getting scarce. Other areas to keep an eye on would, in my opinion, be amateur radio as .gov looks at either increasing regulation or tightening up licensing requirements in the name of ‘Fatherland security’. Ditto for things like ‘disposable’ cell phones, anonymous emailers, some encryption, and anything else that lets you keep your privacy. I have no doubt that some banking rules will change, making it tougher to deal with ‘large’ quantities of cash. A national ID card is probably in the works. Licensing or hellacious taxing of gunpowder and bullets may be on the agenda. Cars manufactured with built-in ‘tamper proof’ ‘black boxes’? Sure. Easing of restrictions on things like wiretaps and vehicle tracking? Why not? Theres no shortage of ‘wish list’ items that politicians have been dreaming of for years.

:::sigh::: Not a great time to be someone who simply wants to be left alone to live as they see fit.

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

There really isnt anything I can say to express my feelings about the inauguration today. However, action speaking louder than words, I am more determined to be in a good position when the wheels fly offa this train wreck. I’ll keep the guns and money, they can keep the ‘change’.

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

When I was at the Mormon cannery yesterday the fella in charge asked me how my food storage was coming along. (I think this is the standard Mormon conversational ice-breaker…”Steve! Meet my friend Bill!” “Hi Bill. Nice to meet you. Hows the food storage?”) I thought about it a minute and said that between the freeze drieds, the MRE’s, the drums of wheat, rice and corn, and all the ‘normal’ food that’s in storage as well as in the cupboards we’d probably have about ten months to a years worth. More if we don’t mind some repetitive and boring meals.

So, really, the food storage part of the equation is pretty much squared. While its always nice to have more, I think we’re at the stage where we can add to it when its convenient for us, or when something is on sale, or when we discover something that fits our food storage needs very nicely. Focus can be shifted now.

What next? Interesting question. We’re good for food, pretty good on ammo, decent level of stored fuels,…I suppose the next step is to continue preparing for the economic rough times that are ahead. For us, that means getting a cash emergency fund, eliminating as much debt as possible, and making bloody sure the expenses are a good deal less than income. Might also be nice to stockpile some of the normal everyday items so that if things do get majorly ugly we can spend what meager financial resources we have on critical things (like mortgage and power) and not have to worry about buying laundry soap, paper towels and socks. Plus, given the significant price savings when buying in bulk, its just a good idea to have the frequent-use stuff stockpiled anyway.

How do you prepare for a recession or depression? I have no idea, really. But I can try to think it through. The consequences of a recession or depression are higher unemployment and lower personal spending. So, I want to be covered in case of job loss and if I make a living off other people being consumers I may want to develop a different income stream, or at least be prepared (minimal debt, etc) for that income stream to become a trickle. After all, if someone is worried about whether theyre going to have a job or not in a few weeks, theyre probably quite likely to curb their spending as much as they can.

Unemployment is my big concern. Not so much the unemployment of others, although that does have a place in my List O’ Things To Worry About, as much as I worry about us being unemployed. Fortunately, we have a pretty low mortgage (although any mortgage is too much when your income is slashed by 100%), close to no debt, and no car payments, student loan payments, credit card payments, or anything like that. If we can keep current on the mortgage we could ‘get by’ indefinitely. It wouldn’t be in grand style, but it would sure as heck beat living in a cardboard box.

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Skipping the economy, which is pretty tough to ignore these days, North Korea announced that they’ve ‘weaponized’ a pile o’ uranium, Bird Flu is popping up in the usual places and, oddly, the .gov is warning of a collapse of the Mexican economy. (Sooo…they self-demote to a Fourth World country?) And, come to think of it, the transition of administrations would be a good time to try getting away with something. So it just ain’t the economy that we gotta worry about these days…the usual suspects are still out there.

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

Another trip to the Mormon cannery today. I think they prefer to be called ‘LDS’ rather than Mormon but Im not sure I see it as being a big deal and I really dont feel like having to answer the inevitable comments about “What does LDS stand for?”. Mormon cannery it is.

I went, basically, to just round off some odd numbers of items I had. Since a box holds six cans it made sense to round up to a number divisible by six so i could have complete cases in storage. Other than me and the fell I went with, only one other person showed up. On the other hand, the place was filled to the rafters with food. Apparently they are getting more shipments these days because their welfare program has been seeing unprecedented use.

Im not a terribly social critter, and I really dont have much use for human social groupings, but you have to admit: those Mormons take care of their own in some fine admirable style.

Anyway, it was a good trip, nice to hang around people who think similar thoughts about the state of affairs the world is in, and picked up a dozen more cans of wheat, sugar, and other goodies. All at very reasonable prices. If you have a cannery near you (or even if you have to drive a little bit) you should give ‘em a visit. Ask pretty much any Mormon for the info or visit their website: http://www.providentliving.org/location/map/0,12566,2026-1-4,00.html

If youre the type that can’t handle any religion other than your own, you’ll be pleased to know that, in my experience, they dont try to convert you or otherwise bring you into the fold. You can keep your Jesus and they’ll keep theirs. Talk about baseball instead.

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I am told that Stag Arms is now six months out on AR orders. You didnt wait until after the election to get yours did you? I ordered a couple rifles for some customers back in November with the idea theyd be delivered around February. At the last minute I told the sales guy to add two more M4 carbines to the order. Figured I had till February to figure out a way to pay for them. Glad I did that…

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Speaking of purchases, I still have several dozen cases of Mountain House cans and pouches for those who want to take some of the sting out of the upcoming economic donkey punch. While the rest of the world is eating soup made out of Fritos and salt packets you can be having pork chops, rice pilaf and beef stew. Thirty year shelf life…gets you through this depression and the next one.

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

A polymer revolver??????

I believe I speak on behalf of Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton, Bill Jordan and Ed McGivern when I say “WTF?!”

Apparently the engineering department at Ruger has been let off the leash since the old man died.

As the dogmatic and hidebound proclaimed guru once espoused about another type of handgun, its “an answer in search of a problem.”

I really do have to get my hands on one of these things and examine it. in typical Ruger fashion Im sure I’ll get one after the first or second factory recall.

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

I wonder if this is what it felt like a week before the Russian revolution? After all, in about a week we are supposed to be getting an unprecedented ‘change’ which promises us all no solidly defined policies except ‘hope’.

The forecast is for….1978.
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Went to WalMart again the other day. No bulk .22 of any flavor. No 9mm. No .38 or .357. Some .40 and .45 ACP. As we headed down the aisle away from the gun counter I remarked to the missus that I was feeling a little smug that every time we come to WallyWorld we usually pick up two bricks of ammo. So while WallyWorld is outta .22, we’ve got a pretty healthy amount….enough to see us through any shortage. Of course, no supply of anything lasts forever so when bulk .22 is available again we will, naturally, continue to acquire it. But, its an excellent example of self-fulfilling prophecy.

We rush out to stock up on ammo because we think Obama will make it unobtainable. As a result the shelves are bare and the ammo is, ironically, unobtainable. So the concern that ammo would become scarce actually made the ammo scarce. Youre seeing the same things with Evil Black Rifles at the moment.

For the Johnny-come-lately types this is a heck of a time to try and find an AR or some ammo. But you and I, because we look past the immediate, saw this coming miles away and have been stocking up, right?

It isn’t over, by the way. As Ive been saying, this panic buying is going to come in four waves:
1) When he’s elected
2) When he’s inaugurated
3) When new anti-gun legislation is proposed
4) When that legislation is voted into law

So, yes, I think after January 20 there’ll be a slight slump in demand. That might be a window to get your last minute purchases, but once new legislation is proposed you can expect an even more intense flurry of panic buying.

I had a customer come in the other day with, I kid you not, $7000 in cash. He was looking to buy AR mags and rifles. He was prepared to pay around $1300 for any NIB AR he could find. Six months ago I could have sold him as many as he wanted for $900 ea. And still made a good profit. But because someone decided to wait until late in the game, theyre gonna be on the hook for several hundred dollars more per gun and probably about $10 more per magazine. And that’s without a ban being debated and voted upon yet…imagine what its going to be like when that political jockeying starts.
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While I was tooling around in WallyWorld I noticed that the price of canning jars went up a little. I had a little canning frenzy last week and did a couple dozen pints of soups so I needed to have a few extra jars and lids. The jars, naturally, are re-usable…the lids are not. Fortunately the lids are cheap enough that, like .22 ammo, they’ve become an item that I just automatically pick up a couple boxes of everytime Im at the store. There are some food preservation forums where people say that the lids have enough adhesive on them that they can, if you remove them carefully, be reused. Maybe. That’s definitely a last-ditch thing for me though. Why take chances with the nastiness of botulism and other food-borne baddies when I can get a dozen brand new lids for six bits?

The canning stuff, though, is starting to take up a bit more space than I’d like it to. Jars need no special storage requirements other than protecting them from breakage. I do leave the bands screwed onto the empty jars in order to protect the mouths of the jars from damage. (Any chips, nicks or damage to the mouth of the jar can preclude the lids sealing properly. Lids that don’t seal properly are Bad News.) Fortunately, I have an extra wire shelving rack that I can dedicate to the canning stuff. I need to order some spare parts for the canner and I wouldn’t mind another dozen cases of jars. For the canner, Im going to order a spare guage, extra parts for the locking matches, a couple extra safety release plugs, an extra handle or two and that should be about it. The darn thing is only made up of ten parts anyway. The particular canner I have doesn’t use a gasketed seal so I don’t need spares of that. The canner I have (An All American) was mighty expensive compared to something like a Mirro but I do believe it more than makes up for it in terms of ruggedness, quality and just plain brute construction – it looks darn near bombproof.
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Speaking of canning, I have a trip to the Mormon cannery this week. I’ll just round out some of the less-than-whole cases of stuff I have and I think I’ll be pretty much done with the things that they offer. That isn’t to say I wont go anymore, just that I’ll pretty much have hit my saturation point on wheat, rice, dried apples, potato pearls, and drink mix. However, they do have a portable canning unit that they let people check out so I may get the chance to can some items that they do not offer up there…things like dried corn, barley, certain legumes, etc, etc.
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And to continue the food storage theme, my local Sportsmans Warehouse is selling 5-gallon buckets. The buckets, unfortunately, are stamped with the SW logo on them but theyre $5 ea. And, more importantly, are of the much-preferred .090 mil thickness. Since Im trying to pinch pennies these days, I’ll wind up getting a few of these things and using them to add to the stored stuff we have. Should probably check and see if maybe they have a better deal on the 15-gallon blue barrels…I find them to be pretty much the optimum size ofr storing grains and water while still being small enough to be handled by one person. (Although 15 gallons of water cloks in at around 120#, so you’ve got your work cut out for you on that one.)
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And Mountain House, purveyor of freeze dried yummies, has now increased the size an order must be to get free shipping. Whereas a $3000 would get you free shipping the new magic number is $10,000. My contact there said this was due to fuel issues. Result? Group buys will have to be bigger to take advantage of the shipping.

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

I am, regrettably, still convinced that this economic…downturn…we’re experiencing is not done. Economy aside there are still ‘old’ threats still out there…Muslim terrorists, bird flu, natural disasters, etc, etc.

I hope 2009 isnt going to be worse than 2008 but I don;t see how it can’t be. I can’t believe anyone would really think that the Carter II administration is somehow going to pull us out of this. I saw a cover of Time magazine that had Obama caricatured as the new FDR. Lets not forget a couple things about FDR – he is, hands down, the father of the .gov nannystate…so much so that he threatened to stack the Supreme Court if his New Deal programs continued to be assailed as ‘unconstitutional’..and that FDR didn’t end the Depression. FDR never presided over anything except a Depression economy or a wartime economy. Make no mistake…WW2 ended the Depression (some may argue FDR got us into WW2 for that very reason). To imagine Obama as a new FDR means that the person making the comparison is either ignorant of history or acutely aware of it.

I think 2009 will be a tough year. I have no intention of this being the year we get a new house, new car, new television or cruise through the Med. This will be a year of looking over one’s shoulder while stuffing money into the mattress. However, when all this turns around…and it will eventually turn around…I plan on us being there to see it. Ideally, in much the same situation we are now…safely rooted in our house, with cabinets full of food, a safe full of guns, enough cash to handle a crisis, and ourselves steeled against the uncertain.

I suppose my point, if I have one at all here, is that you shouldn’t be lulled into a sense of security that things are getting better…that a rebound is right around the corner…that ‘hope’ and ‘change’ are coming…it would be foolish to think the clouds have broken and that its okay to drop $4200 on a bigscreen HDTV only to have your job eliminated the week after you start making the payments.

What will be the signs that things are ‘back to the way they used to be’? Not sure. I do know what those signs won’t be though….most of the ones we’re seeing now.

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

Went to Wally World the other day and, mostly out of curiousity, I stopped by the gun department for our usual two bricks o’ Federal. No Federal. No Remington. No .22 at all. That, my friends, is some disturbing stuff right there, I tell ya. The natives are restless.

Speaking of .22, I went out to the range today to take part in a little experiment. We all know that if you shot a propane tank with a bullet it will usually not explode. The gas jetting out will send the tank careening around like a spastic pinball, but no boom. So…what if we incorporate the boom into the bullet? To wit – armour-piercing incendiary bullets. Unfortunately, the range was just a little too crowded for engaging in rule-breaking, membership-voidng pyrotechnic experiments so that little frontier of science will have to wait until another day. Heres the background: Full 1# bottle of propane, 100 yards, .30 API, 2700 fps, temps. between 10-30 degrees f.

Im betting nothing fireball-ish happens.

I comforted myself with playing with the PTR and the .22lr conversion kit.

ptr22

(Yes, my finger is in the triggerguard before I was ready to shoot. Those mitts are so thick that I wanted to get my finger in the triggerguard before there was a round in the chamber. I didnt chamber a round until I was at the firing line, though.)

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Stayed up far too late into the wee hours of the morning doing some canning. The missus and I made about 40 pints of various soups we like and when possible I’d rather have them canned then frozen. Its more convenient to not have to thaw something, and if the power goes it I dont have to worry about temperature regulation. I discoverd, while I was at the aforementioned WallyWord, that pint jars we’re up 10% in price although lids dropped about 15%. Go figure. I’m careful to treat the jars carefully, keep bands on them when not in use to protect against chips, and carefully inspect each one before use….so I should be able to get plenty of life out of them. Spending all that time parked in my kitchen keeping an eye on my pressure canner makes me appreciate the quality of the new pressure canner I got. I have to admit, there is a certain warm fuzzy that results from seeing all those little jars lined up on the counter cooling.

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

A couple interesting products I found today. Actually I need to distinguish between practical and interesting.

In the interesting category is The Wall Of Life. This thing has Hollywood written all over it. An instant chem/bio shelter that normally looks like part of the wall but in a crisis can be transformed into a self-contained environment to protect a user from airborne threats. I cant imagine they sell many of these but its definitely some clever engineering on someone’s part.

I am, however, more taken with this gadget: Breath Of Life Emergency Escape Mask.  Smoke hoods have been around for a number of years and if I worked in an office building or similar environ I’d bloody well have a couple of these in my desk (along with rappelling gear and a couple hundred feet of rope).  Nowadays I have a stack of these lovelies sitting in the bunker, but for compact and convenient ‘just in case’ carry these things would be awful nice. Just the ticket for getting out of a smokey subway tunnel, office building or similar deathtrap.

I do like the TacPac pocket emergency kits, though.  If I were stuck working or commuting in big city that was ripe for some sort of terrorist action I’d have a couple of these and the smoke hood in my bag at all times.

One final product from these same people is this fireproof poncho. (The “[noun] of life” naming convention apparently didnt extend to this thing.) Kinda reminds me of the Dorest Service emergency fire shelters (”shake n bakes”) that are issued to firefighters here. Im not sure how much I would trust something like that but I suppose it beats being trapped behind a wall of flame and heat.