Tag Archives: guns

Reloading, Nalgene bottle, vacuum sealing, Carharts

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Been busy loading 9mm for the girlfriend. She’s burning up about 300~ rounds a week in practice and doing it on a single stage press is out of the question, and even on the Dillon 550 it still takes a bit of time. The solution, as mentioned earlier, was to acquire a Dillon Super 1050…in addition to pistol calibers it’ll do anything .30-06 length or shorter, which means I can set it up to not only crank out .223 but also .308.

Anyway, she managed to purchase:
8# of Universal Clays for $86 ($10.75 per pound)
5m Win SP primers for $75.55 ($15.51 per 1000)
5m 115 gr. FMJ bullets for $191.50 ($38.30 per 1000)
Brass is essentially free since I have gobs of it sitting here.

Before you ask, she got this stuff at the local ammo remanufacturing facility. Strictly a local thing.

Since we’re using 5.0 grains of powder, that’s about 1400 rounds per pound. In short, we’re looking at around $63.03 per 1000 rounds. Of course, 9mm is pretty cheap these days so the savings realized are less than, say, .45 ACP or .44 mag. Nonetheless, the Dillon 1050 is still an excellent purchase because it will be used on some of those higher dollar cartridges. Should be able to put together .45 ACP FMJ for around $5.95 per box of 50. And .357 Mag JHP for around $4.38 per 50. Naturally, that gets stretched if we switch from jacketed to cast bullets. The .38 Special, for example, with a 150 gr. LRN would run around $3.31 per box of 50. (All of these prices, by the way, assume reloading fired brass that you’ve already been saving.)

So, while the 1050 was a hideous up-front expense ($1500~), it should be a smart long-term investment just from the amount of money it saves on ammo. Also, its nice to be able to crank out lotsa ammo in a short amount of time and sock it away in the bunker. My supply of 9mm was getting low but now Im going to be upping the quantities of everything.

One of the LMI has 16,000 pieces of .40 S&W brass he was formerly trying to load on a single-stage press (sort of a lifetime project, I guess). I told him if he’ll pop for the .40 S&W conversion kit and dies he can come by and use this thing.
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Finally got around to picking up a 32 oz. Nalgene bottle to beat up. For trekking around I like the Camelbaks but for short jaunts the bottle is pretty good. Also, for small things that need to be protected from damage and moisture, they make decent little drysafes for all the little incidentals (esp. electronic incidentals) that you want to keep dry and protected.
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Went to CostCo last week and picked up some chicken. The boneless, skinless breasts are individually vacuum sealed and have the date stamped on them, making them soooooo perfect for the deep freeze. That’s how meat should be packaged, my friend. As an aside, if you haven’t gotten a vacuum sealer to use to take advantage of bulk purchases and sales of meat, you really should. Like many things, there is an upfront cost that can be a little intimidating but it literally does ‘pay for itself’. Example – ground beef is usually $2.99 a pound. I’ve mentioned this before, right? When its remaindered, the price drops to $1.69 a pound. This means each pound is saving me $1.30. Without the vacuum sealer, I’d not be able to store the meat for long term and would have to buy it on, generally, an ‘as needed’ basis. With the vacuum sealer I buy ten pounds and I’ve saved $13.00. After around 100# of meat, the thing has paid for itself…assuming I don’t get any even better deals. Point is, you have to be able to look past those initial startup costs and do the math. Yeah, youre gonna have to cough up $100+ upfront, but it really does turn out to be worth it in the not-so-long run.
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I’ve been wearing Carhart work dungarees lately and have been very pleased with them. They are stoutly built, reinforced, comfy, look like they’ll last forever, and come in a nice subdued olive-green color. I recommend them highly if youre looking for a pair of pants that can shrug off the abuse that would normally kill a pair of jeans. Not cheap at around $40~ a pair, but I would bet they’ll outlast a pair of jeans under the same circumstances. Only drawback – theyre a bit heavy, but like most forms of armour that’s the tradeoff.

Glock parts, Wakefield eggs

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Spare parts for the Glock 19’s arrived yesterday from Lone Wolf. Granted, Idaho is just a long rifle shot away from here but their turnaround time was pretty ggod. With shipping factored in each spare assembly came to $6.50 ea. Dropped one in the girlfriends G19 and we’re back in business. Not that it slowed us down in the least…know why? Redundant backups my friends, she could simply carry her G26 (and use her G19 mags if so inclined) or use my G19 (Since I usually carry around a G17). Nonetheless, spare parts for all guns. Thats the lesson for taoday.
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Hey, I noticed REI is no longer carrying the Wakefiel instant eggs that impressed me so a few years ago. Hmmmm.

When you find a good piece of gear, buy it and buy alot of it ’cause you never know when its gonna go off the market.

Moving while shooting drill

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An impromptu day at the range. Me andone of the LMI figured we’d head to the range and practice moving-while-shooting drills. Since the crux of the matter is being able to move while hitting the target, we figured we could practice this cheaply with the .22 rifles since using the .223 or 7.62×39 would be more expensive and not really make any difference.

It was very simple..theres some steel tanks hanging at the end of the fifty yard range. Walk towards them while keeping your sights steady and youre dumping lead downrange. Then start walking to the side. Then backwards. Then to the side. When done you’ll have walked a box-shaped path all the while firing and, hopefully, hitting your target. Good practice.

Gasoline, guest sheeple, lightsticks, Mythbusters and experiments

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Local gas prices are down about $0.35 from their high of almost $3 a few months ago. The prices are still, to me, high but then I’ve probably been spoiled in terms of gasoline prices. If you think that gas prices are unfairly high the solution is to either reduce your usage or use it more wisely. Seems cut and dried to me.

Anyway… the whole experience, which may very well be repeated in the future, certainly illustrated a bottleneck in our society…fuel availability. The preparedness experts have always said that in a major crisis fuel stations would be either unable to operate due to power concerns, out of gas, or rationed. We saw all of that in Texas and Luisiana this summer, so it went from being paranoid-theory-by-a-doomsaying-nutjob to hard fact. Shrug. I learned a lesson from it….stored fuel, treated for long-term storage, stored in a good container, and rotated on a schedule is just as important as all those cases of MRE’s and AK ammo. I’d already known that fuel was important, but this reinforced it to a rpeviously unheard of degree. Even those of us who know to store fuel are, I bet, learning some lessons….like you can never have too much, that some containers are better than others, that people will be desperate when their tank guage reads ‘E’ and theres a 3/4 mile long line at the pump.

I think it was Frankilin who said something along the lines that experience was an expensive (or dear) school but some will learn at no other.

Me, I learn.
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A post over in the survivalist community asked what to do when the Big Day occurs and your relatives or firends who always said “Disaster? Heck, Im just going to come over and stay with you! Heh heh!” actually show up on your doorstep expecting to be able to take advantage of your farsightedness.

Tough call.

I don’t have to worry about it because with one exception I dont have any friends who aren’t into preparedness…at least, none that are close enough to actually come by. Now, I do have friends who are not as prepared as I, and I have some who are more prepared than I, but short of a catastrophic loss on their part none of them would show up without supplies. Of course, theres always simply not being home when the hordes come a-knocking…simply be at your #2 location…although for many of us that isnt a real choice yet.

I suppose, if it isnt too late, you simply keep your mouth shut and not let anyone know just how prepared you are. If its too late, well, then you either pretend youre not home or you start making some tough choices.
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I need to head up to CostCo and see if they have their annual Halloween cyalume lightstick package for sale….although it wouldnt surprise me if the lightstick manufacturers are dedicating their output to disaster relief efforts..after all, thats where the money is.
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Hats off to the Discovery channels ‘Mythbusters’ program. In the past, theyve experimented with some myths that have use to me… can you blow up a car by shooting into the gas tank? (nope) Will diving underwater save you from gunfire (yes..if your at more than 3′ under) and that sort of thing. Latest episode I saw had them firing a .50 BMG into a swimming pool to see what happens. Surprisingly, the bullet failed to reach the bottom of the pool…instead, like every other high velocity bullet, it immediately started breaking up when it hit the water.

Box O’ Truth (linked to in an earlier post) also did some even more impressive tests against bulletresistant glass and sandbags. The sandbag one was quite eye-opening and I reccomend it highly. It basically showd that a stacj of sandbags makes you impervious to most small arms fire…good to know.

Economics of reloading

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Im always surprised when someone tells me what a staggering good deal on ammo they got and the price, to me, seems rather high. The reason for this is because I do alot of reloading on my own and Im amazed more poeple don’t. Yeah, theres a time element involved (which is mitigated if youre willing to pop a few hundred bucks for a top notch progressive press like the Dillon) but alot of times the savings are worth it.

Lets crunch some numbers…

Constants:
Powder is $18.00/# which comes out to $0.0025714 per grain
Primers are $17.50/1000, or $0.0175 each
We’ll assume you have been saving your fired brass

9mm 115 gr. FMJ:
Bullets – $47.25/1000 or $0.04725 per bullet. We’ll use 5.0 gr. of powder, or .$0.0128 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.07755, or $3.88 per 50 rounds.

Not bad, but 9mm is cheap enough to buy that you may as well not bother reloading for it (unless youre after some sort of exotic velocity or bullet).

.45 ACP, on the other hand, is never cheap…
Bullets – $85.80 or $0.0858 per 230 gr. FMJ bullet. We’ll use 7.6 grains of powder, or $0.0195 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.1228, or $6.14 per 50 rounds.

The real savings is in the high end stuff…take, for example, a .30-06
Bullets – $98.70 for some 150 gr. Rem. soft points. $0.0987 per bullet. We’ll use 52.5 grains of powder, or $0.1349 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.2511, or $5.02 per 20 rounds.

ANd, if youre one of the belted magnum guys, the .300 Win. Mag.:
Same bullet as the .30-06. 60 grains of powder, or $0.1542 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.2704 or $5.41 per 20 rounds.

.357 Magnum? (158 gr JHP)
Bullets – $64.45 or $0.06445 per bullet. We’ll use 14 grains of powder, or $0.0385 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.1204 or $6.02 per 50 rounds.

“But Commander”, I hear you cry, “Who has the several hundred dollars necessary to buy the gear to get started?”
Fool! Only the weak and liberal democrats pay more than they have to!
You can get a decent setup from the folks at Lee for less than a hundred bucks. Not the best gear in the world, but it would load pistol ammo for you all day long on a single stage press. If you shoot .45 ACP at normally $10.99 a box you could pay for the setup within 21 boxes (1050 rounds)

If you dont mind spending a bunch more, RCBS makes a very good setup for about $300~.

Finally, the Dillon 550B or even the Square Deal are great for churning out lotsa ammo in a hurry.

Reloading is like any other hobby, you have to learn a few things but if youre worried about blowing yourself up you’ve got a very melodramatic idea of whats involved. If you can follow a recipe, you can reload. Guys alot stupider than you, and with worse equipment, have done it for years.

However, Im of the mind that you still need factory ammo. Why? Couple reasons. First of all, no matter how much experience I have and no matter how good I am at reloading, I’m going to feel a bit more comfortable with quality commercially loaded ammo (and that means Win., Rem., Fed., etc….not Texas Discount Reloads). Secondly, if, for whatever reason, I have to use ammo for trading I am going to be far more likely to take quality ‘name-brand’ commercial ammo than suspect reloads…and that works both ways – a fella is more likely to take a sealed box of factory ammo from me in trade than a drawstring bag filled with mixed-headstamp .223 reloads. Really, its a perception thing.

One other aspect to reloading thats worth considering if you dont already reload is the versatility. For example,

  • you can reload subsonic ammo for your supressed toys. 
  • You can reload ammo in a configuration that is not normally served by the factories (example, you have a 98 Mauser in 8mm but want to shoot a subsonic lead roundball for whacking squirrels). 
  • You can make armour piercing or tracer ammo in a non-standard caliber (somewhat illegal, mind you. However, you’d have the ability to pull the bullet from a perfectly legal round of .30-06 M2 AP ammo and reload that bullet into your .300 Ultramag whcih would give you some hideously nasty penetrative power. Seen it done with a .300 H&H…drilled a hole through about 1″ of steel plate.) This will also work with pulling steelcored bullets from .223 SS109 and dropping them in your .22-250 or [shudder] .220 Swift.
  • One more thing to think about, and this is for all of us tinfoil-beanie crowd… when they change the laws to require you to sign for ammo, or tax it to the point of unaffordability, or regulate the caliber/bullet you can use (which is already done in some places), or make it unavailable at all (as done in CA during the LA riots) you will be able to churn out whatever ammo you need free from intrusive .gov snooping.

Suggestions:
Lee Anniversary Kit – $100~
RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Reloading Kit – <$300~ (My pick if you want to start off with gear you'll use forever) RCBS Partner Press Kit - $160 (Okay for pistol and small rifle calibers) Dillon RL1050 - $1300~ but worth every penny. You can load 50 rounds in two and a half minutes. Easily loads 1000 rounds an hour.

layout, case for the cheap .38, customer cards, BP

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Changed the layout a bit but, more importantly, added tags for those who keep track of such things.
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Know what one of the staples of the various ‘survival’ and gun magazines is? Usually its some sort of ‘versus’ article…things like ‘9mm vs. .45acp’ (very popular), ‘autmatics vs. revolvers’, etc, etc. Another staple that you’ll see thrown onto the pages every year or so is the ‘selecting a [handgun/rifle/shotgun] for self defense’.  Nothing wrong with these articles, while theyre usually informative theyre far from conclusive. My take on it? Theres alot of truth to the old axiom about how ‘any gun is better than no gun’ and that the ‘first rule of gunfighting is have a gun’. Remember the saying ‘in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king’? Well, in the land of the machete-wielders the man with a HiPoint carbine is king. The point here is that if you have any gun youre several orders of magnitude better off than those who don’t have one. Don’t think so? Theres dozens, if not hundreds, of people in whats left of Louisiana who would disagree.

Of course, its not as simple as just buying a gun, a box of ammo, sticking them in the closet and calling it done. Honestly, thats what alot of people who arent ‘into’ guns do. They buy a gun, fire maybe a box or two of ammo, and then lose interest, put the gun on the top shelf of their closet and say ‘I’m ready’. Hey, its a busy world…we dont all have time to go shooting two or ten times a month. Its a fact that alot of people who buy guns for ‘protection’ arent ‘gun nuts’ and arent interested in a lifestyle, they just want some peace of mind. I can respect that.

So ,you’ve seen the footage of people huddled in their homes, fearful of looters from New Orleans and decided that you want a gun but you dont think you’ll shoot it very much. You want something simple, reliable and of reasonable quality. It should have the ability to dissuade attackers but not be intimidating in recoil. And you dont want to spend alot for something thats going to sit in a closet for most of its life.

Cheap, reliable, effective – select two.

Youre generally not going to get a gun that fits the above criteria for less than $100. Sure, you might luck into someone who wants to unload his .357 in a hurry because he forgot his wife’s birthday and needs to get flowers but those episodes are few and far between. Once youre willing to shell out about $150-$200 youre in the ballpark. Between $200-$300 the offerings become more numerous. In the $300-$400 range theres even more to be had and once you pass the willingness to spend over $500 you can pretty much have anything.

Whats my suggestion? For someone who isnt likely to practice much, just wants something to ‘keep around the house’, and is reluctant to part with much money I’d have to recommend a .38 or .357 revolver. Used police trade-in guns are usually around $160-$200 and are dependable performers. What about those cheap Makarovs, Cz-52s, and Stars? Theyre probably more complicated than the incidental gun owner is willing to put up with. Explaining slide releases, mag releases, chambering a round, safety on, safety off, clearing malfunctions, limp wristing and the like is pretty intimidating for a novice. Handing them the familiar looking S&W and saying ‘point and shoot’ is far less likely to overwhelm the novice.

For less than $200 you can usually find a used .38 (preferably S&W, Ruger, Taurus or Colt…anything else is dropping down the quality/dependability scale).and a box of ammo. So you have a pistol and fifty rounds of ammo. That can be your ‘gateway drug’ gun….take it to the range, preferably with a friend who knows a bit about shooting to show you the ropes, and shoot a bit. If you enjoy it you can always get another gun later, a different caliber, or just something different for fun. Keep your ‘learner’ gun and use it for showing friends how to shoot, as an extra for the spouse, or just as something to enjoy on the weekends. If you discover you dont enjoy shooting you can keep the one gun and know that you have it and can use it if necessary and youre only out $200.

Why not a single-barrel shotgun for $99 at WalMart? Well, any gun beats no gun and if its a choice between no gun or a single-shot shotgun, well, pass the shells.  Even shortened (whcih makes recoil a bit excessive) a shotgun is still pretty big for use around an apartment or house. Great stopping power, no doubt there…..but a one-hand, multiple-shot firearm that can be carried easily and used one-handed seems a better choice.

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Today is the last day on the 10/$10 deal on canned goods at Albertson’s. But here’s the fun part, if you have their ‘savings card’ you get another 50% off…so “10 for $10” becomes “20 for $10”. Needless to say, I’ll be doing more re-arranging in the kitchen cabinets.

The store ‘preferred customer’ cards seem like a good thing. I know alot of people feel that there are privacy issues involved but I dont see it. I found my card on the ground of the parking lot outside the store….so I use it. But the application process that Ive seen doesnt ask for ID or anything even close. Fill in “Sven Gomez” at “4321 Galts Gulch” and a phone number to some pizza joint and -presto- you get your card. Now, there probably is a running tally of what youve purchased kept somewhere but so what? Without a name they cant really trace it to you, right? I suppose if they really, really wanted they could flag things so that when you went through the checkout the clerk would be alerted as he swiped your card and he could then wave to the nice police officer whose been standing around patiently all day waiting for the card to turn up but that seems pretty unlikely, dontcha think? If you really wanna take it a step further, get a dozen cards and rotate them. At my local Albertsons you can give your phone number and they’ll use that if you forgot your card. Pretty easy to remember the phone number of the person in line ahead of you and use it at a later date.

I dont feel that, in this case anyway, my privacy is threatened and it gets me twice as much food at the same price.
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Stethoscope and sphg..sphygo..spyh….blood pressure cuff arrived in the mail today. Next addition to the skillset: taking blood pressure. Should be quite the trick since I’ll be practicing on the bunkerbabe who has skinny arms and necrotishly low blood pressure. If I can get an accurate reading off of her, I should be able to get one off of anyone. (Anyone with a pulse, anyway.)

Grocery bargains; shooting; winter observations; Have Deuce And A Half – Will Travel, long knives

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Got some good deals at the local Albertson’s last night. I mention this not to brag (not that I dont brag, its just that this isnt one of those times) but to illustrate a point I made yesterday – you can add to your levels of preparedness without spending huge amounts of cash. Matter of fact, I would wager that on $10 a week you could put together a hellacious amount of food within a year. But, back to the bargains…

The local Albertsons had its usual weekly “10 for $10” sale. Alot of times these sales are for the ‘store brand’ versions of things which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, this time they had one of the staples of my pantry on sale…jars of spaghetti sauce. And not the store brand either…26 oz. Ragu in various flavors – $1 ea. Normally, theyre about $1.50. Over in the frozen foods, the frozen dinners that the bunkerbabe takes to lunch for her work were knocked down to $2 from $4@. So, we picked up a case (dozen) jars of spaghetti sauce and we got 5 of the frozen dinners. Thats an outlay of $22 to purchase what would normally be $38. Total savings? $16. Which means it was like getting 8 frozen dinners for free or another 1.3 cases of spaghetti sauce for free. The spaghetti sauce goes in the cupboard, the dinners go in the freezer, and we pat ourselves on the back for saving $16.

The point here is that you can buy food that you normally eat and like and get it cheap enough to stock up if you watch for the sales and strike while the iron is hot.

Also, you dont necessarily need a sale…you just need space. A 1# bag of rice vs. a 50# bag of rice – I havent had to buy rice in a while but in a 50# bag (which gets repackaged to a 5-gallon bucket with lid) it comes out to around $0.25~ per pound. So if you paid more than 25 cents for that plastic bag of rice at the supermarket you could have done better. Ditto for things like pasta, beans, etc, etc.

Enough about this, Im trusting you see my point.
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Went shooting the other day. 200 gr. RN out of a k-frame .357 are a bit much. Out of the N-frame, however, theyre juuuuuust fine.

Shot the .308 a bit. Shot 1 7/8″ at 200 yards which is just under MOA for five shots. Finally. One of the LMI let me try some of his handloads. Lapua brass, match primers, Lapua bullets….definitely could see a difference. I’ve been shooting the less-than-precision-manufactured Remington brass because, honestly, I just happen to have a bunch of it. Looks like Im going to have to order some Lapua or Norma match brass.

Also shot the Yugo SKS. Folks, if you havent bought one of these cheap ($150~) guns yet you are going to be kicking yourself later on …. believe it. Good, solid gun shooting a cheap cartridge capable of keeping looters at bay yet the gun is cheap enough that youre not too concerned if it gets lost or stolen. And, like the AK, its quite reliable. Get ’em while you can.

Ten years after the end of the world I think the most prevalent guns will be Rugers and AK/SKS rifles…..they just. dont. quit.
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Winter approaches. The cold weather module is back in my TT bag. Kerosene was running around $22~ for a 5-gallon drum up at Lowes. And I smiled a big smile at myself because when they had it marked down to $5 a drum I bought a dozen and still have them. (Thats bragging.) I really need some new boots and need to get that taken care of…esp. since hunting season will be here soon.
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Fascinating story here about a guy who took it upon himself to drive his personally owned military truck to deliver aid to Katrina victims. He put on his old uniform and sailed through all the roadblocks, got shot at, returned fire, got robbed, and had a very interesting final encounter with three thugs when he stopped to change a tire. I can freely admit I wouldnt have done 1/10th the things this guy did, out of his own pocket, because Im just too selfish in that way. But its a good story and theres some interesting info in there.
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Now that, for the most part, the heroic moments are done with the blame game starts. Police chief, Mayor, Governor, Director….all forming the traditional circular firing squad and taking shots at each other. Is there seriously anyone who didnt see this coming? Certainly theres some folks that seriously need to be run out of town but theres also going to be a few loyal troops falling on their own swords to spare theirl eaders. Regardless, reputations and expections for various organizations like FEMA are going to take damage. Even the Red Cross’ sterling image has been mightily tarnished. Matter of fact, after reading here and there about some of the ‘our way or the highway’ policies of the RC and other organizations, and their utter disdain for local responders and inability to work with other .orgs, I really don’t think theres any national-level relief agency that deserves my support. However, from what Ive read there are scads of local/regional .orgs that deserve support and praise. Church groups, VFD’s, private companies, and the like. I think organizations tend to do a better job when the affected area is in their home area…it gives them motivation and, this is important, it gives them a certain accountability since they have to live among that population later.

Ghost cops & Compass resignation, support gear, disclaimer, monthly 1k ammo, MRfrEe’s

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From the I-Cant-Stop-Picking-At-It Department:

The Chief of the New Orleans Police Department (Motto: To serve and defect) resigned the other day. The next day (or maybe it was the same day) articles started appearing saying how federal investigators are finding that there may have been up to 500 ‘ghost’ officers…cops on the payroll who didnt really exist. This just gets better and better!!! Compass needs to be hauled in and investigated so hard he cant sit properly. When thats done, get Nagin on the hot seat and sweat him too. After that, Blanco has some ‘splainin’ to do. These guys are the freaking poster child for why the nannystate doesnt work.
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Long lists, so cut for courtesy

Mag inventory

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Hmmm…the AK and AR mag situation is better than I thought, but still lots of room for improvement.
For the AR
46 – Military 30-rd
10 – Military 20-rd
02 – Steel 20-rd
01 – Commercial 10-rd
07 – Eagle plastic 30-rd (Actually, theyre good mags)
66 magazines total

On the AK front, not as good but a decent amount for the short term
03 – 40-rd
16 – 30-rd
02 – 5-rd mags that Im not even counting towards a total
19 magazines total

FAL is set with a solid 32 20-rd metric mags

The Glocks make a respectable showing with
G26 – 2×10 rd
G17 – 14×17 rd
G19 – 7×15 rd, 5×10 rd.
G18 – 8×33 rd. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

The Ruger 10-22 comes in with 45×25 rd, 8×10 rd.

Still havent gotten to the P35 and 1911 yet.