Fuel can blues, Texas evacuations, mag/ammo inventory, ingenuity, flectar,

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The way I figure it, I want the steel jerrycans for long-term storage for their durability, impermeability, and convenience. For short-term storage and banging around in the back of the truck, I like the plastic gas cans. I am, however, not thrilled with the spout/cap device on the Blitz plastic cans. The nozzle is an L-shaped piece of plastic that, when not in use, is flipped over and inserted into the can. Convenient, yes. But if it isnt seated properly against the mouth of the opening its possible for a slow leak of gasoline to occur. This is, naturally, not good. Fortunately WalMart automotive sells, also by Blitz, replacement cap/nozzle assemblies that are alot simpler and, in appearance, more reliable. $1.78 ea. I’ll be trying them out later.
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Texas had the New Orleans model to work off of and their evacuations weren’t very much smoother. Its readily apparent that you simply cannot evacuate a large urban/metropolitan area with anything approaching timeliness or efficiancy. The bottleneck, it seems, isnt only the drivers (who somehow thought that they had enough gas in their vehicles even though any sane individual could have told them theyre going to spend hours idling in traffic.) but the government officials who didnt change the traffic flows to accomodate the exodus until late in the game. They do get points, however, for trying to bring fuel to stranded motorists.
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An ammo & magazine inventory is sorely needed. Summer shooting and various classes have taken a bite out of the stockpile and that needs to be refreshed. While I am perfectly content with the amount of 10/22 and FAL mags that are on hand, I am only mildly at ease with the amount of AR mags..they average around 13 mags per gun which is less than I’d like. Glock mags are fair…the G17 mags will fit in all flavors of Glock that we have. Doing okay on 1911 mags. P35 mags could be a little better. Big question is AK mags. Off the top of my head I think we’ve maybe a dozen or so and I’d really like to get that up into the 20-odd amount at least. Fortunately the AK mags are fairly cheap…$10 ea. in bulk. Additionally, I’ve started marking some magazines as strictly for ‘training’ or range use to avoid having a battered and heavily-used mag wind up in storage. For the Glocks, this was easy – blaze orange baseplates. For the AK and AR’s, equally easy – a band of blaze orange duct tape around the bottom of the mag.

Ammo is another story. I’d like to store factory ammo as a reserve and do practice/recreational shooting with reloads. Fortunately the standardization of calibers leaves us with only a handfull of calibers to keep on hand – .223, .308, 7.62×39, 9mm, .45, .38/.357, 12 ga. and .22 LR. We’re pretty good on .22 LR since its only $20 for a thousand rounds at any WalMart. 12 ga. is also pretty cheap and easy to keep. The other calibers…not so much. 7.62×39 has gone up almost 50% in the last year…thats interesting. Still, its the cheapest centerfire around. In other calibers Remingtons new ‘yellow box’ 250-round packages are a fair deal these days. If you buy the bulk Rem. yellowbox, repackage it into plastic 50-rd boxes or something. And dont forget to cahce a small sampling of various calibers in a box for your vehicle.

Anyway, some inventory tomorrow.
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Mad Zero props to for managing to keep updating on hurricane Rita through a blackout by running an inverter out of his vehicle to power his computer and cable modem. Most folks wouldn’t have thought of that. And the good Doctor Hamm also had the forethought to have a camp stove for cooking on during the outage. I like to think its my influence. But Sam, didja have any extra gasoline for all the idling you were doing?
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According to my math, I am responsible for no less than 11 flectar parkas being sold in the last week to various LJ people. Theyre good parkas and if youve been on the fence about getting one, you really should snap to it…theyre cheaper than ever and I bet every person on LJ who ordered one would have absolutely no qualms about the quality of them. Backtrack a post or two for a link to them. There may be a ‘Show Us Your Flectar’ thread later.
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“And god sent a rainbow as a sign…won’t be water, but fire next time.”

Texas, gasoline concerns, fun with drums, NRA/GOA lawsuit, flectar, SG HQ cat, lightsticks

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

So, it looks like this week its Texas' turn in the barrel. Im mentally preparing myself for the self-righteous onslaught that will result from the 'federal relief to illegal aliens' noise that this will surely generate.

You would think that with FEMA and the other 'relief' agencies already just down the street in Louisiana, Texas oughtta get lots of attention pretty quickly if things get ugly. Then again, I think most Texans are probably smart enough to not live below sea level.
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As posted, people who (typically) waited to the last minute to evacuate are not only getting stuck in traffic jams of biblical proportions, but are also having to contend with gas stations running out of the stuff. Have these people learned nothing? Less than three weeks ago Katrina pwned New Orleans and the papers were full of “I should have evacuaqted sooner” and “I would have evacuated if I had gas” stories. Assuming that your vehicle gets, mmm, 15 mpg then a five-gallon can of gas gives you 75 miles of range. Seventy five. Thats enough to get out of the path of most hurricanes. Ten gallons? 150 miles – plenty of distance. Now, for some fast math. Call it $3.00 a gallon, $6 a piece for gas cans, sixty cents for gas treatment for ten gallons (yes, you'd have to buy the whole bottle of PRI-G or Sta-Bil, but maybe your buddy has some he uses with his lawnmower.) So, for less than $43 you could guarantee yourself enough fuel to get at least far enough to be out of the way of the hurricane. (And thats giving a generous 50%-wasted-idling-in-traffic handicap) $43. I will bet you fifty bucks theres no shortage of motorists on those highways, nervously eyeing their fuel guage and the “NO GAS” signs (as well as the mile-long lines) who would be thrilled to give you $50 for a five-gallon can of gas right now. But, if a month ago you said “Hey Tex, have you thought about spending fifty bucks to keep two gas cans in your garage ready to go in case of emergency?” you'd have probably been dismissed as paranoid or a worrier.
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In news of the Very Very Interesting, it appears that the folks that make the double-snail-drum 100-round Beta-Mags for the AR are going to be bringing out a 100-rd mag for the Mini 14. This is mildly amusing. Here's the part thats going make your tires spin: they are also bringing one out for the M1A. 100 rounds of .308. A couple of those babies and you become a one-man roadblock. If there is a god, they'll make a magazine tower adapter for the FAL. However, given the usage of the M14-type rifles these days, plus the inevitable military interest in Iraq and 'Stan, the money is going to be in making it for the M1A. Think about it…you could slap a bipod on your M1A, dig in, slap in a drum and be quite the force multiplier. Drawbacks? As I read it, the loaded mag is about 11.5 pounds and I'll bet its as noisy as the .223 when loaded. Which reminds me, I really would like to get a drum or two for the AK's.
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The NRA and GOA have gotten off their butts and are bringing suit regarding the gun confiscations in New Orleans. This will be interesting…at least in the Chinese way. The best you could hope for out of this is .gov stopping what theyre doing and admitting they were wrong. Worst is that some court could refuse the case saying that theres some sort of emergency powers act that no one knew about. Regardless of how it shakes out, theres obviously a lesson in there for all of us. If you havent figured out what it is, well, ask the looters real nice and maybe they wont hurt you.
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The fabulous flectar parkas arrived yesterday for the BunkerBabe who, after trying them on, had that sexy 'surplus military' smell about her for an hour. Mmmmm. The tremendously-less-sexy also received his yesterday and was pleased. I may need to start a 'Show Us Your Flectar' thread some day. If you havent jumped on the bandwagon yet, these are very warm, extremely comfortable, and ridiculously cheap German surplus field jackets with liners. And the camo pattern works quite well, I might add. They are a seasonal offering so buy 'em now. Cheap enough to have spares, good enough to wear every day. And, oy, talk about comfortable!
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Which reminds me, if you already get the Sportsmans Guide catalog, be aware that they have a second catalog of just military surplus gear and it is far more useful than their regular catalog. Call Sportsmans Guide ( 1-800-888-3006 ) and tell them you want the 'HQ' gov't surplus catalog. Seriously. They get some great stuff I havent seen offered elsewhere. Prices are usually pretty good.
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Halloween is approaching. Lotsa places will be selling lightsticks and having post-Halloween closeouts on them so start setting a few bucks aside now. CostCo, around here anyway, usually has a 15 pack of individually foil-packed lightsticks for about $13. I buy one pack each year and rotate the previous years stock to secondary usage status. Theyre cheap and work in environments that a candle or lantern might not be good in. Get some.

Texas, gasoline concerns, fun with drums, NRA/GOA lawsuit, flectar, SG HQ cat, lightsticks

Posted on by

So, it looks like this week its Texas’ turn in the barrel. Im mentally preparing myself for the self-righteous onslaught that will result from the ‘federal relief to illegal aliens’ noise that this will surely generate.

You would think that with FEMA and the other ‘relief’ agencies already just down the street in Louisiana, Texas oughtta get lots of attention pretty quickly if things get ugly. Then again, I think most Texans are probably smart enough to not live below sea level.
=========
As posted, people who (typically) waited to the last minute to evacuate are not only getting stuck in traffic jams of biblical proportions, but are also having to contend with gas stations running out of the stuff. Have these people learned nothing? Less than three weeks ago Katrina pwned New Orleans and the papers were full of “I should have evacuaqted sooner” and “I would have evacuated if I had gas” stories. Assuming that your vehicle gets, mmm, 15 mpg then a five-gallon can of gas gives you 75 miles of range. Seventy five. Thats enough to get out of the path of most hurricanes. Ten gallons? 150 miles – plenty of distance. Now, for some fast math. Call it $3.00 a gallon, $6 a piece for gas cans, sixty cents for gas treatment for ten gallons (yes, you’d have to buy the whole bottle of PRI-G or Sta-Bil, but maybe your buddy has some he uses with his lawnmower.) So, for less than $43 you could guarantee yourself enough fuel to get at least far enough to be out of the way of the hurricane. (And thats giving a generous 50%-wasted-idling-in-traffic handicap) $43. I will bet you fifty bucks theres no shortage of motorists on those highways, nervously eyeing their fuel guage and the “NO GAS” signs (as well as the mile-long lines) who would be thrilled to give you $50 for a five-gallon can of gas right now. But, if a month ago you said “Hey Tex, have you thought about spending fifty bucks to keep two gas cans in your garage ready to go in case of emergency?” you’d have probably been dismissed as paranoid or a worrier.
=====
In news of the Very Very Interesting, it appears that the folks that make the double-snail-drum 100-round Beta-Mags for the AR are going to be bringing out a 100-rd mag for the Mini 14. This is mildly amusing. Here’s the part thats going make your tires spin: they are also bringing one out for the M1A. 100 rounds of .308. A couple of those babies and you become a one-man roadblock. If there is a god, they’ll make a magazine tower adapter for the FAL. However, given the usage of the M14-type rifles these days, plus the inevitable military interest in Iraq and ‘Stan, the money is going to be in making it for the M1A. Think about it…you could slap a bipod on your M1A, dig in, slap in a drum and be quite the force multiplier. Drawbacks? As I read it, the loaded mag is about 11.5 pounds and I’ll bet its as noisy as the .223 when loaded. Which reminds me, I really would like to get a drum or two for the AK’s.
=====
The NRA and GOA have gotten off their butts and are bringing suit regarding the gun confiscations in New Orleans. This will be interesting…at least in the Chinese way. The best you could hope for out of this is .gov stopping what theyre doing and admitting they were wrong. Worst is that some court could refuse the case saying that theres some sort of emergency powers act that no one knew about. Regardless of how it shakes out, theres obviously a lesson in there for all of us. If you havent figured out what it is, well, ask the looters real nice and maybe they wont hurt you.
=====
The fabulous flectar parkas arrived yesterday for the BunkerBabe who, after trying them on, had that sexy ‘surplus military’ smell about her for an hour. Mmmmm. The tremendously-less-sexy daddygod also received his yesterday and was pleased. I may need to start a ‘Show Us Your Flectar’ thread some day. If you havent jumped on the bandwagon yet, these are very warm, extremely comfortable, and ridiculously cheap German surplus field jackets with liners. And the camo pattern works quite well, I might add. They are a seasonal offering so buy ’em now. Cheap enough to have spares, good enough to wear every day. And, oy, talk about comfortable!
=====
Which reminds me, if you already get the Sportsmans Guide catalog, be aware that they have a second catalog of just military surplus gear and it is far more useful than their regular catalog. Call Sportsmans Guide ( 1-800-888-3006 ) and tell them you want the ‘HQ’ gov’t surplus catalog. Seriously. They get some great stuff I havent seen offered elsewhere. Prices are usually pretty good.
=====
Halloween is approaching. Lotsa places will be selling lightsticks and having post-Halloween closeouts on them so start setting a few bucks aside now. CostCo, around here anyway, usually has a 15 pack of individually foil-packed lightsticks for about $13. I buy one pack each year and rotate the previous years stock to secondary usage status. Theyre cheap and work in environments that a candle or lantern might not be good in. Get some.

Newsclippings – Gas shortage for evacuees

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

Gas shortage makes evacuating difficult

Some highlights:

GALVESTON, Texas – Hundreds of thousands of people across the Houston metropolitan area struggled to make their way inland in a bumper-to-bumper exodus Thursday as Hurricane Rita closed in on the nation's fourth-largest city with winds howling at 150 mph.

Drivers ran out of gas in 14-hour traffic jams or looked in vain for a place to stay as hotels hundreds of miles away filled up.
…
“Don't follow the example of Katrina and wait. No one will come and get you during the storm,” Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said in Houston.
…
Highways leading inland out of Houston, a metropolitan area of 4 million people, were clogged up to 100 miles north of the city. Service stations reported running out of gasoline, and police officers carried gas to motorists who ran out.
…
Tow trucks tried to wend their way along the shoulders, pulling stalled cars out of the way.

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“Jackie Thomason waits anxiously in line for fuel at one of the few open gas stations in Pasadena, Texas, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005. Thomason and her husband are evacuating the Houston area prior to Hurricane Rita arriving. Thomason said she was scared without fuel they would not be able to evacuate. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)”

Newsclippings – Gas shortage for evacuees

Posted on by

Gas shortage makes evacuating difficult

Some highlights:

GALVESTON, Texas – Hundreds of thousands of people across the Houston metropolitan area struggled to make their way inland in a bumper-to-bumper exodus Thursday as Hurricane Rita closed in on the nation’s fourth-largest city with winds howling at 150 mph.

Drivers ran out of gas in 14-hour traffic jams or looked in vain for a place to stay as hotels hundreds of miles away filled up.
…
“Don’t follow the example of Katrina and wait. No one will come and get you during the storm,” Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said in Houston.
…
Highways leading inland out of Houston, a metropolitan area of 4 million people, were clogged up to 100 miles north of the city. Service stations reported running out of gasoline, and police officers carried gas to motorists who ran out.
…
Tow trucks tried to wend their way along the shoulders, pulling stalled cars out of the way.

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“Jackie Thomason waits anxiously in line for fuel at one of the few open gas stations in Pasadena, Texas, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005. Thomason and her husband are evacuating the Houston area prior to Hurricane Rita arriving. Thomason said she was scared without fuel they would not be able to evacuate. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)”

Frag the mayor, winterizing, generator, AK red dot, learning curve, MiniMag LED assembly

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

Its like a horrific traffic accident that I cant look away from. The mayor of New Orleans demands everyone leave, sends goons to reinforce that position, then a few days later starts letting folks back in and now he's telling 'em to leave again. If this were Vietnam he'd have been killed by one of his own men by now.
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Winter approaches here in the Land O' Mountains. Soon it'll be time to start toting my Cold Weather Module around in my backpack, make sure the winter survival gear is in the truck, and generally take a few precautions to prevent freezing to death. One nice thing about winter, if the power goes out my freezer full of meat just gets emptied to an outside location where it'll stay frozen. Hell, alot of the time its warmer in the freezer than it is outside.
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Still, I do need to get a small generator for the freezer. Actually, just a small generator for general purpose. My anticipated power needs during an outage are quite small. Some 12v lighting (LED mostly), radios, a battery charger for the handhelds and thats about it. It wouldnt be too hard to draw up a list of requirements in terms of usage, pad it a bit, and match it to a small generator. A large generator, would of course, be nice but that demon money is always souring the sweetest intentions. With the exception of the freezer, almost all of my needs are DC rather than AC and are fairly small draw…so a bank of batteries charged from either house AC, solar panels, or a small generator might be the way to go.
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One of the LMI picked up a side-mount (mounts on the siderail) AK red dot sight. We're going to take it out and see how it does. I'll do some with/without shooting and see how much of a difference it makes. Stay tuned.
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I'm sure I'll have a longer (much longer) post on this subject later but one thing I've learned as far as preparedness goes  is that you cant learn just one thing as far as preparedness goes. Its a huuuuuuuuge skill set…just off the top of my head: compass skills, small unit tactics, first aid, sewing, radio theory and practice, rappeliing and ropework, plumbing, electrical, gun handling, carpentry, camping, hunting, fishing, computer skills, cryptography, map reading, spreadsheet usage, reloading, food preservation and canning, bicycle repair, fuel handling, urban survival skills, gardening, wilderness survival skills, organization, etc, etc, etc…and always logistics. Talk about being a well rounded individual….

Yeah, I know – whine, whine, whine.
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Was in the local sporting goods shop and found an LED replacement bulb assembly for the MinMag. Only $10. I love the MiniMag for its durability and wide availability. If I can get it to run using LED's and get the associated battery life then this may be a good ting indeed. Will probably pick it up in the next few days and give an evaluation of it here and on the website.