Has it really been that long

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I had completely forgotten about it, and was reminded by someone who commented that they saw the notice over at SurvivalBlog, but today is he 22nd anniversary of the blog.

Thats just … incomprehensible.

I would be remiss to not take advantage of it by saying if you’ve found this blog useful or, more likely, entertaining over the last two decades (five presidential administrations!) please wander over to Patreon and give your ol’ buddy Zero some lovin’.

I’d also like to point out, in a very good naturedly petty way, that I just barely beat out ,Rawles in getting into the blogosphere. In fact, I recall when I discovered he had started blogging and saying to someone “Hey, that guy that wrote that book? He’s got a blog now!” Ah, good times.

And, for giggles, how many apocalypses have we gone though in that time….lets see….I count at least eight or nine, not including the perpetually right-around-the-corner Peak Oil drama. And yet, here we are.

And, like every election, when these anniversaries roll around I feel like “Yeah, but this year is the year that will be worse than all the others.” And yet….still here.

How much longer will this blog keep posting? Beats me. Some people might say it jumped the shark years ago and is now just a fading starlet trying to vainly pretend she’s still glamourous. Others might think its ben pretty consistent over the year (good or bad). Regardless, Im not planning on going anywhere but life moves pretty fast. Anything can happen.

Anyway, for those who have been along since Day One, thanks for following. And for those who haven’t been around since Day One but have still become regulars around here, thank you for your interest. And, finally, for those who actually have ponied up a few bucks here and here , or sent me cool stuff in the mail, mucho thanks.

 

Heavy metal

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So here’s the thing about gold. If youre in the gold buying and selling gold business, one of the things you try to avoid is buying a large amount of gold and holding onto it. The reason is obvious – if you buy 100 ounces of gold from a customer and the price drops $20 overnight, you’ve just lost two grand. Now, yes, the market could go up $20 overnight and you’d be ahead two grand… but thats not a chance you really want to take in the metals business. I asked my buddy about this and asked why he wouldn’t simply refuse the offer and take a pass on the deal. His answer, which made perfect sense, was that in the buying/selling business (of any product) you don’t last long or get a good reputation if you turn away people who want to sell you stuff.

So, what does this lead up to? Well, my buddy at the coin shop texts me and tells me that a rare opportunity to get a supremely good deal on gold and silver is available.

Apparently, he bought out an estate and wound up with several thousand one gram Valcombi bars, and a whole mountain of 100-gram divisible Valcombi silver bars. How good a deal? Well, I was told not to say, but it was an exceptionally good deal. Good enough to the point that I moved a good chunk of cash into them. He did not want to get caught holding the bag if the market shifted, so he almost immediately turned around and sold the whole thing to a wholesaler. BUT….he knows that Im always willing to buy gold if I can get a good deal on it.

So, I beefed up my gold and silver holdings. I usually prefer 1 oz. bars for my silver, but the Valcombi bars are always interesting and the price was too good to pass up, so I got a big stack of them as well.

Expensive day.

Article – Americans Are Preparing for When All Hell Breaks Loose

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Once thought of as a fringe mind-set, the prepared citizen movement is gaining traction in a world shaped by war, the pandemic and extreme weather.

Ten men, some wearing camouflage, others in vests loaded with ammunition for their AR-15 rifles, gathered under the morning shade of oak trees in Central Florida last month. They were there to learn marksmanship tactics common among Special Operation forces and elite law enforcement units.
Their instructor, Christopher Eric Roscher, an Air Force veteran, introduced himself and then led the group in prayer.
“Lord, you would use them as assets, to be protectors in this world, in a world that’s full of evil,” he prayed.
The men gathered around him were not soldiers, police officers or right-wing militia members. They were mostly civilians, including two pilots, a nurse and a construction company executive. The class’s title — Full Contender Minuteman — even referred to the civilians turned soldiers of the American Revolution.
In a world shaped by war, a pandemic and extreme weather, more Americans are getting ready for crisis — whether it’s to fight a tyrannical government, repel an invading army or respond to a natural disaster.
They are known as prepared or professional citizens, part of a growing number of gun owners who are adapting their mind-set to uncertain and polarized times. And rather than being part of more fringe “prepper” culture, they are growing more mainstream, catered to by companies ready to offer them the tools and training to be ready.
Nothing we haven’t seen before, and definitely something we’ll see more of. Interesting read, though.

Green Machine II

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I mentioned a few posts back that I had put together an entirely ODG (olive drab green) AR. I like the color, it goes well with everything, and, honestly, black rifles get a little boring. On the other hand, finding accessories in basic black is a piece of cake. Finding accessories in ODG, however…that takes some work. Well, thats not really true…what it takes is money. But, Zero wanted an all-green gun and, dangit, thats what Zero got.
Sling – MagPul M4 Sling
VFG – Magpul VFG
Rails – Timber Creek aluminum rail segments in ODG
Sights – Magpul BUIS in ODG

I’m a bit disappointed that the QD socket attachments were only available in black, but you can’t have everything. I’ll be swapping out the muzzle device for some sort of QD-supressor-compatible device as soon as I figure out whats available. And, the glaringly obvious glaring barrel might just be left as is..or it might get the rattle can treatment…we shall see.
And since TPIWWP:

Retreating into silver

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I don’t even want to think about the market bloodbath that is going on these last few days. If there’s any bright spot, it would be that now is the opportunity to buy since everything is ‘on sale’.

However…….

I’m hedging my bets. I normally throw my weekly dividends back into more equities. No longer. I’ll be pulling a large chunk of those dividends out each week and dumping them into physical silver and gold. Why? Well, mostly because silver and gold dont throw 5-10% losses every day for several successive days…at least not lately.

Oh, I’ll still keep buying the equities, but at least half of that money is going into silver and gold.

Gun of April

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You guys remember last month when I missed out on an auction for a fixed-sight, full underlug, 4″ GP-100? Yeah, that was a bit of a heartbreaker. But, I’m soothing my feelings with this:

It’s from 1995 but is in very nice condition. For those who aren’t familiar with this piece, some background may be in order. Fixed sight variants of the GP-100 are a bit hard to find. Most of them were made for police/security contracts, including a .38 Spl DAO version for the NYPD. They were available in a couple variations – stainless or blued, full or half underlug. Ruger catalogs a 3″ variant these days in stainless, but the 4″ don’t show up much. Century Arms re-imported some stainless half-lug DAO versions a while back and they turn up on GunBroker, but I’d prefer to have the option of single action as well as double action.

Anyway, this gun is gonna get some cleaning and then its time to head to the range and see how it shoots.

Green Machine

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A while back, one of my vendors was closing out KE Arms complete polymer AR lowers. These things are the successor to the old(er) Cavalry Arms poly lowers that were available years back. I wound up going pretty deep on these things and have about 20 of them sitting here. If you shop carefully, you can wind up putting together a deliciously light carbine. My vendor was selling two different flavors – the basic black with mil-spec parts, and a OD green model with razoo trigger, ambi mag release, and a couple other nice features. I picked up two or three of those. Here’s the problem – I hate mismatched colors on guns. I fully understand that two-tone guns can look quite striking and cool…but when it comes to AR’s (or carbines in general) I really would prefer them to be one color or pattern. A green upper receiver on a black lower just seems so….kitchen-table-assembly ghetto. Yeah, its a snob thing. Sure, I could have just pulled an AR off the rack and had it sent to the guys at Blue Line with instructions to green it up, but I figured if I waited long enough I might find one.

Turns out that when it comes to getting a factory-produced OD upper made by a major manufacturer…its a stretch. Do a hunt for a colored AR AR of color and you’ll see that most outfits just color the furniture. Want a green AR? No sweat…everyone sells an AR with some OD Magpul furniture….stock, handguards, pistol grip…..but the actual lower and upper are still black. Not what Zero wants. Before you start commenting about how so-and-so runs off lowers in various colors, please not that Im not saying they arent out there. Im simply saying its not an easy thing to come across assembled uppers in ODG. (Aero, for example, puts out colored uppers but there are not assembled.)

However, patience pays off sometimes. I found a ‘take off’ complete OD upper made by SIG on GunBroker. I put a bid in on it and won. So…time to ‘assemble’ another AR.