November 29, 2024

Posts Comments

Cover and Concealment

September 13, 2012 by

Random gun violence has and will continue to be a problem. Because of this, I think it’s important for you to understand the difference between cover and concealment. Let me emphasize now that cover and concealment are not the end goal. The end goal is to get away from the area. Cover and concealment are what is used to get you away from the area.

Concealment is something that hides you, but will not stop a bullet.

Cover is something that hides you and will stop a bullet.

Here are a few examples that you might see in daily life in places where there has been gun violence in the past.

 

Shopping Mall

Shopping malls are horrible places to find cover, but some things to look for are the big heavy planters that are used to hold small trees. Another option might be an escalator or staircase. Vending machines might also be a good option for cover.

 

Outdoor Area

Look for any building that isn’t lined with glass. Brick and concrete are excellent cover. Hiding behind the front tire of a car gives some cover from the engine block, but it is limited. Hiding behind any other part of the car only offers concealment at best. Trees wide enough to hide behind can offer cover. A dumpster might also be a good option.

 

Schools and Universities

School shootings are something we hear about every year. I think you should find out your child’s school policy and decide if you agree with it or not. Most schools have a lockdown procedure in place. I don’t like it and think it is actually more dangerous. They slide a different colored piece of paper under the locked door and then hide inside the room. If I’m Joe Dirtbag Jr., seeing a piece of paper of any kind near a door tells me there are people inside.

Whether you tell your kids to abide by the lockdown or to safely make an escape if possible, I think explaining cover and concealment is a conversation you should have with your kids. You never know where they may be if a shooting starts.

Kids tend to hide in place out of fear. Make sure they understand that if they are near the shooter, to keep looking for a way out and for more cover and concealment until they are out of harm’s way.

 

Filed Under: Security

Gorilla Gardening

September 11, 2012 by

There are two types of gorilla gardening.  One type is where people plant flowers in public places to make things pretty.  The other type is the one I want to talk about today; ways to plant edibles or improve their condition.  By “improving their condition”, I mean making it easier for them to retain moisture, maybe thinning the area out to elevate competition for resources.

 

Introducing New Species

One option is to plant new species of plants in various areas.  A great way to do this is something I may have heard on The Survival Podcast.  You take the seeds for the plants you want to introduce and put them in a clay ball and let it dry.  When you go on a walk, you simply throw these clay balls in areas you think they would be well suited.  Now you just wait for rain.  When it rains, this will dissolve the clay and give the seeds an added boost of nutrients from it.

Native Americans used to plant three plants together that benefited each other.  They have been dubbed the three sisters.  The three plants are corn, pole beans and squash.  The corn grows tall, the pole beans will climb up the corn as they grow and will also bring nitrogen to the soil for the other two plants.  The squash will help protect the soil around the area, the leaves keeping the soil moist and blocking out sun, which can limit weed growth and help limit evaporation.

 

 

Some Things to Keep in Mind

When you gorilla garden you have limited control over what happens.  Someone else could come along and destroy or harvest what you have planted and wildlife can also help themselves.

Because of this you’ll want to plant in places that are off the beaten path but are easy enough for you to get to from time to time.  Keeping a journal of what was planted and where you planted it is a good idea.

I would not plant a gorilla garden and depend on its produce to sustain you and your family.  I would take the approach that anything you may harvest from gorilla gardening is an added bonus.

Gorilla gardening could also be used to draw game into the area throughout the year.

 

Enhancing the Wild

Another type of gorilla gardening is simply enhancing what is already in place.  For example, let’s say you’re on a hike and spot some wild blueberries.  If the area is over crowded with them, you may remove a few bushes to give the others less competition for nutrients.  If you see the path rain takes, you may create a little swale to slow the water down and retain more in the area.

Another option is to take leaves from the area and use them as mulch covering the bottom of the berry patch.  You could also plant things that would help bring in nutrients to the area.  For instance, beans tend to bring in nitrogen.  Planting them near an area and then cutting them once they get to a certain height, leaving them to decompose; called “chop and drop”, returns nitrogen to the soil.

Again, with the wild edibles, I would make note of where you found them and look at anything you harvest from them as a bonus.

 

Do you have any ideas for a gorilla garden?

Filed Under: Food Tagged With:

The Many Uses of Shipping Containers

September 5, 2012 by

Over the years I have read many articles and forum posts about shipping containers; how people want to use them or have tried to use them, what has worked and what hasn’t. It’s a topic that interests me for a few reasons, some of which I’ll cover below.

 

General Information
 
Shipping containers come in two sizes; 8’x20’ and 8’ by 40’. You can buy them new or used. Many of the used containers have been on ships sailing the ocean and are exposed to salt water, which means they may have rust. The US has an abundance of these. In the CNN video below, the reporter says we received 7 million containers into America, carrying goods, but only 2.5 million left, exporting goods. This means there is a huge amount of these things available. Most are near shipping ports, but many make their way inland via trains. Some businesses have sprung up due to the popularity of them.
They can be used for everything from a shed, essentially placed on property and left alone, to offices or emergency shelters during a hurricane or other natural disaster. They have also been used to make multi-level homes and even fallout shelters.

 

 

 

Building With Containers
 
There are several companies that will sell you a prefab house, or even build one for you out of containers. I list some below and almost all of them want your e-mail or phone number before you can get a quote. The pluses to building with shipping containers is that they are fire and mold resistant. You can be very creative in your designs, as you can see in Amazing Homes and Offices Built from Shipping Containers, which has roughly 46 pictures of some very cool and unique housing designs. 9 Cutting-Edge Modular Homes has 9 more designs. Just do a Google image search for cargo container homes and you’ll be amazed.

Here are a couple of blogs where people are living in container homes, one in Australia and another in Panama.

I have seen several projects that other prepper’s have done with shipping containers. This video is of a group that built a large shelter with two 40’ containers on each side and a large open middle space. They added a roof, which they will use for rain catchment.

 
 


 
Here is another video where they are using a 20’ container as an underground shelter. I have some concerns about the weight of the concrete which I’ll cover later. A warning on the video: the music is horrible in my opinion. You’ve been warned. 
 
 

 

Building Codes

Since these types of structures are fairly new, many municipalities don’t really know what to do as far as building codes go, so I would look at your local zoning laws and talk to local officials. I have read that if you put in concrete footings and set the container on them, it may not be viewed as a permanent structure and can bypass some zoning restrictions and even taxes in some cases. Again, talk to your local officials! (Or completely pretend they don’t exist. It’s your call. Just sayin.)

 

Fallout Shelter
 
This is one of the most often mentioned projects that I have seen on prepper forums. It can be done, but there are some things to keep in mind. Jack Spirko from The Survival Podcast did an excellent interview with a man who has done this. The interview is called Episode-560- Shipping Container Construction – The Good, Bad & Ugly.

For those of you who don’t listen to podcasts, if this subject interests you, I recommend you make an exception. One of the things they cover is the problem of weight on top of the container. You see, these containers are built to be stacked, on one top of the other. All the weight bearing is on the corners and the sides, not on the top. If memory serves, it takes 12“ of concrete and 3‘ of earth to stop radiation. Putting that much weight on top of a cargo container without reinforcing the inside walls and ceiling could likely cause it to collapse. In the Podcast, they explain how this is done, so I’m not going to cover it here. Another option with the concrete is to extend the concrete 2’ wider on each side. This should help displace some of the weight to the earth.

Another problem is water. These containers are made of steel and unless you do something to protect the metal, it will rust through over time. The way “Mike” from the interview said to approach this was to use a roll of EDPM rubber coating, overlapping by 6”. EDPM is the stuff that big stores with flat roofs use to coat the roof to waterproof them. He said to use a roll, but it looks like there is also a liquid rubber version of it as well. I’m not sure which option would be better. This is an expensive route, but if you’re trusting your life to it, the expense is justified to me.

He also said to place rough gravel under the container as well. He mentions also adding 6” of gravel to the sides. This would help with drainage as well as his main reason for it, which is keeping any creatures from chewing through the EDPM and exposing the bare metal to the soil, as once a creature hits the rocky gravel they’ll stop chewing.

You also need to keep the water table in mind. You don’t want to spend the time digging this huge hole to find you’re a foot below the waterline.

There are other topics explored, such as drainage and using a sump pump, and air filtration, but I’ll leave those for the podcast.

 

Shipping Container as a Shed
 
I have a couple different ideas on this, depending on if you want it seen or not. If you have a BOL (Bug Out Location) that is just raw land, having a 20’ by 8’ container could hold a lot of emergency preps. Having it out in the open, with no one to keep an eye on it, could be asking for Joe Dirtbag to break in to see what’s inside. I think if you wanted to hide this, one could dig a hole, say 6 or so feet deep and 22’ wide. Put rough gravel or something similar on the bottom to help with drainage, placing multiple concrete forms to keep the container above the trap rock by six inches or so.
Some of the container may show above ground. Use the same methods as above, using EDPM to protect it from moisture, burying it with only a foot or so of dirt on top of the container. This would greatly reduce the weight on the container, though adding some supports is still a good idea. Now plant whatever local vegetation is around to camouflage it. You’ll need to leave access to the door, but those could be hidden with some bushes that wouldn’t look out of place.
If you want to use it on land that you live on, I would say to add a roof of some kind to protect it and add a rain catchment system to it as well.

 

Some final thoughts
 
If I ever get to buy the acreage I dream of, I would like to set up a couple of storage containers and bunk houses for guests. I’d like to possibly have one buried as a storm shelter/storage. I also like the idea of putting them on concrete forms. That way it would be easier to make them mobile if needed.
Cost isn’t mentioned on most sites. I’ll list the sites below. They want your information to give you a quote. For a bare bones shipping container, I would expect to pay a minimum $2500 for a 8’x20’, and up to $5000, depending on quality. You also need to consider delivery and installation, especially if you’re burying it.

 

Shipping Container Resources
 
I have a bunch of resources. Some are companies that sell fully designed units and some sell just the containers. Others sell design plans. There are a few other resources listed as well. I looked through all of them, more to get an idea of what was possible. I’m pretty impressed with what some of these people have done.

Here is an article on Bob Vila’s site called Home Sweet Container, Steel shipping container homes are strong, safe, and eco-friendly.

Here are some sites that sell fully developed containers. Again, you’ll need to give them your info to get a quote but they’re good for ideas if nothing else.

Container Home Consultants is a blog on the subject. It looks like they may sell some plans and an eBook, but there are many free articles.

Here are a few companies that sell prebuild systems:

Global Portable Buildings, Inc.
ModSpace
Sea Box
American Container Homes, Inc.

Here are two sites that just sell empty shipping containers:

The Big Blue Box
Interport

Here are two sites that just sell plans:

Shipping Container Homes
Container Home.info
Container Homes.net has a variety of services. It looks like they sell some plans and some boxes, as well as blog about their journey.

I realize that this article has just scratched the surface but hopefully you walk away seeing more possibilities for shelter or storage.

 

Filed Under: Shelter

What Would You Do: Plane Crash

September 3, 2012 by

It’s been a while since I have posted a “What would you do?”, so I thought today is about time.

You and your husband/wife/best friend are on a late fall vacation and are given a discounted rate to a local tourist attraction.  It’s a two hour flight leaving at 4:00 PM that explores some of the most popular landmarks and scenery in the area, showing off the fall colors. The flight offers a small snack and drink at the half way point.  Shortly after the one hour mark the plane flies into a flock of large birds, possibly geese.  One of the birds breaks through the windshield and has either killed or knocked the pilot out.  The plane was at an altitude of maybe 1000 feet and you’re quickly crash landing into a wooded area.  From the crash the fuselage is nearly ripped in half, the radio is destroyed and fuel is leaking from the only remaining wing.

There were a total of twelve people on board, not including the pilot.  Only four others including your husband/wife/best friend are responding.  Your husband/wife/best friend has a broken leg, one of the others who is responding is bleeding heavily from the head, but seems alert.  You and one other flier are relatively unhurt.  You cannot tell immediately if the others who have not responded are simply unconscious or dead.

It’s an hour before you’re expected back, but it might be longer before any worry is aroused.  It could be a couple hours before anyone even knows something has happened.

What would you do?

(Check the comments section to see the answers from everyone as well as to add your own.)

 

Filed Under: What Would You Do?

Survival Thinking; Outside the Box

August 29, 2012 by

 

Some people are born with the ability to “think outside the box” or with non-linear thinking.  There are some people who, while not born with this type of thinking, can practice and learn it.  Yet there are still others who will always see things one way.

In The Survivors Club it is explained that the people who have the greatest chance at survival in survival situations, are those who take action.  I think those people who are able to think outside the box are more apt to take action, not because they’re smarter or braver, but because they see more possibilities and act on them.

One of the ways this type of thinking can be applied is by looking at an object, understanding its designed use, but seeing other possible uses as well.

I work from home now, but when I went to an office to work, I made note of where the fire extinguishers were.  I’m sure this is something many preparedness minded people do.  But when I look at a fire extinguisher, I see not only an implement that could put out a fire, I see a blunt, impromptu weapon.  I also see something that could be used to break glass, could be sprayed to give concealment if needed or, if used in a certain way, could be turned into a missile of sorts.

You see, in many survival situations, be they plane crash, hurricane or any number of other types of events, resources are usually low and random.  You have to think outside the box and make due on the fly.  A seatbelt that was cut loose could become a restraint or even a tourniquet if needed.  It could also be used as cordage to tether just about anything.

I have read dozens of stories about people who were stranded in their vehicle in poor weather.  Sometimes they are found dead, succumbed to the elements.  Last year I read about a man in Alaska who got lost and was found two or three days later, barely alive.  If memory serves, he said he stayed alive by huddling in his jacket.  If this were me, I would have left the house much better prepared to begin with.  In his shoes, I would have cut the fabric of the seat and used it as a blanket, the carpets could have been cut and placed over the windows to help trap some of the heat in.  The tires could have been burned during the day, giving off a thick black smoke that would have been easy to see far away.

Being able to look at something and see its other possible uses is something most people can relearn to do.  Many of us did it in our childhood.   My brother and I used to turn the picnic table and benches into our own fishing boat and pretend to go fishing.  Now that took imagination and pretending, but those can be a part of what I am talking about.  Not actually acting the scenario out, but running them through your mind.  Or looking at an object and thinking of ten or twenty different uses for it.

Here are just a couple examples of what I mean. You can add your answers to the comments if you wish, but at least think them through.  I’ll add my list in the comments for those who want to see.

–           You happen upon a multicar accident that has just happened; police and ambulance are not on scene.  How many ways can you give assistance?

 

–          Name ten different uses for a standard car tire.

 

Filed Under: Mind Set

Introducing the Prepared Christian Link Library

August 27, 2012 by

One of the projects I mentioned I have been working on is making a Link Library of sorts.  These are mostly PDF files that I have come across while researching preparedness.  There is a wide variety of subjects, so to make is somewhat comprehensible the main page will be called Link Library and, as you can see, is visible from the top tool bar.  From there, you will have a multitude of preparedness related topics.  Inside those topics, will either be a sub list, or just a list of PDF files.

 

I chose to go with PDF files so that you could download and save them as well as print them if you like.  I have (for the most part) avoided adding webpages so far, as I wanted to target specific topics.  There are some instances where there is a webpage dedicated to gardening and the entire website is worthwhile.  In those times I have linked the site.

 

The reason I created this Link Library is so that if someone decided to research how to plant a garden in a small area, or learn to use a chainsaw, or how to build an impromptu shelter, they can come here and might just find what they are looking for.  You can also look through the Link Library and find a subject you had not considered before.

 

I would love for all of you to help build this list, but there are some things we have to be careful of; mainly copyright infringement.  There are some preparedness sites out there hosting a wide variety of files, some very helpful, but not all of their content is within the law.  If the author wanted to, those site owners would have a very expensive journey ahead of them.  There are actually lawyers looking for sites like this, then contacting the author and trying to get a job.

 

I always try to link directly to the original PDF, instead of downloading it to my site.  There were some cases where I had to download it to my site as there wasn’t a good source for the information.  In these cases it was usually a government FEMA type document that wasn’t under the same type of copyright as some of the other material.

 

So.,if you have a PDF, or a topic that you would like to add to the Link Library, please post it in the comment section of the page you think it should belong.    Please post the title and the URL, if the link is acceptable I will add it to the Link Library.  If I don’t add it you can inquire why, but I will be deleting comments once the link is decided upon, to keep the comment area manageable.

 

If you have a topic but don’t know how to find a PDF for it, you can go to Google.  For this example, I want to research generators.  In the search tab I would type “generators filetype:pdf” without the quotation marks.

 

All of the links worked at the time of this posting.  If you find a broken one, please let me know and I will find a new one.

 

I hope you all find some of this information as valuable and interesting as I have.  Enjoy!

 

Filed Under: General Preparedness

Review of PMC Bronze 9mm Luger from Lucky Gunner

August 22, 2012 by

ammunition

I had first heard of Lucky Gunner earlier this year when a reader made a comment in another article. I decided to go and check them out. I was impressed enough with what I saw, to become an affiliate of theirs.

For full disclosure, that means that if you click on any of the links or images to Lucky Gunner, I will receive a small commission. Also for full disclosure, they provided the ammo I am going to review today PMC 9mm Luger, free of charge.

First let me tell you what impressed me enough about their site to become an affiliate. Searching is made very easy. Let’s say you’re searching for 9mm. The information you are given is the price per box, the price per round and how many they actually have in stock. If they’re out, it shouldn’t be shown on their site. The other thing that impressed me was that they guarantee same day shipping if you order by 3pm EST and next day shipping if you order after 3 PM EST, or you’ll be refunded 110%.

Now onto the Ammo Review!

I received a box of PMC 9mm Luger. PMC is a South Korean owned company. I have never fired any of their ammo and was looking forward to it. I took my stepson with me to enjoy some guy time and waft in the smell of gunpowder (insert Tim the Tool Man caveman grunt).

I fired all 50 rounds of the PMC 9mm Luger flawlessly, with the exception of one casing bouncing off the range dividers and smacking me in the face, which my stepson found humor in.

Afterward we shot a box of Winchester ammo that I had picked up at a local store. It might just be me, but it felt like it had a bit more recoil than the PMC 9mm Luger, but we didn’t have a single failure with either.

I had the targets set to 10-15 feet. It turns out that my stepson is a better shot then I am, though I think he moved the target closer while I was reloading. In any case, we both made plenty of holes in targets that would be center mass at handgun self-defense ranges.

I would happily buy from Lucky Gunner and shoot with this ammo again, even if I was not an affiliate. I give the PMC 9mm Luger four stars.

Filed Under: Reviews, Security Tagged With: ,

Money and the future of the American Economy

August 20, 2012 by

I’ve said before that I’m a novice when it comes to economics, but even a novice can see that our economy is and has been in trouble. So what do we do? I don’t mean “we” as a country, I mean “we” as Prepper’s, what do we do?

I don’t claim to have all the answer’s but here are some things that I think are a good idea.

 

Get out of Debt

Kill it, throw every extra cent you have at it, make it go away as fast as possible. It is stealing from your future. If you’re in debt and serious about getting out of it, there are many different methods of doing so. One I have found, that is actually offered as a ministry at my church is Crown Financial Ministries. They take a Biblical approach, giving to God what is His, showing you how to be good stewards with the rest.

 

Precious Metals

If you’re new to precious metals, I wrote a two part series called Primer for Precious Metals (Part One and Part Two. I really think people should be investing in precious metals. I think silver has much more of an up-side right now. So far, I have stuck to one ounce silver eagles, but am really looking at “junk” pre-1965 coins. Just be sure to stick to under $500 so it’s not reportable to the IRS. As the dollar continues to slide, I think people will turn to gold and silver for barter. In fact, while at a gun show last weekend, I noticed a booth selling AR-15’s and accessories with a sign that said they would take gold as payment.

Invest in Lead, Specifically Copper Jacketed Lead
I think prices are going to rise and availability is going to be more scarce than it was after the President was elected, especially if he gets re-elected.

 

Buy Second Hand

Make use of garage sales, Craig’s List or FreeCycle, The Salvation Army or any other place that sells used goods. Do a search for “barter networks” and you’ll find all kinds of ways to barter and trade your goods or services for others.

 

Prepare Now

I don’t think we’ll see an economic collapse that happens overnight where the banks are just closed. I think we’re already in the midst of a slow decline. Our dollar still holds value and will continue to, only less and less as time goes on. If you have any purchases that you have been putting off, I say “if you can afford it, now might be the time to get it, without going into debt”.

 

Shop Farmers Markets

If you have a farmer’s market near you, it’s a great way to get fresh produce as well as enough to preserve for future use. Some of these people might be willing to barter labor for food.

 

Closing Thoughts

The pain is coming and it’s unavoidable. The only questions are “when?” and “how much?”. The good thing about all of the items I mention, is that whether it’s six months or six years, you’re taking steps to increase your financial preparedness.

 

Filed Under: Finance, General Preparedness

Building a Stockpile of Medicine

August 15, 2012 by

Stocking up on most items is pretty easy, as long as you have the money, but what about medicine?  Because it can be a bit more difficult, here are some things you can try to build a small stockpile of the meds you take daily.

 

90 Day Supply

Many insurance companies will let you order a 90 day supply of some medications.  If yours will not do it automatically, there may be a form you can fill out to request that they allow it.

 

Slowly Building a Stockpile

I got this tip from a local Emergency Manager.  If you can purchase a 90 day supply, you can often refill it a few days or weeks before it runs out.  For example, let’s say that time is 14 days.  Once you receive the new prescription, take 14 pills out of it and put it in a third container.  Continue to do this until the third bottle is filled.  Use this bottle as your main bottle, letting the new bottle you just received be your reserve.  Now you should have an extra 30-90 day supply.  Remember to keep it in rotation.

 

Auto-refills

We use Walgreens as our pharmacy.  One option they have is auto refills.  They will automatically refill eligible prescriptions every time your insurance company allows it.  This is often sooner than the prescription runs out.  This essentially does the same as the above, but you don’t have to remove pills from the new bottle and add them to the third.  This method has gotten my wife a three month supply of asthma medicine that she needs every day.

 

Lost or Misplaced

If you lose or misplace your medicine, a call to the pharmacy can often get them to contact your insurance company to authorize a refill.

 

Talking to your Physician

Believe it or not there are many physicians around who are open to the idea of you being medically prepared.  Cynthia J. Koelker, MD wrote an article on the SurvivalBlog called “How to Get Your Doctor to Help You Stockpile Medicine”.  This article has some very good advice on how to approach the subject.

 

Walmart

While I’m not a huge fan of Walmart, they do have a pretty good prescription plan.  For $4 you can get a 30 day supply of certain medications, and for $10 you can get a 90 day supply.  If you found a doctor who was sympathetic to your desire to build a small stockpile of medications, they could write you a paper prescription and you could pay for this out of pocket.  This way the insurance company is out of the loop.   Follow the link to see a list of included medicines.

 

Veterinary Medicines

Did you know that many of the medicines given to animals are the exact same medicines given to humans?  Sometimes they change the name, sometimes they don’t.  I’m not saying this is a good or bad option, just giving you the information.  I’ll let you decide.

 

Here are two articles on other blogs on the subject.  I’m sure you can find more with just a few minutes of research.  Guide to Veterinary Drugs for Human Consumption, Post-SHTF and Preparing for Medical Emergencies When There Is No Doctor
 

As I mentioned, building a stockpile of medicines can be more difficult, but hopefully one of these options can help you.  If you have another idea, please list it in the comments.

 

Filed Under: Medical and First Aid, Preparedness Tips

Building a Defensive Battery

August 13, 2012 by

Please bear with my soapbox for a moment.

With all of the talk about the small arms treaty and the comments from the President on guns after the recent tragic shootings, I decided it’s time to write this article while there is still time for you to legally build your defensive battery.

Does this mean that I think the UN small arms treaty will pass or that the President will come after arms if he gets reelected?  The truth is, I don’t know.  What I do know is that our liberties have slowly been stripped away for decades, much more rapidly in the last four years.  I also know that the left hates private gun ownership.  Enough soapbox, on to the main article.

 

What is a defensive battery? 

That is a subjective question.  It’s subjective because it depends on what you think you’ll need the firearms in your battery for.  Since I can’t answer that question for you, I’ll just cover some popular types of firearms to have in a defensive battery.  This article might sound a bit similar to Finding the Best Home Defense Gun to Meet Your Needs
Finding the Best Home Defense Gun to Meet Your Needs but a defensive battery isn’t just for home defense.  It could and possibly should include firearms that you would never use for home defense.

 

Handguns

I covered some things to look for in a handgun in Buying Your First or Next Handgun , so I’ll not go into detail here.  If you’re in range to use your handgun, your training is more important than your caliber, so to me that argument is mute.  I have consistently seen three brands that are always highly recommended.  They are (in no specific order), Glock Smith & Wesson and Sig Saur.  I’m not saying other brands aren’t as good.  I’m just saying that I see these three rated higher more often than others.  Do your research and shoot it before you buy it.  I’ll leave it at that.

 

10-22 Rifle

In a defensive battery?  Yep.  Remember, a defensive battery isn’t just for protecting the homestead.  It could be used in providing for the homestead as well.  There have been many pots filled with a 10-22.  These are usually $150-$200 new.  I got two for the family to learn to shoot with.  Ammo is cheap enough that you could shoot all day for very little. I wish I would have purchased Ruger 10-22’s as they have set the standard, so-to-speak.  I have heard many survival experts, when asked the “If you could only bring one gun, what would it be?” questions, say they would bring their 10-22.  It can take small and large game with a carefully placed shot.  It can help you stay in practice.  For these and other reasons, this one is a must in my opinion.

 

Shotgun

I covered shotguns in some detail in Finding the Best Home Defense Gun to Meet Your Needs, so I’ll just glaze over it here.  For sheer versatility, this is a must.  You can take small game and birds with birdshot or larger game with buckshot and slugs.  I mentioned this in the other article, but it needs to be said again.  If you only buy one shotgun, the smallest framed person in the home that might be called upon to use it, has to be able to handle it.  That might mean you need to go with a youth model 20 gauge, but it will still do the job.

 

As for brands, I have heard good things about Benelli but don’t know much about them.  I have also heard good things about and have fired a Mossberg 500.  My favorite thing about this gun was the safety placement in the top, which is very easy to reach with your thumb.   The shotgun that I have seen the most praise for and my personal choice is the Remington 870.  It’s not as easy to find a range that will let you rent a shotgun, so if you don’t have one, see if you can find a friend that hunts.

 

 

Rifles

 

I’m going to break this up into two separate classes; hunting guns and long guns. The reason I am separating the two is because, to me, they have different jobs and also because one of them is going to be in more danger of being regulated than the other.

 

 

Hunting Rifles

 

Hunting is a skill set I don’t have.  My dad wasn’t a hunter and I didn’t have anyone else to teach me.  Even if you’re not a hunter, it might still be a good idea to have a rifle capable of taking game in the state you live.  From Semi-auto, bolt action, lever action and more calibers than I can name off the top of my head, there are many options.  What might be good in one state, where average ranges are a mere thirty to one hundred yards, is nothing to states where ranges could go a few hundred yards.  If you’re not a hunter, this information can be quickly gathered in an internet search.

 

 

Long Guns

You may have heard these called “black guns”, “assault rifles”, “machine guns” or other silly names.  These are the guns that fell under the Assault Weapons Ban and are in danger of it again.  These are semi-automatic rifles that can have high capacity magazines.  I have said that, to me, long guns have a different job than hunting rifles.  While some are very capable and often used to hunt with, let’s call a spade a spade.  These are the firearms used to fight wars.

I’m not saying that as detraction, so why then would I say this is a viable option for one’s defensive battery?  There are a few reasons.  The first is that the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States says I have the God given right to.  Now, some might say “the Founders never meant for the average citizen to own an AR-15 or AK-47” but I disagree wholeheartedly!  If those platforms would have been around then, you can bet the revolutionary war would have been fought with them.

My second reason is that there is no better weapon to defend yourself.  They have the range, stopping power and capacity to stop an enemy and keep him at a distance.  Hence the reason they are the firearms used to fight wars with.

My third reason is, look at places like Mumbai or even the bank robbery in Los Angeles County in 1997.  In Both cases the criminals had far superior firepower then the police.  Or in the case of Mumbai, any nearby gun store or civilian.

There are, again, many platforms and calibers, too many to list.  I will just touch on two popular choices that I am semi familiar with.  They are the AR-15 and the AK-47.  Again, let me say that I started out as a prepper with no firearms experience.  I was in the Navy but we were not required to shoot a firearm to be enlisted.  I fired both an AK-47 and an AR-15 without having a clue how either worked, and got no training on them before using them.  I was easily able to figure the AK-47 out.  It was designed that way, to be reliable and easy enough to teach “peasants” quickly.  I am embarrassed to say that when I tried to “rack the chamber” of the AR-15, I ejected the magazine.  That was entirely my fault, not the guns.  It does take more training than the AK-47.  I’m not  saying one is better, then the other, that might be for another article.

Long guns will be the first gun to be regulated.  If you want one, now is probably the time to act.  If you want more high capacity magazines, the same holds true. The President’s comments that “I think a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals,”

Oops, I keep bumping into this dang soapbox. Yes he was wrong on the type of gun our soldiers are issued, but he means all long guns, not just AK-47’s. I have read reports that every household in Iraq is allowed to have one fully automatic AK-47 for home defense. I have also read that as part of conscription, every Swedish adult serves in their Army and is allowed to bring their fully automatic rifle home. American’s are required to have a special permit to own a fully Auto rifle. But I would happen to agree with the Swedish and Iraqi Governments, that yes, they in fact do belong in the hands of the citizenry.

 

Ammo

You may have heard the saying that “without ammo you just have an expensive club”.  How much you store is up to you and what you can afford.  I have seen many recommendations that you should have 500-1000 rounds for each firearm you own.  I guess the thinking here is that if it did hit the fan, you might find it difficult to restock easily.  I have also seen plenty of stories where someone was arrested for something illegal, and it mentioned that he has “thousands of rounds of ammunition.”  I also just read that there is a bill being proposed now that would require any purchase of 1000 rounds be reported to Homeland Security.  Depending on where you live, it may be easy to purchase ammo, though for some, purchasing any volume online might be the only option.

If you belong to a shooting league, you can go through a thousand rounds in a weekend.  This would really hamper them.  If you’re someone that just likes to enjoy range time with friends, you can go through rounds fast as well.

In both the case of the shooting at the screening of the Batman movie and the shooting at the Sikh reports have come out that suspects were on law enforcements radar.  Adding new legislation isn’t the answer, using what is already there is.

 

Filed Under: Security Tagged With: , ,
«Previous Page
Next Page»