Garand Kit
These new pouches are probably the best option to fit those en bloc clips I have seen to date. You could keep a two pouch one loose to put on a belt for casual plinking or hunting or whatever and take a half dozen or so and place them on a vest, chest rig or plate carrier for a full load out. Not suprisingly these are from the same folks who make a buttstock carrier and a contemporary bandaleer for the garand. If my Garand was a primary defensive weapon instead of a collectable/ shooter I would spend some money on kit from Olongaop Outfitters.
Spare Parts, Fully Equiping A Gun And The Like
Today I was able to successfully purchase a bunch of Glock spare parts from Lone Wolf Distributors. This finishes off my initial push to get spare parts for my primary battery. I do need to pick up some spare springs for mags and such at some point but that isn’t a huge concern. I am very glad the initial spare parts push is over.
I got pretty much what I wanted and have right about $20 leftover. Taking the Wife out for some Turkish Pizza tomorrow night which we always enjoy.
I find myself thinking about what it actually costs to fully equip a Glock.
Well first you need to buy the gun itself. Lets say you want to get a brand spanking new one. I think $500 is probably reasonable as most prices are within about 10% of there.
Now you need some mags. There is a semi consensus that 10 mags is a good number and you would like a few of those big Glockamole mags just for fun. We will call that $300.
You want some spare parts so that will be a couple hundred bucks depending on what exactly you buy and in what quanities.
So we are sitting at about a grand with no holsters, mag pouches, cleaning gear or ammo. Of course you need load out gear and ammo. Depending on exactly what you want to get (holsters vary widely in price) and how much ammo you desire to have the total price of this is going to be at least a couple hundred bucks or so.
To equip a Glock in what I consider the desirable manner it costs something in the neighborhood of $1,200-1,300. Someone who wants more mags and more ammo and likes more expensive holsters could easily drop more like $1,500 -2,000. Someone on a tighter budget could get more like 6 mags and skip the Glockamoles. They could also get one holster and just a few hundred rounds of ammo while putting off spare parts for down the road. Still these folks are probably looking at $750-850 for a real minimalist setup.
It is important to remember that you don’t need to get all of this stuff in one day. A person can certainly buy a gun with just a holster and a couple boxes of bullets then pick up ammo over a couple months, then mags, etc. Spread it out over a few months or a year and the cost is a lot more managable.
My goal is just to share my experiences in properly equiping these very popular handguns.
Thoughts?
Kit: Racks and Chest Rigs
Gabe Suarez recently posted about this interesting little rig. It seems to be quality and is certainly sold at a fair price. Of course you can get something cheaper from some catalog but it is likely made in a sweatshop and of overall low quality. This got me to thinking about what I think makes up an ideal chest rig/ rack/ lbe/ web rig.
First of all my views are shaded by my experience weaping, carrying, moving and shooting with a lot of these setups. The way it has worked with my military time I have used everything from the old LBE to the assault vests to the new MOLLE. While the old stuff wasn’t bad the new stuff is certainly a lot better. Anyway here we go with what I believe are the traits of a good rig.
1. It is comfortable and carries weight well. This can not be underrated. If it is uncomfortable people will take it off or not wear it in the first place.
2. It is at least somewhat modular. This is the big failure of the asssault vest (some good examples here) period is that they are not at all modular. In that they were a step backwards from the LCE/LBE.
3. It is not cumbersome and has the absolute minimum of straps and such in the upper chest, shoulder and back. Ideally it will not interfere with your sling or the carry of a backpack/ rucksack.
4. It will carry the stuff you need. I would say this is at least 6 magazines, possibly a radio and has a pouch to various necessary stuff such as: earplugs, gloves, compass, map, and some snackage. Also it either needs a pouch for at least one water bottle or to be readily adaptable to some sort of a hydration system.It shouldn’t carry much more than that because it is so easy to fill up every pouch you have and that sucker will weigh 60 pounds!
5. It can be opened/ unattached from the back and from the front. Depending on if you are using it with a helmet or body armor you might want to be able to open it in different ways. Also the big issue with the RACK is that they usually do not open in the front. This is both a tactical and comfort issue if you need to lay in the prone for any length of time as you are bloody uncomfortable and are laying on your ammo. Also it is a real pain if you are going to be wearing body armor as you would have to put it on and take it off seperately every time and you couldn’t get out of it fast in an emergency like falling into the water.
6. I favor being able to carry all of your ammo on the non firing side and other stuff on the firing side.
I can see a role for those minimalist low profile chest rigs though I think it would be prudent to have a more serious rig first. Not a bad thing to have as sort of a mid point between having just the mag in your rifle and the one on the buttstock and a serious go to war chest rig.
Those are just my thoughts.
How Much Shotgun Ammo To Carry
I read this thought provoking post on TEOTWAWKIAIFF and it got me to thinking. I have already aired my thoughts on most of the things mentioned in this post so my rather lengthy comment aside there was one piece of new ground for me. Not saying that my word ends the discussion on anything but I try to avoid repeating myself unless it is for a specific reason.
How much shotgun ammo should you carry? Lets start with the least amount of ammo and work outwards from there. My 12 gauge is loaded with 7 rounds of 00 buck and has 7 more in the butt stock shot shell carrier so that makes 14 rounds. I feel that is more then sufficient for any contact that could develop in the bedroom (where everyone should keep a loaded shotgun). In that 15×15 space either the enemy will be dead or I will without the need for me to get into the butt stock shot shell carrier. If I was to choose to leave the bedroom then a sweet ass custom shotgun shell pouch with 30 rounds of 00 buck will be on my person. That would give me 44 rounds of shotgun ammo.
If someone wanted to carry a shotgun as a long gun outside of the home to use against two legged predators then I think having 50 rounds immediately accessible and another 50 on their person would be a good idea. The breakdown of ammo might be worth consideration but I think 3/4 buckshot (whatever kind gives you the most joy) and 1/4 slugs might be a reasonable solution.
Thoughts?
Shotgun Shell Pouch
I’ve been looking for a nice pouch to hold some shotgun shells for awhile now. Walmart and other places have those ones for skeet that clip onto your belt and have an open top designed to throw a box of bird shot in. Those are great for a nice day at the range or walking behind a good dog on a cool crisp day but not for what I have in mind. If I need to have extra buckshot with me things are completely fucked and I will almost surely be moving around a lot. I have seen bandoleers and such but don’t particularly like them. Having the 7 rounds on my buttstock shotshell carrier secured only by elastic is a necessary sacrifice but I want the extra ammo safe and secure.
This project started with a M249 Saw bandoleer. I ended up carrying it to help out a buddy and figured it would work well for this task. The long string that wrapps around the drum to secure it worked fine for a single large object but would not work well for shotgun shells. I had to go to Walmart to get groceries and swung through the sewing section. I picked up two of the biggest buttons they had, some needles (we had em but spares are good), and a spool of thread in a color that will also work to sew the crotch I blew out of a pair of ACU pants. (Figure I should probably fix them before someone at work sees my balls.)
Wifey was working today so I really had nothing to do but get this done. I put the buttons about 2/3rds down the front of the pouch and roughly centered. Sewing the buttons on was easy enough. What took some time was reinforcing the button holes. The thin fabric started fraying immediately once I cut the button holes. First I sewed the top and botton points of the holes but then it became apparant that sewing all the way around was necessary so I did that.
I like that the pouch has both a shoulder strap and loops to put a it on a belt or whatever else. The shoulder strap is essential because I don’t always wear a belt. Threw 30 rounds of 00 buck into it and now it has a home right by the shotgun.
Total Survivalist Blog 