Fun With Fives- Survival Gear
A- Well I am starting with a bag as a freebie which is cool. I would take a good knive like a Buck 110, a fire starting impliment, a steel water bottle, a compass and some 550 cord. My bonus #6 would be water purification tablets. (#5 and the bonus might be better switched around).
What is your answer?
Gun Porn Post
What I actually need to do is take care of a bunch of little stuff to really get the guns I already have (admittedly not a bad battery) set up properly. Over my time here I have done most of the heavy lifting in this area by purchasing plenty of mags, spare parts and some ammo. Still there is some work left to be done.
About 3 guns need trijicon night sights. The Glock which lives in the bedroom should have a light attached to it. My Springfield ’06 needs to get drilled into so I can put a scope on it. On the bright side I’ve got a 3×9 Leupold lying around so that should be a pretty affordable project. I am still looking at options but both a rifle and a shotgun could use lights too however that might not make this round of purchases. There are probably a few other little things I can use.
Another thing to do when I get home is get my M4agery set up properly. I have the gun and an ACOG to go on top of it. Prior to putting that on I need to get a backup iron sight and zero it. (Previously it had a detachable carry handle) Still toying with the idea of putting a light on it. The thing doesn’t have rails and at this time I don’t plan to mount anything else so buying them just to make a light slightly easier would be a waste and I don’t really want a rail anyway. That means either one of those hose clamp type setups or using a novel little piece of rail that hooks into the A looking hole in the front sight. The rail setup looks like the way to go as it lets me use all manner of lights and is in about the right location. For about 8 bucks it is worth fiddling with anyway. I don’t think it would be stable enough to hold a zero on a laser but for a light as long as it points straitish that is good enough.
On another front I have recently switched from carrying a Buck 110 back to the clip in your pocket one hand folder type knife. It is so convenient to just slip a knife into my pocket and have it vanish. Also the Buck is way more knife than I need the vast majority of the time and I have one handy in the car anyway. Currently I am carrying a medium sized Cold Steel Voyager. I am not totally thrilled with the thing but it was already in my pile of knifes. One of my guys had an Ontario Rat 1 which looked pretty nice (and got good review online) and for about $35 it it is worth rolling the dice. I am not totally opposed to paying more for a knife but would want to be able to handle one before doing so which is problematic here.
On yet another front you can get the new 2012 15th Anniversary Edition of the LDS Preparedness Manual for free download from www.ldsavow.com. You may or may not agree with their theology but Mormon’s have their stuff together when it comes to preparedness. It would be foolish not to take advantage of the free resources they offer to the public.
Anyway I am going to wrap this up. Hopefully you all have a great weekend.
I have received some interest in the two guns I plan to sell which is suprising and cool. The 1911 is a Springfield Mil Spec .45 and the M1 Garand is well, an M1 Garand. The 1911 may go to a buddy who I always offer right of first refusal (and he does the same) on gun sales. As to pricing I am pretty out of touch and will have to do some research to get a final solution.
The complication that spawns this post is that I am in Germany and my guns are at home in the PNW. Not going to inconvenience a family member that has been doing me a favor with taking detailed pics, let alone shipping through an FFL or a personal sale. In the early fall I will be headed back to the US. Any action would have to take place at this time.
Personal Survival Kit
First I have to note that I blatantly stole this idea from John Mosby. Since this isn’t school there is no penalty for this. Anyway I wanted to give credit where it is due. I didn’t so much steal the general idea to have most of this stuff around as the idea of looking at it as a unique kit.
My personal survival kit consists of the following. A knife, in this case a Buck 110 though any good knife would be fine. A compass I had lying around, a couple lighters wrapped in ranger bands, water purification tablets, 550 cord and a small LED light. Also there is a flint and striker which I plan to replace with the much more compact Boy Scout model when I get around to ordering some stuff. I got the little pouch to put it all in. Figured either I could just slip the whole thing into my camelback or cargo pocket or take the stuff out and put it into various places. Either way it would stay in one place and be readily available. Probably not entirely necessary but it helped me put things together and worst case I can always use it for something else.
My kit varies a bit from the one JM described. Not shown is a handgun with a spare magazine because well I am in Germany right now. Also not shown are eye pro but I wear them in the woods. Also I added the small light because they are just really handy. Not pictured or mentioned is a water bottle/ camelback/ canteen. I thought about that for awhile. In the end I sort of consider it an implied item I would have anyway, sort of like how I didn’t mention footwear or pants.
This little kit lives in my car and goes with me when I am in the woods or whatever. It is pretty small and as such could be carried during any sort of tasks. Anyway if you do not have some sort of kit like this then it might be worth thinking about putting one together.
Wednesday Randomness
Check out this interesting infograph on Zombie proofing your home.
For no particular reason I want to talk about a couple of rules or guidelines.
The first is that in firearms there is an inverse relationship between reliability and accuracy. Obviously a gun that shoots minute of barn at 10 paces is not useful but a jamamatic that shoots 1/10th moa when it occasionally decides to function isn’t either. Personally for real world applications I am inclined to lean a bit toward reliability. Really you just need minute of man (or deer or elk or whatever) accuracy to get the job done and if a weapon is capable of that then the rest is on the shooter. Also most weapons will outshoot people anyway.
The second is that you typically get what you pay for. Expecting more than that out of a tool/ weapon is just not very realistic. Given comparable models/ styles a more expensive product is probably better. A $15 Wally world special is not going to perform like a Buck 110. Expecting a $550 “plinker” AR to perform like a rifle from Bushmaster, Smith and Wesson or Colt is not realistic. Some products do offer a lot of value and while they don’t break this rule they might just bend it a bit. Glock and XD pistols, Buck and Cold Steel knifes and REI brand camping gear come to mind.
Also I would like to let you know that LPC survival an authorized Berkey water filter dealer and long time advertiser are launching a completely redesigned website on the 21st. I got a chance to preview it and the new format is very nice. Much easier to use and a better shopping experience. You should definitely check it out.
Anyway that is about all that is floating around in my head today,
Later
My EDC
I carry the typical stuff like a cell phone, keys and a wallet with some cash. In terms of survival stuff I carry a knife, typically a buck 110, a bic lighter and a tiny led flashlight. Often I carry a Cold Steeel push knife and when legal/ practical I also carry a Glock 19 with a spare magazine.
My everyday life takes place in a pretty small area. If it was more open a sniper with a .50 could just about cover the whole thing. As such I don’t worry about EDC all that much. When I go further away I add items to supliment my EDC.
What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?
I did a nice 5 mile trail run and had some good times at the weight pile which was nice. I feel like things are getting back onto track. Also I was able to get a lot of sleep this weekend and am on the upswing from the cold. Had some good times with the wife and kid too. All in all it was a week that I am pretty happy with.
What did you do to prepare this week?
Finally Friday and Knife Sharpening also 3,000th Post
Not too long ago I found myself in need of a knife sharpener. I had a couple of them but one got worn out and the other is probably in a box somewhere. In any case I wasn’t quite sure what to get but those diamond rod type ones seem to work pretty well. I rather arbitrarily put this one into my amazon wish list. Lansky seemed like a good name but there was no real thought behind it. Wifey was ordering some stuff and needed another thing to get the free shipping (far better to get $6 bucks of stuff you were going to get anyway then to pay it in shipping). It arrived the other day. My only tentative complaint is that it is pretty big. There is a lot of handle and it has this other sharpening thing on the back that adds like an inch and a quarter. I guess you are supposed to use it first then finish with the rod. To be honest I didn’t look that closely and thought it was the normal model but black. Maybe that will be convenient but I am not sure yet.
It might be a bit big to carry in my pocket but I am quite happy with this handy sharpener. In a couple minutes it tuned up an old Buck 110 nicely. In 5 minutes it got my EDC Buck 110 which had a couple minor imperfections in the blade all tuned up and ready to go. I haven’t had it long but am pretty impressed with it so far. This sharpener will definitely go in my ruck for long trips.
I hope you all have a good weekend,
Ryan
Edited to include: This is the blog’s 3,000th post. I had wanted it to be a lengthier post I am working on but finishing it today wasn’t in the cards. To be honest after a long day at work I forgot about the whole thing. Anyway it is a pretty cool milestone. This blog has suceeded beyond my wildest dreams and sometimes I am just amazed by the whole thing.
I am definitely not putting things into auto pilot. Slowly but surely we are still growing, one link, one more person following the blog and a new advertiser at a time things are continuing to get bigger and better. I have some things that I plan to do in the coming weeks and months that should be pretty cool for you guys and gals.
If you feel like helping in this effort then please tell a friend about our site or share a link to your favorite post in a forum, or social networking site. Also check out our advertisers and if you need things they sell then consider purchasing from them.
What If- Knives
I was doing some knife preventative maintenance and had a bit of inspiration. While looking at a stack of knives I wondered what if I had to chooose? We talked about what we would choose if we could only have five guns awhile back and talking about knives seems fun.
Anyway you get five. To define it we will say you get five knives to suit every normal cutting need. No need to get sidetracked into strictly kitchen culinary stuff, herilooms or industrial things like razor knives, I am thinking more general purpose, survival, defense type stuff. These knives could fill most of those other roles anyway. In no particular order here we go.
First I thought about a good all around edc knife. For this I would choose a Buck 110. A great knife to carry around. It won’t cause any awkward looks in a sheath on your belt but it handles and cuts like crazy. If I found myself stuck in the woods with one I would not feel at a serious disadvantage.
Next I considered something I could carry concealed and use effectively as a weapon. Without a doubt this would be a cold steel push knife. I have a bit of experience in knife fighting but a decent background in striking and knifepunching people seems rather intuitive to me.
A relatively large sheath knife for general purposes or fighting came next. I would have to go with a Ka Bar for this. Ergonomic as can be with a big solid blade, not much to argue with here. They are just a darn good knife and I cannot imagine not owning one.
A multi tool is just a darn useful thing to have. I do not carry one as I do not use them that frequently but I keep them at home and in my ruck. I like the original leatherman. (Pictured is a SOG multi tool because my leatherman is MIA.)
Lastly I would want a solid camping/ survival kind of blade. Without a doubt I choose the cold steel kukuri. A few years ago I was watching Lost and thought “what knife would I want if I was stuck on a jungle island?” and ended up buying one of these. They are definitely pricey and it would be genuinely hard to argue they are worth the price when you can get a good machete for 30 bucks or so but I happy that I own one.
Narrowly missing selection was the Buck 119 special which is just a darn good knife. Great as a hunting knife or for all manner of tasks. In all honesty sentimentality is probably the reason the Kabar beat it out for the general purpose sheath knife spot.
Noteably absent is the modern one hand opening “tactical” folder with a pocket clip. I am just really soured on them due to a slew of bad experiences with a variety of big name models. I fiddled with a small belt knife to do everything. It worked OK but carrying one all the time is problematic. A buck 110 to do stuff and a push knife as needed just in case is what I am trying right now.
What would your five be?
Total Survivalist Blog 