Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Comprises

I have been watching some Nutnfancy videos recently. He regularly uses the phrase size and weight considerations. The point is twofold. First weight matters as ounces turn into pounds and heavy kit often gets left at home. Secondly and possibly more interesting are the compromises and trade offset involved. A multi tool is a pretty sucky substitute for a whole box of tools but nobody puts a 25lbs toolbox into their daypack or ruck. It is important to consider what additional weight will get you and if you need that capability. Out in the woods you probably will not need the benefits of a toolbox and are not willing to haul the weight anyway. A leatherman to tighten a screw or whatever is all you probably need anyway. When ot comes to other compromises it is important to look at what you expect the item to do as well as considerations like your budget. Also the primary goal or goals are important as they weigh a bit heavier. A pistol that will guard against black bears in the woods, serve as a house gun and occasionally get carried might be a .357 or .44 revolver or maybe a .40 or 10mm auto. On the other.hand a pistol you will regularly conceal that pulls woods duty occasionally will need to be smaller to be carried. Some of these decisions are less than quantifiable. For example I gladly trade the additional size and weight of a compact 9mm for its increased round count and shootability vs a snubby 38 or a .380. Another person might not choose that option. All fun poking at the snubby/ pocket gun crowd aside it is hard to beat folks up too much if the proverbial sweet spot is different for them. That being said I cannot help but note thar you often see trends among well trained folks in given areas. I guess the point is to really think about the trade offs that you are making. Sometimes you can cut size, weight and or cost with little real loss in capabilities. Other times if you really look at it the trade off kind of sucks so anyway those are my thoughts on that.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The snubby revolver vs. hide-out automatic is a hard call for me. The automatic is easier to conceal and takes up less space on belt (or pocket in case of Kel-Tec P3AT, P32 or Ruger LCP). But a Charter Arms Undercover has more versatility with ammunition choices and having a shotshell for 1st shot snake load is also a want here.

Multi-tools rock, an old Multi-Plier, Wave or SwissTool is a major asset if you are the tinkering / woodcrafting sort. A lot of toolage in a small package.

Max said...

Weight is the biggest concern for me, my b.o.b. is fairly small with most of the weight coming from a few water bottles.
When I started training for ultra runs I learned just how much weight matters. If you carry 10 ounces of stuff plus 50 ounces of water it might not seem like much but it's 60 ounces every step, 2 steps a minute for hours.

The water (your weapon) weighs the most, the rest you better really need and went lightweight when you picked it up.

Anonymous said...

I'm a big TNP'er fan myself. Great stuff from a great American. ‘Weight’ issues notwithstanding, one of my prepper-peeves is all the wanking I see from people 50 lbs. overweight about how “this platform weighs 2 ounces less than that one, so it’s better”, B.S.
I know I'm 'preaching to the choir' here, but 2 ounces, 7 ounces, 15 pounds, etc., none of it matters if you’re a blobular, Jaba-impersonator who can’t walk around the block without having a coronary. Lose the 50 pounds, *then* tell me about the weight considerations of your carry weapon.
Snoop-Diggity-DANG-Dawg

Ryan said...

Milleniumfly, Please send me an email at theotherryan@Yahoo.com to discuss your comment.

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