What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?

Yeah it is Wednesday. I sort of forgot to do this earlier in the week. PT and the usual stuff happened. Some dry fire training also. Picked up a few extra household items to stash away. Also got another 200 rounds of CCI Mini Mags which is nice. Can never have too many good .22 shells.

At the store I stumbled into 2 more of the Energizer LED lanterns that we just love. These came with inserts to run on AA's instead of D's. This is significant because it should mean we can run AA's in the D inserts with the other ones we have. I have got to test them and see if they work with rechargeable batteries.

Been fiddling with the loadout for my HPG Kit Bag. I use it rucking and trail running more than I planned so have lightened it up a little bit. Still reading Max Velocity's book Patriot Dawn: The Resistance Rises. It just keeps getting better. Almost done and a review will follow shortly.

Anyway that is what has been going on here. What have you been up to?

Guest Post: The Case for Cheap Led's

Hey Ryan, glad that you made it back to the US and that your family is doing well and is ever-expanding. I wrote you a while back about experimenting with the Walmart LED landscape lights as a backup light source:

Not wanting to spend $200 plus on a solar charger and LED lighting system, I decided to experiment with some alternatives. I bought a couple of the LED lights with solar chargers on them. Both of the types were found at Wally-World on the cheap( Ryan, I think I sent the first message last fall). I paid $3 for the little single LED light and about $5-8 for the large 3 LED spotlight. My thoughts were to have a functioning part of daily life have a dual role in case of an emergency.

What I found was interesting. On the little guy, if you twist the cap a half-turn, the top comes off. This is the guts of the whole light. The solar charger is on top and the LED on the bottom. Second, I noticed a battery door with a Phillips-head screw in it. After this was opened, I discovered a AA rechargeable battery ran the whole thing. BONUS! When I took the top in the house and walked from room to room with the single lumen, it lit a room fine. Of course it was dim but it was great for just illuminating the room. I found it worked even better if I reached up and set the light down on top of a ceiling fan blade. Months after starting the experiment, the little guy still stays lit until sometime after I go to bead.

The big-guy didn't do as well. It was sealed at the battery box and didn't last nearly as long- even on day one. Part two was a functional failure before it even got started.

In the end, I found the cheap single lumen landscape lights a viable dual function survival tool that keeps itself charged at all times and stays in the front yard until the lights go out. It then gets un-capped and brought in to supplement the lanterns and candles. The kids can't burn the house down and it also keeps some recharged AA batteries around....no matter what I have forgot to buy or keep charged. My next plan is to grab about 5-10 of these and take the batteries out of them. I'll store them in the Lights-Out box in the basement so that I can go put the batteries in them and stake them in to the ground if it looks like the power will be out more than one night. I also want to try putting a couple of lights under the one that is on and see what it takes to trip them on and off using each other's light. I want to try and make a daisy-chain of the lights that will turn each other on as the one before it runs out of juice. Total cost $3 to infinity. 

Thanks, Man 

Take care and post this some time you need a break!

Gear Updates and Random Thoughts

The LED Lenser has been living in my pocket for awhile now. I did an initial review awhile ago and need to add to it. I have to change one thing. The feature where the beam is adjusted by the front piece is in addition to a normal lefty loosy righty tights (AKA wide to narrow beam) style. It allows you to easily go from a big beam to a small one which is pretty nice. On the downside this thing sucks through batteries like crazy. I have changed them twice and rarely use this light and only then for short periods. Not a huge deal as we have some AAA rechargeable batteries but if it was going to be used for a long term emergency that would be a consideration.

I am really liking the Benchmade Griptillian. It is a great design and still really sharp after cutting up dozens of boxes during the move as well as just about everything else that has crossed my path. The only problem with this knife is it has got me having some knife lust. I was jonesing for an Emerson pretty hard back in July and told myself if I still wanted it in a year then maybe.

Almost pulled the trigger on a war belt awhile back. For reasons I cannot recall it didn't happen. Since then I put together some stuff that was already here and have done a lot of thinking. I am probably going to run a generic rigger belt with a kydex holster, the RAT 3 and some mags. It also occurred to me that I used a battle belt (albeit an older model) years ago and ditched it for various reasons. This stuff could either be held in place with zip ties (I suspect) or as I am doing right now just keep it on a pair of pants. An IFAK could go in a cargo pocket and that's about it. A light would be nice so I need to pick up a spare one to live there. The mag pouch I am using right now is a Condor Double Kangaroo. It isn't entirely ideal but the price was such it could be tagged onto another order.

Fiddling around watching Hoss USMC's youtube channel I saw a pretty cool leg rig that is an HSGI/ Chris Costa collaboration.

This setup looks pretty awesome. The way I see using it is very high more like a belt pouch attached by some clips than low like a leg panel. The advantage I see of that setup is it could go off or on as needed. I see this sort of setup functioning like a war belt but without a whole lot of MOLLE I will not need. Also being able to use a holster I already have and upgrade a piece at a time appeals to me. It is something I could see myself actually using on my normal belt with a kydex holster in a Katrina like scenario or in conjunction with a plate carrier and chest rig as a full on crazy time load out. I went to pick up one of those Costa leg rigs but they are sold out so that will have to wait awhile. That is just as well because it's been an expensive week anyway.

 For a home defense or anything short of a full on mad max type scenario carrying 2 spare pistol and rifle mags seems like plenty to me. That is 3x15 round pistol mags and 3x30 round rifle mags AKA a lot of ammo. One way or another a home defense type fight will be over way before then.

Still waiting on the rifle plates. Apparently they have a 4ish week delay which could have been made more clear at the time of sale but otherwise is not a huge deal. Well it isn't an issue unless I need them now at which point I'm hosed but that is unlikely.

Anyway that is where my gear situation is right now. I am pretty happy with how things are coming together.

What have you tried lately that is working well? What have you tried lately that is not working for you?

My EDC

You showed me yours, now it is time to show you mine. It is always better to do it that way;).

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.

Interesting Turn For The Evening

We had a pretty normal day. A leisurely morning followed by doing some stuff then grabbing dinner and settling in for a quiet night. At about 10:30 our power went out, then on, then out for awhile. I went to the bedroom to grab my sweet LED lantern and of course Wifey's too.

Those lights aren't great to read by and I wasn't ready for bed yet so I grabbed a beer and went into the spare room where the shortwave radio is set up. Also grabbed a notebook to start a permenant hard copy radio log. The waves were hopping tonight. Got broadcasts (in English) from Russia, Bulgaria, China and Serbia as well as a few others that didn't say where they were from. Since radio isn't visual I took the time to go through our paperwork that resides in the cabinet the radio sits on. Separated a bunch of redundant and otherwise useless paperwork which is good. Going to check through it again tomorrow (good to check twice) before tossing it into the shred box at work.

All and all not a bad way to wrap up the night.  Now pretty obviously the power is back on. I really enjoyed the time fiddling with the radio. It is a lot more fun now that I am getting decent reception. Tomorrow I will likely find some time in the evening to mess with it more.