Guns Aren't Going Away

Every now and then some gun grabber or gun grabber group starts talking about how all the guns are just magically going away. Typically the mechanism is some sort of confiscation. I find that unlikely on a wide scale but it doesn't matter. We could also certainly debate what that world would look like, personally I think it would be a very bad place, however that is not the point.

There are so many reasons any sort of gun confiscations scheme wouldn't work. You can purchase a piece of metal and with basic tools turn it into an AR-15 lower receiver (considered the gun) without any records (especially if you pay cash).

Folks came up with a new version of the Liberator using a 3d printer.  As AM noted recently it would be difficult to overestimate what a skilled machinist with access to the normal tools of his trade could do. 
For someone who builds complicated, precise tools and components for a living guns would not be magically different.  Barrels, stocks, parts and even basic guns like the old school Liberator, Sten and such would certainly be realistic.

Of course there are the usual variety of Zip guns typically just seen in correctional facilities and places with serious anti gun laws like Britain.

The point is that I am not particularly worried about being able to get my hands on a gun if one is needed. Of course I do not recommend relying on plans like this. Right now all manner of guns can be purchased by normal folks. Many basic guns are quite affordable. Picking up a few for a rainy day if you can afford it would be a good idea.

Gun Show Report 4/27/13

Turns out our little town had a gunshow today! So needless to say I had to check it out. As I'm in the market for a Glock 26 it made sense to go look. It was interesting for sure. Aside from the baby Glock I wasn't really looking for anything but was open to a great deal or something small to fill a need.

Guns: Tons of AR's, AK's, SKS's and Mini 14's. A good variety of semi auto .308's; M1A's and PTR-91's, a FAL n a solitary genuine HK G3 (semi). Older guns like Garands and M1 carbines were present as well as lots of hunting type rifles. Plenty of semi auto pistols like XD's, M&P's, Sigs, Glocks, etc though due to the sheer variety in that market the specific gun you want (in my case a Glock 26) might not have been be present. As to Glocks there were at least 1 each 17 and 19, a few various .45's and a couple G27's.Shotguns and .22's were also present in large numbers.

Prices varied widely. Some politically incorrect guns (mostly AR's n AK's) were priced OK considering the state of things. A couple AR's were at or around a grand. They were DMPS, the basic M&P's or comparable brands. Saw 2 nice new (dealer) rifles (BCM and Stag) for $1,150ish. Other rifles varied from optimistically priced to just silly. Several AR's from brands I have never heard of were listed at $1,600-1,700. AK's ran from $1,200 Norico Mac-90's to a $850 WASR. SKS's were running $500ish. M1A's were $2,200-2,500 and PTR's were 1,200-1,400.

Hunting rifles, shotguns and .22's were a little high but if you consider that bargaining is a given part of it's probably their padding. Ruger 10/22's were consistently priced at $325.

Pistol prices were consistently 50-100 higher than they should be. Glocks were 550-600. A guy was trying to get $850 for XDm's and another wanted $800 for a Jerico (IMI the same gun as the Baby Eagle I think) in 9mm. Revolvers were priced pretty optomistically also.

Mags: Lots of mags available. Big stacks of various AR mags and a decent speckling of PMAGs. Sig and Glock mags were present as well as some Glock 33rd 'happy sticks'. A lot of AK mags also. A speckling of less common rifle mags like Mini-14, M1 carbine, SKS detachable mags (d model?), HK G3, FN-FAL. Probably 2 dozen Ruger BX-25's and a dozen various off brand 10/22 25rd type mags. Several old guys with stacks of used mags for just about every gun made in the last 50 years.

Mag prices: USGI used AR mags $20, new aftermarket type (Brownells, Lancer, etc) AR mags $25, PMAGs $35 which is odd because a shop in town has a bunch @$21-22. Those big 60 rd surefire mags from $160-200. AK steel presumably surplus $25 except a solitary mag @$45. BXP's $60-80. Glock mags $35-40, HK G3 mags $20-25 and they were pretty rough. Those are all the prices I remember but they generally fit the same relative price point as the ones I paid attention to.

I saw 2 CMMG .22 conversion mags for the first time in awhile. Wanted to buy them but didn't see the .22 conversion kit sitting nearby and justifiably the guy would not sell them without the kit. He of course tried to sell me an AR to go with the kit I didn't want to buy (wanted the mags) then we ended up talking. He wanted my opinion of the kit. I said without changing my rifles sights it offered sufficient practical accuracy out to at least 25 meters to train or I suppose shoot small game. Told him that was sufficient for my needs and I am happy with the kit.

Ammo: This was just silly. The big local shop had a table selling .223 (PMC X-tac 55gr) around $11/20 with a 2 box limit. They had a bit of pistol ammo but I think it was for folks buying guns. Everybody else pretty much lost their damn minds. 9mm 25+/50 for brass FMJ's. .40 and .45 were more like $30/50 brass FMJ. .223 at 17/20 at one booth with the rest at a buck a round (for various low end range type ammo). 7.62x39 from $9/20-$11/20. .308 was at least a buck a round. A solitary spam can of 7.62x54R for $140, surplus 30'06 was a buck a round. Surprisingly shotgun ammo was pretty expensive also. The dudes selling .22 ammo must have been smoking a special type of crack that breeds optimism. Bricks (500-550) of bulk type .22 lr were on tables varying from $80-120. Saw the little 50 round boxes of CCI Mini Mag for $30.

One dealer in particular seemed to have utterly lost their minds. They were trying to get $40 for standard (Federal or Remington, I don't remember) 20 round boxes of 150gr soft points and $179 for a brick of federal .22lr. They had ammo cans (albeit the plastic with rubber seals) at a decent price but out of principle I did not buy any.

Discussion: Loaded guns were not allowed inside. Some guy cleared my Glock 19 for me into a makeshift (think it was a 5 gallon bucket of sand but it faced a cement wall) barrel then it was zip tied, marked with a white sticker and returned to me. Not sure how I feel about that but considering folks have been shooting each other fiddling with guns inside or busting caps all over the place trying to clear their guns on the way in it makes sense.

Now that we have talked about what folks were TRYING TO SELL it makes sense to talk about what was actually being sold. Semi automatic pistols were moving. I was driving around trying to find the place and saw a dude walking down the street with a pistol in his hand (think it had a tag on it) and asked him if it was the gun show to which he relied that it was. People were looking at handguns then some of them were buying. Hunting rifles and shotguns priced right were moving. Various collector type stuff as well as little odds n ends (holsters, etc) were getting picked over, examined, bargained over and occasionally purchased.

As to mags they weren't going anywhere. Didn't see a single AR/ AK/ G-3 mag sold nor any common pistol mags like Glock/ Sig/ XD/ etc. Saw one guy getting Mini-14 mags plus a few people looking for a spare mag for their hunting rifle, .22 plinker or an oddball (50's era .380, etc) pistol mag.

Plenty of people seemed to be looking at ammo but few were buying.  At the prices I saw it is hard to blame them. One dude really wanted .22 but not at the prices being asked. A couple folks picked up 1-2 boxes of .223, a couple got a box or two of pistol or shotgun ammo and a few folks wanted a box for various hunting type rifles. Nobody was picking up arm fulls of the stuff.

Some individuals were selling doing the walk around with a sign on their chest thing. Most had the usual odd mixture of a 40 year old .22, a 1911 and whatever. One dude had an FN-AR .308 which was pretty cool, didn't even ask the price. A dealer I asked about G26's tried to buy my Glock 19.

Personally I bought a book and 3 of those little plastic AR muzzle caps. Stickers said 12 to which I offered 10 which was accepted.  Looked at lots of guns, handled a few, laughed at some ammo prices, chatted with some nice people and generally had a fine time. Would have liked to leave with a Glock 26 but it wasn't a bad way to waste a couple hours.

How does this compare with your neighborhood?

Busy Day and Gun Selling

Had a long day at work today. On the plus side I ended up getting the 200 rounds of 9mm (Win white box) needed for upcoming training @ 30 cents a round. After that ended up selling my 30'06. That puts me out of the caliber. Think it's just temporary. Will probably own another one, albeit in a different configuration, sooner or later. Time will tell.

Well anyway I've been slacking a little bit lately. Put some much needed admin energy to the blog. Efforts at work have been draining me mentally. Will put out something good for tomorrow.

Basic Guns Part 4: .22lr Rifle

To catch folks up who haven't seen this series the concept is as follows. It is the Basic Guns series and we are talking about affordable but still reliable guns that will fill a lot of roles. Remember this is not "the coolest most expensive guns that fill a specific roll well". I am trying to help people make good choices that are quality but heavily consider price and in the current environment that eliminates a lot of options. Instead of making people feel bad they cannot afford an AR and a Glock with 4x basic loads of mags I want to help by proposing some viable, affordable options. So don't be a sharp shooting dick saying how a gun 3x the price is better, we already know that, just go with the spirit of the series.

So far we have a .38 revolver and a Remington 870/ Mossberg 500 pump shotgun. Now we are going to get a .22 rifle. I put a .22 before a centerfire rifle for 3 primary reasons; first the rifles are cheap, second ammo is cheap, even at today's temporary inflated prices .22 is 10-12x cheaper than standard center fire rifle ammo. This means it is easier to stock a lot of it and shoot a lot. Third since most people who need this series are not really gun people it is a great way to learn to shoot rifles so you will be more ready for a center-fire rifle down the road.

The price point we are looking at for a .22lr rifle is pretty low. $175- 200 can get you a solidly serviceable .22 rifle today in Southern Arizona. Since many of our used guns are smuggled into Mexico and sold on the black market  prices are a little higher here you can probably get one a bit cheaper elsewhere. I suspect the $150-175 is probably reasonable in a lot of areas with slightly lower used gun prices.

Primarily the gun I want to talk about is the Marlin model 60. It is semi automatic and tube fed. Most of them work great and run forever. I have personally seen a couple have problems though I suspect they would probably work just fine after a good cleaning. They are cheap, and since they have a tube fed mag do not require detachable mags which is good as they are stupidly expensive these days, so you really just need the gun, a sling and some ammo.

[I do not currently own one of these but the next time there is cash in the gun fund and one pops up at a good price it will come home with me.]

If you are lucky or patient Ruger 10/22's can be found for just a bit more money which they are totally worth. For other options there are a lot of .22's made. I cannot recommend against the Remington 597 strongly enough; wasted money on one that never worked right then eventually gave it away to my buddy's little brother. Savage bolt action .22's are nice (at least I've heard so) and affordable though I do not have personal experience with them. The AR-7 take down .22lr is a nice idea but the gun patent/ production has been sold more than a cheap hooker so more lemons are probably in circulation than gems. There are many other .22's out there. So many old bolt action Marlin/ Remington/ Winchester's out there it would be impossible to talk each one. At the end of the day if it is made by a major manufacturer, you can get spare parts for it and the price is right then go for it.

If you want to spend a bit more and get a better gun purchase a Ruger 10/22. They are awesome, modular and magazine fed. Just great guns. 

My setup would be:
Marlin model 60 .22lr
sling
2,500 rounds of .22lr ammo

Thoughts?

Surviving Real Life

Commander Zero wrote a post that inspired this. A whole lot of real life happens between crazy regional events, let alone larger national and world ones. Folks get so caught up in stocking up on beans, bullets and band aids that they can forget about more practical things.

We have raided the emergency fund more times than I can recall. Car repairs are the usual culprit but unexpected bills, unforeseen expenses and the occasional sudden trip home have all had their turns. Conversely we have yet to NEED stored food. Sure it has been nice to have an extra bag/ box/ can of whatever to finish a recipe or for those times you decide to deviate from the weeks meal plan. However nothing has happened to us that the typical couple days worth of food in an average household would not cover.

We have had several times somebody ended up needing significant medical care. Without insurance we would have been financially ruined. Conversely while we can all agree guns are comforting the need to have them is rare. Those needs are amply covered by basic guns. One can forgo an expensive AR-15 or precision rifle with almost no risk of it coming back to bite them.

I'm not saying you should stop storing emergency food or sell those politically incorrect guns. What I am  saying is that in addition to those fun survivalist things you need to have an emergency fund and a realistic plan for inevitable medical problems. These are far more likely to save your behind than a pantry full of food and an AK-47.

Standardization of Weapons

Through a lot of effort and energy some good things have happened over the past few months:
We have standardized pistols to .22lr, .38/.357 revolvers and 9mm Glocks.
Our shotgun platform is the Remington 870 3".
Rifles are still where they are with .223/5.56, 7.62x39, 30-30 and 30'-6. That may or may not change. The working stuff is pretty much consolidated. The outliers are still in common calibers and good guns so I am disinclined to get rid of them.

 It might be worth considering swapping your oddball(s) for another gun that fits into your  situation. Simple is good.

 

Basic Guns Part 1.75

I forgot to add yet another thing in Basic Guns Part 1.5. You need to consider not just the cost of the gun itself but ammunition, magazines (if applicable), slings/ holsters/ cleaning gear and the like. Depending on where you are in terms of shooting training might also be a good option.

Chris said he uses 4x the cost of the gun as a guideline. The real cost depends significantly on what you consider as "equipped". Obviously 6 spare mags and 500 rounds costs less than 10 spares and 1k ammo which costs less than 20 mags and 5k rounds.

These costs can vary wildly from gun to gun. (Pre panic) Glock factory spare magazines were somewhere around $25 while HK and SIG mags were more like $45. If you are a person who wants 10 pistol mags that is a lot of money. It's the same thing with rifles. AR mags are typically fairly common and cheap while Valumet or Galil mags can be quite rare and expensive. Rare ammo like 6 mm Rem will typically (especially once the bubble bursts anyway) cost more than .223 which is much more common.

The point is to look at these costs when you are weighing say a Smith and Wesson .38 vs a Glock 9mm vs a Sig in .357 Sig. The wheel gun is going to be a lot more affordable than the Glock to equip and the Sig will cost an arm and a leg to get going.

Basic Guns Part 1.5: Common Make, Common Caliber and Compact

We did Basic Guns Part 1 and upon reflection I realized a few things were missing.

I am a big fan of common manufacturer/ model guns. This is for a few reasons. First the nature of business is that good gun manufacturers stay around and become common. Winchester, Ruger, Marlin, Remington, Colt, Sig, Glock, Smith and Wesson, Mossberg and the like tend not to make junk. Conversely Bob's Basement Armory might make something very questionable.

Common models are just as important. First they are important because, like the manufacturers, they stand the test of time for a reason; that they tend to be good guns. A rifle like a Ruger 10-22 which has been around forever is around because it is a good gun.

Also common manufacturer/ model guns have much wider availability of spare parts, mags, etc. Ask for a 17 cal mag for your Old Commie Arms Romanian varmit rifle and the guy at the gunshop will laugh at you. Ask him (in the more common non firearmagedon environment) where the Ruger 10/22 mags are and he will point to a big shelf of them. Ditto for a Glock 19/17 or 23/22, Sig P226, 1911, etc.

I believe even more strongly in common calibers. The reason I believe even stronger than in guns/ parts is that ammo is very consumable. Mags can wear out but ammo just can't be shot twice. Pick up a dozen spare mags, a few sets of springs and a few key spare parts and you will probably never need to go hunting for a firing pin for the oddball pistol you love in a lifetime of shooting. This can typically be done for $300 or so and will easily fit into a shoe box. On the other hand all the ammo a semi active shooter will burn up would take up much more space and cost more. Also if you end up at Bob's or in Smithville the ability to use their ammo is almost immediately important, while the ability to get more mags and potentially parts is a more distant theoretical concern. I talked more about the common caliber issue awhile back.

Lastly it is worth talking about pistols a little bit. If you are going to have 1 pistol due to financial or space constraints it needs to be something you will readily conceal in fairly normal clothing. Note that I said "will conceal" instead of "can conceal". The reason is that strictly speaking carrying a big old Glock 34, steel 1911 or 6" N frame revolver concealed is possible. The issue is that the vast majority of people will not actually do it. The old saying 'if somebody says they carry a  (standard size/ weight) 1911 ask them to show it to you right now and they will inevitably mumble some excuse about why it is either in the glove box or nightstand." is definitely true. Now if you are one of the folks who rocks a steel 1911 or 6" .44 mag every day you are the exception and probably will not get much out of this article anyway. The whole point of a pistol is that it is a gun you can carry as close to all the time as possible.

That being said I would recommend against going too small for your only handgun for a couple reasons. First the bullets get smaller and there are fewer of them. Having a decent fighting handgun can be important in rough times so you want that capability. This is a balancing act with the concealability you need to make it practical. Second and more aimed towards beginning type shooters smaller compact (certainly below J frame size and very arguably including the J frame) handguns are usually hard to shoot well. Small grips, short sight radius, microscopic sights and rough triggers can all make these guns difficult to master. Without getting into the weeds I would look hard at guns like the Glock 19, M&P Compact 9/.40 or 3" barreled J/K framed /38/.357mag revolvers to fill a 1 pistol role.

Well that finished up the stuff that should have been in part 1 of this.

Basic Guns Part 1

LyndaKay said "Thanks for #5. [Get basic guns, read the rest here. TOR] Hubby and I are trying to decide what to buy and don't want to go overboard on the spending when there are good and less expensive alternatives.

I would LOVE to see threads started on this blog listing a specific gun and asking what brands of ammo everyone likes for that particular model. I'm a little overwhelmed by everything I read and have no one locally to give me their opinion."

Ryan here: Lynda, I will do my best.

It is worth noting that we are in a weird gun environment right now.  Guns that were realistically affordable for Joe Common Man are now quite expensive and probably out of Joes budget. In particular semi auto military pattern rifles have gone up 50-100% in price over the last couple months. All manner of full capacity mags over 10 rounds have gone up in price 200-400%. .223, 7.62x39 and .308 have gone up significantly in price also.

Example: A $650 SW M&P AR-15 with 20 mags and 2 cases of ammo would have cost around $1,500 (give or take) in October. These days the rifle would be 1,200, the mags 600 and ammo is about a buck a round totaling $3,800 for the same package. So the gap between a $400 30-30 or $500 30'06 and a $650 decent basic M4/AR-15 has increased significantly.  This gap will probably slip back to where it used to be in time but till then it is here.

I think Lynda's phrase "[We] don't want to go overboard on the spending when there are good and less
expensive alternatives" deserves some examination. I am not saying it is wrong or gaming the situation or anything just that it leads us down some interesting paths.

 First I think it's worth discussing that overboard is a very relative thing. It is relative to your finances and financial situation as well as your overall preparedness goals and progress towards them. What your budget can handle and what your goals are matter a lot. What is right for one person might not be for another. Also your goals and level of interest matters a lot. Lets look at two guys with the same income and family situation. Bob loves nice guns and is preparing for a short term disaster. After he has enough food to feed the family and a few add ons for 90 days, a generator and sufficient gas to keep the freezer cold and charge some batteries plus some basic gear then buying a custom shop 1911 and a Knight SR-25 is just fine. Tom is pretty ambivalent about guns and worried about a really dark scenario like an economic crash or a black swan. Tom has a lot of different places for money to go. He might just keep the same .38/.357 that has lived in the nightstand forever and his hunting rifle, get plenty of bullets and then put the money towards other things. See where I am going.

Second 'good and less expensive alternatives' bears considering. Money gets you something. At times it is superior fit/ finish. Sometimes it is a certain name that gets you bragging rights at the gun club or on the web. Now other times the money will get you a more durable/ reliable pistol, better quality control, more common spare parts and aftermarket accessories or something else meaningful. The real question is whether you need what the additional money brings. Looking at that from the other side it is whether you can accept the downsides of a less expensive weapon. If it's a bit less perfect finish or a slightly less smooth trigger that's easier to accept than durability/ reliability issues or a lack of readily available spare parts/ holsters/ accessories. The cost to benefit is a consideration. A Smith and Wesson coming out of their custom shop will have a better trigger than a stock Ruger but probably at 3x the cost. On the other hand if you can get a lot better gun for $40 then you probably should just save for another 2 weeks.

Anyway moving on.....

What would constitute a basic firearms setup?
Rifle
Shotgun
Pistol
.22 rifle

In terms of priority it gets complicated and needs to consider a persons goals. As a general rule I would say pistol, shotgun, .22 then rifle. The thinking is that a pistol is the weapon you are realistically going to have available to defend yourself. Though pistols have unimpressive ballistics and limited range they are far better than a long gun at home. Shotgun is next because they are quite versatile and affordable. .22 would come next because they are also affordable are cheap to shoot (except right now) and a great way to train for rifle shooting. I think the rifle could arguably be last simply because of cost. Shopping carefully you can get a pistol, shotgun and .22 for the price of a lot rifles (at pre panic prices).

While I do prefer rifles for CQB shotguns are perfectly adequate for that role as well as (with slugs) killing just about anything out to 100 meters or so. A shotgun is far better than an envelope with $300 that has the name of the rifle you want written on it. It is true that a rifle would be very important in a true full on collapse that is relatively unlikely. I would feel quite confident with a good shotgun as my long gun in an Argentina like collapse, a Katrina like disaster or an LA style riot.

I am going to stop this now because of time. In the next part I will get into specific guns that are relatively affordable but also quality guns that will last and serve you well.

Claire Wolfe on Gun Caching

Claire Wolfe wrote an excellent post Hiding a Gun: The Rule of Three and linked to an oldie but a goodie Burying a gun and ammo for 15 years. All great stuff.

It is worth bringing up Resistance S4: The Logistics of Successful Re-Supply Cache Planning by John Mosby.  John's method of wrapping the contents of the cache individually then putting them into a container which is suitably prepared is a bit belt and suspenders but it is as sure of a thing as you can get. Also starting at a solid reference point, recording distance from 2 readily identifiable known points (for Petes sake do not use a tree, they fall down, rot, burn and best case all look the same in the dark. Now if you have a 3,000 pound boulder and a metal corner post to a fence that's a workable plan.) and writing down the GPS coordinates (not recording them as a waypoint!) is equally solid and redundant.

I would be remiss if I didn't remind you  of John Mosby's reminder that guns needed to put food on the table and protect you from predators both 2 and 4 legged should not as a rule be cached. Digging up a cache and degreasing your 12 gauge house gun when goblins come knocking is at best problematic. Raiding the cache this September for deer season doesn't make sense either. On the other hand a pistol you won in a poker game and an AK (hopefully from when they were cheap) from the gun show or your older less fancy hunting rifle are all good candidates to be stashed away. Obviously ammo, mags, cleaning stuff and some key spare parts should go with it. 

Hope this gives you something to think about. Consider putting this thought into action sooner instead of later.

10 Lower Prices Solutions to Survivalism

A few ways to make preparedness fit your budget a bit better.

1. Prioritize. I know this is is a far bigger thing and really arguably negates the rest of the article but I do need to touch on it briefly. Choosing preparedness stuff instead of other things is a very valid option. I find it easier to have the goal in mind and do the math working towards it. Example doing the math that at 4 bucks a pop you would need to choose drip from home instead of fancy coffee 15 times to get the medium fixed blade knife you want or 10 nights out at $50 a pop to buy a rifle or whatever. For me this makes it a choice to prioritize that specific goal instead of just general budget tightening which kind of sucks.

 2. Cut down on your vices. Drink less, smoke less, chew less, gamble less, go from $5 coffee out to drip from home, use that money to prepare. [This is probably #1 for overall life improvement but for saving cash to fund preparedness, which is the topic of the post, I put it at #2. The reason is that prioritization (which also touches on vices) is more all encompassing.]

3. Buy used. Many things can be had gently used for 50-80 cents on the dollar. Once you take the tags off, use it a couple times and it will have a few scratches or wear marks anyway so save the $$$.

4. Build the same systems but with lower priced (but not junk) items. Common Mans $150 BOB by TEOTWAWKI Blog (though I think it's more of a Get Home Bag) is a great example of this.

5. Get basic guns. A tight budget does not mean to buy cool guns because you like them  and then skimp elsewhere. If you can't afford food you definitely can't afford an AR and a Glock, let alone an M1A and a high end 1911 with a bunch of mags each especially with prices these days!. It means you need to get basic but quality guns that will serve your needs but not bust the budget. The odds you need an AR-15 over a bolt action 30'06 or pump shotgun or a Glock 19 over an old SW Model 10 are a lot lower than that your family will start eating drastically less. Honestly if tomorrow our gun collection was a 30-30, a bare bones Rem 870/ Moss 500 pump shotgun, a pair of .38/.357 revolvers (his and hers) and a .22 it would be a decent enough setup. If we had 2 of everything and I had a J frame as well as a bigger revolver (aside from her pistol) it would be a good setup. Bought over time most folks can afford a $400 30'06 or 30-30, a $300 shotgun, a $300-400 pistol and a .22 of some sort along with plenty of ammo to go with them.

6. Get items that serve a lot of purposes. If money is tight it might not work in the short term to have 6 dedicated preparedness knives (huge camp, medium general purpose fixed, small fixed, folding EDC, multi tool and "fighting") a folding saw a hawk or hatchet and an ax. Instead a small ax or hatchet/ hawk (AO dependent), a medium sized fixed blade and a folding EDC/ multi tool (lifestyle dependent) might just be it. Those 3 tools would handle most all of your realistic preparedness cutlery needs.

Coming back to guns because we dudes tend to gravitate there and thus overspend limited resources which should be spent elsewhere. In terms of guns that can do a lot of things compact sized pistols are a good one. A Glock 19 or 3" small/ medium framed revolver can fill a lot of roles adequately. A pump shotgun with long and short barrels can do a ton of things. Toss in whatever center fire rifle fits your lifestyle and budget best then round it out with a decent .22 and you are good to go.

7. Put in the time. Oh you are busy too, well make some choices. Watch less tv or something. Learn stuff from people you know. Helping them is a great way to do this. Ask somebody to HELP YOU fix your car or wall or whatever and just maybe they will do it. Say you will HELP THEM with their next project and you'll get a phone call in a bit. Expect to carry some stuff and do some other nugg work but you will learn stuff. Also once they see you care enough to put in the time and energy most folks will go out of their way to help you learn.


8. Avoid mistakes. Buying items that don't fit your needs/ wants must be avoided at all costs. I have a variety of stuff that has been purchased then cast off to be extras or backups or sold at a loss. Even if you research enough to find out an item is quality there is the ever unquantifiable ergonomics. If money was tight I would only buy items I could personally handle and ideally try out (like borrowing a friends for a week) before purchasing.

9. Trade. There are some balancing acts there as you have to be a bit flexible but can't lose sight of your real needs as you can't afford to get unneeded or significantly lower priority stuff.  On the other hand turning your unused guitar and amp (or whatever) into the backpack and sleeping bag you need is just irresistible. Sometimes, though rarely especially with vastly different types of stuff, you can trade strait across. However more often you end up selling the music stuff to get money which pays for the camping gear.

10. Gifts. This isn't exactly a savings but it does help. Instead of asking for stuff you don't really need for birthdays, Christmas, etc ask for preparedness stuff you can use. Many folks would be happy to get you a preparedness item of comparable price than whatever the usual gift might be.

That is about all I can think of right now. Anyway I hope these ideas help give people some ideas on how to become better prepared on lower budgets.

Edited to include: After Snoops comment I went back and put them in what I feel is rank order. 

Readily Available Guns

An interesting video from the good folks at Moss Pawn and Gun on readily available guns in the current firearmagedon situation. My .02 are that Glock prices have gone up significantly. Used Gen III guns seem to be going for around 6 bills in Southern Arizona and they aren't being advertised long. Finding a 17 is easier than a 19 though. I think revolvers are worth thinking about if you cannot pay the current double stack semi auto (and especially Glock 9's for whatever reason) premiums as they have been essentially unaffected by this mess.

For whatever it is worth things seem to slowly be getting better as the freedom ban folks seem to be stalled out. Maybe it's just that the folks who wanted an AR/ AK and could pay loony tunes prices have already bought. AK's and AR's are available and slowly but surely prices might be trending slowly down. Unless you are desperate it might be wise to wait this out.

Anyway there is the video to give some advice to folks really trying to get set up today without paying stupid prices.

Food and Fitness

Too many folks are doing a lot of reading and blogging and discussing but not enough DOING.

Food and fitness are the two primary areas people tend to fail in at the most basic level. For goodness sake do something to improve your situation.

Food is easy. We could go at it from a lot of angles but at the most basic level just buy a little bit more of the stuff you regularly eat on each shopping trip. I am talking about shelf stable stuff like dried pasta and sauce, beans, rice, pancake mix, Bisquick, peanut butter and jelly and various canned goods. We will touch on money later but if you can't manage to squeeze five or ten bucks of extra stuff into the budget per shopping trip I recommend looking at your life. If you have some more money and want to stash away some canned staples or emergency food then all the better. I care less how you do it so long as you are doing it. The point is simply that you need to be putting back food in case something happens that disrupts the supply chain.

Fitness is something way too many folks miss. I split off my fitness efforts into another blog because folks would rather talk about other things here. How folks think the world is going to collapse and they are going to be doing all this stuff but lack of fitness will not come into play baffles me. There are way more situations where you will need fitness than cool rifles and emergency food. Sort of like food getting started in any way is a good thing. Eat a bit better and do more exercise. Lift and run or do crossfit, man aerobics or whatever. Heck just go for walks. Doing anything will improve your situation.

In the context we are talking about finances are not that hard either. Avoid debt for obvious reasons. Do some thinking and educate yourself about what is happening and historical comparisons. The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse by FerFal is a bit pricey but has some great info. It's writer has actually lived through an economic collapse which is a lot more than most other folks can say. 
If you have some money that isn't doing anything right now you might want to think about what to do with it. Putting a portion of it into precious metals and emergency food could be a good way to go. 

It is easy to put too much money into firearms.  Most guys who are into preparedness like guns and it's easy to get canalized into stuff one likes. However if you are objectively short on .38 ammo for the nightstand revolver or buckshot for the scatter gun then do something about it. I like a lot of ammo but even the tightest budget will let you put back at least a couple hundred rounds per gun with a bit of dedication and some planning.


Get out and do something! Exercise and stash some food. Look at your money situation and if you need it some ammo. The bottom line is that unless your butt and gut are getting smaller and the pantry is getting filled you are not actually becoming more prepared. A little bit of knowledge put into action is a whole lot better than a bunch of knowledge which you do nothing with.

Quote of the Day: John Mosby on Defensive Priorities

"NVGs, or to use the older term with which I am far more comfortable, NODs, are a force multiplier of equal or greater value than two or three extra riflemen, when used properly. If you have six rifles of your own, but no NODs, you’re &@cking yourself and your team. Remedy the situation."
John Mosby in a repost of Tricks of the Trade a Contemporary Look

 I think John also said somewhere that if you do not have a years worth of food to put NODs and other cool guy kit on the back burner. This is something I personally did not do right for reasons that may or may not be valid. In any case I am working to remedy the situation.

Revolver or Pistol? Kel Tech PF 9?

Over the past couple years I have been generally selling guns. Part of it is getting rid of .40SW and .45acp to simplify my logistics. The other part is to get to the right place. Not necessarily MORE guns but THE RIGHT guns.  I built a nice AR named Project AR Upgrade not very long ago.

 I sold a full sized .357 magnum today. A fine gun but  I have shot it like 5 times in almost 10 years. Those were the times I took EVERYTHING out to shoot. Anyway it is down the river and the gun fund is up $400.

After doing some looking the Ruger GP 100 4" that will eventually replace the old guy as my big wheel gun costs more that the gun budget currently has. Also more to the point I don't see that gun getting much use in the near future. Maybe down the road when the kids are older and I am out in the woods more but that is awhile off.

That leaves me with 2 niches that could be filled. A snubby revolver or a compact single stack 9mm. A stainless snubby .357 seems like a decent option. I would either get a Ruger or a Smith. Might have to add some more cash to the deal but not a ton. The option of a single stack 9mm appeals to me a lot as it would fill a solid role as a carry gun slightly smaller than a Glock 19.

The Kel Tech PF 9 comes up as a very affordable option that is the right size for what I want. Nutnfancy seems to really like them. I have however heard some issues but am unsure how much of that are armchair forum commando's. I don't care about accuracy or trigger pull much, it is a little carry gun. Also I am not too concerned about being able to put a gazillion rounds through it as that's not the niche for this gun. However reliability/ feeding does concern me.

So questions:

1) Should I get a small stainless .357mag or a small single stack 9mm?

There is the consideration that I will probably need to spend more like $450 to get a .357 like I'm looking for while for the cash I have could buy a Kel Tech PF 9, some spare mags, a holster and a couple hundred rounds of ammo.

2) What have been your personal experiences with the Kel Tech PF 9, good, bad or even ugly?


Input is appreciated

What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?

With having another kid and all not a lot happened this week. Did pick up various extra hygiene stuff and OTC meds. Also replaced some batteries that had been used.

Also I did some tweeking to my GHB. I think at this point it is going to slide from a true EDC to a lives in the car GHB. Adding that $20 brand new USGI gore tex and a couple light weight tops, 2 spare mags for the Glock, 100 rounds of 9mm,100 rounds of .22 and about 2k more in calories in food. It was annoying to haul for my few strictly EDC things but now I don't really want to haul it to class and whatnot. If I was going in someone elses car or whatever I would put my few EDC things in it but otherwise it's just going to live in the vehicle/ near me. Will likely get another bag to fill the EDC in the near future.

I'm working on swapping another gun or two. Noticed two interesting phenomenons worth discussing. The first are folks who think that they can get new gun prices for their barely *cough they are all barely used come selling time cough* used gun. Sorry folks, when you take it out of the gun shop it becomes used. Period. END OF STORY. The second are the people who send you a note asking what the absolute lowest price you will take is. Most smart folks build in some bargaining room to their asking price so there is some wiggle room but come on. If you are too lazy to bargain you pay asking price or walk. Anyway these two things have been annoying me lately.

Also as a bonus I almost appreciate the guy who sends an email offering half the going price of guns. Helll no I won't sell him a Glock for $300 but can't blame the guy for trying. Guess he is sort of the used gun equivalent of the dude who asks every woman he meets if she wants to have sex. Even if the rate is 3% if he asks 100 folks week he does pretty decent.

This coming week I am getting back to eating right and serious PT which is good. Planning to review the Solo Pot 900 also. Will put some work in on my BOB and just maybe talk about my GHB.

What did you do to prepare this week?

What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?

This week we were kind of busy with a sick kid and Christmas as well as the usual mundane life stuff.

We picked up a battery charger for Wifey's cell phone, a big bag of food for Dog and some odds and ends of pantry stuff. Also Wifey found us a BBQ for $20 from some folks who were moving. The propane tank that came with it alone is worth twice that and the BBQ while simple is pretty new and in good condition. The BBQ is a win in terms of life but the propane tank is probably the bigger preparedness win.

I have been doing some wheeling and dealing in terms of guns. Definitely a lot of contacts lead to a few discussions which now and then brings about an actual transaction. Oh well that is the nature of the thing.

The Solo Stove was tested which was both fun and successful.  My rifle plates finally showed up which was cool.

Of course plenty of running and some lifting happened.  This coming week my schedule is a bit more open so I am going to work in more body weight stuff which has been a weak spot as of late and at least one road march. I have been eating pretty decently (well minus Friday night and Saturday) and that has been having some good effects on my body and performance.

Next week I am going to put some lead downrange. Also want to go over the kit for car 1 and put something together for car 2. In any other motivated time I will start reassembling the old BOB. Testing of the Pathfinder Trade Knife is close to done so a review will come out once my thoughts solidify.

What did you do to prepare this week?

Stuff Worth Reading

AM's answer to the 64 thousand dollar question of how diversity and the liberty come together.

My 4 guns for the end of the world. Clearly the guy is a well trained genius.

Mark Steyn: America not paying its fair share. You cannot simultaneously enjoy American-sized taxes and European-sized government. One or the other has got to go.

 Remember that big mess at the 2010 Shot Show? Well it turned out to be a bunch of lies from an informant that was "a cocaine addict, tax cheat, and admitted thief of millions of dollars".

  

For Sale: Colt ACE II Conversion Kit

This item is pending sale.

I am selling my Colt ACT II Conversion Kit. It is listed elsewhere but I wanted you all to have a chance. I'm asking $330 and would be willing to entertain trades. Since this isn't a firearm I could send it to any non socialist state in the mail.

Please direct any inquiries to theotherryan@yahoo.com

Edited to include: Since one person asked others might wonder. Yes I am open to trading. However as is the problem with trading it would need to be something I can use. Right now I am in the market for a CMMG .22 conversion kit for the AR as well as a rail mounted pistol light (surefire or streamlight) but am always open to a variety of gear, tools, knives, ammo, magazines or precious metals.

American Mercenary Fiction, Complete Setups and Reloading

American Mercenary has been on fire recently with great fiction. Sam the Sheriffs Deputy's little vignette has all kinds of worthwhile points to consider. Sam might be more of an asset passing intelligence and such but that would require somebody to pass it too. As noted before it is sort of hard to work your way into or create a group if hostilities are actively going on. Also sabotage might be something to consider but that is another topic. Let's ignore that Sam is a deputy sheriff for a minute. 

Having some private party firearms is probably a prudent thing to do.  I have some suspicions about firearm confiscation and how our defacto refistration via record keeping system would or more accurately would not work but regardless the benefits of having a gun or two that are 'unpapered' are still evident.

Sam's efforts to scrounge reloading components to load his unpapered rifle were interesting. Now I am sure AM was pushing at a point. To be honest the phrase proper preparation prevents piss poor performance immediately came to mind. If you are going to store weapons then have sufficient amounts of ancillary stuff to keep them working. This means slings, optics, cleaning kits, magazines and such. Also of course lots of bullets.[Your strategy will sort of dictate how much ammo is really needed. Raids and ambushes burn up a lot more ammo than a designated marksmen shot or two now and then. That being said to actually win you have to get close to people and kill them. ] For $230-350 you can take a good jump toward being OK in common calibers like 7.62x39, .223, 7.62x54R or to a lesser degree the more expensive .308 or 30.06.

Think about it. Instead of scrounging and doing crazy stuff I would rather have the right supplies and equipment. A fairly small purchase now will go a long way towards ammo security. Are 500 or even 1,000 rounds of rifle ammunition a stopping point? Not for me but it is a heck of a lot better than 2-3 boxes of 20 each with a couple rounds missing which is the situation for too many households.

The topic of reloading came up. I think too many people consider reloading a cure all of ammo supply issues. It isn't like garden seeds but is more like cooking in that you have to have the components. Assuming you can scrounge lead and reload brass that means powder and primers. There are of course benefits to economics and portability that come from a small reloading setup. I was reminded of an old post by Commander Zero on a very basic survival type reloading kit. Here is a video of a fellow using that sort of setup to reload .223. One might want to consider a setup like this in addition to storing ammo and whatnot.

Mentioning solutions like this that cost money has sort of been bothering me lately. It is easy to say "if you are committed you will find money to buy X, Y and Z." There is some truth to that statement as we all make choices. Instead of buying a new IPhone you can get a gun or a bunch of ammo. Instead of going out to a decent dinner and a movie you could buy a reloading setup like CZ mentioned. Ditching the cable package gives you money to put into food storage. You get the idea. That being said I know there are a lot of right minded people who have generally made the right choices but are really struggling. When folks are deciding which bills to pay and which to put off things like preps are not really in the picture.

The best I can say is to do what you can. Time, money and life situations all affect what we can do. Comparing yourself to somebody else doesn't make sense. Take the money and time you have available and put it into preparedness in a balanced and thought out way. Don't blow your whole wad on food or ammo or medical stuff. Put a bit of money into each and make slow balanced progress. Personally if something happened and I was caught short but genuinely knew we had done the best we could it would just be part of life. There are always things you can't afford to prepare for. That being said if I had not done my best or had poorly used precious resources I would feel pretty foolish for failing Wifey and kiddo.

Julies view definitely has some stuff to think about also. 

Anyway I have got to go be productive.