Making due with what you got

I know I've touched on this before, but as winter nears, my time to complete projects runs short. Every day in the mail I get catalogs with new fancy gadgets, expensive firearms, or super jiffy products that do things that I didn't even know I needed to do. Most of us can construct a similar item that will work as well as, or even better than these high-priced gadgets. The first question you have to ask is, "Can I live without it?" and then ask yourself, "How much easier will that make my life or my survival?". If your answer to both questions is satisfactory enough to you that you need that item, the next thing to look at is "What job does it accomplish?" and "Are there other ways to accomplish that job?". Now obviously most of us cannot build our own pocket GPS device, but most of us can or have been taught how to use a map and compass. For the number of times I've actually needed it, a map does me fine.
The more skills we teach ourselves, the less we become reliant on other people or products. Welding, Mechanics, gardening, canning, sewing, the list goes on of things that can be easily learned but will help you immensely both NOW and IF something were to happen that you had to become reliant on yourself and those close to you. A jack of all trades you might say. You'll be amazed at how easy some things are to pick up on, and once you learn the basics, every similar project adds a little more to that vault.

Trading

There are a few items that I keep for my regular stockpile that I horde lots extra because of the fact that someday they could be worth their weight in gold. And I don't mean that literally. I have friends that horde silver or gold coins for this same reason, but I haven't seen much logic in that. We may all need a few basic items to survive a coming crisis, and from my standpoint, I would not take 10 pounds of gold for any one of those items if supply was running short. Food, water and self protection will be the at the top of every ones list, or a way to create or preserve those items. Ammo is by far a great choice. Again, .22 rim fire ammo is cheap, easily stored and could make great trading stock, and if the need never arises, you can still use it for your own use. Another item I feel is often overlooked, at least in my part of the country is salt. Not only is salt needed to stay healthy, but is a must for preserving any meats without refrigeration. In the Northwest mountains, I would have a terrible time coming up with a natural source of it. Canning jars and lids are another excellent example of a stockpile item that you can use yourself if needed, or the spares can be traded off. Jars are bulky to store, but will keep forever. Lids-not so much, as I've seen lots of rusty looking lids come out of new looking boxes. Cool and dry as with most anything you store.
Coffee, alcohol and tobacco may also make great trading items, but storage on the latter two may be difficult. Keeping the items around for a home-made still may not be a bad idea. Alcohol can be used as fuel in some instances, has medicinal qualities, and makes a great trading item in a pinch. Nearly anything can be distilled into alcohol, but not everything is suitable for drinking. Read all you can on this subject before undertaking this. Its also my understanding that distilling alcohol without a license is illegal at the present time, but owning the parts to build a still is not. A small inexpensive still can be built from a stainless steel pressure cooker, a little copper tubing, and silver solder. I have a 1 gallon sized one (1 gallon or smaller for water only is legal) that I use for distilling water and it works great.

An important note on trading...Consider each trade carefully. There was a nationwide Ammo shortage not long ago. Primers and any military style ammo (9mm, .45 auto, 5.56 mm etc.) disappeared first. Many people (myself included) were trading less common ammo (.380, .357 etc) for the other needed items. This left me short on the uncommon ammo because it was available at the time. Once the military style ammo started coming back, I was still short on this other ammo, and am still short today trying to make up for a deficit in my stockpile. Again, what I'm trying to say is, what might be common and easily obtainable today, may not be so tommorow. Whenever trading, look at the long term, and make sure you keep enough for yourself before getting rid of anything you cant do without down the road.

Power Generation

I have looked at every conceivable power source available to mankind and have come to one conclusion. There are no cheap sources of reliable, usable power. The gas generator is nice, but has one major downfall...gas. Gasoline, since the takeover of unleaded fuels, is a short term storage item. Sure, you can add a stabilizer to it, and maybe get a year or two out of it, but then you have numerous other storage and hazardous issues to overcome. Underground storage is probably the best bet as far as concealing your hoard and for safety issues, but a container large enough to hold a decent amount of fuel that can handle being buried for an extended period of time is not an easy item to come by, not to mention condensation and several other issues that need to be worked out. Diesel seems to keep better, but the storage issues are the same.
Solar, wind, and hydro energy can all be reliable sources, once the initial expenses are overcome. From most peoples standpoint, they work great to supplement your current power bill, but you have to become very energy conscience to convert completely over and get off the main power grid. I know several people that live solely under solar power, but they are single, work all day, and still have to occasionally start a generator after extended periods of cloudy days. This may not be such an issue for those that do not live in the Northern states. Those of you that rent, or even live under a homeowners association, solar, wind or hydro are not even an option.
Also, the concealable factor comes into play. If your area is without power for an extended period of time and you have your roof lined with solar panels, it could bring some unwanted attention.
I've also looked into steam power. Living with a national forest in my back yard, I thought converting a BTU from wood to electricity would be a no-brainer. No way. The initial cost and engineering is outrageous unless you are a machinist and the up keep is even worse. I have looked into the many rumors of building them out of old 2 cycle engines and air conditioner compressors and have yet to see one that will reliably function on steam. You-Tube videos are full of "steam" engines that run on compressed air, but add the heat and moisture from steam, and your in a whole different ball game.
Also, stay away from the "build your own" magnetic generators. Small ones make great toys, but as of to-date there is not a large enough, reliable generator run by free magnetic power.
What it boils down to is that providing minimal power to run small items is best accomplished by 12 volt power - Automobile batteries. If you tune your power needs towards 12 volt power, then you can use an automotive battery or several of them wired in parallel. The 12 Volt battery is fairly easy to come by, can be stored for long periods of time, and takes surprisingly little to recharge. If a battery were to be used for emergency purposes only, it could be recharged with a 2 amp solar panel available at any auto parts or RV dealer. For more frequent use, a simple charger can be built from an old 10-speed bicycle and a car alternator. I built one for my boys to use out by their tree house, and as long as you can pedal, you can get about 45 amps of juice to your batteries. By adding more batteries, and wiring them positive to positive and negative to negative, you basically double the amp hours of your batteries. This is called wiring in Parallel. If you wire positive from one battery to the negative of the other, and then draw your power from the two open posts, you will get 24 volts. LED lights work great, and put very little drain on your battery. Also, by picking up a JC Whitney catalog, you will not believe all of the 12 volt appliances that can be had. From coffee pots to refridgerators.

The slower you recharge a battery, the better it is on that battery. Never store a drained battery, and keep them from freezing and they will last for years and years.

Storage Thoughts

I have never been accused of wasting anything. In fact, I could be considered a borderline "hoarder". My reasoning for keeping most of the junk in and around my home is that "someday" I can build (fill in the blank) out of that old (fill in the blank). A perfect example: My lovely wife is nicely asking me to clean up the driveway for the umpteenth time. So I'm standing there, looking at an old stainless steel mailbox (the rural kind about 3 feet x 3 feet) and an old wood stove with the insulating bricks burnt out of it. After about an hour of debating whether to haul them to the dump, and another hour of construction, I was able to build a nice cold smoker out of the two of them and 12 feet of 6 inch pipe. Its big enough to smoke a couple of hams in or lots of fish. The smoker will come in handy now for some nice flavored meat, OR come in handy should I need it to preserve meat if I lose the benefits of a freezer.
Everyone has their "thing". Some people like to collect stamps, some people live to ski, or boat or fish. The more of a "Jack-of-all-trades" you can become, the more it will benefit you down the road. There are people out there among us who live to survive, meaning, as some of us have a hobby of collecting coins, or skiing, some people's "thing" is to be a survivalist. In that everything they do has some survival ulterior motive. I have found through my experiences, that these people become more and more paranoid of our government, or their neighbors. As the years go on, the more they actually wish that something bad would happen so that they can show off all their preparations.

My advise to you: Dont become one of these people. Its okay to make preprations, and its okay to have an ulterior motive in your day to day projects, but mainly, simply keep survival prepreations in the back of your mind while doing projects that you would be doing anyway. If you have the time and money to build a full out "bomb shelter", then by all means, go for it. For the rest of us, you could simply back fill with dirt around the outside corner of your basement that you would most likely have to hole up in, plant a flower garden in it to make the wife happy, and you have an improvised shelter. I guess what I'm trying to say is, when you think of a project that needs doing, think of the other uses that project may accomplish IF it were needed. Sometimes no modifications are nessesary, but more times than not, a few minor adjustments to your plans will make it all come together in the end.

More on .22 Rimfires

You have a .22 rifle in hand and your wondering what to do with it. Practice, Practice, Practice. That's what makes the rim fire so nice over any other caliber. By practicing, not only are you familiarizing yourself with that rifle, but you are honing your shooting skills for any rifle you may pick up. Light recoil, fairly low noise, and inexpensive ammo means you can shoot all day. The basics are always the same. Sight picture, trigger squeeze, breathing, all the fundamentals apply to nearly every rifle. If you are not familiar with firearms, then I HIGHLY recommend you take a class from a qualified instructor. Many shops in my area offer FREE classes if you buy a firearm from them, but a good basic class should not cost much over $35 a person.
Another excellent way to hone your shooting skills is by attending an Appleseed event. This program is aimed from the beginner to the advanced shooter and will help turn you from a simple gun owner to a true marksman. Events are held all over the country, and you can find the schedule at the link above.
Now the first thing allot of people do when they buy a new rifle is slap a scope on top of it, a fancy sling with shell holders, picattiny rails, compensator, strobe lights, lasers and anything else that looks cool in the catalog. My first question is "Why???". There are legitimate uses for each of these items, but for the average person, your only adding weight and more things to go wrong in a given situation.
A scope can be helpful, but use a mount that still enables you to use the iron sights. Finding a target in a scope can take precious seconds you don't have. Hunting grouse with my .22, I've been unable to find my mark through the scope in heavy brush, even though it looks obvious to my naked eye. Leave the scopes for the rifles you plan to use for 200 meters or more. Before adding any accessory, ask yourself, "When am I going to need it and will I be at a severe disadvantage without it?". Decide what you plan to use that weapon for: Hunting, self defence, etc. and outfit the gun accordingly. All the items I mentioned earlier may be useful if you think you will need to clear a building of "Commie, caniball looters", but not for shooting squirrels to eat tonight.
Dead Reckoning is your best sighting technique. Look at a picture on the wall about 20 feet away. Now close your eyes and point at that picture. When you open your eyes, you finger should be on, or damn close to that picture. That is dead reckoning. This same principle can be applied to a firearm, both pistols and rifles. The instructor that taught me this technique could shoot one asprin tablet after another out of the air with a Colt 1911 pistol. He started me off with an old Daisy cocking B-B gun with a block of wood duct taped to the top making sighting impossible. Repeatability is the key. Shot after shot at 5 gallon bucket lid, then a coffee can lid, then a clay pigeon that he tossed in the air 10 feet in front of me. Eventually moving to a .22 rifle, and then a .223, while the distances kept increasing as well. I still have a long, long way to go to be in the same class as him.
When you shoulder that weapon, it should feel like an extension of your body, just like pointing your finger, and you KNOW where that projectile will hit. Practice, Practice, Practice.

Now What?

Your "Bug-out" bag is sitting in the hallway closet, and you feel fairly confident that with its contents you can survive for at least 3 days. Now What? Realistically, where would you be in 72 hours and what if your stay was extended longer than that?
It is for this reason that I never go hiking, hunting, or camping without a .22 rim fire rifle at hand. This is, in MY opinion, the handiest tool you can can have, and should be the FIRST firearm purchase you should make for survival reasons.

My reasoning behind this? First off, ammo is cheap. You can buy thousands of rounds at a time without raising suspicions. Secondly, it is good for all kinds of game from ground squirrels and tweety birds to coyotes. I have even seen a well placed shot from a .22 rifle bring down a deer, although I do NOT recommend doing this unless you are in a desperate situation. Third, it COULD be used as a self defense weapon if no other firearm is available (again, not recommended). Now, don't think that with a good rifle of any caliper your going to be eating good indefinitely, but a .22 will help to supplement any other food sources you may come across.

I recommend a bolt action, magazine or tube fed rifle. Why bolt action? Because I've found through my own experience and from raising my boys, that a bolt action is safer, more accurate,very reliable and because one has the tendency to take careful aim with a single shot over a semi-automatic.
The semi-automatics, such as the Ruger 10/22 are EXCELLENT rifles, but all semi-automatics "automatically" chamber another round after firing, thus an excited (or extremely hungry) hunter has a tendency to leave a live round in a rifle after making a kill and forgets to put the safety on. Also, I have seen excited hunters shoot a dead animal until the magazine of the weapon is empty because of adrenaline. We call that "Buck Fever".
Now the Charter Arms AR-7 "Explorer" that I carry in my pack is NOT reliable or accurate. Its simply there because its a lightweight backup to anything else I hope to be carrying if I need it.

What about water? You can survive allot longer without food than you can water. And It is impractical to carry more than a few quarts of water. There are allot of portable water filters on the market and the price ranges vary from $10 to several 100. I've used 2 different types, both inexpensive and both work good. The first type consists of a small hand pump with two hoses. On the end of one hose, a small filter is attached about the size of half a beer can. the other hose fits into your water container. As you draw on the pump, it pulls water through the filter and then pushes it into your container. Its fairly light, takes up a little space, but its only draw back is that you need enough water to submerge the filter into for it to work. The other type looks like a straw with a little filter on the end. It comes in its own case that can be used to fill water from very small sources and you simply drink the water through the straw. The larger filter is nice if you need to fill any size of container, as it is fairly fast. The smaller one can be kept in your shirt pocket like a pen and used as needed. Both are excellent to have.

Now any water filter can filter out the microbes and moose turds, but they will not kill all the bacteria. Its a good idea to add a drop of everyday chlorine bleach to every gallon and let it sit for at least an hour. An eyedropper bottle works great for this and can be kept with your filter.

More on Circles

So now you have a basement full of mac & cheese. Now what? Well, I guess the first thing you should ask yourself is "To flee or not to flee"? Each of us has to look around us and think of every possible situation that could occur. The popular thought right now is a complete economic collapse is coming. This is a possibility, but not the only one. If you live in a major city, a terrorist chemical or biological attack is a possibility as well. Floods, fires, hurricanes, or other major disasters may dislodge you from your home. Each of us has different circumstances, but any of us, for a number of reasons, may have to "bug out" and leave our home behind.

Its for this reason that I recommend putting together a "bug-out bag". Ideally, this bag would be a backpack with everything you need for a minimum of 3 days. Food, water, a sleeping bag, any medications you need to have, and a means of making a fire. If you don't have a backpack, then a "tupper-tote" or even a 5 gallon bucket will do. Keep this packed, one for each member of your family and keep it in an easily accessible place where it can be grabbed in a moments notice. Now if you have the room, and can comfortably carry the weight for an extended period of time, you may want to add a few other necessities to make life a little more enjoyable. Toilet paper, an extra change of warm clothing, a knife, and some light cord, rope or wire are few good examples. Remember to not over do it. This is supposed to be just a bare necessities bag, easily transportable. I've been with guys whose "bug-out bags" have weighed over 75 pounds, and after just a few hundred yards up hill, they are looking for things to throw out of the bag to lighten the load. Once you have everything you think you'll need, take it for a hike. After packing it for a few miles you'll definitely know if you have too much.

So what do I have in my bag? I carry 3 military MRE meals (Meal, Ready to Eat) which can be picked up at most good Army surplus stores for about $8.00 each. I have a small pocket water purification kit. An all weather sleeping bag in a waterproof cover, a 2 man dome tent, a magnesium fire starter and tinder kit, a canteen, a "leather-man" type tool, a compass, a basic first aid kit, 50' of parachute cord and a .22 rifle with a box of shells. There is a also a zip-lock bag with toilet tissue, instant coffee, and waterproof matches. The rifle is an AR-7, designed for the Air Force, it collapses into its own stock and floats. Very lightweight and cost me around $100 at a Pawn Shop. Mine was made by Charter Arms, but Henry Rifles is building them now and I'm seeing them new for under $150.

Time to Get Started

I've just finished reading the Novel "Patriots: surviving the coming collapse" by James Wesley Rawles, and it has inspired me to begin working on this Blog again. I am not inspired because of the content of that book, but inspired to write and share what I know because of the LACK of content in that book.
Once again, I feel this is the difference between a "Survivalist" and a "Realist". Mr. Rawles goes into great detail on how to set up ambushes, how to build explosives, and how to pretend that the world will be a better place once our entire Country collapses. To me, I did not read a single usefull bit of information that would help one "Survive" a complete collapse of modern civilization.
If you have a million dollars burning a hole in your pocket to buy "survival equipment", don't need a job and can move anywhere you want, want to live in a barracaded fortress, and you have the expectations that IF the world as we know it were to end tommorow, that you are going to pick up your assault rifle, and rid the world of "Commie, canibal looters" then you are in the wrong place.
So lets get started. When thinking of a Realistic Survival plan, I think of it in terms of spaces. You start in a circle with only YOU in it. That circle is comprised of everything YOU need to survive RIGHT NOW and the circle represents your way of protecting everything within it. That circle is always your number one priority and always the one to fall back on. Your "rallying point" per say. What you need to survive right now is usually food, water, and shelter. These needs change for each situation, but for the most part, these are the basic needs of most individuals. As you fill these needs, you deepen your circle, you go from RIGHT NOW to FROM NOW ON. Most of us have the RIGHT NOW already taken care of. Its the FROM NOW ON that is the problem. A sandwich from the fridge takes care of right now, but a few days from now is what this is all about.
As you widen your circle, you encompass the next important things to you. For me, this is my family. What do I need in that circle to protect them and ensure their survival? If you live alone, then this could be your home. Your circle would be about protecting that home.
Your priority should be to make each circle as deep as possible, meaning that as you can afford it, buy more of what you need right now for FROM NOW ON.
An example. I like Macaroni and Cheese. I can buy a box it for right now OR I can buy a case of it when its on sale. Now I have Mac & Cheese for a week or so. The shelf life of Mac & Cheese is about 2 years, (I'll go more into this later) so I can buy lots and lots of it. As long as I'm eating it, I don't have to worry about how much to buy and how long it will last before going bad. The key to this way of thinking is ROTATION. If you buy several cases of it over an extended period of time, use what expires first and replace what you use. Once you do this for awhile, it becomes easy. Remember, be REALISTIC. Dont buy food you wont eat, and don't buy more than you can eat before it expires.
Back to the circles. Your first circle is you, and each succeding circle is the next priority in your life. Your family, your home, your property etc. To be a "Survivalist" means to survive, and as each circle grows, your means of survival should grow with it.