Religious and Political aspects of Prepping

Survivalists and Preppers are an interesting cross section of society.  It's not an evenly distributed cross section though, it sometimes seems to be predominantly conservative and Christian.  Or, it might just be that some people with those traits tend to be very vocal on those forums and websites.  Now, I have no problem with someone being conservative or being Christian, even though I'm not particularly conservative or religious myself.  However, that tolerance can be tested when those views are so frequently, vocally, preached.

You see all sorts of threads like:
"Obama re-elected, better buy your guns now before they all get banned!"
"Can Liberals be Survivalists?"
"Top 10 Reasons Democrats Are Ruining Our Country"
"You remember what life was like when we had a REAL leader?"
"Signs the Apocalypse is coming!"

Yeah, if you went to any of these forums or sites after Obama got re-elected...  Wow, that was quite an interesting time.  A lot of very vocal people expressing their 1st Amendment rights.

Now, I'm not a huge Obama fan, I'm definitely not a fan of Romney, but why would those topics matter on a Survival website?  What do politics or religion have to do with prepping or survival?

I go to these sites looking for tips on how to survive, gear reviews, get along better in the wilderness, and anything else outdoor related.  I don't go to those sites for religious or political reasons.  I don't want or need lectures, or opinions on unrelated topics, or interpretations on world events.  It can be a big distraction though, detracting from the real benefits on the rest of the site.

I try not to preach my own beliefs, as difficult as that is at times, because the disagreements don't do anyone any good.  I'm not going to change their mind, they aren't going to change my mind, so what is the point of starting the argument?  What is the point of contributing to the argument?  It's doesn't benefit anyone and just distracts from the reason we go to those sites in the first place.

So, I would encourage all preppers and survivalists to get over their differences and embrace the similarities.  If you are an expert at starting a friction fire, awesome, I'm sure I can learn something from you.  Does that mean that I need your opinion on the latest political scandal?  Nope.  Just like I'm sure you don't need my opinion on it.

Bringing up polarizing topics, opinions, and beliefs just builds barriers.  We might have different reasons but we all have the same goals, religion and politics have nothing to do with those goals.  Leave them at home.

And when faced with those beliefs?  Don't fall into the trap of continuing the argument, drop it and move on to a different thread.  There are still plenty of good threads out there to enjoy and learn from.

Some thoughts on Guns and Caliber

Left to Right:  .22lr, 9mm, .38sp, .308

I was doing really good for a long time.  When I got into survivalism and prepping I did a lot of research and thinking and planning...  I decided to get a pistol and a rifle that could share the same ammunition, a common round, reliable and easy to work on. 

Eventually I decided on the Ruger Blackhawk Convertible, a revolver that shoots .38sp/.357 and can convert to 9mm, and a Rossi R92 lever action rifle in .38sp/.357.  (Note: I haven't been able to do a review of the Rossi because it broke the first day at the range, there will be a full post on that later on).  I figured that if things ever got so bad that I should get out to the woods for a while I'd have a nice rifle and pistol that shared and fired a good variety of common/cheap ammunition.

However, by the time I had my "survival gun" set up I'd already been bitten by the shooting bug.  Once you have the basics it's hard to stop there.  What if I want to go hunt bigger game or at a larger range?  I should probably get something a little heavier.  Or when you stumble over a super-cool gun at the store that would be a blast at the range (Henry Golden Boy .22lr).  

In recent times I've started to more closely examine the differences between calibers.  You can see the drastic difference between the ones that I shoot in that first photo. 

.22lr is a great round for the range, low recoil, nice accuracy at shorter distances, all around fun.  It's amazingly cheap, light, and you can put a thousand rounds in a pack without crippling yourself.  It doesn't hit very hard compared to most other rounds, but you could probably shoot 10 for the cost/weight of most other rounds.  Great in a short range rifle and is available in a lot of great pistols.

9mm is a great round for hand guns.  It's cheap, light, extremely common, and packs a decent punch.  Arguments have been made against 9mm stopping power but honestly, I think it comes down to what you're comfortable shooting. If you can shoot really well with a .40 or .45 than great, but for those who want lower recoil, faster handling, and usually a higher capacity, than 9mm is hardly a slouch.  As for stopping power, there are studies that show that usually a torso shot will stop a person pretty quickly, caliber doesn't seem to be as much of an issue as where it's placed.  Thus, shoot what you're comfortable with.  There are some 9mm rifles as well, good to pair with a 9mm pistol, but there aren't many options and they are somewhat uncommon.  The Thureon Defense rifle, Hi-Point, and AR-15 style Colt model 6450 in 9mm are some options.

.38sp/.357, I group these together because there is not a lot of difference between the two.  The .357 is a slightly longer version of the .38sp with a few more grains of powder behind it.  Almost all guns that can shoot .357 will also shoot .38sp.  It's got a little more kick than 9mm, it's common in revolvers and was THE round in police revolvers for decades.  It's slightly heavier, slightly more expensive than 9mm.  What I like about this round is the variety, between the different .38sp and .357 rounds it's pretty easy to find the round you're comfortable shooting.  The other benefit is how easy it is to find a good lever action rifle that shares the ammo.  Some rifle nerds poo-poo lever actions but they have been historically proven and remain a good general purpose rifle.

.308 is by far the largest round that I shoot.  This is a big round, kicks hard, and hits harder.  It's the most expensive round, the heaviest round, and also the most accurate at longer ranges.  The .308 is commonly used in long distance matches.  It's also used in most military sniper rifles.  When you just need to reach out and touch something... .308 is a good round to have available.  This is basically just a rifle round though, you'd be hard placed to find a pistol to use the same round (and probably wouldn't want to shoot it if you did), which would mean packing at least two different rounds with you.  Also, this isn't that much fun at the range, you put more than twenty rounds downrange and you're shoulder will be pissed for the next couple days.  Good for one-shot one-kill, but follow ups will be more painful than with other rounds.

One of the things that surprised me when I was shooting more often was the different effects of the different rounds on wood.  The targets I shoot are wood frames with a cardboard center, paper target stapled onto the cardboard.  9mm and .38sp when they missed the target and hit the wooden frame would have a small entry, big splintering exit.  The low speed entry meant that the bullets had time to expand in the wood before exiting.  When I hit the wood with .308 I thought it would be destroyed, blow the frame in half.  Yet the opposite was true.  Small entry, small exit, as though the bullet didn't even notice it had hit anything.  It just went straight through it.  Straight through two inches of wood at 100 yards?  That's penetration.

That's something to keep in mind when hunting, the expansion of the bullet when it hits something solid.  For short range hunting (or defense) a 9mm or .38 will work, it will hit, expand, and stop.  On a small target at shoerter ranges that should be enough, something bigger and it might expand too fast, not penetrate far enough.  For a larger animal .308 will pass through far more tissue before starting to expand.  With most animals I wouldn't be surprised if the .308 went straight through.  For larger animals that could easily be the difference between a wound and a kill shot.

The other thing to keep in mind is that pistol calibers in a longer barrel (like a rifle) will perform way better than out of a pistol.  The longer barrel gives a longer area for the explosive gasses to expand before the bullet leaves the barrel, that gives the bullet a lot more velocity and range.  A .357 in a pistol is a powerful pistol round, put it in a longer barrel and it starts to rival a rifle round for velocity and effectiveness.  Yet, the rifle recoil in a pistol caliber is significantly reduced from a rifle round (they're designed to be shot from a hand gun, there's more weight in a rifle, less felt recoil).  The .38sp in a lever is only slightly more recoil than a .22lr but the bullet hits a lot harder.  They won't be a match for .308 in accuracy or distance, but it gives some credence to sharing a round between a pistol and a long gun.

There are articles, graphs, and websites that will back up the information here and others that will totally disagree.  Feel free to peruse them and see if you can wade through the all various view points.  The information here is based on my own experiences and you might find that your's varies.  There is no substitute for personal experience and practice, so experience and practice as much as you can to find out what works best for you.

Hopefully some of these thoughts help you in choosing your calibers.

Range Review: Ruger Gunsite Scout, Making me look good

I'd been looking at getting a larger rifle for hunting.  The biggest rifle I owned was a Rossi R92 lever action in .357, but I was thinking I might want something a little bit bigger if I was going to take it hunting mid size game.  That's when I stumbled on a good deal for a Ruger Gunsite Scout.

I had the er, pleasure, of shooting my Ruger Gunsite Scout for the first time at the range today.

First thoughts?  .308 kicks like a freakin' mule.  Of course, you have to take that with a grain of salt because I haven't shot anything much larger than a .22lr or .38sp in years.  So, going from .38sp to .308 was like going from a friendly pat to a boxer's punch to the shoulder every time the trigger was pulled.  I ran about 80 rounds through it, interspersed with some lever action .357 fun.  Yeah, I'm feeling it now, a big ol' red mark, and I have a feeling it'll be worse tomorrow. (Edit: yup, I have a nice sized bruise two days later)

I did about forty rounds at 50 yards and was pleasantly surprised with the accuracy.  Considering how unfamiliar I was with the rifle, I was happy to be hitting the target regularly.  I didn't adjust the sites because I figured that the bad shots were probably my fault and the majority were pretty well grouped.  Mostly I was just trying to get familiar with the rifle, how it handled, and how it cycled.  Familiarity is more important than accuracy the first time at the range.

I was also sighting in my Rossi R92.  Both were doing exceptionally well at 50yrds so I decided to get a little froggy and move the target out to 100yrds, still only using the iron sites on both rifles.

The Rossi didn't do the transition very well, the weaker round (I was shooting .38sp) meant I had to adjust the sites to even get close.  Also, the bead on the front site was so big it basically obscured the target at that distance.  It was fun to shoot but it wasn't going to win any accuracy awards.

Then I ran another forty rounds through the Ruger GSS.  Periodically I would use my binoculars to try and see where I was hitting.  Unfortunately, the only "hits" I could see were those on the white paper outside the black rings.  I struggled a little bit trying to figure out what the best site picture should be but since I couldn't tell where I was hitting I wasn't sure how to adjust it.  Honestly, I wasn't even sure if I was hitting the target with most of my shots.

So, imagine my surprise when I walked up and saw this:

Yeah, you rifle nerds can laugh all you want, but I was extremely pleased.  It's not going to win any tournaments or get hung up on the wall, but definitely not bad.  I'm a decent shot overall, I've done a lot of shooting, on and off over the years, with a variety of guns, but this was a totally new experience for me.  Basically, this was my first time shooting an unfamiliar rifle, an unfamiliar caliber, with iron sites, at an unfamiliar distance, and I couldn't even see where I was hitting to adjust for better accuracy.  Half a dozen in the black would have made my day.  So, Hell yeah I was happy with the results!  

I practically strutted back to the bench, target in hand.  Ruger GSS, making me look better than I am.  A little bit of practice and a healed shoulder, who knows how good the results will be?  I'm looking forward to finding out.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you survivalists and preppers, and I guess everyone else too.

I have plenty to be thankful for this year and I hope you do too.

I'm thankful for my new job, for good preparations, and for the ammo sales at the LGS.  I'm thankful for my health, my family's health, and for all of the good and bad things that have happened over the past year.  It's all worked out for the best, so I'm thankful for that.

I'm thankful for cheap liquor, deals on dehydrated food, and for the B-movies on Netflix.  "Iron Sky" is a favorite of mine.

I'm thankful that after everything that has been thrown at me this year I still have my sense of humor.  My family might not be as thankful for that humor, but that's on them, they were always wet blankets.  Hopefully they will continue to be so for a long time to come.

I am thankful for my readers.  I hope you have had as good a year as I have, or at have the strength to over come the challenges that have been placed in your path.

Happy Thanksgiving.

You Know What Drives Me Nuts? Tight Jeans

Ok, we were all happy when tight jeans and parachute pants faded out with the eighties.  And yet, they seem to be making a come back.  Tight jeans are bad enough, but I'll be more specific.  I really, really, hate this new "fashion trend" of wearing tight jeans and then "sagging" the waste of the pants half way down the ass.  It's like two bad fashion faux pas in one.

You want to wear super baggy jeans, stupid but whatever.  You want to wear super tight jeans, stupid but whatever.  You want to sag your baggy jeans, stupid but they're baggy and going to sag a bit anyway.  But sagging tight jeans?  That's retarded on a whole new level.  That's like shaving your head but keeping your mullet.

I blame Zac Effron...

"Yup, just saggin' my tight jeans and fueling my Audi... " That just about screams "Metrosexual"!  As if that was a good thing.  I'm not entirely sure why any man would think it was a good idea to reject all things masculine.  And some women find that appealing?  Women are from Mars... crazy.

I've also heard that this is something that comes from the Twilight movies.  Having never seen a Twilight movie, I cannot confirm nor deny that.  If a woman decides to watch the movies, whatever, but I am not going to turn in my man-card to accompany one to the movies (possibly why I'm single).  Either way, sagging tight jeans certainly seems like symptom of this Twilight generation.

Does this mean I'm getting old?  I kind of feel like that old guy yelling at the kids to get off his property... like this new generation has nothing positive to offer and it's better off to just avoid them.

But seriously?  Sagging tight jeans?  It's beyond the point of ridiculousness.  I was walking through a store today and saw at least three people in this "style".  Makes me question my sanity... or at least the sanity of all those around me.

Gear Review: Edge of Glory Knife Sharpener

This was an interesting little item I picked up at a local Walgreens.  It was in the "As Seen On TV" section and was interesting enough looking that I decided to pick it up.

This is the "Edge of Glory" knife sharpener $9.  I've been looking for a decent sharpener for a while now, there aren't very many outdoor stores in my area of the island.  I know there are some good sharpeners and I'll probably end up ordering one at some point, or trekking around the island to find a good one, but this was cheap and I figured I'd give it a shot.  

This isn't a ground breaking design, it's pretty similar to a lot of the general "kitchen knife" style sharpeners, two sharpening edges in an overlapping V shape.  It also has a suction cup that can be locked down onto a flat surface.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that this is as good as the commercials say (I haven't seen those commercials but it's safe to assume that they claim it performs miracles, the package said it could sharpen a credit card enough to cut a tomato), but this little sharpener does a pretty decent job. 

I ran five different knives and blade styles through this thing, it doesn't give them a razor's edge, but it does touch up the edge nicely.  Obviously, the blades that had serrations didn't work as well, it only works for the blade portion.  The other blade that was a little more difficult was my Karambit.  

Because it has a concave blade shape, instead of convex, it took a little more maneuvering but it still worked. 

Concave Buck knife, Convex Karambit

This thing sharpened all the different knives I ran through it without fail.  About five minutes with this thing was all it took to run all five knives.  Some, like the Karambit, took a little more wrangling than others, but all were sharper afterwards.  Some of these started out pretty dull, I ran them through the "Edge of Glory" 3 or 4 times and there was a drastic improvement.

Is this cheap sharpener the solution to all your knife woes?  Definitely not.  But for how easy it is to use, how quickly it improves the edge, and how cheap it is, this is not a bad deal.  

Range Review: Henry Golden Boy .22lr

Ok, I made the mistake of going to a local Gun Store yesterday.  Seriously, a guy like me in a gun store is worse than a kid in a candy shop.  I want it all.

I originally went there to look for a bolt action .22lr that I could use to teach my daughter how to shoot.  Maybe in a couple years I could even pass it down to her.  My father taught me on a beautiful little .22lr bolt and I still have good memories of those lessons.

Anyway, while looking at 22s I noticed the Henry lever action.  I asked to see it and as soon as I laid my hands on it I was sold.  It's a beautiful gun but as soon as you pick it up you realize this is no toy.  First off, it's heavy.  I think it's around 7 lbs, especially with the 20" hexagon barrel.  The Walnut stock is beautiful and it cycles like butter.

It wasn't cheap, around $550, but it looked like a high quality gun so I was hoping it was worth it.

After the range today, it was totally worth the price.

It took a little while to get used to the buckhorn sites, I'm used to matching the top of the rear site with the top of the front site.  With these, you match the round dot on the front site with the round hole at the bottom of the rear site.  Once I got that straight it shot beautifully.

These are probably the most accurate iron sites out of the box that I've ever shot.  Seriously, with just the iron sites and a little practice I was hitting silhouettes out to 100 yards.

I ran two hundred rounds through it, 100 Remington Viper 36gr, and Winchester Xpert HV 36gr hollow points.  It was a joy to shoot.  It cycled flawlessly with the two different rounds I brought with me.  I wasn't sure how it would go with the hollow points (they were pretty cheap so I figured I'd give them a shot), but they cycled just as well as the Remington.  Not a single failure to fire, failure to cycle/eject, with either brand. Accuracy was about the same too.  I loaded one tube with a mixture of both and couldn't tell a difference between shooting them.  (I know, there isn't a huge difference between the two in the first place other than the tips).

The only complaint I had with the Henry is the reloading.  To reload you pull the inner magazine tube out until it clears the loading port.  Put the rounds in, slide the magazine tube back in and secure it.  Ready to go.  The first couple times it's a little weird but once you get used to it you can reload fairly quickly.

(You can see the loading port on the magazine tube about halfway to the muzzle)

Now, it isn't difficult or awkward, but it's more awkward than having the more traditional loading port in the receiver.  To reload this one you have to stop shooting, put the gun down, and reload it, rather than being able to reload on the go like the receiver loading guns.  With the older versions you can fire a round, reload a round, fire a round, without taking the gun from your shoulder or missing a beat.

Also, this might not be best rifle for teaching your young ones.  You load it awfully close to the end of the barrel, so you need to pay attention to where body parts are and where you're pointing the barrel while loading.  There's also no safety switch or lever so you have to be very aware of the hammer position too.  There is a "safe/load" position for the hammer, but I would consider hammer manipulation of a loaded gun a more advanced lesson.

Basically, I think this gun is the perfect for the range, plinking, or maybe small game hunting.  The reloading is a fairly minor complaint considering you can load 15 rounds (though they do go fast when you're having that much fun shooting them).

It's just a fun gun.  It's pretty, it shoots great, and works great mechanically.  It's really nice to have a gun that I love to shoot that is also a cheap date at the range, it's only 15-20 bucks for a box of 500 .22lr.  I had an absolute blast at the range and definitely look forward to taking it again.  I think this might be my new go-to-gun for plinking and silhouette shooting.

And if that means I have to go back to the gun store to get a bolt action for my daughter... I'm ok with that.  We can go plinking together.