The Preparedness Articles Category
AR-15 for Survival
Is the AR-15 a good survival rifle? The simple answer is, “it depends.” The M16 223/5.56mm was original developed as a replacement for the M14 and the 308. The mindset was to develop a lighter rifle and lighter ammo so that soldiers could carry the rifle further and carry more ammo. The drawback, instead of shooting a 150 or 180 grain bullet like the 308 Winchester / 7.62 NATO, the 223 / 5.56mm shot a 55 grain bullet.
Lets talk about some of the pluses and negatives of the 223/5.56mm:
1. To compensate for the smaller bullet diameter and lighter weight, the 55 grain 5.56mm is supposed to “tumble” after it hits flesh. The “tumbling” creates wounds and does quit a bit of damage to flesh.
I see a couple of issues with the “tumble” theory:
Maintaining a level of physical fitness
Before I took this desk job as a computer tech, maintaining a level of physical fitness was not a problem. Working as a fitter in a welding shop for 8 – 12 hours a day does enough. I remember fitting a 2:1 elliptical head on a shell, it taking 2 hours to get the job done, and a lot of that I was swinging an 8 pound hammer. One tower I built going to Saudi Arabia was 1 3/4 inch thick, about 11 feet in diameter and the head was 2 inches thick. Instead of using a hammer, dog and wedge, I had to use a 50 ton port-a-power hydraulic jack. The hydraulic jack probably weighed 30 or 40 pounds – I had to pick it up, set it down, pick it up, set it down,,, for 12 hours a day, and for an entire week.
Before I went into junior high school, mom and dad put my brother and I in little league baseball and football. Our coaches made us do drill after drill after drill,,,,, and run laps around the practice field. The training that I received at such an early age has stayed with me later in life – even though I do not use it anymore. At the very least, I had the concept of training drilled into my head.
Once I started junior high school, I did not want to do any more sports. To be honest, I never wanted to play football or baseball. I think mom and dad signed my brother and I up so we could meet other kids and give us something to do. As soon as I could get out of the sports I did – I had other stuff I wanted to do, like go camping and play in the woods.
Personal hydrogen refueling station
Just imagine a day when you can use your own personal hydrogen refueling station to recharge your hydrogen car or motorcycle. Seems like science fiction? Maybe for right now. A company called Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies is working on a solar powered device that can extract hydrogen from water, convert the hydrogen into electricity, the…
Solar Desalination
People living along the ocean, or salt water barriers might get a kick out of this. It seems that MIT has developed a portable solar powered solar desalination unit. Besides, MIT, IBM along with some people from Saudi Arabia are also working on a solar powered desalination unit.
The small version of the MIT desalination unit is supposed to be able to produce 80 gallons of drinking water every 24 hours. The larger version has an estimated cost of $8,000 and will produce an estimated 1,000 gallons of water everyday.
MREs Meals ready to eat
There is a thread on the forum that is talking about MREs, and it got me to thinking:
MREs are a good grab and go meal -what could be easier then just grabbing a full meal, stuffing it in your backpack, and your ready to go. The outside package is pretty tough and puncture resistant. MREs are the kind of thing that you can cram into the bottom of your pack, and you dont have to worry about them leaking, or getting a hole poked in them.
MREs are high in calories and have a high sodium content. As an example, the Spaghetti with meat sauce has 810mg of sodium. If your in the military and having to hump your pack 25 miles at a time, or in good physical shape, 810mg of sodium might seem like nothing. But for people with underlying health conditions, overweight, high blood pressure, 810mg for 1 meal can be a lot of sodium.
Related Articles:
| Eversafe Meals
|
Storing MREs |
MRE vs Mainstay |
Communal cooking post disaster
Some type of disaster has rolled through – lets say there has been a hurricane, the power has been knocked out and its going to be off for a week or so. How are you going to cook your food? You have some ribs, chicken or steaks in the freezer, but no way to cook it.
You walk out your front door and see your neighbor with his pull behind bar-b-q pit cooking some food. Smoke is coming out of the stack, and he looks like his is turning over some ribs, is that sausage you see and some pork chops? Then the thought runs through your head, “will my neighbor let me cook on his pit?”
The above description happened after Hurricane Rita and Ike passed through southeast Texas.
On Thursday, October 14, 2010 my wife and I made a trip to Houston to take care of some business. While we were in Houston, my wife and I went to a book store where I bought a book about life in a medieval village. One of the chapters of the book talks about how villages are laid out, and how 1 certain village had 2 communal ovens for baking bread. Instead of each villagers house having its own bread oven, the community had communal ovens setup.
5 things survivalist should stockpile
The other day I posted an article about stuff that survivalist should not stockpile. So in contrast, lets talk about stuff that survivalist should have on hand.
5. Fuel – when SHTF, your going to need a way to get out of town. Whether its a forest fire, hurricane, chemical spill,,,, keep enough gas in your tank to get away from the affected zone.
When a hurricane rolls trough the southern states, one of the first things to dry up is gasoline. People start filling their tanks up, the lines get long, and gas stations run out of gas.
Related Articles:
| Wilderness Bug Out
|
Starting over
|
Testing disaster plans
|
Are you ready to plant a garden
Are you ready to plant a garden? If not, why not? On Tuesday October 5, 2010 by Time magazine posted an article saying that Wal-mart had to roll back its rollbacks. As a result, food prices have jumped to a 2 year high. Add to that the Russian failed fall wheat crops, that has pushed wheat to a 22 month high.
Producing your own food is one of the easiest ways to off-load some financial strain. If your having problems paying your house note, electric bill, insurance, buying clothes, internet bill, cell phone bill,,,,,,,, something has to give. If you and your family are running on a shoe string budget, sooner or later that string is going to break. When that happens, financial disaster can set in.
Raised bed gardens – do not take any special equipment – just get some landscaping timbers, or old cross ties and build some raised beds. Find someone with rabbits, get some manure, and use that instead of potting soil. Rabbit manure makes great fertilizer and it can be cheaper then potting soil.
Best pistol caliber for a survivalist
From my opinion, pistols need to serve a dual role purpose – just like rifles or shotguns. Whether its on your hip while walking around the yard, or in your hand while hog or deer hunting, be sure to pick a caliber that will get the job done.
5. 22 long rifle – inexpensive, light weight, takes care of small pest with little or no problems. The light recoil makes the 22 a great choice for small framed adults, teenagers learning to shoot and people who do not like the recoil of the larger calibers.
One of the big bonuses of the 22 long rifle, it can be shot out of a pistol or rifle, this makes it a dual role caliber. From a stockpiling point of view, and you intend for everyone in your group to be armed, the most inexpensive route is the 22 long rifle. When a brick of 550 rounds cost between $12 – $20, its cost effective to stockpile thousands of 22 rounds. For $200 someone could probably buy more 22 long rifle then they will shoot in a 10 years – do that with 9mm, 40S&w, 45ACP or 357Sig.
Top 5 survival rifles
One of the most asked questions I see on the forum – “what is the best survival rifle?” A well balanced answer is, there is no perfect rifle. If you live in Alaska, your rifle needs are going to be a lot different then someone that lives in the Southern states. Its doubtful someone living in southern Florida is going to be running in Grizzly bears, like someone in someone in the Northern States might. If you live in Colorado, or Washington state you might be hunting elk or moose, while people in Louisiana, Alabama or Mississippi might be hunting whitetail deer or wild hogs.
1) Ruger 10/22 – semi-automatic, magazine fed, 22 caliber rifle. Its not one thing that sets the Ruger 10/22 apart, its the huge list – the reliability, the vast selection of accessories – magazines, scopes, barrels, stocks,,,,,, just all kinds of stuff. My personal Ruger 10/22 was bought in January of 1986, and is still going strong.
My first experience with a Ruger 10/22 was sometime in 1984 or 1985 when 3 of my buddies and I were on a 3 day camping trip. We loaded up an aluminum boat and headed out to one of the bayous close to Bridge City, Texas – this was sometime around 1984 or 1985. After eating lunch, Allen and I took the dishes to the bayou to wash them. While we were washing the dishes, we saw a nutria rat on the other side of the bayou. 1 shot with the Ruger 10/22 took care of the animal. Allen and I got in the aluminum boat we had used to reach the camping spot, and paddled across the bayou to retrieve the animal. We skinned the nutria rat and brought it back to the camping spot where it was roasted over a camp fire and eaten. Even though we had just eaten dinner, it was just canned chili and we were still hungry. The meat from that nutria rat really hit the spot.
After I handled the Ruger 10/22 on that 3 day camping trip, I knew I had to have one. From that day forward, the Ruger 10/22 has been one of my favorite survival rifles.
The 22 long rifle cartridge only compliments the 10/22. The 22 long rifle is cheap, easy to stockpile, does not have a loud report, easy to carry and has plenty of power to take small game – like the nutria rat. With prices ranging from $12 – $20 for a brick of 550 rounds, for people on a budget, the 22 long rifle is going to be a tough round to beat.
Related Articles:
|
|
|
|
You may also be interested in:
| Preparedness Articles >>> | Hiking and Camping >>> |
| Survival Gear >>> | Random Ramblings >>> |
| Popular Forum Sections: AR-15 Forum AK-47 Forum Bolt Action Rifle Forum Ruger Mini-14 and Mini-30 |
Loading ...