9mm, 40 or 45 caliber

Let me start off by saying that my choice of pistol calibers have changed over the years. 12 years ago when I became a ccw permit holder I only had a full size 1911. I remember it well, July 2000 I went down to my local sporting goods store and signed up for the ccw class. That same day I bought 200 rounds of 230 grain fmj. I went over to my wife’s family farm and started practicing. I have always loved to shoot and never ignored an excuse to go throw some lead. I had owned my 1911 since 96 when I first got out of the U.S. Navy. I was honorably discharged 07/08/96  I went down to a gun store one town over from where I lived and asked if they had any 1911’s? No was the answer “we have Berettas and Glocks”. I always liked the Beretta since lethal weapon came out and the Glocks looked like black blocks to me but I had my mind-set on a 1911. I was told the gun show is coming up in august and there would be a plethora of 1911’s out there. For the next 2 months I had Colt’s 1911 on the brain.  The day came I went down to the gun show and the first booth i came to I asked if he a colt 1911. yes he said we walked around to the other side of his booth and he placed it in my hands I asked him the price he told me the price I had just enough to buy it an extra magazine, cheap holster and 4 boxes of ammo. That was the one and only booth I visited that day. I was broke but I had my dream gun so there was no reason to stick around plus I had ammo that was ‘burning a hole in my pocket’. the first box of ammo I had 3 failure to ejects. I placed a call to the guy I bought it from and was instructed to break it in. He was exactly right after that first 200 rounds I had almost zero failures. I loved that pistol and it will always be my first love (as far as firearms go).

I tell you this story because when my wife told me we were going to have a baby I felt like I needed to protect them so I signed up for ccw class that same week. I had gone to a local gun club that was certified to give the required class. I went down to the class and there I was with my full size 1911 cheap holster and one extra magazine in my front pocket. To think back I know that instructor must have thought ‘look at this guy’. He looked down on my side and looked back up to me ans said “you really need to take this class with the firearm you plan to conceal carry”. In my head I thought ‘this guy doesn’t know who he’s talking to’. “This is what I’m going to conceal” I told the instructor. As he turned his head to walk off I heard him say “tell me in a year how long that lasted”.

He turned out to be exactly right after the first month I started leaving the 1911 at home. It came to the point where I didn’t even feel like a concealed carry permit holder. I knew if I was going to carry I needed to buy a firearm that was lighter. After about 8 months of concealed carry I had a friend that owned a Glock 26 (baby Glock) I wasn’t impressed with the 9mm but I tried it and really liked it. I did a horrible thing, I traded a colt 1911 and a few bills for a baby Glock and a full size Glock 17. The thing that is really good about the 9mm is the low recoil (makes it easy for my son and wife to shoot). Also the price of 9mm ammo. I carried the Glock 26 for 10 years and in 2010 I traded my Glocks in for the new generation Glocks in 40 caliber. I thought it would be a great compromise between the 9mm and the 45 caliber.

I owned the Glock 27 and a Glock 23 for one year. I noticed two things, I wasn’t shooting as much and my ammo bills were going up. I believe that you must practice with the equipment you plan to use. I have gone through so many different types of holsters (at least 30).  I found myself thinking about how much ammo I would use to practice. It dawned on me. This is not working. 2 weeks later I had traded my 40 cal Glocks for one Glock 26 and one Glock 19.

I know this has been a long-winded story to get to this point. In my opinion the 9mm works best for me and my family. It allows me and my family to practice more and really stock up on ammo. I have all the equipment to reload 9mm if need be. One thing I like about it is 9mm is very common and can be picked up at just about any location where ammo is sold. Also it is a NATO round so that may come in handy. If I wasn’t a prepper and only felt that I needed a couple hundred rounds at any one time, I would have stuck with the 40 caliber. To me it was a great compromise and one that really works. But as a prepper I feel that  it is hard to beat a 9mm for a handgun cartridge. If money was not in the equation then I would have 40 caliber but money is a factor so in my family we have decided to go with 9mm. I have never ever had to pull my firearm and I pray I never will. There have been times when I felt glad I did conceal carry and those times have really taught me what situations to avoid. I would really like to hear what you guys use and why. Thank you for your time. Live for today and Prep for tomorrow. PN

Prepper challenge

Most of us that grow a garden only plant enough to supplement their food for that year. I am challenging myself and would love for others to take the challenge. Besides having a food storage I plan to grow my own food during a SHTF. all preppers that plan to plant enough to eat should really try to challenge themselves. Grow enough to eat all year? I have grown a garden for the past 10 years but this time I plan to produce approximately 5 times the amount of food. Most of us (me included) work a full-time job and justifie only a small garden as an exercise to learn to farm. I grow a garden for knowledge but now it’s time to step up and really to see if could go a full year and not buy one can of vegetables. I think most of us feel that we don’t have the time to grow a self-sustaining food source while working a full-time job and the thought of working all day  then working in the field until dark doesn’t strike most as a reasonable exercise. But now is the perfect time for me to challenge myself and to ask others to take the challenge with me. How much time do you think you will have in a full-scale SHTF? I plan to use all modern farm equipment. I will not have to pull security or hand pump water and of course I will have A/C during this challenge. This will only take me one step closer to finding what it will take for me and my family. 

What I plan to learn on this challenge.

1. How many heirloom seeds do I need.
2. How many man hours will it take
3. How much land it will take to grow such a garden
4. Can I irrigate the garden if I am challenged with a dry season
5. Teach my son what it takes to be self-reliant
6. How many cans are needed to make it a full year

This will be a multi part blog that will last a year so follow along and see if I can do this. I would love to follow others that take this challenge. Good luck to all of us. Live for today and Prep for tomorrow. PN

SHTF, BOB, EDC, WROL WHAT THE F….?

Hey Mike, have you thought more about bugging out if SHTF happens?

Yea, my BOB is ready inside my BOV incase of the SHTF.

For people who have been preparing for years this conversation is very simple to figure out, but for someone just thinking about preparedness this may sound crazy. When I joined the military acronyms were used in our everyday conversations. We had LES (Leave and Earn Statements) PT (Physical Training), OIC (officer in charge), OOD (Officer Of the Day) and so on, there must be hundreds of acronyms  that the Navy uses. The prepper community have their own set of acronyms that they use and today I will go over some of them.

• SHTF; one of the most commonly used acronym stands for ‘Shit Hits The Fan’.  A sentence you may hear will be “When the SHTF, a lot of people will not be ready”. SHTF could be a local, national or world-wide event that changes your day-to-day life. 
• WROL; WithOut Rule Of Law. This is used to describe lawlessness in your area. For example the LA riots in the early 90’s people had to protect themselves because the police were so overwhelmed.
• EOTW; End Of The World. This one isn’t used that often but may describe a total nuclear war or an asteroid heading towards earth.
• BOB; Bug Out Bag. This means a bag or container that is packed and always ready at a moments notice. If you are in the path of a flood or tornado and time is very short this will be what you grab and flee for your safety. A bug out bag (BOB) will usually have food water, first-aid, survival gear, protection, flashlight(s) and any other predetermined items needed to escape danger.
• BOV; Bug Out Vehicle. A vehicle that will be used for transportation to a secure location or to escape danger.
• BOL; Bug Out Location. A predetermined location that you plan to flee in case of emergency. May also be called a re-treat location.
• GOOD; Get Out Of Dodge, used in the old west movies. Means to leave the area you are currently in search of a safer location
• EDC; Every Day Carry. Objects on your person that you have with you every day that can be used if needed.
• EMP; Electromagnetic Pulse,  is a burst of electromagnetic Radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field. Basically most modern electronics would be fried if you are within the effected area. For more information check out:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse
• KYAG; Kiss Your Ass Goodbye, I think you can figure that one out.

Other words

• Inch-bag; Means that your bag (usually your bug out bag) is never more than an inch from you at all times.
• Zombies; In the case of preparedness may mean people who are willing to steal or even kill for supplies.
• Prepper; A person that stores and prepares for future emergencies.
• Prepping;  The act of preparedness
• Canning; To store food in metal or glass containers for long-term storage.
• Ham radio; is a wireless 2-way radio that can be used to communicate. If you want more information check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio

I know for new people you find yourself thinking this is a foreign language but with a little work you’ll be on your way to speaking this prepper language. Thank you for your time and remember to like comment and subscribe. Live for today and prep for tomorrow. PN

 

 

 

Paper money, at leasy you’ll have toilet paper. Bartering as a prep.

 

If you told me 3 years ago that I would be thinking and preparing to trade for goods and service I would have thought you were crazy. Today as we prepare the likelyhood of going back to trade goods is a true possibility. With our national debt over 15 trillion dollars we could find ourselves with worthless paper. Paper money is a real problem during an economic collapse. You can’t eat it, you can’t drink it and you can’t even shoot it. So what’s it good for? During a collapse, nothing. Everyone will still need the basics, food, water, shelter and security. You will find yourself with paper money trying to trade for eggs or meat and no one will trade not even if 100 is written on it. So you must go back to the basics. Two parties must come to an agreement about how much is it worth. Will a dozen eggs get you a pound of meat? That is why currency was invented. If mark has eggs, Jeff has milk and Mary has wheat then we all could come up with how much of one item is worth so many of this item. But the problem comes up when Mark needs wheat but Mary doesn’t want the eggs. Then what? Well either mark will give up 2 or 3 times the amount of  eggs for the wheat. But if Mary wants milk then Mark would trade Jeff for the milk then trade the milk for the wheat. Very confusing so the current currency system that we have been living under makes it much easier to trade.

In my opinion you should have items you think you could get a good trade for. These items are cheap now but will be very valuable during a collapse. Look at the basics and also look at items of comfort. Lets look at items that we could stock up on for trade or barter later. This list is only limited by your imagination but here is a list of what I have.

• Food

1. Have food that can be carried and does not need cooking, crackers, peanut butter, jams/jelly, beef/deer jerky, canned fruits/vegetables, canned meats like potted meat, vienna sausage, canned ham and so on…
2. Dont forget the comfort side of food to trade like candy, gum,honey, maple syrup, sugar, salt, pepper and so on…

 

• Water

1. Save all your empty containers that you can put water inside. During an emergency un-prepared people will have no provisions for water so stock up. They will not care if the container has coke on the outside.
2. Once again don’t forget the comfort side, coffee, tea, my sons favorite Gatorade powder, It will be a treat for anyone that has been drinking water for a great while to have a fruit punch, coolaid and the list goes on…

 

• shelter

1. Clothes, you can find at goodwill or salvation army tons of good clothes that you would have for emergencies. Babies will still be born so you’ll need baby clothes, diapers, shoes. Work coats and work boots can be found at these second-hand stores buy in bulk, very very cheap. Yard sales are great for finding really good clothes. Wash these items now and store them for the future.
2. Gloves, do not forget them they will be worn by most to protect from small cuts that could cause infections. Protect yourself.
3. Things that will help people build a fire, matches, flint, lighter, fat lighter and so on…
4. Building supplies nails, screws, hand tools, lumber and so on…
5. Rope, paracord, clothes pins believe me you will need them, zip ties many different uses for this item it could be in the security section also if you know what i mean…
6. Fuel, I am in the process of testing different additives to check the life of my fuel. The new ethanol fuel blend is no good for long-term storage. Find more information and test for yourself.

• Security

1.  I know if a family came to me and they had nothing but hunger in their bellies (if I had enough to spare) I would make sure they ate. I may trade food for their labor. Desperate people do desperate things.  The zombies you hear so much about  lately will not be the un-dead they will be fathers and mother that will do anything to feed their children.  So show kindness, help people and you will feel better and the likelyhood of them taking from you is diminished.
2. In my opinion these items will be worth their weight in gold. AMMO, AMMO AND MORE AMMO. I know I sound like a nut but ammo will be vital in the protection of you, your family and your property. The world after a collapse will be hell, please don’t take security lightly. A lot of people own guns but they do not stockpile ammo. A gun with no ammo is a club and a baseball bat is a better club.  
3. Have extra firearms. right now you can by a bolt-action Mosin Nagant for around 100-150 dollars and ammo is cheap. You can hunt and defend yourself with this rifle.
4. If you have some extra money buy ammo on sale in bulk. Even if you don’t own a 40 caliber firearm and you find a good sale buy it (only after you have stockpiled enough ammo for your own defense). You may have the chance to trade that ammo for 10 times the worth of it now for something that makes your life easier during an emergency.

• Miscellanious items

1. Alcohol both the medical and the drinking kind (please don’t mix them up). Rubbing alcohol may save your life with no hospitals you must take care of any small and of corse large wounds. A blister can get infected and kill you take care of yourself. The trading value of drinking alcohol (store-bought not shine) will be tremendous.
2. Medicean, common things that we take for granted now, aspirin, motrin, cold medicine, poison ivy cream, hydrogen proxied, bandages, antibiotics and so on…
3. hygiene, soap, toilet paper, toothbrush, razor, women supplies and so on…
4. games, checkers, paying cards and so on…
5. cigarettes, chewing  tobacco and so on…

This a small and incomplete list of items that you may find valuable in the future. Start small and build up. I hope this helps some people and I hope you like comment and subscribe to my blog. Thank you and remember  live for today and prep for tomorrow.

 

 

Preppers with children, what are they learning?

When I really started prepping, about 5 years ago, my son was only 6 so for almost half his life he’s been around us prepare. There are some activities that he cares nothing about. Soon we’ll be getting our stuff ready to be canned. I understand at 11 spending all day in the kitchen does not appeal to him. So what I did last fall was for  him to write his name on one jar and let him can it, really to make sure he knows how.

I was amazed at how that changed his attitude about canning. Don’t get me wrong he only canned 1 jar of peas but as we had finished our canning for that day, he wanted his jar to be the first in rotation. Every day he would ask If we could use his jar. What we found was that he wanted us to enjoy what he had done. The day finally came (we cheated a little on the rotation), we showed him that he had done everything perfectly. The jar was sealed and he fought to get the lid off and with a quick “ping” the lid popped off (our heart dropped when he almost dropped the jar). We had his peas that night and he was so proud, as were his parents. This year we have a full dozen jars that he will can by himself.

I tell you this story because he never showed any interest in canning before we made it his. He showed us that even though he didn’t like canning he knew how to do it. I do not allow him in my re-loading room with out one of us with him but he has watched me enough that I feel that he could do it (my wife said when he is 13 I can test my theory). If you prep with your kids they will learn lessons that they can use for the rest of their lives. We try to make it fun for him, we never try to scare him about what possible future events may occur. We want him to learn and to enjoy it.

We never talk about possible reasons why we prep he just knows we do. He is amazed that other families (his classmates) do not prep. One of his friends came over one day last year we were canning chicken. I was amazed that my son was explaining what we were doing and how we were doing it. I looked at my wife and we were both so proud. 

Friends of mine lately have asked if I watch the Doomsday Prepper show on TV. I don’t watch it because for one thing I don’t like the name Doomsday preppers. I saw the pilot show last year and the preppers explain what they are prepping for. I think  it’s a way of life, 95% of your prepps would work for economic collapse or an EMP. The only difference would be the electronics. You will still need food, water, shelter, security. I don’t allow my son to think of us as preppers because I feel in the future the name preppers will be sonomice with nut jobs. I forsee that some crazy nut job will do something extreme and when the media finds a stockpile of food, guns, fuel and other common preps, the media will say look, all preppers are crazy.

One day the commercial for Doomsday Preppers came on and he watched it and asked us what that was, we told him they prepare for disasters. So are we preppers he asked. I said not really we just make sure we have what we need. That was it, no more questions but I’m sure that question will come back up in the future.

My son knows things that most of his classmates have no clue about. He’s a well-rounded kid, he loves baseball, football and basketball. He does go to a public school but we have thought about home schooling. I feel that we should have done it sooner if that was our direction. I try to find historical museums to take him to and amazingly he really likes American history. I know teen age years are coming soon, I just want to build a strong foundation for all the pitfalls he will face in his future. Well I don’t know if this helped anyone but it was nice to get it down and share it with you. Good luck to all as we march closer to who  knows what. Live for today but Prep for tomorrow.

Prepping, how do I get people to understand?

How do I get people to understand and begin prepping? This is the million dollar question. As a prepper it will be one of the hardest things. The more you prepp the more people you will find that think like you. Not everyone will ‘get it’. You must find a tactic that works but it will not work for all. If you are speaking to someone that dosen’t really watch the news or keep up with economic problems. You can appeal to their green side, using solar power, planting an organic garden or learning skills to protect the environment. DO NOT start the conversation with government take over, polar shift or emp (electro magnetic pulse). Even if you think there is a strong possibility of goverment take over you will scare people off. they will think of Timothy McVeigh. Instead just plant a seed and see if it will grow in them. You may say something like, “Have you heard of the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) That sounds scary“. Leave it there, don’t force the issue. Hopefully they will search the NDAA and come back to you and tell you all about what they have found. If they say nothing about it, ask them, “have you looked up the NDAA“? If they say “no”. leave it there. Allow people to find the info on there own. If you force it, some may jump to the conclusion that you have an agenda. 

 

When ever talking to someone first know the facts. Have the facts to back you up. If your facts can not be confirmed do not use it. If something you talked about is found to be untrue then everything you said before will be viewed as un-creditable. Even if you are 100% correct on everything else. I, like most people are sceptics and want to find the truth ourselves. You may believe that the government has FEMA camps and you’ve seen the pictures. I wouldn’t use the FEMA camps to prove my point. You can talk about the internment camps they had during the 2nd world war and ask ‘do you think this could ever happen again in this country’. Let them water that seed you planted.

I would like everyone to be self reliant but I know that is asking too much. There are people that will never be self reliant and despise you for suggesting it. Not all will except your conclusion, go to the next person. You can not lead some horses. Just remember no one has all the answers and no one can say for sure when or what is coming.

Start talking to people about emergencies that most have lived through, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, loss of job or terrerist attack. Try to build your community. Find what you and/or community is lacking and build it up. We all have it in us to survive, so do it. Support one another and live for today but prepp for tomorrow.

Prepping, time is running out?

Do you ever feel that you have waited to late to start prepping?

 

No matter how advanced or new you are to prepping at some point you will say OH CRAP, I’m too late. At that moment (unless homeland security is knocking at your door) take a deep breath and take a break. When your eyes are open sometimes you see too much at one time. Take a break for a day or even a week, then get back to it. Most people who are reading blogs are the main (if not the only) prepper in their family. 

Do you remember the times when you had to really study for an exam, it felt like the rest of your life was on the line? You had to get away from it and grab some air. Well prepping is a lot like those exams.  Most people don’t even think there is an exam coming. You try to warn them but to no  avail. You must save the ones you can. Don’t spend too much time trying to convince one person. Move on and find another. Make your plan and stick to it. If you find that your plan is flawed, fix it. Just don’t give up.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, you will prepp for some emergency and nothing… nothing happens it’s still the same. ‘Why am I prepping’ you will ask yourself. Once again take a break.

No one can tell you when what you are prepping for will happen but I guarantee you will know when it happens.

Live for today but prepp for tomorrow.

Like my childhood fisherman (Southern Sportsman) would say, “do yourself  a favor and take a kid fishing”.

Prepping, hardware and building supplies

 

A prepper prepares for the worst but prays/hopes for the best.

Most preppers try to be prepared for a wide range of life interrupting situations. If you only like the security part of prepping and only think of more guns, ammo and tactical gear then you need to reconsider your survival triangle.

One thing on the survival triangle is shelter. You must keep your shelter in livable condition. If your water pipes freeze during a winter storm, do you have the ability and supplies for the needed repairs? I know this isn’t as sexy as a new Ed Brown 1911 but it maybe more important.

Hardware consist of but not limited to nails, screws, wood glue, caulking, latches, hinges and the list is only limited to your imagination. You must consider your building supplies lumber of different measurements, plywood, tarps, shingles, pipes (don’t forget elbows and “t” connections) and the list once again continues.

A couple of years ago my small town was hit by a very large tornado. This was our Lowes home improvement store.

When you consider these preps, don’t overlook things that will help you improve your shelter. During bad times your community will grow and extra beds will have to be built with the increase of family and friends. It’s best to make a plan before each purchase. Always ask yourself what would help me if…

I pray we never have to use the things we prep for but it’s better to have it and not need it than, you know the rest.

Live for today and prep for tomorrow.

Prepping, raising chickens for eggs.

Even though I have a food storage with canned and freeze-dried foods. I needed the ability to replenish my food supply. I never thought I would raise chickens. I knew nothing about chickens.  I researched many different types of chickens and found these barred rocks to be good layers, good meat birds (haven’t tried that yet) and great for a wide range of temperatures. I purchased 6 hens they were about 3 months old. The picture was the first day. I brought them to their new home I had built. At first they were so scared. I had placed them in the coup and there they stayed. They wouldn’t walk outside. I tried putting food on their ramp but nuttin doing. I know this is going to sound mean but I chased them out with a broom. so now they are out side and now I don’t know if they would go back in at night. so I went back outside at dusk and all 6 were on the ramp but would not go inside. the books I read about raising chickens didn’t mention anything about this. About an hour later I took my flashlight and went outside to check. I didn’t see them on the ramp as I walked toward their home.  when i got closer I saw 6 chicken heads twisting out of their door. so they made it inside. I’ve had these chickens for about a year now. I only have 5 now because of sickness one girl came down with. I may write about that in a later post. I get between 4-6 eggs daily. during cold weather it will slow to between 2-4 eggs daily. so I will have to purchase a rooster and take one of my hens and replenish my chickens.

Are preppers crazy?

Are preppers crazy? Some of my own family would say yes and yes there are some crazy and paranoid preppers. I feel as a whole the answer is no. Most preppers have experienced an emergency in their life that has changed the way they think. In my case, in 1996 we were hit by a hurricane.  This was my pivot point. My family and I were without any way of cooking, washing clothes, without lights not even a battery-powered radio. It took 7 days for power to be restored.  During that time stores were shut down. I drove over a hundred miles to try and find a generator and camping stove. SOLD OUT!! I was completely un-prepared. One thing that did happen, we as neighbors came together. we all had to use the food from our freezers  and there was an elderly couple that lived about a block from us. The husband was in a wheelchair and the wife was almost blind. Before this storm I had never met this couple. They only lived about 200 yards from my front door but that was outside of my little world.

 We as a community came together and cleared trees and limbs from our yards I had a tree lying on my roof. For the insurance company I could not move it untill they surveyed the damage. I had no hole in my roof  just missing shingles. Once the power was restored our lives started going back to the way it was. Neighbors would wave but no one would check on the others the way they did during our week-long recovery from hurricane Fran.

So are preppers crazy? During times of  emergencies the ones that are not prepared in my opinion are the crazy ones.