$1k Arsenal - 2014 Edition

We survival types like to toss around arbitrary dollar figure for buying up an armory o' guns. $1000 seems to be the average starting point, and for a long time it was something like an SKS, a budget shotgun and a lower-end semi auto like a Sigma or Ruger P95. Nod to TotalSurvivalist for the conversation starter.

My take:

The Long Gun - an AR-15
With a glut of ARs out there and prices dropping like it's hot, the ~$500 AR is not just a reality, it's pretty easy to achieve.

There were several deals out there this past weekend that woulda made it easy. But, those deals have past. Quick search this evening (Wednesday post-Black Friday) shows several possibilities:

Mylar bag cereal (or anything else) for long term food storage

The old food storage adage "store what you eat" is often thrown by the wayside in favor of stocking up on exotic, styrofoamy tasting freeze dried foods and #10 cans of pricey, no-name bulk goods. Who really eats most of that stuff in their day to day diet?

But, that doesn't have to be the case. You can package up familiar dry non-perishables foods for long term storage with minimal tools and inexpensive mylar bags.

What the heck is mylar? It's one of those wonder materials developed by NASA back in the crazy 60s. It protects the food from harmful light, and when sealed correctly, keeps the food in a dry, oxygen free environment--essentially the same conditions found inside a well sealed #10 can. Mylar has been used for food packaging for many years, and is well known amongst food storage aficionados.

Packaging up your own foods in mylar bags is a dead simple process. And, because you know exactly what's getting packaged up, there's no need to wonder about the initial quality of the food, no doubts about whether the family will like it, and no trouble to rotate it into your daily life.

And, you can save a ton of money doing it yourself. Hit up Costco or grocery store sales, buy your favorite foods cheap, package them up and stack 'em deep.

$150 "Common Man" bug out kit

Here's a take on a low-cost bug out bag...lightweight, no-nonsense, low cost and a heck of a lot better than the off-the-shelf kits in the same price range. There are some important capabilities that you're lacking, but some ingenuity and know-how can help make up for those.

Not so much for most of my readers--I'm sure you've got pretty solid kits already--but to demonstrate to newbies and those casually interested that a decent kit can be put together for not a ton of money.

For a more complete kit, still built with a budget in mind, check out the $40 a week series.

Knife:

• Mora gets the nod here -  the Military Mora is $16 on Amazon. Hard to beat a Mora in the under $20 price range.

Fire:

• Two BIC lighters - $2
• Three pack of road flares - $6.50 at Autozone or similar. The kit is light on warmth stuff, so we want to make sure you can start a fire in lousy weather!
• A zip-loc of dryer lint or petroleum jelly cotton balls - free

Water:

• 4x 1L water bottles from the grocery store - $4
• Stainless Canteen Cup - $9.50 on Amazon
• Iodine tablets - $6.50 on Amazon

Shelter:

• Space All-Weather Blanket  - $15 on Amazon
• Two or three contractor grade trash bags or drum liners - ~$4; can fill with debris for insulation and makeshift sleeping bag
• Bungee, cheap tent stakes and 50 feet of 550 cord - around $12

Food:
4000 to 5000 calories of low prep, shelf stable food. A big bag of trail mix and some protein bars will get you there pretty quickly. ~$20.

Tools:

• Flashlight/Headlamp: A $20-$25 light. The Streamlight Propolymer 4AA is one example of a solid choice for the money - 67 lumens for 150+ hours. I haven't found a really cheap light that I've been impressed enough with to recommend. The cheapos I've tried (Costco, a couple from Amazon) have gone through various states of breaking within the first few days.
• Additional batteries for the light - $4
• Duct Tape - Steal some off that roll you've got kicking around the house: Free
• Safety pins, heavy needle & thread: ~$3 if you don't have it lying around already

Multipurpose:

• Hand sanitizer: $1
• Baby Wipes: $1
• 100% cotton Shemagh: $10
• Work Gloves: $5 from the hardware store
• Pocket AM/FM Radio: $9 on Amazon

Total (without pack): $149.50 to $155.50

For a pack, I would be really surprised if all this did not fit into a 5 gallon bucket, which you can get for $5 or so bucks at the hardware store. Alice frames are $25 on eBay, and then you bungee that bucket to the frame. The 5 gallon bucket gets you a big container and stores everything water tight. Or you could just get an old ALICE pack for $35-ish.

Most people have some kind of freebie duffle bag or old backpack laying around the house that could be made to work, too.

You could cut some corners on the above to squeeze the pack into the budget - drop the shemagh and replace with an old t-shirt or two, canteen cup for a #10 can, space blanket for a hardware store tarp, drop the road flares for some matches, paracord for hardware store line, go cheaper on the food, etc.

Pretty much a list off the top of my head - and certainly not perfect or without its holes. BUT, good starting place for those on a tight budget or putting together multiple kits. I'd look at adding a decent sleeping bag, compass, etc. down the road.

Review: Operation Z Vol. 2 - Carbines, Rifles and Shotguns

Note: Please wear a shirt during the zombie apocalypse.

Operation Z Vol. 2 picks up right where Vol. 1 left off - pretty much literally. If you haven't read that review, give it a skim to get some background on the series. Vol. 1 covered handguns, and this DVD delves into carbines, rifles and shotguns. Both were filmed over the same time period--probably a day or two on handguns, and then the next day or two on long guns.

Chris Costa seemed to spend less time on some of the fundamentals as he did the first time around, so you'll get less on things like trigger control, reset, sight picture, etc. He demonstrates proper technique and then hands off. Each shooter cycles through a couple long guns, firing off a magazine while Chris coaches. Most of the shooters are pretty bad, so there's a lot of teaching moments. Costa will occasionally interject, grab the long gun and start showing 'em how its done.

For the viewer at home, this teaching portion serves as a refresher on (or introduction to) the basics. The newbies' errors are fairly obvious and exaggerated, emphasizing why stance is important, why you don't want to flinch, etc. Seeing someone else making mistakes, Costa correcting them, and their shooting improving (a bit) is a helpful learning experience. Newer/non-shooters will of course benefit the most.

Lessons from Alas, Babylon: Code Phrases

"Alas, Babylon" is the code phrase that Randy and Mark Bragg come up with for "the end is nigh." Mark's alert message is sent by telegraph and passes through several hands before reaching Randy. No way Mark could have sent "the Russians are planning on attacking" or something similar.

Today, we don't have to deal with telegraphs, but electronic communication is subject to many of the same weaknesses--hacking, eavesdropping, and so on. If you're in public, telling the family something like "I think that guy has a gun, let's get out of here" may some unwanted attention. In the event that you are captured, kidnapped or otherwise compromised, and the enemy is attempting to use you to get to friends, family or whoever, you can use a simple, innocuous word to warn them, even while the bad guy listens in.

Code words are a very good idea--they allow you to communicate something important without raising alarm or suspicion, and do it very quickly. The code word/words should be something that you wouldn't normally say--something that will be obviously out of place to the person you're communicating with, but something that a stranger, enemy, etc. wouldn't recognize. Discuss it and plan out the reaction with the intended recipient.

Budget Preps: Dollar Stores

So I had about 20 minutes to kill today, and I came across a giant dollar store--about grocery store sized--and went in to see what I could find. I came away with an extra pair of reading glasses, a pack of four different sizes of tweezers, a wired cellphone headset and a tool bandoleer/pouch that I plan to load up with ammo--for $4 plus tax. Nice.

Sure, dollar stores are filled with Chinese crap and stuff that didn't sell at real retail chains. But for some preps quality doesn't matter as much. As far as I'm concerned, dollar store made-in pakistan tweezers are pretty identical to Chinamart tweezers. And your cost--$1--for each item is so low that if something breaks or is a disappointment, you're not out much.

There were rows upon rows of hygiene and kitch products as well--toothpastes, shampoos, floss, toothbrushes, soaps, first aid stuff, dish soap, steel wool, scrubber pads, dish cloths, rubbermaid containers, plastic bags, etc. These cost typically $3-$4 each from a store like Target or Wal-Mart. Your dollar goes 3 to 4 times further burying the dollar store stuff. If you can cope with knowing that you bought your stuff at the dollar store, then it's a no-brainer when stocking up on certain items.

Of course, always check expiration dates and ingredient lists--who knows how long the stuff has been sitting on a shelf or where in the 3rd world it was manufactured. And keep in mind that not all dollar stores are created equal--sometimes you have to search to find a good one.

So, give the ol' dollar store a look over next time you pass by. There's bound to be at least a few potential preps