I’m Digging on Rules of Three for Hiding a Gun

For any “when it’s time to bury my guns, its past time to use them” patriots, I would recommend reading Claire’s practical guide on why, how, what, and where to hide guns. Plus some cool bonus material at the end. If you’re digging on this article, check out more of her work over at Backwoods Home Living Freedom blog. 

by Claire Wolfe

Source: Backwoods Home Magazine 

My friend Jack pulled the car into a grassy clearing. We donned rubber boots, fetched a metal detector and digging tools from the trunk, and headed off along a game trail. Our mission: To dig up and test fire a pistol Jack had buried years ago.

The trail disappeared into a wetland, which Jack crossed with confidence. The muddy water was only about six inches deep where he walked, but I couldn’t see the bottom so I waded gingerly after him. It was at this point I discovered that my borrowed waterproof boots — weren’t. I squished along after Jack. By the time I emerged onto dry land, he was standing well ahead of me, next to the stump of an old cedar that had been logged a hundred years ago.

“It’s buried right here,” Jack told me confidently. “Between this stump and that sapling.”

I was dubious. The “sapling” wasn’t exactly a sapling anymore. It had grown into a mid-sized alder tree. Besides, Jack had history with not being able to relocate a buried firearm. Back in 2004, I had mocked him in one of my Backwoods Home Hardyville columns for that very thing, an SKS he couldn’t relocate.

Nevertheless, he set to breaking up roots. I followed with a shovel.

“I didn’t bury it very deep,” he said. “We shouldn’t have too much trouble.”

They’re at it again. The politicians in Washington, DC, and their media mouthpieces everywhere are in full cry, threatening more restrictions on our right to own guns.

In response, Americans are rushing to buy firearms, particularly those that might be targets of the next ban. Without a doubt, many guns are going underground or into other hiding places. When Draconian restrictions take effect, millions more firearms will get tucked into walls, haylofts, hollow trees, and waterproof containers buried in the woods.

There are people who say, “When it’s time to bury the guns, it’s actually time to dig them up and use them.” They have a point. But in fact, there are plenty of good reasons to hide guns, now or at any other time. And we’re not talking about simply concealing a gun to have it handy in home, office, or hotel room. We’re talking about hardcore, long-term hiding — stashing guns against some urgent future need.

My friend Jack, carrying a metal detector and digging implements, heads toward a game trail that leads to the site where he buried a pistol many years ago. The game trail is right in front of him but strangers would be unlikely to spot it because of the quick-growing blackberry bramble that’s obscured it.

Three reasons to hide a gun

You might want to hide a firearm just to have a spare if your others get stolen or damaged in a disaster.

You might want to hide a firearm if you are a peaceable person who is nevertheless forbidden to own a gun because of some misdeed in your past or some arbitrary state law.

And of course, you might want to hide a firearm if you fear nationwide bans and confiscations but realize that you can’t stand alone against the gun banners.

Read the rest here

 

Guns and Obama for Dummies

Here’s a nice guide I found over at Karen De Coster’s website. It’s probably too small for a tee-shirt. Smile and spread some cheer… And keep doing the stuff.

Guns & Obama for Dummies

Sunday, January 20, 2013

A Michael Ramirez cartoon from the Investor’s Business Daily.

Along with that, here is a recent viewpoint as expressed by Ramirez.

To understand why President Obama surrounded himself with a human shield of children last week as he ordered a tightening of our nation’s gun controls, you have to remember this is an administration that never lets a “crisis” go to waste. Nor does it resist the use of a superficial prop to divert attention from serious deliberation.

It also has a history of claiming urgency to pass solutions based on misinformation without careful reflection.

Progressives: Gun-Grabbing Cheerleaders and Their Plan for You!

Source: LewRockwell.com

Be Happy! Progressives Have Wonderful Plans for You!

by William L. Anderson

Recently by William L. Anderson: Progressives and the Phony Gun Debate

As one who does not care much for American Progressives, I do read their sites on a regular basis. Not only does that mean reading Paul Krugman’s columns, blog posts, and occasionally his television appearances. (I cover Krugman and other “economic Progressives” in my website, Krugman-in-Wonderland.)

Another site I visit infrequently is the Daily Kos, which is one of the most influential Democratic Party sites and receives huge amounts of daily traffic. The Daily Kos does not repeat Democratic “talking points;” it generates political talking points that later are found in mainstream publications and from Democratic politicians themselves. Thus, when the Daily Kos not only calls for prohibition on all privately-owned firearms and lays out the political and legal road map on how to accomplish that political goal, Libertarians and others need to pay attention. These people are serious and are willing to use violent means to accomplish their ends.

We should not be surprised that Progressives have this goal, nor should we be surprised when they deny it and call us “paranoid” and “whack jobs” for believing what Progressives always have believed: all individuals should be firmly and absolutely made subservient to the State, and part of subservience is being disarmed and unable to defend oneself from other predators. Only the State is fit to protect us, even if the U.S. Supreme Court already has ruled that police have no legal obligation to protect anyone.

The writer, identified only as “Sporks,” begins with explanations about why an assault weapons ban won’t have any effect upon crime in general or spree shootings in particular:

It’s nice that we’re finally talking about gun control. It’s very sad that it took such a terrible tragedy to talk about it, but I’m glad the conversation is happening. I hear a lot about assault weapon and large magazine bans, and whilst I’m supportive of that, it won’t solve the problem. The vast majority of firearm deaths occur with handguns. Only about 5% of people killed by guns are killed by guns which would be banned in any foreseeable AWB.

Furthermore, there seems to be no talk about high powered rifles. What gun nuts don’t want you to know is many target and hunting rifles are chambered in the same round (.223/5.56mm) that Lanza’s assault weapon was. Even more guns are chambered for more powerful rounds, like the .30-06 or (my personal “favorite”) 7.62x54R. Even a .22, the smallest round manufactured on a large scale, can kill easily. In fact, some say the .22 kills more people than any other round out there.

Again, I like that we’re talking about assault weapons, machine guns, and high capacity clips. But it only takes one bullet out of one gun to kill a person. Remember the beltway sniper back in 2002? The one who killed a dozen odd people? Even though he used a bushmaster assault rifle, he only fired one round at a time before moving. He could have used literally any rifle sold in the US for his attacks.

While one could use the above argument against an assault weapons ban, the Daily Kos continues with what it says will eliminate almost all crime:

The only way we can truly be safe and prevent further gun violence is to ban civilian ownership of all guns. That means everything. No pistols, no revolvers, no semiautomatic or automatic rifles. No bolt action. No breaking actions or falling blocks. Nothing. This is the only thing that we can possibly do to keep our children safe from both mass murder and common street violence. (Emphasis mine)

Although the writer says he believes that banning all civilian gun ownership will make us “truly” safe, it is hard to agree with such a statement, since murders and other violent crime still happen in countries that either ban civilian ownership or restrict it so that individuals effectively are kept from legal ownership of guns, including Great Britain, Australia, and Canada. The purpose, as one finds while reading this political screed, is for people the author hates – legal gun owners – ultimately to be imprisoned or killed violently by the police, as we shall see.

Like so many government actions that start out being “voluntary” and later become mandatory, the author calls for a national registry emphasizing “voluntary” compliance that then turns into something else:

Along with this, make private sales illegal. When a firearm is transferred, make it law that the registration must be updated. Again, make it super easy to do. Perhaps over, the internet. Dealers can log in by their FFLs and update the registration. Additionally, new guns are to be registered by the manufacturer. The object here is to create a clear paper trail from factory to distributor to dealer to owner. We want to encourage as much voluntary compliance as possible.

Now we get down to it. The registration period has passed. Now we have criminals without registered guns running around. Probably kooky types that “lost” them on a boat or something. So remember those ATF form 4473s? Those record every firearm sale, going back twenty years. And those have to be surrendered to the ATF on demand. So, we get those logbooks, and cross reference the names and addresses with the new national registry. Since most NRA types own two or (many) more guns, we can get an idea of who properly registered their guns and who didn’t. For example, if we have a guy who purchased 6 guns over the course of 10 years, but only registered two of them, that raises a red flag.

What happens at this point? Now the police become involved and the Daily Kos advocates the most violent approach to anyone who might technically “violate” the new rules:

Now, maybe he sold them or they got lost or something. But it gives us a good target for investigation. A nice visit by the ATF or state police to find out if he really does still have those guns would be certainly warranted. It’s certainly not perfect. People may have gotten guns from parents or family, and not registered them. Perfect is the enemy of pretty darn good, as they say. This exercise isn’t so much to track down every gun ever sold; the main idea would be to profile and investigate people that may not have registered their guns. As an example, I’m not so concerned with the guy who bought that bolt action Mauser a decade ago and doesn’t have anything registered to his name. It’s a pretty good possibility that he sold it, gave it away, or got rid of it somehow. And even if he didn’t, that guy is not who I’m concerned with. I’m concerned that other guy who bought a half dozen assault weapons, registered two hunting rifles, and belongs to the NRA/GOA. He’s the guy who warrants a raid. (Emphasis mine)

The recommendation here depends upon one thing: all government agents raiding others are armed, and armed to the teeth. The author, then, is saying that indiscriminate raids, which often end in tragedy and the loss of innocent life, are a good thing and should be expanded.

(We should not be surprised that the Daily Kos is a cheerleader for government violence. This is the same political blog that claims that socialism is good for the United States because it has provided war, the CIA, business subsidies, FEMA and…the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. At least we know what they believe in Washington, D.C.)

As for gun control, the author then demands an end to the gun registry, with a government campaign to tax, harass, arrest, and turn on the propaganda:

A national Firearms Owner Identification Card might be good, but I’m not sure if it’s necessary if we have a national database. We should also insist on comprehensive insurance and mandatory gun safes, subject to random, spot checks by local and federal law enforcement.

We must make guns expensive and unpopular, just like cigarettes. A nationwide, antigun campaign paid for by a per gun yearly tax paid by owners, dealers, and manufacturers would work well in this regard.

If that is not enough, then the government will turn on the hunters as well:

We should also segway into an anti-hunting campaign, like those in the UK. By making hunting expensive and unpopular, we can make the transition to a gun free society much less of a headache for us.

I know this seems harsh, but this is the only way we can be truly safe. I don’t want my kids being shot at by a deranged NRA member. I’m sure you don’t either. So lets stop looking for short term solutions and start looking long term. Registration is the first step.

My guess is that very few crimes have been committed by NRA or GOA members, but that is not his point. These people are different than “Spork,” and while they pose no threat to him whatsoever, the very existence of people who might have different outlooks on life is just too intolerable. They must be arrested or killed, but they certainly need to be eliminated. (And to think that the writers for Daily Kos consider themselves to be the Apostles of Tolerance.)

There also is another matter to consider, although I doubt it would bother the Daily Kos people or their fellow Progressives: Since police and other government “law enforcement” officers and departments would not be affected by this gun ban, it is ludicrous to think that many of these weapons and ammunition would not make their way into the hands of civilian criminals (as opposed to government criminals who are permitted to commit robbery, murder, and rape and not have to worry about being punished).

My sense is that the Daily Kos people know exactly what would happen, as armed criminals would go on rampages against unarmed civilians, with the police dutifully drawing the yellow chalk lines around the bodies. One also could expect civilians who did try to defend themselves and their families from armed predators (not police, just regular criminals) quickly and surely would be charged with crimes as they are in Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, as it effectively is illegal for people to engage in self-defense, even if their lives are in danger.

Progressives really don’t care whether or not individuals are safe in their homes, and if they truly believed that firearms themselves were the cause of violence, then they would demand disarmament of the U.S. Armed Forces and all state, local, and federal police. Furthermore, most of them know that the vast majority of legal gun owners in this country do not commit crimes, nor are they a danger to the public.

However, most Progressives believe that even the mere presence of a lawful gun owner is so odious and so evil that if the government cannot rid the world of those people, at least it can try to take away all of their firearms. My sense is Progressives will not stop there if they have any success at all with the latest gun-control/gun-ban initiative. As they continue to win more political victories, and as they continue to ravage the U.S. economy, they will become even angrier and more paranoid and more oppressive. Their end is a society in which the State makes all decisions for individuals, and their means is violence and more violence.

January 4, 2013

William L. Anderson, Ph.D. [send him mail], teaches economics at Frostburg State University in Maryland, and is an adjunct scholar of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He also is a consultant with American Economic Services. Visit his blog.

Deconstructing My Adjustable Paracord Rifle Sling…Just for You

by Todd Walker

One of our readers, winonageek, commented recently on my 550 Paracord Rifle Slings. “I love the idea for an adjustable paracord sling. Would you elaborate on how you made the adjustable sling? How did you connect the paracord and webbing?”

So, I thought I’d deconstruct it for him and anyone else interested.

After making my first paracord rifle sling, I attached it to a Ruger 10-22. Hum, nice fit, look, and functionality for redundant cordage. But what if I wanted to adjust the length for, say, a shotgun, or a longer rifle for a barrel-chested friend? My wheels were spinning. Off to Wally World to find a cheap clasp.

I dug into my box of webbing and found a piece of 1 inch material about two feet in length. More digging produced a buckle thingy (Triglide) used to connect the two loose ends of webbing.

I used about 80 feet of black paracord because, well, it’s the only color I had in a 100 foot hank that day.

Stuff you’ll need

• Paracord – about 80 feet – I use 100 feet ’cause I hate being too short at the climax of a project 🙂
• 1 inch x 28 inch webbing – more length depending on how many Twinkies you’ve packed away on your waistline
• Buckle thingy (Triglide)
• 2 sling swivels
• 1 buckle clasp – I used a 1 inch clasp to fit my webbing

Connecting the stuff

A.) Start one end of the paracord on one sling swivel and the other end through the female part of the clasp. I loop the cord through four times on both connectors. That’s unnecessary for strength, but just looks better than two loops on the connectors.

Do a basic cobra weave down the entire length starting at the clasp end. Once you reach the sling swivel, begin a king cobra weave (video link) on top of the previous cobra weave. I ran the king cobra weave about 20 inches and terminated the weave. The entire length of the paracord portion, from swivel to clasp, is about 24 inches. This measurement does not include the clasp and sling swivel.

Once you have the sling secured to the female clasp and sling swivel, it’s time to attach the webbing to the remaining hardware: sling swivel #2, buckle thingy (Triglide), and the male end of the clasp. To save you the trial-and-error method and a load of frustration, follow these procedures closely.

B.) I bent about 1/2 inch of webbing and melted it to itself to create a “stop” for the triglide. That step is probably not required. Then take the buckle thingy and feed the webbing through as shown.

Triglide and webbing

Webbing fed through buckle to melted “stop”

C.) Now you can feed the clasp (male end) and sling swivel #2 on the webbing. Make sure they both are facing out like the buckle pictured below.

Progression: buckle, male clasp, sling swivel

D.) Take the loose end of the webbing and feed it back through the buckle – on top of the end already in the buckle. Your done. Adjusting the length is done by sliding the loose end to fit. My sling is comfortable at around 38-39 inches end to end. Remember to use longer webbing for a longer sling.

Assembly complete

That’s it. I’m sure there are better, more functional methods, but this is what I had on hand except for the clasp. I used Uncle Mike’s sling swivels that I already had in my gun cleaning box. I never throw away webbing. The buckle was poached from my paracord supply bag. My total cost was under $10.00. I know. If I had to buy all the supplies upfront, it would cost more. It pays to stock up and be a scavenger.

As always, if you have a better idea for making an adjustable paracord sling, don’t be shy. Please let me know how to improve this puppy.

Keep Doing the Stuff,

Todd

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DIY Camouflage for Your Rifle

This is the article I read and followed to paint a rifle a few years ago. Ranger Man has kindly allowed me to share his article from his SHTF Blog. His site is full of useful stuff. Here’s my results from following his tutorial with spray cans of paint in hand. My photo is a Remington 710 in .300 Mag. I wish I still had it. Sellers remorse.

My results with my homemade paracord sling

_________________________

How to Paint Your Rifle Digital Camouflage

by Ranger Man on April 17, 2008

So you want to paint your rifle camouflage. I painted mine 2 years ago and this is how I did it. The information in this post could also apply to equipment you may want to paint. Chances are high you’ll have paint left over anyway.

The idea to paint my rifle came from a local gun dealer. The rifle is a bolt-action Browning A-Bolt Stainless Stalker in .308 caliber. It’s all stainless steel with a black synthetic stock. I hump the woods with this thing, so I wanted stainless and synthetic. I’ve had bad luck hunting shitty weather with a blued rifle, and I’m always cautious about banging up the wood stock.

On the rifle I mounted a Leupold Vari-X III 2.5-8 x 36mm scope. The scope matched the stainless barrel. I took it to a local store for scope rings. The store owner looked at it and said, “Dude, why don’t you paint that thing?” I admit, it looked …. space-age-like. Here it is before I painted it:

And look – deer meat!

To read more about those sexy boots click here.

The guy then goes into the back and brings out a rifle that he painted. It was camo – sort of. It was a rough job, let’s just put it that way. But it certainly wouldn’t stand out in the woods. This set about my desire to eliminate the beacon of light reflecting off the shiny gray whenever the sun shone down. At first I was reluctant to painting it, so I thought I’d go temporary with some sort of camo tape, but then I figured it’d just collect moisture under the tape and the tape would become slippery in the hands when wet. Then I thought about sending the rifle to a professional to have it painted entirely in Real Tree. I eventually found a place, but the prices were totally outrageous, plus the shipping, and every part you added on bumped up the price big time. Screw that.

So I set about searching the web for good information on how to paint it. There were no perfect directions, so I blended the information from many and used the following approach. Leaf, twig, and grass stencils are readily available if you don’t want digital camo, but it was my view that digital would look the best. (Download a free digital camouflage stencil I made.) Let’s roll!

To replicate my approach you need the pictured paints:

From left to right is 220 grit fine sand paper, Dupli-Color “Adhesion Promoter”, Krylon 1318 All Purpose Primer Gray, Krylon 8141 Khaki Ultra-Flat, Krylon 8142 Brown Ultra-Flat, Krylon 8143 Olive Drab Ultra-Flat, Krylon 8140 Black Ultra-Flat, and Krylon 8149 Light Gray “Special Purpose” Camouflage. It was a little tricky assembling them all. If I remember correctly the 4 cans of Ultra-Flat came as a package purchased somewhere online. The Adhesion Promoter and Primer I purchased at a local auto parts store. The Krylon special purpose light gray I ordered as an individual can – somewhere online.

In addition to this you’ll need masking tape and stencil material. I made my own stencils (read here to learn how).

I took the gun apart, the scope, rings, bolt, trigger guard, stock, etc. I stripped some electrical wire to hang the stock and barrel with. I lightly scratched the surface of the stock and the scope with the sand paper. I carefully taped everything I didn’t want painted: internal parts exposed, sling studs, the scope lens (be careful with the scope), wicked cool Browning logo, etc.

Read the rest here

6 Deadly Assumptions About Violence

by Todd Walker

The “Treadmill Defense” made me laugh. Great idea! If it were only that simple. I think we all make dangerous assumptions about how to defend our property and person.

Social upheaval and “peaceful protests” are increasing and not likely to decline anytime soon. Let me say upfront that I’m not an expert in self-defense. Never allow anything I write (or anyone else for that matter) override your real-life experience and common sense.

Most people have never faced a life-threatening, violent encounter. The more I think I know, the more I begin to see how little I know. I’ve always heard that the majority of shootings happen up close and personal. How close? Two yards are less. David Nash over at Shepherd School shares some real world stats:

These FBI-compiled numbers have been pretty much the same for many years: 50% of LEOs killed are killed at five feet or less, and 75% killed are killed at ten feet or less.   The second source is the Police Marksman Association survey done in 1992 showing the average police gunfight was won at about 20 feet seven yards (but note that this conclusion was from a pretty small sample.)   Finally, there is the data from NYPD’s SOP-9 that indicates that from 1994-2000, 69% of their shootings (of all types) were at two yards or less, and 88% were at seven yards of less.  These numbers are pretty consistent from year to year.

Priorities dictate that we address our most immediate threats. Evidently, they’ll be too close for comfort. Spending range time shooting handguns at paper targets 25 yards away is not the best use of time or ammo. Statistically speaking, long shots (over 10 yards) are not likely. It’s not so ego-boosting to shoot silhouettes that you could almost touch with your outstretched hand. Could I hit that target when a chemical dump occurs in me when facing a kill or be killed violent encounter?

I’ve been guilty of preparing for home and self-defense based on theory. I’ve been in fights growing up and one legitimate street brawl that Mama caused (not really). There were no rules. Nothing fair. Just complete mayhem. Do not assume real-world violence will be anything close to what you see in scripted Hollywood fight scenes.

6 Deadly Assumptions

1.) I live in a “safe” neighborhood

We’ve had several car break-ins in our middle class neighborhood over the last several months. Two of our locked vehicles were broken into just recently. Nothing of great value was taken except loose change. My truck ax, hatchet, two knives, and a limb saw valued at over $300.00 were untouched. This still doesn’t negate the fact that some thug violated our space and sense of security.

Never take for granted that your surroundings are safe. Assuming you are secure is a myth.

2.) Violent encounters in the real world are similar to Hollywood versions

The good guys never run out of bullets and are able to summon superhuman strength to beat the bad guy. This thought process is similar to today’s Hollywood survival shows. They are entertaining but nothing like a real survival scenario.

The theory is only helpful if it works – which is usually not the case. Let’s erase the visions of mall ninjas and Rambo action heroes. Predators don’t fight fair. There won’t be a referee to stop the guy before you lose that last breath of air trying to “tapping out.” All the black belts moves you learned in class won’t save you in real violent encounters.

3.) Rules of engagement apply

There are no rules in violent encounters. If you are fighting fair, you’re doing it wrong. Criminals intent on violence don’t worry that you’ve had years of martial arts training or achieved top-gun status at your gun range. Predators pick the time and types of bad stuff to do to you. Their advantage is the element of surprise. It immediately puts us in the  mode of self-defense. Self-defense is reacting and recovering from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In my coaching days, I worked on both sides of the football. I made my living on the offensive side. I liked the advantage of knowing where we would attack. The defense was always guessing even though they knew our tendencies. I’ve always been told to go on the offensive in any unavoidable violent encounter. Take the violence to the attacker.

This is not a school yard chicken dance with kids bumping chests and talking smack. In life or death situations, do whatever it takes to stay alive. This will require losing our moral codes and social niceness and do unthinkable violence to our aggressor. That’s what thugs plan to do to you.

4.) The police will help 

Even if you have time to dial 911, the response time is usually so slow they have to make a report and inform the next of kin. The police are not obligated to protect individual citizens no matter what the motto on the black and white cruiser says. NEVER delegate responsibility for your safety to someone else. With cities going bankrupt, we do indeed need to lock our doors and load our guns. San Bernardino has seen a 50 percent increase in murders this year.

Don’t be a statistic.

5.) I am trained to handle violence

This has been a difficult article to write. Being a civilized, moral person, it’s depressing to delve into the mind of violent thuggery. Unless you’ve experienced this kind of violence and lived to tell about it, I don’t think it’s possible to fully wrap our minds around what it takes to flip the switch and become violent.

From everything I’ve read (people with actual experience) and seen in real life, no one single act of violence is the same. No amount of controlled training in a class can prepare us for real world violence. Yes, Chuck Norris groupies are included here. You are a resource to predators. A piece of meat. There are no training facilities that I know of which allows students to destroy and kill each other. But that’s what it takes to stop predators hellbent on their mission – destroy, rape, pillage, and kill.

Will our social training and martial arts classes save us? I’m not anti-martial arts. Get all you can get. I just don’t want you to assume that you’re trained for real violent encounters when your attacker has no rules.

Knowing how to perform roundhouse kicks is not enough. Being mentally able to flip the switch from controlled, moral, socialized citizen, to a primal eat-or-be-eaten violence machine is necessary – and dark – and outside the paradigm of who we say we are.

6.) I’m safe because I carry a gun 

While I highly recommend this tool, it offers no guarantee of safety. Carrying my weapon gives me some sense of security. I’m not overconfident or cocky when carrying. Being aware of situations and surroundings is helpful. It’d be convenient if predators could be identified by external appearance. We simply can’t tell sometimes.

I’ve never shot another human being with a gun, unless BB gun wars count. They don’t. A higher standard is imposed on legally armed citizens. To quote Boston T. Party on why to pull the trigger, “You shot to stop – not to kill. Any kill is incidental, unless the only way to stop his lethal actions was to kill.” This is not to say aim for extremities and not vital organs.

Mr. Royce does a great job explaining your responsibility and liability when pulling the trigger in Boston’s Gun Bible – a must read for anyone legally carrying weapons and concerned about liberty, personal safety, and defense. A gun is designed to put distance between you and those intending you harm. After a certain distance, the threat is no longer a threat. Guns are the great equalizer. A 110 pound female has an advantage over a 250 pound thug if she has her gun in hand.

A human being is the most dangerous animal in the world as it alone has the ability to strike a deadly blow at a distance. ~ Boston’s Gun Bible, p. 4/1

Are you guilty of any of these deadly assumptions?

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

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Springfield XD9 Subcompact Full Review

For anyone considering concealed carry, Docwatmo wrote a review on the Springfield XD9 Subcompact over at his site, Average Guy Reviews. I’m a fan of XD’s and highly recommend owning one or several. NOTE: I don’t own stock in the company or receive any compensation from Springfield Armory or from any other product I recommend on this site. If that ever changes, and join the ranks of the big boys and girls, I’ll let you know. I intentionally don’t advertise on my site. If I promote a product, it’s because I found it useful.

Doing the stuff,

Todd

By Docwatmo

OK, I’ve had this baby at the range and am pretty darn happy with it.  I’m going to give it a thorough rundown.   First of all let’s talk about price.  You can get this guy from $300 to $500 (Don’t pay more than $500 for it; you can get it just about anywhere for less than $500).   It comes in two kits, The standard kit (Reviewed below) and the “Essentials” kit which drops the Holster, the reloading tool and the magazine belt pouch.  (See further down on the review for those components).  I’d recommend getting the essentials kit at a much lower price and getting your own personal preference in magazine and holsters.

Full Kit, 13 and 16 round mags, reloading tool, dual belt pouch, holster, gun lock and bore brush.

Let’s start with the magazines, this kit came with one 13 round mag (Flush) and one 16 round with grip extension.  I have large hands and the 13 round mag turns this into a 2 finger gun for me.  My wife has small hands and all 3 of her grip fingers are on the grip with the 13 round mag.  So I did pick up a Pierce Magazine extension.  This adds the length to the forward part of the grip to equal a full size mag, but still tapers back down to reduce the butt signature of the weapon to a point about ½ way between flush and full mag extensions.   This is a great compromise for me, still keeps the weapon small enough to carry easily while providing a full size grip for control.   Pierce grips are about $10 on Amazon.  See the two pics below for the visual difference with and without the pierce grip extension.  The magazines are stainless and slide like butter into the mag well of the XD.  Also the mag well is beveled very nicely and makes magazine swaps very quick and easy.  I did notice that the mag with the pierce grip extension was a bit harder to seat at first, but after a couple dozen mag exchanges it’s straightened out and works as well as the others.

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The Regular Guy Strategy: Escaping Prepper Prison

by Todd Walker

I read lots of folks lamenting over family and friends who don’t embrace prepping. I can’t blame them. Images of being holed up in an underground bunker, sleeping on a canvas cot, crapping in a coffee can doesn’t appeal to them. Me either.

Even though it’s going more mainstream, “prepping” is prison. You feel shackled. You can’t tell anyone you’re storing extra food, bullets, or even band aids. If we don’t observe OpSec (Operational Security) we get labeled “prepper”, “survivalists” – or even worse, extremist. We wake up in a puddle of sweat worried that we’re not ready for TEOTWAWKI and TSHTF because we’re not living off-grid in the boonies with three years of food storage, fuel storage, and the latest weapons. We’re scared to build community – afraid to blow our cover. It’s that OpSec thing again.

Welcome to Prepper Prison. The bars and razor wire are in our minds and souls. Fear rules. Doom and gloom is upon us! The experts tell us how to get ready. What to buy. Skills to learn. Books to read. Where to move. Lists to make. Here’s a news flash: We’ll never be completely ready. You might possess expert knowledge in one area, but no person can do it all. Don’t underestimate the importance of community in making your jailbreak.

I began tunneling out of my cell last month. I felt like “Andy” in Shawshank Redemption. He was wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He finally quite accepting the institutional ‘authorities’ plan for his life. He planned his escape. He had lots of time and a will to be free. His tools of freedom were a rock hammer, a pin-up poster, and his fellow inmates – “Red” in particular. Pressure and time did the rest. It was a simple choice: “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” He chose living.

I often wonder if I’m good enough. Do I have enough stuff to get me through the next two inches of snow? Don’t laugh my Yankee friends. We shut down around here with a light dusting. A run on bread, milk, eggs, and PBR soon follows.

With Dirt Road Girl not working, we’ve slashed our survival supplies. Honesty is a crazy quality. I’m the first to admit I’m no guru at preparedness or self-reliance. I’m just a regular guy trying to become as self-reliant and prepared as humanly possible. Compared to preparedness experts, and I’ve read many of their books, I don’t even come close to being ready. I don’t own any night vision goggles or fancy optics for my guns. Would those be cool to own? Sure. I just don’t have $3,000.00 extra fiat dollars lying on top of my stash of gold bullion. Dang, I forgot OPSEC! There is no gold in my underground bunker. Now that we are in Great Depression II, I’m guessing many are a little short on money to buy what the ‘experts’ recommend. So I thought I’d share my Regular Guy Preparedness Plan.

1.) Build community. This is a freebie. It cost some time, but that’s it. Building relationships in the community is the most important, yet it’s a glaring weakness of mine. A lone wolf will always object to this strategy. I realize the importance of flying under the radar. Uninvited attention is bad. I got that part. It’s just so anti-me in the other compartments of my life. I’m very social. So are we stuck with the YOYO (Your Own Your Own) method of survival? Not hardly. Retreating to the jungle to live off the land is so Hollywood. Stop the fantasy.

Is mediocre good enough? I hope so. I’m a serial multi-tasker – read mediocre at lots of stuff. I’m also well aware that I can’t provide all that I need for long-term survival. I’m below average at first aid and medical skills. I’m not going to spend time trying to become a combat field doctor or a RN. I’m not that interested in the field. For those that are, great! For our immediate group, we have someone who is medically trained. Then there’s that motor head cousin of mine that can rebuild an engine blindfolded. Not me. I can do the basics. There are other areas that need to be shored up in our group. That’s where building community comes in. But how?

Here are some places to network, build community, and plan your prison-break.

• Local meet up groups. Face to face and local is both real and productive.
• Family – if possible. This one is often times the hardest to penetrate in many cases. This is whispered at some Thanksgiving dinners – “Okay sweetie, stay away from crazy Uncle Henry. He totes guns and raises chickens in his yard.“
• Local farmers markets and food co-ops. Buying local builds community.
• Gun/hunting/hiking/outdoor clubs. It’s easy to bring up preparedness speak with folks sitting around a fire eating beans and sipping rot-gut coffee or bourbon. “Man, what if we had to do this for more than a long weekend?“
• Church, school, and work. Like fishing, you have to go where they are to catch them. Even then, they don’t always take what you offer.
• Internet prepper groups: Wolfe Blog, Prepper Groups, American Preppers Network, Alt-Market, A.N.T.S. (Americans Networking To Survive). Be wise about sharing personal info until you establish trust. Face to face meetings can follow when both parties are ready. I know, it sounds like online dating.

2.) Regular Guy Skills. People tell me I’m handy – right before they ask me to do stuff for free. I like adding skills to my toolbox. I’m best at those that I enjoy and interest me. You probably are too. Skills don’t cost much, but offer a great return on my time. Here are some Regular Guy Skills I find helpful and relatively cheap:

Chemistry: The most overlooked skill in survival. I’d like to recommend “Caveman Chemistry” by Kevin M. Dunn. Mr. Dunn offers 28 projects to help you become a producer, more self-reliant, and a cool science nerd. Want to make your own mead, gunpowder, soap, pharmaceuticals, and plastics? Get the book.

Build stuff with your hands. If you already do this in your day job, start reading the book above. Or try this one: Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World. Read broadly to stretch your mind outside the preparedness world. Diversify.

For those that are trapped in cubicle hell, find little things to do around the house to shrink that honey-do-list. Make your own gear. Learn to restore and sharpen an axe or other bladed tool. Here’s an old adze I restored last month.

Treating an adze I found at a flea market

I recently made a cedar bench for Dirt Road Girl with pioneer hand tools – I did cheat and use my chainsaw twice. I ended up building a shaving horse in the process. Another useful bonus tool created from this bench project.

Make stuff with paracord.

Learn to sew. Check out my wool hunting shirt I made from a 20 dollar, 100% wool army blanket.

More Dave Canterbury inspired gear

Stock your toolbox. You can pick up pioneer tools and other off-grid hand tools cheaply at yard sales, estate sales, Free Cycle, thrift stores, and grandma’s attic. I like new stuff as long as it’s old. I bought a set of bits and a brace from a guy off the side of the road for $10. The local antique malls charge $25 to $45 for these items. If you buy nice, you only buy once. Avoid cheaply made junk.

Bits for my brace

What’s on your wall?

Wish these were mine. Shot these at the Foxfire Museum this summer.

3.) Regular Guy Priorities. I use conventional wisdom from experts when preparing for SHTF sometimes. Chew on the hay, spit out the sticks. Other times I kick conventional wisdom to the curb. I’m unorthodox. For instance, I don’t store a lot of wheat. Your kidding, right!? No. It’s not something I eat. The experts tell me to stock things that I use in my eating plan now and practice cooking from my food storage. I stock stuff I eat. There’s logic for ya.

I write IEP’s (Individualized Education Plan) for students with special needs. Preparedness should be no different. Each of us should write our own IPP (Individualized Preparedness Plan). There so much information out there that most folks have no idea where to start. Avoid information overload by starting with your unique, individual situation. Throw out the cookie cutter books and build your own IPP. Priorities for your family will differ from our family (ex: environment, finances, mindset, fitness level, diet, health, spirituality, location, etc.).

Start with the basics: water, food, shelter, and a way to protect yourself. This is enough material for an article all to itself. I’ll try to keep it short. Develop your IPP based on your individualized needs. I hope I’m preaching to the choir about self-defense. If you’re not comfortable owning evil guns, develop a plan to defend your family with other tools. Guns are simply tools by the way. No different from your Smart Car, garden hoe, or blender. Your faith may be a roadblock to owning these fine tools. If so, check out Kathy Jackson’s article tackling Christians and Passivism.

If you’ve got a spring or well on your property, water is less a priority than someone who lives in the Arizona desert. My point here is to keep ringing the individualized bell. Break the mold. Be yourself. Prepare for yourself and the unique needs of your family… no matter what the experts tell you. To assume their plan will work for you and me is dangerous and costly.

Think. For. Yourself.

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

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Women make better shooters than men … or do they?

Kathy Jackson is a firearms instructor, a homeschool mom, a small business owner, a former magazine editor, a freelance writer, and the author of the website Cornered Cat. This article is reprinted with permission from her personal blog Scratching Post. Head over and check out some great shooting advise!

Keep doing the stuff,

Todd Walker

__________________________________

by Kathy Jackson

October 3, 2012

Okay, I’m about to slaughter a sacred cow here. I’ve held my peace about this (most of the time) for years, but the time has come to speak out. Women do not naturally make “better shooters” or “better students” than men do.

There are three reasons I dislike hearing people repeat the old myth that women do make better firearms students than men do.

1)      It is not true. This is what is true: truly new students make much faster and more impressive progress than allegedly “new” students who aren’t new to firearms at all. People who have spent a lifetime developing bad habits will need some time to erase those bad habits before they can learn good ones. This is true for both men and women. People who start with a blank slate, having never handled a firearm before, usually make very rapid or even dramatic progress under the tutelage of a competent instructor. This, also, is true for both men and women.

 When we compare apples to apples—brand new shooters to other brand new shooters; novice shooters with existing bad habits to other novice shooters with existing bad habits—we see almost no difference at all between men and women in firearms classes. It is only when we conflate the two, and compare the truly novice female to the badly-taught or untaught male that we see the dramatic, measurable difference in skillsets between male and female “new” students.

Not only is the saying not true in a skillset sense, it is also not true in a “good student” sense. I have worked with both men and women who are good students, and with both men and women who are poor students. If I wanted to make a sex-based rule about this, I would say that women who have a bad attitude about learning to shoot do tend to do a slightly better job hiding that fact from the instructor than similarly-resistant male students do—and that’s about it. But pleasant outward behavior does not mean these resistant students are getting what they need.

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Cold Hard Facts On Gun Bans: “The Cost Of Liberty Can Be Measured In the Loss of Life”

By Mac Slavo
August 3rd, 2012
SHTFplan.com

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms…disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one.”

Thomas Jefferson

While anti-gun advocates put forth every argument under the sun for why you should not be able to own a “high capacity” magazine that holds more than 10 rounds, or that you shouldn’t be able to buy ammunition online, or that police should stop going to work until guns have been completely banned, the evidence for disarmament of law abiding citizens as a failed policy is overwhelming.

In Chicago, where guns have essentially been banned for personal defense, the murder of innocents has risen so sharply in recent months that Mayor Rahm Emanual has been left with no other option but to call on criminals to look to their morals and values to stop the carnage. Washington D.C., which bans the carrying of concealed weapons, has maintained one of the highest gun crime murder rates in the country for over three decades – since the legislation was passed in 1975. As the Washington Post notes, the disarming of local residents has been wholly ineffective noting that the “guns kept coming, and bodies kept falling.”

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