The one thing that everyone is afraid of is........ the blackout! Not the Zombie Apocalypse, not a "Red Dawn" invasion, not an Ebola Outbreak, or even another Democrat in the White House. It's the lack of electricity.
With today's increasing use of electricity for everything, we're all on the hook. Most states don't have their own self-sustaining grid. Amazingly, even California has to buy electricity from neighboring states and is often a a sum-deficit during the summer months. However, with the interconnected aspect of the whole system, we're all pretty much in the same boat to one extent or another.
Every day there are more and more folks installing solar panels on their homes, but do you actually know how that works? During the day, when you make more than you use, your meter runs backwards as the electricity goes into the grid and your provider pays you in credits (at about 1/3 of what they charge you). Then at night or on the weekends, you're still using electricity as normal and they charge you. The fact is, we're still connected to the grid and beholden to it. But, is there a solution to this?
We'll yeah..... you can buy Tesla's Power Wall to store up your excess electricity, then use this storage capacity when you need it. As you can imagine, it's kind of pricey right now and won't pay for itself any time soon, but it's out there.
There are of course, DIY solutions where folks are building their own, often using 18650 lithium-ion cells harvested from old laptop batteries, but that's quite a commitment requiring over 4000 cells to get started.
Ideally, a person would do a hybrid system with both wind and solar input to have more possibility of being able to store power and I'd love to head off in that direction. When we move out of our large kid-driven house, we'll seriously look into it. Until then, all I can do is to prepare for emergencies.
In that direction, most people go for something like this and I'll probably do that as well at some point. But our teenage kids budget can't stand that level of emergency power right now, so I'm starting small......
This small. I recently bought a 230 watt-hour "Portable Power Station". It's not powerful enough to run a fridge, but it has pure sine-wave output so it'll do sensitive devices such as medical devices or computers. The various ports can power pretty much most modern devices and importantly, it's small enough to take camping!
At some point before this summer, I'll also buy a portable solar panel as well. The way I look at it, a 60 watt panel should work out fine. These devices usually deliver about a quarter to a third of their rates power, so if my calculations are correct, anything around 20w per hour should be able to recharge the 230 Wah portable power station over the course of a day even if I pretty much discharge it. So, that this is, would be a small model of what I like to do one day with full-sized solar panels and a power wall at home. Until then, this rig will be an emergency stop-gap that can go camping as well!
I'm a little different than most people...... I do things differently and my re-entry into the firearms world has followed that pattern.
Most people start out with something like this. A bolt action rifle/carbine chambered in the venerable .22 long rifle cartridge. They are accurate, slows the shooter down so they can master the fundamentals of shooting. However, I really started shooting by qualifying "small bore" while in ROTC at Texas A&M, so I really didn't need to go that route.
So, the first thing I bought was a sell-defense/service weapon. Specifically the HK VP9 which got traded around till I got the Walther PPQ that I have now. So, the whole scenario progressed via the self/home-defense path going through, a 12ga pump shotgun, and the AR world until I finally got to where I am now...... which is just plain "fun-to-shoot", range/practice firearms.
So, I started with one of these, essentially a full-sized replica of my regular PPQ, except in .22LR vs. 9mm. This gives me the ability to spend a lot of trigger time at a few cents per round. Then came this.....
The Ruger 10//22 in Stainless Takedown version which I promptly put into a Magpul X22 "Backpacker" stock. It also got an inexpensive Bushnell TRS-25 reddot on the Magpul barrel mount. Let me just say, I'm HOOKED!
On Sunday afternoon, I spent an hour and a half at the range with 4 guns. My new to me, Magnum Research MR9 (long-slide version), and also new to me Just Right Carbine (Glock 9mm version), the Walther PPQ/22LR and Ruger 10/22 Takedown. I spent twice as much time shooting the 22s! There were some extenuating circumstances, but I was just having a ton of fun shooting those 22s! Most of that time, I spent with the 10/22. Both of these guns ate up both types of bulk ammo (Federal & Winchester) I used without issue. I'll leave you with this: I can completely see why people say that folks who buy one of them, end up with multiples.
As much as I love my firearms, the fact is; without cartridges, they are some high-priced paperweights! So, when it comes to getting prepared for scarcity, possibly sky-rocketing costs, one of the first things I prepared for was the ammunition.
And it all started with being smart with the calibers I have guns cambered in, so I'm not trying to stock too many different types of ammunition. For handguns, it was a relatively easy choice. When you look at the factors of stopping power, common availability, cost, and a wide selection of firearms; it was pretty simply the 9 x 19, or Luger/Parabellum. That choice has allowed me to find both a "service" type weapon and a "concealed carry" option, along with a "pistol caliber carbine" that fit me. Why not the 40 S&W, which is more powerful? In my opinion, it's only marginally so, and more expensive to buy and shoot. It's also a caliber on the wane so would be more difficult to find in a pinch. Remember, the "9" is the primary caliber of both the armed services (in most of the world even) and civilian law enforcement agencies as well.
My other main "stocking" caliber is of course ".223/5.56". It is again, an easy choice to make, being a standard of military and law enforcement. Depending on ammunition, it can be used on virtually anything ranging from small game to deer sized ammo. Now, before anybody gets all "up-in-arms"; I'm aware that it's not a legal deer hunting caliber in most states. However, in an extra-legal environment, this caliber can certainly bring down deer-sized game especially if used with heavier bullets like 77gr. I typically keep about 1500 rounds of this on-hand with three-quarters of it being the standard 55gr, but also keep 62gr "green-tip" as well and intend to have some of the heavy stuff as well.
There is one other "standard" caliber that virtually everyone stocks (if they prep) and that's 22LR. It's cheap (right now), small and easy to keep. It's WAY quieter and easier to shoot than center-fire calibers. It can be a good bet to bring home small game and if push-comes-to-shove, it can be used for defense as well! While I try to keep around 1500 rounds in my other stocking calibers, I keep several thousand rounds of this. I keep two types; high-powered such as CCI Mini-Mags, but the majority of it is bulk/white-box stuff that's cheap to buy and store.
Then, there's the "others", stuff that I keep but don't keep a ton of around. Here they are and the reasons for their existence in my world:
Shot-shell. I have 12ga now in 00 Buck for home defense as well as some #4 shot. I also have some #6/7/8 "Birdshot" for food gathering purposes if it comes to that. I'm not a bird hunter, but anyone trying to bring home some food is more likely to hit something with a shotgun than a 22lr. If I pick up a 20ga, I'll pick up some shells for that as well. I don't keep a lot of this stuff. It's bulky (making it difficult to store) and I don't shoot it regularly, so I only have a couple of hundred round of it.
Then, there's the random center-fire. Although I've purposely kept my number of calibers to a minimum, I do have a few that aren't covered by the 9mm and 5.56. That's the 380acp and the 6.5 Grendel which I can shoot in an AR platform firearm and capable of bring down most anything in North America. Also, I keep ammo for the 300 Blackout giving me hog-hunting capabilities, it commonly runs wild throughout most of North Americas, but especially in the South.
Along with factory-loaded ammunition, I also have the capability to reload/handload all of the above calibers with the exception of shotshells. Hopefully, this will not only be prepared for disasters of both natural, socio-economic and political.
OK, maybe not exactly crazy, but she certainly thinks I'm paranoid. I'm not going to get into a prolong discussion about my rationale, but suffice to say that I'm increasingly concerned about a number of trends in our society in general, but I'm of the opinion that not being prepared for emergency situations in general is irresponsible. Even FEMA has very specific recommendations for citizen preparedness for emergencies. What emergencies?
Well, let's start with this...... about a month ago, Dallas suffered an EF3 tornado that was on the ground for 32 minutes. That section of town will have power out for a few days at least. Not that many years ago, our little suburb had an actual tornado strike that was less than a mile from my school.
You don't have to suffer this kind of catastrophic damage to have problems. What if you're one of the houses down the street where the electricity and maybe even gas is going to be out for several days, if not weeks? What's your answer to that? You could do it the simple (also expensive) way by getting a hotel room......, but for how long, what about looters......., yes; there was definitely problems with that in the effected areas. So, what are the specific items that any citizen has the responsibility (and right) to answer?
So, at the very least, you have a "defend" situation as related to an emergency. Of course, that's not even discuss the famous/infamous "7 minutes" (average time for police to respond in a metropolitan area) that folks are on the hook to defend themselves if there's an issue with an intruder. And these are the least "far fetched" scenarios out there. The more remote possibilities range from frisky North Koreans executing an EMP attack, or a Cyber-attack bringing the grid to it's knees to the Trump vs. China situation getting completely out-of-hand!
At the end of the day, there are any number of reasons to be prepared for an emergency. So, let's take a look at the elements that have to be accounted for in that area. Above are the 3 basic elements, but let's look more deeply within the concept and discuss them. I have them divided up into modules and define them:
- Module A (Armament): Self-explanatory need to be able to defend yourself and your family whether that's for the "7 minute" gap, or more to the point; what if law enforcement isn't coming?
- Module B (Basic Needs): Literally meaning the things that we need to help us survive on a daily basis (with the exception of food which is it's own separate category). This would include clothing, tech to help us live, such as tools.
- Module C (Communications): This if an often overlooked area that's incredibly important. The assumption is that routine communications systems (cell and landlines) will go down in short order, so how do we maintain comms? These are necessary for not only any access to outside information, but also situational/tactical communications.
- Module D (Medical): If the 24hr pharmacy isn't going to refill your meds any time soon and the you can't get through on 911..... then what?
- Module E (Energy): In any even of an emergency event, one of the first things that we'll lose is power delivery. Look at your life: how will you live for the next week or so, if electricity is down for more than a few hours.
- Module F (Food): How are you going to survive when the stores run out of stock? There'll be no Amazon deliveries in a natural disaster. How does your family survive, even if it's only for a few day, or a week?
These modules aren't in order. I simply used the letters conveniently to represent the major groups of items needed to help anyone to survive after a major catastrophy. The fact is that they are all necessary and work as a system.
Here's the issue: we're not buddies with Bill Gates, and not going to just contact people to have it done. So, we'll have to get ourselves ready in the old fashion way. Meaning; do what we can, when we can, when we can afford it. Over the course of the next few weeks (hopefully), or months (more probably), I'm going to discuss the necessary "preps" to be able to feel secure if any number of "unforeseen" disaster scenarios occurs.
This isn't the goal. I have what I feel to be a well-grounded faith that nothing serious will occur over the course of the rest of my life, but that being said, I'm going to say that there's not going to be some possibility that one of a number of issues happening. ........ That'd be stupid and irresponsible.
After a week of grading Advance Placement essays followed by several weeks of prepping for, then actual painting our house, summer break finally arrived for me! So, this week, along with some little "honey-dos", I finally got around to doing some projects of my own. Much of today was devoted to working on my ARs (yes, I said AR(s), which I'll write a separate post on), I got to spend some time with my favorite gun; the Walther PPQ.
The first order of business is to replace factory sights with some TruGlo "Nightsights"!
This gives my main 9mm the same sights as my conceal carry piece, the PPS/M1. I really like consistency and having identical sight pictures is a good thing. At some point, I'll probably do the same to the Magnum Research MR9 "back-up" handgun as well.
In this image you can see a depiction of the M1 (aka Classic) magazine on the right vs. the M2 or the button (American) style release mag on the left. This is one of the reasons I use the MR9 as my backup gun. It's basically a Walther P99 and therefore uses the same mags. All that is awesome and fits my plan (personal obsession) well. However, it leaves one nagging issue that I wish was different.
Here's an image of the Kel-tec Sub 2000 like the one I picked up a couple of years ago. I really like it and it shoots well. I could wax eloquent about it for some time, but I'm going to go a different direction here. I bought it because it shares the 9mm that most of my guns uses. It's pretty much everything I want except for one thing. It doesn't take the Walther mags. The Sub2K actually comes in a wide variety of versions, ranging from S&W M&P, to Sig P226, to CZ75, to the Beretta 92/96 (which is the one I have) and of course the ubiquitous Glock 17 as well as the shorter gripped 19 version as well. No Walther. This is the price you pay when you choose based on what fits the best versus what's most popular! Currently, Kel-tec even makes a mag catch kit for the Canik TP9, so what gives? The M&P is easily the second most popular 9mm, and both the Beretta 92 and Sig have been around so long that they are considered standards.
Surely the Walther is more popular than the CZ75 and Canik? There's actually a perfectly logical explanation as to not only why there's not a Walther version, but will likely never be one.
So, here's the deal. There are actually 3 versions of the Sub 2000/9mm in production; a Glock 17 (the original) version and a Glock 19 version with a shorter grip to accommodate the shorter magazine for the "compact" and most popular Glock. Of course they are going to not only make something to match the most popular striker-fired of the most popular caliber (9mm) on the market! Then they make one other version for all the other 9mm handguns out there since pretty much everyone else's (non-Glock) mags are the same with the only difference being the shape and location of the magazine catch. One catch! All these magazines are roughly the same length; that of the old "full-sized" handgun along the lines of the Sig P226 and Beretta 92/M9. So, the issue for the Walther is that not only is that not the weird (really high) catch slot, but is too short for the grip of the gun since the PPQ is a compact along the lines of the Glock 19! So, what now, give up and just use the Beretta mags?
Heck no! I've got one more trick up my sleeve. If you'll look at the bottom of the grip, you'll see the finger cut-out to allow for a stuck mag to be pulled out. By comparing, it looks to me if I opened that area up more, maybe with a Dremel, I'll be able to get the shorter Walther mag up high enough to feed rounds to the bolt. But what about the PPQ/M1 mags with the "too high" catch slot?
I might have a solution for that as well. It appears that the Beretta have the "lowest" slot of all the ones that Kel-tec makes catch kits for......., and that if I turn it upside-down, it'll be in roughly the right location for the Walther mags! Now, it's going to require me to do some filing and maybe some "Southern Engineering", but what the heck? Ordering a catch kit is only $15! Stay Tuned!
So, it's about to be summer time and in the world of a teacher/coach that means time to get things done! Now, what that means in the world of a teacher in Texas is; there's time to do things in the morning before 11, when it gets too hot! After that, it's an inside proposition. For me, nothing much has changed. I absolutely have to do some work on my ARs. Although, I've finally had some time this spring after swim season finished, it's been the rainiest spring around here in many years making outdoor ranges all but unusable.
I've had my Aero Precision M4 built for some time, but haven't even gotten the scope sighted in! Actually, I've had the carbine and the pistol both finished for some time and the only thing I've gotten done is to shoot them with the CMMG 22LR conversion bolt due to being relegated to an indoor range.
I actually did make it to a range with my friend Sean, but they prohibit the use of full metal jacketed rounds, so...... yeah. The first order of business this summer is to get out to the range on a dry day and sight in my ARs. Then I can start on a my next build.
Start another build!?! Yup.... I'd really like to have a .30 caliber gun. And for me, the 300 AAC "Blackout" is the one. In the image above, you can see (left to right), the typical 223/5.56 which the majority of ARs are chambered for, then the 300 Blackout and the .308 Winchester, which is also known as the 7.62 x 51 "NATO". The Blackout is essentially a 30 caliber (.308) bullet in a cut down 223 cartridge case. If you're wondering about the purpose of this little cartridge with the big bullet; here's the concept.
Originally, there was the 30-06 cartridge which was the standard of the U.S. military back when engagements were fought at 600-1000 yards. By the 1950's the army decided that it didn't need to be quite so big, and was able to accomplish essentially the same thing with a shorter casing which gave us the 308 or 7.62 NATO.
Within the next 10-20 years, it was found that wars were fought differently and the 223 or 5.56 NATO was created to fit in the new M16/AR15. OK, history lesson over. Here's the deal. The 5.56 was designed to kill or mame a human and the 55 to 62 grain bullets it typically fires is simply too light to consistently bring down larger game. In fact, in many states, the 223 isn't a legal hunting caliber for deer-sized or large game. What does that mean? Am I going to start hunting? Well.... maybe......
Here in Texas (and also in most other states), the feral hog is an increasing problem. I have a number of friends with or have access to property, so chances are pretty good that I could be invited out to do a little "hog shootin'". These things are not really "big", but they are built heavy and are difficult to bring down. So, the order of the day is a heavier bullet. Something along the lines of a 150 or 180 grain 30 cal would be much more suitable than the 223. Then, why not the 308? Well; one vitually never get a shot of longer than 150 yards at most. Also, there are two other factors. One is that my eyes aren't much good beyond 100 yards anymore anyway and two, The 300 Blackout is designed to run in the M4/AR15 chassis and therefore, I don't have to get involved in learning and acquiring parts for another, bigger, more expensive platform. Therefore, the use of the much smaller converted 223/5.56 case is not relevant. The limited, sub-300 yard range of the Blackout works out just fine.
In fact, the 300 BLK shares (or can share) everything with it's AR15 5.56 brother except for the barrel. In fact, all I really need to do is to build another upper that has a 300 Blackout barrell attached. No need to even change magazines! However, it's my intention to build mine as a pistol like the one pictured above, but with a 10" barrel vs. the 7.5". Based on what I've been able to find on ballistics of this round says that you don't lose much velocity until the barrel gets into the sub-8" range. Why build a 3rd gun?
That's rather more complicated. One, I caught a sale on a lower for $30. Two, I have some random parts for it laying around. Three, it'll keep me from having to take guns apart to shoot different calibers, and potentially the most important reason is, four, who knows what's going to happen politically with the "scary black guns"! Since I can do this pretty cheap and quick, it sure doesn't hurt anything to have another AR in the closet.
I'm not trying to get here, but I like to have choices.
