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Of Beans bullets and bandages

O

Oddcaliber

.270 WIN
In light of what is currently happening in society as of late I have been quietly reinforcing my stash of the prepper basics. Beans bullets and bandages. These riots have hit too close to home for my comfort level. Not trying to sound paranoid but that's just me.
 
Well, I am not a prepper but looking around we could manage to do just fine at home for a good month... probably longer. But out here a natural disaster knocking out the power is far more likely than civil unrest.

I have over the years accumulated more factory or reloaded ammo than I am willing to publicly admit and I have craploads of components not because I "feel the need" but because it is a relaxing hobby for me.. Dry goods and potable water are okay. We have fresh eggs every single day no refrigeration needed. A generator. A pond.

My one safety concern is rather minor, but we are hearing reports that within my county there are agitators who are going around photographing police vehicles in our driveways and taking down addresses.

Sorry to hear that riots are close to your home.
 
I have been a bit more aware lately, but our area hasn't had any notable riots or looting.
Things have been peaceful, and I largely credit the black pastors of Fresno for being Christian in outlook and leadership.

Most especially, I credit two people: County Sherriff Margaret Mimms and Police Chief Jerry Dyer, retired, now Mayor elect.

Those two were like the dynamic duo, standing up to state pressure and violent druggies both, as they cleaned up a lot of crime. When it was time to talk they would talk. When it was time to act, they did not doubt. They kicked drug cartel criminals out, closed skinhead meth labs, and stopped Hmong human smugglers.

When you see those two on the TV, you can tell they are human, they mean business, and their business is to protect us from crime.
 
I would rather have something and not need it than need something and not have it. Having lived in fairly large cities for most of my adult life, I like so many grow accustomed to having Most things I need or want within a 10-15 minute drive.

I have always had friends though that lived in more rural areas and we would compare what if this or that were to happen. Their concerns were different than mine, but we could all end up the same if we didn't take a few precautions and have a plan or two.

We too have had some unrest nearby, 2 or 3 miles was the closest. I wasn't scared, but it got my attention.
 
Better to have and not need then to need and not have. I got burned in the past by not having stocked up on essentials.

I won't get fooled again. And I wasn't.

:)

I'm fighting the Schadenfreude watching others complain about "ammo shortages."
 
Over the last few months most folks have had an eye opening experience regarding the shortage of bare essentials like food, paper goods, cleaning products and even drinking water. The old recommended 72 hours of provisions on hand certainly doesn't cut it when stores are closed or sold out of needed items for extended periods.

Beyond these essentials I believe it's also advantageous to keep a cache of spares on hand. Certainly a no brainer is spares for weapons. Ideally your best spare would be a second weapon of the same type however certain parts tend to break at the worst time, especially firing pins, springs and extractors. Cheap to cache a supply now before they're needed.

Other spares we keep include replacement light switches (single and three way), electrical plugin receptacles, a couple of circuit breakers (single and dual pole), spare plumbing parts to fix a leak or broken connection, non powered hand tools for when the electricity is out, several fire extinguishers, extra fuel, generators and extensive medical and dental care supplies. Certainly not a complete list but having enough spares to fix things really helps if stores are closed or sold out of essentials. What you really want to prevent is a single point failure that can not be immediately fixed.

We live in a rural area and even under normal circumstances don't go to town but every 3 weeks or so. But we could probably go up to three months without significant hardship. Don't consider ourselves to be preppers but this has been our life style for years.

Regards
 
My dad served through three wars so he taught me to be concerned about preparedness & self-sufficiency.

I was reading well by the age of seven and my father had given me all his books, and most importantly his USN Bluejackets Manual from World War II.

I learned everything about military life from how to talk on the telephone properly, who was who, what positions to shoot a rifle from, how to clear your machine gun, how to identify ammunition, handling of powder charges and incendiary ammunition.

The most exciting was small boat handling, navigation, flags and signaling, morse code, aircraft identification, naval architecture, the names of every bit of a ship or aircraft, the tying of every useful knot.

And everything about survival under harsh conditions.

By 1962 we were called Cub Scouts, and they actually taught us to camp & shoot back in those days! At least our troop did as we were sponsored by the Air Force families. I’ve been training to survive since I was nine years old. There was an awful lot of camping during my formative years. We camped in the mountains, we camped in the woods and we camped in the desert.

As kids we were building Bomb shelters and forts & tree houses out in the desert of junk scavenged from the Air Force. We were kids watching Combat on TV, building fake machine guns and hand grenades, and training for World War II again, because we had no idea what was actually coming. (Vietnam)

My dad was the type, with the Mk2 combat knife under the seat of his four-wheel-drive. Engineer boots, leather bomber jacket and a fatigue hat. Air Force survival school and three tours of overseas duty. Loaded rifle in the closet with a cleaning kit and extra ammo.

Dad could fix an International Harvester or an IBM computer. I took after him in all that. I didn’t get a commendation letter from Congress for my programming on the anti-ballistic missile system, but he did.

But when the Star Wars program died, he retired and came to live in the desert. I’ve pretty much been a desert dweller ever since.

And since the communist takeover of America began back in the Obama years, I have been stocking up on everything useful.

I am thankfully 99.9% convinced that I will never have to use a single bullet in anger or fear.

But I do keep them on hand, and in many assorted flavors.
 
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