Gun & Prepping News #55

 Just some gun and prepping related links that I thought interesting or useful:  

• "Get Organized: Storing Your Gun Gear"--Gun Digest. The author gives some tips on better organizing your shooting and firearms supplies and gear. His recommendations include getting a label maker, ditching the old coffee cans and cardboard boxes and use plastic boxes and bins with locking lids, and plastic drawers that can be put on shelves for those items that you don't want to have to constantly stack and unstack the boxes and bins. You should be able to find these at any craft store or most department stores. Finally, he recommends binders for reloading and shooting data; and copying the reloading data onto 3x5 cards that you can then put in the bin or box where you store the ammo. 

    One of the things that I started doing that really helped me is that I got the stacking boxes--one for each handgun and some of my rifles--into which I would put all the accessories and parts for that particular weapon: extra magazines, holsters, old parts that had been switched out (in case I wanted to put it back into its original configuration), spare parts, and so on. I don't have the label maker, yet. I just use masking tape and write on it with a Sharpie. 

• More: "Reloading Journals Should Neatly Contain Crucial Data!"--Rifleshooter Magazine. 

    Handloading records should be an addition to your typical rifle records. These should include how many rounds have been fired, accuracy results with various types of ammo and so forth.

    Handloading notes should be more extensive. Equipment-specific notes should detail the rifle, cartridge, barrel types and twist rate. Component notes must include type of cartridge cases and number of firings on those cases, and types of primers, powders and projectiles used.

    Operation-oriented notes should address case trim dates, neck sizing versus full-length sizing, powder charge weights, bullet seating depth—plus details on whether a crimp was applied and the results of any ladder tests. And naturally you’ll want to include accuracy and velocity data. 

• "Heavy Handloads Helping Heavy Hearts"--Guns Magazine. Jeff Hoover writes about the stress relief afforded by casting your own bullets and handloading ammunition. He describes casting NEI 330- grain semi-wadcutter (SWC) bullets for .45 Colt, as well as his load data.
• "Move and Shoot or Shoot and then Move?"--Ammo Land.  The author writes:

    The ability to move and shoot simultaneously has several significant advantages. Moving targets are harder to hit. You can create distance, which makes you harder to hit. When moving, you’re forcing your opponent to react to you, which can put them on the back foot.

    If you have to move and shoot, you want to do it quickly. You don’t want to do a slow walk while shooting. Slow targets are easy to hit. You have to find the right combination of speed and accuracy to make moving and shooting worth it.

• "Making a Homemade Shooting Gallery"--Mossy Oak. Some ideas on turning your junk into reactive targets for a shooting range: everything from old fruits and vegetables, to steel cans, to old lawnmower blades and other parts. 
• "What Is Black Tip Ammo?"--Wideners. A deep dive into armor piercing ammo. 
• "Ayoob: Why I Don’t Want a Custom 1911"--The Armory Life.  Ayoob begins by noting the advantages of the 1911 for concealed carry:

 Slim and flat, among the easiest of full-size “fighting handguns” to discreetly, accessibly carry concealed. Unarguably adequate in power for its task, all the more so today with improved ammunition. It’s been long-since proven reliable. It has a low bore axis to minimize muzzle rise and contribute to accurate rapid fire, and a straight-back, short, easy-to-control trigger pull enhances rapid-fire hit potential under the highest stress imaginable. And, thanks to the genius of John Moses Browning, it has redundant safety features.

But for the average person wanting to use a 1911, he believes they are better served with a "plain vanilla" pistol. This doesn't mean an exact copy of the GI issued 1911 or 1911A1. The example he uses is the Springfield Armory Mil-Spec. That weapon has a larger ejection port, a slightly beveled magazine well, and larger sights. And, of course, it has a throated barrel to reliably feed hollow point ammunition. 

• "Guide To Cowboy Action Shooting"--Wideners.  This article is from 2019 but I'm sure that most of the information is still accurate as to the different categories. In any event, it has advice on firearms, recommendations for moving your gear around at shooting meets, advice on holsters and belts, and more. 
• "The Importance of a Good Muzzle Device"--Shooting Wire.  Specifically, their importance for Rifle Caliber Pistols (RCPs) like an AR pistol. The article discusses the topic generally and then looks at a few particular models. My decision for the my AR pistol build was to use a linear compensator. 
• "Schrade Makhaira Priscilla Brush Sword Review"--Tech Writer.  The author notes:

The Makhaira Priscilla Brush Sword is the brainchild of Josh Waggoner, a fellow who’s known as a martial artist as well as a knife designer. That intersection of interests goes a long way toward explaining the duality of this blade: equal parts practical landscaping tool and fierce weapon. 

My own experience with this 16 inch blade is that it works well as a machete particularly for cutting through grass or brush, but the shape and handle is such that it would also work well as a weapon. I do not believe that Schrade makes this particular bush sword/sheath combination anymore (although my son was able to pick one up earlier this summer after he had tried mine, so there must be a few sellers with some still in stock). It appears that the molded plastic sheath has been replaced with a nylon fabric sheath and the product has been renamed the Decimate Brush Sword. The actual sword appears to be the same, however. 

• "How to Set Up a Perimeter Alarm"--Alpha Survivalist. The author relates:

    The idea here is to set up a perimeter and protect it against assailants. In crisis and survival situations, this action can undoubtedly save your life, since a properly chosen and well guarded perimeter will assist in preventing looters from stealing your vital supplies or, gangs from attacking you and your family.

    Once you’ve chosen your perimeter, you have to protect it. However, it’s very difficult to have someone always stationed at every key area and be completely aware at all times – especially if your party is only comprised of two or three people. In such an event, an outdoor perimeter alarm system can really come in handy. 

• "Apartment Prepping & Preparedness Challenges"--Modern Survival Blog. The primary issue facing apartment preppers (or even those in a duplex or small houses) is the limited space. The author discusses the limitations and offers some ideas on making the best of the issue. Also:

My recommendation for anyone living in a limited space is to focus on the priorities of survival first: water and food. Neglecting these essentials could lead to dire consequences in a crisis. There’s more (security, a roof over your head, and all sorts of helpful supplies), but given the limited space for storing extra things, you need to square away the basics first. 

I would add something, though. I was watching a video from Black Pigeon Speaks where he discusses the lessons shared by Selco about surviving in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War  ("Surviving COLLAPSE & CIVIL WAR") and the most important prep that Selco was recommending for urban collapse was weapons and ammo, and having a lot of people in your group.

• "Expanding the Pantry Menu: Adventures with Almond Flour"--Blue Collar Prepping.  
• "Survival Medicine – Antibiotics"--Alpha Survivalist. The author reminds us:

We all take the infection fighting and lifesaving properties of antibiotics for granted these days, popping them into our mouths like candy whenever we have tonsillitis or a bug of some kind, completely ignorant to the fact that many of the bacterial infections they treat could so easily have killed us sixty years or so ago. I’m not suggesting that every infection that is treated with antibiotics is life threatening but even an infection that makes you so weak that you are unable to carry out your daily functions is, in my opinion, a danger to your very survival particularly in an environment where your survival is dependent on you being at your strongest. 

The article discusses different antibiotics and what they are for, recommending that you have the following: Amoxicillin;  Ciprofloxacin; Metronidazole; Ampicillin; and Cephalexin. He also discusses how to get these medicines, and special concerns with using fish antibiotics.