Preppers

Introduction to Shotguns for Survival – Part 2

In Part 1 of the Introduction to Shotguns for Survival, we looked at what a shotgun could do for us in survival situations, the types of shotguns available, provided some information to help in choosing a shotgun, and began discussing simple modifications to improve its usability. Here are some more useful modifications.

Chokes and Porting

If your hunting barrel has a fixed choke, you can have it modified with an adjustable choke or to handle screw-in choke tubes. Another possible modification for the front of the barrel would be some “porting” to help with the recoil. This is a set of holes on the top part of the barrel at the end. Some of the gas escapes out of these holes, “pushing down” the barrel a bit. Both of these modifications are best done by a seasoned professional gunsmith.

Shotgun Sights

Truglo Home Defense Fiber Optic 12-20Ga Sight

Look at what sights are currently installed. A vented rib on your hunting barrel is a plus; adding one is a pain, so it is better to buy the barrel already set up that way. Usually you will have either a bead at the tip of the barrel (with or without rib), or rifle sights. The bead is better for hunting moving game, particularly if it is mounted on a full length rib. But it can be made better by replacing it with a fluorescent rod which picks up ambient light and appears as a lighted dot. Some replace the existing bead; some are held on by magnets or glue, neither of which I would trust. If I was putting one on, I’d go with one which screwed on or clamped on. There is an electronic clamp-on sight called “Redring” which might be even more useful, but being electronic it is subject to being fried by an EMP or the battery going dead, and it is kind of bulky and wicked expensive. As for rifle sights on short barrels, they are useful for slugs. Some are available with fluorescent tubes to gather any ambient light or even Tritium capsules. The latter are great in the dark, but since they work on radioactive decay, eventually (10 years perhaps) they decay to where the glow is no longer useful, and they are much more expensive than plain or fluorescent tube sights. Another option is to install a picatinny rail on the barrel or the receiver for a scope or electronic sight. Shotgun stocks are designed so when your cheek is against it, you are looking right down the top of the barrel. If you change the sight height, it would be wise to add a riser to the stock (elastic or strap-on will do) so this capability is maintained.

Shotgun Ammunition Capacity

Ammunition capacity is limited, from three in some semi-autos to five in most pumps (which may come with a removable plug to limit it to three). This limitation is in part due to the size of the rounds, but also to comply with Game and Fish Department hunting regulations which limit you to three rounds loaded. Assuming no part of the mechanism is in front of the magazine tube, capacity can be extended by two or three rounds (or more) by removing the magazine tube cap, replacing the spring with a longer one, and screwing on a magazine tube extender. Do NOT have a magazine tube which sticks out further than the barrel, with the possible exception of one which has a reduced diameter end which extends past the barrel no more than 1/2″. Also, some extension tubes may need modification to avoid a gap between the standard and extension tube, which can cause rounds to get hung up. While we are in the magazine tube area, look at the “follower” which pushes on the rounds. Often these are thin “cups” which are the same color as the rest of the action and may be subject to cracking. It would be wise to replace it with a sturdier one, of a highly visible color so you can see you are empty, with a “bump” or “hole” on the end so you can easily feel that you are empty, and optionally a SHORT “tail” extending to the rear to reduce the chances of the spring kinking and failing to feed.

Shotgun Shell Holder – Brown Coat Tactical

Even with a magazine tube extension, shotgun ammunition capacity is limited, so ways to carry more ammo readily available should be considered. Options include a carrier on one side (or even both) of the receiver, carriers which strap to the stock, a bandoleer (a handy way to carry a lot of shells, but may interfere with slings or backpacks), loops or various pouches or holders on your belt or a vest. The best options keep the shells organized, so you can quickly and smoothly move a round from carrier to the shotgun loading port without fumbling with its orientation. Note that they do make slings with ammo loops, but in my day, they were not nearly long enough or adjustable enough to be good slings regardless of how well they carried extra rounds. A quick search seems to indicate they are no better these days; because so much of the strap is taken up with shell holders, there is not enough plain strap left to offer any real adjustment.

Shotgun Controls and Spare Parts

The most obvious improvement would be an oversized safety (for Remingtons and others with a cross bolt safety).

The controls often are appropriate for sport hunting, but can be improved to be more readily available for high stress situations. The most obvious improvement would be an oversized safety (for Remingtons and others with a cross bolt safety). For a semi-auto, you may also want an extended bolt handle and carrier release with cartridge loading ramp. You may want to research if there are any parts in your weapon which are inadequate or excessively subject to failure and thus should be replaced. For instance in later model 870s, besides the flimsy magazine follower, the extractor is often MIM (Metal Injection Molding) rather than being a machined part, so is more brittle. And the carrier latch spring is a bit underpowered. In addition to upgrading any parts which are not satisfactory, it might be wise to have a kit of small spare parts for your make and model in case any break, wear out, or get lost. Large parts are usually not at risk enough to be worth stocking.

Shotgun Lights and Lasers

Finally, a lot of defensive use and some hunting is likely to be in the dark. Having a flashlight on the front is very handy. You can get a forend with a built-in light which is quite useful, but is a bit bulky. An alternative is a forend with built-in picatinny rails, which offers the ability to mount a laser sight, flashlight or a combination of these. But again, this adds to the bulk. A picatinny rail or other mount can be clamped to the barrel. If this must extend to the side, this can add bulk unless you already have a shell carrier on that side. If you have enough of the barrel sticking out past the magazine tube, having a rail for the light under the barrel there does not affect the bulk much, and if there is a laser there, it will line up with the bore better than one to the side. These sorts of things can be handy, but as with all electronics, they are at the mercy of dead batteries and EMP. Make sure you have solutions for both of these problems if you plan to go this route.

Ammunition

As mentioned, the key to the shotgun’s versatility is the variety of ammunition available. The first thing to consider is the “payload”; that which is sent towards the target. The first variable is material. It used to be that lead was the only real option, but of course that was determined to be an environmental hazard, particularly near water. Today you can get steel, bismuth or tungsten shot, and in fact, are required to use it for water fowl (ducks and geese). Of course, these shells can be higher in cost, and tend to wear out the barrel and can ricochet or spark if it hits something hard, so should ONLY be used for hunting waterfowl.

The next variable is projectile size and count. On one end of the scale, you have the single slug. This is good for hunting large game, and can extend the defensive range of the shotgun. There are plain, rifled, and sabot slug versions. The latter ones are a smaller diameter projectile encased in a “sleeve” (the sabot) which peels away in flight. The smaller diameter and lighter weight give you a bit more range. Then there is “buck shot”, which are the largest sizes of shot. These are adequate for medium and deer sized game (they get their name from a “buck”, or male deer), but more often they are used for defense. Most famous is “#00″ (double aught) buck, which is highly touted for defense by the movie and TV industry. I don’t like it, since there are only a few pellets (9 is common in 12ga). It might be useful against a barricaded attacker, but a slug would be better for that, and the #4 buck (the smallest common buck shot) is generally considered a better choice for defense. The pellets are still good-sized (0.24”) and there are a lot more of them. Of course, today there are some specialty defense rounds, but they are quite expensive and don’t seem to be significantly more effective than good old buck shot.

The #4 buck (the smallest common buck shot) is generally considered a better choice for defense.

For small game and birds, smaller sizes of shot are necessary. Like buck shot, the size is specified by the pound sign and a number, but followed by the word “shot” rather than “buck”. #4 shot and #4 buck are completely different sizes. To get an idea of the size of bird shot, subtract the size from 17 to get the diameter in hundredths of an inch. For instance, #4 shot is 17 – 4 or 0.13″. Common sizes range from #2 to #8 although there are larger (B = #0, BB, and so on) and smaller sizes. #6 is perhaps the most versatile, being adequate for all small game and birds except geese and high-flying ducks (needs a bigger size shot to maintain effectiveness at long-range), and doves and quail (needs smaller shot for a denser pattern). If you are going after a specific target, you can use exactly the right size shot, but in a survival situation, versatility is critical. Note that because steel is so much less dense than lead, you need a shot size two numbers bigger for any game. If #4 lead shot is appropriate for ducks, you would use #2 steel shot in the same situation. This has a less dense pattern, making it harder to hit the bird, so it might be more effective to use lead in survival situations in violation of any regulations to the contrary.

The next variable is the amount of shot. In a buck shot shell, they cram in as much as will fit. In bird shot shells, they specify the amount in ounces, usually 1 to 1 3/4 ounce (in 12ga, using lead shot).

Finally, there is the amount of powder. More powder means more power, but also more recoil. You can get a first approximation by looking at the shell. If it is “low base” (the brass part only goes up the shell about 1/4″ inch), then it is a “light” load. If it is “high base” (brass extends up 1/2″ or more), it is a “heavy” load. Note that the height of the base does not provide “more support” for the higher power; it is simply to give you a quick visual reference as to whether the load is heavy or light. Most slugs and buck shot rounds are “high base”, although there at least used to be “low recoil tactical” versions available. Bird shot rounds can be either high or low base, and specify the amount of powder to help match the ammunition to the purpose. In the beginning, shotgun shells were loaded with black powder, measured in drams (a dram is 1/16 of an ounce). When smokeless powder became common, they measured it in “dram equivalents”, so people who were used to a particular load using black powder could get the equivalent load using smokeless powder (which is much more compact and light than an equivalent amount of black powder).

One more thing you need to be aware of, and that is the length of the shell. In 12ga, for instance, the most common length is 2 3/4″, and almost all modern 12ga shotguns will shoot that length. Some are marked for, and will shoot, 3″ shells as well. And with the switch to steel shot, 3 1/2″ shells were developed to compensate for the reduced number of pellets imposed by the larger size required. Along with these longer shells, new models of guns were produced to handle them. But this would be for sport hunting of geese or high-flying ducks, and probably would not be a primary choice for survival usage.

Ammunition Supply

When you run out of ammunition, your shotgun is just a club and not a very good one. So put some thought into what ammo you get and how much. Consider the area(s) you will be in and see what game is likely to be found there. Evil men can be found everywhere, so #4 buck would be a good place to concentrate; it could also be used for medium game. Slugs and a few #00 Buck for large game and a bunch of #6 high base for small game and large birds, and some #7 1/2 or #8 low base for dove and quail would be a fairly good variety. If geese or ducks or turkeys would be likely in your area, suitable loads for them would be in order. Personally, I’d also get a box or two of non-lethal ammunition such as rubber or bean bag projectiles, just to give me another option in a crisis.

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In Part 1 of the Introduction to Shotguns for Survival, we looked at what a shotgun could do for us in survival situations, the types of shotguns available, provided some

Shoot To Kill: Instinctive Shooting

In close quarters, defensive shooting, you do not aim as such using your handguns sights, because you usually you do not have time for this. You use a method known as instinctive – or point shooting. Instinctive shooting is simple you point the gun and pull the trigger. You need to ensure you have a good grip on your handgun, your wrist is locked and the forearm of your gun hand is in line with your handgun.

For instinctive or point shooting at ranges of about 3 to 10 yards, you should bring the handgun up with stretched arms at chest or chin level, with both eyes looking at your target area. Point the handgun at the target area (i.e. head or chest); when the target is aligned, you fire. There is no need to use the sights, you simply point and shoot. I have seen students, who have been taught to always use the sights on their handguns, even at close quarters, and have difficulty getting good results when shooting. This is usually because they are concentrating too hard on lining up their sights. They are usually amazed how easy, fast and what good results they can get from point shooting. You want to practice instinctive shooting with an unloaded handgun before you go to the range. To start, pick a point in the room you are in, for example, a light switch. Now with a straight-arm point your finger at the switch. Look down your arm and see where your finger is pointing- it should be pointing at the switch.

You have been pointing at things your whole life right? Practice this a few times and then try it with an unloaded handgun. Point the handgun at the switch without using the sights and then look down the sights to see where the gun is pointing. It should be pointing at the switch. If not, adjust your aim and try again. You should practice this strong and weak handed while sitting, standing or lying in bed, this will build up your muscle memory and make you flexible with the weapon. You want to work up to drawing from a concealed holster, pointing and dry firing (handgun unloaded) at different points, from different position, this is good training and will improve your shooting.

Instinctive Shooting takes practice

To train in instinctive or point shooting at the range with live ammunition, place a silhouette target at approximately 5 yards down range. Hold your handgun with a relaxed two-handed isosceles or modified weaver / boxer’s stance and pointed at the bottom of the target. Look at the chest area of the target and raise your handgun until it is pointing at the area where you are looking at, without using the sights. When your gun is stable fire one shot, check the target to see where the shot hit. Lower the handgun and continue with this until your shots regularly hit the chest area, then move on to the head. Next bring the target in to 2 or 3 yards and practice firing from the hip. The handgun should be fired with one hand; just look at the chest area of the target and point the handgun where you are looking and fire one shot. Check the target to see where the shot hit and adjust your aim as required. Continue with this until your shots regularly hit the chest area. You need to practice these drills strong and weak handed, I will discuss this more later.

You want to practice instinctive shooting with an unloaded handgun before you go to the range.

You then want to progress to firing two quick shots; this is called “double-tapping”. At first, take this slowly; as you get more confident and accurate, speed up, make sure both of the shots hit the target. You want to work up to being able to fire at least five shots instinctively, rapidly and accurately into a target at 5 yards/meters and beyond. If you are involved in a hostile situation you need to put as many rounds as possible into the criminal as quickly as possible to end the confrontation before you, your family or clients get hurt. Remember, you need to have a good grip and keep your wrist locked and forearm aligned with your handgun. As you will see Instinctive, or point shooting, is simple: just get a good grip on the weapon then point and shoot. A lot of instructors over complicate things to try to make themselves look intelligent. This is OK for competition shooting but could ultimately cost you your life in a street situation- keep it simple.

As I have previously stated, if you are unfortunate enough to ever have to use your handgun for defensive reasons, you need to continue to put rounds into the criminal or terrorist until they go down and no longer present a threat. If you do not think you could ever shoot and possibly kill a person, then don’t carry a gun and consider other non-lethal methods of self-defense. If you pull a gun and freeze, you could be giving the bad guys a weapon they could take from and used against you.

When starting out use the center of the chest area of the target as your point of aim and, in time progress to head shots. As you will have read, the best place to shoot someone in order to immediately incapacitate them is in the head. The issue with head-shots lies in the fact that the head is a smaller area to aim at and hit than the chest. You stand a better chance of getting a bullet in your opposition by aiming for the center of the chest but one round to the head and the confrontation will be over. You must remember that in a real-life situation things will happen quickly, as you and your target will most probably be moving and chances are it will be dark and you will need to put bullets into your opposition quickly. Head-shots are best and you should train for them, with practice you should be able to put rounds into the head area of a silhouette target at 5 yards/meters with little effort. A lot will depend on your capabilities with your handgun, if you know you cannot get head-shots past 5 yards/meters go for the chest. If you are engaging moving targets at your medium distance go for the center of the chest and as always fire multiple rounds.

When starting out use the center of the chest area of the target as your point of aim and, in time progress to head shots.

Do not get into the habit of shooting the center of mass on police qualification silhouette targets as this is usually the middle of the stomach area, shots there will kill someone in time but there are no vital organs there that immediately incapacitate someone. A good example of this could be the Toulouse (France) terrorist incident in March, 2012 where the terrorist “Mohamed Merah” was killed by French Security force. The terrorist “Merah” was responsible the numerous attacks on unarmed French military personnel and Jewish families which resulted 8 deaths and others wounded. The French police and security forces located Merah at his 2nd floor apartment and a siege situation developed. After several days, the tactical team “RAID” assaulted Merah’s apartment, which he had barricaded to slow down attackers. When the RAID team made entry Merah attacked them with guns blazing, in the resulting gun battle 3 members of the RAID team were shot. Merah was shot over 20 times but still managed to jump through a window, where he was finally killed by a sniper with a head shot.

It was reported Merah received multiple shots to the arms and legs, it’s clear the RAID assault team were not going for head shots, the after incident reports state over 300 rounds were fired. Especially at close quarters you must be hitting vital organs and bones to end the situation as quickly as possible. The RAID team is very highly trained but at close quarters when lead is flying and there is no cover luck has a lot to do with not getting hit! So, avoid the situation or end it as quickly as possible!

After a while of practicing instinctive shooting, you should be consistently hitting the target in the chest and head areas, without using your sights and firing multiple rounds. You should then practice with the target at 7 yards and then at 10 yards as your shooting gets better. Novice shooters are usually surprised at how inaccurate a handgun can be. Numerous times we have had students who fire a 5-round aimed grouping at a target 25 yards and are baffled why they missed. Everyone misses to start with and you must remember that you cannot become an expert marksman after shooting 50 rounds- it takes time and practice. It is only in the movies that someone can shoot from the hip with a handgun and hit a person running 100 yards/meters away. Handguns are meant in general for close quarters conversational range targets.

You need to practice firing with one and two hand grips both left and right-handed, firing from cover, firing from a seated position, firing from a kneeling position, etc.

If you intend to carry a handgun, you must learn to draw the handgun from your holster. You should buy a quick draw holster, without thumb breaks or retention devices, but I will discuss this in a later chapter. To draw a handgun, you simply grip the handgun, pull it from the holster and point it at the target in one smooth movement. The handgun should take the shortest route from the holster to the target. Care must be taken when you initially start drawing from a holster and you should practice first with an unloaded handgun until you feel confident enough to draw with a loaded handgun.

When you can draw from a holster and instinctively shoot and hit your target make things a little more difficult by practicing drawing while wearing a shirt or jacket. Additionally, you need to practice firing with one and two hand grips both left and right-handed, firing from cover, firing from a seated position, firing from a kneeling position, etc. Again, these drills can and should be practiced dry firing, until you feel comfortable enough to do them with a loaded handgun.

If you are training properly after putting several hundred rounds down range, you should be able to smoothly draw your handgun from a concealed holster and put multiple rounds accurately into the vital areas of two targets at 7 yards/meters. You will then be ready to carry a handgun for defensive purposes and be better trained than many supposed professional’s firearms experts, criminals and terrorists.

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In close quarters, defensive shooting, you do not aim as such using your handguns sights, because you usually you do not have time for this. You use a method known

Shotguns for Survival – Part 1

In many survival situations, a firearm would have significant value. And in some situations, it could be of critical value. For each potential use, there is a “best” type of firearm, but unfortunately, there is no firearm effective for all uses. The shotgun is about as versatile a firearm as exists. It usually fires a bunch of small balls (the “shot”), but can fire a single projectile the size of the bore (a “slug”) or even other things (flares, non-lethal projectiles, rock salt, etc).

There are two primary classes of survival usage for a shotgun: hunting and defense. With the appropriate ammunition, a shotgun is effective for hunting small, medium and large game, as well as birds of all sizes. And there is not much which would be better at defending yourself from man or beast at close range. But there are “costs” for this versatility, which keep true the earlier statement about there being no universal firearm. The ammunition is big and heavy, magazine capacity is small, reloading is slow, effective range is fairly short, and shotguns are not particularly concealable.

Gauge

When looking at any firearm, the first consideration is the “size”, or diameter of the ammunition, which is a major factor in defining its potential effectiveness. In shotguns, this is usually specified as “gauge”, an obscure unit of measurement determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the bore of the firearm. The most common shotgun gauges, from big to small, are 12 gauge, 20 gauge and 410, which is not actually a gauge but a caliber in inches. To illustrate how gauge is measured, a one-twelfth pound lead sphere fits a 12-gauge bore. Which is not really much help to most people; for a more generally useful measure, the bore of the 12ga is 0.729″, 20ga is 0.615″, and the 410 (NOT also known as 67.62ga) is, of course, 0.410″. Since the shotgun usually uses many small projectiles rather than one large projectile, the actual diameter of the bore is often not constant, and the muzzle can be “choked” smaller than the “official” diameter.

There are many different options for shotguns, but the 12, 20 and 410 are the most popular in the U.S..

The most effective and versatile of the common choices is the 12ga, but it may have a bit too much recoil for some folks. The 20ga is an adequate alternative if the 12ga is just too much. As for 410, it is pretty much a “specialty” choice, where the gun is the deciding factor rather than the gauge. There are a few handguns which will fire this, as well as some compact long guns, including ones with a 410 barrel and a rifle barrel. Besides the “common” gauges, there are others available, including 10ga, 16ga and 28ga (between 20ga and 410), which may be perfectly reasonable or even preferable in normal times, but ammunition is just too limited in availability and variety to be depended on for survival usage.

Action

The next consideration is the action. Shotguns are available in single barrel and double barrel (both over and under, and side by side) configurations. These are simple and rugged (and less politically incorrect), but that second (or third) shot is just too slow for some situations. More practical are pump actions and semi-automatics. The semi-auto can be quite useful, but are often also a bit more complex, more expensive, and may be more ammunition sensitive than the pump, and some models have part of the mechanism in front of the magazine, which makes for an extra limited and non-expandable magazine capacity. Others, such as the Remington 1100 and the Benelli M2, have a standard, extendable magazine tube. There are a few shotguns with other actions, such as lever-action and double action revolver, which might also be adequate, and bolt-action, which seems too slow to be a first choice.

The pump shotgun is a good all around choice and often fairly inexpensive. The Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500 seem to be the most common, but there are some other good choices out there. If you get a fairly common, modern, brand and model, your chances of having a good selection of accessories and parts upgrades are likely to be better.

Most repeating shotguns are fed from a fixed tube under the barrel (the KelTech and the UTAS have TWO tubes for twice the capacity); a few use a detachable box magazine or cylinder or drum which allows for a speedier reload.

One advantage of the single barrel or double barrel break open shotgun is you can slide an adapter into the barrel to shoot a smaller gauge shell or even a rifle or pistol round. In order to get decent accuracy with rifle or handgun calibers, you will want to get one at least 7″ long and with rifling (except for 20ga and 410 adapters). X-Caliber claims to have them in .223, 7.62×39 and .308, but I could not find any, so they may have been withdrawn. Chiappa sells an X-Caliber set with just the pistol calibers and shotgun gauges. There are several other companies which to sell these sorts of adapters.

Chokes

Changing the Choke on a shotgun.

As mentioned, the diameter of the barrel can vary from end to end. It starts off at the standard diameter of the shotgun shell and immediately has a “forcing cone” to get the shot down to the “official” size. The bore may then expand slightly to reduce recoil. When it gets to the end of the barrel there is a tapered “choke” to compress the cloud of projectiles to the desired size. This choke can be built into the barrel, a screw-in choke tube, or an add-on adjustable choke. The more the amount of choke, the tighter the pattern which the cloud of shot will have, extending the range at which there are not excessive gaps between the pieces of shot. The common chokes, from most open (largest) to tighter (smaller) are: Cylinder (Cyl), Improved Cylinder (IC), Modified (Mod), Improved Modified (IM) and Full. There is also Skeet 1 (between Cyl and IC, AKA just Skeet) and Skeet 2 (between IC and Mod, AKA Light Modified), as well as Extra Full and several sizes of Turkey which are even more tight. There are also special purpose chokes, such as “duckbill” chokes which squeeze the shot into a wide bar rather than the normal circle, and breaching chokes used to get though a door by destroying the hinges (using special ammunition).

Note that it is not the SIZE of the choke which matters, but the DIFFERENCE between the bore right before the choke and the choke diameter. Since some makers “overbore” the barrel, two guns with the same choke could actually shoot differently. You can check what choke you REALLY have by shooting at a 30″ circle 40 yards away. Figure the percentage of shot inside the circle and that defines the choke. 40% is what Cyl is supposed to provide, up to 70% for Full.

Shotgunning Chokes and range

It should be obvious that if you are shooting a solid projectile, you will want a Cylinder bore. This will also work with shot at short ranges, but allows too much “spread” in the “pattern” of shot for use on small targets at longer ranges. Modified seems to be a common “general purpose” hunting choke. If you have a specific purpose in mind, then you can get exactly the choke most appropriate, but in a survival situation, this could be problematical. I would prefer to have an add-on, adjustable choke, or at least a set of choke tubes to include a minimum of Cylinder (for slugs and defense), Modified (for general small game and bird hunting) and Full (for longer distance). Better would be to also include Improved Cylinder and Extra Full, and possibly a Turkey. With choke tubes, don’t forget to have the wrench to change the chokes, and to avoid damaging them, a case, belt pouch or protective tube would be a good idea.

Barrels

One of the advantages of most pump shotguns and many semi-autos is that the barrels are easily interchangeable. Short barrels are handy in close quarters, rifled barrels increase accuracy with slugs, and longer, choked barrels are best for hunting with shot. Most practical would seem to be a two barrel set, with a short barrel for defense and hunting with slugs, and a long barrel with adjustable choke for other hunting. Perhaps a third, medium length rifled slug barrel would increase your large game hunting range.

Note that by law, the absolute shortest barrel you can have is 18″, and this or 20″ is good for defense. For longer ranges, a longer barrel is easier to hit with, but heavier and harder to maneuver. 26 to 28 inches seems to be a good compromise. Of course, it is not strictly true that you can’t have a barrel less than 18″; it is sometimes possible if you don’t mind the costs and annoyances, and there are circumstances when it would be quite handy to have a more concealable shotgun. If you want to buy, or make a Short Barrel Shotgun (SBS) by cutting down a barrel (preferably an extra one), in some cases you can do this legally by getting the $200 NFA (National Firearms Act) tax stamp. If the registered SBS does not have a stock, it may qualify as an AOW (Any Other Weapon), which requires a $5 transfer tax stamp. This is a complex area of law, and you should make doubly sure of all current federal, state and local laws before proceeding. Failing to follow all laws and fulfill all requirements could have extremely unpleasant consequences.

Stocks

Most shotguns have some form of shoulder stock, which aids in accuracy and recoil control. This can be a fixed stock of wood or synthetic material, a collapsing or folding stock, or even only a pistol grip, as long as the overall length of the shotgun is not less than 26″ (unless the appropriate tax stamp, as described above, is acquired). Sometimes a standard stock has a pistol grip built-in, for more control. The most versatile option would be a pistol grip to which a stock could be easily attached. I’ve heard of something from CAA (Command Arms Accessories) which looks like it might provide this, but I have not seen one in person to verify if that is the case, or how sturdy is the attachment. Both Remington and Mossberg offer versions of their shotguns which have assorted stocks which can be changed without tools. The Remington MCS system only works on the MCS model 870, which appears to come with a set of barrels from 10″ to 18″, meaning it is a NFA weapon which will cost three times as much and require a tax stamp. The Mossberg FLEX system appears to be compatible with all model 500 shotguns. As an alternative, a folding stock may be adequate.

Most modern shotguns allow for easily modifying your stock options.

If I was looking for a stock, I’d investigate the CAA one, since in an emergency situation, sometimes you’d want the best accuracy of a stock and sometimes you’d want the compactness of a pistol grip, and folding stocks tend to be uncomfortable to use extended, and bulky when folded. If the CAA did not meet my requirements, any standard synthetic stock would do, and for that matter, the original wood one is quite adequate. As for a stand-alone pistol grip, in my day, the Pachmyer one was a top choice; but the price seems to have gone up considerably. If I were getting a pistol grip today, I’d look at the Hogue one with matching forend. It looks to be similar in feel and recoil reduction to the Pachmyr, with a more ergonomic shape and a much lower price.

Modifications

Generally, the shotgun you get is adequate for sporting use as is, but most can be improved, to increase its usability or versatility. The first thing to check is the fit of the stock. Assuming you don’t normally wear thick armor, if you hold the shotgun in your hand as you would when firing it, and lay the stock along your forearm, the buttplate should be against your upper arm when it is at a right angle to your forearm. If this is not the case, look into cutting down the stock or adding spacers until it fits. While you are at it, consider upgrading to a good recoil pad and/or recoil reduction system and include that in your fit modifications. Note that an adjustable stock would be handy to allow adjustment to different clothing or conditions.

At times you will want to be able to carry the shotgun without using your hands, so a sling, or scabbard, would be a good idea. The simplest sling is a standard (two point) sling, attached at the butt end of the stock, and to the front of the shotgun. Make sure it has enough adjustment to be usable under any reasonable conditions. This type of sling can be slow to put into action though, so another option is the single point sling, which is attached to one point near the receiver of the gun, and the gun just hangs down and can flop around, perhaps too much. The best choice might be a sling which converts from single point to two point, so you can choose which characteristic is more appropriate. Connecting the sling to the butt end is pretty straightforward; there will be an attachment point or you can install one very simply by drilling an appropriate sized hole in the stock or by installing an adapter between the stock and the receiver. Connecting to the front end can be more of a challenge. You may have to clamp something around the barrel, or screw something into the magazine tube cap. GG&G has some nice ones held on by the magazine tube cap. If making changes to the gun is not desired, you can use a “universal” mount which just has a strap which cinches around the stock or barrel.

Tune in next time for more simple modifications, and some thoughts on ammunition.

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In many survival situations, a firearm would have significant value. And in some situations, it could be of critical value. For each potential use, there is a “best” type of

What Are You Prepared to Do When Your Family Is Hungry?

Food is one thing that virtually everyone can agree you need to have because we have all, to some extent in our lives, known the feeling of being hungry. Yes, the seriousness of the actual hunger is probably very relative and for the overwhelming majority, this hunger, however severe it felt to us at the time, was probably nowhere near as drastic as we envisioned. Most of us have never been without food for more than a single day much less a week or more, but the gut tightening response is strong enough to elicit some realization that we never would want to go without for very long anyway.

After the pain of hunger, we can easily grasp the body’s need for food. Simply put, without food, we die. Sure, the time it would take varies by situation but it is generally accepted that if you don’t eat food for three weeks you aren’t going to be contributing to society any more. Nobody wants that to happen.

But for many preppers, and I would presume most of the unprepared out there, the question comes up relative to how much food you have stored; what would you do if the food ran out? What if something happened and you were unable to acquire any more food through traditional means and your family was hungry? What would you be forced to do in order to live? Have you thought about what you are prepared to do to feed your family when their lives are on the line?

Recently, a FEMA contractor predicted that due to potential shortages and weather related events in the future, there could be a spike in food prices of 395%. If that happens, would you be able to feed your family?

Where does your food come from?

I started thinking about this topic the other day during a very routine act that happens every day in the world and has been happening since the dawn of time. This Spring, we purchased about a dozen chickens as our older flock had really decreased their egg production and we had given them away to friends who own a farm. Some of the new chickens we purchased were sexed, meaning their color determined what sex they were so you were pretty much assured to be getting hens. Hens are all we wanted because they lay eggs.

But I also got about 8 Rhode Island Red chicks and with those you really don’t know what you are getting until they mature. As ours matured, it became pretty obvious that we had a few roosters in the bunch. Roosters, as I told my daughter sarcastically, don’t lay eggs. On top of that, roosters are not allowed in our city and ours had started practicing their crowing in the mid-morning. Each day I would cringe when I heard their call knowing that any day one of my neighbors could (but probably never would) call the authorities and they would be well within their rights. I know I wouldn’t want Roosters crowing that weren’t mine beside my home. It was time to get rid of the roosters in my flock.

To be perfectly honest, I had not in my life ever harvested any of our chickens. We have had chickens for over three years, but missed my first opportunity when some friends harvested theirs but I wasn’t able to go. I did put it off because we were still getting eggs even though the output was more sporadic. I had harvested deer several times so this wasn’t anything I was really upset about or dreading. It was just another chore but taking a live animal out and going through the necessary processes to obtain a meal are a little different.

Can you kill your dinner?

After a little research just to make sure I had all the bases covered, I set up a table, prepared hot water and got bowls, knives and trashcans situated. I then went in to get the roosters. As it turns out, we lost the chicken lottery this time around and out of 8 chicks, 5 of them were roosters. I had hoped for a lot more egg production, but instead I was getting meat.

I caught the first rooster and hung it upside down by the feet while my dog watched with curiosity. Once the chicken settled down, I brought it over to the stump I had in my yard. I had pounded two nails into the stump to loosely hold the chicken’s head so I could stretch it out slightly for a clean shot at the neck. I have heard some people just wring the chicken’s neck but I wanted to be a little quicker and cleaner so I got out my trusty hatchet. After hesitating a good long 3 seconds, which seemed longer in my mind, I brought the hatchet down.

Unfortunately, I misjudged where the chicken’s neck was due to the feathers so the first shot was not as clean as I hoped, but I quickly made another chop that finished him off. (Note to self: on the next one, feel where the neck is first).

You have probably heard if you haven’t experienced this for yourself that chickens will run around the yard with their heads off and this I can affirm is true. The saying, “running around like a chicken with their head cut off” is based in fact and my first rooster didn’t really run so much as flop and flap and cover a good bit of ground even though its head still remained on my makeshift chopping block. After he was dead, I dunked him into a hot pot of water until the feathers started pulling out easily, plucked him clean (which isn’t as easy or as quick as I thought it would be) and harvested him for the meat. I did that to 3 roosters that day.

Three roosters ready for plucking.

My family got into the act the next day and harvested the other two. My children participated by catching the roosters, cleaning and harvesting. My wife was the hatchet woman for the other two and I was very proud of them for stepping up and felt a little more confident in their abilities should something bad happen and our nice refrigerated, clean plastic packages of food were no longer available.

What could you face in SHTF when it comes to food?

Now many of you might be saying that of course you would kill a chicken if you were starving, but I do know that there are so many other people who would not have the stomach to do this. They would rather starve than do what is necessary to feed their family. Others would say that they would simply eat vegetables because killing another living thing is mean. I disagree on the latter part. We raised our chickens in our yard; they were treated very well and fed daily. When it was time for them to go, we killed them quickly and humanely. They were serving their purpose in the grand scheme of things.

Phase 1 Plucking Completed – No, they aren’t pretty yet and hand plucking requires a bit more time than I expected. Looking to purchase a plucker for my drill.

Still others will find themselves forced out of desperation to steal or kill to feed their family and that is not what I think any of us should be planning for. It is one thing to kill an animal (that I raised) to feed my family, it is an entirely different thing to plan to kill other humans to feed your children.

But for those who would hesitate at doing something similar, what could you be faced with? I assume that a majority do not have any livestock of their own so that leaves you with less options. Many will say they will just go hunting and I think for most people that is simply not going to be an option. First, you would need to be near animals, second, you would need to be lucky enough to shoot or trap one and third you would be competing with everyone else who had the same idea. You may not even be able to hunt because all the game has been harvested already. What then?

What you should be doing now?

I maintain that if you want to be sure your family has food on the table you should not be looking at what you will do when you are desperate. You shouldn’t be contemplating killing your neighbor or anyone for that matter for the last can of beans or joining up with a gang to break into the local distribution center. You should be preparing now by stocking up on food yourself and investing the time it takes to produce your own food.

You can take steps now to build up your own food storage so that you won’t need to worry about going hungry for a very long time. You can begin a garden to supplement what you have stored with fresh vegetables. You can and should start preserving food and learning methods to keep foods fresh if you don’t have the benefit of refrigeration.

You should also look closely at your own abilities and motivations now. If you know you might not be able to swing that hatchet down, that is even more reason to stock up ahead of time in anticipation of future troubles. Don’t plan on doing “what it takes” later because you didn’t do what it takes now to feed your family. Act now so that you don’t have to get desperate.

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Food is one thing that virtually everyone can agree you need to have because we have all, to some extent in our lives, known the feeling of being hungry. Yes,

Route Selection, Ambushes & VCP’s

Selecting good routes is extremely important part of your security planning especially in hostile areas or in times of civil unrest. In theory the best routes should allow the vehicles to travel at the maximum legal speed limit with as little congestion and as few stops as possible but in reality this can be a difficult thing to achieve.

Firstly, you will need to select the routes available on a map and also use programs like Google Earth to view photos of the intended route. In the perfect circumstances the routes selected would need to be driven at the time of day you’d be using them so vehicle and pedestrian traffic flow could be assessed and also at a quiet time so a detailed survey of facilities and danger points can be compiled. You will need to plan several routes to and from each location and these will need to be varied as much as possible. In a high risk environment if you use the same route time and time again you will be asking for trouble.

The route selection needs to be broken down into simple stages and the time it takes to complete each of these stages recorded. This is because if there is a loss of communication with your vehicle at a certain time, then your location can be estimated by those your checking in with and will help people to know if your vehicle is overdue and might be in need of assistance.

You need to know the location of all the facilities along the routes such as the locations of hospitals, bathrooms, police stations, garages, hotels and so forth. Communications will need to be checked and all communication dead spots noted. The locations and payment methods (whether coins or cards) of all pay phones along the routes need to be noted. Emergency rendezvous points (RVs) will need to be allocated at positions along the routes in case of emergencies or separations, everyone using the routes will need to know the RV points.

Firstly, you will need to select the routes available on a map and also use programs like Google Earth to view photos of the intended route.

Things that could considered as danger points on your routes would be anything that could slow you down or could conceal an ambush. These could include bridges, roundabouts, woodland, junctions, tunnels, culverts, narrow roads, one-way streets, areas of busy pedestrian or vehicle traffic, known criminal areas etc. Things to be especially suspicious of would include road works, lone-parked cars, pan-handlers, diversions and temporary stop signs. Now in reality if you live in a busy urban area I expect you will have to drive past the majority of the things listed to avoid on your daily journeys. In such environments you need to vary your routes as much as possible and take regular counter surveillance procedures. Also remember, if I know how someone has been trained I can usually predetermine the routes they will select, if I can do this so can the criminals.

You need to know the location of all the facilities along the routes such as the locations of hospitals, bathrooms, police stations, garages, hotels and so forth.

Most conventionally trained security drivers are taught to take the most direct and fastest routes between locations, which are generally easy to determine. If I was a criminal targeting them I would just wait at a stop light along their route for them to show up. I am personally all in favor of using quite indirect routes which make it easy to identify if you’re being followed and makes it a lot easier to change routes fluidly and unpredictably if required; this not the case on a motorway with limited exits and heavy traffic.

I am also not a big fan of GPS and I find it astonishing the number of people who blindly follow GPS directions right or wrong. GPS are an aid to navigation not a means of navigation. I have had many people go through my course who have gotten lost by relying in GPS; they were taken to the wrong locations or the locations I gave them were not in the GPS etc. You need to be able to use a map and compass and plan your routes properly, this might take you 5 minutes, which in today’s world is a long time but better 5 minutes planning than a couple of hours driving around lost. Another take on GPS is that if I am a criminal who is watching you and see you’re using a certain type of GPS, all I need to do is buy the same model and it will tell me the routes you’re using between different locations, again no need for me to put you under surveillance.

Basic considerations for selecting routes are you must avoid routines, especially in daily journeys, keep your travel details secret, issue only rough timings in advance, use the most secure routes not the shortest, have a detailed reconnaissance done of the routes to be used, know what you’re going to do in the case of a break down or a security issue and know where there are hospitals and other facilities on the route.

Reaction to Ambushes

The ambush tactic, in one form or another, has been used by hunters, criminals and military units for thousands of years. They are commonly used tactic in kidnappings, assassinations and they can involve anywhere from 2 to 200 personnel. Ambushes can occur on busy city streets or on remote country roads. When traveling in a vehicle, your best defense is speed. A trained ambusher will look for natural obstacles on a route which will force a vehicle to slow down.

In high risks areas you need to take into consideration what you are going to do if ambushed, your reaction will depend on the country you’re in, the manpower and equipment you have available. A large percentage of attacks occur when targets are traveling in, approaching, or leaving their vehicles. Attacks can range from explosives being attached to a vehicle at traffic lights to full-scale military ambushes using assault rifles and light anti-tank weapons.

Your best defense against these attacks is your personal procedures of selecting safe routes and not using the same routes all the time and keeping details of your movements secret. If an ambush is properly planned, placed and the attackers know how to use their weapons there is a very good chance they will be successful and you will take casualties to say the least.

The attackers have the element of surprise on their side and the whole attack could last less than five seconds; to survive, your reaction must be simple, aggressive and fast. Your main objective will be to get out of the attackers killing zone as quickly as possible. You must always be aware that the initial attack might have just been a diversion to direct you into the main ambush or that the attackers might have deployed cut off teams to take you out, if you escaped the killing zone.

If ambushed speed is your best defense, remember, fast moving targets are harder to shoot that slow moving or stationary targets. To avoid ambushes, use fast roads and try to avoid places where you are forced to drive slowly, this is difficult in busy urban areas. If you are ambushed with small arms, drive through it as fast as you can. If you are traveling in a convoy, it may be possible for the chase car to attack the ambush or if there is a lone shooter, run them over. What you do will depend on your manpower and firepower. If the road is blocked to the front of you by a large obstacle or vehicle and you have a clear road behind you reverse out, use simple driving techniques; don’t use complicated techniques that you have seen in the movies.

If you are blocked to the front and rear, say in traffic or immobilized and taking fire, you will need to evacuate on foot. When you evacuate on foot stay low, bound from cover to cover and run as quickly as possible. Be aware that obvious escape routes might be booby-trapped and make maximum use of smoke or CS gas grenades to cover your escape.

Unarmed Reaction to Ambush

Here the guidelines for an unarmed contact drill that can be used if you encounter a manned road block and are in an area where you cannot carry weapons.

A consideration on weapons: In some hostile environments, criminals and terrorists put up roadblocks that can contain anywhere from 5 to 200 criminals or guerillas carrying automatic weapons. Think about it, you may have a couple of 9mm pistols in your vehicle but 5 guys with AK-47’s can put out 150 rounds, which will go through un-armored cars in just a few seconds. Additionally, in some places, if you are a foreigner and you are caught with a pistol by criminals or terrorists, you could be mistaken for being a spy and executed on the spot. If you are going to carry a pistol, it’s best to go with a type not issued to law enforcement and military personnel; a Nickel plated .38 revolver says your careful where as a Glock can say your police!

This drill was worked out for a client who lived on a very volatile Caribbean island. Firearms were available but if they were found by local police at a routine road block they could lead to the client being arrested or getting severe beating. The client’s main threat was from driving into illegal roadblocks at night. This is a simplified version of what I worked out for him.

The client fitted high power spotlights to his vehicle. If he drove into a roadblock at night, he would hit the spotlights for a few seconds and temporally blind and surprise the criminals.
At the same time, he would reverse away from the roadblock. The client always traveled with another person at night whose job it was to drop smoke dischargers on the road to cover them as they reversed away.
Whenever possible and safe to do so, the client would turn the vehicle around get out of the area as quickly as possible. If chased by criminals, the client’s car was modified, so all the rear lights could be extinguished and he could drive with only the front parking lights on. In the vehicle, there was a high-powered hand held spotlight, which the passenger was to shine into the face of the driver of the chasing car, to blind them and hopefully cause them to crash.

This drill is simple but it still took a fair bit of organizing and practice to get right. You need to work out what threats that you’re most likely to encounter, then plan your reaction and then practice it.

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Selecting good routes is extremely important part of your security planning especially in hostile areas or in times of civil unrest. In theory the best routes should allow the vehicles

The 3 Essential Self-Defense Moves, You Must be Aware of

Self-defense is your right and it will be beneficial in a SHTF scenario, if you know how to tackle the consequences on your own with a sharp presence of mind instead of relying on others. This will give you confidence and will raise your morale and will make you independent.

Why is self defense important?

Just because some idiots out there think that they are stronger than the rest and to fulfill their illusion, they try to mess with others in the form of fighting. Or some of them are under the influence of serious drugs, due to which they are helpless to perform acts on which they have no control.

Regardless the excuses, the thing which does matter is that there are some ways you need to learn to defend yourself from any kind of attack done by these goons.

What will I get out of it?

The first thing you will achieve would be “A single piece of your body”. You love yourself right? And you also love your body and at any cost you would not like to get it dismantled. So when the attackers attack they are never concerned about your body parts. Their focus revolves around either snatching something from you or beating you up to satisfy themselves.

For many, fighting fills some mental void which they can’t get from doing any other activity. This has been proven by the studies done by the experts and people who act in these ways has been awarded by the term of “Psycho”. You can’t change their mentality but you can protect yourself by learning some tactics of self-defense.

With enough practice, you will be able to achieve a high level of confidence and if this kind of situation comes up again then without any support you would be able to handle yourself.

What are the significant components of self-defense moves?

The attack on knee-caps:

For any form of a building, the base is an essential part which stabilizes the complete structure. So whenever you find yourself in a situation where the potential of getting attacked is high, the first thing you need to do is stay calm and try to have a verbal communication with the opponent.

The reason behind communication is to understand why the opponent is willing to attack you. If the reason is just a small amount of cash then it is better to give away cash to avoid conflict. This would not be the expensive trade to perform.

But, if the opponent doesn’t want to engage you with communication then apply the second strategy which involves making firm eye contact with him/her. This will send a strong signal to them that you also have the potential to fight. This will either break them and compel them to run from the situation or will offend them to attack and when they will approach to attack you then right away with your right leg attack on their knee-cap.

This attack done by you will make them helpless and will consume more time for them to get back stable again. In this duration of time either run away from them or if the surroundings have limited access to run then get the help of someone either by shouting loud or by using your mobile phone.

(Note: A forceful attack on their knee will provide you the time frame around 5 to 10 mins)

The attack on Groin:

Most attackers are male and they love to show their irrelevant impact on others by performing meaningless acts. Behind every strong power, there is a small amount of weakness which makes them helpless.

So if you have been attacked and you can see there is no place to run, then try to be aggressive because if the opponent is pretending to be strong, then by seeing your aggressive behavior he will run instead.

On the other hand, if they start smiling at this behavior of yours then you should stop doing it immediately because they are the real fighters and could prove harmful for you. You do not need to become tense as what you can do is put your both hand on their shoulders and within a matter of seconds lift your right knee up and bang into their groin.

The groin is the most sensitive part of the male body by attacking that it would be almost next to impossible for him to get up for at least 15 to 20 mins. From this, you can see how advantageous this defensive move is?

Hang on there is one more tip on your way. If you think the above-mentioned method is too hard for you to perform then what you can do is with your right hand grab their groin or either pull it hard or twist it like twisting a rope. This will definitely make him harmless and he will be grounded in an instant.

(Note: Just for the quick response, if you have a licensed pistol then you can always carry them for self-defense in a concealed carry handbags for better protection from such irrelevant acts).

The attack on Ribs/Solar Plexus:

The moment some stranger attacks on you can bring feelings of frustration and helplessness if you are not familiar with the concepts of self-defense. Relying on others has never been a healthy option at any cost. It is always better to protect yourself by developing our fighting skills.

So if you find yourself surrounded by a goon then the best way to avoid conflict is to run away from the situation. And by any means, if you are not able to do so then forcefully attack their ribs or solar plexus. This will break their force and will allow you 20 mins minimum of time to run away from the situation.

Attacking the ribs is the most favorable technique which has been used by many in terms to carry the fight for a long time period. What else you can do is attack the softest tissue of their body which is under their nose. This will make them unconscious and a hefty amount of time you will carry to get some help.

Some others tips you can protect yourself in a healthy way:

Carry pepper spray
Carry stun gun
Carry a concealed weapon( If you are licensed or legal)

Conclusion:

It is always better to learn or develop some fighting skills in order to protect yourself and to build some confidence in you. This will help you to live proudly and you would be able to tackle any kind of situation mentally or physically with an ease.

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Self-defense is your right and it will be beneficial in a SHTF scenario, if you know how to tackle the consequences on your own with a sharp presence of mind

The Keys To Effective Prepper Communication

Communication is imperative in survival situations. This article attempts to cover some of the basic pros and cons of various forms of communication and introduce the reader to some additions that should prove helpful in crisis and bug-out situations.

TWO WAY RADIOS: can come in handy when a group is out of direct visual range, they are simple to use and relatively lightweight. However, they can also give away your position. Not only are they noisy but the messages can be intercepted, and interference created.

Uniden Submersible 50 Mile FRS/GMRS Two-Way Radios with Charging Kit – Dark Grey

CB RADIOS: are a favorite for long distance truck drivers and can be used over short distances to converse when two way walkie talkies may not be an option. They can be mobile (in a vehicle) or stationary. Anyone on the same channel can hear the discussion, so definitely keep that in mind. Use coded messages, preferably phrases that sound like normal conversation, to ascertain if any allies are in your vicinity.

Uniden 40-Channel CB Radio

HAM RADIOS: are not as common as two way radios and CBs. They are more complicated to use, and in many areas you need special licenses to operate one with any significant level of power. They provide some added security because they are less likely to be used by amateurs. They are also a good way to transmit Morse Code. In a SHTF situation, where current regulations are no longer regarded, these will allow you to contact others across much greater distances.

Baofeng UV5RA Ham Two Way Radio

HAND SIGNALS: have long been used by military forces to quietly communicate in tactical situations. This is both a benefit and a drawback. They only work if you are in formation and everyone has a clear line of sight. Many people already know some of the gestures, and for those that don’t, there are countless YouTube videos that demonstrate them and their meaning. Therefore, if you are inadvertently seen, you are also relaying your exact moves to the onlooker, potentially compromising the location of the rest of your team. A way out of this problem might be to create some variations that only your group is aware of. A particular motion that alerts your team that you have been seen, followed by whatever signal you want the opposition to think you are going to do next. This may work if you already have an agreed upon protocol for the scenario. Another option might be to completely switch them around, and create some of your own. Additionally, if you have a group of ten people, and only fully trust five, these unknown signs can be used to indicate when it is time to desert the others.

MORSE CODE: is one of the best forms of communication. Although the code itself is universal, the language you use is not. If anyone intercepts a message of “frog legs” they probably won’t know that the meaning might be to stay away from the pond, it has been compromised. The messages can be transmitted over airways, by light signals, or even in writing, or in the arrangements of rocks and sticks along a path. The real disadvantage of Morse is the level of difficulty. Learning the code is not for the faint of heart, or the memory impaired. I recommend creating short acronyms and memorizing them. BLB=bug out location B. NGC= no go, the area has been compromised etc.

SMOKE SIGNALS: can be a good way to advertise your location, if that is what you want to do. The color of the smoke, and the frequency and pattern of puffs can also be used to relay messages, but again, this only works if you don’t mind letting everyone know where you are.

COLORS: such as flags, can be used in lieu of hand signals when traveling in formation. Ribbons, paint, and chalk can be used to mark trees, buildings, or other landmarks as needed. Marking bags and gear by color can also be useful in case you quickly have to decide what to grab.

ANIMAL CALLS: are an alternative that can work well in a rural setting. Invaders may mistake them for the real thing, and/or be unfamiliar to the patterns of the native animal calls. In this manner you can effectively send basic messages across hostile territory without detection. Be sure your pattern is different enough from native species that you don’t misinterpret a real duck call as a message from your other party.

BOOBY TRAPS: that alert you to intruders are always a good idea. Some can be set up in such a way as to be widely seen. I’ve read of people who attach a charge to their trip wires that can set off a small firework. Marauders do not always have the intention of a hostile takeover, and there may be other bands of unpleasant characters wandering the area. Now everyone knows the location of the prowler. If you are forced to camp out and build a fire, keeping some black powder and smoke bombs on your person can be helpful. If your camp is ambushed, quickly throwing both into the fire creates a wall of smoke and flares, thus producing a useful diversion as well as an audible distress signal.

GRAFFITI: is a common sight in most urban areas, as it has long been used by misfits and gangs for marking territory (hence the name “tagging”). Knowing the meanings of certain tags can be useful. Having symbols of your own is also beneficial. In a situation where graffiti is popping up everywhere, a simple character hidden in a midst of urban art can communicate to the others in your party. Avoid using words or marks that are too obvious or easily counterfeited to avoid being led into a trap by imposters.

Hobo code.

HOBO CODE: is the simple pictographs etched into old telephone poles and drawn on buildings and railroad ties that vagrants who hopped trains utilized to identify if there were camps nearby or known friendlies/hostiles in the area. Many train station museums have examples of these signs and their meanings. Not many people are familiar with it, giving it a certain appeal. If you do attract actual wanderers, be sure you are set to deal with either hostility or recruiting them into your ranks. This is a possibility for those who have a loose association with other preppers and are only interested in full collaboration during an invasion or other ‘worst case scenario’. If you have such a set of connections, than learning this code will help these smaller cells find each other and form a more cohesive resistance.

RENDEZVOUS: points or another plan of action for when contact is lost should be a central element of all communication plans. Everyone in your group (be it your family or your entire neighborhood) needs to know how to reach one another in an emergency, what the signal or code means, and what to do if they lose contact. Practice makes perfect.

This is only a preliminary list, and is not meant to be all inclusive. It is important to assess your individual circumstances when developing your plan. Take into consideration which methods you have easy access to and can rely on.

Happy Prepping!

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Communication is imperative in survival situations. This article attempts to cover some of the basic pros and cons of various forms of communication and introduce the reader to some additions

My New Year’s Prepping Resolutions

It’s that time of year again; time to over eat and over drink, and wonder where on Earth 2016 went? So I write out small lists each year at this time and hope to focus on them. For literally nearly twenty years I wrote “get a degree” before getting one so it works but you still have to act on it. At my age time (52 or 364 in dog years) speeds up and the SHTF becomes harder and harder to physically deal with and life is busy so who has time for SHTF? Anyway the Government will save me or I will die in the nuclear fire-ball so why bother? Still, assuming you, like me, find these common arguments against prepping to be illogical then maybe you can add some good prepping resolutions for me in the comments?

Resolution One – Make sure I prioritize skills over toys

My Meetup Group is a decent source of fun, free, and often prepping activities. Lots of hikes to do and who knows I am loading the ruck with weight as bug out or bug back practice?

This one is hard for me as I work too much (two full-time jobs) but bills need paying, career needs growing, and I do not have much time. I have health care covered but everything else is weak. Some really are weak. What to do? I have bought a planner for 2017. I am going to find things to do and go and do them. My Meetup Group is a decent source of fun, free, and often prepping activities. Lots of hikes to do and who knows I am loading the ruck with weight as bug out or bug back practice? Good to use the legs and shoes and clothes outdoors. Not much foraging until later on in the year but I plan to take full advantage of these hikes and free skills meet ups. Groupon often has decent cheap day events in martial arts, archery, and even survival. I have used both these sites before and really need to do this more often. There are many great people in my area offering great skills. Even actual prepping groups offer free meetups to learn and try skills. The Ontario Preppers Network is a solid and well led organization in my area yet I am always working weekends so never have attended. That has to change I think!

Resolution Two – Organize My Preps

I do go through my bug out and get home bags frequently but in all honestly most of my none food preps are shoved in a cupboard. In the Summer I laid everything out in the basement and saw huge gaps I was utterly unaware of. I bundle the extra hard gear and tools into a tote box and buried that at my cottage on the next trip. That reduced my prepping supplies nicely and has given me a lot of useful things in the ground at the cottage. If the forest burns down I will still have those tools and gear and frankly they were just lying in a cupboard so win, win.

Having gear stored in one location is nice, but not always possible.

Still I do not use excel sheets or compulsively label and organize so this area will be a challenge. I need a bunch of decent tote boxes and to devote a day to sorting and storing the remaining gear. As I said I am not a list person so a permanent marker will be used to write the contents on the lids. This should work.

Resolution Three – Finish the Winterization Project

Being close to moose country it is easy to get decent winter clothing at reasonable prices and is vital as a prep. I’d say it is the key part of shelter up here in southern Canada as physical shelters might not be that warm in January. I have focused on it in 2016 and I am happy yet the gaps remain. I do not have decent boots only one pair of okay ones. I do not have decent trousers just okay ones. Worse I realized my girlfriend’s survival clothing it not decent at all. This has to be fixed and fixed quickly.

My hope is to go to the cottage next winter and leave the power off and even snow camp next to it to really try out the gear.

I will soon have a three-layered ground system for myself and my girlfriend to sleep on and the sleeping bags, liners, and wool blankets seem decent. My hope is to go to the cottage next winter and leave the power off and even snow camp next to it to really try out the gear. Minimally I intend at least one overnight in February by myself to try this system out.

Resolution Four – Food Prepping beyond One Year’s Supply

Some things people find easy and for me food prepping is the one area I am good at. I label, bag, and store great foods, in good variety, and can eat them all and create okay meals. As a new prepper in 2015 I realized the few tins of baked beans I stored under the stairs in the UK in 1980 for the nuclear war with Russia would no longer given me much psychological comfort. I read and thought and saw that the 72 hours (one to two weeks) the Canadian Government recommends would be of little use in a major regional or national SHTF. By adding to the groceries and using cardboard boxes we soon got to six months and I am happy to say now have a further six months in buckets with small Mylar bags inside them.

What I want is a ten year supply for two people.

Still this is not the supply I actually want. What I want is a ten-year supply for two people. For me trying to survive a nuclear war and resultant nuclear winter is worth the attempt. That should cover most SHTF scenarios. So I am at 10% of my goal here and I am not leaping into prepackaged survival foods to finish it. As a vegan for the last six years (I knew you’d ask lol) I understand the importance of variety and minimal processing. This will be worked on in six months amounts. 12 five gallon buckets are about six months’ supply for the two of us. By year’s end I’d like at least at three-year supply but I’d like five years’ worth.

Ball Mason Wide Mouth Pint Jars with Lids and Bands

Gardening is something we have been doing for the last five years and really enjoying it. A third raised garden is planned in the spring and a lot of five gallon buckets are getting buried in that one. Tarps, nails, and cords need to be bought and boxed to rapidly secure the soil in the three raised gardens from external elements in SHTF. We will continue to experiment with seed varieties and planting times.

Sprouting will continue but I am finding after five years the mason jars and lid grills are looking a bit done in. It will be time to add to that supply in the spring when I order sprouting seeds which are mainly stored. I order twice a year. Sure many seeds will dead in SHTF but even a few viable ones can be sprouted, eaten, and even planted. As I add to the store every year I am content to have some expire but will keep them and see if I can grow something in SHTF.

Seed saving started in 2016 and we are going to continue that in 2017. Black walnut processing also started in 2016 but the squirrels got every one of them as they dried out. I now have net bags to suspend from the ceiling and anti-squirrel coverings!

Resolution Five – Get More Personal Security

For me this means personal strength and endurance needs to get back to near the levels they were in 2007. Then I had been a sub three hour marathoner for years and had raced over one hundred ultra-marathons even wining a few smaller ones. Since then I have gone to seed and added about 60lbs (I am a fat vegan 5’10” and 228lbs). 2017 is the time to fix that as I think I am over my burn out. Start small and keep going. My body needs to be sharper than my mind and I do not think starting an exercise regime in SHTF is smart.

For me this means personal strength and endurance needs to get back to near the levels they were in 2007.

Complete building my long bow kit and practice it. Consider a machined bow as well. Get more arrows and heads and learn more about archery in general.

Go and buy wood boards and cut them to size to cover the insides and outsides of the down stairs windows. Label, store, and have them ready to nail up in SHTF. Overall I consider this to be a major concern and one that I have simply been ignoring.

Keep talking to and enjoying my neighbors as they might well be a very valuable resource for me in many scenarios.

Resolution Six – Fun stuff

You have to have fun, right? We are focusing our summer on making sure we can both attend the Annual Preppers Meet as I attended on my own last year and found it a lot of fun and met a lot of interesting people. If things work out we can go dog free to the cottage for a week and kayak and camp around Haliburton as I have always wanted to trip along Canoe Lake. Take the BioLite on the next unpressured dog walk into the forests around us and brew some tea. Get the girlfriend to build and light a few fires as she is fire phobic. Stay open; keep reading Final Prepper; and watching YouTube when on night shifts. Use my hands rather than my mind at every opportunity and generally focus on my weaknesses more than playing to my strengths.

Have a great New Year

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It’s that time of year again; time to over eat and over drink, and wonder where on Earth 2016 went? So I write out small lists each year at this

Understanding EMP: What Preppers Should Know

An EMP is a just one of the threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. A EMP (electromagnetic pulse) can be caused by an high-altitude nuclear weapon that will interact with the Earth’s atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetic field to produce an EMP radiating down to the Earth and create electrical currents in the Earth. A determined adversary can achieve an EMP attack without having a high level of sophistication. The concern of EMP attack is such a fear of national security, there has been a congressional committee to discuss this threat. “Commission to Assess the Threat to the U.S. from EMP Attack”.

CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS RESULTING IN EMP

In July of 2012 a coronal mass ejection took place. A “coronal mass ejection” or C.M.E. is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space. This was reported to be the most powerful CME discharge ever recorded from our sun. The 2012 discharge missed Earth. However, if this C.M.E. had occurred only a week prior; it would have struck our planet and subsequently led to a complete technological disaster according to researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder.

To put into perspective the size and enormity of this event lets consider it’s speed (force) only. The typical C.M.E. from our sun take between 2-4 days to reach Earth. The coronal event in 2012 would have reached earth in just 18 hours. It’s estimated speed was approximately 7 million miles per hour!

While there are systems in place that are designed to warn us of solar flares and CME activity… It’s unclear on whether the teams tasked with monitoring the NASA “Solar Shield” would have been able to alert emergency services in time. The speed of this event was faster than anything previously seen in our modern space age.

Policy makers haven’t taken this near miss seriously despite the fact that a senior member of the Congressional Homeland Security Committee warned that there is a 100% chance of a geo-magnetic event capable of crippling electrical grids across the globe. Certain government organizations have deemed this the “KILL SHOT”. If such an event were to take place it would take up to 18 months before power could be restored to the grid. If such an event were to occur, it’s estimated that 9 out of 10 people would be dead within one year. Once the electrical grid goes down, commerce systems will no longer function, food production, farming and delivery will grind to a halt almost instantly, water treatment facilities will cease to work and millions of diabetic citizens will perish from the inability to keep insulin cold. The ramifications would be serious and almost immediate.

EMP MYTHS

When discussing what measure can be taken to guard against an EMP; it’s first necessary to get rid of a few myths. It’s essential to understand the nature of EMP and how it works.

One major myth or misconception is that an EMP is similar to a powerful bolt of lightning. While the two (lightning and EMPs) each produce similar results; an EMP is actually more like to a super-charged radio wave. Any bright ideas about using lightning-rods, lightning arrestors or any such grounding techniques will undoubtedly fail in protecting equipment from EMP.

Another false concept is that EMP “out of the blue” can harm your body or cause major damage to your brain way lightning strikes can. The EMP levels created by a nuclear weapon would be so minimal, they wouldn’t pose a serious health threat to plants, animals or man. This is assuming that the EMP isn’t concentrated.

EMP can be concentrated. EMP occurs when it is “pulled in” by a stretch of metal. EMP would be dangerous to living things in this case. It could become concentrated by exposed metal girders, telephone lines, long antennas or anything similar. Avoid being very close to such concentrations in event of nuclear war. A minimum distance of 8 feet from such stretches of metal is recommended for nuclear-generated EMP.

Concentration of metal, wiring etc… is the main reason that most electrical equipment would be destroyed by the EMP. It’s not that the electrical equipment itself is really that sensitive, but rather the massive electrical surge would be so concentrated that anything working on low levels of electricity would be completely fried.

So What Can I Do to Prepare For An EMP?

Protecting Small Equipment

A Faraday box is the easiest way of protecting most small electrical equipment that can be unplugged from the power source. A Faraday box is a metal box designed to divert and soak up the EMP. If the object placed in the box is insulated from the inside surface of the box, it will not be affected by the EMP travelling around the outside metal surface of the box. The Faraday box simple and cheap and often provides more protection to electrical components than “hardening” through circuit designs which can’t be (or haven’t been) adequately tested. Many containers are suitable for make-shift Faraday boxes: cake boxes, ammunition containers, metal filing cabinets and so on. Despite what you may have read or heard, these boxes do NOT have to be airtight due to the long wave length of EMP; boxes can be made of wire screen or other porous metal and be equally effective. The Faraday box is a great solution assuming that you aren’t using the equipment when the event occurs. (not likely) It is highly advised that you prepare a “back-up plan” Faraday box filled and ready for such an occasion. Shortwave radio, weather radio, small television, spare telephone and anything else you may need after. Do remember that the power grid will likely be wiped out so anything you keep will have to run off of a fuel powered generator. You should be focused on staying informed but not needlessly entertained.

The only two requirements for protection with a Faraday box are:

(1) The electrical equipment inside the box can’t touch the metal container. Insulating with cardboard, rubber, plastic or even wads of paper are acceptable methods.
(2) The metal shielding must be continuous. There can be no large holes or gaps in the shielding.

Grounding your Faraday box is not advisable. Although EMP and lightning strike are very different in the big picture; a good example how NOT grounding your Faraday box is beneficial would be to look at lightning strikes on a flying plane. These strikes seldom fry the electrical components or occupants because the metal shell acts as a large Faraday box. Since the plane isn’t grounded, the effects of lightning strikes are minimal.

Certain electrical parts are incredibly sensitive to EMP. these include IC circuits, microwave transistors, and Field Effect Transistors (FET’s). If you have electrical equipment with such components, it must be very well protected if it is to survive EMP. Once again A Faraday box is the best solution.

There is a short list of electrical equipment that is innately EMP-resistant. This includes large electric motors, vacuum tube equipment, electrical generators, transformers, relays, and the like. This kind of equipment could possibly survive a massive EMP surge and would likely to survive if a few of the precautions discussed below were taken in their design and deployment. Battery operated equipment will also be impervious to EMP. If you don’t want to buy a wealth of batteries for every appliance you own or use a radio set up with longer than 30-inch antenna, then you’ll need to use equipment that is “hardened” against EMP.

Larger Equipment Hardening and Protection

If you must operate ham radios or the like during a nuclear attack; there are a few methods which will help to protect electrical circuits from EMP. These various vary in design as there are multiple ways of neutralizing the effects of an EMP. Design variations include the use of tree formation circuits (rather than standard loop formations); the use of self-contained battery packs; the use of induction shielding around components; the use of loop antennas; and (instances of solid-state components) the use of Zener diodes. Implementing these design elements can eliminate the chance an EMP surge from power lines or long antennas damaging your large equipment. Another useful strategy is to use grounding wires for each separate instrument which is coupled into a system an EMP system so that it has more paths to take in grounding itself.

On a different note, here’s some other self-sufficiency and preparedness solutions recommended for you:

The Lost Ways (The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us)
Survival MD (Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation)
Backyard Liberty (Liberal’s hidden agenda: more than just your guns…)
Alive After the Fall (Build yourself the only unlimited water source you’ll ever need)
The Lost ways II (4 Important Forgotten Skills used by our Ancestors that can help you in any crisis)
The Patriot Privacy Kit (Secure your privacy in just 10 simple steps)

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An EMP is a just one of the threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. A EMP (electromagnetic pulse) can be caused by an high-altitude nuclear

The Poor Man Prepper

I am so sick and tired of a large majority of these stories always talking about all these real nice things people have for Bugging out. Oh look at our All terrain 4X4 Super Duty Extended Cab 8ft bed Jacked up fully loaded Ford Diesel Pickup. With our totally decked out bug out trailer that’s going to keep me and my family safe so I can return to my $ 180,000.00 a yr. job.

I mean am I the only one that feels this way? I make $ 50,000.00 a year as a Professional Firefighter. And just to state, at the end of the day, I really don’t have a lot of money left. I also work a part-time job. Still can’t seem to come up with money to buy that kind of truck. Plus have all the extras, we all know they’re going to say this man has.

So let’s get down and dirty here and talk about what a common working man would have. Poor Man Prepping… Now I may be all wrong here, and just a complete dumb-ass. But most of the people I know are just like me. Just trying to make, a better life for their kids. We are the ones that don’t have that bug out location, and are going to have to bug in at first just to see how things go.

One day at the station we were sitting around the table, and the talk was about The Walking Dead, love the show, but I asked ‘so what would you guys all do if SHTF happened right now?’ Boom the world fell apart. We went around the table and each guy that was in the conversation said what they would do. Every single one of them gave pretty much the same answer. Get their guns, grab their stuff, load up the family and leave. So when it came around to me well, they didn’t like my answer. I was going to go to each one of their houses, and grab their stuff, I can use to help me and my family survive in our home. Something to think about.

Yea we do have some Bug out Bags and Boxes ready to go, our own small stockpile of prepping supplies. Maybe even a Chevy pickup to throw all that into. But in the end, we will be the ones banding together to make it. Yea I might be the one with the stove and cooking supplies, possibly a shotgun to try to protect my family with. But my neighbor could be the guy with all the guns and nothing else. It just cracks me up that as I read article after article on here it always seems as though there trying to brag or show off in some way.

So now that I’m way off point.

Good! I am going to start writing my own articles and see where this takes me, I can say one thing for sure we are going to talk about what a common working man can afford and can get. Should they have 3 to 6 months worth of food stocked up in his basement with his AR15 and Shotgun and all his other guns, plus Gallons and gallons of water? Well it would be nice. But then again were talking about what we can do to prep.

Let’s start small, and build from there.

1 Sharpe Permanent marker, no this may never stop a mob from stealing your stuff but it will make sense in a sec. Cases of water is really what got me going, Buy one or two cases and store them in a cool dry place. Write on the case year and date you bought them. (Sharpie Marker) This will at least let you know how old it’s getting and what gets drank first or rotated out. Same thing with some canned foods vegetables, Dinty Moore beef stew, spam canned meats – write on the can when you bought them and exp. date so it’s easy to see. Oatmeal, pancakes just add water mix, syrup. Sure, sure if you can get more go for it. But just start saving what you can.

Then try to set up every family member with a bug out bag so it is ready to go. Have them plan for a weekend away from home, 2 nights three days. This will give them something in their bags – try to add in a few other important items. Plate, Cup, Bowl, fork, knife, spoon. This can all be cheap plastic ones bought at a dollar store. Don’t forget to have each person pack an old blanket and pillow if possible.

Now I know most of us have food at home, well when it’s time to go nothing says you can’t take that with you it’s always a good idea to save those old grocery bags to load your food up. Take it. Just make sure what you take you can cook and eat. Pots and pans from the house may just be all you have. Draw up a check list and keep it close by. I am not saying don’t read the other articles or even take ideas from them, they are all good and may help in one way or another.

As far as your Bug out vehicle that’s going to take you away to the middle of nowhere, or a Budget Inn. Will the family car will most defiantly do? Yes! Should we all strive for a nice place in the middle of nowhere, and that 4X4 ATV I mention? You can if you want.

But my grandmother once said to me when I asked, why we don’t have a bomb shelter?

She said, ‘If we did have one would you really want to be the last ones left on earth, when everyone else is gone?’ If were truly going to make it to the next century and the SHTF we need to band together as the human race, cause without each other we die divided. Just my thoughts.

Look for more from me in the Future.

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I am so sick and tired of a large majority of these stories always talking about all these real nice things people have for Bugging out. Oh look at our

Start Prepping With Limited Funds? Here’s What You Need to Know.

Considering the regular commitments like mortgage and car payments they have to keep up with, average income Americans may feel they have no money to start prepping for disasters. The fear of the costs involved now becomes an excuse not to prep at all.

The good news is, with some foreknowledge and skillful planning, frugal Prepping can get you almost the same results as preppers who have much more funds to work with. Knowledge, for instance, will place you in a better position to survive practically any situation better than someone else who relies on just their expensive survival gear.

Your best bet is to approach Prepping as way of life rather than just a project. Take slow and steady steps as your financial resources allow to begin stockpiling water, food and other basic survival necessities and before you know it you will be pleasantly surprised to see how much your stash has grown.

Here are a few ideas on how to start prepping that will point you in the right direction.

Start with a Budget.

Considering your present financial position, how much can you reasonably afford to put aside monthly towards your Prepping goals? Check your current expenses to see if there are items you can reduce or eliminate completely and add that sum to your Prepping budget. Get a journal and put this figure down in writing.

Do an In-House Inventory

A quick check and you would be surprised to see that you actually have more useful survival stuff lying unused around your house than you thought. Items like pots, pans, blankets and sheets are always needed in survival situations. Assessing what you have already will prevent the mistake of going out and buying it again. Once you’ve sorted out your things, you may find long disused items that can be sold on sites like eBay. Add any money realized to your Prepping budget.

Opt for Performance Rather than Brand Name

Let’s face it: many low-end products can do just as well as the high-end brand names, it’s more a matter of perception. The brands you buy for items like survival knives, lighters, firearms and even toilet paper can make over 70% difference in price depending on the manufacture’s name. Instead of focusing solely on brand name as a selection criteria, think in terms of functionality, durability, safety, adaptability and so on. We’re not recommending buying the cheapest possible items but a more balanced approach to spending. You could also take some time reading reviews from users of some of these cheaper brands to get a better picture before you decide what to spend your limited funds on.

Yard sales and Military Surplus are a good avenue for finding excellent bargains and deals on many of these items.

Buy Used/Off-Season

(via:pexels.com)

You can easily get gently used items at fantastic knock-off prices if you take the time to look. For budget preppers, buying every survival items new hardly makes sense as the used ones will still be perfectly suited for the job at hand.

Try places like Craigslist, eBay and Military Surplus stores for bargains running up to hundreds of dollars off on used items like sleeping sets, backpacks, home utensils etc. Firearms are another item that are good used or new but you may not save too much (expect $50 to $100), as they don’t typically lose too much value. Try gun shows and pawn shops for finds on legally purchased, used firearms.

Another source of bargains is buying off-season items like camping gear in winter months or winter products in spring time.

Prepare Your Meat

(Via: wideopenspaces.com)

Another important consideration is the meat you will be storing for the survival situation. The choices are many but if you are confident of your hunting skills, hunting deer to preserve the meat would be a good and very cost-effective option for you.

To enjoy the meat at its finest, the deer should be shot cleanly for a quick death. Marksmanship and shot placement is key here. Ideally, aim to kill mature does by shooting them in the head or neck. Once the doe is down you have about 2 hours depending on the weather, to quickly remove the entrails before the venison begins to deteriorate. Use a sharp, sturdy knife to get the cutting done.

Some hunters open a deer from the rear but a preferred approach is to cut where the ribs come together. This has the advantage of preventing you from puncturing the stomach. The deer liver, heart and kidney are delicious. Just separate them carefully from the rest of the entrails and keep them in strong Ziploc bags. Timing is important so dress it quickly and get the deer to a cooler or, in colder climates, hang it in a suitable place for aging. Ideally, aim for at least 5 days with the hide still intact in temperatures of 38 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

You could also age the meat after cutting up the animal, but skin it first and avoid any hair touching the carcass.

After this, you can decide to process the venison meat yourself before freezing or have it done commercially as it requires quite an investment of time and equipment to get it right. The meat once properly handled, will last you for many months ahead.

Buy Food Items in Bulk

(via:Pixabay.com)

There’s no escaping this one. You’re going to need food every day so a little strategic planning will help here. Plan to buy food that will feed you for at least 3 to 6 months.

Buying in bulk is the way to go here. Non-perishable, dry food items and spices like whole wheat, beans, salt and rice should be top of your list. Buy them in larger bags of up to 50lbs for $20 rather than the smaller retail bags. You can conveniently get approximately 500 servings of rice from each of these 50lb bags. Cans of fruit, vegetables, dressings and powdered food items are also good for extended storage as long as you don’t exceed the expiry dates. Freeze dried food in bulk is also recommended.

On another note regarding food, the need to buy commercial survival foods is still debatable. These foods are usually expensive. You can expect to spend several thousands of dollars to feed just one person so it may be better to just buy the kind of food you would normally eat and ensure you store them properly in air tight re-sealable bags.

Buy on Sale and use Coupons

(Via:flickr.com)

Try to take advantage of every chance you get to spend less. Watch out for sales and coupons online or offline and make use of them for items you actually need. Just because it’s on sale doesn’t mean you need to buy it.

Major food chains for instance, routinely offer money-saving coupons and you can find these on their websites, in local newspapers, Facebook pages, social media etc. Doing this will gradually save you thousands of dollars guaranteed as time goes by.

Take your time to shop around. That time will save you money. Fortunately, the internet remains a great resource for comparison shopping to find the lowest prices on items.

Alternative Power Supply

You’re going to need a generator too and the worst time to go looking for one to buy is when the disaster has already occurred. Sometimes the prices can double because everyone wants to buy and demand is high.

If you feel you can do without a generator, fine, if not the sooner you get one the better. You can also buy them during sales, buy used or you can get brand new generators at bargain prices from people who bought before but feel they no longer need it. Ensure you test it before closing the deal.

Overall, the more knowledge you have about the expected situation, the better prepared you’ll be whatever your budget may be. You can try a test run to determine what items are absolutely essential and what you can live without in a disaster setting. This will put you, and your family, in a better position to come out okay and could make the difference between life and death in extreme cases.

And remember, you don’t have to be rich to prep, just be organized.

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Considering the regular commitments like mortgage and car payments they have to keep up with, average income Americans may feel they have no money to start prepping for disasters. The

Residential Security Checklist

Residential security (RS) is something that is usually taken very lightly, most believe putting in an alarm system and maybe a camera or two is all that’s required. It is common knowledge that one of the favored places for criminals and terrorists to target a victim is when they are in, entering or leaving their residence; Residential security must be taken very seriously. In times of civil unrest looters will be looking to target any location that has valuables, weapons or assets that they can use and that has minimal security, this means most residential properties.

If your threat is from criminals or terrorists and you’re going to hire security personnel for your residence or office make sure they are in some way trustworthy, just because someone has a security or private investigators license it does not mean they are competent or not working with the criminals. What a lot of people forget when hiring security personnel is that you get what you pay for. I am approached all the time by people who require security personnel, many of whom are having problems with their current security contractor, but they do not want to pay a professional rate. Sure, you can always get a cheaper option but don’t expect the budget security guard to be too concerned about your assets or well-being.

The basic procedures I have listed here can be applied on all residences or offices. What will differ is the type and size of the residence, the manpower and budget available. When taking over or moving into a residence, a threat assessment must be compiled and all vulnerable spots identified. A set of orders needs to compile and procedures drawn up for every eventuality. Before you occupy a residence, the residence and its grounds need to be searched for IEDs, electronic surveillance devices and contraband such as illegal drugs or weapons that could have been left there by the previous occupants.

Video Security System Four 800+TVL Weatherproof Cameras, 65ft Night Vision, 984ft Transmit Range, 500GB HDD

If the budget allows, electronic security devices should be employed. There is a vast array of security devices available on the commercial market, ranging from CCTV to laser sensors. Always choose the best that you can afford and buy it from a reputable dealer; it is best to also get a service agreement and have all equipment regularly serviced by trusted people. Even if your residence is in an apartment block, CCTV should be considered for the corridors and public parts of the building. Covert and portable CCTV systems are available at affordable prices and have a variety of uses. These days there are also affordable CCTV system that you can monitor over the internet. I had one client who told me while he was working in East Africa he watched Hurricane Katrina destroy his house in Louisiana over the internet. Remember if you use internet camera’s they can be hacked into, if someone gets access to your computers, passwords or on a more professional level access to your server they can also see what you’re up to.

Many people have alarms systems and panic buttons in their residences and it amuses me that a lot of people believe that installing an alarm is all they require to protect their families. We have all seen the adverts on TV where a woman is home alone, the alarm goes off, the bad guy runs away and the alarm company phones here to make sure she is OK; if only the world was that perfect. What if the bad guys aren’t worried and expect an alarm to go off because know they have at least 15 minutes before the police will respond. If you have an alarm system you need to know what the response time will be for those responding, be it an armed response company or the local police. In some places the response can take hours, even in the U.S. if the responding police believe there is a serious incident taking place with shots fire they will usually back off, call for support, cordon the area and assemble a SWAT team to respond if you’re lucky this may take an hour or two!

Another criminal tactic to counter alarm system on a residence is to keep setting them off until the target turns the system off. Think about it, if over a period of two weeks the alarm on your back door keeps going off between 1am to 4am what would you do? Initially for the first few alarm activations the police will respond, in a lot of places after 3 false alarm activations the police will no longer respond, if you have an armed response company they will be charging you for every alarm they respond to. So, I am sure you will call out the alarm company to fix the alarm but they will find nothing wrong with it. Would you keep putting up with the cost and aggravation of the apparently false alarm activations or just turn the alarm off? Take nothing at face value, if you have an alarm that starts going off for no apparent reason, look deeper!

CCTV should be considered for the corridors and public parts of the building. Covert and portable CCTV systems are available at affordable prices and have a variety of uses.

Security for a residence needs to be planned in depth with multiple rings of defense, how many you have will depend on the type and size of the residence. When planning the security for a residence you need to think like the criminals. In 1994 I was working in South Africa and was tasked to provide security for numerous residences that had active threats on them. My working day usually started in the early evening and went through to after first light the next morning. When I arrived at a residence the first thing I would do would be to assess the area around the residence for likely criminal surveillance points and approach routes. I would then assess the fence or wall around the garden for the most likely point the criminals would use as an entry point. I would then take up a position in the garden where I could see the likely criminal entry point or points and as much of the residence as possible, then I waited.

So, the first cordon of security you should consider is the general area around the residence. You need to identify any potential surveillance positions, choke points and possible ambush locations. Consider using CCTV to cover the streets and exterior of the walls of your grounds. All routes leading up to the residence need to be regularly searched for IEDs, surveillance and signs of an ambush which may be in the process of being set up, to do this the routes and exterior would need to walked by trusted and alert personnel.

If your residence is in an apartment block, the next level of security could take the form of covert CCTV in public areas or placing the building under general protective surveillance. In a large house, this cordon will be the walls or hedges that surround the grounds; these can be monitored by CCTV, with sensors or where legal topped with razor or electric wire.

In a large residence the next cordon would be the grounds or garden. This area could be covered by CCTV and be patrolled regularly by security personnel, day and night and in all weather. All external buildings such as garages and tool sheds need to be properly secured. A lot of people ask me about using guard dogs, something which I tend to dissuade people from doing. Dogs can be weapons and must be keep under control, in South Africa I had two German Sheppard’s attack me; they did not die because the client was screaming at me not hurt them. The dogs had been let out of their cage, as they usually were in the evening, by a staff member who did not know I was working there. OK, it was only me, so no problems but what if it was a child or woman and dog’s owner was not there to take control of them?

If you use dogs they must be properly trained, if I was in a high risk area would I consider having trained dogs in my garden, sure but they would need to be properly trained. Dogs can be targeted as same as security personnel, if they are not trained properly they are easy to poison. Guard dogs that bark a lot are easy to counter, same as an alarm system, we have used this in numerous times in parts of Latin America where every house seems to have a pack of dogs, you just need to get the dogs barking and keep them barking, the owner will soon get fed up with it or the dogs will get tired.

The next cordon would be the residence itself, all doors, windows and skylights need to be secured and controlled and if possible, alarmed. Consider defensive gardening to deter criminals gaining access to windows; below the window plant thorny bushes that would make it difficult and noisy for the criminals to get through. Ideally, all rooms should be fitted with motion detectors and in high risk areas locked when not in use.

Now you need to consider what you are going to do if criminals try to make entry to your residence; you need to make plans and preparations for this. On my courses I usually ask people what they would have done if someone tried to break in to their house the previous night, a lot of people say they don’t know or just then start to think about it. You need to put together sensible procedures, and then if you have an issue you will know what to do and not panic.

There are two general considerations when planning your procedures; are going to stay in the residence or evacuate, what you do will depend on your situation. A secure room needs to be designated within the residence to be used as a safe room for you and your family in the event of an attack where immediate evacuation is not practical.

The room should be lockable from the inside and have several good communications links with the outside world; there should be a list of emergency numbers in the room, so help can be summoned in the event of an emergency. What equipment is in the room will depend on your situation and the length of time you will need to possible stay in to room, this where you need to know the approximate response times of those coming to help you. The main thing a safe room needs is an escape route, if I was a criminal and wanted to target someone who I knew took their security serious I would not enter their residence. In reality if someone knows how to defend a building SWAT and room clearing tactics won’t work, you’re going to have big problems. The easiest way to clear a building is to cordon it and set it on fire, then hit the inhabitants as they exit, if they don’t exit then criminals have saved some bullets. Always have an escape route!

A set of procedures will need to be drawn up for dealing with visitors to the residence; this is the downfall of most residential security programs. A good example of this resulted in the kidnapping in Haiti of a family member of a business associate of mine. This person has a large residence and employed an armed guard to man his front gate. One evening the guard opened the gate to talk with someone who was asking after one of the staff members, as soon as he stepped outside the gate he had a gun put to his head by a criminal who was waiting next to the gate. The criminal with their crew gained access to the residence, as the doors were left open, robbed the place and kidnapped four people.

Why should the criminals try to break into a residence when in a lot of cases they can get the occupants to easily open the doors and come to them? As you read this now what would you do if someone crashed into your car; go outside and see what had happened, now you can be kidnapped and the bad guys have access to your house. A lot of houses have their electric mains outside, same in places where generators are use, so if the criminals cut the power what will most people do; go out and investigate. Sever the connecting to most people satellite TV and what will they do, go outside and check the dish. See the pattern, so do the criminals!

Residential Security Checklist

Here is list of things you want to consider when planning the security for your residence. Not everything will apply to you but take what does and use it, a lot of the considerations here can be applied to most houses or apartments.

Always plan security in depth, you want as many cordons of defense as possible.
Have several means of communications; land-lines and cellular, check them regularly.
Have planned escape routes.
If the residence overlooked what sniper or surveillance positions are there?
Check to see if the residence under surveillance.
Has the residence been searched for IEDs, electronic surveillance devices or contraband?
Is the residence ever left unoccupied, if yes it needs to be searched before re-occupation?
Does the residence have a fence or wall around it and can it realistically keep out intruders?
Are there gates to the residence, can they stop an intruder or a car, are the gates locked at all times and what are the procedures for greeting visitors.
Is there anything to help criminals climb over the garden walls or gates, such as trees or poles around the exterior of the property?
If the residence is in an apartment block, are there fire escapes or scaffolding that could give the criminals a way in?
Where along the routes in and out of the residence could an ambush be concealed?
Consider putting the residence under protective surveillance.
Always use counter-surveillance drills before entering and upon exiting the residence.
Regularly photograph or video the areas surrounding the residence and always watch for suspicious vehicles and people.
What security lights are there, do they work, when are the lights turned on and where is their control switch? If the control switch is outside, move it inside.
Lights should shine away for the residence not on to it.
Consider attaching lights triggered by movement detectors outside of doors and venerable areas.
Any defects to floodlighting or other security lights should be fixed ASAP.
If you are in an apartment block, is the reception manned 24hrs a day and If yes, are the people manning it competent? Consider a penetration test.
Do your doors have peepholes- peepholes are best positioned at the side of the door or in the wall so, you cannot be shot through the door. If using a peephole always distinguish any lights behind you.
Consider using a video phone to greet visitors and cameras to cover the doors and surrounding areas.
Consider an armored layer on the inside of main doors.
If you have a residential security team (RST) do they know their orders?
Are the RST from a quality trustworthy company and have they been vetted and well trained?
Do an assessment on your security personnel and evaluate how much you can really trust them; will they fight, flee or just rollover if there is a problem.
Make sure the RST patrols the grounds at all times in all weathers; bad weather is the best time for raids as guards are usually seeking shelter and un-alert.
If you are using guard dogs, make sure that they are well trained and preferably under the control of their handler.
Are all doors to the residence solid and are the door frames solid, most times a door frame will break before the lock on the door.
Are the locks on the doors of a good quality and have you changed them since taking over the residence?
If a key is lost or an employee fired who has access to keys change your locks.
Consider using deadbolts at the top and bottom of a door and wedges in conjunction with the normal locks.
Can the locks be unlocked from the outside, if a window is broken or can the door hinges be unscrewed?
Do you have control of all the keys to the residence and have a list of everyone with keys?
Have all unused entrances and exits secured.
All windows need to be secured on all floors of the building. It is a fact that in 90% of burglaries, access is gained through windows. Check that windows are properly shut, secured and if possible alarmed.
Consider putting thorny bushes under windows and around the perimeter of your garden to deter intruders. Thorny bushes can be put on the inside of perimeter walls also to tangle up and alert you to anyone jumping over.
Use laminated glass and heavy curtains where there is a threat from IEDs as they will help prevent flying glass. Wood blinds also work for extra privacy and protection.
Beware of casting shadows against windows which can be seen from the outside.
Consider putting a gravel walkway around the outside of your house so you can hear anyone approaching or stalking around.
All skylights and roof doors need to be secured and preferably alarmed. Roofs need to be secured and monitored.
Is the attic of the residence adjoined to another roof or attic from which someone could gain access?
What alarms are in the residence, are they working and when were they last tested?
All doors and windows on outbuildings need to be secured, regularly checked and, if possible, alarmed.
Are the roofs of the outbuildings secured; an IED or assailant on the roof of a garage stands a better chance of not being spotted than one in a driveway.
Do all padlocks have spare keys and who has them?
Are the padlocks of good quality and difficult to pick or shim?
Are all weapons in the residence legal and are they secured when not in use?
Do you and the RST know their rules of engagement and the laws for use of force?
No vehicle should be given access to the grounds of the residence without a member of the security team at least physically checking the interior of the passenger compartment. You never know- your personal driver flashing his light and laying on his horn at the gate might have a gun in the back of this head or a bomb in the trunk of his car.
What firefighting equipment is there in the residence and is it in a serviceable condition?
Are there any fire alarms and do they work? Fire is the largest cause of loss and damage to private and commercial properties. Fire prevention is, therefore, one of the highest residential security concerns.
Flooding is a major threat to property and equipment, common causes include taps that have been left running, leaks in plumbing systems or faulty air conditioning systems, heavy rain or snowfall.
Are all valuables kept secure and do you have pictures of all valuable artwork, jewelry etc.?
Are all valuables insured and have you recorded the serial numbers of all TVs, computer and stereo equipment?
Do you, your family and staff have security, emergency procedures and does everyone know them?
Do you, your family and staff know how to report any suspicious activity in the area?
Do you, your family and staff know how to the raise the alarm, in the case of an emergency?
Make arrangements for power cuts, keep spare batteries and bulbs for torches, several means of communications and check them regularly.
If you have a backup generator ensure it is serviceable and you have plenty of fuel in a secure location.
Keep all sensitive and security documentation secure and confidential.
Keep computers and hard drives secure and password protected.
Have your staff and employees been profiled and had background checks?
Do not discuss sensitive or security related subjects in front of staff, consider giving them disinformation on such things as travel and business plans.
Don’t let any of the security personnel get over familiar with any of the other staff.
Consider monitoring all phone calls from and to the residence.
All contractors must have appointments and must be searched before entering and leaving the residence. Searched when entering to check for contraband, IEDs or electronic surveillance devices and when leaving to make sure they are not stealing anything.
Contractors should be accompanied at all times.
If suspicious of visitors, turn them away or keep them outside and preferably illuminated, until their credentials are verified. Also consider that they could be testing your security or a distraction while others try to access your residence.
Never illuminate yourself in a doorway or a window, darkness is your friend.
All deliveries should go through the RST and be checked for anything suspicious, have a secure area to isolate any suspicious packages.
Use a mailbox or virtual office address rather than your residential address.
Be suspicious of unexpected power outages, faulty alarms etc.
Always have escape routes and don’t let security procedures obstruct them.
Know the location and safest routes to safe houses, emergency rendezvous points, hospitals, etc.
Think like a criminal and plan for every eventuality.

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