Prepping

Magazine Storage

One of the big downsides to having a few firearms is that you tend to accumulate various items: holsters and magazines being the two that take up the most room. I literally have hundreds of magazines in the house, all for various firearm makes and models. Some are compatible with more than one firearm. (.40S&W magazines are compatible with .357Sig, S&P 9mm magazines are compatible 9mm Compact magazines, etc.)

I was keeping the unloaded ones in large Rubber Maid totes, but looking for the magazine you need is a large pain in the, well Rubber Maid tote. So I began looking for an answer, and it didn’t take me long to find one. I bought some foam rubber holders that fit into a .50cal ammo can for handgun magazines . I decided to try them out. Four of them cost me $62.

You number your mags too, right?

These holders allow you to store 24 magazines in each ammo can. That means I can have a can with just Smith and Wesson full sized 9mm magazines, another with .40 and .357 magazines, etc. Now four ammo cans take up the same amount of room as one Rubber Maid tote, and hold 96 magazines in a way that makes it easy to find the one you are looking for. The cans that I have are lockable, so that allows me an extra layer of security.

The downside is that the things aren’t as rugged as I would like, and lots of use will probably tear them up. Still, it’s better than what I had. If I didn’t already have the cans, I would look at buying cans that come with the pluck n’ pick foam already in them. It’s cheaper that way.

Now I need some storage for rifle magazines and for the large number of holsters that are sitting around here.

Now, the disclaimer: I don’t advertise, and receive nothing for my reviews or articles. I have no relationship with any products, companies, or vendors that I review here, other than being a customer. If I ever *DO* have a financial interest, I will disclose it. Otherwise, I pay what you would pay. No discounts or other incentives here. I only post these things because I think that my readers would be interested.

By Divemedic, ago

The Days to Come

It’s becoming more and more obvious that the system of government that we have is failing. The way things are just can’t continue, and anything that can’t continue, won’t. Things are going to get bad. I know there are some who think that things are horrible already.

You haven’t seen anything, yet.

There haven’t been purges. The secret police haven’t yet begun to round people up in the middle of the night. There are no death squads.

We may wind up in a civil war. We may even wind up in a Communist Dictatorship with Biden as the nominal head of the party. Know that there is nothing that you can do about it. What is gonna happen is what will happen. The people reading this blog just aren’t in position or power to prevent it.

What you are in control of is how prepared you are to deal with it, and how you deal with it. There are going to be real tests of your resolve, your character, your will to survive. Now is the time to finish preparing. Now is the time to figure out who you can trust, and who you need to keep at arms’ length.

Just know that you are not alone. There are millions of people who feel the same as you do, even when you feel like all is lost. They will try to convince you otherwise. Organize locally. Make friends. Keep your eyes open, and learn. Take notes. Know your neighbors. Not just your allies, but learn who will be an informer, who will be an enemy, and who is just an NPC. Hide your preps.

How long do we have? We don’t know. It may be a year, it may be ten. One thing is for sure, when it does all go south, it will seem to have done so with blinding speed. Be ready.

By Divemedic, ago

Communications Training and Gear

With things appearing to deteriorate on a constant basis, I think that it is a good idea for this blog to be a bit more proactive in not just commentary, but in tidbits that people can use. After all, that is why I store and distribute training manuals with the link that the top of the site. With that in mind, I want to put more information out there.

Let’s do communications for this post. It is difficult to fight and resist oppression if you cannot communicate. You also don’t want the secret police rolling you up too easily. When the DOJ was conspiring to overthrow Trump, they were well aware of the NSA’s capabilities, yet they chose to communicate with each other through HAM radios to coordinate this effort, even though such use was in violation of Federal law.

The National Security Agency (NSA) picks up and records almost all electronic communications, thereby effectively wiretapping telephone conversations, email, and practically everything else we send out electronically. What the NSA doesn’t get, their partners in social media and at Google do.

The wife of a Deputy Director of the DOJ was coordinating this attempted coup, and would be well aware of the NSA’s capabilities. There are many technical reasons why spying on HAM radio would be a nearly impossible task. Just by using the frequencies and methods permitted to a person with a Technician license, there are thousands of available channels. Toss in the various modes like Digital, SSB, USB, AM, FM, CW, etc., and then consider that the higher frequencies are short range and would require hundreds of listening stations in every state, and it becomes a very difficult proposition to monitor HAM radio.

A HAM radio running low power on VHF or UHF would be audible for less than a mile or two, making interception a difficult process, at best. A high quality handheld radio that is capable of both the VHF and UHF bands can be bought for about $20. I bought a few of these to loan out to people in an emergency. You can get a nicer one for $70, and that is the one I use. I still own a nicer, far more expensive Yaesu that cost me almost $400, but I have found that the Baofeng works just as well at a fraction of the cost.

I am currently reading “The Guerrilla’s Guide To The Baofeng Radio” and I think it is a great book, full of both technical and practical tips to using this radio. It’s well worth the $23 it cost me. There are other ways to communicate, and we will talk about them later.

Now, the disclaimer: I don’t advertise, and receive nothing for my reviews or articles. I have no relationship with any products, companies, or vendors that I review here, other than being a customer. If I ever *DO* have a financial interest, I will disclose it. Otherwise, I pay what you would pay. No discounts or other incentives here. I only post these things because I think that my readers would be interested.

By Divemedic, ago

SB Tactical Gets Pwned

A company that makes pistol braces gets its customer database breached. There are four possibilities here:

  1. ATF was doing a little illegal sneak and peek so they know whose dogs to shoot
  2. ATF had one of their partner informants do it for them
  3. A freelance SJW is planning on outing everyone
  4. Criminals are just doing what they do

I am betting that the incident is either 2, above. Some lefty is going to anonymously notify the ATF that they have a list of lawbreaking owners of SBRs. Since the new rule outlawing unregistered pistol braces was published today, you have 120 days to register your (now) SBR or become a felon. Isn’t that a sweet little coincidence?

The miscreants got away with each user’s credit card number, expiration date, CCV code, cardholder name, address, phone number, and email address. If you have ever done business with SB tactical, you should consider all of that information as being compromised and in the possession of people who mean to steal your money, your life, or your freedom.

We know that the feds are now enlisting people in the private sector to do their unconstitutional dirty work. It can’t be too much longer before the informers are everywhere and people become vzyali.

On a side note, as of today I will no longer be in possession of a pistol brace equipped firearm. I am not registering shit.

By Divemedic, ago

Can I Eat Him?

If a deer attacks you on your own front porch, and it’s outside of hunting season, I would assume that it’s still lawful to shoot his ass. I’m sure a couple of handgun bullets to the cranium would take him down, no problem. (mute the audio. The woman screaming is annoying.)

My question here is: Would you then be permitted to add his meat to the freezer? Some venison steaks would be delicious!

By Divemedic, ago

Body Armor

I own several types and brands of body armor. Each has advantages and disadvantages. I will summarize them below.

Back in 2018, I bought some body armor for my wife and me. Since we were working as teachers, I got a set for each of us to keep in the classroom. The vests that I bought are made by Bulletsafe. The vests that I got are the Level IIIA vests, cost $300. I found them to be too bulky to wear concealed. With the trauma plates, the vests are upgraded to Level IV, but they are quite heavy when worn that way. My wife’s vest is still in her classroom. Since I no longer teach, my vest is next to the bed with the home defense gun and a set of electronic hearing protection. If I need to clear the house, having a Level IV vest on is a great idea, and the weight isn’t a concern since I won’t be wearing it for long. The company was OK, with the first vest and plate coming on time, but the plate for the second vest wasn’t delivered after two months. I originally cancelled the order, but the company made it right. It looks like they were just too successful and were having trouble filling the large numbers of orders they had. I’ve worn this set a couple of times to clear the house, and twice while I was teaching when we went on lockdown. Mine has a FAK and a couple of velcro tags on it that indicate my blood type and say “Paramedic” on them. One problem that I have with this product is that it covers the shoulder and makes shouldering a long gun kind of difficult.

Fast forward to 2020, and I placed orders for two more sets of armor. The first was a Testudo Gen2 carrier and a set of Level III+ steel plates from AR500. I also put a set of pouches on it that can hold five 30 round AR magazines, a full sized handgun with two magazines, a first aid kit, an accessory pouch, and another pouch that will hold two smoke grenades. (Yes, I have smoke grenades) Delivery was actually faster than the quoted 8 weeks and cost me about $500. One thing: I bought my own pouches elsewhere, as it was cheaper. Even so, at 25 pounds (with armor, handgun, and other gear) that loadout is as heavy as I can wear in Florida’s summer heat without being uncomfortable. Toss in an AR, and I am toting about 35 pounds of gear. I would recommend (if you have the cash) that you spend the extra for the lighter plates to reduce weight. That will save you about seven pounds, but will cost another $500 or so. This vest is my Antifa emergency loadout and I haven’t worn it other than to see how it fit and how heavy it felt. The good and bad of this setup is that it only covers the vital organs. This leaves the shoulders unprotected but allows long guns to be comfortably shouldered.

The last experience I had with armor was the most promising, but was the worst of them. The company was called Bulletproof Everyone. A concealable Level II vest, it looked interesting:

The product was less than ideal. It was just a sweatshirt with pockets for the soft plates sewn into it. It is obvious that it contains body armor. It smelled like chemical scented ass and took months to get delivered. Even though it was only $350, I expected a better product. The first vest I got didn’t fit even though I measured. After some complaints and a call to the company’s owner, I got one that fit properly, but as you can tell, I wasn’t impressed. I don’t think I have ever worn it other than to check fit.

So that is my experience with armor.

By Divemedic, ago

InReach

I just came across this handy little gadget, and I can’t believe I had not seen it sooner. We talked about emergency communications the other day, and this product line from Garmin looks pretty amazing. It is a GPS device with built in satellite communications. That is some Star Trek communicator shit right there.

The equipment allows you to send your location, an SOS, and even two way text messages via satellite. The only real drawback is cost. There is a monthly subscription fee that ranges from $15 up. The devices themselves cost between $300 and $600. Steep.

I’m telling you that if I regularly travelled far outside of cell range, this would be a sure thing. As it is, I am not sure I can justify the cost for my travel habits now, but if I were still doing the offshore boating or backcountry hiking thing, I would already have one.

I know this post reads like a commercial, but it isn’t. As usual, I accept no advertising. I just occasionally come across products that I think are interesting and would be of value to my readers. I have no relationship with Garmin or Amazon, other than being a customer. In this case, I don’t even own this product, although I am really thinking about it.

By Divemedic, ago

Prepping: Communications

For nearly 20 years, I have spread the word that communications were lost in disasters. I learned during Hurricane Charley in 2004 that there is a need for communications. Cell service was out for weeks. With no way to reach the outside world or communicate with family members, checking on each other was a severe handicap. So I added getting a HAM license as a step in my preparedness campaign. It was a simple test, and a $10 fee for the license, and you don’t even need to know Morse code. In exchange, I got a license that allows me to operate radios that have enough reach for most disaster communications.

Some try to rely on CB radios. Try it, you won’t be happy. There are only 40 channels, but millions of CB radios. It’s an unregulated wasteland. In the best of times, the channels are clogged with people running illegally high power levels (in some cases over a thousand watts) and effectively jamming the airwaves with nonsense, just because they enjoy being assholes. The last time I listened, there was a guy on Channel 19 who was broadcasting an anti-Trump rant for over an hour. Nonstop, making Ch 19 unusable. There is another group who makes a hobby of doing the same on Channel 6. So CB is out.

Some opt for FMRS radios. With 22 channels and only 2 watts, the limited power and channel options mean clogged communications and short range.

In my opinion, GMRS or HAM radios is the better option. Each has its own benefits and issues. There is a third, better option out there, and we will get to that in a minute.

GMRS advantages:

  • The license is only $35 for 10 years, one license is good for an entire family, and no testing is required
  • GMRS licensees can operate repeaters, which will extend your range.
  • Can use up to 50 watts, but handhelds normally are 5 watts or less

GMRS disadvantages

  • There are only 30 channels on 22 frequencies, and they are shared with FMRS radios. This means possibly clogged channels
  • GMRS licenses are only good for members of the same household. Different houses require a separate license

There is also HAM radio. Advantages:

  • Thousands of channels to choose from, even in just the 2 meter and 70 cm bands
  • License needed, but only $15 for ten years
  • Less congested than other radio services
  • Can be used to patch into telephone service
  • Can be used in digital modes to connect to Internet, transmit pictures, or other data to other digital HAM sets

HAM disadvantages

  • One license per person is required, and there is a test
  • more technically demanding.
  • Radios have a lot of capabilities, but can be complicated to operate and program
  • Required to speak plainly. Code phrases are not permitted

Radios are cheap, and can be as easy or as complicated as you need them to be. You can get a GMRS radio that has three controls and doesn’t need programming for only $50 or so. The only controls are on/volume, channel selector, and push to talk button.

Then there is the third option. The best of both worlds, and the one that I have selected: Programmable radios.

Get yourself a HAM license AND your family a GMRS license and buy a mixture of radios. This allows you to have all of the advantages of FMRS, GMRS, and HAM while allowing you to circumvent the issues of all three.

Get programmable radios.

  • They can be had for as little as $45 each. They come pre-programmed for the GMRS channels, and your family members who need to communicate with them can do so with very little training.
  • If used within the FMRS power restrictions, non family members can legally borrow and use them
  • Some, like the Baofeng UV5R, can be programmed for HAM channels, meaning that those with a HAM license can use them for all three services
  • Adding a GMRS repeater gives you a lot more range and flexibility, can be used as a base station, and costs less than $220.

Possessing the two licenses allows for great flexibility. You could use GMRS on your street to communicate between houses. The ones who are more technically inclined could serve as “communications specialists” and communicate between streets that are several, or even dozens of miles apart. Use your imagination.

By Divemedic, ago

Wrap Up and Roll Call

The storm is past us now to the north, as indicated by the fact that winds are out of the NNW. That puts us in the lower left side of rotation. So, this storm for us is over.

We lost power last night at around 0245. It was back on almost immediately. Winds maxed out last night at 24 miles per hour, and a maximum gust at 38. We got a total of 3.4 inches of rain.

I did my post storm walk around, and damage is almost zero. The only damage I have is a UPS that was damaged by the power surges. That seems to happen with every big storm.

For my family:

  • The eye passed directly over my brother’s house last night. I believe power is out where he is, because I can’t get ahold of him. He should be OK though, because he lives on the east side of the state, and the storm wasn’t even a hurricane anymore by the time it passed him by.
  • My sister has been without power for 14 hours, but reports that she is OK.
  • My mother, daughter, and grandkids are all OK. So are my in-laws.
  • One of my wife’s cousins lives in Englewood. We offered them a spot up here and begged them to evacuate. They waited too long and were not able to leave because of traffic. The northern eye wall was over their house for hours. No one has heard from them since yesterday morning. We are hoping that it’s just power issues. This is why I always tell people to get out early.

The reports from the area between Bonita Springs up to Venice are pretty bad, but remember that the majority of the damage is usually limited to a mile or of the beach and the press is going to focus on the worst of it because ratings.

This storm made landfall in nearly the exact same spot as Hurricane Charley did in 2004, and then followed nearly the same path. The two storms paths were only about 20 miles apart on the west coast, and 45 miles apart on the west coast.

Anyway, that ends my part of hurricane Ian.

By Divemedic, ago

The Latest

The forecast seems to be changing every time there is another update, but this is what I know for now:

  • There is a 90 percent chance of 40 mile per hour sustained winds at my location.
  • Likewise, a 50 percent chance of 50 mile per hour winds
  • A 25% chance of 75 mile per hour winds
  • And a 10 percent chance of sustained winds of over 90 miles per hour
  • Gusts would be higher

Now all homes in Florida built in the past 25 years are supposed to be able to withstand winds of up to 110 miles per hour. I will say that I felt like the winds being reported by the NWS were grossly overstated, so I bought a personal weather station. I guess we will be getting a chance to test that out.

We are also being told to expect up to 14 inches of rain. We average 60 inches of rain in a year, so we are getting three months’ rain in three days. That means flooding. Our house is on high ground, so I think we should be OK.

My biggest concern is having the power be out for several days. I have an 8KW genny and a bunch of fuel, so I should be OK. We are working on building a new house about 30 minutes south of here, and it will have a 24KW propane or natural gas fueled backup, but for now 8KW gasoline is all I have.

The nasty weather is supposed to begin before lunchtime tomorrow. My checklist is complete with the exception of shutting down the NAS, buying some subs from Publix, and doing a final check on comms.

My mobile and handheld radios are all good, I just need to check the main radio set. It’s a nice one, a Yaesu FT-897 with an interface to allow digital and voice communication. I have two antennas mounted in the attic, a dual band for VHF, and the second is a G5RV wire antenna for HF. At 52 feet long, it stretches most of the way across the house, but this antenna allows me to transmit in all bands from 10 meters down to 40 meters.

As soon as the wife gets home from work, we will head out to dinner and Publix, then settle in for the night. I still don’t know for sure what my work schedule will be. For now, I am scheduled to work 9-9 tomorrow, but that may change.

It’s 1415 on 9/27, and it just began raining.

By Divemedic, ago