Proper preparedness purchasing procedure

[SteyrAUG]

So here is an interesting exercise for those who can lawfully do it in their zip code.

Walk to the gun range. Carry everything you will need for a couple hours of shooting. It dispels a lot of assumptions.

I've got a range less than two miles away. I soft cased two rifles with mags and backpacked 500 rounds, cleaning supplies, some other firearms related crap, some snacks and a sports drink. People who are or recently have been in the military call that "tuesday" but for me, it was a mild eye opener.

If I had to carry three days worth of supplies and did 10 miles a day, I'd be pretty well shot to hell and not exactly "ready to engage" if I had to take on random goblins I wouldn't be nearly as ninja as I thought I'd be when I imagine it in my head without the part where I hump all that shit 10 miles.

20 years ago I probably could have gone hills for months at a time, especially if I was able to prestock some remote destinations in advance and had a reliable source for clean water as well as some hunting and fishing opportunities. Now I think a challenging drill would be camping out on the back deck, but it's got to be fall weather cause I don't want to deal with bugs and it doesn't count if I run inside and use the bathroom cause my neighbors shouldn't have to see that.

But that Red Dawn fantasy...there is a reason they had teenagers in that movie. All the adults intended to go up in the mountains too...but by the time they ran to the edge of town they needed to sit down for a few minutes, knock back a few power bars, loosen their boots a bit and chug a few sports drinks.

[grizzlyblake]

I've hunted my whole life and always traveled light. Lots of public land so lots of miles through swamps and hills carrying everything.

If I'm going to start hiking with my AR with no end destination it's going to be very, very light. Probably just my lightweight 16" with T2, stick a 20rd Pmag in the gun and maybe 5 more 20 rounders in my pack, 64gr GDSP in all. A Glock 48 would be nice on the belt with a few extra mags of 124gr+P GDSP in the pack. Water, TP, fire starter, rain/cold gear, at this point probably a baby carrier with a 2 year old in it, diapers, food, etc. In this scenario I guess the dogs got left behind.

I don't own a chest rig or any of the high count mag carriers just because I don't see any situation where I'd be ditching water and supplies to carry more ammo anywhere.

I've been thinking about all this a lot lately and am coming to the conclusion *for me* that the standard of one tricked out rifle with tons of mags and thousands of rounds of surplus ammo isn't the best way to do it. I'm sticking with two super streamlined carbines - 16" LW, nice two stage trigger, MRDS, rail covers for gloveless carry/use, 20rd Pmags, VCAS slings with rail forward QD mount. Maybe 10 mags per each rifle and enough GDSP to fill each mag two or three times. Having two full setups allows backup/redundancy or the ability to arm the wife or other family member.

I've preached the Glock 19 gospel for many years and have carried one for years (ran a 5k with one AIWB). I'm beginning to think I may be better suited to a pair of Ameriglo'd G48/43xs with high and tight kydex OWB holsters. Same logic as above, handful of spare mags for each and sufficient GDSP to fill them all 2-3 times.

Outside of all that just buy FMJ practice ammo as needed, although I'm thousands of rounds deep on both already.

From there move on to the other just as important gear for backpacking with your whole family, or camping out at home for an extended period of time. Water and cold weather gear are the highest priorities.

[ST911]

So here is an interesting exercise for those who can lawfully do it in their zip code.

Walk to the gun range. Carry everything you will need for a couple hours of shooting. It dispels a lot of assumptions.

I've got a range less than two miles away. I soft cased two rifles with mags and backpacked 500 rounds, cleaning supplies, some other firearms related crap, some snacks and a sports drink. People who are or recently have been in the military call that "tuesday" but for me, it was a mild eye opener.

If I had to carry three days worth of supplies and did 10 miles a day, I'd be pretty well shot to hell and not exactly "ready to engage" if I had to take on random goblins I wouldn't be nearly as ninja as I thought I'd be when I imagine it in my head without the part where I hump all that shit 10 miles.

20 years ago I probably could have gone hills for months at a time, especially if I was able to prestock some remote destinations in advance and had a reliable source for clean water as well as some hunting and fishing opportunities. Now I think a challenging drill would be camping out on the back deck, but it's got to be fall weather cause I don't want to deal with bugs and it doesn't count if I run inside and use the bathroom cause my neighbors shouldn't have to see that.

But that Red Dawn fantasy...there is a reason they had teenagers in that movie. All the adults intended to go up in the mountains too...but by the time they ran to the edge of town they needed to sit down for a few minutes, knock back a few power bars, loosen their boots a bit and chug a few sports drinks.

Great post.

Stand up, grab your pack, and go for a walk. Vary loads, temps, terrain, and destinations. See what you're actually capable of.

At the end of your next work day, walk home with your "get home" pack. Learn your thresholds for onset of fatigue, thirst, hunger, aches and pains. Think about how many others might be walking and the need to avoid them.

Go camping over several weekends, gradually reducing comforts and niceties.

Do stuff.

[OH58D]

The title of this thread mentions "preparedness" - For What? So far we are discussing purchases without any kind of defined mission or situation. This is what is called: "The Cart before the Horse". What are we preparing for? Civil War, SHTF, Gun Confiscation, Pandemic.....?

I retired from the Army the end of 1999, right in the middle of the AWB. Even then I started buying things that I figured I wouldn't be able to get sometime in the future. With the sunset of the AWB in 2004, I went full throttle in purchases of ammo for long term storage and firearms. I live in an area of the US where "prepping" is a way of life. We've lost power for two weeks at one point due to iced fallen power lines. We survived. We have plenty of water and the means of easy protein (cattle). We can also grow garden vegetables. Other than that, if everything fell apart in society, you wouldn't know it here if we lost power. We'd just keep plugging along, perhaps heading out towards the highway 16 miles away to see what was going on, perhaps fortifying our location. We've got plenty of guns and lots of ammo - and everything else to basic comforts even if we lost all power and communications, and eventually ran out of fuel for vehicles. We have horse powered transportation.

For those in this thread pondering the OP's question, how many of you live in cities or in suburban areas? How many of you would be able to function surrounded by hundreds of thousands or millions of other people, all looking to take care of #1? I would be worried if I was in a mass population area. For this area, you just can't move out here and expect to survive. You have to have some kind of infrastructure to make it - water, food and shelter just as the basics or you die. It's too harsh of an environment.

[Ron3]

My plans are for weeks, not years.

I'd be at the mercy of the Nobles for food and water.

If your plans are for years you'd better be in a self-sustaining community already.

Years living in pre-electricity conditions? No AC? No thanks. I'm spoiled now. Listen to "Fade to Black" for me. Oh wait...

[drsal]

A few years ago, about 2 months after a south florida hurricane, I walked from my workplace to my home. I was dropped off at my center on Saturday morning and walked home, took approximately 8-9 hrs for a 26 mile jaunt. All I carried was a small backpack with two 16 oz water bottles, plus other 'get home' items, a g19 and two spare mags. Weight may have been at most 10-12 lbs. Went thru very safe residential neighborhoods, made note of gas stations/grocery stores, quiet discreet rest areas, and assorted hidden comfort locations. If I had to do that now, I would obtain an offload bike to make the journey easier. Did it just in case I was stuck at work for 'x' reason, storm, power failure, impassable roads, etc. Most important lesson learned ALWAYS wear comfortable quality footwear :-) and take Advil before starting any long trek. As two posters have noted, preparation for what? In my case, most severe issue would pre/post weather event; and for that items are always at hand and in stock at my home. Events like local social unrest and rioting? Stay home and avoid area, also extremely unlikely to occur in my armed guard gated upscale suburban locale. One usually has sufficient warning to avoid such areas and you're really unlikely to just walk into or drive into a massive riot, if so, phuck it, I'll drive through or around them, or grab my always in the car bag, leave the vehicle and join the festivities! My auto insurance is always paid let them deal with it. Other untoward situations, ?flu like pandemic? Same, stay home, proper hygiene, avoid crowds, and have assorted medical supplies on hand (as a physician I have that covered). Preparation for a nuclear zombie apocalypse (pure nonsense btw) .... good luck with that; irrelevant no matter if you're in NYC, Illinois corn country, ranch in AZ or NM you will perish.
What one should be prepared for are weather events, vehicle breakdowns in desolate areas, power failures, things of that nature.... are what Joe citizen is likely to encounter and should be able to manage even with a modicum of 'preparation'.

[OH58D]

Shelter, Food and Water - If you have the ability to retain and maintain those three, you can survive. My family has lived where I am writing this since the 1750's - continuously. There were no towns, no roads to speak of except wagon trails, and no civilization other than what we brought. Even today we are 70 miles from the nearest city, and over 20 miles from the nearest little settlement with a post office.

I have the ability to maintain Shelter, Food and Water - everything else is "lagniappe" as they say in my wife's Cajun culture - the extras, bonus items. Although my first family member in the male line came to New Mexico in 1622, my ancestors managed to stay on this very land 270 years without modern conveniences - I think we can do it as well if required. These ancestors tried before the 1750's to secure this Land Grant, but kept running into Comanches, Kiowas and Apaches who apparently wanted it more. Finally we overcame the competition.

I think we have the same tenacity, plus some modern tools for defense and survival not available to earlier family members. We'll be alright.

[just a scout]

S-Self Defense (weapons)
M-Medical (IFAK, booboo kits, medications)
O-Optics/Observation (NVG, Thermals, binos, scopes)
L-Land Navigation (maps, compass, GPS)
E-Extreme Weather (rain gear, CW gear, MOPP gear)
S-Survival (food, water purification and storage, fire starting, shelter, etc)

[SteyrAUG]

The title of this thread mentions "preparedness" - For What? So far we are discussing purchases without any kind of defined mission or situation. This is what is called: "The Cart before the Horse". What are we preparing for? Civil War, SHTF, Gun Confiscation, Pandemic.....?

That's probably also zip code dependent.

Some of us might see something like the Rodney King riots where thousands of hostiles are hunting targets and there are no emergency responders. You could have to do weeks on your own, Korean response was interesting and informative.

The Northridge earthquake of 1994 was also a significant event that taught a lot of folks about the challenges of their environment. Hurricanes, fires, tornadoes and the like can always produce an extreme example that can cripple locations for weeks.

That is the kind of event most of us should be thinking about. If you know what is likely, you are likely to be better prepared.

And honestly if the government goes rogue or we get some kind of actual Red Dawn scenario where a foreign force is rolling tanks down US streets, well that is something very few people can realistically prepare for even if they think they are good to go. It's really not about how much ammo and batteries you have stockpiled, it's more about which of your neighbors are going to sell you out and which ones are going to actually help you. And you really won't know that until it happens so you really can't prepare. Best you can really do is have a list of people you know you are "going to kill immediately" and most people don't think like that.

If Russian tanks are rolling down main street pretty much every plan goes right out the window and luck and being able to improvise on the fly are probably more significant factors than how much shit you can hump and how many supplies you stashed.

Think about the aftermath of 9-11 and all of the people, those lucky enough to have not died, who had to walk out of Manhattan. That will give you some idea of what cities will be like after a very significant event and keep in mind the 7-11s and Walmarts were still open and credit cards and cash still had actual value. If Russian tanks are rolling main street USA those things might be very different.

[Diamondback]

Well said, Steyr. Step 1, before ANYTHING else, is to do a SWOT Analysis of your position, from political, environmental/geological and cultural perspectives.
S - Strengths
W - Weaknesses
O - Opportunities
T - Threats

A guy with a cornfield in Kansas faces primary environmental threats of drought or tornado, while here in the Cascade Foothills my primary threats are a flood in the river valleys taking out the bridges, or a mountain falling on me in a landside, or barfing the wall of superheated mud we call a lahar. Different threats requiring different preparations and/or evacuation options--the farmer can shelter in place against his tornado, while with my flood or mudflow I have to be ready to flee for higher ground on moments' notice. Similarly, rioting and unrest is more of a concern in a major city than a small town like mine; the more common threat out here is the meth-heads and other junkies. Stuff like that.