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25 Comments

  2. What is the practical capability difference between reloading, therefore storing the reloading materials and storing ammunition?
    Can someone here make reloading materials at home, is that practicable?

    Is it really practical doable to garden cereals and / or aquivalents enough for a year or 2?

    1. ThoDan,

      I can’t make cases but I can reuse them. I can also find lead and melt it down to cast my own bullets. Primers are the most difficult. So the failsafe plan is going back to black powder.

      The practicality in storing reloading supplies is price and space. I can buy a lot of primers that take up very little storage space. I can also buy powder and store it as well but it does take more space. The shell casing are usually the most exspensive part of the round followed by the bullet. If I have 1,000 rounds of ammo, I can simply collect the brass and reload it multiple times.

      As for cereals and being practical, I try to be practical in my life but sometime being practical, especially in a survival situation, gets thrown out the window. I currently can not grow grains, however in the next few years I will have the ability to do that.

      1. Thanks

        So reloading is economically worth it if the cost – time difference is positive.

        I mean´t is cereal gardening, not farming, really practical to put enough Food on the table for your Group if the SHTF?

        Is the work and time worth it?

    2. Hi ThoDan,
      Having living in Denmark, and prepped in Denmark, I am aware of some of the different problems there in Europe. Especially when it comes to firearms. How it is in Germany, I can’t be sure of, but considering the very restrictive laws that regulated even .177 caliber pellet guns in Denmark, the challenge is much greater than here. You just don’t run out and buy primers, or whatever. Or can you there in Germany? Do they restrict air guns there? Probably. Black powder may be a the best option, and maybe a flintlock is the default. Yet, there is at least one option, and likely others that collectively solve the problem of self defense.

      There might a ‘work around’ to be found for the environment you are in, but not knowing exactly how it is in Germany, it is hard to suggest anything. 12 ga shotgun is versatile, and not as closely regulated in Denmark. Germany many not look too closely at buyers of bird shot. Bird shot usually comes with enough shot that using a Lee 7/8 oz slug mold, one can easily convert the shot into something useful. An expedient method requires no mold, or incriminating evidence, and that is wax slugs, or cut shells, if in a hurry. Wax slugs are easy to make, are accurate, and deadly enough, but see this video first before you begin to make wax slugs:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSaqqKz5zyc

      This fellow’s experimentation with creative 12 ga loadings might be helpful to Europeans in general.

      https://www.youtube.com/user/taofledermaus

      Slam fire shotguns may be useful, and a last resort for some Europeans. You shoulda seen what we did to solve that problem, there on farm some where in Denmark. 3/4 inch pipe, the barrel for a ‘slam fire’ shotgun is available in Europe. But it is relative easy to make firing pins and the mechanism as well. Having a good all around understand how a 12 ga could be put to use could be priceless in a land where 12 ga shotgun are the most plentiful firearm. Yes, match heads do work as material for primers. Another fellow who investigates this problem and demonstrates solutions for homemade ammunition is The Ammo Channel on Yooootoobe ( YouTube). Here’s how to build AK from scratch :

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOT3boiVwUg&list=PL1-1JVPGcSzh9l0tzgCYODI-ZowJZao1C

      Improvised Ammunition:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMGYUmYLhAo

      I’m glad to be back in Montana where one can stack ‘it’ deep. If one discovers a method for solving the self defense problem in Europe, it would be a good idea to fully develop the techniques, and to stockpile the base materials over time, and start do it ‘as soon as possible’ (ASAP!)

      1. AFAIK Shooting Clubs? are the second largest club organization here in Germany and´ve a much longer and older history than Soccer, they started centuries as a citicen militia.
        There are much and i mean MUCH more modern firearms around here, than meets the eye

        AFAIK you Need a Permit(which means a Background check if you could/should be trusted to handle the responsibility ) to own modern firearms and buy ammunitions, the Kind of ammunition is not so important – reloading is done here but AFAIK more for precision loads for Hunting and Tournaments.
        OTOH you´re liable to prove that your guns are safely stored, transported etc., a few cases of owners who didn´t do that with catastrophic effect led to this

        40 years ago an Uncle bought an air gun – pellets and we started Shooting with it, but it wasn´t much fun for me.

        The solution for self defense started here with the I.66 fencing manual

  4. If you have a horse, blanket, bridle and saddle and never have used it ~ EVER!
    And it’s easy enough not to – because you have to legs and always walk everywhere without a problem. But one night your wife becomes deathly ill and needs the doctor and needs the doctor now. Great thing you had that horse. The one that’s never been saddled. The one that’s never been ridden. The one you need to be able to go get the doctor with right know – ain’t happening!

  6. The Millenials will die because they only have faith in their “Dumbphones”, and a bag of pot!
    The don’t know how to think, use tools, or use a firearm safely for defense, humble themselves to their Creator, etc! Have mercy on them for they are idiots! I went to get an ice cream with my wife at Dairy Queen and the young girl that waited on me could barely handle my order. She must have been a new hire, and I actually felt sorry for her as she pushed my patience to the limit. How hard is it to take an order for 2 ice cream cones???

    1. I don´t know how she was trained and you ordered, and you Judge a whole Generation on one, most likely new and underpaid employee in gastronomy, what should i think ?

      Is the Problem that they don´t know how to think or that they don´t think how you would them to think?

      A Smartphone in the Hands of a Person who knows how to use it can be a very, very useful tool and many old trades are dying out because there is no market for them.

      Seen a Copper or bronzesmith lately?

      1. Yes I have also have seen a black smith, but since those people do a very specific art, I doubt you will run into them or know if you do….they look just like me and you. Usually they are not running around proclaiming what they do. Even if you do not know about it the market is still there…..

        1. I asked for Copper or bronzesmith not a blacksmith, those work with Copper or bronze not iron.
          Forged blades of bronze are superior to cast blades of bronze

    2. The Millenials

      Once the Baby Boomer generation is gone, this country is gone. When we look at our childhood, One might see a radically different. I learned to ride horse at 8 years of age, to hunt and shoot at the age of 10 without instruction, did my first valve on job on a Ford 390 at 16 without instruction, and with no previous experience, and so on and so on. I was learning to surf when the Beach Boys were cool. Looking at photos and video on the net, most were fit. And we looked each other in the eye when we spoke. Our mentors came through the Great Depression and WW2. No, the Millennials are indeed, in big trouble, and so is most of this country. They are clearly brain washed, and spiritually dead.

      BTW, someone or something hacked my email, so I’ve had to make changes….

      1. So you´re very lucky you didn´t kill yourself.
        I learned to shoot in the army and one oy my comrades died Shooting (my Service time made it absolutely clear to me there are People that I don´t want to have a gun, ever.) My Father was a cop and I consider a child shooting without adult supervision at [a young] age criminally irresponsible.

        I remember how bad childhood could be when you were different, when you were a nerd not a Soccer player

        1. No luck was involved. The culture here was radically different. It is very difficult to explain. Perhaps a case of ‘monkey see, monkey do’? Perhaps I learned by osmosis as did many of my generation and earlier, by merely watching my father. Guns were apart of everyday life. So were horses, and farm animals. As an example, a high school student, (gymnasium level), one was allowed to bring a rifle to school and store it in the locker. No one got shot. But deer did on the way home. We grew up with them and learn to respect them, and use them at an early age.

          Having lived and experienced more than one culture helps one appreciated, and have a deeper understanding of different perspectives. Yet one can only do such much in a short letter to explain. The gun culture, the traditional culture of the U.S. has been severely been degraded, and common sense is no longer common. I would not expect the youth, or young adults in many cases in this day and age, to know how to responsibly handle a firearm unless they grew up when and how, as did my generation.

          As the article suggests, there is great value in having capability, not simply capacity. Sadly the younger generation has lost much of the ‘can do spirit’, that pioneer spirit, that built this country. Now many live in fear of the unknown, and rely on the government and experts to tell them what they can, or cannot do. Us old people would like to re-instill the pioneer spirit, the rugged individualism that made the country strong, so that they have a chance to survive. This is why I share a bit of my past. We endeavor to remind them of those virtues. It is indeed better to be a Jack of all Trades, and master of none, and able to take care of themselves and their family, than to be a specialist. Specialization is for ants.

          1. Maybe it is, a page learned the art of Combat when he was seven years old.

            I personally think if a Person is old enough to drive and can drive a car the same rules are reasonable for Shooting without supervision. Character, Personality and Skill

            I´m working in a Profession with some risks involved and the first i tell every Apprentice, if unsure ask because if we make mistake the consequences could be very bad, they could be very dangerous, for our customers, our colleagues or for ourselves.

            Without specialication, we would never had a civilization – Maybe in the hunter Gather time Survival was possible without specialication later it wasn´t.
            Not to be able to see and go beyond your specilization OTOH

    3. Im finding more and millenials arent all that way. Yes there are some and like everything else the dumb ones make the news. The personal finance guy i listen to on podcast fields many phone calls from them and im encouraged that many at that age make as much as 100k a year sometimes with family and have nearly all their debt wiped out. Many are even very faith based teaching seminars at their church to show others how to do the same.

      1. Some of it is:
        They´re different, want different Things from life and ´ve even different tastes and even ´ve different values.
        They even expected to be treated with respect and dignity and even insist on that

      2. You are singing my song, DD. I just met with a savvy 25 year-old woman today. She works two jobs so she can help support her parents. From the outside, she seems so “prosperous”. But, with parents who routinely ask for monetary help, she has to scrape to get by.

        I have no fear that millenials will mess up what we have built.

        Carry on

    4. I realize that you probably mean “the kids” here; Millennials are 23-38, meaning the modal age is somewhere around 30. The generation after the Boomer years was Generation X, now in their 40s and 50s. Long story short, your doctor is probably a gen xer or even a millennial by now.

      The majority of combat vets in this country are most likely millennials, given the length of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  7. I think the point is to start doing something now & get the skills needed to succeed. It takes time to learn how to garden, preserve any harvest, raise chickens, rabbits, goats, pigs, cattle, bees, learn how to use and maintain any equipment.

    It also takes time to accumulate the supplies to become proficient in any skill.

    As for cereal grains, it is worth trying to grow them. Even a kiddie wading pool can make a garden bed for rice or another cereal grain. At first any harvest might just end up as seed for the next year. Any harvest is more than what I had before. I have non GMO wheat, oats, barley in my long term seed vault and plant a small plot each year or as we get more of the woods & scrub brush cleared. I’ve also been learning to grow things that might be useful to feed my horse,goats & chickens. I’d much rather try these things now while it’s not a problem if something doesn’t grow than desperately need that plot of oats & not have a clue how to grow them.

  8. I look at my own kids and think “gee do they ever put down the electronics?” I grew up and we had an Atrai video game system and it was nice for a winter day but we didn’t rush home to play on it. Some say that is because of the graphics now, I don’t know. But when I fear they won’t grow up with basic skills, I direct them to some real and meaningful, like stacking firewood, shooting rifles or bows, even just starting a fire. Kids don’t magically raise themselves, they need parenting. I don’t blame the kids, I blame the parents. We would do right by ourselves, our kids and our nation if we mentored some of these kids so that they can learn and be part of the solution when dealing with TEOTWAWKI verse just another hungry mouth looking for food. Remember folks, pay now of pay later.

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