Now, let’s talk more about ham radio: Beginning in February, 1991 the FCC, in their infinite wisdom, did away with the Morse Code requirement for Technician Class Operators. What that means is there are nolw a lot of ham radio operators who do not know Morse Code. Why is this important? It takes a lot less technology and output power to successfully transmit a message using code. And if you have developed your own alphanumeric code for your group (as we have) then it is even harder to break if sent in Morse code because so many people now days cannot copy Morse code in the first place. Also, if propagation conditions are not good, especially over long distances, it is possible to get a Morse Code message through that would be impossible via voice communications. Also, should you find yourself and members of your group being held captive by a hostile force you can possibly communicate between jail cells or even in the same room blinking Morse code with your eyes, taping it out on the desk or floor or just whistling it.
I don’t think we have more than maybe three or four months before we are faced with a total Schumer Hits The Fan (SHTF) situation. So, as a senior, spend that time learning code and developing your radio listening skills, it will make you a very valuable member of any group.
Reloading and Bullet Swaging
Disclosure: I have no affiliation and receive no compensation from Lee Loaders or Corbin Dies or any of their subsidies. The gentleman who introduced me to bullet swaging, recommended Corbin dies to me as a source for my needed supplies and Lee was the brand, I chose for my first loader 50 years ago. So other than as a consumer, I have no other association with any company or brand name mentioned. I also recommend using factory ammo for all self-defense situations, but at some point factory-loaded ammo may not be available.
Another skill which will prove invaluable to your group in a SHTF situation is reloading and bullet swaging. I have only started to learn bullet swaging and don’t feel knowledgeable enough to go into much detail on the particular how-tos but David Corbin has a wealth of information and Corbin dies are considered the premium in the bullet swaging community, in my opinion.
Ammunition will be a premium commodity in any extended SHTF situation. So knowing how to make bullets and how to reload ammunition will be very valuable skills. I started reloading 50 years ago at age 15. It started at the skeet club my Dad and I belonged to. The club had a shotgun shell loader and one of the gentlemen at the club took me under his wing and taught me to reload shotgun shells. Following that, I bought a Lee hand loader and learned to reload .270 caliber rifle ammunition. I still have and use that Lee hand loader to this day. The hand loader is not fast. And because it only does neck sizing, it is actually not recommended for ammunition used in semi-automatic weapons. Without full-length sizing, there is a bigger potential for jamming. I have reloaded thousands of rounds of .270 ammunition and shot it through my semi-automatic deer rifle without issue. I also have reloaded roughly 1,800 rounds of .38 Special ammo and shot it through several of my revolvers with only a very occasional swollen cartridge casing being hard to eject. The Lee hand loader is lightweight and small enough to carry in your G.O.O.D. pack, with ease.
If you are like most of us, then you probably also have a .45, .40, or 9mm semi-auto handgun. Using a reloading press with sizing dies as well as a case trimmer you can reload those calibers to closer tolerances that will help prevent jamming better than a compact hand loader. So investing in a reloading press is money well spent.
I now have two shotshell reloaders set up to reload 12 gauge, 10 gauge, and 20 gauge shells. In addition to my handloaders, I also have two presses and the dies to reload most of the calibers I shoot and the ability to swage 55 grain, .223 hollow-point bullets. Reloading is enjoyable and relatively safe if you always use caution and remember that you are dealing with explosives. It is also a valuable skill but another word of caution: Obtain the reference books to show the proper, safe powder charges for each caliber and bullet weight and NEVER exceed the recommended charge. Also, all powder is not created equal, do your homework to determine the best powder for the caliber and bullet weight you want to reload, then get all of the information you can find on that specific powder, and stock up on it. From my experience, I can reload thousands of rounds of .38 Special 158 gr. round nose with just one pound of smokeless powder. Also, make sure you have plenty of the proper primers for each caliber that you wish to reload.
I Collect Lead
For many years I have collected scrap lead from any resource I could find and even bought bulk lead when I could find it. Plumbers used to use it to seal joints in cast iron pipe so you could buy it in chunks. Due to all of the hype about the dangers of lead exposure, it is increasingly harder to find but you can find it. As with almost anything you endeavor, use caution when casting bullets. It takes heat to melt the lead. Molten lead can inflict nasty burns and always work in a very well-ventilated area and wear gloves and goggles. I also wear a long sleeve shirt and try to do most of my bullet casting in the colder months of the year.
I have molds to cast 12 gauge and 20 gauge shotgun slugs, 158 grain .357″ (.38) caliber round nose and .445″ round balls for my muzzleloader. There are many different molds on the market so do your research and decide what is best for you. I will provide this hint: Have a way to keep your mold hot before pouring the lead in, a cold mold will usually result in a malformed bullet. Getting the mold hot before pouring will significantly reduce the number of re-dos.
I have built several ARs using 80 percent complete lowers, having the tools and knowledge to build those and repair them, if necessary, is yet another skill that is relatively easy to develop and does not require a lot of agility. Don’t sell us old-timers short on our shooting ability either. I can still group in a 3-inch circle at 100 yards with my ARs, and even my 3×9 scoped Ruger 10/22. I can consistently hit my mark out to about 300 yards with my .270 or .30-06 with scopes.
Gardening and Food Storage Skills
Some of you may have no desire to deal with radios and communications, others may not feel comfortable working with gunpowder or molten lead but there are still plenty of ways we old-timers can be invaluable to our groups. Gardening is one such way. Now, as I mentioned at the very start I have two bad knees and it affects my mobility but it doesn’t stop me. It slows me down considerably but doesn’t stop me. I have always had a garden but this year I doubled the size of my garden.
I have an old rear tine tiller but it has become more than I can handle. That old tiller would jump forward three feet when it hit hard ground, a rock or a root and I just couldn’t control it anymore, so I found a very powerful front tine tiller that turns hard ground without jerking me off my feet. As long as our gas supply holds out I can till and even if gas was not available I can still turn a garden with a shovel. By doing chores like this, we old-timers can keep the younger more agile group members from having to do it so they can work on other needed projects such as cutting and splitting firewood, patrolling, etc.
Food preservation is another much need skill in any group. My wife and I have canned and preserved food for years. Now, with both of us at retirement age with medical issues we can’t do a lot of things we once did but there are still a lot of things we can do. My wife is an expert when it comes to canning. Her grandmother taught her as a teenager and for most of our 45 years as husband and wife we have worked together in the kitchen when it comes to canning what our garden produces. (She’s the boss, I’m the gopher). Almost 10 years ago we upgraded from our small dehydrator to an Excalibur brand dehydrator and have learned to make jerky and dehydrate a variety of dehydrated fruits and vegetables.
The art of curing meat is a life skill that has all but been lost to time. Our grandfathers and great grandfathers depended on smoking and curing meat to survive. I remember eating salt pork and even salt fish as a kid. Honestly, I depend more on canning and dehydrating now, but I have stored several hundred pounds of plain salt and several pounds of sugar curing ingredients and have an entire section in one of my many spiral-ring “How to” survival notebooks on curing meat, the old fashioned way. Again, knowing how to do this and serving in this capacity frees up younger members of the group to do other things.
Inventory control is another vitally important duty every group must do. Knowing what you have, what supplies are getting low and projections on how long your remaining supplies will last is critical to long term survival. Keeping track of those stores can be a daunting task but well suited for older, less agile members of your team.
These are but a few of the many skills that every survival team will need when the SHTF. It is critically important that every team member contributes to the team and carries their weight, but that doesn’t mean they have to be able to run a mile in 6 minutes with a 75-pound pack on their backs and a weapon in the hands. Assigning these less physically demanding duties to the old-timers, keeps the younger team members rested and ready to fight, stand watch in the LP/OP, or take care of the more strenuous chores.
Again, I sincerely believe we only have maybe 4 or 5 months to make final preparations before we are facing a true SHTF situation nationwide. As I’ve told members of my group hundreds of times, I pray every night that I am wrong about my feelings but every day I try to do something else to be better prepared in case I am right.
I pray for God’s blessing upon you, our Nation and our leaders and I pray God continues to bless us all with the knowledge and wisdom to be prepared for what is quickly coming upon us. Also, in closing I would like to thank JWR for this blog. I have learned a lot from the articles and continue to read it daily! God Bless you sir!
Thank you for your experience and enlightenment. At 62, I am behind the learning curve, but trying to catch up. In the food area, I am learning gardening and making jerky. I plan on taking some medical courses this fall, if available. At our older ages, we might not be able to do as much, but we can train the youngsters and still do other important things.
MH
Good article with lots of sound advice.
I too have been ‘prepping’ (I hate that term. For me it’s just ‘living’) for close to 50 years and still have much to learn. I also have been (an almost) daily reader of this blog since it’s second week where I stumbled across it by coincidence while searching for other similar online info…
Your tips are similar to mine and I’ve given classes and used the same points to bring into conversation(s).
One thing I just acquired was an Excalibur Dehydrator. We’ve wanted one for a long time and my daughter, who is an avid sales watcher on line came to me 6 months ago and mentioned that a site called WOOT.com (this is an Amazon company, don’t know if JWR would get any affiliate rebate earnings from them or not) has very good daily deals. It seems that about every 6 months they have Excaliburs at almost 50% off. My daughter and I both bought one, basically, 2 for the price of one. They arrived on Friday, haven’t even got it out of the box yet, but will this week. Can’t wait. (so for you mail order buyers, keep an eye on WOOT for this and other daily deals. Just today, they have Bates military boots for $21, regularly $205. Yes you read that right.)
And one last thing… as a Paratrooper for 15 of my 24 years in the Army, my knees were also shot! After years of injections, they no longer helped, but last January and then in March, I had both my knees replaced. It was the best thing I ever did. I am pain free. I still use knee pads for garden and/or home repair work but absolutely zero pain on stairs, getting up and down, etc. Look into it if you have the insurance, in the mean time, I’ll pray for your comfort…
Take care
Rob, I’m glad you got those jump-tested knees fixed.
Now, my question…I went to the WOOT website looking for the Excaliber Food Dehydrator. No luck. Please offer me some guidance.
Carry on in grace
Its Excalibur, not Excaliber. Try searching again.
WOOT is Amazon’s warehouse clearance company. Open box, returns, refurbs, last 5 in the building, odd sizes that didn’t sell, etc. It’s offers change daily. You can find some good deals, but also tons of cr*p. If fact, they even have events where you can buy a bag of cr*p, and have no idea what you are getting for your $5. Shipping is also $5 no matter how much you purchase at that time, but it is slow. Additionally, if you leave stuff hanging out in your cart without checking out, it can be sniped by someone else that is ready to check out.
Happy hunting.
Good morning, Muscadine Hunter,
Thank you for this inspiring article! I agree that while some of us “more mature” folks can’t run around or do heavy lifting anymore, there are still things we can do.
From a woman’s perspective, I would also like to add a couple of idea’s –
1. Sewing – All forms of sewing – I can use a modern sewing machine, a treadle sewing machine and sew by hand if need be. How many of you can darn a sock?
2. Crocheting – A simple “granny square” blanket/quilt can be very much appreciated when the nights are really cold.
3. Medicinal and edible plants – identifying and preparing them
4. Small animal farming – Rabbits, poultry, etc.
5. Dutch oven (cast iron) cooking – It really is a skill. If you think you can just make a batch of bread dough and throw it in a dutch oven on open coals and have bread, you will be in for an unfortunate surprise!
6. “target shooting” – please see the articles on the USSR WWII ladies Lyudmila Pavlichenko and Nina Lobkovskaya
There are many other skills and knowledge sets that more mature folks have that are “lost” arts. Everyone can be useful.
Have a Blessed week!
So true, Lisa in TX! Great points.
In fact, the examples you’ve shared provide an excellent direction in thinking about the ways in which we can — as we age — continue to prepare, to support ourselves and our families, and to teach skills. We should all focus on what can be done, and how we can modify our strategies to accommodate changes in health across time. Related to this, we ought to consider everything we do and every lifestyle choice we make across the likely needs of a lifetime.
Here are just a couple of examples…
* Live in a home on one level that can be maintained physically and financially.
* Make steady your walking paths. Consider sidewalks or patio spaces that make for safe (or safer) access of various spaces in and around your living quarters.
* Consider a walk-in shower. Add grip bars and commodes with higher seats.
* If you’re building or remodeling a kitchen, look to pull-out drawers.
* Include in your kitchen supplies tools (preferably manual and low-tech) that will help with everything — including the opening of lids that may be tightly secured.
* Build raised garden beds that limit bending, and make planting and harvesting more accessible.
* Add security features that offer additional preventive value, increase the amount of time you might have to respond to an intruder, or features that might facilitate and ease evacuation should there be — God forbid — an emergency such as a fire.
This list could go on for quite awhile… There is much that can be done to protect and preserve life and the quality of life for people who are aging or otherwise have limited physical or cognitive abilities.
One great way to learn about these ideas and options is to study the ideas developed by and for people with disabilities. It’s an eye opening endeavor, and there is lots of valuable information for all of us in this.
And replace round door-knobs with straight-handle door-knobs.
This solves two issues:
* older hands sometimes lose their strength to squeeze round door-knobs.
* hands and arms full of packages and babies can open the door using an elbow on the straight-handle door-knob.
And in this age of fearsome cooties inches-deep on absolutely everything, an elbow opening a door can save your life and the lives of everybody around you [some humor involved in this tip]!
I agree on walk-in/roll-in showers.
The tiny raised entry ‘wall’ on traditional showers requires balancing on one foot on a wet and oft-slippery surface.
Truckers and crane operators and line-men all abide by OSHA standards of maintaining a three-point contact with equipment while off the ground — *one hand plus two feet*, or *two hands plus one foot*.
Great tip, LargeMarge! Those door handles are excellent…
Telesilla, I have an addition to your list, as regards turning the soil instead of using a roto-tiller: https://www.google.com/search?q=meadow+creature+broadfork&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1
Using a broadfork is so quick and the good ones last forever.
Carry on in grace
Once a Marine… An excellent suggestion. You are so right. A good quality broadfork is an awesome part of the garden tool collection. Thanks so much!
All true. There’s plenty to do for all, ability to fend off the hordes not required! The need to garden, can, cook, watch children, mend clothes etc is always present. Ditto for skills such as reloading that you mention.
Curious about how you have formed your “group”. Maybe you could write another article about how that came about. I’ve only lived in my new locale for 4 months or so and I sure don’t have a “group”. There’s only me plus my son would come here if things got bad enough; not really what is needed should TSHTF. When I had my farm I had forged strong ties with a number of neighbors but of course I’m in a different town now, over an hours drive away.
Ani: I was actually invited into the group primarily because of my communications knowledge. IF you would like more info, maybe we can devise a way to communicate privately but maintain OPSEC. I’d be happy to help if I can.
Knees, hips, teeth, Git er’ dun now if you can while things are still holding together. I needed something and was scheduled in March. Cancelled due to the Covid and done in early July. Messed up my whole warm season. I’m back in the game but I lost a season.
Thank you, Muscadine Hunter! Your article was excellent and very much appreciated. You are so right in reminding all of us of the skills that have been lost (or mostly so) to time. Elders among us have invaluable living memories that can help all of us reconnect to live saving and life sustaining skills of the past.
I would also add this… Every life matters, no matter how much or how little others believe any one individual can contribute. God does not value or devalue us because we are especially strong or smart or able or beautiful or handsome. We should value one another as God values us — as His precious children above all else, and worth the gift of His Only Son, Jesus Christ. As individuals and as a culture, we would do well to remember this, and to put this belief into the practice
of our daily lives. To devalue another for any reason — but in this context say infirmity or illness, intelligence, disability, or age is to be savage as is the Marxist Left which — if the truth shall be told — values no life.
AMEN SISTER!!!! Could not have said it better!
Blessings!
T of A,
I loved what you said, and believe likewise.
Blessings to you and your loved ones this week,
Krissy
Great article and very important skills! I noticed that you mentioned a How To binder. I’m working on a couple of those for my adult children. One is How to Cook Everything from Scratch. The younger generations, unless specifically taught, have no idea the various properties, ratios needed, of basic ingredients. With this knowledge, you don’t need a cookbook (and/or if the Internet went down). Scratch cooking is the least expensive way to go, and it also is important when faced with food storage (buckets of beans and rice, etc).
I loved your articles. Us older folks are a wealth of knowledge and passing it down is our duty, in my humble opinion.
SaraSue! The binders are such a great idea… A thought to add. Be sure to include substitution ideas. In my genealogical work (and study of historic cookbooks and handwritten recipes passed down through time), there are quite a few substitution lists. These appear often during times of war when supplies are scarce. Including substitutions will not only help youngsters know how to make adjustments, it will teach them oh-so-much about how things work — and this way of thinking will convey to aspects of life well beyond the kitchen!
Like Rucksack Bob I just call it living. I guess I’m lucky, although many people wouldn’t necessarily think so. I grew up in a small town in Northern Saskatchewan, at a time, and in economic conditions that meant you had to learn to do just about anything and everything. I didn’t realize until “prepping” became a thing that a lot of the skills that I had learned “living” were actually in demand. It also took a while for me to realize that not everybody had these skills.
I started to list some of them here, and then realized that a: the list was too long, and b: it was to much like bragging. But it did make me stop for a second and realize that I might be over 50, but my wife and I are a great catch for whichever group winds up getting the benefit of our skills.
I might not be able to do a five mile run with a full pack anymore, but I look back and realize that the experience that I have gained along the way should serve me well in a post SHTF situation.
Excellent suggestion. I include substitutions, and am also trying to include sections such as “The Many Uses of Baking Soda” etc. How impressive that you have done that research! The only thing, LOL, that I will not ever suggest, is substituting margarine for butter.
I agree with you that “how things work” is a primary lesson to be learned. Back in the day… there were classes in public education under Home Economics were students learned to cook and sew. There were also classes such as Wood Shop and Automotive. I remember at the time, my parents complaining that the schools should stick to reading, writing, and arithmetic since these skills should be taught at home. My how things have changed!
No! Margarine… Someone thought this was a good idea at the time, but you are so right — we’re just not going there!
Your work sounds so good, and I am wondering… Have you thought about publishing it? Maybe an on-demand printing option through Amazon, or perhaps a print run with a company like Blurb? Just a thought as your project sounds like such a good one!
I’m glad we agree on Butter is Better! LOL.
Thank you for the encouragement. I have casually thought about it, but if I actually finish it for my adult children… then, maybe. I have a gazillion projects going on all the time, so finishing each one is the key. I’m determined in life to smell the roses along the way since much of my life has been devoted to working myself to death (almost). Now, by the grace of God, I get to pick and choose each day what I will or won’t do – no rushing, no pressure – a fun project here and there. A lovely place to be.
Hey Muscadine Hunter, thank you for this very informative article.
I would guess at some point, either due to the crashing economy or the SHTF, that a lot of people will return to the good old days when there were 3 generation households. One of my daughters and I were discussing this a year ago and I commented that with a 3 generation household, some jobs get done a whole lot better. I specifically mentioned gardening. Kids love to plant and help out with things like pruning and tyying up the blackberry canes, but they hate weeding. Dad’s are busy working or keeping things running so may not have much time to garden. Moms have their hands full with the kids and household duties and then canning all that produce that comes from the garden. But Grandpa loves to weed the garden/. It’s a wonderful time of peace and quite, time to meditate, philosophize. I can be Plato in the pea patch as I am harvesting weeds for the compost pile. Kids plant, Mom and Grandma dry and can, Grandpa weeds. It’s a great combination.
The article mentioned the importance of having skills. I say AMEN! to what The Lone Canadian said, the biggest contribution us old geezers have is our experience and knowledge, especially how to do many things like we used to do before technology did things for us. And also, call me crazy, but I’ve been working on a resume of my skills and abilities in case at some point after TEOTWAWKI I need to find a group to join up with. I have a lot of skills like Lone Canadian, but I if I arrived at a compound like in Patriots, or arrived at a roadblock like in One Second After, I doubt I could name off 35% of my skills and knowledge while just standing there. A stack of resumes would be a much better option for a memory-challenged geezer like me. And while Lone Canadian didn’t want to brag by sharing his list, I’ll at least go so far as to say that I doubt anyone would turn me down if I presented my resume. Again, call me crazy. But most of you figured that out already! lol 🙂
P.S. your Morse code information made me recall those poor soldiers at the Hanoi Hilton. They had worked out a tapping communication system using a 5 x 5 grid of the alphabet that was quicker than Morse code. And one of the officers, when they were brought on television for propaganda purposes, was able to blink out “T-O-R-T-U-R-E” in Morse code while pretending to be blinking at the bright glaring camera lights so the Pentagon know what was really happening and a violation of the Geneva Convention.
The return to 3 generation homes is probably going to happen soon regardless of any disaster.
1) Housing prices, especially in cities with better jobs, are higher than most young couples can afford.
2) Childcare and/or homeschooling is expensive for couples that both work (see item 1)
3) Elder care is more expensive than many older couples can afford.
If more companies permanently move to remote work, relocating and centralizing the family is the only way I can see a lot of people being able to financially keep their heads above water.
All my daughters have good training with small arms of all types, taught by outside instructors. They listen better when it’s not “just dad” instructing.
Yesterday, one of them called to say they couldn’t find any more 5.56 ammunition.
Really?
So I got on line to confirm what I already knew. Of a dozen on-line suppliers only ONE had any built 5.56 left, and it was $.50 cents a round. All the others were out of stock unless you wanted exotic loadings, at up to $2.00 a round. That’s $2,000.00 a case, my friends.
SO, they will be coming over to make a production run on the Dillon machines for 5.56, for which I stock a robust supply of components. With three of us handling mundane chores of case prep, priming (I use a RCBS bench primer machine, not the Dillon system because I can feel the primer seat all the way better), and everything supporting one operator on the DL550B progressive press. We can crank out about 3000 rounds in a day without undo annoyance.
Mind you, a single stage RCBS Rockchucker is also a valued member of the team. I also rig a dedicated Rockchucker press with a Dillon resizing/trim die, each with its own trim motor, all calibrated for headspace and case length. .300 AAC Blackout, .7.62MM NATO, 5.56mm NATO. Saves time switching between calibers. Just unbolt the press you’re through with and bolt on the next caliber. Voila! Plug in the trim motor and GO.
Use acetone for case cleaning after size/trimming operation. Lyman ultrasonic clean and rinse after that. Fluffy, bath towel-dry cases after rinse, then transfer to a fresh, dry towel to avoid water marks on perfectly clean brass.
Forgot to mention other case prep, including dry media clean operation before primers are removed on the single stage press. Primer pocket swage for military brass. Then ready for resize-trim op. Let dry overnight….just too make sure. Next day, prime, run through Dillon, bag and tag. Wear cotton or nitrile gloves to prevent getting prints and body oil on cases. They’ll be bright and shiny 40 years from now when your grandkids open them up.
I’ve been shooting up some .38s I loaded back in ’70. That’s 1970. AD. They all go BANG!, with enthusiasm. i wasn’t as finicky on case prep as I have been for the last 30 years.
BTW, all you 7.62 NATO reloaders, inspect each and every fired casings with a scraping tool looking for annular case cracks near the head. Good idea for all bottleneck rifle cartridges, but 7.62s fired through belt-fed machine guns have a disproportionate fraction of bad, cracked cases. In the M60 days, I’d reject about 25%. With the newer M240, maybe 1%. If you don’t reject the cracked cases, expect broken off casings stuck in your chamber, or watching TWO chunks of brass fly out of your rifle. Who needs that during a fight?
Nice article to bring these important skills to the fore. I don’t have enough years in a lifetime to learn all the essential skills, so we have CREW. The photo of the older ham equipment was great. Nowadays, transceivers look more like a small CB. Our Collins KWM-2A soldiers on, despite being made in 1962.
Another good place for us “oldtimers;” be the “safety guy.” BE the guy who monitors the location for possible safety issues. BE the guy who shows everyone else how to use the fire extinguishers. BE the guy who who looks to minimize the possibility of those extinguishers needing to be used. We may or may not be able to join the hunting party, but we can make sure the hunting party has a place to return to!
There’s a lot here that gets overlooked because it’s not tacticool and tough guys hate safety.
A site characterization is handy thing to do:
You touched on fire
Most people know to keep an eye on the topography/ weather
What about low lying areas? If your trash midden is too near a lower level where people just happen to be sleeping, you are going to gas them with methane and H2S when there’s a temperature inversion.
Is your latrine trench too close to the water supply? To the living quarters?
Do you know how to control mosquitos? Are there breeding pools within a 1/4 mile of camp?
Will the water supply stagnate in the summer? Can you aerate said water supply?
Etc., etc.
Tom MacGyver… This is an excellent thought. Older people tend to have quieter and more focused minds. This is key to tasks that require detail orientation and a comprehensive thought process. The role of safety engineer is a great idea.
And not just old folks.
I owned a restaurant for ten years.
My back-room staff included “‘tards” (as they called each other).
(Today, these fine folks are labeled ‘cognitively-impaired’, so I suppose they call each other ‘cogs’.)
Irregardless, my dish-worshers were marginally capable but always on-time and happy to help and a delight to be around.
Their attention to detail constantly astonished me because I am a ‘big picture’ person with minimal capacity for details.
As I proof-read this comment, I wonder if my inability to pay attention to details held me back.
Which of us is the ‘tard!
Such a good point and perspective, LargeMarge!
The price of the least expensive, yet decent 5.56 bullets has rrisen in the last few months from .08 cents to .11 cents, up 28%.
https://d2bz5a3a8phucs.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/223-fmj-55gr-4-300×300.jpg
Reloading may become a necessity. If I need high quality for an AR-15, and I cannot afford the pricey stuff that is now headed for $1.00/rd., I must ‘roll my own’. If I want close to MOA, or better ammo, then I must roll my own. If you do not have access to a standard press, then an inexpensive Lee Hand Loader as mentioned in the article works. Even precision ammo can be made with these inexpensive tools. My first MOA ammunition was out of a worn out barrel, and was made with this press and crude tools. Emphasis on crude. Use One Shot lubricating spray as case lube to make the job easier.
For inside of 150 yards an AK using soft points bullets would be far more effective, and is a fraction of the cost of all other options, yet it will never be a precision instrument. But it is a brute force bullet hose. The significance of this fact should not be underestimated, however, it often is… As security will be job #1, those who do not already process enough fire power should take a hard cold look at their options. We will need different tools and rifles for different jobs. Reloading equipment will become scarce and expensive too. If you have the arm strength, the Lee Hand Loader is option that can keep any rifle running and at a low cost. Those with uncommon caliber rifles can find dies and components, if not ammunition, during times of scarcity, yet we would also need precision ammunition for common calibers. With a few tools, one can even do fancy stuff like turning .30-06 into .308, or making 8mm cases from .30-06. Purchasing components now, and the Lee Hand Loader could prove to be a good move at this time, before prices rise further.
Long range shooting has already been recognized as the defensive method of choice for the future. Reloading is not rocket science. As old folks, we may have the time to add reloading to our list of skills, and it does not have to cost a boat load of money. Those who can do more, will be worth more, not in God’s eyes, but in the eyes of the world.
Some of us “older” ones have lots of real life skills which could help to not have to “reinvent the wheel”. Personally I have lots of experiences of “thinking outside the box” and “making do”. Plus I’ve learned how to do almost everything more efficiently . Age, experience and less energy are great teachers. Also as we’ve raised our children we’ve learned a lot. What to stress about, how to direct, what’s really important, etc. We have lots of knowledge that many of us would love to share.
ON the issue of communication or knowing what is going on around you, Uniden has a couple of scanners which are easy for even those who are not “into” scanners enough to program them. They use your zip code to scan the frequencies in your area, so programming is not necessary although they can be programmed if you have the skills. I can get our sheriffs dept. and all fire and ambulance along with the Texas Dept. of public safety (the highway patrol). We live in the county and our nearest city is encrypted so I can’t get that but it is not important since we are outside the city. They are the Uniden Home Patrol and the Uniden 436 handheld portable scanner (of which I think they have a newer version). They are pretty pricey but could be invaluable if things get bad in our area. Also it is important to get used to listening and comprehending what is said since they use the 10-codes and it takes a while listening to learn the 10-codes and understand what is actually going on. I like everyone else believe we may be heading for some bad times especially with the election coming up. May GOD bless each and everyone!!!