Letter Re: Save Your Fired Cartridge Brass

Dear Jim and Family,
In the beginning of a collapse, you carry a concealed weapon, and deal with the police if you have to use it. Gunfights [typically] last 4 rounds or less, and its usually just one attacker. In theory, after the fight and you’ve survived, you get it back, eventually. Use a revolver or automatic, your choice, just be sure its small and light enough you always carry it.

As the collapse deepens, you start encountering more and more threats, packs of them. They attack your vehicle, they go after your home, they try to stop you with roadblocks and hostages. It only gets worse as your survival makes you a bigger target for them. The Golden Horde descends and committed amateurs require a lot more firepower to dissuade. As we’ve read in the Argentina diary by FerFAL, you need volume of fire, and cheap ammo so you can fire lots, spray and pray to drive them off. JHP if at all possible. At this point, the police are coming late or not at all, and investigations are perfunctory and dismissive as long as the bribes flow.

Traditionally, these collapses don’t last, and things get better again, with more happy motoring and mass consumption of products… but that’s the past. The future is a touch more simple and ugly. The mass quantities are over because the cheap energy is over. Along with those are mass ammunition supplies. Eventually, after years of self defense shootouts and MZB assaults, you start getting low on ammo. You reload your brass, you shoot semi-auto. You pick up your brass but you start running out. It doesn’t fit right, its got overpressure damage due to firing in a dirty chamber, incipient case-head separation, cracks, etc etc. What to do? Your automatic pistol needs specific care and feeding to stay reliable. What indeed…

The revolver is a finicky beast, despite what you’ve heard. Carefully tuned by a decent gunsmith they’re a dream to shoot and usually very accurate and amazingly reliable (tuned, mind you). Replacement parts are not drop in, but require fitting and polishing by a smith, which will cost around $1,000. That said, they’re relatively simple and most importantly: they don’t throw brass. After all the MZBs are mostly dead, a few loners are left wandering around, most of them wary of you or harmless. You’ll still need to carry a gun to be safe but you probably won’t need a rifle for day-to-day chores or killing snakes in your garden. A revolver is ideal for this job. You can save and reload the brass because the empties are still in the gun. You don’t have to crawl around in the dirt, looking for the .40 S&W, one of 43 [pieces] left in your collection, you are sure its over here somewhere. With a revolver, the brass is in your hand.

The Peak Oil collapse is not quite generational, but almost. In some places it will be. In others it won’t. The recovery that comes after about 20 years of misery and shortages and temporary bouts of violence (or true anarchy), will eventually end. After two decades of poor or no-police presence, distrust will be such that going armed is the only way to go in many places. However, you will probably find yourself not needing it very often because those 20 years very effectively killed off the most aggressive people, and organized the smart ones into those more able to use, not kill the peasant class, which may include you. You won’t have access to spare brass (copper is in short supply now, and will be expensive or impossible to get by then), so having brass is a good idea, stockpiling it and the dies and such needed to load.

As to caliber for your revolver… well, in the old west gunfighters used .35 caliber (slower that .357s), lawmen used .44 and .45 caliber. While the .45 LC cowboy action pistols are fun shooters, they’re slow to unload and reload, which I’d call a major problem. I’m aware of bullet swaging hobbyists (make the bullets from lead wire and copper tubes) who can get .454 Casull velocities out of .45 “Long” Colt revolvers which are built strongly. It also bears point that the .44 Magnum can be easily loaded at .44 Special velocities which is more like a .45 ACP in recoil and every bit as effective and comfortable to shoot, so as long as you’re reloading anyway, load it to match your preference in recoil. There’s also the .41 Magnum, which is between the .357 and .44 in power and recoil, basically a hotter 10mm/.40S&W. Taurus is fond of the chambering for some reason and is selling quite a few models with it, which makes me wonder. Besides two-legged predators, you’ll be dealing with feral dog packs, cougars, and black bear which have been eating the dead and see you as a meal (no really, that’s why the lions in The Ghost and the Darkness were eating people: poor disposal of corpses taught them that people were food). While animal attacks will be infrequent, you must carry a gun to protect yourself.

The short of it is, buy a sturdy automatic for the first and second parts of the collapse, and a revolver for the third. Best, – InyoKern

Odds ‘n Sods:

Chuck alerted us to this piece of commentary from Eugene Linden, published by Business Week: From Peak Oil To Dark Age?

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S.F. in Hawaii mentioned that he found a Wikipedia page on Olduvai Theory, which ties in to Peak Oil.

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I heard from SurvivalBlog reader “BVance” that the James Wesley Rawles Wikipedia article has been flagged for lack of notability–mainly because it lacks references. The gent that wrote the original wiki entry is currently deployed in Afghanistan and tells me that he has just sporadic Internet access and hence doesn’t have the time to add the apropos web references. Could some kind SurvivalBlog reader–that has experience with formatting Wikipedia references–please do so? Thanks!

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong." – Ayn Rand

Note from JWR:

Congrats to Ed Z., the high bidder in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a selection of 17 survival and preparedness books. Special thanks to Ready Made Resources for donating most of the books in this auction lot.

A new auction begins today. This one is for a batch of 10 brand new original Imperial Defence SA-80 (AR-15) steel 30 round rifle magazines. (See photo.) These were original British military arsenal made (with tags marked “ENGLAND”), 8 are black finish, and 2 are gray finish, all brand new, with 8 of them still in wrappers. Most of these are of recent manufacture, with light green anti-tilt followers. These magazines have a reputation for flawless function and their steel construction gives them multi-generational durability. They have a retail value of at least $26 each . ($260 for the batch of 10.) These will fit and function in all .223 M16s, AR-15s, CAR-15s, and M4s, as well as the new AR-180B and a few other guns. (Such as the new Remington pump action police rifle and the OA-93 pistol.) Please do not place a bid if you live in a locale where these are restricted. Just send us your bid via e-mail. Thanks!

Two Letters Re: Seeking Advice on Swimming Pool Chlorine for Treating Drinking Water

James,
Your advice is excellent; however, one of the best tools to have for checking [water] sanitation levels is a DPD [Diethyl-paraphenylene diamine reagent] test kit available from Taylor or Hach, to name a few.
I do not recommend OTO [orthotolidine reagent] kits as they are not as accurate as DPD. A 5mg/L initial shock should take care of most contaminants.
After you have treated any water with bleach, it should be tested for free chlorine residual after 30 minutes of contact time. Water with a free chlorine residual of 4 mg/L should not be ingested for long durations as it can cause mild digestive tract issues.
NOTE: The suggested residual is between 0.5 and 1.0 mg/L (parts per million or ppm). The EPA requires all discharge to have less than a 1.0mg/L free chlorine residual before
leaving the process flow.
The great thing about chlorine is that it will kill 95+% of all the biological contaminants; however, chlorine cannot kill giardia cysts as their outer covering is very difficult to break down. One other potential problem with the use of chlorine to treat surface water is the formation of bromide compounds which are cancerous; however, unless the precursors, carbon compounds, are present the formation rate is very low. If you are treating a contaminated well, the chance of bromide formation is even lower.
If you can pre-filter and add bleach to your water then allow the free chlorine level to drop to 0.5mg/L, placing the treated water in an opaque, sanitized vessel for long periods of time should be fairly safe as long as the initial feed stock was fairly free of organic matter to begin with. Thank you for all your hard work keeping us prepared for what ever may come. Sincerely, – Drew

Jim:
Using calcium hypochlorite to disinfect water is a good idea. However, rather than trying to dump some amount of pool shock chlorine into a tank and hoping that it dissolves and mixes with the water, a better idea is to mix a slurry of it in a plastic bucket (it will corrode a metal one) and pour and mix the slurry.
Also, the halide (halogen, chlorine or iodine ions) need to be in contact with the water for some amount of time before they can kill all the bacteria – and that time is dependent on the temperature of the water. Colder water takes longer.
To test the degree of halogenation in water, I suggest that people get a pool water test kit and use it. They are very inexpensive, and easy to use: Simply get a (clean) bucket of water that’s been treated, and use the pool water test kit (for halogenation), ideal ‘pool water’ is about 2 parts per million (ppm) chlorine, drinking water should be between 2 and 5 ppm when treated – the chlorine will gas off over time, as long as the water isn’t likely to be re-contaminated (in an open top tank, for example) it doesn’t really need to be retreated. Dump the ‘test’ water out, [orthotolidine] OTO isn’t too good to drink.
The test kit will have directions but basically you put the test water into a clear chamber, add a reagent–usually orthotolidine (OTO)–to the chamber, and compare the color to the provided chart. If the water tests too low, add more slurry, if too high, next time don’t add so much. People will be able to figure out the approximate ‘right’ amount pretty quickly.
The military chlorination kits (for Lister bags and water buffalos) suggest as much as 10 ppm. This is to allow for high levels of organic material in the water (which adsorbs the chlorine, keeping it from disinfecting the water, and allowing the water to not be retreated too quickly); you probably recall drinking beverages so treated with as much fondness as I do. – Flighter [His article follows]

How to Disinfect Water, by Flighter

How to sterilize water? Simple: You don’t need to ‘sterilize’ water. Sterilization is the destruction of all microorganisms in, on and around an object. What is needed, is disinfection (killing of pathogenic (disease causing) organisms).
Disinfection can be done many ways, including filtration, heat, ozonation, and chemical disinfection.
Despite many stories to the contrary, simply boiling water will disinfect it. At any elevation you’re likely be at the boiling point of water is high enough to kill (or denature) anything in the water. You don’t need to boil it for any particular length of time, just get it boiling at a good rolling boil.
Filtration is a good method, you should use a filter that has an absolute rating of 0.2 micron diameter or less (0.1 micron). Personally, I use iodine crystals (Polar Pure™ first, then filter the water.
Chemical disinfection is the use of various chemicals (usually a halide like chlorine or iodine) in the water. It’s usually a quick, economical and effective method.
Here is a summary of water disinfection chemical usage based on the Wilderness Medical Society Practice Guidelines 2nd Edition, edited by William Forgey, MD (page 63):
For chemical disinfection, the key is the concentration of halogen, in parts per million (halogen to water):

Concentration of Halogen

Desired Concentration Contact time
@ 5oC / 41o F		 Contact time
@ 15o C / 5o F
 Contact time
@ 30o C / 86o F
2 ppm 240 minutes 180 minutes 60 minutes
4 ppm 180 minutes 60 minutes 45 minutes
8 ppm 60 minutes 30 minutes 15 minutes


How to get the desired concentration of halogens, for various products:
Iodine tablets, also known as: tetraglycine hydroperiodide; EDWGT (Emergency drinking water germicidal tablets); USGI water purification tablets; Potable Aqua (trade name); Globaline (trade name):
4 ppm – 1/2 tablet per liter of water 8 ppm – 1 tablet per liter of water.

NOTE: These tablets should be gunmetal gray in color when used – if rust colored, they are useless:
The free iodine has combined with atmospheric moisture. The bottles should be kept well sealed and replaced often. Checking the tablets in the bottle just exposes them to moisture in the air.For 2% iodine (tincture of Iodine) (gtts=drops)
4 ppm – 0.2 ml (5 gtts) 8 ppm – 0.4 ml (10 gtts)
NOTE: Tincture of Iodine should not be used as a wound treatment, so this is not a good option for a ‘dual use’ item.

10% povidone-iodine solution (Betadine™)
NOTE: Solution only, not the “Scrub”variety – Since Scrub has soap in it
4 ppm – 0.35 ml (8 gtts) 8 ppm – 0.7ml (16 gtts)

Saturated (in water) Iodine crystals (Polar Pure ™)
4 ppm – 13 ml 8 ppm – 26 ml

Iodine crystals in alcohol
0.1 ml / 5 ppm 0.2 ml / 10 ppm

Halazone tablets (Monodichloroaminobenzoic acid)
4 ppm – 2 tabs 8 ppm – 4 tabs
NOTE: The old Vietnam era chlorine tabs are decades out of date. Chlorine tabs decay even more rapidly than iodine tabs. Not recommended.

Household bleach (Clorox™)
4 ppm – 0.1 ml (2 gtts) 8 ppm – 0.2 ml (4 gtts)
Note: Bleach offers a relatively economical method of treating large (gallons) of water at a time. 4 liters is approximately 1 gallon.
For very cold water contact time should be increased.

If drinking this water after disinfection, flavoring agents (drink mixes, etc) can be added: This must be done after the period allocated for disinfection ([otherwise] the disinfecting agent will bind to the organic material and not work).

Letter Re: Request for Investing Advice from a U.S. Reader

Mr. Rawles:
I’ve seen you mention precious metals, and silver in particular, pretty often in your blog. I’m new at this. What is your guidance on a safe (conservative) way to invest? What percentage in precious metals? Thanks, – TZK in Central Kentucky

JWR Replies: I recommend that SurvivalBlog readers should put at least 25% of their portfolios into gold, silver, and barter goods, and roughly 50% into productive farm ground–a retreat to occupy year-round–in a lightly populated region that is well-removed major metropolitan areas. The exact ratio of investments will vary, depending on your age, indebtedness, risk aversion, and other circumstances. Parenthetically, I have stated before that I believe that the fractional reserve banking system should be abolished, and that the U.S. should return to the gold standard. I consider any investment denominated in un-backed paper dollars risky, at least in the long term, since the US dollar, as a currency unit is doomed. It faces the same fate as all other un-backed currencies throughout history. In the long run, they will all inevitably revert to their actual value, which if measured either by weight or per square inch is comparable to toilet paper.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Four readers all sent me this same link: World oil supplies are set to run out faster than expected, warn scientists

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Reader RBS recommended this book excerpt article: The Ethic of the Peddler Class, by Frank Chodorov

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“Alfie Omega”, KonTiki, and Hawaiian K. all sent the link to this recent article at the Jeff Rense web site: Lowest Food Supplies In 50-100 Years

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Losing it All: Home Foreclosures Reach Record Levels

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“It is perfectly possible to get what you think you want and be miserable. It’s possible too, to never get it but deeply enjoy the process of trying. In this world, there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” – Oscar Wilde

Notes from JWR:

Notes from JWR: I’m launching a special two week “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” Six Pack Sale. For any orders placed between now and the end of June, I’m offering a box of six autographed copies of my novel “Patriots“, packed in a well-padded USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate box, for $93, postage and Delivery Confirmation tracking label costs paid, to any US or APO/FPO address. That is just $15.50 per copy! And again, I pay the postage. Payment options include USPS money order, AlertPay, GearPay, or PayPal. (We prefer AlertPay or GearPay because they don’t share PayPal’s anti-gun political agenda.)
Our AlertPay address is: rawles@usa.net
Our GearPay address is: rawles@usa.net
Our PayPal address is: rawles@earthlink.net
If paying via USPS money order (sorry, no checks), please use this mail forwarding address (because of forwarding down to the ranch, you can expect a two week delay):

James Wesley, Rawles
c/o Elk Creek Company
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845

All orders will be mailed by our order fulfillment partner up in Montana, so no special book inscriptions are available. (Just my generic autograph.) This “Six Pack” offer ends on June 30th, so get your order in soon. Thanks!

Today we present another article for Round 11 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $2,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. I will again be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. Round 11 runs for two months, ending on the last day of July. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.

Disaster Proof Your Home, by “Decay”

In today’s survival forums much emphasis is placed on issues such as Bug Out Bags (BOBs), Main Battle Rifles, or Bug Out Vehicles (BOVs) These are important but I feel that it is critical that we also remember to return to the basics in an emergency situation. It was through my neighborhood Emergency Training program that I was reminded how fragile our homes, apartments, and neighborhoods can be during and after a disaster. Before flooding, hurricanes, tornados, famine, pestilence, plague, war or martial law. You and your family should get prepared so that you will be ready for anything that rolls down the pipe! The basic eight in your home are: gas & propane, water, structure, communication, light, food, and first aid.

WATER & NATURAL GAS/PROPANE: A four-in-one tool can be used to shut off gas and water lines, turn off main lines to your home/apartment. Water heaters should be strapped to the nearest wall, in case of an earthquake. By shutting off your water, you will not waste water pressure to the fire hydrants.

ELECTRIC: Get familiar with the location of your main power switch so that you can turn off all of the power to your home in the case of emergency. Remember that the power company will be receiving thousands of service requests during an emergency and will not be available to respond quickly to them. By knowing how to turn off the power quickly you will reduce the risk of electrocution and fire in your home.

STRUCTURE:

  • If your domicile is damaged beyond repair and is not livable, have a tent or Geodesic dome handy where your family can live until a new structure can be rebuilt.
  • If you live in area that is prone to wildfires, you will need a 100 yard radius around you home that is limits flammable materials, including shrubbery and trees. [See: this site on “defensive space” for your property.]
  • Sand bags are important for flood prone areas, and be used as a safe room, bunker, or to cover windows to stop incoming rounds. Single stacked sand bags will stop 7.62×51 [NATO] rounds.
  • Chainsaws will be handy for cutting down branches/trees after a windstorm, ice storm, tornado or hurricane.
  • Heavy curtains placed over windows will help protect you and your family from falling glass in earthquake prone areas.
  • Installing anti-tilt brackets on furniture and bookshelves will also prevent injury from falling objects.
  • Constructing a concrete storm shelter will keep your family alive in hurricane and tornado prone areas. It should be below ground level and connect to your house basement, if possible. Food, water, blankets, first aid kits and cots should be stored in in the basement.

COMMUNICATION: Battery-powered SW/AM/FM/Weather band radio. Store it without the batteries installed. [Store your radio in a metal ammo can] in case of EMP.

LIGHT: Small flashlights next to every family member’s nightstand will help guide them around or out of the house in a power outage or disaster. Also remember to keep a flashlight next to the power junction box to replace blown fuses.

FIRST AID: Two first aid kits should be available in the home. One can be kept in the home and the other should be in your jump kit or backpack to take with you in the case of evacuation. These kits should be organized and easy to find so that first aid items can be accessed and used quickly. Check and refill your kits on a yearly basis. Burn gels, Betadine and other creams and dry out and over-the-counter pain killers will expire. Remember to have a three month supply on prescription drugs in both kits.

FOOD: Last but not least, it is important to remember that we need to build our food pantries so that in the case of emergency we have enough food to survive for at least two months. This includes storing good drinking water that is safe from contamination.

Two Letters Re: Seeking Advice on Swimming Pool Chlorine for Treating Drinking Water

Jim:
I had to write you and correct something that could lead to health damage or even death from the use of chlorine [for water treatment]. People have to know that this use [of chlorine] is for treating water [shortly before use], not long term storage. If you have a water supply that you intend to drink/use within a month, then chlorine (as long as it’s pure – as you so instructed) is fine. But it is not for long term storage!
When water is treated with chlorine, and then sealed in a container, the chlorine degrades over a short time period. Depending on variables (mixture, amount of water, heat, et cetera) this could be as soon as 2-3 months. As it breaks down, it releases chlorine gas, which does nothing to protect your water, but it can cause health problems (obviously) and it will also degrade and weaken your container.
There are products out there that can be used for long term water storage. (Stabilized Oxygen is but one of them.) These products can keep water stored safely for up to five years, with no bacteria or algae growth. – Kurt

 

James Wesley:
I can’t remember where I got this, but thought it might help with the question of “how much” in chlorinating water…..

Chlorination
Two common forms of chlorine compounds can be used, those disinfectants that contain Sodium Hypochlorate (household bleach) or Calcium Hypochlorate (swimming pool chlorine powder). It is very important that Chlorine is added to water at the correct dosage. Firstly, calculate the amount of water in the tank by using the following formula:
3.14 x radius2 x height of water in the tank (meters) x 1000 (The radius is half of the width of the tank)
Once you have calculated the volume of the water in the tank then place 40 milliliters of Sodium hypochlorite or 7 grams of Calcium Hypochlorite for each 1000 liters of water in the tank.
For example, if the tank’s dimensions are 5 meters wide, 3 meters high and there is 2.5 ml of water in the tank, the calculations would be as follows:
Volume of Water in the tank is:
3.14 x (5 x?)? x 2.5 x 1000 (liters)
Volume = 49,062.5 (liters)
40 x ( 49000/1000) = 1960 mils of Sodium Hypochlorite
Or 7x ( 49000/1000) = 343 grams of Calcium Hypochlorite

Regards, Terry M.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Because so many readers of SurvivalBlog are interested in establishing survival retreats, I’m in the process of setting up a new SurvivalBlog”sibling” web site that will feature survival retreat real estate listings. These will be both For Sale By Owner (FSBO) and from licensed real estate agents, worldwide. If you have a retreat property for sale, or know of someone that does, here is the deal: To get my new survival real estate web site off to a fast start with a lot property ads, I am offering free two month advertisements for the first 25 sellers that respond. Just e-mail me a brief description (200 words or less) of the property that you have available. (I’ll need detailed description and digital photos, later.) Since this project is still in its infancy I can’t guarantee exactly when the site will be launched, but our tentative goal is to have it up and running sometime in July.

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Michael Z. Williamson sent us a link to a great how-to page on how to make “A better soda can stove”

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Safecastle‘s current Food-Locker Load-Up Sale, with free club membership with qualifying purchase, is ending this weekend, June 17.

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I heard that Rob at $49 MURS Radios just picked up a limited quantity of earbud/microphone combos at a bargain price. The earbud is cushioned and the push to talk button has a clip that attaches to clothing. These are brand new Kenwood EMC-3 models and are only $5 each, shipped! I strongly recommend that you buy a couple of them for each of your MURS transceivers. (I just did for mine!)

Note from JWR:

The high bid is still at $410 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a great selection of 17 survival and preparedness books. The auction ends tomorrow–June 15th. Our special thanks to Ready Made Resources for donating the majority of the books.

Letter Re: Seeking Advice on Swimming Pool Chlorine for Treating Drinking Water

Mr. Rawles,
I want to buy some pool chlorine crystals for long term storage. Holly Deyo’s book had a formula for purifying large amounts of water with this product, but how would I make a chlorine bleach substitute that could be used to purify smaller quantities of water or as laundry bleach? Is there an amount in grains or grams that could be used to make up, say, five gallons at a time? I know store bought laundry bleach like Clorox has a limited shelf life, so I wanted to be able to make [my own hypochlorite solution.] Thank you for any information you could provide. – CG in North Carolina

JWR Replies: Calcium hypochlorite is available from any swimming pool supply company. A granular (dry powder) “pool shock” product that lists only Calcium Hypochlorite as the active ingredient should be safe to use for water purification. The problem with other varieties is that they include other algaecide or fungicide chemicals that are probably not safe for human consumption. Ditto for using liquid bleach for the same purpose. With those, you want to buy plain Calcium Hypochlorite bleach. Do not buy bleach with fabric softeners, scents, et cetera. Keep in mind that bleach solutions break down and weaken with time (anticipate a 24 month shelf life), but that dry granular bleach stores indefinitely. Here is a quote from an EPA web site: “Granular Calcium Hypochlorite. Add and dissolve one heaping teaspoon of high-test granular calcium hypochlorite (approximately 1/4 ounce) for each two gallons of water [to create a chlorine disinfecting solution]. The mixture will produce a stock chlorine solution of approximately 500 mg/L, since the calcium hypochlorite has an available chlorine equal to 70 percent of its weight. To disinfect water, add the chlorine solution in the ratio of one part of chlorine solution to each 100 parts of water to be treated. This is roughly equal to adding 1 pint (16 oz.) of stock chlorine [solution] to each 12.5 gallons of water to be disinfected. To remove any objectionable chlorine odor, aerate the water…”

SurvivalBlog reader Laurelei recently reported that she found the Poolife brand “TurboShock” available $14.85 for five pounds. For purifying drinking water, two of the five pound boxes would constitute a “lifetime supply” for most folks.