peev2c14part2

PEEv2c14part2

Bare Bones List

#3

Water Filter

Ah, the good old days of prepping when the only illumination was kerosene and the only water filters were from the Swiss. Bless them, but the cost of living atop that mountain is pretty high and anything you buy from them is rather expensive. There were poor boy workarounds for both, but only cheap when compared to the originals. Well, now we have proper affordable tools and while we might not save money in the long run, at least now we can have multiple tools for the price of one old one.

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Anyone who cannot see why “one is none, two is one” is important never actually lived out in the field where crap breaks. They are the type that replace cotton laces with paracord and think they never need another backup because they upgraded. Crap breaks, despite your best intentions ( cough, expensive scope, cough ), crap gets stolen or crap is consumed in fires. Crap can be accidentally left behind when fleeing the enemy ( although, yes, I know if that is a shoelace you lost the boot as well. Surely you take my point )

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“Crap happens” is why you have a minimum back-up kit on your belt and in your pocket, in case something happens to your pack. Anyway, one of the best things to happen to preppers in a very long time is the Sawyer filter. Sweet Baby Jesus on a unicycle, $18 for tens of thousands of gallons of water. You cannot beat that deal with a sharp stick. When I was covering this before, the cheapest filter was $70, a Katadyn ceramic element and two five gallon plastic buckets, making your own Berky counter top filter.

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Now, obviously, you can go cheaper. A used $2 pot from the thrift store will boil all water. A $10 WAPI ( water purification indicator, the wire in the water melting the wax to indicate pasteurization ) is half the price and literally lasts forever if not broken. The only problem is that while a filter can be used anytime, the other two cannot. Sometimes you cannot light a fire, either because wet wood or a nearby enemy. And the sun isn't always out to solar heat your water. I have all three, as should you ( as well as the homemade Berky, as well as powder bleach-but that I mostly plan on for medicinal uses ). But if you cannot, if budgets are too frayed, I would recommend a Sawyer.

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#4

Rifle

I don't always talk about firearms, because Food Is First. And when I do cover guns I like to make the point that ammunition is far more important than guns. It is better to have a better supply of ammunition than it is to have a better gun. I would even call it normal to have five to ten times the cost in ammunition as the rifle ran you ( one TYPE of gun per ammunition stash. If you have duplicate guns, the ammo numbers stay steady ).

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Many folks ignore stockpiling ammunition, assuming they are going to die quickly. To each his own, but I don't agree with that reasoning. Murphy's Law argues against it. But the important thing here is budget, not logistics or tactics. You cannot have a firearm on a budget that you want, only what you can afford. It saddens me greatly that Obammy's only anti-gun measure was accidental, embargoing Russia and cutting off the supply of Mosin-Nagants. Which was in the history of smokeless bolt guns one of the worst designs.

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But it was so cheap it didn't matter. Now, alas, the days of $100 guns are pretty much over. You can still buy a $100 single shot rimfire or break open twelve gauge, but I would only view that as my “butter knife brigade” gun, a partisan gun only meant to get you far enough so that you can liberate an enemies weapon. They are cheaply built and you should plan around that. If that is all you can afford, well, want in one hand and crap in the other. As needs must. I wouldn't feel dirty and cheap, because even those guns are superior to archery or other primitive weapons-just know your limitations.

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I wouldn't necessarily recommend a break open single shot rifle unless you are using them at short ranges. I like them, as they are one of the most basic long arms mechanically. They are the perfect apocalypse gun. They just suck at long range accuracy as the design makes them sloppy. But they are $250. You can get a bolt action rifle for $300, but they usually don't have iron sights. Bad move! You need back-up for glass, if even having glass is a good idea ( I only use them for rimfire, and have many back-up's ).

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For $350 you can get a better bolt action, or, if you assemble one yourself from a Palmetto State kit, an AR-15. I don't necessarily think a semi is a good idea ( mine use a disabled gas tube to construct a bolt action, which has its own issues ) on a severe budget, but the one thing you can be assured of is that you'll never run out of spare parts for it. They are just as flimsy as your $100 guns, however. Of all the things an AR can do, survive rough handling indefinitely isn't one of them.

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If you are going extra cheap, I would pick rimfire over a shotgun. Folks love the shotty for its ammunition variety, but that isn't going to be cheap. You'll have far less rounds on a budget. If you want a break open or bolt rifle, and are still severely constrained financially, I would choose a carbine round over a full size battle rifle round. You can buy the ammo one half to one third the price.

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#5

Fire

I love the magnifying glass for long term fire starting. Long after your Bic's run out, long after your fresnel lens's is scratched or cracked when frozen, the sun will still be shining. Now, no, I do NOT only suggest glass as your sole fire starter. I do think some kind of fire starter will be very important forever, as YouTube primitive survival dudes might make friction bow fire starters look easy but it still takes too much work. In the very long run, magnifying glass is superior. You can start the fire on a sunny day and just keep it going if needed.

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In the short term, you can have many different kinds of sparkers to assist you on cloudy days, so that a Forever Fire isn't necessary. Ferro rods are about a buck each. You can get a Zippo lighter, with ten cent each flints. I've been told the welders spark tool is superior in longevity. For about $10, you can get two magnifying glasses from the dollar store, two fresnel lenses, a welders sparker with back up flints, a ferro rod and a Bic or two. Fire should never be an issue.

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We continue next time with #6 of the bare bones list.

( .Y. )

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