Wednesday, October 4, 2017

what's frugal?


WHATS FRUGAL?

A long time back on the Unnamed Idahoan Yuppie Scum Survivalist Website, when men were men and sheep were nervous and there were actually articles on prepping rather than today’s sad Links To Others Articles Only ( falling advertising support ), there appeared a piece on the Rugar 10/22 as a primary weapon of choice.  The reasons were the lack of recoil and the relative savings on the arsenal.  Shot placement over target shot saturation.  Well, you would have thought that it was I who had written the article, the hate and discontent so obvious.  Who was this Independent Thinker to question the Holy Grail Of Yuppie Scum Survivalism?

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I was inspired by this article myself.  Not the rimfire itself, although I think they make outstanding Forever Guns if you keep the cost per round at two-three cents each ( reload kits are $80, the primer liquid comes to one cent a charge and in theory another cent for the powder ), but the Shot Placement idea.  It is such an obvious tactic, and most overlooked ( even by myself, using a battle rifle that was always and only about group volume fire, a Brit military dictum since the Longbow ).  When Matt Bracken, one smart and talented dude, professed his preference for the 9mm due to Shot Placement, I knew I needed to give more weight to the idea.  That was when I stopped hating the Nine so much ( and, not hating, saw how it was a preferable Forever Gun candidate over factory round rimfire ).

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Shot Placement also means I couldn’t hate on the AR as much.  Not that I’ll ever change my mind on its horrid and unreliable semi-automatic system ( to MY mind, only having experienced the first generation guns ), but since I’ve figured out how to change it over to a bolt action I think the weapon is much more attractive now, leaving behind the bad and only having the good features.  Except it is a bit flimsy for a bayonet, but that can be modified if not alleviated. 

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For someone such as myself that has always from day one bloviated and spastically screeched about logistics and ammunition scarcity Day Two of the Apocalypse, I was a bit too slow coming around to Shot Placement.  Not the concept, but the needed guns to achieve it.  I’m still hooked on the Lee-Enfield, but I realize that for me it is mostly just a hundred yard gun, so I can hit my target.  The Mauser is really the only viable longer range affordable surplus rifle, and I just don’t care for them personally.

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But back to the article on the rimfire.  As soon as the rationale was given for the choice, it was off to the races by the owner and operator of said site.  He started listing everything wrong with the weapon, insisting on higher capacity magazines, more ammunition, better more center fire choices for the 22, etcetera.  It all boiled down to increasing volume of both fire and money.  In short, he heard ZERO of what he had just read.  The heathen had despoiled the Church Of Yuppie Scumness and that could certainly not stand!  More spending, more equipment!  Dude, the guy just said he was poor!  Why is that so hard to understand?  But you know what?  I think I’m just now beginning to-SLIGHTLY-kind of understand.  I can’t grasp the problems people have being, if not rich, at least well off.  And yes, I understand THEY don’t think they are well off-but that just underlines my contention.

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Most people of relative affluence can’t understand how to live frugal, and poor people can’t understand Rich People Problems.  I mean, this stuff SHOULDN’T be too difficult of an intellectual exercise, right?  Match up income with spending.  This is rocket science?  Evidently, because I think economic classes is about everything EXCEPT money.  Status, ego, self worth, mating.  Everything but budget.  Everyone makes it so much more difficult than it needs to be.  I’m confused that people with much more can’t make ends meet and everyone I talk to keeps wondering why I don’t just get the basics.

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Yep, that easy.  Well, why don’t you just by a clunker car for transportation?  Why don’t you just get a small plot of farmland to grow your own food?  Why not fence in an acre and get a well for livestock?  On the other hand, I’m confused with their questions.  To me it is all so self evident.  You don’t spend so you don’t have to earn.  They think earning means more and more every year ( “that’s the ‘Murican Way!” ) and spending that amount is a reward.  I think earning more and more is both a disease and a punishment.  They think I am a slacker ( even if I was working twelve hour days, I’m a slacker because I don’t earn a lot in those twelve hours ).  I think they have no idea how much they earn.  How can that NOT be enough plus oh so much more?

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Then I begin to wonder if all my readers are just hearing me, but not listening.  I hope not.  I hope I’m not just some court jester that entertains.  Living frugal is easy.  Spend less than you make.  Simple, unless you need Baby Jesus Using Huckster Dave Ramsey to sell you a few hundred dollar program telling you essentially just that.  Living frugal just means you can’t say “yes, BUT, if we just did One More Thing, at a small cost, it would be so much better!”.  You are supposed to be saying “what is the cheapest way to solve a problem most people just throw money at?”.  But you know what?  I’m not hating.  I simply can’t put myself in Rich Bitch Shoes, so I can’t expect them to know What’s Frugal. 

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Don’t you just hate that, when what we have here is a failure to communicate?  Let that be a lesson.  For all the effort in human history with communication, it usually doesn’t work so well.

END ( today's related link http://amzn.to/2xSyyOe )
 
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23 comments:

  1. I've always thought the 10/22 to be the best survival weapon. With the banana magazines one can easily deter a group of people. Yet is very accurate in single fire mode out to a hundred yards, very deadly.
    Final word is my .45 ACP when they get up close.
    I don't care what the cost is now. As I purchased my weapons and stockpile of ammo long ago.
    I just practice with my compound bow. As pulling the trigger on it is the same as a gun. The sights are also almost identical. So practice with it is cheap, as one reuses the ammo over and over. Saving all that lead for future use.

    Tho I do burn a few hundred rounds per year in my guns. To remain familiar with each. Yet only what I can afford to replace !

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    1. I don't dislike the rimfire as the best survival gun. I actually would have been better off with a 10/22 given my eyesight and the accuracy of the Enfield. What I dislike as how folks misuse them as guns, negating all the advantages. Well, that's gonna be an article.

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  2. A good definition of the word "frugal" in a survivalist sense is nigh to impossible.

    I am completely Middle Class, and so being "frugal" means I have much more than an average Working Class person, while have quite less than the standard Middle Class person.

    By Middle Class standards, not having a car and walking to work and walking to the supermarket (that's what I do) is quite frugal. But once at the supermarket , i buy stuff that Working Class people can't afford (or not often, that is).

    Not smoking or drinking is not part of frugality, it is a choice of life. I think we can say that somebody is frugal when he sacrifices something that could make his life easier, and that sacrifice is voluntary and non-ideological.

    "Frugality" could be translated to "financial/lifestyle discipline in an affluent/consumerist/short-term society".

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    1. I'm frugal so I can buy books, then. Now I'm frugal so I can write instead of work.

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  3. In an equipment/firearms perspective, frugality would translate to sacrificing a certain number of perceived advantages (ease of use, firepower, specialization for instance) in order to simplify procurment and logistics.

    So we spend less on each gun, have few guns and less ammo variety. Maybe we can't master all situations in an *optimal* way but guns are pretty binary : whatever you have, even a .22LR Derringer, puts you in a dramatically better situation than not having any firearm at all.

    So "fruaglity" means you will have to do everything with one weapon (and its backups/spare parts).

    Side note : we love to talk about guns because they're by far our greatest investment in this hobby and thus all factors are reviewed over and over again. Just like regular people do with cars.

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    1. You're right. I make fun of car nerds and here we do the same thing with guns.

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  4. I do like the idea of the .22 LR as a forever gun, It is not to hard to find Aquila rounds at .04 each anymore. Stock it deep like 10,000 rounds deep. The 9mm as a forever round has merit as they are easy to reload but I have no idea where you are going to find cheap lead now that the wheel weights have gone away from lead. primers are now slightly over .02 powder at .02 and a lead bullet for almost free if you can find the lead to cast your own. That almost makes it a forever round but not quite although it does have greater knock down power especially out of a long barrel. I do like your writing as yours is a whole different slant on staying alive than the granddaddy site from Idaho.

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    1. The lead is definitely an issue for reloading and should be considered when choosing between a 22 and a 9. And the reload cost for a rimfire is definitely a consideration ( although I have no idea how long the case would last ).

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  5. It sounds like the lowly .22 is still reasonably priced enough to purchase in large enough lots to consider as a survival round. I suppose that you would have to determine if it will meet your needs and go from there. You would also have to determine if the cost of the reloading apparatus is worth purchasing, or if you would just be better off spending that much more on additional .22 rounds (I’m assuming that it also comes with a .22 bullet mould, but that’s just my guess). Personally I don’t have much faith in the .22 rimfire reloading system. I say this because while the .22 uses the old style balloon head cartridge cases, I’ve noticed that the firing pin on most models puts one hell of a dent in the rim. You would have to be able to pound that out well in order to insure ignition, and that’s where my lack of faith lies.

    The super survivalist guru’s advice might not have been all that bad considering. A small centerfire .22 such as the .22 Hornet might be a better way to go depending on your needs, and would hardly use any more powder. But of course since this option costs more money, and that assumes wealth, that makes him a raciss! 😀

    Didn’t know about the elimination of lead wheel weights until today’s article. But I would think that lead is still readily available and reasonably priced, at least compared to jacketed bullets.

    Speaking of the 10/22 I have a very old model that belonged to my father. It was probably one of the first generation (circa 1964). It’s a fine gun, and I’ve always liked it, but for some reason I’ve always reached for my antique Remington bolt single shot first. I can’t say why this is. It was the same with my Stevens Model 9478 single shot 12ga, when I had a fine $500 (In 1980 dollars) Browning double barrel in the closet.

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    1. I've just been informed that 22's are back down to four cents a factory round. So it's time to recommend the system once again. Expect a gushing article soon. On the reload, you'd have to be able to hammer the indent back out from inside-a punch?

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    2. “On the reload, you'd have to be able to hammer the indent back out from inside-a punch?”


      That’s the idea Jim, but my main question would be how well it works, and if there is a significant savings from reloading the .22 rimfire vs just buying extra. If there isn’t, I would think that it would be better to spend the difference in extra .22 cartridges at the current price. Something about it just seems kind of gimmicky to me, but don’t listen to me because I have not researched it.

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    3. At four cents factory, no, reloading makes no sense at three cents. New case, lead included, makes the extra cent worth it. Plus, a jacketed bullet at that. It didn't seem that long ago-a few months-you couldn't find 22 for less than 7 cents. I guess that's how quick, good or bad, the industry changes now.

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    4. I guess the key point here Jim, would be to factor in the cost of the kit, and at what point you break even and start to save money, and how much of a savings there is overall. I wasn’t aware that the kit included new cases and lead, so that makes a difference. Right off, I can’t see the savings, but I could be wrong.

      Personally, I wouldn’t bother, and would just go with a reloadable .22 centerfire, such as the commonly found .223, but that’s more of a quality vs quantity approach. If you needed the extra firepower and you’re dealing with closer ranges, the .22 rimfire just might be the better choice, making reloading them a more practical option. But it probably wouldn’t cost much more to reload a lower velocity .22 centerfire.

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    5. The reloading kit is just the tools. No components other than the primer chemicals ( if any-can't remember if that is a separate cost past the first batch ). I'm assuming in all this you are a serious user. Like, Forever Gun levels of 10k rounds, plus regular practice.

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    6. Go back to Sept. 2016 for my book "forever gun" if you want to read a bit more on my pondering on the subject. Here is the reloading kit:
      https://sharpshooter-22lr-reloader.myshopify.com/products/22-reloader-kit

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    7. I just had a look at that kit Jim, and it does appear to be a high quality kit. What would be nice is if you could find some online reviews to determine if those that invested in it found it to be worth it.

      I’m not sure if you’re previous question was rhetorical or directed at me, but no, I’m not a serious user. Even when I was a kid, rapid fire bursts of .22LR were infrequent, and not within my budget. It wasn’t like we were poor, but we also didn’t have the luxury of wasting ammo.

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    8. "Serious user" as in someone that is going to rely primarily on the rimfire post-apoc.

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    9. I see. To be honest, I never really gave it much thought. I guess I will see how it plays out when the time comes. I’m pretty sure I still have a brick of .22LR left over from the old Walmart cheap ammo days, and I also have a box of 12ga from them as well, and then some. But I don’t see myself surviving the type of collapse that you’re referring to, and to be honest, the only people that I do see surviving are the one’s like that Russian family that fled to the remote woods to escape the commies. Very inspiring true story of survival if you haven’t already read it.

      https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/for-40-years-this-russian-family-was-cut-off-from-all-human-contact-unaware-of-world-war-ii-7354256/

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    10. I don't see myself surviving either. The reason I prep for it is because if I don't prep, then I'll survive and will have no supplies. Prepping for Murphy's Law. Thanks for the link-I'll check it out.

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  6. When we were kids and Christmas time neared my mother would tell us to give her a list of 10 things we'd each like to have as gifts. There were 5 of us kids. When we gave her our lists she handed them back and told us each to get rid of 7 of the items. My parents weren't rich so 5 kids x 10 gifts would have been substantial. As a side note she was also teaching us how to be an adult in a small way. Practicing making decisions in frugality.

    I haven't eaten a steak in over 10 years, drive a 16 yo vehicle, drive less than 3k per year, and use a Tracfone cell that cost $90 almost 2 years ago on QVC.com and came with 1350 minutes that I am still using. I use the phone very sparingly. We have no pay TV, rarely stream stuff, and our single daily meal usually costs between 2 and 3 dollars per person for the 2 of us. Our regular daily drink of choice is filtered water and I have not drunk a soda water in over 5 years. About 8 times a year I'll make myself a glass of Lipton instant tea, and I drink Great Value instant coffee everyday.

    As you can see there is little extravagance in our lives and we prefer it that way. Oh yeah, I have no debt at all and got rid of all plastic 10 years ago. Cash and debit card only.

    By eliminating the non-essential and excessive it allows a lot of room for consideration of things I really want and the ability to set priorities. It took me 2 years of thinking before I laid out the $2k I spent on parts for my first AR15 build. I have 3k of 223 ammo purchased only when priced very competetively.

    This is a difficult position for most people because they innundate themselves with very cunning marketing 24/7. Get rid of all the communications stuff and that influence will disappear. When Chili's interrupts DWTS to blow that Two 4 Twenty deal all the way through your brain what do you think will be subliminally working on you until you scratch that itch? And all along a $2 meal at home will give you better stuff all the way around and not rob you of the free rent inside your head. Think: Who is controlling you?

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    1. Our treat tonight was homemade enchiladas. I'll take that any day over a steak-although I do endulge in one of those about twice a year. A bigger treat is diner hamburgers with fries. I just can't get the baked fries good enough to compete.

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    2. Good point regarding advertising. If it didn't work then why would companies expend absolute fortunes doing it?

      In my case I loathe, absolutely loathe my area's newspaper & local paper. Why? because of the freakin' ads. I KNOW they work because my family falls for them. Great new restaurants to try / oh look there's a exhibition / fair / show to attend at 20 dollaroo's per person entry (hours wage pre tax for me). A restaurant visit can cost me a days pay (for my wife and myself) and I need not tell ya'll that after paying bills etc....

      My goal is to only have mortgage debt which I know is not Bison approved but repayments are less than rent and I'm just trying to make the best of a ludicrous situation (property prices in Dingo land are INSANE).

      But prompted by an earlier Bison post about frugal eating as well as theme of the last couple I'm trying to get my finances in order. A Dollaroo here, a Dollaroo there, do that 20 times and I've wasted an hour of my life working for junk drinks, booze or boomerangs that don't come back!

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    3. I think for advertising to work people must first want to spend money ( although, yes, there is a certain brainwashing involved ). Perhaps it is more group pressure than company pressure that is the deciding factor? Look how many books my minions forced me to buy ( okay, I'm kidding on that one ).

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