knife to a gunfight

KNIFE TO A GUNFIGHT


The new book is here!!! The new book is here!!! These are the things that engorge my nipples. I was meandering along minding my own business and I tripped over an ad for “When oil peaked” by Kenneth S Deffeyes ( When Oil Peaked ). The guy that wrote a heck of a great Peak Oil book years back explaining the science behind finding oil, etc. ( Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak)( a book many of you should read, but won’t as you are threatened with your worldview being upset by the reality of resource depletion ). I think the ad was over at

http://cryptogon.com/

but don’t hold me to that. I had no idea this book was out there, and none of you bothered to tell me. Probably because it would give me more reason to run around in circles and scream that the sky is falling and actually have up to date facts to support such hysteria. Stay tuned tomorrow for a review ( yes, I’m such a swell guy that I am willing to risk missing a new episode of “House” to read it all tonight. You are welcome ).

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Well, you will be pleased to know that I did finish the book “The things that keep us here” over the weekend ( The Things That Keep Us Here: A Novel ). Actually, it would have been hard to NOT finish it as it is a darn good book and a page turner to boot. Not that it is suspense. I’ll ruin the mystery for you right now and tell you it had a relatively happy ending. No, it is a page turner because not only do you like and care about the characters, you also want to know how it works out for them. Most books of doom and gloom ( The Forest of Doom and Gloom (Belmont and the Dragon) ) you can’t wait to see how many people die of bubonic plague or how many yuppie scum are vaporized in nuclear hits on such foul rotten besoiled metropolises such as NYC or LA but in this book you don’t get drawn into the avian flu pandemic ( The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic ) so much as into the fate of this one family. It isn’t really a prepper book per se, as it doesn’t give any instructions. There are a few “ah ha” moments as far as courses best taken or supplies best had, but other than the supermarket riot at the beginning it doesn’t give you much solids to chew on

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The book should shine, however, as an introductory book for all those you want to start prepping. This is one of the best books I’ve seen that is written for the non-prepared and that gently eases them into the concept. It doesn’t just jump out and scare them, but gives them the perspective from a soccer mom that wasn’t prepared and how it affected her family. It was a female author, and I don’t think a male could have done the same thing. Females normally make horrid writers for the kind of books I like ( WAYYY too touchy feely- I want boobs and explosions, fear and the grim reaper and she wants me to explore my feminine side ) but this was a first rate book as warning to the unprepared that WON’T scare the dear little sheep away. I understand that there are vast legions of Rawles Robots, Fem Corps, out there that would like nothing more than to have Jim’s baby. They gush and get weak of knee after reading his fiction ( Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse ). Oh, Jim, you are our hero, you Idaho Spud Stud, after reading your book I found myself buying three MRE’s cases ( SOPAKCO SurePak MRE's WITH Heaters. 12 Meals Per Case. ) and twenty one semi automatic carbines. Thank you for saving my life!!! Okay, I might be a little jealous. But the point is that that is not the book to give the skittish. After they bought into the prepper concept, fine. But it would scare away the normal yuppie scum fem. Ease her into the Legion Of Doom with this book, “The things that keep us here” by Carla Buckley.

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Okay, a couple of minions reported that they bought chamber inserts ( 20 Ga. to .357 / .38 Caliber Shotgun Ammo Adapter / Gauge Reducer / Ammo Converter / Chamber Adapter ) for their battle bolts so that once they ran out of real ammunition they could have a back-up of better than nothing modern ammo. This is the magic phrase that you must use if you wish to avoid my ridicule and scorn. Better than nothing. Remember it, learn it, live it. I don’t want to dismiss the concept as much as look at both sides of it. You DO need a back-up for your main weapon so that once it is out of ammunition you have something else to kill cannibals with besides primitive weapons. Those might work elsewhere as in jolly old England where the military might have a fifty thousand rifles and the cops another ten ( I pulled those figures out of my butt- jolly good! ). You have very few weapons circulating and if all the villagers had crossbows ( 150 Lbs Crossbow Laser + Scope + 8 Arrows Cross Bow ) they could conceivably protect themselves. But here in the Land Of The Free Reign Of Homeland Security, there is over a gun per household. If not close to a gun per person. We don’t get to play civilized pacifist because there are too many guns out there. It is arm or be eaten. And, yes, the average fool doesn’t own enough ammunition for his gun but we’ll leave that aside ( no ammo, no food, welcome to the concentration camp ).

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I’ve always maintained that a great back-up is your rimfire arsenal. The range and penetration suck, but it beats black powder weapons. But of course there are other back-ups. One is to turn your modern gun into a charcoal burner ( you can shoot BP out of a modern gun, but not modern powder out of a BP gun ). 12 gauge shotguns are perfect for this as the change in powder isn’t as much of a disadvantage. I don’t like BP myself but if you can’t manufacture smokeless ( “caveman chemistry” [ Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plastics ] is pretty good pointing you in the right direction for doing that ) it will be your only option. And then there is the “pistol ammo in your rifle” option we’ve brought up. You put 10 cent Tokorov pistol ammo in your barrel insert of your commie or Brit bolt. The inserts are $15 at Sportsman’s Guide. My primary question, though, is whether this is better or worse than a rimefire. What is your range? Fifty yards? Less? Is the knockdown power any better from a pistol round at that range? With a bolt you are carrying eight pounds to fire a pistol round. Would it be better to just carry a rimfire? I don’t know the answers, but I hope you do if you go with this option.

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If you do go with this option, I’d strongly consider more than one insert. Yes, at $15 each that hurts the pocketbook. But with only one you aren’t reloading a heck of a lot faster than a muzzleloader ( Traditions 3.5 - 10x44 mm Muzzleloader Scope )( and with less range ). I’d say three minimum and five ideally. This speeds up the process considerably and is even more important in winter when you are defending yourself against Cannibal Crips and your fingers are frozen and you are having trouble grasping little pistol rounds. And consider a belt pouch that has a rigid tray inside like a reloading tray ( MTM Universal Loading Tray Md: LT150M30 . ). This has your pistol rounds lined up bullet down and your inserts in front of those lined up primer up. You grab a round and drop it into the insert and have a row of inserts ready to go. I would imagine it would have to be homemade. I don’t know if the inserts can be loaded and fed into the rifles magazine. You would think so as the outside measurements are the same as the original cartridge, but perhaps there is something like extra weight that might mess up mag spring. I might experiment myself one of these days. But no guarantee. I have my doubts about the system. A great idea, but is it more toy than tool?

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My e-mail is jimd303@netzero.com
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