trifecta

TRIFECTA


My daily rituals rarely change. At between eleven and eleven-thirty A.M. I go over to the soup kitchen ( before the ravenous crowds arrive ) and put some butter in the microwave ( Fasta Pasta The Microwave Cooker ) for my upcoming lunch. If you try to soften it on cook it turns nasty after separating . If you put it on defrost just enough that you have to stir it to soften it goes for several days of reusing. I don’t usually eat a whole pound in a week but sometimes it comes close. The cook of course is aghast at my potential cholesterol level. I tell her not to worry, what with my exercise and my bodies need to burn fat to stay warm in my tin box. Not that she buys into that. Still WAAAY too much butter( The Great Big Butter Cookbook ) in her opinion. But it isn’t like I’m going to be on this diet for the next twenty years ( I didn’t mention my several times a week potato fried in lard addition ). I seriously do not think life as we know it will be unaltered in just a few years hence. I won’t have the luxury of sucking down gobs of butter and lard on a daily basis. I’m well aware that you can’t abuse your body the same way as you age, but I do look on arteries clogged with fat as a non-issue to concern myself with. If I felt nothing bad was going to happen, I never would have left warm climates. I don’t live up here because it is the optimal present location, but because it is the least objectionable future location ( Florida will turn into a Mad Max [ Mad Max (Special Edition) ] disease ridden crap hole- millions fighting over little food and uncontrolled mosquitoes spreading ancient pestilence ). And in the very near future any fat I am lucky enough to get will help keep me alive as firewood will be scarce to non-existent. I might have gotten here in fits and starts, but I’ve never lost the destination. It WILL all end and insulating/insuring ourselves is a full time endeavor. The world will end much sooner than my arteries will become dangerously abused ( which is the same reason I make my nuke bread on plastic disposable plates- the microwave will be inoperable long before I have to worry about leeching toxins ).

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I never have been a gun fag, and I never will. I love guns as recreation but keep them as a tool. Actually, I should say that guns as recreation became unaffordable long ago so to me they are just tools anymore. The whole issue is easy and uncomplicated so I don’t spend a lot of time talking about them. As Kurt Saxon ( The Poor Man's James Bond (#C-065) ), grandfather of frugal survival, said- bolt rifle, shotgun and pistol. Simple. I like simple. Over complication is for people that enjoy stress. Or people that are really friggin bored and need a hobby. Writing this daily drivel is my hobby and it keeps me busy about twenty hours a week ( including reading for research ). Throw in a full time daily job and simple is all I have time for. Lucky you. Now, because you are bored and need a hobby, you might be a gun fag ( defined as one who has more guns than windows on their house ). If you are, you know all about the Rossi brand “Trifecta”. I just ran across it in a newspaper ad and thought it was pretty nifty and I wanted to share it with you. To me, It’s new. To you gun fags that already knew about, thanks a bunch for sharing with the rest of us you selfish bastard.

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The unit is a stock that takes three different barrels. One is a rimfire, one a twenty gauge shotgun and one a 243 Winchester. In and of itself, no big deal. I was never impressed with that pistol platform that took all those different barrels. It was too expensive. But the Trifecta is priced at about $250. If you bought a 22 for $99 and a shotgun for $99 separately you would only have $50 left over to buy a rifle. So in effect here you are getting a sharply discounted rifle. Now, I had no idea what a 243 Winchester ( Lee Collet Neck Sizing Rifle Die For 243 Winchester Md: 90956 ) round was so I looked it up on Wiki. It is just a necked down 308. So conceivably you could make your own ammo out of the popular battle rifle cases. It is marginally better than a 223 from what I understand so you are getting a carbine round, not a full power rifle round. But besides the very affordable price there are other advantages. You are using the same weapon platform for all your long arm needs ( one assumes you can get by okay with a intermediate rifle round ).

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Now, the two characteristics you might dislike, I see as advantages. Yes, it is a youth rifle ( Allen Company Storm Scoped Rifle Youth 22 Rifle Case (Camo, 32-Inch) ). Meaning it is smallish. To me, that means less weight carrying it around all day ( one assumes you aren’t actually carrying all the spare barrels but have them at base camp ). And, it is a break open single shot. To me, that means it sips scarce ammo rather than guzzles it. True, there are better individual weapons. But at a cost. A Rugar 10/22 ( Customize the Ruger 10/22 )( The Ultimate Ruger 10/22 Manual And User's Guide ) alone costs almost as much as the Trifecta. I have yet to see a pump action shotgun below $199. And even if you bought a Russian surplus bolt ( my only complaint is with the lack of a gas bleed on them, a potentially fatal feature-otherwise they seem to be beloved by their users ) to come close to the cost you still would have three totally different systems that will far more complicated ( I’m not saying that a semi-auto rimfire, a twelve gauge single shot and a high powered bolt rifle aren’t better, just that they are more prone to failure than single action break-opens ).

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Again, not the perfect system. A semi-auto rimfire is a far better defense than a single shot 22. And a twelve gauge is a far better round in my opinion than a twenty. It is easier to improvise reloads and has much better power. And a thirty caliber bolt rifle good for pie plate accuracy with crappy scope at a thousand yards is far better than a souped up rimfire carbine round good to 300. But this is an alternative. Each system has its good and bad. This is just another choice rather than an alternative. I wouldn’t trade in my Enfield ( British Enfield Rifles, Lee-Enfield No. 4 and No. 5 Rifles, Vol. 2 (For Collectors Only) ) for it ( although I hate my semi rimfire with the humping plastic innards and would trade it for a single shot any day of the week ). But if you don’t have the basic arsenal of your dreams it is another possibility.

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