EMP

The EMP Commission reports, both the 2004 and 2008 editions, can be found at the EMPact America website.

SHTF Channels

Another post on Slack #radio was for SHTF channels to program into radios.  I need to do this.

Amusingly enough, the site has a list for militia channels, too.

Deodorant Recipe

Interesting read; being able to make one's own deodorant might be useful post-SHTF!

Aeon Fawkes

Someone posted a link to this store on a PTR-91 forum.  They have some interesting stuff, like NBC gear.  The name sounds like a cross between Aeon Flux and Guy Fawkes....

Proposed AWB Renewal

Several days ago, a shooting buddy forwarded a link to the latest toilet-paper bill from psychotic bitch Dianne Feinstein coming down the (shit) pipe when Congress convenes in January.  Basically, it bans the sale, importation, manufacturing, and transfer of most semi-automatic rifles and handguns, and requires grandfathered firearms to be registered under NFA.  (I'm assuming there's an exemption for production of such items for LEO/MIL, otherwise where would they get their gear.)  However, it would appear from the summary that since the transfer is prohibited, unlike current Title II firearms, once the registered owner passes, the registered Title I firearm would then be surrendered to the government.

I don't seriously think that this atrocity will pass—if it does, we're talking civil war.  What I think it's set up to do is attempt to distract the public from the watered-down version that will eventually pass.  It's twisted that something like this would even be proposed, though.

Full-Spectrum Operations in the Homeland

This is some sick shit.  First I got a link from a friend, then saw it in Sipsey St. a couple months back.  Must be the jerk-off fantasy of a twisted individual who thinks it might be fun to kill his countrymen.  Forgot to tuck the link away in case I need to refer to it again.

Emergency Primers

No idea if this will work, but it sounds like a fun experiment:

1. Extract the anvil out of the fired primer. Using the multipurpose tool, gently hold the primer cup and carefully pull out any old primer with a metal pick. Place the primer cup on a hard, flat surface. Examine the case carefully to ensure there are no defects. For safety's sake, defective cups must be discarded. Keep the anvil with the cup.
2.  Insert the point of the star-tipped driver into the primer cup and tap very gently with the plastic mallet to remove the slight protrusion inside. Insert the flat-tipped screwdriver into the primer cup to clean out any remains of the previously used primer material. To minimize any undesirable results, get the cup as clean as possible. 
3. Using the box cutter, gently scrape off the white tip portion only of the match onto the folded index card. The white tip is a chlorinated compound that serves as the "ignitor" for the primer. You'll need about 10 to 12 matches for each primer. Avoid scraping off the sulphur portion of the match.
4. Roll the plastic mallet across the scrapings, being careful to "crush" rather than rub the material. Place the primer cup on a flat surface and, using the crease in the index card, pour the match scrapings into the cap until it is full. Use the bottom of a matchstick to gently tap down the primer.
5. Use the large tweezers to carefully set the primer cup into your machine press, being careful not to spill any of the primer material. Place the anvil into the primer, point down, to seat. Raise the ram of the press up and seal the primer into the shell casing. Keep your face a safe distance away while you're doing this step, as the primer material may pop.

Items you need in a crisis

Parts one and two.

Stripper Clips

An old post by Mr. Vanderboegh has convinced me that I need to load ammo on stripper clips, keep the clips in bandoleers, and stow the bandoleers in .30-cal ammo cans.  I may need to find myself some .223 stripper clips....

Yet another wrinkle

The whole Berkey thing has a long, sordid history with many different associations.  Originally there appears to have been Jones, Watts, and Doulton making pottery in 1815 and eventually granular carbon filters.  Watts bowed out, leaving Doulton & Co. in 1853.  It looks like Doulton predominantly used carbon.  The next step forward appears to be the Chamberland filter (also known as the Pasteur type) in 1884, which used a porcelain tube as the filter medium, but required water under pressure.  In 1891, the Berkefeld filter was developed in Germany, which established the current form of the gravity filter: an upper chamber contains raw water, which passes through a ceramic filter into the lower chamber.  The Berkefeld filter is an extension of the Chamberland filter in that it uses gravity to generate the water pressure.  The unique elements are the use of diatomaceous earth (Kieselguhr in German) as the filter media and the use of an upper and lower chamber structure.  The Berkefeld Filter Co. was separate from Doulton & Co.  In 1972, Doulton was acquired by Pearson & Son Ltd., which purchased Fairey Holdings in 1980.  In 1985 the company became Fairey Industrial Ceramics Ltd. (FICL), and acquired the rights to the Berkefeld and Sterasyl trademarks.  (It's unclear where the name "Sterasyl" came from, since Berkefeld was already using diatomaceous earth.)  FICL separated from Pearson group in 1986 and went public in 1988 as Fairey Group PLC.  Rolls Royce bought FICL from Fairey Group in 2003, spinning off the filtration division and others, which ostensibly retained the FICL name.

That much can be gleaned from Doulton USA's history of Doulton with a smattering of Wikipedia details.  However, there have been a number of companies affiliated with Doulton/Berkey, and their relationship isn't always clear.

• Royal Doulton is what remains of the original parent company after the 1972 buyout by Pearson Group.  Along the way they were bought by Waterford Wedgwood, which went into receivership in 2009.
• Fairey Industrial Ceramics Ltd. owns the trademarks Doulton, used independently of Royal Doulton, and British Berkefeld, though not "Berkey".  They still manufacture the Doulton "candle" filter elements, Sterasyl, etc., and license some trademarks to New Millennium Concepts Ltd. in North America.
• New Millennium Concepts Ltd. owns the trademark to the Berkey name and expanded the lineup of gravity filter systems to several sizes.  (According to one site, the stainless steel systems are manufactured in India.)  They also produce the Black Berkey filter elements, which have an unknown pedigree.  The claims made by NMCL exceed the claims of FICL with regard to capability of the Super Sterasyl filters.  For example, only the Super Sterasyl ATC media is rated for lead removal, but NMCL claims that the Black Berkey elements are comparable.  NMCL has been the British Berkefeld master distributor in North America since 1998.
• Doulton USA sells the Doulton candles, but worth noting is that they aren't related to FICL or Royal Doulton either!  The bottom of their website notes that Doulton USA is a unit of Eco Systems International LLC, which also sells AquaCera filters.
• Ceramic Filters Company Inc. manufactures AquaCera filters, which are often sold as lower-cost substitutes for Doulton filters.  According to their website, they were the agent, importer, and distributor for Doulton and British Berkefeld in 1989.  Apparently NMCL won the master distributor rights, but apparently CFC still sells the Doulton systems.

That's a long, sordid history with lots of players.  It's not surprising that people get confused about what is what in the world of Berkefeld.

For anyone reading this, after my personal experience with NMCL, my suggestion would be to make your own filter unit out of two food-grade buckets and use the Doulton elements.  While I have yet to get any to test, those have the most history behind them.  We know relatively little about the Black Berkey elements, and while they do improve water taste, they have an alarming rate of failure (3 of 4 elements that I have failed), for which NMCL didn't issue a recall, and there are shady business practices with regard to claims of laboratory testing (source).  Should comparable performance be required, get the Super Sterasyl ATC candles, which supposedly handle lead and organics.  St. Paul Mercantile has an excellent FAQ on the Doulton filters, including a link on how to build one's own bucket filter.

I think that for my SHTF water filter, I may have to go with a Sawyer.  And I may get a Katadyn Pocket just for good measure.

Edit [2012.02.03]: Except that I've read that some viruses get down to 0.004 micron, so the Sawyer may not be sufficient....  Also, the "candle" terminology comes from the French "bougie", used in other medical contexts.  Lastly, gravityfilter.com is pretty cheap.

Water Filters

I'd written before about the Berkey filters and subsequent problems.  After a bit more reading, I found out that the Super Stearasyl filters that New Millennium Concepts sells are actually not made by them.  The manufacturer is Doulton in the UK, which is a different entity.  Further, Katadyn also makes a gravity-based filter, although the housing is plastic.  I read on an Amazon review that it's possible to use the Katadyn filters in a Berkey housing, although one has to purchase a parts kit from Katadyn since the filters don't actually come with the washer and nut.

Incidentally, the same reviewer on Amazon posted a scathing review of the Berkey filters that echoed my initial concerns.  I don't regret having tried the Berkey filters, but NMC hasn't done themselves any favors with their handling of their defective filter elements.  So I'm certainly looking at switching to the Super Stearasyl filters, or perhaps the Katadyn ones.  I may also need one of the Katadyn Pocket filters as a backup.

Edit [2012.01.19]: NMC is BBB Accredited, apparently, with only 4 claims made and resolved.  Their actual address according to the BBB site is: 1023 S Main St Suite 204, Grapevine TX 76051.
Edit [2012.01.20]: FICL (Fairey Industrial Ceramics Ltd), owner of the Doulton and British Berkefeld trademarks, has a separate website.  They also note that they don't own the Berkey brand, but do manufacture the Super Sterasyl filters.

SHTF Hygiene

For my research on hygiene without modern conveniences, of course I have to check SurvivalBlog as one of my sources.  One interesting link is for washable feminine napkins by Naturally Cozy; should things break down, women still need the essentials.  Of course a TP alternative would be necessary after the paper kind run out, so perhaps cloth TP would also be a necessity.

Amusingly, there're also several "female urination device" products that women can use to urinate standing up.  One is "Go Girl" (reusable), sold on Amazon, and another is "P-Mate" (disposable, non-flushable, 5 per pack).  Innovation at work!

SHTF School

Via RNS I came across this interesting site describing the realities of a real SHTF scenario.  Allegedly (well, unless you know the guy in person, he could be some bored teen making it up) the guy's from the Balkans and survived the meltdown there in the '90s.  Might be worth perusing for ideas; it'd be nice if someone trustworthy could confirm the validity of Selco's story.  Like Reagan said, "Trust, but verify."

Anyway, the post of interest was regarding gold/silver when SHTF.  His point was that nobody'd take such things because people were scrambling for food and needed useful items, not inert metals.  Further, having such items would make you a target.  He makes the interesting suggestion of buying cheap gold jewelry for wampum, and when making trades play it off as being that you're down to bartering the family jewels, i.e. there ain't any more left where that comes from.

I'd counter that if you have a core of self-sufficient people with a diverse skill-set, who don't really need food/water, the money is a way of keeping the non-essentials on an even basis.  It's hard to predict, so it may be wise to hedge one's bets.

Berkey Filter Problems

Apparently the Big Berkey black filters had manufacturing problems from the end of 2010 to mid-2011, as noted on APN and SB.  That sucks for people who thought they'd buy the Berkey system and put it away for SHTF: right when they need it, it might be unusable!

I'm glad I tried mine, which I got in April before the price hike, because one of the filters busted.  However, I have the additional problem that I have several units that I gave to family members for put-away purposes, so I need to go through the hassle of having them check.  Or perhaps I should just supply a tube of silicone caulk, although somehow I doubt that's food safe....

"Serf's Up!"

A link to the online novel "When Autumn Leaves Fall" that FreedomV sent me.

Shutters

Ever since seeing the security shutters that shops in Japan use, I've been interested in security shutters for windows at my house.  One of the roofing companies I checked out had photos on their web site of a window with real shutters, not the lame vestigal ones used on most houses these days.  That prompted me to see what I could find, and a search turned up a site with a bunch of links to various manufacturers.

Living in the upper Midwest, obviously I'm not going to have issues with hurricanes, but the functionality is similar.  One manufacturer's site that I checked, QMI, had pretty much what I was looking for.  Unfortunately, no prices are listed.

This sort of thing would be good to have for SHTF scenarios, at least for one's first floor windows.  They won't stop bullets, but it'd at least protect one of the weaker access points in the home, buying time to repel the invaders.

Link Dump

The time has come for another link dump so I can close some tabs in Firefox....

Blowout kit - Interesting praxis from 762rifleman
There's a Secret Patriot Act, Senator Says - From Wired
U.S. Housing Crisis Is Now Worse Than Great Depression - Uplifting news...
War Belt - By ATS, because it just sounds cool

Survival Lit

An article over at Alpha Rubicon lists a bunch of books one ought to have on hand.  Perhaps they're worth checking out.

Dare to Prepare

There was a link to this book on Sipsey St a couple weeks ago.  I haven't decided whether to get it or not; I need a more in-depth assessment first.

Kit

From the always useful Sipsey Street, there's a link to a description of a bug-out bag called a "speed bag", which links back to a Sipsey piece on first aid kits.

Gotta have quikclot or similar for temporary patching of gunshot wounds....