Comments on: From Zero To Basic Preparations In Six Months http://neosurvivalist.net/2010/from-zero-to-basic-preparations-in-six-months/ Mainstream Survivalism For Regular People Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:29:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: NetRanger http://neosurvivalist.net/2010/from-zero-to-basic-preparations-in-six-months/comment-page-1/#comment-71 NetRanger Fri, 28 May 2010 10:45:17 +0000 http://neosurvivalist.net/?p=42#comment-71 The Beretta PX4 Storm in 9mm is an excellent choice for a self defense arm. I'm sure you'll get a lot of people that will tell you that the 9mm isn't enough, but, if you use some open hollow points with it, the knockdown is pretty good. The same bullet diameter and velocity was good enough for the police for at least 40 years. Though I have in the past recommended the starting point being a shotgun it has the disadvantage of not being portable. Post SHTF the shotgun is the important piece, Pre-SHTF the Beretta is probably the more flexible gun. Your shotgun find is excellent. The Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500 are both Military and Police standards. But, don't rule out the Winchester 1300 and some of the H&R or NEF singles and backups. In my firearms article I covered what I needed on my moderately rural 30 acre patch of green. In a urban or suburban situation the need for utility firearms is probably nearly non-existent while there is the increased need for self defense that goes way up. As far as food goes, I started looking at everything we were eating. I found that much of it was non-perishable. 1 year ago I put up some shelves and started buying extra. I've been greatly influenced by the store-what-you-eat / eat-what-you-store advocates for a couple reasons. Mainly economics. Not only does it give you a food supply, it does it fairly quickly and financially its very easy on you. It disadvantage is that is a management problem. You don't have to worry about managing your supply of survival food. It just pretty much sits there. I've got some of that, but mostly, I store what I eat. On generators: Years ago (during the Y2K scare) I decided that I needed a genny. I wanted something as small as possible for the fuel efficiency but big enough to run my well pump. I ended up with a Honda 3500. I even got the electric start option (a $400 option. A waste! Hondas are so easy to start, my 8 year old daughter could cold start it!) The generator was very expensive but a good investment. At the time it was $2100. I wired it in so I could throw my mains and put 220 right back on my distribution buss. Runs my well pump easy. I replaced the 4800 watt elements in my 40gal water heater with 2600 watt elements (only 1 runs at a time) and I'm set. I've used it a few times. Its a valuable asset when things go down. There are many more cheaper alternatives now. If you want to be fully "generatored" I recommend getting a very small one of the inverter type - 1000 to 3000 watts and then a larger one for big power, 5000 or larger. This give you maximum flexibility to run electronics and lights with the smaller efficiency one for longer intervals and gives you a high powered on for big things like well pumps, heaters, dryers or ovens. Good luck with your choices. The Beretta PX4 Storm in 9mm is an excellent choice for a self defense arm. I’m sure you’ll get a lot of people that will tell you that the 9mm isn’t enough, but, if you use some open hollow points with it, the knockdown is pretty good. The same bullet diameter and velocity was good enough for the police for at least 40 years. Though I have in the past recommended the starting point being a shotgun it has the disadvantage of not being portable. Post SHTF the shotgun is the important piece, Pre-SHTF the Beretta is probably the more flexible gun. Your shotgun find is excellent. The Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500 are both Military and Police standards. But, don’t rule out the Winchester 1300 and some of the H&R or NEF singles and backups.

In my firearms article I covered what I needed on my moderately rural 30 acre patch of green. In a urban or suburban situation the need for utility firearms is probably nearly non-existent while there is the increased need for self defense that goes way up.

As far as food goes, I started looking at everything we were eating. I found that much of it was non-perishable. 1 year ago I put up some shelves and started buying extra. I’ve been greatly influenced by the store-what-you-eat / eat-what-you-store advocates for a couple reasons. Mainly economics. Not only does it give you a food supply, it does it fairly quickly and financially its very easy on you. It disadvantage is that is a management problem. You don’t have to worry about managing your supply of survival food. It just pretty much sits there.

I’ve got some of that, but mostly, I store what I eat.

On generators: Years ago (during the Y2K scare) I decided that I needed a genny. I wanted something as small as possible for the fuel efficiency but big enough to run my well pump. I ended up with a Honda 3500. I even got the electric start option (a $400 option. A waste! Hondas are so easy to start, my 8 year old daughter could cold start it!) The generator was very expensive but a good investment. At the time it was $2100. I wired it in so I could throw my mains and put 220 right back on my distribution buss. Runs my well pump easy. I replaced the 4800 watt elements in my 40gal water heater with 2600 watt elements (only 1 runs at a time) and I’m set. I’ve used it a few times. Its a valuable asset when things go down. There are many more cheaper alternatives now. If you want to be fully “generatored” I recommend getting a very small one of the inverter type – 1000 to 3000 watts and then a larger one for big power, 5000 or larger. This give you maximum flexibility to run electronics and lights with the smaller efficiency one for longer intervals and gives you a high powered on for big things like well pumps, heaters, dryers or ovens.

Good luck with your choices.

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