Survival Cache

Currently I am lacking in my supplies. It is growing slowly by days though and I am thinking of the storage unit thing. I would like to have several set up though it looks like it will only be one. I don't really have a base yet so I'm not able to do some preps like most of you can. I am just trying to stash enough to make a good trip to somewhere. As soon as I can, which is not near, I will make a place to go. How it all will work is up in the air.

 

Feel free to drop off whatever you would like at my place, we can call it your SW resupply.

Good bump, I had forgotten all about this thread. The thing is I have a lot of the cheap stuff I mentioned earlier in the thread I just need to put it all together. With the whole having babies thing and working 7 days a week you tend to forget all of your plans and survival means day to day stuff.

 

I've been reading posts for several months, just haven't posted. I am wondering about leaving things at friends, if they have a problem, then the stuff is gone. I like 6" pvc buried close to fence posts, so metal detectors won't easily locate them and you have a way of finding them. I think for little money that you could have a nice stash. Altho guns are much higher now, I just got an sks $185 and 1k for $169. it is still a good deal. A 22 and food, meds, shelter, alittle cash and you have a back up. Much more than that and you have a supply depot. Just my thoughts

 

Welcome to the board JHH.

I look at a cache as basic supplies, needed in an emergency. I am looking for cheaper firearms that will serve a variety of roles, a little ammo, food, and basic necessities. If you can get a 12 gauge at a garage sale, or pawn shop for $50, or a .22 for $30, it would be a lot better than nothing. I bought a short barreled pump 12 gauge years ago for $20 at a pawn shop. No doubt it is a prime example of good cache material. I am not going to miss it, as it never sees the light of day.

I have family in different areas that I would trust with my life, and know that they would never use the stuff in the cache unless they had too, in that instance I would want them to. That's one of the advantages of keeping the cache cheap. If you lose it, no big deal. If my family/friends became desperate enough to need it (which I assume would be in a SHTF event and/or immediate threat) then I want it there for them just as much as it would be for me. Just some cheap insurance.

 

The mentality that guns are such an essential part of survival caches is not very realistic. One should be able to defend themselves, certainly, but some of the ordnance that I see people so worried about looks more like they are preparing for an extended battle with smurfs rather than keeping their family safe and maybe putting a squirrel in the pot. When people start talking about TEOTWAWKI, maybe they should realize that we now have combat drones that can identify and disintegrate multiple targets in the dark from miles away and has no remorse about doing it. Think mini-guns here for a minute and make believe you got fight one on a gunship two miles away. The advantage is not going to be on the home-court.
Keeping Bro from taking the car or the gen-set doesn't require Rambo suits and thousands of rounds of ammunition. I tend to favor having something to eat or medicate over having something to kill with. Weapons and the use of them, are a responsibility,not an indulgence in fantasy. When the life you take used to borrow your lawn-mower on the weekends, how are you prepared to deal with that? I think you should be prepared to deal with defending your home and family and have a plan in place to make refuge, if necessary but I can guarantee you that there are many more important items than weapons and ammunition that will be of use and this is coming from an avid gun-nut.

 

Agreed SC. The firearm is just part of the cache. I can even envision caches without firearms. These are "emergency aids/tools in a time of extreme durress."

 

Agree with both of you. I don't feel the need to stock up on a SKS, or AR but my 30-30 is close by, and with that I can put a deer on the table any old time. For the boy the .22 will put one of the many rabbits running around the yard in the pot.

Maybe it's because of the area I live in but I don't see a SHTF situation where I have large groups of people trying to get in, my main objective is to provide the food we need. Making sure we have the supplies up to date is really the first step I focus on and invest my extra money in.

 

I was in a Special Forces Team (back before mastadons went extinct). We did a lot of work making a cache using everything from ponchos to sealed plastic buckets. I learned the hard way by having a lot of my LRP rations dug up & eaten by raccoons, and find rust on metal items.

Now, I use Zerust sleeves that the metal can go into. Just purge out the excess air, roll and clip them shut, & put the stuff away. I don't have to worry about pulling everything out every 6 months & inspecting it.

If you really want to store stuff long-term, you can do the above, then put them into FoodSaver bags ($40.00 for 100' on ebay), vacuum all the air out, & seal the ends. As long as the vacuum is tight, you know that NOTHING has gotten in. I make them about 4 or 5 inches over length, so that I can cut them open at the seal, inspect or play with the contents, then repack & reseal the items.

The Zerust contain a petroleum distillate that precipitates on the metal of the gun while it's in storage, plus they're impregnated with some sort of ferrous material that is supposed to have any loose water vapor attach to it, rather than the metal of the guns.

I can get a line on rifle sleeves, handgun bags, or bulk material. Contact me, if you're interested.

 

Claymor, what does your coin say?

 

You are cold.

"De Oppresso Liber" on one side.

"Willing to Pay the Price" on the other.

 

Good stuff! Thanks, and welcome to the board.

 

Just got this in my e-mail. As usual Gander Mountain is really, really high.

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I've never had a problem with wood stocks. It creates more of a petrolleum vapor (like the old vapor paper that the Army stored Springfields and M-1's in). I've put a $1,300.00 M1A in one and seen no adverse effects.

I believe that you may be thinking of "oil-soaked" stocks. That oil is not vaporous.

 

Don't mean to be, Clay. Lot of posers around and not a one of them would have a clue about a coin challenge. Welcome aboard.

 

No problem. P.M. sent.

But we digress. We were talking about keeping stuff from rotting & rusting.

One thing that I think that I wouldn't pack in Zerust is ammo. I don't know if the fumes may get into the primers. I would vacuum pack them in FoodSaver bags. Wipe the brass & copper with a light coat of Flitz, if you have that kind of time.

 

Paint them to slow the rust

 

Burial of ammo cans is a recognized short-term technique, but it's always been a 1-mission cache solution (unless you're in the Arizona desert).

You can take a plastic bucket, put a couple of bricks in the bottom for stand-off distance from water seepage, put your ammo cans on top of that & bury them. I still wouldn't trust this for more than a couple of years, though. I've gotten moisture inside of the buckets & this will condense on the cans, but it's better than direct contact with ground moisture. You could drill holes in the bottom of the plastic bucket. You would have air humidity in the bucket, but no standing water.

Again, if you vacuum your goodies with a FoodSaver before you put it in the ammo can, I think that you will increase your shelf-life dramatically. When you recover it you'll be assured that, as long as the vacuum is not compromised, your supplies are not contaminated.

I should be getting residuals from Tilia, Corp.