Rethinking my INCH bag

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by Oltymer, Dec 14, 2016.


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  1. Oltymer

    Oltymer Monkey++

    Since I am living at my BOL, I really don't need a BOB but am doing a complete revamp of my INCH bag. Of course I wouldn't abandon my present location without a struggle, but the time may come when a retreat might become necessary.

    Today I added a package of JB Weld, fast dry (6 minutes). I've used the regular 4 hour drying time stuff in the past and it is incredible what this stuff can do. I am swapping out heavy items for lighter ones that will get the job done. Am deleting my KABAR and replacing it with an old Herter's Guide knife.

    It's about ounces, as I am in very rugged and mountainous terrain, and I've done a lot of hiking the past two years reconning everything within several miles of my present AO looking for natural resources and hidey holes. I realized while doing these hikes that I needed to redo my INCH load out as it is just too heavy for my 62 year old body and this terrain.

    Swapping out my SKS for an old Marlin 75 .22, 10 shot tube fed 16" barrel carbine. This .22 weighs in at 5 lbs with the sling, then adding 500 .22 LR cartridges brings my total MBR and ammo load to 8.7 lbs. In these woods a 100 yard shot at anything is a long one, as vegetation and terrain conspire to restrict actual visible distance most of the time, and I think the .22 will prove to be adequate for my needs. Dropping my 1911 from the lineup also, and might put in a small pocket pistol, or add my old Pearson break down 55# fiberglass bow with a few arrows. I always have a slingshot, and it would probably be the main meat provider. Rocks for ammo are abundant, so no need to pack any special ammo for it.

    Am wanting to restrict total load out to 40lbs, and am swapping light weight high calorie food for as much gear as I think I can do without. Want to be able to be in the field for a month, supplementing my rations with what I can forage from the wild, before I have to think about any re-supply.

    Has Oltymer finally fallen off his rocker and lost all his marbles???
     
  2. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    Well.... I think if you are going to carry a .22, I would rather go with a 10-22 for defensive purposes. A semi-auto with a bx-25 mag gives you suppressive fire with quick reload, while trying to either pin down a bad guy or give others time to scoot & move. This is one of my kit solutions.
     
  3. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    Sounds like you need a few cache...I wouldn't give up a gun I'm familiar with for "suppressing fire", personally, especially if it was just me.
    You make slingshot ammo?
     
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  4. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    No, just pragmatic re-evaluating the realities of where you are in time and space. A lighter load will enable you to move further, faster, and with more stealth, than as an overloaded pack horse. Plenty of advances and retreats have been littered with packing decisions that had less to do with reality than ambition and wishfullness.*

    * Oh, and also by stupid, inflexible, and inappropriate regulations, commands and orders! :(
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2016
  5. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    I'll second that chell.
     
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  6. Oltymer

    Oltymer Monkey++

    Yeah, I'd rather go with a 10-22 also, but don't have one right now, and just using what I have. Hopefully I will be able to pick one up this coming year, and want stainless with some of those new bigger mags to go with it. Thought about using an old squirrel stock Marlin M 60, 17 rnds in the tube & 1 in the chamber for 18, but it's length gets in the way when I'm fully packed out and it weighs 11 more ozs than the M 75 and an old Savage single shot, which is lighter than the M 75 and very accurate, but rate of fire makes it unacceptable in a defensive situation. I have considered using the M 60 as a walking stick, which is needed in this terrain, but haven't tested this idea out yet, and it would take a real beating in that role. The last thing I need is a non functional MBR.

    Will be using some DIY speed loading tubes in conjunction with the M 75, and combined with carefully selected sites and lots of primitive defensive perimeter devices, punji sticks, pig stickers, Malaysian dropping spears, pathway bows, and others, all pre-built and waiting at the sites to be made active upon arrival.

    Will be selecting and working on several locations in the cardinal directions, so no matter which way I would have to retreat I'll have a place waiting for me that has a close water source, and easily defended. Will also be caching some basics in the selected sites in case I don't get out with my pack, or have to ditch it or loose it during the retreat.
     
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  7. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    Sounds like you have a plan put together.
     
  8. Oltymer

    Oltymer Monkey++

    Yeah AX, I have a handmade .38 caliber round ball mold my dad made back in the 50's that I've used since I was a kid. That size and weight ball in lead, wheelweights, or even type metal works real good for the bands I am used to using - # 107 rubber bands, which are available everywhere. I can hit birds in flight, and small game taking at 25 yards is no problem, been shooting them since I was a little kid of pre-school age. I make my forks from trees.

    The slingshot is probably one of the most misunderstood and underrated weapons of the modern world. Forget the wrist rockets and learn to shoot instinctive. I carry one with me everywhere I go out of sight in my back pocket, with ammo in my front pocket. It can be deployed in a couple of seconds and a ball sent downrange with enough velocity to crack a coconut which is 10 times harder than a human skull, and hitting a head at 25 yards is NO problem.
     
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  9. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    I recently took up the blowgun after watching a bunch of survival shows, and looking for a quick, Day1 hunting option. I'm comfortable with what I'm getting out of it to be turning my focus from shooting it to making ammo. Found out my ancestors used a design of longer dart that kills without poison, and curiosity kind of took me from there.

    My experience with slingshots is amusingly bad, but there are so few rocks in the area, we use acorns for shot. I have seen enough hunting experience with them on here to be a believer in their power, if you can hit with them. I do instinctive archery, so I have at least an idea of where you are coming from...entirely different experience. I've fired some .365 round ball from a Colt Navy from mine before, goes clean through 1/2" plywood at 20 paces.
     
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  10. Oltymer

    Oltymer Monkey++

    I've been at this stuff since I was around 2, so 60 years of training, experimenting, and experience. Dad was in Patton's 3rd Army, 4 Bronze Stars, and was selected as the survival instructor for the 80th ID after hostilities ceased in Europe and the troops began to train for invading Fortress Japan. He was my first mentor and one of the early Minutemen back in the 50's, 60's. Out to the woods at least 2 weekends every month, he was able to completely pack the car, insert my mom and 3 brothers and be on the road in 10 minutes after getting home from work on Fridays. Supper was cooked over an open fire, usually in some remote location in the North GA mountains. We also did 2 weeks in the woods every year, as that is how dad spent his vacations. Those trips involved hiking, map reading, camping in the boonies, and a host of other skills. I started getting firearms instruction at around 5, and survival and being in the woods was just how I grew up.

    Then along came Kurt Saxon and Mel Tappan in the 70's, who I studied, then I got into Buckskinning, black powder guns and all that. In the 80's I was involved with the Survivalist movement, belonged to a group and was the librarian. My main duty was to search out information the group wanted, which in pre-internet days could be very difficult to locate. The librarians in Atlanta hated to see me come in the door as I would have a list of books to check out or arrange interlibrary loans for. I then started learning the real primitive stuff which I am still studying - there is no graduation day.

    I've watched the nomenclature used in survival change over the years, but the main thread is still the same. I've used a lot of "I" s in this ramble, but "we" are all in the same boat. I've learned things here I didn't know, and had thoughts I had never thought before because we all share experience and information together. That goes to make this a good site to hang out at, and it has been a very positive experience.

    I have a plan - all the time.
     
  11. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    That's what we'd call one heck of a resume. Haha.

    I've done just enough Buckskinning for it to leave a bad taste in my mouth, unfortunately. Lot of old folks set in their ways, and none of them up to date on historical findings or accuracy since the internet was invented. In my experience, of course. I've been kicked out of places using an accurate copy of a "find" that is not "period correct"...real hard to explain to some people that my French and Indian kit has a lot of items that are used the EXACT opposite of how they were used in the "Rendezvous" period, especially shooting kit and techniques. And then the Civil War boys have a whole nother idea of things.

    It would be very interesting if I wasn't trying to camp in a mud pit with my family. Haha.
     
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  12. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Must confess, I'm jealous. I'd love to learn more bushcraft. I guess even at 63 it's never too late to begin. Got some outdoor experience, hunting, skinning and gutting out game large and small and cooking it up. Got to the point where I'd just bring vegetables to eat on weekend camping trips. Meat was supplied by hunting small game (cottontails) and birds, mainly quail in season. Been camping ever since I was in my 20's. But it doesn't hold a candle to what you guys are talking about. At least there's something to build on.

    Been purchasing books on the subject recently and would love to actually build temporary shelters out of nooks in rocks, pine branches, tree limbs, etc. There are so many things around you in the wild that can be effectively used to increase one's chances of not only survival, but comfort level as well. It just takes knowledge and the ability to effectively apply it. When I retire I'll have the time. Right now just getting to work and surviving the commute on the freeway is a bigger concern.
     
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