Winter camping can
be miserable, and I’ve winter camped in Washington State in the
snow and the wet and the cold as a Boy Scout. Now I’m
camping in Georgia year-round with my son’s Trail Life Troop, and “below freezing in Georgia” is just as miserable as “below freezing in
Washington.”
There are two
schools of thought among the adults who provide some level of safety
for our troop. One is “I need to be able to carry all
my kit long distance,” and the other is “What the heck, I own a
truck, and I’ll carry my gear from the truck to the campsite.”
The first group doesn’t use any artificial heat sources, and the
second group does. At the last campout, the second group was more
comfortable than the first group because they had bigger,
roomier tents. In two of those tents were Mr. Heater Portable Buddy Heaters, and I got to enjoy them simply by being there.
First observation: even the smallest Mr. Heater product is plenty for a tent that a
single person can pack. The advertisement says “up to 225 square
feet” which I think is a bit generous for most tents, but in a well-insulated room or small cabin it would make sense.
Note: while
commercial locations won’t refill most 1lb propane bottles, you can
buy adapters to refill them yourself. This is obviously discouraged by single-use propane vendors, but
there are refillable bottles on the market.
Pros and Cons
A Mr. Heater is a bit of a luxury item for
camping in Georgia or Washington, even in the winter time. But as a
survival/resiliency prep it has a few things going for it.
If you have a gas grill and adapter hose, or a few 1lb
propane bottles on hand, you have a safe indoor heating in a pinch.
A heat source can be used to heat food. One YouTuber I watch routinely opens canned food and gently heats it
using his Mr. Heater in the depth of Canadian winter, and toasting
frankfurters or marshmallows is very similar to using a campfire.
Is it perfect?
No, not really.
It takes up space when not in use. Not much, but some.
Unlike a rocket stove or Solo Stove or Kelly Kettle, it uses a fossil fuel that may or may not be easy to get in an emergency. If you live in an apartment where wood or twigs aren’t plentiful, that might be a positive rather than a negative.
It’s big enough that I wouldn’t bother keeping one in a full size van unless the van had been converted into a small camper. In a large camper, a Mr. Heater makes quite a bit of sense.
Should You Get One?
I’m not in a hurry to go out and buy a Mr. Heater of my own, but if I see a good sale I’ll probably snag one. They run very quietly, and in an elevated deer stand in the winter where I sit still for hours on end, it might be really nice to not feel the cold so deep in my bones.
Also, don’t
underestimate the value of the “nice to haves” in a situation
where you have to rely on your preps and not public infrastructure.
The little luxuries can make all the difference between a miserable
experience and a merely inconvenient experience.
I’m not getting
any younger, and the ground isn’t getting any softer. Several of
the fellow Dads in my son’s Trail Life Troop are avid backpackers,
and they all recommend hammock camping. Some camping hammocks are
mini-shelter solutions in themselves, some even with snuggly sleeping
bags built in for cold weather... but not the ones I bought at Harbor Freight. I purchased two of these hammocks, one at the full price of $19.99 for my son, and one for myself when it was on sale for $14.99.
It is a hammock. It is actually a very well-designed hammock
for what it is: two nylon straps to wrap around trees, two steel carabiners, and a hammock
with its own storage bag sewn in.
What It Lacks
Any sort of built-in coverage or bug screening, or any sort of
thermal insulation. This means that when I slept in it for the last
few nights of sub-freezing weather (I woke up with frost inside my
bivy cover on my outer sleeping bag), I had to adapt my sleeping
system a little bit.
To keep from
freezing in the freezing weather, I put my close-cell foam sleeping
pad inside an Army surplus bivy cover, and used both the winter and
summer bags for the modular sleep system and a woobie to fill in the
air gaps and Hot Hands brand hand and toe warmers to make me
toasty. The Hot Hands warmers weren’t strictly necessary, but
they definitely helped me get comfortable faster when the temperature was below freezing.
My Plan to Hammock Camp in the Rain
Bring 550 cord, bungie cords, ground stakes, and a tarp.
String the 550 Cord over my hammock using the same trees I attached the hammock to, and make a rain cover.
I once served with a bit of a character who had done some bounty hunting prior to his life in the Army. His team used a full-size van as part of their stakeout platform, and had modified the interior with hard points in the front and back to attach a hammock so one member of the team could get some sleep while the others observed, and the hammock could get stuffed away into nearly no space quickly (something an inflatable mattress couldn’t do). Having slept in a Ford Econoline van before, I’m positive the hammock provided an upgrade to the floor. If your preps include a van-sized vehicle, that might be an option for you.
I'm a Hammock Camping Convert
I still have to pack a sleeping pad in the winter time, but between the weight of the hammock and a rain fly, I’m saving weight and space over a tent.
Is this something you absolutely need in your preps? Probably not, but it did provide me much better sleep than any other option I’ve tried, including some very expensive inflatable sleeping pads.
If you expect the unexpected, then by definition it's no longer unexpected. Which is another way to say that people in North Florida were taken completely by surprise when it started snowing yesterday. And not just little flakes that melted when they hit the ground; no, some places had up to ten inches of snow! I don't know what you Northerners consider a significant amount of snowfall, but I think that "distressingly close to a foot deep" qualifies.
As you would expect, the snow has had dramatic effects on the Sunshine State. Our capital city Tallahassee shut down yesterday, and our biggest northern city Jacksonville closed multiple bridges due to ice. There's also concern that warmer weather today has caused the snow to melt, which will then freeze over and make road conditions dangerous.
This is Florida's Superstorm Sandy. Back in 2012, Sandy was a category 1 hurricane that hit New York City during a high tide, and NYC wasn't prepared to handle that kind of weather. If Sandy had hit anywhere in Florida with the same strength and tide level, Floridians would have shrugged it off. By the same token, New Yorkers would have shrugged off 10 inches of snow, but it's crippling us. This is because both events exploited a gap in both physical and cultural infrastructure.
You already know what physical infrastructure is: the tools, supplies, and people in place to address a problem. In Florida's case, those would be snowplows, sand trucks (with sand), and people skilled in driving those vehicles in snowy conditions. We have plenty of sand, but not much of the others; I only just today learned that Florida owns 11 snowplows. I don't know how many snowplows are needed to clear a metro area of 500k (Pensacola) to 2 million (Jacksonville), but I have a feeling that 11 isn't enough. If we need more than that, we'll need to get them from Georgia and Alabama, and that's assuming they can spare the people and trucks to help us.
Cultural infrastructure, or at least how I use the term, is the problem-solving knowledge and experience that the population as a whole possesses. For example, Floridians know how to drive in nearly whiteout levels of rain, because we're regularly hit by rainstorms for half the year. If you live here long enough, you acquire that skill, as well as skills on preparing for hurricanes and how to make it through them. That's part of our cultural infrastructure, but driving through snow and ice categorically isn't. While we may have some snowbirds who used to drive in the winter up north, those skills have likely atrophied. They're also more likely to be further south, like Central Florida (where I am) or beyond. If it snows there, the entire state will shut down and I'm going to start looking for signs of other Biblical plagues.
So how do you prepare for the unexpected? As much as I'd love to suggest that everyone have preps for every single situation, that's unrealistic in terms of time, space, and money. Considering how rare snowfall in Florida is, preparing for it expends resources that are best spent elsewhere. Instead, the answer is a repeat of advice that I and others have given elsewhere:
Plan for the most likely events instead of black swans so that your preps give you the most benefit.
Cultivate friendships, or at least working acquaintanceships, with people who have useful skills and knowledge that you lack so you can help each other out in emergency situations.
Try to keep an open mind and stay adaptable. Flexibility of thought is always better than complacency that can lead to panic. I do this by imagining scenarios and then role-playing them as realistically as possible, but there may be ways that work better for you, such as a script or flowchart.
You can't change a state's physical infrastructure, but you can contribute to its cultural infrastructure by practicing those three tips.
Stay prepped, or get wrecked. The choice, as always, is yours.
In previous posts I've talked about gun safety and
properly introducing children to firearms. Both topics are intertwined with using the right tools: firearms that are not only functionally safe, but also of appropriate size and weight for smaller shooters.
While attending the GOAGOALS Expo
last year, I got to meet Caelinn, Alex, and Braxton of Mountain Billy Gun Labs. They
were more than willing to spend some time talking about their product with me. In
the short time I was able to handle this firearm, I was quite intrigued.
Following the expo I reached out to them about getting one of their .22
long rifle GOAT-15 Helium mini AR-15s for testing and evaluation. After the usual communications and assurances, they sent one to my local FFL.
Caelin, Alex, and Braxton at GOA GOALS
Description and Specifications
The GOAT-15 is 28
inches long with the stock collapsed and 31 inches long with the stock fully
extended.
The buffer tube has seven positions, enabling it to fit a variety of
shooters.
Smaller, but traditional AR-style stock adjustments
The 16" barrel is rifled 1 turn in 16 with a right hand twist. The muzzle is threaded with standard 1/2-28 threads and comes with a thread protector for when another muzzle attachment isn't in use.
The rifle weighs a
featherlight 2.75 pounds unloaded. Adding a Swampfox Liberator green dot optic increases that weight to only 3.2 pounds.
Weight with and without optic
Mountain Billy Gun labs contracted with MagPul on the one piece upper receiver and hand guard. The fore end has standard M-Lok slots for accessory attachment on the sides and bottom, and a full length Picatinny rail on top.
M-Lok handguard with Picatinny rail
The GOAT-15 comes with two magazines, one that holds a single round for training purposes and another that holds five. Ten round magazines are now available as well. If the GOAT-15 product line takes off like I hope it does, maybe Pro-Mag will make a drum for it.
Five round and single round magazines
Other than the M-Lok slots, Picatinny rail, and muzzle threads, no parts on the GOAT-15 are interchangeable with standard AR-pattern rifles or accessories. All other parts are proprietary.
In accordance with BATFE regulations, the serial number is located on a metal plate inset into the right side of the magazine well.
The GOAT-15 Helium is on the compact side for me, but it's a good fit for smaller-statured shooters. My 5'2" tall wife and a 5' tall friend were both comfortable shouldering the rifle with the stock fully extended. Two taller friends and I found that it required a somewhat cramped hold, but we were able to manage with no real issues.
All controls are of the standard and familiar AR
pattern, with one exception: the safety lock, a unique feature of this rifle.
From their website:
Safety was so important, we developed and patented a new tamper resistant safety switch that requires strength and dexterity to release, adding a level of safety found on no other firearm, of any size.
The safety lock is a knurled knob on the right side
of the receiver where the boss of the safety lever cross pin is located. In
normal use, it can be completely ignored and doesn't interfere with operation
of the safety lever in any way. To activate, the knob is pulled out slightly
and rotated 180 degrees. This locks the safety in the safe position, rendering
the rifle inoperative until the knob is rotated back. If desired, the safety lock can be removed.
GOAT-15 Lower Receiver
When I
talked with Caelinn, Alex, and Braxton at the GOALS Expo, they mentioned the future possibility of a safety
lever that could be put in place of the safety lock. This would allow for full ambidextrous operation of the safety. However, that's not a priority at the moment.
If I were to describe my experience shooting the
GOAT-15, the first word that comes to mind is fun. 22s are nearly always fun to
shoot, and the GOAT-15 takes that to the next level. It's small and light,
while still maintaining the negligible recoil of a 22. It's also quite
accurate: shooting from ten yards freehand, anything other than one-hole five-shot groups were the exception.
Shell casings ejected in the four o'clock direction
and landed about 10 feet away in a relatively contained area. When the last
round is fired, the bolt locks open as with any standard AR platform firearm.
The only issue encountered was on the second day of
shooting. We were several hundred rounds in, and the rifle suffered a series of
failures to feed. As many people know, 22 rimfire is pretty dirty
ammo, and firearm function being affected by a build-up from the externally lubricated
bullets and combustion residue is not uncommon. An examination of the rifle revealed a ridge of
gunk had accumulated on the feed ramp; a quick scrub with a nylon bristle brush
through the ejection port cleared this up and we were back in business.
The rifle was tested with Federal and Winchester 36
grain copper plated hollow points, as well as a mix-and-match of other brands
from my leftovers bin. Other than the fouling issue I just mentioned, the
GOAT-15 handled them all without a hiccup.
For amusement value, a few of the testers tried
shooting it like a pistol, with a one- or two-hand grip. Although a bit
muzzle-heavy when shot in this manner, it was manageable, but group size suffered as would be expected.
A passable but unwieldy handgun
Internals
Disassembling the GOAT-15 for cleaning or maintenance is only slightly
different from standard AR-patter rifles. While the upper and lower are still connected by
takedown and pivot pins, they're not retained by detents. They're also not
pushout, instead having a hex socket on one side and a flat slot on the other, which necessitates two tools to unscrew one end of the pin from the other. This process takes a little getting used to, but it
isn't complicated. I do recommend securing the rifle before attempting disassembly.
After the pins are removed and the receiver halves
separated, remaining teardown is consistent with most ARs. The bolt and
charging handle slide out the back of the upper receiver, and that's it. The
rifle is field stripped.
Bolt and Charging Handle
When I looked down into the fire control pocket, I would have believed I was seeing a standard AR if I didn't have a sense of scale.
All the internal components look like what we expect to see, just smaller.
Fire Control Group, Hammer up and Down
Packing and Accessories
The GOAT-15 Helium comes packed with foam spacers
in a sturdy cardboard box. In addition to the rifle, it also contains two magazines (one-round,
and five-round), the federally mandated lock, a manual, and a sticker.
The GOAT-15 in its pen
The MSRP of the GOAT-15 Helium is $470 for the rifle and $23 for the 10-round magazines. In my
opinion, this is a remarkably good price.
Mountain Billy has also recently released the ATOM pistol
and H2 SBR versions of the GOAT-15, at MSRPs of $480 and $490 respectively. The SBR price does not include the $200 National Firearms Act tax stamp fee.
Summary
At the end of the T&E period, I was so
impressed with the GOAT-15 Helium that I talked to Mountain Billy Gun Labs
about purchasing their test rifle. They agreed, so I'm now the keeper of this
lovely firearm. I foresee it getting plenty of use, both by me and by every
friend whose hands I can get it into.
Whether for training new shooters, outfitting a
smaller statured shooter, or just as a fun plinker, I highly recommend any of
the GOAT-15 variants.
Humans are bilaterally symmetrical bipeds. As such, we're
designed to spend a lot of time on our feet. Unfortunately, Americans generally
don't do enough of this. Both extremes of these circumstances can lead to a variety of health
issues, specifically foot problems. Thankfully, in addition to balancing our activity levels, we
also live in a time where a number of products are available to help maintain
foot health.
Keep Your Feet Clean & Dry
I keep packets of baby wipes in my car, as well as my
toiletry kit for travel. These can be used to clean any part of my body, not just my feet. A similar product called Dude Wipes is also available.
When our feet are wet, they are more susceptible to fungal growth
(such as athlete's foot) as well as abrasion injuries, so keeping them dry is
in our best interests. Microfiber towels are remarkably absorbent, and have a
variety of other uses aside from their drying power.
Talcum powder is a finely ground and extremely soft mineral that absorbs both moisture and (to some degree) odors. It can be applied directly to the feet (especially between the toes) and sprinkled inside shoes to help keep our feet dry. Many types of commercially available talc-free powders are blended with anti-bacterial medications as well.
Wear a Clean Pair of Wool Socks
For colder
weather, or situations where we might not be able to change them regularly, merino wool (or other wicking material) socks are recommended. For those with circulatory
issues, compression socks can help reduce blood pooling in our feet, a condition that can lead to increased mobility issues, neuropathy, and foot
pain. Spare socks should always be part of our Bug-Out, Get-Home, or any other
travel supplies.
Protect Against Injuries
A good pair of insoles will cushion our feet against shocks
while simultaneously supporting our arches. Regardless of the type purchased,
they should be replaced every three to six months.
If we do suffer an abrasion injury to our feet (whether due
to poor fitting shoes, moisture, or some other cause) it needs to be dealt with
quickly so as not to become debilitating. A product called Moleskin is
available, both as adhesive sheets and as little donuts for use on blisters.
Finally, keeping our toenails trimmed is important for
comfort as well as health. When wearing closed toe shoes, long toenails can impinge
against the shoe, frequently leading to pain on even a relatively short walk. Bacteria
can also find a cozy home under untrimmed nails.
Modern firearms are
“dry fire safe” in that they don’t need a round or snap cap in
the chamber to safely work the trigger mechanism through the full
range of operation. However, snap caps are a useful tool for
deliberately inducing a “failure to fire” event during live
training to help perfect the “clear a malfunction” sequence into
muscle memory.
Snap caps are commercially available from a number of manufacturers, often in sets of five for handguns and sets of two for rifles and shotguns. However, it’s often cheaper to make your own dummy rounds using commercial ammunition components.
In my military
service, a dummy round was an inert training aid that can be
easily distinguished from live ammunition by having indentations on the sides of the brass, being a different color
entirely, or a combination of both feel and appearance. These dummy
rounds were used in training personnel to use weapons in a safe
manner, often in classroom locations. Lessons on how to load, arm, and
troubleshoot a failure to fire could all be done as slowly as needed before going to a range and doing it live. If you’re helping to introduce new people to the shooting sports, then dummy rounds are a great tool for teaching basic firearm manipulation, how to load, unload, and so forth.
Making Your Own
I like to make my
dummy rounds with a drill press by drilling holes through the sides of
the cartridge case for an easy visual indicator that they aren’t live
ammunition. Since I’m a handloader, I can omit the steps of priming and charging a round before crimping in the bullet. This leaves me with a dummy round that has holes in the side for visual
identification, but weighs very close to what a live round would weigh.
I find this to be useful for properly weighting a handgun magazine, as 15
rounds of 115gr 9mm ammunition is about 3.5 ounces of additional mass
if you’re practicing “draw from concealment” drills at
home.
The author's handmade dummy rounds
Some of you may be wondering “Why not just take a live round and drill
through it?” I’ve done this when no other option was available to
me, and it works because brass doesn’t spark. I don’t recommend it, though, because there’s still a lot of steel-cased ammunition on the
market and I don’t think the risk justifies the potential reward.
Additionally, if you drill a live round and then pour the powder out
the holes, you still have to deal with the primer. You can’t
use your firearm to do that, either, because the chamber would be directly
exposed to the hot primer gas and you might dislodge the bullet into
the barrel.
For dummy shotgun
rounds:
Take a spent hull and fill it with BBs and
epoxy just below the crimp line. Because the vast amount of mass in a shotgun shell is in the lead shot, you really have to add a filler material back in to get the right weight/feel.
Wait for the epoxy to harden, then
cut the crimp away at the crimp line.
Drill the visual indicators
in the metal part of the hull and drill out the spent primer.
This is a tad
more expensive than pistol or rifle dummies, but still quite a bit
cheaper than commercial snap caps or dummy rounds.
Concerns
“Is there a risk of having a bullet from a homemade dummy round come loose into your firearm?” Yes, but I've not yet encountered that in reality. I’ve experienced an AK-style rifle (Saiga .308) slam uncrimped match ammo so hard into the chamber that it unseated the bullet spilling powder everywhere, so it’s entirely possible that this “inertial bullet puller effect” could happen with a dummy round. If you’re worried about that, then don’t use homemade dummy rounds mixed with live ammo for live training. However, I haven’t experienced this with dummy pistol ammo, and the dummy shotgun ammo is epoxied in place.
Conclusion
Dummy rounds are useful for teaching new shooters the manual of arms with a firearm and for working misfire drills and dryfire practice for more skilled shooters. I cannot recommend strongly enough that every prepper incorporate dummy round-enhanced training drills at home, as they are incredibly valuable to skill building and skill retention and don't require range fees or expending live ammunition.
Dummy rounds are also cheap to purchase and easy to make if you have reloading tools, and I encourage you to buy or make them at your next opportunity. You don't need a whole lot of them, but you should have a few on hand for practice and education.
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