BCP Skills Challenge: Some Prizes

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

As a follow-up to my Skill Challenge post, here are just some of the prizes which can be won:















Starting from the top:

• Adjustable wrench multi-tool from Husky with blade, saw, pliers and bit driver. It's just a bit too bulky and heavy to carry on my belt, but could be a good fit for someone with a toolbelt. Alternately, it could fit nicely in your car's toolbox.  Comes with nylon pouch. 
• Puuko knife by Kellam Knives of Finland. A very sharp knife with and adjustable plastic sheathe. Never used; its slick plastic handle and lack of any substantial finger guard makes me uncomfortable. 
• NRA-branded flashlight with "tactical striking surfaces" front and back. Takes 2 AA batteries, not included. It's an okay flashlight (not very bright and beam isn't adjustable), but it's a pretty blue color not found in nature and made from machined aluminum. Use it to store dry tinder, or mash edibles into paste with the striking surfaces. 
• Mora Classic #1. 4-inch blade, carbon steel. This has been used some, but gently, and has the marks to prove it. Be aware that carbon steel rusts easily. Ask me how I know this. 
• Foldable credit card knife. This made the rounds a year or two ago in prepper circles, and I bought it as a curiosity. The blade is all right -- reasonably sharp, but I don't know what it's made from, likely 420 steel. I don't know how durable the plastic is, though, especially along the folds. I have my doubts it will hold up under stress, but if you need a "use once, then throw away" knife, like for a trauma kit, this ought to do the trick. 
• Nite Ize Tool Holster. Nothing wrong with it; just too bulky to fit comfortably on my belt. Great for securely holding items like flip phone, mp3 players, etc. 
• Fire Keeper. Basically a kydex sheath for a Bic lighter with a paracord lanyard. I prefer to carry my lighters in other ways, but a good gift to someone who uses one a lot, like a smoker. 
• Wallet Ninja. 18 tools in one card. I found it rather awkward to use and a bit too thick to comfortably carry in a pocket or a wallet. On the other hand, it's supposed to be TSA-approved. 

There will be more prizes listed later. 

Get cracking on those articles, folks! You have until January 2nd, 2016 to submit yours.

BCP Skill Challenge

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

We seem to have run out of guest articles (and Mondays are currently open for someone to become a regular contributor), so today I have decided to issue a challenge to our regular readership in the hopes that it would solve a problem of mine and simultaneously get us more submissions.

As a prepper and an enthusiast of gun accessories, I am constantly acquiring hex wrenches that come with new pieces of hardware. While it's convenient to have the proper size of wrench during installation, afterwards I don't need them -- I have my own set of very nice metric & imperial wrenches that I keep in my tool box.


But I am reluctant to throw away these spare wrenches, because that seems wasteful. They're still perfectly good tools; they just happen to be unnecessary. Since I couldn't think of what to do with them, I decided to pose the question to you, dear readers, as the


BCP Hex Wrench Skill Challenge!
The rules are quite simple:

1. Think of something non-wasteful to do with these pieces of steel. I want a solution that is constructive, useful, and preferably ingenious. Do not suggest I put them in the recycling bin or give them to someone else.  
2. Practical applications will be deemed more worthy than purely artistic solutions. The ideal submission will be both practical and attractive. 
3. The solution must be something that someone without technical skills can perform. For example. Firehand is a blacksmith, so I imagine he has all sorts of notions for melting them down into ingots or hammering them into nails using his knowledge and equipment. However, I don't have that knowledge, nor do I have access to a forge, bellows, etc. 
4. If you provide detailed, step-by step instructions, preferably with photographs or illustraions on how to do these technical things (such as making a forge using simple household items). then that will make you eligible for this contest. This is called "Leveling the playing field."
5. Write an article using the guidelines on Guest Articles page. If you have pictures, you can get by with fewer words; fewer pictures means more words. If it's a concern, I'd rather you write too much than too little; I can edit out unnecessary elements but I don't want to put words in your mouths. 
6. The contest starts now and runs through the end of the year. I realize I'm asking for something very technical, so you have 4.5 months to put it together. 
7. Because I am running this contest myself, other members of this blog can compete if they desire. Lokidude and Firehand, I'm looking at you in particular. 

Prizes

Because this is out of my pocket and born of a desire to de-clutter my life, prizes are in a similar vein: Anyone who writes an article gets to pick an item out of my swag box. Some items in the swag box are tools which didn't quite work the way I'd hoped they would; some are goodies that I've reviewed, or which came in Apocaboxes, and I don't have room for them. (For example, I have multiple knives, both fixed and folding, in the swag box; it's not that I don't like knives, it's just that I have no current use for them and no place to put them, so they're in my way and gathering dust.)

Nothing in the swag box is junk.  I wouldn't do that to people. 

The person with the best article gets first pick from the box. Other winners get subsequent picks, until everyone has had a turn. 

Anything left over will be given as thank-yous to future BCP guest authors.

This is the Swag Box as it currently stands. It's likely to fill up more as I clean and de-clutter my life. Please  keep in an mind that between now and the end of the contest, there will be 3 more Apocaboxes (August, October, December) arriving, along with whatever I acquire for product testing and for the holidays, so this picture is not everything that is available. 

Got it? Good! Now get to work!

2nd Annual Writing Contest Winners

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

My apologies to taking so long to announce the winners. But now the wait is over!

First Place
Ray Davies' An Old Man's Guide to Bullet Casting. This was by far and away the most popular post in the contest. Ray wins a Spool Tool in the color of his choice.

Second Place
Beth O'Hara's Superfoods For Preppers. Beth wins a gently used (and personalized, if she desires) volume of Country Wisdom & Know-How.

Third Place
Winning by just a single point over the others is Keith Duke's Getting Robbed in Caracas. Keith wins a CRKT Eat'n Tool XL.

Honorable Mention
Craig Wiles' A Thorough Look at Solar Power was, indeed, quite thorough. However, the prices listed were off-putting to many people, which is why it didn't place. I will be hitting up Mr. Wiles for further information on solar power in the future -- perhaps he will be amenable to doing a podcast interview?

Congratulations to the winners!  And personal thanks to everyone who entered.

Guest Post: Getting Robbed in Caracas

by Keith Duke

Last month, I solicited articles from anyone having experience with surviving a hostage situation, terrorist attack, or other human-induced form of disaster. Keith Duke was the only one to reply (other than the obligatory "Does my divorce count" from the usual wags.) This is his story.

This article is an entrant in the 2nd Annual BCP Writing Contest.

This is a true story. It is also really long, as it details one of my four serious interactions with criminals.


2000, spring-ish. Life is mostly sucking at this point, as both my private & professional lives are pretty much in the toilet: I'm in the process of going through a divorce, and work is time consuming, difficult and very, very stressful. That's when I draw the short straw: I'm headed to Caracas, Venezuela to a trade show (PowerGen Latin America). Won't that be fun! 

It's not my first international trip, so I spend a good chunk of time reading all the state department travel advisories and such. I'm normally an aware traveler -- really  -- and while it's my first trip to Caracas, I've traveled to other South/Central American destinations. It should be a piece of cake, right? 

Heh. I can laugh about it now...

I meet the owner of my then-employer's Mexican subsidiary at the Caracas airport, as arranged. My Spanish is spotty, at best: I can follow along reasonably well as long as the speaker doesn't go too fast and doesn't use a lot of slang, so I'm letting him handle the things like transport and such.

First big mistake: I'm not paying enough attention, because he travels through Caracas all the time, and I trust/expect he's much more aware of any local hazards.

We gather up our bags, get through customs with no problems and pass into the general area, which is huge, very loud and packed to the gills with people - the cavernous echoes of the terminal make conversation difficult. My compatriot negotiates with a cabbie. They come to an agreement and we follow him out to 'the upper taxi deck'.

Second mistake: I didn't know this at the time, but there is NO upper taxi deck in the Caracas airport, only a remote cab waiting queue. But hey, the guy is wearing the required uniform, the required ID card, and so on, so he should be legit, right? He leads us to a real cab in a line of cabs at the airport. He's really a cabbie, dang it!

We get to the cab and... there's a driver already in this cab, also wearing the correct uniform/hat/ID. So, also a cabbie, yeah? The first guy explains that he gets a cut for bringing passengers out to the driver. He smiles and talks to the driver while he starts loading our stuff into the cab. They're discussing soccer/football, and once we get all situated the shill asks the driver if he's done for the day. The driver says "Yes, hop in and I'll drop you off since I'm leaving with these two gentlemen anyway." The driver asks if it's okay with us and -- third mistake -- we say "Yeah, sure."

I'm actually twitching by now, as this just doesn't seem right, but the guy with the complete command of the language and all its nuances isn't concerned at all. He and the two guys up front are chatting away about the shill's girlfriend, local places to eat, soccer and such, so I decide that I'm probably just being paranoid.

We pull out, the driver waves to the security guard -- who waves back -- and we leave the airport and turn left towards Caracas as the signs say. Which is good, because the travel advisory warns that if they turn right you should immediately start trying to get out of the cab and away from them -- a series of robberies and robbery/murders over the past year happened when the cabs headed away from the city -- so the fact that we're going the right direction make me think "Okay, it's good, I was just being paranoid, actually nothing to worry about."

Heh. I laugh again.

It's approximately a half-hour cab ride from the airport to the hotel we're booked into, and about 20 minutes into it, the shill/passenger turns around to my friend and speaks some high-speed Spanish that I didn't quite catch. It sounds like "I've got a gun, give me your wallet."

Ah, crap.

He proceeds to tell us that he's going to take our laptops, valuables in the luggage etc., but we'll be unharmed as long as we cooperate. Now this was in a lot of ways a very professional kidnapping-robbery. The driver drove carefully, and the shill didn't point the gun at us, just showed us he had it: .45 auto, 1911 pattern, hammer back, magazine in, thumb safety on, lying to hand on the seat, but not actually in his hand.

This guy is about 5' 6", a little stocky/wiry but not anything I'd be scared of in a fight. (I'm 6' 3", and at the time was in quite good shape, as well as having some experience in that sort of thing.) It crosses my mind that given the physical arrangement, I can almost certainly hit this guy so hard his daddy is going to feel it for a month. He apparently comes to the same conclusion because he leans way back and says, in broken English, "Now don't be stupid. The car directly behind us has four guys in it and they've all got machetes."

I said something along the line of "Bullshit." (I know -- so witty!) He said, "I'll have them flash their lights so you know they're with us right.. now..."

And they did.

Well then.

So, right there I discovered something about myself: The prospect of possibly getting shot seemed pretty bad, but unless I was really unlucky, it's probably survivable. However, the prospect of being chopped up with machetes and being left to bleed out seemed much less so. 

So we both hand over wallets and passports etc. The shill goes through them, picks out all the cash, looks at the credit cards and passports, and then hands back everything except the cash.

A minute or so later, he tells the driver to pull over. (Yes, the other car pulled over too, and kept the lights on bright, but we could see that there were indeed four people in the car.)

They chuck us out of the cab at a pedestrian pass-through in one of the barrio walls and... well, here's where it gets sort of surreal: the driver pops the trunk, and carries our bags -- making three trips! -- to the sidewalk, and then starts to stand there like you would for a tip! Then he catches himself, and without a trace of irony or a smirk or anything, he tips his hat!

The driver and the shill (who has the gun in hand at this point) get back in the cab, and both cars pull away with me standing on the sidewalk, laughing like a maniac, while my associate watches me like I have lost my ever-loving mind, at the complete cognitive dissonance of the whole hat-tip thing...and yes, in relief at being alive, and unharmed. 

All told, they held us for like half an hour, but in the end it came out okay. No thanks to anything we did, no virtue on our part; we were just lucky. And feeling pretty creeped out by the thought of being chopped up had things gone wrong.

So now, we're walking along in the barrio, talking to each other in a sotto voce "I can't believe this crap" tone, when a guy comes up the walk. My companion opens his mouth and he doesn't even get a change to speak before the other guy turns around and not-quite yells that he's not interested, can't help, doesn't want to get involved. 

With  a bit of wheedling and cajoling, he stops long enough to hear us out. "Sorry, I don't have a car, can't help you." Then further wheedling discussion follows, to the end effect that he says, "But my cousin does. I can't promise anything but he'll be here in a few minutes and maybe he'll give you a ride. Maybe."

So we follow this guy back through the wall into the barrio proper. Which was, in retrospect, certainly mistake number four.

We're standing there on the sidewalk inside the wall, when I notice maybe 50-60 yards away there's a crowd of 100-150 young men and women. They are obviously partying -- drinking, shouting, carrying on. 

One guy looks over his shoulder, then turns back around.A couple of minutes later, 15-20 guys look over their shoulder at us, and then turn back around. About that time the guy's cousin pulls up in this tiny little Toyota, probably 20 years old, rusty, and limping along. And did I mention tiny?

Anyway, the cousin, flat out says no, can't, got things to do. My companion offers a larger inducement, and I say I'll match it. No dice. 

Right about that time, the whole damned crowd turns towards us as one body, and I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that we were dead. Toast. 

The driver looks over at the crowd, looks at us and sighs. "Get in. NOW!" Which we do with alacrity, managing to get away from the still-closing crowd with a huge sigh of relief. 

As we to travel to our hotel, the conversation with the driver goes something like "I have things to do, but I couldn't have your deaths on my conscience. That's the only reason I agreed." 

We get to the hotel, get cash advances (since the robbers were kind enough to leave us everything but our traveling cash), and we give him a couple of hundred US dollars apiece, plus an invite for an all-expense paid trip to my associate's guest ranch in San Luis Potisi. (Which is a really nice place.)

Once in the hotel, we report everything to the police who assure us they "would look into it" (we all know they won't), and then we retire to the bar for much drinking and talking.

That was just the first night. Oh yes, my friends -- there's more, much more...

I get up in the morning, eat breakfast, get in the blacked-out bus with the armed security guards, go set up the booth, work the tradeshow, eat lunch, go back to the hotel, have dinner out that night with local customers. A pretty normal tradeshow day, all in all. There was a good deal of ribbing from other exhibitors about the robbery, but that sort of thing is expected.

But right around 2:00 AM, I wake up to the sound of significant automatic weapons fire. It sounds like an AK-47. Well, okay, it sounds like several AK's. 

Screw it. I roll over and go back to sleep. If they want to shoot me, they're going to have to come dig me out of my room -- I'm not going to a gunfight armed only with harsh words.

In the morning, we ask the security guys to tell us how those lines of bullet holes got in the facade of the hotel, and how all that broken glass happened. It turns out that the hotel security staff were shot at by a carload of folks in a little drive-by, except that the drive-by guys didn't do any recon. The only way in or out of the hotel is the same driveway. When they turned around to drive out past the guards they had just mag-dumped at, the hotel security guys shot the vehicle to hell and killed them all.  End of the night: Security guys 3, drive-by shooters 0. 

The next day, nothing happened. Amazing!


The third day is the last day of the tradeshow. It starts off with the bus being widely re-reouted and we are told to make sure that all the curtains are closed and NOT to look out. It turns out that they're rioting at the airport. (It was Hugo Chavez's first re-election, if I recall correctly.) There are burning trucks blocking everything, both and rowdies AND soldiers are running a bit amok. No killings, but foreign devils - like me! - have been pulled from their vehicles and badly beaten/robbed.

Put me down for "Not interested", m'kay?

Anyway, we eventually make the tradeshow, then break down the booth, pack it up, and so on. We don't leave the hotel for dinner, as the streets are just too dangerous because of the election the day after tomorrow. One of our fellow tradeshow guys was critically injured & hospitalized when he tried to go down the street for dinne, and was hit on the head with a coconut (of all things) thrown at him from an upper floor balcony. Another was beaten pretty badly by a group of locals. The city is nervous and tense, and there's widespread gunfire in the distance pretty much all night.

The next morning, it's finally time to head home. Hooray! Bright and early, we get a cab, "A good cab!" the bellman assures/teases me, all the way out to the airport -- where I ran into The Helper.

"Senor, you need someone to assist you with the paperwork. Let me help you."

"Nope, I got it."

"But Senor, you don't want to make any mistakes and miss your plane. Let me help you."

"Look dude, go away. I don't want any help thankyouverymuch."

"But senor, they're going to find drugs in your luggage unless I help you, I promise you."

<Fish eyed glare> "What? "

"Senor, there will be drugs in your luggage. It just happens that way, so you should let me help you so it doesn't."

<F**K!> "OK, how much is this "Help" going to cost me?"

"Senor, it only costs a nominal tip." 

"And how much is that?"

"Just a nominal tip, senor."

"OK. Let's go. Do your thing. The sooner I get out of your country back home the better I'll like it."

So, he fills out the frigging simple paperwork, and I hand him a $10.

"Senor, that is not a nominal tip."

"Cut to the chase - what do you want?"

"Just a nominal t-"

"Shut up and quit playing. Here's another $10. Now get out of my sight or I swear before God that I'm heading to the nearest policeman and taking my damned chances."

"That's a nominal tip senor."

And he saunters off to run the same scam again, and again, and again -- all day long -- extorting $20-$30 per person he "helps", so they don't 'find drugs in the luggage'. (And for what it's worth, one of the guys from the US did get caught with drugs in his suitcase. I don't know if they were really his or not, but it was a big scene.)

Anyway, The Helper says as he walks away : "When you go through customs Senor, do not go to the female customs agent, go to the man on the right."

Which is my normal plan anyway . But I guess it turned out to be good advice, worth double or even triple what I'd paid him. You see, everyone who went to the female customs agent got a body cavity search.... 

Yeah, I was really glad to get home.


And while this article is intentionally humorous, my experience was pretty terrifying. I've been robbed before, and experienced some other 'interesting things' with criminals, but never at such truly disadvantageous odds in both numbers and weapons. The sight of the group of people turning and coming towards us as one was actually even more terrifying. I might have been able to outrun 6 guys, but there was no way in hell I could outrun that many guys.

I definitely do still kick myself from time to time for not paying attention to my gut. It was talking to me, and I was too stupid to listen. Part of it was cultural; I was unsure of what was normal, and the language barrier added some confusion. Had it been in the US, I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't have happened, at least not that way, simply because culture and language wouldn't have been at issue at all.

But it was definitely a learning experience.

Guest Post: Superfoods for Preppers

by Beth O'Hara

Beth O’Hara is an enthusiastic food prepper and Health and Wellness Coach who works with clients internationally. She is experienced in working with clients to transform areas that include health and wellness, relationships, self-understanding, self-esteem, and life balance. You can contact Beth through her webpage at Conscious Living Center. 

This article is an entrant in the 2nd Annual BCP Writing Contest.

Super Packing 
Your Bug-Out Bag

What are Superfoods?
Superfoods are foods that are extremely high in nutrition and support health. The media has popularized exotic superfoods like acai and camu camu that, while nutritionally dense, can be rather expensive and difficult to obtain during any kind of civil breakdown. We’re going to look at superfoods that have a good cost to benefit ratio and are easier to obtain.

Why worry about nutrition when prepping? 
Most preppers think about making sure they can get adequate calories and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat), yet don’t take into account the body’s needs during high stress. Physical activity, and mental and emotional strain, take a high toll on the immune system, adrenal glands, and detoxification processes of the body – systems you need in high working order if you have to bug out. While MRE’s and equivalents can get someone already in optimal condition by for a few days, the level of preservatives and lack of micronutrients will eventually take a toll on even the healthiest body. For someone like myself, who has genetic detoxification issues and adrenal insufficiency, MRE’s become a liability rather than an asset. I can’t break down preservatives and need all the nutrition I can get, and I had to rethink the traditionally recommended foods for my personal Bug Out Bag.

Superfoods for your Bug Out Bag
So what are the alternatives? Foods for your Bug Out Bag need to be lightweight, provide plenty of calories, and be easy to prepare. On top of that, they need to provide B vitamins, Vitamin C, and Magnesium – micronutrients that are quickly depleted in stress. Here are some foods I stock in my bag that you ought to consider for yourself.

Quinoa
Quinoa is technically a seed and is high in protein, with about 8 grams of protein for 1 cup (cooked) as well as having good amounts of iron, magnesium, and potassium. Quinoa will go rancid if allowed to sit out at room temperature after a few months, so I store it in the fridge. You can keep a bug out food bag in the fridge to grab if you have to bug out, or if you store it in your bag just be sure to rotate your supplies often so it stays fresh. If stored sealed, it will easily last a couple weeks in your pack. 

Quinoa, along with most seeds, nuts and grains, contains an enzyme inhibitor called phytic acid which impairs absorption of nutrients including magnesium, iron, zinc, and calcium. If conditions allow, soak quinoa in purified water for 12-24 hours before cooking. (This will also reduce cooking time.) If you aren’t able to make a cooking fire, you can sprout the quinoa for a couple days after soaking it: just drain the water and rinse the quinoa in clean water a couple times a day. Small sprouts will develop and you can eat them raw. Sprouting further reduces the phytic acid and increases the vitamin C.

If you just can’t prepare the quinoa (such as water being in short supply), you can also use it as bait to trap small mammals and birds.

Sunflower Seed Butter
While slightly more expensive than peanut butter, sunflower seed butter is higher in vitamin E, zinc, iron, magnesium, and phosphorous. It is easy to make fresh with a food processor or high powered blender, and making it yourself will reduce the cost. I soak sunflower seeds overnight (to reduce the phytic acid), dry them in a food dryer (or you could use an oven on lowest setting) and then blend with just enough extra virgin coconut oil to make it smooth.

The homemade variety won’t keep indefinitely, but it will keep for a couple weeks in your pack. I keep it in the fridge with the quinoa, ready to grab. You can buy sunflower seed butter in the natural foods section of grocery stores that will last even longer in your pack.

Ghee
In addition to protein, you’ll need a good source of fat to keep you going. Contrary to popular media reports influenced by polyunsaturated fat manufacturers, saturated fats are extremely important to the health of bones, organs, nervous system and immune system. Ghee is clarified butter, which I keep in my pack because it is so shelf stable. It also has a high smoke point, making it useful for cooking over heat.

Ghee from grass fed cows is rich in Conjugated Linoleic Acid, which has anti-viral properties. The medium chain fatty acids make it a great, long-lasting energy source. It is also high in butyric acid, which is great for digestion and the immune system. On top of all of this, ghee is anti-inflammatory.

You can cook with ghee, mix it in quinoa, or spread it like butter. Store it sealed in your pack at room temperature for up to a year.

Rose Hips
Rose hips are the “fruit” of the rose – the seed pods at the base of the flowers. Dried rose hips can be used to make a tea that is very high in Vitamin C, a micronutrient you will need to support your adrenals, as well as bioflavonoids, vitamins A, B3, D, E, and zinc. If you decide to process your own rose hips, you’ll want to do some research on which types of roses to use and how to process them to remove all the hairs and seeds in the pulp, which otherwise will cause unpleasant digestive issues!

Steep rose hips in boiling water for 10 minutes, or in room temperature water for an hour or more.

You’ll find dried rose hips in health food stores and online. They will last for months in your pack at room temperature.

Black Beluga Lentils
Lentils come in many different types and colors and are nutrient superstars, high not only in protein but also in fiber and cancer-fighting compounds. Black beluga lentils are especially nutritious with high levels of antioxidants as well as folate. One half cup of cooked black lentils delivers 12 grams of protein and 9 grams of fiber. You can soak them to reduce the phytic acid and cooking time, however if you don’t have time for this step, they will cook in about 20 minutes. You can also soak and sprout like quinoa. You can find the black lentils in health foods stores and online.

Black lentils are slightly more expensive than others, so if you don’t want to spring for the extra expense, you can pack any other type of lentils and still get great nutrition for the dollar. Lentils have a long shelf life and will last well in your bag.

More Articles?
If there is interest I have related topics to write about, such as:

• Affordable Superfoods to Stock in Your Pantry and Freezer for when the SHTF
• Supplements for Your Bug Out Bag
• The Real Superfoods: Foraging Wild Edibles as a Prepping Skill

(I, for one, look forward to seeing more articles in this series. -- Erin)

Guest Article: An Old Man’s Guide to Bullet Casting

by Ray Davies

(This article is an entrant in the 2nd Annual BCP Writing Contest.)

Folks cast their own bullets for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being cost. You can spend ten cents on a cast bullet at a gun show, or make your own for about two. (After you have the equipment of course, but then you’re set for life. I still have and use the molds I bought from Herter’s back in the late 1960s. Buy good equipment, take care of it, and it will last damned near forever.)

As a personal note before I get into this tome, I have to acknowledge my bullet casting and reloading mentor, Harold Payne from Bentonville, AR. He taught me a lot more than he ever realized. Rest in peace, old friend.

What are we going to need to get started casting bullets?

• Bullet Moulds
• Bullet Metal
• Lead Pot (of some kind)
• Fluxing Material: Beeswax, Lard, Bullet Lube, or one of my favorites, Crisco
• Lead Dipper for Pouring, stirring and skimming
• Hardwood Stick or Mallet – for opening the mould cut off. (I prefer a heavy oak hammer handle)
• A box to collect the spry or excess lead from the mould.
• A box with a cloth pad in the bottom to catch the bullets. The pad helps prevent damage when you empty the mould, and if it’s damp so much the better.
• Gloves- hot lead burns like a SOB, and if you’re casting a lot it prevents blisters.

Bullet Moulds
Bullet Moulds come in either steel or aluminum and there are only a few companies that make them. My experience is with Lyman (the daddy of moulds) and Lee Precision for the aluminum. Both work great and have a wide range of prices and features, and both go from single cavity to six cavity. Needless to say, a six cavity steel mould is damned heavy, but I actually like the casting characteristics (temperature control) better. A mould has to be hot, and stay hot, to produce good bullets.

Bullet Metal
OK, We've got lead, but what kind? About the best we can come up with is a mixture. Lyman recommends:

• Five half-pound wheel weights
• 1 pound 50/50 bar solder
• 3.5 pounds pure lead

The wheel weights you can get from gas stations; the solder you can get from plumbers' supply; and the pure lead you can usually find at a salvage yard. If you are extremely lucky, you can get your hands on the bullet lead from an indoor range. That’s the best you can find (at least for pistols). For rifle bullets you’ll need more tin content to make them harder and probably need a copper base (gas check). We can get into this subject at a later time.

Lead Pot
My first lead pot was a discarded aluminum kitchen pot, but most folks use a small cast iron 10 pound production pot. If you’re using a 4 or 6-cavity mould, you might think about renting a plumber's pot, and really have a good time. That’s 30-40 pounds of molten lead, guys. If you want to spend the money there are a number of companies that make electric pots that have a dispenser at the bottom, Being cheap, I've never had one.

Add the metal until the pot is about ¾ full and let it melt, and then start skimming the slag off. Then add more material until the level gets fairly close to the top. And keep skimming. I use a can to put the slag in, and when it's cool I toss it in the garbage. My old home had probably 500 pounds of slag in the corner of the lot, but that was a long time ago.

Fluxing
When the metal is liquefied and free-flowing, it will be ready for fluxing (the process of mixing the metals). You should see a gray scum-like material above the bright shiny lead. This is tin -- it is lighter than lead and has a slightly lower melting point. It is also as important to bullets as the lead itself, as this is what gives the bullet its hardness.

Fluxing will recombine the lead and the tin. Flux is simply a drop or two of fat that will melt into the mix. It will start to smoke and stink, but have no fear;  just light a match and start stirring. When the lead and tin mix, the metal should be nice and mirror shiny.

Always flux the pot after adding more metal, or when it looks like it needs it (you can see the gray tin floating on top). Flux often! You can NEVER flux too often.

Lead Dipper
There are a couple different types of dippers on the market: the ladle, which is open and you can pour from; or the dipper, which is mostly enclosed and has a spout for the lead to pour through. I prefer the dipper myself -- it is less messy and you can put the spout into the pour hole of the mould.

Casting

1. Fill the dipper about half full and tip it, and the mould, to the side and pour. 
2. As the cavity fills, slowly turn the mould upright with the dipper still on top, (PRACTICE, Friends). 
3. The extra metal (Sprue) will harden in a few seconds. Take your hammer handle and give it a sharp tap to break it.
4. Open the mould and drop out the cast bullets. If the bullet does not fall freely, tap the hinge on the handle, not the mould or the bullet. 
• If your mould is cold, the first few bullets will be malformed or wrinkled. 
• If the mould is too hot, the bullets could look a bit frosty. 
• The ones which are just right will probably be nice and shiny. 
5. When you finish the pot, collect the sprues and imperfect bullets, add them to the pot, and start all over again.

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE JUST CAST YOUR FIRST BULLETS!

Now that you have your cast bullets, you will have to lubricate and size them before reloading. We can go into that in another piece if the boss wants it. (I do. -- Erin)

Recommended for reloading and bullet making
Midway USA and Brownells. You can find almost everything you need from these folks. I have never had a problem with either of them.

BCP Second Annual Writing Contest

Picture by KJ Photography
& is used with permission.

Since last year's Writing Contest was so successful, I am pleased to announce that we're doing it again this year!

Send us an article about a subject we haven't yet covered on this blog and earn a chance to win a prize!

First prize is a Spool Tool in the color of your choice. (Read my review of it here.)

Second prize is a gently used (but still good condition) volume of Country Wisdom & Know-How, previously owned by Evelyn Hively herself. If you ask very nicely, she might even autograph it for you!

Third prize is a CRKT X-Large Eat N' Tool.

The rules are simple:

1. Submissions must be your Original Content (OC), not a cut and paste from some other blog. We know how to use Google, so we can identify plagiarism.
2. Submissions should be about 1000 words long, give or take. We're not looking for books, just good information.
3. We reserve the right to edit and publish your submissions as we see fit. 
4. Stay on topic. We're looking for non-political, prepper-based articles. Mention of FEMA camps, Alex Jones, etc. will be grounds for disqualification.
5. Send your articles in text format to bcpcontest@gmail.com. An attached Word-compatible document or link to a Google Doc is fine, as is text written directly in the body of an email. Please do not send us PDFs. 
6. Contest runs from 4/06/15 (today) to 5/04/15. The winner will be announced here and on our Facebook page as soon after the end of the contest as our schedules allow.

Writing Contest

Not actually Erin.
Picture by KJ Photography
& is used with permission.

After editing Lokidude's post where he mentioned the writing contest that we're holding, I realized that I had completely dropped the ball by neglecting to mention it here on the blog.

So, um... oops?

Anyway, here are the details of the contest:

Send us an article about a subject we haven't yet covered on this blog and earn a chance to win a prize!

First prize is a one year subscription to either Backwoods Home magazine or Backwoodsman magazine (your choice). 

Second prize is a Sparkie firestarter.

Third prize is a Water Pasteurization Indicator from Sunflair.  

Rules are simple:

1. Submissions must be your Original Content (OC), not a cut and paste from some other blog. We know how to use Google, so we can identify plagiarism.
2. Submissions should be about 1000 words long, give or take. We're not looking for books, just good information.
3. We reserve the right to edit and publish your submissions as we see fit. 
4. Stay on topic. We're looking for non-political, prepper-based articles. Mention of FEMA camps, Alex Jones, etc. will be grounds for disqualification.
5. Send your articles in text format (email) to bcpcontest@gmail.com 
6. Contest runs from 8/22/2014 to 9/21/2014. The winner will be announced here and on our Facebook page as soon after the end of the contest as our schedules allow.