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UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following comment on the Carbine Back Up Iron Sights post,....."Anonymous said.....Exactly the information I was looking for. I bought what they call an Optics Ready Carbine from a friend of mine, but there are no sights. I want to put a scope on it,..was thinking about a 2x9 rifle scope, but will wait until I get iron sights as I agree they are most important. Any chance of you doing an article on lights for handguns and rifles? Do I need one of those lights that attaches to my pistol? How about my carbine?
UrbanMan replies: I'll have to break weapons lights into two articles,...one for handguns and the other for carbines. There are many tactical handgun lights out there. Streamlight, Safariland, Blackhawk, and Smith and Wesson among others, but the tactical handgun lights I have the most experience with are from Surefire and Insights Technology (ITI) who pioneered handgun lights. These lights mount to picatinny (also called 1913) rails or a one groove rail section underneath the appropriate handgun.
The older lights, such as the Surefire Slimline, required an adaptor for handguns that did not have a 1913 rail and these were okay in most cases, but the new generation of handguns with the a section of 1913 rail are much better to mount tactical lights to. I know a gent, Jim from the Survival Chronicles, who has a Surefire light on his Walther .22 LR handgun for Urban Survival - Home Defense.
I only own Surefire X200 and ITI M3X tactical lights for my handguns. If I'm going to need another handgun light, then I would buy the more expensive but better Surefire 200X or 300X as the LED is more durable than a light bulb that the M3X utilizes even though the "X" in the M3X designation is for a more shock resistant Mil-Spec type construction. The ITI M3X is above LEFT and the Surefire X200 is above RIGHT. The Surefire is of aluminum construction and the Surefire is of Plastic. Both use 2 each DL123 lithium batteries and have adequate run time for the light produced. Both have a momentary on/off switch and a "constant on" switch in case you need to use your off hand to open doors, tighten flex cuffs or whatever. Surefire now has the X300 light available which produces 110 lumens of light with a 2.5 hour runtime.
I have a light for each of my M-4's, shotguns and Glock pistols. The tactical handgun lights would also mount to the 1913 rail on your carbines or shotguns. Shown RIGHT is two Glocks,...a Model 22 with a Surefire X200 and a Glock 19 with a ITI M3X light.
The ability to use a light to disoriented your attacker(s), illuminate targets, clear section of a dark building like your home at 3 am, are all great reason to own a tactical light for one or more of your firearms.
The video below will give you an idea of how valuable these handgun lights are for illuminating dark areas of your house. The Surefire lights, as well as others, are available from Brownells - click here.
The below video covers the month by month unemployment since January 2007. But that's not the only indicator of a coming collapse. Real unemployment, counting those who cease looking for work,...or those who are under employed,..... you know those PhD holders flipping burgers, would raise this rate more than double. Add projected taxes increases to pay for the Obama Administration's social programs, taxes and fees associated with National Health Care, projected fuel increases and the following higher prices for commodities all make the case for a depression, not recession, and great chance for a economic collapse of this country. Are you prepared?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 31 million people currently unemployed -- that's including those involuntarily working part time and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions of Americans are hurting. "The Decline: The Geography of a Recession," as created by labor writer LaToya Egwuekwe, serves as a vivid representation of just how much. Watch the deteriorating transformation of the U.S. economy from January 2007 -- approximately one year before the start of the recession -- to the most recent unemployment data available today. Original link: www.latoyaegwuekwe.com/geographyofarecession.html.
UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received a new comment on the post, Urban Survival Gear - My Basic Kit: Load Bearing ...: “Anonymous said,…..Remember to know how to use ALL that fancy scopes and what not on your AR-15/ M-4 rifles. Good old fashion iron sights are the way to go! If you can’t see at night, hide well!”
Troy Industries Back Up Iron Sight - shown Above
UrbanMan Replies: I absolutely am a fan of iron sights,….given a choice between iron sights or a scope, I would choose iron sights. I carried an M-16 then an M-4 for over two decades using only iron sights, when I wasn’t assigned a scoped bolt gun. I started using various scopes, first the old Bushnell-EO Tech precursor when I was teaching shooters to use the same. I have used many scopes over the years,…primarily the Bushnell, EO Tech, Aimpoint Comp ML-2, Trijicon TA-42 and TA-11’s and Leupold CQT. If I had to pick a scope from the aforementioned list, it would probably be the Trijicon TA-42, but they are pricey so I don’t have one on any of my M’4’s. My work gun has an EO Tech.
If you mount a scope on your M-4 you should also have BUIS (Back Up Iron Sights). Lots of good types out there. I happen to use the old A2 version BUIS from GG&G, although there are many makes and models of M-4 rear sights out there, presuming you have an M-16/M-4 with the OEM front sight.
Troy Industries, MA Tech and A.R.M.S. all make BUIS that I have used and are familiar with. I really light the MA Tech BUIS except for the fact that the spring loaded aperture often loses or breaks the spring under repeated use. In my opinion, the GG&G is a robust BUIS and as good as any, better than most.
A.R.M.S. Back Up Iron Sights - Shown Left
MA Tech BUIS - Shown LeftNote the elevaton adjustment, from 200 to 600 yards via the lever on the left hand side.
GG&G Back Up Iron Sight - Shown Right
Any of these BUIS can be purchased from Brownells,…click here.
UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following e-mail from a reader who appears new to Survival prepping, but seems to be catching on, learning skills and acquiring Survival Gear and Equipment.
Dear UrbanMan, I am a HVAC technician and am located within the city with a population of just over 500,000. I am living in a quad plex one street of a main six land boulevard. I started a courtyard garden this late spring with the intent to gain some experience growing some vegetables as well as produce some food for the table!
I am growing two types of squash, egg plant, cucumber, mini tomatoes, onions and beets. I tried growing carrots and peas, but that didn’t work out.
You can see from the picture that my squash is large,…..I placed the coke can for scale. With four squash plants so far this year I have harvested 13 or 14 squash fruits. I have about six or seven other fruits coming to ripeness. Each squash fruit is large enough to last three, sometimes four meals easy. I add them to everything, but in a Survival situation I would use the vegetables to augment the rice, beans and pasta I have stored in buckets.
I use one egg and some flour to bread the sliced squash and fry up in a pan, then added to the cooked rice. I have grilled the sliced squash like shisk-k-bobs over the grill and also over an open fire. Pretty good actually. Next I’m going to try baking in a dutch oven over an open fire with rice, beef bullion and some beans – sort of like Survival Jumbolaya.
I am learning how to preserve by canning so I can make some of these vegetables last into the fall. I live in a climate where I think I can grow vegetables through late October. I am also thinking about a small greenhouse so I can grow late in the winter.
I bought a couple of those Suisse Sport Alpine Sleeping bags and Aqua Mira Water Filter Bottles from your Survival Store and am in the process of building some Bug Out Bags.
In my quad plex, I have witnessed Survival Prepping to two out of the three other occupants. I myself have a wife; the other people I’m beginning to develop into a Survival Group are also couples, but not married. One I took to the range shooting my Bushmaster copy of the M-4 and now he bought a Mini-14 and a .357 Magnum handgun. I am working on the other couple as well – at least he owns a 12 gauge shotgun. But both have also planted some vegetables and are about ready to stock some basics like rice, beans, salt, soup stock and such.
So you can see we are starting to get prepared. I have gained a lot of confidence as I am beginning to get prepared but scary as I have along way to go before I satisfy I am ready. Can you ever be really ready?
