Full Automatic Weapons for Survival?

GB has left a new comment on your post Urban Survival Firearms - M-4/M-16/AR-15 Magazines...: "Do you have an opinion on installing a bump stock on a Carbon-15?"

I actually had to look this up as I had never heard of the "Bump Stock" or "Bump Firing". Although this stock does not turn a semi-automatic firearm into an automatic weapon, it allows the shooter full automatic like control and capability.

So for GB, my answer is "Yes, I now have an opinion and No, I will not be adding a Bump Stock or Bump Fire Stock to my equipment load list, for several reasons:

1 - God forbid I ever have to use any of M-4's or other semi-automatics when a life is on the line, I want to be as accurate as possible - I don't need a stock moving around to become another factor to overcome or master.
2 - A couple of those would eat up my ammunition reserves in short order.

Automatic weapons can be useful for certain situations. Walking at night on patrol and having a chance contact with a large group of armed bandits,.......using a high volume of supressing fire to allow the rest of your team to manuever,.....useful as a final protective fire and breaking the back of an assault on your property or defensive position,...... but in a midst of a collapse where the availability of ammunition would probably be finite and therefore the conservation of ammunition a critical task, I would feel just fine with semi-autos only.

I would not pass up a great deal on a old Belgian MAG-58 with 20 cases of linked 7.62, but I ain't going to put it at the top of my priority list either.

GB,...I would rather spend $300+ on an additional 800 rounds of ammunition or practically anything else. I am not bad mouthing the creators of the Bump Fire type products,...they evidentally have plenty of business,....they just aren't going to get mine. However, be that as it may, here is a video on one of these
products.

 

Upgrading My SHTF Medical Kit

One of the primary efforts I am trying to make in my Preparation for the Coming Collapse is to upgrade my Medical Kits. I recently bought 12 bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide and 12 bottles of Alcohol, six cases of 4 x 4 inch gauze pads, and 12 rolls of 3M VetWrap self adherent Bandaging Tape.

A friend of mine who is a currently serving medic on an law enforcement warrant service team gave me a couple different sizes of a Trauma Wound Dressing called The Emergency Bandage, which apparently has been in service for for a few years. This particular product is made in Israel and one distributor of this excellent product is PerSysMedical, 5310 Elm Street Houston, Texas 77081, phone 713.723.6000, or e-mail at info@ps-med.com http://ps-med.com/index.php

They are cheap enough that everyone can afford several for their Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK), vehicle Medical Kit and/or to support their Fixed Site Medical-Trauma Kit.  Much like the photo above left, I have two different versions (sizes) of this trauma dressing. The version that has a mobile secondary pad is a great idea for 'through and through' GSW's. All of these Emergency Bandages have the ability to use as a pressure dressing, and/or a tourniquet.

Go to the PerSysMedical website, hyperlinked above, to see what these are all about and for pricing. I have included a PerSysMedical video below so the capabilities of this Emergency Bandage can be explained much better than I can do via text.  

FCP-01 (4 inch Pad) This 4" wide, all-in-one bandage consolidates multiple first-aid devices such as a primary dressing, pressure applicator, secondary dressing, and a foolproof closure bar to secure the bandage in place.  

FCP-05 (w/ 6 inch Mobile Pad) This 6" wide, all-in-one bandage consolidates multiple first-aid devices such as a primary dressing, pressure applicator, secondary dressing, and a foolproof closure apparatus to secure the bandage in place. This model includes a sliding/mobile pad for coverage of entry and exit wounds.

 PerSysMed Emergency Bandage (Israeli Military Bandage) Demonstrated 

 

Peak Oil and the Coming Collapse

Peak Oil and the Coming Collapse from the SGT Report and reprinted on the Martenson report the audio interview below with researcher and author of ‘The Crash Course’ Chris Martenson.

Chris has been following economical trends for decades now and has been one of the early guys warning of the coming collapse. Chris makes the case for "peak oil" being a fact and that because of it, our lives are about to change forever as the days of cheap liquid fuel are nearly over. Chris also covers the coming collapse and the need to continue stacking physical material goods.

There is just so much of the economy and life centered around our oil products, from basic homes energy needs,..heating, cooking and basic electrical service, to the freedoms we enjoy being able to use vehicles for personal mobility. Vehicles and fuel are vital for commerce,...from food stuffs being delivered by tractor-trailer rigs to people getting to and from work each day.

Part 1: PEAK OIL: A Fact? Life As We Know It WILL Change

More Predictors of the Coming Economic Collapse

From the ETF Daily we get 25 reasons the Economic Collapse is probable. The entire article is too much to re-print here, please go to ETF Daily to read the whole enchilada. The following are 25 horrible statistics about the U.S. economy that Barack Obama, and probably the entire Congress, does not want you to know.....together they spell a coming economic doom.

#1 The percentage of Americans that own homes is dropping rapidly. According to Gallup, the current level of homeownership in the United States is the lowest that Gallup has ever measured.

#2 Home prices in the U.S. continue to fall like a rock as well. They have declined for six months in a row and are now down a total of 35 percent from the peak of the housing bubble. The last time that home prices in the United States were this low was back in 2002.

#3 Last year, an astounding 53 percent of all U.S. college graduates under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.

#4 Back in 2007, about 10 percent of all unemployed Americans had been out of work for 52 weeks or longer. Today, that number is above 30 percent.

#5 When Barack Obama first became president, the number of “long-term unemployed workers” in the United States was 2.6 million. Today, it is 5.3 million.

#6 The average duration of unemployment in the United States is about three times as long as it was back in the year 2000.

#7 Despite what the mainstream media would have us to believe, the truth is that the percentage of working age Americans that are employed is not increasing. Back in March 2010, 58.5 percent of all working age Americans were employed. In March 2011, 58.5 percent of all working age Americans were employed. In March 2012, 58.5 percent of all working age Americans were employed. So how can Barack Obama and the mainstream media claim that the employment situation in the United States is getting better? The employment rate is still essentially exactly where it was when the last recession supposedly ended.

#8 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

#9 In 1962, 28 percent of all jobs in America were manufacturing jobs. In 2011, only 9 percent of all jobs in America were manufacturing jobs.

#10 In some areas of Detroit, Michigan you can buy a three bedroom home for just $500.

#11 According to one recent survey, approximately one-third of all Americans are not paying their bills on time at this point.

#12 Since Barack Obama entered the White House, the price of gasoline has risen by more than 100 percent.

#13 The student loan debt bubble continues to expand at a very frightening pace. Recently it was announced that total student loan debt in the United States has passed the one trillion dollar mark.

#14 Incredibly, one out of every four jobs in the United States pays $10 an hour or less at this point.

#15 Household incomes all over the United States continue to fall. After adjusting for inflation, median household income in America has declined by 7.8 percent since December 2007.

#16 Over the past several decades, government dependence has risen to unprecedented heights in the United States. The following is how I described the explosive growth of social welfare benefits in one recent article. Back in 1960, social welfare benefits made up approximately 10 percent of all salaries and wages. In the year 2000, social welfare benefits made up approximately 21 percent of all salaries and wages. Today, social welfare benefits make up approximately 35 percent of all salaries and wages.

#17 In November 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, more than 46 million Americans are on food stamps.

#18 Right now, more than 25 percent of all American children are on food stamps.

#19 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, today 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives some form of benefits from the federal government.

#20 Over the next 75 years, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars. That comes to $328,404for each and every household in the United States.

#21 During the first quarter of 2012, U.S. public debt rose by 359.1 billion dollars. U.S. GDP only rose by 142.4 billion dollars.

#22 At this point, the U.S. national debt is rising by more than 2 million dollars every single minute.

#23 The U.S. national debt has risen by more than 5 trillion dollars since the day that Barack Obama first took office. In a little more than 3 years Obama has added more to the national debt than the first 41 presidents combined.

#24 The Federal Reserve bought up approximately 61 percent of all government debt issued by the U.S. Treasury Department during 2011.

#25 The Federal Reserve continues to systematically destroy the value of the U.S. dollar. Since 1970, the U.S. dollar has lost more than 83 percent of its value.

Can we survive this as a Nation? or will this be Survival of individuals, groups and small communities?