End of the world preparations...

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squrm

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Ok, all the biblical/aztec/politcal signs have aligned, the ish has hit the fan, and the grid's gone down and not coming back up again for a long long time. Aren't ya glad you prepared!? I've been convinced that this is coming soon (as many of us have for thousands of years) and have tried to get a few things together accordingly. What do you pack for the end of the world? (or the REST of the world...cuz i'm makin it for the hills beyond the blast radius...i hope)

I just want to know what you guys are packing in the event long term martial law.

I got the ak, couple hundred rounds (not nearly enough, i want at least 2 ammo cans ready)

m4...for a friend, cuz you need to have someone to watch your back...and in case they're not as prepared as you are, bring an extra rifle.

got a 40 caliber pistol and several hundred rounds for that

big dodge 4x4 in good working condition

big jug o whiskey, cuz when it's just you and your gun in the end, you need the big jug o whisky to make those long nights in the cave bearable.

and that's about as far as i got...I know there's some other things that I'll really wish i'd brought but i can't seem to think of anything else (can opener? nothign beats gettin stuck in your bomb shelter with no dang can opener)
 
I think everyone's EOTWAWKI kit includes:

1 service rifle/battle rifle/combat rifle in 223 or 308 or 7.62x39
or
1 levergun matching a handgun caliber

and

1 centerfire handgun (auto or wheel depending on personality)

and

1 22LR weapon for varmint and small game harvesting.

Most sensible "kits" include a supply of water, water purification aparatus of some sort, matches, cooking equipment, makeshift shelter, clothing, various knives, hatchets, tools, transportation, etc.

The better kits put more time into the non-gun stuff since guns are cumbersome and heavy to haul around, especially if you have 4 per person. The best kits usually include a ton of knowledge in people's heads and not too much equipment so that a person/group can walk out of town rather than relying on a caravan of pickup trucks and a mountain man commune up in your favorite hunting spot.

Honestly, I think the guy who will last the longest when its TEOTWAWKI is the guy with one 22LR single shot rifle, a couple hundred rounds of bulk ammo, a swiss army knife, and a mountain of knowledge of how to live off the land.
 
See, it's that mountain knowledge that i lack...I would love to know how to just walk away from town for a week and be ok. They should teach that in school "off grid living"...*sigh*
 
Ummmm-
Wanna survive on your own? A firearm is gonna be one of the last items in your kit, not the first and only.

Suggestion:
Read a book.
Rich
 
I know that a country boy can survive and all but you are all forgeting water and food. Kind of important stuff wouldn't you agree.
 
If I were to spend $500 on a kit that didn't include any guns/ammo, it would include:

Seed packets for corn, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, apples, oranges, wheat, carrots, spinach, broccoli and any other easily grown variety of foods that I could live off of indefinitely.

Rope. Lots of rope. 100feet of good climbing rope, several hundred feet of various thicknesses of cheaper rope.

Bulk velcro. Basic sewing equipment.

Bulk cloth suitable for making T-shirts. Cotton T-shirts will be sorely missed.

Lots of water purification tablets.

2 shovels, 2 pickaxes, 2 axes, 2 hatchets, 2 hammers. Several pair of leather work gloves. Extra axe handles. Hand wood-working equipment. Several boxes of nails. Several plastic or metal buckets, 1 gallon to 5 gallons in size.

Several water jugs. 5 gallon size.

Rugged, thick cast iron cooking equipment.

Metal bristle scrub brushes.

A couple of cheap fishing poles. Cheap equipment for it. Lots of line.

2 inexpensive fiberglass recurve bows. Several extra strings.

Candle making equipment.

Not sure what else would make the list.
 
azredhawk44, man you gonna need a dam 18 wheeler to haul all that stuff. better start weeding some out if you planning on getting off the road.
 
OK- I'll bite.
I want a few books since the internet will likely be non-functional. Some first aid books would be nice as would some cookbooks. Since my EOTWAWKI scenario involves me getting only about 100 miles south to the Ranch, a good tank of gas ought to get me there fine. I've got more ammo than fifty folks would use, so I wouldn't worry about that.

I suppose I'm fine for guns too. I would think a bolt-action .22 would feed me fine for years to come though I don't think I like the taste of possum. I reckon I'd need a few more cattle and some chickens as well. I would need some counseling to live that close to all of my relatives, but I can't take a shrink with me, so I'd have to find an old copy of that book "I'm OK, You're OK" or something to help me cope!

Mabye some spare lighters too.
 
Lots of water purification tablets.
Click to expand...
Bad shelf life. High price. Think bleach or, better yet, Resublimated Iodine Crystals. A few grams will purify a few hundred gallons of water and will store in a tiny bottle.

If anyone is truly interested in this stuff, you really need to head over to Dr. Ron Hood's place and order some cd's:
http://www.survival.com


Rich
 
squrm,

do a search for "bug out bag" here. You will find lots of ideas.

Several water jugs. 5 gallon size.

Rugged, thick cast iron cooking equipment.
Click to expand...

I hope you plan on staying at home because you will never be able to lug all that around with you. Water is important, but heavy. One must be able to filter and purify it. Some of the better camping filters do both.
 
I hope you plan on staying at home because you will never be able to lug all that around with you.
Click to expand...

Depending on how the world ends staying at home may be a viable option... if Iran fires some nukes I doubt anyone near the blast will be able to get out anyway, and anyone outside the blast/radiation radius will be able to stay in their homes anyway (at least for a while).

I'd say two or three good folding knives, a hatchet, matches, a lighter, and a magnifying glass, and just be intent on keeping a fire going once you light it, don't waste matches by letting a fire go out in the first place. A first aid kit, a container for water (couple of 2 liter bottles or those Nalgene water bottles), a good cooking pot (to boil water), 8'x8' sheet of plastic (solar still), couple hundred feet of rope, couple hundred feet more of 550 cord (for shelter construction), spool of braided nylon string (the kind used to line out foundations and things like that), a solar rechargable flashlight, a .22 revolver and some ammo, some MREs or packs of ramen and a couple of books on survival, preferably the "So you'll never see your family again..." kind. The big items will give you fire, food, water and shelter, keeping you alive while you practice everything in the books until you have it down pat and you should be good from there.

Ideally, of course, you would have already practiced everything in the book, in which case I'd say two or three good folding knives, a hatchet, a first aid kit, a magnifying glass, a cooking pot, a water bottle, the plastic sheet, the nylon string and the .22 revolver.
 
My wife and I like to camp. We don't do the RV thing. We camp. Usually 2 weeks at a stretch.

Over the years, we've collected quite a bit of stuff. Decent sleeping bags. Air mattress for comfort. One large tent for living in; two smaller 6x6 dome tents for food storage and what not. Several large and medium ice chests for food storage. Several Jerry cans for water. Several storage chests which hold dry goods; pots and pans (all cast iron); cooking utensils; cleaning equipment and clothing. A portable camp kitchen unit. Cooking unit. Lanterns and fuel tanks (including a spare 20 gallons of auto fuel). A couple of bales of baling twine (2500ft per bale) and ropes of all sizes and lengths. Shovels, axes and hand saws. In addition, we have several cases of MRE's should we need those. We have one carry-on type bag that is dedicated to medical equipment - extremely important, this - it's not a "first aid" kit.

Water is not a general issue where we camp. Filtering and Boiling it will be fine, but we do carry tablets, just in case.

Everything is clean and packed in such a manner that it would take all of 15 minutes to load up and go. All told, it's about a thousand pounds without wet food, and fits neatly in my pickup bed with room to spare Guns and some ammo are kept in the cab. Tarp it and away we go.

We camp in really out of the way places. Usually not within a hours mountain driving to the nearest "service."

For your situation, I would be taking all of my ammo and guns plus my reloading gear. That should feel up the rest of the truck. I would be leaving most of the ice chests behind. Between the canned goods and other dry goods, we would supplement our diet with game.

One often overlooked "staple" is the med kit. It should contain everything you need for the standard cuts and bruises, plus what you might need for surgery. When you camp as far away as we do, there won't be any way to get to a hospital anytime quick. The military has several good training books on field surgery. We have them... Even though my wife is a trained nurse, it never hurts. Get these books and read them until you know the procedures backwards and forwards. In any TEOTWAWKI situation, you will be the only doctor you know.

Sharpening equipment for your axes and knives. Flint and steel for your fire - when you run out of fuel/matches. The list can be as big as you can make it or as short as you need to actually survive.

Make a plan. Where you gonna go? Who are you gonna go with? How are you going to avoid the crowds, that will want everything you have?

As Rich said: Get some books and read them. Experience trumps book learning. Book learning trumps ignorance. If you're serious, then you need to start learning, by doing.
 
Here I thought putting together a survival backpack a waste of time. I figured it would be good if I got stranded somewhere. If the End of the World happens it'll be because a asteroid hit the planet. In that case we might as well kiss our @$$es goodbye unless we hit it with the most potent missiles we got.
 
original by almark: if Iran fires some nukes I doubt anyone near the blast will be able to get out anyway,
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Dude, if Iran fires a nuke at us it probaly wouldn't make it off that continent. I suspect that it would be like one of the 3 stooges sceens, dam thing would either blow up on the pad or go up, do a 180 and land right in the heart of Iran.

I read a piece the other day with regards to planning for a terrorist attack and the advise was to have enough stables for 3 or 4 months, have a place to go at least 100 miles from a metropolitan area and be prepared to protect your family and supplies from criminals who might turn out to be desperate neighbors.
 
I do plan on staying home, at least initially.

The highways will be absolutely bogged down. No cars will be able to get thru, and more than likely military will be attempting a quarantine or establishment of martial law.

If you wanna leave during that, you're gonna get shot by someone who wants to steal your truck, or by the military roadblock.

So: Rest up, stock up on what water you have in case the plumbing goes out. Stay at home for a few days. Eat well. Clean your guns, make sure they work well. Bury well the ones you don't want to take. Observe the actions of the police/military patrols. Where is patrol lax?

If there is a weak point, exploit it. You may be able to get on by vehicle, but may also have to go by foot. I'd prefer to take a lot of stuff with me, but if I can't, I also know how to backpack light. My minimalist stuff is 50feet of cheap rope, 100 feet of paracord, a tarp for tent/shelter, a light sleeping bag that packs up extremely small, 1 change of clothes, a pocket knife, a fixed blade knife, a hatchet, fishing line and hooks, a light backpacking cook set, 2 days food, a first aid kit with water tablets, 2 quarts water, and good boots. Extra tools include a small set of 8x22 binoculars, fire making tools and a compass.

If I can pack more I will, but that stuff right there weighs less than 20 pounds and will get me out of phoenix.
 
:D Lot's of people( even one or two here) see my views of survival extreem. I build my life around learning what the threats are and develope a life around threat assesment. Threats come in all shapes and sizes, losing your income is the same as our country being under attack. You must work and save to be ready for all the threats to you and family.

Threats are overlapping so alot of prep for one is the same for the other. Basic 2 legged threats can be dealt with by a gun if you have one and you are better than the BG. Threats to food and water or shelter demand different directions of preperation. I am not one to give a list of what you need to survive, I don't know you so your needs are unknown to me. Learn yourself and what YOU need so you will know how much of what you need to stock pile.

Remember that you may walk out of the house with your assault rifle thinking it is the best tool to stay alive. It may get you killed, if you come through my neighborhood looking like a threat I won't shoot you but I got neighbors who would. Use your brain as the best weapon. Look at what people do in times of crisis and build around that. Buy trade stuff to build allies and develop community to really watch your back.

Just a few thoughts:D Oh and learning the woods takes getting out there and doing it. Challenge yourself with hunting and fishing to feed yourself remembering there are alot of people who can't. Also the woods will be full for about 20 days till they die off.

25
 
Worst case would be a hit by a huge asteroid sending the planet into a dramatic climate change. I'd try to find an underground cave complete with a lake sized fresh water supply near the equator.....anything North of Texas will be frozen tundra :p Try to live off hydroponic gardening and fishing (most mammals will be dead or starving) Fending off hungry hords attempting to take my food and water supply may be a challenge. Guns will be secondary to staying warm and fed.....but an AR and 1911 would be in my kit.
 
damn you all are forgetting our loyal shotty. anyway you should check out some zombie survival sites too(authors are crazy but they have a lot of good ideas if zombies overrun the world[or it just turns chaotic as heck]) but seriously
just take over a wally world hell they got guns ammo food and beds
 
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