Found this pretty awesome offline mapping application for apple iPhone
Maps.me
great for survival as it doesn’t require a data link and the maps are not too big .
Good supplementary mapping system to paper map.
Category Archives: Fun
Bullet Swagging
Hi Guys
Its been ages ,
been working on loads of things, one of them being Bullet swagging.
when i was still in ZA, I used cast 9mm bullets with Lee precision molds, and resize these with Lee resizing dies. I found these used to smoke when fired quite a bit from my Glock 19, even though they caused no leading.
I found out from a yourtube video how to coat these with an epoxy resin paint with hexan boron nitride powder added for lubrication and had very good results. The bullets smoked way less when fired even though it smelled a little like plastic burning, they were cheaper , I could reload for around 8 US cents a round, so i wasn’t bothered by the smell,
they were also just as accurate as jacketed virgin ammo, and caused no leading or any more fouling then normal.
After emigrating from ZA to New Zealand, i could no longer carry a hand gun, so on getting my firearms license here, I started reloading and casting but this time for .223 Remington.
I have gotten molds for .223 but haven’t been able to get enough tin and antimony to harden the scrap lead I’ve been able to find, so I’m a little nervous to use straight lead without a gas check, with just the coating even though it worked in 9mm.
I’ve been looking into Swagging .22 lr cases into jackets for .223, but the Corbin Dies I’ve found wont ship to NZ or are extremely expensive.
What I’m going to try and do is get a die maker locally to make me a set of dies and see how it goes, I’ll keep you all posted.
Thinking about building some Tracks for my Car
When speaking with some of my friends from the 4×4 community, they were rather scathing of my choice of off road vehicle.
I have a 2001 RAV4 4WD as my hunting/general day to day car.
and apparently this isn’t very good in “real off-road” bashing
But, the thing is ..
I already own it.
Its paid off.
its in great condition and has done low mileage.
They are common as dirt and parts are still easy to get and cheap.
Its lighter on fuel than many others.
some down sides
no diff lock, only limited slip EBD/abs
not great ground clearance.
Tyres are more for road then off road as its in use mostly on road
Continue reading Thinking about building some Tracks for my Car
Nuclear War and Pandemic Survival tips
First off
get a Gieger counter NOW …. you can get cheap ones that will do well enough that plug into the audio jack of a cell phone .. and cost under $35.
Decide whether you will bug in and convert a basement room into a bunker, or setup a bug out fall out shelter far from your home either way Continue reading Nuclear War and Pandemic Survival tips
Investing in silver and gold
In the case of localised economic disasters
Gold and silver are excellent ways to preserve your purchasing power, when the economy crashes your silver will still be worth something to someone and so even when the Rand slides against the dollar physical precious metals still hold value.
Paper money and coins with a face value can easily lose value when inflation hits and can be devalued by the central banks — silver and gold bars cannot be.
Coins like the Mandela coin are based not on the value of the metal but the value people are prepared to pay for the face value – this is highly inflated.
Continue reading Investing in silver and gold
Scouts
Scout Oath or Promise
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
To help other people at all times and to obey the Scout Law
Scout Law
A Scout is:
Trustworthy,
Loyal,
Helpful,
Friendly,
Courteous,
Kind,
Obedient,
Cheerful,
Thrifty,
Brave,
Clean,
and Reverent.
Boy Scout Motto
Be Prepared!
Reloading my 9mm ammo
In South Africa reloading makes sense and cents
9mm Luger ammo goes for about R3,60 and up , a shot … the only thing cheaper is .22 the rest all cost more …
To reload cost me about R1.20 a shot … so it really makes financial sense
Continue reading Reloading my 9mm ammo
Recreation Post Apocalypse
Recreation in a post apocalypse should be prepared for.
boardgames like chess or monopoly, packs of cards ( great for a bug out bag), musical instruments (I carry a harmonica in BOB) and books can offer some respite from the boredom that is bound to ensue after TV and other electronic entertainments have faded.
Continue reading Recreation Post Apocalypse
Importance of Concrete
Link to importance of concrete
Concrete has made building what it is today
Make sure you can partly improvise concrete it will help build fortifications and is paramount in the rebuilding of law and order.
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world because it is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco and most non-specialty grout. It usually originates from limestone. It is a fine powder produced by grinding clinker (more than 90%), a limited amount of calcium sulfate (which controls the set time).
Portland cement clinker is made by heating, in a kiln, a mixture of raw materials to a sintering temperature of about 1450 °C for modern cements. The aluminium oxide and iron oxide are present as a flux and contribute little to the strength. The major raw material for the clinker-making is usually limestone (CaCO3) mixed with a second material containing clay as source of alumino-silicate.
Normally, an impure limestone which contains clay or SiO2 is used. The CaCO3 content of these limestones can be as low as 80%. Second raw materials (materials in the rawmix other than limestone) depend on the purity of the limestone. Some of the second raw materials used are clay, shale, sand, iron ore, bauxite, fly ash and slag. When a cement kiln is fired by coal, the ash of the coal acts as a secondary raw material.
Musings on staple foods
http://www.sa-longevity.co.za/p/161229/the-country-living-grain-mill
A friend recommended this link to me – this might be a necessary item to buy if you intend on growing grains, (I for one am looking at pearl millet – Link to seeds )… might be nice to make Corn bread or porridge with fresh ground corn or whatever grain.
I do need to mention though that this is why the Irish and English cultures were revolutionized by the discovery and importing of potatoes – they don’t need to be milled and made into bread and they produce more per hectare then grain, ( they don’t keep as long as grains do though) the best being red sweet potatoes if you live in South Africa – they grow like weeds – propagate themselves , and you can make a sweet syrup from them to sweeten anything by boiling down the water after cooking them and squeezing out the juice.
pumpkins also make great flour if dried and ground -( or so i hear ) and the yields are good.
Perma-culture VS Aqua-phonics
Perma-culture VS Aqua-phonics
To feed my family is important to me and i have research many ways to do this.
I was looking at installing an aquaphonics system, as these can be hidden in plane site, and was considering a flotation method may be the easiest and least expensive (float the plants on the surface in styrene) but then the pond has to be really big and the plants have to have really small root systems.
After I did some research i discovered Perma-Culture and maybe its a good ideas to do permi-culture instead of aqua-phonics — they yield is lower but its way lower profile, requires less to setup and is lower tech so the natural balance is maintained, you also don’t have to worry about pumps, tanks etc.
the trade off is the lack of fish protein that would be a nice addition to the table.
Well i bought the book from this site and am working through it – maybe perma-culture is the way to go?
will let you all know how it goes.
Survival garden Recipe idea’s
Potatoes are very productive and produce the best crop for the smallest plot of land, one reason they are so good is that they don’t need much additional processing to make them edible, just wash them and cook and eat , compared to grains that need to be ground and made into bread you can see how potatoes save you time — although, one problem is monotony and storage – potatoes don’t keep all that well, so preserving them is important, I propose making dried gnocchi and using them as pasta.
Continue reading Survival garden Recipe idea’s
Pack Rifle
Found this very interesting concept online — a very light simple pack rifle – great for hiking and so on, great for survival, http://www.packrifle.com
Pity you cant buy it in south africa…. yet …
Improvised Jam Jar light bulbs
Jam Jar light bulbs
Electrical light bulbs were a great innovation simply because they provide light on demand and are safer than candles, they don’t smoke and provide light that doesn’t flicker, this is why they were such an innovation in their time.
Simple homemade light bulbs are useful if you have a source of electrical power, and can be made using a glass bottle or jar ( if using a bottle with a neck then you don’t even need a lid just enough wax to plug the neck ) , some steel wool – or thin wire ,some thicker insulated wire , a match or two and some wax to seal the holes
If using a jar,
Open the jar, make 2 holes in the lid , strip about half an inch or 1 cm of insulation off, of the thicker insulated wire, on each end of each wire , thread 2 of the thicker insulated wires through the holes and seal around them with wax –
Take some of the steel wool or really thin wire and link the two thicker wires that will meet inside the jar, experiment with this a little as to the number of these and the thickness that works best with the voltage you are using, I find 4 of about 1 inch long threads of steel wool, works well at 12 volts, they last about 2 hours, then burn out … this is expected, they don’t really last long., also making them into a coil makes them provide more light.
For bottle based bulbs just use the wax as a plug for the bulb .
Once done light a match and throw it into the jar. And screw the lid with the wires gently, but quickly, back on, the match will burn up all the oxygen inside the bulb and allow this bulb to work,
You should have a working bulb now – turn it on and experiment …
They don’t last long and don’t provide that much light but can help in a pinch
Making keys instead of picking locks
Lock smithing is a skill I picked up some years back- and one of the most useful skills to have is the ability to quietly make a key for something like a pistol safe when you need to get into it without breaking in or making too much noise,
This technique was detailed in a CIA manual that I had access too some time ago and maintained that it was quicker in some instances than picking.
Continue reading Making keys instead of picking locks
Improvising camouflage using Bleach and a magic marker
It is always suggested, on the forums I frequent, that you should not wear camouflage every day as it attracts too much attention, and that every one should become the “grey man” to avoid looking like a “mall ninja”
Continue reading Improvising camouflage using Bleach and a magic marker
The greatest step in human evolution was and is agriculture
When we formulate plans for survival we often forget that the corner-stone of every civilization is agriculture.
De-evolving into a hunter-gather state is not sustainable, as food stocks within an area soon wither with large populations doing hunting and our ancestors acknowledged this and so developed farming to allow the food to “come to them”, allowing themselves time to do other things like develop technology and arts, learn and develop written and other military skills.
We should all learn from this, hunting takes way more time and effort than farming, and the yields in farming often create a surplus for trade, this allows division of labour and allows specialization making you better at what you do…
Continue reading The greatest step in human evolution was and is agriculture
Plant a Hedge to provide a light barrier when fences are not availible
Hedging is surprisingly simple and our ancestors understood the advantages of a natural barrier –
Hedging, if done correctly, can provide fruit, a thick barrier of thorn ridden, and foothold free cover, that weapons can be fired through,
difficult to climb as it is something thats outside yields but inside is solid. they can also contain hidden razor wire fences.
Continue reading Plant a Hedge to provide a light barrier when fences are not availible
Uses for PVC Conduit
Uses for PVC Conduit
This is a just a few of my idea’s surrounding pcv conduit
1. A good bow and arrow can be made
2. Can be used to make structures like chicken coups and greenhouses
3. Pedal carts for kids can be made with this
4. As a base for working with fiberglass
5. ground up can be added to black powder to make smoke bombs
6. Fencing support for hedges
7. Shafts for spears. Fishing poles
Hot plug Diesel engines
Some technology of yester-year that is not very well know is that of hot plug engines.
These engines use a system similar to long stroke diesel engines and but do not develop the pressure that normal diesel engines do and so require a “hot” plug to be heated to ignite the fuel ,
these engines were common in tractors in the 1890’s and so on, until diesel engines were more reliable.
Wiki info on hot plug / bulb engines
This technology is interesting to us because it requires less precise machining
These engines were slow running (300-400 RPM) and mostly with cast iron parts including pistons,
the engine uses a carburettor because the charge only ignites when the mixture is compressed into the bulb .
A big attraction with the hot-bulb engine was its ability to run on a wide range of fuels. Even poor-burning fuels could be used since a combination of vaporiser- and compression-ignition meant that such fuels could be made to combust. The usual fuel used was fuel oil, similar to modern-day diesel, but natural gas, kerosene, paraffin, crude oil, vegetable oil or creosote could also be used.
Compared with steam, petrol, and diesel engines, hot-bulb engines are simpler and therefore have fewer potential problems. There is no electrical system, as found on a petrol engine, and no external boiler and steam system as on a steam engine.
Using resin and cardboard for construction – Improvised magazines, trailers and other things.
Simple items can be constructed by using corrugated cardboard covered in resin and possibly in fiber glass if more strength is required – remember resin is poisonous so get a good mask before trying this.
Continue reading Using resin and cardboard for construction – Improvised magazines, trailers and other things.
Budget Bug out vehical idea
If you are making a teardrop trailer try look at this link for idea’s as too how to make a tear drop trailer out of cardboard ( yes not a joke)
On browsing the web looking for ideas to build a teardrop trailer for bugging out with my car i found this
a very interesting idea, turn your urban Sedan into a camper by building yourself or purchasing a swiss room box ….
“Thanks to an ingenious modular system installed in the boot of your car, you can cook, eat, take a shower and sleep during your outdoor adventures!”
Umbrella survival tool
The sun is getting hotter with every passing year and an umbrella makes more sense to carry every time i go out
the umbrella my look silly to some but as a weapon in the right hands it has few equals it forms a good club or an eskrima stick
Continue reading Umbrella survival tool
SHTF transport Bug out vehical considerations
One of my favorite options for a bugging out vehicle is the URAL side car motorcycle 
this is very mobile on and off road,and can be pushed should it need to be by its crew, it can maneuver on foot paths and uses very little fuel but can carry a large number of people and equipment for its size, making it an ideal savaging and scouting vehicle, it can effectively be used for raiding and very mobile warfare.
high tailer go anywhere vehicle 1967
Continue reading SHTF transport Bug out vehical considerations
hybrid airship post SHTF for all the steam punks out there
hybrid airship post SHTF for all the steam punks out there
On a less serious note the best and simplest form of air travel would be the use of a hybrid type aircraft consisting of a semi rigid hot air balloon in the shape of a lozenge , but with small stub wings attached to provide lift …
the simplest engine to build would be the Lockwood-Hiller valveless pulse jet this could also provide the heat for the hot air, as it gets so hot.
Here are some engine idea’s
