Critical survival gear, courtesy of Uncle Sam.
Tells how to make firearms, bombs, traps, IEDs, whatever, out of basic stuff in your house/business, printed back when the US government trusted its citizens to be an improvised gorilla force against oppressors.
Still issued to certain soldiers to train local forces and to help spot traps, as they tend to follow a pattern.
Here, seen on my kitchen island.
Also available from Amazon.
[quote]theBeth wrote:
“One mind, any weapon.”
That’s why I keep a hurley behind my bedroom door.[/quote]
That’s why I have an HK on my belt and an AR10 in the back seat of my truck.
2 x sinker
1 x nylon line
6 x hooks
There’s also a little wire saw and a few other things. The wire saw is pretty crap but these:
…are great for their size. It’s just a chainsaw blade with hand holders at each end. I’ve used them and they’re very effective. I just use a bit of chain lube or WD-40 to protect the blades.
A brown, glass bottle of water purification tablets.
Condor Bushcraft knife - blade re-profiled a bit from factory.
Spyderco Bushcraft knife - G10 handles
You can get WD-40 oil in pens for easy carry:
Very useful.
I can appreciate all of the ‘niceties’ being thrown out there, but for conversation sake - what 10-15 items would you absolutely take if you literally were on foot and trying to live?
[quote]treco wrote:
I can appreciate all of the ‘niceties’ being thrown out there, but for conversation sake - what 10-15 items would you absolutely take if you literally were on foot and trying to live?
[/quote]
Fun thought experiment.
In my North Woods environment of Maine for a solo survival mission of indefinite length, using only items I presently own and limited to 15 (not counting clothes, boots, belt and hat), I’d take the following.
Shelter? Check. Probably over-kill there, but I’d want to be dry and warm. Depending on whether I’d be on the move or not, I could probably lose the tent and stay under the tarp in an improvised shelter. I’d keep the sleeping pad and bag, no doubt.
Food? Lots of small game here, plus I could improvise a fishing pole with paracord and even weave a net. Staying fed would be my biggest challenge, no doubt.
Fire? Check, although item 16 would probably be a giant book of matches. Still, I can gather tinder and keep it on my body to dry it out and get a fire going under my big tarp with the fire steel. A .22 round could also be disassembled and used for a fire source.
Water? Check. Iodine would be back-up purification method (also for wound disinfection), along with boiling. If limiting myself to 15 items, I’d be banking on scavenging a coffee can or something else made out of metal for cooking and boiling water as well.
Edit:
Of course, this “indefinite survival mission” is a pretty unrealistic scenario. I pack much differently when my objective is to get out of a bad situation, should one arise while I’m away from help.
^ Good list, I’d want my recurve bow too. Probably in place of the tent or tarp.
[quote]treco wrote:
I can appreciate all of the ‘niceties’ being thrown out there, but for conversation sake - what 10-15 items would you absolutely take if you literally were on foot and trying to live?
[/quote]
Tarp
Mess kit(water bottle, cooking tin)
Water purification system
General purpose knife
Signalling kit - mirror, whistle
Compass
Fire steel
Paracord
Sleeping bag
Hand saw
Plastic bags
First aid kit
.22 rifle
Fishing gear of some sort
Salt
Of course, a radio/mobile/sat phone might be an idea if I’m wanting to be found which I assume I am. And I’ve been a bit lenient on what constitutes an “item” or “thing”. I listed paracord on its own but it could equally be part of my tarp “kit”. I might add some multi-vitamin pills to my first aid kit. I’d definitely have antibiotics, powerful pain killers and a surgical suture set in there too.
[quote]treco wrote:
I can appreciate all of the ‘niceties’ being thrown out there, but for conversation sake - what 10-15 items would you absolutely take if you literally were on foot and trying to live?
[/quote]
Where? Desert? Plains? Woods? Island?
Is it necessary to be unseen? Etc.
Narrow the scenario.
[quote]treco wrote:
I can appreciate all of the ‘niceties’ being thrown out there, but for conversation sake - what 10-15 items would you absolutely take if you literally were on foot and trying to live?
[/quote]
Cool idea, depends on the scenario:
[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:
[quote]treco wrote:
I can appreciate all of the ‘niceties’ being thrown out there, but for conversation sake - what 10-15 items would you absolutely take if you literally were on foot and trying to live?
[/quote]
Where? Desert? Plains? Woods? Island?
Is it necessary to be unseen? Etc.
Narrow the scenario.[/quote]
That’s what I was going to say. And what are doing there? Climate? Travelling? Waiting? Trying to be found? Anyway, I just picked a few things for my local climate. In North America or Europe, beyond a certain latitude you really need an axe all year around for firewood and shelter construction.
Also, fishing gear is a bit of a luxury because you can get a range of protein from rivers, mangroves, shorelines etc. without any fishing gear. Cockles, mussels, oysters, crabs, scallops, clams etc. You can always find good food around waterways without a fishing rod and reel. I’ve made some of those fish traps with sticks that native Americans and many other peoples around the world used to use. I first saw the fish trap in a movie with Kevin Bacon and Sean Astin called “Whitewater Summer”. They really do work well. We trapped a huge school of flathead on a sandbar in a lagoon with a stick trap when I was a kid. We let almost all of them go though as we had no use for that much fresh fish. I’ve also caught eels in streams a few times. Knowing the area well helps a lot of course. We got to know a few places well where we used to holiday often.
And morale is far more important than people realise. In an emergency situation, having things like toilet paper for example help to keep your morale level high.
I listed salt because it has many useful functions, it can allow you to preserve meat and it boosts morale by making food taste better and so on.
Edited
At one of the lagoon behind Forster Beach we used to fish you only need a net. You just walk against the current along the length of a channel between two sand bars and net big flathead one after the other at the right time of day. The stick trap we made utilised the tides trapping a whole lot of flat head in a channel with a dead end of sticks in a row making a wall. There’s also fresh water crustaceans called “yabbies” that I’ve caught in abundance in a number of places I know. I’ve fished a number of rivers and tributaries and got to know the tides and so on.
I’ve not paid too much attention to technical stuff but I can make a net from paracord innards pretty easily. You just make columns of cord that double loop around each other then across to the next column making the chain link fence pattern. A few meters of paracord wrapped around your knife sheath can quickly be made into a net. At a number of beaches I know in the Summer and Spring in the early evenings you can walk through the water with a net and a torch and just spot and catch prawns. You can always get plenty of food around waterways.
[quote]SexMachine wrote:
There’s also a little wire saw and a few other things. The wire saw is pretty crap but these:
…are great for their size. It’s just a chainsaw blade with hand holders at each end. I’ve used them and they’re very effective. [/quote]
This is a good video on how the wire saws are supposed to be used. Like anything they are complete garbage if you misuse them. I prefer the pocket chainsaw though. It’s heavier but I trust it more than the wire.
[quote]BeefEater wrote:
[quote]SexMachine wrote:
There’s also a little wire saw and a few other things. The wire saw is pretty crap but these:
…are great for their size. It’s just a chainsaw blade with hand holders at each end. I’ve used them and they’re very effective. [/quote]
This is a good video on how the wire saws are supposed to be used. Like anything they are complete garbage if you misuse them. I prefer the pocket chainsaw though. It’s heavier but I trust it more than the wire.
[/quote]
That bow saw he made was pretty cool. If you’re taking a minimalist approach the wire might be okay. I’ve seen some crap ones in my time though. Ones that go rusty and break immediately. They came inside the handle of some of the “survival” or Rambo type Bowie knives that were popular during the 80’s and 90’s. I just remember them being very flimsy and rusty. In practice I usually camp with or close to a vehicle and bring all the tools I need. But I still like to have lightweight pack options for long distances.
Double sided sharpening stone in rubber case.
Roll of yellow, high tensile synthetic cord.
4 spare AAA alkaline batteries(alkaline for longer storage time)
Little plastic container with some tinder and resin
A Stanley high carbon saw blade with hole at each end for paracord
Two sticks of dried beef
Red lightweight kitchen knife - stainless steel
White serrated kitchen knife - stainless steel
WD-40 Pen
Sheffield stainless scissors(scissors can do a lot of stuff knives can’t)
Carbon Polymer, lightweight spike(many uses)
Hot Devil blow torch
^^ I forgot to mention, directly under the Estwing hatchet is a tool steel spike with wooden handle. It’s an old saddlery/leatherwork tool for puncturing holes. I rework and use a lot of old tools. I’ve used manual sheep shears as special purpose blades and old hand tools like pickaroons for breaking up dirt when digging.
The white and red knives above are my fishing knives. I don’t use high carbon knives for fishing and gutting fish/dressing/cleaning game etc.
Something else I find useful is just the pestle part of a mortar and pestle set. The mortar is too heavy to carry but you can find a rock in the field to serve the purpose of the mortar. Just find a suitable rock and you can use a little stone pestle to do all sorts of grinding; seeds, nuts, grain, herbs, spices. I know a few native spices and berries that are great with fresh fish and game.
Also for cooking; a tin camping pot of any sort can be used with an improvised lid if needed to slow cook meat in a stew or casserole or make a slow cooked soup. Strap the lid on to keep the pressure in a bit and just sit the tin on a hot rock beside the fire turning it 180 degrees towards the fire halfway through. Split peas and different types of dried beans and dried pasta are good carry foods for carbs and to make a meal - just add meats, seasoning.
I like to use the Hawaiian cooking technique of heating up rocks in the fire/embers and burying the meat with the rocks to slow cook. You can wrap them in something like banana leaves or even seaweed to protect it from sand/dirt and seal in the flavour and spices. This is what I often use when camping at the beach.
I also use the Dakota fire hole which is a very efficient and stealthy fire. And I’ve also used the Swedish fire log for ease - just split an upright log in four and place kindling and tinder between the four spaces and light. You’ve got a hardwood log that will turn into very hot embers warming you all night and ready to stir up again at breakfast to cook on.
[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:
[quote]treco wrote:
I can appreciate all of the ‘niceties’ being thrown out there, but for conversation sake - what 10-15 items would you absolutely take if you literally were on foot and trying to live?
[/quote]
Where? Desert? Plains? Woods? Island?
Is it necessary to be unseen? Etc.
Narrow the scenario.[/quote]
I was thinking whatever your own area happens to be. IE I live in N Texas and do not have the thermal requirements of the guys in Maine. Not necessarily thinking EOW scenario, but maybe more (Not)Naked and Afraid - where you are trying to survive. The tools should help you fare better than they. it seems they more or less try to find water and wait out the 3 weeks living on muscle tissue. Not a recipe for success in 6 months+ scenario.
What I think a lot of people forget about the old mountain men was that they were businessmen primarily. They lived off natural resources. In the North there was beaver. The market for felt hats that every European on earth wore in some form or another drove the market for beaver pelts. The trappers would often work in consortiums and drew a wage. Others went solo and risked Indian attacks and natural hazards.
Later the buffalo hunters decimated the Great Plains of buffalo in less than ten years. Men with sharps rifles would bag up to 1500 buffalo a week. Then the gold rush; the miners; the cowboys who mustered the wild long horn after the civil war. It was all a capitalist enterprise and worked very well too I might add.
[quote]treco wrote:
[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:
[quote]treco wrote:
I can appreciate all of the ‘niceties’ being thrown out there, but for conversation sake - what 10-15 items would you absolutely take if you literally were on foot and trying to live?
[/quote]
Where? Desert? Plains? Woods? Island?
Is it necessary to be unseen? Etc.
Narrow the scenario.[/quote]
I was thinking whatever your own area happens to be. IE I live in N Texas and do not have the thermal requirements of the guys in Maine. Not necessarily thinking EOW scenario, but maybe more (Not)Naked and Afraid - where you are trying to survive. The tools should help you fare better than they. it seems they more or less try to find water and wait out the 3 weeks living on muscle tissue. Not a recipe for success in 6 months+ scenario.
If you don’t mind?
-You can only carry 15 items.
-Bag is not counted as an item.
-You don’t know the specific area, but it is your home terrain
-2 month duration.
-Massive amount of land, but it has a perimeter. So, you can’t just bring a compass and 14 energy bars and walk to a city.
-No phones
-<1% chance of human contact
[quote]SexMachine wrote:
These are pretty cool. I’ve got a few sand I use them. It’s called a “spork” - a spoon, knife and fork in one for eating with. Extremely light and strong plastic. It only weighs a couple of grams and is a few mm thick. Mine just sits in my mess container cover.[/quote]
I like those. A good tool/utensil
