Have you been prepping lately?

I’ve been slacking in my preps lately. How about you, have you been prepping? I’ve been going to my group’s monthly meetings, but that’s about it. The August meeting was kind of FUBAR though, and the aftermath was kind of a wake-up call for me.

How to scare people away from your group:

It started out OK. We were talking about wild edible plants that grow locally. We have had a fairly new member that I like a lot. Her politics are different than mine but I don’t care. She’s smart and had skills she was willing to share. She also asked good questions that led to more discussion on whatever we were talking about. She doesn’t didn’t attend every month, so I was really glad to see her at the August meeting.

Unfortunately, the meeting was shorter than normal so the group was just hanging out and talking.  Without getting into the gory details, some of the talk devolved into conspiracy theories and then sunk even further into what I call bat shit crazy. About 10 minutes into the “conversation,” our new member got up, quietly excused herself, and left.

There were a couple takeaways for me. For groups as a whole, stay focused on the topic. For me personally, I wish I’d tried to steer the conversation back towards Realityville as soon as I saw it starting to veer towards la-la land.

Back to prepping…

We lost two members over the fiasco. One I was sorry to see go, the other one not so much. The good thing was I think it was a wake up call to stay focused on prepping. After all, it is a prepping group…

As part of the aftermath, our group leader asked everyone for their 3, 6, and 12 month prepping goals. Not as a demand. but as an aid to our preps. I agree that’s a really good idea. As someone once said, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” So that’s what I’ve been working on for the last few weeks. My short term goals are mostly organizational and planning. Medium and long term goals are mainly related to sustainability and self reliance instead of buying more stuff.  Now that I’m back to it, I’ll resume my This Week’s Preps series starting Sunday.

Peace out,
porcupine

Glock 22 Police Trade In

Lately a lot of online vendors have Glock 22 Police Trade In pistols for only $299.95. If you like Glocks, that’s a smoking hot deal. I usually like to buy new, but I also appreciate a good deal. I’ve been on a pretty tight budget lately so I decided to try this cheap gun. Like I said they’re all over right now, I bought mine from Recoil Gunworks. It’s a Glock, what could go wrong? As it turned out, so far so good. Besides the gun, I added a 3-pack of G22 magazines for an extra $34.95.

Out of the box…

My police trade in came with factory night sights, factory case, and 4 magazines (1 included plus the add-on 3 pack). Except for holster wear on the slide release and rear sight, the gun looked like new on the outside. Same on the inside. Either someone did a stellar cleaning job or it was fired very little. The night sights are dim, but then they’re probably at least 10 years old. Still better than the junk plastic sights that Glock puts on most of their pistols.

I was really happy with the finish. Sometime during the Gen 3 run, Glock changed from their Tennifer finish to something different. Most think the earlier finish is better, and this gun has the early Tennifer. Very nice…

The magazines were a mixed bag. One was a Gen 3 mag and the others were all Gen 4. The Gen 3 mag was easy to load with a full 15 rounds so I guess it was kept loaded all the time. The Gen 4 mags had stiffer springs so I’m guessing they weren’t used much. Some of them had department markings on them. For $34.95 I’m not complaining…

But it’s a 40…

So what? The 40 S&W is an interesting cartridge… Less power than 45 ACP or 10mm and less capacity than 9mm. That’s if you’re a “glass half empty” type. I’m more “glass half full” so I look at it as having more power than 9mm and more capacity than 45 ACP. That and more controllable and easier to conceal than a 10mm pistol. YMMV but to me that looks pretty good.

Ammo is cheap too. You can find premium self defense ammo (Winchester Ranger 165 gr) just as cheap as  9mm and cheaper than 45 ACP. I just got 500 rounds for $400, shipped. For plinking ammo, 9mm is cheaper but not by a lot.

The 40 S&W is snappier than 9mm, but the Glock design helps tame the recoil. It’s also harder on guns than 9mm or 45 ACP, so if you get one of these I’d recommend getting a new recoil spring assembly. They’re cheap insurance, mine should be here next week. Then I can do a range test.

Get ’em while they’re hot…

Right now, these are easy to find because lots of police departments are switching from 40 S&W back to 9mm. I think they’ll be harder to find as time goes on. I got mine from Recoil Gunworks but I saw at least 3 other online vendors with the same price. I even found one seller with G22 Gen 4 pistols for $329. If you like Glocks, that is a smoking hot deal. Whether Gen 3 or Gen 4, I don’t think you can go wrong with one of these G22 police trade in guns.

They’re perfect for a truck gun, nightstand gun, plinker, IDPA, or even CCW if you can comfortably conceal a full size pistol.

Peace out,
porcupine

Is reloading worth it?

Is reloading worth it? I saw an interesting question about reloading the other day:

So here we go. First off, if this offends you, you’re reading it wrong because it’s not my intent. Secondly, if you load for the enjoyment of it, I totally get that and this isn’t a question towards you. This is ONLY for the people that are loading for the sole purpose of saving money over buying retail. I’ve seen a bunch of guys lately(not in this group) bragging about loading 9mm for 3-5 cents per round. Then they list everything they’re getting and do all the math to show me that it’s actually 3-5 cents per.

My issue is, that’s 3-5 cents per round for materials only. Why does nobody figure in the time it takes to actually put the materials together into actual ammunition? The manufacturers don’t charge you for materials only. But people all the time compare their 3-5 cents per round for materials to the manufacturers 16-20 cents per round for finished ammunition. This is only cheating yourself if you don’t count your time spent actually loading the ammo. Again THIS IS NOT for people that load to pass the time or for enjoyment.

It’s actually a common question, but not usually put so bluntly. So… is reloading worth the time and effort? Here’s the best answer I saw:

That’s kind of a hard question to answer because everyone values their time differently. It also depends on how fast you reload. If my time is worth 20 per hour and I can crank out 50 rounds per hour on my single stage press, that adds .40 per round for my labor. If I think my time is only worth 10 per hour but I’m cruising through 500 rounds per hour on a progressive then I’m only adding .02 per round for labor, for a total of .07 per round.

In the first case, reloading is more expensive than just buying brand new ammo in 9mm or 223 if you’re talking plinking ammo. In the second case, I’d be saving about .12 per round over the cheapest 9mm plinking ammo I can find. A progressive press and dies is about 5 bills, so I’d have to reload about 4200 rounds before I break even.

That’s also assuming I can get the components for .05 per round. A more realistic figure where I live is .03 for primer, .02 powder, .08 bullet, plus my .02 labor and I’m at .15 and only saving .02 per round. That’s 25000 rounds before I break even, 50 hours doing something I don’t enjoy (according to parameter by OP).

If you don’t like reloading and the only reason you’re doing it is to save money I’m not sure it’s worth it.

So is reloading worth it?

If you’re only reloading plinking ammo, I agree with the answer given above. If all you care about is saving money, it’s probably not worth doing. It would take me at 5 – 7 years to shoot through 25,000 rounds of 9mm, so that’s at least 5 – 7 years until I break even if saving money is all I care about.

What about reloading more expensive ammo? I like shooting 44 Special so we’ll look at that. Factory ammo (cheapest I can find) is about $0.45 (.45) per round. To reload, it would cost about .03 for the primer, .03 for powder, .15 for the bullet (240 gr LSWC), and .02 for my time (assuming 500 rounds per hour on a progressive). Now I’m saving .22 per round. That’s a lot better than .02 per round for the 9mm, so I only need to shoot about 2300 rounds to break even. 44 Special isn’t a high volume round for me though (maybe 500 rounds per year), so it would still take me over 4 years to “break even.”

How do you value your time?

I value my time at $20 per hour. How much do you value your time? Putting a money value on my reloading time doesn’t make much sense to me though, even if I hated reloading. It’s kind of like “charging myself” for working out. I hate working out, but I do it any way. Not because it saves money over going to a gym, but because it improves my health.

Really, adding the “cost” of your time to the cost per reloaded round only makes sense if you’re selling the ammo you produce. If you’re doing that, you’s also better add in the cost of an FFL, liability insurance, and other costs you’ll incur from making and selling ammunition.

The true value of reloading

So… is reloading worth it? Sure you can save money reloading, but not as much as some people tell you. If saving money is your only reason for reloading, then no, it’s probably not worth it. That’s not the true value of reloading though…

The true value of reloading comes from learning a useful skill. It comes from being able to make custom ammo that’s optimized for your gun. If you shoot competition, making custom loads for accuracy is probably a necessity. It’s a more productive way to spend time than staring at the TV for hours. Sure, you might save some money in the long run too. That’s not really the point though. Is reloading worth it? It is for me, what about you?

Peace out,
porcupine

Making do…

A couple years ago I wrote about building a miner’s cabin in the backyard. That idea didn’t really fly with my wife so I changed tactics. I quit calling it a miner’s cabin and started calling it a storage shed. THAT idea she really liked. We manage rental properties as a side gig, so our house and garage are always full of stuff for that. Last summer we got started on it with a lot of help from my brother and his wife (actually my wife’s sister and brother-in-law). I had my ideas and she had hers, but I got her to agree on shiplap siding. She wanted a concrete floor. Not exactly “backwoods” but it does make sense for a storage shed.

We started and everything was going great. Got the slab poured, put up the wall framing, got the roof on. Got my first load of shiplap and finished about half on an end wall. And then… nothing. It’s been sitting uncompleted since last October. My wife decided that shiplap siding was too expensive. She wants me to tear off what I’ve done and finish it using molded pressed board siding. NOT happening. Too ugly, too prefab looking, just too… modern. Not happening…

So about once a month we have a fight over it. She gripes that it’s not done yet. I say fine, I’ll go get the rest of the shiplap and finish it in a day. Then the conversation goes down hill fast…

Making do

Part of being a Backyardsman is making do with what you have. I have a mess – a half finished shed that’s worthless as a shed or a cabin the way it sits. I was in Home depot yesterday and the had pressed siding boards on sale and it reminded me I need to do something about the miner’s cabin shed. Went home and gave it a pretty hard look. Even with the roof on, it’s pretty wobbly because there’s no skin on the frame. One of the walls is along our fence, about two feet out and not really visible. I figured I could use pressed sheet siding for just that wall and finish the other 3 with shiplap.

I measured the wall height and checked level. Went back to look at the siding on sale. All the sheets were warped really bad so I picked a different type. Not on sale but I’d rather spend a little extra than deal with crappy material. Bought 3 sheets and cut them to length. Tonight I’ll get them hung.

The wife – of course – was like “why’d you buy the siding? I thought we were still arguing about what kind to use?”

Whatever. I just reminded her that it’s been sitting, unusable, since last November. I’m sure she’ll be happy I got pressed siding for the one wall. Of course I didn’t tell her it was for just one wall. Looking forward to see how much skinning a wall will stabilize the whole structure. When it comes time to get the rest of the shiplap… well I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the mean time, I’m making do with what I have.

Peace out,
porcupine

Solitude close to home

solitude close to homeI had lots of fun on a nature walk in the city with my kids and some friends a few months back. I’ve been looking for closer places but I’m always too busy. I guess I haven’t been looking hard enough. After 16 years in my house I just found a good place to hike, practically in my own back yard – a trail head about 2 miles from home. It splits into 3 trails right at the start. One goes south and then turns west and winds around to the top of a hill overlooking the valley. One heads south and leads to a park in a different part of town, and the last heads east and ends at a ditch. For our hike, we took the trail heading east.

Makings of a microadventure?

The sign at the trail head warns that overnight camping is illegal. Whatever. We saw only a few people on the trail. The land is surrounded by houses and businesses on 3 sides so I was kind of expecting to see more people. Thankfully there weren’t many. I did see a few places I could easily spend the night and not be noticed. Maybe a good place for a microadventure?

Round trip was about a mile. There’s a pretty nice hill so coming out was good exercise. The trail ends at an irrigation ditch running along the edge of private land. Doesn’t look like it holds any fish. It was really nice finding a place so close to home with so few people.

Dirt road coming up to the irrigation ditch. Doesn’t look like it’s been driven on in a long time.

Ditch at the end of the trail. On the other side is a private ranch.

Next to the ditch, looking north.

Looking north-east as we approach the ditch. The road is the one we took to get to the trail head. The green area in the middle is a private ranch. I hope they never sell it and build on the land. That would really suck…

Looking south-east. Feels nice and remote even though we’re surrounded by homes and buildings. There’s a highway less than a half mile behind us. Thanks to the hilly terrain, we can’t hear the traffic at all.

My family walking back to the car. This was so much nicer than just walking to the little park by our house.

Back side of some businesses along the north side. The owner of the white truck was doing some dumpster diving. Don’t know what the businesses are but it looked like he was finding stuff to keep. This is only about a quarter mile from where we were at the ditch.

Solitude close to home…

Glad I found this place. It has a nice, remote feel to it even though it’s so close to homes and businesses. Even the highway along one side doesn’t break the solitude. I’m thinking really hard about spending the night there before winter hits. It will be my first microadventure. Until next time…

Peace out,
porcupine

Relief from knee and ankle pain

I’ve been having trouble with knee and ankle pain for the past 3 years or so. Originally I thought it was gout, but now I’m not sure. What happens is the ball of my foot or my ankle gets sore. Within a day my foot is swollen so badly I can barely get my shoe on. It hurts like hell to walk on, then not being able to walk right puts extra pressure on my knee so that gets sore and starts to swell. Even taking with taking NSAI medication the flair up can last a week or longer.

My last flair up was about 2 months ago. This time was different… even after I was back to normal, my left ankle still felt stiff. Going down stairs was a ‘one step at a time’ deal instead of just walking down normally. My walking speed was a lot slower than I’m used to, and my legs would get sore if I walked any significant distance. This really sucked because I really like walking and hiking with my wife and kids.

I did some reading and found one way to help weak joints is to make the supporting muscles stronger. I’ve never been much into physical fitness but I knew I needed to do something. I’m only 55 and I don’t want to be all crippled up before I’m 60. One of my friends said to look at the Stronglifts 5×5 program. It looked like something I could do and it’s free. I hate going to gym so I convinced my wife to let me get my own weights. I bought a York Barbel set, a Rep Fitness PR-1000 rack, and a cheap trap bar from Amazon.

Knee and ankle pain: going, going…

When I started, I was afraid of doing squats because of my knees. Also, the barbell rows were hard on my back. So instead of doing squats 3 days a week I did deadlifts and curls. On even days I did bench presses and odd days are overhead presses.

After about 2 weeks something funny happened. I walked downstairs one morning and when I got to the bottom something hit me. I’d just walked down the stairs normally for the first time in over a month? I hadn’t even thought about it. Just to make sure I went back upstairs and came down again. Sure enough, just walked down normally. Knee and ankle pain are… gone? Not completely, but at least I can make it down a set of stairs now.

Since my ankle seemed better, I decided to try some squats. To my amazement, I was able to do a complete 5×5 set. Sure I wasn’t loaded heavy, but still… After a month of doing the weight thing, I decided to take a test walk. We went on 1 .2 mile loop hike. About half the trail in on a fairly steep hill. Going up I took a wrong turn so to get to the top we ended up climbing a steep rock pile. I didn’t have any problems keeping up with my teenager. And afterwards, no knee and ankle pain. I was pretty stoked.

Can you get stronger after 50?

I’ve only been doing this for 5 weeks now and I already see big improvements in getting around. My knee and ankle stiffness isn’t completely gone but they’re much better than they were just a month ago. I’m also walking faster, even though not quite as fast as I could a few years ago. I’m improving though. What really surprised me was how fast things are getting better. I’ve read a lot about how hard it is to get in shape if you’re over 40. Or how it’s damn near impossible to gain strength after you’re 50. That you need special supplements, a high priced exercise program, or blah blah blah…

I’m 55 and I’ve seen a very nice improvement in just 5 weeks. I didn’t sign up with a gym (did I mention that I hate going to gyms?). No expensive personal trainer. I don’t take expensive supplements. To tell the truth, I know I need to change my eating habits but I haven’t even done that yet.

So what’s all this have to do with being a Backyardsman? Well, I can go hiking with my kids again. I’m probably putting off by years the day when I won’t be able to do that any more. I have more energy to get things done. I’m not trying to sell you anything, just trying to encourage you. If you can’t get out and about as much as you’d like, consider doing strength training. Even if you’re someone like me who has zero interest in body building. I don’t have bigger muscles but the other benefits have been awesome for me.

Credit where credit is due:

I probably never would have tried this if not for the constant harping on the importance of physical fitness at mountainguerrilla

A really good (and free) program to try is Stronglifts 5×5

Until next time…

Peace out,
porcupine

Reloading Press for the Backyardsman

Last time I talked about getting started with reloading. This time I’m going to talk about how to pick the right press.

I guess in theory you could reload ammunition with a rock, a punch, and a flat surface, but I wouldn’t want to try it. Things just work out better for me when I use the right tools. For reloading, that means a solid bench, a reloading press, and a good set of dies. Getting a good reloading press is easy since so many companies make good quality presses. Picking the right one for you can be confusing though because there are so many choices. Ultimate Reloader for example shows presses from 10 different makers on their page. They left out some. Some companies make more than one reloading press. Lee has 5 different single stage presses, 2 turret presses, and 3 progressives. RCBS has 7 different models. Lyman and Hornady also have several choices. So which one to get?

What do you want to do?

The difference between single stage, turret, and progressive reloading presses are speed, cost, and complexity. A single stage press is the simplest and cheapest, but also the slowest. Every round you load will be handled 5-7 times as you go through the steps, and at least 3 pulls on the handle. A turret press speeds things up a little because you only handle each round twice going through the steps. It still takes 3 pulls on the handle though. The fastest is a progressive. Each round is only handles once, and once you get going every pull of the handle makes a completed round.

I tend to work slow and careful. On a single stage press, I can make about 80 rounds of handgun ammo per hour. On my Hornady LnL-AP I can make about 350 rounds per hour. I won’t have a turret press until next month, so I’ll have to update when I get it.

What’s the best reloading press?

Once you decide how fast you need to load you need to think about quality and features. It doesn’t pay in the long run to buy the cheapest available, so buy the best you can afford. For example, Lee makes 5 different single stage presses. Their best one by far is the Lee Classic Cast. It’s a solid, cast iron, O-frame press with solid linkage. It’s just as good as most other single stage presses, including some that cost a lot more than the Lee. It also has the best spent primer handling of any single stage press on the market. In fact I’d take it over the RCBS Rock Chucker because of the primer handling. On the other hand, I wouldn’t bother with the cheaper Lee single stage presses. They’re made from aluminum instead of iron, and the linkage isn’t as solid.

For a progressive press, I’d stick with a Diilon 550 or a Hornady LnL-AP. Both Dillon and Hornady have great customer service, and both presses are very popular with lots of info available if you run into problems. Personally I’d avoid other brands of progressive presses. I read a lot about people having problems with the Lee progressives, esp. the Auto Breech Lock Pro. RCBS and Lyman also make progressives, but I have no experience with them. Given my good experiences with the LnL-AP and Dillon 550, I don’t have a reason to switch.

I don’t have a turret press yet, so I can’t really comment on those. I’ve read really good things about the Lee Classic Turret, and I have one on the way. So hopefully soon I’ll be able to give a report on that.

As for specialty presses, there are a bunch. One you might read about is the Forster Co-Ax. I have a friend who has one and it’s a really nice press. It was designed for long range precision shooters though, and priced accordingly. For the average Backyardsman it’s probably overkill.

Accessories

Inline Fabrication makes some really nice accessories for reloaders. I’m pretty much a minimalist but some of their stuff is worth getting. I have their Ultramount with a quick change mounting system. It gets the press up off the bench nicely, and the quick change feature is really nice if you have more than one press. I also have their Skylight LED setup for my Hornady LnL-AP. It really helps when I’m loading in the evening (my loading room isn’t lit very well).

As much as I like the Inline Fabrication bling, the only necessary accessory for your reloading press is a solid, stable bench to mount it on. Some reloading steps take a lot of pressure on the handle, so the bench has to be heavy and solid enough to stay stable. Also, the top needs to be stiff so it doesn’t flex. My first bench had a 3/4″ plywood top (5 ply) that flexed too much until I added a 12″ square, 1/4″ aluminum pad under the mounting flange. My current bench has a 1-1/4″ thick butcher block top and works fine.

Hope you find this information useful. If you have any questions, post a comment. Next time I’ll talk a little about reloading dies. Until then…

Peace out,
porcupine

update: I was looking for something I’d read about the Lee Classic Turret press, found it today. I have one of these on the way, hope to do a review in the next month or so.

Getting Started With Reloading

Reloading is a great activity for the Backyardsman who’s into shooting. It’s one outdoor related activity you can do without getting to the great outdoors. Getting started with reloading is easy, but it can be confusing. There are lots of choices in equipment and lots of bad advice.  A lot of “reviews” are nothing more than sales pitches. This will be a multi-part series because there’s too much info to fit into one post. I’ll start out by clearing up THE most common misconception about reloading. After that I’ll give an overview of what you need to know. Future posts will get more into specifics.

The biggest reloading misconception:

The biggest misconception about reloading is that it will save you a lot of money. If you shoot a lot, or shoot a gun that takes expensive ammo, reloading can save you money. That doesn’t mean it will save you money. Take 9mm for example. You can buy 9mm ammo for 16.5¢ per round. Assuming free brass, the cheapest I’ve seen anyone claim they can reload 9mm for is 7¢ per round, saving 9.5¢ per round. The cheapest reloading kit I can find right now is about $130. Add another $40 for a set of dies and figure $170 total to get started.

Saving 9.5¢ per round means you’d break even at 1800 loaded rounds. If you don’t shoot much, that’s a lot of rounds. And those 1800 rounds will be loaded on a single stage press (slow), so figure about 20 – 30 hours of time, too. Of course you could get a faster press. The one in the lead picture is a Dillon 1050. Auto indexing with case collator/feeder and bullet feeder. It could easily knock out 1800 rounds in 2 hours. It also costs around $2000 as pictured. So you’ll break even after loading about 21000 rounds of 9mm…

Getting started with reloading:

Even if you don’t save money, I think reloading your own ammo is a really good idea. I find it very relaxing. It lets you make ammo specifically tailored for your guns. And when you get into premium ammo, the costs savings per round are better than they are with cheap 9mm plinking ammo.

Getting started with reloading is easy. Especially if you’re loading pistol ammo, all you need is:

  • A bench. You need this to mount your press. The bench needs to be stable and have a solid top so it doesn’t flex while you’re operating the press.
  • Reloading press. This could be a single stage, turret, or progressive press. Single stage is usually cheapest but it’s also the slowest. A good turret press costs more than most single stage presses, but less than a good progressive. It’s also faster than a single stage but not as fast as a progressive. The fastest reloading press will be a progressive, but they’re also the most expensive. I’ll go into more detail on presses in my next post.
  • Powder measure. This is what dispenses the powder. If you’re running a single stage press, most likely the powder goes into a little pan. You then weigh it and dump it into the cases.
  • Powder scale. If you don’t put enough powder in your ammo, you’ll have a squib load which can result in the gun blowing up in your hand. If you put in too much powder, over pressure can result in the gun blowing up in your hand. Powder is measured by weight, not volume, so you’ll need a good powder scale to help make sure your gun doesn’t blow up in your hand.
  • Die set. Reloading dies are what do the work of sizing the brass, seating the bullet, and maybe applying a crimp. Buy the best dies you can afford. If you use carbide dies and you’re loading straight wall cases you don’t need to use case lube when sizing. I use carbide rifle dies as well. They need case lube but they seem to run smoother than non-carbide dies.
  • Case cleaner. You need to clean your cases before you load them. If you’re starting with brand new clean brass, you might get away with not cleaning it through a couple loadings, but eventually it’s going to get grungy. Grungy brass gets stuck in chambers, causes FTFs, and can damage your dies. So just clean your brass.
  • Case prep. If you’re shooting bottle neck cartridges, they stretch over repeated firings. Because of that, you’ll need some way to measure case length as well as a case trimmer.
  • Components. Bullets, powder, and primers.
  • Misc. If you’re reloading rifle cartridges (or pistol with non-carbide dies) you’ll need case lube. Military surplus brass will need a tool to fix the primer pockets. If you’re shooting precision rifle, you’ll need… lots of stuff that I won’t get into in this series…

And that’s pretty much it.

OK, so now what?

I’m not making any specific recommendations this time. Generally, it’s almost never a good idea to buy the cheapest gear you can find. That doesn’t mean you need to buy the most expensive though. Stick with well known brands with good customer service reputations. It’s OK to mix and match different brands. Unless you shoot a lot, a single stage or turret press probably makes more sense than a progressive.

Next time I’ll talk about reloading presses. I’ll also start talking about dies and other things you’ll need, but go into detail on presses with specific recommendations. Until next time…

Peace out,
porcupine