Taking a week off

I’m taking a week off and hoping to get a lot of things done around the house and yard. This weekend I spent putting baseboard in our rental house and pulling weeds. I’m really starting to hate foxtails 🙂 I don’t like weed killer so I’m pulling them. After about 8 hours of pulling I’ve barely made a dent. It might be time to invest in a Weed Eater…

My wife’s sister and brother in law are moving here from China next month. We applied for them in 2003. Finally after 15 years they get to come here. That’s the good news on the family side. The bad news is my sister is still a “progressive” and getting angrier and more irrational by the day it seems. Her husband is even worse. Yesterday my mom told me she doesn’t know if she’ll ever see my sister again. Broke my heart to hear her say that. My mom and dad gave us everything they could and would do anything for us. My sister repays that by going against every value she was taught. I feel sorry for my mom, but I’m where I don’t care if I never see my sister again. In fact I’d almost prefer not to. OK, enough about that…

On a happy note, the local rabbits have been breeding like rabbits. We have at least 3 baby bunnies running around our back yard. They’re so cute … and when they grow up they’ll be so tasty 🙂

My taking a week off to do list:

  • Finish getting our rental house ready for fall semester
  • Get our house ready for my wife’s sister and brother in law
  • Lots of gardening work done
  • Clean out the garage
  • Sell enough stuff to pay for a Savotta LJK Modular rucksack

So a lot of it doesn’t have anything to do with being a Backwoodsman or Backyardsman. I need to get it done though.

Peace out,
porcupine

Build your own gun

building your own gunI’m filing this under How to be a Backyardsman. I love to shoot and hunt but I can’t do that in my backyard. You probably can’t either unless you’re really lucky. So what can you do if you like guns but you can’t go shooting as much as you’d like? Build your own gun. It’s pretty easy – if I can do it you probably can too.

Build your own gun vs. buying a factory gun

Sometimes you can save money by building your own gun, but usually it’s cheaper to just buy one. I don’t care. I build guns because I enjoy it and I get to make them exactly the way I want them. It’s also a great way to learn how they work. I figure if I built it I can probably fix it if it breaks. If you start with an 80% receiver it can save you from doing paperwork.

OTOH it’s easier to just buy one. To build your own, you’ll need some tools and skills. It’s usually cheaper to buy a factory gun, and it will come with a warranty. So why build your own? Because you’re a Backyardsman, right?

Ways to build your own gun

When you build your own gun, you have lots of options. The cheapest is to get a black powder rifle or pistol kit. You can get a Traditions Kentucky pistol kit for about $175 or their Kentucky rifle kit for about $260. I haven’t built either but they look pretty easy to put together and they get good reviews online. To build one, you’ll need to do a little wood inletting for the metal parts, some minor filing, finish the wood stock, blue the metal parts, and screw everything together. I’m hoping I can build one with my son later this year (after he passes his Hunter Safety course).

The easiest way to build your own gun is putting together an AR15. You can get every part you need online. The only hard part is finding an FFL to do the transfer on the lower receiver for you. You’ll need a few special tools and some good instructions, but putting together an AR is so easy it’s not even really building a gun, more like assembling one. If you want a little more challenge you can start with an 80% lower. My first (and so far only) home built gun was an AR-15. It cost just as much as a factory gun, but it’s put together exactly the way I want. I have over 1,000 rounds through it with zero malfunctions.

My next home built gun is going to be a Glock type pistol built on a Polymer80 frame. The ATF doesn’t consider this to be a firearm so you can order the frame kit without going through an FFL. I got my frame last week and even though it needs some milling, it looks even easier than putting together an AR15. The only problem is the cost – about $200 for the frame and lower kit and $400 for a complete slide. You can buy a brand new factory Glock cheaper than that.

If you’re really good and have tools you can build a custom bolt action rifle or even build your own semiautomatic pistol from scratch.

So get to it – start building

If you like guns, you should definitely build your own gun. At least once. It’s easy (at least it can be) and you’ll learn valuable skills. What are you waiting for? Figure out what you want, find the parts (either locally or online), and start building.

Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

This week’s preps – May 12 2018

I’ve been pretty busy the past few weeks, too busy to write about it. Mostly working on the back yard (I guess that’s one thing Backyardsmen do…) I have a bunch of tomato plants started and a few squash. It finally got warm enough to release the worms, so I put the wigglers in my composting bed and the European night crawlers in the bean bed. I’m in the middle of putting in 40 feet of new raised beds*. I’ll have them filled by next weekend and hopefully by the 27th it will be warm enough to plant my beans and corn.

My prep group met this week and talked about finding or building expedient shelters in case you get caught outside in a storm or other event. Also talked about bugging in vs. bugging out in the event of a large scale natural disaster. CERT meeting is next week, even if I’m too busy I’ll have to make time to go since I missed last month’s meeting. Studying for my General class amateur radio license. I have to pass in June because the questions change after that and I don’t want to have to buy a new study guide. Lots of other things going on too. got a new pack, planning a road trip, working on plans for a chicken coop, etc. Pretty much just staying busy. Oh, and my wife’s sister and brother in law are moving here next month from China, so we’re getting a house ready for them. Like I said, busy…

What did you do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine

* – Yes, I know I’m running late with the raised beds…