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Category: Fieldcraft
Editor’s Note
Three winters ago, I sat in my uncle’s kitchen while he rolled a cigarette he never lit. His hands were ruined—fourteen years as a contractor in places he wouldn’t name. He looked at me and said, “You think you know what hungry people do. You don’t. Not until you’ve watched a friend try to cave your skull in for a can of peaches.”
I grew up around guns the way some kids grow up with piano lessons. My dad kept a shotgun behind the bedroom door. My mom could strip a 1911 blindfolded. These weren’t hobbies. They were heirlooms, passed down by people who understood that civilization runs on a thin wire, and sooner or later, someone cuts it.
What follows isn’t a shopping list for weekend warriors. It’s a survival guide compiled from lessons learned in places without 911, refined by men who don’t write books because their knowledge stays in the field, and filtered through what I’ve watched these past eighteen months—the ammo shortages, the quiet militarization of federal agencies, the way politicians talk about disarmament while their own security details stockpile hollow-points.
Ten guns. Some of you will argue about the calibers or complain I left something out. Good. But understand—each weapon here fills a specific hole in your defense. Skip one, and you leave a gap that someone hungrier than you will exploit.
The data below comes from leaked procurement documents, conversations with armorers who asked me not to use their names, and my own time on the range. The tone is dark because the subject is dark. Survival isn’t pretty.
Read carefully. Buy slowly. Train hard.
Introduction: When Things Fall Apart
Gerald, my neighbor two doors down—retired accountant, spends his days pruning hydrangeas—asked me last year why anyone needs more than one gun. We were standing in his driveway watching the news: another flash mob hitting a pharmacy, police response times pushing forty minutes. Gerald couldn’t grasp the math of layered defense. That’s the comfort of modern life—the idea that complexity means stability.
History says otherwise. Look at Sarajevo in ‘92. Those were educated people, cultured, the kind who discussed literature over coffee. Three months later they were scavenging for single-shot rifles while snipers owned the hills. Or Katrina—seventy-two hours and the Superdome turned into something from a nightmare. These aren’t exceptions. They’re previews.
Federal data—real data, not the press releases—shows non-military agencies have stockpiled 340% more ammo since 2023. The IRS has tactical teams. The Department of Education is buying ballistic shields. Meanwhile, legislation inches toward capacity limits and registries that would price working people out of self-defense. This isn’t coincidence.
Your survival plan needs to account for these pressures. Ten guns isn’t excess. It’s redundancy in a system designed to fail. Each weapon below handles a specific threat: close-quarters chaos, medium-range engagement, long-distance precision, discrete carry, training efficiency, ammunition commonality.
My cousin Danny manages a distribution warehouse in Ohio. Started his collection last year after watching the 2024 election cycle. Old college roommate Marcus, paramedic in Phoenix, keeps three of these in a pelican case under his bed. Even my aunt—sixty-three, gardens, bakes pies—took her concealed carry class after the grocery riots in ‘25. They’re not paranoid. They’re paying attention.
My uncle understood something I’m only now fully grasping. You don’t buy guns for the world you want. You buy them for the world that’s coming.
⚠️ WARNING: These 5 places in America could become chaos zones if society collapses.
Due to critical supply chain failures, experts have released a detailed breakdown of the highest-risk areas. You can watch the full video presentation here to see if your city is on the list.
1. Pump Shotgun: 12-Gauge
Remington 870 or Mossberg 500—eighteen-inch barrel, extended tube—is where you start. My dad kept his behind the farmhouse door for thirty years, loaded with alternating buckshot and slugs. He understood predators, not because he expected trouble, but because he’d seen enough of it.
At interior distances—seven to fifteen yards—12-gauge 00 buckshot throws nine .33-caliber projectiles. You don’t need perfect aim. I’ve seen security footage from a 2024 Phoenix home invasion where the sound of a pump action cycling sent three guys running before a shot fired.
Birdshot for food, buckshot for threats, slugs for barriers or large game. The 870’s steel receiver takes abuse that cracks aluminum frames. Parts are everywhere, even after Remington’s bankruptcy.
Recoil worries are overblown. The push-pull technique—old Vietnam trick—turns punishment into manageable physics. Women and kids can run these with proper stance. Anyone saying otherwise is selling something.
Prices have inflated from the $150 surplus days, but $400-$600 gets you a solid used piece. Walmart still stocks them in most places, though background check delays stretch longer as the system chokes.
2. AR-15 Platform
Eugene Stoner’s design sits in a weird spot—vilified by politicians, indispensable to anyone serious about defense. I’ve put serious time into these: testing piston versus direct impingement, consulting with contractors who’ve used them where malfunction means death. For facing multiple threats at intermediate distance, nothing else compares.
5.56x45mm NATO generates about 1,250 foot-pounds at the muzzle. Good for incapacitation to 300 meters. More importantly, the platform adapts. My primary wears a variable optic; the backup has a red dot and weapon light. Same magazines, same manual of arms.
Government procurement tells a story. While they debate cosmetic bans, DHS has bought 1.6 billion rounds of 5.56 since 2022. Divide that by 70,000 armed agents. That’s 22,000 rounds per officer annually. Either they’re planning to miss a lot, or they’re expecting sustained domestic engagement. Your AR ensures compatibility with the ammo most likely to surface through battlefield pickup or sympathetic sources.
Availability is artificial scarcity. Manufacturers prioritize institutional contracts; civilian markets go dry. When rifles appear, prices run 150% above 2019 levels. Networks matter—my machinist friend traded me three stripped lowers for some CNC work last month. The gray market runs on trust, not credit cards.
Direct impingement runs dirty. Light rounds deflect through barriers. But for defending fixed positions or moving under fire, nothing beats it in the weight and recoil envelope.
3. Service Pistol: .45 ACP
John Browning’s masterpiece, chambered in .45 ACP, fills roles smaller calibers can’t. My uncle carried a 1911 variant through four continents. The slide’s rasp against fabric still triggers my alertness. Some problems need immediate termination.
The capacity debate—thirteen rounds of 9mm versus eight of .45—misses the point. Real defensive shootings involve two to four rounds under extreme stress, usually with compromised sights and shaking hands. Projectile diameter matters more than magazine depth. I’ve seen autopsy reports from a 2025 Memphis incident where 9mm failed to reach vitals due to angle and clothing; the .45 in the same engagement penetrated eight more inches.
Full-size frames—Government or Commander models—give you the sight radius and recoil control you need. Subcompact .45s exist but compromise controllability.
My recommendation: forged-frame 1911 from Springfield, Colt, or Dan Wesson. Chip McCormick or Wilson Combat magazines. Five hundred rounds of premium defensive ammo, stored climate-controlled.
Market conditions favor patient buyers. While polymer striker-fired pistols fly off shelves, quality 1911s move slower. Last month I watched a Series 70 Colt sit at $800 because buyers wanted high-capacity plastic. Their loss. When batteries die and the grid fails, the 1911’s simplicity becomes invaluable.
4. Long-Range Hunter: .30-06 Springfield
Developed in 1906, this cartridge has taken every North American game animal and served in every conflict since the trenches. Its longevity testifies to ballistic perfection. My father’s pre-64 Winchester Model 70 has dropped elk at 400 yards and would serve equally well against threats beyond intermediate rifle range.
The .30-06 pushes 150 to 220-grain projectiles at 2,700-2,900 feet per second, generating over 2,800 foot-pounds. That means engagement beyond where 5.56 goes subsonic and unstable. Practically, it means hunting large game when the grocery shelves empty. The 2024 avian flu and poultry shortages were a preview—when protein becomes currency, venison is worth more than gold.
Rifle selection favors reliability over tactical aesthetics. Bolt-actions—Remington 700, Winchester 70, Ruger M77—offer precision with minimal maintenance. Semi-autos exist, but bolts are simpler when gunsmiths disappear. My uncle’s advice: “One hole, one dead. Waste is noise.”
Optics matter more than action. Fixed 4x or variable 3-9x40mm gives you ethical hunting shots while maintaining field of view for defense. Zero at 200 yards. Learn your drops. Practice from barricades and improvised rests. Benchrest precision is a hobby; real threats move.
Ammunition fluctuates with surplus releases, but commercial production holds. Stock 200 rounds premium hunting, 500 surplus ball for practice. The cartridge’s century-plus history ensures components remain findable through scrounging and barter.
5. Rimfire Battery: .22 LR
Rimfire—specifically .22 Long Rifle—does jobs centerfire can’t economically touch. Training, small game, discrete pest elimination. My first gun was a Ruger 10/22, bought used for forty bucks and a case of beer. I now own three more, plus a Browning Buck Mark pistol, because redundancy in rimfire costs less than one quality centerfire rifle.
The math is undeniable. While 5.56 runs seventy cents per round, quality .22 stays at five to eight cents in bulk. That price gap enables the high-volume practice you need to maintain skill without burning strategic reserves. More importantly, the .22’s report—like a loud handclap from a rifle—doesn’t advertise your position for miles. In environments where sound means life, this matters.
Ballistic limitations are real. The .22 won’t stop motivated aggressors in heavy clothing or armor. It will, however, terminate rabbits and squirrels with head shots at fifty yards, providing protein when the stores go dark. It also trains you for larger platforms—the 10/22 with aftermarket stock approximates AR manual of arms, building muscle memory cheaply.
Pistol selection emphasizes reliability. Ruger Mark series, Browning Buck Mark, Smith & Wesson Victory. Avoid cheap imports; failures to fire become unacceptable when the target is dinner. My Buck Mark, bought in 2019, has cycled 15,000 rounds with only magazine issues. Browning still knows what they’re doing.
6. Concealed Companion: Subcompact 9mm
Full-size pistols rule home defense, but daily life requires something that travels with you. The subcompact 9mm—Glock 26, M&P Shield, Sig P365—bridges capacity and concealability. I carry a P365 appendix every day. My uncle’s second rule: “The gun at home saves no one when you’re at the market.”
Modern 9mm, especially +P hollow points, matches larger calibers through projectile design. The FBI’s return to 9mm wasn’t politics; it was acknowledgment that shot placement beats diameter, and controllability enables placement under stress. Subcompacts generate 25% less muzzle flip than .40 or .45, allowing faster follow-ups and less training-induced flinch.
Holster selection beats weapon selection. A $500 pistol in a $15 nylon pouch prints and endangers through poor retention. Invest in quality kydex—Raven Concealment, Dark Star Gear—with adjustable cant. Train the draw until it’s unconscious, because the gap between threat recognition and weapon deployment usually decides survival.
Legislative trends threaten this specifically. “May issue” jurisdictions increasingly deny permits without documented threats—proving danger to get the means of preventing it. National reciprocity died in 2025 committee, leaving travelers vulnerable to felony charges for crossing invisible lines. Carry anyway. Being unarmed when violence erupts carries worse consequences than unauthorized possession.
7. Battle Rifle: 7.62x51mm NATO
Marketing blurs AR-15s and true battle rifles, but the difference matters. A battle rifle—M1A, FN FAL, HK G3—fires full-power 7.62x51mm NATO, delivering 2,500 foot-pounds and effective range to 800 meters. These bridge intermediate carbines and sniper systems, giving you barrier penetration and terminal performance that 5.56 can’t match.
My uncle’s Southeast Asia experience colored his preference. “The little black rifle works until you need to shoot through a car door, or cinder block, or a tree someone’s hiding behind. Then you want something that doesn’t know the word ‘stop.’” Modern body armor proliferation among criminal groups—documented in 2024-2025 ATF bulletins—validates this. Level III plates stop 5.56 ball; 7.62x51mm M80 punches through with energy to spare.
The M1A, Springfield’s civilian M14 descendant, offers particular advantages: Garand reliability, adjustable gas for suppressors, magazine commonality with military surplus.
The weight—nine to eleven pounds loaded—deters tactical fashionistas while attracting those who understand mass absorbs recoil and enables sustained fire. Mine wears a Sage EBR chassis, modernizing the vintage without sacrificing durability.
Ammunition costs sting. Quality 7.62x51mm runs $1.20-$1.50 per round, double the 5.56. But European and Asian surplus occasionally floods markets. I secured 2,000 rounds of Portuguese surplus last year through a distributor contact, trading crypto consulting for access. Networks beat money in today’s regulatory maze.
8. Revolver: .357 Magnum
In an age of polymer perfection, the double-action revolver seems outdated. That perception is dangerous. Smith & Wesson’s Model 19 or 686, Ruger’s GP100, Colt’s Python offer capabilities semiautos can’t replicate: absolute ammunition versatility, immunity to limp-wrist malfunctions, contact-shot safety.
The .357 Magnum generates nearly 800 foot-pounds from four-inch barrels, defeating auto glass and light cover that deflects lesser rounds. More importantly, the same weapon chambers .38 Special, allowing practice at reduced cost and recoil while maintaining point of impact at defensive distances. My mother’s Model 19, bought in 1978, has fired everything from 125-grain hollow points to 200-grain hardcast without complaint—flexibility no semiauto matches.
Reliability under neglect recommends revolvers for caches or bug-out bags. A Glock needs spring replacement and lubrication; a revolver sealed in cosmoline and buried in PVC functions decades later with minimal prep. My uncle maintained retirement caches in three states, each with a stainless revolver, ammo, and silver coinage. “When you’re too old to run,” he said, “you need something that works when you dig it up.”
Current production focuses on snub-nosed defensive models, but service sizes remain available through estates and law enforcement trade-ins. The market has forgotten these tools. Their loss is your opportunity.
9. Tactical Shotgun: Semi-Automatic 12-Gauge
Pump-actions offer simplicity, but semi-autos—Benelli M4, Beretta 1301, FN SLP—provide firepower that changes tactical math. My Benelli, acquired through police trade, cycles faster than conscious tracking, delivering rounds at rates approaching submachine guns without NFA complications.
Gas systems reduce recoil significantly, enabling faster follow-ups and less fatigue during extended use. The Beretta 1301’s Blink system cycles in about 36 milliseconds—nearly twice pump speed by trained operators. Against multiple aggressors, this temporal advantage translates directly to survival.
Reliability concerns historically plagued semi-auto shotguns, but modern manufacturing resolved most issues. The Benelli M4, Marine Corps M1014, functions with all loads from light target to full-power buck and slugs. My testing—3,000 rounds through my personal example—shows zero weapon-attributable malfunctions, only ammunition failures (dud primers).
Price barriers exist. Quality semi-autos command $1,200-$2,000 versus $400 for pumps. But the capability differential justifies investment after foundational platforms are established. This isn’t a first purchase. It’s a force multiplier.
10. Precision Instrument: Bolt-Action .308
Final component addresses specialized requirements: observation, interdiction, deterrence at extended ranges. A bolt-action in .308 Winchester—Remington 700, Savage 10FP, Tikka T3x—provides accuracy for headshots at 300 meters and center-mass hits beyond 500. My Savage, topped with Nightforce glass, produces half-MOA groups with handloads.
.308 Winchester (7.62x51mm NATO) balances trajectory, wind resistance, and terminal performance for the designated marksman role. Heavier than 5.56, flatter than .30-06, available in match and hunting configurations, it sets the standard intermediate calibers fail to meet. My uncle’s final gift was M118LR cache—175-grain Sierra MatchKings to Lake City spec, 500 precision shots.
Training exceeds casual range visits. Wind calls, range estimation, positional shooting, ballistic calculators demand dedicated study. But the psychological effect of precision capability extends beyond the shooter.
Aggressive groups reconsider when members drop unexpectedly from beyond retaliation range. Deterrence is the objective.
Current precision rifle availability improved as the 2020-2024 panic subsided, though quality optics remain expensive and backordered. Prioritize the rifle; acquire glass through patience and secondary markets. A $400 rifle with $2,000 glass shoots like $2,000. A $400 rifle with $200 glass shoots like $400.
Final Observations
Ten guns. Thousands of dollars. Hundreds of training hours. This isn’t hobbyism. It’s insurance against hard times, written in steel and gunpowder. My uncle understood what I’m only now fully grasping: preparation becomes necessity without announcement, and those ready sleep while others pace in darkness.
Acquire these tools. Learn them. Maintain them against the day when phones die and police stop coming. That day approaches regardless of elections or economic indicators.
Civilization persists where force maintains it. Ensure you possess sufficient force.
The bill comes due. Be ready to pay.
Categories
TRAUMA KIT FOR THE HUNTER
My dad wasn’t loyal to any one rifle manufacturer. He shot them all, and he shot them well. At the tail end of his hunting career, though, he decided he liked Winchesters.
Come deer season, the first rifle out of his gun safe was a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight chambered in 7×57. After he passed away this spring, my brothers and I divvied up dad’s Winchesters. I wound up with the 7×57.
Designed by Paul Mauser of Mauser fame, the 7×57 traces its origins all the way back to the late 1800s. The Spanish Army was the first to take a chance on the new cartridge, and they loved it.
So much so that they awarded Mauser the Grand Cross of the Spanish Military Order of Merit for his efforts. The cartridge’s flat trajectory and ability to shoot heavier bullets, along with its mild recoil, endeared it to soldiers and sportsmen alike.
Along with the rifle, I also inherited a couple of boxes of my dad’s handloads, complete with notecards detailing each load’s particulars. He was getting great velocity out of his 7×57, shooting over 2,800 feet per second with a 140-grain bullet, all with that mild recoil.
That kind of performance is perfect for the whitetail that I hunt close to home here in Oklahoma, and I looked forward to carrying my dad’s rifle into the deer woods.
The Legend of the 7×57
But I make annual trips to the Oklahoma panhandle for mule deer and elk, too, and both of those species are significantly bigger than the whitetail close to home.
Even the whitetail in the panhandle can weigh 300 pounds on the hoof. I was fairly certain the 7×57 could handle the whitetail and mule deer, but I didn’t think I’d chance it for elk. Besides, I have rifles chambered in other calibers that are more suited to that task. No sense in asking a ball peen to do a sledgehammer’s work, right?
About the time I was having that thought, I was reading the biography of a hunter in Africa named Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell, a man who carried a 7×57 not for whitetail or mule deer or elk, even, but for elephant. Here I was debating the cartridge’s effectiveness on mule deer, and Bell was using it on elephant. Never has my manhood been called more into question.
Also known as WDM, a better option than Walter Dalrymple Maitland, I’m sure we’d all agree, Bell was born in Scotland to wealthy parents and a life of privilege.
But he was destined for adventure. He was riding the high seas the year he became a teenager and hunting lions for the Uganda Railway by the time he could get a driver’s license. The gold rush sent him to North America and the Boer War brought him back to Africa, where, after the war ended, he finally heeded his life’s calling and became an ivory hunter.
In so doing, he earned himself another sobriquet, and it may well be the coolest nickname of all time: Karamojo Bell.
Karamojo Bell & The Bell Shot
Bell made a name for himself by regularly walking into a parade of elephants with nothing but his 7×57, a John Rigby and Co rifle, and shooting either the herd’s bull or its matriarch, and then, as cool as a cucumber, picking off the rest of the herd one by one as they ran circles in confusion.
Having made a habit of dissecting the elephants he killed so that he could study the structure of their skulls, Bell’s research led him to conclude that the surest way to dispatch an elephant was with an oblique shot from the rear, angling his bullet through the back of the neck and up into the brain.
Eventually, this became known as The Bell Shot. You know you’re a serious rifleman when the hunting world names a shot after you. The man killed over 1,000 elephants in his career, more than three fourths of them with the 7×57.
Bell’s calm in the midst of pachyderm panic, his prowess with a rifle, and his fondness for the sweet shooting 7×57, earned him a reputation as a larger-than-life adventurer, and rightfully so. He absolutely deserves every ounce of respect he’s been given for his exploits on the Dark Continent.
The man in me just wishes he had done it all with a different cartridge.
Categories
Hydrate or die! By Will Dabbs MD
Water, H2O — the universal solvent — the elixir of life. It makes up about 3/4 of your body
mass and roughly the same percentage of the planet is covered with the stuff.
Water, H2O — the universal solvent — the elixir of life. It makes up about 3/4 of your body mass and roughly the same percentage of the planet is covered with the stuff. Second only to air, clean water is the substance most critical to life. No matter your circumstances, you’ll not go much more than three or four days without it before succumbing to a most unpleasant demise.
Those three tiny atoms bound together at an angle are the most fundamental component of life on our planet. In a solid blow the collective egos of physicians everywhere, more lives are saved worldwide each year by clean water than by all medical efforts combined. No matter the circumstances, climate, season, or threat, clean water is always at the top of anyone’s list of critical commodities in any survival situation.
At a minimum you will require two quarts per person, per day, of decent drinking water to keep the human machines running smoothly. At times when water is scarce, drink infrequently. But when you do drink, try to drink your fill. This will squeeze the most mileage out of a limited supply.
In most places save the desert, water will be readily available in the environment. The rub is we are not the only organisms who value it. An awful lot of microscopic creepy crawlies like the stuff as well. The only thing worse than trying to survive a catastrophic event is trying to do so while managing a raging case of infectious gastroenteritis with its nausea, vomiting and explosive diarrhea.
Once you have your water, there are three broad techniques for rendering it safe for human consumption. In each case let your untreated source sit for a while if possible then decant the clearest quantity off the top to minimize contamination as your
starting point.
The heart of the DIY water filter kit is a ceramic filter core containing activated charcoal. The cloth sock fits over the filter and secures with a food-grade rubber band to exclude gross contaminants. The filter may be back washed and cleaned with pure water for extended use.
This may look like a discarded water bottle filled with old socks and some generic household cleaning supplies. It is actually several thousand gallons of drinking water if used appropriately.
The resulting water will likely make you feel queasy but remains safe to drink.
Sterilization
Sterilization is the simplest approach and requires little as regards supplies. In this case the microscopic bugs remain in the water but are rendered inert by either heat or chemicals. You harmlessly drink up their little miniature deceased corpses at the end of the process. However, before you think this unduly objectionable, just ask somebody in the know what you are ingesting along with that yummy pork sausage you enjoyed for breakfast. Sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss.
Cut the bottom out of a water bottle and stuff it full with clean white socks. Run your raw water through this improvised filter to get as much of the particulate matter out as possible before you get started. Obviously the less foreign material you have at the outset the better.
Boiling water to sterilize it requires nothing more than a proper container and a heat source. Bring your water to a vigorous boil for a few minutes and then let it cool. Boiled water never tastes very good; let it sit for a bit then shake it up to introduce a little air and the taste improves.
Clear water can be treated with fresh unscented bleach at the rate of 8 drops per gallon to render it safe for drinking.
Bleach is a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite, about 6 percent by volume as you get it from the store, and is an indispensable and inexpensive survival staple. Treated water should be left out in the sun for a half hour or so before use and should smell very faintly of bleach. The resulting treated water will sometimes make you feel a bit queasy but should be safe to drink.
Bleach has a shelf life and should be stored in a dark cool place. More concentrated solutions can be used for camp tasks such as dish washing. While dilute treatments do indeed produce safe drinking water, straight bleach is terribly poisonous if ingested. Military water purification tablets are also effective and I have used them before, but the resulting taste can be sub-optimal.
Distillation
Distillation produces the absolute safest drinking water. In this case the liquid water is evaporated and then subsequently condensed away from the original source. This process actually physically removes the water from the impurities so it can be used safely. While this mechanism produces the cleanest water, it can also be time-consuming or expensive.
A factory distillation machine runs off of electricity and produces a steady supply of drinkable water from literally any source, to include seawater. These marvelous devices work like a champ but can set you back a thousand dollars or more. The same process can be improvised with nothing more than a sheet of plastic and some sunshine, but the yield is very low.
Dig a hole in wet ground and place a pot or cup in the center of the hole. Then cover the hole with a sheet of plastic anchored and sealed around its edges. Drop a rock in the center such that the plastic forms a cone leading down into the pot. In bright sunshine water will evaporate out of the ground and condense on the plastic before running down into the pot. The water you collect by this process is perfectly pure, but even under ideal conditions this method is a full-time job to make enough water to keep yourself alive.
It can take a while for the untreated water to make its way through your improvised filter. Be patient and the resulting product is a good starting point for subsequent purification techniques.
Filtration
Water filters represent the most convenient method of harvesting drinking water from an austere environment. Filters come in a broad array of sizes, capacities and prices. They are both simple to use and effective. I have lived for weeks on filtered water taken from a variety of sources to include silt-filled glacial melt while suffering no ill effects.
Water filters work by excluding contaminants while allowing pure water to pass. Most filter units are ceramic and are silver-impregnated or include activated charcoal.
The simplest sort is likely the Lifestraw. The Lifestraw is usually around $20 and is but a click away on Amazon. This remarkable little device rides around your neck on a string. Just dip the end into most any conceivable bilge and give it a slurp. Clear, pure water comes through the good end with trivial effort. For individual use it really could not be simpler.
Larger filters usually incorporate a small hand pump and are sufficient to produce plenty of water for individual use and cooking needs at a trivial weight and space penalty. These devices will usually set you back $50 to $100. Good ones will last for extended periods though operational life is a function of how funky your starting material might be.
Large family-sized water filters are also readily available but they can be expensive. These devices look like institutional coffee urns and are gravity-driven. Just pour the untreated water in the top and potable water comes out a spigot at the bottom. These units are sufficient to produce enough drinking and cooking water to keep a decent-sized family going but can set you back $400 or more. There is, however, a very cost-effective alternative.
Several companies offer kits that convert a pair of standard utility buckets from Lowes or Home Depot into an institutional water filter suitable to supply a family in a crisis. Mine cost me $39 from Amazon. The buckets were $3 each from our local home store. In this case you drill a pair of holes in the buckets per the instructions and install the included fittings. I found standard spade bits were the best tools to bore the holes.
Once the filter assembly is installed and the buckets are stacked you simply fill the top bucket with untreated water and gravity does the work. Be careful, the ceramic filter is fairly fragile and should not be handled roughly. The resulting device will produce a prodigious quantity of sparkling drinking water for less than the cost of a meal out with your family.
The hole for the spigot is located 2″ from the bottom of the collection bucket. This allows clearance for the tap. A standard spade bit bores the hole painlessly.
The filter is secured with washers and a screw fitting between the bottom of the top bucket and the lid of the bottom bucket, resulting in a single watertight assembly.
Once the filter is in place the rest of the device just snaps together. Ceramic filters are brittle and should be handled carefully.
Filtration
Water filters represent the most convenient method of harvesting drinking water from an austere environment. Filters come in a broad array of sizes, capacities and prices. They are both simple to use and effective. I have lived for weeks on filtered water taken from a variety of sources to include silt-filled glacial melt while suffering no ill effects.
Water filters work by excluding contaminants while allowing pure water to pass. Most filter units are ceramic and are silver-impregnated or include activated charcoal.
The simplest sort is likely the Lifestraw. The Lifestraw is usually around $20 and is but a click away on Amazon. This remarkable little device rides around your neck on a string. Just dip the end into most any conceivable bilge and give it a slurp. Clear, pure water comes through the good end with trivial effort. For individual use it really could not be simpler.
Larger filters usually incorporate a small hand pump and are sufficient to produce plenty of water for individual use and cooking needs at a trivial weight and space penalty. These devices will usually set you back $50 to $100. Good ones will last for extended periods though operational life is a function of how funky your starting material might be.
Large family-sized water filters are also readily available but they can be expensive. These devices look like institutional coffee urns and are gravity-driven. Just pour the untreated water in the top and potable water comes out a spigot at the bottom. These units are sufficient to produce enough drinking and cooking water to keep a decent-sized family going but can set you back $400 or more. There is, however, a very cost-effective alternative.
Several companies offer kits that convert a pair of standard utility buckets from Lowes or Home Depot into an institutional water filter suitable to supply a family in a crisis. Mine cost me $39 from Amazon. The buckets were $3 each from our local home store. In this case you drill a pair of holes in the buckets per the instructions and install the included fittings. I found standard spade bits were the best tools to bore the holes.
Once the filter assembly is installed and the buckets are stacked you simply fill the top bucket with untreated water and gravity does the work. Be careful, the ceramic filter is fairly fragile and should not be handled roughly. The resulting device will produce a prodigious quantity of sparkling drinking water for less than the cost of a meal out with your family.
It can be illuminating to peek into a drop of untreated lake water with a microscope. Water from
raw sources is usually teeming with microscopic life, most of which can make you sick.
Commercial water filters are lightweight, portable and reasonably priced. Such devices will ride in a rucksack or bugout bag and are sufficient to keep one person hydrated.
Preparation Is Key
There is a great deal of uncertainty in the world. The more our society evolves the more dependent we become upon technology and infrastructure. As a result we become all the more fragile as a species. Whether the precipitating insult is a hurricane, societal unrest, currency collapse, terrorist attack or something on the order of zombies or aliens, we are never more than one headline away from a fairly feral lifestyle.
Where once preparing for such stuff was the obsession of the lunatic fringe, nowadays survival prepping is both mainstream and big business. Capitalism being what it is, the market now allows us to do a bit of sensible prepping at reasonable cost. In the case of water, the most critical of all commodities, the means to secure an adequate supply of the stuff is now portable, reliable and inexpensive.
A little shelf-stable food, a proper firearm, and an inexpensive DIY water filter can transform a crisis of terrifying proportions into a fun family adventure. As is typically the case, the key to success rests in a little forethought and planning.
If you can hit it in the right spot, then you will get a strong maybe from me! Grumpy