My Take on a Mini Tool Kit

A couple of weeks ago I linked to this thread about mini tool kits on Arfcom. I liked the idea so much I put one together for myself.

The "Y-280" steel hip roof toolbox was part of my Father's Day gift this year. It came filled with an assortment of exotic jerky. You can find it on Amazon by searching for "Y-280 toolbox."

Click on the pictures to view the full size version.

The contents are:

Tools:

• Craftsman 25 piece ratchet screwdriver set
• Craftsman 35 piece right angle bit driver set
• Craftsman 6" adjustable wrench
• Craftsman 9' measuring tape
• Telescoping magnetic retrieval tool (was included with the screwdriver set)
• 7" Irwin curved jaw Vise Grips
• Mitutuyo 6" machinist's rule, held to inside of lid with two small neodymium magnets.
• ~0.75" x 1.5" magnet (not shown). To hold screws when disassembling something.
• Milwaukee combination wire cutters, wire stripper, and pliers.
• Plastic hobbyist's forceps from Countycomm.

Misc items:

• Ten 8" cable ties, threaded onto another one with the head cut off. This keeps them organized.
• 3 oz. can of WD-40
• Tube of super glue
• Tube of blue Loctite thread locker
• Fine point Sharpie marker
• Roll of electrical tape

I still need to add:

• Long nose pliers
• Penlight or headlamp

The Craftsman sets are from Lowe's, who now owns the Craftsman brand. I bought the Milwaukee pliers thingy several years ago at Home Depot.

My first use of the kit was to reinstall the kickstand on my Trek 820 bike today. I took the opportunity to try out the ratchet set with the 12mm socket to secure the bolt after I applied some blue Loctite to it. I had planned to replace the bolt with a stainless socket head bolt but it would have needed a larger Allen key than I carry in my bike toolkit. If it ever loosens again I can secure it in place with the zip ties in my bike trunk until I get home.

A Little Bit of Bike Maintenance Today

Yesterday I did about 13 miles on the Nishiki road bike and I noticed two things needed attention. First, the tires were a bit low. Second and more importantly, I was getting "ghost shifting." In other words, I'd set the rear derailleur to one gear and it would shift itself to the next highest gear. Obviously, this is undesirable.

I did a bit of research after getting home and found this:

"...most all "auto shifting" or "ghost shifting" is the result of cable-tension problems. If the cable is a bit loose, the derailleur will try to shift "up" to a smaller cog. If too tight, it will try to catch the next larger cog. Cables stretch, especially after a short period where the new cables stretch to the point they're stable. after that, they should be good for a long time..."

Link.

So, this morning I dug out my bike maintenance stand, put the bike up on it, and played with the cable tension until it stopped shifting on its own. While it was on the stand I also gave it a wipe down, cleaned the rims, and adjusted the brakes. 

Before putting the Nishiki away I inflated the tires to 120 PSI and did a test ride up and down the block. According to the pressure gauge on my Blackburn pump, the tires were below 100 PSI. It rolls noticeably faster now (and of course the ride isn't as soft) and I didn't experience any ghost shifting.

While I had the maintenance stand out I also used it to give my Trek 820 a cleaning. The last ride I took on it was down in Valley Green on gravel and it was pretty dirty. It needed to be hosed off, needed the chain cleaned and relubed, and the rims cleaned.

For chain lube I am using Pedro's Ice Wax, which dries to a dry film lubricant. It should hopefully be a bit more resistant to washing off if I get caught in the rain, and won't retain dirt and grit like a wet lube will.

Back the 1980s a couple friends used to lube their bike chain by immersing them in melted paraffin wax, after degreasing them in a bath of gasoline. Yeah, it's amazing we survived. If I ever decide to try the molten wax bath I'll use odorless mineral spirits for the initial clean and degrease job.

If you're going to get into doing much bicycle maintenance I highly recommend some kind of maintenance stand. I have this one. It allows me to elevate the bike so I don't need to squat and to get the wheels and drivetrain moving so I can adjust the derailleurs and brakes.

Also recommended are the following books:

• Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance
• Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance

There's some overlap between the two but if you have both kinds of bikes, getting both books is worthwhile, IMO.

The Park Tool YouTube channel is another excellent bike maintenance resource.

Ever since the COVID lockdowns started, bike shops have been extremely busy. If you're able to do your own bike maintenance you'll save yourself money and time in keeping yourself on the road or trail. And bikes do need periodic maintenance, probably more per mile ridden than motor vehicles do. Preventative maintenance at home is preferable to fixing something on the side of the road.

Handlebar Stem Riser on the Nishiki Road Bike

This afternoon I installed a handlebar stem riser on my Nishiki Maricopa road bike. As I was reminded on my Saturday ride, having a gut make for a less comfortable ride on a road bike. By raising the handlebars I am able to have a more upright riding position.

As the bike came from the factory:

Removing the handlebars, using the Granite Rocknroll mini ratcheting tool kit:

And finally, with the Outerdoo stem riser installed:

I took it for a short test ride up and down the block. The derailleur and brake cables had enough slack in them so their function is unaffected. My riding position is now more upright and much more comfortable. We're currently in a heatwave so a full shakedown run will have to wait until Friday or Saturday.

If I ever do manage to lose my gut I can restore the bike to its original configuration.

A Couple More Rides

On Saturday I took a ride on my road bike for the first time in 4 or 5 years. It's a Nishiki Maricopa that I bought at Dick's Sporting Goods because I was missing my 1986 Nishiki Olympic 12, that I foolishly got rid of around a decade ago.

I put about 13 miles on it and it's amazing how much faster it rolls than my Trek 820 or especially the Lectric XP when it's set to PAS01 or 02.

One thing that had been holding me back from riding the Nishiki was the forward riding position. I have a gut that I'm trying to shrink and when I'm leaned over, it's uncomfortable. So, yesterday I ordered a stem extension to raise the handlebars about 2.7". This will give me a more upright riding position that should be more comfortable.

On Sunday I took out the Lectric XP on the longest ride I've done in over 30 years, about 22 miles. As usual, I took the Cross County Trail to the Schukyll River Trail and headed west towards Valley Forge. I wasn't wearing bike shorts so by the time I got to about 9 miles out my nether regions were complaining.

I did this ride mostly in PAS2 but kicked it up to PAS3 once I got to within 5 miles of home. By that point I wanted to get off the bike. When the ride was done the battery was down to about 60% left, so not bad at all.

You may have noticed that I replaced the OEM panniers with a Lixada bike trunk that I bought on Prime Day. The panniers were floppy, added even more wind resistance to an already fat bike, and I don't currently need the capacity. The trunk is a lot more streamlined and it's easier to access without bending over.

I also went back to the factory saddle. I tried a wider, softer Cloud 9 saddle on a couple rides but couldn't get it set comfortably.

It was over 90 degrees F (32.2 C) on both rides so I made sure that I hydrated well before, during, and after the rides. The Zefal 33 oz. bottle filled with half strength Liquid I.V. worked great for this. I also had a 16 oz. water bottle with me in the trunk on Sunday's ride. On Saturday I wore a light pack with a water bottle and a snack, since the Nishiki doesn't have a rack.

ASSuming that the stem extender works well and I start riding the Nishiki more, I'll want to install a rack and trunk. It has rack mounting eyelets at the rear wheel drops but nothing up top, so I'll either need a rack that clamps around the seat post or comes with an adapter.

I've only been taking these rides for about a month but I've already noticed an improvement in my leg strength and cardio.

Electrolytes and Hydration

My renewed interest in cycling has me looking at electrolytes and hydration. A post in a private forum in which the author suffered the effects of dehydration offered some additional encouragement in this area. 

Also, I experienced the beginning stages of heatstroke once when I was a teen. I actually went blind for a few minutes until I got inside, cooled down, and rehydrated. (Incidentally, everything went white, not black. One of the two times I really came close to dying.)

I did some searching and ran across this article, Ask the Coach: Which Electrolytes Does a Cyclist Need? Another good article is from Blue Collar Prepping: Electrolytes Revisited.

The key takeaway from both articles is that if you'll be exerting yourself and sweating a lot in warm weather you need to replenish not only with water but also with salts your body needs.

On my hot weather rides, I've mostly been using Gatorade made from powder mix at 50% strength. I'll generally mix it in one bottle then split it between two, and then fill each bottle up from the tap to dilute it.

At the suggestion of the author of the private forum post I mentioned, I also bought some Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier. I tried the lemon lime and found that it's much sweeter than I like, when mixed full strength, but more palatable when mixed half strength.

Another option is SaltStick electrolyte chewable tablets. I bought a pack of these but haven't tried them yet.

Anyway, something to be aware of.

The Patrol Bike and Cycling for Preppers

Note: This post contains a bunch of Amazon affiliate links. If you buy something after clicking through, I'll get a cut at no extra cost to you.

A few years ago, Matt Bracken posted an article, "The Patrol Bike" over on American Partisan. It's worth a read, and I recently reviewed it due to my renewed interest in cycling.

One thing I want to comment on that's missing from many prepper-oriented articles about bicycles is the necessity for conditioning before you need to rely on a bike during an event. There are a lot of bikes out there gathering dust in garages and sheds because people bought them thinking that they could ride them around all day like they did when they were kids, and find out that is no longer true.

If you include bicycles as part of your preps you need to ride now, to make sure that your legs, butt, and heart can handle it.

Bracken noted that he switched to cycling from jogging because once he hit 60, his knees started complaining. In my case, my feet are so flat they may as well be flippers, so I've never been able to run much. Cycling is a good way to get in a cardio workout for those of us with similar physical limitations.

When I was young I did a lot of road biking. I still see cyclists on the road but I will no longer do so. IMHO, there are too many distracted motorists and I feel that it would only be a matter of time before I got hit by someone paying more attention to their cell phone than the road.

The good news is that many urban and suburban areas now have an increasing number of bike trails. Many of these are on former railroad beds and as such, are kept to a very minor grade. These paths are great for exercise and getting around. Bikemaps.org is a good resource for finding such trails.

Another article worth reviewing is from Greg Ellefritz at Active Response Training. "Your Tactical Training Scenario - Attacked on a Bike" raised a few points I had not considered, notably the ability for an attacker to use your bike helmet against you.

There are a few safety items that you should have:

1. Front and rear lights. These are for making you visible as much as lighting the way.  It's 2021 so we no longer need to power bike lights with big, heavy batteries or bottle dynamos. There's a wide variety of LED bike lights that run off AAAs, coin cells, or are rechargeable. I find that when riding on a crowded bike path that I appreciate it when other riders have their lights on, even during the day.

2. A helmet and gloves. Yeah, us Gen-Xers survived while not wearing bike helmets. Modern helmets are lightweight and will keep you from cracking your skull if you wipe out. I find that padded gloves make cycling more comfortable. Plus the last time I crashed my gloves prevented me from getting road rash on my palms, which would have really sucked.

There are some accessories you'll want to keep on your bike to keep running and make it more useful:

1. Patch kit and/or spare tube. Make sure you include a couple tire levers.

2. Pump and/or CO2 tire inflater. I use a floor pump at home. Many if not most currently made pumps will work with either Presta or Schraeder valves. If you must reinflate a fat tire in the field one or two CO2 cylinders will speed things up a lot compared with using a bike-mounted pump.

3. A rear cargo rack. I am happy with the Planet Bike Eco rack that I installed on my Trek 820 about 5 years ago. My Lectric XP came with a rack. A solid rear rack will also act as a fender to keep you from getting a racing stripe up your back when going through mud puddles. Use a little blue Loctite thread locker on the mounting bolts when installing a rack, to keep them from vibrating loose.

4. Bag to carry your toolkit. I like a trunk on my cargo rack because I can put my tools, a light windbreaker, snacks, and an extra water bottle in it. Another option is lashing a milk crate to the rack for bulky items.

5. Water bottle rack and bottle. Most bike bottles hold 20 - 24 oz. Zefal sells 33 oz. bottles, which are nice in hot weather. You can also get canisters that fit water bottle holders and can be used for your toolkit. Good for bike with more than one water bottle holder. 

6. Tool kit or multitool with wrenches to fit all the screws and bolts on your bike. Most bikes have used Allen bolts for the past 25 years but you may have one or two regular hex head bolts. Consider swapping them out for Allen head bolts. Otherwise, include an adjustable wrench. A pair of pliers and/or a Leatherman-type multitool may come in handy as well. If the bike multitool doesn't include a spoke wrench, get a separate one. I recently added this ratchet set to my bike kit.

7. In case something breaks, some zip ties and a roll of 1" wide Gorilla tape may come in very handy. I recently saw a forum post in which a guy was able to ride his mountain bike out of the woods after reattaching the front chain ring with zip ties.

8. Most importantly, the knowledge to use all of the above. Sheldon Brown's site is a good resource for all things cycling. Also, Park Tool's YouTube channel demonstrates many aspects of bicycle maintenance.

 

We're currently experiencing a shortage of new bicycles in shops due to increased demand and COVID-related supply chain disruptions. There are still plenty of bikes listed on places like Craiglist and Facebook Marketplace. Used bikes can be good deals. Older mountain bikes such as you'd find on those sites are especially well suited for prepper use due to lower cost and simpler construction, especially if you avoid bikes with suspensions. I do recommend avoiding any department store bikes, at least those made for sale in the past 25 years. Frankly, they are junk. Stick with brands sold in bike shops like Trek, Specialized, or Giant. Even low end models from these brands will be head and shoulders better than the crap you find at Walmart or Target.

To quote Freddy Mercury, "Get on your bikes and ride!" 

Mini Tool Kits

  This is an informative thread on Arfcom about mini tool kits that might give you some ideas.

This video by Brett at SurvivalComms is in a similar vein but focused more on commo:

Cycling Again

 Back in 2016 I posted several times about cycling, but not since then.

Bicycles make a lot of sense for preppres for a few reasons:

First, regular cycling on a properly fitting bike is a good, low impact way to get cardio exercise.

Second, in the event of SHTF, a bike can provide a means of transportation that doesn't rely on external infrastructure. I.e, although you need to fuel yourself you don't need to fuel the bike. Also, they can be pretty stealthy, which could be good for local scouting or potentially a bugout.

Another use for a bike would be as a way to get home in a major emergency. For example, there are many adult sized bikes that fold up compactly and could be kept in your vehicle's trunk, to be used if you need to abandon your car or truck.

For what its worth, IMO the threat of an EMP rendering vehicle inoperable is so slim that it's not really worth considering. EMPs are a potential threat, but more towards infrastructure.

I've been riding two bikes lately.

The first is a one I got earlier this year. It's a Lectric XP folding e-bike. It's a v1.0. Lectric introduced their v2.0 last month.

I'd been considering an e-bike for awhile and was hoping that if we got two, it would be an activity that I could do with my wife. Unfortunately, she's since decided that she feels uncomfortable riding a bike, so that's out the window.

The battery is removeable and contained in the frame tube behind the logo. To get at it you need to fold the bike and then it slides right out.

It pretty well kitted out with, lights, fenders, and a nice rear cargo rack. Lectric also included panniers. I'd rate them as serviceable.

As shipped it's a Class 2 e-bike. I.e., it can be ridden with 5 levels of pedal assist or with a throttle. You can also pedal it with no assist, but with 20x4 tires and a weight of 65 lbs. doing so is more exercise than I want.

You can use the controller to change it to a Class 3 bike which would give you a top speed of 28 MPH vs. 21 MPH for Class 2s. This of course will decrease battery life. I'm leaving mine as a Class 2.

It's a 7 speed bike with a Shimano thumb shifter for the rear (and only) derailleur.

It has mechanical disk brakes. Some folks have swapped them out for hydraulics but they are working fine for me.

After my first shakedown run I decided to swap out the pedals and the saddle. I got some inexpensive pedals and a Cloud 9 comfort seat off Amazon. I've since put the stock saddle back on it and will just ride it with padded shorts. The Cloud 9 seat screwed up the bike's geometry for me. It felt too far forward even when pushed back all the way on its rails.

I also covered the gaudy "LECTRIC" logo with black duct tape. I wanted to reduce the chance of anyone giving me crap for riding an e-bike on the local bike paths.

I mostly ride it on pedal assist level 1 or 2, occasionally on 3. I find myself rarely using the throttle.

It's a folder but so far I'm not using that feature. It does lock up tightly. It feels as rigid as a solid frame. I've seen some comments by other owners on Facebook where the latch on their bike isn't tight. This is an adjustment issue.

The 4" knobby tires provide plenty of traction but are very noisy. I may change them out to 3" or 3.3" commuter tires with an inverted tread pattern to reduce noise and rolling resistance, which will increase the range. I may also replace the panniers with a rack mounted trunk.

My longest ride so far has been about 19 miles and I still had plenty of juice left for at least another 6 or 7 miles.

Lectric recently unveiled their v2.0 which now features 3" tires and suspension fork. IMO the narrower tires are an improvement, the suspension fork probably not so much. It adds complexity and I'm skeptical of the quality of a suspension fork at the Lectric's price point.

The other bike I've been riding is my 1999 Trek 820. It's an entry level mountain bike with no suspension. You can often find 1990s vintage mountain bikes at reasonable prices on Craigslist or at yard sales for very reasonable prices. Old mountain bikes like these  are an excellent choice for preppers because they are simple and rugged, especially if you get one with no suspension.

Assuming the bike is in good shape, they can often be ridden with minimal restoration needed. I do recommend replacing the tires and tubes if they are original because rubber deteriorates with age. You might also want to replace the brake pads for the same reason.

Sometimes the saddle has cracked due to age and will need replacement.

These bikes generally came with wide knobby tires that provide excellent traction on or off road, but have a lot of rolling resistance and are noisy on pavement.

You can replace the tires with slicks or something with a less aggressive tread if you'll primarily be riding on pavement. Modern commuter tires often have an inverted tread pattern that rolls quickly and quietly but provides more traction off pavement than slicks.

When I dragged the Trek out of retirement several years ago I replaced the knobbies with Bontrager H2 semi-slicks. They are great for riding on asphalt but not so great off road. So, yesterday I replaced them with Serfas Drifters with an interesting inverted tread pattern.

My initial impression of the Drifters is favorable. I was only able to ride it up and down the block and around my back yard on grass, but they appear to roll quickly and quietly. In the very short grass test they seemed to grip well. I should be able to take the bike for a real ride this weekend, on which I hope to also test them on gravel.

I stuck with 1.5" wide tires since I will be on pavement probably 95% of the time. If I knew I'd ben on gravel more often I would have bought the 2" wide version.

The Gun Culture of the Konyak Naga

I recently learned of the Konyak Naga hill tribe of northern India and Mynamar (Burma). Apparently, guns are a big part of their culture and they make them themselves.

The Konyaks' guns seem all to be single or double-barreled muzzleloading shotguns with percussion locks. They make their own powder and caps.

There are a couple Youtube channels with information about the Konyak Naga gun culture that I've been watching lately.

This video has an overview of their gun culture:

Target shooting at a pig's skull suspended from a tall pole (apparently the object is to cut the string holding the skull):

And this one shows how they make percussion caps:

Finally, this video shows how they make gun powder:

I find this fascinating just because I am into black powder and muzzleloaders, but it also gives a glimpse of what's possible with primitive tools, a lot of skill, and patience.

Homemade Percussion Caps

 The current crazy ammo supply situation has even extended to black powder shooting supplies, including percussion caps. Although I was able to pick up a 1200 count sleeve of RWS 1075+ caps from MidwayUSA earlier this year, I wanted a fallback option as well.  So, in early January I ordered a #11 cap maker and a packet of Prime All from 22lrreloader.com. It took about a month to come in due to their backlog.

To go with the cap maker I bought a 12" x 30" roll of .005" thick copper foil at Amazon. This is a bit thicker than the beverage cans recommended by the cap maker's manufacturer.

After the cap maker came in I punched out about 100 cups. I am able to do so by hand but it's much easier using a mallet.

Anyway, the cups sat until yesterday. Instead of using the Prime All compound, I charged about a dozen with some Scheutzen 3Fg black powder topped with two toy caps, secured in place with a drop of Duco cement. It's a nitrocellulose laquer that acts as a binder, waterproofing agent, and is flammable.

I used a scoop made from a large pistol primer cup glued to a piece of bamboo from a chopstick to put the black powder in the caps.

Last night I tried the caps in my Euroarms Rogers & Spencer. I used them with Triple 7 as the main charge. I wanted to see how they'd do with a propellant that has a higher ignition temperature than black powder.

They worked pretty well. The first cylinder was charged with 20 grains by volume of Triple 7 3Fg, a lubricated wad, and .454 ball. All chambers ignited easily and the caps didn't fragment.

I then tried some paper cartridges with the same powder charge and ball but with 0.5cc of cornmeal filler. These must develop a higher chamber pressure, because I noticed that the gun was harder to recock due to the caps deforming more. Also, in this cylinder I had one misfire where the cap popped off but the main charge failed to ignite. It went off with a second cap but there was a noticeable delay. I think the nipple was clogged.

The Rogers & Spencer with my homemade caps on the nipples. I used a Delrin punch that I use for pushing out the wedges on Colt-style guns to seat the caps on the nipples. They are tighter than RWS 1075+ or Remington No.10 caps on these nipples.

I also shot two more cylinders tonight with 20 grains of Scheutzen 3Fg BP and RWS caps.

I regard this experiment as a success. I'm getting a 1/8" hole punch so I can more easily get the toy caps off the paper roll, which will speed production. I also need to try the Prime All compound.

Making percussion caps is tedious. I don't expect to make a whole bunch but I want to have the capability, just in case.

Lithium Battery Shortage and Price Hikes

This announcement was posted on March 1st by NKON, a large supplier of batteries in the Netherlands. (Link goes to FB so you might need to login to see it there.)

Most of my lithium battery supply is from Battery Junction. I've found that they often have better deals than Amazon.

Cap and Ball Revolver: Round Ball vs Conical Bullet

  This video from Paul Harrell provides a good comparison between round balls and conicals in percussion revolvers (in this case fired from a Ruger Old Army).

A few comments:

The conicals he used appear to have been cast from a Lee mold. They are similar in form to modern round nosed bullets that have been loaded in cartridges since the late 19th Century.

Conical bullets used in cap and ball revolvers in the 1850s and 1860s were generally more pointed. This would increase penetration but reduce terminal effectiveness because the bullet would be more prone to slip through tissue rather than punching a larger diameter hole.

Nowadays, more effective conical designs are available, intended for hunting, e.g. Kaido Ojaama's design, which has a wide, flat meplat.

In his book Sixguns, Elmer Keith recounted that Civil War veterans that he knew as a boy stated that round balls were more effective for antipersonnel use than the pointed conicals of the period.

Battery Operated Fuel Pump

 We are forecast to get up to over a foot of snow and sleet here in Southeastern Pennsylvania. I just got inside from opening the locks to my sheds so they don't freeze shut, and putting gas in my snow blower. I keep gas in military surplus jerrycans.

This battery operated pump works really well for transferring gasoline from a can into the fuel tank of a generator, snow blower, or whatever without making a mess. I bought one in October and have used it a few times now. I wish I had one years ago.

Black Powder Shooting Supplies Now Getting Scarce

Last week I ordered 5 boxes of Hornady .454 round balls from Track of the Wolf. I got my order today, but only 1 box, with the rest cancelled, with a note that they cannot backorder balls.

So I checked out Midway. Hornady .454s are gone, no backorder. They did have Speer in stock so I ordered 10 boxes at $9.99 each.

That should keep me set for a while. I have a Lee .454 ball mold but it's either oversize or the alloy I used last time has some tin in it, because the balls dropped at .456 - .457. That's OK for my Ruger Old Army but unnecessarily hard to load in my Remingtons and Rogers & Spencer.

The online sources for black powder that I've checked have been depleted. I still have a decent supply from a bulk order from several years back.

Percussion caps have also been difficult to buy in the past couple of months. I was able to get a 2,500 count box of RWS #107+ caps last week from Midway, so I'm set for a while. Midway is now out of stock for all caps.

I'm still waiting to receive the percussion cap maker that I ordered at the start of the month from 22LRreloader.com.

Combustible Paper Cartridges for Cap and Ball Revolvers

I have a sneaking suspicion that more than a few preppers have added a cap and ball revolver or two to their arsenals. Although obsolete since the 19th Century, they are still deadly weapons and when setup and loaded correctly, they are a reliable for six shots. On top of that, in most states they are available legally without completing any paperwork or submitting to a background check.

Most contemporary shooters load their cap and ball revolvers with cap and ball. However, in the 19th Century, especially in the Civil War, they were commonly loaded with combustible paper cartridges. These allow you to load them a lot faster and reduce the amount of gear required for you to take to the range or the field for a shooting session.

Over on Blog O-Stuff, I put up a post about making combustible paper cartridges for cap and ball revolvers. Check it out.

Converting .38 Special Brass to Accept Large Pistol Primers, Part 2

I modified another 5 cases today in my lathe. I loaded those and the 5 I modified yesterday with 4.4 grains of Unique, a CCI LPP, and a .358 160 grain LSWC from Matt's Bullets. I also loaded another 50 in unmodified brass using Sellier & Bellot SPPs.

The round on the left is an unmodifed case. The 2 on the right are modified.

You'll note that there is still plenty of brass around the large primer.

I should be able to try them next weekend.

Don't Forget to Test Your Generator

Today I wanted to fire up the DuroMax XP4850EH dual-fuel generator I bought in September. I ran it on propane after I bought it, and it started immediately on that try. My intention has been to mainly rely on propane, so I left the host and regulator connected to it and coiled up.

When I pulled it out of storage today and connected a full propane tank, it would turn over but not start. Much cussing ensued.

I tried another battery, in case the one that came with it had drained too much to start the engine. No dice.

I pulled the spark plug. It had a very little bit of dirt on it. I replaced the spark plug (setting the gap first). No dice.

I then decided to try it with gasoline. I used a battery-powered transfer pump to put some gas from a jerrycan into the tank.

And guess what, it started right up. I ran it for about 10 minutes. I then turned it off and used the pump to put most of the gas back in the jerrycan. Then I started it again and ran it dry, which took about an hour.

My theory is that there's something wrong with the propane regulator. It might be clogged. I'm going to see if I can blow it out, or get a replacement. I should have covered the regulator with a plastic bag and sealed it, but failed to do so. Learn from my mistake.

I'm just glad that I discovered this before I needed it.

Converting .38 Special Brass to Accept Large Pistol Primers

One of the things I've preached on this blog is that when times are good, you should stock up on items that will be hard to get during a panic. One of those things is a good supply of primers if you're a reloader.

Last Fall, I bought a case of 5,000 CCI Large Pistol Primers. I use LPPs for loading .38-40, .44-40, and Magtech brass shotgun shells. If I ever get around to loading .45 Colt I'll use LPPs for them as well.

For loading .38 Special, .357 Magnum, 9mm, and .32 S&W and .32 S&W Long, and .32 H&R Magnum, I need Small Pistol Primers.

Guess who forgot to stock up on SPPs before the panic hit? Guess what is virtually impossible to find now?

<sigh>

Before the COVID-19/race riots/election year panic set in, I thought I had around 5K SPPs. In reality, I have about half that.

Shit.

So, a few weeks ago I wondered if it would be possible to convert .38 Special brass to accept LPPs. I did some research online and found that in fact, there used to be factory loaded .38 and .357 ammo which used LPPs.

Since LPPs may contain a bit more priming compound than SPPs, if you do this, reduce any maximum or near-max loads by 10% and work on up.

This page has a chart listing the minimum and maximum dimensions of both primers and primer pockets.

To modify the primer pockets I used a .210" chucking reamer with a stop collar on it to set the depth. The stop collar was made from 1/2" 6061 aluminum rod. It's held in place with an M4 screw I had in one of my miscellaneous parts bins.

To use it, I chucked deprimed a .38 Special case in the lathe and held the reamer in a drill chuck in the lathe's tailstock.

Note that because in a lathe the workpiece rotates, not the cutting tool, I don't need to be concerned about the stop collar being unbalanced due to the set screw sticking out.

I found that because of the small clearances, brass chips built up between the head of the case and the collar. I had to withdraw in several times per case to clear the chips with a brush and pick. It was slow going.

But eventually, I converted five cases to accept large pistol primers. To test, I seated CCI LPPs. They seated easily, maybe a little too easily. It might be better to use a .209" diameter reamer because .210" is the maximum for large primers.

I plan to do another 5 cases tomorrow and then load them will mild charges so I can test them on my next trip to the range.

During the Obama-era panic, some of the primer shortfall was made up by imported primers. I'm hoping that the same will happen this time around.

And you can be damn sure I won't be caught short again.

Paul Harrell: Top 5 Tips for Training in the Ammo Shortage

 Some useful pointers:

Loaded Some Black Powder Shotgun Shells

 Last weekend I primed 25 Magtech brass 12 gauge shotgun shells and on my lunch break today I finished loading them. The details:

• Magtech 2.5" all brass hull
• CCI Large Pistol Primer
• 80 grains of 2Fg Goex black powder
• 11 gauge nitro card (over powder card)
• 11 gauge fiber cushion wad
• Lubricated felt wad
• 1 1/8 oz. of mixed No.7.5 shot
• 10 gauge overshot card
• Sealed with Duco cement

Magtech hulls require the use of oversized components because the case walls are thinner than 12 gauge plastic or paper hulls.

The felt wads were punched out of 1/8" thick wool felt with a .75" punch, then soaked in a mixture of 50/50 beeswax/mutton tallow. This is to help keep powder fouling soft.

The shot is a mix of plated that I bought from Rotometals, along with some unplated shot scavenged from miscellaneous promo loads. No. 7.5 shot is primarily for clay busting but it will work on doves, as well. Otherwise I'd load No. 5s for small game hunting.

I'll let the Duco cement cure overnight before boxing them up.

These will be good for informal clay target shooting. They shoot well in my Russian-made Baikal MP-310 over/under. Cleanup in a chrome-lined smoothbore isn't bad.

New Generator and Excellent Customer Service Experience with Amazon

The week before Labor Day, my electrician finally completed installation of a generator transfer switch in my house. Afterwards, he saw the Champion generator that I'd bought on sale at Cabela's several years ago and pointed out that I needed one that outputs 240V, so that I can power both legs of my home's wiring. The Champion puts out 120V only.

<sigh>

I will be donating the Champion to a friend's Civil Air Patrol squadron, which can use it for a mobile communications center they are building.

So, last week I ordered a DuroMax XP4850EH dual fuel (gasoline/propane) generator from Amazon. A friend has this model, has used it during power failures, and recommended it. It was about $707 on Prime and came on Saturday.

For anyone in CA, it's CARB-compliant, BTW.

It arrived damaged. One corner of the box had been smashed in then taped up. Upon inspecting the generator, a sheet metal cover was dented and the frame was scuffed. Nothing major appeared to be broken, so I went ahead and installed the wheels and feet.

Yesterday I added 20 oz. of 10W30 motor oil, connected the battery, and connected a propane tank for a test run. It fired right up. At least on propane, it seems a little quieter than my old Champion, which is nice.

Afterwards, I was able to get ahold of a human at Amazon, explained the situation, and asked for a credit since it was a scratch and dent. I did not ask for a specific amount. After waiting a few minutes on hold, the CSR came back and offered me a credit of $262.55, with the option of an Amazon gift card or putting it back on VISA. Heck yeah! I told her to put it back on my VISA.

My plan is to primarily rely on propane to fuel the generator. I can keep a few propane tanks around easily. Propane has an indefinite storage life and isn't as messy as gas. It doesn't pack as many BTUs as an equivalent amount of gasoline and the generator's output is lower with it, but if I know a hurricane is coming I can also go out and fill a couple of five gallon jerrycans with gas. The longest power outage that we've had that I can recall was about two days. <knock wood>

But I have an even better story from a friend. About 5 or 6 years ago, he bought a generator from Amazon. When it arrived, it did not work. This was during the holiday shopping season. He contacted Amazon to do an exchange and they told him to just keep it, and then they sent him a replacement.

He did some googling, figured out what part he needed to fix the bad generator, and got it up and running for $12.

He wound up with two generators for the price of one + $12.

Keeping my Nissan Xterra on the Road

 Last Saturday when I got up to our campsite in Tioga County my two friends who I met onsite smelled antifreeze from my 2007 Nissan Xterra after I pulled into camp. My sense of smell sucks, to put it mildly, and I didn't smell anything. We popped the hood and after the engine cooled down, checked the antifreeze level. Sure enough it was low. One of my friends had a gallon of premix so we topped it off. (Given the age of the vehicle I should have been carrying some.)

We also noticed that a hose going from air cleaner to the engine was cracked. I'm now carrying some Rescue Tape (self-fusing silicone tape) in my truck toolkit in case any other hoses crack.

The joys of owning an older vehicle. 😐

Yesterday, I brought the truck to a local mechanic who confirmed that it has a leak, so I had him replace the radiator. It must have been a very small leak since the truck didn't overheat either way on the trip (about 240 miles each way).

I've actually been thinking of getting this done to prevent the Xterra Strawberry Milkshake of Death from happening, anyway. The Xterras were designed with an automatic transmission fluid cooler integrated with the radiator. Unfortunately, sometimes there's a failure which allow cross-contamination between antifreeze and ATF fluid, causing the SMOD, which kills the transmission. It's both a clever and dumb design.

Although my truck is 13 years old it only has 110,000 miles on it, so I'd like to keep it for several more years, therefore replacing the radiator is worth it to me.

Video: Ken Hackathorn on M1 Carbine Reliability

Lately I've recently been paying more attention to my M1 Carbines and so watched this nice video on the Forgotten Weapons YouTube channel with Ken Hackathorn discussing the M1 Carbine:

I have NOWHERE near as much as experience as Mr. Hackathorn, but I’ve owned several M1 Carbines since the 1980s and my experience matches his when it comes to ensuring reliability.

My first Carbine was a commercial copy by Iver Johnson, purchased new. It had a problem with an improperly hardened bolt. The locking lugs peened and it had to go back to the factory for repair. I got rid of it a little while after I got it back from IJ.

Since then, I've owned a few USGI Carbines: 1943 Underwood, a 1944 Underwood, and a 1944 Rock Ola. I still have the '43 Underwood and the Rock Ola. On all of them I replaced the recoil springs with new springs from Wolff.

In my experience, the USGI Carbines have been very reliable as long as they were kept clean, lubed, and fed good ammo. The only time I had significant reliability issues was when shooting steel cased Wolf (Tula). The steel cases don't obturate as well as brass and the chamber got filthy. After shooting a box of that stuff I changed over to some RA 52 Ball and got extraction problems. Cleaning the chamber fixed that.

Good .30 Carbine ammo that I've shot includes RA 52 Ball (Remington from 1952), Winchester FMJ, Remington FMJ and JSP, Prvi Partizan FMJ, and Federal FMJ and JSP. I recently got a 1080 round can of mid-1980s vintage Korean milsurp ball made by PMC, and I'm sure that will be perfectly fine.

Finally, if you're interested in keeping an M1 Carbine around for more than just casual use, get ahold of Jerry Kuhnhausen's The U.S. 30 Caliber Gas Operated Carbines: A Shop Manual. It's the definitive work on gunsmithing M1 Carbines.

Black Powder 20 Gauge Shells with Patched Round Balls

  Today I loaded up 25 rounds of 20 gauge shells for potential use as short range deer hunting loads. They consist of:

• Magtech brass cases
• Federal large pistol primers
• 80 grains of Goex 2Fg black powder
• Ballistic Products nitro card
• Ballistic Products fiber cushion wad
• 2 x 0.010” patches prelubed with Wonder Lube
• .575 round ball
• Ballistic Products over shot card sealed with Duco cement

Before I settled on the patch/ball combination I check it for fit in my H&R Topper’s modified choke. With only one patch I could push it through with hand pressure. With two patches I needed to tap it through using a mallet, but it required less pressure than a typical tight fitting PRB in a muzzle loading rifle.

Waiting for the Duco cement to dry:

Black Powder Shotgun Go Boom!

A few years ago I loaded up some black powder 12 gauge shotshells in Magtech all-brass hulls, that I bought from Ballistic Products. This exercise was inspired by a video on the Survival Russia YouTube channel, which has since been taken down in accordance with their rule prohibiting videos that show how to load ammunition.

(The picture is a frame grab from an iPhone video.)

I did a few variants:

1-1/4 oz. of #7.5 shot on top of a compressed column of sawdust (in lieu of a cushion wad)
1-1/4 oz. of #5 shot on top of sawdust.

Also, some of the same payloads on top of lubricated wool felt wads. (I have a supply of such homemade wads for use in my Euroarms Magnum Cape Gun percussion 12 bore.)

And a patched .690 round ball on top a couple lubricated felt wads. All were loaded on top of 80 grains of 3Fg.

I tested one each of the #7.5 and #5s, and 3 of the PRB loads.

From 10 yards the #7.5 penetrated one wall of an empty soup can. The #5s went through both sides. Patterning seemed OK for a cylinder bore gun.

Accuracy with the PRB would be good enough to take a deer out to 40 - 50 yards or so.

Because these shells were loaded with black powder, I ran a couple patches wet with a Ballistol/water emulsion through the bore when we finished shooting. I repeated this at home and left the bore with a good coat of Ballistol.

The empty shells got put into a soapy water bath overnight. I found that a 12 gauge tornado brush was perfect for brushing out the inside of the cases to remove residue left from the glue I used to hold the over-shot cards in place.

Tomorrow I'll punch the primers out of the spent shells and clean the primer pockets. I'll also use some acetone to remove the load info I'd written on the side of the shells with a Sharpie marker.

Shooting these BP shells was a lot of fun and the cases should be reusable more or less indefinitely.

One thing I like about the Magtech brass shells is that they use large pistol primers rather than 209 shotshell primers. I use LPPs for .38 WCF and .44 WCF, so that's one less component I need to stock. Also, in normal times, pistol primers are less expensive than 209 primers. (All bets are off in this election/pandemic/civil unrest year, however.)

NanoVNA Vector Network Analyzer

The NanoVNA vector network analyzer is a handheld device that came out a few years ago. It's based on open source software and among other things, can be used to measure the standing wave ration (SWR) on antennas. There are several versions of the NanoVNA, this is the one I bought (Amazon affiliate link.)

Wikipedia has a good explanation of SWR and why it's important.

I finally got around to trying it out today. I used it to take SWR measurements of the Ultimax 100 end-fed antenna that's on my roof.

On 80 meters, SWR hovered around 2.5:1.

On 40M, SWR was around 1.7 - 1.8:1.

On 20M, SWR was around 2.5:1.

And finally, on 6M, it ranged from about 1.25 to 1.28:1.

The NanoVNA was connected as the antenna presents to my LDG IT-100 tuner: antenna-feedline-passthrough panel-patch cord.

When I checked the Radiowaz 40M dipole that I strung recently, SWR was much higher on 40M. It should be better when I get it elevated more.

The NanoVNA is a very cool and potentially useful device. However, like a lot of things that rely on open source, documentation can be spotty. The unit came with some calibration info, but nothing on how to use it. Some documentation sources to check out:

• There is some documentation on nanovna.com.
• SimpleScout's Noobs Guide to Measuring SWR with the NanoVNA on AR15.com.
• W2AEW has this excellent video on how to sweep and antenna's SWR and optimize tuning.

The NanoVNA is a good addition to your toolbox if you're a ham radio operator who builds antennas. If your "the commo guy" for a group of preppers, you should give it a hard look.

RTL-SDR Blog Dongle v3

Today I received the RTL-SDR Blog v3 dongle that I ordered last week from Amazon. It came in a kit with a couple different antennas, a cable, a suction cup mount for the antennas, and a small, flexible tripod for them.

This is a replacement for an older SDR dongle that I've had for several years. The thing that attracted me to this one is that you can use it to monitor HF in direct sampling mode, without an upconverter. My older dongle could only do VHF and UHF.

One nice feature of this dongle is an aluminum case. These things get hot and the metal case acts as a heatsink. That said, I may fab something to increase the surface area to improve heat dissipation. (I have a mini-mill that may come in handy for this project.)

I installed the SDR# Community Package on my HP laptop running Windows 10, and started playing with it.

This screenshot shows it tuned to KYW 1060 AM, the Philadelphia AM news station. For this I connected it to an Ultimax 100 40M - 6M end fed antenna that's on my roof.

The second screenshot shows the dongle monitoring the 2M ham band, tuned to the W3OI repeater in Allentown, PA during their Monday night net. I am located outside Philadephia in SE PA, about 42 miles away from the Allentown repeater. The terrain isn't flat between here and there, plenty of rolling hills between my home at the repeater.

The antenna for this exercise was my Comet GP-3, which is attached to a five foot mast strapped to my chimney. The tip is probably around 30' to 35' up. It's been up there for about 15 years and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Future plans for this SDR include trying DSDPlus to try decoding digital modes, and possibly connecting it to a Raspberry Pi and accessing it over my LAN.

Jungle Antenna from CAT5 and Cardboard

Brett from the SurvivalComms YouTube channel has a nice series going on building field-expedient antennas. This one is a 2M ground plane antenna built from CAT5, a length of coax for the feed line, and some cardboard to spread the radials apart. The basic idea is the same as the "jungle antenna."

Check it out.

BTW, the link to the jungle antenna will take you to Brushbeater's blog, which has a ton of good info and links.

How to Use a Digital Multimeter

A digital multimeter (DMM) is a handy tool to have around the house for troubleshooting circuits. Sparkfun put out this nice video on how to use a DMM to measure voltage, current, resistance, and test for continuity.

RT Systems Programming Software for the Icom 7200

With my getting back into ham radio I wanted to update the memory settings on my Icom 7200. You can do so via the front panel, and it's good to know how, but it's tedious.

The popular open source program CHIRP will talk to the IC7200. However, functionality is pretty minimal with this radio. For example, it works with the rig in live mode with changes you make in the application immediately written to the radio. It also misconfigured some fields in the memories, as I discovered later.

Years ago, shortly after buying the rig, I'd purchased  RT Systems' WCS-7200 programming software on CD from the New Castle, DE Ham Radio Outlet store. That CD disappeared, along with the product registration info. So, I decided to drop $25 for a new digital download of the program. (What the heck, it's good to support small businesses anyway.)

Unlike CHIRP, it runs only on Windows, but it can use the same USB A-B cable used for digital mode operations.

The WCS-7200 software is more mature and full-featured than CHIRP. For example, I entered in a bunch of frequencies into the spreadsheet-like UI, and it then allowed me to select a group of them and move them up or down for organization. It also has a Comment field, which I used to identify which frequency is for, for example "20M PSK31" or "WWV."

Unlike CHIRP, it doesn't operate in live mode, so I could tinker with memory organization, save the file locally, and then upload it to the rig.

Before closing the app I exported the memory to a .csv file in the Ham Radio folder I keep on Dropbox, opened it in Numbers on my Mac, and printed out a copy for reference.

I still like CHIRP for programming my Baofengs and it seems to work fine with my Yaesu FT-7800R, but in this case, it was worth $25 for the commercial software.

Incidentally, a good source of frequencies to input into your radio for making contacts or just monitoring is Bandplans.com. Also check out Repeaterbook.com and RadioReference.com.

Radiowavz 40M Dipole Antenna

Today's vacation day activity was to put up a Radiowavz 40M dipole. I got it in trade several years ago for an AR15 lower receiver. :)

Hams know that antennas offer better performance when erected in crappy weather, ideally a New England winter day. Not having one of those handy, hopefully a hot-as-balls SE Pennsylvania day will suffice.

It's currently supported on both end but not the middle, which as you can see, sags a bit. The end supports are 5 foot lengths of schedule 40 PVC pipe with an eye bolt on the end. Braided dacron cord is strung through each eye bolt and then secured to the end insulators of the antenna with a bowline knot. The halyards are then attached to a large plastic landscaping stake in the ground.

The feedline is a 25 foot piece of RG-8X coaxial cable running to an MFJ-4602 window pass-through panel.

After it was up and connected I texted a couple friends and we tried it on 80M phone using NVIS propagation. I was able to hear them but they could not hear me, which wasn't surprising.

I'd like to get the middle up higher so I'm going to look into a military surplus fiberglass mast. If I get the center elevated the resulting antenna will be an inverted-V, which will give me better performance.

I haven't made any QSOs on this antenna yet, but this screenshot from pskreporter.info shows the results of calling CQ with 50W on JS8.

And this one from WSPRnet.org shows the results of transmitting 50W on WSPR.

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Resources

I ran across this first link yesterday and thought it's worth sharing with the current State of the Union.

Bellingcat's Online Investigation Toolkit - Links to a variety of OSINT tools. If you have a Google account, you can go to File > Make a Copy and save it to your own Google Drive.

And this video is interesting:

Using Skiptracer to Gather License Plate OSINT Data.

(That channel, Null Byte, has a number of interesting videos.)

Scanner stuff:

Radio Reference - Site with information on frequencies, licenses, and discussion.

Broadcastify - Site to stream scanner feeds on your computer or mobile device.

Police Scanner and Radio on Apple App Store.

Police Scanner and Radio on Google Play.

Freescan - Free software to program and control many police scanners. Can also be used to record. I use this with my Uniden Trunktracker IV.

ProScan - Another piece of scanner software.

Chirp - Free software for programming primarily ham radios, but you can use it to easily add other common frequencies like FRS, GMRS, MURS, and NOAA weather to hand held radios like the ever-popular Baofengs.

Useful Info: Making Use of the MOLLE Bandoleer

I ran across this piece from Defensive Concepts North Carolina, and feel it's worth passing on.

Making Use of the MOLLE Bandoleer

In the current widespread unrest, in which AntiFa is threatening to come out from the cities to the 'burbs, it behooves you to have a defensive rifle and supporting accoutrements. A bandoleer is an inexpensive means of having a grab-and-go supply of reloads at low cost. Even if you're setup with a full plate carrier, a bandoleer would be useful to go along with hand-outs, if that's something you maintain.