One of the Best gun deals for Survivalists: Glock 22 Police Trade-ins in 40 S&W

Trade in Glock 22s over at sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore

My all-time favourite gun for self defense is the Glock 31 in 357 SIG. Very much the same gun shape as the Glock 17, the Glock 31 holds 15 +1 rounds of 357SIG which when loaded with the right ammunition replicates the ballistics of the venerable 125gr JHP 357 magnum from a 4 inch barrel.
Having said that there’s nothing wrong with a Glock 17 9mm, which I must admit will also get the job done, ammo is much cheaper and readily available and holds 17+1 rounds.

If you have only one gun, make that a Glock 17 or Glock 19, simple as that. But what if we could cheat a little? Here’s where the Glock 22 comes in. Police across America are moving back to 9mm and the market is flooded with trade-in Glock 40s. Other than the barrel, the Glock 22 in 40 S&W is the exact same gun as the Glock 31 in 357 SIG. 357SIG being for all practical purposes a necked down 40S&W to 9mm, the only difference is the barrel.

You can change a Glock 22 into 357SIG just by buying a spare barrel and a Glock 31 can shoot 40 S&W if you get a spare barrel just as well. Making things even more interesting, both the 22 and 31 can fire 9mm if you buy a 9mm conversion barrel. This barrel has the exterior dimensions of a 40S&W/357SIG barrel, but a 9mm bore and chamber. You want to get Glock 17 9mm magazines as well even if the 40/357 ones can be used with mostly good results.

So with a 300 buck trade in Glock 22, and a couple hundred bucks more on spare barrels in 357 SIG and 9mm (Lone Wolf or any other good manufacturer) you have the best combat handgun currently available, firing the two most common pistol calibers and 357SIG for that extra bit of power and flat trajectory, long range shooting.

Throw in a 22LR conversion kit and you're covering 99% of your realistic handgun needs.

FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Moving to Latin America

7 tips for Securing a Cash Stash at Home

Hey Ferfal,
In your first book you made it clear 'Cash is King.'
But I would like your ideas on where to hide/stash that cash (i.e.; hidden money belt, certain areas of the home, etc)?
Also how many different stashes should I have? I just had a neighbour steal my jar of cash from my very rural back yard. I'm still sick about it.
-R
.
Hello R,
Thanks for your email.
A jar full of money just sitting there would not be my first suggestion. :-) As you just experienced, crime happens everywhere, including otherwise safe, rural communities. And sometimes it’s the people around us that commit these crimes, people we may even know.
The typical burglar lives within a 2 mile radius of his target This is average. The distance may be greater in rural areas of course, but the point still is, its people around your area, probably people you know. But back to your question.

A few tips:

1) You know your own house better than anyone, after looking around and giving it some thought you can probably think of a little corner or hidden space somewhere where anyone not familiar with your house would have a hard time figuring out. That’s where you want to hide it.

2) Make sure you REMEMBER where you hid it. Better yet, tell your wife/kids. My parents hid some of the nicer jewellery my mom had before a trip. When they came back they though it was so well hidden they might just leave it there for safe keeping…  a few years later they FORGOT where they hid it and no matter how much they looked they never recovered it. This kind of thing happening in extremely common.

3) Hide it in a sealed bag so as to protect it against humidity and bugs. I wouldn’t hide it where rats can get to it but if you do you want a metal container besides the bag.

4) Find a place that is somewhat easy to access while being well hidden. Putting money inside an interior hollow wall may be very well hidden, but impossible to check on it or access the money in a convenient manner. For example, a hollow door on the other hand could have a piece of wood that is removed on the hinge side when opened to access the money. Pretty well hidden yet convenient to access.

5) I would have at least two stashes. Start with a big gun safe, heavy and bolted. You need one anyway for your firearms (if you don’t have one, you should). Getting your guns stolen is no joke and happens all the time. Keep in mind that in average, burglars spend less than 10 minutes in a house, so a safe is a good idea. A good safe can about the same as a handgun or as much as a good rifle (fire, EMP proof). Whatever your budget is you should have one (or 3, like I do) Makes no sense to have thousands in guns and not put a few hundred into securing them.

New and Improved E.M.P Proof Steelwater Extreme Duty 22 Long Gun Fire Protection for 120 Minutes 

6) Combine the safe with a home alarm system and security camera. The security camera works with a cellphone app and the motion detector lets you know if someone broke in. These Cameras are cheap, cost 25 bucks and are the best value you'll ever get in security.

Ring Alarm – Home Security System with optional 24/7 Professional Monitoring – No contracts – 8 piece kit

7)You could keep a second cash stash in a small, well-hidden safe. If you live in a dangerous area where you are likely to be held at gunpoint during a break in, It wouldn’t hurt to have one of these store bought cheap safes as a decoy. You could keep some fake precious metals, fantasy jewellery. Hope that helps!

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Practice, Practice, Practice. And when you Suck Practice some more

My day was going great this morning at the local IPSC competition.

I hadn’t been practicing nearly as much as I should yet I had finished Stage I nicely and internally had a smug smile of confidence. My time hadn’t been great (its usually not) but everything that needed to get shot got shot, plenty of alphas and none of the no-shoot targets had a hole in it. I had started the stage with a fast pling! pling! pling! As the first three metals went down and  finished with a double alpha so close you had to look closely to see the two circles almost perfectly overlaid.

And then there was Stage II

I cant put into words how much I sucked. I nailed the first metal, missed the second. Tried to quickly nail it with a follow up shot and missed that one two. Now I’m thinking I’ll have to reload before moving to the next series of targets an how much time that will take which pissed me even more. It took 4 rounds to put that one down and from then on it was downright embarrassing.

The angrier I got with myself the more I missed. Complete disaster. Great Stage I. Terrible Stage II.

That’s just the rule of the game. You don’t practice enough, you shoot slower, you make more mistakes, the more of those you make the less you focus and the worse it gets. But driving back home I reminded myself why I do this. It’s just practice. I don’t care one bit about points. Even if I had done poorly in both Stages, it would have still counted as practice, as trigger time under pressure and working on being accurate and that is ALWAYS better than not competing at all, always better than not shooting.

Pocket Pro Timer II CEI001 $102.29

 

So yet again I recommend everyone to look up your local IPSC or IDPA chapter and sign up.

 Its usually a nice group of people and if there is a little bit of drama, which is something people have mentioned to me in the past, don’t mind it, just do your thing. But compete, shoot with the timer chasing you, with others watching. Shoot when uncomfortable and even a bit stressed. It is not tactical defensive shooting but even if you have to follow the rules it still counts as trigger time in which you develop speed, accuracy and problem solving instincts.

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Parts of California look like a nuclear disaster area.

 

Northern California fire death toll rises to 48

Fallout 4? No, its California.

The intense heat has not only leveled buildings, it has gone wrath of God, scorched earth.
48 people have already lost their lives and the images are just terrible. Not only are trees destroyed, houses burned to the ground, cars are burned down to bare metal, in some cases with a skeleton still inside. You need to be aware of the risks in areas where there’s a fire hazard, organize and be ready evacuate in time.

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

DQ video: Learning from Unintentional discharges

I came across this interesting compilation video of sport shooting DQ. Now you may think it is not relevant to anything other than sport shooting but it does go to show a) how often people that are very much into firearms still end up pulling the trigger when they don’t mean to b) at what time that is most likely to happen and who the gun is pointing at. If you pay attention you see one happening when the shooter is drawing the gun or a very short while after that.

Now imagine for a second how that one would have gone down if that person had been drawing from an appendix carry position. I know, I know, some of you love AIWB. Just check the video anyway and keep it in mind. No one thinks accidents happen but they do…  a lot. Even to well-trained people.

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Interview I did with Lynette Zang for ITM Trading.

Interview I did with Lynette Zang for ITM Trading.

About the mortgage question I didnt get to answer correctly (happens sometimes during interviews, you just mess up) First keep in mind that Argentina isnt USA and banks just dont go arounf giving money.

Very few people had mortgages to being with. Those that did though, for most people the mortgage either stayed in US dollars or was converted to the new currency rate, so a lot of people could not pay it. Having gold or silver would have been ideal because these kept their value, parity with dollar and basically the rest of the world as the Argentine peso collapses and you can sell your PM for whatever currency equivalent you have that day and pay your debt.

So yes, even if banks closed, which they did, but eventually reopened even if accounts stayed frozen, your could sell your PM in any dealer, (have cash in hand, which you quickly want to spend due to inflation) adn pay any debt or buy anything else you needed.

Reply: The US military would be better off with an AK variant

         
The AK is a better weapon than any version of the AR/M16/M4/AR10. AR's are a range Barbbie/snob gun.

If they are surgically cleaned and carefully lubed several times a day, they will work about 50% of the time. Provided you feed them only the most expensive hand crafted ammo, they might even work about 75% of the time. BUT: Make no mistake. EVERY version of the Stoner will fail you when your life is on the line. The AK on the other hand was designed to fight, and survive, the battle of Stalingrad. It will fire ANY proper Cal. ammo. It is every bit as accurate as the standard M4 service carbine. All you need is, To Quote Kalashnicov (spell?) himself. "I designed AK47 so that any common Russian could lift it from the mud.

Clean it with Diesel Fuel. Lubricate it with crank case oil, and defend the Mother Land" The AR is the worst choice you can make in your life. Period. It WILL fail you when you need it the most. The AK will keep running with holes rusted in the receiver, and can be manufactured with hand tools. It is the best military carbine class weapon ever devised by man. 200 years from now somebody will find one in a dry cave in some middle east shit hole. Kick the action open,and it will fire.

—Ray
...


I wont beat around the bush with this one.
I don’t care who you are, what you do or how good you may run your AR, and I know that both for sport and tactical applications some guys run them great. Still, simply from a technical point of view, even from a simple logical perspective a gun that shoots back hot gas and carbon into itself rather than use a piston to transfer the energy alone is simply a terrible idea.  I know, I know, yours works great, and yes, the AR vs AK mud video. It means nothing.

This guy nicely describes the issues with the AR, and does so with a good sense of humor about it.
One gun fouls and cooks a layer of carbon inside itself with every shot, the other does not. Proof of this being the case are the various piston AR mods and of course, the development of the HK416. No other rifle uses DGI (Direct Gas Impingement) so that says a lot regarding how good an idea it is from the design perspective. At the same time we must admit how popular ARs are, that they can run well in the hands of someone that knows how to maintain it, and especially at current prices in America, I would pick one even if I don’t particularly like the gun. For three gun competition ARs are all over the place. Having said that,

I would pick a good AK first. Simple, easy to maintain and once you verify it works properly you can count on it in the future. I don’t need the latest high speed tactical gun. I’d rather have a gun that is just a bit less high speed, yet is above all reliable and I can fix with a Leatherman tool  and a piece of coat hanger.  Later on sure, get your AR, and if your start shooting competition you’ll use it a lot and put a ton of money into it. Don’t forget getting a real battle rifle too eventually.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Halloween, Read Dead 2, and the little things in Life

 

Halloween was a total bust. At around 3 PM it started raining, hard. Windy too.

We only got one group of brave trick or treaters and we didn’t get to go out ourselves. We kept waiting for the storm to calm a bit but all it did was get worse throughout the evening and into the night. We got to watch a couple scary movies, we had fun with the decorations and spooky looking food. My 10 year old had enjoyed the day in school with everyone wearing their costumes and doing Halloween stuff.

It hit me yet again how life has changed for us since we left Argentina. Over there walking around trick or treating and opening your door to strangers just isn’t going to happen. Maybe in some well-secured gated community or similar setting with lots of private security, but not for the average people. Most people take these sort of things for granted. We don’t. I have noticed that we are getting used to it and eventually I bet my wife and I, and my oldest son as well, will forget what life was like back in Argentina. You still miss your country no matter how bad the situation there may be, but all you have to do is watch the local news there where they discuss current events and you quickly remember why you left:

Even worse crime than before. 50% inflation this year. A president that is trying to do the right thing but fighting against the peronist/socialist/corrupt machine that has been looting the country for nearly a century. You just can’t live that way. You did what we did, you survive day by day, incapable of planning for anything more, let alone live and enjoy your life. So we still take pleasure in these little things that most people take for granted. For us, to be able to safely walk around town, in any direction, pretty much across the entire continent if we chose to do so, that’s priceless.

Meanwhile back home people have to rush to stock up, fill their gas tanks because prices may go up 10% or 20% in a matter of days. I also got to play some Red Dead Redemption 2. If you haven’t bought it already, do yourself a favour and get it. (yea, that’s my Amazon affiliated link, I do appreciate the support). The game is fantastic. I loved the first Red Dead but now you get to actually walk into an 1890 general store, pick stuff up and look at it like you would in real life. The shootings, the wild west gunstores, robbing trains and stagecoaches and the hunting! Just fantastic. I would even buy the PS4 + game combo just to play it if you don’t have a console.

My oldest son liked the game and was glad to see a lever action gun, similar to his Winchester XTR 22LR although he noticed that my 357 magnum Trapper would be a better fit. My 10 year old is enjoying the game as well. He mentioned some old guy whittling wood in the game and I told him he could do that for real with the Swiss Army knife he got for his birthday (Victorinox Hiker). Funny how a video game triggered something to do in the real world. So we went outside and I taught him how to safely use the tools in his new knife. The knife, the saw and reamer.



Believe it or not, even 1 billion USD profit Red Dead Redemption 2 can’t beat a good pocket knife and a piece of wood. He forgot about the video game and spent all afternoon outside carving a small wooden sword, as happy as only a boy with his pocket knife can be. As I was saying, it’s the little things.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

The US military would be better off with an AK variant as a standard service rifle

At least that’s what Larry Vickers believes.

In the video below (minute 4:30) he discusses his AK47 book and commented that he believed the AK would suit the “Joe Average” military personnel better while AR variant rifles would be better suited for special forces and other specific tactical units.

As you can imagine, he got a lot of hate from a lot of people for this comment.
I must say though. I do agree with the man.

Hold your horses! I didn’t insult your mother just had a different opinion there, that’s all. The thing is, the AR is a great rifle… but its not as great as many would want it to be. Accurate and with great ergonomics yes, but it requires a minimum maintenance, knowledge and dedication that is higher than the one required by AK type rifles.

Most gun people simply don’t understand how little the average non-gun person cares about firearms.
And believe it or not many of them serve in the military. The AK is a gun that can take that kind of neglect. Just getting some oil prayed somewhere in the vicinity of the gun and little else is enough to keep it running.

The AR though, it needs a knowledgeable user, someone that at least has some interest in having a working rifle. It may be super simple and easy for you, but for the person that doesn’t car at all about guns, trust me, it is not. And Vickers is not talking about your typical pile of crap imported AK. He talks about a Valmet rifle with a few tweaks and upgrades.

I completely agree that something like that would be ideal as well. Especially for survivalists, the AK holds that category of beaten and abused gun that somehow keeps on working. The AR is a more refined gun that while reliable requires more attention. The AK with its piston gas operation, larger components with looser tolerances tends to be more forgiving.

Different opinion? Some other thoughts? Leave your comment below.

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”