When S really... REALLY Hits the Fan.

In 2001 the average Argentine worker made 841 USD per month, best paid workers in Latin America.

A year later in 2002, after the economic collapse, the average Argentine worker made 230 USD per month, worst paid worker in Latin America.

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2002/11/19/e-01501.htm

From best paid to worst paid in just a couple of weeks.
Think about it for a second, a reduction of 73% in your salary.
Lets be kind and say that, due to the inflation not catching up with the devaluation, the real reduciton of salary 50% average for the middle class.

Talking about non-BS survival, would you be able to deal with THAT as of today?
What about the rest of the citizens, how would they cope?
... what if it actually happens for real as it did here?
What if you dont have a choice?

FerFAL

FAB Defense KPOS for the Glock Pistol

I recently had a chance to try the KPOS for the Glock pistol.

You probably have no idea what I’m talking about so here’s a pic and clip.

If you read my book or read this blog for some time (old post about this is), you already know that I think that the pistol caliber carbine or subgun fills a certain niche that is of particular interest for the armed civilian that considers the possibility of serious civil unrest, lack of ammo and other problems. I’ll explain this better later on.

The KPOS converts your Glock 17, 19 or similar sized Glock in 40 and 357 SIG into a pistol caliber carbine. 

You replace the Glock’s backplate with one provided that has a cocking handle adaptor. You insert the Glock, lock it inside the unit, slide in the cocking handle and you’re good to go.

You have a folding stock which is effective for its compact size, and a forward grip that goes both vertical or horizontal. You have several rails for optics, and other accessories, so you can basically put any setup you want together like a Lego.

There are other carbine conversion units, but none are as ergonomically correct or as compact as the KPOS in my opinion. The HERA for example, its too square, the stock doesn’t fold and it lacks enough length upfront. Feels more like a stocked pistol than a carbine and doesn’t have much forward space to hold onto.

The bad news: This is a short carbine conversion unit and is taxed accordingly in USA (200 bucks I believe) This also happens with other conversion units but it has to be mentioned. If you are working with a limited budget and you want to keep your weapon collection at a bare minimum, you probably have other guns worth getting instead.

Now for the good part and why I thing it’s a serious carbine alternative.

Advantages common to many pistol caliber carbines:

1)      They can share ammo with your handgun, stocking only one caliber makes things easier.Pistol calibers ammo is easier to find too.

2)      Pistol caliber ammunition is usually cheaper and you can shoot more and train more as well. A serious advantage these days considering rifle ammo prices.

3)      Pistol caliber carbines with folding/collapsible stocks are usually small and can be carried in a backpack.

4)      Light recoil makes them ideal for novices or recoil sensitive family members.

5)      Unlike the popular belief says, it is not an over sized handgun and accuracy is far better even though the intrinsic accuracy of the weapon is the same. The reason for this difference is that you have a)More stability b) You can add optics. The key point here is stability. You can add certain optics to normal handguns as well but you can’t take advantage of it if you can’t keep it steady. Here’s where a) comes into play: With a handgun you just have one point of contact, both hands on the grip. With a carbine you have four: one hand to the grip, the other on to the forward grip, the shoulder and cheek on the stock. This is of course much more solid and makes 100 yard shots and beyond much easier and faster to perform. With a fast caliber like the 357 SIG and its straight trajectory the possibilities are even greater.

Now some advantages to the KPOS system itself:

1)      It’s simply the most compact carbine you’ll find, thanks to its small folding stock. Using the sling provided you can carry it all day under a loose fitting jacket.

2)      Something I’ve noticed is, because its essentially a Glock, its simplifies trainning in many ways. Most of the things learned in the pistol class apply here too and it makes the transition to rifle classes much easier.

3)      You don’t have carbine mags and handguns mags. Any magazine you reach for during training or a fight will work on either gun. This advantage shouldn’t be underestimated during stressful situations.

4)      Even in a civilian enviroment and wearing casual clothes, you can put a truckload of lead down range in a pinch with this system if you have a chest rig or leg rig with several magazines concealed under a large jacket.  This means: You are evacuating on foot, driving around keeping an eye on things with some neighbors for whatever reason. You don’t have to look all tactical, no one is going to call the cops on you or make the mental note of how much of a freak you are, yet you are much better armed than just having your concealed handgun. Certainly not a daily carry setup, I’m realistic, but would work excellent during known high risk situations.

5)      You don’t have rifle caliber power and that’s a disadvantage indeed, but with a caliber such as 357 SIG you are putting serious stopping power with good penetration down range. Get a slightly longer barrel from Wolf for the KPOS and you’re exceeding 357 Magnum ballistics thanks to the added length to burn more powder and get some more velocity.

“SO FerFAL, how many FAB Defense stock market shares did you buy?” 

None. :-) I just like the pistol caliber carbine concept in general and think the KPOS is an excellent conversion unit, that’s all.

The PDW concept is gaining more and more acceptance, and I believe there’s a good reason for that. Its clear that fights are getting more “urban”, fast and at short range. Weapons such as the Heckler & Koch MP7 and FN P90 are proof of this trend.

Again, not a must have, but worth considering and certainly worth trying out if you have the chance, see someone using it at the range or so.

Take care guys, have fun!

FerFAL

Burglar Bombs

Pretty cool devices. These activate when someone breaks into your home, and releases OC spray that is efective for an hour or so. You can go back in after three or four hours.

http://www.stopthecrime.com/faq.htm


Just another system to keep in mind and consider.
No affiliation to the company, jsut read aobut it and tohught I'd share the find. :-)

FerFAL

Small towns and ghost towns after the crisis

Anonymous said...
When Argentina had the collapse and people lost their homes.... who had money to buy these lost homes? I live in the US and am expecting a collapse. I can see how many people could loose homes. What I don't understand... where is the line of people waiting to buy and live in these houses if we have huge massive forclosures? If we have these villages sprout up around major cities... then will the suburbs be ghost towns?

April 11, 2010 5:57 AM

VERY interesting question, thanks.

At first you just moved there and built whatever you could, you didn't buy the land. Later when it became something like "Barter Town", with more population and their local leaders, the parcels witihin Villa 31 started to get get sold.

Ghost towns is the word that caught my attention the most there.

Yes, we have these perfect little rural towns surrounded by natural beauty that just turned into ghost towns.

 I lived in Cordoba for a couple years, traveled (most often by car) to pretty much every province in the country and the amount of ghost towns is something you can’t avoid noticing.

According to this article http://www.taringa.net/posts/info/1955656/Argentina-fantasma-,-pueblos-olvidados.html there’s currently 800 towns that are dieing, about to become ghost towns. This is of course not considering the ones that already are. The article mentions Villa Union. I’ve been there 8 years ago, it was already in-route to becoming a ghost town back then. Very sad an surreal going through a town with very few people left living there, very few houses with lights on.

Colinas de Carlos Paz: Expecting a tourism boom that never occured, this town died before it even started. Notice the house quality in comparison to the "Villas"

What happened?

First, many railroad stations simply closed as the railroad company cut down expenses and reduced its budget. Also, roads aren’t kept properly and some are simply abandoned because of budget reasons.

This is important to keep in mind because if logistic companies have to reduce their routes because there’s a crisis, or because there’s problems getting gasoline for whatever reason, towns and producers that are too far away from the main cities will suffer a lot or just die.

Second, many of these towns simply had no jobs for people. As we often discuss here, its nice to have a garden or orchard BUT PEOPLE NEED REAL JOBS NONE THE LESS. A job that pays in whatever currency is being used, real jobs and salaries.

I’m using capital letters here because this fantasy is often one of the greatest misconceptions among the survival community, spread by popular fantasy and survival fiction writers. It would be a tragedy to prepare thinking something will happen because you read so in a novel, only to find out that your plan is fatally flawed.

During the Argentine farmer crisis last year where the government tried to tax and fine producers up to 80% , this was one of the most important factors: Kill the producers and you wipe out all these small and medium scale towns that had managed to survive so far. They live exclusively thanks to the income this small, and most importantly medium and large scale agricultural producers make. These companies end up buying heavy machinery, supplies, investing, the wives sets up a boutique store or something similar in the town, their children go out to have fun, have money to spend. There’s work at the various large scale farms and producing industries, there’s money being made and spent. That’s what keeps a small town alive, it can’t simply survive on Martha trading apples for John’s eggs at the local Sunday faire. John’s eggs wont pay for the power bill, and Martha’s apples can’t be used for a down payment for money to invest in something else. Money, guys, you need money.

Wrapping this up and another very important point I want to make before going for a walk with the family: A small town that depends on agriculture alone wont cut it if there’s a serious crisis. I know this is what Mel Tappan said and to some point I agree with his logic, but not when it comes to depending on agriculture alone to keep a town alinve. I don’t agree because I’ve seen it fail miserably, that’s why. You need a small town that also has other industries. Preferably medium size machinery production, which will do relatively well after the country can no longer afford to import since, which the collapsed currency, its cheaper in some cases to produced locally. Of course we’re no longer talking about a small town, are we. Medium size town? So be it. At least you know it wont die, if something affects the local agriculture. This town will preferably be at a healthy distance from the mayor metropolis like NY and LA.

Good topic to ponder and consider with a cool head when relocating.

Take care guys, have a nice Sunday.

 

 FerFAL

Villa 31: A shanty town growing at an alarming rate in the heart of Buenos Aires

This is the part of Buenos Aires travel agents wont mention. It’s one of the many villas just a few blocks away from the government palace.
Imagine having this next to the White House or Congress … and still growing!
The Villa 31 has been there for over 50 years, but the truth is that back in those days it was just a handful of families living in the mostly empty lots of land that belong to the railroad companies. After the 2001 crisis the villa boomed. People coming from all over the country desperate to find a job, even from other neighboring countries.

Urbanistically speaking, Villa 31 is pure chaos. Anyone builds anything, anywhere. We actually studied this at the Architecture University of BA. The organization of buildings and streets is organic in spite of this, similar to how ants and other insects build their nests.


Surprisingly, even though the Argentine crisis officially ended around 2004 or so, the villa never stopped growing, just like every villa in the country.
Isn’t it ironic that in spite of the supposedly prosperous times (that of course no one seems to be experiencing on personal basis, but well, that’s what the government says) these villas keep growing and getting bigger, both horizontal and vertically?


Up to 5 floors are being built with precarious materials, and no control whatsoever. Power? They hook themselves illegally and no one does anything about it and why would they? After all, these are Kirchner’s greatest supporters.
Its very interesting though to see how these places develop a la Mad Max's Barter Town. Drugs, booze, gambling and prostitution are of course readily available. They have stores of all kinds in there, you can rent a bed for 80 dollars a month, a room for USD 160 and an apartment in Villa 31 costs USD 15.000.
Hey! Its located just 4 blocks away from some of the fanciest neighborhoods of Buenos Aires where an apartment costs $ 200.000 to $ 400.000 so its actually a bargain.

 
Tyical house in Villa 31

A disaster waiting to happen. On the grownd level, a grocery, bread and cell phones can be bought. 

This is how most arrive to the villa: A tarp and some cardboard to make a small shack. Then they buy materials and build a more solid structure. Notice the red brick buildings of the villa, visible on the background.


For those of you that ask what happened with those that went broke after 2001, many folks that lost their homes after the crisis ended up living here or in similar settlements.
This is the face of Argentina you wont see advertised in tourism agencies, but it is becoming more and more common all over the country.

FerFAL