Stuff or Skills
When we first get in a preparedness mindset, it seems overwhelming on everything we need to do. I remember when I first started. There was all that food and water I needed stored. All that ammo, too. Of course I needed more guns to protect all that stuff. Then there’s the need for the biggest, baddest bug out bag available. A 3 day bag?? No way, I wanted a week! My vehicles needed prepped, and not just the basics. I wanted mobile bug out locations. I was excited and couldn’t wait to get it all done and be ready for a pandemic of Mayan zombie hurricanes! Finally I was awake to the possibility that things could go wrong and I didn’t have a second to spare.
It didn’t take long before reality set in and the cost of all this stuff smacked me in the face. It was time to prioritize since I couldn’t just run out an buy everything I thought I needed. As time went on and I was slowly building up all of this stuff, I had an epiphany. All of this gear and all of these supplies were great for becoming self reliant, but self sufficiency should have been the goal. I’ve heard that self reliance is how long you can go without systems of support. Self sufficiency is how many systems of support you no longer need at all. A 30 day store of food means I can avoid the grocery store for a month. Learning how to hunt, fish, and garden means I can avoid the grocery store indefinitely. Of course, feeding myself 100% from the land would be hard in the best of times but if we can become 30% self sufficient in food, that is 30% less dependent we are on a system. My epiphany centered around the idea that with enough learning and skill development I could rely on the things around me to provide what I need rather than an expensive piece of gear.
If our grandparents knew we were having this conversation, they would just laugh at us. They understood the importance of learning skills and learning to rely on themselves. 100 years ago, kids were put to work in the garden when they were old enough to walk. Developing life skills started as early as possible with past generations. These days our children are told that survival skills involve using a computer to do English homework. If they need anything, there is a product at Wal-Mart we can buy to take care of that need. I’m guilty of it myself, as I’m sure most of us are. How many of us can build a fire without matches, or even with a single match? Why should we bother when we can get a starter log and have instant fire! It only took me about 30 minutes to teach myself to get a fire going with a single match. Once I had that down, learning to do it with a fire steel took about 5 minutes. It sounds like it would be as easy as touching a lit match to some dry grass, but if you haven’t tried it you can’t know for sure.
A large aspect to learning a new skill is saving money. The more you know, the less you rely on someone else to provide a service or product. An example that comes to mind is dehydrating foods. That skill is pretty simple to master, but can save a lot of money on the grocery bill. It can also help you preserve foods that would otherwise go to waste. If we wanted to take the example to the extreme, we ca, with a little ingenuity, you can bypass purchasing a $100 electric dehydrator and build a solar dehydrator from scrap wood and some metal screen. Now we have eliminated that purchase and our dependence on electricity to dehydrate food. The concepts behind solar dehydrators are simple, and designs abound on the internet. With an investment of a couple of hours, you can have a solar dehydrator up and running.
Most of the problems we have in our day to day lives and any we might face in a survival situation can be overcome with just a few basic skills. I could go on with a list of important skills until this article turned into a book, but that’s not my intent with this article. My point is to say that we should evaluate what skills we feel we lack then start to learn them. With all of the resources available to us these days, there is no reason we shouldn’t be able to learn anything we want. We live in a time when all the information in the world is at our fingertips. If you want to learn it, there is probably a video on Youtube to show you how. If not, someone has written an article or book about it. It’s amazing at how many skills I’ve learned this way. However, learning takes more than just watching a video or reading an article. You have to practice that skill to become proficient. Too many times I’ve read about something and assumed I was an expert on the subject only to find out it was harder than it looked online. But with a little practice, I’ve figured out that I can learn just about any skill I want to.
Part of the reason I started my website was to share skills that I’m learning as I learn them. It not only lets me help others, it makes me really focus on learning a skill fully so I feel qualified to share it with others. Stay tuned for future articles where we will cover some basic but important skills. Some of the subjects might seem simple to some people, but remember that we all started somewhere. What seems simple to some of us might be a revelation to a new prepper.
Just another knife? Hardly the case!
It should comes as no surprise that I have a bit of a gear addiction. It’s also safe to say that my addiction includes knives. I have knives of all sorts, types, and configurations. So much so that I pretty much have a knife for every occasion. I know better than to look at new knives because it usually results in purchase of that particular knife. The responsible part of me has learned to only buy knives when they fit a specific need (I believe this is called justifying an impulse buy!) and have a fair price tag. Sometimes this works well for me, and sometimes I buy knives I can’t really justify. My latest purchase turned out to be the former.
I was looking for a small fixed blade knife that would look appropriate when I’m sporting tactical style pants. I have a small Marbles knife that has served me well, but the brown leather sheath and stag antler handle stand out like a sore thumb on a BDU belt and tactical pants. I could usually care less about how I look, but for some reason this style faux-pas was unacceptable. So the search for the perfect knife begins….
The number of “survival” and “tactical” knives available is staggering. A lot of them are nice, some are complete crap. Each one that seems to work well has a cult following. I decided to delve into the information on the internet to see if I could sort the wheat from the chaff. As is turns out, only a few knives seem to have great reviews. With the state of Texas having laws in place that limit us to 5.5 inches, that narrowed it down a little further. I tend to hate any sort of radical design for fixed blade knives, so now there are even fewer. That was a lot of searching to find most companies either have a stupid looking design or are made of substandard materials.
I’ve heard of the RAT Cutlery knives for years, and the guys over at In The Rabbit Hole Podcast seem to really like them. I figured they were worth looking at. Some internet research revealed that the RAT name is licensed to Ontario Knife, and that the original manufacturer now uses the name ESEE. I managed to snag one at the local gun show for a little less than retail price. Make no mistake, these aren’t inexpensive knives. These are top quality in both material and construction. After much rambling, it’s time to get to the particulars of my perfect new belt knife.
The model I ended up with is the ESEE Izula II. Apparenty, the Izula is a pretty serious little ant in the Amazon jungle. The knife lives up to its namesake. It is sleek, slender, and ready to sting.
To save time, I’m going to borrow the specs directly from the ESEE website. I hope they don’t mind!
O.A Length: 6.75″
Blade Length (end of handle to tip): 2.88″
Cutting Edge Length: 2 5/8″
O.A. Blade Length: 2 3/4″
Maximum Thickness: .156″
1095 Steel – 57 Rc.
Blade Width: 1.0″
Grind: Flat
Handles: Canvas Micarta
Weight: 3.2 Ounces (Knife & Handles Only)
Sheathing: Injection Molded, Black
Pommel: .550″ Diameter Hole To Accommodate Carabiner
Spine: Thumb Grippers
Finish: Textured Powder Coat
My initial impressions were pretty favorable. The knife balances very well and they handle shape and size is very comfortable. The Micarta handle offers a no-slip grip. But as always, the best way to judge a knife is to use it. Here at Surviving Modern Life, I prefer to abuse the hell out of something before I give it a favorable review.
A weekend camping trip proved to be a great testing ground to see if this knife could handle my particular brand of abuse. Like I said, I wanted to give it a thorough test, so I wasn’t concerned about marring the finish or chipping the blade. Turns out, I didn’t need too. The first round of testing involved wild onions. They were growing everywhere in the rocky soil around the creek. Out comes the knife and into the ground it goes. It turns out that wild onions can really hold on to the ground. Each onion dug out required digging around it and loosening up all the rocks to get it out. When you use a knife to dig, you generally don’t like to hear crunching or scraping sounds. There were plenty of knife killing sounds going on. I got my harvest of onions then washed the knife off in the creek. I did dry it on my pants before resheathing out of habit.
The next round came before dinner time. It was time to start a fire and I went all out on knife abuse. The blade is less than 3 inches long, so it isn’t optimal for batoning wood. I’m not one to let “less than optimal” hold me back. Into a chunk of oak goes the knife and I proceed to beat on it with another log. Pretty soon I have a neat little pile of kindling and a couple of bloody knuckles. Now I know why a longer knife is preferable for this technique! Now I finally have some damage on my knife. The powdercoat finish on the blade flatten out a little bit. It didn’t peel off at all, just lost some of the texture. Functionality isn’t affected at all, just the cosmetics.
Now it’s on to dinnertime. I could have grabbed my Mora. I could have grabbed the kitchen knife we brought. Oh please, we’re in the middle of a gear test! After a quick washing, the Izula is in the camp kitchen. Of course I can’t find many ways to abuse it in the kitchen. The best I could do was some food chopping on the aluminum table. Since the knife has a Rockwell hardness of 57, I could have cut the table in two without damaging the blade.
At this point I decided to call it on further testing. I couldn’t think of any other sinister tests that would mimic real life use. I have to say I was very impressed. Now onto my not impressed impressions.
The sheath that comes with the knife is a hard plastic job that the knife fits into snugly. Unfortunately, it’s just a sheath. It doesn’t even include a belt clip. These are sold separately. I ended up using paracord to lash it to my belt for the weekend. Even if I was inclined to buy a belt clip, the knife would sit way too high on my belt. There are folks out there that offer leather and Kydex sheaths in a traditional style. This is the option I took. I found a great sheath from Endless Mountain Supply on Ebay.
The next issue I take with the knife is the Micarta handles. They start out a very pretty subdued greenish gray color. After using it with dirty hands for a weekend, it darkened quite a bit. Now it’s almost black. The functionality and grip are unaffected however.
I’m so impressed with the durability and craftsmanship in this knife that I’m now planning to purchase the ESEE 4, which is the same knife with a 4+ inch blade. I love the size of the Izula, but some jobs require a little more blade. I can safely say that if you are in the market for a higher end knife, you can’t go wrong. It has all the attention to details that you usually find from custom makers for a fraction of the custom price. ESEE gets the Surviving Modern Life endorsement. I look forward to getting the ESEE 4 and giving it the same style of abusive testing.
Worried about overstocking? Not with these items!
There are a lot of lists out there on items that you should have in your preps. These include items for barter and items to have on hand even if you don’t know how to use them, “just in case” someone else might know how to use them. I think stocking items like this will tie up money and storage space that can be much better used for items that you can and will use in daily life or if the world goes to hell in a handbasket. Having all sorts of great HAM radio gear costs a ton of money to buy and can take up quite a bit of space. Being a licensed radio operator, I can assure you that just having the equipment will do you no good whatsoever. There is a significant learning curve on using HAM to make contact with other operators. Unless you are practicing these skill already, you won’t have the ability to use this gear when you need it. I encourage everyone to become proficient in communications, but I’ll never recommend that someone buy radio gear “just in case” For the price of a good transceiver and antenna you can put back a ton of beans. Literally a TON of beans. In my opinion, barter items are in the same boat. If you overstock ammo with some trade in mind, that’s not too bad because you can use that ammo yourself if there is no need to barter. I hear a lot of people that store liquor for barter, but they don’t drink at all. I like a good drink, so I know exactly how expensive liquor can be. Don’t get me wrong, if you drink it’s all good to store some of your favorite beverage. It will store indefinitely and I can think of nothing better than facing the end of the world with a nice Bourbon to take the edge off. However, I’m not going to tie up hundreds of dollars to store a luxury item before additional food or medical supplies. Now that I have my rant out of the way, we’ll look at some items that you can feel confident about storing without worrying about overstocking. Of course, I’m a proponent of “Store what you eat, eat what you store”, so rotating these items shouldn’t be a major problem. You should only be limited by the amount of space you have available to you. This list isn’t meant to be completely inclusive, so use your judgment on what would serve you and your family. Also, note that the list is not in any particular order, so don’t feel the need to add any items in order of appearance.
Food:
Water – You can never have too much, but it is bulky. Have a way to purify water from outside sources!
Rice – White rice stores a really long time. Wild and Brown rice have a much shorter life span.
Beans of all types
Canned vegetables
Canned meats – only store these if you are willing to eat them!
Pasta
Powdered milk – You’ll need to learn to cook with this, so practice now.
Home canned goods.
Dehydrated foods – These take up very little space and store for a long time.
Freeze dried foods – These are a little pricey, but can’t be beat for shelf life.
Dried eggs – Check out the OvaEasy brand. They are amazing!
Sugar
Flour
Baking supplies
Powdered drink mixes
Coffee
MREs – Try before you stock up. They are calorie dense, but some people despise the foods within.
Personal:
Soap – Bar and liquid
Toothpaste
Dental floss
Shampoo and Conditioner
Deodorant
Toilet paper
Feminine products
Razors
Shaving cream
Baby powder
Medical:
Band-Aids
Gauze
Medical tape
Q-Tips
Nitrile gloves
Rubbing Alcohol
Hydrogen peroxide
Saline solution
Antiseptic solutions
Hydrocortisone
Over the counter medications
Antibiotics
Supplies:
Batteries – all sizes and types used in your household
Duct tape
Sewing supplies
Cordage – stock a variety of sizes and types
Trash bags
Zip-Loc bags
Foil
Plastic sheeting
Ammunition – This is also a great hedge against inflation since the price only seems to go up!
Propane
Gasoline – Gas must be treated to increase shelf life, so plan for this if you have long term in mind
Kerosene or lamp oil
Seeds – Heirloom varieties ensure a supply of seeds from the garden year after year
Currency – None of us can ever have too much money!
Canning lids and rings
Like I said earlier, this isn’t a complete list, nor is it in any particular order. Each person or family’s needs will vary a little bit, so each of us will need to evaluate what should be in our preps. If I have any glaring oversights, please feel free to leave a comment so we can build this list up on items that we can never have too much of.
Garden Time In Texas!
Gardening is a tradition that goes way back in my family. I’m not sure how many generations, but I do know that my grandfather put in a garden so large that it required use of his Farmall Cub tractor. That’s no surprise considering he had 8 kids to feed on a working man’s salary. I remember being impressed as a kid by the rows of green beans that literally stretched for a couple hundred feet. I wasn’t so impressed when it came time to pick those beans. Wheel barrow load after load would be picked and carried over to the porch where we would string the beans or run them through a roller he had to remove beans from the hull depending on what kind of beans we were harvesting. Then my grandmother would take over and fire up the pressure canner. This process would be repeated as different produce came into harvest time. Sadly, my grandfather passed away many years ago so the garden spot now sits fallow. My grandmother still loves canning though, and it’s a treat to go visit and get a jar of her famous salt brine pickles. Just make sure you take the empty Mason jar back or you’ll never get another pickle, and her memory is amazing on who has her jars!
Since I was a kid, my dad and I have put in a garden. It’s nothing near the size of my granddad’s, but we are notorious for planting too much in our small space. When the tomatoes start producing, we usually can’t give them away fast enough. The canner runs all summer and we still make our co-workers happy with bags and bags of tomatoes going to work with us. I do have to say we get stuck in a rut though. A lot of the same crops get planted year after year and the only variation is decided by how many jars we have put away. For instance, we still have a ton of canned green beans, so this year we won’t be planting any.
This weekend was garden time again. It’s usually a time of concern for us since Texas is bad about throwing a late frost at us after we plant the garden. This year there was no doubt that it was a good time. Winter was almost nonexistent this year for us. We could have safely planted weeks ago, but our main indicator hadn’t triggered yet. We watch the Mesquite trees in the area. Being a non-native, awful, invasive species from much further south, they will not bud out until they are sure winter is over. They have only lied once in the collective memory. I’ve been watching with guarded caution as the fruit trees flowered and the grass turned green, but this week the Mesquites budded so winter in Texas is gone and Spring is upon us. Learning to garden is a generational thing. My dad taught me as his dad taught him. We normally use a conventional approach. Till it up, plant in rows, and water like crazy. Listening to guys like Jack Spirko and Paul Wheaton started me questioning this methodology. Their talk of No Till and Permaculture sounded a lot like voodoo at first, but their results can’t be argued with. My dad isn’t one to be convinced by talk. He wants to see results before he is willing to change his entire way of thinking.
Enter the experimental garden! The regular garden spot is tilled up and now planted in rows just like always. We have an old chicken run that has been fenced off and unused for years. When the chickens were there, they left manure all over the place. Then leaves fell in a 6 inch layer. It stayed this way for years. It was the perfect compost pile. Nature has been working its magic. When I pull those leaves back, the soil is some of the blackest, loosest dirt I’ve ever seen. It’s full of life. I’m sure it would be the envy of organic gardeners everywhere. This should be the perfect case study for chemical free, no till gardening. I’ve started small with this area and over the next couple of weeks there will be more going on. We’ve got a few tomato plants randomly placed with some peppers along the fence. A little bit of spinach will be going in this week, and maybe some green beans along another section of fence so they can trellis and go vertical. Planting was easy enough in the loose dirt. All I needed to do was pull back the leaves, dig a hole by hand and transplant the seedlings. As they take root I’ll pull leaves back around each plant to mulch. Nature has provided everything but the seedlings. The only place I used any sort of tool was for a small Hugelkultur bed. This is more of that Spirko/Wheaton voodoo. For those that have never heard of Hugelkultur, it is simply placing a bunch of topsoil on top of a bunch of woody material. I have an abundance of oak branches available, so that was my material. The concept is that as the wood breaks down, it acts as a sponge to soak up water. This water is slowly released out so the plant can access it. This should reduce irrigation requirements. I used a mix of fresh hardwood and partially rotten wood to give this little bed a head start. I set it up like a typical science experiment so I can see if there is any difference between a plant grown with this method and a plant grown in the normal soil. The variable and control are habenero pepper plants of similar size. If the Hugelkultur pepper does better, then the concept will be going into much larger use next year. I have high hopes for this little experimental garden spot and think it will be a driving force in getting more natural approaches applied to the rest of the garden spots we plant.
Since I didn’t want my fiancee’s little girls left out of the gardening experience, we decided to get them involved at their house in the city. Each girl got to pick out a couple of vegetable plants at the nursery and learned how to transplant them in the back yard. Once again, I went with a no till method. We picked an out of the way spot in the yard that should get good solar exposure and started planting the seedlings in a semi-random pattern. The only thought I gave was to place them so that larger plants wouldn’t shade the smaller ones. Both girls really enjoyed getting to play in the dirt, and seemed to like the idea that we would be able to eat the produce of our labor later. The concept that we might need to work on is patience. I was asked if we could pick tomatoes in the morning. Don’t we all wish it worked that fast!! My biggest hope is for this little urban garden because we’re not just planting seedling, but planting the seed of self sufficiency in two young minds. This should pay dividends when Sarah and I can finally realize that dream of establishing our homestead and raising children to know where their food comes from and how to be independent from the systems we all seem to depend on.
Now that the dirt time is done for the weekend, I’ll be spending time figuring out how to get pictures posted so everyone can see the results of a day of dirt time. Rumor has it that Wordpress is pretty user friendly about posting pictures, so hopefully I won’t have any trouble. Stay tuned for pictures and updates of the three very different gardens!
Light a Fire? Sure you can!
Build a fire. Sounds simple enough, right? We can all agree that the skill of building a fire is an important one. Whether it is to provide light and heat during a wilderness survival situation or just getting the fireplace going for a romantic evening at the house, everyone should be able to start a fire. This subject came to mind when I was looking at all the “cheater” options for getting a fire going. Modern technology makes getting a fire going entirely too easy. You can douse your firewood with lighter fluid or if that is too complicated, you can just light the paper bag containing a log made of compressed sawdust and an accelerant. Maybe we could go old school and pile up some sticks and logs then pour on some diesel fuel. Any of these methods should get a fire going, but are we cheating ourselves out of a skill that could save out lives if we are in a true survival situation and need fire to keep from freezing? I’ve been guilty of this myself too many times. I’ll want to get a fire going for any number of reasons, but I want it going now. Out comes the petroleum products and a lighter. Instant fire! When I was younger, I could put together a nice little fire with a little piece of charred cloth and a flint and steel. That’s not a skill I’ve practiced in many years, so I’m not sure if I could still do it. That is something I need to refresh on. In the meantime, it’s handy that I smoke, because I always have a Bic lighter with me. It’s part of my EDC, all day every day. Even having a lighter doesn’t mean that someone can build a good fire. It still takes skill to turn that small ignition source into a fire that can sustain itself. We’ll look at the skill of starting a fire, but this article is just as much a “Can You?” as it is a “How To.” Each of us should honestly evaluate our ability for firecraft. If you find yourself lacking, then practice now so that the skill is available if you truly need it. I know I need to improve my skills quite a bit.
Getting Started
I’ll cover some basics and explain how I go about starting a fire. There are as many ways to set up for building a fire as there are people. Some are no doubt better than others, so if my way conflicts with a method you already use just go with what works best for you.
The first thing I like to do is figure out where I want to build my fire. Once it’s lit, a fire is pretty difficult to pick up and move. Select an area that is safe above all considerations. Lighting fires under low hanging tree branches or on grass in the middle of a prairie are both really bad ideas. Keeping your fire from getting out of control is a major responsibility. I like to find an area close to where I need fire that is already as free from vegetation as possible. Before I do anything else, I remove anything from the site that can catch fire. I push or scrape back leaves and grass. If possible, I’ll dig a shallow hole to help contain the fire. Adding a ring of rocks can add some additional safety. Just be careful if you use rocks from a river. They can contain water that will boil and can cause the rock to explode. I thought this was a myth until I had a rock blow up rather violently. Once I’ve got my spot prepared, I start gathering my fuel for the fire.
The Fuel
There are three types of combustible materials used in starting a fire. They are tinder, kindling, and finally the main fuel source (usually logs). Tinder can be any material that takes a flame easily and burns rapidly. Dry grass is a favorite, but you can use any number of materials. If need be, you can take larger sticks and use a knife to shave off very thin slivers to create tinder. I figure out how much tinder I think I need, then collect about twice that amount. Next we move on to gathering up kindling. Kindling is simply small twigs and sticks. These sticks should range in size from very thin to sticks about the thickness of a finger. When I’m laying out my kindling, I sort it from smallest to largest. This makes it easy for me to grab it in appropriate order once I have a flame going. Now I start to gather larger pieces of wood to use as my main fuel source. These range from the diameter of my thumb up to as large as I can find. I lay these out the same way as my kindling. Having everything at arms length and ready to go makes starting a fire much easier.
The Setup
There are several methods of laying out the materials to start the fire. Most common methods have names that are self explanatory such as the “Teepee” and the “Log Cabin”. I prefer to start out with a log cabin design then move over to a teepee once the fire is well established. With some experimentation, you will find what works best for you.
I start with a big handful of tinder and fluff it up a little to allow airflow. Once the tinder is ready, I lay it out and put some of the smallest kindling on it. When I’m first starting the fire, I don’t add anything bigger than the diameter of my pinky finger. I have larger pieces of kindling within easy reach to add as the fire starts to grow so I don’t have to move from my position.
Light It Up!
Now that everything is laid out and I have my tinder and small kindling ready, it’s time to break out the ignition source. Like I said earlier, I prefer Bic lighters, but matches work wonderfully. Fire steels also work well if you are proficient in getting a good stream of sparks from one. I try to light my tinder on two different sides as quickly as possible. Once the tinder catches, you should see the small kindling start to catch pretty soon after. As it catches, carefully place more kindling on the fire. As the new material catches, start adding the larger pieces. Within a couple of minutes you should be adding some of the largest kindling if your fire is healthy. At this point, the fire should be burning pretty well without having to constantly add material to it. Once I get to this point, I start laying pieces the diameter of my thumb and larger in that teepee design. Now it usually looks like a pretty good fire. Through the whole process, I add progressively larger pieces of wood until I’m using material from my main pile. At this point, it is easy to adjust the size of the fire normally by adding wood as it needs it.
Fire Safety
A lot of fire safety is basic common sense. First and foremost, touching the fire is a bad idea. Don’t do that under any circumstances. It might seem obvious to us, but make sure any children around are well supervised. This is one lesson kids don’t need to learn the hard way. Also, be aware that metal is a great conductor of heat, so if you are using coat hangers or metal skewers to cook hot dogs, they will heat up. No need to turn a hot dog roast into an exercise in cattle branding.
If you cheat and decide to use an accelerant, please be careful. Vapors can be explosive and any spilled liquid can combust easily. Pour the liquid then light it rather than pouring flammable liquids on a fire that is already burning.
Control that fire! By starting a fire you assume full responsibility to control it. In most places, you even assume legal responsibility for any damage resulting from your fire. Before starting a fire, be sure you have a way to extinguish the fire. If winds start to pick up, monitor any blowing embers to make sure they can’t start another fire. When in doubt, just put it out.
Beef Jerky Made Simple!
I know this subject has been covered at least two million times on the internet, but I’m a firm believer that there can never be too much information about it. Jerky has sustained man for thousands of years, and even in modern times it is still a staple. Second only to bacon as they best food ever created, simple dried out flesh satisfies a craving that every man (and most women) have. Historically, jerking meat was a way to preserve meat when no other means were available. Primitive man couldn’t always be sure when the next game animal could be harvested, so he needed a sure fire way to save some meat from the current harvest without it rotting. Some guy in a cave discovered that if you cut meat thin enough, it dries out and keeps for a really long time. Then he discovered if it was dried it in the smoke of a fire, it dried out better and had a wonderful smoky flavor. I’m sure this guy became very wealthy bartering his incredible new creation with others in the caves. Of course, this history is anecdotal and can’t be verified. Primitive people the world over had variations on drying meat for preservation, from basic sun dried jerky to Biltong to Bakkwa to Pemmican. Each has its own methods and processes, but the basic concept is the same. Get the moisture out of meat and it will keep a lot longer. Chemicals can be introduced to help the process along, but isn’t required to get good results. The most common chemical aid has traditionally been salt. Salt really helps pull moisture out, but we can cover that in another article, since its uses are so broad in food preservation.
Here at the Surviving Modern Life household, we always have grand plans of jerking meat and having it available for long term storage. Sadly, it rarely works out. Any time I make a batch of jerky, the house is filled with a wonderful aroma. Everyone in the house starts craving the product before it is finished drying. You can imagine what happens when the process is complete. Everyone needs to taste test it to make sure it’s good. For some reason, one piece is not good enough for this testing. Within a couple of days, the product has been fully tested but there’s not any left. I might or might not be guilty of participating in the testing.
I’ll risk copyright infringement by say that making jerky is so easy a caveman can do it. I know this to be true because they actually did. The process is extremely simple, but it seems modern man can complicate anything. A lot of recipes available recommend specific amounts of salt or even potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate. These no doubt have their place in preservation, but just aren’t required to make jerky. I do use ingredients that contain salt for my marinade (even a marinade isn’t required), but that is simply for flavor. Other recipes call for using various sugars as a preservative for jerky. Once again, some of my ingredients contains sugars, but they are for flavor. Jerking meat simply means removing the moisture by drying. Marinating the meat before drying can be done to impart flavor. I’ll be sharing a rough version of my overly complicated recipe a bit later. A rough version is the best I can do because none of the measurements are exact, or even written down.
The most important part of jerky is selecting the meat and getting it cut up. Any lean cut of meat is eligible, but I’ve had best results with cuts that have long grain. My favorite cut for this is Eye of Round roasts or top rounds. They are even grained and the tissue is very lean. Whatever cut you use, you want to make sure there is as little fat marbling as possible. Fats left in the meat will not dry out well since oil cannot be dehydrated. These oils will turn rancid in a few days and can ruin any pieces of jerky that contain them. I learned this the hard way by losing a whole batch by not trimming fat away enough. Another common mistake is cutting the meat too thick. I like to cut mine 1/8 inch thick, but you can get away with cuts as thick as 1/4 inch. The thicker the cut, the longer it takes to dry. Some folks want to try to make the big, thick nuggets like you buy at the store. Keep in mind they never dry completely and will turn bad on you within a couple of days. The reason the store bought stuff keeps is due to chemical preservatives. I’ve experimented with several different ways to cut up meat and by far the easiest is to use a deli slicer. These can be cost prohibitive, but if you end up making a lot of jerky they are invaluable for convenience. I did spend several years slicing meat by hand and have a couple of recommendations for this method. Most importantly, keep your knife sharp. Like really sharp. Another trick was taught to me by a friend that is a chef. He pointed out that if you put the meat in the freezer for a couple of hours to the point that ice crystals start to form, the meat is considerably easier to handle and cut. You don’t want it frozen too solid though. Freeze it just enough that it starts to feel a little firm. As long as you pay attention to the thickness, sizing your pieces is really up to you. I’ve made long, thin pieces and I’ve made pieces as large as my hand. Either works well, so use your preference. Now on to turning those pieces of dead critter into jerky…
Once you’ve selected a lean cut of meat and have it all sliced up, you are faced with a dilemma. Now is the time to decide what you want your jerky to taste like. There are as many recipes as there are people making jerky. Of course, everyone will tell you that theirs is the best. I feel the same way. My super secret jerky/steak marinade is probably the best tasting stuff on earth… for me at least. A lot of how you want the end result to taste is dependent on what you add to the marinade. Any good steak marinade will work, or you can customize a recipe to satisfy your tastes. Some like it sweet, some like it spicy. Personally I prefer a salty jerky with a little spicy kick to it. If your tastes are really simple, you can just lightly sprinkle the meat with some salt and pepper and go straight to the drying process. Most of us will want a bit more flavor. My personal recipe starts with several spices like onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and a touch of paprika. Then I add in a few dashes of Worchestershire sauce, a pretty healthy dose of Soy sauce and top it off with a can of Coke. I let the meat marinade for at least 4 hours. I’ve gone longer, but the flavor gets more intense the longer is stews. Overnight is too long for me. There are hundreds of recipes available online, so find one that sounds good and try it. You can always improve on it to meet your needs for future batches.
The dehydration process is what turns that raw meat into wonderful jerky. There are a few ways to accomplish getting that moisture out of the meat, but the simplest is a dehydrator. These are usually counter-top units that have trays that allow fan forced air through them. Most integrate a low wattage heater to dry the air as it passes through. I’ve been using the same American Harvest dehydrator for over ten years. If you don’t have access to a dehydrator, you can use the oven for the process. Using inexpensive oven dehydrating racks, but you can use the existing racks if you don’t mind scrubbing them after you are done. Just set the oven to it’s lowest heat setting and leave the door cracked. This method is pretty energy intensive and runs up the cost of making jerky. Overall drying times will vary depending on the method you use. The best bet is to check on it after a few hours to see where it’s at. I’ve got my time nailed down pretty well, but it took a lot o practice. My dehydrator seems to make perfect jerky at 8 hours.
Once you have your jerky at the level of dryness you want, it should keep for a long while. Of course, for longer storage time, you want a drier product. A couple of lessons I’ve learned are that if there is any fat or oil in the meat, eat it pretty soon. If it is still a bit moist, it will start to grow mold after a few days. This is accelerated if you store it in a plastic bag. I prefer storing in an open Mason jar or in a paper bag. If you put it in anything that seals moisture in, it will go bad a lot sooner. I once found a couple of pieces in a paper bag on my counter under a huge stack of paperwork. It had probably been there for at least three months. I looked it over and didn’t see anything funky, so I decided to try a piece. It was bone dry, but tasted just the same as it did when I made it. Of course I will leave it up to each person to determine if eating 3 month old meat is something they want to test!
Before parting, I want to share my thoughts on food safety. Once the meat comes out of the refrigerator and you start cutting it up, you want to get it drying or marinading as soon as possible. Marinating in the fridge is your safest bet unless you are very comfortable with the idea that your particular marinade is salty or acidic enough to prevent bacterial growth. Bacteria that cause foodborne illness thrive at temperatures between 40 and 140 F. You are fine once you start the drying process, since this will deny the bacteria the moisture it needs, but you shouldn’t let raw meat sit at room temp for very long. Using a little common sense in the kitchen will go a long way toward preventing any nasty issues.
Hopefully I’ve been able to pass along a little bit of information about jerky, or at least brought a little humor into a subject that has been covered completely. I know that jerky is one of my favorite foods, so I wanted to share my thoughts and processes with my readers. I plan on branching out into other types of dried meats in the near future. I’m especially looking at Biltong. I’ve never made it before, so the results might be a little iffy. I’ll be sure to cover any successes or failures in an article here.
Self Reliance Expo Dallas
This weekend the Self Reliance Expo made its stop in the north Texas area. Sarah and I managed to sneak over for a few hours to see what was going on. This was a pretty big feat for me since I had to violate a personal rule about crossing into Dallas County. Dallas has a lot to offer and a lot of cool things going, for most people. It’s there if I need it, but I can generally make due without the massive 6 lane freeways and the 5 mile long interchanges that involve half of the major interstate highways in Texas. Couple that with all the drivers that feel like they aren’t moving unless they are passing you. Yeah, I generally avoid the big city unless something really cool is going on. Fort Worth can be crazy, but Dallas is usually pure insanity. That “something cool” was there this past weekend.
We didn’t get to make it out that way until around noon on Saturday. I like getting to events much sooner to the opening than that, but with prior obligations we got there as soon as we could. I was hoping that showing up halfway into the second day of a two day event would still allow me to see everything available and meet the folks I was hoping to run into. I wasn’t disappointed in the least. We made it just in time to catch the presentation from Doctor Bones and Nurse Amy from Doom and Bloom. It didn’t take long before they had our full attention. For an hour they covered medical care for collapse situations. Everything from broken bones to lacerations was covered in detail with a great slideshow presentation. I’ve sat in on medical presentations in the past that bordered on boring. A few have crossed over into true slumberland. Not this round. Doctor Bones and Nurse Amy are both good presenters and enjoy interacting with their audience. Not once did I get the feeling that they were dragging. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on their new book, The Doom and Bloom Survival Medicine Handbook. I was planning on getting one at the expo, but Doctor Bones explained that they managed to sell every copy they brought with them.
Once the presentation was over it was time to hit the aisles and see the vendor booths. Food and water are always popular items at events like this, so I got to get myself familiar with the product offerings for both. Berkey water filtration seemed to be a hit, so it took me a few minutes to get up to the booth and ask a few questions. I was surprised as the number of options available for filtering water. I knew about the big countertop units Berkey offers, but discovered they have other options as well. Of note were water bottles with integrated ceramic filters. Sarah pointed out this might be a good gift option for friends of ours that spend a few months each year in research in the jungles of Central America. To say the water should be avoided down there is an understatement!
Next we were on to the food vendors. The normal offerings were available including Mountain House, Wise and Thrive brand long term foods. Sarah discovered Thrive’s freeze dried grated cheese. We’re both a little leery of long term dairy, but this stuff was pretty good. We’ll be adding some of that to the long term storage. The hit of the day for me was the booth for OvaEasy Whole Egg Crystals. I’ve had dried eggs in the past and the results were less than stellar. After asking the important question… “Are these just powdered eggs?” I was presented with a fork full of scrambled egg. That answered the question. “NO” these are not just powdered eggs. They tasted like eggs, but more importantly, they had the texture of eggs. Gonna have to add this one to the long term storage grocery list.
There were several booths extolling the virtues of alternative energy at the expo. That’s a subject I’m interested in, but the product prices in that field are pretty much off limits for the prepping budget in the short term. I didn’t spend much time in those booths, but will be sure to the next time the expo comes through town. I spent a little more time with the custom knife makers, but their wares were out of the budget as well. My lust for a custom knife will have to wait until more important items are procured.
The folks at Ready Made Resources were there showing off some of their cooler products. I only got to speak with the proprietor for a minute since his booth seemed to be one of the most popular that afternoon. They were showing off a solar power pack that looks incredibly portable and useful, but I didn’t get a chance to ask many questions thinking I could find it on their website. No luck yet, so it looks like I need to give them a call.
On our way out the door, we paused to talk with the folks from Backwoods Home Magazine. I’ve been a fan of theirs for a long time, so I really enjoyed getting to meet Dave Duffy, the editor. Since I think they do a lot of great work for the Survival and Homestead community, I decided to go ahead and get a magazine subscription. They make a ton of info available on their website for free, so I wanted to support them on the side of the business that pays their bills.
Overall, I was impressed with the Self Reliance Expo. I think it was well worth the ticket price to get in the door. I hope the show was successful enough to expand to other cities, and I certainly hope to see it again in north Texas. Now I I can just talk them into moving it a little west to Fort Worth so I don’t have to break my “No Dallas” rule again!
Pardner Protector for Protection From Zombies!
Once again, I’ve managed to stumble on a great deal on a great weapon for zombie defense. My endless hours of reading all things gun related on the internet yielded another interesting firearm I needed to check out. I love finding good guns for great prices to add to the collection. The latest find covers that important niche of home defense. We’re all familiar with the benefits of shotguns in home defense, and how potent they can be if hoards of the undead show up at your door. I’m a firm believer in the power and versatility of shotguns, and I’ve been a fan of pump guns for their reliability. I’ve shot dozens of different shotguns over the years from the cheapest pumps up to the legendary “B” guns like Benelli, Browning, and Beretta. Each has their place, but I always come back to the pump guns. In my opinion, they are the most durable action available. This can be evidenced by the fact that they are widely used in police and military applications. I’m not going to criticize anyone that owns a semi-auto or double barrel by any means, but I personally favor the pump shotguns for most applications. Now that I’ve got my ramblings about preference out of the way, we can get to the point of the gun in question…
H&R has been in the gun business for over a century. They’ve long been known for offering reliable guns for a cheap price. They’ve gone through more than a few ownership changes over the years, but still offer great guns and wonderful customer service. I own several of their guns and have yet to have a problem. Their mainstay is the single shot platform in both shotguns and rifles. I’m a firm believer that you can’t go wrong doing business with them. Recently they started to branch out and expand their line. Part of that expansion is into the pump shotgun market. I was hesitant to jump on board at first since they weren’t manufacturing the guns themselves. I was unsure about quality and simply put, I prefer to buy guns made in America. With that said, I did my research about their pump guns and couldn’t find any negative reviews. I’ve been wanting a short barrel 12 gauge pump for a while and looked at all the offerings. Remington and Mossberg are the go to in this market, but I was turned off by the price of new pump guns. That’s where H&R comes in. They offer their Pardner line of pump guns that are imported copies of the famous Remington 870. The model that caught my eye is the Pardner Protector. It seemed to fit the bill on what I was wanting with a much less expensive price. I hit the road in search of one to put my hands on. After visiting the local gun show and a couple of local stores with no success, I went to the Cabela’s store here in north Texas. Luck was with me on that trip. Not only was one available to handle, it was on sale for Christmas. The salesman hands me the gun to check out and I begin my overly thorough examination at the gun counter. I’m sure I irritate sales staff with these examinations, but I like to do my due diligence before forking over my hard earned cash.
The Initial Examination
As I was handed the gun my first impression was “This thing is built like a tank!” It’s a little on the heavy side, but the proper balance is there. Now I start looking for this little flaws in machining and finish that tell me if the gun is manufactured as cheaply and quickly as possible. I’m sure it is, but I want to see if attention to detail is there. Looking over the crown of the barrel and fit of the receiver to the stock, I’m pleasantly surprised. Everything looks good. Opening the action reveals the same satisfaction. All the guts look smooth and they fit together like they should. The only flaw I could really see is that the oil from the gun interacted with the styrofoam in the box to create this sticky white residue on the top of the receiver. I can deal with that later.
Now onto the workings… Pumping the action reveals a solid feel with the forearm. That’s always a big selling point for me. If the forearm feels wobbly, it’s a big turn off. I grab this one, shake it a little, then rack the action. Solid feel for sure. Sliding the forearm forward feels solid too. The receiver locks in good and of course it makes that incredible sound known the world over. I’m pretty sure I was grinning at this point. A few more racks of the action and I’m convinced. I grab the barrel to make sure it fits the receiver well with no play. Another solid fit. Now it’s time to look at that price tag hanging from the trigger guard. $159.99 for a limited time only! SOLD! Now it’s time for all that fun stuff like Form 4473 and waiting for the background check.
The Specs
Now to cover the basics of the gun. The H&R Pardner Protector sports a black synthetic stock and forearm. It comes with an 18.5 inch barrel chambered for 3 inch shells. It doesn’t come tapped for chokes, but I’m not interested in that for a gun with a short barrel. It does, however, come drilled and tapped for mounting optics, sights, or a rail on the receiver. The receiver is almost identical to the Remington 870. Since it is made of steel rather than an alloy, it’s more a copy of the 870 Police model rather than the 870 Express. This was a big selling point for me since the Police model 870 is pretty freaking expensive. Overall length is a little over 37.5 inches and it weighs in at 7.5 pounds empty. That’s a touch heavy for a short barrel shotgun, but it feels balanced in the hands. Capacity is 5+1 using 2 3/4 inch shells. Most of the Remington 870 accessories will work on this gun without modification. The big exception is replacement barrels. I’ve read that 870 barrels can be modified to fit, but with other barrels available from H&R, I don’t see the point in modifying a Remington barrel. Magazine extensions are iffy as well. As far as I can find out, Remington tubes are too long. Wilson Combat makes a +1 extension tube that is rumored to fit. I’ll be giving this a shot in the near future. Another nice addition is the gun comes with sling attachments, including a swivel at the end of the magazine.
The Range
After getting the gun home and cleaned up, it was time to figure out when I could get out and put it through its paces. Luckily, my cousin called me up wanting to shoot a few rounds of skeet. We got to the range and walked up to the skeet field. Needless to say I got some chuckles when I uncased a black shotgun with an 18.5 inch barrel. One of the other shooters asked if I was expecting a riot on the skeet range. I just took it all in stride and got myself together for our first round. I step up, load a couple of shells and get set. “PULL!” “BANG!” Then a clay turns into a little cloud of black dust. Now I’m the one chuckling while a couple of other shooters are wondering if their foot will fit in the mouth. The first round went well for me and I finished up breaking 20 birds out of 25. Now the other shooters are interested in what kind of gun I’m using to outshoot them. We ended up shooting 6 rounds which comes out to 150 shots. Every time the gun fed the shell in smoothly and put lead downrange. I was expecting a hiccup somewhere in there since new guns tend to run a little tight. Not an issue one. I’m pretty abusive on a pump shotgun when shooting clays, so I was a little concerned. I’ve actually broken the slide arm on a Mossberg 500 at a previous range trip. The Protector took the abuse in stride. 150 rounds in rapid succession is a good way to get a gun hot and dirty, especially using cheap shells. Even when it got hot, the Protector ran smoothly. Overall, we had a great time at the range and the Protector proved itself.
Final Thoughts
I had concerns about the gun when I was researching before buying. H&R Pumps are manufactured in China and that can be hit or miss with quality. After my experiences with this gun, H&R did well when selecting a manufacturer. They felt comfortable enough to put their name on it, and I feel comfortable giving it my personal endorsement. I know there are plenty of purists out there that say they would never buy a Chinese gun, but I would point out them that China has a long track record of making some fine firearms. Anyone will admit that Chinese SKS rifles are top notch, and just about anything else labeled Norinco. I prefer to buy as local as possible, but I’m also have an eye for a good deal that fits my budget. The Protector fits that bill. This gun gets the seal of approval for quality, function, and finish. I would recommend it to a friend and to any of my readers that are looking for a reliable weapon for home defense or the zombie apocalypse. I really tried to look for flaws or issues and haven’t had much luck finding anything wrong other than the weight of the gun. It’s slightly heavier than the comparable Remington 870 Police model. Even this isn’t much of a flaw since I carried it around for an afternoon without much fatigue. If you are looking for a good deal, this might be the gun for you. I plan to add a few accessories to my gun, including a collapsible stock and the Wilson Combat mag tube extension. Once I get around to these modifications, I’ll revisit the gun in an article to let everyone know how well everything fits.
A Natural Disaster Everyone Can Share!
A lot of natural disasters can be area specific. Folks in Minnesota really don’t need to prepare for hurricanes and folks down in southern Florida don’t really worry about being snowed in. Each of us should look at the possible natural disasters for our area and do our best to be ready in case one strikes. But there is one disaster that doesn’t care if you are in New England or the southern Great Plains. Thunderstorms can develop anywhere in the country, or world for that matter. Sure, some places they are more frequent, but anyone can experience the damaging winds, flooding, and lightning strikes from a thunderstorm. The area I call home is notorious for violent thunderstorms, so much so that we just consider them a normal part of life. Spring and summer are the seasons where they show up most frequently, but we’ve had some pretty significant storms in the dead of winter. We won’t go in to great details on the meteorology behind storm formation since this article is geared to being prepared to cope with the effects of a thunderstorm. The National Weather Service has great information on thunderstorms and their formation, so I’ll post a couple of links at the end of the article.
The Storm
Thunderstorms come in a couple of varieties and vary in intensity based on a lot of complex variables. There are some necessary ingredients for a thunderstorm to get going. These are humidity, instability, and lift. Lift is one of the most important parts of storm formation since the stronger the lift the more intense the storm. There are lots of causes of lift, but the most common is a frontal system. Cold fronts are notorious for spawning storms if the other conditions exist. As a cold front moves across an area all that cold dry air interacts with warmer humid air and forces it up. We’re all familiar with those radar images of a long line of thunderstorms moving over a wide area. Occasionally these systems can be very powerful producing hail, heavy rain, and powerful winds. Tornadoes in these systems can pose a threat as well.
The next type of system to look at are the infamous Supercell thunderstorms. These aren’t as common as frontal systems which is good for us. These thunderstorms can turn ugly in a hurry. I’ve personally seen, chased, and spotted these types of storms and I’ve seen hail the size of softballs, straight line winds of 100 miles per hour and tornadoes. One of the biggest problems with this type of storm is that they can develop very fast, which doesn’t give us much time to prepare for them. When your local meteorologist is predicting conditions favorable for the formation of Supercell storms, you should start paying attention to what’s going on. You might not have much warning to take shelter.
Getting Prepared
The best course of action is to be prepared before you get word that a storm is on top of you. You don’t want to be the one in a panic when the weather radio starts broadcasting a severe thunderstorm warning or a tornado warning for your area. Of course, having plenty of warning is nice but it isn’t always possible. I’m a firm believer in having a plan in place before anything can go wrong. One of the most important parts of having a plan is being able to get important information in time to act on it. Thunderstorms are a great way to have a power loss, so getting information can be affected when the power goes out. Having a battery powered NOAA weather radio is a must. With a battery powered radio, you’ll never be without the information you need to react to any developing weather situation. Be sure that radio has good batteries and know where spares are. The last thing you want is to hear the name of your county then silence because the batteries died. I’ve covered being prepared for a power outage here, so check that out since it applies quite well to storm induced power outages. The next step is to have a predetermined place in your house to take shelter if you need to. The best place is an interior room, hall, closet closest to the center of the structure and as far from windows as possible. If you have a basement, that’s probably the best place to be. If your house is two story, a closet under the stairwell is pretty good. Stairwells are usually close to the center of the house and are pretty strongly built. If your house doesn’t have features mentioned, a bathtub with a mattress or heavy blanket can can provide additional protection. Analyzing this beforehand will let you have the area prepared to shelter in case of a severe storm. If possible, stage a blackout kit and a weather radio in this location. By doing this, you can eliminate running around to locate what you need when you should be getting to cover.
Getting Caught Outside
One of the scariest experiences you can have is getting caught out and about during a violent storm. Many years ago, a storm producing softball and grapefruit size hail moved rapidly over Fort Worth, Texas. Unfortunately, it moved right over a big outdoor public event called Mayfest. 10,000 people were caught out in the open as the storm moved over. A lot of people scrambled to shelter in vehicles, but with hail that size windshields and windows were shattered. Over 90 people were injured by the hail. 16 people were killed in this storm, mostly from drowning in flood waters. It’s actually amazing that more people weren’t killed or injured in this storm. The biggest lesson this event teaches is to have a plan in the back of your mind if you are out and about with the threat of severe weather. If you are in your vehicle, get to a safe place and park. Try to get in a sturdy building if you have time. If not, staying in your vehicle is the safest bet. It will provide some shelter from rain, wind, and hail. If there is a lot of lighting, try not to touch any metal surfaces inside the vehicle. Hail and windblown debris can shatter windows, so if you can you should cover up with a blanket or coat.
After the Storm
Once the storm has passed, it’s usually safe to get out and survey any damage. A lot of folks like to drive around an look around the neighborhood or town. There is still a silent danger lurking after the storm has passed. Storms produce a lot of rain, which results in a lot of run-off. This water will flow into creeks and flood control channels pretty quickly. Those rolling waters kill more people than just about any other weather event each year. You’ll do well to keep yourself and your children away from any rushing water. If you are driving, NEVER cross running water. A few inches of running water can sweep a vehicle away. As the National Weather Service says, “Turn Around, Don’t Drown.” It would really suck to survive a violent storm then end up failing at survival because of flood waters.
Links
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/primer/tstorm/tst_basics.html
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/primer/tornado/
My friend Brian Burns is an incredible songwriter that put out an album several years back called “Heavy Weather”. It isn’t a survival topic by any means, but the album certainly relates to the topic at hand. The title track is my theme song when I’m out chasing thunderstorms. You can support independent artists and check it out here.
Rolling Your Own For the Shotgun
As promised, an article on the basics of reloading shotgun shells! If you read the previous article on centerfire ammo reloading, you’ll notice quite a few similarities. You’ll also notice that there are some differences in construction. Shotshells do follow the basic process of other ammo reloading in that you still have a case, called a hull, a primer, propellant, and a projectile (actually a lot of small projectiles). We’ll add to that list a wad, also known as a shot cup. This is a small plastic device to hold the shot together and protect it from hot gases on its trip down the barrel. Once the shot and wad exit the barrel, the wad has served its purpose and will fall to the ground while the shot continues on to your target.
Another difference between shotshells and centerfire cartridges is the equipment used to reload. There is shotgun specific reloading equipment that won’t work for centerfire reloading. Initial investment can run about the same as getting set up for centerfire reloading, so a lot of people choose to start with one or the other. At the time in my life when I started reloading, I was doing a lot of shotgun shooting, and I mean a LOT. It was normal for a couple of buddies to get together and shoot three cases of shotshells over a weekend. I was lucky enough to have a friend’s dad be a former skeet shooter that no longer wanted to reload. I was able to buy his press and enough components to reload 3 cases of shells for a hundred dollar bill. I never did the math on return of investment, but I would imagine it paid for itself within a week with the amount of shooting I was doing.
Polyformed versus Compression Formed Shotshell Hulls.
Before we get into the actually construction and process of reloading shotshells, we need to look at the types of hulls commonly available. The two most common hulls on the market differ in the way they are made, and this has a huge impact on reloading. Polyformed shotshells are the most common in factory loaded ammo because they are cheaper to manufacture. These are easy to identify because the plastic part of the hull has a slight ribbed texture to them. Most companies offer these type in their less expensive game and target loads. They can be reloaded, but the results are less than stellar. You have to find load data specifically for them to be safe, and the crimps don’t hold very well, so you might have shot leaking out in the box or in the magazine of your gun. These hulls are also slightly weaker, so they are prone to cracking or tearing when reloaded. In my opinion, it’s best to leave them out when selecting hulls to reload.
Compression formed hulls are smooth to the touch (they lack the ribbed feel). These hulls are used in factory loaded ammunition and usually cost quite a bit more. A couple of examples of factory ammo that use compression formed hulls are Remington STS and Winchester AA. These offerings can sometimes cost twice as much as other shells. The compression formed hulls are considerably more durable and can be reloaded several times before they need to be replaced. These hulls hold a crimp well and offer a better reloading experience. It’s best to stick with these types of hulls for all of your reloading needs.
The Construction and Operation
Shotshell construction differs quite a bit from rifle or pistol cartridges. This is the main reason for the difference in equipment. The concepts and a few components are the same, but shotshells add another component that centerfire cartridges don’t have, the wad. A wad is a plastic device that looks similar to a badminton birdie. Its main purpose is to hold the shot charge while it travels down the barrel. It also serves to protect the shot charge from the hot gases from the burning powder. Without a wad, the shot pattern of the shotgun would be awful, and the hot gases would deform a lot of the shot, even further destroying the pattern and accuracy. The next component is the shot charge. Rather than a single projectile, shotguns offer a charge of small, round pellets that spread out once they leave the barrel. Shot comes in all sorts of sizes and materials to suit the needs of the shooter. Since reloading data is measured by weight, what size you use can be determined by your needs. There isn’t load data specifically for individual shot sizes, but rather how much shot you add. Examples would be a 7/8oz load or a 1 1/8oz load. Load data will be the same for the 7/8oz load whether you opt for small #8 shot or larger pellets like #4.
Now that we’ve covered the differences from centerfire, we can look at the similarities. Shotshells use a primer to ignite a powder charge to generate the force to propel the shot charge down the barrel. This concept is identical to centerfire cartridges. The primers are larger, but they serve the same purpose. When you shoot a loaded shell in a shotgun, the firing pin strikes the primer to ignite the powder which burns to create a lot of hot gases. These push the wad containing the shot charge down the barrel. Once the wad and shot charge leave the barrel the shot charge continues on to target while the wad falls to the ground. Wads are disposable, one-use pieces, so there’s no need to go find them and attempt to re-use them. Luckily they are very inexpensive.
The Process
Most shotshell presses offer “stations” that perform each step. Some require each hull to be moved manually to the next station and some will automatically move the hull for you. One feature most offer is that you can have hulls in each station at the same time so as you are completing the first step on one hull, the next station is completing its step on another. This really speeds up the process.
1. Depriming and resizing.
This step only applies if you are using hulls that have already been fired. You can skip this step if you are using new hulls. Basically it is exactly as it sounds. The spent primer is forced out of the primer pocket and at the same time the brass portion of the hull is forced back to factory specified size. This ensures your hull will fit the chamber of your shotgun.
2. Priming.
Once you have a hull prepared, the next step is to seat a new primer. Shotshell reloading presses have a specific station just for this because primers contain small amounts of explosive mixtures. You have to use the specialized tools on the press to do this. If you try to install a primer by hand, it’s very possible to ignite the primer. Different presses have different ways of delivering the primer under the hull, but mine is simple. I set a primer in a small recess and the press pushes the hull down onto it.
3. Adding the Powder Charge.
Once you have a primer in, you add the gun powder. Most shotshell presses have a slide bar that you move to one side to drop a pre-measured powder charge. Once you slide it over, it uses gravity to deliver the powder through a tube into the hull.
4. Inserting the Wad.
On most presses, this step is completed in the same station as adding powder. You set the wad at the open case mouth and pull the lever to force the wad into the hull. There are varying amounts of pressure to seat specific wads, so you’ll need to make sure the seating force is set properly on the press. Once the wad is seated in the hull, you proceed to the next step which is usually done in the same station.
5. Adding the Shot Charge.
With most presses, that same slide bar that adds the powder will add the shot charge. you simply slide it the other way to gravity feed the shot into the hull on top of the wad. If you’ve added the proper amount of charge, there should still be a small amount of empty space at the case mouth of the hull.
6. Crimping.
Crimping the case mouth serves to close off the case mouth to hold in the shot charge. This step should seal up the end of the hull well enough that shot stay in, even with some rough handling. From the factory, most crimping dies are set pretty well and don’t require much fine tuning to get a good crimp. Occasionally, you might need to adjust the crimp die. In my personal experiences, this can be a headache. Set it too deep and the end looks like a funnel that lets shot out. Crimp too shallow and you have a funky looking dome that lets shot out. Adjusting the die just right should result in a crimp that looks identical to factory loaded ammunition. If you have to adjust the die, plan on screwing it up a few times while you fine tune it. Patience (which I rarely have) is paramount on setting the dies!
Some Thoughts on Specialty Reloading.
The process I’ve just described works for most of your shotshell needs. I’ve reloaded for target shooting like trap and skeet as well as game loads for dove and small game. The shot charges are measured in ounces and the press will automatically load the proper amount if you install the correct bushing in the slide bar.
Buckshot varies from the process in that it cannot flow well through the slide bar on most presses. Once you get to the point of adding a charge of buckshot, you will need to count the individual pellets and add them to the hull. Larger buckshot requires that you stack it in the hull in a certain way so that the proper number of pellets will fit. Buffer material is usually added to the shot charge to provide cushion to the lead pellets. This prevents deformation which can lead to poor patterns. I recommend using commercially available buffer material. You might find some load data that recommend using all sorts of things including corn meal. Just don’t. It might have been good 80 years ago, but we have better options today. Cornmeal and other materials might get damp and clump up or bind together. It is best to use the best materials available for reloading.
Some people are going to want to load their own slugs. I’ve never loaded slugs so I’m not willing to offer advice on the subject. There is a lot of information available from other sources, so if you want slugs you are on your own. I might learn the techniques at some point and cover it in a later article, but for now I’ll leave it alone.
As always, I have some comments on safety. When reloading any type of cartridge, you will be dealing with gunpowder and explosive primers. Safe handling procedures are paramount. I don’t want to hear about any of my readers losing a finger or starting a fire in their garage. Please pay attention and follow all the rules and processes carefully. As I stated in the article on centerfire cartridges, only use PUBLISHED load data. There is a lot of data people offer up on the internet, but unless it can be verified as safe, stick with the data from component manufacturers.
If you want to start reloading for shotshells, make your first purchase a reloading manual. This will get you all the load data you need and lots of great information on reloading in general. For shotshell reloading, I highly recommend the Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook. It has great load data and step by step instructions for safe reloading. This is the book I rely on most for my shotshell reloading needs.
