Finally got a few bucks to play with

Now I'm trying to come up with a few things that I need. I want to get a new canner. The old antique canner that I've been using makes me nervous. It works well but it's from the 40s. I'll be getting one of those All American gasketless canners. I also want to get a better grain grinder to replace my corona. I'll probably just get a back to basics mill. I want the country living mill but it's a little more than I'm willing to spend for something that I probably won't use a whole lot. Of course, I'll be kicking myself if there ever comes a time when I do have to use it regularly. If anyone has a better suggestion for a grinder in the $100-$200 range I'm all ears. A set of Berkey filters are also on the list. I'm going to make a water purification unit out of a couple of 5 gallon buckets. I might also pick up some of those can organizers that Ryan at TSLR wrote about the other day.

As for food I'm pretty well set. I just buy stuff here and there when I have extra cash so I'm sitting pretty in that department. Most of my preps consist of canned food, rice, wheat and beans. I might pick up a few cases of freeze dried food to round things out a bit more and break the monotony. I'm past the point where I consider it a priority, though. I just need to get some more buckets so that I can pack up some of my beans, rice and wheat in mylar.

I'm really tempted to buy another gun. I've told myself that I'm only going to get one. I've been wanting a .308 bolt action for a while. I found a Remington 770 on clearance for $320 at a local store. That was tempting. Then I found a used Glock 19 at a pawn shop for $300. It's a little rough around the edges and it just comes with one high cap mag. It's a Glock, though. Mags are cheap and easy to find and...well...it's a Glock. They just work and they last forever. I've wanted a Glock 19 for a long time and that price is almost too good to pass up. I've already got a 9mm (and tons of ammo), though. On the other hand the only bolt action rifles I have are milsurp. I've got a few hundred rounds of .308 in the safe with no way to shoot it. Yeah, I know...a dozen guns in the safe and not one is for hunting.

I also want to put a little something towards precious metals. I buy a silver eagle here and there and I've got plenty of junk silver but now I can finally start to look at small amounts of gold. Unfortunately, everyone seems to want a ridiculous amount over spot for everything. Last time gold hit record highs it dropped back down to $800-$900 for a year. I predict that it's going to go a little higher but before it hits $1200 it's going to drop back down to $800-$900 or so. Then when the cracks in the economy keep getting bigger it's going to start creeping up again. When that happens it won't stop unless something in the economy changes. As long as the fed keeps trying to control everything we're headed for disaster.

Comments

Selous Scout said…
Buy the Glock and feel lucky you found it. With .308 being so expensive, I expect more than a few persons will sell off their hunting rifles and you might get a bargin.

Or, look for something in .30-06 and load up on cheap(er) ammo from the CMP. Mausers and Mosin-Nagants are also out there for a song and the ammo is still available, though creeping up in price.
vlad said…
http://plainsmanscabin.yuku.com/topic/1914
excerpt from that thread
Stryker D BTB
(10/05/07 16:53)

Vlad,
I just tried Back-To-Basics hand powered grinder on 1 cup of dried Pinto Beans and 2/3 cups of Popping Corn.

Beans:
22 minutes to produce 1 1/2 cups of fine flour. I needed to use a wooden spoon to almost constantly stir it and only added approx. 1/8 cup at a time. When I poured it all in the beans just seemed to ride along the top and not sink in to the grinding wheels.

Corn:
19 minutes to produce 1 cup of a fine meal (though not what I would call a flour). I had to slap the side now and then to allow more kernals to fall into the wheel. Every now and then the grinder would want to jolt from the force of spinning and catching a kernal but never to the point of forcing me to stop turning.

The grinding apparatus was hot to the touch after the 40 minutes of grinding.

I have never used any other kind of grinder so I do not know how this would compare to others. :Let me know what you think when you compare these statistics to other models you have tried.

Now the big question:
Any recommendations of what I can do with these to kinds of flour?
Doug
Scout, I think you're right. I'll probably go pick it up today. I read some reviews on the 770 and it seems to be garbage, anyway. I should probably just save my pennies until I can afford a quality rifle.

I've done a couple of other posts on my Corona mill. One of the first points I made was that when I get a better mill the Corona will still grind things that can't be ground with a mill that's designed for flour. Wheat is a lot lower in oil content than things like coffee, beans and corn. Go ahead and check my other posts if you like. There's some good info. I made bread with the flour from my Corona at one point.

My initial thoughts: http://theurbansurvivalist.blogspot.com/2008/02/so-i-bought-cheap-grinder.html

Making flour and baking bread with it:
http://theurbansurvivalist.blogspot.com/2008/04/making-flour-with-my-cheapo-grinder.html
I like what you have here. I just started a "survivalist" site too (trying to use some humor to reach the masses). Still in it's infancy.
http://mondaymorningsurvivalist.blogspot.com/
Ryan said…
I looked for a grinder in that range and ended up buying the Back to Basics one also as the only other common options were a lot cheaper or way more expensive. Buy the Glock! I cannot emphasize that enough. Mags are about $20 at cdnninvestments.

The G19 is an amazing combination of concealability, accuracy and capacity in a delightful package. It carries almost identically to my snubby .38 and shoots like any quality full sized semi automatic handgun.
Ryan said…
As a final thought it is always nice when your biggest issue is deciding what to buy.
I decided against the Glock. I have too many handguns already. One of which, my SP1009, is about the same size as the G19 and I already have a ton of mags and a few holsters for it. I only wish it was a double action. I had a double action 1009 in my hands a few months ago but I didn't have $400 to blow on it at the time.
Urban Survivalist,

I suggest the Little Ark Mill
at http://www.retsel.com/store/index.php?cPath=21_24
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