Free For All Friday 10-24-2014: Wet ammo, 22 pistols and bugout bags.
So say you take a car to the dealership (for whatever reason) to get your brakes fixed. The job gets finished and you drive away. Less than a month later, things start acting funky. There are noises you’re not used to but you write them off as “my car is getting up in years” and figure you’ll mention them the next time you take it in. The noises get real bad and you take it in. The dealership shop person tell you that X and Y are shot on your car and it will be well over $1300 to fix. You don’t have that much money but you also know there’s a shop down the street that is legendary for being inexpensive so you take your car there for a second opinion. They tell you “yep, X and Y are bad and it looks like whomever installed your brakes last might have caused some damage that ultimately led to the failure of X and Y.” Bolts were stripped, work was shoddy, etc etc. He charges you $700 to fix X and Y but tells you that one of the front brakes are overly worn (due to issues with X and Y) and that I should take it back to the original place to warranty it out. Some Google-Fu shows you that multiple people have had the same experience at this dealership: brake job “coincidentally” leads to these parts failing shortly afterwards. The question then becomes: Do you take it back there and risk them screwing up the work you just had done (either by accident or out of spite) or do you just write them off and get the brakes replaced with a reputable mechanic who is likely to do it right and learn the lesson never to deal with the original place?
I comes down to what is more important: principle and money or end result. Principle is one thing and money is always an issue. The peace of mind in knowing that it’s a job well done versus worrying about every noise, rattle and squeak from that point on and having to risk constantly going back and fighting is another thing.
We have three questions this week!
I was canoeing a few weekends ago out in the middle of nowhere and the thought occurred to me. If I flip and fall into the lake with my pistol, would that render my ammo useless, or are cartridges sealed enough to withstand a quick dunk? -Corey M.
The bright side is, decent ammo is pretty rugged. I’ve stated numerous times that the ammo you carry daily in your gun should be the absolute best you can find. Never bet your life on bargain basement items. That being said, things happen. One tiny flaw in the casing could let moisture in. Still, there was a video I watched a while back where a person left a magazine’s worth of ammo soaking in water for 4 weeks then fired it. He was getting a failure about every 3rd round. All things considered, that’s not that bad. A good, 30 second or even couple minute dunk probably isn’t going to have the same results, especially if you’re able to get the magazine/ammo out and dry it quickly enough. At the same time, the moisture your body releases on a regular basis is far more corrosive (due to the salt content and such) than a quick dunk would be. Still, there are things that you should be aware of. Once your ammo has been submerged, there are four possible outcomes:
- It still fires – Yay! No problem!
- It doesn’t fire – Problem, but not a bad one. If it’s a full blown self defense emergency, follow your failure drills and get shooting again. Be very careful, however, because just because it doesn’t fire doesn’t mean it’s a dud. It could be a…
- Slow burn – This is a common issue with older ammo that’s been stored in a moist environment. The powder gets wet, but not soaked. If you were to pull the bullet and light the powder, it wouldn’t go off with a “foof!” like normal powder. It would be more like a sizzle. It would still build up necessary pressure eventually and fire. These are dangerous as heck. Military teaches that if you pull the trigger and nothing happens, wait at least 30 seconds before ejecting the round (In a gunfight, this would ideally be done behind cover). If you don’t and it is a slow burn, you run the risk of the bullet firing on the ground next to you rather than in the chamber where it’s supposed to be. If you’re using a revolver, the danger is even worse. Then you’ll have a bullet exploding on the side of the gun and that will ALWAYS destroy the gun and, more often than not, leads to some serious injury.
- Squib – No, I didn’t misspell the name of a certain kind of cephalopod. A squib is when a bullet goes off but doesn’t have enough power to make it out of the barrel. You wind up with a blockage which, in most cases, isn’t a huge deal. Pull the gun apart and, using a dowel rod or some other soft-ish implement, hammer the bullet the rest of the way out of the barrel. Always do it in the direction of “breech to bore”. Doing it in reverse runs the risk of damaging the rifling. Never…and I’m going to type this a couple more times to make sure it sinks in…NEVER NEVER NEVER continue firing if you think you have a squib. You will know when you have a squib because the gun will feel weak. If you’re shooting a 9mm, a squib will feel significantly lighter. Almost like a .22LR instead. If you ever feel that, stop shooting immediately and disassemble the gun to examine the barrel. Don’t look down the barrel of a loaded gun to check (safety rules!). Some people have had the thought of “oh, if I shoot another round it’ll just push the stuck one out”. Google Image Search is filled with pictures of the destroyed guns of people who had that thought. This is how injuries happen at the range.
Knowing how to recognize and deal with failures is an important thing to practice. Ultimately, don’t worry too much about a quick dunk. Still, get some snap caps or dummy rounds and practice your failure drills just in case.
Two quick questions. I love shooting 22lr and have experience with the Ruger 22/45 and do like that one. I found a new one online for $280, do you think this is a good deal for a Ruger? Also a S&W 22A is there for $230. Have you ever shot one before? Or any impressions you’ve heard from other people? -Kaj
The Ruger MarkIII is the defacto .22LR pistol and the 22/45 is one of its variations. It’s been around, in one way or another, for as long as Ruger has been around. The grip is made to mimic the famous 1911 pistol and, if you look at the .22LR shooting competitions, most of the competitors will have a tricked out Ruger as their gun. The S&W 22A is also a great alternative to the Ruger and is commonly used by people who want a .22LR pistol that isn’t a Ruger. The great and powerful Hickok45 has one of the S&W’s as his .22LR pistol of choice. That’s a heck of an endorsement for it, if you ask me. Were it my money, however, I’d most likely go with the Ruger simply due to the insane number of accessories available for them. More so for the Mark series, mind you, but a lot of parts are interchangeable as well.
As far as the prices go, it’s hard to say. Regional prices differ enough that it’s hard to say whether that’s a good deal or not. The bright side is we posted a great guide for finding out going rates of firearms here.
What items are most important in a bugout bag? -Fred S.
Things can go south real fast and being ready to evacuate shows great forethought. One of the most common things prepared people suggest is the “bugout bag”. This is a ready to go sack of items that you can just “grab and go” knowing it has the vast majority of your essential survival items in it. This frees up your mind to worry about other things that need worrying about in an emergency situation. While people all over the place have countless “checklists” for items that should go in a bag and those are far more detailed than anything I could put together here, my own personal research has shown me a few things to keep in mind when putting yours together.
First off, the bag itself is probably the most important but the most overlooked. Many people will just get a backpack from their local Walmart, stuff it full then say “I’ve got a bugout bag! I’m prepared now”. Those bags can barely stand up to a year of school kids using them much less the kind of abuse you would encounter in an emergency. You want a large, sturdy and comfortable back that won’t have you hating life if you have to wear it for hours at a time. Something like….a nice hiking backpack. These are strong and surprisingly lightweight. Not only that, they can hold a great deal of stuff and in a way that is easier on your back. Another thing is not only plenty of different ways to purify water but ways to transport it are equally as important. You don’t want to have to stop every few minutes to purify some water so being able to carry the water you’ve made safe is a huge plus. Also, multiple ways to start fires as well. You should have a couple of lighters, then a couple boxes of matches then finally a flint/tender of some kind. After that are your foods, clothing, navigation and such.
The ultimate guideline is to realize that, even though the fact you’re grabbing your bugout bag is considered by many to be the worst case scenario, it is far from the worst case scenario. Have backups for everything in your bag and even have a backup bag because the worst case is still FAR worse. Also, when looking at the various checklists and guides, keep in mind regional differences. A generic bag list might not have the stuff needed to survive if you lived in a desert area and a desert focused bag would leave you woefully unprepared in a swampy area. This is where having a grand scheme plan beyond just “having a bag” is very important. Knowing where you’re going to go and what you’re going to do will help you plan accordingly.
Thanks for the questions!
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