Prep of The Day Thread

[xtry51]

Here is the coup and now fully roofed run. The enclosed area is 20 x 20. There are actually two separate coups which helps with generations as for the first year the chicks dont like hanging out with the older ones. After that they all tend to mingle.

Covering this was the best thing we've done for them. I was a little sketchy on the clear corrugated plastic holding up to snow and ice, but 16 months for the front two sections and not a crack in site. Sheds the snow away from the walls nicely. Can roof rake if needed. It really keeps them active in the heavy snow months. Before that they just sat in the coup and cleanup was miserable and often.

 

[Uzi2]

Took a chainsaw and a 4 wheeler out on a couple of trails and cut up a maple and a red cedar that had blown down this summer.
The cedar I cut into three 8 ft pieces for possible use as gate posts, the maple was blocked up in 18 inch chunks to be split for firewood.

Started three generators and ran them for about 20 minutes and freshened up the gas in two and topped off the diesel in the 10kw.

Friday, it's supposed to be a cold morning so will split and stack wood.

 

[xtry51]

Raining all day and I'm on PTO. Watching Netflix and working some .223 brass.

 

[peterk123]

Canned 14 jars of kidney beans. Tried the no soak method. Half cup of beans into a pint jar and fill with water to one inch headspace. 75 minutes of pressure time. Tested one jar this morning and they came out great. I know it is not the USDA way, but man that was easy to do.

 

[whalerman69]

Canned 14 jars of kidney beans. Tried the no soak method. Half cup of beans into a pint jar and fill with water to one inch headspace. 75 minutes of pressure time. Tested one jar this morning and they came out great. I know it is not the USDA way, but man that was easy to do.

Man I gotta get off my a$$ and give it a try. The whole process interests me.

 

[Uzi2]

Canned 14 jars of kidney beans. Tried the no soak method. Half cup of beans into a pint jar and fill with water to one inch headspace. 75 minutes of pressure time. Tested one jar this morning and they came out great. I know it is not the USDA way, but man that was easy to do.

75 minutes at pressure for a batch of pints should be sufficient. Glad they came out great!

 

[Uzi2]

Hooked up the splitter to the tractor and split half a cord of wood this morning before noon just working casually. My wife runs the valve, I do the lifting.

Inventoried some ammo and found a can full of 1000+- loose Chinese copper washed steel core 7.62x39 hiding under a bench.

 

[CDP235]

My wife runs the valve, I do the lifting.

You're doing it backwards.

 

[SS1]

I just emptied this little guy for probably the 2,000th time. I've had this Haier dehumidifier for about 9 years and I'll be damned if its not possibly the most reliable appliance I've ever owned. Its has for all of its life run in the basement of each house we've lived in. Chugging away keeping dampness out and our preps dry. I have always left it at the max setting.

Just figured I throw it up here in case anyone was thinking about buying one. I have not done a single thing to it since first unpacking it. I dump the bin when its full and maybe once a quarter I put a bit of bleach in the bin to keep crap from growing in it.

In the summer I empty it about once every 2-3 days. In the winter it probably takes 5-7 to fill up.

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Have the same deal with a damp garage.. But if it has the capability of a drain hose and you have the room.. Sit it on top if a 55 gal drum with the drain hose going in, Set up a portable sump pump with a garden hose going into the sink from the drum, Set and forget about it.....

 

[xtry51]

I prefer to track it, and if I empty it myself, I know its still working.

 

[Tallahassee]

Started stacking wood, I think I have 5 more cords to stack. Not my favorite pastime by any means. Two hours ago, the wife informed me that we are getting into beekeeping as well. I guess she started ordering books and supplies.

 

[Uzi2]

Started stacking wood, I think I have 5 more cords to stack. Not my favorite pastime by any means. Two hours ago, the wife informed me that we are getting into beekeeping as well. I guess she started ordering books and supplies.

Not my favorite pastime either but it's sure comforting to see it when its done. I predict a little soreness in the back when you're done.

 

[Palladin]

Grabbed 48 mega rolls of TP at Walmart.com

 

[Night_solstice]

Market Basket on 101 was fully stocked with toilet paper and paper towels Saturday

 

[Jason m]

I'm posting this here instead of the reloading area cause it's more of a SHTF thing.

Making buck shot, I found a bag of 1k 1/4" steel bearings on Amazon for 16.00 dollars.
I had a few boxes of #8 skeet shot, so I figured I would just empty the shot out and fill it with ball bearings and re-crimp the top by hand.
Now yes it's not OO buck, it's more like OOO and I'm getting about 15 pellets per shot.

This is more of a in case you have nothing but bird shot and don't want to make wax slugs or cut shells, you can actually have something that should in theory work just like buck shot.

I've yet to shoot some I plan on this weekend, I didn't jam the shot in there as steel doesn't compress like lead shot as it's leaving the end of the barrel.
I am going to be shooting it from a bore barrel I have on my Mossberg 500 so there won't be anything of a choke.

I don't see it being an issue as I hunt with steel shot almost daily during duck, so this is just larger but with room to compress, I think.

 

[413dan]

neat idea Jason. a few weeks back my buddy shot a couple rounds at a target. upon inspection they were splattered sour skittles. who, f'in, knew?!

many things can be used as 'shot' in a pinch. (cue Dos Equis guy voice). stay creative my friends

 

[Christian]

I'm posting this here instead of the reloading area cause it's more of a SHTF thing.

Making buck shot, I found a bag of 1k 1/4" steel bearings on Amazon for 16.00 dollars.
I had a few boxes of #8 skeet shot, so I figured I would just empty the shot out and fill it with ball bearings and re-crimp the top by hand.
Now yes it's not OO buck, it's more like OOO and I'm getting about 15 pellets per shot.

This is more of a in case you have nothing but bird shot and don't want to make wax slugs or cut shells, you can actually have something that should in theory work just like buck shot.

I've yet to shoot some I plan on this weekend, I didn't jam the shot in there as steel doesn't compress like lead shot as it's leaving the end of the barrel.
I am going to be shooting it from a bore barrel I have on my Mossberg 500 so there won't be anything of a choke.

I don't see it being an issue as I hunt with steel shot almost daily during duck, so this is just larger but with room to compress, I think.

Well it's certainly a shit-ton cheaper doing it that way than purchasing whatever ought buck shot.

 

[ChevyGuy91]

Well it's certainly a shit-ton cheaper doing it that way than purchasing whatever ought buck shot.

Well I doubt it's the same thing, I have to think the powder charge is significantly different between budget box #8s and full house 9 pellet 00 buckshot. Have you shot this stuff across a chrono?

I'm not shitting on you, I think this is a neat idea but I wouldn't expect it to function the same as an actual 00 shell.

 

[Jason m]

I haven't shot any of it yet, I will this weekend and report back. I am not expecting to comparable to OO buck as I have plenty of that on hand.
But what is on the shelves right now is not buck of any kind but bird shot or skeet loads, and yes we all know that bird shot is very deadly in short range self defense situation.
So if they 70 or so pellets of #8 coming out of the gun at 1145FPS ( whats stated on the box ) can kill, I can only guess what 15 1/4" ( .250 ) pellets traveling at the same basic speeds will do.

This is why i posted this in the survival forum and not the reloading part of this site. This is more of a "grid down"/"only have on hand"/cant find a single shell of OO/OOO buck shot and "#8 doesn't work well on Zombies" type thing, lol.

 

[Uzi2]

I'm posting this here instead of the reloading area cause it's more of a SHTF thing.

Making buck shot, I found a bag of 1k 1/4" steel bearings on Amazon for 16.00 dollars.
I had a few boxes of #8 skeet shot, so I figured I would just empty the shot out and fill it with ball bearings and re-crimp the top by hand.
Now yes it's not OO buck, it's more like OOO and I'm getting about 15 pellets per shot.

This is more of a in case you have nothing but bird shot and don't want to make wax slugs or cut shells, you can actually have something that should in theory work just like buck shot.

I've yet to shoot some I plan on this weekend, I didn't jam the shot in there as steel doesn't compress like lead shot as it's leaving the end of the barrel.
I am going to be shooting it from a bore barrel I have on my Mossberg 500 so there won't be anything of a choke.

I don't see it being an issue as I hunt with steel shot almost daily during duck, so this is just larger but with room to compress, I think.

Just beware of ricochet with any close ground target. Steel ball bearings are hard and ricochet like a mofo.

You could use some finely ground corncob media as a filler in between the ball bearings.

Did you do a comparison of weight between the loads, steel to former #8 shot?

 

[Jason m]

No I haven't got a weight comparison yet, I can tonight. And ricochet is a concern I thought about, safety glasses and some distance between target will be a must.

 

[Manomet]

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

https://www.hornady.com/muzzleloading/round-balls#!/

 

[sharona]

I just picked up a Littleton shot maker off Craigslist brand new for 150 bucks. That and some of my old lead and I’ll be making shot in no time.

 

[Christian]

Well I doubt it's the same thing, I have to think the powder charge is significantly different between budget box #8s and full house 9 pellet 00 buckshot. Have you shot this stuff across a chrono?

I'm not shitting on you, I think this is a neat idea but I wouldn't expect it to function the same as an actual 00 shell.

Haven't a clue as to how it would perform, just thinking it'd be a inexpensive stopgap for folks who have been hit hard this year financially.

 

[Manomet]

I think at 30 feet the difference between 00 buckshot at 800 fps vs 1200 fps will be lost on the target

 

[clampett]

Jason M's post got me thinking. When things get back to normal again, I'm going to stock up on primers, powder, brass and bullets.
I don't have any reloading equipment, maybe I will pick some up some day, but until then, at least I will have the components and they should hold their value over time.

 

[Knob Creek]

Jason M's post got me thinking. When things get back to normal again, I'm going to stock up on primers, powder, brass and bullets.
I don't have any reloading equipment, maybe I will pick some up some day, but until then, at least I will have the components and they should hold their value over time.

WTS - Hornady 366 Shotshell Press

 

[Uzi2]

Just added 4 new spare AR mil spec charging handles and an assortment of new gas tubes, 2 pistol, 2 carbine, 2 mid length and 2 rifle to inventory.

Split another 1/2 cord of wood and readied the wood stove for first fire of the season......when ever that may be.

 

[xtry51]

Restacked the buckets we did a few weeks ago after double checking the O2s did their thing and the bags remained partial vacuum. Also created a cheat sheet of calories per pound of items. Here it is below for reference.

As a data point a single person at 2,000 cal per day is 730,000 per year. So a family of 4 requires 2,920,000 calories per year. Rice, flour and pasta are by far the most cost effective and dense ways to store food.

First numbers are calories per pound and second number is how many pounds fit comfortably in a 5gal food pail with a mylar bag per my personal experience.

Flour (all purpose) - 1651 @ 30
Rice - 1655 @ 33
Pasta - 1687 @ 30
Mashed potatoes (flake) - 400 @ 9
Oats - 1765 @ 15
Grits - 268 @ 30
Milk (powder) - 2250 @ 15
Honey - 1382 @ 60
Sugar - 1775 @ 35
Whey Protein - 1816 @ 20
Mac & Cheese - 1500 @ 20 (42 boxes per bucket)

Salt obviously has no calories but you can store 50lbs per bucket.

All calories listed above are uncooked as is.

It takes 450lbs of Rice to meet the 1 year per person calorie total if that's all you ate. At current BJs pricing you can get 450lbs of rice for $288 (18 25lb bags at $16 each). 20 pack of buckets at Home Depot are $65. 20 lids are $28. On Amazon (25) 5gal mylar bags are $60. (25) 500cc 02 absorbers are $11.

That means for $452 you can store a years worth of calories for 1 person or 3 months of food for a family of 4. Here are the links for the above.

Rice | BJ's Wholesale Club

Making dinner is easy when you get your family's favorite rice. Shop online or in store to find your favorite varieties at BJ's Wholesale Club.

www.bjs.com

The Home Depot 5 Gal. Homer Bucket (20-Pack) 05GLHD2 - The Home Depot

Use 5 Gal. Orange Homer Buckets to mix paint, wash your car, carry supplies and to complete many other household and work-site tasks. The durable plastic bucket has a steel handle with a plastic grip.

www.homedepot.com

The Home Depot 5 gal. Bucket Lid (10-Pack) RG5503 - The Home Depot

The Argee Homer 5 gal. Plastic Bucket Lid features heavy-duty plastic for improved sealing. The Easy Off lid provides a tight fit with quick removal abilities. Rigid construction and design makes for safe stacking.

www.homedepot.com

Amazon product ASIN B08HQQFGM3View: https://www.amazon.com/Pieces-Gallon-Sealing-Storage-Grains/dp/B08HQQFGM3/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=mylar+5+gallon+bags+for+food+storage&qid=1604259350&sprefix=mylar+5+gallon+bags&sr=8-6


Amazon product ASIN B010T4JCZAView: https://www.amazon.com/Oxygen-Absorbers-Dehydrated-Emergency-Storage/dp/B010T4JCZA/ref=mp_s_a_1_16?dchild=1&keywords=02%2Babsorbers%2Bfor%2Bfood&qid=1604259432&sprefix=02%2Babs&sr=8-16&th=1&psc=1

 

[connor]

Anybody else a "light" prepper?

I have shelves in the basement full of food and a second fridge/freezer. I keep enough to always make it through a bad storm, I still remember 05 even though I was just a yute, but I'm not preparing for months on end. Mostly just fewer grocery store trips.

Anyway, I set up another shelf today and filled it up. I also filled the back seat of my truck with drinks but that's just because they had a sale. I drink a lot of fluids, more of it should be water out of a nalgene, but that's a problem for different thread. I'll run through it in a couple weeks.