Columns

Do you have a young one on your shopping list this holiday season that wants to learn to shoot? Helping young shooters learn safety and skills is one of the most important things we can all do to keep our shooting sports alive and well. Everyone of us had someone teach us either as a kid or an adult. This is the season of giving and giving the gift of a firearm to a kid is a great way to give back to our community and to the kid.

Open carry in modern times, when concealed carry is so easy, makes you a target, both on the streets and in the courtroom.

My research of late has taken me back to the subject of heating for the winter. About this time last year I reviewed the US Military H-45 stove, which burns diesel and gasoline, and at full tilt, it is a bit much of a stove to handle, and it consumes a good deal of fuel. If you already burn home heating oil to heat your house in the winter, it is an emergency heater you should take a look at. But for long term survival, where every ounce of fuel counts, there are some better options.

Have a spare $4,000? If you do, you could be the proud owner of Winston Churchill’s .32ACP 1913 Webley & Scott self-loading pistol, which will be going up for auction on Dec. 2.

Need a small, affordable and compact keychain knife? SOG’s Micron II is exactly that. Priced below $25, it’s not a bad buy.

Everyone needs a plan B. And that got me thinking. From everything I see, there is a “master plan” that will lead us to a directed outcome, yet there is no way to tell what that is coming. You can’t take all of your survival supplies with you in daily travels ,and what are the statistical chances that you will have your survival supplies at hand should “the big one” pop? What if I’m on the way back from Legoland with my kids and there is a roadblock between me and home? Granted, at some point you have to accept that the One Above is in charge, but I do believe in due diligence. You can drive yourself nuts with the what ifs, but is it wise to hide some survival supplies, especially outside of your property? What kind of storage will last for years, and protect the contents inside from pests and water damage? I found a couple of large military containers that are cheap, and from what I can tell so far, they are also bone dry and indestructible.

Looking for an in-depth understanding of your Springfield M1A? Check out AGI’s Armorer’s course. If you’ve ever wanted to know what makes the M1A tick, this is your chance.

I like to share my failures with you all along with my successes, and I have to to tell you, water, the most important resource of all, is a tough thing to collect and store successfully. I set up my own collection system over a year ago, when I first started this column in March of 2014, and water was my very first actual article. For me, the most bang for the buck was to buy some used IBC totes, which I showed you in that article. Then I had gutters installed on my house, with the downspouts directly feeding into the tanks. The result was a lot of water, but a year and a half later, it’s not as simple. I also tried an alternate water collection system, as I’ll explain, and that is still giving me fits.

It is fairly rare for some museums to display guns. Most are associated with cowboys or wars, but aren’t the focus. But the Saunders Museum in Berryville, Arkansas has one of the best collections of guns around. If you like old guns, this should be a destination.