Terrorist Attack - Best Preparations

No doubt there are sleeper cells of terrorist in the US (like France), just waiting for their signal to strike. Are you prepared for another coordinated Terrorist attack? 

This would mean you must be prepared for the following: 1) Active Shooters, 2) Explosions, 3) Chemical threats (water supply), 4) Biological threats, 5) Cyber attacks, 6) Radiological Dispersion Device and even 7) Nuclear threats, especially with the deal the US has just made with Iran. But sophisticated weapons are not required. Something as simple as a can of gasoline can be prove to be a deadly weapon. 

The links above can offer some suggested preparations for a terrorist attack, but I would suggest that the BEST preparations are  being armed  and  staying out of Gun Free"Sitting Duck" zones  where almost all mass public shootings occur.  Otherwise, learning to say Allahu Akbar is an alternative that might save your life.

What is a Terrorist? The definitions are broad especially if you look at the legal (FBI) version.  In most cases, they are evil people who hurt innocent people, but not always.  George Washington would have been considered a terrorist by most any of today's standards.

Often times what the government might call terrorists, the other side calls Freedom Fighters. Suppose a US President were to stage some type of crisis at election time and "temporarily" suspend elections, effectively taking over as a dictator.  Anyone who rose up in armed resistance would be classified as terrorist.  This said, anyone who beheads or burns people alive because their religion is different is purely evil.  Still we must be careful to not judge all people of that religion based on the radicals or crazies. 

For more information:

Graphic Video of Paris Terrorist Shootings

Blog Table of Contents 
The Best Gun
Natural & Man Made Disaster Preparations

Red flag warnings its time to Bug Out

Group Security Drills

Urban Survival Plan

Riot & Looting Preparations

 

Right amount of ammo

Can you guess what caliber these are?  Scroll to the bottom of the article to see the answer?

The right amount of ammo depends on what you want to be prepared for. For example:

1. Target Practice - 100 - 300 rounds per shooter.
2. Home Security - 100 hollow points per shooter
3. Serious Event lasting a week or two - have at least 4-500 rounds per shooter.
4. Major Event lasting months - 1000+ rounds per shooter
5. Event lasting years - 10,000+ rounds per shooter

Its hard to have too much ammo. The way prices are increasing, Ammo gives a better return than gold does and is valuable for barter. So lets discuss ammo consumption for a moment. First, it is heavy to pack and carry so you don't want to waste it, especially when out on patrol where resupply is far away.  Having ammo caches stashed in strategic locations is a good idea especially when traveling light and fast.

Ammo consumption based on actual experience can run higher than expected, with cover fire using the most for a short period.  In this case, the number of full magazines becomes important.  With a standard two taps (shots) per target, you would be firing once every 60 seconds (tap tap) to use 120 rounds per hour which is light gunfire exchange.  Imagine this occurring as attackers are moving in to position getting ready to attack, possibly near the limits of your guns range, and you are firing to prevent this from happening. Note that two taps increases the chance of hitting the target and makes it harder to detect the shooters location by sound due to the echo effect.

Heavy battle with two taps every 18 seconds would use 400/hour.  Imagine this occurring when there is a tactical assault on your retreat in progress. The average would be about 200 rounds per hour.  So 1,000 rounds of ammo is about 5 hours worth in a battle for 1 person.   

A minimum starting goal of 400 rifle rounds would permit us to hold out for at least 1 hour of heavy battle, 2 hours of average combat and about 4 hours of light gunfire exchange.  Rapid fire for cover or as an aggressive defense will consume ammo at a higher rate, with the limit being your reloading speed. This is where 10,000 rounds of low cost .22 caliber ammo with several high capacity magazines would come in handy.

So the question to ask, is how many hours do you want to be able to defend yourself?  Multiply that times 200 and that is how much ammo you need for each person, plus about 10,000 rounds of 22 Long Rifle hollow points.

Realize that in the multi-year catastrophic event scenario, causalities of 75% (or more) are possible.  This will leave ample firearms available, but the limited ammo for them will be exhausted trying to defend against gangs and looters. For this reason, it is better to buy more ammo for the guns you have rather than buy more guns, especially after you have a battle rifle and a side arm for each person and preferably two 12 gauge shotguns and 22 rifles for each group.

Ammo needed per person = hours of battle expected X 200

Now that this question has been answered, do you know the answer to what caliber the bullets are in the above picture?  Scroll down to the bottom for the answer. 

For additional information see the following links:

Blog Table of Contents

NRA Gun Safety Rules

Beginner Prepper List

The Best Gun

Advanced Prepper Resource

OK, here is the key to the picture above:

1. 12 ga
2. AA Battery
3. 454 Casul
4. 45 Winchester Magnum
5. 44 Remington Magnum
6. .357 Magnum
7. .38 Special
8. .45 ACP
9. 38 Super
10. 9mm
11. 32 ACP
12. 22 Long Rifle

This picture is mainly pistol rounds, but battle rifle rounds like the common AR .223/5.56, .308/7.62 x 51 and the AK-47 - 7.62 x 39 are what you need to have most of, plus a thousand pistol rounds in 45 ACP, 40 cal, 9mm or even .357 Magnum if you are someone who prefers the exceptional reliability of a revolver.

For additional information see the following links:

Blog Table of Contents

 

Solar Powered Home Design

The key to having a solar powered home is not generating thousands of kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar power, but rather designing your home to be efficient, function well and only use 1,100 kWh of electricity per month.

First place to start is with the biggest users of electricity which are things that change the temperature like the A/C, clothes driers, heaters, ovens, refrigerators and freezers.  It is critical that we minimize the electrical consumption of these.

1. Use natural gas (or propane) for heating, cooking and drying clothes.  
2. Learn to survive with the temperature 2-4 degrees cooler in the winter and 2-4 degrees warmer in the summer and have energy star ceiling fans in each room. 
3. Use a smaller energy efficient refrigerator (and freezer) set at 45 degrees.
4. Have on-demand hot water, natural gas or propane; set the temperature at 120F.
5. Get the absolute most efficient A/C you can buy, especially in the south. Geo Thermal uses the cold ground (well) water to cool your home with lower energy. Often you can use the same well for a water supply.

Second is to address the largest waste of energy from homes.

1. For this reason, it is important to minimize the number and size of windows and to get the most efficient triple pane PVC frame windows.  Note aluminum frames conduct too much heat.  
2. After this comes the walls of the home.  This is why we need to use 2 X 6 (spaced 24" apart) walls and ceiling with closed cell spray urethane foam insulation.  It must fill the walls and be sprayed on the roof immediately under the decking/shingles inside the attic.  This keeps the attic at a more constant temperature instead of having the attic 110 degrees (Fahrenheit) immediately above the home ceiling which is 76 degrees.  Instead the attic is 86 and the home is 76.
3. Other large users of electricity are lighting and vampire loads like the displays on clocks, ovens, microwaves.  Energy efficient devices with low energy LED displays will help.  
4.  Even more important is the use of LED light bulbs.  A 60 watt incandescent bulb uses 60 watts.  A 60 watt florescent bulb uses about 18 watts and a 60 watt LED bulb uses about 9 watts to produce the same amount of light.  Even better is to use the 40 watt LED bulbs which use 3-5 watts.  This cuts the lighting load by over 90%!
5. Use motion detectors that turn the lights off when no one is in the room, or timers (LED compatible) that can be set for 5, 10, 15...or 30 minutes before turning the lights off.  The timers work great in closets, bathrooms, wash rooms or places that are visited less frequently while the motion detectors work well in high traffic area's. 
6. Have faucets with both a hot and cold water valve.  Having one lever type valve that operates both cold and hot is very wasteful on hot water. 

Other important factors to consider:

1. Build the house smaller than normal with less space to heat and cool; no high ceilings.  
2. Have a porch over hang on the south side of the house that prevents the high mid-day summer sun from shining directly in your window but that allows the low winter sun in, IF you heat your home a lot in the winter. 

Again, the key is an energy efficient home.  At time of this writing, a 5,100 watt system to deliver up to 500 kwh/month, the cash cost after utility rebates & tax deductions is under $14,000. Only 6,000 watts runs everything in energy efficient homes 24-7 except an electric drier/heating & A/C.
Questions/Comments? E-mail me at the address in the Prepper Handbook Introduction that can be previewed free on Amazon Kindle.

For additional information see the following links:

Blog Table of Contents

 

Starter Solar Power System 

$5 Solar Battery Charger

Sustainable Living System

DIY Solar System

 Here is a link to a unique sustainable living system:  EcoCapsule