Urban Survival - Part 2

For left handed shooters or others who don't want the shells ejected from the side for some reason, the Ithaca 37 (or Model 87 as it is currently called) and Browning BPS ejects the shells out the bottom, so the shells land at your feet instead of flinging past the left handers' face. Remington also makes a left handed 870 if you would want one.

As to handguns, the police departments of many cities are turning in their revolvers for 9mm automatics. This has placed a goodly number of revolvers in either .38 Special or .357 Magnum on the market at very reasonable prices. Many of these guns will have holster wear, that is the bluing of the gun will be worn, but this will in no way affect how the gun shoots.

If possible, get the .357 Magnum over the same model in .38 Special (such as the S&W Model 10 in .38 Special and the same thing in .357 called the Model 13) and adjustable sights if offered. The .357 Magnum can shoot .38 Specials just fine, and this gives you the choice of two different cartridges (.38 Special and .357 Magnum) rather than just one (.38 Special), as well as being able to sight in for the different loads.

Now that you have decided where you are going to weather out the coming bad times, in your house or apartment, what you are going to eat, the years' worth (or more!) of food you have stored, and what you are going to defend yourself with, your urban weapons cache, now what? What else is there?

Well how about sanitation and hygiene! What are you going to do when you can't flush your toilet? Do you have any soap or toilet paper stored away? Dish washing soap, laundry detergent, shampoo, hand soap, anything? What about toothbrushes and toothpaste? How about flyswatters, bug repellent or screens and netting?

The epidemics that ran over much of Europe in the Middle Ages, and most war zones even today, are because of the improper disposal of human waste and/or the improper handling of food, but how many times do you hear about it? Not often. After all no one wants to read about toilets and guns in the same article. It brings the idea home a little closer than most of us want to admit to.

For the urban survivalist this is more pressing than for their rural counterparts, simply because the urban survivalist will (generally) not have the room to build an outhouse or some way to easily dispose of the waste. Sure you can get a chemical toilet, but what happens when you run out of plastic bags and chemicals? You should think about getting a composting toilet or some other form of an alternate disposal unit. For more about sanitation and alternate forms of doing things, I recommend you go down to your local library or magazine rack and get Garbage (435 Ninth St., Brooklyn, NY 11215- 9937, bi-monthly, $21..00 a year), or write the following for catalogs: Bay Conservation Systems, Inc., POB 67, Wicomico Church, VA 22579, and Real Goods Trading Co., 966 Mazzoni St., Ukiah, CA 95482.

Another useful idea is the use of camouflage. No I don't mean you should be running around in a set of "cammies", I mean the art of hiding yourself or home so that they would be overlooked by someone looking for someone or something to attack.

After "the day", there probably will not be many homes with a fresh coat of paint or that are all neatly kept, so yours shouldn't be either. Also a beaten path to your door just might lead the world to it. The less inviting or lived in a place looks the less likely someone will want to check it out.

Also your garden need not be in neat rows or even in normal garden plants, as there are many plants that most people would not even recognize as food plants, that are easily grown. Look into getting an indoor green house or have pots of food plants inside.

A source of energy (light or heat) was touched on briefly in the first article, with a wood burning stove or camping stove, but sooner or later you will want or need more than that. But what could you use?

How about setting up your own still? No you aren't going to drink the stuff, you are going to use it to run the camp stove, or with slight modification, to run the gas engine on your generator or other power tools. Alcohol can be made from almost any plant matter from grass to pine needles, so as long as vegetation grows you should be able to get some sort of alcohol. Wind power or solar panels would also be possibilities, as would water power; although a full scale water power plant that would provide enough power to be of any great use by itself would be more than most would be able to manage, at least at first. However, this still leaves solar and wind, two items that can be used with a minimum of resources or material.

Another item that is often overlooked or not fully explained are medical items and medicines. Some books or articles simply tell you to talk to your doctor and explain what you want and get prescriptions for the needed items. I don't know what kind o f doctors these people have been dealing with, but none that I have talked to were willing to consider it, or even talk about the subject or need.

This leaves you with the supermarket and drug store items or buying veterinarian supplies, neither of which is ideal. However if you are able to get to Mexico, you can buy prescription drugs across the counter, and many non-narcotic drugs are readily available. For narcotic drugs, simply see your local drug dealer.

The medical "tools of the trade" normally recommended here are either so basic you would be hard pressed to do general first aid, or more than you will ever need or could use, and often are more than most survivalists would know how to use. This is not to say you shouldn't have anything your little heart desires, but don't waste money on an item you have no idea of how to use, at least until you have the other needed survival supplies like food and ammunition stored. For a basic first aid/medical kit it might be wise to get one of the better commercial first aid kits and then one of the more advanced "field medical kits" that includes scissors, hemostats, etc.

Do you have a good set of tools needed to rebuild you home? If not you might consider getting a basic set of hand tools, as any power produced may be needed for other than running your power shop tools. The "Craftsman" line of tools from Sears is warranteed for life and many people feel they are among the best, especially in their price range.

While I didn't mention it in the first article, you will need a set of gun cleaning kits. First off you should get a set of one piece stainless steel cleaning rods in .22 and .30 caliber about 30" long and a shotgun cleaning kit as well, such as the "universal" cleaning kits offered by many firms such as Outers, Hoppe's, or Klean-Bore.

After that get a good supply of bore cleaning solvent, either commercial or military, as well as lubricating oil. One advantage of military bore solvents is that they are designed to be used with corrosive ammunition, and are generally much cheaper than commercial solvents. No matter what type of bore solvent and lubricating oil you get, get plenty! Any you don't use would be snapped up by other survivalists who either didn't get any or get enough.

Now that we have housing, guns, hygiene, and other good stuff out of the way, what next? Well how about food production/procuring! OK so we talked about a garden that didn't look like a garden, and wasn't in "normal" garden plants, but just what plants are these? What would be a good book on the subject?

One of the best books for this is "The Edible Ornamental Garden" by John E. Bryan and Coralie Castle (101 Productions, 1974, 192 pages, 8 1/2" x 8 1/4"). The nice thing about this book is it covers the usual garden plants as well as the less usual ones.

The chapters in the book include general culture of plants, cooking with flowers, leaves and herbs, plants, their culture, history and recipes, and mail order nurseries.

This book is a must have for the urban home owner who has a small plot of land and wants a garden that most people wouldn't bother because they wouldn't even know it was there. The book will also provide you with food ideas that you may have been missing out on right under your own nose, right in your own yard or flower garden.

Well, so much for your outdoor garden, what about an indoor garden? That's right, set up a small "flower box" garden in a window sill or even a terrarium garden. For the terrarium, you might try to find "Gardening With Terrariums", although this booklet has almost nothing on food growing indoors as it is actually a book about ornamental plants.

If a window box of terrarium garden isn't big enough for you, there are other ways of doing this, such as setting up a greenhouse. Books on greenhouses run from how to build your own "window box" greenhouse to commercial production set-ups. Go down to your library or used book store and look over the books they have. There should be something that will be of interest if you are serious about plant production and propagation.

Well, if gardening isn't your cup of tea, and you can't put in a greenhouse or "indoor garden", but still want plant food in your diet, what is left? Sprouting!

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