Not a real long member here and joined for the Mosin Nagant forums and then stumbled across this forum cause of my wife. Now for the fast and dirty part, a little while ago my life turned upside down and everything I had prepared for now had to be altered. Now I am sure everyones like now how can ones life change that much, well in short thru being married to my wife I came to be responsable for our disable Mother/Mother-Inlaw and our Grandfather who has alzheimer's. Now here comes the changes, all my bug out gear, bags, plans are up in smoke. So now instead of being able to head for the hills, I have to defend the castle. Now I am sure some of you will say leave them behind, survial of the fittest, etc etc. Well thats not going to happen, I know it puts a larger chance of failure as a whole on the situation and this is what I have prepared to increase those chances to try and be almost as equal as me and my wife going fast and dirty into the hills.
First changes to weapons and weapon systems
Prior to this weapons were easy or so I thought, Wife had a 20ga 870 and a .32acp for her hip, Mine were my old M4 variant and my babies 1911a1 riding left and right hip. As I said our plan was to move as fast and dirty as we could to my old hunting camp up in the adirondack's. So we have now changed up well I have changed up weapons, mostly it was my M4 that has himself a new home, now I loved my M4 you will get no M4 hate and please I dont want to start a fire that we can not control, so I will list the reasoning behind it. My m4 was a touchy, clean freak that was ocd about what ammo I feed into him. Now in a normal situation I dont mind having to drive and or spend days reloading his favorit ammo, but if the SHTF I will not have this luxury. So now my m4 is gone and in his place I have gone to three weapons to replace it. I went with three weapons to replace it do to my thoughts on ranges, 200+ yards. 199 yards-50yards, and 50yards-omg brush your teeth.
My first weapon was the 200+ yards and it is a Lee Enfield No4 Mk1 Sniper set up, canada make. I chose this rifle for many reason, durability, reliability, easy of reloading materials and the amount of mil surplus ammo that I was able to abtain easily. With this rifle and everything else I will list after I am able to use for the job at hand and also for hunting if the need arises, so with out getting into specifics of each weapon just know that I can manufacture hunting load for everyone that is going to be listed with in the 3 ranges I have listed.
My second weapons is to cover the 199yards-50yards, and for that I chose a Mosin Nagant 91/59 carbine. Now I chose this rifle for the same reasons as above, although the reloading materials took me a little longer to get my hands on to be able to make hunting rounds. This rifle I have scout scoped as well and will handle the distance nicely. The plus side to this weapon is that mil surplus ammo was every where for so long I was able to get a decent amount. Side note specific amounts of ammo will not be discussed for reasons I am sure you are all aware.
My third weapons is a Reminton 870, nothing more to say on that able to reload everything from birdshot to slugs and ammo is everywhere if I were to decide to stock up on it further. Also with in the distance that 870 plays I have my twins 1911a1 they are my babies, they are reliable, shoot well and if you hit a something with a .45acp at the distances they were ment to play in chances are they are not liking life at the moment.
Forgot to mention, I have a simple .22lr on hand as well. Although plans on usage for that one are pretty much limited to squirrels,woodchucks,birds, just small time stuff.
Now I have more I would like to get advice on as per what I am growing on the land at the moment, generators, and many other aspects. Although I am going to leave it at the above post for the time being and gather my thoughts on the rest of the material.
Thanks everyone for anything they are going to share with in this posting.
From the last comment, I am thinking you have a bit of land, hopefully outside of town, that you can grow a garden on. Puts you well ahead of most folks!
Cultivate some good like-thinking neighbors, as you'll really need more folks for security than just you and the Missus. No kids yet, I take it?
For a good BIL, you'll need your own water supply - a well preferably.
Store plenty of fuel for the genny. You are a bit far north for really efficient solar power, but that is a possibility too - it's getting cheaper to provide the basics, not necessarily 'whole-house' power.
The main thing is water. I don't know what timeframe you're expecting, I like to plan for permanent grid-down, that way I'm prepared full-bore for short duration SHTF.
Also, where do ya live? Urban, suburban, rural, small town? I assume near New York state. If so you'll have a major refugee/looter problem, lot's of hungry folks around. If you live in an area where it's viable I suggest a well and a hand-pump or well bucket. Humans can't live very long without water. Also remember hand tools (there's a thread on here covering those in depth) and food. The basic, long-lasting foods are pinto beans, bisquick, wheat, rice, sugar, and lots and lots of salt. MREs are good if you're not on a tight budget. Remember-Beans, Band-Aids, and Bullets! In other words focus on eating and drinking, medicine/first aid, and self-defense/hunting. I commend you on your loyalty to your folks, bad situations don't excuse savagery! i hope this helps you in some way. Please post any and all questions and read the archives. I also recommend you read the archives at SurvivalBlog and look at some mormon LDS sites, they are kings of prepping! The only stupid questions are the ones ya don't ask.
Clayton
__________________ I'm here for a good time, to h*ll with the red wine, pour me some moonshine!
You sound like you have a decent handle on it, Seraph.
My only comment is that you ought to think about replacing your wife's .32 ACP with another .45 ACP pistol for ammunition compatibility and simplification in your situation. I like the round too and own a number of pistols chambered for it; but in SHTF scenario, you need a guaranteed man-stopper in one of the 'universal calibers.' In your case, that means .45 ACP because you already own one.
I was scared of the .45 at first (as your wife may be) because of bad teenage experiences with the pistol. But as an adult, I found I'd put on enough muscle to handle one well enough to hit Bianchi plates at 25 yards with one, provided it has decent sights.
Well I am glad to see so many people up and posting already
Lets see as for points that were made let me see if I can cover some of the basis.
Wife and her .32acp- She has tried other pistols about the biggest I can move her into with her comfort level, i.e. no flinching etc is about the .40-10mm range. Ammo is not to much of a concern with the .32 as I can reload it, although it would be nice if I could just toss her a mag if the need ever came about.
Land- Yes 44 acre's, with in that property is a almost 2 acre garden with three raised beds for herbs and fast growning small produce such as green onions and radishes. I know 2 acre's is alot for a garden but I was taught old school and can and dehydrate alot of it for long term storage. Also with in the property I have 3 apple tree's 1 pear tree, 2 medium sized blackberry/raspberry patches, a rhubarb patch and a asparagus patch.
Water- I have a well here, downfall of that is lack of hand pump on the unit just a submersible pump unit. Thought on that is a two part as I have a wood/coal heat in the house I was thinking about a propane generator to run the most needed items, fridge/freeze, well, blower on heater. Most everything else we could cover with candles, hurricane lamps etc.
Food Stores- Root cellar, canning and dehydrating, no more then 10 cases of MRE's rotated out yearly to hunting buddies and such as dates get close and restocked.
Location- Way upstate about 32 miles from the canadian border. Semi private road, not much traffic other then people who live on it and the random person cutting cross lots. small front acreage with the remaining going stright back and cutting off to the left rather like number 7. With in the property is a few arces of wetlands which gives me the ability to trap in very carefull amounts, birds in spring, deer although not the biggest are plentful.
Well I belive that about covers what you all had asked about and it seems I have given you some more to comment about. Looking forward to the responses, as it will allow me to fine tune my plan.
Sounds like ya have it set up pretty well. Ya could get some chickens and a few goats since ya have the acreage. I would also suggest ya give the .22 more consideration, it will probably be the most useful weapon ya own once TSHTF, I like that thousands of rounds are cheap and carryable. In your harsh climate I would suggest a greenhouse, easy to build and easy to use, but worth a mint in northern ares!
__________________ I'm here for a good time, to h*ll with the red wine, pour me some moonshine!
Thrillbilly makes some good points, especially about the .22. How disabled is your MIL? Could she shoot a .22 rifle? At the very least, if it got REALLY bad you could sit her in the hall in front of a door. I don't think she would mind helping protect you and herself, and it might even give her some pride .
able to reload everything from birdshot to slugs and ammo is everywhere if I were to decide to stock up on it further. Also with in the distance that 870 plays I have my twins 1911a1 they are my babies, they are reliable, shoot well and if you hit a something with a .45acp at the distances they were ment to play in chances are they are not liking life at the moment. 
