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Thread: Bug Out BOX ?

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
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    Bug Out BOX ?

    Here is one for you survival/prepper folks, has anyone already come up with a 'grab-an-go' box that will hold the essential reloading tools? Single stage press, dies, powder measure, scale ? Not interested in battery op. scales. Could use a little dandy measuer for hand gun ammo, but need regular powder measure fro rifle ammo I think. Fit in a purchased box? in a special made box? Idea just popped today - haven't had time to sit down with some Jack Daniels yet and ponder it out. If someone already has however, no need in me re-inventing it.

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  2. #2
    In Remembrance
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    Sarge, 25 yrs. ago I was thinking along those lines. Today mine and my wife's health will not allow us to bug out. We will fight our last fight on our door step. My opinion on a bug out box for loading supplies is don't do it. The weight of equipment and components is something to consider. I feel it's better to carry loaded ammo instead. When ammo and food supplies start getting low, you will have to take it from the storm troopers roaming around. Any way you stack it, when all hell breaks loose you will be left to your own means for you and family to survive. It's something that I will be very, very happy if I'm wrong, but scared to death that I may be right. Best wishes to you and yours.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy

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    + 100 ^^^^^^^
    Quote Originally Posted by Iron Whittler View Post
    Sarge, 25 yrs. ago I was thinking along those lines. Today mine and my wife's health will not allow us to bug out. We will fight our last fight on our door step. My opinion on a bug out box for loading supplies is don't do it. The weight of equipment and components is something to consider. I feel it's better to carry loaded ammo instead. When ammo and food supplies start getting low, you will have to take it from the storm troopers roaming around. Any way you stack it, when all hell breaks loose you will be left to your own means for you and family to survive. It's something that I will be very, very happy if I'm wrong, but scared to death that I may be right. Best wishes to you and yours.
    "The remedy for evil men is not the abrogation of the rights of law abiding citizens. The remedy for evil men is the gallows." Thomas Jefferson

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master GhostHawk's Avatar
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    I have to agree with Iron Whittler.

    By the time you have a box with a way to cast boolits, size, press, dies, and tools to do the job, plus materials, ie lead, primers, powder. You end up with a box that is too big to carry.

    It gets even worse for each additional caliber you wish to reload for.

    In the end you either
    A don't bug out, stay and defend your stash.

    B Plan on living off the enemy. Which means whatever weapon you take will get left somewhere when you run out of ammo.

    C Or you use what you have as a sort of home base, base camp. Plan to return regularly to rest and resupply. The good part of that is that you can be casting and reloading while resting.

    The bad part is who watch's your home while your out and about?

    Community is the answer. Find one, get involved, commit.

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master
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    This is one of the worst ideas I can imagine for bugging out. I don't believe many people contemplating bugging out have carried a 75 lb backpack very far. Weight WILL kill you. Even in a vehicle, it makes more sense to carry ammunition.

    I am not bugging out anyway....to old.
    Don Verna


  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master
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    About 30 years ago I met a guy who had spent about the late ‘50s through mid ‘80s or so being a firearms prepper along with the rest of his firearms hobby. He was reaching an age where I guess he figured he wouldn’t be able to bug out any more, so he was selling it off. I got some pretty neat old reloading stuff, and since I’m more of a hoarder than a prepper, that worked out fine!

    As for my bug out strategy, a suitable supply of loaded ammo will ultimately weigh less and take up less space than even the most minimal loading gear and components for a similar amount of rounds, plus it’s instantly accessible to shoot.

    My reasoning for compact, packable reloading equipment is to have something I can take to the range for experimental work or for casual loading of fun ammo when time (and survival) doesn’t really affect the equation. I’ve also used the portable stuff on planned trips where limited, hard-to-find brass may the issue, like the time I loaded BP rounds for a 38-55 in a Day’s Inn motel room in Warsaw, IN so I could do a product review on a rifle. It just adds some more versatility to my reloading abilities to have the portable stuff, but I don’t see it as practical for an emergency solution. This is what works in my experience... of course YMMV!

    Froggie

    PS “Don’t pick a fight with an old guy, he’s too old to fight, too tired to run, and too mad to argue... he’ll just shoot you!”
    "It aint easy being green!"

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    All good replies. If it comes to hostilities then I will quickly load up the common stuff until supplies run out and then hide my equipment. With natural disasters I’ll just have to take my chances and hope insurance makes things right.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I too considered a "just in case" reloading set-up, but decided it takes up a bit less room just to take loaded ammo. The only part recyclable in such a situation would be the brass, and having to lug and store powder, primers and bullets safely would take up a lot of room.

    I have reloaded a bunch of "just in case" ammo for a couple handgun calibers. I have mebbe 200-300 each of a 9mm and 45 ACP load that works well in all my guns chambered for them, and occasionally load up a few now and then. I can grab a couple 45 ACP pistols and 300 rounds of ammo in about 30 seconds (all together in one heavy shoulder bag). I have rifles that might go with me in a long term "get out" situation, but handguns will be enough in any evacuation situation (was on alert to evacuate about a year ago due to forest fire). Otherwise, I'd prolly just stand and fight if it came to it...
    My Anchor is holding fast!

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master OS OK's Avatar
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    We have an 'Oath Keeper' for a sheriff in our county...it won't be the Patriots that'll need to 'bug out'...El Dorado County will be in the Patriots hands...period.

    If you have to run...take ammo instead.
    a m e r i c a n p r a v d a

    Be a Patriot . . . expose their lies!

    “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” G. Orwell

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Just commercial ammo here! There will be plenty of "other" things to haul and worry about if the time ever comes! Several (!) hundred rounds of FMJ's in each of the appropriate cal's with me will do the job nicely. After that it is sticks-n-stones and knives to the bitter end.

    But I still think I would defend my fortress of solitude right here B4 going on a "bug-out" road trip!

  11. #11
    Boolit Master Pavogrande's Avatar
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    Like many of you I am way too old to "bug out" -- I just could not survive in the wilds, its a chore surviving here.

    In an evacuation type scenerio I would just take the 10/22 take down, 22 revolver, and a brick and hope for the best -

  12. #12
    Boolit Mold
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    Why do you think I live in Southeast Alaska, already bugged out, can't think of anywhere I'd go other than here now! Jim

  13. #13
    Boolit Master

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    If you have an area to bug out to. bury a few caches of ammo there ahead of time. Make several trips to lighten the load of each trip. Do it just ahead of a rainy spell to help conceal the site.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master

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    if I was younger I could see using one of the 310 loaders for 357 mag. it would be compact enough to carry and as long as you kept saving your brass you could get by.

    if your worried about loading after tshtf maybe keep some supplies at where ever you plan on bugging out too. I have everything I need right here and don't plan on bugging out anywhere, but I don't keep all my eggs in one basket either.

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master OS OK's Avatar
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    At one time in my life I'd think this was crazy talk by the paranoid...but, it's a real possibility these days and has been for a couple decades already. Just remember that if you do get into a firefight and win...the spoils are yours. Stock up off the enemy!
    a m e r i c a n p r a v d a

    Be a Patriot . . . expose their lies!

    “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” G. Orwell

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy
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    How about a lee loader? Compact with everything you need except a mallet and a hard serface to work on. This would work well if your handgun and rifle shared ammo. A 357 pistol and carbine would fit the bill.

  17. #17
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    This is always an interesting question. I have a Portable Reloading Kit, and as many of you know I make a pretty good Reloading Press. IN fact I am taking it with me tomorrow when I leave for Front Sight. Mainly to show others the tool.

    If I was going to bug out, my first consideration would be to assess how long I was going to be gone. If it was a week or a month or a year, I'd just take as much loaded ammo as I could find, and be done.

    If I had to completely uproot my life and take as much stuff as possible and figure on being gone for years or never coming back, I'd take all the ammo I could find along with all the bullets and boolits I have and all the powder and primers, along with my portable kit, and go. I could fit everything I need into a couple of Milk Crates, and my reloading tools in the small duffel they are in right now.

    It all depends on what you are looking at.

    Another point is that you kind of need someplace to go to. I don't have a real destination to bug out to so we'd be "bugging in" unless it was some catastrophic event like a massive Earth Quake or like in Hawaii right now the Lava was flowing down the street right at my house.

    We had to leave home when we had the fires last December, but we only went to a friends house 15 miles away and I could drive home every day to check on the Homestead. I was armed when going into and out of my area but 4 magazines of .40 S&W and my shotgun was more than enough to cope with any Looters I may have ran into. The Sheriffs had our neighborhood pretty well locked down so no hanky panky was happening.

    Our biggest problem was uprooting the cat. I spent $50 on supplies to keep him happy for 4-5 days.

    Randy.
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    A Lee "whacker" set, extra dippers, primers, bullets, 40 empties and a lb of powder for ones rifle might be one consideration.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master Bazoo's Avatar
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    I'll play. Lets say... POST apocalypse. That is.... most of the other folks are dead, the world is in ruins of varying degrees. You're not thinking the power will come back on, nor will the stores be resupplied. You hunkered down months and now are thinking things sure look bleak where you're at. For whatever reason you want to move yourself/ family from wherever to wherever else.

    Obviously you're not going to carry all the things you need on foot. Nor will you be able to fuel a vehicle... So... you do the only sensible thing. You round up a horse and a few donkeys from the decimated farms around your area. Horse for easy riding and working, and donkeys for packing your stuff.

    You want to be able to shoot game and defend yourself when you get to wherever. So you pick a handgun and rifle from your collection that is of the most common and versatile calibers to load or scavenge ammo for.... 357 magnum and 30-06. If you happen to come across any pistol powder or any rifle powder to scavenge, then you can use either to some degree of effectiveness.

    Since you have pack animals, you have the ability to take all of what you need for making ammo for these calibers. You might not make a lot of ammo in route, but once you get there you want to be set up for surviving. You also will scavenge any gear you come across when you get there. You might explore 50 miles or more and find some goodies to upgrade your gear.

    Id start with

    Lyman Acculine press. Can be a hand press on the trail, and mounted when you arrive.
    Dies, spare decapping pins, M die, shell holder
    Impact bullet puller
    ONE book ONE caliber manuals in 38, 357, 30-06
    Ram prime unit
    calipers
    LEE dippers and any homemade dippers of different volume
    primer pocket cleaner
    Lyman ezee trim
    deburr/chamfer tool
    Lyman/RCBS/Other cast iron pot
    Dipper
    358156 2 cavity mould for 357/38s, modified to have 1 cavity sans gas check
    30 caliber mould, i'd go 31141 with 1 cavity sans gas check
    30 caliber light mould 311419 with 1 cavity sans gas check
    large aluminum lyman handles
    box of gas checks for each caliber
    quantity of bullet lube
    lee sizing dies for each
    All the pre made bullets you can comfortably carry
    100 pieces of brass for each
    10 pounds of tin ingots
    5 pounds unique
    5 pounds 4064
    3k rifle primers
    2k pistol primers

    Notice I wouldnt take any lead to melt, but only tin. Wheel weights will do okay without it, but you want to be able to use any lead you scavenge whenever you get to wherever you're going. And you're probably going to scavenge ammo in both calibers, but have enough brass for a long time if you dont.

    I'd go with iron moulds because of the durability. They are a lot less likely to incur damage from any sort of mishap. Store them in an airtight box with some desiccant.

    Also, you can disassemble any loaded ammo of other calibers you find, and scavenge the primers. You might be able to figure out and scavenge the powder too, if you're sensible about it.

    If you went with a ruger blackhawk and had the 9mm conversion cylinder, you'd up your ability to use scavenged ammo.

    Thats what i'd do.

    ~Bazoo
    Last edited by Bazoo; 05-10-2018 at 12:23 AM.

  20. #20
    Boolit Man GT1's Avatar
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    Forget bug out reloading as in full size press and accessories, that's like the guy that thinks he will bug out with an AR and 1000 rounds of ammo. First guy the buzzards get to dine on.
    Think more of a survival situation, sustenance living with very little.
    First of all, you wouldn't, you would carry a brick or two of 22lr and figure out how to make it last a very long time(that is a lot of rabbits, and other potential small game meals). But, if you could have a cache and you were thinking ahead, sure.
    A small bottle of powder, dipper, a handful of cases, a couple handfuls of bullets, a few flats of primers and a 9mm Lee loader. That will fit in a small pouch you can stash in with other possibles.
    Think survival, not firefights. Firefights mean getting shot, you will go a lot farther if you don't get shot.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check