An REI Sale is starting this Friday May 18th 2012. It would be a great time to get get some camping and emergency gear at a discount.
Ontario RAT 5 After Action Report
I took the Ontario Rat 5 with me to a bushcraft class about a month ago. The knife made short work of splitting pieces of wood in half using another larger piece of wood as a hammer. While using the RAT 5 for fine work such as making notches in branches in order to set traps and making frames it was lacking. The RAT 5 had a flat grind which did not allow me to perform fine woodworking easily. My lady had a Mora knife which had a Scandi /Double Bevel edge and she had a much better time performing the exercises during the class. Her experience with the Mora knife allowed her to make cuts in the wood easily. In the end it all came down to the type of grind a knife had when we were practicing our wood cuts.
The RAT 5 and Mora knives held up very well after 5 hours of wood carving. Both are carbon steel blades. I added Black Magic grip tape to the top and bottom of the RAT 5 knife in order to give it a better grip. I left the Mora knife as is because of it’s fine rubber grip. In an ideal camping / survival / bushcraft situation I would have both but if I were to consider just carrying one knife I would go with the Mora knife. I have some pics of the knives, wood carvings and knife edge types below.
Posted in Knives / Tools
Tagged Carbon Steel Knife, ESEE, ESEE 5, ESEE Cutlery, Mora, Mora Knife, Mora Knives, Ontario RAT 5, Rat 5, RAT 5 Kydex Sheath, Rat Cutlery, Rat Kydex, Swedish Knife
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The Battle for Marjah HBO Documentary
The Battle for Marjah is an HBO documentary, covering the efforts of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, in Operation Moshtarak.
Gotham Survival Site Redesign and Additional Pages Added
I had to redesign the Gotham Survival website because the old version was causing me eye strain. I also added the following two pages: Firearms Manuals and T-Shirts. I’ll do my best to keep the pages updated. In the mean time let me know if you want to see any additional improvements. Thank you to all my long time readers for sticking with me.
Posted in General
Tagged firearm manuals, gotham survival, site redesign, survival t shirts
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Real Gunfighter Lance Thomas on Justice Files
Real Gunfighter Lance Thomas watch maker kills 5 east LA Gang Bangers on Justice Files.
Posted in General
Tagged East LA, gunfighter, Justice Files, kill gang bangers, Lance Thomas, real gun fighter
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Car Emergency Kit / Go Bag
I didn’t set out to build a car specific kit when I put this together. I just put any extras that I had laying around into a bag in the car and after some time I have what is listed below. A few things were specifically purchased like the Mainstay water pouches and the 3600 calorie food rations because they have a shelf life of several years and they withstand extreme temperatures.
I like to go over my car emergency kit / go bag once a year just to make sure everything is in good condition and nothing has expired. My friend asked me what I have in my fancy car emergency kit and what not so I listed everything below with relevant links. I doubled up on most items because my lady and I are in the car together most of the time so it only makes sense for both of us to be taken care of in case of an emergency.
Separately in the car I have jumper cables, a tow strap, a full first aid kit, two flashlight, random tools, a tire gauge, a tire inflator and two pairs of leather gloves.
- One backpack holding all the contents – Any backpack will do. It can be a duffel bag as well, just make sure it has a shoulder strap in case you have to carry it.
- Twenty – Mainstay Emergency Water Pouches – These are great because they last several years without having to be replaced
- Two – Mainstay 3600 calorie Emergency Food Rations – These are awesome because they last five years and can withstand extreme temps
- Two – N95 Dust Masks
- One 35 gram Celox powder
- One 15 gram Celox powder
- One CAT tourniquet
- Two 4 inch Israeli Bandages
- Two Adventure Medical SOL Emergency Bivvy’s
- Two adult sized ponchos
- One 50 feet of 550 cord
- One Nalgene 32 oz water bottle with pouch
- One bottle of Potable Aqua iodine water purification tablets
- One Eton emergency radio with batteries
- One lighter
- One chapstick
- One generic swiss army knife
- Four pairs of vinyl gloves
- One bottle of hand sanitizer
- One SAS survival handbook
- One spair pair of glasses
- Two mylar emergency blankets
- One Mora knife
- One carabiner
- One magnesium fire starter
- One medical sheers
- One pack of Colgate wisps
- One eyeglass repair kit
- One roll of toilet paper
- Extra batteries for flashlights and radio
Posted in Go (GOOD) Bag
Tagged car emergency kit, car kit, car survival, car survival kit, Emergency Kit, GO Bag, GOOD Bag
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Installing Dovetail Front Sights with Dave Dawson
World class Pistolsmith and USPSA double Grandmaster, Dave Dawson shows you how to install dovetail front sights on a 1911 pistol.
Ontario RAT 5 First Impressions
So I’m back from my break and ready to continue posting.
I was shopping for a 1095 carbon steel knife that I could take hiking and possibly use as a bushcraft knife. I decided on purchasing an Ontario RAT 5 as it was reasonably priced and well reviewed. When I received the knife I new that it might come with a sad specimen of a cordura sheath. Upon opening the box the knife was solid and really well made. There were no marks on the blade and the micarta handles were properly fitted.
The cordura sheath was a bit sad looking if you compared it to a Kydex sheath but it was perfectly serviceable. The cordura sheath had a plastic insert so the knife did not damage the sheath. Ideally the sheath would be made out of Kydex because the knife is made out of 1095 carbon steel and the cordura sheath would retain moisture and hasten rust. The positive aspects of the cordura sheath was that it had a small pouch for a sharpening stone and that the sheath also had molle straps that could be used to attach to a chest carrier, bag or on a belt. I plan on upgrading to a Kydex sheath from knifeworks.com after an upcoming bushcraft knife class that I am taking. Here are some pics in the mean time.
Posted in Knives / Tools
Tagged ESEE, ESEE Cutlery, Ontario RAT 5, Rat 5, Rat Cutlery, Rat Kydex
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S&W M&P 9mm – Grip Tape
I’m relatively new to the pistol shooting world and I had some trouble getting a proper grip on my SW MP 9. I used a suggestion by Chris Costa from the Magpul Dynamics Art of the Dynamic Handgun dvd and put some Black Magic grip tape on the gun.
I put some tape on the left and right hand side of the grip and a piece underneath the trigger guard. This really helped me get a proper grip on the gun and made it fell more secure in my hand. After adding the tape I went to the range and refined the placement of the tape and I’m currently using the grip tape placement below.
The grip tape was an inexpensive way to improve the feel of the handgun. I looked into stippling but I was not comfortable with modifying the handgun in that way. Here is a great link on how to stipple a firearm using a soldering iron.
Target at Fifty Feet
Concealed Carry Don’ts
TheYankeeMarshal put all of his ” do not do” advice for concealed carry in one place. Check out the video.
Posted in General, Videos
Tagged ankle carry, ankle holster, Concealed Carry, IWB, mexican, OWB, pocket carry, pocket holster, purse carry, self defense, shoulder holster
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