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Poll Results: An Exercise in Humility--a Poll on Embarrassing Mistakes
The following are the responses that we've received thusfar
in our current poll on Lessons Learned:
Jim:
I didn't the follow instructions on the bottle and I only took antibiotics until
fever broke, then stopped. Fever came back and had to switch antibiotics.
I didn't floss my teeth for years thinking brushing my teeth was enough. Ignored
continual bleeding from gums and didn't visit a dentist for 15 years. When I
went I found out that I had advanced gum disease and jaw bone loss far beyond
my years. Surgery was required. I've been flossing every day now. If I hadn't
made this change I'd have started losing teeth within 10 years.
On a day hike I relied on a GPS and
ignored my own sense of direction and nearly got stuck out at high altitude at
night without any shelter supplies. Could have
killed both of my kids.
Bought a bunch of meat, dehydrated it and put it in a vacuum sealed bag. Two
months
later it was all molded.
I assumed that a brand new rifle I had bought would work. Didn't shoot it for
a year. When I did it had problems that required it be sent back to the factory
for repair.
Mr. Rawles:
I bought a case of CCI Blazer .357 Magnum ammo, aluminum
cased. Blazer is fine for semi-autos. Not so good in revolvers -
the case
expands
and
I couldn't punch them out with more than one round in the
gun
Moral: make sure your ammo works in it's intended platform - always.
Stupid avoided - courtesy of the good folks at Olympic Arms: steel-cased
/ lacquered 7.62 x 39mm ammo has been gumming up their K-30 AR carbines.
Sustained fire heats up the chamber and melts the lacquer. When the
gun cools, the chamber is pooched, making feed/extraction reliability
iffy. Stupid prevention: use brass, or zinc-plated ammo ( Barnaul
Silver ). See moral ...
James:
My first big survival mistake was buying a Ruger ultralight all-weather
rifle, which weighs around 6 lbs empty, chambered in .30-06. I'd
done lots of research and knew it was effective to every conceivable
range,
was common and available, and would kill just about any animal I
cared to imagine...but I'd never fired one. It kicked like a mule and
left
me black and blue from firing exactly 8 rounds in it. I never fired
it again and sold it for slightly more than I paid for it, with the
rest of the box of ammo. It wasn't that the rifle was bad. It was
that it was too light for the caliber on a brand new shooter with no
training
in handling recoil.
The right thing to do would have been to buy that rifle in either
.243 Winchester or .270 Winchester, the former being slightly preferable
since its
enough for California deer and is a surprisingly good target round,
better than .270 due to better quality bullets. And in a 6 lb rifle,
its also very light recoil. The memory of that recoil shied me away
from .30 caliber rifles for several years and it wasn't until I fired
an M44 Mosin Nagant that I learned how to handle serious recoil.
That
[.30-06] Ruger set back my rifle marksmanship education around three
years.
Of course, I've met guys who were tougher than me who foolishly bought
.300 Win Mag rifles and winced around 5 minutes after each and every
shot. I got a headache-inducing concussion from firing a 7mm Remington
Magnum in a Savage hunting rifle. Very sharp recoil. Glad it wasn't
mine.
I also met guys who shot the .338 Ultramag with muzzle brakes and
made 38 inch groups at 300 yards (that's big enough to miss a moose,
BTW.)
It was the .22 LR which taught me proper trigger control and breathing.
And the .223 which taught me handloading and further accuracy since
the ammo was better than the .22 LR that my rifle liked to be fed
(.22's vary that way quite a bit.)
I suppose I shouldn't have bought the M44, and the Mauser, and the
.308, and the 7mm-08, and the .338-06 after I'd already proved myself
a marksman with the .223. I should have just bought a .308 and dealt
with the recoil, loading 130 grain bullets until I was used to it
with heavier rounds. But the upshot is I have rifles to fire all
those different
[types of] ammo. But I don't own a .30-06 or a .270 Winchester, or
a .243 Winchester either. The 7mm08 does everything those do.
Knowing what I know now, and knowing that .308 ammo is expensive
and the surplus is mostly cr*p, I'd probably go
for a 7mm'08 re-barreling of
a .308 autoloader for the most flexibility and recoil reduction in
a lighter battle rifle yet retain penetration and wounding capability.
Something like the FN SCAR-H (Heavy) and keep the .308 barrel in
reserve for when I run out of my good ammo. Swapping
the barrel takes minutes,
after all. Now, if only we civilians could get them...
Jim:
I started out my gun owning career with some clunkers -
among others a Mossberg 500. (Yes, I know lots of people love them)
but mine was a total [Piece of Schumer] (POS).
The
safety on top would engage from recoil and racking the slide, not conducive
to follow up shots, I also had the Para Ord that I told you
about a while back, a POS [Ruger] Mini-14, that could never shoot straight
and was seriously tempted by a Star, Rossi and some other real turds
that I was talked out of prior to purchase.
Also stick with quality glass, Leupold at a minimum and Swarovski /
Kahles if you can afford it. I have wasted money on Burris and Simmons
and other Chinese cr*p. Maybe go Nikon if that's all you can afford
If I was recommending a battery to a new shooter I would say, stick
with a quality handgun, in 9mm, .40, .357, .44 or .45 made by S&W,
SIG, Glock, Kimber, Colt, Browning, Ruger, and stay far away from lower
tier B and C guns unless they are free or 'no papers'. Get a good bolt
rifle in .223,
and in .308 or 30-06, semi auto in same .223 and in .308 or 30-06 (Winchester,
Rem, Springfield Armory, Savage, or sporter Mauser and a .22 handgun
and rifle (10/22 or a CZ bolt rifle) and a good 12 and/or 20 gauge
shotgun (Browning or Remington or Benelli). Family heirlooms and inheritances
in
goofy calibers not withstanding.
My problem is that I now want to get a 7mm Mauser, a .22-250, .358
Winchester, and some others just to play around. because I can afford
to, not because
I need one in that caliber, I have rifles that
will hunt anything. I don't need these other calibers. My main point
is stay with tier A quality arms in common calibers.
Mr. Rawles,
To add to the what not to do, embarrassing mistakes I have made. I
have a few to share that I think are quite illuminating for safety
and personal reasons.
Number one and dangerous was as a young reloader, now over 25 years
ago in 1981 after about a year of getting into the macho (and stupid)
habit of loading close to max. Firing a Colt manufactured first series AR-15 with
.223 loaded to the max, only one load that may have had just an extra
grain or two over
maximum (as I found several out of that batch of 100 that were one
to two grains over, once pulled and checked). As luck would have it
the damage to the AR was
relatively minimal: a burst and split gas tube, bent ejection cover,
hand-guard damage,
and
one frightened and lucky shooter - me... Luck because the damage
could have been catastrophic and I was not wearing protective eyewear.
Those are both major mistakes I do not make now, eyewear and loading
quality control / conservative loading procedures.
Second mistake was a new pistol with out a complete check, the first
time I racked the slide a broken firing pin had wedged just far enough
forward to fire the round, the damage to the loading table at the range
was not as bad as the embarrassment of firing into the range table
in front of several friends all of us without hearing protection because
we were preparing to fire rather than kill the table.
I have nightmares about that pistol to this day, had it not been for
the fact that I was not pointing that pistol at a person that could
have been a negligent discharge with a big price. Proper procedure
would have had the firearm pointing at the range field or target area
rather than over the range table.
Jim
While I have made plenty of mistakes on my road to preparedness, I
see two that stand out. One is somewhat comical, while the other one
is a trap that is all too common.
The first one happened about eight years ago now when I first really
caught the preparedness "bug". I knew that water is second
only to oxygen when it comes to immediate needs, so I decided to start
stockpiling soda bottles to use for water storage. before too long,
I have a basement full of sticky, nasty pop bottles of all shapes and
sizes just waiting for me to rinse out and fill with water. About that
time I realized that not only were half of them missing their caps,
it also dawned on me just how much room all these bottles would take
up. needless to say, I stopped stockpiling soda bottles. I did buy
a British Berkefeld and two extra sets of filters though, and am getting
ready to hook my rain gutters up to a food grade 50 gallon drum.
The other mistake I made is using my preparedness ideals to over-indulge
in some over-lapping areas of interest. Like a lot of survivalists,
I am a self confessed "gun nut". I like to shoot, and I truly
value my time spent at the range. Just how many battle rifles does
one need though? I currently own three different "assault rifles",
each one using a different magazine and caliber. The story with handguns
isn't quite as drastic, but I still have two types of pistol with their
own caliber and magazines. While it isn't a bad idea to have some extra
rifles and pistols on hand, the logistics of owning so many types and
calibers is expensive to say the least. I did the same thing with communications
gear. I love radios, and think that everyone who is seriously into
preparedness should have a good quality communications receiver, but
just how many does one really need? A table full? A room full? I have
since realized what I was doing, and have issued a couple of new rules
for myself: No more guns, and no more radios. I have enough of both,
thank you, and the resources I could be spending on these hobbies are
much better spent elsewhere. the cost of the last rifle and receiver
I purchased would have bought an awful lot of food, or even paid for
a solar backup to power all those radios when the power goes out.
The bottom line is that being prepared is more than an excuse to buy
a lot of guns. They are a very important part of it, but they are not
the only part. Before you buy that sexy looking AR, maybe
you should ask yourself if you have enough provisions on hand to survive
a week
off the grid. If you do, then maybe it's not a bad purchase for your
particular situation. If you don't, then your money could be better
spent elsewhere. We live and we learn I suppose. Hopefully others will
read my mistakes and learn from them.
Jim,
I love SF's idea to share our "hiccups" as we all make them
and we learn invaluable lessons from each. Three things come to mind
quickly as things in which I largely disappointed myself more than
anything. (On the brighter side, lessons learned pre-SHTF are all
good!!)
Here are the topics of disgust:
1). Sawdust-based compost on Garden
2). Vacuum sealing spare garden seeds
3). Not putting my dust masks in a dry vermin resistant package.As for the sawdust
compost mixture I tilled into my garden three years running I continually noticed
a decline in yield. In further research I found that the sawdust "sterilizes" the
soil by absorbing the key nutrients and not releasing them to what is needed.
(This can be corrected with adding Nitrogen, but what if Nitrogen is not readily
available)? In talking with [The]
Seed Savers
[Exchange], it sounds as if they
recommend not vacuum
sealing seeds as they are "living organisms" that will decrease in
germination if sealed if not ruin your yield. Sounds like a good ol tight fitting
can in a cool dark environment is as good as anything. I guess I have a bunch
of sweet corn seed that is now squirrel feed. (Different food family than intended,
but will not totally go to waste :-).As far as the dust masks are concerned,
I had a few boxes of masks in case of a bird flu type scenario that did not get
put into crates. These are now laden with mold from the lack of controlled environment
that they were in. Now, it surely would be a health risk to inhale dust/mold
spores directly into your system while hoping to filter out other harmful impurities.
Can you say "lesson learned"?Someone may as well benefit
from
the mistakes I made.
Humility,
yes; Humor, No.
JWR Adds: This poll is still open. By all means,
please send us additional "lessons learned", via e-mail.
We will of course post them anonymously.
