USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- We can not turn on the TV news without getting a continual injection of Coronavirus reporting. Will this be a legitimate pandemic or is it all man-made fear over a “big nothing burger” chest cold, as our favorite Clinton likes to say?
Truth is we don’t know and all we can do is watch the reports like everybody else to see what the truth is?
Coronavirus Resources
There are some good resources online tracking the spread that we recommend you check. Just follow the links below for the ones we like and that way you can keep an eye spread near you or adjust your travel plans as needed.
Tracking Every Coronavirus Case in the U.S Map: The New York Times has a current map of the known cases that is pretty good and worth checking out.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) : This is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention page for information on COVID-19. This page will is said to be updated regularly at noon Mondays through Fridays. Numbers close out at 4 p.m. the day before reporting.
UT Southwestern Medical Center – Coronavirus Briefing: UT Southwestern Medical Center has a PDF that has a lot of basic facts presented without a lot of underlying fear-mongering built-in.
Coronavirus Defense Supplies
So yes, we have read your comments on this stuff and there are plenty of opinions on the effectiveness of stopping the virus spread through the use of masks. We have seen all the back and forth and we are not making any claims. The reality as we see it is, our readers can make up their own minds on what they decide to include in their own virus go-bags. All we can do it point out the gear we know works well or is the same gear you would see our own military and government agencies use.
N95 Masks:The N95 Masks has been the go-to mask that folks have been panic buying and for that reason, they are pretty much sold out across the U.S. if not the world. One place we found them still in stock was Miller Supply Inc. You probably know Miller as they have been bulk suppliers of eyewear to shooting ranges over the years. Currently, as of this article publish date, Miller seems to have inventory on the 3M N95 Masks as well as bulk buys and Travel Kits.
Bulk Hand Sanitizer: This is the most recommended and agreed upon a protection tool for beating the COVID-19 virus. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face. It is a hard habit to break….
MIRA Safety CM-7M Military Gas Mask – CBRN; We got a lot of comment-heat the first time we mentioned MIRA Safety and their CM-7M Military Gas Mask, but if you are serious about your survival gear for pandemics as well as any variety of SHTF situations from terrorist attacks to nuclear then there is no reason why you would not have one of the best shooters mask in use today.
MIRA CBRN Gas Mask Filter: These are in stock and shipping, albeit slowly, but they have a 20-year shelf life. The key feature of these top of the line filters is they are compatible with standard 40mm NATO threaded respirators, which are widely available. The MRIA CBRN filter all known CBRN agents, including radioactive iodine, rated for A2B2E2K2HgSXP3 D R, and you will need a few to outlast a real threat. Keep reading to see why we mention these.
Israeli Military Surplus M15 Gas Mask: This is a cheaper way to get into a properly working gas mask that will accept the MIRA CBRN Gas Mask Filters.
Gee I thought it came from Mexico, and that the cure was to consume large quantities of Dos Equis!
That’s right!! Humor keeps morale from plummeting when SHTF, even if it’s “gallows humor”.
WF & USA, Absolutely agree. Keep your sense of balance when all around you are losing theirs. Great beer and lime cartoon, BTW. I spent 2 hours last night, on the phone to a couple of people, trying to point out that you don’t have to sterilize your house if you aren’t going out and nobody was coming in. They were terrified because they didn’t have rubbing alcohol or Clorox, or much of anything honestly, including food supplies in their homes and just realized that the shelves are bare. We discussed foods that one of them was WILLING to eat.… Read more »
USA, It would be a great idea if my wife and I weren’t old and busted up. I’d love to live where I couldn’t see my nearest neighbor, much less be able to critique their cooking skills. She has med issues though that make either hot or cold and deal breaker so that limits my choices. I keep a small victory garden as it is and buy locally as much as I can. I believe in keeping the dollars in the local community as much as possible, Buy American is just an expanding on the idea. Moving our industry out… Read more »
@DiF – Without putting in serious effort, it is hard to find hand tools around here. Evil step mother discarded practically everything my Dad had, sometimes wish I’d gotten his tools. Have never seen an other hand powered drill excluding rusted out artifacts in museums. Following an EMF attack wife & I would be screwed – without tools, transport and quickly food. Perhaps not as old as you, but wife & I have our own health issues. A decade ago would have loved to follow USA – but now we’re pretty much fatalistic our chances following large scale disaster.
Finnky, There are Old Tool groups nationally and locally almost everywhere. Check antiques stores if you haven’t already. Hit me back channel if you need help finding them,
OV, Gawd you take me back. We made those out of the check valve that we used to make hand-pump wells. They’d screw onto the pip with a coupler. The big difference was that after we knocked a well down we’d put the check valve at the top under the hand pump. That was suck good water. Glacial. We’d knock down to the first water level ,and then go down to the next to get cold, clean water, turn the pip backwards a couple of turns to remove the drill head, and then turn it back to make sure the… Read more »
OV, Different schools together. We never had to worry too much about people drinking the water. Public access wasn’t an issue, they tended to be in the backyard near the door. Most everybody had wells or’d grown up with neighbors that did, and knew what the bucket was for. We were using a capped pipe with handles on the sides to pit the pipe down, I assume that’s what you used too. Growing up in Michigan, we had artesian wells in places and the first water was about 10′ down. Finding water was easy, no dowsing needed, most of the… Read more »
OV, Ya know, this sort of thing is a great resource that other forums don’t have. Most people have never driven a well, much less made a bailer for one. Anyone reading this thread has a pretty good idea of how to do it. At least enough to get started and figure out what they did wrong and fix it. It’s this kind of cultural knowledge that we need to pass on.
OV, Good point, I wasn’t clear enough about what goes on the end of the pipe, my bad.
The sand point looks like a BIG hollow countersink with a hole in the side near one of the fins. It screws onto the end and when you rotate the pipe backwards after hitting the 2nd water source it falls off and leaves the open pipe in the underground stream.
By “stomp” I would assume you are talking about the foot valve down in the well at the end of the other pressure hose that forces water up from underneath via the so-called “jet” pump?
I still have that system out on the ranch, even though my house is now a submersible pump.
I see. I’m on the fence as to which pumping system I like better. With a submersible, every time there’s a problem, one needs to pull the well. With the jet pump system most problems can be addressed from above the hole, but when the well does need pulling, it’s a lot bigger job. So it’s kind of like that old saying; “6 of one, a half dozen of the other…” Just a suction pump is the most trouble free, but my wells are too deep for that. The shallowest is 35 feet down to the water, and suction just… Read more »
@Finnky, shopgoodwill.com has a huge selection of hand tools.
WB, When I check antique tools there I see 4 choices and only one of them is a woodworking tool, an old level. Where’d you find them?
@DIF, Don’t limit the search to antique tools. Click on categories, then click on tools, then click on apply. There should be a dozen pages of tools. You have to go through them all because the old ladies that make the entries don’t know what they are looking at.
WB, Gotcha. No, they don’t know much about tools or how to describe them. HUGE is not a number. Vintage is questionable when you’re talking about something that isn’t old enough to vote. Sorry for the length of this post. OTOH, I see the old Simpson 260 I donated a couple years back is still for sale. The planes and the braces and egg beater drill look good, If Finnky is still reading this. The auger to match the braces doesn’t give a size and I can’t see the cutting surfaces well enough to tell if it’s usable. The saw… Read more »
OV, Thanks. Now I feel SO much younger now. %-) That Simpson 260 was a top of the line Multi-tester when I bought it. I served me well for a lot of years. A bit bulky, but built to last like my Johnson radios. We could tell when the weather was going to get “interesting” because my radio antenna would start doing circles way up above the house. We’d head for the root cellar and wait it out. I drove past the house a couple of years ago, the antenna was still there, although some idiot painted the redwood screaming… Read more »
Good will type stores are good for clothing and housewares, but out to lunch when it comes to tools. Flea markets, Farmer’s Markets, and garage sales are the hot ticket for hand tools that are still around now, decades later, as chinesium tools won’t be.. IMO,OFC.
Knute, I agree depending on where you are. Some places are dry holes. I gave a friend enough tools to start a school a while back and still have more than enough last my lifetime. Anybody interested in this should look up PATINA, M-WTCA, NWTCA, EAIA, Supertool – The Superior Works. That should get them started. It’ and up with them tunneling into how to make their own everything. These are VERY useful skills and tools to have in your preps bag.
Or just subscribe to this channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA5DixEaaUo
He’s forgotten more about hand tools than I know!
Knute, Paul Sellers is a good guy and he takes a realistic view of how to do things. I’ve been sharpening my own tools for a long time, It’s not too hard. Subscribing won’t sharpen your tools, you’ve still got to do that yourself.
Me too. I cannot fathom how people cannot sharpen a knife. I can see a saw as at least seemingly more complex, even though it is the exact same thing (except for tooth offset if the saw has that feature…), just repeated many times over. But how tough is it to understand that when you rub steel at a certain angle, the steel wears away and resets the edge? Seems to me even sheeple ought to be able to understand that. But, by the number of disposable knives and sharpening services around, it would appear that even that is giving… Read more »
Knute & Will, Practice makes muscle memory and that makes consistency. THAT’S the trick to all sharpening. If your angle is unchanging, you’re golden. I like old whetstones, but in a pinch I’ll use a river rock, or some shale off a cliff face. Sandpaper on a board or piece of glass, whatever works for you. As usual, it isn’t the object, it’s the person using it. Where have we heard THAT before. Saws aren’t hard, useful repeatable strokes, equal number and joint the top of the teeth before you start. work methodically and when the flats on top go… Read more »
OV, That circular motion works better if you make it a figure eight. Just be really careful about maintaining the angle. Go slow Until it’s second nature. When you dish the stone, take it to the sidewalk and do circles back and forth until it’s flat again. it’s all practice and being careful. Glass edge of a window, bottom of your coffee cup, lots of things work. Don’t let your wife catch you using the dishes. A strop can work but you have to be careful, it can round over the edge if it is on something flat. I glue… Read more »
Red Wings are good boots. I’ve got a set old enough to vote. They’ve got so much bear grease and mink oil rubbed into them that they shine. But boy howdy are they waterproof. reminds me of lighting my matches on my pants back when I smoked. I could never figure out why people lean on a knife rather than sharpen it, It’s asking to get cut and hurt the knife. You sure don’t want to be eating that plate, why try to cut it. I end up going through the relatives’ knives drawers sharpening every one of them. I… Read more »
None of my relatives will let me touch their knives. They claim they get too sharp to use without cutting themselves! The sheeple seem to genuinely LIKE failure. 🙂
Will) Me? Serious? Only sometimes. 🙂
In this particular case, no, there are some that will let me get their knives sharp. In particular one sister and a cousin. But for most of the rest it’s true.
My mother made me have my own kitchen knife at 14 because she was afraid of knives that I sharpened. That was right after I learned how to get a blade to shave and set out to do it to all of the kitchen knives too.
Knute, Fast addendum to saw sharpening. We had rip saws for thousands of years before we had crosscut saws. Rip saws are simple to sharpen since you file at right angles to the blade. Learn to sharpen those, any old junk saw will do to practice on and you will build the muscle memory of how to repeat the strokes with precision. You’ll also be amazed at how easy it is to do. You don’t need to redo the set on the saw or joint it each time, every 3 or 4th is plenty. A rip saw won’t leave quite… Read more »
One doesn’t much need a saw vise. It might be nice if one was sharpening for a living, but for occasional use, a set of aluminum or copper soft jaws for a standard vise is a lot more versatile. I also have a set of felt jaws, for holding guns securely without marring even the most fragile finish. The tricks of the gunsmith’s trade… The real object is to get in, diagnose and fix whatever is wrong, and then get out again without leaving a trace. It’s a lot more difficult than it might appear. Whenever you tighten or loosen… Read more »
Knute, a sawvise keeps the sawblade from vibrating while you file it. That makes the amount of metal removed much more consistent, it keeps the blade from being warped or stressed, and it gets rid of that horrid noise. You don’t have to be fancy, a couple pieces of wood clamped in the jaws of a mechanics vise, or any other sort, to go along a foot or so of the sawblade is all you need.
That what I use either my copper or aluminum soft jaws for. If I ever had to do a two man saw, though, I could have trouble. My soft jaws are all for my 8 inch machinist’s vise, which isn’t deep enough for that. A ripsaw is about the limit and even that leaves the toothed edge a bit unsupported. It works, but its a bit chattery. And wherever you have chatter, you’ll have a poor surface on the place being machined. I just touch that up with a stone, but that’s another operation. More time. But I seldom need… Read more »
Knute, Here’s one plan for them, there are tons of others. eBay has lots of metal ones in the $20 range. https://www.closegrain.com/2011/06/building-lie-nielsen-saw-vise.html The hole in the middle holds the bottom of the was, the teeth stick above, the hinge along the bottom makes for easy opening and it clamps into your standard vice. bob’s you uncle. I use dovetail, tenon, crosscut and rip as well as bucking and timber saws – misery whips. Go to your cut-off pile and make yourself a sawvise, It’ll take about 15 min and be the best thing you do today. You’ll remember why every… Read more »
OV) But there really isn’t much to say about food preservation or root cellars that isn’t on hundreds of sites already. Long term storage: basically two choices, either pickling or canning. For info search: “Pickling food” or “canning food” For short term storage, a root cellar is just a hole in the ground that is deep enough to hold a steady, cool temperature. Then it becomes a powerless cooler, at the cost of being away from the food preparation area, so not as handy. It’s the goods and services for trade part that people need to learn about. Starting with… Read more »
@DiF – Precisely the danger I’ve been pointing out to people. Economic risk of the pandemic greatly exceeds mortality risk – imagine how cities will fare if all truck drivers and grocery store workers fall ill and are unable to work for two weeks. Starvation would kill far more people than the virus ever will.
Eventually we’ll all live through the virus, but by slowing spread we can spread the hit over time and possibly even develop a vaccine before the majority have developed natural immunity.
@USA – Safe to assume your modern-black possessions are the same which racists like Robert O’dork wish to confiscate?
BGM.
Always good to be prepared for all contingencies. Not mentioned in this article is prepping to shelter-in-place in the event of pandemic community-level transmission in your area: Storage foods (like freeze-dry and dehydrated goods), water filtration and storage, tyvek hazard suits (to go with the gas masks), and overboot protective gear (like galoshes), and DUCT TAPE! There are virucidals besides ‘purell’ and that’s good to have too. Finally, forget about N95 masks, these do not positively seal your face or protect your eyes from airborne infectious agents that can infect through the eyeballs.. Get a proper gas mask!
Kidding about what?
It’s all good, humor is posted below.
This whole Corona virus thing has been so overblown by the media, and people are falling for it hook line and sinker. Yesterday the death toll in the USA was at 19 and all of those poor folks had medical problems already or were older folks with weaker immune systems. Over 35,000 die every year from the common flu, and the Corona virus incidents are already declining. The thing that worries me is that there is an apparent “world-wide” run on toilet paper. What the hell are people doing with toilet paper in connection with the Corona virus scare that… Read more »
Easy explanation regarding the “toilet paper shortage:……Obviously, this coronavirus thingy is scaring the shit out of everyone…..drum roll sound over….
@StL, Most humorous.
No, it’s just that most “INTELLIGENT” people aren’t worried. This is just another hysteria driven crisis created by you know who. Killer bees, Y2K, colony collapse disorder, climate crisis, pythons taking over FL, swine flu, bird flu, ebola, zitka…. and the list goes on. It’s another example of crying wolf.
Just like with most diseases that are spread by contact or airborne transmission, the majority of healthy people will not be affected because their immune system will protect them.
There is a lot of debate on here about if it’s real or not. I’m no scientist but I’m personally going to go with what the CDC recommends, but it’s impact, whether true or overblown is real here in Seattle. I’m a photographer and in the last week and a half, have had 4 photo shoots cancelled because of large gatherings of people is discouraged or people just don’t want to go out right now. I’m just hoping this all blows over soon because I’m running on fumes and little savings. Doesn’t help that I need to pay to fix… Read more »
@CFC, I believe that the U.S.Census is still hiring. Just to tide you over. You can make an application from your keyboard.
@wjd I would but I wrote the contract with a different company than the person he worked for so he technically wasn’t my client even though I was shooting him. Said he would pay for the lens but after hearing the repair cost was $760 he’s been rather silent
What To Do About Coronavirus “To help prevent a coronavirus infection, do the same things you do to avoid the common cold: Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water or with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Keep your hands and fingers away from your eyes, nose, and mouth. Avoid close contact with people who are infected. You treat a coronavirus infection the same way you treat a cold: Get plenty of rest. Drink fluids. Take over-the-counter medicine for a sore throat and fever. But don’t give aspirin to children or teens younger than 19; use ibuprofen or acetaminophen instead.… Read more »
Did it again, forgot to give you all this tracker from Georgetown. Note; The current Death rate is not 2% as reported, it’s closer to 6%. You don’t use the whole cases number for death rate. You use the deaths and the cured, or collectively the resolved cases which is comprised of the deaths plus cured.
It would be in the form of D rate=D/D+C , or D/R.
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
So a few days ago we found a paper on how the virus attacks. Yesterday the CDC came out and asked older folk to stock up on their meds, “especially if they have hypertension.” If you read this Dave, you know what’s up. Here’s the link to the article that is second hand from the CDC. Also I see it was reported by the Hill as well.
https://www.newsmax.com/health/health-news/elderly-cdc-groceries-medication/2020/03/09/id/957603/
Greg, Thanks for the follow-up. Yeah we get A LOT of our meds from China, and they’re already holding back some for their own people and turning shipments around. It’ll be interesting. The flip-side is that most people get their meds paid, at least in part, by their insurance which won’t let you stock up. It’s a lot like the talking heads on TV telling you how to make your own waterless hand cleaner,go out and buy rubbing alcohol – which is sold out so you can’t do that. The only good thing is the “Told you so” factor when… Read more »
Exactly Dave!
Here’s the CDC version…Heck it reads like a prepper must list.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html
Greg, You’re right. I was a survivalist before preppers were cool. At least I don’t have diabetes.
Also, Clinton can kill the coronavirus. Just tell her that it has information that can lead to her arrest.
Will, it would be extremely ironic if “T” was your middle initial. Still, no corresponding panic over the flu. There’s also been little to no mention in the media of the categories the deceased predominantly fall into (elderly, pre-existing respiratory conditions, etc.) vs those who nearly always recover. Those with a propensity to die from coronavirus have equivalent risks from the flu.
I don’t see what anyone’s name has to do with either the facts or the humor. But you’re right insofar as this corona panic is manufactured and wholly unnecessary! People need to be educated about preventing the spread of endemic illnesses like seasonal flu and the common cold. If we did that without hype but stressing its importance, that would go a LOT further to dealing with these other bugs that come from the orient every couple years.
mantalkblog.com has a hard hitting set of suggestions on isolation planning as well as comment on the stupid N95 mask debate.
@jh45gun, Can you synopsize?
I did! You should see the long version…
@jh45gun, Ah. Well, let me rephrase. Would you list the hard hitting suggestions, please. That way I could decide if I wanted to go to that website or not.
Jim, How about a link. When I went to it and searched both Covid-19 and corona virus, I got no results.