Why Everyone Needs An AR-15

Tropical Wilds · May 1, 2024

HARK! said:
The following video walks through the history of advancements in long guns, from the hand cannon to the AR-15.

It details the importance of not endangering the weakest of our people, by forcing them to defend their own lives with "old," "clunky," "difficult to use," "relics."

Pass.

HARK! · May 1, 2024

JosephZ said:
Below is a picture of yours truly showing this using a Remington R-4:

Nice chicken wing.

HARK! · May 1, 2024

Petros2015 said:
Check these guys out, while not directly food or defense related they are interesting. I'm building a frame for one of their fresnel lenses in the background of our conversation. Most power generation starts with heat - even nuke reactors, all they are is doing is using the heat generated to boil water, turn it to steam and drive turbines. Boiling water is also useful just for making it safe as well. But the lens I have should have these stats on a sunny day... I figured it was better to have one than not

* SIZE-----------------21H X 21W
* POWER EST.-----------7.8
* BEAM-----------------SPOT
* BEAM SIZE MAX POWER--.4 INCH (2.7" OUTER AREA 900 F)
* FOCAL LENGTH---------25 INCHES
* WEIGHT --------------5 LBS.
* MAX TEMP. CLIMB------1690 F IR THERMOMETER
* MAX COLLECTION-------1850F MATERIAL EST...........
* MATERIALS TESTED
* WATER------------12oz. BOILS 102 sec.
* WOOD-------------FLAME .1 SEC.
* ZINC-------------MELTS .5OZ 14 GRAMS - 17 SEC. * 3.1 GRAMS - 11 SEC.
* GLASS------------MELTS 1" X 1/4" BROWN GLASS 23 SEC.
* CONCRETE---------GLOW 21 SEC. EXPOSURE, MELT 39 SEC.

BUY A HUGE FRESNEL LENS GREEN POWER SCIENCE WOULD BE NICE ON THE DISCOVERY NETWORK SOLAR STIRLING ENGINES FRESNEL LENS PARABOLIC MIRROR

Solar Fresnel, Sun Power, Alternative Energy, generator

greenpowerscience.com

The melting point of aluminum is only 1220F... oh look! Now I've got a Forge...

I've been harvesting, threshing and winnowing barley this week. Normally I just let it go to seed; and let my animals graze it.

However what I hear from the experts again and again, is don't wait until you depend on your preparedness plan to find out whether or not it will work. Start now while resources are still available to tweak or change plans. I don't need this barley at all right now; but it will be extremely valuable to quantify the yield, and how much time and effort will go into processing that yield. Right now I can produce almost a 5 gal bucket per day; but that is using an electric drill for threshing, and an electric fan for winnowing. I need to build a thresher that runs on pedal power.

JosephZ · May 1, 2024

HARK! said:
Nice chicken wing.

Thanks, looking at the US Army field manual it's a textbook "chicken wing."

7-4. STANDING FIRING POSITION

To assume the standing firing position, the soldier faces his target, executes a facing movement to his firing side, and spreads his feet a comfortable distance apart (Figure 7-4). With his firing hand on the pistol grip and his nonfiring hand on either the upper handguard or the bottom of the magazine, the soldier places the butt of the rifle in the pocket formed by his firing shoulder so the sights are level with his eyes. The weight of the rifle is supported by the firing shoulder pocket and nonfiring hand. The soldier shifts his feet until he is aiming naturally at the target and his weight is evenly distributed on both feet. The standing position provides the least stability but could be needed for observing the target area since it can be assumed quickly while moving. Support for any portion of the body or rifle improves stability. More stability can be obtained by adjusting the ammunition pouch to support the nonfiring elbow, allowing the rifle magazine to rest in the nonfiring hand.

Using the chicken wing gives the shooter the best stability and it's the best way to fire a rifle when in the standing position if accuracy is your goal.

Petros2015 · May 1, 2024

HARK! said:
don't wait until you depend on your preparedness plan to find out whether or not it will work. Start now while resources are still available to tweak or change plans.

Yep; things always work a lot better in my head than the first time I try them lol. That's nice you have farmland and farm/animal experience - you should be way ahead of whatever game gets played if one starts. I figure I'll be as ready as I'm going to be in 6 months, and then I'll see how ready everyone else was. Good luck to you if things head South

Petros2015 · May 1, 2024

HARK! said:
using an electric drill for threshing, and an electric fan for winnowing. I need to build a thresher that runs on pedal power.

This is another fellow I follow, who has a lot of information which while it might not intended for prepping, could be useful to know. I've made his version #1 of the gassifier successfully, this is a second version. He has several vids on wood gas production

Wood gas - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

HARK! · May 1, 2024

Petros2015 said:
Yep; things always work a lot better in my head than the first time I try them lol. That's nice you have farmland and farm/animal experience - you should be way ahead of whatever game gets played if one starts. I figure I'll be as ready as I'm going to be in 6 months, and then I'll see how ready everyone else was. Good luck to you if things head South

Pshew!

I've been raising chickens for about 20 years. They're fairly easy; but there is a learning curve. Agriculture? I've been at it for about 10 years; and I'm just beginning to find what works on my land. I have had far more failure than success; and I have done a tremendous amount of research, speaking with people who have degrees on the subject, and reading scholarly papers on the subject. It's not easy; and I have a lot of time and money invested in my meager returns. Just learning how, and getting set up, to save seeds, on a mass scale, is a big deal. Will a single drought wipe out my stocks?

Without electricity or diesel, I can expect that return to be much less.

I'm OK with that. What I know now just might save my life, and the lives of others.

HARK! · May 1, 2024

Petros2015 said:
This is another fellow I follow, who has a lot of information which while it might not intended for prepping, could be useful to know. I've made his version #1 of the gassifier successfully, this is a second version. He has several vids on wood gas production

Wood gas - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The world runs on energy. This has everything to do with prepping, whether you can find energy outside of what you can digest in calories, or not. At least you'll know what you're dealing with.

Here are some stats for farm workers:

With roughly 1500 steps taken each hour, these careers have people taking roughly 12,000 steps in an 8 hour period. By our calculations, that’s 175 calories per hour, or 1,400 in eight. Keep in mind that these numbers are based off of a 145 pound person.

Calories Burned by Occupation - How Many Calories Does My Job Burn?

Find out how many calories you burn at work in this article that examines the advantages & pitfalls of staying fit in each occupation.

www.fitnessblender.com

Those are numbers for a small person, who doesn't have to work as hard with all of our modern conveniences. In other words, these are very conservative numbers.

Here are some stats on a gallon of diesel:

1 gallon of diesel fuel or heating oil (with sulfur content less than 15 parts per million) = 137,381 Btu

Here is the conversion from Btu to calorie:

1 Btu to calories = 252.05597 calories

So 1 gallon of diesel contains 137, 381 Btu X 252 = 34620012 calories.

An American (I don't really think that we know what a hard days work is) expends 1400 calories in a hard days work.

34620012 / 1400 = 24728 days.

Now we need to take into consideration the inefficiencies of the engines on farm equipment; but still this should begin to give us a picture of how much harder we might have to work without petroleum.

Petros2015 · May 1, 2024

HARK! said:
still this should begin to give us a picture of how much harder we might have to work without petroleum.

Yep I was thinking about that when you were saying "electric drill for threshing, and an electric fan for winnowing. I need to build a thresher that runs on pedal power." There's an economy to calories - if I expend 600 calories to get 500 calories, I'll lose the game.

I'm not sure how big your threshers and drills are. I was thinking of something like the scale of a hand power drill running off a rechargeable battery; if I have a setup (solar, woodgas, whatever) that can drive a generator enough to charge a battery periodically, then I have portable tools and power, at least as long as the batteries continue to function and recharge (and probably for quite a bit longer than anyone else). Useful, and not burning calories with pedal power for anything needed.

I do have a small stock of gas, 25 gallons and a standard generator. lol and a couple of siphons... next to the bolt cutters... move along, nothing to see here

but I want a setup that still works at least partially to generate power if the stations aren't there for us; should be achievable and it's a fun project.

Electricity also gives you electrolysis, and electrolysis gives you Hydrogen... Turns out there are more calories in water than you might think, not as much as diesel (and not really safe to store), but enough to be impressive.

HARK! · May 2, 2024

Petros2015 said:
Yep I was thinking about that when you were saying "electric drill for threshing, and an electric fan for winnowing. I need to build a thresher that runs on pedal power." There's an economy to calories - if I expend 600 calories to get 500 calories, I'll lose the game.

I'm not sure how big your threshers and drills are. I was thinking of something like the scale of a hand power drill running off a rechargeable battery; if I have a setup (solar, woodgas, whatever) that can drive a generator enough to charge a battery periodically, then I have portable tools and power, at least as long as the batteries continue to function and recharge (and probably for quite a bit longer than anyone else). Useful, and not burning calories with pedal power for anything needed.

I do have a small stock of gas, 25 gallons and a standard generator. lol and a couple of siphons... next to the bolt cutters... move along, nothing to see here but I want a setup that still works at least partially to generate power if the stations aren't there for us; should be achievable and it's a fun project.

Electricity also gives you electrolysis, and electrolysis gives you Hydrogen... Turns out there are more calories in water than you might think, not as much as diesel (and not really safe to store), but enough to be impressive.

I've been making my own bleach and lye through electrolysis; and I have a powerful setup to do it. I have a 20A variac with a rectifier that can handle the current. I would have been making hydrogen for years now, if I had a good way to store it.

Well at least with the bleach and the lye, I can clean up nicely after I work up a sweat doing hard labor.

I had planned to build my own large NiFe batteries. I had been looking for a good source for a good price on 99% sheet nickle; but it looks like time is running out on that project. Food is a priority.

Chickens can live on grass. It's their primary food source; and I get more eggs than I can eat with about a dozen layers. I give away dozens of eggs every week; if I'm not mass filling my incubators. They slow down their laying in the winter; but with hydrated lime I can safely store eggs without refrigeration for a year.

I had over 100 chicken last year; but a feral cat came though; and there was a massacre. I have three incubators running non-stop this spring; and I will soon have over 100 chickens again. I can expect the young ones to start laying next spring.

Petros2015 · May 2, 2024

HARK! said:
I've been making my own bleach and lye through electrolysis; and I have a powerful setup to do it. I have a 20A variac with a rectifier that can handle the current. I would have been making hydrogen for years now, if I had a good way to store it.

NICE!

This guy, maybe, for hydrogen storage. I'm not sure how long it "hangs onto" it though and haven't tried this. He's brilliant though.

HARK! said:
Food is a priority.

Understood. I'll def check out the egg vid, getting along without reliable refrigeration is definitely a concern and not something I would expect to have.

HARK! · May 2, 2024

Petros2015 said:
This guy, maybe, for hydrogen storage. I'm not sure how long it "hangs onto" it though and haven't tried this. He's brilliant though.

He is brilliant. I watched this video shortly after it was released. It looks cost effective; but it also looks like it would take a lot of work to get a system set up that would work.

Tuur · May 2, 2024

Note: Haven't watched the video.

Making hydrogen is easy. Storage is hard. Even helium is tiny enough to leak through some solids, and hydrogen is smaller. It's colorless, odorless, and burns with an invisible flame. Would think that adding an odorant, as is done to natural gas and propane, would eliminate both the lack of scent and invisible flame, but is that part of hydrogen discussions? Also not fond of the idea of compressing the stuff. Above a certain concentration it can combust given an energy source.

BPPLEE · May 4, 2024

JosephZ said:
No, it just means handguns are used more often.

Because these weapons are protected by the Constitution and citizens of the United States have a right to own guns with the exception of those which are deemed to be dangerous or unusual.

District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 US 570 - Supreme Court 2008 - Google Scholar

scholar.google.com

“Because these weapons are protected by the Constitution and citizens of the United States have a right to own guns with the exception of those which are deemed to be dangerous or unusual. “
Aren’t all weapons dangerous?

dogs4thewin · May 8, 2024

BPPLEE said:
“Because these weapons are protected by the Constitution and citizens of the United States have a right to own guns with the exception of those which are deemed to be dangerous or unusual. “
Aren’t all weapons dangerous?

and funny that a "weapon" can be just about anything a gun, a knife, a baseball bat, a car, a lead pipe, a beer bottle even a very sharp pencil could be a dangerous weapon if used in such a way.

ImaginaryFiction · May 15, 2024

AlexB23 said:
This is why everyone should not have access to high powered weapons, in fact, no regular civilians should have access to semi or autos, as your deer or pheasant would taste more metallic. I do not own any firearms, cos I do not hunt. But if I did hunt, I would probably own a 0.22, meant for hunting only. These AR weapons are military grade bro. Alright, I'll step out of this thread before the NRA supporters attack.

Columbine, CO: April 20, 1999
View attachment 346329

Why does what kind of gun someone else owns effect you? Obviously guns don't cause gun violence or anything because if they did we would all be dead because there are hundreds of millions of more guns than Americans.

The thing is we wouldn't need any gun control at all if we had a decent society. The problem is people see gun violence and say "people shouldn't own semi automatic weapons". Ok, even if you vanish every single gun in America right now you know what's left? All the criminals, crazies and dopeheads that want to hurt other people will still be here wanting to hurt others.

We need mentally ill people control, criminal control, drug abuser control because they are the ones picking up guns and using them to hurt other people. To do anything else will not make us any safer. If you want to fix a problem you have to fix it at the source.

Petros2015 · May 16, 2024

HARK! said:
The following video walks through the history of advancements in long guns, from the hand cannon to the AR-15.

I finally did get around to watching the vid; it's a good vid and was educational, worth my time.

Got my first rain barrel setup, but, being a large trashcan, it is made of dangerous looking black plastic. I am concerned that the government might think it could be used as a bump stock, and I'll have a hard time arguing that I can't mount other modules on top of it. They are *definitely* not going to like my solar boiler when finished which looks suspiciously like a pipe bomb even to me lol.

Heading in this direction, with planned feed from the rain barrel. Although "this could run all day" is definitely optimistic given the clouds and rain we've had lately. It's probably more of a "if you are lucky, this could run part of the day"

HopeSings · May 16, 2024

HARK! said:
The following video walks through the history of advancements in long guns, from the hand cannon to the AR-15.

It details the importance of not endangering the weakest of our people, by forcing them to defend their own lives with "old," "clunky," "difficult to use," "relics."

Our weapons and warfare are not carnal

FredVB · Oct 9, 2024

Weapons are dangerous, but as our lives and what we have would all have value we should be able to have what we can defend ourselves and all that with. Any AR-15 would not rightly be an exception to that.

Fantine · Oct 9, 2024

Nevertheless, saying that everyone "needs" an AR-15 can be easily disproven. Even in my state, which apparently has the most gun-owners per capita in the country, only a little more than 50% own guns, and probably a much smaller number own AR-15's.

I'm in my 70's, worked in NYC, rode subways, lived in four different states, all without owning a gun, and I'm still standing.

It seems as if a statement like "everyone needs an AR-15" is encouraging a dangerous paranoia which breeds anxiety and unhappiness.

I never felt limited or restricted because of not owning or carrying a gun. I have visited 4 continents, gone to all sorts of late night concerts and events, worked in NYC. I used reasonable safety precautions but never felt as if they cramped my style.

Why Everyone Needs An AR-15

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