The Q&A portion of the Wild Bunch Dispatch will be held on this page from 6pm to 7:30pm (Mountain Time) today. Any questions you might have on the 53rd issue please post here and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability. Some ground rules:
1) Please stick to the subject matter of the newsletter.
2) This is not a debate forum. If you have some concerns I’m happy to address them, but I can’t get into a long circular debate while other people have questions.
3) If I do not respond to your question immediately, don’t freak out. I’ll get to it, don’t worry.
4) Try to keep to one or two questions each time you write a post. Please refrain from essay-long multi-question posts. It is much appreciated.
I will begin discussion at exactly 6pm Mountain time. Looking forward to your questions and thoughts on the Wild Bunch Issue #53. The next issue of the newsletter will be released on April 24th. If you missed out on this discussion you can still subscribe for the next issue and participate. For more information on how to subscribe, visit the link HERE.
Regards,
Brandon Smith, Founder of Alt-Market.us
Discussion on Issue #53 is now open.
80% lowers are also starting to disappear. I bought a polymer 80 lower for a .308 from Midway about a month ago, one of the last ones they had available, and went I checked back there were none available even on backorder. Same thing I’ve seen with other sites that sell 80 lowers. And word of advice if you get a polymer 80 lower; keep some JB Weld handy in case you make an “oopsie” when milling it out.
Yes, I bought a couple 80% lowers last year on the expectation that they would disappear. I guess that they will be gone very soon. Also the jigs for milling are selling out fast. My local gun stores are completely out of ammo. They are buying from the public just to get anything on the shelf. Online is the only place to find ammo any longer, and you have to be lucky and catch a seller at the right time. I don’t think ammo will be back anytime soon in large quantities. Maybe never again.
I just got a hand held ham and plan to get licensed next month. The Yaesu 270r has been discontinued. The local ham group is not offering testing, but there are a few places within a 1.5 hour drive who still have them monthly. Do you still recommend the two way radios from your 2019 guide?
Yes, if you don’t have a ham license then get some Midlands or something similar. If you do have a license, anything by Yaesu is solid. Also, for low cost the Baofeng radios are still good; dual band & 5 watts. However, the prices are going up fast. Don’t forget to buy a whip antenna or aftermarket antenna for your HT radio because the antennas they come with suck.
I’m sorry. I meant the frequency hopping radio, not the two way. Are those not as top priority on your list as, for instance, body armor or a solar setup? With the way electronics are going these days with the chip shortages, I was considering getting a couple of those as well. However, I’m late to the stockpiling party and don’t have a lot of anything.
The Trisquare radios are still on Ebay for around $100 for a pair. They are okay, and they offer a little extra protection with the frequency hopping. They are not protection against military grade monitoring equipment, but their range is short so it would be hard to pick up any transmissions from them anyway. For short range (a couple of miles) operations I actually recommend low wattage radios like the Trisquares OVER a ham radio. Ham radios should be reserved for longer range communications. You can get a set of Trisquares, a small solar setup with two solar panels and a couple 12V deep cycle batteries and a set of AR500 plates for around $1200 total.
Would a Motorola provide more security from monitoring? Living in the midst of bases.
Thanks for the list and all of your info. It’s very helpful.
If you are referring to the Motorola frequency hopping security radios, yes, they are much harder to tap into and listen to, even for experts with high grade monitoring equipment. They are expensive though. Expect to pay around $220 or more per radio.
NcStar/Vism is a good place to look if you want affordable body armor and plate carriers. Bought one of their plate carriers and a pair of level 3 plates at a local gun show a few years ago. The whole setup cost around $400. My only criticisms about them was they didn’t haven’t have side plates available when I bought it. The side plates that I’ve seen only comes in one size(6X6) and the colors of the plate carriers are limited to a handful flat colors and only one camo pattern in the ACU digital pattern. You might also want to look into getting high-end carriers for airsoft if you can’t afford the real thing.
Condor plate carriers used to be pretty good for the money. They won’t survive more than a couple years of heavy use but you can always by a backup set. If you have anything in ACU camo you can get some green fabric dye and soak your items for a few hours; they will come out looking a lot better. I don’t use side plates because plate carriers are cumbersome and heavy enough as they are. That said, if you were on sentry duty at a checkpoint you might want full protection because you are a stationary target that is easy to find.
Do you see any shortages in seeds coming soon?
I haven’t noticed a big rush for seeds, but it’s still a little early in the Spring to make a call on that yet. I remember last year seeds disappeared from shelves like lightning. I think one thing to consider is that a LOT of conservatives have been relocating the past 6 months and they are buying up lumber and house building supplies. They may not be too concerned with establishing gardens yet because they are busy with moving. I have never seen anything like the mass migration that is happening right now to places like Montana; it is historic and I don’t think people realize how big it is yet. That said, I expect seeds to be very hard to get by next year. I add a little extra to my stock every year and always replace what I use. I’m still learning seed saving. Eventually I think everyone should be growing from their own saved seeds.
Migration to Florida is also high. Hard to get a rental car, hard to find a real estate agent, hard to find a house to buy. People are resorting to buying new construction but need to wait up to a year for it to be built.
Discussion is now closed on Issue #53. Thanks to all those subscribers who participated. If you missed out on this issue or would like to subscribe to The Wild Bunch Dispatch to receive future issues, visit the subscription page HERE.
Issue #53 will be released on April 24th.