Tactical Walls

I am not sure where I ran across this product at originally, but thought it a great idea. Hidden in plain sight! Basically the products are a molded hard plastic that fits between the standard space between two wall studs and hold your long weapons or sidearms. In the video below, the author shows how to hide the inset behind a standard (and cheap) wall mirror. The company offers a lot of different sizes and options. The products start around a $100 and go up to around $200. The product isn’t a safe, but a quick and easy out of sight place to store your weapons and small gear. My next place will have one of these. Give the site a check, I don’t get anything just thought it was a neat and innovative product.

Tactical Walls

Safe/Bug Out Room

Here are a couple pics of our safe room, it has been a work in progress for about a year now. Overall the “room” is actually two rooms. As you walk through the main door, you see the toilet and shower. Like a wet room. Never took a shower down here yet but the dogs have practiced many times for me!

Here is a link to my original post and what the “room” looked like before I started my project. Some things have changed but for the most part the biggest changes is/are the wall that was built and a “secret” or secondary door added. The pictures don’t really show the new wall, kind of did that on purpose. Nothing special about it. It just has shelves against it. It would be to the right of the picture below.

Behind the shower wall is the storage, gear and bunk room as seen below. I made space for two adults to sleep down here. Currently the top portion is used for storage or piling of stuff that haven’t found a place on the other shelves. And mostly just a place to throw my ruck. All our preps are in this portion of the room. One thing not pictured, is I keep a small HP notebook with wireless connection on at all times, just for weather updates and what not. I purchased a cheapo TracPhone a few months ago at WalMart and keep it charged and plugged in. If GF or myself have to get into the room quickly the last thing I’m going to do is look for my phone. This portion of the safe room is the best protected with 3 of the 4 walls consisting of poured concrete and and structural brick.

More storage. The door on the left is the main door to enter the safe room. Just a regular outside steel door. I did change the hinges to a more beefy type I found on sale.

This is a small area under the stairs that we haven’t filled up yet. Eventually I am thinking this will be for water barrels.The wall facing you in the image is composed of 90 year old 2×4’s ( I dare anyone to try and hammer a nail into one of these without pre-drilling) Original plaster covered by 3/4 plywood.

This is a second door way that was installed opposite the shower area. I wanted a way to bail out of the room in the event of an emergency. If someone is beating on the main door, one could exit here and circle around through the workshop to come up behind the perpetrators.

This is looking at the door from my workshop area, It is kind of a hidden door. As I hang tools on the door I don’t think anyone would take the time to really examine that the wall pushes in.

And here is the door open.

I didn’t go all crazy with the wood wall, and had the thought of doubling up the plywood (OSB) with a heavy metal screen layered between the two. We settled with 3/4″ on the “outside” and 1/4″ on the “inside” of the wall.

Primarily the room is for storage. Still need to get some solid locking mechanisms on the doors and the plan is for having the secondary door only able to be locked/unlocked from the inside. I was going to go all gonzo on the walls and even the ceiling with insulation and plywood but thought the money could be better spent else where.

The secondary purpose of room is to allow the occupants time to get the doors closed and locked, get a weapon ready and shoot out if needed. The thought is the room will be a good temporary bug in location and a pretty safe room if needed.

Prepping on a budget

I know, I know we have seen many a posts saying/showing how to prep on a budget or minimal costs. I am going to share a picture of what adding $20 to your grocery budget each week or each time you go shopping for food. By setting aside that small amount, or any amount for that matter you can slowly build up your stock pile. As you can see below just picking up a few items here or there can quickly add up over time. This particular image is showing some basic medical supplies. Most items are only $2-6 each. Could you run a trauma unit from this? no, probably not but there is enough here that would keep general cuts and scrapes from getting infected badly, aspirin and Motrin for cutting fevers and reducing aches and pains and items for oral hygiene. Not a lot but enough for a short duration.

Here is a link that I pulled from I think SouthernPrepper1. It is a vet supply company, ShopMedVet is the site. From just a quick look around the website they have just about everything you would need to setup your own trauma unit and if not you can buy what you need in small purchases.

Look all, here is a reality check. I was unemployed for 13 months, I took that $20 and made small purchases when I went to WalMart or other grocery stores in my area. I still was able to keep the lights on and the mortgage paid. Believe me I didn’t drink Starbucks or eat name brand anything, so it can be done.

Just saying……….

Man Purse or a European Man Satchel

When I was at leadership school a few weeks ago, we were getting ready to run STX lanes (Situational Training Exercise) pronounced “STICKS lanes”. As I was watching the cadre pull out the ammo for the M240’s and the M249’s the soldiers were doing the TTP’s and prepping their weapons they took the ammo out of the carrying pouches and started tossing them into the shit can. I was watching this with a bit of humor and thought what a waste! I could use those pouches for something prep related.

So I scavenged about a dozen or so from the trash and brought them home to add to my pile of prep items.  I haven’t figured out what I will use them for yet, but the pouches are made from a light canvas and each have a solid piece of strapping sewn to each for slinging over your shoulder. I was thinking a person could make a small first aid kit and have it handy in the car. The shoulder strap could be thrown over your shoulder or tied to your ruck sack if you need to ditch your vehicle.

I couldn’t pass up the price of “free” so if I never use them I won’t feel bad. I’m sure I will find something to use them for.