What was your prep for today?

[MyUsernameTX]

And another, I installed a HyperEngineering SureStart on the AC that I had laying around. Should make it a little better starting when on generator power

I am really feeling all set with my main AC now!

 

[raggie33]

22 lr ammo if the stuff hits the fan and food is hard to find ill use it for small game

 

[M@elstrom]

22 lr ammo if the stuff hits the fan and food is hard to find ill use it for small game

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

22 lr ammo if the stuff hits the fan and food is hard to find ill use it for small game

If food is hard to find, better to also have a 12 gauge shotgun with birdshot for birds, buckshot for larger game, and slugs for anything the buckshot won’t take down. For self defense if you have a three round limit (that’s what it is in California), load the first round with bird shot and the last two with buck shot. The first shot will be less lethal as a warning to leave you alone. The last two show you mean business. Hopefully, you never have to use it for this.

You can also go with something like a .22 rifle/.410 shotgun combination gun and have both options in one weapon. I would not limit myself to shooting squirrels, rabbits, and snakes with a .22 and just making looters angry by injuring them when the SHTF.

 

[raggie33]

View attachment 71502

only if i have to feed my self id hate it. and it will be sad for me but i say its less cruel then eating catlle at least the bunny had a life outide a ranch thats my opion anyways lol

 

[MyUsernameTX]

A few posts ago I showed the 50w block heater on my small spare generator

It worked pretty good, and I tested it a few more times, so I decided to make sure it never comes unstuck, put some high temp RTV on there

A mosquito kept trying to get me while I was doing it, thats my excuse for the non perfect application!

 

[Poppy]

A few posts ago I showed the 50w block heater on my small spare generator

It worked pretty good, and I tested it a few more times, so I decided to make sure it never comes unstuck, put some high temp RTV on there

A mosquito kept trying to get me while I was doing it, thats my excuse for the non perfect application!

View attachment 71522

View attachment 71523

Hey TX,
I think you are overthinking this.

The Harbor Freight Predator 3500 inverter generator uses SAE 10W-30 motor oil and has an oil capacity of 20 fluid ounces. If the temperature is 32° F or below, you should use 5W30 oil.

I suppose the same can be said for your Champion.

Regarding preheating your oil, on cold days, I imagine that less than a minute of the generator running would heat your oil to whatever temp it needs to properly lube your engine.

 

[MyUsernameTX]

Hey TX,
I think you are overthinking this.

The Harbor Freight Predator 3500 inverter generator uses SAE 10W-30 motor oil and has an oil capacity of 20 fluid ounces. If the temperature is 32° F or below, you should use 5W30 oil.

I suppose the same can be said for your Champion.

Regarding preheating your oil, on cold days, I imagine that less than a minute of the generator running would heat your oil to whatever temp it needs to properly lube your engine.

My original post on the page before had more details, but here is even more

First, I like playing with stuff. Is this NEEDED? Probably not. I also don't need to spend so much on flashlights 😁

Second, there was a post on a forum somewhere. I don't remember if it was here, BITOG, Smokstak or maybe even Ziller, but someone who worked for FEMA had 10+ Honda generators that ran for a Hurricane, I think it was Ian? I know it was in Florida. Either way, they had multiple engine failures even though the engine oil was changed at the interval required and the engine oil level was always good. Honda ended up covering them under warranty, and advised to run thicker oil than 10W-30, as the extreme temperatures of the deep south and the load on the generators had sheared the oil down to be too thin to properly lubricate the engine.

So, after much discussion and reading forum threads, I decided to run 15W-40 in the generator.

15W-40 on a pull start, in freezing temps may get very tough. Also, I worry about the wear on the engine during the first few mins. This will do a GREAT job at heating the oil, so there is little downside. This entire project cost less than $20

Yes, I could just swap the oil before winter, but that just seems like so much more work, and a waste of oil

 

[raggie33]

i can go with no electric but i do have solar can run my window unit on a good day

 

[Poppy]

My original post on the page before had more details, but here is even more

First, I like playing with stuff. Is this NEEDED? Probably not. I also don't need to spend so much on flashlights 😁

Second, there was a post on a forum somewhere. I don't remember if it was here, BITOG, Smokstak or maybe even Ziller, but someone who worked for FEMA had 10+ Honda generators that ran for a Hurricane, I think it was Ian? I know it was in Florida. Either way, they had multiple engine failures even though the engine oil was changed at the interval required and the engine oil level was always good. Honda ended up covering them under warranty, and advised to run thicker oil than 10W-30, as the extreme temperatures of the deep south and the load on the generators had sheared the oil down to be too thin to properly lubricate the engine.

So, after much discussion and reading forum threads, I decided to run 15W-40 in the generator.

15W-40 on a pull start, in freezing temps may get very tough. Also, I worry about the wear on the engine during the first few mins. This will do a GREAT job at heating the oil, so there is little downside. This entire project cost less than $20

Yes, I could just swap the oil before winter, but that just seems like so much more work, and a waste of oil

That's interesting. Thank you for taking the time to explain.

 

[Monocrom]

If food is hard to find, better to also have a 12 gauge shotgun with birdshot for birds, buckshot for larger game, and slugs for anything the buckshot won't take down. For self defense if you have a three round limit (that's what it is in California), load the first round with bird shot and the last two with buck shot. The first shot will be less lethal as a warning to leave you alone. The last two show you mean business. Hopefully, you never have to use it for this.

When it comes to individuals trying to actively take my life, the sight of a shotgun is the only warning they get, for them to leave. After seeing it, if they come closer, Warning time is over. Especially if all you can legally have is a ridiculous 3-round artificial limit on your shotgun. With multiple attackers, you're going to need every shell in that shotgun.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

When it comes to individuals trying to actively take my life, the sight of a shotgun is the only warning they get, for them to leave. After seeing it, if they come closer, Warning time is over. Especially if all you can legally have is a ridiculous 3-round artificial limit on your shotgun. With multiple attackers, you're going to need every shell in that shotgun.

True, but with bird shot, smaller projectiles, more balls of metal flying. A first shot with bird shot may be less lethal, but it’ll scatter more and hit more targets in range. I’d rather injure several attackers and make most of them run away in fear and deal with the last remaining persistent threats with lethal force than to try to kill them all and run out of ammo before I can. I never said to waste ammo firing a warning shot and missing. I said it would be less lethal. This is of course in a SHTF situation with your life in danger, and you should always have a backup plan. Have a second or third gun, bow, crossbow, sword, knives, etc. and have an escape route and bug out location in case you couldn’t finish the job and they come looking for you with reinforcements.

 

[Monocrom]

True, but with bird shot, smaller projectiles, more balls of metal flying. A first shot with bird shot may be less lethal, but it'll scatter more and hit more targets in range. I'd rather injure several attackers and make most of them run away in fear and deal with the last remaining persistent threats with lethal force than to try to kill them all and run out of ammo before I can. I never said to waste ammo firing a warning shot and missing. I said it would be less lethal. This is of course in a SHTF situation with your life in danger, and you should always have a backup plan. Have a second or third gun, bow, crossbow, sword, knives, etc. and have an escape route and bug out location in case you couldn't finish the job and they come looking for you with reinforcements.

And the surviving attackers will sue you for every penny in Civil court. And, they're going to win. A first year law school student is going to use your words to show that, clearly in YOUR mind, you were not in actual fear of losing your Life or having great bodily harm done to you. Since you were intentionally trying to injure your so-called attackers, by using a lethal weapon to do so.

Their attorney is then going to argue that you had no right to reach for that shotgun because clearly his clients were not a threat to you. If they were, you would not have loaded a deadly weapon with Bird-shot. You would have loaded it with the most effective rounds to stop a deadly threat upon your Life. (Not to intentionally take their lives, but the most effective rounds to STOP their life-threatening attack upon you.) He's then going to make the claim that this was no self-defense shooting at all. He's then going to try to paint you as a lunatic in front of that jury. One who got some sick pleasure in injuring his clients. If his clients had been a real threat, he would have loaded that shotgun, all 3 rounds, with the most effective man-stopper shells he had on him. That's what a reasonable person under actual threat of death or great bodily harm would do.

Guarantee you, first year law school student could make that claim. You don't take a traditional lethal weapon for use in the absolute worst-case scenario, and try to make it less lethal. Even if it's just that first round. You don't try to injure a violent attacker. You do your best to STOP them, not injure them. An injured attacker can still be a threat. An attacker who has been stopped, no longer is. Keep in mind that stopping an attacker does not automatically mean you've killed them. Two different things. But honestly, if you can't bring yourself to stop an attacker by possibly taking their Life, first round out of that shotgun; then don't reach for it all. Reach for a mini fire-extinguisher sized canister of pepper-spray. Don't attempt to take a clearly recognized lethal weapon and try to make it less than lethal. That never works. And, a smart lawyer will take your intentions, twist them, and paint you as a sadistic monster who likes hurting people who were no real threat to you.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

So if armed attackers trespass on my property with the intent to rob and kill me and I use bird shot to pepper them with bbs on the first shot so I can hit more of them with the follow up shots before they can return fire, the survivors will go crying to their lawyer to sue me? Let them. They’ll be confessing to the police they were trespassing for their story to make sense and they’ll be arrested. It’s better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6. If someone is trying to kill me, I don’t care that I might get sued later. I am focused on staying alive and protecting my family. Anyone who thinks the threat of a lawsuit will let them have their way when they try to kill me is going to die. I’ll use the most effective way to take out the most attackers with the resources I have available.

 

[Monocrom]

So if armed attackers trespass on my property with the intent to rob and kill me and I use bird shot to pepper them with bbs on the first shot so I can hit more of them with the follow up shots before they can return fire, the survivors will go crying to their lawyer to sue me? Let them. They'll be confessing to the police they were trespassing for their story to make sense and they'll be arrested. It's better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6. If someone is trying to kill me, I don't care that I might get sued later. I am focused on staying alive and protecting my family. Anyone who thinks the threat of a lawsuit will let them have their way when they try to kill me is going to die. I'll use the most effective way to take out the most attackers with the resources I have available.

I'm sorry but, that's how it is in America's wonderful legal system. If you admit that your first shot was bird-shot because you were trying to injure that first attacker(s), a half-way clever lawyer is going to say you weren't in fear for your life, nor in fear of great bodily injury. He'll paint you as someone who is dangerous, mentally unstable, and gets a thrill out of injuring people, with a shotgun! He'll say this wasn't a self-defense shooting. He'll paint his clients as innocent individuals who trespassed but had no intent to harm anyone.... And that you, knew that! That's why you tried to injure them with that first shot.

Realistically speaking, we both know that in your State, openly confessing to trespassing on your property is going to get them a slap on the wrist. Perhaps a bit of time in jail. Perhaps no time in jail because of what you did to them with that bird-shot. Even a very short sentence, they won't care. When they get out, they'll get to enjoy everything YOU had in YOUR bank account. Everything of value you've worked hard for all your Life. Sorry but that's the reality of how this works. Your misplaced compassion of using bird-shot and hoping that "warning" will cause the other attackers or those attacker to flee and leave you alone, is going to backfire horribly! And, that's assuming you don't get arrested and charged in Criminal court yourself for Assaulting your attackers.

Look at the case of the Uber Eats driver who had the misfortune to encounter Jack Dougherty and his bodyguard. He ended up shooting Jack, and was later acquitted. Jack and his bodyguards didn't have guns. But the Driver's attorney was able to show that in his mind, his client was in fact in fear for his Life. And the actions of everyone involved, proved that his client's fear was very much real. Therefore, Justified self-defense. Your attorney is going to be fighting an uphill battle trying to prove you were in fear for your Life since you loaded that first round with bird-shot and told everyone you were specifically trying to injure that first attacker. Someone in true fear for their Life is going to pull out a lethal weapon and use lethal force to defend themselves. That's what that Uber Eats driver did. (Jack lived, learned nothing from the experience.) But that Driver used his handgun to STOP what he perceived to be a legit threat to his Life.

 

[Poppy]

One could make the argument that there was an attempt at the use of non-lethal force, and when that failed the use of lethal force became necessary.

 

[DHart]

Prep for colonoscopy.

 

[DHart]

When it comes to individuals trying to actively take my life, the sight of a shotgun is the only warning they get, for them to leave. After seeing it, if they come closer, Warning time is over. Especially if all you can legally have is a ridiculous 3-round artificial limit on your shotgun. With multiple attackers, you're going to need every shell in that shotgun.

12 gauge stocked with 00 Buck - absolutely superb home defense choice!

Bedside grab-n-goes... I'm partial to the old "trench gun" style with wood furniture.

 

[Monocrom]

Those are two gorgeous scatter guns indeed my friend. ❤️ ❤️

Colonoscopy? I know what that's like. Good news, the procedure is not nearly as annoying nor time consuming as the Prep. Procedure was the best sleep I ever got in awhile. Also.... Don't open the tan large envelope they hand you afterwards. Maybe it's a legal requirement. But you don't want a good look at the pictures that are inside of it.

 

[orbital]

+

My Mossberg semi-auto 12guage is loaded with 00

looks like this > MOSSBERG 930 SPX TACTICAL (7 rounds +1)