Sending some lead Down Range

Finally got a chance to try out BOTH of our Cold War Era Makarovs. They are actually 9mm Makarovs 9x18, not the 9mm lugars 9x19, which would make you think they would be hard to find, but surprisingly with the recent ammo scare, no one seems to be buying them up besides the few of us who are lucky enough to own one of these fine guns. My wife has the smaller version and loves it, however keep in mind, it has more recoil since its a smaller pocket type gun. Check out the vid to see how we did.

Primitive Ancient Slinging

This week, my husband decided he wanted a rock sling.
He's been all into primitive weapons since he made our latest PVC Pipe Bow.
So I studied up on making one with paracord.  Surprisingly, it takes a lot of effort and cordage!
I love how it turned out though.  Especially with the Olive Drab color.

The next thing out of my mouth was, Etsy!! 
Yeah, its now available to buy in our etsy shop: MaximumPack.
And I will custom make each one.

Though of course this ment we had to be "responsible shop owners" and test it out. :)
Let me tell you, it has a very sturdy, pliable pouch and holds the rocks very well.
It does however take a LOT of practice to be able to aim with it.

Now our yard is divided into 2 sections: Bow & Arrow and Rock Slinging. (As far away from windows as possible!)  What else should we add to our mini training field?  Hmmm..

Survival Kits are in!

The Ultimate Pocket Survival Kit is now available in my Etsy Shop: MaximumPack

I have been planning survival kits forever.

Before I had picked out the containers, I was meticulously wrapping thread & fishing line, cutting individual pieces of aluminum foil and knife sharpeners, and making every piece as small and compact as possible. 

Planning out what was needed was fairly simple.  I just wrote down everything I would want to have in my pocket if I needed to survive a short time.  That's what makes this kit so awesome.  

I worked so hard on this design, I almost wanted to keep it for myself.

 

To find out what all is included in this Pocket Kit, check out our etsy store linked below.  Now available for purchase!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/171069322/ultimate-pocket-survival-kit?ref=shop_home_active

Or just search: MaximumPack on etsy.com

Amping up the Mess Kit

Everyone who's anyone has probably got a mess kit.  But that's no where near everything you need to survive.  In this video I show how to improve your mess kit without compromising space.

Survival Camping (sort of) 2013

My hubby has been dead set to get out into the middle of nowhere and just stay there.  Yeah, sorry babe.  Aint happenin'.  Don't get me wrong, I love sleeping on the ground, huddling up to a campfire, and foraging for dinner and firewood.  But I have got to have a warm cozy little home to go to after a few days.  So, when my brother-in-law said, lets go camping in the middle of the woods, it was go time.  After much groaning, the hubby decided on a hammock instead of building a shelter out of sticks and leaves.


The shelter would have been awesome, however the weekend we all got off for the trip turned out to be the coldest weekend possible.  I'm talking in the 20's people.  But that didn't stop us!  We continued to plan out our backpacks and how in the hell to carry them.  Finally, the day came and we all grabbed our walking sticks, packs, water bottles, and just about everything but a kitchen sink and headed out!  It was great going in.  The packs were killing us, but adrenaline was surging through us.  We sang, we laughed, and stomped our way to a suitable camp site. 

Three of us in hammocks and the other in an army tent, we positioned ourselves in a circle around the campfire.  In hindsight, we should have been a bit closer tot he fire, so we could put our tarps up behind us and absorb the heat, but alas, we can't move the trees wherever we wish.  Also, sleeping right beside the creek like we did is not exactly ideal, but this was just a short adventure.  Each of our hammocks were layered like crazy to keep warm.  First, the traditional sleeping pad (the heaviest to carry besides the sleeping bag.)  Then we each got a one of those car sunshades and put it face up on top of that.  Those work great!  The reflective side works just like an emergency blanket.  On top of that went the sleeping bags.  Above the hammocks we hung tarps teepee style and staked them to the ground.  I tell you what, I stayed warm and cozy all night!

During the whole day we gathered firewood (not nearly enough though!) and the hubby and I gathered up some edible wild herbs.  Unfortunately, this place was not abundant.  We mainly found lady's thumb & clover.  Also, one of our peers caught a crawdad before the night was over so we had our wild dish ready.
My man got to work digging up a "Dakota Firepit."  The video on how he did this is on our blog in the 'Survival Tools' label.  This was probably the neatest and also simple project we had.  A word of advice
 though: bring some sort of back up stove.  Boiling water over a fire in 20 degree weather is extremely difficult.  Also, we dug a hole for the fireplace and it may have been easier to cook our other food if we could have pushed some coals to the side.  My meals consisted of ramen noodles (which got cold in 1 minute) and instant potatoes.  Do NOT buy the loaded baked potato kind.  I thought it would be awesome, but noooooo!
Besides my lovely dinner, I loved the trip!  I stayed warm in my hammock, got to hunt for firewood, and stare at the fire for hours before bed.  Sadly for my husband though, he did not have the most fantastic time ever.  Apparently, in the middle of the night his hammock fell to the ground and he ended up sleeping on top of cold rocks because it was impossible to fix when it is pitch dark and freezing.  Plus the paracord had stretched a good bit.  At least he was all layered up.  If he didn't have 5 shirts, 2 pants, and several socks on, he may have turned into a popsicle.


 Actually all of our hammocks stretched down a lot and we used 550 paracord so I'm not sure what we did wrong.  Anyways, we learned a great deal from the trip.  Plan it when its warmer, bring a back up stove, either bring a tent or build a shelter, and pack lighter.  The hike back to the car was the worst.  We were all freezing and hungry since we left in the morning and those heavy backpacks were not ideal!  It is way worth the money to buy the lightweight fancy stuff.  Anyways, that was our Camping Adventure and I can't wait to go again!

Dakota Fire Pit

On our recent camping trip, I tried out the Dakota Fire Pit for the first time with my new Mess Kit.  (I will be adding a video on how to Amp Up a traditional Mess Kit soon.)  Anyway, its pretty straight forward and the video shows how I did it.  Its basically like using a Rocket Stove, only in the ground.  It worked out pretty great!  Check it out..