It looks like that “brief window” I mentioned in this past Wednesday’s post is closing fast now that talks with Iran have collapsed. The U.S. is “blockading” the Strait of Hormuz to keep Iran from resupplying, selling oil, and making money by charging tankers a toll. Did you do anything to prep during that window?
People online are going crazy, thinking this will lead to a war with China, Turkey may attack Israel, Saudi Arabia may nuke Iran, and half a dozen other dire scenarios. That’s not my chief concern. Rising fuel costs leading to higher food costs and inflation—yep, that’s on the list. It makes me want to stock up on meat, order some more coffee, and hoard dark chocolate.
I checked SamsClub.com and Member’s Mark Double-Smoked Thick Cut Bacon is $3.97 a pound, and a 25-pound bag of flour is $8.48. Those are my personal inflation tracking bellwethers. I eat bacon almost every day, but that $4 worth lasts me ten or more meals, which makes my daily price 40 cents. That big bag of flour will make a couple of months’ worth of bread. With our chickens, I can eat egg and bacon sandwiches until the war is over. And if I want to add cheese, I can buy a five-pound brick of cheese for just under $11. That’s 80 sandwiches worth.
On a more serious note, the window you have to prep may be closing, but it hasn’t slammed shut yet. You can still do some stocking up before the SHTF, or the Chinese invade Taiwan, or whatever doom and gloom prediction you buy into.
It’s been a week since I left the mountain last Tuesday, but last I heard gas was still less than $4 a gallon.
Stocking Up on Hollow Points
I didn’t stockpile any more food, but I ordered 300 rounds of Gold Dot 124-grain 9mm ammo. I didn’t buy it because of the war; I ordered it online because it was on sale, and I had six magazines to fill in my new Kimber CDS9. For some time, I have been carrying the 115-grain Critical Defense, but their price has slowly climbed from under $20 to over $30 for a box of 25. The Gold Dots were half that; they are also a proven law enforcement round and penetrate further than the Critical Defense while still expanding well.
The 300 rounds also gave me enough to test them in the gun to ensure smooth loading and functioning, which I did on Saturday.
In my prior testing, I determined that the failure to load the last round in a magazine happened more often on the 13-round magazines with a blue follower than it did on the 15-round magazines with a gray follower. I don’t know if this has to do with the follower or the spring and magazine-tube combination. I cleaned and lubed the gun and am carrying it with the 15-round magazine and a second as my reload.
Switching Out Spare Magazines
Switching from the Glock 48 to the Kimber meant swapping out the “extra” magazines stashed in my truck and the other in my EDC bag. This is why I need a minimum of six magazines. I’d prefer eight, but it is easier than swapping from a .40 caliber Glock to the 9mm Glock. First, there is no confusion caused by similar magazines—the Glock mags are plastic, the Kimber’s are metal. Second, while the Glock 9mm mags will not fit in the Kimber, at least the ammo will. So finding a Glock mag under the seat of the Polaris may not provide an immediate reload, but when time allows, rounds can be unloaded from that magazine and reloaded into the Kimber’s.
With a steel slide and aluminum frame, the gun carries well in my CrossBreed holster. The 15-round mag makes its butt stick out a bit more than the Glock’s did, but if I need deeper concealment, I will put in a 13-round magazine. Most of the time, I’m carrying at home or on the mountain, and as the weather warms, that means open carry, so the concealability of the gun is meaningless in that situation.
Besides practicing with live ammo, I have been practicing my draw stroke and grip to ensure the green dot is in the right place when I draw. Since the grip angle of guns varies, you should always do some dry-fire practice to ensure you adapt to your new gun, grip, and sight. Otherwise, you may find yourself sticking the gun out there and flailing around while trying to find your dot.
I know not everyone might feel this way, but I am happy to once again be carrying a gun with an external safety.
Buy What you Need
Whether you need to pick up some more ammo or some more flour, this could be your chance to beat the coming price increase. The continued lockdown of the Strait of Hormuz creates a real-world pinch point that will eventually lead to higher prices and pain in far more places than the fuel pump.
