SniperBait
11-29-2006, 03:14 AM
I think it's time to get a cache post going. Please jump in and add your experiences.
Here is a cut and paste from a post I wrote elsewhere. Some here may have already seen it. Sorry, I hope it's not against the rules. And please no flaming or die-section. I'm just sharing info from my 25 years in preparedness. Plus this is only my $.02 and your mileage may vary.
As far as Cache locations. I would keep a significant initial resupply very close to your home. If you are caught by surprise on the hopper in the middle of the night and the only way to live is out the bathroom window, in your skivvies. Then you need basics within a short running distance. Far enough that you have some distance to shake pursuit. Yet, close so that it won't be too late. If you plan to mount a rescue of your family.
There is a lot of danger in planting a firearm in the ground. If it is traced to you. You will be on nationwide TV. Not to mention the dangers of a child finding it. IMHO A firearm must be monitored closely if left unattended.
Thoughts on the cache.... In snow country. A cache has to have more then 12 inches of soil on top. Ground heat will convect into the airspace inside of the cache. Radiate to the top and melt the snow faster then the surrounding soil. Anyone would question why a bald spot, and investigate. Think about burying under the low limbs of an evergreen. The dark color collects sun warmth so the soil is softer and thaws first.
A counter measure to convection is to use an automotive A/C recharge kit. Stand the cache on end outside. Carefully pierce the can and let the refrigerant run out the hose into your cache. It is heavier then air so it will fall to the bottom and drive the air and moisture out. The anti corrosives in the gas that protect the A/C system will protect the contents. It may also "seal" any leaks that develop.
If you use the PVC Method. You will be digging a large diameter hole to get down deep enough to bury. With the big hole. Bury a 12inch PVC pipe first. Then place your waterproof 4",6" or 8" PVC cache inside. You can't get cap ends for 12" size without answering questions. So don't bother to try. Just lay a patio block on top and cover with soil. This way you don't have to expose a lot of the end to fight the cap seals. You can just pry off the top and run with the whole cache. Don't use the screw on caps for your water proof cache. From experience, they leak. Glue on normal end caps both ends. I would although avoid the light irrigation caps.
If you are tricky. Stamp letter a Stainless sheet metal tag for your patio block.
"US Geological Survey" " Lightning strike monitor", "Buried Below", "Danger Do Not Disturb". I think 95% of sheeple would cover it back up and not bother to call the Police.
Wrap your inner cache with the survey string you get at Lowes. When you get to a spot that is safe enough to open your PVC. Stand on the tube and with one end of the string in each hand. Saw the PVC pipe, near the end cap, with the string. You will be through the PVC in a minute.
If at all possible. Bury your empty outer 12 inch PVC first. Leave "tell-tales". Wait several months. Let mother nature restore the site. Then carefully dig exposing your outer PVC. Install your prepared sealed cache. Trust me. It is a very unnatural event to be digging in the woods or by-way. In a society where people can't mind their own business. The sound of digging is an automatic call to LE. And I guess it should be.
Keeping the peek. It may be I'm paranoid:rolleyes: I just can't include others when hiding things. It's probably a good topic to weigh in on. Who can you trust with this information, to stand guard for you? A dog, maybe?
Another major problem is the time it takes to dig. Without totally strip mining the area. Using tarps to keep the dirt off the surrounding ground is prohibitive but necessary. Depending on the area. Deploying the cache at 2AM may be the only way to go for you.
When preparing a cache. Run an orbital sander over the exterior of all PVC pipe. A rolled lot number is pressed into the plastic. The number can trace back to the store. A list from the register swipe could lead LE toward you.
Metal detectors can find long metal parts easier when buried vertically. The magnetic signature is smaller in the horizontal. (I mean it to read this way)
Theses are links to electromagnetism that explain why.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electrom...nes/index.html
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electrom...tor/index.html
Cosmoline was considered a low quality grease in WWII and Commie nations. Better quality preservatives had more important war uses. If preserving metal parts. Check out a good gun shop for the latest preservatives on the market. Also be careful of desiccants. There main ingredient is salt. Placing high quality steel in an enclosed tube with moisture and salt is asking for heavy corrosion. Only use Silica gel.... Cat litter is clay and salt. It just makes a mess.
My own number one rule of survival caching is simple.... No finger prints, paper, hairs, serial numbers on anything. Don't bury anything you care about keeping or CAN'T WALK AWAY FROM.
Regarding ammo. It is probably the most difficult item to bury. Most metal preservatives are aerosol (propane) or petroleum based. If you expose your ammo to them. They can kill the primers in loaded ammo, even sealed cartridges...And that can be embarrassing:eek:
I have had luck with a "Foodsaver" from walmart. And before everyone jumps on me. No, it is not powerful enough to suck out the primers.
Use the 9 inch wide rolls. Pull out four feet of bag stock. Load your ammo on stripper clips. Lay them in the bag width wise. Vacuum out the air. Seal the bag with an Iron set at "Wool" Do Not Cut! Then put in another clip of ammo. Repeat until you have a bandoleer of ammo that fits comfortably over your web gear. Duct tape the ends together, and spray paint the white side. On the clear side spray paint the edges and leave a window so you can see what condition your ammo is in.
If you use this method. Carry the bando's with bullets pointing down, and white side against your body. Reach around with your loading hand. Drive your fingers into the gap under the bullet points and rip the clip out. As soon as you break the suction with the bullet tips. The clear side just comes right off. I should patent this and sell it to the army, but for now my idea is free.
I just recently saw a post about burying metal in the area of your cache. If it would be natural to the location. (Junk yard) Then that is fine. If a team is working an area looking for your cache, and they find a chevy 350 cam shaft. They are going to know they are close. And be encouraged to press on. You want to find a site where moving equipment in would be impossible. All the searching would be manual labor. Wear the searchers down. Hours of lead-less toil will hopefully make them sloppy and unwilling to climb down under a fir tree.
These searchers are people. It is one thing to be breaking bush for hours to find a murder weapon. It is another thing to search "forever" because your wife said you bury guns in her divorce papers!
Read that last paragraph again. We are all pretty tricky/cleaver people. (So rule out stupidity). In the event your cache is ever compromised. IMHO the likely suspect will be your significant other. If you feel differently. Feel free to comment.
Here is a cut and paste from a post I wrote elsewhere. Some here may have already seen it. Sorry, I hope it's not against the rules. And please no flaming or die-section. I'm just sharing info from my 25 years in preparedness. Plus this is only my $.02 and your mileage may vary.
As far as Cache locations. I would keep a significant initial resupply very close to your home. If you are caught by surprise on the hopper in the middle of the night and the only way to live is out the bathroom window, in your skivvies. Then you need basics within a short running distance. Far enough that you have some distance to shake pursuit. Yet, close so that it won't be too late. If you plan to mount a rescue of your family.
There is a lot of danger in planting a firearm in the ground. If it is traced to you. You will be on nationwide TV. Not to mention the dangers of a child finding it. IMHO A firearm must be monitored closely if left unattended.
Thoughts on the cache.... In snow country. A cache has to have more then 12 inches of soil on top. Ground heat will convect into the airspace inside of the cache. Radiate to the top and melt the snow faster then the surrounding soil. Anyone would question why a bald spot, and investigate. Think about burying under the low limbs of an evergreen. The dark color collects sun warmth so the soil is softer and thaws first.
A counter measure to convection is to use an automotive A/C recharge kit. Stand the cache on end outside. Carefully pierce the can and let the refrigerant run out the hose into your cache. It is heavier then air so it will fall to the bottom and drive the air and moisture out. The anti corrosives in the gas that protect the A/C system will protect the contents. It may also "seal" any leaks that develop.
If you use the PVC Method. You will be digging a large diameter hole to get down deep enough to bury. With the big hole. Bury a 12inch PVC pipe first. Then place your waterproof 4",6" or 8" PVC cache inside. You can't get cap ends for 12" size without answering questions. So don't bother to try. Just lay a patio block on top and cover with soil. This way you don't have to expose a lot of the end to fight the cap seals. You can just pry off the top and run with the whole cache. Don't use the screw on caps for your water proof cache. From experience, they leak. Glue on normal end caps both ends. I would although avoid the light irrigation caps.
If you are tricky. Stamp letter a Stainless sheet metal tag for your patio block.
"US Geological Survey" " Lightning strike monitor", "Buried Below", "Danger Do Not Disturb". I think 95% of sheeple would cover it back up and not bother to call the Police.
Wrap your inner cache with the survey string you get at Lowes. When you get to a spot that is safe enough to open your PVC. Stand on the tube and with one end of the string in each hand. Saw the PVC pipe, near the end cap, with the string. You will be through the PVC in a minute.
If at all possible. Bury your empty outer 12 inch PVC first. Leave "tell-tales". Wait several months. Let mother nature restore the site. Then carefully dig exposing your outer PVC. Install your prepared sealed cache. Trust me. It is a very unnatural event to be digging in the woods or by-way. In a society where people can't mind their own business. The sound of digging is an automatic call to LE. And I guess it should be.
Keeping the peek. It may be I'm paranoid:rolleyes: I just can't include others when hiding things. It's probably a good topic to weigh in on. Who can you trust with this information, to stand guard for you? A dog, maybe?
Another major problem is the time it takes to dig. Without totally strip mining the area. Using tarps to keep the dirt off the surrounding ground is prohibitive but necessary. Depending on the area. Deploying the cache at 2AM may be the only way to go for you.
When preparing a cache. Run an orbital sander over the exterior of all PVC pipe. A rolled lot number is pressed into the plastic. The number can trace back to the store. A list from the register swipe could lead LE toward you.
Metal detectors can find long metal parts easier when buried vertically. The magnetic signature is smaller in the horizontal. (I mean it to read this way)
Theses are links to electromagnetism that explain why.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electrom...nes/index.html
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electrom...tor/index.html
Cosmoline was considered a low quality grease in WWII and Commie nations. Better quality preservatives had more important war uses. If preserving metal parts. Check out a good gun shop for the latest preservatives on the market. Also be careful of desiccants. There main ingredient is salt. Placing high quality steel in an enclosed tube with moisture and salt is asking for heavy corrosion. Only use Silica gel.... Cat litter is clay and salt. It just makes a mess.
My own number one rule of survival caching is simple.... No finger prints, paper, hairs, serial numbers on anything. Don't bury anything you care about keeping or CAN'T WALK AWAY FROM.
Regarding ammo. It is probably the most difficult item to bury. Most metal preservatives are aerosol (propane) or petroleum based. If you expose your ammo to them. They can kill the primers in loaded ammo, even sealed cartridges...And that can be embarrassing:eek:
I have had luck with a "Foodsaver" from walmart. And before everyone jumps on me. No, it is not powerful enough to suck out the primers.
Use the 9 inch wide rolls. Pull out four feet of bag stock. Load your ammo on stripper clips. Lay them in the bag width wise. Vacuum out the air. Seal the bag with an Iron set at "Wool" Do Not Cut! Then put in another clip of ammo. Repeat until you have a bandoleer of ammo that fits comfortably over your web gear. Duct tape the ends together, and spray paint the white side. On the clear side spray paint the edges and leave a window so you can see what condition your ammo is in.
If you use this method. Carry the bando's with bullets pointing down, and white side against your body. Reach around with your loading hand. Drive your fingers into the gap under the bullet points and rip the clip out. As soon as you break the suction with the bullet tips. The clear side just comes right off. I should patent this and sell it to the army, but for now my idea is free.
I just recently saw a post about burying metal in the area of your cache. If it would be natural to the location. (Junk yard) Then that is fine. If a team is working an area looking for your cache, and they find a chevy 350 cam shaft. They are going to know they are close. And be encouraged to press on. You want to find a site where moving equipment in would be impossible. All the searching would be manual labor. Wear the searchers down. Hours of lead-less toil will hopefully make them sloppy and unwilling to climb down under a fir tree.
These searchers are people. It is one thing to be breaking bush for hours to find a murder weapon. It is another thing to search "forever" because your wife said you bury guns in her divorce papers!
Read that last paragraph again. We are all pretty tricky/cleaver people. (So rule out stupidity). In the event your cache is ever compromised. IMHO the likely suspect will be your significant other. If you feel differently. Feel free to comment.