This is the first installment of a multi-part series on Operational Caches.
An Operational Cache is a resupply of critical items often accessed while on the go. These caches are often – but not always – buried to hide from others. Major components often placed in an Operational Cache are defensive supplies.
I am putting together an operational cache right now to be placed at a friend’s house. For a container I am using a large Rubbermaid ActionPacker. Beyond the specific supplies to be placed in the ActionPacker what about the quality and cost of those materials?
The most popular theory on cached supplies is to place secondary – or “B” grade items in storage. You may have a really nice high quality Smith & Wesson AR as part of your kit. For the operational cache a $350 Hi-Point 9mm carbine is stashed along with extra magazines and ammunition. Another example would be having a Benchmade Nimravus Tanto as an SHTF-EDC knife while placing a Cold Steel GI Tanto in the cache for long term storage.
Hi-Point 9mm Carbine
Another proposed theory is almost the opposite. If you are having to access your operational cache then things must be extremely dire. Now more than ever “A” grade equipment is needed.
I understand both perspectives and agree the absolute best equipment should be cached. The deal here is the absolute best equipment THAT CAN BE AFFORDED. It is certainly better to have a Hi-Point cached than nothing at all. If a duplicate Smith & Wesson AR can be cached that is all the better.
There are lots of budget-friendly AND high quality supplies out there so that a cache is not full of junk. Specific equipment selections are certainly dictated by environmental and situational conditions. That will be covered in a future installment of this series.
Take care all –
JR
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Thank you!!
Good thoughts Rourke.
Readers of my posts know that I’ve long been a proponent of caching. Specie, weapons and ammunition, navigation equipment including maps, clothes, food and water/water filtration – these are all good and great categories for consideration. Whether to cache first or second grade weapons might just be triggered by the existing regulatory environment. My choice is to have the best or equal grade in a fall back position with emphasis on equal. By caching what you regularly use, in the heat of a survival moment, then you have that with which you are most familiar.
Some respondents to the recent EMP cache post indicated that their intent was to regularly re-inter the cache and simply use its protection in times of non use of the equipment. This is faulty thinking and even more so with larger caches of electronics. By keeping all in one pot, that pot when opened makes all vulnerable. Much better to have many smaller and nested, containers so that when one is opened, the majority is still protected. Much the same thoughts may be applied to other caches. My practice is to surveil the area for some time before emplacing a cache and having done so, leave that area undisturbed thereafter for a long period of times, five to ten years, and then only to validate efficacy of the preservation methodology.
As one becomes familiar with operational and long term caching and understands their various uses, it is not a hard stretch to expand the though processes toward shipping or CONEX container level goods, especially the short 20′ long containers, that can be moved on flat bed trailers. I use 2 3/8″ oil field pipe as rollers on the trailer and then lift two corners at a time of the container with jacks, adding pipe as needed and winch onto the trailer. Again lifting with jacks, I remove the roller pipes, cross chain the shipping container, and snug with boomers. By so doing, I can relocate the smaller containers using my own equipment with none the wiser. Several of my friends and I have exchanged shipping container caches so that if forced to relocate, we would not arrive at one another’s location as total refugees.
PR
Rourke,
Having explored your hypertext links, I find that the desiccant link took me to one in a bag. Desiccant in bags whether paper or cloth when doing their job, will become moist. That moisture can saturate the bag and cause rust. For these reasons, I recommend use of desiccant in perforated aluminum containers such as http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Packs-Silica-Desiccant-40gm/dp/B006L882NM/ref=pd_sim_201_7?ie=UTF8&dpID=41nP0-vJBFL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1P0CFF2VSGWK6ZMWT13C and http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Packs-Gram-Silica-Canister-Dehumidifier/dp/B003QZ6PZ0/ref=pd_sim_201_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=51-vVkHaYfL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR150%2C160_&refRID=0A5VKSBZF48QF129NXRA.
PR
Hey Rourke,
Thought about the use of ZCORR anti-corrosion storage bags? I suppose if one were really paranoid about rust, could cosmoline your weapon first, then put it in the bag.
Just a thought.
Thanks for the suggestion Ralph. I had not seen them before. Looks like they could work for this application.
Ralph/Rourke
Just noticed your comment. Zcorr bags are wonderful and I highly recommend any firearms or rust sensitive items be so protected before placing in the cache. I add a desiccant container per my link previous to the bag, write the serial number, weapon description, and ammo required on the velcro flap end of the bag and then ease into the cache. Zcorr bags have never disappointed. These bags are not for physical protection and will tear obviating the rust protection. I carefully clean and use Barricade on all weapons before sealing in the Zcorr bag.
I try never to cache a weapon without at least a few hundred rounds of ammo for either without the other is tactically worthless. Maps, compasses, water filtration and collapsable storage, these are all good things for space fillers. For ammo caches, try six gallon plastic buckets with metallized liners as if protecting food. prepare a layer of say loose .45acp on the bottom, then fill with .30 cal ammo cans containing other ammo, packing loose ammo around the cans. Add a desiccant bag and impose seal. Top the bucket with a greased gamma seal. This makes for a somewhat fragile but waterproof container. When burying, be sure to either bury deep or provide some sort of protection for the top as a cow or horse stepping on shallow earth may collapse the gamma seal. I try to line the hole with sand as I backfill, in order to minimize any chance of frost heaving and rock damage. Full of ammo, the chance of the bucket ‘floating’ to the surface is minimized.
PR
Thanks PHR!