REVISITING THE REVOLVER AMMO DROP POUCH

Yet another reminder that I’m rapidly approaching Old Fart status is the fact that when I took a Police Firearms training course in college, we were still using the old Smith & Wesson Model 10 “Barney Fife Special” and I learned how to properly use speed-loaders with said revolver.

          Training with double-action revolvers later did come in handy since I moved to Montana. With very few rather expensive exceptions, semi-automatic auto-loaders just don’t come in calibers sufficient to deal with a grizzly bear. So, since we live, hunt and recreate in grizzly country, both my wife and I pack a S&W .44 Magnum revolver when we’re out and about. I used to reload my own special anti-griz ammo, but now we’ve taken a real shine to Montana’s own HSM Ammunition and their .44 Mag Bear Loads. They launch a 305-grain hardcast flat-nosed “Keith”-type bullet at good velocity but cost less than half the price of the Federal or Buffalo Bore bear loads. Naturally, we still practice all the bear country precautions to avoid the need to use a gun in the first place but for reasons I'll detail in a separate post we don't rely on mere pepper spray.

Back when I had vision in both eyes, and 20/15 in the good one, I used to decapitate occasional mountain grouse for supper with my 6-inch Model 29 during my travels. In the summer, especially when fishing along the Yellowstone or the Missouri, we also have to contend with rattlesnakes. At the ranges involved, .44 Mag CCI shot loads full of #9 splatter ‘em good. We also use these shot loads around the yard so we can whack gophers in the vicinity of the rock retaining wall without worrying about ricochets.

          For spare ammunition, we used to carry six-round HKS speed-loaders in a double belt pouch. Over the years, I found these to be both heavy and bulky to carry on the belt; after all, they are the same size as the revolver’s cylinder. In addition, they were designed for law enforcement officers back in the day when revolvers were standard issue so that, in a gunfight, if a policeman emptied his gun, he could rapidly reload all six rounds at once. On my own, in the woods, I’ve never actually emptied my revolver nor needed a combat reload. I think that if I lived in a place where I had to routinely administer some critter six 305-grain .44 Mag slugs and still needed another six immediate follow-ups, I would probably just move back to Iowa.

          Almost without exception, when I actually do use my revolver I never fire more than one or two rounds, say to finish off an already downed game animal or take care of a rattler in the vicinity of my feet. In such cases, especially since I save my brass, speed-loaders are more of a hindrance than a help when it comes to replacing only one or two rounds in the cylinder.

          So I recalled the old drop pouches used in the really old pre-speed-loader days. With nothing more than the idea rattling around in my head, I began experimenting. The goats have long since outgrown the training soft packs I made for them out of some old Army surplus gas mask cases, so I had plenty of stout canvas and nylon material to work with.

          The old gas mask carriers also yielded Velcro I could re-use to keep the top flap down. I had a bunch of Swiss surplus OD green nylon cargo straps, so I sacrificed a couple to make cartridge and belt loops. I sewed it all together with my C.A. Myers “Awl for All”, which I actually get a whole lot of use out of for my various projects…goat soft packs, rifle stock shell holders, made-to-fit belt pouches for odd-sized objects like a range-finder.

The beauty of this design is that it requires nothing more elaborate than a simple rectangle of material, folded roughly in thirds, to start with. I folded over a little less than a quarter of an inch of material and hemmed it with the awl on the top and bottom edge to prevent fraying. I did the same with the sides after I completed the shell loops, sewing down the seam through the ends of the cartridge loop straps. Then I sewed on Velcro strips to hold the top flap and voila, I had a drop pouch. Later, I treated the fabric with a spray-on water-resistant shield.

The Mark I pouch with the cartridge loops sewn directly to the canvas was simple, functional and compact.

On the first example, I simply sewed the nylon strap into loops around empty cartridge cases directly to the canvas of the drop pouch. This worked, and made for the lightest and most compact “model” but tended to curve and bunch the material a bit. Plus, once I get to tinkering, it’s hard to stop. Afterwards, I took to cutting a piece of leather from an old rifle sling and sewing to shell loops to that while simultaneously attaching both to the canvas backing. This may or may not be necessary, it’s more a matter of personal preference. One modification I did really like was the attachment of a small tab on the top flap to make for easier and quicker opening. 

Just playing around, I backed the cartridge loops up with a piece of leather and made a big 12-shot version. The little tab for opening the top flap actually was a pretty nice addition.
 

Various attempts were also made for belt loops, the most simple and effective being simply a length of webbing or nylon strap formed into a circle and sewn to the back of the case. When I used the thinner nylon material for the body, I also backed the points where I sewed on the belt loops on the interior with small square pieces of strap for reinforcement. With nylon strap material, the cut edges should be melted with a lighter to keep them from fraying.  

Belt loops were easily made with a loop of webbing or strap sewn on. I put ALICE clips on the big 12-shot model so I could put it on the LBE that I wear hunting and hiking.

For the fun of it, I made Ben a 5-shot model for his puny .357, using some old .38 Special cases I had to get the size of the loops right.

 

          Once complete, the drop pouch goes on your belt in front of the revolver holster. When folded up, the cartridges are actually upside down. When it comes time to reload, you simply pull open the top flap, the flap holding the ammunition drops down, and you can pluck out one, two or three rounds; whatever is necessary. I use my index finger to push upwards on the tip of the bullet from below while grasping the rim of the case with my other fingers. I've carried them around on my belt during the day and they've stayed shut and the ammo remains secure. Nothing fancy or revolutionary but it works. I'll keep a couple for myself, let my wife chose one, and give the rest to my hunting buddies who carry hoglegs.
  

Cavalry of the Future

Since Bawb is ex-cavalry I thought he might be interested in this. Would you trade your old M3 Bradley CFV in for one of these? Imagine about a hundred cavalry troopers charging into battle on these beautiful steeds swinging lightsabers! Now that would be cool!

Now if they could just perfect mechanical sheep that can cook we'd all be happy!

HOW FAR IS THAT YODIE IN THE HAY FIELD?

RANGE ESTIMATION PART I:

RANGEFINDERS

"That prairie dog is at precisely 327 yards...and next time you get to carry this sonofabitch!"

Rangefinders actually aren’t a brand new thing. They’ve been around for better than a century. Unfortunately, they were coincidence rangefinders, also known as stereoscopic or parallax rangefinders. These worked by triangulation, just as you would use with a compass, with a prismed lens on each end of a long tube with a central eyepiece. The longer the tube, the more accurate the rangefinder.

Sure, they worked great and could be accurate indeed, but you needed a nice battleship or an artillery battery to lug them around with. They weren’t very well suited for use by the average infantryman or hunter.

Years ago, before laser rangefinders, when pterodactyls ruled the skies, I actually had a commercial sporting coincidence rangefinder. It was about a foot long and light enough, but when it came down to ranging it performed in a manner experts refer to as a “big pain in the ass”. You absolutely needed a straight line to range on, and it seemed like you had to recalibrate the fool thing every other day.

Now, I have a laser rangefinder. Yes, despite all my preaching about not relying on things that use batteries in the field, I have and use a laser rangefinder all the time. But remember Murphy? A few years back, I lost my Bushnell rangefinder out in the middle of a hay field despite the aptly-named dummy cord. Long story.

Fortunately, this turned out to be a good thing. I replaced it with the Nikon ProStaff 550 and I am much happier with that rangefinder. It’s only rated to 550 yards, but I’ve occasionally gotten ranges out to 750 under good conditions with it. It’s light and compact and handy, measures for yards or meters (me and my furrin’ military rifle scopes), and also calculates actual ranges on up and down angles, always handy in the mountains. I can highly recommend it.

Fits in the palm of your hand.

In hindsight, I would have gotten a 1200-yard model, but they cost about twice as much and it would have just been for playing with my toys. The average hunter has no business shooting beyond 300 yards, if that.

I’m not to person to explain the inner workings of any electronic device. There’s stuff like diodes, non-visible wavelengths, infrared spectrums, nano-seconds and nano-meters, and, I think, dilythium crystals involved. (Ach, she canno’ take it, Cap’n. The toilets are backed up in the warp drive now!) Ben says it’s magic, but I lean more towards sorcery.

Anyway, here are just a few observations I’ve noted from using a laser rangefinder for several years now, mostly in hunting situations. They apply to pretty much any laser rangefinder. I hope some of these notes may be of use to some of you. Just my opinion and observations though; worth what you paid for ‘em.

As with your rifle or binoculars, the steadier the better. I often carry a walking stick while antelope hunting out in the big wide open, and can brace the rangefinder on the top of that to steady it. Going prone, sitting down with your elbows on your knees, bracing on a fencepost, whatever is going to make it much easier to get a precise reading.

It can be hard to range an actual animal, especially as range increases, as their pelt kind of soaks up the laser light rather than reflecting it. I often find it’s more effective to laze a juniper, clump of sagebrush, big rock or patch of bare dirt in close proximity to the critter.

Reflectivity is a weird thing. They say the more reflective, the better. I’ve found that ain’t necessarily so. I have a helluva time lazing my own truck, which is dark blue. I can laze and laze, trying different areas and the shady side, and get no reading off it. An instant later I can laze my range bag sitting on the ground near the truck or a nearby sagebrush and get a good reading right off the bat.

In bright sunlight, a rangefinder loses a bit of performance. On the other end of the spectrum, fog and mist disperses the laser and degrades performance to varying degrees. Dropping your rangefinder down a steep, rocky slope into a mountain stream really degrades performance.

Rangefinders work well in the dark. Unfortunately, the commercial models have an LED read-out inside the tube which you can’t see in the dark. I’ve found I can laze in very little light, then point the rangefinder at the sky and be able to read the LED against that lighter backdrop. Thus I can set up on my shooting position long before daylight and laze various objects to determine general ranges and have a pretty good idea of what I’m dealing with well before shooting light rolls around.

Of course, I’m not talking an overcast moonless night when it’s blacker than the inside of a cat; you have to be able to see what you’re lasing too. You have to have some light. This paragraph just made me think I should try using my rangefinder under a full moon some night. I’ll bet it would work. Update at a later time.

In a tactical situation, however, it should be noted that laser rangefinders show up bright and clear to someone with night vision device, pointing a straight line right back to your location.

While laser rangefinders work just fine in the dark, most commercial models have an unlit LED readout. While you may be able to laze the target, accurately, you can’t read what it says. In these situations, you can laze the target, then raise the rangefinder up to the sky to be able to read the LED numbers against the lighter background.

Usually, you cannot laze a game animal directly at a distance due to the non-reflectivity of it’s hair. The solution is to laze something very close to the actual target to get the range. We have a lot of dark green juniper bushes where I hunt and I find I can laze these quite well when nothing else seems to work.

Angle has some effect, too. You want to try to laze something as close to 90-degrees flat on as you can. Like a bullet ricocheting at a flat angle, the laser kind of can too.

The more solid the object ranged the better. If you have a choice of say an exposed rock, a juniper, and a clump of sagebrush you’d obviously try to laze the rock first since it will reflect the most light without diffusing it like the multiple small branches of a sagebrush.

Tall grass between you and the target can be a pain in the ass, too. You have to make sure you’re high enough so that the laser doesn’t hit those barely visible stalks and give a false reading.

A field of fresh snow is also a problem. Look for some kind of dark object like a tree, bush, or dead Commie which stands out in sharp contrast to laze.

One of the best things you can do with your rangefinder is to just carry it along with you on your walks. Estimate the distance to some point by eye, and then check the range with the laser to see how accurate (or inaccurate) you are. Constant practice playing like this will do wonders for calibrating your own Mk. I Mod 0 Eyeball if you have to estimate range the old-fashioned way someday.

I don’t know if this is worth anything, but I am more used to hunting wide open spaces so I tend to greatly over-estimate ranges when I’m in the dark timber high up bow hunting. I look at a certain tree up ahead along the trail and think, “That’s about 40 yards.” Nope. Nikon says 23. D’-oh! In the big wide open, however, I tend to under estimate range. That’s why it’s so good to take your rangefinder along on your hikes and test yourself.

THE GREAT GUN DEBATE

In the spirit of endless and pointless Internet blithering and debate on "the best" weapon you can have, we have gathered together for you to compare the hot skinny on the three main contenders as evidenced by numbers produced and sold...


The Kalashnikov AK47 series...


The AR15/M16 series...


The Model 1891 Mosin-Nagant series...

AK: It works even though you have never cleaned it. You lubricate it with used motor oil.
AR: It works if you strip, clean and properly lubricate it daily, more often in inclimate weather.
M-N: It works under any conditions if you’re strong enough to work the bolt.

AK: Cheap mags are fun to buy.
AR: Cheap mags melt.
M-N: What’s a mag?

AK: Your safety can be heard from 300 meters away.
AR: You can silently flip off the safety with your finger on the trigger.
M-N: What’s a safety?

AK: Your rifle comes with a cheap nylon sling.
AR: Your rifle has a 9 point stealth tactical suspension system.
M-N: Your rifle has a leather dog collar suitable for restraining a pit bull.

AK: Your bayonet makes a good wire cutter.
AR: Your bayonet makes a pretty good field knife.
M-N: Your bayonet makes an excellent javelin.

AK: When out of ammo your rifle will nominally pass as a club.
AR: When out of ammo, your rifle makes a great wiffle bat.
M-N: When out of ammo, your rifle makes a supreme war club, pike, bludgeon, spear, boat anchor, pry bar, hammer, or post hole digger.

AK: Recoil is manageable, even fun.
AR: What’s recoil?
M-N: Recoil is often used to relocate shoulders thrown out by the previous shot.

AK: Your sight adjustment goes to 1000 meters but you’ve never bothered moving it.
AR: Your sight adjustment is incremented in fractions of minute of angle.
M-N: Your sight adjustment goes to 2 miles and you’ve actually tried it.

AK: Your rifle can be used by any two bit nation’s most illiterate conscripts to fight U.S. forces.
AR: Your rifle is used by U.S. forces to fight every two bit nations’ most illiterate conscripts.
M-N: Your rifle can be used to overthrow the Czar.

AK: Your rifle won some revolutions.
AR: Your rifle won the Cold War.
M-N: Your rifle won a pole vault event.

AK: You paid $350.
AR: You paid $1000.
M-N: You paid $59.95 for two.

AK: You buy cheap ammo by the case.
AR: You lovingly reload precision crafted rounds one by one.
M-N: You dig your ammo out of a farmer’s field in Ukraine and it works just fine.

AK: You can repair your rifle with a hammer and duct tape.
AR: You can repair your rifle by taking it to a certified gunsmith, it’s under warranty!
M-N: You can buy a new one for less money than a trip to the gunsmith.

AK: After a long day the range you relax by watching “Red Dawn”.
AR: After a long day at the range you relax by watching “Blackhawk Down”.
M-N: After a long day at the range you relax by visiting the chiropractor.

AK: You can accessorize your rifle with a new muzzle brake or a nice stock set.
AR: Your rifle’s accessories number in the thousands and collectively cost ten times more than the rifle itself.
M-N: Your rifle’s accessory is a small tin can with a funny lid, but it’s buried under an apartment building somewhere in Budapest.

AK: Your rifle’s finish is varnish and paint.
AR: Your rifle’s finish is Teflon and high tech polymers.
M-N: Your rifle’s finish still has tree bark.

AK: Your rifle has only eight moving parts; all have sloppy tolerances.
AR: Your rifle is a finely-tuned precision machine with lots of tiny, easy-to-lose parts.
M-N: Your rifle makes the 98 Mauser seem needlessly complicated.

AK: Your wife tolerates your autographed framed picture of Mikhail Kalashnikov.
AR: Your wife tolerates your autographed framed picture of Eugene Stoner.
M-N: You’re not sure there WERE cameras at the time to photograph Sergei Mosin.

And the winner is...

After painstakingly going through this list over and over and carefully considering all points, good, bad or indifferent, I have come to the conclusion that the best weapon I can recommend you buy for your go-to rifle should be from, in order of preference:

1. The FN/FAL/SLR series
2. The M1/M14 series
3. The HK91/CETME series.

For further information:

SUIT SIGHT UNIT INFANTRY TRILUX

LINKIE to a bunch of info (manual, article, specs, illustrations, bore-sight target) I put together all in one basket regarding the SUIT for my fellow FALcohalics.

Dirty Gertie from Bizerte
Had a SUIT-ie with which to shootie
Put the JBT's
In a world of hurtie.

FN FAL PUTTERING, UH, I MEAN BRILLIANT INNOVATIONS

FN FAL TOP 10 PROJECTS, PART I

I love to tinker with my toys. Especially when it’s cold and damp out and I’m starting to wonder if maybe it’s time to get that quadruple fusion done on my neck. My wife sometimes erroneously refers to this as “puttering around the house”. I must point out that only old men putter. I brilliantly re-engineer ingenious solutions. My favorite projects have been to improve the performance of my supposedly “junk” CAI Franken-FAL, which has already proven capable of 1 MOA at surprising ranges. I either won a crapshoot, or they aren’t as bad as most folks say they are.

At any rate, here are a few ideas for my fellow old FALcohalics to putter around the house with to make the good ol' FAL/STG58/L1A1 even more user-friendly.

1. Recoil buffer: Cheap, easy to install, reduces wear on guts, slightly reduces recoil. One reviewer claimed this thingie reduced how far his FAL ejected the brass, but since mine throws them halfway out of the county anyway, I don’t consider this a particular “problem”. Well worth your $15.

2. Adjust gas system: Properly adjusting the gas plug up front by the sights not only makes things easier on the FAL’s inner workings, but it also reduces recoil a bit. Fire one round, click the gas regulator one click, and fire another. Repeat process until the rifle no longer cycles. Then move her back a minimum of two clicks and you’re good to go. In really cold weather, or if you forget to clean the thing for a couple of thousand rounds, you may need to open 'er up a couple more notches.

3. Remove bipod: Sell it on gunbroker. Use the money to buy more ammo. Or not. It may actually work on your particular FAL, but I have never been a big fan of bipods, and in decades of hunting I have found the instances in which I could actually go prone, still see the target, and use the bipod are very few indeed. SHTF, you may find that you can’t make every single shot from the prone with the bipod. You need to know, as the Brits in Malaysia and the light infantry boys in Rhodesia, to shoot from all positions. A bipod mounted on a free-floating stock which does not touch the barrel itself, ala sniper rifles, actually works. A bipod like the FAL/STG’s is mounted directly to the barrel, steel on steel, which can do nasty things to barrel harmonics and degrade accuracy. At long ranges, the bullets’ point of impact without bipod versus with bipod is readily noticeable. Plus its removal shaves close to a pound of weight from the weapon, which is not exactly light.

A bipod is right handy on a SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon), automatic rifle, or light machine gun, but then these weapons are supposed to have dispersal of bullets into a beaten zone. If you’re a wealthy Class III kind of guy, an FAL with the Israeli heavy barrel and bipod with the 30-round mags actually works pretty well as a suppressive fire critter somewhere between the old American BAR and the British Bren Gun. The Aussies, Canadians, Israelis and a few others used heavy barrel FALs as SAWs. And these guys have 50-round drum magazines available now, oh so tacti-cool and guaranteed to give you a big woody. If anyone here can figure out how to get the little wife to allow you to buy one of these, please let me in on the secret immediately.

I’ve never tried it, but I always thought it would be pretty cool to try one of those with a heavy barrel FAL off the bipod and one of those little Gat trigger cranks to see how it would work as a legal home-made ersatz SAW of your own, as opposed to a battle rifle. Of course, I can only afford so many toys, so I haven’t been able to give this idea a good going over. I suspect the Gat would not be rugged enough for extended field use.

But I digress. And, as is usually the case when I digress, I don’t care.

4. Trigger job. A good trigger is probably the single most important factor to good shooting. As Jeff Cooper said, by dint of hard work a real rifleman can do good work with a bad trigger just as a marathon runner can compete with a 50-pound ruck on his back, but it’s not what either would choose to do given an alternative.

DSA, which is THE name in FALs, has a Speed Trigger and a Match Grade Set Trigger for $175 and $250 respectively. Entreprise, a company which initially had a bad rep but now seems to be quite diligently improving on their products, can “adjust” your trigger for $85 or has a Match Grade Trigger with set-back for $75. There are some gunsmiths out there who can also do wonders with a FAL trigger but although their prices can be reasonable, the shipping quickly adds up as well.

For the do-it-yourselfer, the first and easiest step is to install the Falcon Arms FAL trigger spring kit. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I didn’t know my FAL inside and out, Mark introduced me to this. Falcon makes good shit, and swapping out the springs is easy enough, and they do indeed reduce the poundage on your trigger pull, which can be as heavy as 9 pounds or so on some FALs.

Now it’s lighter, but still a little creepy and spongy. There’s still plenty you can do yourself. Here’s the advice from the Canadian Army Shooting Team, you hosers:

a. Polish the bents of the hammer and sear with crocus cloth or a fine stone, taking care to maintain existing angles.

b. Reduce the depth of the bent of the hammer by removing metal from surface “A” until the required weight is obtained. It is important that bearing surfaces be highly polished to avoid friction.

c. Now kick back with a two-four of Elsinore, eh.

I polish the living hell out of all the contact points till they’re smooth as a baby’s bottom. I start with a very fine small Arkansas knife stone and finish up with lots and lots of polishing with a soft buffing wheel on a Dremmel tool. If you don’t have special polishing compound, you can use case polish from your reloading bench or Soft Scrub.

The trigger plunger pin is easy. I don’t know how much effect it actually has on the trigger pull, but I make mine shine. Wrap it with a little masking tape, chuck it into your drill, add polish, and then polish away with the finest grade steel wool. Repeat process on the other end. Then polish the living hell out of the knob on the trigger end that fits into the socket on the back of the trigger.

5. Shooting Sling: Thanks mainly to the Appleseed Program (if you haven’t been to one, shame on you) many shooters in this country are rediscovering the very, very useful art of the shooting sling. The old US Army manuals said this system improves your shooting by at least 30%, Timothy Mullin likens it to an 8-ounce bench rest, and the late great Jack O’Conner called it one of mankind's great inventions in the same league with fire and the wheel.

But there is a problem with shooting the FAL/L1A1 with a tight sling. The sling swivel is mounted directly on the barrel, and near the muzzle end. Horsing down on the barrel at that point in real shooting sling hold will pull your shot group low and left for you normal folks and low and right for us southpaws. What’s a boy to do?

Fortunately, in answer to the prayers of FALcohalics everywhere, I personally am working on a quick and easy solution so brilliant that it may change life as we know it and maybe even cure male pattern baldness. But wait there’s more. It’s not found in any store. Order now and you also receive a set of ginsu knives and a handy appliance that will scramble an egg while it’s still inside it’s shell!

Unfortunately, this idea is still in the puttering stage. In the meantime, here’s a neat trick from the Aussie Army for the web sling. Pull the sling straight back towards the receiver, make a half hitch around the handguard, and then go about your business using it as a shooting sling. You'll need to practice throwing that half hitch on there quickly, but it works. The most common American web slings, however, can be a tad short for the really tall and/or "large-boned" folks. The Aussie shooters who used with method modified the longer Bren Gun sling to use in this manner.

Now, for those of you who still insist on using the M16/AR15 platform instead, HERE is a product you may wish to try out.

LPC's: LEATHER PERSONNEL CARRIERS

THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING

German Infantry WWII

“Good physical condition has been a basis for the notable march achievement of German infantry. Despite all the mechanization of modern armies, German doctrine foresaw the possibility that motorized personnel might lose their equipment and have to move rapidly on foot. In some cases German troops, under the prolonged strain of combat operations, have covered 30 to 40 miles a day for several days, and German sources claim a march of 44 miles in 24 hours during the Polish campaign. Reserve and Landwehr formations (of older men) are held to nearly the same high standards.”

North Korean Infantry

“At Kangnung, on the coastal road, twenty miles below the Parallel, the 11th Regiment of the 5th Division swung inland on an 8-day 175-mile march through some of the wildest and roughest country in Korea. It passed through P'yong-ch'ang, Yongwol, and Ch'unyang. At the last place the regiment met and fought a hard battle with elements of the ROK [Republic of Korea] 8th Division which were withdrawing inland to the Tanyang area. The regiment then turned east and joined the rest of the division at Ulchin on the coast on or about 10 July. In this arduous march through and along the mountains bordering the east coast, the N.K. [North Korea] 5th Division lost from all causes about 1,800 men.”

Japanese Infantry WWII

“Mobility, which is achieved in a number of ways, has been one of the most important factors in obtaining surprise. The ability to exploit to the full the exceptional marching powers of the troops--they are capable of covering thirty or more miles per day--is closely allied with the question of rations. They may, by choosing a circuitous path through difficult country, attempt to overtake and cut the line of retreat of a force withdrawing along a road, but mobility does not end there; if the chances of living off the country are small, troops may carry as much as seven days' rations with them, thus freeing themselves during this period from the encumbrance of an administrative tail. Impressed local inhabitants, with carts or boats, if the country is suitable, supplement their carrying powers, while opportunities to seize local supplies are never neglected.

An outstanding example of strategic mobility on the part of the Japanese was their advance through the Shan States from Karenni in the south to Myitkyina in the north, a distance of some 450 miles, covered in three weeks. This feat is even more remarkable when it is realized that during their advance the Japanese fought three heavy engagements and were hindered by numerous delaying actions. The maintenance of a daily average advance of some 21 miles despite delaying actions and having to fight, speaks for itself as an example of strategic mobility. In considering how this advance was achieved the following points are outstanding: First, the skill of the Japanese in the choice, direction and execution of their encircling movements which, probably more than any other single factor, accounted for the speed and great distance of withdrawals the Chinese were compelled to undertake. Second, the refusal on the part of the Japanese to be deterred from the primary objective by threats to flank or rear.

Finally, there is the ability of the Japanese to move without a cumbersome administrative overhead.”

British Commandos

As the state of mind is all important, it is essential not to let the men become discouraged. If a man knows that others have marched 30 miles over mountainous country with heavy loads, and that he is fit

and properly equipped, he will feel that he is able to do it, too. The men should camp out several days at a time, using different types of equipment, and living on concentrated rations. This will give them confidence. Gradually, as they get physically conditioned, they will think nothing of doing 30 miles a day in mountainous country with 40-pound packs. The officer or noncommissioned officer in charge

should carry as much as or more than the men. The men should walk in single file as a general rule, following the route chosen by the leader. Thus a tired man is less likely to lag. It is good practice to let each man lead in turn, in order to introduce variety and to share responsibility. When men are tired, it is best to promise them rest at a definite time or place, for nothing is more exasperating than to march interminably onwards at the will of somebody else.

Can you do any of that? I sure can’t. But I try to keep pretty mobile on foot. Good boots are important no matter what you do, whether it’s the Great Elk Hunting Death March (sorry Jerry) or an over-nighter camping trip. When it comes to combat, good boots become almost as essential as a good rifle.

The American military can buy a B-2 bomber that is quite literally, pound for pound, worth more by weight than gold. A shiny new Gerald Ford aircraft carrier is a bargain at $9 billion. An M1A1 Abrams tank is a real steal at $4,300,000. Yet only recently have they done any real looking at a decent infantry boot.

In the Falklands War, the British Army issue boot was crap. Once it got wet, it stayed wet, and despite the plan to use helicopters to move the infantry, they wound up hiking forever across a nasty landscape.

After the conflict, British Major General John Frost, said, "The appropriate foot gear is appropriate to all who would do things properly…this inadequacy [the boot] was responsible for more casualties than enemy action…it is pointless to spend several thousand pounds in arming a man if he becomes ineffective through failure to spend twenty or thirty pounds in covering his feet."

Another side-note that I found interesting related to the Falklands War was that the “super-athletes” and Physical Training instructors were some of the first to drop out of the long marches. While they were in peak physical condition by army PT standards, they lacked the sheer stamina, both mental and physical, to endure long-term physical exertion. The American military PT standards are equally irrelevant to long-term dismounted infantry operations.

The infamous ‘cruit boots of my day and age were just plain shit. Thin, flexible leather, offering little support, with a hard sole with tread grooved like an old Duece-and-a-half tire. Walking on hard surfaces, especially wet ones, you were like a hog on ice. They were also known for causing shin splints when you ran in them. To top it all off, they had to be spit-shined every day. (As the Germans noted: “Shoe polish alone has a tendency to make leather hard and brittle and clogs the pores of the leather. This causes perspiration to condense inside the shoe and might induce frostbite.”) I had a non-military but very outdoorsy guy look at an old pair of my ‘cruit boots and he laughed, “What the hell are those? Bowling shoes?”

During WWII, the American combat boot proved totally inadequate in the cold and wet, especially in places like the Ardennes and the Hurtgon Forest. The good winter shoe pacs that finally got into the supply system seemed to get no further than the rear-area pogues who didn’t really need them long before the front-line troops who needed them. The grunts probably finally got them in August. Troops couldn’t be rotated back out of the front lines to dry out and warm up. They slogged through in endless mud in the Hurtgon and lived in holes half full of water. In Bastogne, they stood duty on thick pads of captured straw to keep the bitter cold from seeping up through the soles of their combat boots.

Rather than solve the problem, issue the proper equipment, or rotate the troops out of the front lines, the American REMFs and high-ranking officers came up with another innovation idea instead. Cartoons!

If the cartoons failed, as in the Hurtin’ Hurtgon, soldiers were then threatened with court martial if they became victims of trench foot or frostbite. Gotta love them REMFs.

Although the following is a British Army pamphlet dating back to the Second World War, it’s a pretty good summary on keeping good care of your little footsies.

REGARDING CARE OF FEET

To avoid sore feet:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->a. <!--[endif]-->Remove shoes as soon as convenient after a march;

<!--[if !supportLists]-->b. <!--[endif]-->Wash your feet as often as possible;

<!--[if !supportLists]-->c. <!--[endif]-->Dry thoroughly, especially between the toes; and

<!--[if !supportLists]-->d. <!--[endif]-->Wash your socks at every opportunity.

To harden your feet:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->a. <!--[endif]-->Wash in cold water, using soap freely;

<!--[if !supportLists]-->b. <!--[endif]-->Rub the bottom of your feet with soap or grease; and

<!--[if !supportLists]-->c. <!--[endif]-->Soak the feet in a solution of salt. [I use rubbing alcohol.]

REGARDING FOOTWEAR

<!--[if !supportLists]-->a. <!--[endif]-->Fitting shoes

The best time to fit shoes is on a hot day and after physical exercise. This is true because the foot expands in length and width ¼ to ½ inch when the soldier is on the march in hot weather.

Always fit shoes over army socks—never over the bare foot—and always stand up and walk a little while determining a fit. The sides of the shoe should feel comfortable and should show no signs of bulging.

b. Care of Shoes

After having been worn, shoes deteriorate fast if not used often thereafter.

Rub a light coating of some acceptable leather preserver on the inside of the shoes at least once per week, but:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->First remove all dust and dirt (if necessary, use a damp cloth).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->Put paper or some similar substance inside wet shoes so that they will keep their shape while drying. (Dry slowly.)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->Remember that it is better to apply leather preserver when your shoes are warm and slightly damp. (Apply the preserver until the leather is flexible).

c. Care of Socks

Excessive rubbing, sweating, or boiling in water will cause wool to shrink.

Always mend your socks from the inside. If the edges curl, they must be trimmed.

Darned socks, or socks with holes in them, should not be worn on the march because they will cause abrasions and blisters. Wearing two pairs of socks will aid in preventing friction between the shoes and the feet.

If your socks are worn out and none are available for issue at the time, you can give good protection to your feet by wrapping them in a triangular piece of cotton cloth, or even paper, and then putting on your shoes. Your medical officer will show you how this is done.

REGARDING FOOT TROUBLES

a. Sweaty Feet

Symptoms of sweaty feet are tenderness, local areas of redness, and the tendency of the skin to peel off.

Treat sweaty feet as follows:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->Wash them with soap and water; and

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->Dry them thoroughly and apply foot powder.

b. Blisters

Treat blisters as follows:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->Remove the obstacle which caused the blister;

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->Clean the blister gently with soap and water;

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->Apply an antiseptic;

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4. <!--[endif]-->Sterilize a needle by passing it slowly through a flame, and then run the needle through the blister—in at one side and out the other—to drain out the fluid:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->5. <!--[endif]-->Do not remove the skin covering the blister; and

<!--[if !supportLists]-->6. <!--[endif]-->Apply an antiseptic to the area, cover it with absorbent cotton, and cover the latter with a piece of adhesive tape.

NOTE: Often you can manage to march in comfort with a blister if you fit a piece of cloth or bandage under your foot, over the instep, and around the ankle. Buckle the cloth over the outer ankle bone, pulling it tight. This arrangement lessens the friction between the shoe and foot.

Serious abrasions and ingrowing toenails should be shown to the medical officer at once.

BAWB'S NOTE: Always keep your nails trimmed. You can remove an ingrown toenail with a needle-nose multi-tool and a K-Bar, but I don't recommend it.

Don't get blisters in the first place. The moment you start to feel a "hot spot" somewhere on your foot, stop and deal with it. If nothing else is available, pinch a fold into your sock and fold it over the affected area to add another layer, or change socks, or roll them over so what was on the bottom is on the top. The traditional cure is moleskin, but sometimes it's hard to find a mole to skin, ha-ha. The humble Band-Aid works quite well, too. And, if you have some as many back-country hikers do, you can use the Handyman's Secret Weapon, Duct tape. I kid you not, it works.

In most Western armies it has become pretty much standard for field soldiers to buy their own commercial boots, especially in cold weather and places like Afghanistan. This is certainly an improvement over cartoons and court martials, but it is still bullshit that they have to do so in the first place. Too bad they couldn’t purchase and bring their own weapons; then the ones that knew what the hell they were doing would really be good to go.

What to look for in a boot? USGI surplus is probably right out if you’re serious about real hiking and covering long distances, such as elk hunting or fleeing various government tugs.

My first tip…and I’ve heard the same from many hunting guides…is to forget all that silly insulation. You know the boots I’m talking about. They advertise four million grams of thinsulate so that you can hike comfortably on the South Pole. Of course, if you hike anywhere else they make your feet sweat like a whore in church. Then, when you stop, your feet are soaking wet and then they get cold. The military Mickey Mouse boots are the same. They’re great for sitting in a deer blind or huddled over a hole in the ice all day, but walking, or skiing in them, is a joke. If you have to have insulation, I’d personally go with just 200 grams.

Always wear two pairs of socks. Some recommend two pairs of wool only. I like to go with a pair of synthetic socks against the skin and a pair of wool on the outside. One pair of socks on any serious hike will leave you with blisters, most likely on the heel. I ALWAYS have at least two extra pairs of dry socks with me even on a short hunt. In decent weather, you can hang the old pair off your pack or LBE to dry. If it’s below freezing, you can stick them inside your shirt. Yeah, it makes you yipe at first, but they warm up and dry out, mostly anyway, from body heat. This is where wool is worth its weight in gold. Even damp it still has excellent insulating qualities. Same goes for other garments, like wool pants and sweaters. There’s an old saying out West: “Cotton kills.”

In picking out your boots, get them a half-size too large, and try them on with the two pair of socks you would usually be wearing. If you go for real long hikes, especially for an extended period, your feet will flatten out and fill the boots. Before you lace them up, stick your toes as far forward as they will go, and you should just be able to get a finger down inside the heel. Then kick the heel back to the back, lace ‘em up real tight, and make sure you can wiggle and curl your toes. The boot may still feel uncomfortable around the ankle and across the wide part of your foot. That will soon go away when they break in.

If you’re in a hurry, you can always soak the boots in water (not too long, only a matter of several seconds) and then go for a serious day-long hike. When you’re done, they’ll be pretty well broken in right. Dry ‘em and condition ‘em and you should be good to go next time out. The other way is to just wear them around during the day, at work, for short hikes without a pack, etc. Once they’re comfortable to wear all day long, they’re good to go.

I personally would go for leather boots. I’ve worn out the high speed, low-drag boots made of fabric/nylon and leather, or fabric only. They were only $100 boots, but I can wear a pair out in a single season of serious hunting in the mountains. Avoid like the plague anything with plastic eyelets; whoever came up with that idea should be beaten like a red-headed step-child and it's a red flag for a cheap boot. Those “lightweight hikers”, aka glorified tennis shoes, are comfortable for just farting around town or short hikes across the back forty, but will soon be a shambles in the back country.

They say every pound on your foot is the equivalent to carrying five pounds on your back. Well, if you want a really good tough pair, you'll have to add some weight. Plus, it makes it easier to kick someone's ass. I prefer heavy-duty leather and high tops if they are to protect your feet in the mountains, and some extra weight is a penalty I can live with. NO STEEL TOES. Wildland firefighters are probably tougher on boots than even the average infantryman and they are required to have boots with at least an eight-inch top and Vibram soles.

Speaking of soles, Vibram is still about the best thing going for a combination of durability and traction. Air Bob soles are about the best for traction, and have pretty decent longevity too.

Boots are really one of those things where, “You get what you pay for.” Wildland firefighters (at least they used to) beat the ever-living hell out of their boots and the brand of choice is most often Danner. A good pair of Danners will last you many years, and I’ve known guys who’ve had them re-soled two or three times and they’re still going.

Most people also seem to wear their boots too tight. It’s a bad military habit that goes along with spit-shining. Your boots should be somewhat loose, not yanked just as tight as you can get them until you can’t feel anything below the knee. Maybe that habit developed because it’s the only way to get even marginal ankle support from a pair of ‘cruit boots. With long laces, I wrap them once around the top of the boot (not real tightly) and then tie them and tuck the ends in. That’s always worked for me.

If you have no choice but to wade a stream, or, as they're called in Fly-Over Country, a "krick", take off your boots and socks. Wearing only the boots, ford the water. On the other side, put dry socks back on under the wet boots. They'll help suck the moisture out fairly well. After a half a mile or so, change into another two pairs of dry socks and try to dry the wet ones as noted earlier.

Blousing your pant legs is kind of a matter of preference. I like to do it in the summer and fall, to keep them out of the way and keep out sticks and twigs and pine needles and ticks and such. I’ve always found it comfortable. In the winter, in the snow, I never blouse ‘em. The pant legs will get wet and the moisture creeps into your socks sooner or later. I let them hang down over the boot and though they freeze, they keep the snow out. If you’re in snow more than six inches or so, I wear gaiters. Those Sportsman’s Guide surplus Swiss Army gaiters are the best, IMHO. The new bulky synthetic gaiters can sometimes be pretty noisy when you're moving through the woods.

As for keeping leather boots in shape and still water repellent in the winter, I’ve found Sno Seal my favorite, and outfitters have also mentioned Dri. Pre-warm your boots for a short period in an oven set on its lowest setting, meanwhile getting the Sno Seal also warm and buttery and easy to work. Rub it into the boots good with an old toothbrush; the warm seal and the warm leather penetrate very well. That should last you about a week.

When it’s real winter in the high country and the snow’s ass deep on a ten-foot Norwegian, I wear German Army Lowa mountaineering boots with gaiters. Skiing or hiking, these things do seem to play hell on the heels and just above them. You can sew a thick patch on the heels of your special mountaineering boot socks, insert a pad of fabric between the socks or, once again, duct tape can be your friend.

As an aside, if I’m way back in the sticks, especially for trapping, I use cross-country/telemark skis but I carry a pair of snowshoes strapped to the pack also. You wouldn’t believe mountain snow. You step off your skis and ‘woof’ you sink right down into the snow to your knees or worse.

Last but not least, when you find that perfect pair of boots that’s juuusssstttt right, go out and buy two or three more pairs, because you can bet your bottom dollar the SOB’s will quit making them.