Impromptu Prepardness Drill...Lessons Learned...

General General Discussion
1

So earlier tonight the whole house loses power, almost simultaneously I hear loud voices out front (possibly in the front yard) and all of my dogs alert (go apeshit).

Given the recent “break in” video we all have seen I immediately thought “this might actually be something” and I had a few “learning moments” I thought I’d share.

  1. Keep your stuff in the same place, always put it there every time. I got lucky that my SIG handgun and my keys always go in the same place and I had no problem going right to them and had them in seconds.

I wish I could say the same thing for my defensive carbine and extra magazines. In an effort to keep things “locked up” and harder for thieves to get at I have everything possible jammed into my safes and this means in order to make room I put my primary defensive carbine behind some other stuff in order to get more things to “fit” in the safe.

My 5 spare loaded magazines had things piled on top of them in order to keep them “locked up.” It took me longer than I imagined to pull my carbine and grab a few mags.

  1. Illumination is good. I usually keep a surefire flashlight on top of the safe but I recently walked the dogs and since we’ve had a racoon in the neighborhood I use it to sweep the yard first so the dogs don’t accidentally get into it with a racoon. As a result my flashlight was at the back door and not on top of the safe. (Rule 1. Keep your stuff in the same place applies).

Thankfully my computer and living room TV stuff are on battery backups so I had some basic illumination to work with. Battery powered “under the counter” lights are a wonderful thing to have in the safe even if they don’t illuminate the shelf above them very well. I should probably keep a flashlight in the safe.

  1. All those security lights are meaningless if you don’t have power. Was a little disconcerting that I couldn’t see what was going on outside and any light inside means they can see in and I can’t really see out. Wasn’t until I had pulled my carbine that I had a weapon light available to me.

Emergency back up lights that simply plug into an outlet are also pretty useful. Won’t light the room up, but you can see if anyone is at the window or door, etc.

  1. Dogs, dogs and dogs. Sure they make a lot of noise but they will tell you where people are when your outdoor security lights don’t have power. They will also make potential home invaders do the math a few more times to make sure they want to go in.

So the outcome was this.

Basically a few blocks lost power. As soon as I had grabbed a few things I looked out a side window to see if my neighbors porch light was on (it wasn’t) so I knew it wasn’t just my house.

Since the dogs were alerting at the front window, I slipped out a side door and checked the back yard and then moved to the front yard. Thankfully nobody was trying to get in, just a bunch of loud mouth jackasses walking down the street who happened to be passing my house at the exact moment we lost power.

Checked the cars to make sure nothing was messed with and verified there was no power on the block all the way down the street. Came back in and calmed the dogs down and a few minutes later the power kicked back on. Probably overloaded from all the Floridians running their heat as it has dropped down to the low 60s this winter.

I’m in the process of reorganizing my safe. Important things to the front and on top. I think I’ll also sling a surefire light with some paracord so I can hang it from my neck and be “hands free” as I grab crap out of the safe.

If nothing else I got my 15 minutes of cardio tonight.

2

Reminds me that I need to reorganize my gear…

The Surefire light on a rope idea is a good one. The M3LT comes with a lanyard that can easily be thrown over the neck for some hands-free action.

3

Good lessons.

I evaluated how well I would have done with each of your points.

  1. I’m good here. I suffer from mild OCD. All my stuff MUST be where it belongs. I HATE hunting for stuff. My wife affectionately calls me “Rain man”.
  2. I used to have a flash light at every portal. After getting sick of my stuff being moved by my family, guests and their kids, I now run at least TWO flash lights at each portal. The wife and all the kids are instructed to leave them alone. We have [i]other[i] flashlights designated for general use. I also have lights all over other parts of the house too, including each of the safes. Its not easy living with me according to the wife.
  3. I’m lacking in this department. All of my HD weapons are easily accessed (another fight with the wife about NOT blocking access to these tools), and equipped with lights. I’ve got no battery operated back up area lights. Just what I can carry. I’ll have to reconsider this one…
  4. I’m covered here. 3 Malinois, 1 Dutch Shepard, 1 Czech Shepard, and a bitchy little ground squirrel killing, winter foot warming Jack Russell Terrier to rule them all. They tell me a good minute or two early that someone is here before the doorbell can ring. I enjoy flinging the door open as people reach toward the door bell and watch them flinch. We have steel security doors, and they flex toward the “visitors” as the dogs desperately push against them trying to reach the stranger on the stoop. Most people (like door to door salespeople) just say, “Sorry, never mind…” as they beat feet. When we are expecting company the dogs are on down/stays and told to be quiet. I’m not a hoarder or anything. Dogs are part of my business. They pay the bills and buy me cool stuff.

Glad your deal was just a false alarm and some good came from it. I feel sorry for the poor sap that mistakes your house for an easy target.

4

I have these in every rarely used outlet.

http://www.amazon.com/Greenlite-NL-WH-Emergency-Flashlight/dp/B000A396CA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1418532992&sr=8-9&keywords=emergency+light

Might upgrade my safe light to these.

http://www.amazon.com/BLISS-Operated-Under-Cabinet-Infrared-Super-Bright/dp/B00LCZ242O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1418533081&sr=8-3&keywords=under+the+counter+light+battery+operated

5

Just curious: how do you attach a weapon light to a G3/HK91?

Or did you grab something else?

6

Streamlight actually makes a MP5 rail and I have modded a few to fit G3s and 33s. I have also modded the rails on my MP5s to allow a suppressor to clear the rail. I’ll take some pics later since Imageshack now sucks and all my old pics are gone.

But I have since gone to a Colt 6933 and am in the process of setting up a Colt 6945.

Here’s a pic of one on a MKE.

7

This is in no way considered “locked up”, but when I am not traveling and I am at home(guns are locked in safe when I travel every week) I have a carbine hidden on a rack in my closet. I think 30 bucks from a company called Plastix Plus.


Nobody would really know its there unless they went rifling through the closet. If you just opened the closet door and looked in you wouldnt see anything and most people dont steal clothing.

8

… because nobody expects the MP5 Ninja

9

It just doesn’t happen anymore. People think they are extinct.

10

This is a GREAT post, SteyrAUG. Like me, you learn from every situation. COOL. Many don’t. I too, am absolutely anal, or ocd or whatever term unprepared folks want to use, about where my gear is at all times. In my apt or car, I can lay hands on weapons & lights in total blackness. I feel this a critical aspect of self defense…not having to search for shit in a moment of stress/panic. And as for area lighting one poster said he was lacking, I HIGHLY recommend the UST 30 or 60 Day Lanterns. These some of the best thought out lanterns Ive ever seen. Very affordable also. Im giving a couple for gifts at Christmas. My recent purchase of weaponlights, one for my Glocks, one for my LMT carbine, really filled a hole in my personal situation. That’s also something I think folks should consider.

11

That’s a big honking light. Wonder if they make that lanyard ring for a 1" model.

12

It might be a little goofy but for hands free I like my head lamp/hat light.

13

Only problems I can see is that I’d be unlikely to leave something like that out and quickly accessible. I think it would take longer to get it on your head and going than a light on a neck lanyard. And last I don’t want to light source to bullseye a perfect head shot for anyone.

14

I see your point. I go camping/hiking pretty often so I keep a couple around. One thought is that you could hang a headlamp around your neck and since they have a pivoting head the light source would be more useful than a flashlight hanging upside down. But to each their own.

15

My thought process with the lanyard flashlight is that I could throw it around my neck or remove it in seconds as needed. I could also grab it with a free hand and direct it as needed. If I were going to actually mount something to my body, I’d probably go with a SF wristlight. But again, it would probably be slower than a flashlight with a lanyard.

16

Ah I thought you wanted to use it hands free. Your idea makes more sense.

17

Great instructional, thanks. I’m guilty of safe stuffing also. Even worse, I realized sometimes my defense carbine is in two pieces in the safe when I go to bed in the middle of some work. I need to put the back-up ready to go in it’s place and in my mind. Spare loaded mags left out in a couple places. (No kids here.)

No dogs to alert so I try to practice situational awareness as I move about the house. Have options at both ends of the house for if the door is suddenly kicked in. Toss a handgun on top of the laundry basket going downstairs. Lock the bathroom door while showering with handgun in reach under handtowel. Never have a radio on in bathroom.

I like the idea of plug in emergency lights, but not the automatic nightlight function. Is there a model with manual on-off and/or motion sensor mode?

18

Not 100% hands free but I could let go and still have basic illumination in front of me where I was grabbing stuff. My goal is to eliminate the 45 seconds of unnecessary fumbling I encountered last night.

19

They make some that go very low orange when the power is on and bright white when the power is off.

20

I use the M3LT for camping/hiking duty. The neck lanyard makes it tolerable, as it is NOT pocket friendly.

If you find a 1" lanyard ring, holla atchya boy.