Larry, yes we do know each other from the C&R FFL eList.

KODoc, I hope you are near the NY border then, because Eastern CT is a major target re "nuclear facilities"!

To another poster who asserted that most of the radioactive material would "disipate" within 2 weeks: As I recall it (subject to correction), the radioactive fallout hits the ground and continues to pollute the ground and water supplies it doesn't just "disappear"! That said, it means that water, plants, and animals (they eat from the ground) would continue to spread contamination which would likely result in nasty bouts of radiation sickness and death for many months/years after the event (large scale nuclear attack). That's why I said that I'd rather be under the first shelling than try to survive only to die an agonizing slow death.

Hi TT,

You nailed it! From what I've seen of today's tanks, it might just make you reasonably mobile in our corner of the US. You might be able to navigate really "off road" during rush hour. But if I recall from the Iraqui War, we'll all need to arrange for refueling supplies at strategic locations, as they don't exactly meet EPA mpg recommendations! [ROFL]

It amazes me that so few rifles have a sling!  And that so few shooters know how to use a sling to stabilize a shooting position.

I have a bunch of SAW pouches for carrying magazines.  I like the SAW pouches because they hold HK91 mags and AR15 mags and have ALICE clips to go onto suspenders.

To my mind, a good sling is the most important piece of web gear there is.

I just use the basic LBE setup: 2  3-30 round GI ammo pouches, one mag in the rifle. Add to that two one liter canteens and one more 3 mag GI pouch, into which i have two 20 rounders, a factory 10 rounder (loaded w/ HP or SP ammo) and underneath a box of 40 more FMJ rounds.  I've got a whole seperate setup just for the 12 ga. (the shells fit nicely into those GI mag pouches), and on top of these i ALWAYS take my 2 liter camelback "Stealth".  It's a lightweight, practical setup; the only thing i want to add to it is a back up cleaning kit for the AR.

A nuclear detonation from a weapon is vastly different in mechanics and results from a nuclear plant meltdown like what happened at Chernobyl.

The fallout from a nuclear detonation doesn't dissipate because it's getting absorbed by the environment.

It dissipates because it's simply no longer radioactive.

Very, very little nuclear weapon fallout is from long term isotopes, i.e. naturally radioactive materials.

The vast majority of the fallout that is produced from a nuclear detonation is from naturally non-radioactive ground debris that has been heavily bombarded with gamma and neutron radiation from the nuclear fireball and initial blast pulse, and then disbursed over a wide area in a dust plume. A typical example of this would be dirt and vaporized concrete scooped up from the crater of a ground burst against a hardened target like a missile silo.

This material isn't naturally radioactive and will not stay that way for any great length of time. The vast, vast majority of it will lose about 99% of it's radioactivity within approximately 14 days.

The naturally radioactive materials are usually from the vaporized bomb materials itself. After the bulk of the fallout sheds it's radioactivity, these isotopes can then be located with a Geiger counter and then isolated for disposal.

After a strike, virtually all of your radiation exposure will be from the fallout. To get a lethal dose of radiation from the initial pulse of a larger, thermonuclear warhead that would be used in a strategic attack, you would have to be so close to the fireball you would be incinerated, which means you'd have to be relatively very close to the target itself.

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I found that out when I took a rifle to a show to sell. It was a Remington 30-06 autoloader.

By the time I got threw walking around carring it, someone could have made a hell of a deal if they wanted to!

Ever since then I love light rifles! (with a sling)

I'm glad this thread was posted.

I've been a bad boy.  None of my rifles have slings on them, I have two old USGI 3-mag M-16 pouches.  That's it.  No vest, no web-gear, no SAW pouches, drop leg holsters, nada.  

I do have a really nice Eagle "3-day assault pack".  But nothing is in it.

Now that I think of it, I would'nt be ready for the SHTF situation at all.  The only mags that I even keep loaded are two Beretta 9mm's for the 92FS.  

I'm off to spend money...