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Grab and Go Bags

7K views 39 replies 22 participants last post by  farscott 
#1 · (Edited)
I did a couple of searches and couldn't come up with any threads on the subject. I'm sure that this subject has been beaten to death a bazillion times. I am looking for what people keep in them.

The obvious stuff to me is (assuming handgun, AR-15 and shotgun SD weapons):
- 10 high cap handgun mags for the SD gun of your choice
- 10 high cap AR mags
- Buckshot/slugs
- Water
- Flashlight
- first aid kit, space blanket
- cell phone charger or phone card
- Sharp knife and small idiot proof v notch sharpener
- Compass
- lighter
- Cash or credit card or both
- MRE
- Spare truck / house keys
- Any necessary medications

I prefer a backpack style for ease of carry. What say you all?
 
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#6 ·
I deleted one post because some want to hijack and begin a flame war over a simple question: "Bug out bags, what's in yours"?

You don't believe in them? No problem. Stay on topic and don't hijack other folks when they ask a valid question.

Thanks,

Fin
 
#7 ·
One of those SHTF shows made an excellent point.... the bigger the bag, the bigger the target and the slower you can move. In other words, if it looks like you've got a lot of stuff, the more likely it will be that you will become a target of theft. I'll assume if you NEED to bug-out the BG will shoot first and see if you have something good in your bag later.

I'd rather use 2 or 3 bags each with 1/2 or 1/3 of my stuff. If I get separated from a single 60 pound bag I'm out. I can wear 10-15 pounds and lug the rest - but won't loose it all if I have to bug-out of my bug-out bag.

I'd pare down to 2 mags/bag/weapon and carry the ammo loose... less space.

Shotgun? No. Too few shots without reloading. Shells take up too much space and weigh a ton. The AR is useful for hunting and SD.
 
#8 ·
Depends how long you plan to survive on this I suppose.. I agree on less ammo and weight.

I would add the following:

Tarp
Solar Panel and Battery Charge Kit made for back of Bag
Rope/ParaCord
Iodine Tabs/Water Treatment Method
Lint/Kindling
I find MREs too bulky (trash and evidence) Go with ramen, granola, tuna in pouch
Spare Socks and Talc Powder

I am sure more will come to mind later, but I think you are on the right track.
 
#9 ·
Been thinking about this for a few hours. I can't think of more than a few scenarios where I'd have to leave. I live in an area where there isn't any big city, high crime or a concentration of attractants to outsiders (food, etc.).

Why would I leave? I know my area and it's resources. Going anywhere else means I'd be exposed in strange territory.

Anyway, a bug-out bag staged in the back of a closet for making a retaliatory advance on a crowd of invaders makes as much sense to me as staging a bag down at the end of the driveway or strapped to the frame of my truck.
 
#14 ·
Really???

You mean that in your part of the world you don't have to worry about wild fire, flood, damn breaks, tornado, hurricane, train derailment causing toxic spills, earth quakes, or a nuc power plant 500 miles upwind having a bad day?

Wow I want to live where you live. Seriously, when you really think about it while remote there is almost always something that could force you to leave your house quickly.
 
#10 · (Edited)
This has become a big topic in forums, kind of along the lines of "what would I do if I won the lottery". It's fun to see what priorities people have.

Personally, I don't have a BOB right now, though I've been toying with the idea of something. When I was single and did more outdoorsy things, I carried a utility bag in my Jeep that had a fairly extensive first aid kit (though it was pared down so that it was light and had only enough stuff to treat a single person), some basic granola/energy bars, some fresh water, water purification tablets, GPS, compass, a handful of USGS topo maps of the area in which I lived at the time, pens and notepads, flashlights and spare batteries, a couple of prepaid cash cards, spare socks and underwear, matches, a couple of fire-starting devices, a small mirror, red lens for a flashlight, a small hatchet, a couple of folding knives, a fixed blade knife, and a police surplus beater Glock 19 with two magazines and a kydex holster...oh, yeah, and 100' of paracord and a Gerber multitool, too. For a time, I also always carried an AR15 in a "discreet carry" case but, unlike the surplus Glock, I minded if it might be stolen and it got to be a pain in the ass taking it in and out all the time so I stopped carrying it. I used the spare socks and underwear more than anything else.

If I had the money, I would probably get into doing something like having some land in the middle of nowhere that was off the grid with a small, hidden cabin or some such.

I have been considering the purchase of one of the Kel-tec folding rifles as a truck gun but have little experience with them so I haven't done it.

Something that I've actually been considering as a carbine that isn't THAT expensive that would be a truck gun is an SBR. Yes, they can be expensive, but my thought is to build a CHEAP one. Take one of the Plumcrazy lowers and submit paperwork and get approved and have it engraved and you are basically at the same price point as a regular AR lower. Then stick on one of the cheaper uppers and you're good to go. You could have an SBR for less than $1K (maybe around $800). I have a Plumcrazy lower that I bought for some unknown reason and it's so cheap that I haven't sold it because it's not worth selling online and I don't really like FTF transactions so I've just been using it. While some put them down (and probably rightly so), this one has been good for the uses to which I've put it.

Sorry...rambling, but I DID get some relevant content...
 
#12 ·
It's really hard to make a list without a scenario. Grab and Go, BOB, or whatever, is different for different situations. "The house is on fire" is different from the hurricane 24 hours away. If you want some good reading on this subject, google "learning from Katrina" (I think), and you might find some insight.

This is pretty much my basic pack list w\o food and water. If I were truely "buggin' out", these would be going with me, regardless of the mode of travel.

Sleeping bag/quilt (down)
Tarp and Bivy
40-50 L pack
Ti/Al Mug/Cook Pot
Rain Gear
Aquamira drops
Firestarter
Insulation/Clothing
knife
 
#13 ·
Before you put together a bag you need to decide what's the intended purpose of the bag.

A Active Shooter/Rapid Response bag is going to be different then a true Bug out bag.

The AS Bag is designed to give the user spare loaded mags and some basic first aid gear in a compact and quick to get into rig. A Bug out Bag is for living out of if need be while also providing for an armed response.

The thing about an B out B is you need to decide how long you expect to live out of it. 3-5 days until FEMA can get off their butt? 5-6 days until you can get to family in the next state over? 7-10 days until your security team can get from an outer providence of someplace to a major city?

Plus you may need to adjust your bag for summer and winter months. Water and some means to purify it, food, shelter, money to bribe people, and SOME, not a ton but some, ammo.

You also need to decide on if this a vehicle or house bag. A vehicle bag is going to be just big enough to get from work/the city back to the house where you can hunker down. This bag may need a change of clothes. I work in a suit and tie and if need be walking 50 miles would be a major pain.

The house bag is for getting the whole family, kids and pets included, on the road.
 
#34 ·
Before you put together a bag you need to decide what's the intended purpose of the bag.


Plus you may need to adjust your bag for summer and winter months. Water and some means to purify it, food, shelter, money to bribe people, and SOME, not a ton but some, ammo.

The house bag is for getting the whole family, kids and pets included, on the road.
If you notice I put ammo as LAST on my list for my BOB.

I think we have a failure to communicate here friend. I firmly believe there can be incidents that force people to leave their house in a hurry. I don't prescribe to the End of the World sect but do believe that a local/regional break down like Katrina CAN occur again. Having a bag prepared so on short notice you can be somewhat self sufficient for a few days is just smart planning.

I'm getting the vibe from you that leaving your house would have a build up period where you can pack your car and pick and chose what you take. I've help out on several evacuations for wild fires and toxic spills and believe me a good percentage of people waste way too much time in panic mode running around denying the situation and leave with little or nothing when the deadline comes. These are the ones you see at Red Cross shelters later whining they have nothing but the clothes on their backs.
 
#15 ·
Okay so o have a SHTF bag. I am LEO so this is more of an active shooter/major case call out bag. In it I have all the ammo, etc...however if I were to have to leave home and survive clandestine. I think my weapon of choice would be a silenced .22 or.22 mag. Will provide food, protection, stealth and 500-1000 rounds of ammo is cheap and easy to carry. The 22 mag will take down a deer, or any smaller game.
 
#18 ·
Agreed. In all likelihood, the forests will be striped of any game within a few weeks. Game in this area is already known to the regular hunters and is a bit thin by their estimation. The notion that tens of thousands of people can leave their suburban homes and live in the forests is a big laugh. I know some life-long hunters who come home empty on a regular basis, and they know what they're doing.
 
#16 ·
was browsing and came across this. One thing I have on my BUG that you never hear mentioned is a folding dump pouch. I use a 72 hr bag with molle on waist strap where pouch is attached. Everyone mentions ammo and mags. What is ammo worth without mags. You really going to unzip bag to put empties in? Can also use for other things like collecting food and fallen brass to reload:)
 
#19 ·
I agree win WNC on most points because I live in an rural area, so I am probably not leaving.

several things that I haven't seen mentioned in the go kits, are a roll of TP and some zip ties. some heavy zip ties about 14" long are very useful for a variety of uses. The TP is also very invaluable until you get somewhere to set up shop. the other thing that I keep in several of my "kits" is some duct tape. I take about 6 foot of tape and re wrap it around a 1/4" dowel rod that is cut to length. again this is an item that "does a lot"

I have a bag of essentials in the boat and one behind the seat in the truck both have items that are suited for the needs if I am stranded or run into trouble when out and about. If I was building a Bug out bag for survival, the first thing I would buy is one of the small pre-made kits that are commercially available. Most of them have the essentials for living off the land if needed
 
#20 ·
I live out in middle of no where too but what if there's like a tornado and your trapped in basement til you can get dug out. Or like situations now what if Russia/china try to invade cause we attack Iran? I feel it's better safe than sorry to be prepared. I have a two bugs for myself and one for girlfriend(she doesn't know though lol). Even have two for dogs with their food in it and stuff. I live in high tornado area. Bags are in closest by crawl space door. Throw them down there in case. Can survive being down there couple days or if I have to get to family member house. Have large molle pouches with ammo/mags if it's a shtf event. You never know what situation can happen.
 
#21 ·
WNC-Shooter, would you want to bet on that credit card getting you a warm bed and a hot meal in the aftermath of Katrina?

Seriously, while extremely remote situations that could force YOU to flee your house would also force your NEIGHBORS to flee their homes as well. And because you do live in a sparely populated area that means there are FEWER motels/hotels to accept the influx of suddenly homeless people.

As for packing up and moving to someone else's back yard, family in another state or county is exactly where I'm going if my house suddenly becomes unliveable. Getting from here to there is the issue.
 
#25 ·
Tarp
**Frontier Water filter
**Stainless Metal bowl
**Fire Steel/lighter
**550 Paracord
Trash bags (rain suits)
Head Lamp
**Fixed blade knife
GPS
Ramen Noodles & Jerky
Small fishing set
Metal leaders for snares
water bladder
First Aid Kit
(2)30rnd AR Mags
Kel-Tec U16C


**must haves
 
#28 ·
Tornado does tear whole soceity. But some in the last year leaved whole towns. Might take time for relieve efforts. I would rather be sitting on a sleeping bag eating rice with some neighbors than wishing a Wendy's blew into my yard:). Nice to have some dry clothes if you were out in rain for a bit. Not so much worried about soceity falling apart but having some things to get by until help gets there. Rather have it and not need it vs face palming. Bug usually just fun to make and talk about it. But a lot of it can help in different situations. Example buddy cut him self real bad. All I had to do was get into bug and grab supplies. Saved my car interior :biglaugh: sum it up have fun with them more than likely will never need them but some people say same thing with a ccw
 
#32 · (Edited)
In our home, we have an emergency bag in the basement 'safe' room.

That's got a weeks worth of meds, a first aid pack including benedryl, imodiums, ibuprofen, aspirin, antibiotic ointment, dressings, theratears etc. etc. By the way, tampons and pads make good compression bandages. I know one guy whose nose was bleeding profusely after a fall, breaking it. His wife stuck a small tampon in each nostril, stemming the blood flow quite nicely. We also have toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss(Has multiple uses). Extra glasses and a pair of sunglasses for wifey as she has a medical need for them. Two emergency blankets and two emergency poncho's. Two Duracell crank LED Flashlights and a small crank am/fm/weather radio. That pack has pockets for 4 qt. size water bottles. There's a supply of them in the room so it's easy to load up with fresh as you grab the bag. Protein bars, waterproofed strike anywhere matches are included.
I also have a Victorianox wrist compass and a military surplus map compass loaded into it. A side scabbard holds a PI machete made from a jeep spring and one pocket has 100' camo paracord.

We keep a set of clothes in that bag including two sets of undies and socks as well as a pair of walking shoes each. We change it out for seasonal changes. A Ziploc has a supply of emergency cash and our Passport ID Cards for backup ID.

Total weight of the pack minus the water is 12 pounds. Wifey can easily carry it by herself.

Also there is a 'go bag' that is also my range bag. Contains a small cleaning kit and multi-tool. 12 clips for the 1911 + 100 round box 550 rounds .22 with the Standard Hi-Power and two spare clips. It's stored on a shelf next to my old footlocker along with the harness holding 10 clips for the Garand and holster for the 1911 along with a 8 mag pouch and my late FIL's Marine Fighting Knife that was duty at Guadalcanal. Hanging on a bar above that is two sets of camo, and my boots and a pair of Muck boots are on a low shelf in easy reach. One duffle on that shelf has my insulated camo coveralls for cold weather needs. There's also a 400 rnd box of clipped Garand food handy.

I keep vehicles near full on fuel as a matter of practice.

If we have to 'bug out', we can do so and it'd be easy to tailor what we take with the circumstance presented.

Since we live in Kansas, prone to tornado's, wind storms, ice storms, blizzards and here, floods, I also keep the following handy for stay in place emergencies.

Generator capable of running whole house in phases. Total fuel supply 45 gallons "Stabil'd"
Small Coleman Single Burner White Gas stove. Military Surplused in the PI in 1969. Still works.
Coleman White Gas lantern.
3-5 gallons White Gas
Small Kerosene Lantern with 1-2 gallons lamp oil
Two boxes Blue Tip Strike Anywhere Matches
Small Propane Stove with 10-12 small bottles
Camp Kitchen Cooking Box with dishes, pots/pans and Tetrox Soap for cold water cleaning/disinfectant
Picher Pump (can be used in place of power generated pump for water from well)
Sleeping bags
Mosquito nets
Tent
Camp cots
5 gal buckets
Bucket toilet "Seat" (handy way of making an outhouse anywhere needed, easy clean up using kitchen size trash bags, all stored in one bucket along with tp)

If we can't live in the house, we can live in the yard, or anywhere else.
In addition to a well stocked pantry(it's a 25 mile round trip if town store is closed to next nearest town) there's an entire grain elevator system with a total of 4 grain storage areas. They're almost never totally empty so there's a long term food supply that could be tapped if REALLY needed.

I also own two 18' box trucks that are kept fully fueled when in off the road.

If we need to travel to be able to pickup supplies to help out the community, they'd be easy to use. Course, around here, almost all the farmers also have grain trucks that could be pressed into service.

And our little town has a well with a pump that can be run by the PTO off a tractor to keep the water tower full or the water lines charged.

Unless a tornado totally scrubs the town, we'd be set pretty good in the event of disaster.

Course, looking at Greensburg as an example, tornado's CAN scrub a town, so nothing is totally "Murphy" proofed, but I figure we're as prepared as we reasonably can be.

If we keep the Co-Op Fuel, Grain and Propane Supplies, Grocery Store, Hardware Store, Meat Locker, Convenience Store, Water Tower, Emergency Water Pump, Sewer Treatment Plant and Schools as well as the Old Hospital Building protected, we'd be able to be reasonably self sufficient as well as able to help others as possible, at least for a reasonable period of time.
 
#36 ·
What I am doing is making not only a break out bag but also a break out vehicle. The bag will contain things like fishing gear and food while the vehicle will contain heavier things like blankets and large amounts of ammo. This is where it becomes necessary to have more people in your survival team then just yourself. That way if you must abandon your vehicle, you can spread the weight around to all members making survival a lot easier. Not to mention, have you ever spent a week in the woods by yourself? Absolutely boring...just my two cents
 
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