Thread: bug out bag weight? advice?

how many people here have actually weighed their bug out bag?

how much does it weigh, and have you carried that much 20+ miles before?

The more your pack weighs the higher chance you could injure yourself, and a bad
back in a survival environment could kill you.

every wasted ounce is a ounce of live saving gear or supplies lost.
keep in mind I'm making a bag for indefinite time on the move, not just 3 days.

my original bug out rifle was going to be my AR-15, until I decided to weigh the rifle +500 rounds of ammo. 22lb : 0 sweet Jesus! vs. 7.5 lb for my 10/22 with 550rds
sorry AR you stay home. despite popular belief, the world is not going to turn into COD when the economy collapses. I can kill my food and defend myself just fine with .22

so have you got any weight saving advice? please post here.

ps: carbon-fiber is your friend.

Everything is give and take, ya you can kill with a 22lr but how far away? A light weight bolt 223 with a suppressor sounds like a 22lr and you have more power. But then how far away will the game be? We tend to judge the world by past times in the woods, will the woods be alot more crowded? There is alot to think about huh?

jj

Originally Posted by Just Jim

Everything is give and take, ya you can kill with a 22lr but how far away? A light weight bolt 223 with a suppressor sounds like a 22lr and you have more power. But then how far away will the game be? We tend to judge the world by past times in the woods, will the woods be alot more crowded? There is alot to think about huh?

jj

Dead on point JJ. Also one should consider their BO plan. If you need to move some distance then weight is a consideration. I have "get home bags" in my vehicles, and a "get out of dodge" package at home. My plan involves about 130 miles of travel to a sanctuary, but only 15 by ground, so I have a package weighted more toward weapons and ammo and comm gear and lighter towards food. The simple answer is there is no simple answer. You need to realistically look at your plan and tailor your assets to fit the plan. One size does not fit all in this scenario.

Like you say Ma Duce, it's all about the plan. Without a plan a man is just peeing into the wind.

jj

specifically looking for ways to save weight. not what to pack. lighter weight alternatives for what ever your plan may be.

To give an example, food. It takes 3200 calories a day to be at optimum in a combat situation. Each MRE is about 3200 calories. Now you could cut weight by going to freeze dry food if you have a water supply along the route you BO. But then you need a water purifier or souce of heat to boil for clean water.

Eating freeze dry without water will constipate you so bad you won't be able to travel.

When it comes to guns there is allways a tradeoff. Is it worth it to save weight and lose power and distance?

jj

As a healthy 20 year old I had no trouble hiking 18 miles a day in the Casades with a 45-55Lbs load in a REI external frame pack. A US Marine has about a 70lbs load.

My daughter during her Field Medical training (she was a US NAVY Corpsman) trianed with approx. 75-80lbs she is just under 5' tall and at the time wieghed a whopping 118lbs. And she carrys quite a bit of wieght in her breasts.

The Wife an I dragged soft side luggage around Europe that weighed in at approx 40lbs per bag with an additional 20lbs of Camera gear for 3 weeks, Granted not hiking. We were in our late 40's and not in shape.

Your the only one that can answer the question of how much. and how far. Do you have a specific goal in mind to reach? Because just like predators the less you move the less you burn up calories. Thats why a Coyote will only chase a rabbit a few dozen yards before giving up. And why hawks perch high up and hunt down.

For myself at a "FAT" 53 years of age I think I would limit my on back weight to 50lbs and then only in a very good framed pack. With that I think I could manage 5-7 miles a day. After a couple weeks of that I'm sure I would slim down and muscle up a bit.

My pack weighs in at 3 stone(42 pounds) almost exactly. That includes gear+weapons. I walk a mile and run a quarter mile with it on my treadmill every day. Oh gods does it hurt too. Most of my gear is locked into food and water. I have basic items beyond that; 3 types of fire making, 3 types of cutting implement, ammo and shelter, cordage. I've shaved every gram of weight I possibly could and it's still a huge damned pack. But I went a different route than some. I've got my pack broken down into two sections; my actual pack and my lower gear 'belt'. It's basically a battle-belt with MOLLE pouches attached and two hip panels as well. That way if I can't carry the pack I can dump or stash it and still have a good portion of what I might need attached to me.

In a BO situation it's not about how far it's about getting out of the net of martial law, which I honestly believe is a good regulatory practice except when it causes more harm than good.

My "weight saving advice" is to carry things that have multiple uses. Instead of a sleeping bag, I know that if I wrap my poncho and poncho liner together I can sleep in it just the same. I like the fact that the freeze dried Mountain House food weighs so little...I ended up changing out my emergency ration bar for Mountain House (mainly due to the weight).

35lbs-40lbs is a realistic weight...that's what soldiers carry (not to mention body armor or machine gunners). If you have difficulty carrying this weight, I recommend walking/running with your back on to get your body used to it.

Originally Posted by Riot

If you have difficulty carrying this weight, I recommend walking/running with your back on to get your body used to it.

Group hiking anyone?

It's all about context, I'd say.

On the internets, you've got these fat, out-of-shape fifty year old guys who did a few years in the army three decades ago with grandiose plans of taking a forty pound ALICE pack plus semiauto rifle and pistol plus tons of ammo out into the Cascades or the Coast range all on their backs. Odds of them actually making it that far with all that super-duty survival gear? Slim and none.

Me, I'm younger but still out fat and out of shape. My day hiking set up (with emergency supplies just in case) runs me about 18 pounds and even that starts to wear on you after a while. After getting into dayhiking mostly concurently with having my eyes opened to survivalism/SHTF concerns, I started getting out into the wilderness more and more. I went through the requisite gear buying spree, but then almost as quickly started dumping a ton of that stuff that's just too heavy (e.g. no need for that Spetnas shovel/axe when my Becker BK-2 can handle chopping almost as well).

Granted, I think a Mad Max styled pack out on foot scenario is highly, highly unlikely, but I'm personally in favor of a modular vehicle based "bug out" plan in case of emergencies.

Originally Posted by Will_Power

It's all about context, I'd say.

On the internets, you've got these fat, out-of-shape fifty year old guys who did a few years in the army three decades ago with grandiose plans of taking a forty pound ALICE pack plus semiauto rifle and pistol plus tons of ammo out into the Cascades or the Coast range all on their backs. Odds of them actually making it that far with all that super-duty survival gear? Slim and none.

Me, I'm younger but still out fat and out of shape. My day hiking set up (with emergency supplies just in case) runs me about 18 pounds and even that starts to wear on you after a while. After getting into dayhiking mostly concurently with having my eyes opened to survivalism/SHTF concerns, I started getting out into the wilderness more and more. I went through the requisite gear buying spree, but then almost as quickly started dumping a ton of that stuff that's just too heavy (e.g. no need for that Spetnas shovel/axe when my Becker BK-2 can handle chopping almost as well).

Granted, I think a Mad Max styled pack out on foot scenario is highly, highly unlikely, but I'm personally in favor of a modular vehicle based "bug out" plan in case of emergencies.

Well comrade it seems you got it all in mind as to how it will all go down I suspect in a real SHTF it will be what you have on your back that keeps you going but fact is it will all run out. That is for those who plan to bug out.

jj