Just wondering what everybody thinks about getting custom built survival equiptment. A few examples would be Firearms. if so what would be the perfect universal caliber. A custom built knife. What would be the perfect universal lenth handle and blade type. and or custom built backpack. Just curious. Ime considering building a custom survival rifle and matching knife, with backpack as a carring case. What other equiptment would you consider having custom built. and would it really be worth it. what would be the pros and cons of custom built equiptment

What do you need custom built equipment for? You are looking at spending at least a $1000 on the fire arm and another $500 on the knife.
Isnt there equipment that will meet your needs already out there?

Also please dont open up the can of worms of "best caliber" you will get to many opinions. Plus if you do a little searching you can see some threads that have alredy discussed it a couple of times.

Didnt say I need it just said considering it. This as with many of my threads are all about opinions. not right and wrong. Discussions like this get people thinking. In the conversations I and others will often learn something even if all we learn is tolerance for others opinion, such as yours . remember its not about changing minds its about opinions. And these are issues every begginer will face. We talk about it here the bigginner finds these threads and wala has many different views all in one place to help arm them.

[edit on 3-1-2007 by angryamerican]

Custom building things is great if you have the know-how, equipment and money. I am of the opinion that it saves alot of grief just buying whatever its for. If in your opinion it would give you a better chance of survival or whatever its not my place to say its a bad idea.

I would rather just buy things. Nobody will agree on the perfect length of knife or whatever Probably because no such thing exists so just take whatever advice you get and make your own choice.

A customisation of sorts, and a tip taken from the Ray Mears Bushcraft programmes is flint tools.

He has a small cloth pouch that contains various diferent shaped flint tools, some with handcrafted handles, some without. The other night he was skinning and preparing a deer with a circular piece of flint, razor sharp and it won't lose it's edge like a knife will depending on what you do with it.

Best of all, it's free and anyone can smash a lump to bits until they get theier desired shape, a bit of customising to the exact shape and you're laughing.

CX.

Custom build equipment is fine if you know how to do it yourself. Most of us just buy ready made equipment.

The costs of much hand made equipment done by others is high.

Some is store built equipment modified by others as in my radios which have been extensively modified. Costs become a factor here.

You must weigh this out carefully against real practicality/utility.

I make my own antennas for certain frequencys. I can make them cheaper than store bought. I can maintain them too. It is just a matter of training yourself to obtain the know how and experience.

Custom equipment if fine... but like store bought equipment you weigh this out against it real usefulness/practicality verses costs which you can direct to more useful projects.

But isnt this a decision we do every day with our resources??? Weigh out the best directions and uses against the time tables/windows available.

I would not buy a custom knife..with the cost of store bought disposable knives. I would buy a good fixed blade store bought knife...very rugged and useful is the criterion here ..not necessarily cost..though there is a relationship here. Do your homework on this.

I have seen custom made knives.. The workmanship on most of them is excellent. But this is not the same as durability and usefullness in a difficult situation.

Your question in your original post is not unreasonable. There are people out here who do not know the difference and think that the most expensive equipment is often the best. Not necessarily so.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Well I am glad you have tolerance for my opinion because I am full of them.

As for the topic. Do your home work and research military surplus rifles. Once you figure out which is the best action for you then you can have it customized to specific calibers. This will probably be the only thing that you will need a professional gunsmith for. Then you can look at some of the add ons and mods you can choose from. The reasons that I say Military surplus is that they have already been built for a harsh environment, and for a harsh life. Plus they are inexpensive and you can buy all kinds of neat accessories for them.

What are you looking to gain from having a custom built rifle?
Accuracy, ruggedness, wieght, compactness.

Do you own any guns now?
If so what are your likes and dislikes about each?

There is no one gun does it all. Same with calibers. Each one has a limit to what it can do. They all were desighned with specific boundaries for performance.

It is the same with the custom Knives.

In my opinion in a survival situation you should have already read the "Bowyers Bibles" 1,2, and 3. And you should have alredy made 2 Bows that survived the building process. You also should have already learned how to make your arrows. And lastly learned how to shoot your bows.


[edit on 3-1-2007 by ultralo1]

My biggest question is what do you mean by custom built? Are you talking about buying the parts and piecing it together? Or are you talking about manufacturing your own parts and actually building your own guns and smithing your own knives?

If your talking about putting the pieces together and customizing a gun i would like to add that I too am saving up for a AK47 kit. The reason I am building an AK47 is because it for me will be cheaper to build and I can afford to mess up somethings without breaking the bank. Once i get more of the knowledge down I do plan to move on and build other weapons.

Now if your talking about building your own pieces i would recommend starting with a Metal lathe, you can start out by making silencers for weapons your already have (check to make sure owning a silencer is legal where you live) then you can move onto more complex things.

If you wish to smith a knife again I personally would start with a machette, they should be a bit easier to make then say a buck knife. Of course i have no working knowledge on smithing but I'm sure its not easy so anyone that does it better be really serious about it. On a side note if your worried about any society shattering survival situations being able to smith would be a useful skill to have in the aftermath.

If your making a pack, you might want to sew it together yourself, sewing could be a very useful skill in a survival situation, also learning how to make bone needles.

I dont think I would consider this custom per se..but I own two SKS rifles. The customization/modification I made to them is to purchase and install two synthetic stocks. I am keeping he wooden stocks and storing them. I just reasoned to myself that the synthetic stocks were better in the long run. The other modification or customization I did to these rifles was to remove the bayonetes. To me they just make the rifle barrel heavy plus I dont have much use for this piece of equipment. I gave them to a buddy of mine.
I do not plan on one of these large capacity magazine customizations or modifications. I dont care for this change. 10 rounds is plenty for me.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Well I do not plan to make any custom fire arms, because thats just giving away my location. A certain weapon I am working on is very simple for anyone to use, its a swinging weapon, takes almost no force what so ever to cause any damage to anything, you can use it to chop would or defend yourself, its weighted so that you can swing it then it does the rest of the work, but so far its either hard to swing at first, or it cant do to many mulitple hits, but its coming along. I am very survival ready though, I have a bag packed full of dried food, cantines (sp?), and what I would use most, duct tape, and duct tape can be used to make so many things, I have made gloves with it, hats, a flag, so its a very useful tool, mostly I dont use to many things I make myself, because I dont exactly trust myself with my own survival, but mostly what I make is jackets to carry things and bags, by sewing pockets to jackets and pants, some pockets are zip off, those are for non important things just incase I were ever to need to lose some weight while running, so mostly I make custom survival clothing, just so I can have most of my gear on me at all times.

When I clicked on this thread, I pictured Captain Kirk, making a cannon out of a piece of a bamboo, while the Gorn is throwing rocks at him. . . .

Most of the "custom building" I've been around had a survival application, as well as being mundane.

My hunting buddy and his friend have rigged up a rolling overhead hoist so that it can be used for easily dressing game. They also built a shed with a valved floor drain, again, for hanging meat. Now, they also made some other, non-survival modifications, like plumbing hot and cold running water outside in the yard, for easy cleanup.

Now, some of the amenities like extra area lighting and running water won't work in an emergency, but the hoist is hand cranked, and goes into the shed via muscle power, saving aching backs and tired arms---critical in a survival scenario at home.

I have a "bug-out tool box" in the garage, with my hand tools, a tarp and extra rope in it. It has proven to be really handy after thunderstorm, patching holes in a roof when the power was out and the rain was pouring in. the tools were storebought, but I assembled the ones that make sense to me.

I've got a link somewhere for a home-made geiger counter. I got it off the FEMA website (!). I'll post it if I can find it. It costs like, 40 bucks in supplies. I had a plan at one time to pre-fab them, and then sell them out of my trunk at work during the next terror scare.

always the capitalist here.

Originally posted by dr_strangecraft

I've got a link somewhere for a home-made geiger counter. I got it off the FEMA website (!). I'll post it if I can find it. It costs like, 40 bucks in supplies. I had a plan at one time to pre-fab them, and then sell them out of my trunk at work during the next terror scare.

always the capitalist here.

Now that is a schematic or design I would like to see. It would be very intresting.

Thanks Doc,
Orangetom

I think that if I built a survival rifle I would design it with easily changed barrels. Then I'd make a series of barels chambered for the most common ammunition and carry it as a set. I think that being able to use a variety of different caliber ammo would be an important factor.

some of the custom made things I like are the CAN STOVE, the hacksaw blade cut into short lengths and worn like dog tags, the other sharpened into a small blade, snares, & instant shelter supplies. I also enjoyed the reminder about my zippo's flints. One other thing I may add here is the small tin with a pinhole in it. I put a strip of denim inside and put it into a fire. The denim becomes carbon and is a great way to catch a spark for fire on the next day. Also a wad of drier lint is easily stowed for a tinder pouch. (I found that it is good wicking for the can stove fuel)

All of which was learned on this very site.
The idea of a survival forum truly is a great concept!


edit: ok, I just invested 10 minutes and made 2 three inch hacksaw blades and sharpened 2 three inch pieces of carbon steel banding. I drilled a hole through them and strung some wire around them (to lash them to a stick for a small handle). My b.o.b. list of free stuff is growing.

[edit on 4/1/07 by shadow watcher]

On the UK Survivalist website I frequent, there are many on there that have customised/bespoke equipment. Some of it they have made themselves and others have things made for them.

There is a UK website called British Blades, whereby people make their own knives.

I have a book somewhere of how to make outdoor equipment from scratch.