Burying a gun or other preps
I have to admit that I have been a little obsessed with finding a decent option for burying, sinking or otherwise hiding a firearm and other preps since I first saw Mossberg’s Just In Case line of products a number of years ago. In case you aren’t familiar with it, the line includes a Mossberg 500 shotgun in a pistol grip configuration, a highly durable waterproof tube and depending on the version a survival kit, multi-tool, etc. For some reason I just fell in love with the idea of being able to tie a concrete block to a tube and toss it into a pond to hide it, or bury it somewhere up in the woods. I can add my own survival kit and tools instead of relying on what I am sure is cheap Chinese made junk and I already own a number of shotguns and have never been a fan of the 500’s so I was more interested in the tube itself. Unfortunately, Mossberg doesn’t sell the tube by itself nor have I been able to discern the manufacturer. In the few years since the JIC was introduced I’ve read a fair number of articles, reviews and opinion pieces on the Interwebs concerned with burying firearms or other supplies. People seem to have very differing opinions on all aspects of the subject, ranging from whether it will ever be necessary or even prudent to whether there is any way to successfully store a firearm in the ground for any period of time. In my mind, the question was answered in January 2008 when an author for Backwoods Home magazine wrote an article describing his 15 year experiment burying and finding a Ruger Mini-14 The author used grease, mylar bags and PVC pipe to successfully bury, store and retrieve a rifle, ammunition and some tools in a wooded area for 15 years.
Some take-aways from this article
- Preparation is key. Be sure to properly prep and seal the contents and container against the elements.
- Find at least three immovable landmarks and measure from them to your burial location.
- Landscapes change over time and memories become distorted. Take non-descript pictures if possible before you dig
- Scout out your location before hand. Be familiar with the area you are planning to use. Know when people are there and when
In addition to PVC piping there are now a number of companies providing burial tubes and other products of a similar nature to preppers. The folk at PolyFarm of Idaho were kind enough to provide us with a sample of one of their products which we will review and test in a follow up post. Our plan is to review the products offered by PolyFarm; then in a subsequent post start a one month side by side burial test to compare the PolyFarm MonoVault to the cheaper PVC alternative. We will also plan to discuss the methods we used to triangulate the location and some methods to help disguise the location from metal detectors or other detection techniques. Stay tuned!