the $4,000 72 hour kit

Is it just me or is most of the cost in the guns?

effective long range radios, might want to look into sat phones

For that price? How about two first class tickets to New Zealand?

Missing:

Bag of chips? Now you've got me reёvaluating my own BOBs. Zip-ties and hand-cuffs seem redundant. I can't carry 70-pounds in my present state. I'm gonna work out, yeah, just before the SHTF. dao.

This was planned around the guns I see. There's water filtration, but nothing for sterilization. Making water potable short of distillation is a two-step process, unless you like the thought of having Dysentery while in the 72-hour window.

I'd take the Glock and not even worry about the rifle for such a short timeframe. Put that cash into something else. Also avoid techy gadgets...fancy UV sterilization tools are great when they work. Manual filtration and iodine tablets always work (for very dirty water, cheesecloth filter it before using the water filter). Think basics, it works better.

Replace rechargable batteries with standard Alkaline when possible. With exception of some specialty battery models, Alkalines outperform rechargables per any single duty cycle. Any flashlight that uses specialty batteries would be off my list too. If it gets 4-5 hours runtime from a single battery, it's on my list.

daorhgih, if you can't carry 70 lbs you should get off the internet and start working out! Seriously, your likely poor health is much more likely to kill you than a bad guy or disaster.

For the kit I'd add merino wool long john top and bottoms and a Marmot Precip top, maybe bottom as well. Hypothermia kills. Merino won't melt to your skin like poly can, also doesn't stink.

I'd also swap the Motorola GMRS for a Garmin Rino, which has GPS as well as FRS and GMRS. A little bigger but a lot more useful.

I'd ditch the Fatmax for a lighter crowbar, or rig up a shovel with a crowbar handle or something like that. Lot of weight there.

I would add gas masks and extra filters, as well as a couple of those disposable fold-up NBC suits. a "pocket fisherman" kit or collapsible rod and reel ... at the least, add a line and some hooks. 2 or 3 "space blankets" ... they can be fashioned into an improvised shelter if required and take up next to no space. 72 hours could turn into a week depending on circumstances. A box of strike anywhere matches (sometimes a lighter won't do and you just need a match).

Dysentery? You must be joking. I don't know what filter he is using but if he spent 200 bucks on it I'd bet money it does the 2 microns required for bacteria that cause dysentery.

Sure, boiling is better. Sure, iodine works. But good filters also work.

Looks like a pretty good bag for the "heavy bag." I also have a light bag that is my 30-second bag.

What's the intended purpose? If it includes being outdoors, won't you want something to keep you dry if it's raining?

For flashlights, check out the Maglight XL100. I have two of these in my truck and love them. Dimmable, lockout mode, nightlight mode, and SOS mode. And only $40 to boot.

http://www.maglite.com/maglite_xl100_led.asp

You know I went to war with a lot less stuff than that not counting ammo. Seriously, 72 hours is nothing. You don't even really need food for 72 hours although its nice to have. Why do you need radios? 6 cans of sterno for 4 MRES? 10 lighters? Handcuffs? Who are you capturing and what are you going to do with them when you do. Why all the towels and rags? Pack an extra T-shirt and if you really need a rag there you go.

Why four of them? If its for your family you need one 1st aid kit. Don't duplicate your effort across the packs. Plan one pack and split it up.

I hope you really do not mind but I am going to add or take away some things. The kit is great and it shows you are serious about it.

That can really be lightened up a lot. I am not sure if you are looking at urban or outback or a combo of the two. Also cost can come down with the use of different firearms.

I have two similar kits I made except I bought used guns, a S&W alloy revolver and a take down trapper lever action for each kit, both use the same .357/.38 ammo and lots of ammo options.

I would opt or drop all but one of the waters and get a good small purifier (your list does not say what kind you have. A purifier or just a filter, opt for the small purifier), reuse the one bottle or at most two.

I would only have one small sterno. Your cooking times will be 5-10 minutes at a time. One can goes for 4-6 hours depending on wind and temp.

I would add a small folding hand saw of good quality (gerber has a great one).

For a 72 hour pack, I would buy lithium long life batteries and drop the solar charger and the recharge batteries, that would be more for a long term base camp. Any comms would be short and sporadic so battery life would not be the biggest concern.

You have 14" zip ties, maybe upsize them just a lil, no need for the handcuffs.

I would drop the standard MRE's and go with the Military "First Strike," meals, more calories and lighter carry, no need to heat or have dangerous carbide MRE heaters in your pack. I have seen some nasty things happen to realists (not survivalists) with those in a pack. Add a standard canteen cup. Add iodized salt, not just what is in the MRE/First Strike packs.

The crystal light packets offer no energy, I would go with "FRS," (google it) packets as they have vitamins and calories.

I would add 3 leaf sized plastic bags (you can even find the orange ones online from Halloween) that are stuffed with leaves to look like a pumpkin or stick with the black/dark green. They can be used for shelter and or water proofing/signaling. Line your pack with one and put all your stuff in it and then tie it closed.

I would add a magnesium sparking fire starter like Gerbers and others (first strike comes to mind), they work when wet. I was able to start a nice fire under a pine tree in a down pour with one made everything really cozy. When a bic gets wet, the flint will NOT work at all, same with a zippo.

Your kit is great, seriously it is. I am very much into 72 - 256 hour kits. My wife says it is an OCD LOL. My kits go from a base camp one (at a cabin in PA) all the way down to a flat two pieces of duct tape together with a needle, #11 exacto and flint/mag chips. I open up a corner of a coat and place it in there and sew it back up. I have kits all and in between those.

My one recomendation above all others is multiple redundancy in fire making....I carry matches, lighters, mag strikers, Wet Tinder, Tinder-Lite tinder, small pieces of "Fat Wood" etc and I carry them in different parts of the pack in vac sealed bags. You can get a hand or manual operated vac sealer (looks like a small bike pump and super lite, mine is a Hefty brand, but Reynolds and ohers make them) for $5 in the zip lock bag isle at a good grocery store and they really work on everything in your pack. They will also keep any fresh caught food fresh and air free until you have time to smoke or cook it.

I would also add a belt knife like a Cold Steel SRK. Nothing fancy, just something that absolutely works no matter what.

Switch the standard duct tape to "Gorillia" brand tape, it is duct tape on steroids and will stick in wet/cold/hot areas.

Instead of the shovel, get a "U-Dig-It" half the weight and just as good if not better.

Add a small but well made fishing kit (line, sinkers, hooks, flies, small bobbers, plastic maggots and small lures). Add 3 non lube condoms to it as they make perfect minow/crawdad catchers while you are doing something else at your camp and you can also carry water if need be in them, inside of a sock.

I am really iffy on the smoke grenades, there are pros and cons.

...and the best advice... practice, practice and more practice in survival skills (fire and more fire, water, food and shelter). Even when trained well, your skills get rusty. They need to be second nature.

Do a google search of "Les Stroud," and read his stuff and join his forum. Stay away from anything Bear Grylis, that man will get you killed and very fast.

I hope this helps, please feel free to PM or email me.

daorhgih, I hear ya, us old guys have to survive but out of shape.... I'd say get a small 4 wheeled upright shopping cart to roll the stuff around, you can put largher more useful wheels on it if need be. They work. Work smarter, not harder )

ALSO rem any script meds for you and fam for the short stay, a list of your meds for a camp with medics in it can fill what they have and know about when you come back from the dark side and into the light.

LOL JohnBlitz.... capture the enemy and eat them......

I don't see any ammo. What good are the guns if you got no ammo?

Josh

I would make that 50' of para cord 250'- loose the baby wipes and handcuffs and Sterno. get some matches dipped in paraffin wax (old boyscout trick) and add a Army Field manual or the Boy Scout Handbook. A water proof dry bag or box is also good- and maybe a 10X10 piece of heavy mil plastic...

Josh - The ammo needed is in the various magazines already I am betting.

Nice kit, seems a bit redundant and heavy for just 72-hours ( that could be a good thing considering often our time lines get stretched a bit during crisis).

I would lose the handcuffs but keep the zip ties, they can be used for a larger variety of things than the cuffs. I would take one refillable butan torch lighter and a refill of fluid rather than so many disposable. I would lose the sterno since the mres are self heating and the refillable torch could provide fire, also +1 on kosmic krunch for the tinder kits and trash bags they can also be used as an insulator to keep you warm.

Other than that you have an awesome extended stay kit. I really like the rechargeable batteries and charger (just not for 72 hours), I honestly would never have thought of that. It seem that you really thought out your bag and I really like it.

My 72hr/car bag is just
Two pair of socks in a gallon ziplock bag.
Two pairs of pants and shirts (one long sleeve, one short)
2 boxes of granola/cereal bars in a gallon ziplock bag
4 bottles of water w/kool aid packs
1 pack of water purification tablets
30ft cord
Small hatchet, kabar knife and multitool
1 glock 17 9mm mag and 1 33rd glock 9mm mag

I keep a wool pea coat in my car year around and my Glock 26 is almost always my edc.

I'm questoning the rifle part but hey, its your kit.
now if I was building more kits with a rifle, the rifle would be a su-16(can be folded in half, can carry 2 30 rnd mags in the gun weighs lighter than a standard ar-15 and you can buy about 4 keltecs for the price of the scar) and not the scar for price reasons.

maybe I'm missing something but I see no can opener....

Bivy sack, small tent, ets.

72 hours of ZOMBIE FIGHTING, maybe.

It's good you got the framless pack since an oil or air filter would be superfluous without the vehicle.

As for the rest of it, where do you intend to take it? No government shelter or transportation system is going to let you in with a rifle. You have enough water for an hour or two. Humping that 50# framless pack will likely cause you to sweat out your four bottles of water pretty fast. Also, since water is so important, what's your plan if the filter breaks?

Seriously, what's the plan? Trauma kit? Blood clot? I know I'll catch some flak for saying it, but that seems a bit, shall we say, silly? For what scenario are you preparing to be an army of one? Why do you need a pack at all, why not just put all that stuff in a plastic tote in the basement? You'd be far better off in your own home than wandering around looking for deep slash wounds that need clotting or red light that needs filtering.

Wire for setting snares and alike..........
A small fishing kit with hooks and line........