Defeater's Micro-Survival Kit (Updated 8/21!)

[Defeater]

So, I have only been putting together - actually, even considering - survival gear only as long as I have been a member of this site (peek over at the join date, it hasn't been all that long). I've been mostly concentrating on small stuff to start out with, and gathering big ticket items later. I was intrigued by the idea of a survival kit in an Altoids tin, so that was the first idea I seized upon. Anyways, here it is as it stands right now. I am still adding things to it as I go along, thus the "work in progress" in the title.

This is an EDC item and is supplemented by my Victorinox OHT.


Closed up tight, secured with some rubber bands. External dimensions are 3.75"W by 2.5"H by 0.75"D, giving me approximately 7.75 cubic inches to work with - I have already ordered an Otterbox 1000 which will give me an extra cubic inch, provisions for a paracord lanyard, and resistance to submersion and crushing. Also, I used a Myntz brand instead of Altoids tin for two reasons: first, it was slightly cheaper. Second, I wanted to go against the grain a little bit.


Opened as packed. Not shown is a thin foam insert kept packed in the lid to prevent noise - it makes no noise whatsoever when shaken. Note the card attached to the lid with Morse code and signals to aircraft. It doesn't look like it but there is still a lot of space available in here, which will only improve moreso when I upgrade to the Otterbox.


Unpacked! Here is where we can go over the individual items.

2 resealable plastic bags (1.5" x 2.5")
- 8 water purification tablets (enough to purify 1 gallon)
- 2 fish hooks, one size 4 and one size 10
2 resealable plastic bags (4" x 4")
- 10 Diamond strike-anywhere matches
- other bag is empty
3/4"-diameter spool with at least 20yd. of 10-lb fishing line
2 corks (for bobbers)
2 safety pins, 1.5"
Nail clippers with file, 1.625"
Razor blade, 1.5" (still in cool cardboard sheath, for safety)
Razor blade holder, cut and ground down to 2.5" length from 4.5"
MagLite Solitaire AAA flashlight (upgrade to Fenix E01 in the future?)
Mini-Bic with 15' of electrical tape wrapping
Rescue mirror cut down to 3" x 2"
Bubble, just an interesting micro item, 0.75" long and about 0.25" diameter

Also, some things I know I need to add but haven't gotten around to yet:
Money
Pre-paid phone card
Pain medication

Thoughts, comments, constructive criticism always welcome.

[ODA 226]

Good start mate!

[Machete Matt]

maybe try to add a small candle when your bigger container.

[Regulator]

Looks pretty good. Zeroxed copy of your drivers license, thumb drive maybe, a little spare change. Definately get rid of the Mag lite tho. Those things will give you a tiny bit of light right up to the time you need it. They're junk. Walmart has little flat LED lights for like $2 that fit nicely in those tins. Pretty bright and the batteries last a long time.

[Defeater]

maybe try to add a small candle when your bigger container.

Good idea... I'll look into fabricating a really small candle (probably by pouring some extra wax into a water bottle lid). I had about 6" of cotton thread in the kit earlier for making a wick, but it seems to have disappeared on me.

[Stormrider]

A small ferro rod.

[MyDogMike]

some split shot to finish off that fishing kit

[colorsafe]

great idea about the morse code card! is it H2O proof ink and paper?

laminated

im sure you've seen this similar topic... http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6863

[Spiffums]

3/4"-diameter spool with at least 20yd. of 10-lb fishing line


If anyone is looking for these and can't explain what your looking for, try asking for a sewing machine bobbin.

[Dogan]

Nicely done. Only thing i'd do different is substitute something along the lines of a Princeton tec/ Photon instead of the Mag, IMO. Maybe with the Otterbox you could toss in something better like an E+lite from Petzl?

[K9medic]

Rather than try to make your own candle, how about one of those trick candles for a birthday cake or cut up a tea light ?

[chr0nos]

Where did you find Vanilla Myntz? I love them, but cannot get them anywhere around here anymore.

[SouthPAW]

Where did you find Vanilla Myntz? I love them, but cannot get them anywhere around here anymore.

Yeah, where did you get those? Are they anything like Velamints? Velamints were discontinued. Too bad cuz they rock. The tins were nice too. Slightly bigger than Altoids tins, and a more subdued color scheme.

As far as the kit, yeah, lose the maglite, and maybe add an Inova microlight. Puts out more light and less than half the size and lasts a million times longer.

[bltjr1951]

Instead of foam insert, use cotton balls to fill in dead space.

+1 on trick bday candles. Instructions on back say to put in water to extinguish. Got mine at Walmart, called "magic re-light candles", 10 2 1/4" candles in pack.

But, bubble??? WTF??

[Defeater]

Instead of foam insert, use cotton balls to fill in dead space.

+1 on trick bday candles. Instructions on back say to put in water to extinguish. Got mine at Walmart, called "magic re-light candles", 10 2 1/4" candles in pack.

But, bubble??? WTF??

It's not in there for any particular good reason. It's just tiny and has nowhere else to live.

[cssims]

Are those Iodine tablets in the small ziplock for your water purification? If so they won't last long like that. They need to be in a darkened vial. Switch to Chlorine Dioxide when you get the chance since they will be self contained and pack small.

Also the nail clippers, ditch them and buy a Victorinox Swiss Classic. Use the scissors for cutting finger nails. Toe nails are trickier, but can be done if you are careful.

[Tater Raider]

First aid... small assortment of bandages, ointment, alcohol wipes/hand sanitizer, tube of CA glue. Elastic bandage wrap wouldn't fit so I'll leave that off.

I never even considered the go small or go home angle. Makes a lot of sense though.

[Defeater]

So I have finally gotten around to updating this. As I had mentioned in the OP, I actually did get an OtterBox 1000 and moved all of my micro stuff to that. It was okay for a while - the added interior space, albeit infinitesimal, was a plus - but the longer I had it, the more I was aware of its one leering drawback. I had designed my original micro kit (which I have left in its posterity) to be something to improve survivability and go into a pants pocket without trouble. Simply put, the O-Box was too chunky to carry around in a pocket, in this case, the upper arm pocket of a BDU-style shirt. So I went from a mints tin, to the Otterbox, and now back to a mints tin. Is it crushproof, waterproof, bombproof, fireproof? No - but I have some workarounds.

However, I have added a "survival necklace" to complement the tin, since the small volume of the tin couldn't reasonably contain everything I need - and, even if the tin is lost I still have something to get by with.

Anyhow, on to the new and improved kit.



The necklace is basic int'l orange 550 cord and a split key ring. I will be adding breakaways in the future, but I more or less live off of things I find locally - I buy very few items off the Internet. So basically I haven't found any breakaways yet. On the necklace is a Swedish firesteel/striker/rubberband, UST JetScream whistle, Princeton Tec Pulsar II, and a Ka-Bar Becker Remora knife (crafted with the amazing power of 440A stainless - in before all of the metal/knife nerds, and I do not mean that disrespectfully, jump my ass over this). The pouch is a PCC from CountyComm. It is MOLLE compatible by way of hook and loop doo-dads on the reverse, so I can easily move it from one piece of gear to another.



The PCC opened and the mighty Altoids tin revealed in all its delicious glory. The lid is secured by two ranger bands in case of hinge failure.



The tin as opened and packed. To keep everything waterproof (one of the big selling points of the Otterbox), I have placed almost everything in a Lansinoh breast milk bag. They are much tougher than Ziploc bags. There is a gradation printed on the bag but it doesn't run to its full capacity, so I am guessing the total it can hold is something like 320mL, enough to be safely purified by 1/3 of a Katadyn MicroPur tab. The compass is not inside the bag so I don't have to repack it every time I need a bearing.



Lastly, the unpacked contents, in full. You can see that I've taken on some of the advice given out in the earlier parts of the thread. So, without further ado, the contents (some may be looking familiar, don't be frightened):

• 1 resealable plastic bag (4" x 4")
  
  • 4 ibuprofen 800mg
  • 2 cyclobenzaprine 5mg
  • I meant to jam some loperamide in here, but forgot
• 1 resealable plastic bag (1.5" x 2.5")
  
  • - 2 fish hooks, one size 4 and one size 10
• 4 UCO stormproof matches and striker material
• 3/4"-diameter spool with at least 20yd. of 10-lb fishing line
• 2 corks (for bobbers)
• 2 safety pins, 1.5"
• Generic compass
• 2 Katadyn MicroPur tablets
• 2 adhesive bandages
• 1 alcohol prep pad
• Razor blade, 1.5"
• Razor blade holder, cut and ground down to 2.5" length from 4.5"
• Unlaminated card with Morse code and signals to aircraft
• UST StarFlash Ultra signalling mirror (outside the bag in case I need to use it quickly)

Not shown: Xeroxed copy of driver's license

What say you? In my mind, this is a vast improvement over the original project; however, I can imagine there are many ways that I haven't even thought of to take the refinement of this kit even further, without exceeding the space that I have in the tin, or dangling even more thingamabobs off of the survival necklace.

[aa1pr]

[b]great idea about the morse code card

Why not just learn the code? It is very easy in my opinion I heard where otehrs have learned it in a weekend.

[liberty45]

Nice upgrade! I love the breast milk bag idea... I think I will that to my B.O.A.T. (Bug Out Altoid Tin) kit.

Thanks a lot!

[bltjr1951]

Why not just learn the code? It is very easy in my opinion I heard where otehrs have learned it in a weekend.

In times of stress, you're lucky to remember your name.

[Orestes 21]

Why not just learn the code? It is very easy in my opinion I heard where otehrs have learned it in a weekend.

In times of stress, you're lucky to remember your name.

+1

The tin looks good! love the idea of the breast milk bag, im trying to formulate what to put into mine once I compare and contrast others I see. Nice job

[Defeater]

Why not just learn the code? It is very easy in my opinion I heard where otehrs have learned it in a weekend.

In times of stress, you're lucky to remember your name.

It may sound slightly morbid, but I make sure that everything I have could be easily used by my wife in case something happens to me. This is why keeping basic survival texts and manuals around is prudent, even if I have already learned them to the letter.

[rsblackbird]

Instead of foam insert, use cotton balls to fill in dead space.

+1 on trick bday candles. Instructions on back say to put in water to extinguish. Got mine at Walmart, called "magic re-light candles", 10 2 1/4" candles in pack.

But, bubble??? WTF??

Hey, the candles lose thier "magic" when they get old. Had some in a kit for over a year, pulled them out and they just burned sorta normal. Blew it out and you could see it trying to re-start, but just couldn't do it.

I am keeping mine fresher by rotating them out.

-R

BTW Love the micro 2.0!