Add a small tube of SuperGlue, it is better than stitches for closing a medium wound. Also, the 2 knives are sort of redundant, I'd toss one and add fishing line and a compass.
I like the Altoids tin idea, but I'm still trying to figure out how to squeeze a 357 magnum in there...
keltex78, I was thinking about magnesium rod since I already have some. Opted for lighter as a more convenient approach. Would definitely add the rod to a fanny-pack kit. Also, in retrospect, I would go with a mini-Bic rather than full size lighter for the Altoids kit.
Figured duct tape and some fabric could make a bandaid. Like the razor and fishing line ideas. Was also going to add a small vial with vaseline-soaked cotton ball for firestarter, but again ran out of room. Also destined for fanny-pack kit.
trooplewis, I see super glue as a valuable addition. The Swiss knife is there mainly for the scissors and tweezers. However, a Leatherman Micra should do everything and take up less space than two knives. I almost always carry a regular-size pocket folder anyway, which further adds to the redundancy. I have a fanny pack holster which would be a nice housing for that .357 and extra gear.
keltex78, I have a NAA mini and it didn't occur to me to check and see if it would fit in the small kit. I'm thinking it's just a little too thick, though.
I don't have the NAA mini; I almost bought one once but opted for the 2-barrel Cobra derringer in .22 Mag. It fit my hand better, and suited my purpose better. It's to use with shotshells only for shooting venomous snakes when necessary. With the slim grips, it might fit your kit, but I doubt that it's much thinner, if any at all, than your mini. For a minimalist survival kit pistol, I would choose the NAA Black Widow. Longer barrel and better sights should give it the velocity and accuracy you would need to take small game, and the .22 mag can be a formidable defensive round as well. That and 50-100 rounds wouldn't weigh much or take up much room in a kit.
(1) Set of house keys (taped to lid with duct tape)
(1) Transit Card with $10 fare
(1) Streamlight Nano
(1) "Leatherman Micra" 9-in-1 Multitool Clone
(1) Backup Battery (charged) for Droid X
(1) DIY cut down ballpoint pen
(1) OTC Med Pack
(10) Advil
(2) Benadryl
(2) Sudafed
(1) Zyrtec
(4) Imodium
(1) Mini BIC Lighter (secured)
(2) Bandages
(1) Triple Antibiotic
(2) Sheets of Paper
$22 (1 x $20, 2 x $1)
Family Photo
I was so impressed with the light output of the Streamlight Nano, I got one for each member of my family.
First Aid kit. Could give you the list but it's boring. Basically dressings. Can miss this out if necessary as dressings can be improvised.
Fish hooks.
Fishing line.
Razor blades - preferably single sided but the duct tape will sort that.
Wire saw.
Fire is not an issue as I'll always have some means of lighting cigarettes on me.
A lot of sterile gauze - this will work just fine with the duct tape for dressings.
Normal saline.
Prescription stuff - or street stuff if it is clean enough: 500mg heroin, 250mg methamphetamine hydrochloride (or a bunch of Quaaludes if I must). 5g oxytetracycline. A lot of bleach. Or a few thousand calcium hypochlorite tablets.
With the bleach you can make war gases with an acid and a bit of work. And it'll sterilise most things. Tablets of calcium hypochlorite will do the trick here. Or about 50 other ways with a basic knowledge of chemistry.
A couple of grams of barium peroxide and some magnesium metal would be useful. And a few kilograms of some light hydrocarbon - hexane - cetane would be nice.
A few metres of extruded razor wire would be useful - but in a disaster broken glass can be substituted.
As much spring steel wire as can fit in the tin. Very useful for snares and other handy stuff.
I ditched the two knives and substituted a Micra. Also plan to get a baby Bic instead of the full size lighter. Then I'll have tons more room to add a gas mask and other fun stuff.
Actually I plan to first add a razor blade, mono or braded fishing line (ditch the twine), hooks, water purification tablets and hydrocodone (how in the world did I forget the hydrocodone?). If there's room after that, then perhaps some sterile gauze and super glue, but space tightens really fast in an Altoid tin.
Speaking of gas, Don, over here in the states last week an elderly woman died and several others were sickened after an employee mixed cleaning components in a bathroom - ammonia and bleach, presumably. Edit: just saw an update that showed the working theory is a carbon dioxide gas leak. Filled a wall cavity then spilled into the women's bathroom, causing suffocation.
its a top notch pain killer. so much so that after the war between the states in the u.s there were more heroin addicts than there are today.
but trying to explain to someone (LEO) that you are carrying it as an emergency pain killer is bound to be met with EXTREME skepticism, and get you busted.
also, it is unlikely that you are purchasing pharmaceutical grade Rorer 714's, as no reputable manufacturer continues to make quaaludes. the worst of them will end you up in hospital, which i have seen first hand.
Diacetylmorphine (heroin) was first synthesized in 1874 by C. R. Alder Wright, an English chemist working at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. Bayer pharmaceutical rediscovered it twenty years later and marketed the drug as "Heroin".Considering the war was over thirty years earlier, they were morphine addicted.