Barb,<br><br>Welcome aboard!<br><br>Regarding your questions:<br><br>1. I don't know, but it's a long, long, time. I found an unopened one gallon can of kerosene some time ago that dated back at LEAST 20 years. It worked fine.<br><br>2. Some (most around here) service stations have large above ground kerosene tanks. Let your fingers do the walking, and then get as much as you want. <br><br>3. Ruger Mini-14. Assuming you mean protection from people, rather than LARGE animals. They're light-weight, somewhat ergonomic, very durable, very reliable, reasonably accurate, use cheap (comparatively) ammo, and are cheaper than the AR-15 clones that abound nowadays. If you had posted 3 weeks ago, I could have let you have a used one cheap. Why the insistence on an auto? Please also think hard about Chris and Tom's comments concerning training, SAFETY, philosophical issues, etc... I tend to gloss over those, having long ago settled such concerns for myself, but they are IMPORTANT considerations.<br><br>4. Nope, just use common sense. Sealed, durable containers stored away from flame sources, temperature extremes and children.<br><br>Take care,<br><br>Andy<br><br>