Day: November 3, 2005

Note from JWR:

Don’t forget to send your entries for the SurvivalBlog writing contest. The prize is a transferable four day course certificate, good for any course at Front Sight. OBTW, I recently heard from Naish Piazza that the prices for all of the Front Sight courses will be increasing by 25% in 2006, so this will make the contest prize even more valuable–as much as $2,000 for a four day course. Oh, by the same token, you might want to buy some course certificates or a Front Sight membership to beat the price increases.  (And BTW, check out their new “Lifetime Challenge …


Heirloom/Native Seed Source

Thanks to Kirsten over at the Survival/Gulching Forum at The Claire Files for mentioning the Native Seeds/SEARCH seed bank. See: http://www.nativeseeds.org/. Here is a quote about their specialized heirloom seeds for desert environments: “Today, the Native Seeds/SEARCH seed bank houses approximately 2,000 different accessions of traditional crops grown by Apache, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Gila River Pima, Guarijio, Havasupai, Hopi, Maricopa, Mayo, Mojave, Mountain Pima, Navajo, Paiute, Puebloan, Tarahumara, Tohono O’odham and Yaqui farmers. Over one-half of the collections are comprised of the three sisters — corn, bean, and squash. An additional 48 species of crops and wild crop relatives wait in …


David In Israel on “The Gray Man” Survival Approach

In a survival situation you must clear the military mindset from your head, since you are not backed by 300 million citizen western economy and trillions of dollars in supplies. Walking about the land with a AR-15 and BDUs could be one of the best ways to be shot on sight. To the causal observer you will be instantly branded as both clearly dangerous as well as covered in priceless gear.   What is the “gray man”? The gray man mode operates much like a spy, a recon team, or a sniper does. If the gray man is noticed he …


Letter Re: .40 S&W to 9mm Conversion Barrel for a Glock Model 23?

Mr. Rawles, I read somewhere that there was a .40 S&W to 9mm conversion barrel for a Model 23 Glock. This would not only save me the cost of another pistol, but would give me more versatility with a pistol I am familiar and comfortable with. I assume the barrel would have to be slightly thicker in overall diameter than a standard Glock 9mm barrel to fit a 23 slide. I have been unable to find this conversion barrel. Do you know anything about it? (I realize that a 9mm magazine must also be used.) Thanks for a great web …



Two Letters Re: More Web Resources on CONEXes

Jim: See these sites: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/01/shipping_contai.php (Site with some info on how containers can be used for living.) and, http://www.containerhouse.com/ (Site with interesting pictures of container conversions, including door systems.) Regards, – B.A. Jim: You might be interested in this site about CONEX containers: http://www.undergroundcontainer.com/  Keep up the good work! – J.F.


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“At the end of the 17th century, Marshal Vauban, a French military engineer, developed modern fortification to its pinnacle, refining siege warfare without fundamentally altering it: ditches would be dug; walls would be protected by glacis; and bastions would enfilade an attacker. He was also a master of planning sieges themselves. Before Vauban, sieges had been somewhat slapdash operations. Vauban refined besieging to a science with a methodical process that, if uninterrupted, would break even the strongest fortifications. Examples of Vauban-style fortresses in North America include Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, Fort Ticonderoga in New York State, and La Citadelle …