Day: December 17, 2005

Billionaire Richard Rainwater Concurs with Peak Oil Assessment

An interesting piece recently ran in Fortune magazine, regarding billionaire Richard Rainwater’s views’ on Peak Oil.  (The “Hubbert’s Peak” in global oil production, expected sometime in the next few years or perhaps 20 years, or perhaps 100 years, depending on who you talk to.) See:  http://www.fortune.com/fortune/investing/articles/0,15114,1139979-4,00.html SurvivalBlog reader Chuck, who first mentioned the Fortune article to me commented:  “I had the opportunity to review several of Richard Rainwater’s oil deals while at Mitchell Energy. His projects were always well conceived and forward-looking.”


David in Israel: More About Rifle Slings and Magazine Duplexing

The Israeli sling is the product of requiring most Chaileem since the surprise Yom Kippur war in 1973 to carry their personal weapon everywhere they go until they exit active duty. This leads to a design for a sling that is as comfortable in a bus terminal hitchhiking or walking in town but still quick to bring into action. The only thing I can think of to improve the Israeli sling is to replace the front cord with Kevlar boot lace threaded through parachute cord to resist UV, Kevlar is very heat resistant. Here with semi-auto being the general rule …



Letter Re: M1911 Pistols–What Constitutes “Over the Top”

Mr. Rawles, I’ve just finished reading your novel “Patriots”, and wish to thank you for providing such an insightful guide to preparation and the survival mindset, and a pretty darn entertaining read, to boot! My question concerns your preference for the M1911 .45 ACP pistol as a sidearm for one’s survival preparations. I wholeheartedly agree with you on the round’s advantages over lesser-powered cartridges such as 9mm or .40 S&W. And, since the ergonomics of the 1911 design in particular tend to suit me well personally (indeed, to whom does it not), I was wondering what your thoughts were regarding …


Mr. Bravo on HK91 Rifles

Jim, I agree about getting a real HK91 and not a clone. The HK91 is a great rifle with a few easily corrected but serious weaknesses. The trigger is heavy and poor, but an inexpensive and excellent fix is available from www.williamstriggers.com. The sights are mediocre, but the “1200 meter sight”, which can be found on the gun boards such as www.hkpro.com or www.sturmgewehr.com is much better, and can be drilled or fitted with an insert to provide the ideal aperture. The narrow, hard plastic butt stock can be punishing, but the butt end piece can be replaced with a …


Two Letters Re: SAR-8 HK91 Clone Rifles

Jim: A note on you post of 12/15 about the SAR-8. I wish I could point you to a single place on the Web where you could verify this, but there isn’t one. I gathered this info from a number of gun discussion boards after my (opportunistic) purchase of an SAR-8 at a gun show. There are two distinct SAR-8s, both handled by Springfield Armory. One is a steel receiver, made in Greece on original HK tooling. Known there as the SAR-3, it was changed to the SAR-8 by over striking the markings on the gun. Being an import, there …


Jim’s Quote of the Day

“…there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight. Awkwardness and stupidity can. The best swordsman in the world doesn’t need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn’t do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn’t prepared for him. – Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court