Day: December 22, 2005

The Importance of Firewood or Coal Storage

I cannot over-emphasize the importance of having a large supply of fuel for home heating on hand. Ask anyone that has ever been through an ice storm in the northeast. Big ones happen  on average once per decade. These can be really nasty, knocking down hundreds of power lines, inducing power outages that can last for weeks. Those that heat their homes with natural gas, propane, or home heating oil furnaces find themselves out of luck when the power grid goes down. Even if they can keep their heater’s main burner on, there is no electricity to run the circulating …


Letter Re: Remington M742 as a Battle Rifle?

James: I have some ideas regarding using a Remington 742 as a main battle rifle (MBR) that you may find of interest. The Rem. 742 is a semi-auto rifle that can be chambered in .308 or 30.06 among other calibers. The standard detachable box mag holds 4 cartridges. But I found that you can get 10-round steel mags from Cabela’s for around $21.00 each. A used Rem. 742 can be purchased for about $350.00 depending upon the quality. This would get you a semi-auto rifle chambered in .308 or 30.06 with the capacity for multiple detachable mags. If you think …


Letter from Mr. Yankee Re: The “Expired” 1994 Gun Ban Still Plagues New Yorkers, and New Years Resolutions

Jim: Two quick points of interest: #1 – Here in New York state, the [Federal] 1994 ban did not sunset. The Federal laws that the rest of the nation enjoys freedom from after September 2004 [when the 1994 AWB‘s 10 year “sunset” clause went into effect], are duplicated by state law with no sunset provision inside New York State. #2 – As already noted on Survivalblog, New Year’s resolutions are a wonderful opportunity to reset our priorities. My resolutions will include spending the $6 per week formerly spent on a six pack of beer on an expanded reserve of family …


Two Letters Re: Considerations for Longer Term Survival

Jim: Norman has it right-on in his Wednesday’s post about taking things further out than one or two years past TEOTWAWKI. How about plans for the rest of your kid’s lives? Not stockpiles, mind you, but plans. That means forethought, how-to manuals in the old ways for people to read when they have run out of modern technology (and options), or when they need to use unfamiliar technology-free appliances, and so on. For instance, I have just ordered a spinning wheel made in Holland, foot powered, that will be possible to repair with even hand carved wooden parts and simple …


Four Letters Re: Which Rifle and Caliber is the Best for TEOTWAWKI?

Jim: Did you select the HK rifles for northern nations because of cold weather reliability? Also note that my reading of New York state law includes an unenforced ban on receivers of the semi auto rifles banned under federal law in 1994. This includes FALs and AKs but not HKs or CETMEs. Yes I know that there are thousands of AKs and FALS inside N.Y. state, but I believe that they are still banned under N.Y. State law. [Some commentary for the upcoming Threats survey snipped for later use.] Thanx, -Mr. Yankee JWR Replies: Yes, I partly recommended HKs for …


Jim’s Quote of the Day

“By calling attention to ‘a well regulated militia’, the ‘security’ of the nation, and the right of each citizen ‘to keep and bear arms’, our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the  defense of his country. For that reason, I believe the Second Amendment will  always be …