Month: February 2006

Two Letters Re: Recommendations for Night Vision Goggles?

Fellow SurvivalBlog Readers:   JWR is dead-on regarding his advice on NVGs or NVDs. I accumulated 11,000+ first pilot time and started out flying with AN/PVS-5s. The ANVIS you are flying with are great for aviation or driving but suck for ground pounding. I like my nostalgic PVS-5s with the cut away for peripheral vision improvement but upgraded them to Gen3 tubes thru Ed Wilcox, Wilcox Engineering and Research: http://www.wilcoxeng-res.com/. A good, fair and highly qualified man to deal with. For ground pounding, in addition to a dedicated NV weapon sight, I settled for a PVS-14D 72 line pair monocular from …


A “Must Read” Article From France On Iran

The Laboratoire européen d’Anticipation Politique Europe 2020, LEAP/E2020, just posted a “must read” article. The article begins: “The Laboratoire européen d’Anticipation Politique Europe 2020 now estimates to over 80% the probability that the week of March 20-26, 2006 will be the beginning of the most significant political crisis the world has known since the Fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, together with an economic and financial crisis of a scope comparable with that of 1929…” See: http://www.europe2020.org/en/section_global/150206.htm


Letter Re: Rifle Recommendations for Canada

Jim: Regarding [military surplus] Ishapore SMLE .308 bolt acton rifles, I bought a few of these a while back on a “buy ten for” deal. A buddy and I both sprung for five of them to get 10 of these and we paid a ridiculously low price… something like $69 each plus shipping and tax.   Anyway, I gave one to my dad and my uncle and kept the best of the lot for myself.   These are some of the finest bolt action rifles we have ever used. They all had decent two stage triggers. Each came with a …



The Self-Suffcient Retreat, and “Working the Kinks Out”

I’m often asked about the ideal location for a retreat. Every locale has its pros and cons. But in general any area that is well removed from major population centers and that has fertile soil, a long growing season, and plentiful water should give you far better chances of pulling through that the average urbanite or suburbanite. A more overriding concern is what you do with your retreat, and how soon you get it truly “squared away.” Having one or two years of food storage is commendable, but in the event of a full scale TEOTWAWKI, what will you do …


Letter Re: Priority of Training?

Mr. Rawles: After reading your novel [Patriots], I realize that I’ve lot to learn to get truly prepared. I’m especially worried about the Asian [Avian] flu. If a human-compatible form of it hits nationwide, I think that things are gonna come positively unglued in the big cities. (Just like the picture of the collapsing infrastructure that you painted in your novel.) We are living in a house of cards. The interdependencies are so far-reaching that they make the prospect of a collapse frightening. I’m getting my “beans bullets and band aids” lined up quickly, but what about training? What’s the …


Letter Re: Recommendations for Night Vision Goggles?

Mr. Rawles, I wanted to say I enjoy your blog very much and look forward to it everyday. I am happy to contribute to your 10 Cent Challenge. Regarding your 20 February post on NVGs, I’ve looked at a few web sites just to see what is available. I have never actually put one of these models on so I may be out to lunch but it seems that most of the NVGs are built to cover your whole eye, allowing no peripheral vision, amplified or otherwise. I am currently an F-16 pilot in the Air Force and we fly …



Letter Re: All-Wire Rabbit Hutches

Mr. and Mrs. Rawles, I’m immensely enjoying your Blog. Thank you for the time and effort you place into your blog. I was reading into the archives trying to catch up and in the August 8th replies you had a reference to the wooden cages. One way that will help mitigate the problem of chewing and weakening of the wooden structure of the cages. You can use metal corner bead over the edges of the exposed wood inside the cage. It would be better as you stated to use all wire cages, they are by far the best. But the …


Letter Re: Advantages and Disadvantages of New Zealand

Hi James, I would like to clarify a few things that J.G. from Auckland stated. Magazine capacity is limited for those with “A” category licensing only. Those with “E:” category license can have center fire or rim fire magazines for the “E” category weapons (military style semi automatic) that are unlimited in capacity. Pistol ownership merely requires that you join a pistol club, install an adequate safe in your home for pistol storage, obtain a “B” category license and attend 12 club shoots per year which is not much if you intend to shoot competently.  Our country has troops currently …


Letter From Mr. Bravo Re: Money Belts, Large Bills, and Gold for the Grid-Up Bugout Bag

Jim, I don’t know how recognized a Euro note would be in a U.S. crisis, especially the premium of the dollar. (“Funny money” may even be assumed to be devalued, as if Canadian.) The real concern about large Euro notes is that of presumed counterfeiting. A British friend recently told me that 500 Euro notes are essentially not legal tender for most commercial transactions, due to widespread counterfeiting suspicions. You can take them to a bank, but that is about it. Unless you need to carry substantial wealth that will be put in an operating bank at your destination, I’d …


Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader “Rourke” mentioned a great alert site in Hungary that was recently mentioned on the Aussie Survival discussion board: http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert.php?lang=eng   o o o SurvivalBlog reader H.P.F. recommends three interesting sites:  1.) http://www.netcastdaily.com/fsnewshour.htm  (listen to “Hour Two”), 2.) http://www.finance.messages.yahoo.co…mid=648143 NEWS BRIEF: “Americas Foes Circle Wagons”, by Claude Salhani, UPI International Editor, reprinted in Raiders News Updates, February 16, 2006 and, 3.) http://www.countercurrents.org/p…180206.htm  — a piece titled Peak Oil – The Great Tsunami, by Michael Payne   o o o I might have mentioned this one before… A handy tool for calculating the effects of monetary inflation (in the U.S.): …



Note From JWR:

I would appreciate your help spreading the word about SurvivalBlog. Doing so is in your best interest. Why? Because each neighbor that you convince to prepare will be one less person that you’ll find begging on your doorstep, come TEOTWAWKI+1.


Rifle Recommendations for Canada

I’m often asked by SurvivalBlog readers in Canada which rifles I recommend. Sadly, the C.96 semi-auto rifle/magazine ban in Canada didn’t leave Canadians with a lot of options. Since there may be more bans in the future, I’d recommend something in the Lee-Enfield bolt action family. There are so many of those rifles in circulation in commonwealth countries that they will probably be exempted from any bans on rifles with detachable magazines.  (Notably, SMLE 10  round magazines were *specifically exempted* in the Canadian C.96 “any rifle magazine over 5 round capacity” ban.)   Yes, I know what you are thinking… …