Month: March 2006

Letter Re: Shelf Life of Batteries?

Mr. Rawles, You had an inquiry on your site about long term storable charged batteries. Such a topic came up recently on the amateur radio reflector called hfpack. There is one such battery that is well suited for storage. It is called a silver chloride battery, and they are activated by adding salt water. One use is in torpedos – see http://www.naval-technology.com/contractors/electrical/hbl/. Another source of information is at: energy.sourceguides.com. These have a high energy density, but are primary cells and not rechargeable. Still, if you plan for an urgent one time need arbitrarily in the future, silver chloride batteries may …


Letter Re: PTR-91 Clones of HK91 Rifles

James: One of your readers asked about the PTR-91 clone of the HK91. I think it is a very good battle rifle. For @ $700 you get an accurate, .308 cal, magazine fed rifle designed for combat. I prefer the 308 over the .223/5.56 round for the extra power and penetration. If you do the math with bullet weight and velocity, it calculates out to around 2.5 times more energy. If you disagree with this you can delete point as I don’t wish to stir the pot. I am not an expert but I am experienced with weapons from my …


Odds ‘n Sods:

A SurvivalBlog reader mentioned a source for MRE entrees, MRE crackers, full MRE meals, and T-Packs: See: http://www.longlifefood.com/    o o o Joining the U.S. Army and Marines, the U.S. Air Force jumps on the digital camouflage uniform bandwagon: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,91425,00.html?ESRC=dod-b.nl    o o o Survival Blog reader S.H.sent us this news story: “Oregon family found after 17 days in mountains.” Always nice to see some happy news in the media these days. It seems that they were prepared. “The family lived through the ordeal on dehydrated food and other provisions.” See: LINK    o o o The folks at The …



Letter Re: A Source for Night Vision Scopes

Hi Mr. Rawles, I read your novel Patriots for the first time a few months ago and wanted to tell you that it was one of the most educational and eye-opening books that I have read. Plus, the plot made it difficult to put the book down once I started reading! Patriots really opened my eyes to many survival and self-sustainability issues that I hadn’t considered previously and for that I want to thank you. I think it is a true service what you have done to those just learning about these issues and so I have been recommending your …


Letter Re: Pedal-Powered Bug Out Vehicle

Mr. Rawles, I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time. I read your novel on line years ago and it had a real impact on my thinking and my preparation efforts. I’ve been coming to your site since the second day it was on the net. I’m a former pilot in the Air National Guard and I’m a degreed electronic engineer and I presently work for a large avionics manufacturer. I’ve been giving this transportation issue (transportation availability after the Schumer hits the…) some thought and I found this very interesting web site: http://www.andygraham.net/railrod/AndyKeithRide.htm As you can see …



Odds ‘n Sods:

A little bird just told me that Oregon Freeze Dried’s shelves are just about empty, with no re-supply expected until June or July. The demand for long term storage food, spurred by the global spread of Asian Avian Flu has been tremendous.  If you want any freeze dried foods then order them soon, while there are still supplies in the pipeline. If you wait another month, you will probably be out of luck. We have four different advertisers that sell freeze dried foods. Please consider giving them your business, and be sure to mention SurvivalBlog when you do.    o …



Note From JWR:

If you know of any potential advertisers for SurvivalBlog, please give them a call or drop them a line to encourage them. I need to find about 20 more advertisers if  I’m going to be able to put bread on the table when I quit my day job and take up writing SurvivalBlog full time. (Starting next month.) And needless to say, a few more "10 Cent Challenge" contributions would also be greatly appreciated. Today we feature another entry in Round 3 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. This article is a first hand report about a Revolutionary War Veterans …


Letter Re: Swiss Fallout Shelters

Mr. Rawles, I came across a website which I thought your readers may be interested in, especially if anyone is considering building a fallout shelter. The Swiss, perhaps the torch bearers of civil defense and preparedness, have made available online a listing of what they call “Civil Protection Components.” Essentially they offer a list of parts approved for use in shelter construction that have been tested to meet or exceed their requirements for use in a shelter. These parts lists comprehensively cover building construction parts, sanitation, ventilation, electronics, generators and transmission equipment. On top of it all the Swiss have …


Odds ‘n Sods:

New mutations in parts of the avian flu virus might provide a possible route for the virus to enter the human population. From the journal Science: http://www.livescience.com/humanbio…_flu_morph.html    o o o Silver has been spiking upward for the past few days ($10.65 per troy ounce, the last time I checked), but beware of an impending short-term correction. Every bull market has its pull-backs and profit taking. Buy on the dips!    o o o The French anarchists riot again. This time, we are told, the riots are about job security.  Job security? (I guess these are different than those U.S. …



Letter Re: Investing in Tangibles Through an IRA

Hello James, Given the abundant information about the state of the economy, what would you recommend we, (the consumer and fellow American) do when making a decision about Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) come April 15th? I am concerned about putting money away and into “paper currency” when maybe it would be better to just pay down debt. What would you advise to someone in my situation? I am not necessarily looking for information about the tax benefits, simply your view about what would be a wise move. -The Wanderer JWR Replies: This is a bit repetitious to my previous recommendation, …


Letter Re: Artesian Well Property in Wisconsin

Dear Jim: I spotted this very usual property – http://www.wislakesguide.com/ click on feature of the month. 25 acres with ponds, but the real value is the five six inch artesian wells are licensed for 100,000 gallons a day. This could be a profitable survival business, that I am already somewhat familiar with from a prior job. The asking price is $2.2 million. Certainly with that water production potential (bottled water), not to mention fish farm and the acreage, that price seems within reason actually with that kind of capacity. If you know someone interested have then email me. – Rourke …