Month: November 2006

Two Letters Re: Alcohol and Tobacco as Barter Items

Mr. Rawles: Thanks to Warhawke for his very well written article. There are two items conspicuous in their absence, tobacco and alcohol. I seem to remember reading somewhere, perhaps in the novel Lucifer’s Hammer, that people will always want to smoke and drink no matter how bad things are. I am wondering if you and/or Warhawke have any thoughts? Would it be prudent to stock an occasional can of Plowboy tobacco and some of the little airline bottles of booze? I’m very Interested in your thoughts. – Carl In Wisconsin Sir: Greetings and thanks for the great web site. In …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Bad news for American ex-pats in Nicaragua? “Former Communist” Daniel Ortega won the Nicaraguan election. Ortega says he wants an end to “savage capitalism”.    o o o The folks at Ready Made Resources mentioned that they only have a few pair of AN/TA-1042 field telephones left in stock. They are late issue full duplex digital field phones.They even come with a trickle charging photovoltaic panel. I highly recommend these field phones for coordinating retreat security.    o o o John the Bowhunter recommended both our Quote of the Day and this article: Veteran CIA hand is choice for Secretary …



Note From JWR:

I am now back at the Rawles Ranch, after some travel on behalf of two consulting clients. I have resumed taking mail orders. I also now have some time for some consulting via telephone. Since we now have Vonage (voice over IP telephone service), I pay for the phone bills for consulting calls for most of my U.S., Canadian, and European clients.


Two Letters Re: Handgun Caliber Selection–Advice on .357 SIG and .40 S&W?

Jim, The .40 S&W is proving to be an effective caliber in law enforcement usage, thus its continued popularity in that venue. It is becoming commonplace everywhere, and finding ammo at decent pricing is not an issue. Further, reloading for this caliber is as simple as any straight walled pistol cartridge. .357 SIG is somewhat of a different animal. Some law enforcement agencies have adopted it, but it hasn’t seen widespread adoption like the .40 S&W has. Supposedly at least one agency adopted it because it was more effective at penetrating cars, but it didn’t seem to do any better/worse …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader S.H. mentioned a web site that shows tandem rain catchment barrels. S.H. says: “A great idea to supplement your survival water supplies, and nice for general gardening use too. (The pictures make the setup very clear.)”    o o o “If I can get an elephant led by a mariachi band into this country, I think Osama bin Laden could get across with all the weapons of mass destruction he could get into this country,” Bhakta said.    o o o Readers Gredd, Rourke, and Alfie Omega all mentioned this article from Energy Bulletin: Enlightened Survivalism. Alfie asked: “Is …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 7 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Since there have been so many great entries in this round of the contest, I will also be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. If you want a chance to win Round 7, start …


Getting Ready for Survival On a (Broken) Shoestring Budget by J. Cole

Since the mid-1960s, after reading Pat Frank’s novel Alas Babylon, I have been interested in preparing myself for TEOTWAWKI. And, as a child of the 1950s growing up in central Florida, I was taught early to be ready in case of nuclear war, so Frank’s book was not that far-fetched to me. My family was poor by any standard you could compare it to in those days. There was no chance of us ever affording a “bomb shelter” but preparations were made as best we could. We stocked up on canned food and water, we had a central hallway with …



Note from JWR:

As previously mentioned, we don’t own a television here at the Rawles Ranch.We only watch “Elk-evision.” I guess that if I ever set up my own web cam, it will be trained on the feeder that is positioned 25 yards away from our back porch. Although we set it up to attract non-game species, it also attracts a lot of deer and elk. From the same vantage point you can also see wildlife down at The Unnamed River (TUR), which is another 150 yards farther in the same direction. (It is about 200 feet short of our east property line, …


Letter Re: Jungle Rot and Silver Socks

I read with interest the UK government’s interest in silver impregnated undergarments for their soldiers. I just ordered 10 pairs of the socks from REI. You can search for x-static which is a brand of silver impregnated material. Underwear is also available trade, name Medalist Silvermax Boxer Briefs. OBTW, I just found silver socks at The Sharper Image for less. They aren’t liner socks but they look useful. If we are going to be hiking for long periods without the ability to wash our clothes, this could be a real boon. Ask a Vietnam veteran about jungle rot if you …


Two Letters Re: Product Review of the MURS Alert Motion Detector/Alarm From Dakota Alert

Mr. Rawles: My friends and I have been using the MURS band for some time. It generally has better range than FRS/GMRS and is much less crowded. There is an interesting product available that works with these radios as a sort of “perimeter alarm” system. The MURS Alert from Dakota Alert is a small, weatherproof box that combines a PIR motion detector with a 1-watt MURS transmitter and a voice module. It uses six size AA batteries and has an advertised six month battery life. The unit is placed near a road, driveway, trail, etc and set up. When a …


Letter Re: Toy Making, an Overlooked Traditional Skill

Greetings James and Family, I just wanted to interject a category of books that should also be included in any home library. The category of ‘make it yourself toys’. I know it sounds odd, however children reared in the earlier industrial era as well as pre-industrial eras learned how to make there own toys. Several years ago I attended a book sale at our local library. They were discarding ‘old’ books on toy making and other crafts among their other titles. These books were published in the 30s through the 50s and were considered ‘out of date’. I picked up …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Yesterday, I helped a consulting client unload his household goods from a 26 foot U-Haul moving van, in a driving rainstorm. He is a prepper that naturally has lots of heavy six gallon food storage buckets, copious field gear, a gun vault, and more than 100 ammo cans. Let’s just suffice it to say that yesterday was a good day for practicing Christian patience and “building character.”    o o o Michael Z. Williamson found this site for us: Wildwood Survival, noting that it has some useful information on outdoor survival and primitive skills    o o o The folks …