Day: November 27, 2008


Product Review: Ultramag .50 BMG Upper Kit for AR-15, by Michael Z. Williamson

I recently tested the Ultramag .50, manufactured by Safety Harbor Firearms (SHF) of Florida.The Ultramag .50 is a bolt action, side-fed magazine, .50 BMG upper that uses the AR-15 lower and trigger group. The two big advantages to this setup are that [in the US,] the Ultramag .50 [barreled upper receiver] requires no paperwork to purchase, and is not on record as a large caliber weapon, since it is bought strictly as “replacement parts.” As far as anyone is concerned, you own an AR-15, which can be more discreet if either purchased privately, or by using a forging such as …


Letter Re: Give Your Kids $100 Billion for Christmas: An Economics Lesson

Hi Mr. Rawles, Thanks for SurvivalBlog and for your novel “Patriots“. Both have been real eye-openers. I have several nieces & nephews that I (like many people, I’m sure) take care of on birthdays (and sometimes Christmas) with a card and some money enclosed. This year I thought it might be fun to send them 100 billion dollars along with the card and note. I looked around, and lo and behold, several people are selling Zimbabwean currency on eBay. Prices and denominations vary, and of course it costs millions (trillions?) percent more than it’s actually worth, but we’re still talking …


Two Letters Re: A Vehicular BoB

Mr. Editor: I have been a reader of this blog for a little while now and one of the earlier postings I read caught my eye: In regards to a vehicle “bug out” kit. That list was certainly a good place to start, but it was missing a few items, so I thought I would put my “two cents” worth in. To give you a little bit of background, I would describe myself as essentially being a realist. I watch the news, I read the papers. I know what is going on around me. I am aware of today’s political …


Odds ‘n Sods:

A brief update on magazine prices that I’ve observed in gun shops and at recent gun shows: M16 (AR-15) magazines have jumped from around $17 in October to close to $40 each. The hot seller in that category, BTW, seems to be MagPul PMAGs. The once cheap and plentiful US M1 Carbine 15 round magazines were under $3 each in the early 1990s. After the 1994-2004 Federal ban expired, they were around $8. But in just the past two weeks they’ve catapulted to $25. The so-called “SWAT” factory original 20 round SIG P226 magazines went from $36 to $60. “Glockamole” …