Year: 2013

Pat’s Product Review: SIG-Sauer M400 Enhanced

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Without a doubt, the hottest selling long-gun these days is some sort of AR-15/M4 type of gun. Thanks to the efforts of anti-gunners like Dianne Feinstein and Barack Obama, with their proposed bans on certain classes or types of firearms, there has been a run on these types of guns that has never been seen before. With looming threats of banning certain types of firearms, as well as magazines over 10 rounds, the American People are waking up, and are spending their hard-earned money on what they presume will be banned or regulated. Without a doubt, this has led to …


Harry’s Book Review: Ashfall by Mike Mullin

Book Title: Ashfall Author: Mike Mullin Copyright Date: 2011 Publisher: Tanglewood Publishing Inc. ISBN: 978-1-933718-55-2 Audio, e-book or foreign translation avail? Yes–Kindle Suitable for children? Perhaps late teens, but very dependant on the values you want to pass on to them. Ashfall is the first book in a trilogy of novels by Mike Mullin. This is a story of what the world could look like if Yellowstone blew up, portrayed through the eyes of a 15/16 year old boy who must quickly become a man in order to survive. Alex Halprin is alone in his home in Cedar Falls Iowa …


Letter Re: A Lesson About Rat Poison

Sir, Thank you for your service and for your tremendous witness and testimony shown through your blog! I am not an expert on poison, but a recent event made me realize this is probably an important topic to cover on this forum. My forum searches did not produce anything on this subject. About a month ago, my daughters small dog wondered into the garage while I was taking out the trash. When I went back into the living room I found him eating something green… which turned out to be an old rat poison bait he found in the corner …


Letter Re: Real Estate Prices in the American Redoubt?

Mr. Rawles, Now that you’re recommending we all vote with our feet and move to the American Redoubt, it seems you have created a demand that is causing prices to rise in those areas. How are those of us who wish to stay out of debt supposed to pay upwards of $300-400,000 for a retreat? – Barb in the Frozen Mid-West JWR Replies: I only have about 300,000 readers. Of those, less than 5% are likely to make a move to the Redoubt, so their impact will have a negligible impact on housing prices. The bargain retreat properties are remote …


Letter Re: The Eyes of A Prepper

Sir, As I go through life, I see the world through the eyes of a Prepper (Survivalist was the term used before I joined the ranks.).  I’m also a Type A personality with light to moderate obsessive-compulsive disorder. What this means in practical terms is every action I take in my daily life filters back to preparing for a disaster of some sort.  And I want to try and wake-up as many people as I can.  But at the same time, I don’t want to freak out everyone I come in contact with.  My wife and I started prepping in …


Three Letters Re: Out of Options — Get a Guard Dog

Dear Editor: Congratulations to TJ and family for getting connected with a great dog. I love German Shepherds! Allow me to offer a couple of additions to the concept of survivalists utilizing guard dogs. Food; When you ask people my grandparents age how they fed dogs “back in the day” you are likely to get the answer “the dogs ate table scraps” or the dogs ran around and found their own food. In a survival scenario there aren’t going to be any scraps nor is there going to be much to “forage.” Therefore if bringing a dog on to the …


Recipe of the Week:

Tina M.’s Mashed Potato Soup   28 cups potato flakes 10 cups dry milk 1 1/4 cups chicken bouillon (smash the cubes) 5 teaspoons celery seed (heaping) 2 teaspoons pepper 5 teaspoons parsley (heaping) 5 teaspoons chives (heaping)   Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, blend well.  Store in an airtight container.   Serving instructions: Place 1/2 cup soup mix in a soup bowl or mug.  Add 1 cup boiling water and stir until smooth.  Let soup stand 1-2 minutes to thicken. Useful Recipe and Cooking Links: A Creamy Potato Soup recipe Easy Potato Soup Mashed Potato Flakes Recipe …


Economics and Investing:

Denouement of the “austerity” measures in Euope’s southern tier: The planned seizure of of up to 9.9% of bank account holdings in Cyprus (and the revelation that Germany and IMF’s initially demanded 40%) revealed a paradigm shift: banksters and bureaucrats are no longer bound by a core tenet of the Social Contract. While for years most of us meekly went along with gradually increasing taxes, we had the solace that one thing was sacrosanct: We only pay taxes on our earnings ONCE. Apparently, this is no longer true. (Yes, Mojo Nixon was right, albeit crude and premature.) My oft-repeated advice: …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Jeff H. sent: Guns & Ammo Ranks the Best States for Gun Owners in 2013.    o o o Some inevitable news, from New York State: Silver Creek man becomes first arrest under new gun laws. (If the 2nd Amendment doesn’t apply to modern firearms like the AR-15, then the 1st Amendment doesn’t apply to modern media like television and the Internet.)    o o o Seed for Security is offering their Seed Saving Guide, with the purchase of each Super Survival Pack. This guide includes instructions on how to save corn, bean, Pea, winter squash, pumpkin, spinach, tomato, …



Notes from JWR:

March 17th is the birthday of Józef Franczak (born 1917, died 21 October 1963.) He was a Polish Army Corporal who fought in the World War II resistance against the invading Germans. He then carried on after the war, fighting against the occupying Soviets and their Polish communist stooges. Eventually he was one of the last of the Cursed Soldiers resistance in Poland. His nom de guerre was “Lalek.” — Today we present another two entries for Round 45 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, …


The Commerce Model of Prepping: A Personal Re-Evaluation, by B.H. in North Idaho

Introduction: Over the years since I first read the novel Patriots by James Rawles and made the decision to embrace prepping my idea of prepping has changed.  It started when I recognized that friends, acquaintances and strangers all had varying ideas and degrees of preparedness even within very similar prepping models.  The greatest characteristic of Survivalblog.com is that there is something for everyone presented in articles and information.  Regardless of your station you’ll find information pertinent to your specific situation to help you improve your own preparedness level. I realized that my own prepping mindset was slowly shifting over time …


Solar Storms: Their Impact and How to Prepare, By Tamara W.

Solar [coronal] mass ejections occur most frequently at the peak of the 11 year solar cycle.  Statistics show that Earth will get a direct hit from a major solar mass ejection every about every 500 years. This estimate comes from the number of solar mass ejections we see and frequency. Now figure in the size of the Earth versus the size of the solar mass ejection. The calculation is similar to the odds of a pin landing on a particular point on a globe, except Earth is the pin and the globe is the sun. In the end, we can …


Letter Re: Beginning Bee Keeping

Dear Mr. Rawles, A.N. presented some excellent overall information in Beginning Bee Keeping, but a few additions are in order: A nuc is not just a screened package of bees but rather is a nucleus colony, usually of 5 or fewer frames.  It is a working colony complete with drawn comb, brood, pollen stores and honey, often with a new queen.  For those thinking about jumping into bees, it is a great hobby, but not an easy one.  Most new beekeepers do not last past the third year, often discouraged due to repeated bee losses.  There are lots of tricks …


Economics and Investing:

Ryan warns of financial collapse over debt, urges Congress to avert ‘moral failure’ Cypriot bank customers get fleeced: Europe Announces Stunning Bailout For Cyprus — Bank Depositors To Get Instant 10% Tax Before Banks Reopen This Week. (Beware, this could happen in other countries–even our own! Thanks to Andre D. and the other readers that sent this link.) And, inevitably, we read: Cash machines emptied across Cyprus after savers learn 10 billion euro bailout agreement includes levy on all bank accounts. (Thanks to Tim R. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Housing Foreclosures Start To “Flare Up” Again Private …