Notes for Thursday – December 17, 2015

December 17th, 1905, was the birth day of Simo Häyhä, who was the world’s most successful sniper. Using an iron-sighted Mosin–Nagant in Finland’s Winter War, he had an astounding 505 confirmed sniper kills. He died April 1, 2002. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 62 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value), A Gunsite Academy …




Can You Buy a Budget Sniping Rifle That Is Effective?, by B.F.

There are many definitions of what sniping is. A google search results in 242,000 hits. What one writer calls sniping, another may call precision marksmanship, counter-sniping, or just plain shooting. For the purpose of this article, we will look at rifles capable of acceptable accuracy and sufficient stopping power at distances beyond those of a typical 5.56 or 7.62×39 modern sporting rifle. I’ll compare several budget rifles to a couple that are quite a bit more expensive. Shooting will be done at both 100 and 550 yards, both cold barrel and warm barrel. Honestly, I am not convinced that a …




Two Letters Re: Keep Your Bicycle Running in Tough Times, by S.H.

HJL, The most remarkable product I ever used to save a bike tire is MXBON 105 instant industrial glue <http://www.mxbon105.com/category_s/1818.htm>. A few years ago, riding home from work at night, I missed a sharp-edged object on the road, but my front tire did not. There was an immediate 3/4″ cut across the tread, including through reinforcing fabric! After a few bad words, a couple of miles walking, two bus rides, I was home, where I removed and patched the tube, removed the tire, applied MXBON 105 to the cut, pushed the open “wound” shut for a few seconds, sanded the …




Economics and Investing:

Items from Mr. Econocobas: Bitcoin Or Gold: Did The Alleged Bitcoin Creator Just Settle Once And For All What Is More Valuable? David Stockman: December 16, 2015—–When The End Of The Bubble Begins What Benefits To Savers? Banks Rush To Hike Prime Rate To 3.50%, Forget To Increase Deposit Rate Items from Professor Preponomics: U.S. News All eyes are on the FED… Fed’s Historic Liftoff and Everything After: Decision Day Guide(Bloomberg Business) “Economists and traders expect the first interest rate increase since 2006, marking the beginning of the end for the unprecedented era of easy monetary policy. The move would …




Odds ‘n Sods:

From the Desk of Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog Editor At Large: Would you trust your life to a company that can’t get its calibers straight? .22mm short? o o o Reader A.L. sent in this link as an outstanding response to the question about “peacful Muslims” HJL Adds: This is a somewhat dated link but an excellent one nonetheless and worth repeating. I recently heard a podcast on Forward Observer Magazine that also gives some good reasoning. The short of it? “Islam” apparently means “submission” as in submission to Allah. If you’re going to be submissive to Allah, you need to …




Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“I shall exert every faculty I possess in aiding to prevent the Constitution from being nullified, destroyed, or impaired; and even though I should see it fail, I will still, with a voice feeble, perhaps, but earnest as ever issued from human lips, and with extinguish, call on the people to come to its rescue.” – Daniel Webster