Year: 2020

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on Jim Quinn’s The Burning Platform blog. (See the Blogs section.) Books: I recently heard about …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — March 31, 2020

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March 31 is the birthday of economist Dr. Walter E. Williams, PhD., who was born in 1936. His book American Contempt for Liberty is highly recommended. — A reminder: The big “Pre-Hunker” sale on pre-1899 manufactured cartridge guns at Elk Creek Company ends at midnight, tonight.  I’ve sold eight guns since Monday morning, and only have about 70 more left on hand.  Get your order in soon!


JWR’s Firearms Market Trend Predictions for 2020 to 2025

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I was recently asked by a consulting client about my predictions for the U.S. retail gun market for the remainder of 2020 and next few years. In this article I’ll summarize my responses: Panic buying will continue through August, or possibly longer. News of a large scale “camping” exodus from big cities, home invasions, campsite robberies, garden thievery, livestock rustling, and roadblock confrontations will raise gun buying to a fever pitch, even in small towns. Once the urban gun shops have sold out, then buyers will travel further out into the suburbs and even small towns, and wipe out those …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on some Grant County, Oregon residents concerned about the threat of a Mad Max environment. (See the Eastern Oregon section.) Region-Wide All five Redoubt States are now under stay-at-home orders. It is a bit eerie.  Even though the Redoubt region has only been …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“We are now entering a new era of forced frugality in which incomes and net worth stagnate or decline while the cost of living rises and borrowing is no longer frictionless. To say that these changes will shock the system is putting it mildly. Here’s the key dynamic in forced frugality: income can drop precipitously without any ratcheting to slow the decline, but costs only ratchet higher, or decline by nearly imperceptible degrees; that is, costs are “sticky” and refuse to slide down as easily as income. The second key dynamic in forced frugality is the tightening of lending and the rising cost of borrowed money. When lenders …


Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 30, 2020

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent, and District of Columbia police officer Thomas K. Delahanty. Known for his quips and unaware of the injury to others at the scene, President Reagan walked into the hospital, despite his wound, and was heard telling his wife, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” — Today we present another product review by our Field Gear Editor. But first, a crass commercial announcement.


Elk Creek’s Pre-Hunker Down Sale — Our Hiatus Begins Soon

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We are getting ready to lock our gate and hunker down at the Rawles Ranch. To minimize our number of trips into town to mail out antique gun orders, I’ve decided to run a special sale for just the next 48 hours. I’ve reduced prices on most of my guninventory. Following this sale I will temporarily cease taking any orders until May 4th. This sale ends at midnight, Pacific Time on Tuesday, March 31st. So get your Elk Creek Company order in soon! Note that I still have about 80 nice hand-picked pre-1899 cartridge guns in inventory. Nearly all of …


S&W Model 5904, by Pat Cascio

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Many of our readers are requesting more articles on all-metal handguns, and its getting a bit harder to do these, as most semi-auto handguns today usually have a polymer frame. So, I had to dig down and find a nice representation of an all-metal gun – this doesn’t mean a gun with a steel frame, but one manufactured out of metal – in this case – the frame is manufactured out of Aluminum alloy – the S&W Model 5904. I was introduced to the S&W Model 59 while working as the assistant security manager of a large department store, in …


Recipe of the Week: Dan’s Salty-Sweet Trail Mix

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Reader Dan H.. kindly sent us Salty-Sweet Trail Mix recipe. Dan says: “This recipe can be doubled. If you have kids in your house, then you should definitely double it–or you won’t have any left to eat while out on the trail. <grin>.” Ingredients 1/2 cup raw cashews 1/2 cup raw almonds 1/2 cup raw (shelled) pumpkin seeds 1/2 cup coconut flakes (rather than regular baking shredded coconut.) 2 tsp ghee, melted 2 TBS  maple syrup Salt, to taste. (Go easy on the salt, if the cashews, almonds, or pumpkin seeds you use are salted.) Directions Preheat oven to 350F. …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the uncertain future of private cryptocurrencies. (See the Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: 2020 Gold Price Forecast And Gold Thesis o  o  o Gold Gains 8% and Silver 18% In Week As Fed Balance Sheet Tops $5 Trillion Economy & Finance: All T-Bills Up To 3 Months Now Have Negative …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“These are your choices. They always were and they always will be. Prepare when no one else is preparing. Panic when everyone else is panicking. Got food? Ammo? Meds? It’s too late now to prepare adequately for the pandemic much less the impending derailment of civilization itself. Preppers were calmly topping off their stashes in early January, at regular prices, in any quantity with lots-o’-choices. They saw the foreshadow of this emergency and acted appropriately. Prepping always looks crazy until the rug gets pulled. Paranoia is a survival tool, panic is not. Systems are visibly collapsing. The stock market is …


Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 29, 2020

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Today is the 101st birthday of William “Bill” Summers Anderson. The following is from his biography at the Infogalactic wiki: “He was born March 29, 1919, in Hankow, China. On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong was also attacked by the Japanese. As a member of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC), Anderson fought the Japanese but after 17 days of heavy fighting, Hong Kong surrendered. On Christmas Day 1941, exactly four years after he had escaped from the Japanese in China, he became a Prisoner of War (POW) and lost his …


Virus Protection Basics, by H.L.T.

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The Corona/China/Covid19 virus is a reality. What the concern here is the correct response to the actual threat the virus deserves. Some consider this ridiculous, some consider this the end of the world and some just don’t know. Our responses are based on what information we decide to enter our mix to formulate our opinion.   Watching Fox News this morning the opening of the show reminded me of a B movie that I decided was not worth watching.   Fear is leading everything and that is a bad leader.   Should this be an overblown reaction I hope people promoting this are …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, …