The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render …




Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 20, 2021

August 20th, 1866 is the day that President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over. — August 20th, 1935 was the birthday of former Congressman Ron Paul.  Dr. Paul is to be commended for fighting the good fight for many years. — Some sad news: Journalist Joe Galloway, chronicler of Vietnam War, dies. — The last day!  Today is the last day of a two-week sale at Elk Creek Company. In honor of gun designer James Paris Lee’s birthday, I’ve set sales prices with discounts from 5% to 25% on nearly all of our inventory. With the recent drop …




Your AR-15 For Hunting Deer, by Behind The Counter

Even a casual reader of SurvivalBlog over the last several years has seen a number of excellent articles on deer hunting. While deer can be a valuable supplement to food storage in more or less normal times, most of these articles have made commonsense arguments that it would be a serious mistake to plan on venison as a staple in a true TEOTWAWKI event. There are some rural parts of the Redoubt where deer may continue to be abundant at least for some time, but in the more populous Midwestern farming states, along the East Coast, and in the South, …




Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 currency revaluations real and rumored–in Venezuela, Vietnam, and Iraq. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: First up, there is this, posted over at Gold-Eagle: UBS is calling for lower levels in gold. o  o  o Afghanistan tensions and gold, here’s what to watch for – MKS PAMP …







Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 19, 2021

August 19th is the birthday of Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-1971). Farnsworth was an American inventor who is best known for his image pickup device that formed the basis for the fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. Among his many other inventions was the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor, a small nuclear fusion device that remains a viable source of neutrons. At his death, he held over 300 patents, mostly in radio and television. — Two Special Prayer Requests: First, blog reader “RKRGRL68” wrote: “I just wanted to reach out and ask my SurvivalBlog family for special prayers as I just found out …




Shooting Drills for WTSHTF – Part 2 , by T.Z.

(Continued from Part1. This concludes the article.) Intermediate Shooting Drills Once you are accurate and consistent with static supported positions, start practicing static unsupported positions. The prone, kneeling and standing unsupported positions do not have a sandbag or table to support them (hence, unsupported positions), so you must create a stable platform with your body position in order to maintain a clear sight picture. Creating a stable platform in the prone unsupported position is executed by placing your elbows on the ground and driving the buttstock into your shoulder. Your shooting hand should be lightly gripping the handle of the …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at rural population losses. Rural Population Losses Add to Farm and Ranch Labor Shortage As reported by the Newsmax news site: Rural Population Losses Add to Farm and Ranch Labor Shortage. …







Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 18, 2021

August 18th is the birthday of Meriwether Lewis, an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator that is best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. — The deadline to submit comments on the ATF’s proposed receiver reclassification rule is tomorrow, August 19th, 2021. Please leave your polite comment, ASAP. Note: When you write your comment, include “Federal Register Number 2021-10058.” Without that, your comment will not count. — Just two days left!  We are nearing the end of a two-week sale at Elk Creek Company,  In honor of gun designer James Paris Lee’s …




Shooting Drills for WTSHTF – Part 1, by T.Z.

Shooting requires constant, realistic practice to hone and maintain your skills with a weapon. This is especially true when preparing for the possibility of human beings attacking you or your family. Many people shoot for target practice or hunting, but they do not train for hostile encounters. Training with firearms for prepping must be intentional and planned, not merely a recreational activity. In this article I will show how to train for hostile encounters, including drills you can do with or without ammunition. Given the enormous breadth of this subject, I will be limiting the scope of this article to …




SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — A video interview and tour with the late, great Mike Oehler: Idaho modern oldtimer builds underground & solar $50 houses. He passed away on February 2, 2016, at age 78. o  o  o Reader J.A. wrote: “Regarding the article “Winning The War On Weeds – Part 1, by St. Funogas” where St. Funogas uses/suggests using carpet, blankets and especially …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No …




Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — August 17, 2021

While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory on August 17th, 1896, George Carmack reportedly spotted nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparked the last great gold rush in the American West. His two companions later agreed that Skookum, Jim–Carmack’s brother-in-law–actually made the discovery. — Today we present a guest article. Unfortunately, it was too short to qualify as an entry for Round 96 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. By the way, Round 96 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a …




The Hi Point 4595 Carbine, by Rick C.

I am a firm believer that two is one and one is none. I had been looking for another .45 ACP to compliment my Rock River 1911 which, aside, I am very pleased with. At one time I had a Glock 36 that I sold when I needed some money, or thought I did, and I still have the holster. Can’t let that go to waste, right? However, I began to think of a pistol-caliber carbine. I, and many others, believe it is a good idea to have a handgun and a rifle in the same chambering. This point of …