Preparedness Notes for Thursday — October 21, 2021

I just heard from reader “Jimbo” that Gary Paulsen, the author of Hatchet and other young adult adventures, has died at age 82. He will be missed! Jimbo noted: “Hearing this news reminded me of an interview I heard with him. He said there was a news story about a pre-teen boy lost in the woods.  When asked if he was worried, his dad said casually, ‘I’m not worried.  We have read Gary Paulson’s book Hatchet several times together and I’m confident he will do fine.’” SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 97 of the SurvivalBlog …




Ruger American Ranch Rifle in 7.62×39, by The Novice

I recently tested the Ruger American Ranch Rifle, chambered in 7.62×39. I found it to be suprisingly accurate while shooting inexpensive steel-cased ammo. The only major change I recommend for the design is to make it available with an AK-compatible magazine well. The Ammo Backstory In the early summer, I contacted Ruger to see if I could borrow one of their American Ranch Rifles chambered in 7.62×39 for testing and evaluation. I was interested in the rifle for several reasons. Firstly, the 7.62×39 cartridge produces less recoil than many other calibers suitable for taking deer-sized game. That would make it …




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 American weapons in the hands of teh Afghan Taliban. US-Supplied Weapons Now in Afghan Gun Shops For sale now: US-supplied weapons in Afghan gun shops. Here is an excerpt: “American …