Year: 2024

As Ukrainian Defenses Collapse, What Can US Patriots Learn?, by Brandon Smith

In my article ‘Russia Is About To Overrun Ukraine’s Defenses – Why Are There No Peace Negotiations’ published in May, I outlined my reasons for predicting a near term collapse of Ukrainian front line defenses and a sweeping territory grab by Russian forces. Since the early months of the war my primary argument has been that Ukraine is trying to hide steep declines in manpower, and that this ruse would eventually be exposed. Bottom line? Wars are won by men, not by DARPA technology and suitcases of fiat cash. A year ago mainstream analysts said Ukrainians troops (with NATO’s help) …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water: And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 2, 2024

On August 2nd, 1973, American Graffiti, directed by George Lucas and starring Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland. — August 2, 1909, the Army Air Corps was formed as Army took first delivery from the Wright Brothers. — August 2nd was the birthday of Peter O’Toole (1932–2013). When his name is mentioned, Lawrence of Arabia immediately comes to mind. But one of my favorites was his 1971 film titled Murphy’s War. That film had some very memorable seaplane flying scenes. — August 2, 1972: Gold hit a record $70 per Troy ounce in …


Ballistics, Rifle Marksmanship and Why They Matter – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article. Handloading to Getting Top Performance from Classic Rifles For the same reasons that the military has developed high-performance ammunition, I’ve worked hard to find this load in a common cartridge that is the .30-06 and 6.5×55 for my personal rifles.  It is competitive or superior at mid range to extreme long ranges out to 1,200 yards with .300 Winchester Magnum commercial hunting loads, because the bullets used have extremely high ballistic coefficients.  Like the .300 Win Mag, 7mm Magnum, .30-06, and others in this class, they are good all-around cartridges for any …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the decline of the Canadian Standard of Living. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: Those dastardly COMEX Silver Shorts have been up to their mischief again, pushing down the price of silver contracts. When I checked on Thursday morning, spot silver was at $28.75, while spot gold was at $2,460.10 …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 1, 2024

I’m pleased to announce that a new prize has been added to the First Prize package, for the SurvivalBlog writing contest. The good folks at HSM Ammunition in Stevensville, Montana are now providing a $250 gift certificate, starting with this latest writing contest round that begins today (Round 114.)  The certificate can be used for any of their products. If you haven’t tried their ammo, take a look at their website and check out their broad line of top-quality newly-manufactured cartridges.  They even make mild “Cowboy” loads that are suitable for antique revolvers. — August 1st is celebrated as Swiss …


Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced: Round 113

We’ve completed the judging for Round 113 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.  Round 113 began on June 1, 2024, and ended on July 31, 2024. (The contest runs in rounds that each last two months.) The prize-winning writers for Round 113 are: First Prize First Prize goes to A.F., for: Stocking Up: OTC Medications Part 1 and Part 2. It was posted on July 9 &10, 2024. He will receive the following prizes: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than …


Ballistics, Rifle Marksmanship and Why They Matter – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

Introduction I would argue that if Donald Trump’s would-be-assassin on July 13, 2024 had used a bullet with a higher ballistic coefficient, or if the wind had changed, regardless of the cartridge actually used, then Trump would have been killed or gravely injured.  How is it that Trump turned his head just before the bullet passed by?  This attempt on Trump’s life is a clear indication of the lateness of the hour.  Only by an act of God do we have more time to prepare.  Like many other SurvivalBlog readers, I was an admirer of the late Bob Griswold who …


July, 2024 in Precious Metals, by Everett Millman

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance and silver’s performance and examine the factors that affected the metal prices. WHAT DID GOLD AND SILVER DO IN JULY? Silver had another fairly volatile month, much as it has for the better part of 2024. The swings back and forth for prices have become increasingly frequent since the second quarter of the year began. During July silver futures traded as low as $27.75/oz and as high as $31.43/oz, a significant spread of …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, we examine the new threat of de-orbiting space debris. The Deadly Era of Space Junk Tam suggested this piece, over at Scientific American: A New, Deadly Era of Space …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — July 31, 2024

The first ascent of K2 was made by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio on July 31, 1954. — And on July 31, 1958, the Anti-Chinese uprising began in Tibet. — Today’s feature article is a guest piece by fellow blogger Mrs. Alaska. Because it will also be posted to her blog, it will not be part of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. We are now seeking entries for Round 114 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $900,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking …


Two Inexpensive and Easy Food/Pollinator Crops, by Mrs. Alaska

In the past, people who migrated from one country or region to another invariably brought seeds with them. This is prudent. But many times, the plants of one ecosystem cannot grow in another, due to temperature or soil conditions. Imagine the problems (hunger) that ensued. The most valuable seeds at the end of a journey, I imagine, were those that could grow the fastest to some edible stage in a variety of new locations, proliferate, set seeds, and repeat. Here, I would like to sing the praises of two modest plants, wild and domesticated in a broad range of USDA …