Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on the Cobra RX Adder crossbow. (See the Gear & Grub section.)
Books:
The book Resistance to Tyranny: A Primer just jumped into Amazon’s top-150 selling books list. That is very unusual for a book that has already been in print for nine years. The renewed interest in this title says a lot about the direction that our country is headed.
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The Top 100 Classic Radio Shows. With this book as reference, you’ll be equipped to go hunting for MP3 files of old radio shows. I was amazed to find that thousands of them are available for free download. My advice is to load up a laptop or an MP3 player with carefully-selected old radio shows. Assuming that you have just a modest photovoltaic power system, those shows can keep your kids occupied in future disaster situations when Internet service is not available. Those wholesome shows will be a welcome distraction, for down time.
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Food Storage for Self-Sufficiency and Survival: The Essential Guide for Family Preparedness
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I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage! Updated and Expanded Version
Movies & Television:
Sadly, I can’t recommend most modern “Children’s” films and “Family” films. So many of them undermine family values and morality. But I recently watched one that is an exception. It is a film suitable for your whole family with a great cast, great acting, and wonderful cinemaphotography: Hugo. It is available on Blu-Ray and DVD, and also free streaming for those with Amazon Prime.
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Meru. Here is a description: “Three elite climbers struggle to find their way through obsession and loss as they attempt to climb Mount Meru, one of the most coveted prizes in the high stakes game of Himalayan big wall climbing. Meru is the story of that journey, an expedition through nature’s harshest elements and one’s complicated inner demons, and ultimately on to impossible new heights.”
Instructional Videos:
A bit lengthy, but worth watching, at Nutnfancy: Best & Worst AR 15 Mags: What to Stock Up On. One apparent subtext: Don’t buy steel-cased rifle ammunition!
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At Full30.com: Five Free Glock Mods in 3 Minutes (with Links)
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Lectures:
Larry H. sent a link to a video of Trevor Louden on the enemies within our government. This must-watch for conservatives which was recorded in Kalispell, Montana in October of 2017. Trevor Louden is a New Zealand resident who travels to the US to present conservative themed speeches to the American people.
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A TED Talk that dates back from 2013 has some interesting insights on storm-resistant house design: Can we build disaster resilient communities? – Gregory Kopp
Gear & Grub:
From the Internet’s “King of Slingshots” Joerg Sprave: The “Cobra RX Adder” Tactical Repeating Crossbow. If that bow looks familiar, it is because it is a variant of the same bow sold by Cold Steel–the Cheap Shot 130, which was recently reviewed in SurvivalBlog by Pat Cascio. I suppose that either bow would be marginally useful for self defense in locales with extremely restrictive gun laws. Sprave hopes to have his repeating variant available by August of 2019. By the way, I also recommend Joerg Sprave’s now fairly extensive collection of YouTube videos on slingshots. He is very entertaining.
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We’ve had ours here at the ranch for 10 years, and we expect it to last another 20 years or more: Troy-Bilt Horse 306cc 20-Inch Forward Rotating Rear-Tine Tiller
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B&M Brown Bread with Raisins, 16-Ounce Cans (Pack of 6)
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NOCO HM484 8D Commercial Grade Battery Box for Automotive, Marine and RV Batteries
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Now that I’m assembling my own AR-15 lowers, I’ve found that these come in very handy: Wheeler Universal Bench Block with Non-Marring Construction and Multiple Uses for Pistols, Gunsmithing and Maintenance.
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Oh, and speaking of AR-15 lowers, this tool prevents frustration and tiny parts flying across the room: Real Avid .223 Pivot Pin Tool. (A brief video shows how they are used.)
Yeah, buy rifles, but speaking of tools to prevent small bits from flying around the room, now is also the time to lay in multiples of the little springs, detents, ejectors, roll pins and similar what-not. When those things go flying, they apparently achieve escape velocity and are out there orbiting Mars or someplace, because dang if they’re findable afterwards. One of those little shop magnets on the extendible handle and a flashlight helps find them sometimes, but not always. Often it’s a lot easier to just grab another small bit and go on. If, of course, you have the parts. And wear your eye protection whilst messing with this stuff. You don’t want to find the doctrine of “two is one and one is none” applied to your eyeballs!
Had that happen to me recently. Despite my efforts to prevent it, a really small spring shot off like a rocket upon disassembly into the stratosphere of my tool room, pinging loudly off the wall, but landing silently on the floor somewhere. My gun cleaning was delayed several minutes as I searched for it.
A neat trick to find small parts on the floor (especially on carpet) is to turn down the ambient lighting in the room and place a flashlight on the ground so that the beam is directed horizontally across the floor. You’ll be able to see things in a completely different light (pun intended), and small parts are easily seen.
Back when I was gunsmithing on a daily basis, and YES springs do fly!, we had one of the construction size magnets w/ wheels. They’re about $20 at Home Depot. They’re about 12″ across w/ wheels and a handle on them and you just push it back and forth like a vacuum cleaner. Even if you can’t see the spring or pin, just roll it around the area you ‘hope’ it landed in and chances are you will pick up more than just the one you’re looking for…lol (and yes, a flashlight helps too.)
I discovered Joerg recently, and enjoy him quite a bit. Bit creepy how YT knew I’d like him so much, though. LET ME SHOW YOU ITS FEATURES! I also read Martino’s book, after reading about it in the Bracken Anthology. Should have bought instead of borrowed. Oh well.
I concur on the usefulness of the Real Avid pivot pin tool. I have recently built 10 PSA AR-15s. The tool makes the most difficult step of assembling the lower into the easiest. I enjoyed assembling the lowers, which I had never done before. I gained a huge amount of knowledge which will be helpful for future repairs or mods. BTW, the quality of PSA parts is excellent. I have so far had no failures to load, fire, extract or eject in the 8 I have sighted in.
I have an old white bed sheet positioned in the assembly area on the table and wall that catches flying detents and springs. Dark items show up well. Haven’t lost one yet and caught several.
What a great and simple idea. An ounce of prevention…
Carry on