A Review of AGI’s Professional Gunsmithing Course Level I, by Gunsmith

Full Disclosure: After a conversation I had with Gene Kelly of American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI), he offered me this course at no charge in exchange for an honest review in a written article for SurvivalBlog. There were no other strings attached, and I was not pressured in any way about the outcome of this review. He did not ask for a preview of the article, nor was he offered one before publication. This review is my own opinion of the course after having spent time taking it and passing the tests involved. My Background I have been interested in firearms …


Modern Handloads for Antique 7mm Mauser Rifles – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Considerations for Projectile Selection There are many different bullets and powders to choose from.  Given the very long throats of their chambers, we are mostly limited to heavier and flat based bullets.   Choosing the best projectiles for the antique Mausers will help us get the best all around results, quickly. For the purposes of hunting, I would like it to shoot no larger groups than 2 MOA with iron sights and that would limit my shoots to 250 yards if I had 20-20 or better vision and had the rifle on …


Modern Handloads for Antique 7mm Mauser Rifles – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

Is the 7x57mm Mauser M1893/95 rifle obsolete?  The original 7mm Mauser cartridge is in no way an obsolete cartridge, yet it can be improved when modern powders are used.  As of this date, few handloaders are exploring what can be done with the old warhorse when modern propellants are used to make it competitive with modern cartridges such as 7mm-08, 7.62 NATO, and even .308 Winchester.  There is no discussion on this topic that I’ve yet found on the Internet.  Perhaps we are breaking new ground, as we speak.


Preparedness Observations from the Rideshare Driver’s Seat by Guitar George

For the last six years, I have been supplementing my retirement income by working as a rideshare driver. At first, I was a little apprehensive about picking up complete strangers and all of the potential danger that might entail. After almost 20,000 rides, I can honestly say that there was only one experience where I thought my personal safety was at risk and it was relatively minor. Since those early days, rideshare companies have greatly improved their safety tools for both drivers and riders. Although I did not begin driving as an exercise in preparedness, it quickly became one.


Water in Disasters: A Rain Catchment and Treatment System, by Suburban Prepper

Water is essential to all life. The human body can go three weeks without food but only three days without water before completely shutting down. Yet most of us find it much easier to store a year’s worth of food than a month’s worth of water. I live in the suburbs and while I have my beans, bullets and band aids pretty squared away, water has always been an area of concern for me. There is no way to store enough water for a long term outage, and I haven’t found many good options. Recently I have spent more time …


A Letter To My Younger Self – Part 2, by N.C.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) The World As We Now Know It Succeed here first. A good man succeeds regardless of where he is. Marcus Aurelius would be a good man here or in ancient Rome. Same for Sejong the Great. Same if an Adeptus Astartes was put in your place. A good man succeeds where he finds himself. “I would succeed if only…” is loser talk. It’s taken many a man who might have succeeded and turned him into one who did not. You’ve probably heard “if you think you can or think you can’t, you’re …


A Letter To My Younger Self – Part 1, by N.C.

This is an article hypothetically written to my younger self, as if I were just going to start on my path of preparation. These are lessons I spent a couple decades learning. So, this is for you, young man. Things I’ve learned, what I’d do if I were in your shoes: Social Skills Are the Primary Prepping Skills Not guns. Not gardening. Not bushcraft. Social skills. Social Skills are the single most important skill you need. It will affect your career and therefore your resources and your preps. It will affect your mate options. It will affect your children. It …


Prepping on a Dime, by Michael X.

When we started prepping, we did not have the money to buy an old missile silo…or an old mine…or a ready-to-use retreat. We were “stuck” in the city where our jobs were. Then we retired. We could sell our house and move to the middle of nowhere… From a city near the Twin Cities in Minnesota of over 100,000, my loving wife and I have relocated to a lakeside cottage in northern Wisconsin, a few miles outside a village of about 400 people. Wisconsin has its own problems. Mostly Madison and Milwaukee. And to a lesser extent, Eau Claire. Those …


30 Year Review of My Automotive EDC, by A.J.

This review started because I needed a band aid the other day and rather than dribble through the house, I went to the first aid kit in the minivan.  I was surprised at the amount of empty space in the plastic case, but there were the necessary items to handle the cut. I used a benzo conium wipe (still wet) and a Band-Aid (still sticky) and then started quality checking the kit. I looked at the contents label and it was printed in 1996 and looking further, the remaining dose of Imodium in the kit had a use by date …


Post-SHTF Lighting: Testing My Preps – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Location Uses and Upgrades I Made Kitchen Table – The table is under the beams which support the loft. With the table mostly being used as a work space and for playing games, a light hanging from above was needed. The lantern lights hanging upside down were enough for eating but more light would be preferable for other activities. As mentioned, the A-19 was the perfect solution. The shadowless light was as bright as the 120-volt lights they were replacing. For the test, the small riding-mower core battery was used to power …


Post-SHTF Lighting: Testing My Preps – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1.) Solar Panel Inventory As mentioned, to make this test more valuable to the majority of the readers I didn’t use my 3,000-watt home solar-panel system for lighting or charging batteries. I did, however, use a few smaller portable solar panels I have. 1 – 100-watt panel 1 – 15-watt panel 1 – 20-watt panel 1 – 1.8-watt trickle charger As you’d expect, the larger a solar panel is the more quickly it’ll charge a battery. For preppers who are currently without any solar panels, though not ideal, inexpensive 15-to-25-watt panels could be purchased and tucked away …


Post-SHTF Lighting: Testing My Preps – Part 1, by St. Funogas

‘This is another installment of my series of articles on how to light up our lives in TEOTWAWKIville. This article covers the results of my week-long experience testing my lighting preps. I expected this preps test to be a fairly simple but, as always, it proved to be more useful and eye-opening than I would have guessed. As with other tests I’ve done, it showed where my preps were insufficient, but more importantly, I learned several things I hadn’t even considered with respect to lighting and therefore hadn’t even thought about preparing for. Another testimony to the importance of testing …


Staying Home For TEOTWAWKI, by Jason H.

Opening caveat: A lot of what I describe below is highly illegal in normal times. It might even be frowned upon during semi-normal times. Only you, as a logical and thinking adult, can make a decision to take actions that could result in potential prison time. But this article is for those bad times, a true WWOTROL (World Without The Rule Of Law) scenario. Like many here, I’m an older gentleman, having retired almost 20 years ago after a 25 year law enforcement career. I’ve also been a faithful Survival Blog reader from almost the beginning. And like many here, …


Using Commercial Ammunition in Military Rifles, by Tunnel Rabbit

Author’s Introductory Disclaimer:  While I am a long-time reloading enthusiast, my advice and  insights are not substitutes for the information found in reloading manuals. So do confirm any information herein and draw your own conclusions. Introduction I have discovered over the years that many shooters are planning to use incorrect ammunition in their military rifles that with repeated use over time would ruin the rifle’s mechanism, or if the rifle should be used in battlefield conditions, the rifle for many reasons could fail them just when they needed to defend themselves. Few are acquainted with using their rifles in actual …


Small Farm Dairy Cattle – Part 5, by SaraSue

(Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) Medical needs I don’t often have to call a vet, but establishing a relationship with a large animal vet is crucial.  If you don’t have a relationship, you will have a terrible time getting help when you need it.  It’s worth it to spend money with the Veterinarian.  I use them for my cats and dogs, as well as my cows.  We are on a first name basis now.  I needed them when my first cow went down hard with milk fever.  I know how to prevent that now.  I needed them …