Choices, Choices, Choices – Part 1, by K.C.

It’s almost holy writ that preppers, looking at guns for defense, should buy a 12 gauge shotgun (preferably a pump), a .308 battle rifle of some sort (M1A and HK seem to be the most popular), and a 1911 in .45 caliber (debate on this rages). For a while, I had all of these, along with some others. Then, I got married; then, I had kids. I did not grow up around guns, really. My father had little to no interest in hunting, and I think we shot the guns we had maybe a dozen times while I was growing …


PVC Survival Gear: How to Make It – Part 5, by J.H.

PROJECT 5: PVC Survival Staff (Walking Staff, Blow Gun, Frog Gig, Fish Spear, Survival Kit)- continued Today, we’re continuing to work through the steps of how to make a survival staff, walking staff, blow gun, frog gig, fish spear, and survival kit. It is versatile and can be whatever you choose to make it and used however you need it. We’ve completed the MAIN section and are currently working on the section containing the frog gig tines. So let’s continue with the process. STEPS: We now want to take this frog gig tines section and connect it to the MAIN …


PVC Survival Gear: How to Make It – Part 4, by J.H.

PROJECT 5: PVC Survival Staff (Walking Staff, Blow Gun, Frog Gig, Fish Spear, Survival Kit) This is one of my favorite PVC build projects! It’s fun to make and can be made with “attachment” pieces for a multitude of different options. The design example I will be using for this article is more basic than some of my very intricate designs. However, I feel this is the most “user friendly” PVC staff build I can explain. There are more “parts” to this piece of survival equipment than the previous projects. If this seems to be too much and you want …


PVC Survival Gear: How to Make It – Part 3, by J.H.

PROJECT 3: The PVC Quiver As with the PVC bow, there are several different types of PVC quivers that can be made. A really simple, no heat version is as easy as taking 2” diameter Schedule 40 PVC pipe that is 18” in length and filling the bottom 1/4 of the pipe with Great Stuff or another spray foam. This easy quiver can be fashioned to receive a belt, can be set on the ground for target shooting, or modified however you would like to attach it to yourself or your gear. Poke your arrows into the foam or drill …


PVC Survival Gear: How to Make It – Part 2, by J.H.

PROJECT 2: The PVC Recurve Bow There are several different types of PVC bows that can be made using heat, minimal heat, or no heat. The example I will be using here is a recurve bow, using heat, that has an approximate draw weight of 35 pounds. You can change the draw weight by changing the length or diameter of the PVC pipe you choose. I have built bows with a draw weight of up to 70lbs, and I have seen others that have made bows with a pull exceeding 100lbs. There are variations of this bow. It can be …


PVC Survival Gear: How to Make It – Part 1, by J.H.

In this article, we will be examining why PVC may be one of your best choices for crafting usable, durable items at a fraction of what you’d pay to buy the items from a store. I will also be providing simple steps for you to follow to easily create five different, unique PVC survival items identified as five projects. The survival tools and gear that I have chosen for this article are all items that I have personally made and have used and tested repeatedly. Some of the methods and ideas that are listed I have learned from other people …


Low Budget Knife Selection for a Novice, by S.G.

I. The World of Knives On the top of all new “prepper” lists is a good survival knife. The knife is a low-tech, multipurpose tool that has served humankind since before the dawn of civilization. To these early men, the side of a chipped flint could butcher an animal carcass for food and clothing. To the modern man, however, there is a dizzying array of choices when it comes to knife selection. This article documents my ongoing journey of knife selection, with my own frugal, low budget perspective. Now, when talking “low budget”, I do not mean cheap. When I …


Prepping on a Budget, by C.G. – Part 2

Weapons/Defense Now for the most contentious issue– guns. Let me preface this by saying that everyone has their pet favorite, and to them that is the only gun that will ever work and it will do everything. Being chased by a grizzly bear, someone will tell you how you can totally take that bear out with your 10/22. Want to go dove hunting? Somebody will tell you how you really need a Barrett .50 cal. to take those tough little suckers down. The reality is that the only gun you will ever need is the one in your hand when …


Prepping on a Budget, by C.G. – Part 1

For many people, prepping seems like something only people with a good deal of time and/or disposable income can do. Shows like NatGeo’s Doomsday Preppers and, unfortunately, some YouTube channels give the impression that if you don’t have several years of food and enough weapons and ammo to outfit a small militia stored somewhere in a mountain bunker you can’t join the prepper club. Remember that the TV show is, at least partly, scripted, staged, and creatively edited, and some of the more questionable YouTube channels are run by gear/gun snobs. There are, however, ways to prep on a budget. …


Getting Home, by D.K. Vet

Now, I feel relatively secure in my prepping, having been at it for several years. Food, check. Arms and ammo, check. Water, tent, first aid supplies, heating sources, et cetera, check, check, check. All is well and good, as long as I am home or near home and can shelter in place or pack up and move out of Dodge. However, there are several times every year when I am away from home and not just in the next county. We spend time in Florida and go to vet conferences in other states. When we’re somewhere else, we are totally …


Practical Personality Assessment, by M.B. – Part 2

Reasons I’d like to articulate three powerful reasons to become a student of personality types. 1) To Explain Preparedness in a Way that Others Will Accept “A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction.” (Prov. 16:23) One of the best reasons to try to discover someone’s personality type is so that you can more effectively communicate with him or her.  We probably all have family members or friends who refuse to listen, despite our best attempts to convince them of the need to prepare.  Sometimes part of this is because of personality differences.  For example, you …


Practical Personality Assessment, by M.B. – Part 1

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” – Sun Tzu If I could take the liberty of adding a little to this famous piece of wisdom, I would say that we should also make every effort to know our friends and allies.  Nowhere is knowing yourself and those around you more critical than in a survival situation.  We often equate knowing ourselves and others to knowing what skill sets we possess– he’s handy with a rifle, she knows medicinal herbs, and I can repair small engines, and so on.  …


Accommodations for the Dietary Requirements of Infants, by L.C.

Infants have specific nutritive needs that at the present moment may be met in two ways: breast milk and formula. In a collapse or post-collapse scenario, the supply of formula may dry up and no longer be an option. There are several strategies to cope with this as well as breastfeeding supplies that can easily be acquired now. I’m the mother of five kids under the age of six with the youngest being six weeks old, so for the past six years I’ve been pregnant, nursing, or both. I breastfed my first four exclusively, until we started solids between 6-7 …


EMP-Hardened Ham Radio Communications, by PrepperDoc

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EMP attack is often considered the most rigorous of survivalist situations, due to the likely complete loss of electrical grid, many vehicles, and many transistorized/computerized products. Our group worked to provide post-EMP communications that would allow effective communications post-event. We had two major requirements: Short Range Communications. Two, separate, defense-hardened homes that were approximately 30 miles apart had to be able to communicate across a medium-sized city, and Long Range Communications. Both homes had to be able to receive news from in-state and out-of-state sources. These were considered necessary to receive adequate advance warning of defense issues, such as advancing …


The Time Has Come, by JTH

Suddenly it hit me. We are DOING IT! After years of dreaming about moving to the Redoubt, planning, plotting, learning new skills, understanding what is important, we are finally doing it. I am scared and excited at the same time. We have two more months of frantic remodeling and updating our home, in order to get top dollar, and then we’ll put the house on the market. After searching for property in Idaho online and with the help of several couples who live in Idaho and a realtor recommendation, it’s time to make a couple of trips out and get …