Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Rick V. recommended a piece by Nadia Arumugam in Slate magazine: Expiration dates mean very little.    o o o The Marines are Looking for a Few Good Rounds: Corps to use more lethal ammo in Afghanistan    o o o Travis H. sent us this link: Smuggled guns used in cartel hits. What the liberally-biased CNN journalists don’t mention is that the vast majority of guns used by the drug cartels are either stolen from the Mexican Army, or smuggled in from Mexico’s southern neighbors. Their U.S.-sourced guns are the small minority of what they have, and many …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 27 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.), and D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Luger, 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP ammo, …


Survival Fire Safety, by Mr. F.

In our preparations, we’ve all made an in depth survival plan.  We have stocks of food items and a means to hunt or grow more.  We know where we’ll get water and how to treat it and have solutions for cooking, heating and lighting.  Perhaps some will operate gasoline or propane-run electric generators and some may distill alcohol or use wood gasification for fuel.  We also have adequate supplies of medications, vitamins and first-aid items.  We’ve thought of everything, planned for any contingency.  Right? What about Fire Safety?  Our plans mostly or entirely rely on fire for cooking, heating and …


Letter Re: Making Change in a New Precious Metals Economy

JWR, I did some research after reading the recent “Making Change in a New Precious Metals Economy” article. The following will make it easier to determine the metal value of coins. Thank you for your great blog. Ounces of silver in pre-1965 coins: Silver bullion coin = 1 ounce Pre-1965 silver dollar = .77344 (90% silver, 10% copper) Pre-1965 silver half dollar = 0.36169 (90% silver, 10% copper) 1965-69 silver half dollar = 0.1479 (40% silver) Pre-1965 silver quarter = .18084 (90% silver, 10% copper) Pre-1965 silver dime = 0.0715 (90% silver, 10% copper) There is no silver in most …


Economics and Investing:

Stock Market Analyst and hedge Fund Manager Barton Biggs: Stock A Safe Haven With Food And Firearms To Protect Against Doomsday Pillagers Here comes inflation! Reader Justin B. pointed us to this: January wholesale prices jump 1.4 percent. Justin notes: “That equates to a 16.8% annual wholesale price inflation rate!” And now, news that the ratcheting-up has begun: Fed bumps up rate banks pay for emergency loans. Greg C. sent us this: National Debt, Budget Deficit Scary Forecast for Taxpayers: Obama to Sign Fiscal Reform, Economists Predict Cutbacks, Tax Increases El Jefe Jeff E. forwarded this little red flag news …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Yishai alerted us to this clever set of plastic kitchen products: Jar Tops: Universal Lids for Mason Some Jars.    o o o J.B. mentioned this: Finns propose ban on handguns after shootings. Who do they think that are they kidding? In a nation with 5.4 million people and an estimated 4 million privately-owned guns, I suspect that the only one of the panel’s recommendations that will actually get implemented will be raising the age threshold for owning handguns.    o o o Reader R.S.R. wrote to mention that Wal-Mart stores are presently offering a “killer deal” on Coleman dual …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 27 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.), and D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Luger, 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP ammo, …


How to Prosper in a Salvage Economy, by Tamara W.

A salvage economy is a post-production economy. The economy is based on salvage and then reuse or remanufacture of salvaged materials. The current modern equivalent of this are those individuals who sort through trash heaps and dumps for recyclable materials. The historical equivalent of this are the stone masons in Egypt who tore down ancient monuments for building material. For example, the lost Pyramid of Djedefre was thought to have not been built until its foundations were found, including a mortuary temple and queens’ pyramids. Where did it go? Must of it was used to build buildings in Cairo from …


Three Letters Re: Some Real Life Battery Data

Dear Jim, I have some comments on the comments regarding batteries: Nickel Iron (Ni-Fe) batteries do indeed have very long shelf and operating lives. But they also have some significant downsides. Similar to NiMH cells (they are not the same) they have a very high self-discharge rate. In some cases approaching 40% per month. If you have a large solar array that is always making excess power, you are all set. But if you are charging with a generator, and have a large bank to keep power available for extended periods, you will waste a lot of the generator’s output …


Letter Re: The Limited Practicality of Primitive Weapons

Dear James: I was interested to read the comments on atlatls in yesterday’s post “Getting Prepared: From the Homestead to Living Off the Land”. By way of background, I’ve been interested in atlatls since an anthropology course in junior college, and a couple of months ago bought an atlatl from Bob Berg at Thunderbird Atlatls. All the points mentioned on atlatls by the writer are true; they are simple to make (my 11-year-old nephew made his own out of scrap lumber in about twenty minutes after seeing mine), and making darts is merely an exercise in scaling arrows up, although …


Economics and Investing:

Reader B.H. recommended this primer, published by a precious metals dealer: Buying silver, buying silver bullion for survival purposes. JWR Adds: I concur with nearly all of what they recommended on “survival”/barter coins. However, I do see the utility of buying some 1/2-ounce silver bullion coins. I also recommend buying some of the new pre-scored “Stagecoach” one-ounce silver bars a and rounds that can easily be chiseled into 1/4-ounce “bits”, minted by Northwest Territorial Mint. Also, readers outside of the U.S. should concentrate on buying whichever bullion coins are the most recognizable and trusted in your respective countries. In Australia, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The Medical Corps private training organization is holding another one of their excellent three-day Combat/Field Medicine School courses, April 30th through May 2nd. The class will be held near Caldwell, Ohio at the Ohio State University Extension building. Contact: Chuck Fenwick at (740) 783-8009 for details.    o o o The good folks that organize the EMPACT America conferences are currently lobbying Congress for funding to re-fit some US military bases as EMP-proof “bastions” as centers for rebuilding societal infrastructure, following either an EMP attack or a Carrington-scale Solar Flare event. If the BHO Administration wants to spend money to …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"And this is the law of the jungle; As old and true as the sky. And the wolf that shall keep it will prosper; But he wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, The law runneth forward and back. For the strength of the pack is the wolf, And the strength of the wolf is the pack." – Rudyard Kipling, The Law of the Jungle (from The Jungle Book)