Letter Re: Access to SurvivalBlog Archives?

Jim, I stumbled across your Survival Blog today. Wonderful service you provide! Read some of archives…excellent! Question: It looks like the SurvivalBlog archives start in August of 2005 but cut off in April of 2006. Are there any more recent posts that I can access? Thank you. – J.U., COL, US Army (Ret.) JWR Replies: Welcome! Yes, all of the posts that are more recent are now fully searchable by key word, or can be browsed by categories, or can be browsed in monthly Archives. (See the categories, monthly archive links, and Search window, down under the ads, in the …


Letter Re: Recommendations on Springfield Armory TRP Series M1911 Pistols?

Dear Jim: What do you think of the [Springfield Armory] TRP Pro [clone of the Colt M1911 .45 ACP pistol]? I want a .45 pistol as reliable as a Glock but with a more comfortable grip. Thanks, – Frank in Hawaii JWR Replies: I have only test fired a Springfield Armory TRP Operator 1911, and Springfield’s XD 9mm. (But not yet the .45 version) Both had their merits. I’m biased in favor of 1911s, but I must admit that the XD pointed and functioned very well. I like the feel of the grip better then a Glock 20 or 21. …


Letter Re: Antenna Options For MURS and Other Hand-Held Transceivers

James: For the folks using the Kenwood MURS radios [such as those sold by our advertiser MURS Radios] or Ham gear, upgrading the stock antenna can make a world of difference in performance. I highly recommend the extended rubber duck and especially the large 1/2 wave telescoping antennas from Smiley Antennas in San Diego. They cost $20-25, and can dramatically improve their useful range. My little Yaesu walkie-talkie can hit maybe two repeaters with the stock antenna from my house. Using the large telescoping Smiley, I can get at least six more. Folded up, these aren’t that much larger than …


Letter Re: Pepper Spray Trip Wire Alarms

Dear Jim: Nothing beats living at your retreat, but there is one burglar repelling device that can actually stops a burglary in process (without an alarm or monitoring): Pepper Spray Alarms – either trip wired or set off by electronic sensor. These can fill a room with pepper spray in seconds. You can even get one that can fire up to four times in sequence! I have used them (and tripped them accidentally). They really work – and it only takes about an hour of ventilation to get back in the room comfortably. As an added bonus you get to …



Letter Re: Property Owning “Refugees” on Adjoining Property

Mr. Rawles, Thank you for putting so much effort into your blog and your writings. I bought your novel “Patriots” a few years back, dog eared it, and passed it around. To my wife’s consternation (and my to the consternation of my brothers’ wives), you’ve started to make a difference in how we look at life. Your blog is a daily “must read.” Since I live 200 miles from my brothers in Iowa (my most likely doubling-up partners) I have to consider a retreat farther north in Wisconsin. There are large tracts of federal, state, and county forest, plus the …


Product Review – RAD-60 Personal Dosimeter from Finland

Mr. Rawles: I recently purchased one of these units from Laurus Systems. Upon opening the package, imagine my pleasant surprise to find that this piece of electronic gear was made in Finland, not communist China! While a bit pricey at $375, it is definitely a piece of lab quality gear, but rugged enough for field use. Clean, compact, easy to read LED display. Pocket clip, audible alarm and powered by a standard AAA alkaline battery. Specifications: Radiation detected: Gamma and X-Ray Measurement range: Dose: 1 uSv – 9.99 Sv or 0.1 mrem – 999 rem Dose Rate: 5 uSv/h – …


Letter Re: The “House Gun” Pump Action Riotgun

Dear Jim, I’m leery of the “House Gun” that you linked to. First, the flared muzzle of a blunderbuss was for ease in loading, especially with improvised pellets. It had little effect on accuracy. As to the barrel on the house gun, I first notice it is mounted so the cone points slightly upward. This means it blocks any sights and will shoot high. Given that most people tend to shoot higher than they should at close range anyway, that’s a pending problem. Attempting to sight over the barrel will mean shooting low. I don’t believe the spread will be …



Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms has justly been considered the palladium of the liberties of the republic, since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of the rulers, and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them." – Supreme Court Justice, Joseph Story, 1833


Note From JWR:

Today we present the first article eligible for judging in Round 8 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. If there are a lot of great entries this round of the contest, I will again be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. If you want a chance to win …


Lasik Versus PRK Eye Surgery for Preparedness, by Simple Country Doctor

I’ve been reading through the survivalblog archives. I happened across a letter recommending Lasik for folks with significant refractive errors. I’m not an ophthalmologist, but I am a family and emergency medicine doctor, and I did a lot of research into refractive surgery before I had my significant nearsightedness corrected. I started out with [seeing only the] ‘big E’ [on the eye chart] (20/200) in one eye and [seeing] ‘white rectangle’ (worse than 20/200) in the other. I was always afraid I’d lose my glasses/contacts while out in the backwoods on one of my frequent solo adventures. I finally took …


Letter Re: Resources on the SurplusRifle.com CD-ROMs

Jim: It’s not often I recommend a web site, but this web site will disappear soon and your readers will want to check this out: SurplusRifle.com Jamie Mangrum has cancer and is shutting down the web site in three months. I bought the 2 CD set called “The BIG CD-ROM” 1 & 2. I think that the content is excellent. The web site includes instructions on how to disassemble and re-assemble many types of military surplus rifles and handguns. In addition, it also included videos on how to blue firearms and cast bullets. Anyone who does maintenance on their firearms …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I noticed that after a fairly quiet week of trading last week, the US Dollar is back to making some big “mood swings” versus the Euro, with moves of up to 140 points in as little as a few hours. That kind of volatility indicates that the US Dollar market has not found a clear direction. The dollar could still rally, but then again, it could “tank.” The Chartist Gnome tells me that if the Euro holds consistently above $1.332 for four days, then that will signal a renewed wave of bear market dollar dumping–possibly “the big one”: a major …