Letter Re: Another Perspective on Selecting Barter Goods

James: Great letters on thinking about skills as the ultimate portable “barter goods”. If you have a specialty skill, just make sure that you have enough tools and supplies to be a post-TEOTWAWKI supplier. It’s a big time commitment to become qualified in a specialty outside of your current work, but if you can leverage your current expertise with some more training and/or tools and/or supplies that would be ideal. I would add that much the same criteria apply for skills as for goods. The best skills would be the ones that are mission-critical for survival in a horrific TEOTWAWKI …


Letter Re: The Forgotten Survival Skill: Physical Fitness, by Ron D.

Mr. Rawles: I couldn’t agree more with Ron D’s article on the need for basic fitness. The most perfect Bug Out Bag in existence and the best hidden cache of beans, bullets and bandages won’t do you any good if you have a heart attack getting there. I would add, though, that for strength training you don’t have to invest in a lot, or even any, equipment. Bodyweight calisthenics can help build strength rapidly using only your own body as the weight you are lifting. Unlike machines, or even free weights, bodyweight exercises don’t just target individual muscles but also …


Letter Re: Bullet Casting: A (Relatively) Simple Introduction, by AVL

James, Another safety item for melting lead: When done pouring bullets, it is important that any remaining lead should be poured out of the pot, rather leaving it to solidify in the pot. Lead like all other materials will expand when heated. Lead will also melt from the bottom up and if trapped by a solid layer at the top, may erupt when it breaks through that top layer. – R.H.


Odds ‘n Sods:

Hawaiian K. flagged this article from Cosmos magazine: Coat of paint could halt pandemic    o o o Rocky O. sent us this story about a minor panic in London caused by a single live .22 rimfire cartridge found on a sidewalk: Bullet found in doorway. When I read this article, I laughed so hard that I nearly cried. Rocky’s comment: “Imagine what you could do with a whole box of .22s. Probably tie up their police force and bomb squad for weeks.”    o o o Vic at Safecastle just launched a new private “Safecastle Royal” buyers club that …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“It is a sad commentary on human affairs, down to our day, that ‘sweet reasonableness’ and sensible quiet argument never get very far as such-that nothing gets done until a sizable bloc of people gets organized and starts raising enough h*ll to persuade those in power that they had better start listening to what is being said.” – George F. Willison “Patrick Henry and His World”


Special Note from JWR:

I am pleased to report that the new expanded 33 chapter edition of my survivalist novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” is finally now orderable from the publisher, XLibris. Sorry about the long delay, but the publishing process is agonizingly slow. Until recently, the earlier 31 chapter edition of the book from Huntington House had been out of print, and it was getting very scarce. Prices range from $29 to $345 each! (The book went out of print when the publisher went out of business.) Now is your chance to order a few copies of the new edition in time …


Letter Re: Barter as an Investment and a Hedge

While barter for necessities is one possibility, barter for wealth is another. A poor man with a small investment in an essential TEOTWAWKI item can magnify his wealth. If you are not in a position to outfit yourself with the food/weapons/tools you would like now, consider a barter investment. Something you can get cheaply now, and then trade for the items that are currently out of your budget. When choosing barter goods for storage, consider seven things. Original cost, size, availability, need, divisibility, verification, and indestructibility. Items stored for barter should: (1) Have a very low initial cost. In this …


Letter Re: Tire Spikes for Home Retreat Defense

Hello James, In regards to the recent post toward driveway security strips, or "spike strips" I think of another possibility to the construction in using a 2×6. I would consider fabricating the base out of treated 3/4" plywood. Not only is this already somewhat camouflage, it will take the years of abuse that weather will give it. I envision a design in which the upper three or four layers that are glued together with construction adhesive, (preferably a polyurethane adhesive like PL Pro), and then drilled for insertion of spikes. Then, apply an additional layer with a width of approximately …


Two Letters Re: An M1A Rifle Goes Ka-boom!

Dear Jim, I don’t suspect a squib load as the problem for the M1A. A squib in a gas-operated semi-auto generally means no cycling of the bolt or ejection, which always indicates a problem. While there’s a link to an analysis that shows a flawed barrel, and I agree with it from the images shown, I also suspect an ammunition problem. Consider that from the image, the chamber split, and split fast. No bulge, no crack, just a boom. This indicates a substantial overpressure in the chamber. There are likely several things that can cause this. Two that come to …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Tom at www.CometGold.com sent this link: More than half of all equities trading in the US will be done using algorithmic dealing systems by the end of 2010.    o o o A clever nuke blast mapping tool, posted by Kurt, by way of Rourke at the Jericho Discussion Group.    o o o Rich at KT Ordnance mentioned that there’s now a proposal to ban BB guns in Massachusetts. Complete with a BB gun amnesty period, and a BB gun “buyback” program. I will refrain from commenting on Taxachusetts politics. I might lapse into saying something un-Christian.  



Notes from JWR:

Our thanks to “RSF”, the high bidder in the recent auction for the autographed first edition of Survival Guns, by Mel Tappan. Today we are starting a new auction, for a big batch of survival books, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. Today we present yet another article for Round 7 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. …


Making Traditional Cordage in North America, by Ron

This article is about cordage, one of the most used and necessary items for day-to-day life. Other than sinew, catgut, and rawhide, early man made his rope and string from more readily available plant material. Certain plant fibers were able to stand up to water emersion and made excellent nets and fishing line. Animal fibers, such as sinew and catgut, would stretch or unravel when wet and were more difficult to procure. Plant fibers were so much more abundant and easier to process; this left sinew and catgut for sewing, bow backing, arrow making and other arts requiring a strong, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Michael Z. Williamson sent us this piece: What’s the Story on Silver Coin Melts & Coin Premiums?    o o o Hawgtax forwarded this one from The Associated Press: Tyson Foods sees higher meat prices as cost of corn feed rises. It begins: “Tyson Foods Inc., the world’s largest meat processor, warned Monday that rising corn prices could mean U.S. consumers will have to pay more for chicken, beef and pork next year as it ended its fiscal year with a third straight quarterly loss.”    o o o A tip of the hat to SurvivalBlog reader “Redmist” who contributed …