Odds ‘n Sods:

I heard that James at Gun Parts Guy (one of our advertisers) is running a big Labor Day sale on FAL and L1A1 parts and manuals. There are some great items such as complete metric replacement spring sets, bolts and bolt carriers, scope mounts, and stock furniture. The sale ends on September 6th. If you own a FAL or L1A1, or clones thereof, then stock up! OBTW, for owners of other .308 Winchester / 7.62mm NATO rifles: one of the items that James has on sale is .308 ruptured case extractors. You should have one of these for each rifle …



Note from JWR:

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Letter Re: Source for Low Cost First Aid/Medical Supplies?

Sir: I was wondering if you had any direction to a source for “bulk” medical supplies. Thinking about tape, gauze, non-stick pads, burn dressings, etc – all the items that if you are faced with “any” type of serious wound you will go thru in large quantities For example 4″x4″ gauze pads – buying those from your local pharmacy in the 10 to box quantities would bankrupt you – they are available in 100 count sleeves for almost the same cost as a single box of 10. Thanks – MSJ JWR Replies: Wound dressing items that have essentially unlimited shelf …


Letter Re: Long Slide Glocks, and Pistol Caliber Selection

Dear Jim: I am thinking of getting two Glock 17Ls. One for me and one for the wife. I like my G19 but want the longer barrel. My gunsmith suggests a Springfield M1911 with a long barrel. I don’t mind paying more for it and like the idea of faster follow up shots. Your thoughts on reliability versus firing speed? – S.F. in Hawaii JWR Replies: Since you already have training time and muscle memory invested in Glocks, you probably shouldn’t switch to 1911s now. (And this comes from a dyed-in-the-wool 1911 fan.) The 17L and the Glock 24 (the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Richard from KT Ordnance pointed us to this WorldNetDaily article: America’s Infrastructure Fire Sale.    o o o And reader Ben L. mentioned this one from CNN.com: Getting Real About Real Estate. All that I can say is “I told you so.”    o o o Frequent SurvivalBlog content contributor Jim K. told us about a belt drive bicycle motor that uses regular gas and gets 225 m.p.g “Not a bad idea for long bicycle commutes in a Peak Oil scenario.”


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"To ban guns because criminals use them is to tell the innocent and law-abiding that their rights and liberties depend not on their own conduct, but on the conduct of the guilty and the lawless, and that the law will permit them to have only such rights and liberties as the lawless will allow… For society does not control crime, ever, by forcing the law-abiding to accommodate themselves to the expected behavior of criminals. Society controls crime by forcing the criminals to accommodate themselves to the expected behavior of the law-abiding." – Jeff Snyder


Letter Re: Do It Yourself Meat Preservation Methods

Jim: For years, "Abigail" and I have been canning vegetables from the garden along with beef, fish, venison and bear. Friends or ours were wanting to learn how to can themselves. Last week Kathy and Jeff came over and we processed a bushel of Roma tomatoes into spaghetti sauce. The next evening we canned up the sauce. Since then Kathy on her own has canned up 10 lbs (dry weight) of navy beans and is getting ready to do some hamburger noodle soup. She told me that she had no idea how easy it is to use a pressure cooker …


Letter Re: The Economic/Infrastructure Damage of Just One Nuke

Hi Jim, I don’t know if you have seen this or not, but the Rand Corporation has done a study of a hypothetical nuclear attack on the port of Long Beach, California through which about 30% of US shipping passes. The report shows how devastating this would be to the US and the world economy with damage to the shipping infrastructure, refineries, insurance industry, etc. not to mention the human cost, of course. The outcome of such an attack could very easily be a world wide depression as port activity would come to a halt to prevent any further such …


Two Letters Re: The Coming Energy Crisis: Hubbert’s Peak Or Not–Be Prepared!

Dear Jim: Let’s face it, most of our energy shortfalls are completely self-imposed. Gone are the days of the 1950s when generations looked to and planned for the future, built infrastructure and power plants for the grand cities that would one day be. Now we in the US haven’t built a new nuclear power plant since the Three Mile Island incident. We’ve turned against coal even though we have hundreds and hundreds of years worth of the stuff or more. Ted Kennedy won’t let windmills go up any more since they wouldn’t look nice to Ocean front property owners in …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Seeing our hit map each month is gratifying. The SurvivalBlog readership keeps on growing, globally. What I want to know is, who are all these readers that I see scattered across Asia? I had no idea… I get a few e-mails from soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and South Korea. But who are all the others? Mystifying.    o o o 13 Plague Cases Reported in U.S. As long as there are rodents with fleas, the plague will be lurking in the background.    o o o Reader Joe in Florida mentioned that: www.alarmclocksonline.com has a fine selection of wind-up movement …



Note from JWR:

After years of frustration with the anti-gun PayPal online payment service, we have set up an account with an alternative service, AlertPay. We can now accept AlertPay payments for 10 Cent Challenge subscription donations, advertising fees, consulting fees, and for sales of books and other merchandise. If you are also fed up with PayPal, then I highly recommend that you get an AlertPay account Setting up an account is quick and easy, and their fees are low. .Our AlertPay address is: rawles@usa.net


Letter Re: Questions on Faraday Cages and Radiological Survey Meter EMP Resistance

Hello Jim – Fantastic Blog – I am a little late to the party and just discovered SurvivalBlog last week working some survival related searches on Google. I read your novel [“Patriots”] too, years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. My questions: I have searched around and can not find much practical information on Faraday Cages, especially directions for constructing them at home. What design is effective? What is not? Should they be grounded? etc. I know this information is out there, and I’ll bet that more than one reader of the Blog can help – and I’ll also bet that …


Three Letters Re: The Ethanol Debate

James, Great site. Keep up the great work. Here are two interesting links about the market dominance of ethanol in Brazil: CBS News and Washington Post. Brazil plans to be energy independent by next year, based on conversion of sugar cane to ethanol. In comparison, the ethanol extracted from corn yields only about 15 to 25 percent more fuel than the fossil fuels that were used to produce it. In Brazil, according to industry studies, the sugar-based ethanol yields about 830 percent more. Sugar cane may not the answer here in the US, but it does show what can happen …