Two Letter Re: How to Buy Silver?

Dear Jim, I really enjoy your Blog. On Friday the 3rd of February you wrote: “I recommend that you first buy one $1,000 face value bag of circulated (“junk”) pre-1965 dimes or quarters for each family member as your designated “barter” silver.” How do you go about acquiring the junk silver? My local coin store guy just talks about grading…I can’t seem to get him on a silver to trade concept. Do any of your advertisers deal in that type of silver? Can you recommend any other types of trade goods? Beads and sea shells are probably out even when …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I was alerted to a useful forum on survival topics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SurvivingTheDayAfter/. Lawrence Rayburn, who moderates the forum, custom builds 20 to 60 foot triangular towers and single to multi-tier Savonius windmills for pumping water and generating electricity. These are installed at survival retreats, farms, ranches, and other remote facilities. BTW, it was Lawrence who coined the term GLAZIS–for global socialists.    o o o SurvivalBlog reader “OSOM” recommends the article War Scenarios and Predictions by William Lind – a very insightful military commentator. See: http://www.lewrockwell.com/lind/lind87.html    o o o I’d like to welcome our newest advertiser, Safe Solutions. (See: http://www.SafeSolutions.net.) …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"This course is dedicated to the idiotic proposition that you can be taught the fundamentals of Organic chemistry, Inorganic chemistry, Qualitative analysis, Quantitative analysis, Physical chemistry, and Biochemistry all in one semester. The odds against any of you passing this course would be staggering to contemplate if there were any time for contemplation. However, there is not. Get out your notebooks." – Max Shulman in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis


Note From JWR:

I am seriously considering taking up SurvivalBlog as a full time occupation. (I currently write/edit this blog in my “spare” time which means that I’m working 11+ hours a day.) If I do switch to full time blogging, then I could then expand the blog and cover topics in greater depth. Sooo… If you’d like me to do so, just take out and ad, or send a 10 Cent Challenge donation. Thusfar, only 62 readers (out of 9000+ who read SurvivalBlog at least once a week) have ponied up 10 cents a day, or more. If you chip in, then …


Letter Re: The Significance of the RWVA Appleseed Shoots

Greetings Mr. Rawles, In the spirit of, “Physician heal thyself” I offer up for consideration the following: Our country was once considered a country of Riflemen with a rich history of standing up for Liberty. After all, where would we be without those who made a stand for Liberty at Lexington and Concord? Over time we citizens have let slip those past treasures. I have often heard at gun shows, gun shops, and conversations between hunters that they are ‘rifle shooters’. The term Rifleman has managed to slip away from our Lexicon. I too am guilty of such laziness, hence …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Cheuvreux, the equity brokerage house of the large French bank Credit Agricole has advised its clients to buy gold, citing short supplies and galloping demand. They expect a price spike to $2,000+ an ounce. The report is titled “Remonetization of Gold: Start Hoarding.” For the full text, see: http://www.gata.org/CheuvreuxGoldReport.pdf    o o o “Successful” Wolf Habitat Re-Introductions? See: http://eco.freedom.org/el/20060201/beers.shtml    o o o Hyperinflation-ravaged Zimbabwe has started to issue a $50,000 bank note. The new note is worth a whopping 50 cents, American. This travesty of monetary policy illustrates that Comrade Mugabe and his band of fools could muck up …



Note From JWR:

Yesterday, we surpassed 6 million page hits and 227,000 unique visits.  Thank you for making SurvivalBlog such and astounding success in just six months.  Please visit the web sites for each of our advertisers, and see what they have to offer.  Thanks!


Letter Re: S.F.’s Letter Re: Medical Kits

Jim, In regards to S.F.’s letter regarding medical kits, suture/wound closure, and use of Ipecac… 1. I would not recommend the use of Syrup of Ipecac to anyone without proper training in airway management, i.e.: intubation/suction equipment on hand .The airway problems far outweigh the gains, you have to know what can come back up without problem also, leave this to the trained and save your money for other supplies. 2. Wound closure, "to be or not to be closed," again if you do not have the supplies or the know how ALL wounds can close from secondary intention, that …


Letter Re: How to Buy Silver?

Dear Jim: I noticed in your SurvivalBlog post of January 27 that you mentioned that you have invested in 100 oz. Englehard silver bars. 1.) Do you recommend this type of purchase in today’s silver market? [JWR’s replies are in-line.] Even at $10 per ounce, silver is still a relative bargain.  (It certainly when you consider the real value of the U.S. Dollar–which is essentially nothing.) I recommend that you first buy one $1,000 face value bag of circulated (“junk”) pre-1965 dimes or quarters for each family member as your designated “barter” silver.  Those coins could presumably be used for …


Letter Re: Synthetic Rifle Stocks and Sporterizing Military Bolt Actions

Jim, I have a couple of questions regarding rifle parts for you and the “SurvivalBlog.com” community. This is mostly from a hunting standpoint, as my dad and I are winding down from this last deer season and planning next. I am planning on replacing the wood stock on my .30-06 and going synthetic. Do you, or any of the SurvivalBlog readers, have any other resources for synthetic stocks? I have looked long and hard at McMillan and others, but wanted to make sure there are no others I am missing. Next, what resources are there available for Mauser receivers and …


Odds ‘n Sods:

It was nice hearing the President mention in his recent State of the Union address the need to reduce our dependence on Middle East oil and his goal to get ethanol production into high gear. Hopefully this won’t be just more of the same empty “essential need for energy independence” rhetoric that we’ve been hearing from Capitol Hill and the White House since the Jimmy Carter regime    o o o The U.S. Northern Command recently “hosted representatives from more than 40 international, federal and state agencies for an exercise designed to provoke discussion and determine what governmental actions, including …



Note From JWR:

Today we feature another entry in Round 3 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best contest entry will win a four day course certificate at Front Sight. (An up to $2,000 value!)  The deadline for entries for Round 3 is the last day of March, 2006. We’ve already had plenty of motivational pieces submitted.  Please keep your contest entries focused on practical skills.  Start writing, folks! On another note: If you know anyone that sells preparedness-related good r services, please ask them to advertise on SurvivalBlog.  Thanks.


The Ultra Light Bug-Out-Bag By “Springmtnd”

Can you carry your bug-out-bag (BOB)? If your vehicle breaks down or the roads are impassable can you carry on your back the BOB that was intended to be carried in your vehicle? Just having shoulder straps on your car BOB doesn’t do it. The BOB in your vehicle is not optimized for carrying on your back. This article will introduce you to some of the techniques ultra-light back packers use, techniques that you can use to create ultra-light BOBs for you and your family members if you need to travel by foot. These will be subsets of your vehicle …