Letter Re: Recommendations for Night Vision Goggles?

Mr. Rawles, I wanted to say I enjoy your blog very much and look forward to it everyday. I am happy to contribute to your 10 Cent Challenge. Regarding your 20 February post on NVGs, I’ve looked at a few web sites just to see what is available. I have never actually put one of these models on so I may be out to lunch but it seems that most of the NVGs are built to cover your whole eye, allowing no peripheral vision, amplified or otherwise. I am currently an F-16 pilot in the Air Force and we fly …



Letter Re: All-Wire Rabbit Hutches

Mr. and Mrs. Rawles, I’m immensely enjoying your Blog. Thank you for the time and effort you place into your blog. I was reading into the archives trying to catch up and in the August 8th replies you had a reference to the wooden cages. One way that will help mitigate the problem of chewing and weakening of the wooden structure of the cages. You can use metal corner bead over the edges of the exposed wood inside the cage. It would be better as you stated to use all wire cages, they are by far the best. But the …


Letter Re: Advantages and Disadvantages of New Zealand

Hi James, I would like to clarify a few things that J.G. from Auckland stated. Magazine capacity is limited for those with “A” category licensing only. Those with “E:” category license can have center fire or rim fire magazines for the “E” category weapons (military style semi automatic) that are unlimited in capacity. Pistol ownership merely requires that you join a pistol club, install an adequate safe in your home for pistol storage, obtain a “B” category license and attend 12 club shoots per year which is not much if you intend to shoot competently.  Our country has troops currently …


Letter From Mr. Bravo Re: Money Belts, Large Bills, and Gold for the Grid-Up Bugout Bag

Jim, I don’t know how recognized a Euro note would be in a U.S. crisis, especially the premium of the dollar. (“Funny money” may even be assumed to be devalued, as if Canadian.) The real concern about large Euro notes is that of presumed counterfeiting. A British friend recently told me that 500 Euro notes are essentially not legal tender for most commercial transactions, due to widespread counterfeiting suspicions. You can take them to a bank, but that is about it. Unless you need to carry substantial wealth that will be put in an operating bank at your destination, I’d …


Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader “Rourke” mentioned a great alert site in Hungary that was recently mentioned on the Aussie Survival discussion board: http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert.php?lang=eng   o o o SurvivalBlog reader H.P.F. recommends three interesting sites:  1.) http://www.netcastdaily.com/fsnewshour.htm  (listen to “Hour Two”), 2.) http://www.finance.messages.yahoo.co…mid=648143 NEWS BRIEF: “Americas Foes Circle Wagons”, by Claude Salhani, UPI International Editor, reprinted in Raiders News Updates, February 16, 2006 and, 3.) http://www.countercurrents.org/p…180206.htm  — a piece titled Peak Oil – The Great Tsunami, by Michael Payne   o o o I might have mentioned this one before… A handy tool for calculating the effects of monetary inflation (in the U.S.): …



Note From JWR:

I would appreciate your help spreading the word about SurvivalBlog. Doing so is in your best interest. Why? Because each neighbor that you convince to prepare will be one less person that you’ll find begging on your doorstep, come TEOTWAWKI+1.


Rifle Recommendations for Canada

I’m often asked by SurvivalBlog readers in Canada which rifles I recommend. Sadly, the C.96 semi-auto rifle/magazine ban in Canada didn’t leave Canadians with a lot of options. Since there may be more bans in the future, I’d recommend something in the Lee-Enfield bolt action family. There are so many of those rifles in circulation in commonwealth countries that they will probably be exempted from any bans on rifles with detachable magazines.  (Notably, SMLE 10  round magazines were *specifically exempted* in the Canadian C.96 “any rifle magazine over 5 round capacity” ban.)   Yes, I know what you are thinking… …


Letter Re: Recommendations on Body Armor?

James: I’m a newbie at preparedness. I have some nitro-packed storage food and I’m working on buying a few guns and getting training.  I think I’ll start with a course at Front Sight. But for immediate needs, I’m about ready to buy some body armor for “just in case.”  Are the mil surplus flak vests that I see advertised for +/-$80 a good deal? – T.Y. JWR Replies: I highly recommend the training at Front Sight it is top notch! About body armor; first things first: Forget about the older-vintage military surplus “flak” vests” that you saw advertised. These are …


Letter Re: Recommendations for Night Vision Goggles?

JWR: Are you going to do a post on [Starlight] Night Vision Goggles, where to buy, and what type of NVGs is the best? – K.T. [of KT Ordnance] JWR Replies: The light amplification NVG market has become crowded in recent years, primarily with junk that is prone to failure. I most strongly recommend that you you buy only good quality scopes. This generally means American or Israeli-made, not Russian. If you can only afford one piece of starlight gear, then make it a weapon sight. You can always use a weapon sight dismounted (as a monocular), but you cannot …



Letter Re: The Demise of Winchester and Request for Suggested Brands for Bolt Action Rifles

Jim: It’s kinda sad that Winchester is going out of production. I’ve owned a couple over the years and they gave good service. My Model 70 .308 is still a favorite gun. Light, accurate, pretty, tough. What more can you really ask for?  I don’t have Boston’s Gun Bible at this location so I can’t remember where he came out on the Remington/Winchester scale (and of course there are Browning/Savage/Ruger/Sako/Weatherby/Tikka arguments to be made – not to mention surplus guns. I wrote the homage to the Mosin-Nagant last week)… but no matter where your loyalties were seeing another finely crafted …


Hurricane Katrina — A First Hand Bugout Account from August 2005

The following anonymously-posted account is re-posted with permission from Mel’s Riser’s “My Solar Village” blog (http://mysolarvillage.blogspot.com.) Some of you might find this account is eerily reminiscent of my novel Patriots: The craziest thing about the whole Katrina fiasco was that my father in law (technically he’s just my girlfriend’s dad, but we’ve been together long enough that this is what we call him.) I always make fun of him because he keeps his garage stocked with something like 100 gallons of water, a bunch of big jugs full of treated gasoline, food, etc. He also owns quite a few guns. …


Letter Re: Disinfecting Water with Chlorine Bleach

Dear Mr. Rawles, One of your readers recently mentioned using chlorine in the water tanks for household toilets as a means to preserve clean, drinkable water. I realize I need to do this. Question: how much chlorine should I use? IIRC the water tank for a typical [traditional] toilet holds approximately 5 gallons. As always, thanks for your help and for the good work you do. Yours in Jesus Christ our Lord, – S.P. JWR Replies: The more recently-manufactured toilet tanks hold only about 2.5 gallons. The guidelines for treating water from questionable sources (via boiling, chlorine, or iodine) are …