Preparedness Notes for Thursday — April 2, 2020

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This is the birthday of Émile François Zola, a novelist and essayist. He is most often remembered as the author of “J’accuse” (I Accuse!), his lengthy open letter to president Félix Faure, which accused the French government of anti-semitism. — A quick update:  I talked with a major storage food vendor and he reported that the entire industry has an order backlog averaging 8 to 12 weeks. They are not guaranteeing delivery dates, because the big food packaging companies are not guaranteeing them any delivery dates!  Likewise, the folks who make and sell water filters are building order huge backlogs. …


Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced – Round 87

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We’ve completed the judging for Round 87 of the bi-monthly SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The Prize Winners are: First Prize: First Prize is awarded to Greg X. for the article Generators for Family Readiness, which was published  in two parts on March and March 15, 2020-.  Links: Part 1, and Part 2.He will receive the following prizes: A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the prospect of Internet  Rationing in Europe. America’s Grimmest Month Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: America’s Grimmest Month Austria Says: You Must Wear a Mask Peter sent us …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — April 1, 2020

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April 1st, 1886 was the birthday of Arthur W. Pink, who died 15 July 1952 and was an English Christian evangelist and excellent Reformed Biblical scholar. It was his meticulously referenced arguments in his book, The Sovereignty of God, that first convinced JWR of the truth of the doctrine of Election. April 1st is also both April Fool’s Day and (unofficially) Molly Ivins Day. The latter refers to this key verse: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1 KJV) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Update: We are in the midst of judging. The prize winners …


Making Light, by M.E.

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Artificial light is useful for extending working time beyond sunset, for providing comfort in the long dark hours of winter, and for finding one’s way in the night. Without electricity or batteries, solar cells or wind up flashlights, lamps and candles can be made just as they have been for thousands of years. The cave paintings of the Upper Paleolithic were done by the light of lamps that used a lump of animal fat as fuel and lichen, moss, or juniper twigs as wicks. The light of these crude lamps was sufficient to produce some of the earliest known works …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on Jim Quinn’s The Burning Platform blog. (See the Blogs section.) Books: I recently heard about …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — March 31, 2020

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March 31 is the birthday of economist Dr. Walter E. Williams, PhD., who was born in 1936. His book American Contempt for Liberty is highly recommended. — A reminder: The big “Pre-Hunker” sale on pre-1899 manufactured cartridge guns at Elk Creek Company ends at midnight, tonight.  I’ve sold eight guns since Monday morning, and only have about 70 more left on hand.  Get your order in soon!


JWR’s Firearms Market Trend Predictions for 2020 to 2025

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I was recently asked by a consulting client about my predictions for the U.S. retail gun market for the remainder of 2020 and next few years. In this article I’ll summarize my responses: Panic buying will continue through August, or possibly longer. News of a large scale “camping” exodus from big cities, home invasions, campsite robberies, garden thievery, livestock rustling, and roadblock confrontations will raise gun buying to a fever pitch, even in small towns. Once the urban gun shops have sold out, then buyers will travel further out into the suburbs and even small towns, and wipe out those …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on some Grant County, Oregon residents concerned about the threat of a Mad Max environment. (See the Eastern Oregon section.) Region-Wide All five Redoubt States are now under stay-at-home orders. It is a bit eerie.  Even though the Redoubt region has only been …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“We are now entering a new era of forced frugality in which incomes and net worth stagnate or decline while the cost of living rises and borrowing is no longer frictionless. To say that these changes will shock the system is putting it mildly. Here’s the key dynamic in forced frugality: income can drop precipitously without any ratcheting to slow the decline, but costs only ratchet higher, or decline by nearly imperceptible degrees; that is, costs are “sticky” and refuse to slide down as easily as income. The second key dynamic in forced frugality is the tightening of lending and the rising cost of borrowed money. When lenders …


Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 30, 2020

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent, and District of Columbia police officer Thomas K. Delahanty. Known for his quips and unaware of the injury to others at the scene, President Reagan walked into the hospital, despite his wound, and was heard telling his wife, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” — Today we present another product review by our Field Gear Editor. But first, a crass commercial announcement.


Elk Creek’s Pre-Hunker Down Sale — Our Hiatus Begins Soon

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We are getting ready to lock our gate and hunker down at the Rawles Ranch. To minimize our number of trips into town to mail out antique gun orders, I’ve decided to run a special sale for just the next 48 hours. I’ve reduced prices on most of my guninventory. Following this sale I will temporarily cease taking any orders until May 4th. This sale ends at midnight, Pacific Time on Tuesday, March 31st. So get your Elk Creek Company order in soon! Note that I still have about 80 nice hand-picked pre-1899 cartridge guns in inventory. Nearly all of …