Category: Field Gear

Letter Re: Wearing and Carrying Safety Gear, At All Times

Dear JWR, I am an avid motorcyclist. (I’ve logged more than 300,000 miles, and I’m 40 years old.) I recently noticed a trend on bike blogs regarding ATGATT, spoken as”At-Gat.” This acronym stands for All The Gear, All The Time. In other words, if you believe a helmet (or leather jacket or good sturdy boots) to be a good idea at any time, you should wear them all the time. Personally, I wear a helmet, leather jacket, good boots, gloves, etc. whenever I’m on the bike. I usually wear them when I’m not on the bike as well, out of …


Seventeen and Prepping, by Michael on the East Coast

Greetings, my fellow SurvivalBlog readers! My name is Michael, and I am seventeen years old. I live somewhere on the East Coast of the United States of America with my mother and father. To the rest of the world, I appear a normal teenage boy: Glued to my iPad, where I read SurvivalBlog each night before bed, obsessed with both new and old music, and always quoting music lyrics, movies and television shows with my friends. Yet what both the majority my friends and society do not know is for the last year I have been preparing for The End …


Michael Z. Williamson’s Product Review: Brite Strike LED Tactical Balls

I’m reviewing the Brite Strike LED Tactical Balls® RID-3, Rolling Illuminated Distraction and Disorientation Device. Awkward name aside, these are an interesting item. The LED balls come as a set of three, in a black nylon pouch with a MOLLE-compatible belt loop and Velcro closure.  They activate with a push button on the back, which is readily locatable by touch.  Once lit, you roll them into an area and they tumble, sending bright light in several directions each. RID-3 are a low-level substitute for a flash bang device, being less distracting, but much safer.  Brite Strike publicizes this fact; they …


Pat’s Product Review: Montie Gear Ultra-Lightweight Knife

Over the years I’ve probably handled and tested well over a thousand different knife designs. I know a lot about knives. I look for quality materials in knives, then I look at their intended purpose, as well as the carry system – be they folders with pocket clips, or fixed blade knives with sheaths. I also look at the design of a knife, and I look at the price point, too. I test knives for sharpness and durability – do they do what they are supposed to do?   Some time ago, I wrote an article on the Montie Gear …


Surviving the Moore, Oklahoma Tornado, by J.B.

One of our motivations for making disaster preparations was the tornado scenario.  Living in Tornado Alley, there is a reliable risk every May and June.  Each spring brings numerous alerts and trips to the closet when the sirens go off.  This was my first experience of a tornado disaster since moving to Oklahoma eight years ago. On May 12th  of this year, the sirens went off three times, which means a tornado has been spotted on the ground nearby.   My sister and I headed to the safe room each time, where our “disaster bags,” water and snacks were stashed.  Nothing …


Off Grid Cooking Solutions, Part 3, by V.W.

I have really come to enjoy researching and testing off grid cooking ideas and possibilities.  Last year I had purchased a few products that I felt were going to be the back bone of my preparedness efforts. Over this past winter, I began thinking that it was necessary to actually try out the ideas and suggestions from videos I had seen and articles I had read.  I ordered a few products to round out my supplies, and I became so enthusiastic with all the possibilities that I wrote “Off Grid Cooking Solutions, Part 1” and “Off Grid Cooking Solutions, Part …


Minimum Equipment For Standard Bug-Out-Bag by Talon

Many of the articles that I have read on various web sites are, in my not so humble opinion, not adequately addressing the equipment necessary for a Bug-Out-Bag (BOB).  Having had many years of experience in the survival arena, winter and summer, in the Arctic, mountains, tropic and desert regions, many times in hostile theaters, I have drawn up a list for a BOB, along with some accompanying information. There are variations for some of these items and the list of potential equipment and gear is nearly infinite.  However in my considerable experience, what I have listed below has proven to work. …


Pat’s Product Review: Skinner Sights 10/22 Takedown Case and Sights

Some time ago, I did a review on SurvivalBlog about the Ruger 10/22 Takedown (TD) .22 LR rifle. I fell in love with my sample. I liked the idea of a .22 LR rifle, that could easily be taken apart, and put back together in a few seconds. I also liked the case that Ruger ships the rifle in – very nice, and you can carry the 10/22 Takedown rifle, with a brick or two of .22 LR ammo, half a dozen magazines, a scope and some clothes for the weekend. Not a bad combination, and whenever I travel more …


The Many Uses of Vacuum-Sealed Bags, by L.E.

The Many Uses of Vacuum-Sealed Bags Late spring and early summer are the times to buy the Seal A Meal or Foodsaver machines. They are both made by the same parent company and can be found at any major grocery or department store in the kitchenware section-the Seal A Meal is the less expensive version that can be found for under $30 on sale, and the bags to go with it will cost you about the same again. You can make this a game or a family activity like an assembly line, just have all your items stacked in little …


Letter Re: Selecting a Prepper’s Firearms

JWR, In response to the letter about swapping out devices that use button batteries, I would point out that some EOTech holographic sights use standard AA batteries, that are easily recharged. The EOTech 512 is an example. These sights are robust, easy to use and stay calibrated through heavy use.  Combined with the Sanyo Eneloop AA batteries the EOTech sight would be useful for many years to anyone with a solar battery charger. The Eneloop batteries can be recharged over 1,500 times and unlike other rechargeables, they maintain 75% of their charge after three years of storage. While the EOTech …


Simple Portable Stoves, by Carolyn P.

The survivalist movement is growing at great rate today.  You only have to read some of the articles posted in this blog to know that.  But with all the fancy accruements available today some of the more fun and lowly survival items are overlooked.  Among them: The hobo and emergency pocket stoves. These are so much fun to make, and so easy.  I remember first seeing them in an ancient tiny camping book from the 1960’s.  The book itself was a hoot.  When I cracked the book open the faded and almost crunchy yellowed pages revealed what I thought was …


Letter Re: Sewing to Repurpose Items for SHTF

Sir: In her recent article on repurposing material by sewing, Penny Pincher said: “The Army poncho liner is nothing more than a thin quilt with a head hole in the middle.  It’s camo lightweight nylon with thin polyfil for batting, a few strings at the corners, and bound on the edges.  You could make something similar.  If you didn’t mind the extra weight, you could use some thin wool, maybe in two layers, and sandwich that between nylon to make it ride smoother.” I made something similar last spring, but with nylon on only one side. I like carrying a …


Pat’s Product Review: H&K Knives Entourage

For the life of me, ever since I was a little boy, who regularly carried some kind of folding knife, could I understand how a “switchblade” knife (read: automatic opening knife) is any more dangerous than any other knife. Somehow, I think we have Hollywood to thank for this nonsense going back many, many years, where they portrayed gang members using a switchblade to intimidate or kill someone. How on earth one can justify how a folding knife opens, to how lethal it is, is beyond my comprehension. I’ve said this many times in the past in my knife articles, …


Letter Re: Sewing, Mending and Altering Your Clothing After the Ball Drops

Dear James, As a former professional seamstress, I have a comment on using woolen materials for quilts.  They can successfully be washed, provided that the woolen material was previously washed before making a quilt of it, whether the wool is used as the top layer, or as the batting. The wool should be washed in hot water, and then dried on high heat in the dryer.  It will shrink, which has the double advantage of:  1. making it much warmer; and 2. washed wool becomes somewhat felted, which makes it much sturdier and less prone to wear and pulling of …


Three Letters Re: Kevlar Chainsaw Chaps

James, Thanks to George H. and George W. for their input on chainsaw safety. Yes, buy Kevlar chaps and use them.  Once getting your hands on a pair, don’t expect them to function like body armor because they have Kevlar in them.  From personal experience, they work by the chain’s cutters tearing through the outer fabric of the chaps, then pulling out Kevlar fibers, that then bind up the saw and almost instantly stop the chain from moving. Chain stops and you don’t get cut. Then the penance you pay for your lapse in judgment is taking the cover off …