Category: Field Gear

Pat’s Product Review: The 180 Stove

If many of you are like me, and are from the old Army school, you know all about canteen cup cooking. The old-style canteen cup had a locking “L” handle, that made it perfectly suitable for heating water in your canteen cup, as well as heating meals, or even cooking in that little cup. Today’s canteen cup that the US military issues has dual folding wire handles, that are not conducive to placing it on a fire – the handles are too close to the heat source. Sometimes “newer-er” doesn’t equate to “better” in my book. When you have something …


Letter Re: Protractors for Field Engineering

Jim: Now I know some folks aren’t going to think of a protractor — digital, analog, or constructed — as a survival tool. But in the USAF survival school certain “angles” were reinforced as survival angles. Support a load with an equilateral triangle. Making a 30-60-90 frame to support a trench. An isosceles to ensure that snow and rain shed away from a survival shelter. And, squares for identifying your location to rescuers. (Sinces traight lines are out of place in nature. ) Of course as an engineer, anytime you build, angles come into play with load. A good analog …


Making Your Own Chest Rigs, by Jeff J. in Arizona

Among the different weapons I own I have several Russian WWII Mosin Nagants. I have wanted for some  time to find some kind of chest rig and or web gear to use with these rifles so they could possibly be used as battle rifles. I have several of the Russian surplus ammo pouches that came with these rifles but I wanted something that could hold more stripper clips and was more modern. I searched numerous times on the internet and could never find a dedicated Mosin Nagant chest rig. Finally, I found 1 seller on Ebay who was selling a …


Prepared For Just Any Old Thing, by Louie in Ohio

 I guess that I have always been a “Prepper”. Fifty years ago I joined the Boy Scouts. Of course most  of us know the Scout Motto, Be Prepared. Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouting movement was once asked, “Prepared for what?”  His answer… “Just any old thing.” My Scoutmaster, Mr. Garrison, told us that we needed to keep our backpack packed and ready to go, that some evening he would send out the word and we must report ready for a camp out. There would be a time limit and we must get there under our own power …


Letter Re: Secure Signals for a Survivalist

Hi Jim, While reading the article “Secure Signals for a Survivalist,” by Fred J., I keyed on his reference to the lightening-up the good old USGI angle head flashlight.   As far as lightening-up one of these, I think I have most people beat. My first upgrade for mine was in replacing the old-fashioned incandescent bulb with an LED bulb upgrade. They’re pretty common now, as the Army issue flashlight uses a standard flashlight bulb. That made the flashlight produce literally ten times as much light.   The second upgrade was created by sheer luck. In an infant rocker we …


Pat’s Product Review: Eberlestock Gunslinger II Pack

I have literally lost count of the number and different types of backpacks I have owned and tried over the years. And, to be sure, there is no one backpack that suits everyone the same. I believe backpacks are a very personal thing, and you can’t select one for someone else. Everyone in my family has a different type of Bug Out Bag – always have! At one point, when I was quite a bit younger, I used a US military CFP 90 pack – and that thing could hold something like 6,500 cubic inches of stuff. Fully loaded, it …


A Guide to Load Carrying Equipment, by Tony X.

It can be a daunting task this day and time selecting what to carry and how best to carry it. With the vast selection of government issue and commercial load carrying equipment available today. In this article I will be addressing the items of common U.S. military issue. I’m constantly fielding questions from friends and coworkers about what system, manufacturer, and color/pattern is best. Well there is no easy answer so I will try to clear away some of the fog for everyone. I will be drawing on over 20 years of experience as a man whose wore many hats …


Practical Handgun Carry, by Sarah in Texas

Five years ago, I got my Concealed Handgun License. Here in the Great State of Texas, concealed carry is the only legal kind for the average citizen; without the permit, you can’t carry in public. (Your vehicle and home do not count as “public,” incidentally.) Last week, my new CHL arrived in the mailbox, meaning that I’m good to carry for another five years. In a post-SHTF environment, being armed everywhere you go is a good idea. We can’t predict exactly what our society will be like, but we know that violent people are not going to decide that they …


Letter Re: The Lowly, Forgotten Knee Pad

Hello Mr. Rawles, After perusing the contents listed in survival kits, Bug Out Bags (BOB), and Get Out Of Dodge bags (GOOD), it seems to me that they all have one common glaring omission. That omission is knee pads. It occurred to me recently while fixing a roadside flat that so many survival/TEOTWAWKI tasks require one to get “down and dirty”, i. e., working on one’s knees. Knee pads can remove a lot of the “pain and suffering” from tasks such as firestarting, fence building/mending, emergency roadside vehicle repair, chainsaw sharpening, and a whole host of other tasks. Not to …


Letter Re: Comments on Matt Bracken’s Night Fighting Primer

Hi James, I followed a link that you recently posted: Matt Bracken: Night Fighting 101. Matt Bracken wrote a fine article. He is correct that the deer hunter that proceeds to his hunting area in the dark has already approached quite a lot of what he suggests.   I would like to suggest this concerning chain link fences. Having assembled perhaps 800 feet of chain link fence, I learned how to break it in two and to reweave it together. If you have to separate a portion of chain link fence laying on the ground it is a snap. It …


Odds ‘n Sods:

In keeping with our well-entrenched philosophy of redundancy, we now have five ways to cut firewood at the Rawles Ranch: 1.) A reliable (but noisy) Stihl 024 gas engine chainsaw with a 20″ bar, 2.) An assortment of felling axes and mauls, 3.) an early-1900s vintage 1-1/2 man saw, 4.) A Makita electric chainsaw that can be powered by quiet a Yamaha 2.8 KW inverter genset carried in the back of our utility ATV, and 5.) An even smaller Black & Decker 18-Volt cordless electric chainsaw. (The latter lacks the muscle for anything more than cutting saplings or for limb …


Two Letters Re: Camouflage Painting Firearms

Dear Mr. Rawles: As an addendum to the Friday piece on “Camouflage Painting Firearms” by Kyrottimus, I recommend this piece: Weapons Painting 101, a bulletin from the US Army TACOM detailing the officially-approved techniques for painting small arms. Cordially, – John N. Dear Editor: Regarding “Camouflage Painting Firearms”, you may want to point folks to this rather well-illustrated tutorial on painting your AR in the Multicam pattern, found over at AR15.com: How to Multicam your rifle…on the cheap! Regards, – T.


Camouflage Painting Firearms, by Kyrottimus

Most combat-style firearms come in one color: black. For “style” this is a safe bet, as black goes well with everything. However, in life-or-death survival situations, one must make their weapon just as concealable as themselves. Black is bad. Of all colors, black stands out the most and draws the human-eye to it before anything else. This is true for normal-spectrum vision, starlight/night-vision, IR/Near-IR/Thermal vision, etc. Anything appearing as black or reflective will stick out like a proverbial sore thumb. If you plan on wearing some type of camouflage clothing during any situation, you should consider camouflaging your weapon as …


Do-It-Yourself Rocket Stoves, by E.B.

I live and prep on a tight budget – at least for the time being. I am lucky to have a fireplace in my home, not a woodstove, nor the room for one, but at least a fireplace. It’s better than no fireplace, but rather inefficient for heating or cooking. It would do in a pinch, but a rocket stove would greatly reduce the amount of wood needed to cook a meal. On my budget even $100 is a lot right now and I began looking into building my own rocket stove. The knowledge is out there, and “improved stoves” …


How to Make an Old-Fashioned Utility Quilt, by Jean P.

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Quilters tend to be perfectionists.  However, quilts have been used to keep our poorly-furred bodies warm for centuries.  When you just need warmth, and not a perfectly crafted heirloom, a quilt is just the ticket.  Utility quilts can be made from discarded items around the home, as long as you have a needle and some thread.  A quilt is merely 3 layers, fabric/insulation/fabric, stitched together to keep you warmer.  In a perfect world we all have our Wiggy’s, but in a real-life situation, especially with the economy these days, that perfect scenario may just not be possible.  Also, remember that …