Category: Hunting

Musings of a Newbie Prepper, by Tyson D.

After being raised on my grandfather’s farm, spending time in the military and being a first responder for the last 15 years, it is strange to find myself being a Newbie in the daunting task of creating an emergency preparedness cache for my family.  I now find myself living in a suburban/rural area of a major metropolitan city and a long way from where I grew up and started learning about some of the skills needed to survive.  I’ve always considered myself to be a prepared, self-sufficient individual.  I’ve hunted small and large game, I’ve backpacked in the backcountry for …


Letter Re: Praise For Zanotti Armor Modular Gun Vaults

James, First of all thank you for running SurvivalBlog as it is has been a valuable source of information. Years ago, you mentioned Zanotti Armor as a high quality gun safe company, I’m glad you did, as I am now a very happy customer! I ordered the ZA-3 6-foot–the largest safe available from the company–and it fits my needs perfectly. It only took two of us to move all the [modular] pieces to the basement and assemble the walls. It required two extra pair of hands to assemble the top and door. I ordered the safe in June and received …


Pat’s Product Review: Kershaw and Zero Tolerance Knives

I don’t recall when I first started carrying a pocket knife, but I’m pretty sure it was back in the 3rd or 4th grade. And, yes, back in those days, a kid could carry a pocket knife to school – and the police weren’t called, nor were you suspended. Almost everyone carried a pocket knife back then – my how the times have changed. These days, most schools have a zero tolerance for any sort of “weapon” on school grounds – heck, some kids have been suspended or expelled from school for simply drawing a picture of a knife or a gun. …


Letter Re: A Practical Utilitarian’s Take on Firearms and Calibers

James, its time for like minded  people  to take off the blinders and use logic and intelligence in their planning. Firearms will play a major  part in survival of our people and nation. This role will be larger than anyone cares to  admit. Because of this reliance, our weapons will need to be the most dependable guns we can acquire.   My experience goes through 30+ years of gunsmithing, military service during the Reagan years, and contractor with a notorious private security firm in Iraq and Afghanistan. During these years, I have learned a lot about the serviceability of weapons …


Preparation Could Mean Survival, by D.S.A.

Some people say you can’t prepare for every situation.  I say, you can because every situation has one common element that can and will hurt you outside of the event itself: other people.  Lets face it, if you die in a storm, a nuclear/biological/chemical event, or terror attack, then you are dead.  There is nothing from stopping God’s will.  You don’t prepare for those events, you prepare for surviving those events.  There are many events, (and not far-fetched crazy extreme events) which people should be prepared to deal with to protect themselves and their families when it’s over and you …


Pat’s Product Review: Skinner Rifle Sights

Many, many years ago, when I started wearing reading glasses, I found that I wasn’t seeing the sights on some of my handguns and rifles as clearly as I would have liked. With age, comes reading glasses for many of us – just a fact of life! Now, while I could see the sights on my rifles – without reading glasses – the sights were a bit fuzzy! With my reading glasses on, the sights were sharp, but the target was blurred. Grrrr!   I did find though, that rifles with peep sights were much easier to get a good …


Letter Re: The SKS: A Battle Rifle on the Cheap

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Hello James, Just a short article for the financially stressed who want a battle rifle. Not all of us can shell out $1,500 to $2,500 for the latest battle rifle with $800 to $3,000 worth of optics on it. But there is hope for us. Here in the south, you can usually pick up a good used Norinco (read Chinese) SKS for $150. (But I’ve heard that they cost more, elsewhere.) I have one that I found that was in excellent condition. These are very reliable weapons with chromed chamber and bore. One with some surface rust may go for …


Do It Yourself Gunsmithing, by Charles M.

Much has been written about what particular guns are best for home defense and SHTF, but I haven’t seen much about taking care of these weapons when gunsmiths are not around.  Let’s look at what typically causes firearms to fail.  As a gunsmith, the main cause of firing malfunctions I see is dirt.  This can be crud built up from dust collecting in oil forming a grease-like substance, or rust, or build-up from burned powder (carbon), or residue from the casings or shells. The second most encountered problems stem from magazines, or broken or weak springs.  Lost pins or screws, …


Letter Re: .22 Handguns and Other Options For Self Defense

James, I’m writing to follow up on the recent SurvivalBlog article “.22 Handguns and Other Options For Self Defense”. Another consideration to keep in mind when discussing the .22 rimfire: In a TEOTWAWKI situation the need for stealth will be paramount. The .22 LR cartridge lends itself to silencing better than any other caliber. [JWR Adds: Most of the “Target”-designated .22 LR loads are subsonic.] I think the legal purchase of a suppressor in the U.S. (“All NFA rules apply”) should be very high on the “to do” list of every “prepper”. The ability to silently eliminate pests, and to …


Letter Re: .22 Handguns and Other Options For Self Defense

James: R.F.D. is spot on with the write-up, on .22 LR and to take this a step further,  everyone should do their own “field tests”. Most people (My estimation) can not or will not spend enough range time to be proactive in having the hands on experience to get not only the right weapon but equally important the right caliber for them and/also the first hand knowledge of what they can do to both living tissue or objects.  I have over my learning period of 50 plus years and hundreds of thousands of rounds shot, understood that I wanted several calibers and types of …


Two Letters Re: Introduction To Multi-Caliber Guns

Sir: J.S. did a pretty good review of multi caliber weapons (“Introduction to Multi-Caliber Guns by J.S.“) but he forgot the time honored Thompson-Center (T-C) Encore and Contender, now owned by Smith and Wesson single-shot firearms.     The Encore and Contender firearm lines not only allow changing barrels but to convert from pistol to rifle and back again by not only switching barrels but stocks, forearms and grips.  Encores are the larger frame and can handle almost any cartridge that you can.  You can buy barrels from 12 gauge to sub-caliber Hornet based wildcats and with either an offset …


Introduction To Multi-Caliber Guns by J.S.

There have been dozens of articles on survival firearms on SurvivalBlog, and many of them focus on the “bare minimum” and/or doing the most with the fewest firearms.  None of us wants to fall into the trap of over-emphasizing firearms at the expense of food, water, arable land, and other supplies for balanced preparation.  We all know of “that guy” with 100 guns and a case of MREs who considers himself prepared for anything.  This is especially important when you’re looking to bug out WTSHTF; it’s very difficult to reconcile leaving firearms behind and, say, 50 long guns + 50 …


Brain Tanning Basics, by Jared

The art of making usable material out of the skin of animals has been in practice since the beginning of mankind. Hide tanning is one of the oldest skills known to man that is still in practice today. I’m sure that with the economy the way it is anyone who isn’t rich and in their right mind won’t want to pay the going price for quality leather, much less traditionally tanned leather.  Not only is the making of leather an old practice but it was used all over the world and to a certain extent, still is today. Leather can …


A Woman’s Journey Towards Firearms Acceptance, by The Little Woman

Disclaimer: I am a novice enthusiast. I will no doubt get concepts, practices or terminology wrong, in spite of a fair amount of research.  Forgive this please….. I blithely lived out 51 years of life with a gun phobia. I have no idea why they scared me so, but scare me they did, and so I spent the bulk of my life with a generalized “guns must be bad because I’m afraid of them; they hurt and kill people” mindset.  My darling husband wasn’t really into shooting, when we married and since. He had an old .22 rifle that  he …


Pat’s Product Review: Buffalo Bore Ammunition–Thinking Outside The Box

I like companies (and people) who think outside the box. I think this comes from my days as a Private Investigator, or when I was in law enforcement. In order to solve “mysteries” I had to think outside the box many times. So it is with firearms and ammo companies – if they want to stay in business, they have to keep coming up with different ideas, in order to pique their customers’ interest.   Some months ago, I review some of the ammo that Buffalo Bore Ammunition (www.buffalbore.com) produces. Tim Sundles, who owns Buffalo Bore, told me he was …