Note from JWR:

I just got an update from Rob Ashton at Green Mountain Gear about the “SurvivalBlog Group Buy” for new-in-the-wrapper military contract C-Products M16/AR-15 30 round magazines that was announced in late March: The Group Buy orders should be shipping next week. This matches the original ETA that was given by the manufacturer. For any of you that have never been involved in a group buy before, be advised that it often takes two months before you will receive your merchandise, since all of the group buy orders must be paid for before the deal can be finalized. Thanks for your …




Notes from JWR:

Because of a recent influx of book orders, I am TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK of copies of my novel “Patriots.” Another 250 copies are due to arrive in mid-May. Please don’t send me any orders for autographed copies until you see my catalog web page updated to show that the book is back in stock. Thanks! Today we present another article for Round 10 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my …




Note from JWR:

I’ve caught up on my writing workload, so I have resumed sales through my Mail Order Catalog. (Which had been on hiatus for nearly a month) Note that I have added a number of new items to including the following full-capacity magazines, in limited quantities: Original Belgian FN-FAL, original CETME, original Imperial Defence SA-80 (AR-15) steel 30 round, original USGI contract M16 (AR-15) 30 round, original HK 91 / G3 alloy 20 rounders as well as HK 93 / 33 / 53–in the scarce 40 round “The Thing” capacity, original Beretta M9/M92, and Sterling 9mm SMG.




Odds ‘n Sods:

Plant vault passes billion mark    o o o Readers Tom and “K”. both mentioned that D.S. Arms is another great source for FN-FAL magazines. They even have some 30 rounders.   o o o Wheat prices rise on scares    o o o SurvivalBlog reader Cliff mentioned that he was in the Douglasville, Georgia WalMart and noticed that they have, on clearance, boxes of sandbags, 100 bags for $5, marked down from $14.95. He said that these are all tagged on the boxes “www.911sandbags.com.” You might check your local WalMart to see if they have the same product and …




Note from JWR:

My thanks to all of the recent Ten Cent Challenge subscribers. I’m glad to see that so many of you find SurvivalBlog informative, useful, and worthy of support. Subscriptions are entirely voluntary, but an increasing number of readers are being noble and signing up for the Ten Cent Challenge. Some of you that are “secret squirrels” just mail cash or anonymous money orders, with no return address. That is appreciated just as much. My sincere thanks!




Note from JWR:

Please consider writing an article for Round10 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. I will again be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. If you want a chance to win the contest, start writing and e-mail us your article for Round 10, which began on April 1st and …




Note from JWR:

With the goal of increasing the readership of SurvivalBlog, I’d like to encourage every SurvivalBlog reader that has a web site establish a link to SurvivalBlog. This will raise our search engine rankings and put SurvivalBlog at the top of the search results list whenever someone searches on a survival or preparedness topic. Text and graphic links are available at our Link To Us page. Many thanks!




Note from JWR:

Whenever you contact any company that you see mentioned in SurvivalBlog, please mention where you saw their company name and/or web page link. Many of these companies are ideal candidates for advertising on SurvivalBlog. Please encourage them to get an ad. (Our ad rates are dirt cheap!) And of course please say thanks whenever you contact any company that is already a SurvivalBlog advertiser–even our Affiliate Advertisers. Thank you!




Notes from JWR:

I’ve noticed that the SurvivalBlog readership in Australia and New Zealand is continuing to grow. Thanks for spreading the word! BTW, simply adding a linked SurvivalBlog banner or logo to your e-mail footer and/or to your web page will help increase our visibility. Many thanks! The high bid in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction is now at $475. This auction is for a scarce pre-1899 Mauser that was arsenal converted to 7.62mm NATO. (It was converted by the Chilean national arsenal, using original Mauser tooling.) It has a retail value of at least $375. The auction ends on May 15th. Just …










Notes from JWR:

We recently traveled to California. I was shocked to see the exorbitant gas prices there. ($3.65 for a gallon.) After having lived in the hinterboonies for so long, I was also alarmed to see the prevailing high prices of other goods and services, like $24 for a haircut and $4.35 for a loaf of bread. A very minor repair on our SUV cost us $525. The dealership charged $125 per hour as their shop labor rate! Since we towed our a trailer down there, we were also aggravated by California’s strictly-enforced 55 mile-per-hour speed limit for vehicles towing trailers. Isn’t …




Note from JWR:

A reminder for those of you that already have copies of my recent non-fiction books printed before early April. Please update them with our new mail forwarding address. See page 207 of Rawles on Retreats and Relocation (Appendix B) and page 239 of SurvivalBlog: The Best of the Blog – Volume 1 (Appendix A)–they should both get penned with this new mail forwarding address: James Wesley, Rawles c/o Elk Creek Company P.O. Box 303 Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845 USA I have already updated the electronic master copies at Cafe Press, (the print-on-demand publisher), so any copies that were ordered after …




Note from JWR:

The high bid in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction is now at $425. This auction is for a scarce pre-1899 Mauser that was arsenal converted to 7.62mm NATO. It has a retail value of at least $375. The auction ends on May 15th. Just e-mail me your bid. Thanks!




Note from JWR:

April 19th (Patriot’s Day) is a significant date. It is coincidentally the anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord (the opening of America’s war of secession from Britain, in 1775), the German assault on the Warsaw Ghetto (1943) , the FBI/ATF assault on the Branch Davidian church at Waco (1993), and the tragic misdirected Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing (1995).