Category: Review

Fire is kind of a big deal. It keeps us warm, cooks our food, and can signal for help. It’s comforting to sit around one. Being able to have a fire quickly is a very nice thing. InstaFire FireStarter lives up to its name, though you do actually have to go to the bother of striking a match to light it. That’s really not too much to ask for, though, considering the benefit. Yes, there are a lot of things you can set on fire with a match, but unlike a piece of wadded up newspaper, this stuff burns hot …

Chinook Medical Gear, Inc. calls the kit I’m reviewing the MinimalistPak. They mean minimal in terms of size and cost. It’s not minimal, however, in terms of what you can do with it. It’s a good basic kit for handling most of the injuries one might get on a hike or perhaps while doing a roadside repair on a recalcitrant car. It can handle a good sized cut, though I would want more with a gunshot wound or other major injury. It is one of the seven kits available in their PAK line of first aid kits. The kit comes …

Thanks to all of the folks who are writing me about products to review. It really helps. One common thread in several letters is to test affordable stuff, and that’s going to be a priority. Please keep the ideas coming! They really help. Malkoff might be another word for light. It is all thanks to Gene Malkoff going out one night to protect his chickens and realizing he needed a better flashlight. The Enterprise, Alabama man tried an LED light but just wasn’t happy with it. He decided he could come up with something better. After some hard work, he …

I have long sneered at magazine loaders. I’m lucky to be strong enough to load magazines myself, and frankly, most of the loaders I’ve tried haven’t worked well enough to make me feel they offered any benefits. I have a nine-year-old son, though, and he simply doesn’t have the strength or dexterity I have and has problems getting magazines loaded. I was getting tired of loading them for him and felt that my doing his work for him was a bad example. I, therefore, became receptive to the concept but had no idea if there are any magazine loaders that …

I have probably mentioned more than once how much I like leather holsters. I know I have mentioned how much I sweat in the summer in my hot, muggy climate. All that sweat does bad things to leather holsters, and then it soaks through and does bad things to pistols. I finally decided it was time to reconsider my prejudices against synthetics for something immune to sweat to use during the summer. These days, that pretty much means Kydex. My preferred carry, by the way, is a strong side, inside the waistband (IWB) holster, and I usually carry a 1911 …

I have mixed feelings about electronics and prepping. There is always that sense of dread that someday I might not be able to get electricity to run electronics, plus there is the chance of an event that will disrupt them. On the other hand, electronics are extremely useful. I wouldn’t be able to get this article to you without them, for example. My compromise has been to try to avoid buying electronics that don’t fulfill some real purpose on the road to building a self-sufficient life for my family. One of the electronics items I’ve been wanting to try has …

A friend told me about G-Code Holsters, when I was looking for a holster to use in “the bump in the night” kit I was putting together. I had settled on a belt, after trying several other setups, and I needed a holster for it. This is not for normal, concealed, everyday carry but rather something that I could quickly don in an emergency that would work with either my soft or hard body armor. One key element was to be able to get it on quickly, regardless of how I’m dressed. My normal carry is an inside the waist …

Scot, I wanted to thank you for your review of the Ching Sling on Survival Blog. Eric and I attended some classes together at Gunsite, and became friends. I was much saddened at his unexpected passing at WAY too young an age. Your comments brought back some fine memories and for that I thank you! I have a Ching sling on my hunting rifle and really like it. o o o Hello, The book mentioned, M/SGT James R. Owens’ book Leather Sling and Shooting Positions is also available in an updated PDF version on CD-rom from Mister Owens’ website : …

I’m going to have to explain a few things before I can properly review today’s product, so please bear with me; I will get there! I’ve heard slings called the rifle’s equivalent of the pistol’s holster. It’s not a bad analogy, but that only speaks to carrying the rifle. The right type of sling can also improve one’s ability to get hits with the rifle. What most shooters use to carry the rifle is a simple strap that allows them to carry it over their shoulder. There are also the so-called tactical slings that also allow you to carry the …