Category: Target Shooting & Marksmanship

Marksmanship Basics and Beyond, by Evan W.

In a TEOTWAWKI situation, the ability to shoot accurately from a distance could be the difference between eating healthy high protein game, and not eating at all, or it could be the difference between protecting your loved ones, and being raided and attacked by bandits. Beyond just being able to shoot accurately, learning to be a marksman teaches focus, patience, determination, and consistency – valuable skills for any survivalist and in any survival situation. In marksmanship, the goal is to minimize the input of your body on the firing action of the gun. Imagine that you are relaxing your muscles …


Cartridge Reloading Dollars and Cents, by R.S.O. in Arizona

While we are all preparing for something most of us are not financially secure there for we must stretch our Dollars as long as we have them as a form of currency.  Here in falls the concept of reloading your own ammunition.  Because face it we need to practice and we need to store for when the supply runs out.  Let’s start by doing a little math, Ammo 9mm Luger Winchester USA 115 Grain FMJ 1190 fps 100 Round Box $21.11 x 10 = $211.10 bought online.  Now let’s order the individual component parts online and see how much we …


How to Get the Most from Your Appleseed Experience by Louie in Ohio

Introductory Note: I am not an employee of RWVA, Appleseed Project or any company I might mention in this article. I am however a volunteer Instructor in Training for Appleseed. I receive no remuneration for my service. My introduction to the Appleseed Project was different, than for most SurvivalBlog .com readers. I have had an avid interest in firearms from the time my uncle came to live with us during my high school years. Uncle Dick had several rifles, shotguns and pistols (of which I have since inherited). My first after school job was at a hardware store that just …


Some Thoughts on Cartridge Handloading, by Kent C.

In reading Don’s response to my first article, I’m going to write about a subject I was saving for next month, but I think is germane now. And I’ll probably forget it by then. Let’s talk about reloading, which also gets short shrift in a lot of books. Note–I’m not going to go into a great deal of technique here. There are books on that. If you like, I can provide my e-mail address and would be willing to answer questions that way. I’m also not going to tell you what brand of press or dies I use. If you …


Pat’s Product Review: Train Safe Barrel Block

I’ve been a firearms instructor for a lot of years. I attended the US Army Marksmanship Unit, Rifle Instructor and Coaches Clinic way back in 1970, and I’ve been an NRA Certified Rifle, Handgun and Person Protection In The Home, instructor for about 20 years now. It’s safe to say, I’ve trained numerous people over the years in firearm use and safety.   More than anything, before I’m done with one of my firearms students, they have to demonstrate firearms safety to me – marksmanship skills are secondary in my class. However, everyone walks away from my class being a …


Letter Re: Experience with a PTR91 (HK91 Clone)

JWR, More than a year ago, I bought a PTR91 MSG clone of the HK91 for my primary SHTF rifle. I thought I’d pass on some information collected after about 3,000 rounds down range.  Note that I have no economic or personal ties to PTR Inc. PTR as a company was responsive when asking questions about what mil-spec parts could be replaced and what could not.  You’ll have to email them about your specific rifle though. Robustness • Almost day one, I chipped the barrel paint taking off the hand guard – be careful, slide the handguard forward at an …


Three Letters Re: A Second Look at the Mosin-Nagant Rifle

Mr. Rawles, I am writing in reference to Frog’s post about the Mosin-Nagant rifle. I have owned several Mosin-Nagant rifles myself. They were designed to kill enemies of the Soviet Union. They were not designed to necessarily be the safest rifle around. If you’re not very careful while using a Mosin-Nagant rifle, it can blow up and injure you. I learned that lesson the hard way in 1998. I also learned about the importance of eye and ear protection while shooting as well. No one should ever fire a Mosin (or any firearm) without eye and ear protection. When my Mosin …


Letter Re: Sport Shooting for Preppers

As C.K.’s article points out almost all of the publications that cover prepping acknowledge the need for self-defense, but very little ink gets spent on developing or maintaining real proficiency.  His suggestion that readers consider either practical shooting (USPSA) or defensive pistol shooting (IDPA) really hits the target.  The follow-up letter by Sean from COS advocating hunting as another way to develop and maintain skills also hit the mark. Many articles and even most of the survival fiction stories provide descriptions and explanations for the “right” guns to buy.  “Survival Gun Selection” on the left side of survivalblog.com is an …


Pat’s Product Review: Montie Gear AR Rest

Over the past month or so, I’ve received quite a few requests from folks who want me to test and evaluate their products. I enjoy testing products for SurvivalBlog, and reporting back my findings to SurvivalBlog readers. Some of the companies that contact me, have a lot of questions, and I’m happy to answer them. Some companies ask me if I can guarantee that I’ll write an article on their products – and the answer is “yes.” Then, they ask me if I can guarantee them that the article will appear on SurvivalBlog – I refer them to Jim Rawles, …


Letter Re: Sport Shooting for Preppers

James, Another thought on going beyond training day in and day out on firearm proficiency. Besides joining a club, hunting is a great way to practice firearms proficiency. There is the obvious aspect of practical shooting, especially when chasing small game and birds but even large game hunting is illustrative. Most people (including myself with five years active duty experience and the associated firearms training) rarely ever shoot at a live moving target. Shooting at a walking elk at 200 yards is a whole lot different than punching holes in paper. I thought I was good and what can be …


Sport Shooting for Preppers, by C.K.

I’m going to talk about an aspect of survival that may or may not have been covered already. I haven’t seen it so far in SurvivalBlog, and it only gets a passing nod in many books. An important aspect of just about everyone’s preps involves guns of some sort. You can see a lot of that in shows like “Doomsday Preppers.” I’d guess (because I haven’t seen every episode and I’m too lazy to do an exact count) that about 90% of the preppers featured on the show have or talk about having guns. Handguns, rifles, shotguns of a wide …


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 …


Pat’s Product Review: Columbia River Knife Tool / Crimson Trace Tool

As many SurvivalBlog readers know, I like getting as much value for my hard-earned dollars as I can. One of my favorite knife companies that provides value for my dollars is Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT). CRKT has been value driven since their inception about 16 years ago. Their owner, Rod Bremer, continues along those lines today. On top of it all, CRKT has one of the biggest selection of knives and tools on the market today, just check out their latest catalog of more than 95 pages of goodies.   Another thing I like about CRKT is the …


Letter Re: Cap and Ball Revolver Options

James, There are many states and cities where people are not allowed to have modern pistols, without massive red tape by state and local governments. But replicas of old frontier pistols of the cap and ball type slip under most restrictions and can still be ordered through the mail, and no BATF paperwork is required. (Be sure to check you state and local law before ordering one!) But what most people don’t realize is the fact that most of these good quality reproductions of the old cap and ball revolvers of the mid-1800s are very accurate and potentially as deadly as …


Five Simple Steps to Prepare for TEOTWAWKI, Today, by S.B.

I have recently been introduced to survivalism, preparedness, and TEOTWAWKI – The End Of The World As We Know It.  It was my father who first got me interested in the subject (although I had stumbled upon a survivalism web site years ago when web searching, of all things, how to cook and eat giant salamander – more on that later, possibly).  I have, over the past couple months, picked up lots of cool skills.  For example, I can now cook food that didn’t come in a box! That is a big deal. I have also learned to shoot the …