Glock Model 44 Pistol in .22 LR, by Pat Cascio

Look, I don’t care how many firearms you own, if you don’t own at least one firearm chambered in .22 Long Rifle (LR), then you don’t have a survival battery! When I worked for the late Colonel Rex Applegate, he had more than 850 firearms in his collection. Quite a few of them were chambered in .22 LR. If the good Colonel needed firearms in .22 LR, then so do you. For many years, I used to recommend that the first firearm people purchased, should have been a 12 gauge shotgun of some type. I was wrong! I honestly believe …




Economics & Investing For Preppers

Today, on Christmas Day, in place of my normal Friday news column, I have this special bit of investing commentary for my readers: Investing In Your Children’s Future Today, December 25th, for most Americans, is a holiday of generous excess. We live in a still relatively prosperous nation, and we are a people known for our generosity. One end of your house is most likely strewn with bits of wrapping paper and ribbons. Your children or grandchildren are surely playing with their new toys, dolls, and games. A few of them are probably pouting, because they didn’t receive a Playstation …




What Happens When You Get Old, by R.F.D.

I have been blessed with good health and a clear mind these many years. I also have been blessed with inherited traits, or maybe they were learned, which have allowed me to pursue interesting (for me) activities outside my job during my working career. These activities have mainly revolved around becoming self-sufficient, physically capable, working with my hands, and clear thinking. Another trait that may be good or bad is, I tend to be quite obsessive when, I,m picking up a new skill. I was fortunate in being born late in the Great Depression and having parents who were brought …




Range Estimation and Windage with Mil Reticles – Part 2, by N.E.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Windage Ranging distance is pretty straightforward with practice. It also becomes fairly easy to calculate your elevation adjustment in relation your data-card or ballistics app. How long-range shooting becomes an art is trying to calculate the wind. I am going to be straight with you and say reading the wind is an art that can only be learned over time. Calculating wind becomes easier with specific calibers (high BC), the use wind meters, and lots of practice. But, calculating the wind is not nearly as straight forward as ranging distance. There are …




Range Estimation and Windage with Mil Reticles – Part 1, by N.E.

“Tossing a bit of dry grass in the air as he had done at countless high-power matches, T.K. judged the wind. He complained, ‘Darn, I wish I had a windage table for .50 Browning. I’ll just have to guesstimate.’ Getting ready for his first shot seemed to take forever. First, he made several adjustments to the bipod. Then he squirmed around trying to get into a comfortable prone position. He tried placing his cheek on the stock several times before he found a position that was both comfortable and provided a full field of view through the rifle’s ten-power Leupold …




Active Assailant Response: Plan to Survive, by J.M.

Introduction Your personal safety, along with that of your family or your extended group of like-minded individuals, is probably a top priority for you. As a self-prepared individual, this is part of your nature. You are committed to ensuring the security of those you care about, not only in your normal day-to-day activities, but also in preparation for an unanticipated threat. Unfortunately, despite your best efforts, an unexpected incident may include an attack on your place of work or a public setting you happen to be in at the wrong time. With the riots and looting taking place in so …




Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) Bag Guns, by Joe H.

Personal defense weapons (PDWs) or “bag guns” have seen a recent surge in popularity due to concerns over the COVID-19 quarantine and urban riots. This has come just at the availability of more attractive PDW options is expanding. For the sake of this discussion, a PDW will be defined as a compact detachable magazine-fed semiautomatic firearm that can be shouldered. Such weapons are desirable as they can be discreetly transported and have greater firepower than conventional handguns. PDWs have been used by military and security details for these reasons. They are also included in pilot survival kits. Security details employ …




Leadership: Who Will Really Fight?, by J.D.

As of late I have been pondering who amongst us –meaning Americans– will really be willing to pick up their rifles or pistols and defend their neighborhoods, homes, and families when it’s apparent that help, i.e. 911 is not going to be an option. I was recently at a large Christian campout that had a shooting range with a long table and roof. There was a large amount of brass on the ground and we were all having a good time sending lead downrange. Although I was encouraged to see the number of people that were exercising their second amendment …




Inexpensive Expanding 7.62×39 Ammunition, by Tunnel Rabbit

Most people have ARs that they do not know how to keep running long term. If folks will not get the training needed to keep the AR reliable, then they would be far better off with an AK variant rifle or carbine. I have both.  My handloaded 5.56×45 ammunition using Hornady 55 grain FMJ bullets with 23.4 grains of IMR 3031 powder is right at 1 minute of angle (MOA), and 2,900 feet per second (fps) out of a 16-inch barrel.  I would have used a soft point, but the FMJ was all that was available for the trade made …




Fighting My Flinch: The Mantis X10, by The Novice

I tend to flinch while firing handguns. I recently tested the Mantis X10 Elite Shooting Performance System to see if it would help. My shooting improved significantly. Here is my story. The Offer On October 22 and 23, 2019, SurvivalBlog was kind enough to publish my article My Continued Handgun Search. In that article I wrote about my search for the ideal handgun for me, and mentioned my struggles with trigger flinch while firing handguns in self-defense calibers. The next day, Mr. Rawles forwarded an e-mail he’d just received from Mantis to test and evaluate their X10 Elite Shooting Performance …




Taurus Spectrum .380 ACP, by Pat Cascio

While the .380 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) round  might have been a good choice for the fictional James Bond in some of his earlier movies, it still isn’t the first choice for me, or most other shooters. In later movies, Bond was shown carrying some 9mm handguns, which was a smart move. However, for my use, anything chambered in .380 ACP isn’t my first choice in a concealed carry handgun. Now, that’s not to say that in the past I didn’t actually did carry some .380 ACP handguns. I can only say I was young and naive. Keep in mind …




My Continued Handgun Search – Part 2, by The Novice

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Anti-Flinch Measures A search of the internet revealed a number of suggestions for combating flinch. There were three that I decided to try first. The first of these measures was more frequent and extensive dry firing. Over the course of the following days, I set out to rack and dry fire the PPQ at least 200 times. I hoped that this might help to dampen my flinch somewhat. It should also serve to gently break in the moving parts and further smooth out the trigger. The second involved wearing both ear plugs …




My Continued Handgun Search – Part 1, by The Novice

I have been on a quest. It is the search for my ideal handgun. The ideal handgun for me may not be the same as the ideal handgun for you. If you have not yet found your ideal handgun, then perhaps the story of my search will give you some ideas and inspiration for your own search. If you have already found your ideal handgun, you may at least find this story to be entertaining. Most modern handguns have an intrinsic accuracy that is more than sufficient to meet my needs. The problem is that I am not a human …




Springfield Armory XD-S Mod.2, by Pat Cascio

Compact and sub-compact handguns are all the rage the past couple of years, and we have them in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP these days. In a sub-compact, I believe it is best to stick with one in 9mm, because you get one or two more rounds in some of the magazines, and it is controllable – more so than the .40 S&W and the .45 ACP. If you can’t control your firearm for follow-up shots, what good is it? I received my Springfield Armory XD-S Mod.2 several months, before they were released to the public, and have enjoyed …




A Primitive Tool For Modern Preppers, Part 1, by Rusty M.

I inhale deeply and hold, squeezing the rear trigger. Tic. Then I slowly exhale and gently touch the forward trigger. Tiff-FOOM. A cloud of smoke obscures my vision but I can hear the ball cut through my intended victim. What’’d I get? A buffalo? A “grizzly bear?” A Redcoat? No, just a cardboard box. I see that I am becoming more accurate with this gun. Firearms and their accompanying accessories have evolved a long way from their origins; a long way. But that doesn’’t mean we should relegate old technology to the archives or the bone yards. At least not …