Category: Weapons

Is It Time To Worry?, by Jim S.

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All the readers of this blog have been preparing. Prepping for disasters, both man-made and natural. We even prepped for Financial Crises and Economic collapse. But were we anticipating an insurrection? Not really. We all on this blog believe in America, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We also believed the American Dream and that our way of life would survive almost any disaster. Now come groups, mostly college-educated that say America is 100% racist, amoral, evil and their solution is to destroy it. “BURN IT TO THE GROUND” says the BLM New York City leader. Last week I …


The Illogical “In Common Use” Legal Standard

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The Supreme Court’s District of Columbia v. Heller decision in 2008 was a landmark case. While it did confirm our right to keep and bear arms, it stopped short of overturning the plethora of bad laws that it should have. In this essay, I will demonstrate that the logic that the court applied in Heller was significantly flawed. In Heller, while addressing the 1939 Miller v. United States decision, the Supreme Court applied the standard of “the sorts of weapons protected were those ‘in common use at the time.’” Some background: Jack Miller and Frank Layton were small-time crooks that had been …


Remington 1911 R1 Enhanced, by Pat Cascio

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Its always fun to test 1911 handguns — at least its fun for me. I never tire of them, and I can’t begin to count how many different gun makers are producing 1911s these days, or the number of models being made. Today, we’re looking at the Remington 1911 R1 Enhanced variant. (You may recall that I already reviewed the R1 “Carry” variant, back in 2018.) As many readers may know, Remington-UMC produced a few M1911 pistols in .45 ACP during World War I, and Remington Rand–best known for its typewriters–produced an even larger quantity of M1911A1 pistols, during World …


Review: Coast FX350, HX5, and FX228 – Part 2, by The Novice

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the review) Opening the Second Box The second product box was the Coast 100 Year Anniversary Gift Box. This box was less substantial than one containing the FX350, but it was still nothing to sneeze at. A flashlight and a knife were nested in a multi-layered cardboard cutout along with a brochure outlining the 100 year history of the Coast company, along with a couple of packs of rust preventative silica gel. The flashlight is a special 100-year anniversary version of the HX5 flashlight. It is rated at 130 lumens and 3.75 hours of …


Review: Coast FX350, HX5, and FX228 – Part 1, by The Novice

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The State where I live does not allow concealed carry of a sheath knife unless you are hunting. Since even a simple thing like putting on a jacket may inadvertently “conceal” your knife, it is usually the better part of wisdom if not valor to avoid carrying a sheath knife at all unless you are involved in outdoor pursuits. Since the laws involving folding knives are much less stringent, and since knives are such handy tools, I usually carry a folder. For several decades, a Victorinox MiniChamp has been my constant companion. A couple of years ago, a friend complicated …


I’m Unarmed — What Gun Do I Buy?, by Frog

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You’re sitting at home with your family in a suburb at what is normally a comfortable distance of 30 to 60 minutes from your nearest major city. Life feels as normal as it can — quarantine being considered — and your dinner is interrupted by the news that there is is rioting in the adjoining city. Then, the country is rioting; finally, international cities are rioting. You’ve been aware of the need preparedness for some time, but you find yourself without a firearm. What do you do? This article will be intended for survival-minded folks living in the ‘burbs who …


Craft Leather Holsters, by Pat Cascio

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There were a few instances, many years ago, when I didn’t carry a handgun in a holster. Several of those times were when I was doing some undercover work as a Private Investigator. One of those times, I carried a tiny Bauer .25 ACP pistol, strapped to my ankle – no holster. One such instance was when I worked a very strange case, where several misguided people planned on hijacking a cruise ship that was sailing from Miami, Florida. I worked closely with the FBI on this case, and to this day, more than 40 years ago, I still have …


Kershaw Launch 8, by Pat Cascio

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Growing up in Chicago, many in my neighborhood carried Italian stiletto folding knives, except they didn’t work. Oh sure, it had that button that you’d push, but it didn’t work…it was there for looks only, but those knives looked mean. Only problem was, they were pure junk, I never owned one that even had an edge on it – and odds were good if you dropped it or threw it, it would break. But still, a lot of us kids owned them. I will admit to being involved in a couple knife “incidents” that ended just as quickly as they …


An Old Boy Scout’s Journey – Part 3, by Rocket J. Squirrel

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(Continued from Part 2.) For my rifles, I stocked up on 10-round detachable magazines, stripper clips, and en bloc clips. For those of you still oppressed in Kalifornia, and if you missed the opportunity during “Freedom Week” in March/April 2019 to legally purchase 30-round standard capacity magazines then here is an idea to consider – I purchased magazine parts kits. All they do is remove the floor plate from standard magazines. If bad things happened, I could assemble the kits and load the standard capacity magazines. Based on reliability reviews of various magazine brands, I selected 20 round magazine kits …


An Old Boy Scout’s Journey – Part 2, by Rocket J. Squirrel

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(Continued from Part 1.) There is a DeWalt 6 kW generator with a Honda gasoline engine that was purchased used. The local Stihl dealer gave it a tune up. Spare spark plugs are kept in the tool box. I have very limited gasoline storage but do have a tri-fuel kit. The tri-fuel kit from www.uscarb.com enables the generator to use gasoline, propane, or natural gas for fuel. Make certain you buy the kit which matches your specific engine model. I need to get the kit installed as well as the natural gas fittings for our current home. Natural gas may …


Open or Concealed: Our Freedom to Choose

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I often hear comments from SurvivalBlog readers with conflicting views on concealed carry versus open carry of firearms.  Some claim that concealed carry is “the only way to carry” and that carrying openly makes you a target. But others say that open carry acts as a visible deterrent to crime.  My position is that both are apropos at different places and at different times.  So I believe that you should both train and acquire the right holsters and slings, to be ready for either, as the situation arises. In recent weeks, open carry whilst wearing a Hawaiian shirt has become …


Beretta 92FS Stainless, by Pat Cascio

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In 1985, the US military adopted a new handgun for our warriors, and right from the beginning, and even through today, the Beretta Model 92FS (M9/M9A1) continues to get criticism from all sides, for any number or real or imagined reasons. I won’t go into all the details, on this, you can find article after article about the Beretta 92FS on the Internet – some people simply have nothing better to do with their lives, other than to complain about things – anything – based on their wild imagination. The number one complaint was, and still is, we switched from …


Rock Island Armory .22 TCM and .22 TCM 9R – Part 2, by The Novice

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Dry Fire Practice The integrated under Picatinny rail made it easy to attach my Mantis X10 shooting performance device to the Combo. In dry fire practice, I found that the sights lined up very naturally as I raised the handgun to a firing position. The trigger is not quite as crisp as the trigger on my Walther P99, but I do like the straight pull of the 1911 a lot. The grip is also not as ergonomic as the grip on the P99, but the angle of the grip is slightly better …


Rock Island Armory .22 TCM and .22 TCM 9R – Part 1, by The Novice

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The following is my Range Report: on the Rock Island Armory .22 TCM and .22 TCM 9R models Recoil influences my practical handgun accuracy. This made me wonder if I should experiment with a caliber that produces less recoil than 9 mm, which is my current go-to self defense handgun round. First I checked out what was available in .380 ACP. I wanted something that was recoil operated with a double stack magazine and a four to five inch barrel. I could not find anything in .380 ACP that fit that profile. Then Ruger introduced the Ruger 57, and my …


CRKT Helical, by Pat Cascio

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If you’ve been around knives for any length of time, you know the name Ken Onion. He is one of the best custom knife makers of all time, and he was the youngest knife maker to be inducted in the Hall of Fame for knife makers. I’ve never met Ken, but we had several conversations some years back, when I was doing an article on one of his collaborations with a major knife company.  Ken lives in Hawaii – and I used to – and he is an absolute wild man to talk to on the phone. He is also …