Category: Weapons

Letter Re: Advice on Construction a Hiding Place for Precious Metals in a Home

Jim, After being scared Schumerless by the potential US economy meltdown and reading various related posts on SurvivalBlog, I finally took the plunge and purchased some junk silver coins. Since I plan to store these at home rather than a bank safe deposit box (because of potential accessibility problems), would you please recommend a strategy for storage. I’m assuming a small, somewhat hidden, safe bolted to the floor/wall would be reasonable. Any recommendations? Thanks, – Russ S. JWR Replies: Unless you already own a large home vault–such as a gun vault–I recommend that you construct one or more secret caches …


Letter Re: Ammunition Prices in the Future?

Sir: I have pondered your recent posts about stocking up on ammo. I’ve decided to spend $6,000–the same that I spent last year on storage food, a wheat grinder, and heirloom gardening seeds–to buy some ammunition to squirrel away. That will pretty well tap out all of my available cash. I’ll mainly be buying mil surplus rifle ammo (.223, 7.62×39 and .308) plus some civilian pistol ammo–mostly .45 auto, for my two Glock 21s and my Glock 30. But I’m also taking your advice from a post earlier this year and buying 300 rounds of .40 S&W, even though I …


Letter Re: What if The Schumer Doesn’t Hit The Fan? – Reasons to Prepare Anyway, by MB

Hello Jim, I’d like to respond to MB’s article. In the Securing Your Castle section, MB wrote: “If you have studied survival even a little, then you are aware that arming yourself ranks high on the list of recommendations. Perhaps some of you share my reluctance to build an armory in my home. I have children, and being married to someone who is strictly against guns makes security a particularly difficult element in my survival preparations. While I recognize security as an absolute must, I have reservations about keeping a device designed to kill in my home. Ironically the reasons …


What if The Schumer Doesn’t Hit The Fan? – Reasons to Prepare Anyway, by MB

As long as I can remember, I have felt that someday the comforts of a modern American lifestyle would vanish, at least temporarily. So I have made small mental preparations for some time now; keeping my mind and body fit and strong, staying informed, dropping hints to the wife, etc. Recently, and mostly after reading Patriots, I have a renewed interest in preserving my life and protecting those I love. After educating myself on the subject of survival, I felt, as I’m sure many others have, very vulnerable and even overwhelmed. I needed to take action, immediately. Many thoughts spring …


Letter Re: Computers – A Cache of Spare Parts For Your Guns

Greetings, As the British would say, it was one of those rare moments of ‘serendipity,’ but I was watching “The Postman” the other night on cable [television], and decided to field strip and clean a couple of rifles while doing so. As I was reassembling my CAR-15 in particular, I told my wife, as I charged the bolt – and felt everything moving as it should in a rightly reassembled firearm – that, “guns are a lot like computers these days – either you put them (back) together the right way, or they simply won’t work at all.” The very …


Letter Re: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina and Indiscriminate Weapons Confiscation

Dear Jim and Family, Some months ago, our president signed into law a bipartisan bill that protects Americans from gun seizure during a disaster. In theory, every emergency worker (including police and National Guard) knows they cannot take guns from citizens, period. In theory. In practice its far more likely that we can all expect: the worst case scenario. This is uncomfortable as you have no idea if the cop down the street is honest or a bully who’s taking guns because he can, or because he’s been ordered by by his boss, or a buddy on the force with …


Letter Re: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina and Indiscriminate Weapons Confiscation

Dear Mr. Rawles, First off, I would like to thank you for writing the novel “Patriots” and starting SurvivalBlog. My dad sent me your book in the mail and told me to read it. Being a fan of Tom Brown-ish survival literature, I decided to give it a try. I read it in one night, starting at about 8 pm and finishing at 3 in the morning. Truly, my world view has changed. I have immediately started making preparations—getting my Bug Out Bag together, my Bug Out Routes planned and starting to practice some of the skills sets I’ve let …


Letter Re: 2nd Annual Bug-Out Drill at Tiger Valley in Texas

James, I started reading SurvivalBlog this year after a friend told me to check out the site and it has been a great resource. I had a couple of thing that might be of interest to everyone. First is the 2nd annual Bug-out drill at Tiger Valley in Texas. Tiger Valley will host its second annual Bug Out Drill, September 29, 2007. We will run the same distance as last year, 15 miles, but the physical challenges will be tougher. For those who didn’t attend the last event, the idea for this was spawned from reading the survival forum. I, …


Letter Re: Greenspan, Gold, and the Safe Store of Value

Dear Mr. Rawles, Regarding the use of gold as a store of value, it’s important to realize that gold often functions as a fiat currency. It does have intrinsic value for jewelry, electronics, rust-proofing, and some chemistry applications but the vast majority of its value comes from the shared expectation that people will accept it as being valuable in the future. The only difference from fiat dollars is that it’s harder – but not impossible – to increase or decrease the gold monetary supply, and that supply isn’t controlled by any government. In a disaster situation things get even worse, …


Letter Re: Hand Tools–Their Importance, and Sources

Mr. Rawles: In yesterday’s blog, you mentioned that bolt cutters are important to have available. This reminds me of something that my father always taught me: There is no such thing as “wasting” money on tools. With maybe a few exceptions, you can never have too many [tools], because you can use the extra ones as barterables or to pass on to your kids. A lot of things can be improvised, but proper tools can’t [be improvised]. As a prepper, I have a big assortment of tools, mostly hand type. I do have some power [tools], but I consider those …


Letter Re: Confusion About Ban Markings on Rifle Magazines

Mr. Rawles: I was at a gun show last weekend, stocking up on ammo and magazines. A dealer had some original [Ruger] Mini-14 magazines (made at the factory, in white boxes) that were marked “restricted for law enforcement use..” or somesuch, stamped right into the body of the magazine. I also saw some Beretta M92 magazines with a whole bunch of the same kind of “thou shalt not…” small print. I thought that the [Federal] magazine ban had expired. I’m confused here. Could I get in trouble with my local police if I buy magazines with these marks? Thanks, – …


Reader Poll Results: Your TEOTWAWKI Resume — 100 Words and 100 Pounds

Some of these stretched the 100 word limit. (I skipped posting one that rambled on far beyond the limit.) The poll’s premise in a nutshell: “If someday you went to the gates of a survival community post-TEOTWAWKI and pleaded the case for why you should be let past the barricades and armed guards to become a valuable working member of the group, would you get voted in? Taken objectively, would you vote yourself in?”   I am a shoe maker (not just a repairman) can repair saddles tan leather have done ranch work mechanics weld gardening skills set a broken …


Letter Re: Advice for a Preparedness-Minded ROTC Cadet

Hi, I appreciate your advice. Here is my situation: I attend college full time in a post-industrial [Eastern United States] city that has had a 50% population decline in 30 years. Most people here are on welfare, and the largest employers are prisons. I am in a bit of a predicament because I only make about $6,000 per year, so I cannot really afford to spend much on supplies. My goal if things go downhill is to do a ruck march (assuming EMP, otherwise I would drive) with my ROTC-issued [TA-50] equipment to my family’s summer home in farm country …


Letter Re: Employment as a Gunsmith, Both Before and After TSHTF

Mr. Rawles, I am a new reader of your blog. One of my co-workers recently told me about it and I am hooked. I never knew there was such a large gathering of like minded people. The reason for this e-mail is to ask about gunsmithing courses. Being new to your site I may not be looking in the right direction. If this is a subject that has not been covered can you or any of your readers recommend an online or correspondence course? Thank you. – Randy G. JWR Replies: I have not yet covered this topic, so here …


Letter Re: Storing Ammo in Cans–Should I Leave it in the Cardboard Boxes?

Hi Mr. Rawles, I’m currently reading and enjoying your fine book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation as well as a few other publications (such a Boston’s Gun Bible, by Boston T. Party), and actually have a rather simple question for you. At present, I am in the process of trying to prepare an urban retreat at our home in Orange County (in the PRK). Until we can early-retire and move to our newly acquired land in either Montana or Wyoming, we are stuck here because of our jobs. In any event, with regard to the subject of long-term ammo storage, …