Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come,
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people:
but the Lord shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” – Isaiah 60:1-2 (KJV)

Notes for Friday – September 23, 2016

Today, we present another entry for Round 66 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  3. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  4. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  5. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  8. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 66 ends on September 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Time Is Short, Stock Up!- Part 2, by J.H.

What Do You Need? (continued)

Black Rifle Accessories/Parts

As mentioned, I am not a gunsmith by any means. Fortunately for most enthusiasts, however, most issues that develop can be resolved without a professional, and broken/worn parts can be easily replaced yourself. With this in mind, I recommend purchasing one entire bolt carrier group for each of your black rifles. These contain every piece that will commonly need replacement over the course of your rifle’s lifetime. The chance that you will need all of them is slim to none. However, in addition to ensuring you have the necessary parts to repair 90% of the issues you are liable to run into, they may very well make for excellent barter/sales pieces. These can be found now easily complete for $70 online (please check this sites advertisers first), so having a spare group for every rifle is a smart investment, in my opinion. Take that for what it is worth. Additionally, if you are purchasing baseline black rifle models (as I did), you are likely to find that they are just that– baseline. I recommend equipping them with a three point nylon tactical sling and at the very least, a Ruger flip up rear site or MAGPUL flip up rear site (as both makers offer one for under $20), and a Meprolights (tritium) front site (I have had excellent experience with meprolights. In general, if it is good enough for the Israeli Army, it’s sure good enough for me!), or at the very least a generic rail mounted red dot scope. If you can afford higher model optics, triggers, et cetera, by all means go for it, but each of your rifles should have at least the slings and sights. Further, I recommend an Otis cleaning system kit for each of your rifles. These small zippered pouches are compact and complete, with excellent quality. Finally, I would recommend purchasing a lifetime supply of whatever are your preferred rifle lubricants and rifle cleaning solutions. Personally, I prefer CLP Breakfree and Hoppes #9, but whatever you prefer, make sure you own plenty of it. I’ll delve into why I say this later in the article.

Ballistics

Without the appropriate projectiles, any firearm is just a rather crude but expensive club. More figurative ink has been spilled on Internet forums on ammunition stockpiles, how much, what kind, and how to store it than could ever be read in a lifetime, and only a glutton for punishment would ever want to. But since my $0.02 is worth about as much as anybody’s, what I have done and what I recommend is that for every firearm you have, you stock and maintain on hand 2000 rounds. One thousand of these rounds are what I refer to as general purpose rotational rounds. These are used for trips to the range, hunting, plinking, training, and the day-to-day usage. You use it and then replace it. The other 1000 rounds are socked and sealed away for a very bad day, to be touched only in case of emergency. So, if you own, for example, a Glock 17 and a Glock 19, you should have 4000 rounds of 9mm on hand; you’d have 2000 in general rotational use and 2000 set aside for a very-bad-no-good-rotten-day. Please understand that these are what I (just me!) consider to be a comfortable minimum. There is no such thing as too much ammo, ever! I have heard the argument that on a very-bad-no-good-rotten-day, one could easily expend 500 rounds. So if you can, buy it (without a background check); buy it until you can’t anymore, but don’t buy at the expense of everything else on this list.

Standard Capacity Magazines

These seem to be second only to “Assault Rifles” on Liberal’s hit list. I have always marveled at the contempt and loathing they view these with, as even a novice shooter can change an empty magazine out of a firearm in the time it takes to clap your hands twice. But they despise them, and I am confident they will be part of the next ban, should it be enacted. As such, the importance of ensuring that you have an adequate supply of the standard magazines that accompany your firearm cannot be understated. Having them available to barter and/or sell is also no less (and given their compactness and greater mobility, perhaps more) important than your spare black rifles. Here are my thoughts on how to handle inventory for your standard capacity magazines. In my case, I am a Glock Fan. You may like Springfield or Ruger or 1911’s or S&W; it doesn’t matter. Stay with me here. When I purchased my Glocks, I made certain to purchase the 4th Generation Models, solely because they came with an extra magazine, with three in the box instead of the normal two. In addition to these three, I purchased five more for each firearm. This brought my total to eight standard capacity magazines for each pistol. (There’s no magic to this number. Eight just happened to be my number when I played ball, and I like even numbers.) These eight are for personal, rotational use, never to be separated from their firearm. Then, in anticipation of them being effected by a ban, I bought an additional half-dozen of each pistol’s magazine. These are a part of the barter/investment stock that, worse comes to worse, I can always use myself. So, for each pistol, I have a total of 14 standard capacity magazines– eight for use and six for barter. As far as rifles go, I will focus here on black rifles and BX-25 magazines made for the ubiquitous Ruger 10/22 rifles. My family has standardized with the AR-15 format rifle. I won’t get into the .223 and .308 debate. It is pointless (in my opinion) and well off-topic. The women (my wife, mother, two sisters, and young nieces), who would make up our group in a crisis situation, are small in stature, and the men (myself, my father, and two brothers-in-law) were introduced to the AR Platform in our military service. Familiarity and manageability win. For each black rifle, I keep ten PMAGS by Magpul in rotational use. These are the magazines that are never to be separated from the rifles. As far as inventory, I buy them whenever I can. In my mind, if a ban goes into effect, these may very well be worth their weight in silver when it is all said and done. I buy them in bulk. (Buying 10 at a time, you can get them in at $10.50 a piece online, and on Sundays at gun shows I have dickered them down to $9.75 when I bought the last 13 he had at his table.) I honestly cannot tell you how many PMAGS I’ve purchased. I pick them up regularly when the budget allows for it, and I have for years. I consider them to be the best of my “tangible investment portfolio”. An often overlooked standard capacity magazine that I recommend having a few of is the BX-25 magazine; it’s the twenty-five round capacity magazine for the Ruger 10/22. Granted, it is a poor self defense caliber, but some of the most fun days in my life have involved plinking around with that rifle, and more than one squirrel met its end on the wrong end of that rifle. I consider these mags more or less for fun, but I do keep four in reserve. You never know what you might be able to barter them for.

Training

Ah, you knew that was coming, didn’t you? Having a gun vault full of rifles and firearms is absolutely useless if you don’t know what you are doing with them. To all my former fellow (and probably several current) service members, I have some bad news. If you’re anything like me (and you probably are), you’ve forgotten much of the rudimentary unit and individual tactics and drills you were taught ten years ago. Also, tactics have changed, and you, my friend, have gotten older. I say this as a thirty-five-year-old man who visited the lovely district of Kandahar for a nice “vacation” in 2003. If you can afford to attend one of the finer schools that advertise on this blog, please do so. If you cannot, you would be surprised what you may find in your own area. For example, the price tag for me for a plane trip to Nevada to attend Gun Site is too prohibitive for me, much as I wish it were not. (Again, please understand that all of the things I’ve mentioned having in inventory have been accumulated over years, not over nights). Nevertheless, in the fairly large town one hour west of me, there is a small security firm that provides bodyguards and personal security (usually for musicians in town for a concert or other celebrities there for whatever reason). The owner is a former green beret with multiple combat tours and a myriad of tactical expertise that the average Joe in the service doesn’t get. During the winter (slow months for him), he augments his income by holding one- and two-day tactical and marksmanship shooting classes quite a reasonable fee. Is it Thunder Ranch? Nope, but it sure beats trying to remember or learning from Airborne Youtube Rangers. (As a side note, please remember that bad training is probably worse than no training. Avoid these poseurs.) Also, practice, practice, practice. Range time is inexpensive. Make sure you know how to use all of your equipment.

Zip It!

I’d like to close with just a short reminder and an explanation for why I recommend buying things like a lifetime supply of Hoppes #9. As it is right now, you can walk into your local Wal-Mart and walk out with five bottles of Rem Oil, and no one is really going to care. In the future, with the expansion of this entire “If You See Something, Say Something” atmosphere, such an action may be viewed with great suspicion. Do not stick out, now or later. Some folks call this OPSEC, I just call it “common sense”. If everyone knows you as the guy with a ton of black rifles or the boxes of PMAGS, when the Stasi come knocking for them, guess who’s going to come to mind first? Again, I am not advocating any illegal activity. I’m only pointing out that keeping your head down, minding your own business, and making it easier for other folks to mind theirs by not giving them anything to talk about makes everyone’s life more pleasant. That is true now, and it will continue to be true when and if a ban ever goes into effect.

I continue to pray for us all, and for our nation and its leaders. I sincerely hope that I am wrong, but in the event that I am correct, well, the truth of the matter is that I could take virtually all of my inventory to a gun show and not lose a penny on my “investments”. And I can do what I do now– providing piece of mind and security and sleeping at night, knowing that I have prepared, legally and morally. God bless you all and good luck!

More Letters Re: Paper Maps

Hugh,

Hunting and sport shops also sell detailed map books for many states. These maps are designed for hunters and show roads, in great detail, that are often not shown on typical road maps. – M.J.

o o o

Hugh,

A recent reader post mentioned cleanroom paper, pointing out that it is very strong and durable. DuPont Tyvek was originally created as paper for cleanroom use because it does not shed fibers like pulp-made paper does. It was later discovered to be quite useful as air barrier house wrap; Dupont’s patent has expired, so a number of competitors are manufacturing a similar product.

Because so much of it is used in house construction, scraps are frequently available around construction sites, but get permission before “dumpster diving” for it. Tyvek (and DuPont’s competitors’ similar products) does not tear but may be cut into sheets with shears or knives. It does work well for sturdy note paper, I’ve been using it for years around work sites. It is fussy regarding what kind of marking it will accept, because the material is quite dense; permanent markers, such as Sharpies, work well, as do the higher quality indelible roller ball point inks. Pencil works, too, but since the graphite does not fully impregnate the material it’s more difficult to read.

The material is UV-degradable; most manufacturers require their housewrap not be exposed to sunlight for more than 30 days. That’s a warranty issue that is concerned with the material’s physical integrity and resistance to air penetration. It will degrade noticeably over time, but used as writing paper that’s not much of a concern.

Regarding printing on Tyvek, ink jet printers work but do not do well with it, because the material is quite resistant to absorbing liquid. Tyvek, in fact, allows moisture to flow through rather than be absorbed. This is a feature of the product, not a bug, which helps prevent wood rot on houses caused by trapped moisture. Toner, used in copiers and laser printers, fuses (melts) at 106F-114F and has similar problems to ink jet ink regarding bonding with Tyvek. It works, but expect it to smear in most cases and fade fairly quickly. – N.K.

o o o

HJL,

Our local UPS store also prints maps on their E-size printer, and one option is waterproof ink on Tyvek, usually for Topo or Hunting maps. They are practically indestructible. – T.Z.

o o o

HJL,

Here, in the great white north, many snowmobile clubs print very detailed maps of the county they live in. They get local businesses (usually taverns) to sponsor the cost. These maps are about the size of the old service station maps. They are extremely detailed. I have at least one for my surrounding counties. Best of all, they are usually free at a sponsor’s business. – Carl in the UP

Odds ‘n Sods:

Puerto Rico battles massive blackout after fire at electricity plant. There are conflicting reports on whether the fire was caused by the outage, or the outage caused the fire. – J.J.

o o o

Yahoo says at least 500 million accounts hacked in 2014 – DSV

o o o

Reader W.C. sent in this link: Do WhiteLivesMatter In Charlotte? Do you really need to be on the street while this is going on?

o o o

Watched. A reminder that you must be careful what you say in a police state. – T.Z.

o o o

Two fun links for our readers today:

Firearm Symphony: Russian sharpshooter performs Beethoven dual wielding Glock – H.L.

A newly discovered flatworm from Malaysia has been named in honor of Obama: Baracktrema obamai. How fitting – One parasite named in honor of another parasite. – M.R.

Notes for Thursday – September 22, 2016

September 23, 1800 is the birthday of William McGuffey, a college president who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers, the first widely used series of textbooks. It is estimated that at least 122 million copies of McGuffey Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster’s Dictionary.

o o o

Today, we present another entry for Round 66 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  3. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  4. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  5. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  8. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 66 ends on September 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Time Is Short, Stock Up! – Part 1, by J.H.

The world, as most SurvivalBlog readers understand, is a place full of unpleasant truths and harsh realities. It is not, nor has it ever been, nor (until our Lord returns) will it ever be a place where the lion lies down with the lamb. We are charged to pray for our nation and its leaders and to hope for the best, but we are to prepare for the worst. We would all like to believe, as Abraham Lincoln put it, in the angels of our better nature. I would like to believe in this as well, though the stark facts stare me blankly in the face, and the truth must not be sacrificed on the altar of expediency or heretofore unwarranted faith in the American voting public. To remain willfully blind to the coming storm is dangerous to your freedom and that of your progenies. So, excuse me if I state bluntly what I see as inevitable as the sun rising in the east tomorrow morning. Your next President of the United States is Hillary Rodham Clinton, and she is coming, unashamedly and unabashedly, for your Second Amendment rights. As I write this, you have just under six months prior to Inauguration Day 2017 to insulate yourself, your family, and your future generations against this.

The normal caveats and disclaimers follow. I am neither a prophet nor a prognosticator. These are my own opinions and predictions, based upon my own reasoning. You are responsible for your own decisions. I have zero connection to any brand or company mentioned in this article, and I name them only because they are the ones with which I have experience. Make your own buying decisions. You cannot eat bullets, and you cannot drink Hoppe’s No. 9. This article assumes that you have the basics of your beans, bullets, and band aids squared away before you consider this. I am not a paid investor, and so far as I know neither is anyone employed by SurvivalBlog. Do your own research prior to making any investment decisions. Finally, I am not a lawyer. Research your own local laws and jurisdictions to ensure you remain compliant with the law. Neither I, nor SurvivalBlog, advocates in engaging in illegal activity. That said, if any of the following suggestions are illegal in the area in which you live, then I would encourage you to “vote with your feet” and attempt to relocate to an area more amenable to your freedom. If that is not an option, adapt the outlined strategies to work within the confines of your current environment. Sometimes, you just have to do the best that you can. However, do something.

What Will Change?

I believe in my heart that, sometime soon after the installation of the new Clinton Administration, some madman will commit a mass shooting that will take place in such a manner that will turn the stomachs of every sane, decent American. The most recent ones where inconvenient for the statists. The Orlando shooter targeted a known homosexual nightclub while claiming allegiance to ISIS. Bringing excess attention to this would have run contrary to their messaging. It’s hard to talk about Islam being the religion of peace and tolerance and the need to accept Syrian refugees when you have to acknowledge that these refugees come from areas where it is common place for homosexuals to be executed by the state. That’s not good for the leftist coalition. The murder of five Dallas Police officers was problematic as well. You can’t vigorously demonize a shooter enough to demand more gun restrictions when the shooter represents and espouses the inherent violence and racism in the Black Lives Matter movement. That makes for poor fodder as well. It’s difficult to capitalize on the San Bernardino shooting when it takes place in the Peoples Republic of California, where the shooting only outlined and proved that their wacko laws and restrictions don’t work. But mark my words, sometime soon some madman will walk into a sacred, holy, or otherwise considered safe place and commit some unspeakable act of violence, and the Left will pounce. (If if I may put on my tinfoil hat for a moment, it may not surprise me to discover that Federal Law Enforcement is aware of and ignores the warning signs of this act.) However, this time will be different than the last times. This time, a statist movement with momentum from the landslide election, claiming a mandate by the election of Clinton, who is joined by a cowed right, will enact legislation akin to the poorly reasoned 1994-2004 ban, with the following items making up the meat of the legislation:

  • A ban on the production of rifles commonly referred to as “black rifles”.
  • Closing the fictional “gun show loophole”, requiring all private transfers to go through a FFL dealer, complete with a background check.
  • Banning the production of magazines with a capacity greater than ten rounds.
  • Requiring a background check for the purchase of more than some arbitrary number (let’s just say 100) of “military” calibers, such as 9 mm, (40 S&W, 45 ACP, 5.56 NATO/.223 REM, 7.62 NATO/.308 WIN, etc)
  • Combining the Federal “No Fly List” and the “Terror Watch List” into a “No Buy List”.
  • Notably, there will be NO sunset clause as in the prior ban.

There may very well be additional riders thrown in for good measure, but these are the main aspects I believe will be presented and passed. I believe the Left will offer a fake “compromise” of a grandfathered clause for property owned prior to the bans enactment, and I do not believe they will attempt to register these firearms (right away), given how that scheme met with massive non-compliance when they attempted that in Connecticut. Its failure would be a national embarrassment to the Administration, and would essentially felonize overnight a massive percentage of the population, leading to significant push back. Their methods will be what they always have been– incremental encroachment of liberty. Over generations, these firearms, as they pass into new hands, will create records of who has what and where it is. Attempting to disarm the United States citizenry, as JWR has said numerous times, is a fool’s errand, and they know that. Yet, over time, if they know where they are and who has them, they don’t really need to disarm you. One can debate the effectiveness of this point, but that is not the point of this article, so I will not do so. What I will do is offer my suggestions on how to (primarily) insulate yourself, your family, and your future generations from the effects of this change and (secondarily) potentially place yourself in a position of strength, should the need ever arise to dabble in this market. Note please that you will see no mention of reloading in this article. I am not a reloader, and I am not comfortable with the idea of being one. To each their own. There are numerous articles on this art and how to engage in it. Consult them, if that interests you. Note also please that I am not a rich man; I’m just an average Joe with an average income. Many of the things that I have done to prepare for this eventuality have been done over years in the normal course of recreational shooting and prepping. Now, I have topped off some supplies recently in anticipation of the coming troubles, but it’s not as if I went all in at a gun show on Saturday to get all of this done. I did not use consumer credit for any of this, and I paid cash and made private purchases whenever possible. I always recommend against going into any sort of debt. However, the time is short, so you must make your own decisions on how to accumulate that which you believe you need. So, what DO you need?

What Do You Need?

Black Rifles

Have a black rifle for each and every member of your family, plus two more for redundancy, barter, and cannibalization as a last resort. Now, when I say every member of your family, I do not necessarily mean your second cousin that you see twice a year. What I mean is everyone living in your household, and everyone you foresee living in your household for an extended period of time in the event of some long-term calamity that would necessitate armed defense of self or the family/group. This is a large purchase, so my advice is to do what I did in this case. I purchased baseline AR-15’s. The Palmetto State Armory AR-15, DPMS Panther Arms AR-15, and Smith and Wesson M&P 15’s can all be had now as this is written for $500 or less, so long as you are willing to look around and wheel and deal a bit. I went with a mixed combination of DPMS’s and PSA’s, based on the difference in prices when I was prepared to purchase. If you can afford to buy a Daniels Defense for every member of your family, by all means do so. I could not, and most folks probably cannot either, especially when you are looking at, for the average family, a minimum of five rifles purchased, if the spares are being bought. This begs the question of “Why the spares?”. The purpose of the spares is primarily economic. If such a ban, as I foresee, is enacted, the price of these rifles will double, or perhaps triple, virtually overnight. Post Sandy Hook, I personally witnessed people lining up to pay $1,100 for a S&W M&P 15 baseline model that had sold for $550 not even a month prior. Now, these prices obviously normalized once supply caught up with demand, but in the event of a ban supply will never catch up with demand. With a ban, prices have only one way to go– up. One could go much further here and invest in 80% lower receivers, but I am not a gunsmith, and I do have other priorities. I also believe that completed, fully functional and ready rifles will resell at a premium over parted out models. So, should you ever find yourself needing an influx of cash, one could easily and quickly move these spare rifles for a handsome profit without endangering your own family’s supplies.

Three More Letters Re: Paper Maps

Hugh,

I agree. I bought a new 50 state Rand McNally edition this year, and it is much smaller. As far as state maps, I know the welcome center to PA does offer free maps of PA yet, at least when coming from NJ. Maps are harder and harder to find though, and I agree that we should stock up while they’re still offered free or at local stores. When planning trips, I have often contacted the states we were planning to visit and they sent free information. Most times a state map was included. I do not like GPS nor do I use it. God bless. – DSV

o o o

HJL,

Regarding the letter about paper foldout maps disappearing, I too have noticed that trend. For that reason, I collect maps whenever I can. You can often find them in two places– an AAA office will have them (sometimes free for members), and also for local town maps I have found them at town libraries and town halls for free. But they are getting harder to find. – K.B.

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Hugh, Another option are the National Geographic topo quad maps. They are .pdf files broken down into easily printed, readable quadrants. Not all of the roads are labeled, but there are enough labeled that individual smaller roads can be differentiated. Because of the format, multiple quadrants can be printed out and individual pages laminated, to create mini atlases for whatever region someone is interested in. It takes a few minutes to figure out the system. Individual quads are not selectable until you have zoomed in close enough on the big map, and they open in new tabs, once selected.

Economics and Investing:

Silver Price Forecast: Higher Silver Prices For Many Years To Come

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Nigeria Sues Oil Majors Over $12.7 Billion In ‘Stolen Oil’. The Nigerian government is suing Chevron, Eni, Total, Shell, and Petrobras for illegally exporting crude oil worth $12.7 billion in the years between 2011 and 2014.

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Retirement Crisis Looms As Average U.S. Household Has Saved $2,500 For Retirement – G.G.

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

Bill Gross: I’m Hardly Able to speak After Fed Decision

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Notes for Wednesday – September 21, 2016

On this day in 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word “traitor”. It’s too bad the current crop of politicians are not held accountable for their treasonous acts.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 66 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  3. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  4. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  5. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  8. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 66 ends on September 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Making Your Home a Castle Hidden in Plain Sight, by B.T.

Many people do not seek professional advice about home security, because there are many do-it-yourself resources available. This, coupled with a handful of common sense, can get you a long way in home fortification. Let’s talk about how to get these upgrades to work together in a synergistic manner that maintains a low profile but increases your security posture.

I have 15 years of military experience, 12 years of law enforcement experience, and four years of experience providing personal security for top U.S. government and foreign officials. I have traveled the world, working with foreign governments, militaries, and police forces. I want to share with you some of things I’ve learned.

The Three Rings

The first time I ever heard about the “three rings” was from the Israelis. The three rings is not a new concept, and you can Google a lot of information about it. In a nutshell, the three rings refer to three levels of security, each becoming more difficult to breach. For your home, the outer ring would be your perimeter. Your second ring would be the walls of your home, and your inner ring would be a hardened room within the home.

Barriers

Not all barriers are physical; some barriers are psychological. A combination of physical and psychological barriers is the key to maintaining a low profile while maintaining a high security posture.

The Outer Ring

A lot of people reading this (including myself) would love to have an eight-foot-tall brick wall around their house. Your HOA, city codes, and neighbors may not be happy about it though. A low wall is a barrier, but it can easily be overcome, and having a gate that crosses your driveway is usually very unsightly. The only time I’ve seen driveways that are completely gated are on houses that are either really nice or in the middle of the ghetto. Most of us are somewhere in between. My recommendation is usually a 4-foot white picket fence with a hedgerow behind it. The fence with the hedgerow make a good physical and psychological barrier. People also like it because it usually gives the house a nice look too.

The mistake most people make with this fence-hedgerow perimeter is that they do not bring the fence up the side of the driveway to the walkway. Ideally, you can put a small, lockable gate at this threshold, but at a minimum you need to bring the gate up to the walkway. The purpose of this is to create a point that an intruder/attacker must walk through. This is the point where one of your security cameras will be positioned to get a good view. Ideally still, you will create a fatal funnel that keeps people on the pathway through your combined use of fencing and/or landscaping. Consider hiring a gardener to recommend options as well. If you want a more modern look, you can have boulders and rock brought in to make a barrier that is aesthetically pleasing and functional.

The Back Yard

Do not assume that an intruder will not come from the side or back of your house. Most people pay little attention to the back yard, because the fence in the back is usually a little higher than the front. In most places it is illegal to put barb wire up around your house to keep people from coming over your fence. (This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have some available if the SHTF.) You can, however, use environmental design to prevent people from coming over the fence. If it’s not feasible to keep someone off your fence (if they’re really determined), then consider what they are landing on– plants, rocks, boulders, thorn bushes, cactus. Unstable ground is a good deterrent to keep people from coming over. We’ll talk about dogs at the end.

Side Entry

The side gate is a commonly overlooked piece of home fortification. Many people leave their side gates unlocked. It goes without saying that you should lock your side gate. Also, consider getting galvanized trash cans for the side of your house. If someone wants to come to your side gate, then they will have to move the cans out of the way. This is generally a noisy endeavor. The cans can later be filled with water and used as barrier devices if necessary.

The Middle Ring

A lot of people put security screens on their front door, but they completely forget about the back door or the door in the garage. A security screen is not enough. You need to harden the actual threshold of the door and install a hardened door. I recommend the Armor Concepts high quality door reinforcement kit for your threshold. Install this when upgrading to a solid door. Do this upgrade at every entry point. Also, install pick- and bump-resistant locks.

Glass

All glass on your house should be lined with security film. You can do this yourself or hire a residential window tinting service. I recommend finding a professional who has experience installing security film. The film must be anchored properly or the entire window will come out of the frame in one piece when someone tries to break it. It goes without saying that we want to plant some type of bush under or around our windows. A lot of people think thorn bushes are best, but consider that you may need to escape out of a window at some point as well. What we really want to do with bushes around windows is keep people from being able to approach the window directly.

The Ground

Probably the one thing no one considers is what is on the ground around your house. Is it nice soft grass or bark that an intruder can quietly sneak around on? Or, do you have rock? No one is sneaking around your house on rock. This doesn’t mean you should rock your whole yard, but consider installing nice 2-3” river rock on the pathways and perimeter of your house. Again, a good gardener is an excellent resource for this.

CCTV

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this topic. Everyone knows what CCTV is and generally how to use it. I will say that I don’t recommend wireless cameras, and I do not recommend a third-party monitoring system for your cameras. Wi-Fi is not secure, and I do not trust other people who could potentially allow me to be watched when I’m not aware of it. Install your own cameras and hard wire them to a recording device that is mounted in a gun safe. Do not connect your cameras to the Internet, ever. Also, if you install cameras inside your house, make sure you do not have audio recording. Audio/video recording has gotten people into big trouble with the law for unintentionally violating eavesdropping statutes.

Monitoring

Do you travel frequently? Do you leave loved ones at home alone for long periods of time? Aside from not giving a third-party access to CCTV systems, it may be in your best interest to hire a security monitoring company for other things. Third party companies can provide panic buttons, perimeter alarms, and motion detection services.

Inner Ring

Rarely do people have hardened safe rooms like you see in the movies. You should however pick a rally point within the home that the entire house can retreat to. I usually recommend the master bathroom. Bathrooms do not have windows and are generally more structurally sound than other rooms. With that being said, you will need to harden the threshold and door to the bathroom or whatever room you choose. Within the bathroom or safe room should be a gun and a phone that is both secure, but easily accessible by those you want to have access to it. For the phone, buy an inexpensive pre-paid flip phone and leave it in the room on the charger. You should not need to pre-pay services for 911 calls, but I would still recommend leaving a small number of minutes on the phone at all times. If you choose a third party monitoring service, have a panic button installed in this room as well. Remember, if you’re retreating to this room, it is because there is a true emergency and your life is in danger.

Security Dog vs. Alert Dog

Remember we discussed installing rock around the house? This is one of the reasons why. The rocks are to alert you and your dog to the presence of others. Many people recommend traditional security dogs, like German Shepard’s or Rottweilers. If you go this route, spend the extra money and buy a dog from a reputable breeder. You do not want a dog that is overly aggressive. Personally, I would rather have a small alert dog. A Pug makes a great alert dog. They’re small and easy to maintain in an emergency. (They will eat little food compared to a big dog and they’re noisy!) They will bark at anything and everything they hear outside. Personally, I like that. I like being able to be alerted to the presence of potential danger and being able to make the decision about how to handle it. There’s also nothing wrong with having a mixed pack, but remember when the SHTF you will have more mouths to feed.

Hopefully, after you’ve read this, you will evaluate your own home security and fortification. The idea is to use a strategy or philosophy to achieve home security, not just buy a bunch of off-the-shelf products. Personally, I like the three rings. I’ve seen it used many times on government buildings, and it’s proven effective. The challenge for you and me is to maintain a high level of security while also not drawing attention to ourselves. Good luck, take care, and God bless.