Odds ‘n Sods:

I just noticed that KeepShooting.com (one of our advertisers) has a sale on for Swedish Army surplus M90 Winter Parkas, in olive drab. You will have to do your homework on getting the right size, with the metric sizing, but what a bargain! They also have many other items on sale. (See their Sale Page.) – JWR

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Safecastle, one of our other advertisers has a blowout sale on the Montague folding bike underway.

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Reader S.F. sent in this link to a Nova special on the CyberWar Threat. While the entire episode is worth mentioning, starting at the 38:00 minute mark is a demonstration that is particularly alarming. Even more alarming than the demonstration though is the fact that the DHS released a public report with a map showing how the entire electrical grid of the U.S. could be taken down by performing that sort of cyber attack on as few as nine substations.

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Quoting W.B. Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming”, GJL sent in this: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” Migrant crisis pushing Germany towards ‘anarchy and civil war’

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Reader RBS sent in this link. Gender Identity Gone Wild: Male Cross Dressers to Begin Showering With Girls. One more reason to homeschool your children…More taxpayer-funded insanity.

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In an incredibly disturbing expose, The Intercept exposes a program that used Evangelical Christian NGOs as a front for North Korea Espionage. Of all the colossally stupid things a government can do, endangering the lives of every humanitarian worker and missionary has to rank as one of the worst. Now every humanitarian aid program will be suspect and even expats may be in danger.

Notes for Tuesday – November 03, 2015

On November 3, 1903, Walker Evans, the American photographer best known for his portrayal of America during the Great Depression, was born.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 61 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, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have 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 pmags 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 from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value),
  5. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  6. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  7. Twenty-five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 Lifestraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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 61 ends on November 30th, 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.

Six Prepping Principles Derived from One Year as an Expat- Part 1, by G.L.

About a year and a half ago, my company offered an expatriate assignment for a period of between two and three years. For those who don’t know, an expatriate assignment is where an employee and his or her family is relocated to another country (from now on referred to as the “assignment country”). In large corporations, this generally includes certain benefits to make the transition easier and “worth it” to the employee. For our family, this news came at a great time from a career point of view and for the age or our kids and what an international move would mean to them. It was really bad timing from the point of view of our preps. We had just signed a contract on a homestead property, and we were looking forward to building out some infrastructure and starting plans for a house.

I began writing this soon after we moved, one year ago. I thought I had something to say then. After a year, the good intentions have been tempered by some reality and a little experience. On the other hand, the lessons learned have been important in a more profound way. I want to present here the six basic principles we used as we planned the move, thought about our preps, and how those principles impacted and were formed by what we have done while on the expat assignment. I think these will be useful to many of you, especially those of you living in an urban or suburban home with an expectation of bugging out to a retreat. So, when you see “assignment country”, you may benefit more by substituting “suburban/urban home”.

Background

First of all, I am a mid-forties, mid-to-high-level executive in the company for which I work. I have a family with homeschooled kids, ages ranging from pre-teen to mid-teen. We have been prepping actively since 2011 but had been involved in prepping activities for longer than that. Our preps have been focused on a homestead based approach, mostly thinking in terms of economic collapse as a trigger for the end times and preparation for the second coming of the Lord. Based on our understanding of Biblical prophecy, we expect violence, natural disaster, pandemic, and other trials as part of the tribulation building up to the coming of our Savior.

First Principle: Right or Wrong, Commit!

When we decided to accept the expat assignment, we had to go through the preparations we were making to see how we would adapt to the new situation. We considered what the scenarios would be in terms of what would happen if things started to unwind while we were in the assignment country. We considered the timing of possible events in the context of the short timeframe of our assignment. In order of likelihood we ranked them as follows:

  1. We are moved back to the U.S. in an orderly way, and our things arrive as expected.
  2. We are evacuated from the assignment country and arrive in the U.S. with only what we are carrying.
  3. We are stuck in country with no conventional way to return to the U.S.

Obviously, when the balloon goes up, any of the above or a combination thereof could happen, and such discrete scenarios are unlikely if for no other reason than the discreteness of them. For each scenario, one could think of 1,000 possible permutations. These many possible eventualities can become a distraction. In order to optimally commit resources, one must focus. I had a basketball coach who said, “Right or wrong, commit.” Some of us may use our best judgement and end up making a less than optimal decision. This will be better than no decision. No decision will mean we are collecting gear with no clarity about why. This seems to be a common issue for those just starting out: overwhelmed by the possibilities, they fail to focus on building and executing a plan.

Of course, in our situation, I am limiting my conversation to scenarios related to how we get home. In the larger context of preparing, there are many more scenarios to take into account. For example, if you are preparing primarily for EMP, your priorities would dictate that you accumulate the skills and stuff that will support that scenario first. You probably have not left out having a stash of basic stuff and skills that would be needed in a pandemic; you have focused first on your faraday cage or tools that don’t require electricity. You also recognize that many scenarios could be chain reactions where, after an EMP, a pandemic breaks out. Prepping is like peeling an onion; the more you do, the more you realize you need to do. In my view and experience, failing to prioritize leads to a shotgun approach that is doomed to serious flaws. You may eventually get there, but you will spend more, and it will take longer.

That said, prioritizing does not mean that less likely scenarios are excluded. Our preparations are still focused on the homestead in the U.S. However, even though we believe that we will be able to return to the U.S. with our belongings, we have some preps in place for the other two scenarios. We decided that the expense of fully preparing for the least probable scenario did not warrant special focus because those resources would be better used elsewhere. When we consider these, we cannot ignore any of the possible situations we could find ourselves in; we have to prioritize or commit to something. As I go through the rest of the principles, I will show how each action supports preparation for one of the three scenarios.

Second Principle: Two is One, One is None

This common saying among preppers has special meaning when you have two locations to think about, especially when one is thousands of miles away from the other.

First of all, based on our scenario analysis, we wanted to have preps set aside for the homestead location and continue to invest in that. Looking at this in the long-term view meant that any investment we made would most likely end up back at the homestead after our assignment ended. Taken to an extreme, we could assume that leaving preps in the U.S. was not necessary, since we would most likely be back with our things. However, this would have left us with nothing at the homestead should scenario two play out. We decided to approach this move as an opportunity to double up some key preps, leaving one set near the homestead and taking one set with us. When we began planning the move, one of the main considerations was making sure we had one of the basics for each location. Our view is that when we move back to the U.S., assuming that happens, we will have two of the basics. Some examples:

  1. Berkey water filter
  2. Pressure canner and supplies for canning (the movers weren’t happy about those glass jars!)
  3. Sewing machine
  4. Grain grinder
  5. Tents and camping gear
  6. First aid supplies
  7. Kitchen basics, like knives, et cetera
  8. Tools (basic home tool set, some woodworking tools, and very basic mechanics tools)
  9. Survival library (Here, we did not double up on titles but on subject matter, having now two or more books on each major topic.)

For scenario one, we have two of almost all key preps. For scenario two, we have at least one of every key prep pre-positioned near our retreat. This also assured that we would have the basics in the assignment country in case of a scenario like scenario three.

While this investment will hopefully allow us to develop redundancy in these key preps when we are living on our retreat property, in the meantime we have redundancy in most categories in both locations by having multiple ways to accomplish the same thing. For example, we have several different water filters. We also have a fairly deep supply of consumables in both locations, first aid being the most relevant example in this case.

Third Principle: Only What You Can Carry

The above needed to be balanced by the possibility of scenario two. If we were to receive a call from the embassy telling us to pack quickly and meet for evacuation, what would we be able to carry with us? It is imperative to be able to carry the bulk of the preps with us in the assignment country back to the U.S. in all but the most extreme scenarios. My thinking was that the items that are included in the general household goods shipment (shipped by sea and takes about two or three months to arrive) cannot be considered essential preps for the homestead location.

Especially important was the possibility that we would be affected by the lack of those things that we might have to leave behind in a rushed exit. So, even though we believe scenario one is most likely, we did not want to cavalierly take everything with us to the assignment country and then not have key preps in the U.S., especially considering that the homestead property would be more likely to require certain preps that we really could not use adequately in the assignment country.

The criteria we followed went something like this:

The item went with us if:

  • It was essential to have in the assignment country (scenario two or three), regardless of the impact to the preps in the U.S. and regardless of the ability to carry it back.
  • It could be used in the assignment country but would not impact preps in the U.S.
  • It could be used in the assignment country and could be carried back.

The item stayed near the homestead if:

  • It was illegal or prohibited either for travel or in the assignment country.
  • It could not be used fully in the assignment country.
  • It would seriously impact preps in the U.S. and was not able to return with us under scenario two.

Some examples of things we left stored near the homestead:

  • Firearms and ammunition
  • Farming and gardening tools, equipment
  • Storage food
  • Bench or floor-mounted power tools (non-hand tools)
  • Mechanics tools for automotive repair

When we think through this, our baggage in an evacuation scenario would be similar to a bug-out bag with essential camping gear, some freeze-dried food, et cetera. If additional baggage were permitted, we would work down the list included in the “Two is one, one is none” section until our baggage limitation was reached. Of course, some duplicates from above, might end up being sacrificed in certain scenarios. The alternate backups for each task are still in place meaning there is no loss in duplication of function, just loss of duplication of the items.

Letter Re: .40 S&W by Bruce F.

HJL,

A while ago I bought a Glock 22 4th Gen .40 caliber hand gun. In my opinion, this was one of the best buys I ever made. In all the firing I have done with this gun, I have had only one malfunction and that was a stovepipe piece of .22LR brass. (There’s more on that brass later.) The Glock 22 does have a considerable recoil in .40 caliber but not so much to make it uncomfortable for a grown man. I’m 73 years old now; maybe I’ll change my mind as I get older. The Gen 4 was supposed to have reduced the recoil, but since I have never fired a Gen 3 I cannot attest to that.

Now for the good part about the Glock 22. This gun, while designed to fire .40S&W ammunition, can be modified easily to fire 9mm Luger and .22LR ammunition. To fire 9mm, all that is needed is to change the barrel to 9mm. Wolf sells this conversion barrel. Everything else on the Glock 22 remains the same, EVEN the magazine! To fire .22LR ammunition the conversion is a little more involved, but it’s no harder. Tactical Solutions sells the kit. This includes the entire upper slide, including the barrel. The magazine must be changed as well. Two barrels are separately offered– one plain and one with a threaded extension that will accept a suppressor.

The Glock 22 and the Glock 19 use the same lower assembly, but the uppers are different. The Glock 22 upper is more robust to account for the increased pressure from the .40S&W round. CAUTION: the conversion can go only from the .40S&W to the 9mm Luger and not the other way around. The Glock 19 CANNOT be converted to fire the .40S&W. Another CAUTION is to make sure the conversion that you get is specifically for the generation Glock you have. The conversions for the Gen 3 and Gen 4 are different!

All of this allows you to shoot your Glock 22 in many calibers/mm. Basically, you get three guns in one. You get the BIG GUN feel even when shooting .22LR, and ammunition is less expensive for the smaller rounds. I have no affiliation with Glock, Wolf, or Tactical Solutions. – Mac C.

News From The American Redoubt:

Democrat Boise Mayor Bieter has publicly announced he is looking forward to the impact these immigrants will have on Idaho. Elections are coming up in a few days, and Judy Peavy Derr is the only candidate opposing this economical, cultural, health, and criminal assault on our community. As usual, the Idaho Statesman newspaper has chosen not to oppose or discuss anything politically controversial. It will require unity of all of Idaho’s reform organizations to rally and halt the alien invasion that is promoted by democrats and Idaho’s rinos and being unleashed on our state. Idaho & America’s Destruction Now At A Whole New Level !

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Sent in by RBS: Oregon Girl Tests Positive for Bubonic Plague

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SurvivalBlog reader D.S. sent in this link about a local Adams county rancher that was shot and killed by Sheriff’s deputies. This story has some very odd issues in it, and the story needs more detail. We’ll be watching this one.

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It seems the news out of the Redoubt this week is mostly bad with another death on the hands of authorities: Lawsuit Says Man Died After Begging Jailers For Three Weeks For Medical Aid

Economics and Investing:

Most retailers finally make it into the black during this season, but according to this link sent in by RBS, that may not be happening: Morgan Stanley predicts a bleak holiday season for most retailers

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In a surprise finding, it turns out that the US has overtaken the Caymans and Singapore as a haven for the assets of the super-rich. Sent in by GJM

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

National Debt Likely Doubles During Obama Presidency – While this is awful, we must not forget that Obama is not alone in this; nearly all his modern predecessors stretching back to Nixon ALL doubled the national debt, with two exceptions Clinton did not, and Reagan actually increased the debt not just 100% but actually 150%.

Historical Debt Outstanding – For those interested you can see the cut thorough all the political spin and see the hard numbers reported every year for the debt outstanding for the U.S. going back to 1790.

Items from Professor Preponomics:

Ghost Cities Finally Died: Worst Outlook Ever for China’s Steel Industry (Zero Hedge) Hint: China can no longer afford to allow any insolvency that could lead to a bankruptcy cascade. This will add ever more to deflationary capacity.

World Bank Threatens Free Markets in Peru: Absence of Regulation Equals Underdevelopment (Mises Daily) Hint: It must be time for the World Bank to intervene!

World Stocks On Course for Best Month in Four Years (Reuters) Hint: It’s all about the central banks.

Chevron Posts Fourth Straight Quarterly Profit Decline: Plans to Lay-Off 6,000 to 7,000 (Bloomberg)

Glencore Copper Mine Shut-Down to Hurt Fragile Zambian Economy (Bloomberg) Hint: If commodity pricing does not improve, mine closures may only delay temporarily the market consequences some investors have not yet experienced in the markets of the industrialized world.

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader RC21 sent this link to a Reuters investigative report that looks at radio stations in the U.S. held by companies connected to the Chinese government. Examples of the Chinese point of view, what we used to call propaganda, is being broadcast in America.

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From across the pond, SurvivalBlog reader A.P. sent in this link. It seems that anyone who’s ever been on a camping holiday can now be labelled a “Survivalist”. Gorseinon man with ‘apocalyptic’ vision of world ending jailed for possessing illegal weapons

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Sent in by P.S.: Faced with a local ISP that couldn’t provide modern broadband, Orcas Island residents designed their ownnetwork and built it themselves. The nonprofit Doe Bay Internet Users Association (DBIUA), founded by Sutton, Brems, and a few friends, now provide Internet service to a portion of the island. It’s a wireless network with radios installed on trees and houses in the Doe Bay portion of Orcas Island. Those radios get signals from radios on top of a water tower, which in turn receive a signal from a microwave tower across the water in Mount Vernon, Washington.

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The rule of law shows major cracks when the Feds can send a man to jail for overfishing at the same time 6000 drug convicts are freed. Sent in by reader B.B.

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RBS sent in this link to an article about one of the most dangerous volcanoes in North America roaring to life.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.” – Karl Popper

Notes for Monday – November 02, 2015

On November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour submitted a declaration of intent to establish a Jewish homeland known as the Balfour Declaration. While Arab hostilities and the outbreak of World War II delayed the desired outcome, the Nation of Israel was eventually re-established in 1948.

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A reminder to those sending in articles for the writing contest. All contest articles sent in to SurvivalBlog must be the author’s original work and must not be published or submitted to publish anywhere else. If your article is submitted to other blogs, it is automatically disqualified from publication and the contest. – HJL

Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Walther CCP

I still remember the very first Walther handgun I ever owned. I owned it for less than a week. Bear with me; I had just purchased a brand new Walther PPK/s .380 in stainless steel. I still have the receipt showing I paid $125 for it back in 1973. I was working as a private investigator (PI) at the time and living back in Chicago, IL, where you had to register your handguns within 30 days of bringing them into the city. There were no gun shops in the city proper, so you had to purchase handguns at neighboring suburban gun shops. To the best of my knowledge, there still are no gun shops inside the city limits of Chicago.

I only had the handgun a few days, when on my way home after working late one evening on a stake out I was stopped by the Chicago PD for no reason at all other than it was about 1:00AM in the morning. As they patted me down, again with no legal reason to do so, they found my PPK/s in a shoulder holster. I explained that I was a PI and coming home from a stake out. I thought there’d be no problem, I’d just show them my badge and ID and I’d be on my way, right? Wrong! I had left my badge and ID back at the office. I was hauled into the local police district and charged with unlawful use of a weapon and carrying an unregistered handgun. Of course, the “unlawful use of a weapon” sounded like maybe I pistol-whipped someone; it was just the fact that I was carrying concealed, period! No matter what I said, they wouldn’t even let me make a phone call so my boss could run to the office and bring my badge and ID to the police station to clear matters up! I was released the next morning.

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When I went to court, I showed the judge my badge, ID, and a letter from my boss stating that I was working that evening. The case was dismissed with all charges dropped. However, the judge told me in order to get my Walther PPK/s back, I had to get proof of registration before it would be released to me. Okay. That’s no big deal. I ran down to city hall and filled out the registration form. A little more than a month later, I received my registration in the mail and went down to the Chicago Police property room to get my PPK/s back. There I was informed that they only hold firearms for 30 days, and then they are destroyed.

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Okay, does anyone believe that ridiculous story? I know. I didn’t back then, but it wasn’t worth hiring a lawyer to fight it. I believe with all my heart that to this day some Chicago cop is still walking around with my PPK/s. Enough said!

I recently purchased a Walther CCP (Concealed Carry Pistol) from my local gun shop, or maybe I traded into it. Whatever! The CCP feels incredible in the hand. It’s one of the best-feeling handguns I’ve held in a lot of years, and the wife loved the way it felt, too. The CCP is a 9mm handgun that operates on a gas-delayed blowback action instead of the Browning design or a straight blow back action. The gun is very soft-shooting to be sure. Walther calls this their “Softcoil” technology. I guess they had to come up with some name for it, and I’ll conceded that the recoil feels softer than many other compact 9mm handguns I’ve fired. You can read all about this Softcoil technology on the Walther website, if you are interested.

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My sample had a polymer black frame and satin finished stainless steel slide and adjustable sights of the three dot variety for a fast sight picture. There is also a Picatinny rail, if you want to attach a laser or light to the frame of the gun. Cocking serrations are front and rear on the side of the slide. The trigger pull was outstanding at 5.5 lbs. It’s hard to explain but easy to feel if you check one out at your local gun shop. The thumb safety is just big enough but not too big for proper use without shifting your grip on the gun; it’s nice! The gripping surface on the frame was really well done and felt great!

The CCP also comes with two 8-rd magazines, and spares can be found for around $36, which is a bit spendy, but you should have more than one spare mag, if you ask me. Barrel length is 3.54 inches, and the gun weighs 22-oz empty. Plus, the gun comes with a limited lifetime warranty! There is also a full-time ambidextrous magazine release, which is another really nice touch.

Okay. Enough of the boring stats. We need to take a close look at the CCP and see how it performed for me. I carried the gun for two weeks in a Blackhawk Products generic-type belt slide holster, and the gun rode nice and tight against my body. Of course, I also carried a spare mag on my off-side.

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I had an outstanding assortment of various 9mm from Black Hills Ammunition and Buffalo Bore Ammunition to run through the CCP, and I fired more than 400-rds through the CCP during my testing. From Black Hills, I had their 115-gr FMJ, 115-gr JHP +P, 124-gr JHP +P and their 115-gr Barnes TAC-XP all copper hollow point +P ammo. From Buffalo Bore, I had their 147-gr Hard Cast Outdoorsman load +P, 147-gr FMJ-FN Subsonic load, 115-gr Barnes TAC-XP all copper hollow point +P+ and their 1240-gr FMJ-FN +P+ load.

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One thing worth noting is that some handguns that operate under a delayed piston-blow back recoil operation sometimes get very hot from the escaping gases under the barrel and inside the frame. So, I ran three mags through the gun as fast as could pull the trigger. While the gun felt a little warm, it wasn’t hot to the touch, and if you find yourself in a position with a handgun and you’ve fired three mags as fast as you can pull the trigger, then you might want to think about carrying an AR-15 with you instead of a handgun. Remember, the CCP was designed for personal self-defense, not offensive use.

I had no malfunctions, until I tried some of the Buffalo Bore +P+ 9mm loads. Then the CCP turned into a total jam-a-matic. The empty brass would not extract from the chamber of the gun, and I had to drop the mag and pull on the extractor with my handy-dandy Leatherman multi-tool in order to relieve the tension on the empty case and then pry the case out, once I locked the slide open. This happened again and again but only with +P+ loads. As I have mentioned before, no gun maker warranties their guns for +P+ ammo. None! Still, I try to test a variety of ammo through firearms for my articles, to find any weak points and to see which loads perform the best. It didn’t matter which +P+ loads I used from Buffalo Bore, it locked the gun up solid. It is not the fault of the ammo; it’s the delayed piston operation, which was keeping the empty brass in the chamber a fraction of a second too long and tying the gun up. It’s not something you want to happen to you during a gunfight!

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I performed my accuracy testing from only 15 yards instead of 25 yards, and all loads (even the P+P loads) were in the 3 1/2 inch range, which is not bad at all. There was one stand out and that was the Black Hills 115-gr JHP +P load. So long as I did my part, I was getting groups just a hair under 3 inches, but I think the gun could do even better. By this time, I was frustrated with the +P+ loads tying the gun up on me and was losing patience in my shooting skills. Hot off the heels of the Black Hills load was the Buffalo Bore 147-gr FMJ-FN subsonic load!

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Now, for the fun part– cleaning the gun. Um, I found out in a minute that it takes at least three hands, though four would be better, along with a specially-provided tool to disassemble the CCP. In short order, I discarded the tool and used a small screw driver. I won’t go into how totally frustrating it was to tear down the CCP just for basic cleaning. You can read about it on the Internet; it’s all over the place. Putting the gun back together was a little easier, but three hands still worked better than two hands. I had my lovely wife assisting me with a third and sometimes a fourth hand. Still, it shouldn’t have been that difficult to break the CCP down for a basic cleaning and a light lube job. I tore the gun down a dozen times; while it did get a little easier, it was still a monumental task, if you ask me, and it shouldn’t be!

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All-in-all, I really liked the CCP. It was more than accurate, felt great in the hand, and handled everything I fed through it, other than +P+ loads. (Steer clear of them, please!) As always, test your gun with the ammo you want to carry in it.

My final thoughts on the CCP? Well, it’s a great little gun. It feels good and shoots good. However, with the difficult procedure required to tear the gun down for basic cleaning and having to use a tool, I wouldn’t care to have this gun for the “end times”. It’s just too complicated for my liking. For everyday carry, yep, it’s a nice little gun but not one I’d want to bet my life on in the long term, when constant maintenance is required to keep the gun up and running. Plus, the tool that Walther provides in a cheap piece of plastic; a small, flat-tipped screw driver worked better. The CCP is going for $425 in my neck of the woods, and it’s a good buy, but I traded mine off after testing it for this article. I don’t want anything that is going to be complicated to maintain during a SHTF scenario. For everyday use, the CCP is fine, but it isn’t on the top of my list for long-term, hard core use. It gets one and a half thumbs up and not two thumbs up from me.

– Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio

Recipe of the Week: Hambone Delight, by K.D.

Ingredients:

  • 1 ham bone (crack the bone if you want the marrow by placing bone in a heavy paper bag, giving it a whack with a hammer, and removing the bone, throwing away any shards)
  • 1 lb small, dried red or pink beans, soaked at least overnight and up to 24 hours, rinsed, and drained
  • 1 cup or more of chopped fresh or frozen spinach
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 1-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • pepper, to taste
  • one bay leaf
  • cumin, to taste
  • 6 cups hot cooked rice
  • chopped green onion, as optional side

Directions:

  1. Place ham bone in the bottom of a large pot, and dump the beans on top.
  2. Add the bay leaf, cumin, pepper, and 6 cups water.
  3. Heat to a boil, then turn down to simmer.
  4. Sauté the onion until it’s translucent, add the minced garlic cloves for a minute, and then dump both in the pot.
  5. Simmer all day, stiring occasionally and scraping the loose meat off the bone. (I like to start this in the morning and let it simmer ALL day.)
  6. An hour before dinner, remove ham bone and mash some of the beans against the side of the pot to thicken the remaining liquid, or put two ladles in the blender and then add back to the pot.
  7. To serve, place one scoop of cooked rice on every plate and serve the hambone delight over rice with chopped green onion on the side.

Note: Is it good? Very! Feel free to add anything else that tickles your fancy, like sausage, carrots, or whatever else.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Letter Re: .40 S&W

HJL,

I concur with Bruce F. regarding the 0.40 cal. buying opportunity presented by the fickle gun crowd. It’s almost comical to read the gun gurus slamming the same caliber they were praising some years ago. I just wanted to point out one more, plus regarding the used Glocks in .40 that were mentioned, you can simply drop a .357 Sig barrel in them, and suddenly the G23 is a G32, or the G22 becomes a G31! Even the mags are interchangeable, as the base diameter of the .40 S&W and the .357 Sig are the same. Furthermore, drop in a 9mm conversion barrel, get a 9mm mag, and now you have a functional approximation of a G19 or G17. (I’ve read that the extractor is a bit different due to the difference in case size, but it certainly works in a pinch.) So, if you can pick up a good used Glock in .40 S&W with a couple of hundred bucks more, you can have a pistol that fires three different calibers! That’s not bad! – SH in TX

Economics and Investing:

American Tax Refugees. Why so many Yanks are renouncing their U.S. citizenship. Sent in by G.G.

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The Chinese Juggernaut is stumbling lately as seen by this article sent in by G.P.

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

Regulators to Shutter Health Republic Insurance of New York (Wall Street Journal)

Social Security Strategy Loopholes used to Maximize Benefits Closed in Budget Deal (Market Watch)

New No Money Down Mortgages: Wealth Building Home Loans (Financial Advisor Magazine)

Risk to Loss of Banking Revenue Rises with Digital Transactions (Gallup)

FBI Alerts: Common Fraud Schemes (FBI)

Number of Dollar Stores Expected to Exceed 30,000 in 2016 (My Budget 360)

The Mises Week in Review: Fed Reaffirms Easy Money & More (Mises Institute)

The Greek Crisis Continues: Greek Banks Need $14B Euros to Cover Unpaid Loans (Reuters)

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader D.S. sent in this link showing some disturbing links between the pharmaceutical industry and known issues that get swept under the rug: The Pharmaceutical Empire is Evil

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Reader T.P. sent in the link to this video showing the death of the Liberal Arts in our modern universities. A UCLA degree in English Literature mandates courses in alternative lifestyles but has no required class on Shakespeare– one of the greatest English authors?

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The cable television series The Man in the High Castle will be available November 20, 2015 on Amazon.com. (Free for Amazon Prime members.) For now, just the first two episodes are available, but on November 20th, the full season will become available. Based on a novel by Phillip K. Dick, it shows an alternate timeline, where Germany and Japan won World War II and invaded the United States.

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Is having a loving family an unfair advantage? Sent in by SurvivalBlog reader T.P.

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As if you needed another one: One more reason to homeschool your children – Va. schools implementing gender identity policy changes without informing parents – D.S.