The 5th National Preppers and Survivalists (NPS) Expo is scheduled for October 10-11, 2015 in Louisville, Kentucky at the Louisville Convention Center.
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The latest Thoughts From Frank and Fern: A Group of Your Own
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Pat Condell: Goodbye to the First Amendment
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Patrice Lewis: The Stupidity of Gun-Free Zones
“Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself. The labor of his body and the work of his hands are properly his.” – John Locke
October 5, 1703 was the birthday of Jonathan Edwards. He was a prolific Calvinist theological writer. Many of his writings were later collected in the multi-volume book The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, edited by John Gerstner. Edwards died March 22, 1758.
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We are pleased to announce that we are adding one more new prize for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest, starting with Round 61, which is in progress. DisasterStuff.com is kindly donating one of their Berkey-compatible 5-gallon bucket filter systems, complete with four black Berkey filter elements. This is a $245 value. It will be part of the Second Prize package.
When I worked full-time for the Illinois National Guard I was on their rifle and pistol team. At the time I was only 18 years old – but I was an Expert (military earned) shot with a long gun. We were issued match-grade M14s and all matches were shot with open sights – and our team used to beat the pants off of other shooters, with scoped rifles. I was a “novice” or so they rated me as such, and I handily bet every shooter I was placed against. I can’t attribute my shooting skills to the military training. I was trained by two country cousins, Moe and Abner – their real names – down in Kentucky when I was only 15 years old,. And it was their training stayed with me. Moe was confined to a wheelchair after an auto accident, and Abner, had just recently returned from Vietnam, where he was a military police officer. Shooting came easy to Abner, and he taught me not only aimed shooting, he also taught me point shooting.
There aren’t a lot of tricks or secrets when it comes to long-range shooting with a rifle. You have to have a good sight picture, and proper trigger control, and control your breathing. And, of course, it helps when you have a good rifle and ammo, too. I think it might be a toss-up, as to which is the most important skill to master – trigger control or sight picture. I believe,in my case, trigger control was the hardest to learn and master. I’ve shot some long-range matches in my neck of the woods–if you can call 200-yards “long range”–and handily beat those who invited me. They haven’t invited me back fora rematch, either. I’m not a spring chicken any longer, as a matter of fact, I collect Social Security these days. However, I believe my shooting skills have improved over the years, instead of degrading.
If a rifle (or handgun) isn’t accurate, I’m not the least bit interested in them. Most rifles off the rack, are okay shooters, and will get the job done hunting deer in the field. I’ve personally never shot a deer beyond 150 yards,and most were taken at 100 yards or less. That is not much of a challenge.However, I’ve seen many slob hunters out there, taking 500+ yard shots at deer and elk, and they didn’t even come close to hitting them. They had no idea where their bullets even went, and had no idea the drop or trajectory of the ammo they were using. Most deer hunters sight their rifles in at 1″ high at100-yards and call it good – and it doesn’t matter what caliber they are using- they sight their guns in the same – hitting 1″ high at 100-yards. Guess that is good enough, if you aren’t shooting at game more than a couple hundred yards away. However, I like to know where my shots are going to hit – at any range.
The Ruger Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. Precision Rifle was recently released, and I’m here to tell you, it is one of the hottest sellers on the market these days. Ruger is doing all they can to keep up with demand.the Ruger Precision Rifle is available in three calibers, .243 Winchester, 6.5Creedmoor and .308 Winchester, and I understand that, the 6.5 Creedmoor is currently the hottest seller. I readily admit that, I have never fired any rifle chamber in 6.5 Creedmoor, but I understand it is an outstanding round that many long-range shooters use in competition.
I requested a sample from Ruger, and it shipped right away. The gun has so many features, I don’t even know where to begin, and I won’t cover them all,you can read more on the Ruger web site. I’ll start with what I usually save for last, and that is the retail price. Full retail is $1,399.00 any model. Now, don’t get too upset over this, until you read more about this rifle. First of all, this rifle was not designed to be a “hunting” rifle, although it can sure be used as one–with a 5-round magazine–since many states restrict you to5 rounds in the magazine. And, here’s where the Precision Rifle shines, it comes with two MagPul 10-round mags, however, because of the clever design,this rifle will also function with SR-25, DPMS and some modified M-14 magazines- which means you can probably find a 5-round mag for hunting if you wish to use this rifle for big game hunting.
The Ruger Precision Rifle, is, without a doubt designed for long-range target/competition shooting. And as such, it is priced far less than anything else in it’s class. If you’ll take a close look at several of the pictures attached with this article, the complicated-looking stock, just smacks of one designed for long-range shooting, and it would be one heck of a sniper’s rifle for our military, or or any military. I thought that the stock was complicated,however, once you get it adjusted for length of pull and height – you don’t have to adjust it again. Oh sure, perhaps tweak the adjustments, as needed,based on your clothing – but it really isn’t all that complicated as I first thought it was. Additionally, the stock folds to the left side of the receiver.
We have a medium contour barrel that is .75″ at the threaded muzzle. The muzzle actually has a cap protector on it, and if you elect, you can add a flash suppressor or even a registered sound suppressor attached to the 5/8″-24threads. The barrel is also easily replaced by a trained gunsmith, with an AR wrench and proper head space gauges. The barrel is also cold hammer forged 4140chrome moly steel. The handguard is the popular KeyMod, that is rapidly becoming the standard on ARs these days – easy to attach accessories to it. The rifle’s bolt has three locking lugs, and a 70-degree throw – pretty short for fast follow-up shots. The bolt operates very smoothly, too. I should also mention that, the barrel is free-floated, giving you every ounce of accuracy you can wring out the gun.
At first glance, the Ruger Precision Rifle, looks all the world like a big-bore AR-15 style of rifle, until you notice the bolt on the right side.There is also a pistol grip, and the safety control is in the same spot, where you’d find it on an AR-15 style rifle – so if you are familiar with the AR-15,the Ruger Precision Rifle will be familiar to you. I also liked the over-sized bolt handle, easy to find and operate, even with gloves on. Nice touch, Ruger!
The upper receiver has Picatinny Rails, for easy mounting of a scope and anyWeaver rings easily attach. In-hand, the rifle just feels, for all the world,like a slightly large AR-15, and that’s a good thing, if you’re already an AR owner/shooter. Ruger also added their Marksman Adjustable Trigger, and it can be set from 2.25-lbs to 5.0-lbs. My sample was right at 3.25-lbs and I left it there. The Hex wrench for adjusting trigger pull is stored in the bolt shroud,as is a bolt disassembly tool.
The .308 Win sample has a 20-inch barrel and weighs in at 9.70-lbs without a scope, Overall length varies, depending on where you adjust your butt stock,but it can be from 38.25-inches to 41.75-inches. With the stock folded to the side, it is 30.60 inches in length. Length of pull can be adjust from12.00-inches to 15.50-inches, so it should fit most shooters of all sizes.
There are other features, that I don’t want to bore our readers with, so please check out the Ruger web site for complete information and instructions.
I was anxious to get this Ruger Precision Rifle, out to the range, and see what it could do. I mounted a (borrowed) Night Force 5.5-20X56mm scope on it,and it was more than I needed. Unfortunately, we had several heat waves in my part of Oregon this past summer, and most of the spots I used for long-range shooting were closed so I had to limit my shooting to only 100-yards – sad! I only had two types of ammunition on-hand for testing, both from Black Hills Ammunition – one was their168-gr Match Hollow Point, and their other their slightly heavier 175-gr MatchHollow Point.
I shot the rifle over the hood of my pick-up truck, using a rolled-up sleeping bag for a rest. Not the best way to get the most accuracy from any type of firearm, especially when testing a rifle designed for long-range hooting. I’m sure with a bipod and going prone, I could have gotten a bit more accuracy out of the Ruger. The gun, in .308 Win weights in at 9.70-lbs and the weight helped me stabilize the rifle a bit more. It did take me a while to get the buttstock adjusted to fit me just perfect, and perfectly it didfit…I made sure I had it adjusted to my liking, before I even fired the first shot.
With a target down range, at 100 yards, I easily had all shots under one inch – without trying all that hard. The Black Hills .308 Winchester Match Grade ammo, is outstanding, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. The rifle liked the 168-gr Win Match Hollow Point ammo just a touch better than the175-gr version. However, on a different day, I might have had different results. Due to the extreme fire danger in our area, I was only able to get out shooting one time – ONE TIME! And, as of this writing, in the middle of September, all the logging roads are still closed to any foot or vehicle traffic – no long range shooting!
The Ruger Precision Rifle and the Black Hills 168-gr Match Hollow Point ammo, gave me some groups that were almost one hole “groups” – one group was slightly under 3/4″ and all the rest, were easily under an inch, and I know that this rifle and ammo combination can do much better than that. I can easily see this gun and ammo shooting under half an inch with a bipod, and going prone.
If you’re looking to get into long-range high-powered rifle competition, you
don’t have to spend many thousands of dollars, to get an outstanding rifle.
With a full-retail price of $1,399 for the Ruger – and you can usually find
Ruger’s discounted from retail-price, you can afford to get a great rifle –
just add a really good scope and you’re good to go. The rifle would also be an
outstanding sniper’s rifle – and I would love to see the US military – all
branches – take a close look at this rifle. It’s a lot less expensive than any
other sniper rifle the military is currently using, and the accuracy is there,
with the right ammo. As I stated at the start of this article, I’m only
interested in accurate rifles and handguns, and the Ruger Precision Rifle
didn’t let me down in this respect.
Right now, the Ruger is in short supply, however, I understand that Ruger is adding more machinery, so they can turn out more rifles to meet the great demand. Ruger not only hit a home run, they hit it out of the ballpark on this Precision Rifle, and the price is totally unbelievable for so much gun, with so many features, and with more accuracy than you can probably squeeze out of the gun. But it will be fun trying to your hand at it. Now, as is the usual “problem” I have: this rifle isn’t going back to Ruger, and I have to find a way to raise the funds to purchase it. Life is tough!
– Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio
Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:
Imagine for a moment that you are a licensed ham, operating in a tactical situation, observing your target. It is pitch black outside, and suddenly a team member calls you on the radio. Your radio goes “beep” and the screen lights up so brightly that you can be seen for half a mile. That is not a good situation!
One very popular hand-held radio available in the U.S. is the Chinese-made Baofeng UV-5R handheld dual-band transceiver. They cover two bands: 136-174MHz and 400-519.995 MHz. These hand-helds are mass-produced, so they are often bargain
priced at less than $35. There is also an iSaddle upgrade version of the UV-5R with a larger battery pack (3,800 MaH), available for under $40.
These radios are basic, and have their drawbacks. The default programming settings do not have tactical use in mind. But there are adjustments you can make to your programming to correct the aforementioned issues along with several other recommendations to make your radio a more “Tactical” hand-held VHF transceiver.
1. Reduce the transmit power level. There is no reason to be transmitting your signals any farther than you need to.
– You can lower the transmit power level by pressing the “#” key until you see a “L” in the display. Absence of the “L” indicates High power. (Note: 8 watt units have L, M, H, settings)
2. Replace that 16 inch aftermarket flex antenna with either the stock antenna or better yet, purchase a soft “stubby” antenna. True, that longer antenna will get you better
performance, but, catching your antenna on something and breaking it off just rendered your radio totally useless. The shorter one will work just fine in a tactical situation.
3. Turn off the “BEEP” tone.
– Press “MENU”, “8”, “MENU”, then press the “UP Arrow” until the display says ”OFF”, Press “MENU”, then “EXIT”.
4. Turn off “VOICE”.
– Press “MENU”, “14”, “MENU”, then press the “UP Arrow”until the display says ”OFF”, Press “MENU”, then “EXIT”.
5. Turn off the display backlight.
– Press “MENU”, “29”, “MENU”, then press the “UP Arrow”until the display says ”OFF”, Press “MENU”, then “EXIT”.
– Press “MENU”, “30”, “MENU”, then press the “UP Arrow”until the display says ”OFF”, Press “MENU”, then “EXIT”.
– Press “MENU”, “31”, “MENU”, then press the “UP Arrow”until the display says ”OFF”, Press “MENU”, then “EXIT”.
6. Purchase a sturdy aftermarket speaker/microphone. (The ones supplied with radio Baofeng are inferior and will fail after very little use.)
7. Don’t rely on the factory-supplied belt clip to keep your radio on your person. (In rigorous field use, that will surely mean either a broken clip or a lost radio.) Instead, use a sturdy aftermarket case.
For more information: I am a big fan of the MIKLOR.COM web site for information on Baofeng radios. There, you can find almost everything you ever wanted to know about these radios, from programming to troubleshooting.
Closing Note: The aforementioned programming changes can also be made by “offboard” by using either the Baofeng programming software or the CHIRP programming software.
This is my favorite Minestrone soup.
¼ cup cooking oil (I use peanut oil or olive oil)
1 clove garlic, minced or (1/8 tsp. powder)
1-1/3 cup onion coarsely chopped
1-½ cup celery with leaves, coarsely chopped
½ can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1 Tbs. parsley
1 cup carrots, sliced fresh or frozen
4-¾ cup cabbage, shredded
4 cans diced tomatoes (28oz. cans)
1 can red kidney beans, drained, rinsed (black beans also work well)
1 ½ cup frozen peas
1 ½ cup green beans
1 tsp. sugar
Dash of hot sauce (optional)
11 cups of water
2 cups spaghetti, uncooked, broken (I like to use Angel Hair Spaghetti,
because it cooks faster)
I love to garnish this soup with grated parmesan cheese.
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Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:
Jamie Oliver: Slow-Cooked Venison & Juniper Stew
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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog
readers? (Our list of recipes in the blog queue is running
short!) Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!
Reader Emily G. suggested this interesting New York Times article: Trading
Meat for Tires as Bartering Economy Grows in Greece
Items from The Economics Team:
ConAgra Foods Lays Off 1,500 (Salt Lake Tribune)
Chesapeake Energy Lays Off 740 (KFOR News Channel 4)
Whole Foods Lays Off 1500 (CNBC)
20 Largest U.S. Layoffs in 2015 (ZeroHedge)
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Obama Admin & UN Announce Global Police Force to Fight “Extremism” in US
Cities
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Germany Ethnically Cleanses its Own People to Make Way for Muslims
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Reader Peter R. recommend this review of compact shortwave radios: Mega
Review: the Tecsun PL-880, PL-660, Sangean ATS-909X, and Sony ICF-SW7600GR go head-to-head
“So the thing I object to about government isn’t its organizational feature. Organization has to be accomplished. It is the coercive nature of government organization. My argument is that we can organize better without coercion.” – Robert LeFevre
October 4th, 1923 was the birthday of the late Charlton Heston, who was born John Charles Carter. He died on April 5th, 2008. A three-term president of the NRA, Heston is greatly missed by many.
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Today we present a guest article by Gary Christenson of Deviant Investor.
Simple version: Gold is good. Sovereign debt is bad.
The world has added approximately $60 Trillion in debt since 2007, much of it sovereign debt created from deficit spending on social programs, wars, and much more. In that time the world has mined perhaps 30,000 tons of gold, or about 950 million ounces, worth at September 2015 prices a little more than a $Trillion. It is easy to create debt – central banks “print” currencies
by borrowing those currencies into existence. Debt increases, currency in circulation increases, and until it crashes, life is good for the financial and political elite. But debt increasing 60 times more rapidly than gold indicates that debt is growing too rapidly and due for a reset.
It is a tangled web of debt, counter-party risk, obligations, and unintended consequences. From an interview with David Stockman:
Stockman goes on to paint a grim picture and says, “What happens when the financial breakdown comes is there is a great margin call. Everybody says ‘I want my money back and I’ll take your collateral if I don’t get it back. If I do take your collateral, I will sell it for whatever price I can get and cut my losses.’ So, this is truly a house of cards. The whole pyramid of debt and what we call hypothecation and rehypothecation of financial assets, that is the real bubble. That’s what people don’t focus on enough. Sure, you can think of stocks that are a bubble, like Tesla [Motors] and its current price of around $250, or the biotech index which is trading at hundreds of times earnings is crazy. What’s really crazy is all of this debt that has been created has been turned into collateral and borrowed against at a very high rate. The whole thing is very unstable and tottering as we speak.. . . Much of this collateralized credit that has been created is a confidence game. It is a daisy chain, and when the confidence breaks and they start to unwind the chain, the amount of debt outstanding will shrink. That will create tremendous broken furniture in the financial system.”
How do you protect yourself? Stockman says, “The place to go in my view is cash. Stay short and liquid because we are going into deflationary collapse. We are going into a great reset in the financial markets where inflated asset values are going to be marked down tremendously, bond prices and stock prices. As a result of, that there will be great opportunity after the dislocation runs its course to buy things much cheaper than they are priced today.”
Stockman thinks the whole system unwinds sometime before the 2016 Presidential race is finished. (Emphasis mine)
Critical Points Regarding Debt:
From Adrian Ash (BullionVault):
“But if the Fed is scared, investors and savers should be doubly so. Central bankers have led us deep into a forest where money does grow on trees, but not [economic] growth or stability, and now they can’t find the way out.”
“When night falls, there’s a very clear risk of panic as investors realize that central bankers, like the markets, are lost in the dark.”
Critical Points Regarding Gold:
I repeat: Gold is Good. Sovereign Debt is Bad.
About the Author: Gary Christenson is the owner and writer for the popular contrarian investment site Deviant Investor and the author of the Kindle book, Survival Investing With Gold & Silver. –
India Versus COMEX: Physical Silver Demand Will Destroy Paper Rigged Markets
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There are Five Times More Claims on Dollars Than Dollars in Existence (Zero Hedge)
Items from The Economics Team:
Glencore Could Spark a Lehman Moment for Miners
The More Americans Know Congress, the Worse Congress is Rated
Atlanta Fed Slashes 3rd Quarter Estimates for Growth (Reuters)
U.S. Factories Vulnerable to Chill in Global Economy (Reuters)
Investment Banking Business is a Horror Show (Business Insider)
Demand for Physical Silver through the Roof (Zero Hedge)
Greg suggested this great piece by Eric Barker: 8 secrets to grit and resilience, courtesy of the Navy SEALs
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Reader C.M. suggested this interesting Kickstarter project funding campaign:= “ZeroDay” Minimalist Survival Kit ZDSK
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Over at The Middle East Forum: Saudi Arabia is Not Our Friend
“But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed! And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.” – Luke 22:21-23 (KJV)
October, 3, 2015 is the 22nd anniversary of the Mogadishu, Somalia raid. The 18 Americans killed were: MSG Gary Gordon, 1st SFOD-D SFC Randy Shughart, 1st
SFOD-D SSG Daniel Busch, 1st SFOD-D SFC Earl Fillmore, 1st SFOD-D MSG Timothy Martin, 1st SFOD-D CPL Jamie Smith, 3/75 Ranger SPC James Cavaco, 3/75 Ranger SGT Casey Joyce, 3/75 Ranger PFC Richard Kowaleski, 3/75 Ranger SGT Dominic Pilla, 3/75 Ranger SGT Lorenzo Ruis, 3/75 Ranger SSG William Cleveland, Jr. 160th SOAR SSG Thomas Field, 160th SOAR CW4 Raymond Frank, 160th SOAR CW3 Clifton Wolcott, 160th SOAR CW2 Donovan Briley, 160th SOAR SGT Cornell Houston, 10th MTN DIV PFC James Martin.
The Somalis killed were unnamed and un-numbered, but estimates range from 315 to 2,000 KIAs.
The events of October 3, 1993 were memorialized in the well-done movie BlackHawk Down.
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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:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 61 ends on November 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.