Letter Re: Surviving Financial SHTF and Becoming Debt Free

Hugh,

Regarding K.D.’s article on becoming debt free, a 401K loan should be the last resort in most cases. “Paying ourselves interest” sounds like a fantastic deal, but it is not that simple. What many do not realize is that loan payments into a 401k (typically from payroll deductions) are made from after-tax dollars. When those dollars are later withdrawn from the 401k, they are taxed again. So, the dollars you “pay yourself interest” with will be taxed twice. Assuming the lowest federal bracket of 15%, that “additional 3.25%” the author mentions going into his retirement account will all be lost once the total of 30% in taxes those dollars will be subject to are factored in.

Also, should the 401k borrower find themselves no longer employed, the loan will still need to be paid back. Failure to do so would cause the amount of the loan to be categorized as a distribution, taxed at normal income tax rates, and depending on the borrower’s age, a 10% penalty could be assessed.

Additionally, for the average (not wealthy) person, the interest on a second mortgage is probably tax deductible. Again, assuming the lowest tax rate, 15%, the effective interest on the author’s mortgage drops from 6.25% to 5.31%.

I commend K.D. for successfully righting his financial ship and sharing his story. Hearing about the success of others is a good way to keep plugging away on one’s own journey. The order he tackled the debts was correct, and building up an emergency fund at the same time is much easier said than done. However, for most people, using a 401k loan to pay off a relatively low interest rate tax-deductible mortgage would be extremely unwise. If borrowing from the 401k is the only way to avoid foreclosure, sure. Borrowing to escape from crushing credit card interest, maybe (assuming one is not going to go on a spending spree with the newly available credit balances). I cringed when reading the final part of K.D.’s story when I learned he took additional loans to pay off his primary mortgage when his balance was low enough that 90% of his payments were going to principal. That ratio would have put him about 2½ years away, at one payment per month, from paying off his mortgage. There is great value in being debt-free, but factoring in the tax consequences of all those 401k loans would be a sobering experience.

This site is a great resource to learn how to best prepare for when things go wrong. When doing so, planning for taxes and retirement should things NOT go wrong should be part of the process. – C.C.

Economics and Investing:

24 Reasons Why Millennials Are Screaming Mad About Our Unfair Economy

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The Appalling Truth About Energy Subsidies. – E.K.

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

Putin Stockpiles Gold as Russia Prepares For Economic War

ISIS to Mint Own Currency Out of Gold, Silver and Copper – Agree that the world debt-based fiat monetary system is enslaving the entire planet, but what is most interesting is perhaps this is how the U.S. might issue controls on gold/silver by giving the excuse da jour of “terrorism”, and poof there goes the Constitution and your God-given rights.

Economists Trim Fourth-Quarter U.S. Growth Forecasts

Odds ‘n Sods:

I just spent the last two hours reviewing this video titled “The Emergent End Times Church Exposed” sent in by SurvivalBlog reader J.R. It’s going to take several more hours for my blood pressure to come back down to a normal level. It is long but well worth the effort to view it. Not only is it disturbing to see such apostasy within the church, but my heart aches for those who are misled. I have seen this movement occur in several local churches. Do not let this happen to your church. Stand up for the truth. – HJL.

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Israel to ease gun controls after attack. – JBG

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Military Deploys Chemical, Biological, Nuclear & High Yield Explosive Response Vehicles to St. Louis. – B.B.

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Where Are the Hardest Places to Live in the U.S.? – M.A.

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Mr. Wrong House – “Robber meets Paratrooper” – T.P.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“The time has come to recognize the United Nations for the anti-American, anti-freedom organization that it has become. The time has come for us to cut off all financial help, withdraw as a member, and ask the United Nations to find headquarters location outside the United States that is more in keeping with the philosophy of the majority of voting members, someplace like Moscow or Peking.” – Barry Goldwater

Notes for Tuesday – November 18, 2014

Today, we present another entry for Round 55 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hardcase 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 then 1 minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouseis providing 30 DMPS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448.95) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  7. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. 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,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.
  12. 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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  10. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.
  9. Montie Gearis donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack. (a $379 value).

Round 55 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.

The Costs of Survival, by F.R.

For many, the costs involved in preparing for any kind of emergency, whether man made or natural, is too high for most people to afford. It can be expensive to accumulate the things that would be necessary to give us some options in an emergency situation. I have always been cost conscious and have striven to get the most for my money, so this struggle is not new to me. Even if we had lots of money, it is still wise to try and get the most bang for our buck.

When I first started preparing, I made some purchases I now regret. Some things I acquired were either not really needed or too expensive for the benefit they provided. Most everyone who travels this path in life will make these mistakes. Adjustments must be made as you go along and lessons are learned. Some of these items I have sold at a loss and replaced with items that fit my plan better. This type of process is unavoidable, because it is a part of learning and growing. It is impossible to understand the game until you are in the game. With that knowledge, we then can make better choices.

However, there is one practice I have adopted that has saved me more money and provided better “stuff” than anything else. One decision I have made has allowed me to have more items I need at lower costs and many times without a reduction in quality, many times giving me much more than I ever dreamed I could have with the money I had to spend.

That practice is using estate sales and auctions to find the things I need. I will give you a few examples. My wife and I attended an estate sale that was liquidating the life’s accumulation of a household where both husband and wife had passed away and the estate was selling all their worldly goods. That scenario is fairly typical of these sales. The estate sale managers usually do not have emotional attachments to the sale items, so the pricing is more reasonable. At the above mentioned sale, we found the front porch stacked high with canning jars of every style and size. Most were in the original boxes. It was not the first day of the sale and it seemed no one wanted these jars, and the people running the estate sale were getting a little nervous about what they were going to do with them if they did not sell them. I negotiated to buy all of them for $2 a box. For about $50, I got all the canning jars we could ever use. At the same sale, the garage had shelves on one side that were completely filled with baby food jars, old boxes, and plastic storage cabinets full of drawers that were all filled with all kinds of hardware, nails, screws, bolts, nuts, et cetera. I told the estate sale person that if they did not sell the hardware that I would like to make an offer on all of it. I intended to offer a ridiculous price if in fact the hardware was still there later. Two days later the estate sale man called me and said that the hardware had in fact not sold and asked if I would come back by. My wife and I did, and we found that several other items we had been interested in had not sold either. When we told him we were interested in several items, he told us that if we would take all the items we wanted, he would give them to us free just to get them out of his way. Over that past several years we have made it a practice to find out when these estate and garage sales were taking place in our area and make the time to go to them. I have even found an app for my phone that I downloaded that will allowed me to be sent an email with a listing of the garage and estate sales in my area with specifics on what is for sale, the address, and the dates of the sale. Most of the estate sales in our area are conducted using the same modus operandi. That is, they normally run from Thursday through Saturday of any given weekend. On Thursday the price on everything is the price marked. On Friday the prices are reduced to 75% and on Saturday the prices are 50% of the original price. My wife and I usually wait until Saturday, when we have more time anyway; then we go and get the things we want at a great price. I bought two nice sleeping bags this way for $2 each. These bags were priced at more than $2, but it was Saturday and I made them an offer of $2 each, which they took. I also bought several camping items at the same sale for ridiculously low prices as well. All the merchandise that is left after these sales are over have to be discarded or disposed of by the estate sale people, so they are really motivated to get rid of the items as the sale progresses.

Another example is there is a community auction not far from our home that occurs once per month. It is in a farming community, so most of the items are farming things; however, there are many household things as well. It is held outside, and the items are lined up on the ground in long rows. If you can think of it, you will find it in this auction; they have everything from tools, animals, hay, guns and ammo, furniture, appliances, food, farm equipment, and all kinds of items to care for animals, to everything you would need to prepare for hard times. One day we were there and noticed a large flatbed trailer in one of the rows filled with boxes of food. The food consisted of bent cans and slightly outdated food items of other types. We ended up buying the entire trailer load. We gave a lot to our children and their families. We gave several boxes to our pastor’s family. We separated what we wanted and filled up our food storage closet. We took what was left, rented a space at a local swap meet, and sold a lot in order to earn enough to pay for the entire trailer load of food. Now I understand many will not have the money to pull this off, but the point is anyone could have bought several boxes of this food for a really cheap price and filled their prep shelves. All of the food was good and edible.

I have found fencing, fence posts, tools, building materials, buckets, appliances, canning equipment, cast iron cooking utensils, furniture, chicken houses, fruit trees, storage shelving, how-to books, and all kinds of things I wanted at a fraction of the cost. This same auction has been very useful in getting rid of items we don’t want any longer. We sell these items and use the money to buy the things we need.

Of course I have used craigslist for much of my stuff as well. There is even a section there of free stuff that people are giving away that sometimes contains items we can use.

I recently put up a greenhouse, and the shelving, the workbench, and the lumber I used to frame the raised bed inside the house was all purchased at estate sales. I even bought my strawberry plants at the community auction as well as my fruit trees.

The point of all this is that just like so many others who have shared their ideas on prepping in this forum, there are ways to get yourself in a better position, if you will just look around and do a little investigating as to what your options are. No matter what your budget is, there are ways to get prepared. I pray every day that our way of life will not die and that by some miracle things will work out, because even the most die hard prepper does not understand what our world will be like if any of the possible life-changing events happen. We tend to see only the romantic side of a forced simpler lifestyle, instead of all the human costs it would bring. I hope it never happens, but I do not see how we can go on the way we are. There are simply too many signs pointing to a very dangerous conclusion. I think some sort of accounting is inevitable. That does not mean we simply sit down and wait for the anvil to drop. Too many times in our history have we seen hard time come to people; the prepared survive, and those that didn’t prepare perished. I intend for my family to have some options when tough times come. I pray you will be ready too, and it is with that thought in mind that I offer this advice. By the way, my thanks to all those who took the time to write their advice in this forum. I would be much less prepared today without your help.

Letter Re: Retirement Recommendations

Response to D.R.,

I am in no way qualified to make retirement recommendations for anyone other than myself. In fact, now that we are debt free I enlisted the help of a financial advisor for just that reason. I should clarify a bit concerning our 401K accounts. When I said in the article, “We pulled our money out of the market” we actually just pulled out of equities. We parked the funds in a savings account within our 401K plan, but we actually re-entered equities in 2010. The appreciation of those funds helped us in our war immensely. As for silver and gold I personally consider my meager holdings as a hedge only. We did have to use a portion of our “junk silver” during the war. I also wear a “bug out necklace” of 18K gold daily. I don’t use those assets for retirement planning purposes at this time. – K.D.

News From The American Redoubt:

Police Deny Responsibility After Stingray Cell Phone Tracker Discovered in Idaho. – RBS

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Wyoming authorities warn of dangerous wildlife predator on the loose . – T.J.

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‘Swirling mass’ of 68 cats found in eastern Oregon van. Any chance that the van owner is related to the guy with the car trunk full of rabbits?

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Wyoming: Lawmakers back privacy constitutional amendment

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This Lewiston Tribune story was featured by the AP wire service: Men charged after Idaho Fish and Game truck taken (I was sort of believing their story until the Tequila bottle was mentioned…)

Notes for Monday – November 17, 2014

SurvivalBlog reader PAF informs us that Tractor Supply failed to properly market Wise Food 60-count entree buckets back in January. Check your local store, as he picked up two buckets for only $29.99 each. They were stocked amongst the livestock feed buckets.

Guest Post: Finding Employment In The Redoubt, by S.M.

This article is intended to help provide information on finding employment in the American Redoubt states. I have attempted to gather as much information as possible and group it together by categories. I have provided many links to human resources websites and state job service sites. Once at that link, the rest is up to you.

WYOMING

Wyoming at Work

This is the State of Wyoming’s job service. You can look up jobs by the area, zip code, type of employment, or even the whole state. Some of the jobs listed will have the information on how to apply. Other listings will refer you to contact a local Wyoming at Work service center. There is a list of centers with telephone numbers on the site.

Local Newspapers

Many of the following newspapers have jobs that are not listed on job boards:

Large Companies

Typically, these companies do not post on job boards or in newspapers. They have their own human resources websites. [Editor’s Note: Also, many cities across the entire nation have a website for their Chamber of Commerce that often lists their city’s (or community’s) largest employers, and sometimes this list includes these employers’ website addresses, where job postings may be listed.]

Oil/Gas Industry

Railroads

Mines

Utilities

Cities/Counties

Other Large Employers

IDAHO

  • Idaho Dept. of Labor – This is Idaho’s job service. Employers from around the state post job openings on this site.

Local Newspapers

Railroads

Utilities

Agriculture

Mines

Forestry

Other Large Employers

Cities/Counties

MONTANA

  • Montana Dept. of Labor – This is Montana’s job service. Employers from around the state post job openings on this site.

Local Newspapers

Railroads

Utilities

Mines

Agriculture

Oil/Gas Industry

Forestry

Other Large Employers

Cities/Counties

Summary

I realize I could not include all businesses or agencies, or my post would be miles long. I tried to gather the larger employers in their respective areas. Most of the government agencies require you to complete applications online. Many large companies also request you do this as well. However, it is in your best interest to stay in contact with each organization. This is especially true in the oil/gas industry. Your application will most likely have to be submitted online, but it is then forwarded on to hiring managers and/or the manager for the department hiring. It would be beneficial to find out who these individuals are and to stay in contact with them. Many of these organizations/hiring managers see hundreds to thousands of applications at a time. When they choose those to interview up to offering a position, they like to put a face to the name.

There is a lot of work in North Dakota as well. However, the cost of living and living arrangements can negate any benefits to working there. There are many positions open throughout the Redoubt. If you want to work, you will find work. I have heard other business leaders and managers complain about finding good help, since most of the good help went to work in the oil/gas fields. All I ask is that if you do relocate to the Redoubt, please do not try to change things here. I hope this information is helpful. Good luck in your journey.

Scot’s Product Review: S&K Scope Mounts, LLC

I have been growing more and more fascinated with older military rifles. You can often find them at good prices, and they are legal even in some restrictive locales. Most of them are bolt actions, and some of them are better made than most current production rifles. It is tough to beat a Mauser 98 or Springfield, and the Enfield is no slouch either. The venerable Mosin Nagant is certainly capable, and the M1 Garand is one of my all-time favorite rifles. They almost always come in cartridges that are excellent for hunting medium game in the U.S. or for self-defense. Some of them are getting harder to get cheap ammunition for, though. Most of them, however, don’t come with good sights, and they are often zeroed at ranges that make little sense for hunters or self-defense shooters.

Fixing the sight issue can be difficult. While the Enfield and Garand come with excellent aperture sights, most of the rest have rather poor open sights. The logical solution is a scope, but how, pray, do we mount one on most of these rifles? Unlike modern rifles, they generally are not drilled and tapped for scope bases. There are mounts on the market that can be fitted by a gunsmith with a milling machine and drill press, but suppose we want to be able to do it ourselves or we don’t want to make huge alterations to the original rifle? That’s where S&K Scope Mounts come in.

S&K is a U.S. company, based in Pennsylvania, that machines their mounts from virgin metals. The company was founded in 1964 and makes a wide range of mounts and scope rings for both modern sporting rifles as well as military rifles, but it is their line of mounts for ex-military rifles that we are interested in.

One of the things that surprised me is how many different types of rifles they make them for. I expected them for the Mosin Nagant and Mauser and wasn’t surprised to see the ones for the Enfield or Garand, but they also have mounts for the Schmidt-Rubin, Steyr, Arisaka, and Hakim rifles, as well as a wide variety of Mauser variants, from the Model 1895 through many versions of the Model 98 pattern. There are even mounts for the French Mas 36 and 49, M14, FN 1949, SKS, and several others. You have to go to their site to see them all.

They offer two types of mounts, none of which require the services of a gunsmith. The first mounts the scope over the receiver in the conventional location, while the second type mounts it forward in the Scout rifle position using a long eye relief scope. That’s the type I am reviewing here.

On many of the Scout mounts, you get a choice of included S&K rings or a rail that accepts Weaver scope rings, which are not included . I wound up with one of each type. S&K provided a sample of the rail mount for the Mosin Nagant 91/30, and then I managed to acquire a Mexican Mauser that already had one on it with the S&K rings.

The two types of rings are not interchangeable. Weaver rings may offer some extra versatility, in that you can get extension rings that might allow you more flexibility in mounting a scope. There are also quick detachable rings that will go on Weaver-style mounts. That said, the S&K rings are steel and rugged, and they look better to my eyes. They also allow some windage adjustment, which might come in handy if there are any alignment issues. The mounts using the S&K rings cost a bit more, but since they includes the rings, are probably a bit cheaper overall and you won’t have to remember to buy rings.

While the strategy for attaching the Scout mount varies some from rifle to rifle, you will be removing the rear sight and installing the mount on the base that held the rear sight. I was initially a bit depressed about losing the rear sight, but considering how bad most of the sights on military rifles are, I decided that it is a bearable price for the advantage of getting optics. Thankfully, optics these days are more reliable than they were in my youth, but they can still get smashed in an accident. The biggest problem, should that happen, is that the rear sights usually require tools to reinstall, so it isn’t something you can quickly do in the field in an emergency, assuming you have the parts and tools with you. It is a question to consider, but the payoff of an optical sight is pretty huge, so I’m in favor of it.

You have a couple of alternatives in what sort of optic to use. Red dot sights are very popular and work extremely well for close ranges. I’m not sure they are the best choice for most of the older military rifles, though. With the full power cartridges from the olden days, you have a lot more reach than you get with the intermediate rounds found in an AR or AK. The extra reach of the stronger cartridges merits magnification in my mind, so I prefer a scope on this type of rifle.

With the forward Scout mount, a scope will need to have nine or ten inches of eye relief. Scopes in this position were named Scout scopes by Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper– the noted writer, instructor, and scholar of shooting. He touted this mounting system, believing that placing the scope farther from the eye allows the shooter to keep both eyes open and be far more aware of surroundings than if the scope is placed close to the eye in a conventional mount. Cooper suggested that the scope should be of two to three magnification and no more, lest the shooter have to close one eye and lose the advantages of seeing with both.

There are handling advantages to placing the scope forward as well as the visual ones. Most older military rifles have fixed magazines that are loaded through the top, and it is far easier to fill them with the scope out of the way ahead of the receiver. It also allows you to use stripper clips to rapidly charge the magazine.

Left-handers also have reason to appreciate the Scout system, as it makes it far easier to reach over the rifle with the firing hand to run the bolt. It is even easier with an old-fashioned military straight bolt for lefties, as they stick out for easy grasping. Righties usually prefer a turned down bolt close to the trigger finger, such as the one found on the Enfield No. 4 for fast operation.

I have always wondered if Colonel Cooper was familiar with the German Zielfernrohr 41 of WWII, which was a low power forward mounted scope. It had only 1.5 magnification and was considered a sharpshooter scope rather than a sniper’s optic. Today, we might call it a designated marksman’s scope, but the basic idea was to give it to the best shot in a squad. It didn’t have the magnification a sniper needs to hit at several hundred yards. I have never had the chance to examine one, but I wonder if it would fit the Colonel’s criterion for a Scout scope. I have read critiques that said it was poor in low light and had a limited field of view, both points I suspect the Colonel would have criticized.

Personally, I really like Scout scopes but admit that I shoot tighter groups with a more powerful scope. Tight groups are satisfying, but the needs for field accuracy are not the same as what we expect to get from the bench. Very few of us can match bench accuracy from any position used in hunting or self-defense, and thankfully we don’t need to. Higher magnification scopes can actually make it harder to shoot, since they enhance wobble as well as detail.

The mount on the Mauser I bought was already installed, but I wound up having to work on it. Whoever did the job hadn’t properly seated the rear scope base. While I was at it I wanted to see how it was secured to the rifle, so I pulled the whole thing apart for study. What I found was an aluminum base that is sturdily secured to the rear sight base. When you pull off the rear sight by driving out the pin that holds it to the rifle, you find a leaf spring that slides out. This leaves space to slip in a nut, machined to take the spring’s place. The scope base is machined to mate to the base, and it secured to it with three screws; two go into the hole left by the pin that held on the rear sight, and the third goes into the nut that replaced the left spring. There is also an adjustment screw. By tweaking the screws, you can make some elevation adjustments, if needed. All of the parts were well made and finished in matte black.

The Mosin Nagant mount was quite similar to install, but there was an additional screw to snug the mount up through the top and to help with adjustments for elevation. This mount is also aluminum.

One difference I noticed between the two rifles and mounts is that you can see the front sight over the Weaver rail on the Mosin Nagant, which made me think about the possibility of adding some sort of rear sight to the rail for emergency use. If you used quick detachable rings, you could easily pop the scope off in an emergency and go back to iron sights. The S&K rings mount for the Mauser was too high and blocked the front sight. The Mauser actually has a higher front sight than the Mosin Nagant, but the mount using the S&K rings needs more depth to seat the rings, so I think the one with the Weaver rings offers some interesting possibilities that would be worth exploring.

I want to mention that a Weaver rail will probably not work with Picatinny equipment. Weaver stuff will work on Picatinny, but Picatinny uses a slightly larger cross bolt than Weaver, so you usually can’t reverse them.

If you have a military rifle and want to mount an optic, S&K mounts are worth a good look. The Mosin Nagant mount I reviewed is $72.00, and the Mauser one is $82.00.

All American Sun Oven Update

I am continuing to really like the Sun Oven. The ability to precisely orient it to the sun, using the aiming device and adjustable leg, really helps maximize cooking temperatures, while the tightly sealing door traps heat efficiently. I am also still impressed by the leveling tray that keeps food from spilling as you tilt the oven towards the sun. This reminds me that it is time to make solar brownies again. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor, Scot Frank Erie