In some regions, a top quality metal detector might be a good investment:
Massive 6.07 Pound Gold Nugget Found In California
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Here’s a major risk you’re probably taking without even knowing it (and how to stop it) – S.B.
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
ECB – 25 Banks Not Strong Enough To Withstand Another Crisis
Can’t Find Any Inflation? Here’s A Place To Start
The Foxfire Book series (in 11 volumes, but the first five are the best.)
When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency by Matthew Stein (SurvivalBlog’s Backcountry Editor)
Some Will Not Die by Algis Budrys (Plague total wipe-out scenario. This book influence me as a writer.)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (The later installments in the Indiana Jones movies aren’t nearly as good.)
Ebola can survive on surfaces for almost TWO MONTHS: Tests reveal certain strains survive for weeks when stored at low temperatures
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This is the nurse that was angry that Gov. Christie mandated a quarantine for her and others returning from Africa: Ebola Nurse’s Ties to CDC Scrubbed From Website – Is Far Left Progressive & Obama Supporter – T.P.
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Video: Dr. Samati: We’ve Had 230 Doctors Die From Ebola in Africa – Don’t Know Why. – R.G.
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Ebola Virus Outbreak. – ShepherdFarmerGeek
“The group was stoned and found hidden in the village’s septic tank,” according to the dispatch, which did not say how many people died in the incident. “The reason for the killings is unknown. It is likely the villagers murdered the group fearing they would be diagnosed with Ebola and removed to quarantine…”
Hugh Adds: How does a country effectively fight an epidemic among such a superstitious population? It’s a hard position. Do you violate a person’s God-ordained rights and force them to receive medical care or do you just wall the village off?
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More Evidence the Government Hacked Sharyl Attkisson’s Computer. – M.P.
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” – Winston Churchill
Sadly, the end of an era is upon us: Ol’ Remus has decided to retire from the Woodpile Report.
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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:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
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.
PROPOSED EBOLA TREATMENT PROTOCOL Disclaimer: There are many foods and supplements with antiviral properties; some of them are common (Garlic[2]), some of them are exotic (Star Anise[3]). What I’ve tried to do with the recommendations below is focus on the most common and highly recommended. Nobody knows what will work against Ebola, so try your own favorites to see what you can tolerate when ill. None of this is “medical advice” for purposes of federal obfuscation and interference. Consult your doctor, who will have no idea what to do. The information below is not exhaustive; it is not authoritative; and it is untested. Do your own research and be responsible for making your own decisions. I have no personal interest or investment in any product or item mentioned.
I wrote this up for my own use and for my family’s use. If it can help you, then great, but these are my personal notes that I’ve modified a bit for others to use. You have a favorite herb or supplement? Make your own treatment plan. If new research comes out about some product, add it to your protocol. If the CDC or WHO or UN announces dosage recommendations for melatonin or some other medication, follow those guidelines. However, until then, we’re on our own.
Before exposure, once Ebola is in your region / town[5], review hand hygiene practices[6] and begin taking the following:
List musical preferences, audio books (Bible reading), radio stations, books, games and hobbies, et cetera for morale if incapacitated. (You will need to dispose of equipment and books afterwards.) Review your Will and Power of Attorney paperwork for medical care. Make sure you have plenty of blankets and sheets on hand, bed pads, pillows, thermometer, heavy re-usable rubber/plastic gloves, trash can, and construction-sized trash bags, towels and paper towels, and bleach. Review hygiene plans[11]. Pick a spot to burn/bury your medical waste. If you really want to be efficient, dig the hole in advance, keeping it as far away from your well head as possible. Have lime on hand to dust waste. Have small water bottles on hand (lightweight) with caps with straw holes, bottle holders, straws, and 11 one-gallon water bottles to make ORS. Then, fill small bottles in the hot zone. (Discard gallon; don’t reuse!)[12]
Consume high-nutrition, low/no sugar foods and coconut oil (at least 1 Tbs/day)[13]. Also, eat fresh garlic, follow excellent hydration practice, and engage in moderate exercise1. If medical care is still available GO TO THE HOSPITAL. (Call first to see where they want you to go, which entrance to use, et cetera.) Take your supplements with you and insist that the hospital allow your patient to take them; they should not interfere with the supportive treatment they will provide. Take along the melatonin treatment article, in case they are unfamiliar with that approach. Someone should stay with the patient (outside of isolation) to be a patient advocate (be prepared to stay). Be firm with the hospital staff. If treatment collapses, be prepared to take your patient back home and continue treatment there.[4] Pray. No, seriously, pray. If you don’t know where to start, just talk with God about what these verses say to you: Philippians 4:6; Psalm 18:2, 27:14, 46:1-3; Isaiah 41:13, 43:2.
You may not have symptoms for 8-10 days after exposure to the virus. (On average, symptoms could be delayed for as long as 21 days)[14] Begin taking the following:
Add to the supplements being given above:
Consume high-nutrition foods, coconut oil (4 Tbs/day minimum), fresh garlic, and pure water for excellent hydration. Also engage in moderate exercise (walking).
Live in semi-quarantine environment: dust mask WITHOUT exhalation valve (unless walking outside by yourself), no touching items outside of sick room, temperature checks throughout the day, unless outdoors walking for exercise or reading/fresh air/sunlight, should be in sickroom.
When symptoms start or when positively exposed to Ebola, symptoms are mild and non-specific to Ebola for 5-6 days. The symptoms may just resemble a cold or flu, and you won’t know for sure (without testing) until around day six.
Grind tablets between two spoons (or use a mortar and pestle). Mix crushed tablets with soups/broth or Oral Rehydration Solution (recipe found later in article). This should be tolerated better than swallowing a bunch of pills. Spread supplements out throughout the day.
Add the following to the supplements being given above: (Note: there are prescription medications that probably do a better job, but these are the over-the-counter meds that are available to all of us now.)
During illness, maintain full isolation and proper hygiene. Also, assist as needed with music/morale support. Patient should consume easy-to-digest, high-nutrition food, served in frequent small meals, if possible; include coconut oil and eggs, as well as Bone Broth.
Recipe for WHO Oral Rehydration Solution[28]
Chill. This solution can be served with fresh lemon squeezed into it. One can also mix it with Crystal Light or “sugar-free Kool-Aid”. (Don’t use regular Kool-Aid, as it requires extra sugar that can worsen diarrhea.)
At about day six, some people begin to get better while most dramatically worsen. As of this writing (October 2014) the mortality rate is 7 out of 10 die, but that is based on the large number of basically untreated patients in Africa. We do not know enough about what the mortality rate can be for a patient who is receiving excellent supportive care. Do NOT give up hope!
Add the following:
Maintain hygiene: wash to prevent rash[32], treat secondary infections topically and internally Frequently turn patient (every couple of hours during the day) to avoid pressure sores[33]. Provide music and morale support.
Provide patient with liquid food supplementation, such as bone broth[34], soups, Ensure[35] or similar medical liquid food[36], coconut oil, and mashed or blended easy-to-digest food.
Be aware of three more things:
PLEASE READ THESE ENDNOTES. There is valuable information here, and at least give a quick look over the pages that the Internet links lead to:
[1]http://www.naturalnews.com/047232_ebola_natural_immunity_virus.html
[2]http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART00364
[3]http://www.livestrong.com/article/367860-health-uses-benefits-and-risks-of-star-anise/
[4]http://www.biodefense.com/ is an audio series you can download as MP3 files to listen to offline. They will give you an exhaustive look at preparing for and treating Ebola in a non-hospital setting. See also http://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/21878
[5]The measures in this first category might need to be done for many months while Ebola works its way through the population. We just want to prime the immune system, not keep it at Red Alert level.
[6]http://clinidirect.co.uk/knowledge-centre/21/hand-washing/0/16/patient-carer-section AND http://www.pathtoradianthealth.com/PathToRadiantHealth/For%20Your%20Health/Health%20Tips/Most-Frequently-Missed-Areas-Hand-Washing.html AND https://survivalblog.com/personal-hygiene-in-a-biowarfa/
[7]http://www.naturalnews.com/024982.html
[8]http://www.lef.org/magazine/2014/1/novel-method-boosts-milk-thistle-liver-concentration-10-fold/page-01
[9]http://www.naturalnews.com/026265.html keeping your good bowel bacteria healthy is essential
[10]Take a garlic oil capsule when your meals that day cannot include fresh garlic
[11]Make a written PLAN, step-by-step, of how you’re going to “gown up” and enter the sickroom and how to take your protective equipment off so it doesn’t get contaminated. This usually takes two people. Focus on good respiratory protection, good eye protection, good gloves (and Nitrile disposable under-gloves), and splash protection for your clothes.
[12]As much as possible we want disposable items that go into the hot zone and don’t need to be taken back out, but can just be discarded once contaminated.
[13]http://www.naturalnews.com/026624_oil_coconut.html
[14]http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/clinician-information-us-healthcare-settings.html gives information about the symptoms and the course of the disease
[15]http://blog.drbrownstein.com/what-can-you-do-to-preventtreat-ebola/
[16]Fresh is always better than capsules!
[17]http://drhoffman.com/article/olive-leaf-extract-2/
[18]http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/hi-ho-silver/ while there are NO studies that would support the use of silver as an antibiotic (read the article), with Ebola we’re in uncharted waters. Since moderate doses aren’t going to harm you it’s probably something I would try if I knew I was infected. Lots of people swear by it.
[19]To add the phosphatidylcholine referenced in endnote “viii”
[20]We’ve used Elderberry to prime the immune system with cytokines but once (if) symptoms turn severe it’s partially due to an OVERproduction of cytokines and we don’t want Elderberry to contribute to that problem
[21]Long term high-dose Vitamin D can start to accumulate in a person’s body and become toxic. Use this high dose only when symptoms are severe.
[22]Vitamin A is another oil-soluble vitamin that can accumulate in the body, it is not as strongly associated with fighting viruses as high dose vitamin D, but it has a role in fighting infections.
[23]http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpi.12186/pdf AND http://books.google.com/books?id=945qBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=%22Melatonin:+Therapeutic+value+and+Neuroprotection%22+sepsis&source=bl&ots=H2BOQDXhmZ&sig=pX9F8qrN-Mhe5d3EzJIvZj5l604&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YE09VO64Io6togT1iIHQBA&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Melatonin%3A%20Therapeutic%20value%20and%20Neuroprotection%22%20sepsis&f=false AND http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5838/rr/765484
[24]Fever helps inactivate viruses, but too high of a fever is a destructive over-reaction by the patient’s immune system. Keep their temperature under 103 with Tylenol, cool towels or fans. Exceeding the maximum Tylenol dosage is toxic to the liver under normal circumstances. It. Kills. Your. Liver. There are no studies of administering Tylenol to Ebola patients, whose livers are already stressed and diseased, so it’s possible that even normal Tylenol doses could become toxic. If the patient is not getting pain relief from a regular dose, I recommend just stopping Tylenol all together. What they really need (I suppose) are opiate painkillers to do any good.
[25]We don’t want to stop the diarrhea entirely. It’s the body’s tool for flushing the virus and toxins from the digestive tract. But too much diarrhea can seriously dehydrate your patient, and that can be deadly all by itself.
[26]http://www.drugs.com/comments/meclizine/for-nausea-vomiting.html and http://ear.emedtv.com/meclizine/what-is-meclizine-used-for.html It’s not just for motion sickness!
[28]See http://clearingmyemptynest.blogspot.com/2009/02/oral-rehydration-solution-homemade.html You can also buy it premixed, in packets, if you have a huge budget, at places like http://www.moreprepared.com/emergency-preparedness-supplies/oral-rehydration-salt-packet.html?gclid=CLbA1p6Hr8ECFQemaQodfGoA7w
[29]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9071427 Notice it needs to be combined with lecithin (which you should already be taking with your milk thistle.
[30]A “cholera bed” (Google it for a picture) is a cot with a large round hole cut into the fabric to allow the patient to discharge their diarrhea into a bucket or tub placed below the cot. Commercial cholera beds have reinforcement around the hole to be sure the material doesn’t tear. Some commercial beds are padded – you might try a foam camping pad glued to a plywood sheet. Make sure the cot is tall enough to put a bucket under it!
[31]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_K
[32]A zinc oxide cream like Desitin might help prevent or treat “diaper rash”
[33]http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/pressure-sores-treatment-overview
[34]http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9890/10-benefits-of-bone-broth-gut-healing-recipe.html
[35]Ensure is mostly corn oil and sugar, NOT ideal. But it might be the only thing you have on hand that your patient will sip.
[36]http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/resource-2.0-medical-food-complete-liquid-nutrition-vanilla/ID=prod3085033-product
[37]http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-death/
Hugh,
Regarding the article on deer hunting and the taste of venison:
The taste of venison is highly dependent on field handling, competent processing of the meat, as well as cooking technique, as the writer noted. It is also dependent on the sex and age of the animal; younger is better, does (female) are better. It is also dependent on the diet; I have heard that sage in the diet worsens the taste.
Both mule deer does we have shot in the past several years were delicious and not at all gamey. Both were reasonably clean kills (no adrenalin pumped through meat due to wounded animal running away), field dressed (gutted) immediately, cavity and external body packed in ice within two hours, and deer was at the game processor within six hours. Ideally, they should have been skinned to cool the meat further, but if you are not skilled this can be difficult.
Both processors we have used have been great; we got nicely trimmed meat and no gristle in the burger. Ask other hunters who is good. We prefer 15% beef fat to 85% venison ground meat ratio; you can get 0%, 5%, or 10% also. Lower fat ratio is fine for chili/soups, but it is not that good for a hamburger, since venison is very lean. No salt water or other type of soaking has ever been needed for taste or tenderness purposes. Get a good game cookbook and do not overcook your steaks/roasts. (Ground meat in chili/soups and hamburger patty with fat added is fine to cook to well done.)
I would encourage giving deer hunting and venison a try. It does not have to taste gamey!
Thanks for all the great articles. – Colorado hunters
Hunters Be Cautious While Hunting Near Marias Pass
A wounded grizzly bear in HD 415 near Marias Pass is cause for hunters to take extra caution while hunting and removing animals from the field.
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Special Ebola team and ambulance ready for patients in Ada – RBS
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Officials say 3 teens downed power lines in Kuna – RBS
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Troopers used cell phone to track human trafficking victim
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Montana man shoots and kills 3-year-old while playing game of ‘gun tag’
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For our readers who speak Spanish, here is a recent fairly sensationalized article from Spain’s El Periodico:
Listos para el fin del mundo
Gobiernos mundiales totalitarios. Campos de concentración para internar a la ciudadanía. Políticos que son la encarnación del Anticristo. Parecen elementos de una película de ciencia ficción, pero millones de estadounidenses creen que estas ideas son ciertas y algunos se preparan activamente para sobrevivir al colapso de la civilización.
A choppy automatic translation is available here.
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Off-grid German village banks on wind, sun, pig manure – G.G.
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15 Signs That We Live During A Time Of Rampant Government Paranoia. – B.B.
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Black Panther hails ax attack on cops. – T.P.
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21 Days – E.B.
“An expert in biological warfare warns against complacency in public measures against Ebola.”
“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” – Frank Zappa
October 27th, 1858 was the birthday of President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. He died January 6, 1919.
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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:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
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.
In a few days my former-Navy-nurse daughter will fly out to help stand up a brand new 100-bed treatment facility for the International Rescue Committee in Liberia. Ebola is not a theoretical threat anymore. Now it’s personal.
My daughter has always loved being in the thick of things and has been fascinated with Ebola since childhood. Now, in just a matter of days, she will walk into a room filled with sick and dying Ebola patients, and all her training, grit, and compassion will be tested. She will eventually come home on a rotation and be under medical isolation here, in our home, for three weeks until she is cleared.
So you can understand that it troubles me that there is no “official” treatment routine for Ebola patients. I do know that most African patients are receiving only Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS), which is a special mixture of salts to replace water lost to diarrhea or vomiting, or IV rehydration in a few locations. There are no other drugs, no other testing, and only minimal monitoring. Their own bodies will either fight it off or succumb. There are too many victims, and Ebola is spreading too rapidly for expensive and complex Westernized high-tech medicine, even if that would help, which clearly is not always the case.
However, we can do better.
I’ve spent the last month immersed in Internet research compiling, for my own family, to develop our personalized “Ebola Treatment Protocol.” It’s for people, like us, who might not have access to advanced medical care if and when Ebola comes to town. It’s based on the best information I can find, and there’s a lot of it.
I’m risking my own precious daughter’s life and our own lives, should this become an epidemic or pandemic in the United States. I’m betting that these measures will help. They’re not a cure, but they’re a lot better than doing nothing or just ORS.
We’ve started our daughter on these supplements. We’ve sent this protocol to the orphanage she founded in Kpando, Ghana, at their request, to give them something, some tool, that they can adopt and adapt should Ebola sweep through their community next. Also, we’re helping them select protective equipment, which unfortunately will not be up to newly announced standards (also see this article.)
I’m not afraid of Ebola, neither for myself nor my daughter. It’s just another potential threat that can be analyzed and prepared for, just like an economic collapse, earthquakes, EMP, wildfires, and more. I take my own advice, which is to trust God and be prepared.
Don’t go off half-cocked. If Ebola burns through our country, you’re going to have to have an eye for detail and do it right every time. There’s a lot more to do than have a treatment protocol in hand. You’ll need protective equipment, and you’ll need to figure out how to set up your own sickroom and the procedures for getting in and out and decontaminating and handling blood and vomit and maybe bodies. Make a plan. There could be a limited window of time when the best equipment and supplies are available.
It could be ugly, or maybe nothing will happen! That’s MY prayer, but only God knows. Don’t get sucked into all the Internet conspiracy talk of how it started and who stands to gain. Don’t lose the focus on what you’re going to DO about it to prepare. The goal of knowledge is action!
Some outstanding Internet resources can be found at these links. Please read them all:
There are many references in the Protocol Endnotes to explain why I included a particular supplement or procedure. I’ve worked on this for so long I can hardly see straight, but please don’t take my word for ANY of this. Do you own research. Draw your own conclusions. Make your own “protocol.” Just remember this: the best treatment is prevention!
“O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid:
O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years,
in the midst of the years make known;
in wrath remember mercy.” – Habakkuk 3:2
Trust God. Be Prepared. We can do both!
(Tomorrow, Part 2 will outline the Proposed Ebola Treatment Protocol.)
For the prepper, air rifles offer quiet shooting that can be done for hunting, pest control, or practice. Quiet is always good. While these guns do make noise, it is a lot less than virtually all non-suppressed firearms. The sound signature is different as well; they sound more like an air nailer or stapler than a gun. They also can cost less to shoot, since you are just buying pellets and not a cartridge case, primer, and powder. There is even a chap in England selling kits to make your own pellets http://airgunpelletmaker.weebly.com/ , if you want more independence.
When most folks think of air rifles, an image of a *Daisy Red Ryder often comes to mind. Red Ryders make great trainers for kids (and grownups), but most people don’t take them seriously, even though they remember the admonitions about how they can put your eye out. Many of us also might remember assassinating the odd bird with them. Despite the dangers they pose to eyes and small birds, with their smooth bores, dainty 5.1 grain .17 caliber steel BB’s, heavy triggers, and rudimentary sights, they only have about 1.4 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle and little accuracy beyond 15 feet. They have enough energy to cause injury but not enough to be reliable killers of small game. Their redeeming feature is that they are fun to shoot for young and old and with only 13 or so pounds of cocking effort, they’re easy to plink with all day.
There are other types of air rifles, however. I first became aware of them when I read Mel Tappan’s influential work Survival Guns published way back in 1977. One type of these guns is used in Olympic target competition and capable of stunning accuracy, though they don’t offer as much power as we might like for hunting. These guns also have astonishing prices. There are, however, other types of air rifles– ones that provide enough power to cleanly kill small game and sufficient accuracy to hit them. They also have prices more of us can afford.
In this realm of air riflery, there are several variants that preppers should be familiar with– spring piston, gas piston, and pneumatic. In the spring piston gun, a powerful spring is compressed and then released when the trigger is pressed. This drives a piston forward that creates a column of compressed air, which propels the pellet to the target. The gas piston is similar, but it uses a gas-filled piston, somewhat like one of the ones that holds up your car’s trunk lid, instead of a spring. An advantage of the gas piston is that it can be left cocked for longer periods without stressing the mechanism. Pneumatic guns have reservoirs that hold compressed air, which is released to shoot the pellet. Some pneumatics have pumps on the gun, while others, called pre-charged pneumatics (PCP), use high pressure tanks to hold the air. These tanks can sometimes be removed from the gun and replaced with a full one. Most folks, using this sort of gun, take them to a dive shop and have them filled there, though there are home pumps available. The joy of this sort of air gun is that it can be fired several times without pumping or cocking, much like a repeating firearm. Lewis and Clark carried this kind of air rifle on their great exploration of the American West in the early 19th century, while the Austrian Army equipped soldiers with them in the same time frame.
One thing that usually surprises people first using a spring or gas piston gun is that they recoil. It is a rather odd recoil impulse in that it usually first goes forward and then backwards. This derives from all the stuff ramming forward to compress the air that drives the pellet and then the release of the air pushing back, unlike the simple rearward push you get from a firearm. This back and forth recoil makes these guns hard on scopes. Some target air guns have parts working in the opposite direction to cancel this recoil. Pneumatics have less recoil, which is an advantage, since recoil can affect accuracy.
You may notice that I’m leaving out CO2 guns. I admit to dearly loving them for their fun and ease of shooting, but the requirement to purchase costly CO2 cartridges leaves me cold. I can see the cartridges being very hard to come by in any sort of crisis. To an extent, the PCP guns can fall victim to this sort of issue, if one doesn’t buy their own pump for their gun. There may not be a SCUBA shop open to refill your tanks if the grid is down. PCP guns are also pricier than a spring or gas piston gun, when you consider the problem of filling the reservoirs with air.
Overall, I like the idea of something that I can power by my own hand, and that pretty much means a spring or gas piston gun. The gun I’m reviewing– the Hatsan Model 125 Sniper Vortex Air Rifle – is a gas piston made in Turkey that goes for $270. When I picked it up from UPS, the first thing that crossed my mind when I grabbed the box was that this thing is heavy. The Hatsan website credits it with nine pounds, which is around the weight of my M1A and quite a bit heavier than the light barrel AR carbine I often shoot. All that weight, however, I was promised a powerful and sturdy air rifle. It didn’t disappoint.
The rifle comes with a 3-9x scope made in China. I would probably want to spring for a better scope. All the years I spent using Leica, Canon, and Nikon cameras left me pretty picky about optics, and this is a bargain scope. It is actually reasonably clear; the key drawback is that it can’t be adjusted for parallax. If you are using a scope at a different range than it is set for parallax, any shift in your eye position will affect where the reticle appears to be aimed at. The higher the magnification, the greater the problem is. Scopes for centerfire rifles are usually set for 100 yards, which is an excellent compromise. Rimfire scopes are usually set for 50 yards, and again that works out okay for the most part. Air rifles, in my view, are best served with a scope that can be adjusted for distance, especially if it is capable of higher power settings, because they are shot at closer ranges, which seems to make the adjustment pickier. This scope is not adjustable, and while I’ve read that you can unscrew the front element to adjust it, that voids the warranty. Also, I fear that might let moisture into the scope. I view this scope as something to enjoy using until I could afford a better one. A scope is far easier to use than iron sights, so it is a definite plus to get it as part of the package.
The rifle has iron sights with bright fiber optic inserts. The rear sight is an open notch and adjustable for elevation and windage. They provide a good sight picture, and the adjustability is welcome on an air rifle, as the trajectory can vary significantly with different pellets.
The Hatsan shoots the included .22 caliber 14.66 grain lead pellets at more than 900 feet per second. This is approaching the power of a standard velocity .22 short, which has killed many a squirrel. At point blank range, it had no problem shooting cleanly through 3/8” plywood. It also managed to get about half its pellets through the plywood at 20 yards. This puppy has serious power. It clearly exceeds the .22 Aguila Colibri and Super Colibri rounds I often use for rodent extermination around the chicken coop.
Just for a point of reference, here are some energy levels:
28 foot pounds .22 caliber 14.66 pellet from Hatsan .22 air rifle
8 foot pounds .22 caliber 20 grain Aguila Colibri
16 foot pounds .22 caliber 20 grain Aguila Super Colibri
32 foot pounds .22 caliber 29 grain CCI CB Long
44 foot pounds .22 caliber 29 grain CCI Short Target
The Colibris often will not exit a larger rodent, while the Super Colibris usually goes through one. I haven’t had a chance to take any with the Hatsan, but I have no doubt they would do an impressive job.
The energy levels for the firearms ammunition were taken from the ammunition manufacturers’ sites. The energy for the Hatsan was computed from the average of 10 shots fired over a chronograph, using this calculator. I could have done the math myself, but this was easier.
Hatsan claims 1,000 fps with this gun, but they don’t specify what pellet they are using for the measurement. I didn’t get that high a velocity, but they may have had lighter pellets. The best velocity I saw was about 930 fps, which thankfully was with one of the most accurate pellets. I was clearly getting enough power out of it to easily do in squirrels or other rodents and most types of birds.
The noise levels were interesting. The Hatsan actually has a noise suppressor on it. While I don’t have a meter for sound levels, I found that the .22 Colibris seemed slightly quieter out of a rifle with an 18 inch barrel, but they had a gun sound. The Hatsan seemed slightly louder but, as mentioned before, made a sound that was more like that of a pneumatic nail gun. If I heard it, in other words, I wouldn’t think “gun”, but I might be curious about what it was. In either case, you wouldn’t hear either of them very far. My son had trouble hearing them fired immediately outside the house or in the garage through one wall. The Hatsan was definitely quieter than the CCI CB Long or a .22 short. I don’t have a suppressed .22 to compare, but I suspect that would have been quieter than the air rifle.
This style gas piston gun is operated by breaking the barrel open and inserting a pellet in the chamber. It is kind of like a double barrel shotgun, though it swings 135 degrees, which is quite a bit further than your scattergun. It takes considerable force, around 45 foot pounds to be precise, to operate the action. This compresses the gas piston and resets the trigger. The safety is set “on” when the barrel is opened. The effort it takes to cock it is the flip side of all that power. My nine-year-old son could do it, but he had to work at it. The effort makes you consider the purpose of this rifle, and I think of it as more of a hunting or pest control rifle rather than a high volume plinker. It is certainly fun to plink with it, but after 20 or so rounds, it starts to wear most of us down a bit and shooting begins to lose its appeal. I found a 50-round string for testing to be pretty tiring, in fact.
This model Hatsan has a synthetic stock that seems quite sturdy. It has an adjustable cheek piece that is very nice for lining yourself up with the iron sights or a scope. The stock has rubber-like inserts to improve your grip, and there are some spacers you can install to lengthen the adult-sized stock. It has ¾” wide sling swivels. The front one is mounted on the left side of the fore arm; the rear one is mounted on the toe of the stock. I feel that the sling mounting could be improved. This is a heavy rifle, so I would prefer a 1¼” sling. It is hard to mount the forward swivel since the barrel has to break, so it is on the side of the fore arm. Since I’m left-handed, it would have been nice to have a mount available on both sides.
One of the interesting things about this sort of air gun is that you need to hold it lightly. With firearms, we usually pull them back into the shoulder snugly to control recoil. Since the recoil is simpler with a firearm, just a push back, we can get pretty good accuracy with a tight hold. With a spring or gas piston air gun, more is going on. The piston rams forward making the gun jump before the pellet can clear the barrel. We then get backward recoil from the blast of air released. There simply isn’t much way we can control all that. Trying to do so can cause problems, because it is so hard to do it the same way for each shot. Many air gun experts recommend that we should use a very light hold that allows the gun to recoil freely. This means simply letting the fore end rest on your open hand while only exerting light pull on the pistol grip. I’ve had trouble doing this, as I am so used to using more power in my hold. I have had to make an effort to give it a chance, and it seems to work.
The trigger on the rifle is adjustable. It came set at 5.5 pounds and is reasonably crisp. I decided to leave it as is because my son has been shooting it and I think making it too light is not a great idea for young shooters.
Air rifles do need maintenance. A Hatsan spokesperson suggested cleaning the bore about every 500 rounds and that they really like Ballistol for the cleaner. While there is obviously no powder or copper fouling going on, the barrel can lead up in a high velocity gun, like the Hatsan, and that will affect accuracy.
I liked the fact that Hatsan says that you should get at least 20,000 rounds from this gun before needing service and that it can be rebuilt, as needed.
I wound up with two of these rifles. The first one was disappointing in accuracy. It initially had about a 40 fps variation in a 10-shot string and averaged about 850 fps with the 14.66 pellets supplied with the rifle. Air rifles need a break-in period, so I wanted to shoot it some and see what happened. Hatsan said to give it 500 shots before making a final judgment. The velocity variation dropped to 20 fps at around shot 500 and accuracy improved. However, it then got worse, and after a few more shots, the velocity suddenly fell off by 200 fps and accuracy and velocity became very erratic. I contacted Hatsan and they replaced the rifle.
The second rifle showed far more consistent velocities from the start with only a 16 fps variation in the first 10 shots, which averaged 930 fps with 14.66 grain pellets. Accuracy was far better from the start; it was possible to consistently hit a quarter at 25 feet, which is pretty good in my book. By 200 rounds, I was getting a 10 fps variation in a ten-shot string, which is quite acceptable and what Hatsan told me to expect. Accuracy also improved a bit while the velocity stayed at an average of 927 fps in a ten-round string, again with the supplied pellets.
I suspect there was some issue with the piston seal from the start with the first gun. I was very happy that Hatsan was willing to replace it.
Accuracy is a key issue with air guns. While air guns like this one are quite powerful for what they are, they are still limited in muscle. When you don’t have much power to apply, it needs to be applied precisely to a key spot. Pellet guns tend to be somewhat sensitive to pellets, and I found that to be true of the Hatsan. Interestingly, the first one didn’t like the ones that came with it, but the second one shot them extremely well. I tried a range of American, German, Spanish, and Czech pellets ranging from a bit over 13 grains all the way up to 25.39 grains. Both rifles I tested did well with the Czech JSP pellets, while the second one also did extremely well with the Hatsan Vortex 14.66 grain pellet. I’m sure that the second rifle could hit a quarter with every shot at 25 feet using these pellets if I did my part.
I would be happy to have more information about caring for the rifle in the instructions. There isn’t much about maintenance. In the old days, you were expected to follow a rather specialized maintenance schedule on some air rifles using special lubes on springs and piston seals. I didn’t see any recommendations for any of that. I also didn’t see any dire warning about firing it without pellets, which is something that devastates the seals in an old German gun I own. I would presume that dry firing is not good, as it means slamming the piston forward without resistance, much like dropping the slide on an empty chamber with a match tuned 1911.
I like the rifle quite a bit and see a real use for it in a prepping situation. It has a very respectable price to performance value point. While I’m not a fan of the scope, it is great to get it with the rifle to tide you over until you can get a better one. If I decided to add one to my battery, and I think I will, I would spend time with it to determine the most accurate pellet and then lay in a good supply. Air rifles tend to be a bit picky with pellets, and the one I tested might have different tastes from the one you get. The idea of making my own is appealing, but the manufactured ones are not really expensive. You could buy a lot for $100.00. One thing I did discover, however, when I dug up some old pellets from the early 1980’s is that many of them had oxidized to the point I won’t use them. If you buy a bunch, it might be smart to vacuum pack them or seal them up with some oxygen absorbers to be sure they would still be usable years down the line. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor, Scot Frank Erie
My husband has celiac disease, which is much more serious and complex than just a gluten allergy. The following is an old family recipe that I adjusted to make it gluten free.
Place beef in 1½ quart baking dish. Pour soup over top and add homemade dry onion soup mix. Stir. Bake at 300° for 3 hours. About 30 minutes before it’s done, add the can of mushrooms. I serve this over a baked potato; you could also serve it over rice. I just add a couple potatoes to the oven rack about 1½ hours before the stew is done. I don’t wrap them in foil; I just throw them on the rack with the stew.
This is a very low-sodium as well as gluten-free recipe. If you would like to thicken up the gravy a bit, mix ¼ c. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Flour with water to make a paste. Add this when you add the mushrooms.
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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlogreaders? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!