Notes for Tuesday – June 10, 2014

Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ 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. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  5. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  9. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  12. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

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. A full set of all 26 books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  9. Dri-Harvestfoods.com in Bozeman, Montana is providing a prize bundle with Beans, Buttermilk Powder, Montana Hard Red Wheat, Drink Mixes, and White Rice, valued at $333,
  10. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  11. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  12. 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. A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. 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
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.

Round 53 ends on July 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.

Minimizing The BOB And Permaculture, by N.E.

I have come to a point within my preparedness goals that my life style has changed, as I spend the majority of my time seeking self sufficiency, with less dependence upon the globalized system. With this life style, I focus on preparedness with two schools of thought– short-term emergencies and long-term emergencies. This post is two parts, with the first being short-term emergencies, the BOB, and ways to minimize your ruck. The second part is focusing on the long emergency with Permaculture (sustainable gardening).

Part 1- Knowledge and Items for Short-term Emergencies

I highly recommend everyone interested in preparedness take a primitive living skills course in their region, as learning species of plants in your biome, or the biome where you plan to bug out to, is critical. I recently participated in a primitive course and learned to make fire by friction with a bow drill, how to make cordage, and how to use that cordage to make traps. While fire by friction does take longer than flicking a bic or striking flint steel, it did serve as a comfort to learn that by knowing just a single tree, such as the Basswood, I can make fire, cordage, and obtain food, all from recognizing and obtaining this single species. This knowledge weighs nothing.

Also during the primitive course, I made a water-proof, primitive shelter. While this is great knowledge, it is not practical. I suggest making a primitive water-proof shelter is not practical, because you won’t have the time required to make a water poof primitive shelter (that could take 3 to 6+ hours to make), once you see storm clouds moving in. Not to mention, the large amount of energy you exhaust making such a shelter. Because of this experience, a rain tarp went to the top of my list of “needs” for my BOB. Be it a hammock-style rain tarp, a GI poncho, 55-gallon drum liners, or industrial trash bags, a quick and easy way to stay dry is critical. Every task during this primitive course was completed with a 5” fixed blade.

On the topic of an edged tool/ weapon, I see a lot of Internet forums and blogs talk about knife redundancy. I agree with this, it’s great. Though, you do not need two fixed blades, a folder, an axe, and/or a machete. I assume if you are reading this that means you are seasoned in the mall ninja Internet ways and you have seen exactly what I just listed. I recommend two, quality fixed blades. The size is one of your choosing but consider the weight. I recommend one of those blades be larger, for hacking at limbs, and then a smaller knife for close work. For me, I carry a 5” along with 2” fixed blade, but that’s just what works for me. I prefer a plain edge to a serrated, as serrated is more complex to sharpen and tends to get hung up/snag with close work. A serrated edge does not provide any additional assistance with batoning. I prefer simplicity, so I prefer a plain edge.

The hardest item to construct or find in nature is a way to hold water. For me, this is another critical piece of my kit. A Kleen Kanteen is my choice, as I can cook and boil water in this item. While I do have bladders and GI-issue canteens with cup, which are great, the Kleen Kanteen kit with a GSI cup is perfect for me, since it is small and has a minimalistic approach.

With these five items– fire, rain protection, quality knife, a way to hold water, and knowledge– I feel fairly confident in being able to survive for an amount of time. These five items fit in a bag so small that I do not really feel like I am carrying anything at all. Everything else that I would add to the bag would be for comfort.

I did not mention first aid here, as I am currently refining that aspect to my BOB by learning native plants that have medicinal purposes, while trimming down the kit that I do have.

Of course, we could argue all day about what else we feel we need in our bags, but this list is based on my experience with getting out into the field, learning more, and tossing away material items with the goal to lighten my load. In a true “SHTF” scenario, we gotta make room for the weight of the self-defense items.

Get out there and play with your gear.

Part 2 – Knowledge for the Long Emergency

I am a certified Permaculture designer, and I practice Permaculture on a 45-acre farm. Permaculture is defined as permanent, sustainable agriculture or, more simply, permanent culture. The basic concept is to mimic the natural environment through ecological design to build a food system. As an example, in all the natural woods and fields you have seen in your life, there is no human oversight on those systems. Natural systems grow and function on their own, and in Permaculture we look at the ecology of the why and how those system works, with the goal to mimic that system with edible varieties. As a good portion of the nation is currently affected by drought, I want to tell you about a “Hugelkultur” bed. (This is pronounced “hoogle culture” or “hue-gul” culture.)

A Huglekultur bed is woody debris covered by soil with the goal to maximize the bed’s ability to hold water. Huglekulture beds are a self-irrigating system, or at least have less need to irrigate. To start, you want to mark out the topographic contour of your land for the area you want your bed. You want to do this so rain runoff will soak evenly into your bed. You then dig roughly 18” deep for the length of your bed, and let’s say 12” to 18” wide. You then fill that hole with logs and the discarded limbs from the trees you used for firewood. Take the dirt you dug out of the hole, and then fill the hole, covering the woody debris. As you begin with the fill dirt, I would add compost and any other soil additives at this time. You do not need to dig a hole, as you could just pile soil on top of a bush pile, but that technique would require bringing in soil and possibly a machine of some sort. A short video to further demonstrate Huglekulture can be seen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sso4UWObxXg

Covering your bed with straw and/or wood chips is also an excellent way to hold moisture and keep the soil cool. Roughly 3” of straw will hold 1” of water. You do not need the soil exposed once plants begin to rise, as the photosynthesis takes place in the plant’s leaves. On 90 to 100+ degree days, the soil that is exposed is dry air and heat leads to plant stress, which impacts your yield. Soil that is covered by straw remains cool and wet. As an example, a forest floor is typically covered in debris, and if you scratch away a section of that debris, the soil is damp, cool, and abundant with micro-organisms that make plant life flourish.

Diversity is key to a natural healthy ecosystem, and modern agriculture focuses solely on what is called “monoculture.” Monoculture is just a single variety of crop that degrades the soil over time, creating a greater reliance upon fertilizers and pesticides each year. In a long emergency, you most likely will not have access to fertilizers and pesticides. In Permaculture, we practice “polyculture,” which is planting many varieties in the same area to minimize a crop being wiped out due to an insect, among other reasons. I use red clover as a cover crop, as Red Clover is a nitrogen fixer (adds nitrogen to the soil) and a dynamic accumulator. Once the clover grows tall, you just chop it and drop it so it composts right back into the soil, adding more nitrogen. The root system runs deep, which loosens up the soil, so there is no need to till. Chickens also love eating red clover, so you have a food source for poultry. Clover also serves as shade for the soil to keep it cool, and it is also a perennial. Clover is a huge benefit for the retreat. You then want to space out your varieties of crops all over the bed. There is no one section for tomato’s or a section for lettuce. You want to space them out, so a single cut worm or other insect does not pop up in the middle of a huge section of tomatoes and wipe out your entire crop. As an example, last year I planted kale in rows. The insects had a field day with the Kale. This year, I still planted a row, but I mixed the kale in with the clover. The insect damage is almost nonexistent. If you are interested in learning more about Permaculture, you may want to research plant guilds and food forests. Food forests are awesome and are my next adventure.

The philosophy behind emergency preparedness is to minimize the effects of an emergency by maximizing your efficiency through knowledge and gear. Permaculture is exactly that, as you can increase productivity with less labor than traditional agriculture. As an example, it is estimate that an average industrial farmer needs 640 acres to earn roughly $50 to $60K a year. Permaculture farmers have reported making $100K/year on 10 acres. This is a huge gain in yield and profit, compared to the investment necessary with industrial farming.

The main point I have attempted to make through this post is to obtain new information, while applying that information to secure knowledge. Knowledge that leads to increased efficiency will help you not only survive but thrive during an emergency situation.

Over and out.

Letter Re: Challenging the Ammo Shortage

Hi. As a long-time reader, I’ve always felt that you do a good job of seeing the truth through whatever smoke is being put out, but I’m surprised to see you swallowing the “it’s the hoarders” excuse for our continued shortage of ammo.

Simple supply and demand explains that when demand is higher than the supply, the price goes up. If demand and price remain high, then the supply will surely increase. Eventually, supply is increased to meet demand and the price settles to its “natural” level.

The story we are repeatedly told is that ammo manufacturers have maxed-out their current production lines, making as much ammo as they can. Increasing production beyond that requires adding production lines of expensive equipment, that would need to be run for years in order to recoup the setup cost. But they say that the demand spike is caused by fear from various gun-control related events, and that it’s made worse by hoarders buying it all up. They all say that this is temporary demand and doesn’t justify expanding production.

How long do you buy their “temporary” excuse? The current anti-gun President has been in office for FIVE YEARS, and there have been multiple events that trigger a renewed gun control uproar during that time. There has been a shortage of both guns and ammo for that entire time. I would also expect that the hoarders would have filled their basements with ammo by now, and the new hoarders entering the market every year would be a manageable number. So, the “temporary” excuse just doesn’t hold water anymore.

Another factor here they don’t address is the massive increase in gun sales. When there are more guns being sold, it naturally increases the demand for ammunition. This long-term increase in gun sales should be a clear sign to ammo manufacturers that they should increase production.

To me, the “temporary” increase in demand is not temporary; it’s the new demand level. Management at the ammo companies are either not very smart, or there is some barrier to increasing production that they don’t want to talk about.

HJL Replies: In the case of .22LR product, it isn’t even the “hoarders” that is the problem. It’s your every day users. No one knows for sure, but Wikipedia suggests that the U.S. output is 2.5 billion rounds of .22LR per year. If only half of the Walmart stores across the country sell ammunition, that means that there are 2400 stores selling it. If you simply break it down into bricks of 500 (ignoring the boxes of 100 or 50), that means that each Walmart store gets 2083 bricks per year (five or six bricks per day). That doesn’t even account for the thousands of gun shops and sporting goods stores across the nation.

A second issue is that the .22LR is a narrow margin product. Take a look at that video again and pay close attention to the machines doing the manufacturing. Those are specially-built, dedicated machines. A production line can literally cost millions of dollars to put in place today. Unlike a gun manufacture who can buy one or two CNC mills or lathes and easily increase their production for a couple hundred thousand on a decent margin product, the .22LR folks don’t have that luxury. After the boom is long gone, a CNC machine can be re-tasked, but a special built production line usually can’t without major expenditure. As a bushiness man, they have to weigh the cost of putting in that production line with the predicted length of the current shortage and the financial risk. It is my belief that the domestic companies have been either hoping that the current shortage will end or foreign companies will take the financial risks and make up the production. The domestic companies would much rather focus on a higher margin product, such as center fire cartridges.

As stated in my notes, just because the government issues a request-for-bid or even issues a contract for a specific number of cartridges is no guarantee that they will make an actual purchase of that number. Most contracts are way under-filled. A better indicator of government usage would be actual product shipped/received.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Metal Studs Treat The Homeless ‘Like Animals’ – T.P.

o o o

Treasury Department Employee Firing Rate Is 4th Lowest Among Federal Agencies – PLC

o o o

Turing Test breakthrough as super-computer becomes first to convince us it’s human . – T.P.

There will be those who see this as an advancement towards a “skynet” type system, but the real fear is more down to earth. Can this program accelerate the duping of real humans in online fraud? What happens when the state of the art voice synthesis is combined with this? This may raise the bar on identity theft and human engineering. What about the FBI (or other alphabet agency) using it to troll social networking sites?

o o o

War Gear Flows to Police Departments – B.B.

o o o

60 Minutes just aired a piece on the Near Earth Objects (asteroids and comets) threat. You can find out more from the B612 Foundation.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Powerful government tends to draw into it people with bloated egos, people who think they know more than everyone else and have little hesitance in coercing their fellow man. Or as Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek said, ‘In government, the scum rises to the top’.” – Walter E. Williams

Notes for Monday – June 09, 2014

Both www.shottist.com and www.andysleather.com are offering 10% off for SurvivalBlog readers until the end of the year. Use the code: “survivalblog14” during checkout on the web sites to get your discount.

Book Review: The End of the Age

Book Title: The End of the Age

Author: Pat Robertson

Copyright Date: 1995

Publisher: Word Publishing

ISBN: 0-8499-1290-3

Amazon Link: The End of the Age

Audio, e-book or foreign translation available: Audio and Kindle available

Suitable for children; probably okay for Jr. High and up.

This book was personally handed to me with a “You should read this” admonition, which came from someone who knows me well and whose advice I respect. A cursory scan showed that it had promise, so into the queue it went. I will tell you now that no sooner had I finished this book than a second book of remarkably similar flavor showed up. Consequently, this will be a three part review, consisting of a look at each book on its own and then a comparison. I will leave it to HJL to decide how he would like to present the three parts.

Having been published almost twenty years ago, this is not a new arrival on the scene. If anything, it has likely been skipped over and lost in the vast array of material available. It certainly pre-dates SurvivalBlog. It shows its age in a few regards. I found the airport scene with folks all lined up, waiting to use the pay phones, a most telling measure of how well we can envision our own future twenty years out.

That is not to say that this book lacks merit. There are two things that it does exceptionally well. For one, it shows how a single, disastrous event can snowball into a series of disastrous events, and for another, it does a remarkably good job of tying together a number of biblical prophecies into a scientifically-feasible future, made all the more worth reading on account of a geologic record suggesting this has happened here before.

As one would expect from Pat Robertson, the book is free from profanity and sex scenes. The misbehavior of society is discussed and referred to but not shown in vivid color. While I wouldn’t want to burden a young child with these worries about the future, this book may be appropriate by the age of twelve or so, depending on the child and their maturity level.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Our two main characters are Carl and Lori Throneberry. He is a very highly-paid, advertising account executive; she is an interior designer. Their lives in Laguna Niguel are turned upside down when a meteor strike is suddenly announced, while they are on their way to the airport for a brief retreat from the Southern California heat. The world immediately descends into chaos, but they manage to get close enough to the airport to be able to jog the rest of the way and make their flight, just in time for its early departure.

Once off the plane in Albuquerque, the Throneberrys catch the president’s speech in which he explains the imminent disaster and the fact that the government has not prepared for such a disaster. Having vetoed the funds for the development of a missile system to counter such a threat, having kept this meteor a secret out of fear that announcing it would generate a sense of panic, and out of hope that it would not be caught in the earth’s gravitational field, the president goes on to explain that at this point there is nothing that can be done to evacuate the west coast. Millions will die. Ashamed of his own political cowardice, the president draws a 9mm pistol and commits suicide in front of the nation.

Thus, the natural world and the political world suddenly go into an upheaval, and each problem leads to another problem.

Carl and Lori, who do not believe in the Bible, find themselves taken in by a man who is a believer and who is well prepared for the end of the world. He explains to the Throneberrys how a meteorite strike could be the start of what is prophesied in chapters 8 and 9 of the book of The Revelation in The Bible. He even explains how “wormwood” could be a reference to radiation fallout from nuclear reactor meltdowns, such as happened at Chernobyl, which can be translated “wormwood”. From an ocean impact to a tidal wave to earthquakes to nuclear reactor meltdowns to volcanic ash to global famine, the entire picture works both from a biblical prophecy perspective and from a scientific perspective. The credibility factor is pretty high.

On the political front, the Vice President is little more than a good-looking actor with an alcohol problem. He has been smart enough to surround himself with capable support staff, but he lacks the character to deal with the challenges involved in a national disaster. Taking the job of President, within hours, he has made a fool of himself and fired his critically important chief of staff. While sleeping off his drunken stupor, his opportunistic wife arranges for one of her people to fill the shoes of the chief of staff and thus begins an evil political coup. And I mean evil. It is the anti-Christ who ends up running the show.

I won’t spoil the entire novel, but I will say that Carl and Lori become believers. Carl uses his experience in advertising in his new role as part of an underground Christian resistance network. There are several sub-plots to add drama to the story line, and it all ends up as prophesied. I have no qualms about recommending this book as a good and instructive read. I know many Christians have a different interpretation of the end times, largely revolving around the idea that Christians are “not intended for the wrath to come”, but I would suggest that there may be a distinction between the end of the world and hell. I suspect most readers of this blog are prepared for both and will appreciate this book.

— Harry, SurvivalBlog Book Reviewer

Book Review: Fury of the Fifth Angel

Book Title: Fury of the Fifth Angel

Author: Pat & Chris Hoffman

Copyright Date: 2013

Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-4575-2429-5

Amazon Link: Fury of the Fifth Angel

Audio, e-book or foreign translation available: Kindle available

Suitable for children: No.

I had just finished reading The End of the Age when Fury of the Fifth Angel arrived in my mailbox. I hadn’t even gotten started on writing my review of “The End of the Age”. Given the title and the subject matter, I knew I was going to have to bump Fury of the Fifth Angel up to the top of the queue. It didn’t hurt that from the get-go this one is an attention grabber.

This novel has not just one major meteorite strike the Earth but rather a series of meteorites, as Earth passes through a previously unknown meteorite stream. Initially these are small meteorites and do relatively little damage, but they are enough to create a public panic. The government is doing everything in its power to keep this news under wraps until scientists can determine how much of a risk the Earth faces and until preparations can be put in place to maintain civil order.

One of the main characters, John Halloran, is an east coast power grid operator, and another, Devon Grant, is a solar technician at the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. John is a customer of Devon’s, because the electrical grid can be affected by such things as solar flares. Dialog revolving around the two of them affords opportunity for educational discussions about our vulnerabilities to solar activity and the fragility of the electric grids, upon which we are so dependent. The authors make excellent use of those opportunities.

The novel has more sub-plots than I could gracefully keep track of. Some of these came and went, while others were eventually tied in with the main plot. While a bit challenging to keep track of, all of these were useful for illustrating the various ways in which society is likely to react to a major upheaval. The authors worked in an impressive array of character types by means of these tangents. They have everything from the career con-man to gangsters to the sociopath to the mentally deranged at one end, and from the old ladies’ bridge club to the pediatrician to the barista to truck drivers at the other end.

The political picture is an interesting one. The reasons for keeping the public in the dark about their impending destruction are well developed. There is everything from pride to the fear of fallout from having cut the budgets of the programs that would have offered a means of coping with the problem. There is also the drama of one person, who takes their job seriously and does it well in spite of the wishes of the rest. While unpopular, those actions end up validated.

However, I must state, this novel definitely falls in the “rated R” category. The majority of the characters in this book seem to have all the sexual inhibitions of rabbits. I found myself wondering if the authors didn’t simply make one list of male characters and one list of female characters and then draw lines between all of them and some of them given more than one line. I would say something on the order of ninety percent of all that sex had little or nothing to do with the development of the plot. This book could have been substantially cleaner. On the plus side, at least the pastor is left with his morality intact.

It should also be noted that this novel does not quite conclude. A sequel is planned. The key characters are left in position for what should be an exciting read about coping with the chaos.

The book is well crafted and holds the reader’s attention, but I cannot give it the recommendation I would like to. There is no justification for the cesspool morality.

— Harry, SurvivalBlog Book Reviewer

Comparison of The End of the Age and Fury of the Fifth Angel

SPOILERS AHEAD

I could not help but compare the two of these in my mind as I read Fury of the Fifth Angel, and I believe there is value in this, so here are my thoughts having read them both back to back.

The End of the Age does a better job of laying out the progression from one disaster to the next, explaining how each one sets the stage for the next one, much like falling dominoes. The argument is made even more compelling by its direct correlation to prophecy, particularly given the lack of scientific knowledge available to John the Apostle when he wrote The Revelation. That is not to say Fury of the Fifth Angel does not lay out a similar picture, but it does not work out the steps in the same level of detail.

On the Other Hand, Fury of the Fifth Angel spends more time on the subject of why we should expect to be hit by a meteorite, regardless of what The Bible says. More time is spent discussing the geologic record and what we have managed to deduce from it, plus what we are managing to learn about what is out there in space. We are sitting ducks in a shooting gallery. We have been hit before. We can expect to be hit again.

I found it particularly interesting that both books would operate on the premise that the government would keep the impending disaster a secret from the general populace. The End of the Age didn’t spend much time developing the reasons for this, but Fury of the Fifth Angel did, and in a remarkably credible manner. In fact, Fury of the Fifth Angel presented the government in the most positive light possible. (They’re honest, hard working folks who really do have the public interest at heart.) Yet, it still developed the motives and rationale behind maintaining secrecy. The most persuasive point is the consideration of how the masses are likely to behave if they know that their world is going to end within the week. The thin veneer, called civilization, peels back pretty quickly when death is imminent.

The two books present remarkably different perspectives on the government of the United States. As I just mentioned, Fury of the Fifth Angel operates on the premise that our public servants are, indeed, there trying to serve the public. There are a few bad eggs, but the majority are dutifully trying to take care of their responsibilities and do so in an honorable fashion. The End of the Age offers a more cynical view. Those who have the power are in the business of getting what they want by threatening others with the dirty laundry they could air, if they don’t get their way. Deals are made for the sake of personal ambition. The needs of the country are a distant second. And that is before the coup of evil.

In contrast to the perspectives on government are the perspectives on the population in general. In The End of the Age, destruction of all that we call civilization is a matter of divine justice, but in Fury of the Fifth Angel the premise is developed that we don’t need much of a push to achieve self-destruction. The disintegration of society requires nothing more than the loss of electricity, and that can be obtained through little more than fear. With just a few small meteorite hits causing some localized damage, the fear of what could happen if a nuclear reactor were to be affected prompts the shutting down of that portion of the electrical supply. Add to that a glitch in the natural gas fired portion, already strained to its limits trying to make up for the loss of nuclear power, and all of a sudden the grid starts to collapse. That interconnectedness isn’t such an asset in that scenario, and with the power off, those who are already on the fringes of society start to show their true colors. Fury of the Fifth Angel doesn’t stop there. The big hits do come and bring the massive, sudden devastation that one would expect, but the picture of how little it would take to get us back to acting as savages is disturbingly clear.

The End of the Age goes through the entire disaster, all the way to the point of the rapture, while Fury of the Fifth Angel only gets the reader up to the point of the first wave of devastation. I expect once the sequel is out that picture difference will balance out. There is not much prepping detail in either book, but Fury of the Fifth Angel has at least set the stage such that an education in that category could be offered. As it stands, both of these books offer insights into what our world could look like in the event of a meteorite strike. The End of the Age would be my choice given that it more thoroughly works through the scope of problems to be faced and is a much cleaner book to read.

— Harry, SurvivalBlog Book Reviewer

Scot’s product Review: Ching and Rhodesian Slings

I’m going to have to explain a few things before I can properly review today’s product, so please bear with me; I will get there!

I’ve heard slings called the rifle’s equivalent of the pistol’s holster. It’s not a bad analogy, but that only speaks to carrying the rifle. The right type of sling can also improve one’s ability to get hits with the rifle.

What most shooters use to carry the rifle is a simple strap that allows them to carry it over their shoulder. There are also the so-called tactical slings that also allow you to carry the rifle across the chest or back, but those aren’t what we are going to look at here. We are looking instead at slings that brace the rifle to the shooter and increase the steadiness with which the shooter can employ the rifle. This means better hits.

The most common sling of this sort is probably the U.S. M1907 leather sling, which was issued up through WW II and is gradually being phased out for a web carry strap. This style sling is sometimes called a loop sling for the loop it creates that wraps around the bicep. It’s the loop that provides the support that steadies up the shooter and rifle and makes shooting more accurate. Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Cooper, USMC, in his work, The Art of Rifle, notes that the sling takes the weight of the rifle off of the support arm, thus “securing that contact to the support shoulder so that the left elbow is left in its flexed position by the strap itself without any support from the biceps.”

Cooper felt, as do many competitive shooters, that this only benefits the shooter when in a position where the elbow rests on a support, such as the ground, an object, or a support leg. While I hardly have the expertise of Cooper, I feel that I do obtain some help from a sling while in the standing position. Some competitors agree with me, but note that it happens when we are in a less than perfect, offhand position. When one gets into a proper standing position, we get bone-to-bone support that makes the sling superfluous. Personally, I have trouble getting into that sort of position without spending a lot of time and energy, so perhaps that’s why I find the sling beneficial while shooting offhand.

The problem with the M1907 style sling is that it takes time to adjust and get into them. It also takes training and practice to use. If you don’t keep that practice up, you will probably fumble when you try to use it. I know I do. Colonel Cooper, a better man that I am, said it takes five seconds to get into the military sling. In my view (and the Colonel’s), five seconds is a long time, and it would be a lot better if it were less. I also hate to admit it, but it takes me longer than five seconds to get into the M1907. That’s the practice thing rearing its ugly head.

If you do want to use the M1907, I highly recommend M/SGT James R. Owens’ book Leather Sling and Shooting Positions. It appears to be out of print, so used is the only option unless you want the Kindle version.

Some folks use the so-called hasty sling. This can be done with most any sort of strap that attaches on the butt of the stock and the fore-end of the rifle. You simply put your support arm between the sling and the rifle and then slip it around the sling and through a second time by the fore-end. It is harder to explain than to do, but it allows you to tighten yourself up to the rifle and get a somewhat more solid hold. It isn’t as solid as the military sling, but it is a lot faster. There is, however, a far better alternative both for speed and steadiness.

The CW Sling

The CW sling was discovered by Colonel Cooper when he was a guest of Carlos Widmann in Central America. Widmann was using a British sling system, called the Bisley two point sling. The canny Brits mounted a sling swivel ahead of the magazine on the rifle as well as on the butt and the fore-end. Attaching the rear end of the sling in front of the magazine and the fore-end allows it to form a loop that can be locked around the shooter’s upper arm, providing much of the solidity of the military sling. Cooper called it a “marvelous discovery.” That’s strong praise from such an expert, and he christened it the CW sling in honor of Widmann.

For normal carry, the CW sling is mounted on swivels located on the butt of the stock and on the fore-end. When the need arises for greater support, the shooter moves the sling from the butt swivel to the one by the trigger guard. With the CW sling, the shooter is able to obtain a solid position in less than two seconds, which is a big improvement over what can be done with the military sling. In my view, an even bigger advantage is that the CW sling is far simpler to employ than the military sling. While I don’t think it is quite as solid as the M1907 sling, it is much better than the hasty sling.

The Ching Sling

Eric Ching, a gentleman of the first order and an innovator of great talent, saw the CW sling as something to be improved. The problem with the CW is that it had to be shifted from the swivel on the butt to the swivel ahead of the trigger guard to be used for support. Eric felt that slowed the shooter. Ching, who sadly passed away before his time in 2007, was a graduate of multiple classes from Cooper at the Gunsite Training Center and worked with Cooper on his idea.

What Ching came up with was the idea of attaching a sliding short strap to the sling that attached to the center swivel. The sling is then attached to the fore-end and butt of the rifle. This eliminated the need to shift the sling from a carry position to the support position. It saves valuable time, allowing the shooter to take a solid position far more quickly than with the CW sling, while also allowing the shooter to instantly sling the rifle over the shoulder without adjustment. The short strap can be slid backwards to form a loop that functions just as the CW sling. When it is time to carry the rifle, the short strap slides up towards the front swivel and stays out of the way. It is truly a better mousetrap. It might be even faster than a hasty sling, while far more solid.

The Ching sling was originally made by icon Bruce Nelson, who like Eric, passed away well before his time. Geoff Beneze of Beast Enterprise then made them. Geoff was also a multi Gunsite grad and well understood the concept, though he has retired and no longer makes them. Next, Galco began making a leather one, and The Wilderness brought out a web version.

Of all of the current versions, I am most fond of the leather one from Andy Langlois. Andy is a multiple Gun Site graduate, just as was Eric Ching, and it just feels right to buy the sling from a kindred spirit of Eric’s. The other versions are also well made, but there is something about soul, and Andy’s slings have it. The quality of his work is excellent, and the slings make a functional and attractive addition to any rifle.

The Rhodesian Sling

The one drawback of the CW and Ching slings is that they need three swivel mounts installed on the stock. Andy has a friend in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and the two of them came up with a solution– the Rhodesian sling. The chap in Africa wanted something that would work like the Ching sling for his clients, but they usually didn’t want the third swivel on their rifles. The Rhodesian sling has a loop in the front half that can be wrapped around the bicep. The shooter merely inserts their arm into the loop up to the bicep and shoulders the rifle, just as they would a CW or Ching sling. It is fast and simple to use.

Of the two slings, assuming the rifle has three swivels, I think I slightly prefer the Ching sling to the Rhodesian, but I have used the Ching a lot more. It is possible that’s the reason for my preference, but I also find the Rhodesian has a bit more leather hanging off the front of the rifle than the Ching. Andy says he goes back and forth between the two slings and that you can trim the Rhodesian down, once you settle on the adjustments, so the extra leather really isn’t an issue. I’m still learning mine, so I don’t want to cut it, and I know my cuts won’t be as neat as Andy’s.

Andy gets $50 for the Ching sling and $55 for the Rhodesian. For the money, you get well-crafted slings made of high quality leather. You can choose 1” or 1 ¼” width slings in black, walnut, or chestnut colors. The chestnut is deep and rich, and I really like it. You can also choose brass, nickel, or Cerakoted black hardware. Brass appeals most to me, but the black is probably the best choice for hunting or self-defense.

I should point out that the popular AR-15 platform can have issues with slings. The front sling mount is usually attached directly to the barrel, and the tension of a tight sling can bend the barrel enough to affect shots. There are handguards that free float the barrel to prevent this problem, but that’s not what we find on most AR’s. A loop sling that provides support puts a lot of tension on the barrel, so this is a factor, I suspect, in the demise of the loop sling in our military.

Besides slings, Andy makes very nice butt cuffs to store ammunition on your rifle’s stock and fine belts suitable to carry a handgun on. He also has a line of holsters.

Slings are an essential accessory on a rifle that is to be used in the field. I highly recommend you check these out, especially for a hunting rifle.

I would like to dedicate this article to Eric Ching. He was gracious enough to trade emails with me several times and helped me understand and use his invention. A lot of folks miss him.

Fiebings Acrylic Resolene

I often whine about how badly sweat affects leather holsters in the hot, dank climate in which I live. It eats through the leather’s finish and then soaks through the leather and into the gun inside the holster. I’m outside a lot, and the resulting sweat has caused serious corrosion problems as well as ruined holsters. Initially, many holsters hold up to it, but eventually, sweat wins. I’ve tried a number of waterproofing treatments that I used successfully on shoes and boots, but they never seemed to work as well on holsters. I think there is just too much moisture coming off the body and it’s corrosive. An undershirt helps but doesn’t solve the problem.

I recently made my whine to someone at one of the best holster shops on the planet and he suggested I send my holsters back for another coat of acrylic. As I was about to box a couple up, I decided to investigate how acrylic finishes are applied to leather to see if this is something I might be able to do myself. That could save money and time as well as create independence. That research led me to Fieblings Acrylic Resolene.

I’m not completely sure what is in the stuff, but Fiebings says it is “flexible, durable, and water resistant.” I presume, since the name includes the word acrylic, that there must be some of that in it. At any rate, Resolene is a milky liquid that I used on a couple of well-worn but still loved holsters. Both of them had been saddle soaped, waxed, and oiled, but both were still letting sweat through, so it was either give up, toss them, or try something new.

Fiebings Deglazer

Since I had used so much other stuff on the holsters, I figured I should try to clean them first. My research led me to Fiebings Deglazer. It is recommended as a prep for the Resolene. It removes old finishes to make the leather receptive to absorbing the Resolene. It didn’t remove the dye, but it did leave the leather clean, porous, and dull– ready for a finish. The Deglazer, by the way, has a nasty smell, so it is best used with good ventilation. After applying the deglazer with a clean cotton rag, I let it dry for a few minutes. The Resolene seems pretty benign, so I spread it with my fingers. It took several coats, but the low gloss finish returned to both holsters. Even better, both have survived range trips and all-day carry without sweat getting through the surface coat.

The Deglazer evaporates quickly, so it seems like it might get used up before the same size bottle of Resolene, which looks like a long-term supply. I have only used it on holsters, but I suspect it will work nicely on most smooth leathers. It’s not for suede, though.

Both products sell for about $8.00 on Amazon in 4-ounce bottles.

– SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Scot Frank Eire

Recipe of the Week: Au Gratin Potatoes from Scratch

At our retreat, our most important vegetable plantings will be potatoes (high carb, dense, high energy, keepers) and onions (keepers with the ability to intensely or subtlety flavor dishes). The lettuce, tomatoes, beans, and what all will be secondary.

  • 10 Yukon gold potatoes
  • 3-4 Tbsp olive oil or butter
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, diced
  • 4 c milk
  • 4 Tbsp flour
  • 4 Tbsp butter
  • 2 c shredded or cubed cheese cheese
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Paprika
  • Breadcrumbs, optional
  • Fresh thyme, optional

Wash, peel potatoes, and slice on a mandolin. (A mandolin is quicker than knife work and makes uniform slices. Just be sure to use the food holder. After slicing my fingers several times, I finally learned to be smarter. Ignore what you see on Food Network, those guys are pros. Use the protector.) Set aside potatoes.

Sauté onion in olive oil, until golden. Next, sauté garlic for only one minute. Set aside. Now you make a roux. Melt butter, then add flour. Stir, and a ball will form. Cook a couple of minutes to lightly brown and get rid of the raw flour taste. Add milk slowly, whisking constantly until milk mixture thickens. Add shredded cheese. (Last time I made this dish I just used some leftover cheese: cheddar cubes, pepper jack cubes, and shredded cheddar from a package.) After cheese melts, stir in onion mixture.

Pam a crockpot, and layer 1/2 the potatoes in the crockpot. Pour 1/2 the cheese mixture over the potatoes. Repeat with the other half potatoes and half cheese mixture. You can top with toasted panko crumbs or regular breadcrumbs. Dot breadcrumbs with butter. Sprinkle top with paprika for color. Strip leaves off fresh thyme, and sprinkle them around the top of dish. Cook on high for four hours.

This dish is easy, a crowd pleaser, filling, nutritious, and can be a vegetarian entree. Serve with a green salad or a fruit salad and some artisan bread. It’s a forgiving recipe, so you don’t have to be exact with the ingredients.

Serves 10+

This recipe can be easily adapted for cast iron cooking. Pre-heat pot, follow instructions above, place coals on top of lid for even cooking.

Storage and pantry application:

  • Freeze-dried or dehydrated onion
  • Freeze-dried potatoes
  • Dried milk
  • Canned butter

From the garden:

  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Potatoes
  • Thyme

On hand:

  • Condiments

o o o

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlogreaders? Please send it viae-mail. Thanks!

Letter Re: Harvest Right Freeze Dryer

HJL,

Hi, I purchased one of the Harvest Right units before your review and was impressed after looking over the machine. My first load was chicken, blueberries, muskmelon, and pineapple. WOW! It took a little longer, due to the moisture content of the berries, but everything turned out as the company said it would. Remember, one is none and two is one. Remember that in bad situation one will use more than 2000 cals due to stress, etc. Most of the units I have priced say they can supply those cals for 10k for one person. Oh, by the way, one can get more cals with beans and rice, so it lowers the cost, but when a person has an allergy to rice and beans one has to use other alternatives. I can’t keep enough epi for that type of allergy. Keep up the great work you do for the blog. – J.C.