Letter Re: Ohio’s 31+ Round Magazine Ban Insanity

Hi Jim,
I was just re-reading your tangibles investing article linked in today’s blog. 

Please let your readers know that even though preemption is the rule for the Ohio cities that had previously banned standard capacity magazines; Ohio has a very unusual state [felony] law:

Any magazine 31 rounds and larger is classified as a “automatic firearm”. This may sound crazy but it is true.  So don’t add 40 or 50 round magazines or 100 round drums to your gun collection in Ohio.

Under Title 29 of the Ohio Code: “(E) “Automatic firearm” means any firearm designed or specially adapted to fire a succession of cartridges with a single function of the trigger. “Automatic firearm” also means any semi-automatic firearm designed or specially adapted to fire more than thirty-one cartridges without reloading, other than a firearm chambering only .22 caliber short, long, or long-rifle cartridges.” – G.W. in Ohio

Letter Re: Some Advice on Tangibles Investing

After first picking up your book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” on a whim, SurvivalBlog.com has definitely changed a lot about how I live my life, particularly in how I choose to spend money.  As a prospective medical student, I can’t buy a retreat property and set it up the way I should (however much I want to).  However, there are many things I have found I can do.  After reading The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason years ago at the encouragement of my Dad, I started to set aside 10% of what I made for investment purposes.  I had a nice little amount saved when I came across SurvivalBlog.  A lot of the things said about the dollar’s decline made a lot of sense to me.  However, while I do believe a serious collapse is possible, and I want to be prepared for it, I have a limited amount of funds.  Therefore, I wanted to put the bulk of my funds into something that will help me prepare should something go wrong, be a good investment whether collapse happened or not, and be something I could enjoy no matter what.  That being the case, the two things I have spent most of my money on are guns and books.  While guns fit all the parameters of what I listed above, books are not really a great investment if you plan on getting your money back later on or plan on turning a profit.  

My library is now loaded with most of the survival fiction suggested on the SurvivalBlog bookshelf, a fair number of the other recommended books, and books I personally felt could be of some use (Falcon Guides, books on how native Americans lived, how Civil War soldiers lived, books that would just be an entertaining read, and so forth).  I frequently stop at a used bookstore on my way back from volunteering in the hospital Emergency Room.  Used bookstores are a great way to find books at low prices.  I am blessed to have a rather large used bookstore near my home.  Amazon is of course another great resource but they are usually (but not always) a little more expensive and you just don’t get to have the same browsing experience as you get at a brick and mortar store.  I must take this opportunity to thank Avalanche Lily for recommending The Sign of the Beaver  and The Crispin trilogy.  In elementary school, my school sponsored an event we were allowed to pick out a free book once a year.  Because The Sign of the Beaver had an Indian boy on the cover, and I was interested in Native American life as well as being part Native American myself, I chose it.  I remember I thought it was too long and difficult to read, so I put it on my shelf and mostly put it out of my mind until I saw Lily’s recommendation.  Needless to say I changed my view on the length and difficulty of the book and even though it is a “children’s book,” I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The first Crispin book has proved to be entertaining and informative as well.  I find books written for children can be great resources especially in the realm of survival.  These books tend to cut survival skills down to their basics and are written…get this…so even a child can understand it.  While knowing the exact angles at which to place your sticks to start a fire may be useful, knowing that you should make a stick tepee will probably work just as well.  I am not saying you should do away with the “real” manuals (I have many), but children’s books would make a great addition.

I mentioned volunteering in the ER earlier.  I mainly started volunteering to get experience for medical school, but I have since come to enjoy my time spent up there.  You get to help people and gain valuable experience, if not in the way you think you would.  While I am allowed to observe the treatment of trauma patients, I really don’t get a good idea of how I would be able to treat them.  Give them a shot of this, run this kind of iv, order this test, and usually they are sent off pretty quickly for an xray or CT scan and I don’t get to see much after that.  However, the real experience comes in watching how the staff interacts with the patients and their families.  We have a large variety of people come to be treated.  We have truly crazy people, people who are just a little crazy, people who can’t speak English, people are in serious pain, people who are homeless, criminals, violent people, hypochondriacs, etc., etc., who are seeking treatment.  It is interesting to see how each situation is dealt with.  The hospital staff has done a great job of adapting to each situation.  From a survival standpoint, while I may not be too much closer in being able to take care of your gun shot wound, I feel I am much better prepared to deal with people in crisis situations and I would recommend a stint as a volunteer in the ER to anyone (if you can handle it).

Now on to the stuff everyone likes to talk about: guns.  Before I started reading Survivalblog, I had a Springfield Armory XD-M .40 and a Ruger 10/22.  Now, I have in addition to these: a Taurus TCP .380, a Walther P22, a Remington 700 VTR in .308, Remington 870 Marine Magnum, an AR-15 with a great set up, a Saiga 12, an Arsenal SGL21 AKM, and a DPMS LR308AP4 (also with a great set up).  I have also purchased a Gamo Whisper pellet rifle, a Crosman 760 Pumpmaster that shoots both BBs and pellets (definitely worth the $30 at Wal-Mart), and a Bear Super Kodiak recurve bow.  I figured that with the exception of the air rifles and maybe the bow, these weapons would at least hold near their value regardless of the value of the dollar.  Plus, I now have a nice battery for defense, a great hobby, and a lot better chance of getting some meat for the table whether it is with a bullet, a shotgun shell, a BB, or an arrow.  

The main reason I started to write this was about turning tangibles into tangibles.  Some of you may be thinking, man, he has to save up for medical school, how did he get all those guns?  Like I said, I had been saving up on the side for years and taking a small percentage for investment (which I have now decided is guns) each week.  Also, I am a deal hunter.  Almost all of the above weapons were purchased at gun shows or off of Armslist.com.  If your state has one, another great place to look is a state gun forum (not run by the state…just in your state).  However, with my gun fund now depleted, I have to get creative.  So, I turned to Craigslist.  What do I possibly have that I don’t need/want anymore that is worth anything and/or may not be worth anything soon?  As a 20-something, I have acquired a rather large assortment of video game systems over the years. While I may keep my xbox 360 as a luxury in a post collapse situation (as one survivor of the Argentina collapse wrote about), I feel fine about getting rid of my old and/or seldom played systems that are just taking up space.  I also have DVDs.  

While I plan on keeping a few around for my personal collection and as possible luxury items, I have many that I am sure I will never watch again.  With the advent of Blu-ray, Netflix, Comcast on demand, etc., the time to get out of DVDs seems to be yesterday.  The good news is they haven’t yet become worthless.  While a used VHS sells for around 20 cents now, a used DVD can still get you $2 to $10, depending on the title).  This may not sound like much but if you have a large collection, this may be the way to get that new concealable .38 Special revolver you’ve had your eye on.  And if you have a complete boxed set of a popular show, even used you could be looking at the $100-$150 range.  
Now is the time to trade in some items that will wind up in the free box at a garage sale for something you can actually use.  Of course, video games and DVDs are not the only tangibles you can convert.  Look for opportunities to take items that you don’t use or don’t want anymore and turn them into something you really want.  It is easy to just let your junk sit where it is, take up space in your house, and lose value.  You might be surprised how much you can get for your junk and how good you will feel to be rid of it.  On a side note, you can also re-purpose your junk.  My mom wanted to get rid of some inexpensive porcelain figures and decorations.  After an attempt to sell them in a garage sale, these became my new bb targets.  I am looking forward to seeing what other suggestions are out there for tangible conversion. Turn your soon to be worthless tangibles into tangibles that have value now and could become invaluable in the future.

One final thought:  We have all heard of your three Bs: “Beans, Bullets, and Band-aids”.  This is a great way to summarize necessities of survival and for the fear of becoming the 20 “Bs” of survival or the 30 “Bs” of survival, it should probably remain the three Bs.  However, I find the six Bs of survival being closer to my mentality:  Bible, Books, Beans, Bullets, Band-Aids, and Bullion. – T.N.

Two Letters Re: Observations From Fence Building

JWR,
I’m a fan of your books and blog reader… in a recent guest post,  Observations From Fence Building, by Mudflap, however, the author stated something that is practically true when exercised with common sense, but is factually incorrect and potentially dangerous.

The author stated flatly that: “You cannot drink too much water.  As long as you can freely urinate, keep drinking water.  Don’t keep track of how much water you are downing.”

When the contrary is quite true – water intoxication, and hypnotremia could occur – in addition, gross excess of water in your system can trigger a reflex inducing vomiting, which could bring about other problems in a survival scenario.

In a high stress environment, it is entirely possible to develop water intoxication due to physiological distress, fatigue, physical exertion, and inconsistent food intake.

I would have simply made a comment in the blog post itself, but comments are disabled for guest posts (rightfully so).

Be Well. – Dustin T.

Hi Jim:
I have to add my 2 cents to Mudflap’s endorsement of Duluth Trading Company.  I’ve used them almost exclusively for T-shirts for the past 10 years.  They have an extended tail and are made with quality heavyweight cotton – super comfortable.  Even with cotton prices going through the roof, they’ve managed to have only slight increases in price – mind you they’re not cheap, but they are the best t-shirts for comfort, durability, and looks that I’ve ever had.   As far as their other products, everything I’ve had occasion to buy is top notch in quality and their customer service is on par with the best in the world.  Mudflap is also right about watching for the sales and free shipping – every little bit helps. – John T.

Economics and Investing:

F.G. flagged this: How bad is it? Pawn shops, payday lenders are hot

At The Daily Bell: Ron Holland on the Inevitability of Societal Chaos, How the Elites Will Try to Maintain Control

Hardy’s hearty recommendation: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

John R. liked this piece by Mary Beth White: Stupid Choices Equal Bankruptcy (Usually)

Pennsylvania family fights US over rare 1933 gold coins. JWR’s Common Sense Tip of The Day: Don’t ever send anything rare and valuable to a bureaucrat, asking for a determination on its legal status. You’re likely to get: “We’s keepin’ this” for an answer.

Items from The Economatrix:

The Final Nail in the Supply Side Coffin

Cash-strapped Retailers Face Collapse Over Cost of Christmas Stock

Defaulting Rescued Argentina; Could Work for Greece Too

Celente:  Collapse!  It’s Coming.  Are You Ready?

Odds ‘n Sods:

If they can’t do it through legislation, then they’ll use Executive Orders: Gun Stores in Border States Must Report Multiple Sales. When you consider the Gun Walker scandal, you can see that Barack Hussein Obama and his minions have used the Hegelian Dialectic masterfully.

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Marilyn R. suggested: The Eighth Commandment: Why You Can’t Steal Land From Ayn Rand

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Joe Ordinary Voortrekker sent us a link to an interesting global network of alternative currency groups.

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I heard about a company that makes wind turbines with primarily American-made components: Missouri Wind and Solar

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M.W. suggested this: Apocalypse, Wow: Disaster Ready Homes

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 35 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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, and B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo, and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 35 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Observations From Fence Building, by Mudflap

Over the past two months, my father and I have been refurbishing the barbed wire fence going around and thru a quarter section of excellent hunting, fishing and recreational land.  We lease the land and run cattle (steers) on it.  My father is a long time rancher and I am looking to learn the trade as part of my plans to better prepare for a rocky economical future in this county.

Refurbishing the fence is part of the lease agreement.  That is “sweat equity” if I ever saw it.  The temperatures have been well into the triple digits with humidity, on occasion, reaching 50 percent.   We take a lot of pride in our work and strive to put a lot of forethought into everything we do. We go not want to do things over again because of simple mistakes that could have been prevented with a little extra planning.

I am writing this to present my observations, not to brag.  (My least favorite articles on SurvivalBlog.com are the articles that provide no true insight but brag about all the effort that someone has done to get from the revolutionary moment when someone decided to start preparing up to present day.)
 
Water
First and foremost, Water.  In the recent heat, water has been the most important aspect of being able to accomplish the work that need to be done. 
You cannot drink too much water.  As long as you can freely urinate, keep drinking water.  Don’t keep track of how much water you are downing.  When exhorting large amounts of energy in the excessive heat,  drinking only enough to “Wet your Whistle” is not enough.  This kind of exercise is not the same as playing in a softball game with a bunch of friends, or playing pickup ball with your kids.  The fear of the dreaded “side stitch” is basically nonexistent.  The kind of work and exercise you should be expecting to work, post-TEOTWAWKI, will be long and tedious and not fast and fun. 

On a side note,  I am not a skinny guy.  I am in semi shape but not where I am striving to be, but with that said,  I am not overweight or obese.  I eat good and healthy but do not get the opportunities to work out like I used to. 

My first rule with water that I have stood by for over 20 years of heavy exercise:   If you are thirsty, your body is in need of at least 16 ounces of water and could probably use 20 ounces.  Do not conserve your drinking water unless you absolutely have to.  Drink, drink, and drink some more.  You will notice that your body will almost instantly need to urinate after drinking this amount of water.  This is because your body is retaining the fluid in case it needs it, but once you truly drink enough to hydrate, your body will be willing to release the waste and the need to urinate will be quite strong. 

When we would go backpacking in high school the Philmont Boy Scout’s Of America Ranch in New Mexico, we were always told that our urine should be “Clear and Copious”. It became somewhat of a joke to holler “Clear and Copious” from inside behind your designated tree to let everyone know that you were staying hydrated and that you were done doing your business.  Even the girls that went with us would get into it. (We were some of the few 4-H members allowed to backpack at the Scout ranch.)

My second rule with water is not to drink it ice cold.  I don’t drink my water hot, but room temperature is just right.  I want to be able to drink the 20 ounces at a time without getting an ice cream headache.  Leave the super cold ice water for the dining table.  Ice cold water is for sipping, not drinking.
 
Clothing
The clothing you wear is very important.  Be sure to wear clothing that is appropriate for the work you are doing.  I work in the oil field so I am very particular about having clothing that will withstand the work and stress that I put it through.  I purchase my pants and short sleeve t-shirts from Duluth Trading Company.
 
The pants that I purchase are the Fire Hose Work Pants.  I wait for a good sale and buy them in bulk.  These pants are not cheap.  You pay for what you get and what you get with these pants is a life time warranty.  If the pants can’t stand up for what I put them thru then I send the damages pair back to Duluth Trading and they send me a new pair.  These pants are awesome. 

The t-shirts have out lasted any free t-shirt that I got for donating blood.   No, for the work in the sun I wear a long sleeved, light weight, cotton, snap button, shirt made by Wrangler.

I wear a pair of lace up, over the ankle, leather, titanium tipped work boots made by Timberland.  These are light enough to run in but rugged enough to survive my punishments.  I have worn them every day for almost a year and the soles are surviving, leather is in good shape (I keep it oiled) and the insoles are just getting to be worn.  I have a completely spare pair of boots in the storage room, as well as a couple of spare insoles.  I will probably purchase another pair here in a couple of months.
 
I wear Drymax socks.  I find that these are sturdy and do great in keeping my feet as dry as possible. 

Boonie Hat.  I just started wearing a khaki boonie hat when working in the sun.  I used to wear just a ball cap.  But now, the boonie hat is here to stay.  I don’t care that my older brother makes fun of me.  The boonie hat out-performed my old sweat stained ball cap.

A good pair of leather gloves will never do you wrong.  Now we were working with barbed wire and clearing wild rose thickets out of the fence line.  My super thick leather gloves may not be needed for other types of work.  Whatever you do, stock up on gloves.  Buy some upholstery thread and keep your gloves patched up as the seams start to rip or you get holes.  It is a whole lot easier to mend a small hole than a big one.  (Pun intended.)
 
Tools
The last thing I will talk about is having good tools.  We care a pair of Cee Tee pliers in a leather hip holster on our side at all times.  I almost feel naked without my pliers when I am dressed up.  I always catch myself reaching for my pliers and not having them.  The running joke in our family is that there are thousands of uses for a good set of pliers and if you don’t have them on your hip then you will be asking the guy that does carry them on his hip to borrow them all the time.  Pretty soon we will tell you to go get your own.  Good luck out there, and stay safe.

Product Review: Mainstay Emergency Rations and Water by Michael Z. Williamson

It’s a good idea to have an emergency food supply in one’s bug out bag, but it needs to be something that doesn’t decay, leak or spoil, and has a good shelf life in possibly extreme conditions. 

Enter the Mainstay rations.  They’re made by Survivor Industries and packed in what feels like a heavy mylar-lined foil, rated for five years, and can withstands temperatures of -40° F to 300°F (-40°C to 149°C).  They meet USCG and DoD standards for packaging.  They’re in convenient 400 calorie bars, each constituting a meal, which make management easy, and eliminate trying to break them into pieces, so as to minimize loss in serving. A one pound pack is more than enough for a day under normal conditions.  Obviously, extreme circumstances may require more.

Emergency rations are unusual if you’re not familiar with them.  These are small and dense, basically a giant, semi-sweet sugar cookie with lemon flavor and vitamins/minerals.  They’re heavy enough not to crumble too much, but light enough to eat, sweet enough to be enjoyable, not so sweet as to be candy.  You won’t feel full after eating one, but you will have enough calories and nutrition to get where you’re going.  As their chart shows, you’ll have more than the US RDA of most nutrients.  I’d recommend supplementing with other food, especially edible plants, but for the short term forced march, these are the thing to have. (This company has the lowest retail price I’ve found)

Mainstay also offers packaged water. These are similarly packed, in small, 125 ml (just over 4 oz) servings.  The packs are not overfilled, and strong enough to take a lot of tossing around.  In my test, they took a crush weight of 200 pounds without bursting (I stood on one), which is tremendously more than a typical bottle will take.  If one pack should happen to get punctured, loss is minimized.  Shelf life is five years, and the package is proof against oxygen transfer and spoilage. 

The company is honest, with no blather about mineral springs.  The municipal water source is listed, as is packaging date and lot number.  The price is competitive with brand name water, or bottles from a machine or vendor at remote events, making them even more attractive.

The only down side is they are a little tricky to open.  Once they tear (you’ll need a knife, or teeth if all else fails), the best strategy I found is to seal your lips around the package and squeeze gently. After the first mouthful, it’s more controllable for pouring. 

A dozen of the water packets and one of the large food bar packs will give you a couple of days without worrying about energy levels or dehydration, assuming a temperate climate and proper clothing.  I recommend both products. – Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog Editor at Large)

Letter Re: Prepping With Limited Funds

JWR:

I strongly suggest checking out yard sales.  Every Thursday we get our free local community paper that lists all of the upcoming weekend yard sales.  The night before, I go to yahoo maps and map out our route which greatly saves time and wasted miles driving around.

Then every Saturday morning my family and I head out – sometimes a little later than what we hope, but most of the time we are out the door by 8 a.m.   Note: this is also a great way to spend some family time together. We’ve even found great deals at 2 p.m. so it’s not necessary to be the first there and often later in the day, prices become reduced or items become free (I picked up a box of medical supplies the week before last for free).

Kids – well let me just say they make out like a bandit.  My grandson this weekend got a free basket ball, free baseball glove, and a big box of legos that has kept him busy for hours all for $5.  It’s like Christmas every Saturday for him and at the tenth of the cost for us.

I also scored well this weekend with two, pristine sleeping bags.  One was a Eddie Bauer and the other an L.L. Bean mummy sleeping bag, and each one of these mint condition bags cost me $5 each. 

My other prepping find this weekend was nine full tubes of tooth paste and three new-in-the-package toothbrushes for $5.

You never know what you will find and most seem like they just want to get rid of some of the abundant amount of stuff that we Americans are so blessed to have.  We take it for granted how rich and blessed we are.  Good luck and God bless.

Economics and Investing:

B.B. pointed me to this, over at Zero Hedge: Retirement Fund Plunder Update: $206 Billion So Far, $62 Billion Left

30 Reasons To Get Out Of Real Estate and Into REAL Assets. (Thanks to Chris D. for the link.)

Reader Jay H. kindly sent this link: Gold is best debt-crises defense — just not yet

Naughty, Tim! He didn’t stick to the “Continuing Recovery” party line: Geithner says hard times to continue for many

Sue C. forwarded this: Dollar likely lower without debt limit progress

John R. sent us several great links:

Several Inconvenient Truths About the Debt Ceiling and “Deficit Reduction”

Feds Force State & Local Government Insolvency

Will the United States Default?

If Central Banks Believe in Paper Money Why are They Loading Up On Gold?

The Fed is Approaching The End Game… Are You Ready?

Bob Chapman: Watching a Flatlining Economy

The Dollar Collapse Will be the Single Largest Event in Human History. (The Synopsis Video is also quite good. I particularly liked Mac’s choice of the final still photo. )

Items from The Economatrix:

Flat Jobs Data Signal Weakest Recovery in Decades

Consumers Borrowed More for Eighth Month in May

Shock US Job Figures Threaten Recovery Hopes

Greek Tragedy Goes Global

UK:  Chain Retailers Closing 20 Stores a Day

Odds ‘n Sods:

A reminder that production will end on August 1st for the SurvivalBlog 5-Year Archive CD-ROM, so order soon. The good news is that it has been reduced to just $14.95.

   o o o

Reader Rod M. mentioned a web site devoted to helping doctors in rural areas who need to treat patients with wound care.  They are making their PDF books available free of charge: Basic Wound Care and Practical Plastic Surgery.

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G.S. in the State of Jefferson suggested the perfect vehicle for combating MZBs: The South African Marauder Mine Protective Vehicle. Ten tons for fun! (Note: The video gets increasingly hilarious, so be sure to watch all of it.)

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Sergio mentioned this: Three Unexpected Marketing Lessons From Amish Farmers

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Reader “Bull Durham” spotted this: Fayetteville fighting wild dog problem.

The New Century: An Era of Upright Spikes

We are entering an era of upright spikes. Clearly, the debt-driven global economy is spinning out of control. The aggregate value of the derivatives market is exploding and meanwhile food prices are spiking. Both of these are threatening huge economic dislocation and subsequent social turmoil that–just as I predicted five years ago–will topple governments. I stand by that prediction. (And, for the record, I’m not just talking about failed votes of confidence. I’m talking about revolutions.)

Note: Because SurvivalBlog’s diverse readership expects access on mobile devices, I intentionally minimize the use of graphics in my blog. But this particular topic demands some graphics, so I’ve linked to charts on a variety of web sites. (My thanks to all of them. I recommend that you truncate the URLs on the graph links to take a look at the other content those sites. A lot of them are fascinating.)

Back in 2007, I addressed the Upright Spike in Technology Dependence. But there are some other monumental shifts in progress, each with their own upright spikes. Consider these recent graphs:

Meanwhile, there are many more gradual changes are taking place, For example, see:

Conclusion

If the National Debt is not brought under control, we will someday see mass currency inflation–perhaps to Zimbabwean proportions. Now that would be the upright spike that we all dread. If and when there is mass inflation, your only safe havens will be precious metals and practical, barterable tangibles. (There will be no “safe haven” paper currencies.) My advice is to get out of Dollars and into tangibles, soon!

Pat’s Product Review: CRKT Hissatsu CQB Knives

Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT) is always on the lookout for new knife designs. Rod Bremer, the owner often asks me to keep an eye out for a hot knife design, and I’ve directed him towards a few over the years. Several of these were from custom knife maker, Brian Tighe. I wish I could take credit for directing Bremer towards James Williams, and his Hissatsu fighting knife, but I can’t.

James Williams is a former army officer, and a martial arts practitioner and instructor, with over 45-years experience. Williams knows cutlery as President of Bugei Trading Company, producer of fine Samurai swords. Williams is also an instructor of law enforcement and military personnel. The Hissatsu was designed for law enforcement and military personnel as a back-up weapon to the handgun. I must emphasize that it was designed as a back-up to your main weapon. Remember, don’t take a knife to a gun fight, if you can avoid it.

I really like the Hissatsu, I own several versions of the fixed blade design, as well as their folding version. The Hissatsu can be had with a black blade, shiny silver blade, or one with desert tan blade and handle (as well as a matching sheath). I have a background in the martial arts – more than 35-years actively involved in teaching and as a student. I’m proud to lay claim to Black Belt rank in several different styles of martial arts, and I used to operate several martial arts schools. So, I appreciate a knife designed by someone like Williams, who comes at us with a martial arts background, and not designed by an armchair commando, or a mall ninja.

The fixed blade Hissatsu has a 7.125″ long blade made out of 440A stainless steel. The blade steel can handle a lot of abuse and neglect, too. However, keep in mind that stainless steel can still rust, however, it will stain less than carbon steels! I’ve also found that 440A stainless is easier to re-sharpen compared to 440C stainless steel blades are. The overall length of the Hissatsu is 12.25″ and blade thickness is 0.2″ with a Rockwell hardness of 55-to-57. The blade grind is dual, and if you go to the CRKT.com web site, you’ll see what I’m talking about instead of my trying to put it into words. Rest assured though, that this type of grind is more deadly when using a slashing motion than most knives are.

The handle material on the Hissatsu is double injection Zytel/Kraton, and it is fused to the knife, no chance of it working loose, and I’ve tried my best to separate the handle from the blade in testing – all to no avail. There is also a Zytel sheath for carrying the knife, and you can attach it to web gear or MOLLE gear, or to the belt on your trousers.

CRKT states on their web site, on the Hissatsu link, that the knife is “…intended for us only by trained law enforcement and military tactical team professionals.” Okay, sounds good, but I personally believe there’s a bit of hype there. It’s okay, all knife and gun companies hype their products, and when claims are made that a product is designed for military and law enforcement use only – civilians want it. And, there are no restrictions from CRKT as to who can purchase the Hissatsu.

Make no mistake though, the Hissatsu is not designed as a wilderness survival knife. Nope! This knife is designed for one thing and one thing only – plain and simple, it’s a knife to be used against another human being in close quarters battle (CQB)! Now, I’m not hyping the knife, but I’ve been around knives all my life, and I design knives, and I know what this knife was designed for. The dual-grind on the blade is outstanding as a slashing knife. The Tanto-style blade is also an excellent stabber, and I can easily see the point of this blade penetrating regular body armor, too. I did some penetration tests using the Hissatsu against a large pot roast – it easily penetrated up to the handle of the knife without much effort – just imagine what it would do to a human body?

The fixed blade Hissatsu is one deadly knife, make no mistake about it. I don’t see ordinary law enforcement personnel using this knife, however, specialized SWAT teams and the like might carry this as a back-up blade. As for military personnel, I think the same goes – your regular solider probably wouldn’t have much use for the Hissatsu on a daily basis. However, Infantryman and Special Operations personnel would find this knife very appealing if they got into a hand-to-hand combat situation. I know I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of this knife – no way, no how!

If you want to train with this knife, CRKT also offers a rubber training version, and I highly recommend this, instead of using the real thing. You’ll save yourself some grief down the road.

For any of the three different Hissatsu fixed blades, the full retail price is only $109.99 – and that is a great deal, on a knife like this. I would imagine, that if James Williams offered a custom, hand made version, it would easily cost $350+ for one. I’m totally impressed with this blade, and wouldn’t hesitate carrying one into combat on any battle field on earth.

There is also a folding Hissatsu knife from CRKT as well. Of course, it’s not quite as large as the fixed blade version, however, with a blade that is 3.75″ long, it’ll sure get most self-defense jobs done in short order. The folding Hissatsu can be had with an assisted-opening blade, or a manually opening blade. The steel is AUS8, which is one of my favorite blade steels, too. Price on either the assisted or manually opening blade is the same: $99 each. [JWR Adds: Consult your State and local laws before ordering an “assisted opening” or other automatic knife. Unlike here in TUWS, some localities in the slave states deem these useful tools a felony to possess!]

If you’re in the market for a no-nonsense fighting knife, take a close look at the fixed blade or folding Hissatsu…just keep in mind, these knives are not designed for opening packages, or ammo crates or other chores around the base camp. These knives were designed with one thing and one thing only – saving your butt when the chips are down. They are a worthwhile addition to your survival battery. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio