Letter Re: The PTR91 Rifle

Dear Mr. Rawles:
In a past life I used the popular HK MP-5SD. It’s reliability prompted me to purchase one of the first PTR-91s directly from the manufacturer. (Back when that was possible–they are all now sold though distributors).

I found the PTR-91 capable of digesting a wide variety of ammunition thanks to the HK family of well designed roller delayed blowback systems. This functional reliability and availability of really cheap magazines indeed make it a popular battle rifle. What I haven’t read by those singing it’s kudos, is that the forcefulness of the extraction system throws the brass quite a distance, making policing brass difficult. The same ejection system creates dent in the brass that I believe compromises the integrity of the fired cases so as to preclude safe reloading. It also generates the tell tale HK chamber flute marks on the expended brass. This alerts anyone finding un-policed brass that someone was there with a HK family main battle rifle.

The factory PTR-91 plastic stock is overly large, clunky, and I believe fragile. I recommend replacement with much thinner and better made German military surplus furniture is often available from Cheaper than Dirt.

To someone well familiar with the 03A3 type sling system, that of the HK family rifles may present a puzzle. One should not overlook combined the weight of this rifle and a battle pack of at least 200 rounds of ammunition. Add a plate carrier, hydration system, pack, and helmet, and the load out can be tremendous.

The telescopic sight mount is also clunky and positions the sight well above the bore. The above comments notwithstanding, The PTR HK91 an effective and relatively inexpensive battle rifle. I am thinking about adding the new Ruger Gunsite Scout rifle (available in .308 Winchester) to the mix. What a shame that the Ruger Scout bolt action wasn’t designed around the HK91 magazine.    Sincerely, – A Panhandle Rancher

Economics and Investing:

C.D.V. sent this: Housing crash is getting worse: report.

Observations of the Silver Smack Down.

Steve K. forwarded a link to: Doomsday Scenario (from the Treasury Department, of all places!)

G.P. suggested: $2 Trillion Mile Marker on Road to Perdition

Items from The Economatrix:

Florida Bank Fails; 40 Shuttered In 2011

Global Economic Crisis to Worsen n Fall

The Silver Bull:  Despite This Week’s Selloff, We See Higher Prices Ahead

Hopes For A Quick Decline In US Joblessness Dims

Signs Are Pointing to a Big Commodity Selloff

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader R.B.S. sent this: Family details how woman survived in wilderness for 48 days

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Several readers mentioned that there has been news of more of the same old Schumer: Schumer Calls For ‘Do Not Ride’ List For Amtrak

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Seed for Security announced that they are offering a free gift to customers ordering $25 or more: A free packet of Detroit Dark Red Beet seeds, Bouquet Dill seeds, and Golden Globe Turnip seeds. All of these varieties are great for mid-summer planting. This offer ends June 30, 2011.

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Chip spotted this: Big Asteroid’s Approach in November Excites Astronomers

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Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) sent a link to this disturbing news: A Global Weapons Computer?

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-1 (KJV)

Pat’s Product Reviews: The PTR91 Rifle

In 1987 at a Colorado gun shop’s “Going Out of Business” sale, I purchased a brand-new HK (Heckler & Koch) Model 91 .308 battle rifle. I got the rifle, along with 10 brand new spare magazines, 1,000 rounds of ammo, a bipod and carrying case for the gun – for the combined price of just $600. Oh, for the good ol’ days! Today, you’ll likely spend $2,500 just for an original H&K Model 91 – and they are now hard to come by. A wave of stupidity overcame me one day, and I sold my HK91 to my friend, and he then he later sold it at a gun show. I always regretted letting that gun get away – it was deadly accurate and never malfunctioned, no matter what kind of ammo I fed it. Since that time, I longed to get another H&K Model 91, but with prices being what they are today, it was beyond my reach.  

A company called PTR91 purchased some genuine H&K equipment from overseas, and brought it to the USA. Using a mix of surplus parts (from HK G3 rifles) are now manufacturing H&K Model 91 clones, that they call the PTR91 – and they have several variants to choose from. I saved up my pennies and had my local gun shop order-up a 16″ barrel PTR91. I was delighted when the gun came, it was much nicer than any H&K I had ever handled. The gun was better finished and tighter in all respects. But I didn’t much care for the newly-made polymer stock that came on the gun – it was “cheap” looking. Of course, that could have been replaced…  

When I took my new toy home, I started reading through the instructions manual and other material that was enclosed in the nice plastic carrying case my PTR91 came in. I ran across a separate piece of paper that listed several types of ammo you should not use in a PTR91. matter of fact, the list was rather lengthy. Some gun companies will recommend certain types of ammo or brands to be used in their firearms. However, this is the first time I ran across such a lengthy list of ammo that was not recommended in a firearm. I thought that PTR was being overly cautious, as is the case with many gun companies these days.   I purchased a 500 round case of Russian-made Brown Bear .308 ammo to test in my new PTR91. The gun functioned perfectly, and believe it or not, the Brown Bear ammo actually shot very well through this gun, with groups in the neighborhood of 1-1/2 to 2 inches at 100 yards. What’s not to like here? I also purchased a 500 round case of Wolf .308 ammo to use in my PTR91, and again, like the Brown Bear ammo, it shot really great, no malfunctions or problems of any time. Of course, as many of you know, most Russian-made ammo leaves very dirty powder fouling — so more time needs to be spent cleaning and maintaining your firearms if you use Russian-made ammo.  

The PTR91, is operated with a roller locking system, which is identical to the H&K91 system. Matter of fact, some of the parts in some PTR91s are surplus or brand-new H&K parts. The PTR91 also comes with a match-grade barrel, and I thought that was an added extra – and it did perform very well – with certain types of ammo. The PTR91 also comes with the Navy-type polymer trigger assembly – another plus in my book – it feels better than the old H&K pistol grip. There is also a tactical handguard that is machined out of aluminum, and you can add lasers and other toys if you so desire, but you need to purchase the rails to put on this handguard. My sample PTR91 weighed in at 9-lbs, which is about right for a battle rifle shooting the .308 or 7.62 NATO round. (And be advised that they are not the same round, be advised. The 7.62 NATO round is loaded at slightly lower pressures than the commercial .308 Winchester round.) I contacted my two favorite ammo makers for some of their .308 Win. ammo to test in my new PTR91. Black Hills Ammunition and Buffalo Bore and both sent me their 175-gr HP match-grade ammo to test in my rifle. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed with either maker’s ammo – both shot consistently under an inch, with open sights, at 100-yards. The PTR91 also functioned perfectly. Then again, I didn’t expect anything less from the gun or the superb ammo from Black Hills and Buffalo Bore. Their ammo is a step above if you ask me. Again, we are talking quality ammo – not bargain basement ammo from the local big box stores. Oh, there’s nothing wrong with the less expensive ammo, however, if you want sniper-grade accuracy you need to put the best ammo you can through your guns. I’ve been shooting Black Hills ammo for almost 20 years now, and have never had a bad round, and we’re talking tens of thousands of rounds of ammo. I’ve been shooting Buffalo Bore ammo for about eight months now, and I’ve yet to encounter any problems with their ammo, either.  

I have been pleased, very pleased with my PTR91 thusfar. And, I liked the fact, that I could find surplus, but like-new, 20-rd mags for this rifle for about a buck a magazine. What’s not to like about this kind of a deal? I purchased close to 100 spare mags to have on-hand. I know, sounds like a lot of extra magazines, and it is. However, I still remember the 1994-to-2004 ban on mags over 10 rounds and how expensive [full capacity] magazines s were and hard to come by. So better safe than sorry ’cause you know another magazine ban is gonna come down the pike soon.  

I decided to try some military surplus ammo through my PTR91 – which was now well broken-in. I tried ammo from South Africa as well as Germany, and a few other countries – none of it would reliably function in my PTR91. Then again, remembering the factory’s warnings not to use certain types of ammo, and military surplus ammo, I was getting worried. PTR also suggests that you not use the Winchester USA white box .308 ammo – the bullets are sealed with a black tar to water-proof the rounds. Well, I tried a box, and after several rounds, the gun wouldn’t function – empties wouldn’t eject and loaded rounds didn’t fully seat properly.   What was the problem with the PTR91? I started doing some research, and have found that I wasn’t alone with this problem. It seems that PTR91 is using match-grade barrels, and that’s not a bad thing – it’s good in my book. However, the chamber has flutes machined into it. The theory is, these cuts or “flutes” allow gas from the fired round to swirl around the empty brass, and allow it to more easily pull out of the chamber. Well, it appears that PTR91 didn’t cut these flutes deep enough in a lot of guns, and the rounds were sticking in the chamber. PTR91 denies there are any problems with the flutes cut in their chamber, or the fact that they cut fewer flutes in the chambers, than H&K does. I examined my own PTR91 sample, and it did appear to me that the flutes were very shallow, and I mean very shallow. You can find any number of blogs that are on the web, and many folks are complaining about this problem.  

I don’t know about you, but I demand the most accuracy and the most reliability I can get in my firearms, especially those I plan on staking my life on. While I could have just continued to use Brown Bear and Wolf ammo in my PTR91, I was looking down the road – to a time where maybe all I’ll be able to find is military surplus ammo, or some other ammo that won’t function in my PTR91. After a lot of thought, I decided to trade-off my PTR91 – as much as I liked it. I’ve heard talk that PTR91 is now producing a “GI” version of the HK91 and the chamber has the correct number of flutes and they are cut deep enough, and there are no problems with these guns. However, I’m not about to lay down my hard-earned money again, until I start hearing some positive reports on the “GI” version. The PTR91 carbine I had, retailed for $1,295 and I got it for slightly more than $1,000 through my local gun shop. It would have been a great deal, if the gun fired and functioned with a wider assortment of ammo.  

The PTR91 is finely made, almost like a Swiss watch. I could have lived with the cheaply made plastic stock. However, when I’m laying down a good chunk of change for a firearm, I expect it to work with most of the ammo I plan on using. Of course, you can find some type of ammo that won’t function in any particular firearm if you search around long enough. However, the PTR91 didn’t function 100% of the time with more ammo, than it did with some types of ammo. That’s not good enough in my book. I’ve read some blogs where many people are happy with their PTR91s – that’s great news. However, you’ll also read a lot of horror stories of folks with new PTR91s that won’t function with certain types of ammo – especially mil-spec ammo or military surplus ammo – that’s not acceptable in my book. Personally, I think PTR91 should fess-up to the problem. And, they need to produce a rifle that will function with the widest assortment of ammo possible, and stop blaming military surplus or mil-spec ammo for the functioning problems. Come on, PTR91 – you can do better than that! You are turning out a finely made firearm, and you only need to tweak it a little bit to get it to function 100% of the time, with the widest assortment of ammo on the market.

I once owned a ratty-looking Century Arms International C3 – which was a semi-auto clone of the H&K Model 91. Whoever owned it before me, spray-painted the gun in camo colors – it honestly didn’t look that bad at all. This gun functioned 100% of the time, with whatever ammo I put through it – never once missed a beat. If Century Arms could do it right, then so can PTR91 – if they want to.

Finding a Prepper-Friendly Church

Many readers of SurvivalBlog are Christians. For us, the search for a desirable “vote with your feet” relocation locale includes a very important criteria: finding a good church home. I am of the opinion that finding a good church home is our Christian duty, and that it honors God. It is also an important factor in finding acceptance in a new community. By joining a church congregation that shares your world view, you can very quickly become part of a community, rather than being perceived as just “that new guy”. In many locales, this shortens the time required for a high level of acceptance and inclusion as a part of “the we”, by years.

In my experience in the western United States, Reformed churches tend to have a very high percentage of families that are both preppers and homeschoolers.

When I put forth my American Redoubt plan, a key aspect was that it would be primarily geared toward fellow Christians, Messianic Jews, and conservative Jews.

Here is a list of my own criteria, for you to consider, perhaps as your baseline. (Note: I come from a Reformed Baptist background, so your criteria may differ):

  1. Reliance upon and belief in the literal truth of the 66 books of the Old and New Testament as the Inspired Word of God.
  2. Sound doctrine, with Christ as the cornerstone, and preferably in accord with the Five Solas and the Five Points of Calvinism. (Or at least four of them.)
  3. A strong emphasis on the Gospel of Christ.
  4. Some interest in family preparedness. (Not a necessity, but a nice plus.)
  5. A commitment to Christian Charity.
  6. An “…in the World but not of the World” outlook.
  7. Biblical evangelism–the pastor, elders, and congregation all take The Great Commission literally. (Avoid churches with any racism or anti-Semitism.)
  8. Expository preaching. (Systematic exposition of scripture.)
  9. An emphasis on teaching and memorizing God’s word with exhortation rather than “programs”.
  10. A congregation where a substantial portion of the body home schools their children. (Not a necessity, but a nice plus.)
  11. Congregants with a conservative outlook, modest dress, humble attitudes, and avoidance of worldly trappings.
  12. An edifying church that gives glory to God.

 

Reformed Churches in The American Redoubt States:

My initial list has 23 Reformed churches that I’ve either attended or that have been recommended to me.

Note: The pastors of these churches will undoubtedly soon hear about the mention of their churches. I’d appreciate them sending me an e-mail mentioning whether or not they agree with the Redoubt concept, and with their recommendations for similar churches inside the five Redoubt States. Thanks!

Idaho

Montana

Eastern Oregon

Eastern Washington

Wyoming

 

Conservative Jewish Synagogues and Congregations in The American Redoubt States:

The word “conservative” (????? — shamrani) has different meanings to different Jewish people! (Political conservatism is not always synonymous with religious conservatism and a traditional moral code.)

Yorrie in Pennsyvania mentioned in a recent e-mail that conservative Jewish preppers should seek out congregations that are: “…Torah knowledgeable and observant = Orthodox religiously or similar. Which usually overlaps with conservative politically. The more traditional end of the Conservative Jewish movement did not accept the liberal swing [that began in the 1950s] and is called Traditional, Conservadox (Halfway between Conservative and Orthodox), or sometimes Masorti (Hebrew for Traditional).
There are Orthodox and Traditional Jews in Flathead County, Montana, and more formal congregations of the Chabad movement (a Torah Judaism movement with roots over 300 or more appropriately over 3,000 years).

Chabad congregations in the Redoubt area are in Bozeman, Montana, Jackson, Wyoming, and elsewhere in most major cities around the world.”

Messianic Jewish Congregations in The American Redoubt States:

Many of these congregations tend to be small “home churches”. Make inquiries, locally.

Conclusion:

I’m sure that the foregoing will inspire a lot of correspondence. I don’t have plans to create a nationwide directory of prepper-friendly churches and congregations. (That would go beyond the scope of my project.) But I would appreciate your feedback on any of the churches and congregations listed.

I would also appreciate recommendations on specific Jewish and Messianic Jewish congregations inside of the Redoubt region.

The Coming Bitcoin Revolution

SurvivalBlog’s Cheryl N. (also known as The Economatrix) recently sent me a link to a news article that deserves special attention: Peer-to-Peer Currency Takes Banks Out of the Picture. In my estimation, Bitcoin has the potential to trigger a huge shift in how business in conducted via the Internet. . Think of it as a “Local Currency” (such as the well-known Ithaca Hours experiment), but that is scaled up to be a Populist Global Currency. Because of the distributed architecture, it is beyond the control of banks, governments, and taxing minions. Now that is economic freedom! I highly recommend that folks get involved with Bitcoin!

I plan to write more about Bitcoin and other alternative currencies, in the months to come.

OBTW, for 10 Cent Challenge subscriptions, SurvivalBlog’s Bitcoin address is:
1K7Gk6kqX6psSWDJaRV6pyDH7dwZuvqtUB

Letter Re: A Prepping Success Story, and a Question on Grain Storage

Dear Mr. Rawles,

I live in Queensland Australia and hadn’t even heard of ‘prepping’ until last Christmas.  It is a tradition in our family that every year my brothers and I (and our families) gather, from various points around Australia, at our Mum’s place for Christmas.  Mum and Dad have both passed on but we still carry on the tradition of gathering the family together.  One of my brothers lives at the other end of the country and I only see he and his family this once a year.  As my birthday is in January he gives me a Christmas and birthday present at our Christmas gathering.  For my birthday he gave me a copy of your book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” but I was allowed to open it before my actual birthday.

That simple and fortuitous gift changed my life and saved us a lot of grief, and allowed us to be in a position to help our less fortunate neighbours, when our area was devastated by floods in January this year.   By the time my birthday came around we were cut off, surrounded by flood water.  We were fortunate as our house was not flooded but all around us neighbours houses were inundated, many up to the roof tops.

Having already read most of your book, it had changed our outlook and we had begun to ‘prep’  putting away extra food supplies and even in that short period had installed (and filled – no shortage of rain) a rain water tank.   We were cut off and without power,  telephone service – both landline and cell and access to shops etc – for five days  –  not a major inconvenience if you are prepared for it.

Because of that simple gift from my brother we were not only in a position to ride out the disaster almost unscathed but were able to take in and feed others.  Even neighbours not troubled by flood waters were in difficulty as without access to shops they were, very quickly, without food etc.

When the SHTF we had about a month’s supply of food for us and the dogs.  We have a bottled gas stove so we could cook, plenty of torches,  head lamps and candles for light and plenty of water – the clean drinkable type that is.  The fact that the road was cut 50 metres to the left of us and 100 metres to the right just meant that we stayed at home for a few days. 
When we lost power we moved things from the fridge to the chest type freezers and only opening the lid sparingly.  It helped that we had many 2 litre bottles of ice and this turned the freezers into simple ice boxes. This kept things cool at least and although the frozen venison thawed it didn’t warm and go off.  When we got power again I had the dehydrator working overtime turning it all into biltong (jerky)

As a touch of irony –  I have a friend who has access (from time to time) to large (large enough to power everything in  our house) second hand diesel generators and I had asked him to get one for us  –  He emailed me the day before the flood disaster started to advise that he had one for us  –   we were unable to collect it until after the floods had subsided.  (I have since obtained a 200 litre drum of diesel and added fuel stabilizer – found a source of supply here).  I have had a transfer switch installed at our power box so that I can safely disconnect from the grid power and switch to generator power for the whole house.

As already stated I am very new to this ‘prepping’ business but do have some skills which help. I am a hunter so know how to shoot, butcher game etc.  I have a hut on the property where I hunt and use a chainsaw to cut firewood and for bush construction techniques.

I have found a source of food grade sealable plastic buckets. I have to-date 50 kilos of rice – purchased in 10 kilo plastic bags.  Which brings me to my question.  I see that with reference to storing grains that people use “mylar’ bag liners inside the plastic buckets/ drums.  What are they?  Are they necessary?  If so, where can I get them?  Should I use oxygen absorbers in the buckets for grain storage?  (I have found a source of supply in Australia).

Thanks to your book and blog I am learning fast but still have heaps to learn but we are three country miles ahead of where we were just a few months ago.

Thanks,  – Warren M.

JWR Replies: Thanks for your kind comments about my book and blog. It is gratifying to hear from so many folks like you, who have had your preps pay off.

In answer to your question: Mylar bucket liners are heavy duty rectangular bags, usually made of 4 mil thick of mylar. They are already sealed on three sides to form a flat bag. The large bags are sized for use inside either a 5 or 6 gallon bucket, leaving enough extra length after filling to be sealed. Typically these have a Zip-loc type end, but some are designed to be sealed with a special “hot jaw” bag sealer. A very common bag dimension is 20″ wide x 30″ tall. I don’t know of a vendor in Australia, but there are lots here in the U.S., including some SurvivalBlog advertisers. For really long term grain storage, they are a necessity. This is because mylar bags are 99% gas permeable. But HDPE plastic buckets are gas permeable, albeit at a very slow rate. So if you are storing grain, legumes, or rice for just a year or two, you could probably skip the mylar liners. But for anything longer, they are important to use.

Letter Re: A Spare Parts Travesty Underscores Americans’ Lack of Self-Sufficiency

Hi Jim,  
I managed a good day today even though I had to negotiate the land mines of our modern technological civilization. Here is my tale of woe: I needed a mechanical device. Went to Sears and bought the largest sized engine/self propelled mower they had spring of 2010. Platinum level. Used it one year. It up until recently has been a great machine that starts easily. By far perhaps the best mower I ever owned.  

This Spring I began mowing again. The self-propelled system fails. Disassembly via detailed parts guide in owner’s manual easily accomplished. Complete owners manual seems really well done.   Remember done is what happens to a hotdog when it is finally cooked. Finished is when a job is completed or visa versa.  

Found parts number [434993, cable drive]. I searched at Sears.com. Screen says, contact for availability of part. Called their 800 number. Nice operator who looked up the part. No go. It’s a done deal. According to her computer the part is not available? What? On just a year old mower?  

Meanwhile, the cutting blade on mower is dinged, beyond resharpening. I travel the 25 miles to local Sears store to get new blades. Recount my contact about the replacement part to the store manager. He says, “I may have one in the back”. No parts, another done deal.   Out of curiosity and because he suspects that I’m a dumbhead, he looks up the part on his in store computer. Finds part number [427411, cable drive] He says it is available! Do you want to order it? Of course! I don’t like done deals rather have finished projects and working equipment.  

The thesis of this communication is this: the computer system of the sears on line system and the in store system did not show the same parts number. Ditto for the owners manual corresponding with the on line system but not the in store system. Why? Beats me.. unless it was a done deal and someone’s brain was on full cook and the end of the day when this system was put together.   Lesson: if I had not been in the store just after a very stressful contact with the Sears on line system. I would have probably not found out that the part in fact was listed under another number on an apparently separate Sears computer system. If it was the same system, why the two different numbers and access to them from different points did not indicate that an alternative was available?  

Survival of stress: when the situation finds you broke down mechanically or in a personal confrontation of sorts you must find a substitute, make a jury-rigged replacement and/or defuse neutralize a situation. And above all make things work and not let stress put you into a mode of incapacitation. You function or you fail. Failure is not an option for me. Today I was a winner. More by chance than my skill. But some days are like that.   In the end the parts will come next Thursday after a five day wait. I will be 70 in three weeks with a weakened left knee. My body needs the self propelled drive to assist with the mowing. That’s about 1.5 acres that I mow at various times from May to September.  

Today is the real world. It is not collapse of the system. It is disfunctionality of a system. This particular system was not friendly and tried to exclude me! I was lucky to have been able to find the alternative.  

I have to have machines work for me like my mower, chain saws, skill saws, drills, grinders, well pump, 25 year old truck and car. Physically I am in pretty good shape for my age. But it ain’t 1960 any more and I have to conserve my energy and time. It is a form of survival from the shortcomings of capitalism and corporations. And the miles of living to be 70. – JWC in Western Oklahoma

Letter Re: One Week’s Worth — Examining the Ethics of Preparedness

Dear JWR:

In response to the article “One Weeks Worth”: First, I believe not all possible solutions were presented. It was clearly stated that the prepared man insisted that his wife always keep a half a tank of gas in her car, implying that he probably had a car too. They should have let them take one of their cars to get to the shelter. This would have been a viable and best scenario for a win-win situation.

Being helpless and being lazy are two separate issues and I believe the unprepared man was both lazy and slothful in not preparing.  There is a difference between being unable to help yourself and being unwilling to help yourself. He was clearly unwilling in my humble opinion!

Being a God fearing man and a Christian, I believe it is our responsibility to help those that are not able to help themselves.  Most people who are unable to help themselves have come to this situation through no fault of their own.  And many people in this situation would gladly want to be able to take care of themselves. But for those who are able to help themselves, I do believe that God wants us to take the first step towards self-sufficiency.

In addition, I believe the lessons from the parable of the Talents come to mind. Matthew 25:13-30 and a similar parable Luke 19:11-27. There are many scenarios in which this type of situation could be played out on a daily basis in which people cause their own problems due to slothfulness, lack of preparation and a million other scenarios.  

1). What if it’s not a friend that shows up but rather his gruff beer guzzling atheist co-worker whom he really doesn’t like shows up with his seven ragtag rowdy undisciplined kids? Is not a human being a human being? Where do we draw the line?  

2). I save for retirement, my friend doesn’t but rather is content to rely on social security payments for he and his wife’s income for their golden years. Shortly after retirement my friends wife dies and with her death so does her social security payments stop. My friend comes to me for help. Without my help on a regular monthly basis he is now forced to live in poverty and probably lose everything he has. Yes I saved, but I am far from wealthy or have what I would call abundance and my helping him in any worthwhile manner that would do him any good would severely hurt my wife and I financially in our own retirement. Am I ethically flawed to say I’m truly sorry I wish I could help but I just can’t? This could be a life and death situation if the man got so depressed the threat of suicide was real? I refer you to the parable of the talents.  

3). My friend and his wife bought a McMansion while my wife and I bought a modest house that we could afford. My friend was laid off and came to me one day explaining tearfully that they were six months behind on their mortgage and asked to borrow $40,000 or they and their three children would lose their house next week and be homeless. I have $80,000 in savings $40,000 would be half of what I have saved for my family, my children’s college education and my daughters wedding. I haven’t even started saving for retirement yet.  Do I tell my kids sorry no college and no wedding because my buddy needed the money instead.  This could also end up being a life and death situation.

So when we say “God helps those who help themselves”, we are not talking about the helpless.  We are talking about those who can help themselves but may have chosen not to. My friend is getting the keys to one of our cars with that half tank of gas!  – Just a Jarhead

Economics and Investing:

Reader C.C.V. sent this: U.S. Payrolls Grew 244,000 in April; Unemployment at 9%. JWR Adds: “the recovery is cooling” they claim. I ask: What recovery? All that I’ve seen is a brief blip, caused by a massive infusion of Funny Money. (The monetization dubbed “Quantitative Easing”.)

Chris Martenson interviews Addison Wiggin: We Can’t Afford the Solutions Needed To Reverse Our Decline

I noticed an interesting article over at Fierce Finance: Goldman Sachs prodigy quits

KAF sent this: Fannie Mae has asked the government Friday for an additional $8.5 billion in aid. (It lost $8.7 billion in the first three months of the year.)

Items from The Economatrix:

Banks Adding Treasuries Signal Lower Confidence In Recovery

Strong April is Retailer’s Easter Present

Unemployment Applications Hit Eight-Month High

Businesses Now Hiring At Fastest Pace Since 2006

Consumers Borrowed More On Credit Cards In March

Stocks Rally As Hiring Spree Surprises Wall Street

Gas Price To Drop As Oil Joins Commodities Plunge

Odds ‘n Sods:

Several readers mentioned this article about a stranded couple out in the Owyhee country: Search continues for missing Canadian man. Reader R.B.S. had these comments: “Tonight’s local newscast (Boise) had some good news for this lady. Finally located after several weeks. She survived with some rationed granola and water from a nearby stream.  Sadly, I fear the husband did not fare so well on his own, having set out to find a nearby road to get help.  This part of the world is rugged and unforgiving especially to those unfamiliar with its rapidly changing weather conditions and geography.  Hopefully someone will learn something from their survival experiences unfolding in this news story.” JWR Adds: For readers not familiar with the ION region: it is truly one of the most remote regions in the Lower 48 States. FWIW, the town of Jarbidge is on my list of potential retreat locales. For further insight on the region, read the book Outlaw, a biography of the notorious outlaw trapper Claude Dallas.

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Sunspots more active than for 8,000 years. Are you ready for a major coronal mass ejection (CME) event? That could drop the power grids for an extended period. Live self-sufficiently. Stock up. Shield your spare radios in Faraday cans. Buy a spare charge controller for your alternative energy system, and store is shielded , too!

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I just heard that after a long delay, Camping Survival received another small shipment of canned butter, from New Zealand. Stock up, before it sells out!

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River flooding begins to “wrap arms” around Memphis.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The biggest story in the market is the currency crash right now occurring in the US, I think a lot of people are debating whether it is in fact a currency crash.” – Keith McCullough, CEO of Hedgeye Risk Management, in an April, 2011 CNBC interview.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two two entries for Round 34 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 34 ends on May 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.

A Real World Test of My Preparations, by Daisy in Canada

Last week my city was taken by surprise by a terrible windstorm.  There were some weather warnings but nothing prepared residents for what would come.  Winds reached 110 km per hour and the damage to property was extensive.  Several people lost their lives due to flying debris and downed power lines.  While some were without power for only a couple of hours, others were without for up to a week.  Although we got our power back after 48 hours, we still suffered sporadic outages for two more days.

It was with a completely different attitude that I met this storm.  Before I began prepping, I would have been woefully unprepared and getting through the ordeal would have meant getting in my car and driving somewhere to stay with someone who was unaffected.  Of course, how I would have found that elusive place would have meant driving until I saw lights on, since our phones and internet didn’t work either.  This time I looked at it as a “dry run” for something bigger.

It was really interesting to “test” our preps and see where improvements were needed.  We only started preparing a few months ago but have thrown ourselves into it wholeheartedly.  Here is what we did and what we learned:

Candles: We had a great supply of candles laid in. Unfortunately, they were all over the house in various places. If you can’t find them in the dark, they aren’t very useful.  Now I’ve placed candles in every decorative holder in the house and stored the extras all in one easily accessible place. I’ve stashed a box of matches in every room as well, protected from dampness in Ziploc bags.

Food: We have tons of it and most of it does not need electricity for safe storage. Unfortunately, most of it does require cooking and we had not yet purchased a method for doing so. Now I’ve purchased a little hibachi that can use charcoal or a mix of wood and charcoal. I’ve also begun to purchase more stuff that can be eaten immediately: peanut butter, crackers, pudding cups, canned fruit, etc. Also, we learned baked beans from a can aren’t horrible at room temperature but soup is disgusting at room temperature. I ended up purchasing two meals out in the one small area of town that was not affected. We would have remained far safer if we had stayed at home, because the streets were perilous with falling trees and downed power lines.  Those who died all passed away when they were away from home.

Refrigerated items: We did not open our deep freeze the entire time the power was out so things in there fared perfectly. Most of the things in the refrigerator had to be thrown out, though. Luckily there wasn’t a lot: a little bit of milk, some leftovers, half a head of cabbage and some sautéed mushrooms. Next time, we will concentrate on the items in the fridge first. Things from the fridge could have been moved to a cooler and stored with the ice from the freezer to have lasted longer.

Water: We had water, even though we ran out of hot water pretty quickly. I was pleased that we had stored a lot of water in the attic, as some places in town had no water.  I still plan to continue increasing our stored water on a weekly basis.

The Unexpected: Something I was totally unprepared for was a quick emergency repair.  Our kitchen window imploded in the high wind and my makeshift cardboard repair was not the sturdiest. I’m going to get some good duct tape and some plywood in various sizes for that type of repair. If it had been a winter blizzard, the broken window would have been disastrous.

Neighbours:  We checked on our elderly neighbours several times and were able to bring them something to eat and make sure they had everything they needed.  We also gave them some candles, holders and matches. Next time it would be nice to be able to offer them a hot meal.

Entertainment:  Our enormous piles of books certainly came in handy, as did our supply of board games and card games.  My youngest child (10) is not as much of a reader as my oldest daughter (15) and I, so we had to listen to “I’m bored” about 10,041 more times than I would have preferred.  I found some interesting picture books and some craft books at a yard sale that I’ve hidden away to be brought out at a later time for the novelty value.  I’ve also organized her things in a way that it will be easier to find something to do when there is minimal light.

Communication:  A true family disaster was narrowly averted.  My youngest was home from school with a sore throat and a fever.  The high winds howling around the house and the tree that fell outside terrified her.  Suddenly the power went out and I was at work.  My power at work did not go out at the same time, so I was unaware of what had happened.  The phone lines at the house went down also.  My daughter panicked and decided to walk to my workplace.  It is very close to home, but the weather was far too treacherous for a child to be out walking around.  She stopped at a convenience store and the kind woman there would not allow her to continue her trek.  She was able to get her a ride to my workplace and all was well. My oldest daughter gets bussed to school in a different city.  I had no communication with her all day.  This situation definitely brought to the forefront the need to prepare my children and make a plan to reunite in the event of some type of catastrophe.  I stressed to them both the importance of staying put if they are at home, and the importance of getting home if they are away.  We’ve now planned routes home for them so I would know where to begin looking for them if something happened.  I also bought a rotary phone that does not require electricity at the Goodwill store.  We’ve planned “safe places” in case they cannot get home.  I realized the importance of knowing where to look for the girls.

Security:  Fortunately, there was no need for increased security during this storm and subsequent power outage.  We were careful to keep the door locked and the blinds pulled in the evening.  I explained to the girls that there was no point in advertising that we were better prepared with lighting than most.  I did begin to give more thought to a world in which the police are not a phone call away, however. Because of strict gun-control laws here in Canada, we have no firearms.  It makes me feel very vulnerable, as I grew up in a household were guns were part of the interior decor. It’s not a situation I can change so in the interest of making the best of my situation, I have attempted to do my best to provide us with security and protection. We do have bear spray, which is basically mace for bears (sold at hunting and camping stores).  I’ve invested in a few more cans of this to stash around the house.  As well, the girls and I discussed regular household items that could make useful weapons in a crunch.  I’ve applied to take the required class to be able to own guns here and my oldest daughter plans to attend with me.  I’ve also done some research to discover that small air guns like BB guns are readily available and inexpensive.  Although they are not at all powerful, they are better than nothing and might even serve as a deterrent, here in a place where most people are very unfamiliar with firearms.  Finally, I’m going to install a new frame around my front door to allow it to withstand an attempt to burst in.  While it isn’t foolproof, a much more concentrated effort would be required to break through the door.

My kids think I am slightly less crazy now, after seeing the value of the preparations that we had in place.  We had talked a lot about preparing after the horrible situation in Japan and after hearing recently from our family members back in Arkansas, who were flooded into their homes for over a week.  After our brief experience, the girls are applying the lessons we learned.  When shopping, they excitedly point out things that would not require cooking.  They also look at second-hand shopping in a whole different way, thinking of the usefulness of an item in a world without power.  The episode has increased their critical thinking and problem solving skills, while also heightening their awareness of how things can change in an instant.

Our little disaster was nothing in comparison to the issues going on in the Southeastern US, or Japan, but it was eye-opening. I think we will be far better prepared the next time around. We will be able to stay safely at home and off the perilous streets. We have been able to identify many of our weak points on this trial run. The difference between us and the other people going through this?  We will use this experience to fill in all of the gaps that we discovered in our preparations.  I have a list of things that we must acquire as quickly as possible and a list of things that would just be nice to have.  This experience has deepened my determination to care for my children no matter what life throws at us.