Note from JWR:

Happy Thanksgiving! Today is a national holiday celebrated in the US (and a few weeks earlier each year in Canada), to give thanks to God for his providence. We indeed have much to be thankful for!

Letter Re: Light, Noise, and Smoke Discipline for Retreat Security

Sir:
I was reading your postings on light security and blackout curtains for a home that would be secure in the nighttime. I thought about it on my way home after work, and realize that you’re right. I’ve
driven around my area during power outages and know who is home, due to their having generators running and lights shining, or even just those using candles or lanterns of various types. As I was pondering those things, I pulled into my driveway and looked at my home and a question popped up immediately. Here in the Northeast, (Maine) we’re in the heating season.
If anything were to happen, it would be a dead giveaway to know who is home or who isn’t by looking at the chimneys and observing smoke coming out. Especially when you’re just starting the woodstove.
It has a tendency to create a lot of smoke until the stack temperature begins to heat up and cause an updraft. Do you know of any way to decrease smoke from a chimney, or any way to camouflage the
emissions?
Thanks for your blog and all that you do. Rob in Maine (Proud owner of an autographed “Patriots” book!)

JWR Replies: Aside from burning only well-dried wood and using your stove’s damper judiciously, I don’t know of any means of minimizing smoke from a chimney. (It is rapid changes in damper position that seem to generate the most smoke.) If you are in the habit of cranking up your stove with an open damper for roaring hot once a week to burn out any accumulated creosote from the upper reaches of your stove, then do so only after dark. Ditto for cleaning out ashes and re-kindling the stove.

Two Letters Re: Storage Foods for Vegetarians?

Mr. Rawles,
Just a quick note which may be of interest to your recent correspondent who inquired about long-term storable vegetarian meal options… please pass this along and/or publish it, or not, as you see fit.
There are indeed vegetarian MREs in the standard army-surplus offerings, but there have also been been some specialized vegetarian long-term shelf-stable rations developed under the names of (among others) “Meal, Alternative Regionally Customized” (MARC) and “Humanitarian Daily Rations” (HDR). The MARCs were designed to feed prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and the HDRs were designed for emergency feeding in natural disasters; neither contain animal products or byproducts, in an effort to make them, by design, as acceptable as possible to end-users with belief-based food taboos.
See, e.g., these web pages MARC and HDR.

Some judicious Googling will turn up some purchase opportunities for surplus MARCs, such as this supplier. (Where MARCs are [euphemistically] described as “Vegetarian Indian Food MRE Entrees.”
I’ve sampled a couple of these, and while they will not make you forget your favorite Indian restaurant (to put it mildly) they’re pretty damned good for what they are.
Standard disclaimers apply: I have no affiliation with any vendor of MREs, including anyone who’s linked above… I am just trying to pass along some possibly useful information to vegetarian/vegan readers of the blog.

I enjoy SurvivalBlog very much, by the way. I grew up in the country but have been living in New York City for many years now, and as a man whose only currently viable plan is “hunker down and shelter in place for anything that’s short-term survivable” (working on it!) I’m learning a lot, and I appreciate the calm, sane, rational approach you take to the subject matter.All best, – Barry C.

 

Dear Mr. Rawles,
First thank you for “Patriots”, your excellent blog, and your leadership.
Second, I have to laugh at the current blog discussion regarding preparing and vegetarians, with most input coming from non-vegetarians.
I’m 44 years old, have been vegetarian for over 15 years, and hold a first class FAA medical. Furthermore, my cholesterol has been routinely in the 130-150 range for years. To clarify, I’m probably the least “picky” eater I know. Basically don’t feed me anything with chicken, pork or beef in it and I’m happy. (Anything requiring a .gov warning to burn to a cinder before it’s fit(?) for human consumption.)
To the point: Protein is not an issue and never has been. (B vitamins and in particular B12 can be, though.) Supplementation with a good multivitamin is a good idea with any kind of diet.) Complete protein for a vegetarian is as easy as rice with beans, or corn with beans. Done. American Indians subsisted and prospered with “The Three Sisters”: corn, beans, and squash. Sounds good to me, and with proper seed selection is even a sustainable menu as well.
As for a stockpile, I’ll take rice and beans over cows or chickens any day! And as you already pointed out, I’ve been eating the stuff for years. When TEOTWAWKI happens, basically from a diet, gastric, and menu perspective, I really wouldn’t notice much of a change. That’s probably a significant advantage.
Ideas like buying prepackaged vegetarian “meals,” though well intentioned are kinda silly, considering the 50 pound bags of staples/seeds that are already available, inexpensive, and easily storable for years.
Thanks again and God Bless, – Ed in Oregon

JWR Replies: I agree that at a fixed-site retreat, pre-packed meals (such as MREs and MARCs) don’t make much sense. But when operating in the field, they save time, obviate the need to carry a stove and cooking utensils, and reduce the noise, odor, and light “signature” of a campsite. In my experience, 80% or more of the food supplies that a family needs to store can be found in bulk at very competitive prices at your local “big box” membership store, such as Costco or Sam’s Club. This sort of procurement is described in detail in my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course.

Letter Re: Garage and Yard Sales as a Retreat Logistics Source

Hi Mr. Rawles,
I’ve been able to pick up a lot of gear at garage and yard sales. Most importantly, I’ve found many practical books at yard sales and junk stores that sell books for $1 or even just 25 cents each. I was able to pick up a home medical adviser from the 1920s for 25 cents. I have also bought numerous books on small scale farming, canning, food storage, and living off the grid from the 1920s for a dollar each. Much of the information would be relevant to a post-TEOTWAWKI, as it was written for farmers or rural residents that didn’t have access to electricity and largely lived off the land.

I have a few books about working on houses from the post-WWII years since it is before plastics, which has inherent benefits in a survival situation since they will be hard to find at Home Depot. They also have information on how to make repairs that today the answer would be buy a new one, or use a hard to find/expensive par. (Impossible in a survival situation.)

These are the books that I have found most helpful:
The Home Handyman’s Guide edited by Hubbard Cobb copyright 1949
Readers Digest Back to Basics Copyright 1981 (most important by far with general info on everything)
2004 Emergency Response Guidebook (there is a new version every year, its given free to public safety organizations)
The Weather Wise Gardner by Calvin Simmons Copyright 1983 ISBN 0-87857-428-X
The New American Garden Book Copyright 1954 edited by Dorothy Sara
The People’s Common Sense Medical Adviser by RV Pierce copyright 1895 [JWR Adds: Keep in mind that some of the home medical remedies described in books of this vintage (such as “take a spoonful of kerosene…”) are not safe or recommended! OBTW, a similar encyclopedia titled “The Household Cyclopedia“, circa 1881, is now available online for free download. Thanks to reader “TinCan” for sending SurvivalBlog that link.]
Various USDA agricultural yearbooks from pre-1935, these are also great because a fair deal of them is geared towards the farms that existed as family farms and were quite self sufficient.

Also, on another note, for people that live in suburbia it is important to block visibility from neighbors or the street when storing cached gear. For example, I was driving through my neighborhood today and there was a small horse trailer (in neighborhood where livestock is prohibited by the homeowners association) inside a garage. That sort of thing draws attention and others will start rumors “Why does he have a horse trailer inside his garage? What are they trying to hide?” When TSHTF neighbors will start talking more and maybe something may come up. I hope these books and the advice helps someone. Regards, -Sam

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader John M. mentioned: “With Christmas coming up, this is a great time to ask friends and co-workers to save their empty popcorn and cookie tins. Placing small electronic items in the smaller cookie tins and then nesting those tins inside the larger popcorn tins is an inexpensive way to provide a measure of EMP shielding. And the price is right!”

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The special 33% off sale for the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course ends on November 30th. Be sure to place your order soon. The course only rarely goes on sale.

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For those of you that just can’t wait for the release of the “I Am Legend” movie on December 14th, an early draft of the screenplay (before Will Smith got involved, and when the locale was still San Francisco) written by Mark Protosevich is available online. A hat tip to PNG for sending us the link.

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MM suggested this article by Chris Laird: Monster Western Credit Crisis – Prelude to a Depression

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I haven’t used either my home fire insurance or my earthquake insurance. I am particularly pleased I haven’t used the life insurance yet…” – Jerry, 650k6

Note from JWR:

I am very pleased to report that the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course from Arbogast Publishing is now on sale, at 33% off the normal retail price! This publisher’s special pricing will only last for just over a week, so don’t hesitate! To get the special sale price, all orders must be placed online or postmarked by November 30th. Get a copy for yourself, or one or more to give as Christmas gifts for your relatives that have their heads in the sand.

Letter Re: Electronic “Cash” in the Event of a Banking Emergency?

Jim,
What if the banks were closed for a Bank Holiday by the President, for let’s say one week. Question: Could one still use their credit card? Or is the system intertwined? Keep up the great work you do and service you provide the world. – David V

JWR Replies: In the event of a national banking crisis and bank “holiday”, I predict that all bank doors will be closed and that every form of electronic money will be inoperative (ATMs, debit cards, credit cards, et cetera.) You might be able to write checks at some local businesses, but don’t depend on being able to do so. There is even a smaller chance that some “Mom & Pop” stores will manually run a credit card slip for later processing, but that would be horribly naive of them. Nearly all merchants now use “Point of Purchase” (POP) electronic processing via a phone line to confirm credit card purchases, but the POP systems will surely be “down.”)

If you can afford to, I recommend that you keep at least $1,000 in greenbacks on hand at all times.

Charity During Hard Times, by Grandpappy

Hard times usually result in an overwhelming number of people who:
1. Do not have a job of any kind, and
2. Have no steady income from any source, and
3. Are usually either homeless or are living with close relatives.

During hard times these individuals need almost everything, including food, shelter, clothing, and basic medical care. During really hard times the large and growing number of homeless individuals greatly exceeds the carrying capacity of the local community in terms of voluntary charitable donations. There are just not enough homeless shelters and free food/soup kitchens that provide one meal per day to accommodate everyone. To survive during hard times these homeless individuals must choose between becoming thieves or beggars or both.
Therefore, during hard times the crime rate increases significantly. Since God was expelled from our school systems and our work places many decades ago, there are now a large number of people who have little or no respect for any type of authority, or for the rights of anyone other than themselves. These individuals do not evaluate their actions on any moral or ethical principles other than whether or not their action results in an improvement in their own personal welfare.

As our current hard times tragedy continues to unfold, any family that still has a home that contains a wage earner will quickly learn that if they are going to continue to survive they must not make themselves an obvious or easy target for thieves or a target for a continuous stream of beggars.

Each individual family will need to make their own decision on whether or not they can afford to be charitable. Some families are already in such serious financial difficulty that they are barely able to meet their own basic survival needs and charity is simply not an option. Other families may be a little better off and they may be able to afford a little charity every now and then. The difficulty is that homeless families do not need help every now and then; they need it continuously.

If a person or family makes the decision to dispense charity directly from their home or apartment, then they may experience the following problems:
1. Having anyone and everyone knocking on your door at any time of the day or night.
2. Receiving verbal abuse, or something worse, when you honestly have no charity to give away at the current time.
3. Experiencing the occasional angry face-to-face confrontation with an individual or family that is not grateful for what you do offer to give to them, and they accuse you of being able to give more and they demand that you do so or suffer the consequences.

For these reasons, among others, a prudent family will need to determine how they can be charitable without putting the safety of their own family at risk.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution to this charity question. After determining what they can actually afford to give away, each family can make donations of money, food, clothing, and/or medicine to a local food bank, homeless shelter, orphanage, or local church with the stipulation that the gift be used to help the needy families in the local area.

The donation may be made to one of these organizations that is located close to the donating family, or to one that is a reasonable distance away if anonymity is considered a prudent course of action. The advantage of donating to a nearby establishment is that the donating family can direct any beggars to its location. The family would not have to mention whether or not they personally donated anything of value to the charitable organization; they could simply say they heard that food was available there.

During hard times the beggar (hobo) information network works extremely well and everyone knows which homes always say “no” and which ones sometimes say “yes” and which ones always “give directions to the nearest charitable organization.” A family can put a simple note and a directions map on their front door (or gate) to help reduce the number of beggars who actually knock on their door. The note could be written in English and Spanish. Without opening the door, the family could ask who is knocking and what their business is, and then give directions through the closed door. Remember that an innocent looking beggar could also be a very skilled thief and/or killer. Always keep your doors closed and bolted during hard times and ask and answer questions through the door. Do not open your door even to those who pretend to have or who actually do have hearing deficiencies. The note on your front door should be adequate to answer any question the hard of hearing may have.

During serious hard times the local churches and their leaders will be confronted with an increasing and overwhelming number of requests for help. Many churches will respond by setting up committees to oversee the collection, storing, and distribution of food, clothing, and other supplies to needy families. Some churches already perform this function in their communities on an ongoing basis. The advantage of making your charitable donations to a church or other charitable organization is that they can more equally distribute the available charity to everyone who is in need. And when the charity is all gone, those who received it will know that more will not be available until some future time, whether it is a free hot meal the following day, or a few more free groceries one week or one month from now.
A nearby local church or other charitable organization is a superior method for equitably distributing charity to everyone who is need. The reasons are as follows:
1. They will receive charitable donations from anyone regardless of whether or not the individual is a member of the organization or church.
2. They are usually located within a reasonable distance of the families who are donating the charity.
3. They are usually within walking distance or bicycle distance of the needy families.
4. They distribute charity to local residents and individuals passing through the community and therefore they help to relieve local suffering and reduce the local crime rate.
5. They minimize the chance of one family receiving more charitable assistance than another family.
6. The local charitable organization usually knows if any work is available locally and they will pass that information on to the welfare recipients. This helps those in charge of dispensing charity to identify the families who have members who could work but chose not to. Families who accept work assignments and faithfully discharge those work duties will also usually be told where they can rent a meager but simple room to live in.
7. The recipients of the charity quickly learn where the charity is being given and it helps to minimize their investment of time and energy in receiving assistance.
8. It provides everyone in the local area with an immediate and helpful answer to anyone who is in need of assistance. No one ever has to say, “No, I can’t help you.” Instead everyone can provide directions to the nearest charitable organization.
9. Beggars will quickly learn that it is fruitless to beg door-to-door in a local area because anyone who has anything to give has already donated it to the local charitable organization.
10. When the total amount of available charity in an area is not adequate to sustain all the families in that area that need charity assistance, then some of those families will realize it is time to move on to another area where the overall conditions might be more favorable.

In closing may I suggest you read the book written by Pitirim A. Sorokin called “Man and Society in Calamity.” It contains historical information about how starving individuals have actually behaved during previous hard times. A condensed summary of his book can be read at my web site: Man and Society in Calamity – Summary.
Respectfully, – Grandpappy

JWR Adds: It is noteworthy that there are many stories dating back to the Great Depression about the methods that hobos used to “mark” the property of families and businesses that were willing to give charity to strangers. The recent upsurge in “warchalking” of free wireless access locations is reminiscent of this practice.

I do recommend being charitable, but like Grandpappy, for your own safety, I recommend that you be charitable at arm’s length. Working through a church as an intermediary is a time-proven method.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Dave M. sent us this: A perfect storm for gold as mines left empty.

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Here is some more hot air from the Treasury Department: Paulson Signals He Expects U.S. Dollar to Rebound. “And if you believe that…”

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I heard that Ready Made Resources has added very compact Deluxe Outdoor Survival Tool Kit to their product line. It includes a couple or my favorite pieces of field gear: a Blast Match and a SaberCut™ Saw. (The latter is a sort of “hand chain saw”. These cut tree limbs very fast!) OBTW, they also mentioned that they are now down to less than 500 infrared chemical light sticks. Civilian production is now restricted, so get them while you can!

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David Crawford, (the author of the survivalist e-novel “Lights Out”) is now drafting a new novel called “Lost and Found”. The first 20 chapters are posted over at the AR15.com Forums.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready." – President Theodore Roosevelt, San Francisco, California, May 13, 1903

Five Letters Re: New-Found Respect for .223 as a Potential Man Stopper

Jim,
In response to Martin’s recent letter [“New-Found Respect for .223 as a Potential Man Stopper]: While the .223 (5.56mm NATO) round may work on the unsuspecting deer or thin-skinned varmint that is standing still, the situation changes when you are dealing with larger animals or highly aggressive and motivated individuals. In times like these, a .30 caliber round, i.e. the .308 (7.62×51 NATO) or Soviet 7.62x39mm is a more dependable man stopper. Why do you think there was a move to the larger 6.8mm round to replace or at least supplant the 5.56mm? Poor performance on the battlefield.

Most soldiers I talk to here [in Iraq] would much rather have a .30 caliber rifle, if given the choice. For hunting, I prefer any .33 caliber or larger for hunting game. I want my game anchored in place when I hit them, and that is more likely to happen with the larger caliber bullets.

The .223 is not a useless cartridge, and I think everybody should have one because it is so common, and there are some who [because of their stature] can better handle the rifles built around this cartridge. But as a choice for a main battle rifle or main hunting rifle, make mine a .30 caliber! Regards, – Stephen in Iraq

Jim
I will have to disagree with [Martin’s assertion that .233 is a potential man stopper] due to the fact that I have been in battle with the .223 against, the 7.62×39 and the 308 caliber. Except for a head shot, the .223 is not a man stopper with one round. It has always been taught to use multiple rounds to make sure. The US military teaches two rounds to the chest and one to the head when using this round. The 7.62×39 and the .308 is a much heavier caliber with more energy and stopping power. These two calibers are the most used calibers in the world of standard battle use, and if your looking for a CQB caliber I would go with 9mm or .45 ACP, or 12 gauge. In my opinion (and you need to trust me on this) the 223 is a nice small game caliber or short ranger sniper caliber but not a good caliber for a primary weapon. This is why the US military is moving toward the .308 in their new battle rifles. – CDR

James:
Martin’s success hunting Bambi with a scoped long-barreled (24-inch bull barrel) .223 bolt-action, shooting extra-heavy bullets that are handloaded for extreme velocity is hardly analogous to self-defense shooting with a semi-auto. He is “comparing apples and oranges.” Most of the AR-15 family guns being built these days are M4 clones with 16″ barrels.or even 14.5″ barrels (and a welded-on flash hider to make it legally 16+ inch length.) And, hey, let’s be realistic, the odds are that they are going to be loaded with standard 55 grain or 62 grain ball ammo. That is the real world. You cannot load a semi-auto with screaming velocity 68 grain bullets. Let’s face it: In the real world .223 just doesn’t cut the mustard as an effective combat round. The.308 Winchester rules. – Clyde G.

Jim
In response to the recent article about the .223 as a man stopper, I commend their fine shooting skills and found the article very interesting since I have also taken a deer with a .223.
I have reservation as to how some readers of this site may misunderstand the information provided. Most of the .223 caliber rifles we deal with on SurvivalBlog.com are of the AR type. Yes I agree that when the .223 is hand loaded with high performance bullets and fired from a long barreled bolt action rifle is has a substantially increased amount of energy over factory loads. When in the hands of a good marksman it could be used to take down deer and would be much more lethal against humans. But, the performance achieved by this writer should not be used to over estimate the capabilities of this cartridge. The data used in the article does not apply to a short barrel AR-type rifle using the FMJ military style ammo that it was designed for. In fact I doubt that this cartridge would perform reliably in most AR’s. Most any cartridge can be loaded to perform over their commercially designed level. A custom loaded .308 fired from a bolt action, 26-inch barrel rifle will perform at the level of a 300 Winchester Magnum, but I certainly would not fire that round it in my M1A. Just trying to keep things in perspective. Jack R

Hi Jim,
Great web site as always! SurvivalBlog a daily must-read and I recommend it all the time–usually to find out my friends that I’m recommending it to are already reading it!

I was just wondering about the best .223 rounds, after reading the letter “New-Found Respect for .223 as a Potential Man Stopper.” Perhaps you could go into some detail with your own thoughts on this subject? The old 55 grain milsurp was a great round out of a slow-twist long barreled M16 or AR-15, but perhaps it’s less effective out of the faster twist rifling shorter barreled “M4geries” popular today.

Also, as civilians in a post SHTF scenario, we won’t be restricted by [Hague] Convention regulations concerning hollow points and other special bullets. What are your thoughts on the best bullets to maximize the killing / stopping / wounding characteristics of our .223 rifles?

I recognize that eventually we may be scrounging every round of any type of milsurp we can get our hands on, but for the crucial first months of when the SHTF, it will pay to have mags loaded with the very most effective bullets/cartridges available today. There will be no long term survival if we don’t get past the opening stages of SHTF, which might be a chaotic bloodbath, especially during a bugout or a period of mass refugee movement. Thanks, – Matt Bracken

JWR Replies: I hold with the consensus that .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO is preferable for nearly all defensive rifle shooting scenarios. But I can see the wisdom of having a few .223 (5.56mm NATO) rifles and carbines for specific circumstances, namely:
A.) As a transitional training rifle for youths.(Moving up from .22 rimfire to .308 Winchester is quite a leap for a 12 year old Just ask our #2 Son!)
B.) To equip disabled, elderly, and/or very small-statured (although it is notable that my petite wife does just fine with .308 semi-auto with a shortened barrel and stock.)
C.) As a long range patrol (LRP) or “long trek” on-foot G.O.O.D. defensive weapon. and,
D.) Just for the sake of having a rifle in your battery that can fire the ubiquitous military and police rifle cartridge in North America. (You never know when you might acquire a case of 5.56mm NATO!)

For those of you that do decide to add a .223 rifle to your battery, there is one crucial thing to keep in mind: Most of the .223 soft nose bullets available for handloading and nearly all of the commercially-loaded soft nose .223 Remington ammunition use semi-jacketed spire point bullets that are designed for instantaneous expansion on contact. This is because they were designed specifically for varmint hunting. This makes them sub-optimal for defensive use against two-legged predators at range. (Although if you live in town and are worried about accidentally penetrating several walls, then rapid expansion and disintegration is a good thing! The Hornady TAP bullet is a good design for this.) Fortunately, since .223 is gaining popularity for deer hunting in the eastern US, this should soon change. I anticipate that .223 “large game” (slow expansion) soft nose bullets and factory loaded ammunition will be available from most of the major ammunition makers within a couple of years.

Until slow expansion soft point ammunition is available, I recommend buying nearly all SS-109 (62 grain full metal jacket) ammunition. And even after slow expansion hollow points are available, keep in mind that they won’t have the penetration required to take down an opponent wearing body armor at long range. The ideal solution would be to have ballistically-matched 62 grain soft nose cartridges loaded alternating (every-other round in each magazine) with 62 grain SS-109 cartridges. But that will only be accurate and effective if the two cartridges have nearly identical trajectories. (Working up a ballistically-matching soft nose load is a fun challenge for those of you that handload.)

Odds ‘n Sods:

A huge list of outdoor survival web site links was recently posted over at the Gulching/Self-Sufficiency forum at The Mental Militia Forums.

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I’m now ten chapters in, reading my copy of Michael Z. Williamson’s latest science fiction novel “Better to Beg Forgiveness“. It is set a couple of centuries in the future and follows the adventures of a band of mercenaries sent to guard a national president on a war-torn backwater colony planet. I got a slow start reading the book, given the time constraints of elk and deer hunting season, but now I’m hooked. Thusfar, this book has been a great read, with plenty of the elements that Williamson fans love: action, great technical detail, believable characters, accurate tactics, vivid imagery of distant worlds, and some compellingly deep drama. Note that it is definitely not a book for children! I will post a full review once I’ve finished it. The novel is now available from Amazon.com.

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“Low” Inflation? Egg, Beans, Chicken, Milk: Prices for Key Foods Rising Sharply

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Rod sent us a link to Remington’s web site, where they are hyping their new AR-15 “R-15” clone. It has been reported that these rifles actually built by Bushmaster, one of Remington’s sister companies–also owned by Cerberus Capital Management, the same conglomerate that also own Chrysler Corporation.) Apparently these models are tailored to attract hunters. Aside from a fancy paint job, it appears to be just another variation on a theme, with the same old AR crud-injecting direct impingement gas tube action. The pictured models lack bayonet lugs or threaded muzzles (which would allow them to be fitted with tactical flash hiders or muzzle brakes), apparently to be politically correct. Jim Zumbo would be proud. I guess nobody told the Remington managers that the 1994 Federal Ban expired.

What I’m waiting to review are some truly innovative new designs, such as the Robinson Armament XCR, the MagPul Masada, and the Kel-Tec RFB .308 Bullpup. The latter uses standard FAL magazines and employs a very unusual forward axial cartridge ejection system, just above the barrel. It ejects a fired cartridge case on the same forward stroke of the bolt that chambers each subsequent round, and they “dribble” out the front!

Note from JWR:

Welcome to the many new SurvivalBlog readers in India. Swaagut! (I noticed quite an increase on the most recent update to the ClustrMap for Asia.) Our readership worldwide continues to grow rapidly. With almost 2.25 million hits logged, we are now getting more than 49,000 unique visits per week and burning up 90 gigabytes of bandwidth per month! (Which is a lot for a blog without many graphics.) Thanks for spreading the word, folks!