Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." – Douglas Graham

Note from JWR:

Reader Jeff T. kindly did some digging and found the text link to my recent ABC (Australia) interview: Global food crisis sparks US survivalist resurgence. And here is the audio link.

Letter Re: Spare Parts Now Available for XD-45 Pistols

Jim:

You mentioned that spare parts for Springfield Armory XD pistols have been hard to find. That was the case, up until recently. But now spare XD parts are starting to show up at PistolGear.com. Hover you cursor arrow over “Springfield XD” at the bottom of the window that pops up . There should be a line that reads “XD Factory Parts“. I just got a whole stack of [factory spare XD parts] in the mail last week. There are still some critical parts that are missing, such as the extractor. I have done a lot of business with them and talked to the owner Tom a good deal, good fast service and sounds like a pretty good guy.

My first XD has over 40,000 rounds through it without cleaning and it functions perfectly. They are just as tough as a Glock, just as easy to field strip, but a bit more difficult to detail strip. Overall, it is a great pistol. – Regards, – Bert M.

JWR Replies: That is great news! Consider the proviso that I mentioned yesterday, withdrawn. I can now without reservation endorse the XD pistol as a primary pistol for the long term survival firearms batteries of SurvivalBlog readers.

At this point, I am sorely tempted to sell off my stainless steel Colt M1911s and replace them all with XD-45 pistols. I now recognize that I could get better reliability and nearly twice as many guns for the money that I’d net from selling my used Colts! (A stainless steel Colt Gold Cup .45 now sells for around $1,200. Yikes!) The only remaining issue is that I have 35 years of training invested in the M1911 platform. I will do some extensive testing of an XD-45 and let you know what I decide. Oh boy, am I tempted!

I must reiterate that Front Sight’s “Get a Gun” training and gear package offer is available only for a limited time. I most strongly recommend that SurvivalBlog readers take Naish Piazza up on his offer before he cuts off further enrollments. (They only have a limited quantity of guns and gear available for this “package” deal. This is a tremendously generous offer. As near as I can figure, Naish is offering the package at near his cost, as an inducement to get shooters to come and take their first course at Front Sight. Once someone takes a course there, they are “hooked” and keep coming back for more–the the training there is that good. The Memsahib and I can vouch for that personally. We were astounded at the quality of the training. I learned more in four days at Front Sight than I had in the 35 years of my previous pistol shooting experience. I’m not kidding.

OBTW, I note that in addition to Springfield Armory factory spare parts, PistolGear.com also sells a wide range of aftermarket parts and accessories for XDs. And anyone that needs more details on XD pistol should check out the XD Talk Forums.

Letter Re: Cooking Aromas and Post-Collapse OPSEC

2

Greetings All,
SurvivalBlog has, and is, providing great practical information as well a thoughts on just about every aspect overcoming adversity and disastrous conditions. This brain trust provides information on retaining as much privacy as possible in this era of electronic monitoring of everything we purchase, and how to camouflage just about every type of inanimate object. I have noticed one issue that hasn’t been addressed. (Don’t faint!).

During a long term situation in particular this one issue can impact any family or group’s safety. So here is the question. How can we best ‘camouflage’ or limit the smell of food cooking? In a short term situation, as after hurricane, this would be a less dangerous situation provided relief was available and the aftermath limited in locale. During a hurricane most of us in our neighborhood had huge cookouts to use up frozen foods before they spoiled, or shared prepared food. We knew the limits of the damage and even with a week or more without power, while ‘bothersome’, wasn’t creating any real dangerous situation. Our family gathered a large percentage of our frozen food as well as some of our neighbor’s food and took our freezer and it’s contents to a relative within traveling distance who had power. And through that week we made trips to pick up food for that day and put it into ice chests.

If anyone has been down wind of a neighbor grilling out during the Spring, Summer or even Fall; you know how that affects you. When I was growing up and spending Summers on her farm, or visiting every week or so, I remember the aroma of my Grandmother’s cooking whenever I was outside and down wind of the farm house. During a long term situation, where people are desperate or crime more widespread, as the example Argentina provides us, that one element has the potential negate all the ‘movement, light and sound discipline’ one may initiate in order to maintain a low profile of having a stock of foodstuffs. It could even attract unwanted attention from any government agencies who are ‘here to help us’. How can this danger be mitigated?
Keep your powder dry, – The Rabid One

JWR Replies: You’ve raised a valid observation that should be included on retreat planning OPSEC “signatures” planning. Aside from minimizing the use of cooking herbs and spices, and minimizing outdoor venting, there is not a lot that can be done to reduce cooking smells. Obviously, in a famine situation, preserving meat by salting or brine jerking would be far superior to using a meat smoker!

For some background on various habitation “signatures”, see my December, 2007 discussion of being holed up in an apartment. In such demanding circumstances–with neighbors in close proximity—it would be advisable to cook only the most bland foods and to primarily use the Thermos bottle cooking method–like the one described by SurvivalBlog reader KBF.

Cooking odor signature is yet another reason to buy a house on acreage. The farther that your house is away from public thoroughfares, the better. The inverse square law (which you’ll recall I’ve mentioned regarding topics like sound attenuation and even Golden Horde attenuation) applies to the olfactory sense, too. (Your local wind speed and direction may vary.)

Perhaps some SurvivalBlog readers have some other suggestions on minimizing the “signature” of cooking aromas. OBTW, another odor that needs to be controlled is the smell of burning tobacco, which can carry a surprising distance. (I’ve heard this mentioned by several infantry combat veterans.)

Three Letters Re: What Determines if a Storage Bucket is Food Grade?

Greetings Jim,
I have found the folks at the bakery counter at [supermarkets such as] Safeway are willing to give me food grade buckets for free or maybe $1 each. They get frosting five gallons at a time. Once you read the label on that stuff you may never eat store bought cake again! – DAP in Missouri

 

Jim:
I wanted to share the best priced source I have found for Food Grade Buckets.
Other than getting them free from food vendors, I haven’t found a price better than $3.99 for five gallon food grade buckets. Lids are $1.09. People might not see the terms “Food Grade”, but seeing NSF, FDA, or USDA approved means essentially the same thing. – Joe A.

 

Jim,
A couple of days ago you wrote about storing grains in [HDPE] plastic buckets. Since then people have had questions regarding what constitutes a “food grade” bucket. Questions that you have answered fully.

However, in that original post you mentioned putting the grain in plastic bags inside the bucket. My question is what [plastic composition] bags should I use? The first thing that came to mind was a trash bag — Convenient as they are readily available and they are large. But, I recall reading somewhere that [some] commercially produced trash bags are treated with pesticides which one would not want their food stored in. If that is so, then what type of bags would you recommend? – Mark

JWR Replies: Clear vinyl bags (often marked “V” or with recycle code “3”) are almost always food grade. Low density polyethylene (LDPE or recycle code “4”) in film form–typically used in grocery bags and trash bags–is usually food grade, but some varieties have some strange additives or coatings. To be sure, see the manufacturer’s packaging for details. If the package is marked “FDA Approved”, “USDA Approved”, or “food safe” then they are food grade. Most mylar is food grade, but again beware of odd coatings. Most mylar bucket liners–such as those sold by Nitro-Pak — are food grade. The latter, BTW, is my top choice for extending the longevity of stored grains and legumes.

Two Letters Re: Observations on a Tour of a Telephone Company Central Office

James:

The batteries are why the phone still works when the power goes out. That is if you still have an old style (hard wire) phone and not all cordless phones. The cordless phones need 120 VAC power to run the base station. You should maintain at least one all wire somewhere in your house.
I believe the [common design for COs is that the] whole building is built in such a way that it is a big Faraday Cage. It would take a pretty close proximity EMP to take one out. The EMP
danger is in the above ground wiring [and antennas].

Most of this kind of engineering is done for lighting protection, but it is something of an EMP protection as well. That is [on reason why they are continuing to switch to underground wiring, even on expensive long[er] distance routes. The switch to fiber optics helps here also, even though the main rationale for its adoption was capacity and cost.

The phone companies are some of the most engineering conservative utilities in this country. When I worked with them, everything was “double built”. 100 percent redundancy.
And they are learning a lot fast about “hardening” their properties. Some of the upgrades I have seen done inside those little brick buildings spread around the country make them into pillboxes. – Keith S.

 

Hi Jim,

I saw the stuff about phone Central Offices (COs) and thought I would contribute a bit as well since this is a part of my area of specialty. Many times people have these nearby and are unaware of them. They look like a generic office building – most have few or no windows and are most often brick, concrete or concrete block. They are generally unobtrusive and sometimes do not even have the company logo on them. They are made this way because they house what is considered critical communications infrastructure and because they are supposed to be semi-secure and protected against all but the very worst mother nature can dish out. They are also a desirable target for terrorists, etc. As far as I know it is a Federal felony to disrupt the operations of one of these buildings so batteries, generators, and so forth would be strictly off limits in all but a true TEOTWAWKI situation.

This link has pictures of COs. If you look at the Kansas page you can see the COs that might exist in a small town – where they may serve at most a few hundred customers. The one’s listed under California (619) might serve a few thousand customers. These buildings will generally not be more than about 3 to 5 miles apart in suburban areas and even closer in urban areas so they are quite common, but most people do not have a clue where or what they are.

They do have large battery back-ups and larger one’s have generators. The larger one’s will also have fuel reservoirs of either diesel, propane or gasoline depending on the location, company policy, etc. These are required to keep the system up if the grid goes down – however they are only meant for a few days operation at best on generators. They do change the batteries our regularly because they have to keep the grid operational. [Their surplus battery sales are] a decent way to get good, used deep cycle batteries. The best money can buy. Regards, – Tim P.

Notes from JWR:

A couple of readers have told me that they heard my recent interview on Australian ABC Radio about the global grain shortage. The reporter described me as “a secretive survivalist, speaking from an undisclosed location.” OBTW, I was also interviewed last week by the BBC, but I don’t know if that one has aired yet.

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $230. This auction is for four items: A FoodSaver GameSaver Turbo Plus heavy duty food vacuum packaging system (a retail value of $297) kindly donated by Ready Made Resources an autographed copy of : “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”, an autographed copy of “SurvivalBlog: The Best of the Blog”, and a copy of “The Encyclopedia of Country Living”, by the late Carla Emery. The four items have a combined retail value of around $395. The auction ends on May15th. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.

Letter Re: What Determines if a Storage Bucket is Food Grade?

Mr. Rawles,
I recently purchased some five gallon buckets at Wal-Mart that I thought would be considered food-grade. I’m afraid these are probably the paint buckets you recently warned against, but I read elsewhere on the web that if there was a “2” inside of the recycle-symbol on the bottom of the bucket, the bucket would be considered food-grade. If these are unsuitable, do you mind going into a little more detail as to why? Thanks, – Ben J.

JWR Replies: The number 2 (with the number inside the “chasing arrows” symbol) refers to HDPE, but not all “2” marked plastics are food grade. Let me explain: The “food grade” designation is determined by plastic purity by and what mold release compound is used–not by the plastic itself, since all virgin HDPE material is safe for food. For paint buckets, manufacturers sometimes use a less expensive (and toxic) mold release compound. For food grade they must use a more expensive formulation that is non-toxic. Unless the buckets that you bought are are marked “food grade”, (or, marked NSF, FDA, or USDA approved), then you will have to check with the manufacturer’s web site to see if they make all food grade buckets. For more details, see the information at this barbecue and brining web site.

Letter Re: Observations on a Tour of a Telephone Company Central Office

Hi Jim,
I just came back from a tour of one of our local phone company’s central office (CO) and this is what I learned: Besides finding out how our phone lines work, I found out that the hardware there runs on 48 volt DC power. There is a large battery bank in the basement and the batteries are charged by the grid. It is made up of large clear cylinders and you can see the acid level and the plates inside. In the case of the grid going down it has a generator back up. Many of these offices are unmanned. I also found out that there are many small remote units around that run on a couple of deep cycle batteries for back up power around town. In the case of a prolonged power outage the technicians will cycle through the remote units with generators to charge up the batteries.

I was also surprised at all the circuit boards. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) would easily take out [these microcircuit boards, and hence wipe out] all the phone circuits.

I know that society would have to totally break down in order to make use of these resources but I bet not too many people know about the battery banks. Just something to keep in the back of your mind because every town will have something like this. – Adam in Ohio

Letter Re: Fuel Rationing as a Deciding Factor in Activating a Remote Retreat

Sir:

Living in North Dakota, I am always amazed at the number of 300 gallon fuel tanks that are for sale at farm and ranch auctions , usually with the angle iron stands . Hard to disguise but effective on retreats if they can be secured. [Used] underground tanks are a lot tougher to find. [They should be carefully examined before purchase, to be sure that] they don’t rust out and leak fuel into the ground.

I found your site from a link on on Michael Bane’s Down Range TV web site. – G.L. in North Dakota

Letter Re: Food Shortages at COSTCO and Sam’s Club Stores

James,
I visited COSTCO store in Woodinville, Washington Saturday morning, right at the store’s opening time. I had my doubts about the reality of the shortages, and needed to shop, anyway, so I thought I’d check it out for myself. They had eight big warehouse guys escorting two pallets of rice out to the showroom floor just about the time I arrived. Six of the eight then stayed with the rice, handing it out to customers as needed. Both pallets were completely sold out by the time I left the store about 45 minutes later.

I talked with two of the warehouse guys independent of each other, playing dumb and asking what was going on. Both said they were receiving normal shipments, just as they always had, but that customers were spooked and buying a lot more than normal. Both told me they expected their next rice shipment on Tuesday. One of them also told me (then showed me) that they were completely out of “general purpose” flour, and only had specialized bread-making flour in stock. Both swore up and down (and I have no reason to think they were being less than honest) that there were no shortages, just a run on things that they blamed on the media. There was enough cooking oil to fill a swimming pool, no shortages there. – Jeff F.

Letter Re: Ammunition Reloading for Survival

James,

You might want to mention that reloading for semi-auto rifles requires an extra measure of care. After sizing, cases should be checked with a Wilson or Dillon case gauge to make sure they are
are sized correctly. Maximum overall case and cartridge lengths have to be adhered to

[Clint McKee,] the owner of Fulton Armory is very "down" on reloading for semi-auto battle rifles, and I believe most of the [bolt out of fully-locked position] Kabooms with AR-15 type rifles have occurred with reloaded ammo. While one should be very careful when reloading ammunition of any type, one must be very, very careful when reloading ammo for semi-auto rifles.
Thx, – "Walter Mitty"

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader C.T.H. wrote to ask me if I thought that the Springfield Armory XD pistol offered in Front Sight’s Front Sight’s “Get a Gun” training and gear package offer was worth adding to a family gun collection. The answer is an enthusiastic yes, and I’m not the only one that is enthusiastic about these pistols. But I must add one proviso: Spare parts are currently hard to come by. Ironically, this is because of Springfield Armory’s exceptional lifetime warranty program. (Because of the lifetime repair warranty, there is little impetus for gunsmiths in the US to do XD repairs.) So, yes, the pistols are excellent and very reliable, but they won’t be the ideal choice for your primary defensive pistol until spare parts start to become more readily available. (I’ve heard that some parts will soon be imported from Croatia–which is where the pistols are made.) My recommendation: Go ahead and take the course using Front Sight’s very generous package deal. Unless you are exceptionally recoil adverse, then specify getting the hard-hitting .45 ACP XD45 model.

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Greg Grillot, writing in the Whiskey and Gunpowder e-newsletter (a free and recommended newsletter, BTW) notes that the aggregate consumer credit debt in t he US is now $2.48 trillion dollars, and of that credit card debt alone is at a record $915 billion. Grillot writes: “In just the last five years, household debt is up 24%. Nearly half of all American households spend more than they make each year. And 60% don’t even have more than three months of savings stored up.” I expect consumer credit defaults to rapidly escalate, as the nascent recession develops. Widespread corporate layoffs will mean that additional millions of Americans will not be able to make their mortgage payments, car payments, and even the minimum payments on their credit card bills. Any alternatives to delinquencies, defaults, and bankruptcy filings? Not many, because sharply lower house prices home equity lines of credit are becoming a thing of the past. The average American consumer is tapped out.

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Reader Michael H. recommended this set of two CD-ROMs, containing more than 1,600 military, civil defense, and firearms manuals.

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Kevin A. sent us a link to a Sharon Astyk article posted at the Silver Bear Cafe that discusses the world’s accelerating food crisis. We Regret to Inform You…