Notes from JWR:

I’ve noticed that the SurvivalBlog readership in Australia and New Zealand is continuing to grow. Thanks for spreading the word! BTW, simply adding a linked SurvivalBlog banner or logo to your e-mail footer and/or to your web page will help increase our visibility. Many thanks!

The high bid in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction is now at $475. This auction is for a scarce pre-1899 Mauser that was arsenal converted to 7.62mm NATO. (It was converted by the Chilean national arsenal, using original Mauser tooling.) It has a retail value of at least $375. The auction ends on May 15th. Just e-mail me your bid. Thanks!

Letter Re: Livestock at Your Retreat

Mr. Rawles:
Just a few tips on the livestock side of things, in response to Samantha’s piece on Livestock at Your Retreat:
– Your Mile May Vary (YMMV) on pasture needs. On the coastal plain, two acres per head of cattle will do quite nicely in most area. But in more “brittle” areas, such as the high plains, the East slopes of the Rockies, West Texas, etc, you will find yourself needing considerably more land than two acres per cow. (Check with your Agriculture college or county extension agent.) Hereabouts, one acre of good land will provide both grazing and hay for one healthy cow. (Can you see why I’m reluctant to leave this little slice o’ Heaven — even though it’s rapidly turning into the PRK-North?) Topsoil depth, rainfall, and growing season length are the critical factors. Always calculate twice as must pasture and hay field per horse as per cow.
– I applaud Samantha for recommending a dual-purpose breed, such as Brown Swiss. They are sweethearts, and give some of the very best milk (Second only to the Jersey, which does not throw a very “good” beef calf — but then, I grew up eating “sub-standard” beef from Guernsey/Hereford cross steers, and it didn’t seem to hurt me much.) Another couple options are Milking Shorthorn and Galloways. The Galloways are a rare breed, so finding breed stock may be a challenge, but they produce meat superior to the best Angus (Properly: Aberdeen Angus) on grass alone, are the easiest calvers, are self-tending (Even wolves leave them alone!) and are tractable (easy to work with). For small acreage, Irish Dexters are another option. They’re the pre-miniature beef miniature beef, and also give good milk. Birth defects (pugging) can be an issue, though.
– Cows do not need grain. In fact, they can’t digest it properly. God designed them to eat grass — nothing else. Feeding cows grain & meat products constitutes a perversion. (Which is why beef has gotten a bad name for being the major source of “bad” cholesterol — the grain turns to the worst kind of fat, whereas grass-fed beef produce high amounts of the “good” cholesterol.) Around here, the perfect mix is Timothy pasture grass mixed with red top clover and Alsace (The old-timers pronounce it “Al-Sacky”) clover. It also makes excellent horse pasture and hay. The two clovers up the protein content and palatability plus give you the added benefit of capturing nitrogen from the atmosphere (If you use inoculated seed.) You will want to grow grain for your horses — they can use it. Plus, you’ll want it for chickens and other fowl — not to mention for making bread, oatmeal, etc., for you and yours.
– Water, water everywhere — and there’d better be enough for your cows to drink! Besides grass the other essential for raising cattle is a reliable source of clean water. Cows drink a lot!
– Hay & hay storage. Around here, you need to plan on storing one ton of hay per head of cattle, two tons per horse. No, no, no! You don’t need a bunch of mechanical equipment to make hay. You can make the very best hay with just a scythe, a wooden hay rake (think of a long-handled wide-headed garden rake), and a pitch fork. The old rule-of-thumb was one good man could mow five acres a day with a scythe and two boys who were worth their feed could get it raked into windrows and have the morning’s mow in the cock by sundown. Figure half that until you been doing it for a few years. But you do need covered storage for it, because nothing bleeds off nutrients from hay like getting rained on. (But make sure your hay is fully cured before putting it in the barn — else you’ll get a nasty lesson in spontaneous combustion.) How many acres do you need to cut? Purdue [University’s agriculture department web site] has some rule-of-thumb calculations.
You can figure that you’ll probably get over two tons per acre on the first mowing, and progressively less with each subsequent mowing. [Here are two useful links:] How to make hay the old way, and Making hay for horses.

– If I were doing a working ranch as my group’s retreat, I would not think twice about getting a big tractor (100 hp or more) and a big round baler. I’d have the tractor fitted with as big a front-end loader that it would take. It helps you move those big bales (which make excellent hasty bulwarks) and you can use the bucket to dig yourself a dry moat in jig time. (I’d definitely use the tractor to dig one when fuel stocks started to run low. By then you aren’t likely to have county planning people nosing about much.) Read up on Irish hill forts and Civil War earthworks on the ‘Web.
– I’d do most of the work on the place with horses, just so I’d have enough on hand for me and mine to Bug Out if we need to. (I’d want a mount, a re-mount and two pack horses per person.) Horses can go where no 4×4 would have a chance. Since only the Russians do mounted calvary anymore — that’s my preferred mode of Bug Out travel. Horses outdistance leg infantry hands-down, and anywhere a 4×4 can go a tracked vehicle can go there quicker. (Helicopters trump everything, but you can usually hear them coming.)
– If you’re going to have little ones about, I’d definitely plan on keeping goats for milk, as goat’s milk is the universal mamma replacement. (And keeping goats will give bored children something to do on their scale – when they’re not raking hay or tending poultry or helping Mom in the gardens. No little princes or princesses in my retreat!) Most people who are lactose intolerant can handle goat’s milk. I’m an absolute tyro on keeping goats, so Samantha’s advice is probably better than any I’d ever give.
– Don’t forget “The Gentlemen Who Pay the Rent!” (Pigs) With pigs you use everything but the squeak. They are your pioneers and can plow your garden for you as well as stirring the deep bedding in your cow and horse barns for you. (A pig will dig deep for every grain of corn you hide in the bedding.) If you want to keep the brush down in your tree lines, just pig fence them and put the pigs in a couple times a year. (Throw a handful of corn into the middle of the deepest thickets and they’ll root ’em out for you.) You may want to invest in a stock of welded pig panels and steel fence posts so you don’t have to invest as much in fencing. (Less to hide behind, too!)
– Chickens. They’re dumb as rocks, and a royal pain to work with, but eggs, meat and feathers are not to be passed up. If you get into poultry, you’ll find they only thing dumber than a chicken is a turkey. (You have to run to get them under cover if a rain squall heaves into sight, because the turkeys will point their beaks to the sky, open them wide, and promptly drown in the downpour. To think that Ben Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird! Thank God cooler heads prevailed! I have heard that the wild turkey is a much smarter bird . . . I have to believe it, or the breed would be dead as Dodos.)
– Resources — These are starting points (the first three are books) They will all give you lots of other resources to refer to:
“Salad Bar Beef” Joel Salatin
“You Can Farm!” Joel Salatin
Any of the Storey Books livestock series
Ranch & Farm webring
Down on the Farm webring
Draft horse webring
Agriculture webring

Regards, – CountryTek

Letter Re: Lead From Car Batteries–Can it Be Recycled Into Cast Bullets?

Dear Mr. Editor:
Can lead from car batteries be recycled for bullet making? I’m just wondering, since there will be lots of dead batteries to be found in a post-SHTF world!
Just a thought. Sincerely, – K&S

JWR Replies: Yes, lead from car batteries could be used, but only with stringent safety precautions! “Cracking” old sulfated car batteries will expose you to highly corrosive acid and acid fumes. I’ve also read that battery lead has high toxicity from contaminants like strontium. A much safer and more convenient source of bullet casting lead is clipped-on wheel balancing weights. In a worst-case TEOTWAWKI, with thousands of abandoned cars and trucks along the roads and in wrecking yards, the easiest source of lead will be wheel weights. One advantage of wheel weights is that their alloyed composition is harder than the pure lead used in lead-acid batteries. with the exception of glued on wheel weights (which are often pure lead), the wheel weights with metal clips usually have about 5% antimony added to increase hardness–so-called “antimonious lead.” This makes them more suitable for bullet casting. (Pure lead is too soft to use for bullet casting without adding a hardener, particularly for high velocity bullets, where soft lead can be “stripped” into rifling grooves.) Needless to say, be sure to take the standard safety precautions whenever casting lead. Goggles, gloves (preferably elbow length), a heavy long-sleeve shirt and apron are musts. Also remember that lead and arsenic poisoning are both progressive and insidious, so avoid breathing lead casting vapors! I recommend doing your lead casting outdoors.

Odds ‘n Sods:

RCP’s sharp eye caught this news story: Great Lakes fish virus may threaten U.S. aquaculture. Gee, these plagues are starting to take on Biblical proportions. First it was the honeybees…

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KT flagged this one: Congressman Kucinich Seeks To Ban Handguns In The United States. Meanwhile, Rep. McCarthy (D-NY) is pushing other “gun control” legislation. My advice: stock up, particularly on full capacity magazines. I fear that a new Federal ban on 11+ round magazines is likely to be enacted before the end of the current session of congress, as part of some typical Washington DC “reasonable compromise” legislative package.

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Reader Don W. mentioned the news articles on a multi-year drought in Australia, forcing the government to halt irrigation of farming areas in order to ensure the cities have sufficient drinking water. Prime Minister John Howard has said that Australia may have to import food. Don’s comment: “This illustrates the strategic problem Australia has if a TEOTWAWKI event ever forced the USA to retreat from its global empire: Australia can never support a population large enough to withstand the hordes of Asia.”

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Sid sent us this article link: Armed “Miss America.1944” Stops Intruder

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I will print money today so that people can survive.” – Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, explaining the 1,800% annual inflation rate of the Zimbabwean dollar.(As quoted in Michael Panzner’s book, “Financial Armageddon“)

Note from JWR:

The following is the second batch of responses that we’ve received thusfar in our current poll on Lessons Learned:

Poll Results: An Exercise in Humility–a Poll on Embarrassing Mistakes

Mr. Rawles:

When I think of our early mistakes, so many things come to mind!
1. Buying ten #10 cans of T.V.P. for Y2K. Ick! We could not give the stuff away. We learned never to buy large quantities of anything we don’t normally eat until we try it first

2. Buying cheap BOB backpacks. We thought that since we would most likely never need them, we could buy the cheap backpacks from Walmart. A few years later, when we decided to take a test run, we found that the packs were incredibly uncomfortable and the bottom fell out of one of them. We also discovered that it is near impossible to wear a fully loaded BOB on your back with a toddler in a front pack and be able to balance, hike, etc.

3. We just jumped in with both feet doing food storage instead of learning the proper way. We bought tons of wheat, cornmeal, and oatmeal – poured it in buckets and stuck it in several locations. About 3 years later we started learning and realized we should have taken more care, rotated our stock, etc. When we checked on things we ended up feeding about half of it to the chickens.

4. Underestimating what we need! This was the biggest. Several years ago my husband got sick and was off work for four months – unable to get out of bed for two of those months. Because we were debt free and had food stored plus some savings we did okay, but we realized how many things we had overlooked that I had to run to the store for – spices, OTC medicines, shampoos and toiletries, even socks and undergarments that were about worn out and had no spares. Nothing absolutely life shattering, but those creature comforts make life bearable.

5. We also realized during that time that our roles were too separate. We are very traditional, with me doing “women’s” work and him doing the “men’s” work – that’s how we like it. But when he could not do it we realized how dangerous that could be. We have always hunted for elk and deer, and I am a good shot – but he always loaded the gun for me and did all the reloading. I did not know how to start the tractor, milk the cow, or even which feed and the quantity for our animals. While I could learn most of that, we did come to realize that my physical limitations are much different than his – so we bought a smaller tiller that I can run, he started putting up smaller bales that I can lift, he made charts for animal care and doctoring, etc. Likewise, he learned to deal with the milk, make cheese and butter, and I made a special “food storage cookbook” that he can work from. We don’t like to think about managing without each other – but it is part of being prepared!

 

Jim:
When in doubt, read the directions. Years ago during the first Bush ban on semi-auto rifles, I acquired a new-in-box Colt AR-15 H-BAR pre-ban rifle for $700. Before taking it out for my first bench test with USGI green tip, I cleaned and lubed the rifle, but didn’t read the directions closely enough to realize I had left out the cam pin when I reassembled the bolt. The rifle seemed to rack and function fine, but when I put a round in the chamber and aimed at my target downrange 100 yds. away, I recall a hot rush of air and loud sound, which got my attention.
The bottom of the 20 round magazine was blown out, base plate, mag spring and follower were missing. The bolt was locked about half way open and there was a bloom of brass expanding like a small daffodil or somesuch protruding from the back of the chamber. The bore was clear of the bullet. The case head was gone but I was intact and so was the rifle except for being jammed half open. A gunsmith performed the “casectomy” and all was checked out fine with the rifle. I had no injuries, but I did go and re-read the Colt manual and realized that the cam pin got rolled up in my cleaning rag and I had missed it during reassembly. I now real the manuals with guns, especially new ones.

 

Hi Jim,
Here is a planning mishap realized by that most ancient of adversaries, vermin. I had several boxes of bottled water. Nice, heavy, sturdy cardboard boxes designed to withstand hard handling, etc. Had them stored under the workbench in the garage along with some white buckets of bulk wheat and rice. But all were largely invisible because other items were stacked in front of them. While I regularly check on how my firearms and ammo are storing, I had not looked at these supplies for several years.
We had been fighting with some small rats for several months. The traps weren’t working and the rat poison did not seem to have an effect. I had to get something out from the pile of gear under the work bench and noticed rat spoor. As I pulled out the gear, I realized why the poison had not been working: We had provided our little furry friends a comfortable and well-stocked home. They had eaten away the holes in a couple of the white buckets and were consuming the foodstuffs. And they had eaten away the sides of the cardboard boxes of water, actually eaten the
plastic of the water bottles, and had consumed several gallons of water. Cleaned the mess and sadly threw away some supplies that were now suspect.
Bright side to the story, once we had removed our unintended rat support system, I started catching the despicable critters in my traps and the poison containers show signs of being eaten. No more rats! Moral: watch where you store stuff and check on your storage regularly.

Letter Re: Ethnic Food Stores as a Source for Bulk Storage Foods

Dear Mr. Rawles,
While rag-picking at my local thrift store, I spotted an Asian food wholesale supply store in that neighborhood. What caught my eye was the 50# bags of rice stocked 6′ high and three deep, right in the storefront window. By my count, he had six tons of rice varieties on site. That is far more than the half-pallet that Sam’s Club seems to stock.
Note to preppers: If you happen to recognize a slow spiral to TEOTWAWKI, and you still have the need to accumulate calories for the homestead or charity, map out the ethnic food wholesalers (Asian, Mexican, etc.) in your AO for the proverbial beans and rice. If and when the times call for it, my guess is our multicultural friends also will understand the value of gold and silver coin as tender in payment of debt, whereas the mass merchant will not. (Of course if folks are using silver, at that point you should already have the hatches battened down.)
BTW, my greatest “keeping your eyes peeled” find was after the November election behind the temporary county DemoRepublicrat Headquarters: hundreds of un-deployed wire-framed yard signs in the dumpster. Don’t politicians know the price of recycled steel? (Of course not.) Now I’m flush with heavy gauge steel wire courtesy of wasteful politicians. Springtime Regards, – Brian H.

Letter Re: Privacy from Google’s Prying Eyes

Hi
It may be an interest to readers who use the Firefox browser, there is an extension call “Track Me Not“. [Here is a description I found on the web:] “TrackMeNot is a lightweight browser extension that helps protect web searchers from surveillance and data-profiling by search engines. It does so not by means of concealment or encryption (i.e. covering one’s tracks), but instead, paradoxically, by the opposite strategy: noise and obfuscation. With TrackMeNot, actual web searches, lost in a cloud of false leads, are essentially hidden in plain view. User-installed TrackMeNot works with the Firefox Browser and popular search engines (AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN) and requires no 3rd-party servers or services.” Its better than a not-so- reliable proxy. – Martin

Odds ‘n Sods:

Makezine‘s MakerFaire is scheduled for May 19-20, 2007 at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds, in northern California. SurvivalBlog readers in the S.F. Bay Area should plan to attend. Your will learn some great hands-on MacGyver skills there.

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11 Retired U.S. Admirals and Generals Urge Changes on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

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Commercially available (“off the shelf”) hydrogen fuel cells! Of course pricing is another matter, but in the long term, fuel cells are a promising technology for powering retreats and self-contained NBC shelters.

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InyoKern’s research turned up this article: California real estate foreclosures are up 800% over last year. InyoKern’s comment: This is a summary of California home foreclosures thanks to Adjustable Rate Mortgages. My wife and I just looked into buying one, but there’s a catch or two or three (liens, insider corruption, cost of title search versus time to place a bid) which has me hesitant to jump into an “affordable” house. Expect to see lots of “Disgruntled Former Californians” (DFCs) moving to your neighborhood as they bail out of California in bankruptcy.

Note from JWR:

If what you read on SurvivalBlog has value to you, then please consider becoming a Ten Cent Challenge subscriber. These subscriptions are entirely voluntary, but gratefully accepted. They help pay the bills here. Thanks!

The Big Picture on Gold, Silver, Real Estate, and the U.S. Dollar

I have come to the conclusion that the nascent implosion of the U.S. residential real estate bubble is going to have some far-reaching macroeconomic consequences. We are just starting to see the beginning of the real estate collapse. The adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) reset clock is ticking, and the home foreclosure rate is just starting to spike. I predict that in just three or four months, the housing market collapse will be just as big a news story as the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s. There will be plenty of hand wringing and finger pointing. The lenders that foolishly loaned billions of dollars to home buyers that weren’t actually credit worthy will get most of the blame. There will be congressional investigations. There will also probably be some Enron-esque collapses of banking and derivatives trading giants. Followed, of course, by some sort of bailout at taxpayer expense. (Some pieces of of American history keep repeating. I still remember the $1.2 Billion Chrysler bailout and the $481 Billion S&L bailout.)

In 1978, the total debt burden of households in the U.S. was less than $1 trillion. But as of 2007, it is more than $13 trillion! We drowning in debt. As house prices collapse, so much money will be lost (on paper) in such a short period of time that the debt merry-go-round will suddenly stop. There will be an enormous, collective gulp and an un-spoken: “Oh my Lord, what have we done?” For roughly the past five years, American homeowners have been using their houses like ATMs, “extracting” cash from them, usually through “home equity loans” or in a wad of extra cash when they re-financed their mortgages. These are called “Mortgage Equity Withdrawals” (MEWs), in banking circles. MEWs have pumped an extra two trillion dollars into the economy in the past five years. A lot of this money has been squandered on big screen televisions and other useless Schumer that folks have wheeled home from Wal-Mart. When the MEW money merry-go-round stops, the economy will surely go into a deep recession. (Since consumer spending is the biggest driver of the economy.) As the economy tanks, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) will eventually have no choice but to cut short term interest rates. By doing so, they will be creating new money on a grand scale.

As the housing bust develops further, there is the real risk of a stagnant economy, even with very low interest rates. (A classic liquidity trap) If consumers still feel squeezed and if they still worry about lay-offs, they will curtail their spending. Ben Bernanke has publicly stated that he will drop greenbacks out of helicopters if he has to, so don’t be surprised if you see the Fed resort to some very unusual moves. This could include monetizing large chunks of the Federal debt. The combined effects of lower interest rates and debt monetization will constitute a massive shot of liquidity–perhaps the only way that “Helicopter Ben” can keep the economy afloat in the midst of the housing collapse. This does not bode well for the U.S. Dollar, which was already losing ground in the first quarter of Aught Seven against most other world currencies–most notably the British pound, the Euro and the Yen. (For example, it now costs more than $2 to buy one Pound Sterling.) So what does the “big picture” show us? For the next three years, there will likely be a bear market in real estate, stocks, and the US Dollar Index. Meanwhile, there will be a bull market in food prices, fuel prices, gold, and silver. The economy could very well turn stagnant, with high unemployment coincident with high inflation–similar to the “stagflation” economic conditions of the 1980s. Double digit currency inflation is likely. Plan accordingly. Protect yourself. Minimize your debt burden. Have plenty of cash on hand, in case you get laid off. And if you haven’t yet diversified your investments into precious metals, then I recommend that you do so immediately.

Speaking of impending crises, I highly recommend the book Financial Armageddon by Michael J. Panzner. In it, Panzner does a fine job of spelling out four impending crises that within the next decade will challenge our financial well-being and perhaps threaten our entire way of life. These four crises are: The debt bubble (public and private), pension plans, government guarantees, and derivatives.

Letter Re: Potential Range of Nuclear Weapon EMP?

Mr. Rawles:

I’m confused. Some things that I’ve read say that the maximum range of [nuclear weapon electromagnetic pulse] EMP is about 60 miles, but others say 200 or 250 miles. Which of them is right? Wouldn’t a terrorist bomb at ground level have shorter range EMP than a nuke touched off at high altitude or low orbit? (With a wider horizon.) Thanks, – Lance in Nebraska

JWR Replies: You aren’t the first SurvivalBlog reader to ask about the greatest potential effective range of an EMP-optimized nuclear detonation. I first discussed this in SurvivalBlog back in October of 2005. The answer is both easy and impossible to determine. Let me explain. First, the easy part. The basic line of sight (LOS) footprint range calculation is really simple. It is essentially the same as the calculation that is used to determine the maximum effective range for a VHF or UHF radio onboard an aircraft. Referring back to one of my unclassified notebooks from my Electronic Warfare (5M) course at Fort Huachuca, I find: Assuming level terrain, the maximum potential radius of LOS in nautical miles (nmi) = square root of the emitter’s altitude (in feet) x 1.056. Hence, that would be 149.3 nmi at 20,000 feet above sea level (ASL), or 191.8 nmi at 33,000 feet ASL. (A typical jet or C-130’s service ceiling.) SurvivalBlog reader “Flighter” mentioned: “…some of the larger business jets such as the Airbus ACJ, Gulfstream, Challenger, and Citation are certificated to fly at or above 41,000 feet. The Sino Swearingen SJ30, is perhaps the highest flyer with a certificated ceiling of 49,000 feet. Hypothetically, a dangerous parabolic flight profile could with supplemental oxygen for the flight crew and perhaps even supplemental JATO rockets might push apogee to 75,000 feet in a few aircraft models. (Hey, it would be a suicidal flight anyway.) That is probably the highest altitude that could be expected for a terrorist to touch off a nuke–at least in the near future. That would equate to a footprint with a 280 mile radius. Oh, yes, they might also get really creative and use an unmanned balloon. (The word’s record for those was 51.82 km (170,000 feet / 32.2 miles) But that is highly unlikely. What is likely? A ground level detonation. The EMP footprint of fission bomb detonated near ground level on dead level ground (plains country) might be no more than a 45 mile radius.

Now on to the part that is impossible to predict: long range linear coupling.  Because telephone lines, power lines, and railroad tracks will act as giant antennas for EMP, the EMP waveforms will be coupled through those structures for many, many miles beyond line of sight (BLOS). Just how many miles BLOS is not yet known. I believe that if it were not for the advent of the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963 (which banned atmospheric and space nuclear weapons tests), the DOD and AEC would have had the opportunity to conduct far more extensive tests to further characterize the panoply of potential EMP effects. But those test bans have kept us in the dark. In the absence of practical data, there is a lot guesswork, even among “applied physics” expert nuclear weapons physicists. We may not know the full extent of the EMP risk until after we see that bright flash on the horizon.

For planning purposes, you can probably safely assume that if you are living more than 280 miles from a major city, then your vehicle electronics will be safe from a terrorist  nuke’s EMP. (Since you will be BLOS to the EMP footprint of a nuke that is set off below 75,000 feet ASL.) Your home electronics, however, anywhere in CONUS might be at risk due to long range linear coupling–that is if your house is on grid power. This, BTW, is one more good reason for you to set up your own off-grid self sufficient photovoltaic (PV) power system. The folks at Ready Made Resources. offer free consulting on PV system sizing, site selection, and design.

Letter Re: The 1898 Threshold for “Antique” Gun Exemption in the U.S.

Mr. Rawles:

I have read your FAQ about Pre-1899 firearms being classified as antiques and exempt from some of the Federal regulations. The 1894 Winchester 30-30 serial number exempt at that time [that you wrote the FAQ] was below 147685. Mine carries serial # 165559. Would it now be exempt since it is [now] 2007? Thank you, – Eleanor

JWR Replies: Sorry, but the “antique” threshold has been frozen at Dec. 31, 1898, ever since passage of the U.S. Gun Control Act of 1968. That defies common sense, but that is the law in the United States. The frozen legal threshold means that with the passage of time, there will be fewer and fewer legally recognized “antiques” in circulation, as guns eventually wear out. This makes pre-1899 guns a great investment. Antique gun exemption laws vary considerably depending on where you live. For details on the “antique” thresholds for Australia, Canada, England, and Norway, see the Wikipedia page on Antique guns. I recommend that after they’ve acquired their basic battery of survival firearms, well-prepared families should acquire a few pre-1899 cartridge guns chambered for smokeless cartridges that are still factory produced. There may come a day in the U.S. when all firearms will be subject to registration. But pre-1899 guns will presumably still be exempt. Anyone interested in acquiring some pre-1899 cartridge guns should contact George at The Pre-1899 Specialist (one of our advertisers). He will be happy to share his knowledge on the subject.