Odds ‘n Sods:

North Korea defiant, amidst fears of second nuclear weapon test. In other headlines, North Korea say that the recent UN sanctions resolution is a “declaration of war.”

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The U.S. is beefing up security on the Canadian border, deploying air assets–including drones.

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The U.S. Special Forces SCAR rifle acquisition program moves forward: The SCAR has unique specifications that allow the same receiver to be used for both .223 (“SCAR L”) and .308 (“SCAR H”) variants. Hmmm…The army finally gets back on track, nearly 50 years after the T44 versus T48 rifle trials, and acquires an FN-designed gas piston-operated 7.62mm NATO rifle with a pistol grip stock, charging handle on the left side, and a relatively straight line stock. (Sound familiar? Sounds like a FAL-inspired design to me.) My only question is: Will the .308 version of the SCAR use standard metric FAL magazines? I hope so.

Letter Re: Earthquake in Hawaii

Jim:
I woke up last Sunday to the sound of my house shaking. Yup, an earthquake and wow, a really big one. Calmly and firmly I ordered the kids out of the house and waited until the shaking stopped. When we went inside my 6 and 8 year olds had already gotten their little mini-survival packs out (emergency mylar bags, flints, tinder and Swiss army knives) and were working on getting their heavier survival backpacks out from the closet (food, clothes and sleeping bags) while I swept up the broken glass on the kitchen floor. They did me proud. No worries, they could put them away, I said. “What about if the volcano goes off?” one asked. “Okay, leave them out and put your shoes on.” I responded. I got out the short wave and some AA batteries and scanned to find an operating radio station running on a generator (Statewide power outage). When I found one, I got the location of the epicenter off the northwest coast of the Big Island, grabbed my topographic maps and saw that the tsunami (which never came) would be a non issue for my location. I was surprised by the lack of decent information on the radio. No one mentioned turning off gas lines to avoid explosions. All they said was stay off the roads and limit cell and land line phone usage. I got through to my wife on the other side of the island (working a crafts fair) and while rocks had tumbled from cliffs no one had been hurt. Dang, I thought. Is there any food in the car? How about water? Did she bring good walking shoes? Mental note, put all in the trunk How much gas was in the tank? I have a bad habit of letting the gas tank go to nearly empty before refilling. Okay, so from now on, gas fill ups at 1/2 a tank. 1/4 at worst.
Later in the day my neighbors came back from their survival trips into town. One said that 1000 generators had been sold in one day at the local Home Depot and he had bought one himself. [JWR Adds: I’m dubious about what your neighbor said. Is there a Home Depot store has that kind of deep inventory? Or were they mostly taking back orders?] I asked what kind of generator he got and he said gasoline. “How much gasoline do you have?” “Well, 5 gallons plus what’s in my [car’s] gas tank.” “I see, and with no power on the island, how will you get more gas from the gas station? The pumps won’t work.” I queried. “You’ve got a huge propane tank over there. Why not get a propane generator?” I left him scratching his head. Why not get food and water? If the quakes and or tsunami took out the docks, then we’d have no food on the island real fast. Well, at least he could watch his big screen TV for a few hours until his gas ran out. Several of my neighbors didn’t even have portable radios. – SF in Hawaii

Letter Re: Prospects for the UK after TEOTWAWKI

Sir:
On 10 Oct 06 you wrote: “Ironically, the risk of getting murdered here in the US is higher than it is there. But England clearly has higher rates for nearly all other crimes–both violent and non-violent”. In fact England has more murders than the US. It is all to do with how they work out the numbers. You would think to be classed as a murder someone would have to be murdered but it does not work this way.
In the US the way to class a death as murder is if the police case starts of as a murder case i.e. A body is found in the with blood on its head the first officer on the scene will report it as a homicide so it will be added to the U.S.A. murder rate list. If it is found that they had a heart attack and then hit there head on the floor its still adds to the murder rate.
So as you can see the US is a lot safer than they make out.
In the UK to make the list someone has to be found guilt of murder and then it is added to the murder rate of the year they are found guilty. So if a person kills 20 in 2006 and found guilty in 2010 all 20 are added to the murder rate for 2010.
Dr. H. Shipman killed himself in 2001 but in 2003 he was found to have killed 172 (it could had been as high as 300+ he was in jail for murder at the time) of his patient. So 172 deaths were added to the murder rate calculations for 2003. As you can see the worse job the Police [and courts] do, the better the UK looks for murder rate. – Simon in England

Odds ‘n Sods:

From Asia Times Online: An interesting, albeit biased, three part analysis of the recent conflict in Israel, by Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry

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The U.S. Census Bureau’s population “POPclock” tops the 300,000,000 mark. That is interesting, but it doesn’t have a lot of immediate impact on my family. The nearest neighboring house is 1/2 mile away from the Rawles Ranch. The population density is still just three people per square mile in our county. This is typical for most of the rest of The Un-named Western State (TUWS). OBTW, our friend Fred the Valmet-meister mentioned that there are some interesting statistics on population density of the 50 states at the Wikipedia.

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Reader JH pointed us to yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (Oct. 16, 2006). They carried an article on page A2 about the divergence between electrical demand and the capacity of the power grid. Some real FFTAGFFR!

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war." – Horace (65-8 BC) This quote inspired a modern corollary: "In plenty, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for hardship." – SurvivalBlog reader CW (2006 AD)

Note From JWR:

Today we welcome our newest advertiser, MURS Radio. They sell bargain-priced surplus VHF portable two-way radios that operate in the Multi Use Radio Service (MURS) allocated frequencies. These radios come complete and ready to use with antenna, battery, belt clip and drop-in charger for only $49 each. Yes, they have a few scratches and they’ll have a sticker that covers the original emergency service department engravings, but for just $49 for a 2 Watt transceiver, they are a great deal. MURS frequencies and do not require a license in the U.S. These are pre-programmed with five MURS frequencies and three U.S. weather band (“WX” receive only) frequencies. They can also be programmed to 2 Meter Band frequencies or other frequencies within their band capability, upon request. The model that they are presently selling is a Kenwood TK2100 VHF MURS portable. These 2 Watt radios can have much better range than most FRS radios which typically broadcast just 1/2 Watt. I recommend these 2 Watt MURS radios for retreat security communications. Get a pair of them (or several pair) while they’re still available at the $49 price.

Letter Re: TVP is a Poor Choice for Food Storage

Jim:
Many commercially packaged storage food “package deals” load up on Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) for protein. I would eat TVP if I had to, but if you are considering buying food for storage, stick to eggs and meat. TVP comes from soybeans, and soybeans are not a good human food. To explain:
Plants can be placed on a continuum from harmless fruits, vegetables and common grains, to poisonous plants like deathcap mushrooms. With the exception of fruits (seeds pass through our digestion and we ‘deposit’ them in remote locations thus propagating the plant species) , plants don’t want to be eaten. “Who cares what they want?” you say. “It’s not like they can get up and run away.” Exactly. Plants can’t move or bite so they defend themselves with chemicals and thorns. Some chemicals they use will kill us (the wrong mushroom), some will kill us but in small doses can be medicines (foxglove). Some aren’t strong enough to kill us but can make us sick, either acutely or chronically. Soybeans fall into this latter category.
Chemicals in soybeans cause thyroid disorders, blood clots, inhibit trypsin (one of our digestive enzymes), contain very high levels of phytates (mineral inhibitors) and contain high levels of estrogens. Have you noticed girls entering puberty earlier than in previous generations? Men given soy products can become feminized. Babies receiving soy infant formula as their sole source of food take the equivalent of 5 birth control pills a day in estrogens. These chemicals in soy are anti-nutrients. The Asians knew this which is why they only eat fermented soy like miso. Tofu is not fermented. The fermentation process inactivates many (but not all) of the anti-nutritive elements in soy. The only use for soy for humans IMHO is as Miso taken after radiation exposure. After the nuclear explosions in Japan, those who were fed miso survived better than those who were not. Miso will last a long time in a refrigerator and you should have some with your potassium iodate as part of your nuclear first aid kit. – SF in Hawaii

Two Letters Re: Ammunition Handloading Basics

James,
This is in reply to a couple of earlier letters, and I would like to point out some corrections.

1) Lee powder dippers are safe to use as directed. If you actually read the directions and especially the discussion about the dippers in the Lee Modern Reloading Manual you will see that Lee specifies only dippers that cannot go over the maximum weight charge if used with appropriate powders. The dipper provided with a set of dies will only be appropriate with certain powders, and those will always be a little or a lot under the max charge weight, even if the weight to volume ratio varies from that given by Lee. He builds in a margin of error to ensure you can;t go over the max amount unless you really try, or really don’t read instructions, in which case you have no business reloading ammunition.

2) There is more tribal rumor about Glock Kabooms and unsupported chambers than there is fact floating around the Internet. First, Glocks are not the only pistol with partially unsupported chambers. The Model 1911 traditionally is only partially supported. Some SIGs are as well. In fact, there are probably fewer models with fully supported chambers than there are partially. So, unsupported chambers by themselves do not cause Kabooms, otherwise most pistols would be blowing up. I suspect a good number of kabooms are from reloaders that would rather try to blame Glock than their own attempt to go over the maximum load, or their own inattentiveness. Several Kabooms I have read about turn out to be done by shooting a squib load and getting a bullet stuck in the barrel and then shooting another bullet right behind that. That is very likely to bulge or burst the barrel but has nothing to do with the chamber. Many other kabooms are reported with conjecture about the cause but no supporting evidence. I challenge any Glock Kaboom expert to provide first person evidence not hearsay from Internet forums.

There are many of us that reload the .40 S&W in our Glocks without a problem for years upon years. It is like any other cartridge in that you must check the condition of your brass upon each reload and look for signs of case head separation. Most of us that reload the .40 for the Glock find that the case necks crack (as all cartridges will eventually) long before the head separates from the case. Of course if you are always loading your ammo to the maximum loadings or beyond then you should not expect very many reloads per case before they start to fail. Common sense should tell us that if you want your cases to last longer, and you want to reduce the chance of catastrophic failure, then don’t load to the maximum or beyond. And check your cases before and after each reload session. Throw out any that are looking suspicious.

If you are really concerned about this then you can buy an aftermarket barrel for any of the Glocks with cut or button rifling and more fully supported chambers. And every reloader should read at least two reloading manuals before starting to reload. I would recommend The Lee Modern Reloading 2nd Edition, one of the Lyman manuals, or Speer #13 as good beginning manuals. Nosler is not a very good intro, especially for handguns, but is excellent for advanced rifle reloading. I have heard the Hornady and Sierra manuals are also good starters. I would actually recommend acquiring at least three manuals: one by the equipment manufacturer (Lee, Speer/RCBS, Hornady) and/or The ABCs of Reloading; a second from the powder manufacturer of your choice (Hodgdon, VV, Winchester, Alliant, Accurate) and a third from the bullet maker of your choice (Oregon Trail Laser-Cast, Lyman for cast bullets, Speer, Sierra, Hornady).

Reloading is serious business and requires much reading and paying attention to detail. But let’s not scare ourselves with rumors and hearsay.
Thanks for a fantastic blog site! – JB, Oregon

 

Mr. Rawles:
LK from West Virginia obviously doesn’t have much experience putting reloads through Glocks, and is relying on Internet hearsay. A quick perusing of such forums as Brian Enos’ and Glocktalk will shed light on the myth and render it what it is, completely untrue. USPSA and IDPA competitors feed their guns a steady stream of reloads, and many of those guys are shooting Glocks in various forms, including the dreaded “.40 caliber kaboom monster!” I have two Glocks that have yet to see a single round of factory ammo, and one of them has eaten over 30,000 reloads without a glitch. The standard caveats apply when it comes to reloading, in that you must be cautious and follow all guidelines, but if your loads are within listed tolerances from a reputable reloading manual, you should have absolutely no problems. Additionally Glock states that you should not use cast lead bullets, and only use jacketed rounds. I abide by that guideline, but others have ignored it. Your mileage may vary, of course, but nobody should fear quality reloads shot through a Glock. Respectfully, – JCL

Notes From JWR:

The winner of the most recent SurvivalBlog benefit auction was L.P., with a $280 bid for a fully tested and recently professionally calibrated U.S. government surplus Civil Defense CD V-717 fallout survey meter with remote sensing capability. The meter was donated by Ready Made Resources (one of our first and most loyal advertisers).

A new benefit auction begins today, and ends November 15th. This one is for a used but very scarce autographed copy of the non-fiction book Survival Guns by Mel Tappan. Because Mel led a very private life, he made few public appearances and never sold copies of his books directly from his home address. Consequently, autographed copies of his books are very scarce! This particular copy is dated January 1976 by Mel (a first edition) and inscribed to Dane Andrews, an engineer at CCI/Speer in Lewiston, Idaho, who had provided Mel some technical input for the book. Also enclosed is a handwritten thank you note from Mel Tappan. I was very fortunate to have found this copy by chance in a bin of used gun books several years ago when I was at a gun show in Moscow, Idaho. The opening bid for the auction is just $20. Please submit your bid via e-mail.

Letter Re: An Early Snowstorm in Western New York

Well, mother nature really gave it to them this week. There were 24 inches of snow dumped on us in about 24 hours. That, and the trees still had most of their leaves still intact. That just made more surface for the snow to stick, and it was the wettest imaginable snow you have ever seen. I’m writing this on Sunday. The power has been out since about 5 P.M. on Friday, and they are saying it won’t all be back on till next weekend.
I didn’t lose my power, since I live north of the worst of it. I have lent my generator out to a friend who is trying to keep his basement from flooding.
The Buffalo Water Department is recommending that residents boil their water. Nobody has any ‘put up’, and very few have a Berky water filter. I really like mine!
The television showed people scrambling to buy generators. They are trying to go as far as Albany to get them. Gas to run them is also a sideshow, there is a two hour wait at the gas stations that do have power. I am sure they will be out soon.
Now the snow is melting, so the flooding is a problem. Some people have ‘grinder pumps’ for their sewers, which is a really bad position to be in, with no power!
I am thinking of going to the places where the trees are down the worst, with my chainsaw, and stocking up on wood for next winter, as it is green, and won’t burn this year. I am sure the places with trees down just want them gone. I saw on TV that 50% of the trees are at least damaged or down. Buffalo, Amherst, the suburbs have a lot of big silver maple trees. OK for firewood, when dry.
I didn’t hear of any looting yet, and I am surprised. Maybe it hasn’t been reported.
Buffalo people really are pretty good at helping each other out.
The phones haven’t worked right for a couple days, you have to try your call several times before you can get a two-way conversation going, and then it might quit at any moment. That is pretty frustrating.
I went to the nearest town today, that is where I saw the gas lines. The worst of the storm hit south of there, and I live north of it. All the restaurants were packed. The storm people can’t cook anything, so they went out of the affected area to get fed.
Good thing it was so localized! I guess that most of the roads are passable now, except for the water. Underpasses are flooded.
Thanks to this blog, I wasn’t in their shoes, and I was able to help my friend. I would be able to last a couple weeks, anyhow, no matter what. Now I just have to keep adding to the stores.
Thanks, Jim! – Sid, near Niagara Falls

Letter Re: Hard Red Wheat Versus Soft White Wheat for Storage and Baking

Jim,
As you know, I live near Niagara Falls. I grew up on a farm, mostly growing ‘row crops’. Wheat, oats, corn, buckwheat, and soybeans have become a big crop in the area of late. The wheat we grow around here is [soft] ‘white’ wheat, not the hard red [winter] wheat that is grown in the mid-west. I have wondered what the difference really is, and have never really found out. Can someone out there straighten me out on this? It seems most bread is made from the red, from what I hear. Can’t bread be made from the white wheat? I can get white wheat by the truckload locally. I have never even seen any red.
We used to grow several hundred acres of the stuff. Anymore, there are very few small farmers left, there are thousands of acres growing up to bushes and trees all over western New York. It is a sad sight to see, but it really is giving the land a chance to ‘rest’ after being intensely farmed for over a hundred years. Trouble is, it will eventually have to be cleared again, if it is ever to be farmed again. I wonder if it will be farmed with horses again. – Sid, near Niagara Falls

JWR Replies: Soft white wheat has less nutritive value (protein) than hard red winter wheat. Although they are both categorized as “hard grains”, the hard wheat varieties store better than the soft wheats. (30+ years versus 15 to 20 years for soft white wheat.) For both of these reasons, hard red winter wheat is preferred for home food storage programs. The following is a quote from the excellent wheat article at the Walton Feed web site: “The hard wheats generally contain smaller kernels and are harder than soft wheat kernels. They contain high protein and gluten levels primarily designed for making bread flours. Depending on variety and growing conditions, hard wheats can have vastly different protein levels. For bread making, your wheat should have a minimum of 12% protein. The hard varieties of wheat can have protein levels up to 15 or 16%. Generally speaking for bread making, the higher the protein content the better. The two main types of hard wheat are the hard red and the hard white varieties. Hard white wheat is a relative new-comer that tends to produce a lighter colored, more spongy loaf of bread and because of this, it is gaining quick popularity among home bread makers. However, we have talked with bread makers who prefer the hard red wheat for it’s more robust flavor and more traditional textured loaf of bread it makes.
The soft wheats are just that – not quite so hard. If you want to roll your own wheat, you should buy soft wheat. The hard wheats tend to crack and break in the flaking machine. Containing less protein and gluten, soft wheat flour is ideally suited for making biscuits, pastries and quick breads. Typical protein levels for the soft wheats are 9-11%. Flour made from the soft wheats can also be used for cake flours. If you want a really low gluten cake flour, mix your soft wheat flour with other low gluten flours such as oat flour, barley flour of buckwheat flour.
Durum wheat is a botanically separate species from the hard and soft wheat varieties. It’s kernels are a little larger and are shaped a bit differently than the other wheats. Durum wheat has very hard, high protein kernels but it’s the wrong kind of protein to form a strong gluten. Durum has been used for centuries to make pasta; whether it’s macaroni, egg noodles or spaghetti noodles.”