Letter Re: New York Military Bunker on eBay

Hi Jim,
I can’t say I see many bunkers for sale on eBay. I personally don’t consider New York state ideal for a retreat location, but it is interesting to see this property available nonetheless. I’d be a little concerned about potential HAZMAT issues. BTW – I’m really enjoy reading Rawles on Retreats and Relocation. I’m in between “permanent” dwellings at the moment and it helps to have such a resource when considering my options. Kind Regards, – M. Artixerxes

Letter Re: SHOT Show Report From Mr. B.

The following are my brief impressions of things that I got to see at the recent SHOT Show. There was lot of interest in the prototype .308 Bullpup from Kel-Tec, which takes standard metric FAL magazines. It is planned to be produced in various barrel lengths, and should be reasonably priced.It was interesting, with its forward axial cartridge ejection, just above the barrel.
I don’t recall pricing but $2K would be my best recall/guess. Mr. Kellegren [the “Kel” in Kel-Tec] personally showed me the patent pending ejector. It ejects the casing on the same forward stroke of the bolt that chambers the next round!
The new domestic AUG clone got a lot of attention, and they told me they took 2,000 orders at the show. (Model STG 556)
LRB Arms, famed for their top-regarded M1A forged receivers, was showing a version [the “M25”] with integrated scope mounting points. Those kludgy scope mounts may be a thing of the past. Military users had been welding the mounts to the receivers to keep them from shaking loose! Wait list for up to a year.
“Assault weapons” are here to stay! One industry insider commented that with everybody and his dog (including Smith and Wesson – what would Clinton think now?!) Selling these black rifles, its tough to see the industry standing for a ban on these profitable items.
And speaking of Smith, its announcement of its friendly acquisition of Thompson Center Arms has optimists speculating that the marriage will be a good one, with TC’s esteemed barrel making skills enhancing S&W accuracy. Could this, along with modern machining and MIM (metal injection molding) bring Smith back to the true glory days?
FN’s PS90 (the futuristic one with a plastic stock that looks like is was made from giant elbow macaroni) is selling well to civilians (who can afford the special 5.7 x 28 ammo) in new variants that provide a [optics mounting] rail instead of the terrible 1X scope.
Lever gun shooters who have slept through the last year will be pleased to learn of Hornady’s soft-pointed “Leverevolution” ammo, which provides modern ballistic performance from venerable cartridges. .30-30 is a true deer-getter, and other cartridges reach effectively much farther than before
Savage introduced a varmint rifle in several popular chamberings. The remarkable trigger, an H-S Precision stock and a solid action promise custom rifle performance for about $1,000. One model displayed had the Savage Accutrigger with a 6 ounce pull that was a pleasing rarity for a production rifle.
That’s all from Orlando. OBTW, the word is that the biggest gun industry show will be returning to Las Vegas for the next decade or so.

Letter Re: Dog Food Alternatives and Dog Food Safety Warnings

Jim,
Regarding Ginger B feeding her dog baked potatoes: Always be certain that potatoes are cut into small pieces before feeding them to dogs. Many of them (large dogs in particular) will simply swallow a baked potato whole, leading to awful problems and potentially, death. Another food that most folks are unaware of any danger from is onion, which is lethal to dogs and cats. Be careful not to feed them table scraps that have onion mixed in with them, not even in flavoring agents. The result of onion toxicity is anemia, which is difficult for the lay-person to diagnose (it can creep up slowly over weeks of time).
There are other foods one needs to be aware of too. Most people know about chocolate [toxicity for dogs] but coffee beans, grapes/raisins and macadamia nuts are also considered to be on the "do not feed" list. For those of the "waste not, want not" school of thought, look very carefully at any table scraps you might be feeding your pets to keep them healthy and happy. Regards, – Hawaiian K.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Les Christie, editor of the British Columbia Housing Blog, penned this prescient article for CNNMoney.com: Housing market pain not revealed by statistics

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Rourke suggested that I highlight this product from Canada, which is one of the best door security peepholes on the market

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Bob B. mentioned this article from The Financial Times Online (by way of Matt Drudge): Euro displaces the U.S. Dollar in bond markets

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Nuclear Blast on TV’s ’24’ Causes Fallout for Fox

Jim’s Quote of The Day:

"The real freedom of any individual can always be measured by the amount of responsibility which he must assume for his own welfare and security." – Robert Welch

Notes From JWR:

Now that the holidays are over, we are enjoying the quiet season here at the Rawles Ranch. Other than church activities, 4H club meetings, and homeschooling group meetings, there is not a lot that induces us to go into town. This winter we can laugh at the weather. When it is snowing heavily, we just stay home and stoke the woodstove with a couple of extra chunks of red fir. We home school our kids, so there are no worries about school bus schedules. And we are very well provisioned, so we certainly don’t have to go into town for groceries! We thank God for his tremendous providence. Hallelujah, Jehovah Jireh!

I’m pleased to announce that with the cost advantage of quantity production, I’ve just reduced the price of my non-fiction book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” to $28.

Letter Re: Yet Another Article Touting “Mobility” for Survival

Dear Jim:
See this piece on Survival Preparedness as: “The Ultimate “Contrarian” Investment for 2007 — Be Prepared” The author knows a lot about economics (excellent web site), but one can certainly critique his “Batman in the Boondocks” or “mobile refugee” survival strategy. Regards, – OSOM

JWR Replies: I’m dismayed to see such strategies proposed again and again, usually by folks who have never actually attempted to fill–much less actually shoulder–their “everything that I’ll need” backpack. It is incredibly naive to think that anyone can “head for the hills” with just what you can carry, and survive for an extended period. Note that his overly simplistic “carry heirloom seeds and blue poly tarp” approach does not take into account anything about tools needed to cultivate what he’ll grow, containers he’ll need to store what he grows or gathers, and tools/pots/pans that he’ll need to process/grind and cook what he hunts, gathers, or grows. Nor does it address basics like cages for small livestock, or fencing to protect gardens. How can you expect to carry all that on your back? Unless someone is incredibly fortunate, the odds are that any “mobile” retreating approach will very quickly reduce them to the category of “refugee” at best, or to room temperature, at worst. The history of the previous century –particularly its two world wars and its countless civil wars–taught us that life is, as Hobbes put it, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” for refugees. The last thing that you want to be is a refugee. By definition, going mobile means foregoing the “deep larder” advantage of a fixed retreat. It would be foolish to give that up. Ditto for the often touted “RV land-mobile retreating” approach. As I’ve stated before: In a full scale WTSHTF situation, mobility for the sake of mobility in essence only gives you the opportunity to wander into ambush after ambush. I go into further detail about the fallacies of mobile retreating strategies (backpack, vehicular, and sailboat) in in my book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation.” In the same book I also describe some commonsense fixed location retreat alternatives

All of the preceding is not to say that you shouldn’t own a Get Out of Dodge (“GOOD”) backpack. You should have one, especially if you don’t live year round at your intended retreat. (The pack is only intended for a very short period, to get you to your retreat, in the event that for whatever reason a vehicle is not available.) You should dread ever having to use that pack when forced to abandon your well-stocked retreat and taking off on foot to fend for yourself.

Letter Re: Survival Retreat Potential of Northwest Florida

Mr. Rawles:
I live in south Florida. I would like to know your opinion on having a retreat in northwest Florida, Dixie County to be exact, known as the “least populated county in Florida”. I can’t afford to move out of the state right now and I am concerned about driving through major cities if I had to leave in an emergency from down here.
I would like to be able to do it on one tank of gas which would put me about 5 or 6 hours away from where I am now. I already have a small piece of property up there now with a mobile home on it to use as a base of operation when I buy a larger piece of property and begin my preparations. Traveling two or three days to get to a retreat concerns me.
All of my other preparations are in order: food storage, security, some medical info and books, seeds, and silver/gold, etc. Where I live now is not a defendable place. I have about 8-10 family and friends that will join me. I would like your opinion on this: Is it worth the risk to travel to a farther location like Georgia or North Carolina, where I do have family in the mountains (or even Missouri where land is cheap); or just to prepare up in the Northwest part of Florida. There is a lot of deer, rivers, fishing, and the well water is good.
By the way, I have read [the earlier edition of] your “Patriots” novel and I just got the new [expanded] edition. Thank you for your time and effort into these books. I am looking forward to purchasing the other book about retreats. May God bless you for the wealth of information and knowledge that you share with us and our families. – Patriot Bob

JWR Replies: As previously stated, I encourage moving to selected low population density portions of the western U.S. to increase your chances of survival in the event of a major societal whammy. (See my Recommend Retreat Areas static web page for some pertinent data and recommendations, as well as my recently published book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation for greater detail, including maps.) If you must live in Florida, then the northwest portion of the state is about as good as it gets. It is still in the nation’s hurricane belt, but at least the population density is relatively low. If you can live at your retreat in northwest Florida year round, then my advice is to stay put. (Since you have well water, buy a hand pump from Lehmans.com (assuming that it is a shallow well), or better yet, buy a few photovoltaic (PV) panels and a DC well pump. The folks at Ready Made Resources give advice on sizing a designing a PV power system, free of charge.

If for family or business reasons you must continue live in South Florida, then I would recommend that you consider selling your retreat property in northwest Florida and instead buying a retreat in northern Georgia, South Carolina, or perhaps eastern Tennessee. If you can afford to, you might consider keeping your place in northwest Florida as a “refueling stopover” and as a lightly-stocked alternate retreat locale. It is wise to always have a Plan B and a Plan C!

Two Letters Re: The Novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”

Jim,
I recently received the updated version of “Patriots” a couple days ago. At first I was just going to read the new chapters, but after seeing that you gave it an overall update, I decided to just read the whole thing. So far I have been very impressed. (The two new chapters alone were worth the price of the book.) Not to mention the way everything else was updated. Way to go! You have done a very good job with this new edition, and I have already ordered a few more copies to have on hand as gifts.

I have also just received the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, and Rawles on Retreats and Relocation. Both look very good at first glance, and I’m looking forward to delving into them soon. BTW, I’m also looking forward to the release of the “Best of the Blog” book. – Gung Ho

 

Mr. Rawles:
I read your book in two breathtaking and exciting days, it was impossible to put down. It was as if you took my worst nightmares, and word for word put them into a novel. I had been talking politics with a friend, as is normal for me, when he asked me just what I thought was going to happen in the future of our country. My friend had heard of your book, and when he realized that the vision of my future and your book were one in the same, he told me to go out and pick it up. I couldn’t find it at any of my local book stores, so I ordered it on Amazon. Like I said, two days later… I’m sitting here in awe. Being from New Jersey, most people I talk with are totally clueless to the situation, and just refer to me as a “paranoid nut”, an “extremist” or an “idiot”. Especially if they ever catch wind of the cache I have in my trunk for a “rainy day” as you put it. I just want to say “Thank you!” for such an incredible job of being able to see into the future, and doing your best to help warn people of it in the best way you can. May G-D bless you, – BDB

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage." – Thomas Szasz

Notes From JWR:

It registered 10 below zero Fahrenheit (-23.3 Celsius) yesterday morning at the Rawles Ranch–chilly enough that I resorted to wearing long underwear. The cold winter weather doesn’t bother us much. The great hunting and fishing here in the valley make up for the inconveniences of living in a true “four season” climate.

The SurvivalBlog benefit auction ends tomorrow (midnight EST, on January 15th), so get your bid in soon! The high bid is now at $290. This auction is for a big batch of 16 survival/preparedness reference books, courtesy of the fine folks at Ready Made Resources. (They are one of our first and most loyal advertisers. Be sure to visit their site and check out their huge inventory of preparedness-related products. BTW, they have additional copies of each of the titles listed below, as well as more than a hundred other titles.)

Letter Re: Fiscal Fitness

Dear Jim,
I’m an avid SurvivalBlog reader and I want to thank you for your insights and the valuable information you provide on the Blog. I purchased the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course and have enjoyed reading and studying it. Lately, it occurred to me that, along with all of the necessary planning that accompanies retreat preparation, as well as the recently discussed benefits of physical fitness, proper fiscal fitness is also crucial in completing these vital preparations. Most of us have to work for an income in order to live in our modern society, at least while we prepare for more difficult times. At the same time, we have many “money intensive” demands on that same income – raising children, mortgages, utility bills, paying for educations, and a biggie for many, consumer debt with its attendant costs. These demands likely leave little available money for hobbies or for large scale disaster preparedness.
I have found a very reasonable set of principles that have helped me, together with my wife and our children, to get on the path to systematically walk out of debt. I’m referring to the financial principles set forth by Dave Ramsey. He has a national radio show that is also broadcast on XM. Perhaps best of all for newcomers, he archives the most recent two weeks of his radio show on his web site. Folks new to this program can listen in on the advice he has given to many callers and decide for themselves if they can understand and accept the principles he teaches. Those principles include spending less than you make and using your income as your greatest wealth-building tool. Obviously, most who call in to his radio show are already living beyond their means, so he discusses principles with them to get them walking out of debt. You may have several readers who have become financially hamstrung and could use a simple, straight-forward plan to help them back to financial solvency. The bottom line is that the path to financial peace involves taking responsibility for your past fiscal mistakes, taking a good honest look at what comes in and where it goes, and making a plan (the dreaded budget). Who of us would attempt to prepare a retreat that would shelter us and our loved ones from disaster without a plan? It’s no different with finances. Many of us are experiencing a SHTF scenario right now – the weekly money fight with the spouse! It’s well-documented that money fights and money problems are major marriage killers. Well, let me tell you, I had a good marriage before I started this plan. Our marriage is so much better now that my wife and I are working together and are in agreement on where the money goes. Yes, I even have “blow money” for my “Preparation hobby” even while we’re climbing out of debt – we just put it in the budget!
I won’t ramble on much longer. I just know what a difference this has made in my life. I’ve probably changed my family’s future by living these principles and teaching them to my children. I didn’t need to become Donald Trump. I just needed to get a fiscal plan in place so that later we would have the money available for Preparation, rather than sending it to a myriad of creditors. Dave Ramsey’s program has helped me in my preparations for the future. Dave’s not selling any funds, stocks, or mystery programs to beat the Market or buy real estate with no money down. He’s just packaged up time-honored principles that have helped us, and many friends, achieve financial peace as well as greater love and harmony in our marriage and family. In my estimation, when we speak and write about disaster preparedness, we’re really talking about peace and security through the hardest times. It’s pretty tough to do that without including financial peace in the discussion. – Rob in NC

JWR Replies: I agree that getting out of debt should be a priority. In the long term (decades), further inflation in the U.S. seems inevitable. The good news is that continuing inflation means paying off debts with progressively “cheaper” dollars, but the bad news is that our buying power is being eroded. This is particularly painful for fixed income pensioners. In the short term, however, there is the lingering risk of a deflationary depression–much like the Great Depression of the 1930s. If that happens, anyone with any significant debt will be fortunate not to end up homeless by the end of that deflationary cycle.

Once folks have extricated themselves from the debt hole, I recommend an investment portfolio that is heavy on precious metals–primarily bullion rather than numismatic. See the Swiss America web site for some “hard money” investing alternatives.

Letter Re: An Interesting Television Show on the Pandemic Threat

Most everyone loves a good medical mystery. You know, we watch these shows like “House” and “ER” to see what the medical emergency is and to watch the drama unfold as they solve the crisis of the moment. Shows like “CSI” teach us a lot about the medical community and police work together to solve crimes. You’re going to probably see in the television season to come that the subject in this link is going to be played out in various popular drama shows. Understanding the reality behind it to me is as interesting as the drama plays and I think you’ll enjoy getting the behind the scenes scoop on it.

I’ve been following this avian influenza virus for a while. Here is a link to a television show that was done by medical scientists (Director of the CDC, US Secretary of Health, leading medical scientists, etc.) to help explain what this is and why it’s being labeled as “the single most lethal thing our society could face in the year 2007.” Politicians and governments around the globe are quietly infusing millions of dollars into preparations and training in pandemic preparedness measures.

If you have the time, please watch it. It’s really interesting, on multiple levels, not as a hype that “the world is coming to an end” but rather to be involved in medical matters to educate yourself and be self aware of the situation that is going on with this particular issue. It’s aim is to educate them on the issue so that folks will understand what this situation is, exactly. I hope you enjoy learning about it. – April

Odds ‘n Sods:

From the New York Times: Rise in Ethanol Raises Concerns About Corn as a Food. The article begins: “Renewing concerns about whether there will be enough corn to support the demand for both fuel and food, a new study has found that ethanol plants could use as much as half of America’s corn crop next year.”

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Any readers that live in Montana should be aware of an “anti-hoarding/anti-price gouging” bill that is currently in hearings at the state senate. Call your state senators! (A tip of the hat to Phil at the Random Nuclear Strikes blog for publicizing this Nanny State do-gooder meddling.)

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SF in Hawaii sent us a link for “a place (not necessarily the least expensive) to buy Bosun whistles”.You might also check the prices at Boaters World. (One of our Affiliate advertisers.) OBTW, they also sell other emergency signaling equipment (including air horns and smoke/flare pyrotechnics) that might be useful ashore, for a survival retreat.