Defensive Spray Selection, by SwampFox

Important introductory Disclaimers, Provisos, and Warnings: The author has no affiliation with the companies selling the products mentioned in this article. No financial or other benefits have been derived, and no sponsorship is involved. The product testing mentioned in this article was not conducted scientifically, and was conducted only for the sake of curiosity. Testing chemical agents on yourself is not recommended, and is potentially hazardous to life and health. You should not attempt to replicate the test described in this article, and you should not use chemical agents on yourself, other people, or animals, except in self-defense and in accordance with federal, state, and local laws. Be advised that state and local laws vary widely, so be sure to check on them before you carry any sort of self-defense tool. Follow all manufacturer instructions related to any products you purchase or use. The author and publisher of this article assume no liability for your actions.

The first choice in less-lethal or nonlethal defense is typically OC – oleoresin capsicum, or pepper. It is especially marketed to women, who are often encouraged to keep a small canister in a pocket or a purse. Are they effective? Are some types better than others? How do you know? What is the difference between OC products and products labeled as “CS” or “CN” or products that contain a combination?

As a brief description, Pepper or OC products are naturally-derived from plants. They come in different forms – fog, liquid, foam, and gel. Most of these products are sold in a pressurized miniature aerosol can. Fog disperses the product more widely, but carries a high risk of wind blowing it back into the user’s face. Think of spray paint…you usually get some of that one you, right? Liquid sprays are similar to water from a squirt gun. Foam and gel also have that nature, except they are designed to be sticky or soapy in order to cling to the recipient’s face. Most liquid products have the greatest range, typically around 15 feet. Very large liquid canisters (not individually portable) can reach up to 30 to 40 feet, depending on weather conditions. Foam and gel are perhaps effective at 10 feet.Continue reading“Defensive Spray Selection, by SwampFox”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

We had a very productive week, here at the Rawles Ranch.  I got a lot of firewood cut and split, and with the help of our daughter, it is now safely stacked under cover.

I took a trip into town for a small engine repair, and to buy a replacement tube gate. I also continued my quest for stocking up on ammunition, while supplies are relatively plentiful.  I did manage to find some .410 shotshells, which continue to be scarce. The price of those shells was alarming, but we are living in the age of Bidenflation. It is better to buy things now than see our Dollars melt in the withering heat of inflation.  As I like to say: “Tangibles, tangibles, tangibles!”

I also recently discovered that we were low on paper towels. I had stocked so many rolls before the Plandemic that I had assumed that I still had large supply.  But a check down in Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) showed that I had just four bundles of rolls left. Yikes!  So I came home from my trip to the city with the back end of our SUV crammed full of paper towel roll bundles.

Now, on to Lily’s part of the report…Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.

Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.

And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.

And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” – Daniel 7:1-14 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 4, 2023

On August 4, 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Britain took control of Gibraltar on this day in 1704 after Spain surrendered, and “the Rock” subsequently became a British colony and a symbol of British naval strength.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 108 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $840,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 108 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

 

The Time It Takes, by SwampFox

I work as a truck driver. That means I spend a lot of long, boring hours driving from state to state. I have a regular route, covering the same roads each day. On good days, not much happens that is new or exciting, and to pay attention to my job I need a bit of entertainment in the background. So I listen to a lot of audiobooks. A handful of these have been survivalist fiction or preparedness-oriented. I have discovered that many authors and readers may possess some unrealistic ideas about what a prepared life looks like, or what life might be like in a world without rule-of-law or without basic services.

In many of these fictional writings, the protagonists are described as everyday suburban people: City job, decent house, a couple of kids, and the American Dream. When the crisis comes, they go home and figure things out. Maybe they have some food on hand and a couple of firearms, and with a few trips to the local hardware store they manage to scrape by. The neighborhood comes together and plants subsistence gardens and develops a mutual defense plan. But real life is just not like that!  It takes logistics, planning, budgeting, organizing…Continue reading“The Time It Takes, by SwampFox”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the continuing automotive microchip shortage. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

Silver continues to be the biggest beneficiary as US focus on green energy transition – Bank of America.

o  o  o

Mike Gleason, at Gold-Eagle.com: Fed Expects No Recession as Inflation Negates Actual Economic Growth.

Economy & Finance:

New York, California lost more tax income than every other state as people fled liberal enclaves.

o  o  o

Bank failure: Kansas Heartland Tri-State Bank closed by FDIC. JWR’s Comment: The takeover of this bank, with $139 million in total assets hardly registered a blip on the news radar for the mainstream media outlets.

o  o  o

A FoxBusiness piece linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Ford set to lose $4.5 billion on electric vehicles this year, despite increased revenue.

o  o  o

Some projections from Visual Capitalist: The Fastest Growing and Declining Industries in the U.S. (2021-2031P). JWR’s Comment:  If there is a regional war or a World War that disrupts trade, these projections would of course be “overcome by events” (OBE).

o  o  o

Mega Millions Jackpot Hits $1 Billion—Here’s How Much The Winner Would Take Home After Taxes.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Book Review: The Area Intelligence Handbook

There are just a few times in the past decade that I’ve opened a book and felt an immediate connection with its author. That is what happened when I began reading The Area Intelligence Handbook, by Mike Shelby.

I suppose that a better title for the book would be: The Area Intelligence Handbook For Survivalists, because that is how the book is geared. This 249-page trade paperback is not just a generic manual on Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) for folks in the Military Intelligence (MI) arena. Rather, it is truly tailored for preparedness-minded private citizens, in anticipation of a severe situation such as an economic collapse, societal collapse, martial law, civil war, or even an invasion. In Shelby’s estimation, America is already in a Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC). The Area Intelligence Handbook postulates a continuing escalation of that conflict.  Most importantly, the book describes how you can conduct a detailed Area Intelligence study of your own region, to prepare for a wide range of possible threats and outcomes.Continue reading“Book Review: The Area Intelligence Handbook”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, word of a new Covid virus variant.

Scientists Discover The ‘Most Mutated Covid Variant Ever’

Business Today of India reports: Scientists discover the ‘most mutated Covid variant ever’ lurking in a patient in Indonesia —featuring 113 mutations, more than double the number found in Omicron. Here is an excerpt:

“This variant is said to have 113 distinct mutations, compared to the lethal Omicron variant, which had roughly 50.

This highly mutated variant has sparked concerns among the scientific community due to its potential impact on immunity and vaccine efficacy. The spike protein, which is responsible for helping the virus attach to and enter human cells, is the target of many Covid-19 vaccines.”

Global Livestock Distribution, Density

H.L. sent this, from Visual Capitalist: Mapped: Global Livestock Distribution and Density.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 2, 2023

On August 2nd, 1876, Wild Bill Hickok—a frontiersman, marksman, gambler, and legend of the American West—was murdered in the city of Deadwood, in what is now South Dakota.

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August 2nd was the birthday of Peter O’Toole (1932–2013). When his name is mentioned, Lawrence of Arabia immediately comes to mind.

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I just learned that Harvest Guard — one of our advertisers and a sponsor of our writing contest — has reduced their prices as much as 30% on many of their most popular products. As always, shipping in the United States is free. For large, group bulk orders, please contact info@canninglids.com for additional discounts or other questions. Coupons are not needed and cannot be used with the current prices.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 108 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $840,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 108 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

PV Power Challenges and Solutions, by Tractorguy

This article should be subtitled:

“And, the importance of regular visits to your Bug-Out Location (BOL).”

Back in August of 2020, I wrote about the solar photovoltaic (PV) power system at my Bug-Out Location (BOL). I believe it was General Electric that used to put on all their professional product literature, “Our policy is one of constant improvement.” That’s great advice for all of us! In the last three years, I have made some refinements and corrected some significant shortcomings in it.

My BOL is deep in the woods, a quarter-mile off the road, and is surrounded by trees. That’s great for OPSEC and natural air conditioning, but it is very challenging for harvesting solar power. Fortunately, there is a cleared corral area about fifty feet North of the house where my solar panels are located. As I detailed back in 2020, I have the main bank of solar panels facing South, with an additional panel facing East and West to catch the first sunlight in the morning, and the last sunlight in the evening. Relying on solar power off-grid requires that you maximize not only your peak output, but also your hours of “harvesting”, as any significant loads you are going to power overnight, such as refrigeration, will be totally dependent on the energy stored in your battery bank, unless you have a power source other than solar, such as a windmill or water turbine to supplant the solar.Continue reading“PV Power Challenges and Solutions, by Tractorguy”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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America’s polarized political tribes are moving away from each other. Just look at a bluer Colorado and a redder Idaho.

o  o  o

Ontario Knife Company has been sold. It has been reported that 56 employees will be losing their jobs. It is not clear what the new owner, Blue Ridge Knives of Virginia, plans to do with the product line. It has not yet been announced where or when production might resume.

o  o  o

Family Who Died Trying to Live ‘Off the Grid’ Told Loved Ones About Their Plan: ‘We Tried to Stop Them’. JWR’s Comments: True survivalism is far-removed from starry-eyed, unrealistic romanticism and LARPing. Practical self-sufficiency takes real skills, hands-on experience, proper tools, and a very deep larder.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I write about things that are important for us as Americans. I’m concerned about al-Qaeda sneaking across the border with the illegal immigrants that are using the coyotes to get across the border. And that’s not a Democrat or Republican issue, that’s a national security issue.” – Brad Thor