Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." – Patrick Henry, 1778, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention Reference: The Debates of the Several States, Elliot, vol. 3 (45)



Note From JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 5 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. Second prize is a copy of my “big box” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. If you want a chance to win, start writing and e-mail us your article soon. Round 5 ends on July 31st.
Tomorrow will be the last day to order my preparedness course at the special introductory price. If you wait until the 5th, the price will jump to nearly $150. Order soon!



Survival Dollars, by Wolverine

Over the years I have spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out various ways to earn extra money to purchase the needed survival items I wanted without causing a fight with my spouse. I feel fortunate to have found several that work well for me, and may work for you as well.
Ground rules for myself were that working a part time job was out. I hated working my normal 40 hour week and being committed to having to be at a certain spot at a certain time five or six days a week. Over the years I have worked part time jobs to pay off bills that got away and it always take longer to save that money than planned and family life suffers. Any extra income I earn is done on my own terms with me setting the limits. I like to control my own life.
Before I begin I must add one thought: If you need to own a vehicle, then that vehicle needs to be a pickup truck. It will allow you to earn extra dollars several ways and make life easier. It should be the number one choice vehicle of survivalist.
As I write this I have just completed two days of doing one of the easiest ways to make extra money I know. A friend and I cleaned out a closing business of scrap metal and in four trips so far we have grossed just under $300. By the time we finish the place my guess is that we will net over $400.
Most medium and large towns have a scrap dealer that will pay for old metal items. I will not take a lot of time to explain to you the need to sort metal from ferrous and non-ferrous and all the fine points that being a scraper entails. If you are not familiar with scraping metal talk to someone that is and they can help you. The thing that I want you to know is this; metal sold equals cash. In all the years I have sold scrap I have never been handed a check, only [greenback] dollars. That extra few hundred dollars that you can get for scrap can mean the difference between buying an old Turkish Mauser or a nicer semi-auto.
I am not a hard-core survivalist waiting for TEOTWAWKI. In my life I have needed to survive snowstorms and power outages a lot of times. I find those little two to five day ordeals a good test of my preparedness. I am willing to think a little more optimistic about the future than more survivalist. I am willing to invest money to make money.
One investment I made was to buy some vending machines. I sell gum and candy out of several locations and can net an extra $30-50 every few months. My investment in machines was around $300 and costs run around a hundred a year. The machines have already paid for themselves and I do end up with net profit every year. Again, the machines pay me in cash not checks. Purchasing silver and gold coins is nice when some of the money to buy them comes from a coin shop.
At one time my partner and I sold trading cards out of vending machines and made a couple hundred dollars a month. It tied up two Saturday mornings a month and was not like work. We made good friends while we ran that business and were able to make some contacts that helped us buy other preparedness items at cost. Vending machines might not work for you, but start to think of other things that might work for you. We tried setting up at flea markets, but didn’t feel it was worth it for the time involved. I do however know other survivalist that set up and make a good extra income.
One fellow I know shared several ideas with me. One that I found interesting and might try is the following. During the winter trapping season he and his wife pick up every road kill raccoon and fox they find. (They buy a trappers license to make sure they don’t get in trouble with the DNR.) Last year their fur check was over $700. There is a company that will pay you for squirrel tails too. It is possible to make money off of road kill animals. Again, it is not for everyone, but it does help some folks get extra income.
Survival is many things to many people. I am lucky that I have my place in the woods and a few other things that will make my life easier if trouble happens. I can go for a week without power or I can convert some quick cash by selling some copper scrap I have saved for the right time. None of these things came easily, they came because I took chances and I worked at securing a few extra survival dollars.
Maybe you have other ideas for extra income that you didn’t read here or something here is a modified version of what you do. Let Jim know and maybe he will share those ideas with the rest of us and we can all increase our survival dollars. – RSG



Odds ‘n Sods:

Some worrisome commentary about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the debt bubble at one of the Yahoo message boards.

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New York Mayor Bloomberg unveils a city hurricane preparedness plan.

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SurvivalBlog reader SF in Hawaii mentioned that a self-winding watch is a nice idea, but “they are not viable long term due to the complexity of the internal workings (read: easy to break) and daily winding requirements. A solar powered watch (see Eco-drive) solves both of these problems.” My only point of disagreement is fragility. My 1978 Caravelle (Bulova) hairspring watch is still going strong after just two cleanings. But perhaps SF has a point: If I can buy a nice analog Eco-drive or perhaps even four or five semi-waterproof solar digital watches for the price of my self-winding watch, then perhaps it would be a better use of my money. BTW, both hairspring watches and solar-powered watches can be found at the most competitive prices on eBay



Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Congress has no power to appropriate money as an act of charity. As individuals, Americans have the right to give away as much money as they please, but Congress has no right to take our money from us and give it away, however worthy the recipient.” – Tennessee Congressman David "Davy" Crockett, from The Life of Colonel David Crockett, by Edward Sylvester Ellis (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884)



Note From JWR:

Congratulations to T.H. of Louisiana, the high bidder in the recent SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a fully stocked M-17 Advanced Medical Bag/Rucksack. Many thanks for your generous $275 bid. And our special thanks to the fine folks at Ready Made Resources who kindly donated the kit.

Meanwhile, we have launched another benefit auction, courtesy of the fine folks at the RWVA and Fred’s M14 Stocks.This one is for a “Super Shooter’s Package” including two shooting jackets and two admissions to a RWVA match. Please submit your bids via e-mail. This auction ends on the last day of July.



The Danger of the Armchair Commando Mindset

I’ve stated much of the following before, but it bears repeating: Don’t make the mistake of slipping into the “Armchair Commando” mindset. It is what my friend Keith in North Idaho calls the”Tommy Tactical” mindset. You know the type: your overweight friend with the big gun collection, but hardly any stored food. He is the same guy that will spend hours debating the finer points of exterior ballistics or starlight scopes, but that hasn’t even taken the time to zero all of his guns. He is too busy collecting guns, talking Schumer, and reading Soldier of Fantasy magazine. Armchair Commandos become obsessed with guns, ammo, and accoutrements at the expense of other equally important preparations. Granted, the gun battery is the preparation that insures the security of all of your other preps. But unless you have a well-balanced and properly executed logistics plan then you could end up over-armed and under-fed. In my estimation that is prescription for post-TEOTWAWKI predatory behavior.

You owe it to yourself and your family to be be properly prepared. Think: balance. When the Schumer hits the fan, you’ll need to be well prepared across the board so that you can be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. That means having lots of storage food on hand, so that you can both feed your own family and dispense copious Christian charity. It also means doing the boring or mundane things: Taking the Red Cross First Aid and CPR classes. Visiting your grandma to learn how to do water bath canning. Putting in a big garden every summer. Joining the local ham radio club and learning Morse code. Learning how to shear a sheep. Learning how to butcher a deer. Getting in good physical condition. Learning how to cook with you storage food. And on and on…

Become a real prepper isn’t about talking. It is about learning, sharing and doing.



Letter Re: Advice on Selecting a Battle Rifle

Jim,
I have been stocking up on surplus 308 as it seems it is drying up. After all with nearly every nation switching to 5.56mm, it makes sense that it would dry up sooner or later. AIM Surplus has South African 308 in battle packs, but the price continues to climb every time I check their web site. I too, have looked and continue to debate over choice of MBR. Boston’s Gun Bible has been insightful but as FALs evolve it makes this choice harder. We had initially settled on M1As, but I too have been looking at the FAL and HK91s. KaiserWorks is now making a alum FAL lower that uses AR rear sight set-up with really looks good, and there are coming out with a AR trigger compatible lower. I have mixed thoughts on this, as the FAL trigger spring is nice and heavy, esp for hard primers, but the AR set up has much nicer ergonomics.
The HK91 is rugged, and has the benefit of being very easy to convert to full auto by merely altering the trigger box, once you obtain ATF approval of course. Now full auto is most cases is a waste of ammo, but there are certain times that it may useful. Covering fire, mass targets in the open, and the illusion of superior firepower in breaking contact (SEALs use this to great effect,) Its always nice to have it (if properly trained) and not use it that need it and not have it.
Beta Company is working on [.308 variants of their] 100 round C-MAG for the M14, FAL, and HK. This would be ideal for a fixed position, without having a belt fed, for mass attack or armored vehicles.
Our main objective is trying to get the weight down on these MBRs. Going to 18″ barrels and light-weight options seems to be the trick here in Missouri as we rarely have open 1000 meter areas. My M1A is a “Bush” style with 18″ barrel, Vortex flash hider, and a new Vltor Modstock. I personally like the shorter stock length, and this package is barely longer than a Mini-14.
I also saw a nice AWC bullpup M14, nice but on the heavy side.
Having several short stature persons and younger ones, we also have AR-15s. Have you given any thought to upgrading to the piston driven uppers that are now out there for these?
I have been debating here on these type of upgrades, versus going to bullpups, with Steyr hinting at building US-made AUGs. The Steyr qualities seems to beat out the FN P2000 bullpup. The bullpups ability to use a 20″ barrel but still have a small profile that is easily shouldered without messing with a folding stock etc is very appealing. I even experimented with the KVAR bullpup conversion on a 223 AK. It makes a handy truck, tractor, and four wheeler gun slung across your back, when out on the back 40. Your words of wisdom would be appreciated. I know that guns are just a small part of the over all survival picture, but compared to rotating foods, its a lot more fun to “rotate” ammo in training. Thank you, – MD in MO

JWR Replies: My advice to all Survival Blog readers is to always have an effective means of self- defense close at hand. For someone on a tight budget, at least buy yourself a reliable military surplus bolt action and plenty of ammunition. Mausers, Enfields, and Mosin Nagants are all good “budget” rifle choices. Then, with time, as your budget increases, upgrade your battery to include a reliable semi-auto 7.62 mm NATO rifle for each adult in your family. The low end choice in this category would be a CETME clone. The medium price choices would be FN/FAL or L1A1 “parts kit” clones built on Imbel receivers, HK91 clones (such as a PTR-91), or low-end M1As from makers like Norinco. Eventually, with disciplined savings you should be able to afford more expensive MBRs from “name” makers such as original Belgian FALs, original H&K-made HK91s, or M1As from Springfield Armory or Fulton Armory. If at all possible, retain your earlier rifle purchases. These are great guns to keep on hand as guns for barter and charity. Also, depending on your state and local concealed carry restrictions, an inexpensive bolt action rifle is perfect for use as a “trunk gun”–a gun that you keep handy in the trunk of your car at all times. If your car gets broken into, or the car itself gets stolen, you will surely regret losing your old beater $150 Mauser, but it would be a severe financial blow and the cause of more substantial mental anguish to lose a $2,500 top-of-the-line ACOG-scoped MBR.

Most importantly: upgrading to creme-de-la-creme rifles is something that should only be done after you have your key logistics squared away. (By this I mean after your family has a water filtration system, an honest one year food supply, communications gear, non-hybrid seeds and gardening supplies, traps and snares, and plenty of first aid gear.) Far too many survivalists slip into the “Armchair Commando” mindset. (Not that I’m implying anything like that about MD in MO, but please see my recent article on this topic.)



Odds ‘n Sods:

Marty Weiss comments on the “upright spike” of global population, presaging its implications on the markets and currencies. Based on what Mr. Weiss has to say, it appears that economic trouble is on the way, sooner or later. Best to stock up. If you aren’t certain exactly what you’ll need to get your family prepared, then get a copy of my “big box” preparedness course.

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Freeze Dry Guy reports brisk sales of their scarce U.S. Army Long Range Patrol (LRP) rations. They are now sold out of LRP Beef Stew, but we still have LRP Beef Teriyaki, Western Omlet, and Chicken & Rice available. Everyone should get their orders in ASAP, as these are going fast. I’ve heard that they now All are fresh 2004 production. They have a very long shelf life. For more info, see www.freezedryguy.com (They are indeed available to order, even though the web site still says “Out of Stock”.) You can also call: (530) 265-8333. Don’t miss out! Their last batch or LRPs sold out almost immediately.

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The “Oracle of Omaha” will probably never be nominated for sainthood.



Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I sincerely believe . . . that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” – Thomas Jefferson



Note From JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 5 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. Second prize is a copy of my “big box” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. If you want a chance to win, start writing and e-mail us your article soon. Round 5 ends on July 31st.



The Great Disconnect, by “IRVM”

The recent SurvivalBlog letters regarding wolves illustrate something that has interested me for a while. This is a phenomenon that might be called “The Great Disconnect”.
“The Great Disconnect” is defined as the increasing number of people who lack the ability to distinguish between reality and their own beliefs. These are people who reject out of hand anything that conflicts with their internal world-view, no matter how out of touch with reality that view may actually be.
I have no idea what percentage of the population falls into the ‘disconnected’ category, but judging from what I see on the Internet, perhaps 25% to 50% of the people posting there suffer from it to one degree or another. I hope the percentage in the real world is less, but there are plenty of examples that prove otherwise. Watch the TV news sometime.
This condition is characterized by blindness and deafness to anything that may contradict the person’s belief. In other words, they react the same way as the six-year-old who covers his ears and shouts “I can’t HEAR you!” Facts don’t matter. No amount of evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, registers. No logical counter-arguments are ever offered. The best they can do is to threaten an appeal to Authority (“I’ll tell Mommy!”) when unable to present a rational response.
This, however, isn’t just immaturity. A child may be unaware of the consequences of her actions (touch that hot stove, and you’ll get burned!), but once made aware, she’ll usually admit that there are consequences. (She’ll probably go around warning others.)
Our disconnected folk, however, are different. They will never admit to anything that goes counter to their beliefs, no matter how compelling the evidence. Their beliefs are more real than facts to them. They’ll keep on touching the hot stove and keep complaining about being burned. Then they will try to blame someone else for their injuries. (e.g. fast food and fat a**es)
I don’t know what causes this condition. I do know it is far too common. Perhaps it is related to education. After all, many of the best examples of that kind of irrationality are found in Congress, and those people are generally thoroughly-educated. (I originally wrote ‘well-educated’, but now I think ‘well’ implies quality which may not be in evidence.)
Another possibility is that people no longer experience much interaction with the physical world (where, for example, if you hit your foot with an axe, it hurts.) Years ago, people knew this. Many found out the hard way. The beneficial side of this was that very few people went around claiming that axes couldn’t hurt. Even fewer went around trying to ban axes because they *might* hurt you. And, anyone suing the axe manufacturer would have been laughed out of court. If a person insisted in believing that axes were going to jump up and whack you, all by themselves, well – there were safe, well-padded accommodations for those sorts of folks.
One outcome of this ‘Great Disconnect’ is that, to these people, thoughts become more important than actions. Hence the entire ‘Political Correctness’ madness.
Examples:
– Where, when an entire family is murdered, these people just shrug their shoulders. But, they’re ‘deeply disturbed’ if the confessed murderer doesn’t express ‘regret’. And, they are outraged when other, more rational people aren’t willing to give the murderer another chance once he assures us he’s ‘very sorry’.
– Where buying a homeless person a meal is dismissed as ‘insignificant’ in comparison to spending the weekend at a luxury resort conference entitled ‘Envisioning an End to World Hunger’. It’s the thought that counts, after all.
– Where calling someone an “Indian” (a white-man’s word) is somehow worse than calling him a “Native American” (two white-man’s words.)
– Where well-known and provable facts become too ‘politically incorrect’ to cite.
How does all this apply to a survival forum? People who are unable to deal with reality on reality’s terms are going to have a very hard time surviving whatever comes along. And, something is sure to come along, sooner or later.
While every civilization in the history of the world has experienced hard times, many have not survived them. If you think nothing is ever going to happen, the odds are against you. Just ask the dinosaurs. Whether you believe it will happen or not won’t change the odds in any way. If it could, you’d be in Las Vegas getting rich.
A lot of effort is spent discussing guns, knives, and BOBs. This is good, as long as you don’t believe that what you own is likely to matter much when the fecal matter flies. Survival isn’t going to hinge on who owns the ‘best’ gun or knife or MRE. What will be important is knowing how to use whatever you’ve got, and being able to improvise what you don’t. That’s reality.
You may believe you can live off the land when TSHTF. The reality (at least in the US) is that you’d be lucky to stay unperforated long enough to starve to death. Hungry city people, with guns, will shoot at anything that moves – you included. Actual hunters and trappers will be smart enough to stay out of the woods. At least until the city people kill each other off.
You may imagine yourself prepared to “Bug In” in the city. The reality is there will be several orders of magnitude more people trying to take your stuff than there would be in the country. Again, the odds are heavily against you. Believing otherwise won’t change anything.
Believing the police will help – well, surely you don’t believe that, do you?
In other words, being disconnected from reality is not a survival trait. It’s too bad that so many people are.
– IRVM



Letter Re: Shocking Facts About Wolves, by Steven UP

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I would like to point out an error in Bonehead’s letter posted on SurvivalBlog on 6/30/06. He states that one ton of red meat is equivalent to two elk, which is false. Let us assume that the average bull elk weighs 1000 pounds (an optimistic assumption, but let’s run with Bonehead’s numbers), the average cow weighs 600 pounds, and the average calf weighs 300 pounds. Roughly 40.1 percent of an elk consists of edible muscle so that the average bull would provide 401 pounds of meat, the average cow 241, and the average calf 120. Thus one ton of red meat would be the equivalent of 5 bulls, 8 cows, or 17 calves per year. Using more realistic figures for average bulls and cows (700 and 500 pounds respectively), one ton of red meat is equivalent to 7 bulls or 10 cows. Thus, a population of 200 wolves could eat the equivalent of 1000-1400 bulls, or 1600-2000 cows, or 3400 calves. In terms of mule deer this would be equivalent to 5600 average mule deer bucks, or 6600 average mule deer does, or 12000 average mule deer fawns. Not being a Montanan I do not know what Montana’s wildlife populations are like, and whether or not this amount of killing would significantly dent the elk
or mule deer populations, but it certainly strikes me as being quite high. In those states with smaller elk and deer populations I am sure the effects would be far more noticeable.
Sources: Average game weights (North Dakota, first Google link that popped up) and Average lean tissue (North Dakota, bottom of page) Regards, – P-M



Odds ‘n Sods:

The EIA projects energy consumption will increase by 71% by 2030. SurvivalBlog reader John Adams asks: “Think there will be enough to go around?”

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Wiggy’s (one of our first and most loyal advertisers) has put their famous Pack Boots on sale at 25% off, for as long as they last. They currently have sizes 7 to 15 in stock. They also have their new summer weight sleeping bags on sale for just $100, with a compression stuff sack. These bags weigh just two pounds and stuff to just a 6″ by 7″ space. They are the perfect weight bag for folks in southern or tropical climates or for live-aboard yachties. Since they are rectangular, they also make great overbag to “up” the insulation factor of your existing primary sleeping bag. Our kids love this type of bag for “indoor camping” –such as for trips to visit their grandparents. I recommend that you take advantage of this sale price and get one for each member of your family. OBTW, please mention SurvivalBlog when you order.

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David in Israel Recommends: “Begin cycling now. Regular use of your bicycle will lead to both equipment customization and good fitness, not to mention money saved on fuel for new gear.”



Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"He who would do some great things in this short life must apply himself to work with such a concentration of force as, to idle spectators who live only to amuse themselves, looks like insanity." – Francis Parkman, author of "The Oregon Trail"