Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and is its concern for freedom from the state." – Ludwig Von Mises

Note From JWR:

Today we remember the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It is estimated that 2,403 Americans were killed, and 1.178 injured. It wasn’t the first time that as a nation we were blind-sided. The events of 9-11-2001 proved that it could happen again, and sadly similar attacks are likely to occur. We are thankful for the sacrifices of our soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

Letter Re: Communications for Disasters–Are Scanners Useful?

Jim,
A very good shortwave portable is the Sony ICF-2010. It is an older portable from the 1980s but is a very strong performer with its synchronous detector. It is often found on the used market and eBay. One fact that many sellers don’t know is that you need to have fresh AA batteries in them for memory retention or the unit will not even function. Many sellers believe that their radios are broken when in fact only need fresh batteries. The unit can be run of D cell batteries or via an AC adapter. Another thing that “goes wrong” with them is the FET transistor blows when connected directly to an external antenna. This transistor can be easily repaired and diodes can be placed in line to help protect the radio from this happening again. If you know how to fix some of the common issues with this radio, you can often obtain a bargain that will perform nearly as well as a tabletop unit with a long wire antenna!
Another good performing SW radio is the Yaesu FRG-7. This radio has an almost cult following. It is a table top unit that was originally produced in the late 1970s. It has a preselector that allows for signal peaking. Useful to help bring in the weak ones and attenuate the strong ones. The radio can be run off AC or via D cells.
Other radios to have available:
CB – Every trucker has one installed, high usage near freeways, good way to hear what’s happening down the road from you (get a good antenna for the best range)
2 Meter ham – Nearly every ham has one, listen to the national simplex frequency 146.520 MHz if electricity is not available and repeaters are down (again, get a good antenna for best range)
FRS/GMRS – Many families have them and know how to use them, be sure to match the CTCSS (privacy tones) to communicate
All the above are very inexpensive to own. Having multiple radios gives you more options because no one will know what its gonna be like! Regards, – Echo Echo

Letter Re: Feeding Problem With an AR-15 Chambered in 7.62×39

Hi Jim,
In reference to magazines for the Colt [AR-15 chambered in] 7.62×39 [,the AK-47’s cartridge.] Have you had any experience or feedback with the ones that have the AK type mag. welded to the top of an AR type mag.? I think they call them Frankenmags? Thank you, – Tom

JWR Replies: Because of the sharp angular transition between the curved Kalashnikov magazine and the straight AR-15 magazine well, they don’t work very well at all. You can expect lots of “failure to feed” jams. The sadly inescapable problem is that the 7.62×39 Russian cartridge uses a steeply tapered case, designed specifically to feed in a curved magazine. AR-15s should have never been adapted to fire this cartridge. It was a very bad idea! If you load more than about 10 of these cartridges into a straight magazine, they tend to get jammed, even to the point of “tipping over” in the magazine!

I recommend that you sell that 7.62×39 upper receiver group (or perhaps the whole rifle) and buy an AK or SKS. (Or better yet, a Valmet M62 if you can afford one.) For the now “surplus” AR-15 lower, (assuming that you want to keep it) either get a 5.56mm NATO upper receiver group, of if you want more “punch” then get a 6.8mm upper. (See the recent discussion about these in SurvivalBlog, posted on November 4th.)

 

Odds ‘n Sods:

Readers David D. and Bret F. both recommended a speech transcript at the Energy Bulletin site: Closing the ‘Collapse Gap’: the USSR was better prepared for peak oil than the US.

   o o o

Michael Z. Williamson sent this link, with this comment: “Further evidence that the “inevitable” Atlantic [La Palma] megatsunami is merely hype.

   o o o

Rourke (moderator of the Jericho Discussion Group) noticed that SurvivalBlog was linked in the entry on “Survivalism” at conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s “Glennpedia.”

 

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“For extraordinary heroism, distinguished service, and devotion above and beyond the call of duty. During the first attack by Japanese airplanes on the Naval Air Station, Kanoehe Bay, on 7 December 1941, Lieutenant Finn promptly secured and manned a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the parking ramp, which was under heavy enemy machine-gun strafing fire. Although painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this gun and to return the enemy’s fire vigorously and with telling effect throughout the enemy strafing and bombing attacks and with complete disregard for his own personal safety. It was only by specific orders that he was persuaded to leave his post to seek medical attention. Following first-aid treatment, although obviously suffering much pain and moving with great difficulty, he returned to the squadron area and actively supervised the rearming of returning planes. His extraordinary heroism and conduct in this action were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.” – From the Medal of Honor citation of John William Finn, the only Medal of Honor recipient from the attack on Pearl Harbor that is still living. At last report, Finn was also the oldest living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Note From JWR:

Please take the time to visit the web sites of each of our paid advertisers. They have some great products at very competitive prices. If and when you do buy, please give your patronage to our paid advertisers first! If they don’t have what you are looking for, then move on to the web sites for our affiliate advertisers.

Letter Re: Link to Western US Climate Summaries

Western U.S. Climate Historical Summaries is another great link for those researching retreat locations in the western states. Includes 30 years’ averages for monthly max/min temperatures, precipitation and snowfall for a stunning number of locations (258 in Oregon alone). Great data on frost-free growing days. Also shows record temps, snow and rainfall — you see how the locals got those weather stories. Take care, LM.

Letter Re: Communications for Disasters–Are Scanners Useful?

Hi Jim.
I concur with your answer to the post regarding communications and scanner monitoring for disasters. I chose to and recommend implementing both multi-mode and redundant communications. Being that it may be virtually impossible to replace never mind repair most receivers and transceivers it is imperative to have at least two multi-band radios. Some good general coverage models that are still available are the venerable Radio Shack DX 300, DX 302 the DX 400 and the DX 440. The DX 400 and DX 440 are Sangean-made [chassis] in Radio Shack cases. All three radios are quite sensitive, wide band (the 302 tunes from .001 to 30 mhz and the 400/440s tune 150 KHz to 29.999 MHz), have AM–USB–LSB modes and the 400/440 has FM. There is a long list of Avanti, Kenwood, Yaesu, Drake, Icom and other manufacturers but the Radio Shack, Bearcat, Uniden and assorted host of off brands made by Uniden and Bearcat
are lower cost and easily found in pawn shops, big indoor flea markets and at yard sales. Ham radio fests will yield many receive only radios and in the big name offerings but they are quite pricey. There is one caveat though. The Sangean radios have a very sensitive field effect transistor (FET) connected to the external antenna circuit. A brisk static discharge could conceivably damage the FET. This is true to other models although varied across the manufacture spectrum. During built in antenna operation grounding out ones body is important. For fixed radio installations a grounded antenna switch, lightning discharge device (Blizt Bug) and disconnecting the antenna altogether are recommended.
For security work it is wise to have not only redundant transceivers and the associated accessories but, if ones budget makes it possible, multi band radios as well. For the sake of COMSEC, having a wide band of frequencies to select from decreases the odds of eavesdropping on the vital communications between the LP/OP(s) and the CQ desk. Dual band hand held transceivers such as the Yaesu FT50, and FT727A, are not only dual band (144-148, 440-450) radios but are highly programmable, and can have the frequencies “opened up” and have hi/low power outputs. The FT50 is small, both are rugged and have lots of accessories. Quite a few ham radio operator select models such as the Kenwood 221 and 231 2 Meter mobile that can have the band opened. Off band [transmission] has it’s advantages especially at low power so there is a lesson here. Most 2 Meter mobiles have up to 50 watts of output power so they can transmit a good distance, if COMSEC is not an issue. [This is quite effective when this available power is] combined with a with the proper beam [directional] antenna.
The aforementioned radios are to name a few. There are many models and makes to chose from. The newer versions are expensive and not as available at reasonable prices as their older counterparts. For those who can, touring pawn shops can result in some lucrative finds although pairs of like radios are the best choice.
As a note Rob at MURS Radios has been the model of helpfulness. He has answered all my e-mail queries regarding his radio offerings and will get my business. He even has the software available that will allow the operator to reprogram the radios at will which is important for comm security. – Joe from Tennessee

JWR Replies: I agree that it is wise to purchase redundant commo gear. There is a certain logic on buying three, four or even five older, used Radio Shack receivers for around $900 rather than the same amount on purchasing just one shiny new Drake R8B. OBTW, be sure to keep those spares in ammo cans, just in case of EMP.

By coincidence, my first general coverage receiver was a Radio Shack DX-302. It was a sturdy, very reliable receiver and it had the advantage of a 12 volt DC power input jack in the back. In retrospect, I should have never sold it.

Regarding “off band” (or out of band” or “freeband”) transmission: Such transmissions are not legal in the United States except under emergency conditions. Do the requisite research before considering “keying up” out of band!

I heard from Rob at MURS Radios that he temporarily ran out of stock but that he just restocked and is ready to ship. He usually get orders out within one to two business days but please order early if you want your radios in time for Christmas.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Writing in yesterday’s Daily Reckoning, editor Bill Bonner observed: “People who lend in dollars get repaid in dollars. An obvious consequence of a falling dollar is that lenders have to expect to get less back than they originally invested. In the last few weeks, the dollar has lost about 5% against the euro. Yet, the 91-day T-bill lending rate is only about 4.90%. Go figure. Lenders expected only 4.9% on their money – for a full year. And in a few weeks, they’ve lost more than that, in international terms. What’s more, they still have to pay taxes on the nominal gains…and still have to suffer the effects of domestic dollar inflation.”

   o o o

In an e-mail, Ron mentioned that Time magazine reported the Marines in Iraq are using silly string to detect trip wires on IEDs.

   o o o

The previously mentioned special promotion at Northern Tool & Equipment (one of our affiliate advertisers) has been extended to December 11th. Northern is offering sitewide Free Gift Cards with purchases over $100. You will need to enter keycode 94660 in order to receive their free gift card.

Note From JWR:

We had elk and tomato sauce with our spaghetti dinner last night. Yum! We all love the taste of “elkison” here at the Rawles Ranch. There is no shortage of elk in this region. Speaking of which, the elk have recently come down out of The Unnamed Range of Mountains (TUROM) to winter in our valley. In hard winters–as it appears this one will be–we dispense a bit of charity in the form of salt blocks, C-O-B sweet feed mix, and hay to the local deer and elk. We also sometimes see wild turkeys, bear, and moose here at the ranch. Even more rarely we see bighorn sheep and mountain goats on the cliffs that loom up on the other side of The Unnamed River (TUR), at the back end of our property. Between the fishing and the wild game, we will certainly never starve here.

Letter Re: Safe to Shoot 7.62mm NATO Ball in a .308 Winchester Civilian Sporting Rifle?

Hey Jim,
My father recently gave me a Winchester Model 88 [civilian lever action sporting rifle] chambered in .308 [Winchester]. I’ve acquired a few rounds of 7.62×51 ball from a separate source. Can I use that ammo in the rifle? I’ve Googled to no avail. Can you help? Thanks, – d’Heat

JWR Replies: The short answer to your question is: Yes. From a precise technical standpoint, they are not identical cartridges. Military 7.62mm NATO is almost dimensionally identical, but actually a hair longer than the SAAMI dimensional specs for .308 Winchester. Military 150 grain full metal jacket (“ball”) loads have lower chamber pressure than commercial 150 grain .308 Winchester hunting loads, and military brass is thicker than civilian brass. So what you mentioned doing is certainly safe.

All US military ball and nearly all of the European 7.62 NATO is non-corrosively primed, but keep in mind that tracer and incendiary loads leave a corrosive residue. (Clean your bore, chamber and bolt face three days in a row after firing anything suspected of being corrosive.)

You may be wondering: “What about the other way around”? I generally do not recommend shooting .308 Winchester commercial hunting loads through a military 7.62mm NATO rifle–especially a semi-auto. The specification for military rifle chamber length is 1.645 inches, versus 1.632 inches for civilian .308 Winchester chambers. The 0.013 inch difference may not sound like much, but the stress on commercial brass–which again is thinner than military brass–could conceivably cause head separations if fired in a military or paramilitary rifle such as an M1A, FAL, L1A1, or AR-10. This is especially true for handloaders that use brass over and over. For this reason, I exclusively use once-fired U.S. military match grade brass for all of my .308 handloads. That way we can use the same ammo in any of our L1A1s, in the Memsahib’s .308 Valmet, and in our various .308 bolt action rifles.

Letter Re: Tool Chest Needs of the Survivalist

As a survivalist, you need a complete set of tools to keep your stuff running. As this could include cars, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, ATVs, bicycles, snowmobiles, little red wagons, etc. You
might think that is already a fair number of different types of tools required. But what about other things you might need tools for? Some examples:
Weapons – tools used by a gunsmith or armorer are rather specialized.
General – Hammers are a common, but what about sledge hammers? What about post-hole diggers? Axes? Hatchets? Roofing hammers? Crow-bars? Saws?
Levels? Mattocks? etc., etc., etc.
Plumbing – Requires some specialized tools, pipe wrenches, pipe cutters, and maybe a [propane] torch if working with copper.
Electronics – From soldering to testing, voltage meter, lots of specialized tools required.
Electrical – AC/DC, some similarities and some differences to electronic tools.
Blacksmithing – Very specialized set of tools here, especially if one includes [farrier] equipment to shoe horses.
Butchering – Not only the knives and saws but also grinders and sausage makers.
Also consider how many of each tool that you should plan for.As an example, imagine your group has two shovels and one axe. So if you send one group out to chop down a tree, another to pull a stump, and another to work on fighting positions, which ones will get the tools they need to get their job done? Or will each have to cool their heels until the tools become available for them?
Each group would have need of each of the two tool types mentioned. So you can see where you might run into issues. Especially if all three jobs were important to the same end result. Say you need the tree chopped down to provide overheard cover for the fighting position. And the stump that needs to be removed was from a tree that was cut down to provide wood used to strengthen the parapet of the fighting position, but it is now blocking some of the field of fire for that fighting position. And of course the fighting position is needed to defend the retreat. Should one try to prioritize such work, or is it better to have enough of tools to equip everyone? – R.C. (Submitted with permission of the author–a moderator on the Yahoo Group “Survival Retreat”)

Silver–I Really, Really Told You So!

I noticed that the spot market price of silver closed at over $14 per ounce yesterday. Back when silver was around $7 an ounce I told you that silver was likely to double, and now, just 17 months later, it has indeed. I also predicted that silver would out-perform gold. I was right about that, too. As I’ve stated before, I think that we are in the opening phase of a multi-year bull market for precious metals, and a bear market for the dollar. I hope that you folks took my advice and bought some silver. Back on August 6, of 2005, when I first started SurvivalBlog, I wrote this, citing my earlier track record on the metals market:

“I posted the following to the misc.survivalism Usenet newsgroup on February 8, 2001, under the title: Rawles Calls Major Bottom in Silver Price: [Begin quote] “I have come to the conclusion that the long term bear trend in the price of silver has finally come to an end. Silver touched $4.55 earlier today. (Feb. 8, 2001.) If it closes in N.Y. at over $4.75 anytime in the next few weeks, that would be a strong bullish indicator. Look at the six month and ten year silver charts at www.kitco.com for the “big picture.” Once there is a strong bullish indication, don’t hesitate to buy a good chunk of silver, pronto. FWIW, I just made another silver purchase to take advantage of the recent dip. (I’d rather buy early than late.) For those of you living in the United States, I recommend buying silver in the form of pre-1965 mint date circulated U.S. silver coinage (dimes, quarters, and half dollars.) That is the best for barter purposes, and unlike bullion rounds/bars is less likely to be subject to government confiscation. See the free FAQs at my web site for details: www.rawles.to. For the market fundamentals on silver, see: http://www.silver-investor.com (Some interesting observations on the lack of silver to meet demand.) And for general information and analysis on precious metals, see: http://www.gold-eagle.com/ (Note: I am not affiliated in any way with either of these sites.)

[Some commentary on interest rates snipped, for brevity]

I may not have called the bottom perfectly, (silver may sag down to $4.25 before it rallies), but beyond that, in my opinion the downside risk is minimal. And what about gold, you may ask? In my opinion, silver is much more likely to double than gold. This is much like buying penny stocks. (Which is more likely double–XYZ Corp. at 58 cents a share, or IBM at $108.00 a share?)” [End quote]

For the record (as of August 4, 2005): IBM now sells at $83.12 a share. (A 24% loss, after more than four years. Charming.) And I wasn’t far from the mark when I cited $4.25 as the potential bottom. Silver actually bottomed just a few months later, at $4.19 per ounce. (I was off by less than 2% of calling the absolute bottom in a 10+ year bear market.) Silver has risen in fits and starts ever since. I am still convinced that silver is in the early stages of a multi-decade bull market and is headed to $60 per ounce (and possibly higher.) Spot silver was at $7.21 an ounce at yesterday’s close, according to the folks at Kitco–a 58.1% gain, after four+ years.) But IMHO silver is still a bargain. In the long run the dollar is doomed. Are you worried that investing in silver won’t earn interest or dividends? Silver isn’t that sort of investment. Rather, think of it as fire insurance–for the dollar. Oh, and what about the fact that silver dropped from $7.21 to $7.11 on Friday (5 August)? The silver market is volatile. You should look beyond the daily fluctuations and instead concentrate on the long term trend. Gold is and silver are both in long term secular bull markets.”