Rock Island Armory 1911 Government Model, by Pat Cascio

There are more 1911 pistols made in the Philippines than in any other country in the world – and that’s a fact. It wasn’t all that many years ago, when it was a real hit or miss, on 1911s from this country. And, as I understand it, there are three major companies that produce 1911s over there. Doesn’t matter what name is stamped on the gun – odds are real good that your Philippine-made 1911 came from one of those three makers. In the past, about the only thing you could get from the Philippines, was a bare bones, military-style 1911 – nothing more. All of that has changed in the past 10-12 years, though. Now you can get just about any kind of 1911 you want, and best of all, prices are more than “right” even during this latest gun/ammo drought.

My local FFL had just one 1911 for sale some time ago, and I took it, sight unseen – well, they sent me a picture of the gun, and I got it. It is a full-sized Government Model 1911 in .45 ACP. It has an all-steel frame and slide. The frame has a brushed nickel coating on it – very tough stuff. The steel slide, hammer, grip safety, trigger, slide release, and magazine release were all finished in Cerakote – gradated black to red, with a very attractive look. Those colors very nicely match the red and black coloration of the pistol’s checkered Cocobolo grips. I referenced the Rock Island Armory web site, and saw that this particular model variant wasn’t listed. So, I’m guessing that either it was a discontinued variant edition or that someone had the work done locally on the slide. The gun came to me out of pawn. (Whomever previously owned it, never paid off the pawn ticket, so the gun was put up for sale.)

The sights – the front is all-black, and the rear has two white dots and is a “combat-style” very nice indeed. I painted the front sight with some blaze orange nail polish – I may replace both sights with night sights – still thinking on that one. There is no Series 80-style firing pin safety – an I prefer that simplicity. The slide is lowered and chamfered for reliable ejection of loaded and empty brass. The barrel is all-black, and take-down is of the Government-style – no extended recoil spring guide to deal with.

The barrel/slide/frame fit is impeccable – just a hint of movement between those parts, so I knew the gun would be a real good shooter. The barrel’s chamber ramp is flared, so it will feed any kind of .45 ACP ammo you care to feed this gun. The feed ramp on the slide has been opened and polished – once again, to help the gun feed anything you want to stoke it with.Continue reading“Rock Island Armory 1911 Government Model, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: W.K.’s Easy Fry Bread

The following recipe for Easy Fry Bread is from SurvivalBlog reader W.K..

W.K. says:  I wanted to pass this recipe on, because it is easy to make from shelf-stable ingredients, quick, tasty, and requires no yeast. It also uses less energy to produce than traditional (non-solar-oven) bread. Olive oil tastes best in this, but any oil will work.
This is not my own recipe. It was passed down in my family, but it probably wasn’t originally their own, either.
Ingredients
  • 3 parts flour (e.g. 3 tsp.)
  • 1 part oil (e.g. 1 tsp.)
  • 1 part water (e.g. 1 tsp.)
  • Dash of salt
Directions
  1. Combine all into a dough-like ball.
  2. Flatten in a frying pan and fry on both sides until no longer translucent.
Uses and SERVING

Makes a flakey side bread for soups, salads, chili, etc. You can scale up once you try it, but I gave smaller portions as a tester for the recipe.

—

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

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. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at continuing risks in the global derivatives market. (See the Derivatives section.)

Precious Metals:

We’ll start out with this piece by Christopher Aaron: Silver Price Forecast: Breakout Ahead This Fall.

o  o  o

Gold Seems Stuck At $1900. Are Inflationary Fears Exaggerated?

Economy & Finance:

Biden and the Fed Are Creating an Inflation Crisis

o  o  o

G-7 nations reach historic deal on global tax reform. JWR’s Comments: Call me skeptical, but  I think there is a “Great Unspoken” here — some sort of quid pro quo. Why would the European nations cave in on this without any bickering, unless there was some plum in it somewhere for them? I won’t be surprised to hear a year or two from now that this multinational tax harmonization was a precursor for the introduction of a Euro-American sovereign cryptocurrency. The other likely precursor would be bringing the value of the Euro and the U.S. Dollar close to parity, before a currency unification.

o  o  o

United Airlines Wants to Bring Back Supersonic Air Travel

o  o  o

WorldNetDaily reports: U.S. Chamber of Commerce warns worker shortage getting worse.

o  o  o

PolitiFact: 90% of Biden Stimulus Spending Not Directly Related to COVID-19. Bottom line: It was a bail-out of failed Blue States. In the long term, it will be the Red States that bear the burden.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — June 6, 2021

The 6th of June is remembered for both D-Day and for the birth of Dieudonné Joseph Saive (Pictured, born 1899.) He was the designer of many well-known firearms including the Browning Hi-Power, the FN49 and co-designer (along with Ernest Vervier) of the very popular FN-FAL, which was issued to the militaries of more than 90 countries.

And today is the birthday of American gun designer Hugo Borchardt. (June 6, 1844 – May 8, 1924). He was born in Germany. He is best known as the designer of the recoil-operated pistol that bears his name.

Also on this day in 1949, George Orwell’s novel of a dystopian future, Nineteen Eighty-Four was published. The novel’s all-seeing leader, known as “Big Brother,” became a universal symbol for intrusive government and oppressive bureaucracy.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 95 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. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. 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).
  4. An Israeli CBRN Gas Mask with Hydration Straw and two Extra 40mm NATO Filter s – Manufactured in 2020 (a $229.99 value), courtesy of McGuire Army-Navy.
  5. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  6. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 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!

Round 95 ends on July 31st, 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.

My Quest for Waterproof Tinder, by The Novice

In the past, I have generally used a cotton ball with a dab of petroleum jelly as my preferred tinder. During some recent testing, I accidentally got the cotton ball damp. I found out that damp cotton performs very poorly as tinder. This was grounds for some serious thought, since wet conditions are often experienced in the field. I decided it would be wise to try to make a waterproof tinder that could be easily ignited with a ferrocerium rod.

The First Attempt: Cotton in Paraffin

I first tried waterproofing the cotton ball with paraffin. I took a coffee can with an inch or two of water in the bottom, placed a coil of wire in the bottom of the can, and then put the can on a twig stove to heat.

Next, I took an empty pineapple can, placed a bar of paraffin (approximately 5 ounces) into the can, and placed the pineapple can on the coil of wire in the coffee can, making a crude double boiler. I had recently purchased a large number of bars of paraffin at a garage sale for a grand total of one dollar, so I had a good supply. When the bar of paraffin was fully melted, I removed the coffee can from the heat, but kept the pineapple can with the melted paraffin in the hot water. This kept the paraffin can warm and put it at a more convenient level for working with. It also reduced the risk that I would knock both the can and the stove over at the same time.

Next I took a number of cotton balls, immersed them fully in the paraffin, removed them with a long-handled needle nose pliers, and set them aside to cool. I treated 20 cotton balls in this way before I ran out of paraffin. While the cotton balls were cooling, I soaked the end of the needle nose pliers in the hot water to remove residual paraffin from that tool, dried it, and put it away.

A couple of days later, I tested the paraffin balls. They were too hard to break by hand, so I cut one in half with a knife. I had hoped that there would be unsaturated fibers in the center of the ball, but the paraffin had soaked all the way through. I could not ignite the ball with a ferrocerium rod, even after scraping the ball with a knife to try to loosen some fibers. The ball ignited easily with a permanent metal match. One half-burned vigorously for more than eight minutes.

The Second Attempt: Petroleum-Jelly-Coated Cotton Balls in Paraffin

I did a search on the web for “water-resistant tinder”, and found an article about “How to Make Homemade Wetfire Tinder” at tacticalintelligence.net. The article suggested saturating cotton balls with petroleum jelly before immersing them in paraffin. I decided to give it a try.

I coated five cotton balls in petroleum jelly, and set them aside for later use. I then lit the twig stove, put the tin can double boiler over the flame, and melted a bar of paraffin.

When the paraffin was completely melted, I dipped the five petroleum jelly/cotton balls into the melted paraffin, and set them aside to cool.

The next day I tested the paraffin-coated, petroleum-jelly-impregnated cotton balls. I was disappointed. Perhaps I used too little petroleum jelly. In any case, sufficient paraffin penetrated to the center of the cotton ball that I was not able to fluff any fibers, and thus was not able to get the ball to ignite with a ferrocerium rod.Continue reading“My Quest for Waterproof Tinder, by The Novice”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!

And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,

Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?

And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

And the gospel must first be published among all nations.

But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house:

And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.

But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.

For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.

And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.

And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:

For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.

Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.

Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.” – Mark 13:1-33 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — June 5, 2021

On June 5, 1851, Harriet Beecher Stowe published the first installment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in The National Era. She was the sister of firebrand abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 95 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. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. 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).
  4. An Israeli CBRN Gas Mask with Hydration Straw and two Extra 40mm NATO Filter s – Manufactured in 2020 (a $229.99 value), courtesy of McGuire Army-Navy.
  5. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  6. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 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!

Round 95 ends on July 31st, 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.

 

An Electric Car for TEOTWAWKI? – Part 3, by S.B.

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.)

When the Battery Dies, You are Getting a Flatbed Tow

Speaking of your electric vehicle turning into an inert hunk of metal, I have run out of juice twice on my vehicle. Both times required a flatbed tow truck to bring my vehicle back home. [Editor’s Note: Never use a traditional tow truck, since there is no “neutral” gear position with electric cars, and damage will occur.] Fortunately, both times I was only a couple of miles from home, and just did not have that last bit of juice needed to get there. Also, both times occurred because my “plan” did not go as planned. In one instance, a public charger I normally used was out of service at a meeting location. My normal hour of charge time I had there didn’t happen and it turns out I really did need that extra charge time to get home. The second time I had an unexpected need to get to a meeting and pulled off a charger sooner than I normally would. That loss of charge time was enough to strand me at the freeway off-ramp three miles from my house.

Once the battery runs out on an electric vehicle, that’s it. No walking to a gas station, buying a gas can, and walking back to the vehicle. No calling home for someone to bring you a jerry can from the garage. In theory, you could bring a generator to the vehicle and charge it that way, but then you are running the generator and burning gas for an hour or more just to get the electric vehicle to go a couple of miles. Whether a tow truck, or a more informal tow in a WROL situation, that vehicle is not moving unless something is pulling it.

Without a Charger the Car is a Paperweight

Electric vehicles come with a Level 1 charger that plugs into a standard 120-volt home outlet. These chargers can fail. The one that came with my vehicle eventually did. Fortunately, it failed “slowly” in that sometimes it would charge and sometimes it wouldn’t. Before there was a catastrophic failure, I was able to easily purchase a refurbished Level 1 charger on line. I have kept the old, partially working charger as a backup. Following the old “Two is one, one is none” maxim, have a backup charger available at your home. Whether that is a Level 2 charger installed in your garage and the Level 1 charger that came with your vehicle, or an extra Level 1 charger stored in a box, have at least one extra. If you don’t have a functioning charger, whatever you have in your battery is all you will have available before your electric vehicle is a glorified paperweight.

Although I would not recommend it, if your planned backup is a publicly available charger somewhere, make sure the charger works with your vehicle. There are at least three commonly used charging port configurations out there. On more than one occasion I’ve rolled up to an electric vehicle charging station only to find out that it did not have a charging port that worked with my car. Continue reading“An Electric Car for TEOTWAWKI? – Part 3, by S.B.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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 this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I’m back on the road, for the full month of June.  I will reactivate ordering at Elk Creek Company on or about July 1st.

I heard from Lily that shortly after I left on my trip that our Bad Boy Bull disassembled one of our tube gates. That goes to prove one of my long-standing assertions: Bulls are only well-behaved in the chest freezer.

I’ve settled into my out-of-state travel routine. The only really good things I can mention are that I get a lot exercise, I get a lot of writing/editing done, and I get to hear some family history. Otherwise, there is just a lot of monotonous routine. But I feel obligated to be here, caring for an ailing elderly family member. That is how I was raised. I hope that someday my children or grandchildren will do the same, for me.

Now, over to Lily…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“They sent a letter unto him, wherein was written thus; Unto Darius the king, all peace.

 Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands.

Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls?

We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them.

And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up.

But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon.

But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.

And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon, those did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one, whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor;

And said unto him, Take these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be builded in his place.

Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem: and since that time even until now hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished.

Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the king’s treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.” – Ezra 5:7-17 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — June 4, 2021

Today is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, in 1989.

On this day, June 4th, in 1944 United States Navy Task Group 22.3 captured U-505, a German submarine and with it an intact Enigma cipher machine. This was the first time since the USS Peacock seized HMS Nautilus in 1815 that the USN had captured an enemy vessel at sea. The sub, reunited with its periscope a decade ago, is displayed at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 95 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. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. 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).
  4. An Israeli CBRN Gas Mask with Hydration Straw and two Extra 40mm NATO Filter s – Manufactured in 2020 (a $229.99 value), courtesy of McGuire Army-Navy.
  5. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  6. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 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!

Round 95 ends on July 31st, 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.

An Electric Car for TEOTWAWKI? – Part 2, by S.B.

(Continued from Part 1.)

Using the AC/Heater in the Car Matters (a lot)

The weather is not only going to have more of an affect on your electric car (compared to a gasoline vehicle), but it is going to have more of an effect on you because using climate control draws a lot of juice from your battery. In a gas vehicle, running the heater has little to no effect on the vehicle’s performance because you are just pulling heat from the engine compartment that is a byproduct of the engine running. Although running the air conditioner (AC) in a gas vehicle is supposed to reduce the miles per gallon (mpg) you achieve, I have never noticed much of a difference in the myriad cars I have driven over my life. However, in an electric car, the same battery that powers the engine also powers the heating and AC. In my car, if I turn on the heater or AC, the travel range on the display immediately drops about 15%. So, all else being equal, if I have enough battery charge to take me 50-miles, if I have my AC or heater on during that trip, I’ll only get about 43-miles. Not long after I first bought my car, I noticed that it had seat heaters. I thought that was a pretty luxurious amenity for such a basic vehicle. Then I figured out that it takes a lot less energy to run the seat heaters than to run the heating elements that heat the air in the cabin. The seat heaters weren’t an amenity, they were a workaround to minimize the need to use the “regular” heater.

For me, this plays directly into the charging time issue discussed above. When I commute to work, by the time I get to the parking lot, I don’t have enough charge to get back home. Fortunately, I have access to a Level 2 charger at the office. Still, every day, there is roughly a 3–4-hour period where if there was an emergency, I could not use my electric car to get home. So, to minimize this “can’t make it home” window, I use the heater very sparingly on the way into work. On winter mornings, I’ll be driving down the highway with gloves, scarf, and ski hat, rag in hand wiping the condensation from the cabin side of the windshield. Only when the condensation gets too bad will I treat myself to a few minutes of running the defrost. With the long charge times for electric vehicles, everything takes planning, because there is no stopping for gas whenever you need it.

If you go anywhere that takes more than 50% of your charge, expect to spend some time at a charger before heading home. In reality, and particularly in a TEOTWAWKI scenario, going anywhere that takes up to 30% or 40% of your charge under ideal conditions should include charging up time at the destination. What if the you-know-what has hit the fan? Say I’m driving with a couple of people from our retreat to the trader fair. We are toughing it out on a cold day, staying bundled up in the electric vehicle so we don’t need to use battery for the heater. It takes 45% of the charge to get to our destination. One of our group gets seriously injured and the best venue for treatment is our retreat. We need to turn on the heater to keep our injured teammate from going into shock. We-are-not-making-it-home-in-that-vehicle. Similar scenario but needing the AC instead. We-are-not-making-it-home-in-that-vehicle.Continue reading“An Electric Car for TEOTWAWKI? – Part 2, by S.B.”

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. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the manifold signs of rising general price inflation, with postage stamps as the poster child. (See the Inflation Watch section.)

Precious Metals:

On June 2nd, it was reported: Gold futures hold above $1,900 as spot gold trades just below at $1,899.30

But then on June 3rd, both gold and silver took a dip. Gold was down 2% to $1868.60. So this might be a good juncture to buy some physical gold or silver. And, for the record, I’m still leaning toward silver. The silver-to-gold spot price ratio is presently 68.67-to-1. In my estimation, a ratio anywhere above 45-to-1 makes silver a buy.

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US Mint Delays Silver Shipments Due To “Global Silver Shortage”. Note: The U.S. Mint later posted this follow-up: “In a message released Friday, May 28, we made reference to a global shortage of silver. In more precise terms, the silver shortage being experienced by the United States Mint pertains only to the supply of silver blanks among suppliers to the U.S. Mint.”

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How Governments Killed the Gold Standard

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Arkadiusz Sieroń: Biden Proposes $6 Trillion Budget. Will Money Flow Into Gold?

Economy & Finance:

Over at Fox Business: US durable goods orders drop 1.3% in April

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At Zero Hedge: California’s Massive Container-Ship Traffic Jam Is Still Really Jammed

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At Wolf Street: Fed Drains $485 Billion in Liquidity from Market via Reverse Repos, Undoing 4 Months of QE, Even as QE Continues, Total Assets Near $8 Trillion

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”