Airguns for Survival, Jock Elliott

An air rifle or air pistol can be a really useful tool for anyone who needs to collect game unobtrusively while trying to survive. I write a regular blog on airguns for www.airgunsofarizona.com . So here’s “Uncle Jock’s” take on why you might want to include an airgun in your survival kit. Here’s a quick summary of the key advantages of airguns: Tack-driving accuracy – High-end air rifles are among the most accurate projectile launchers on the planet. For example, Olympic match air rifles can literally put pellet after pellet through the same hole at 10 meters, and field target airgunners can routinely hit a dime at 50 yards with their air rifles. Some dedicated long-range airgunners report shooting sub-MOA groups at 100 yards and beyond. Low shooting expense – Once you purchase your air rifle or air pistol, it will be superbly kind to your wallet. Depending upon which…




Springfield Hellcat Review, by G.L.W.

…had to be bomb-proof reliable, as I did not want a repeat from the “budget gun” category. I know some budget guns can be extremely reliable (my mossy Maverick is going on 10 years strong!) but having been recently bitten in that category by the Sccy CPX-2, I opted to stay away. Why I chose the Hellcat Disclaimer: While I will use the SIG P365 as a comparison piece, it is not my goal to bash the SIG. It appears to be a quality firearm, any comparison to the SIG P365 comes from being the Hellcat’s most immediate and intended competition. In my search I was drawn to the Springfield Hellcat and the SIG P365 almost immediately. Here were two guns, extremely similar to the deservedly popular Glock 43, that held double-digit rounds of 9mm. And SIG, Glock, and Springfield Armory are all very widely-recognized as reputable brands. Sounds like…




Lessons Learned from My First Bug Out Truck – Part 1, by H.J.

for the memory! Cliffhanger Noticed H.J. made the comment to install a Cummins 4BT as a replacement engine. My beef over the years (30) has been no manufacture produced a medium size vehicle with a four or six cylinder mechanical diesel inline engine. There are several now for sure but the cost is prohibitive for the average middle class working guy and they are computer controlled. In my view the modern diesels being computer controlled are now no more reliable than gasoline engines. Over the years I have completed four diesel conversions into light trucks. They were all used for commuting and light trailer pulling. It was a good option for me but a word of caution. Spend a lot of time planning the process and take great care in selecting the type of vehicle and engine to make sure both are capable of delivering what you are looking for….




A Rifle is Not Enough – Part 5, by Tunnel Rabbit

…or most rifles, and because the Hague Convention prohibits the use of expanding projectiles that are more lethal. Polymer-tipped bullets that are typically designed for hunting can be as reliable as FMJ bullets. For barrels less than 14 inches in length, I would be using a polymer-tipped bullet that is designed to expand to compensate for the lower velocities produced. FMJ out of short barrels typically do little damage to flesh as they pass through without tumbling or fragmenting. The 20-inch barrel produces a muzzle velocity that is generally 200 fps faster than from a 16-inch barrel. For example, the 55-grain ammunition from a 16-inch carbine barrel is generally speaking is about 2,950 fps at best, and out of 20 inches barrel the muzzle velocity can be around 3,150 fps. The 77-grain OTM ammunition is typically around 2,550 fps out of a 16-inch barrel. The 20-inch barrel produces 2,750 fps…




SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

…requires peer review, and others to test the hypothesis with follow on experiments. No canning jar lid manufacturer has attain Scientific proof that their lids are safe and reliable, yet we know that they work good enough, yet will not work reliably, if we do not do our part. Common sense says it is worth testing St Funogas’ hypothesis. IHMO, companies have liability issues, and financial interests, and therefore make a recommendation not to reuse traditional metal lids. They would also have been wise to engineer and test their lids thoroughly to protect themselves financially. And their seals have withstood the test of time. These lids are therefore likely of the highest quality that can be economically produced, and there does not to my knowledge there does not exist any information or report that these lids cannot be used over and over again. There only exists the manufacturer admonition. This…




Letter Re: Bad News on Peak Oil: Five Year Slide to a 50% Production Crash

…technology, greatly increasing the production rate of their wells, and the decline of their major field, Ghawar. Prudhoe Bay helps the USA a little but the decline continued, even with the latest technology (notice the emphasis?). By 1989, Russia, forced to sell its oil at a lower price thanks to the Saudis, declares bankruptcy and the Berlin Wall comes down. US citizens all buy SUVs to celebrate the end of communism and recession promptly kicks in after fighting Gulf War 1. GHWB is replaced by Clinton and he’s the first president we know of for sure that’s heard of peak oil. GHWB probably did too, and Jimmy Carter talked about energy crisis but we didn’t want to hear it and fired him. Lord Knows, the American People won’t stand for lowered expectations. All that oil pumping in Saudi means the field is going empty. The latest figures show its declined…




SurvivalBlog Archive 2005-2012 DVD — Now Orderable!

The expanded SurvivalBlog 2005-2012 archive has been selling at a fast pace, via digital download. The DVD version of the archive has now been tested and is available to order! The DVD is priced $2 higher than the digital download. This new archive collection has expanded bonus material (a digital copy of my book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation–normally $28 in hard copy–12 Firearms Manuals, and 14 U.S. Military Manuals), an improved user interface (with the same look and feel of the SurvivalBlog web site), and of course one more year of the blog content. The digital download and DVD both include the archives in HTML (10,131 pages) and PDF (7,923 pages). The blog archive is fully keyword searchable. It runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The archive provides you with all of the SurvivalBlog context since 2005, even when you are out in the hinterboonies without an Internet connection….




Nurse’s Perspective for Survival, by L.S.

…how to store them. I Tsalam I was just going to recommend the dollar store glasses. I have worn them for several years and have many extras stashed where I might need them. Mama Kanga Hi Janet, I got curious after I read your letter as I tried this once to and then settled for buying them from sites like https://www.bulkherbstore.com/ or https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ or https://mmherbs.com/ I finally found this set of instructions that address the little hairs… http://www.gingerhollow.com/wisconsin-medicinal-plants/rosehips hope that helps! Sincerely, Mama Kanga Tsalam I have had a life long problem with athlete’s foot and jock itch. I use Desenex powder after every shower for athlete’s foot and Clotrimazole cream for jock itch is very inexpensive at Walmart in their Equate brand. Pretty easy to stock up on those items now. Tom L. An alternative to the usual sources of vitamin C is pine needles, usually as pine needle…




Beretta Nano, by Pat Cascio

…frame a quarter turn counter-clock wise and then remove the slide. It sounds hard but only takes a few seconds to master. The front and rear of the frame is nicely checkered, and that helps you maintain a good hold on the gun when firing. Testing As usual, I had a great assortment of 9mm ammo on hand for testing through the Nano. However, I didn’t run all the various types of ammo through the gun. Quite frankly, it is tiresome to shoot a lot of ammo through sub-compact 9mm handguns, and the longer I shoot, the more chance of me not getting the groups I expect from little guns. So, I only fired 300-rds through the Nano. That is a fair test with a tiny gun. Ammo Used in Testing From Buffalo Bore Ammunition I had their 147-gr Hard Cast FN Outdoorsman load, which is rated +P. I also…




What I Learned From the Recent Power Outage – Part 2, by A.K.

justaguy Re: your communication needs – ham radio Aside from being able to communicate by voice, there are even ways to send text messages to real cell phones via ham radio. It’s a vast world of possibilities that ham radio stuff. And if just looking for info, there are many small, low power shortwave radio and scanner options to explore. Easy to pack, easy to power and now is the time to get up to speed on how to best use all these to meet your specific needs. Be well and God speed. RayK For news and weather, have a radio. For grid down times, have a hand cranked emergency radio (most have 6 bands, including weather, AM, FM and some short wave). As you found out with your device charger, two is one and one is none. Anything critical should have a spare/backup. Things like generators should be tested…




I’m Unarmed — What Gun Do I Buy?, by Frog

…can extend the comfortable range of well placed shots too. Gutting a head shot doe is a much nicer job than a body shot one. K John Carughi’s EDC is a 100% stock 9mm Glock 19 so that he can “source off of something else or someone else”. By “sourcing” he means he wants magazines and ammo readily available around him. John Carughi (aka @_shooter_rughi) is the hero from a few weeks back who disarmed two Seattle rioters of the AR-15s they stole from abandoned police cruisers. His reasoning makes a lot of sense to me, particularly during a riot. Here is John’s recent interview about disarming the rioters with his Glock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXoGzJZw4Z4 He talks about “why a 9mm Glock 19” at the 16:57 interview mark. He also has a gofundme page if you’re interested: https://www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-weapon-snatcher-business-startup JWR called attention to John in his June 21, 2020 “Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”:…




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

…account had been hacked and within hours. The money was gone forever and the couple was just out of luck. I guess I struggle a bit with this concept. I understand how it works, but I’ve never bought a house in which I didn’t hand a physical check over to a real person at a title company for the transaction of the house purchase. Even the down payment was handed in person to the real estate broker. Call me old fashioned, I guess. Fahrenheit 11/9 Michael Moore’s latest big screen lie has tanked at the box office. Fahrenheit 11/9 opened in over 1100 theaters and made a paltry $3 million on its opening weekend. Apparently, only the die-hard liberal/progressives could stomach the nonsense in this latest edition of drivel. perhaps, just perhaps, America is waking up. We’ll see after this next election in a little over a month. Or maybe…




Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 28, 2019

…ad and signs up to get a HughesNet dish installed. We’ve had one of those here at our ranch for more than three years, and it functions flawlessly, even with skies covered by dark storm clouds. The upload speed is quite good and the download speed is amazingly fast! (25 Mbps.) That is fast enough to stream two movies simultaneously. If you live out in the boonies beyond cable Internet or DSL Internet, you can now have an Internet connection that provides faster download than DSL! (Typically DSL provides 1.5 Mbps to 8 Mbps in the boonies and perhaps 16 Mbps in some towns.) It is compatible with most VPNs, with Skype, with Vonage and with other VOIP phones. You can even use it off grid with no phone line. All you need is stable 120 volt power–such as from a sine wave inverter. Please be sure to mention Tech…




Your Best Personal Defense In The Ongoing CyberWar, by AJS

Tunnel Rabbit I’m a caveman in this high tech world. I’ve had my computers infected with some of the most advanced spyware that spooked the guys that removed it, and one actually caused my computer to self destruct. Lost a pile machines and huge amounts of data to viruses. Nothing I did to protect myself worked for one reason or another. Then one day I was introduced to Ubuntu, and other Linux operating systems. Linux operates using common browsers, and mostly looks and feels like Windows. Because I mostly cruise the net, Linux is all I really need. It is not user friendly when attempting to download and use new software. Sometimes Linux is a real pain to find software for, but after many years of use, I’ve never a lost another machine to viruses, nor spent a dime on getting it debugged. I would use a Linux operating system…




S&W Model 5904, by Pat Cascio

…it was difficult to get apart for a cleaning and lube, one of the levers in the frame was frozen in the up position. I resulted in using a rubber mallet on the slide/frame and with a few whacks the slide was off. After a good inspection and cleaning – and plenty of lube, the gun was ready for the range. My Range Tests My accuracy testing was done at 25-yards, and if I did my part, I could get groups between 3.5-inches and 4-inches without too many problems. The nice folks at Black Hills Ammunition seint me a good assortment of 9mm ammo, to test in this gun. I had their 115-gr FMJ, 124-gr JHP, 124-grain JHP and the same in a +P version, and their HoneyBadger 100-gr al-copper fluted bullet, and the same in 127-gr sub-sonic load. The 124-gr JHP +P wasn’t reliable in the 5904, nor did…