S&W M&P .40 Pistol, by Pat Cascio

I spent a good portion of my life lusting after the newest and coolest firearms that came on the market. I used to haunt quite a few gun shops in the Chicago area, Colorado Springs, Colorado, all over Oregon, and some other spots. Needless to say, there was no way I could afford to purchase all the firearms I wanted – and I still can’t. Most gun writers that I know can’t purchase all the guns they would like to have – not on their salaries – believe me, I know! We are fortunate, in that, if we are well-known in the industry, they will send us firearms for testing, and at the end of the “on-loan” period, we either have to return the firearms, or we are given the opportunity to purchase the same. Of course, the gun makers give us a fairly good price – after all, we are purchasing “used” firearms, and they really don’t want to have to re-stock used guns. It’s a fair deal all the way around. Still, we can’t afford to purchase all the gun samples we’d like to – sad to say!

Many gun writers that I know work other jobs, and writing about firearms is a secondary income. And, believe it or not, gun writers, don’t make nearly as much money as you think we do. I used to work full-time at writing about guns – one of the few writers in the business. These days, I call myself semi-returned – although it seems like a full-time job. Up until this month, I usually wrote five articles per month for SurvivalBlog.com – and it takes up a lot of my time. My wife is a retired school teacher, so we live on a very modest income these days. So, I’m extremely limited in the number of gun samples that I can now purchase. Fortunately, over the years, I’ve “collected” a very modest gun collection, and I write about many of those guns – the newest guns on the market are on loan, and many times I’m forced to return the samples. I just can’t afford to purchase them.

My former employer, Col. Rex Applegate had two favorite gun companies. He loved the Smith & Wesson and Ruger brands of handguns. Both brands had also been favorites of mine, even before I met Applegate. During those early years when I started writing, S&W was coming out with, a new handgun variant a week, or so it seemed. I often found that UPS was bringing me a box full of new handguns to test and write about. I mean, I would literally I’d get a box with half a dozen or more handguns in it, almost weekly.

Today, we are looking at the S&W M&P .40 S&W full-sized handgun. This particular model has been discontinued, in favor of the improved model, a Gen 2 version, if you will. However, there is nothing obsolete about this M&P version – it was and still is a fine handgun for duty use, or even for a concealed carry piece. Glock just about owns the U.S. law enforcement market, with their fine line of handguns. However, over the past couple of years, S&W and SIG Sauer have made inroads. Our own US Military adopted the SIG Sauer P320 — as the M17/M18 — and this was a real feather in the cap of SIG. I can’t find anything to fault with the new SIG 9mm pistol, and I believe it is a better pistol than the Beretta M9 that it is replacing. That is just my two cents worth.

Some police departments (PDs) around my area, and around the rest of Oregon, are still carrying the Glock 17 or 19 models – again, a great choice. However, many are still clinging to whatever their department issued. However, many more decided that if the new SIG Sauer was good enough for our military, then it was time to purchase those pistols. A lot of it comes down to whatever the FBI is issuing, then they are good enough for the PDs. Then we also have many PDs issuing the same ammo that the FBI issues to their Agents. A lot of this comes down to that many PDs and individual officers just want the newest and coolest handguns on the market – don’t really blame them. However, it is usually the taxpayers who are paying for their next guns.

The S&W M&P is an outstanding handgun in many ways. And, just because the local PD decided to trade those guns in for the newest and coolest handgun, in no way makes the M&P obsolete. Still, many PDs traded their duty guns in for either the Gen 2 models or for some other make. And, this is great news for us gun owners. I picked up this particular M&P used – but 99% as-new – at my local gun shop, for $300. That was a steal-of-a-deal if you ask me. Yeah, the Gen 2 versions have a slightly better trigger pull. However, I don’t find the trigger pull on the original model to be a handicap at all.Continue reading“S&W M&P .40 Pistol, by Pat Cascio”

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:

This past week was a bit hectic. I had to open a new bank account. This necessitated taking several trips into town, to handle all of the paperwork. I still have to redirect a few recurring direct deposits. I’ll fill you in with some details about this, next week.

This month we’ve been busy remodeling our kitchen. Other than a few appliance replacements, nothing had been changed in the kitchen since the house was built in the early 1990s. This will keep us busy for several more weeks.

Now, over to Lily…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.

And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.

And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.

And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.

And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?

And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.

And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.

Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” – Genesis 37:1-20 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — February 18, 2022

February 18th, 1898 was the birthday of Enzo Ferrari, the car manufacturer who originated the car that carries his family name.

Today is also the birthday of astronaut Theodore Cordy “Ted” Freeman (February 18, 1930 – October 31, 1964.) He was killed in a birdstrike flying accident, while flying a T-38 Talon jet trainer. He was the first casualty of NASA’s manned space program. Fittingly, Ted Freeman’s name is inscribed on a memorial plaque that was left on the moon, by Apollo astronauts.

This is also the birthday of Jack Palance (1919–2006), an actor known for his Tough Guy roles, such as the rebel leader Jesus Raza, in The Professionals.

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Today, with permission, we present a guest article by Brandon Smith, the Editor of Alt-Market.us.

Separation Or Purge? Sharing A Society With The Political Left Is Impossible, by Brandon Smith

Of all the social drivers in history the concept of freedom is the most powerful and fascinating. There are many observable objective truths in the world and it’s always important to recognize them, but the idea of freedom is more rare because it is a universal SUBJECTIVE truth. Meaning, it exists inherently in the majority of individuals; we don’t learn it, we just know it instinctively. Most of us share the experience but there is no microscope or telescope in existence that can observe that experience. We just have to trust it, or perhaps, have faith.

Freedom is not taught to us, we are born with the idea already hardwired. If anything, it has to be conditioned out of us.

We can see the aftereffects of the human experience of freedom in the great upheavals that occur when our societies become too rigid, too controlled, and too authoritarian. Some will argue that tyrants have no concept of freedom and this debunks the notion that it’s an inherent psychological quality, but this is a misconception. Many tyrants love freedom, but only for themselves. Like an obsessive-compulsive, when the average authoritarian sees free movement within the rest of society all he sees is chaos that needs to be micro-managed. He is so mentally unhinged by the existence of independent activity that he is compelled to crush it and impose his brand of “order.”

If you want to understand the thinking process of the political left today, this is where you need to start. They believe only certain special people deserve to have freedom (or deserve to live), and they are of course part of that group. The rest of us can’t be trusted with freedom because we “think the wrong way,” and so we need to be corralled and fenced in.Continue reading“Separation Or Purge? Sharing A Society With The Political Left Is Impossible, by Brandon Smith”

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 results of the recent Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) emergency meeting. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold touches $1,900 for the first time since June on flare up in Russia-Ukraine tensions.

o  o  o

Gold Is The Geopolitical Hedge Of First Resort, Goldman Sees $2150 Within 12 Months.

o  o  o

Gold price is ready for ‘substantial’ move as inflation gets worse, war looms in Europe – Gary Wagner.

Economy & Finance:

Unwinding a $9 Trillion balance sheet: Fed minutes show central bank ready to raise rates, shrink balance sheet soon.

o  o  o

At MSN Money: Two reasons Americans just dove into credit card debt faster than they have in 22 years.

o  o  o

From the FOMC minutes: The Fed is allowing banks to perform overnight lending on securities.

o  o  o

Now on the Fed’s Table: Sell Bonds Outright to Push Up Long-Term Yields, Steepen the Yield Curve, and Get Rid of MBS.

o  o  o

Gold up, and stocks down: Dow drops more than 600 points in worst decline of 2022 as Russia-Ukraine tensions worry investors.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — February 17, 2022

February 17th, 1844 was the birthday of Aaron Montgomery Ward, founder of the mail-order business Montgomery Ward.

On this day in 1838, hundreds of Voortrekkers traveling along the Blaukraans River in the Natal region were massacred by Zulus. This tragedy became known as the Weneen Massacre.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 99 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. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. 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. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 99 ends on March 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.

Inflation: How Bad Could it Get? – Part 2, by Banker Bob

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

No matter what third-party players do on the international stage (China, Russia, Iran – in that order), this country may be on the road to a slow-rolling collapse over the next eighteen months. All the things that currently get news coverage are like the opening act before Garth Brooks takes the concert stage. Ukraine – So what? Taiwan – Well, it had to happen. Faltering economy – All Trump’s fault. West Texas crude oil above $120 per barrel – Just park your truck. And any of these things could result in higher prices for energy and bigger supply chain problems for electronics and medical supplies plus an additional spurt to inflation which will have already spread to the rest of the global economy.

As long as the electrical grid, internet, and financial processing networks continue to work at some level, relatively limited urban violence but rapidly rising crime rates seem likely and will be hell for the merchants and local residents experiencing it. Peaceful protests complete with torched police cars and burning buildings will most likely be concentrated in the inner-city areas of major metro areas. Los Angeles, Houston, Portland, Milwaukee, Detroit, Newark, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, and New Yok City. These conspicuously blue cities have already experienced peaceful protesters and sympathetic prosecutors as their own warmup gigs. The new protests may be triggered before November on relatively trivial fake news.

All bets are off if there are major terrorist attacks on refineries, the power grid, or the telecom networks including cell and internet. If that happens, kiss normal “Goodbye” – in a rush. Meantime, life won’t be exactly normal in either small cities or suburbia or even fly-over country. One of the many consequence of sustained inflation is government budget over-runs, and this will hit municipal and state governments as soon as real inflation goes beyond 10% or perhaps earlier. What will happen next and is already starting to occur is that municipal bond underwriters will not be able to place the massive amount of city and state bond funding that will be needed just to finance daily operations and locked-in pension payments.Continue reading“Inflation: How Bad Could it Get? – Part 2, by Banker Bob”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we further examine the Solar Storm CME threat.

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Andre mentioned this, at SpaceWeather: Huge Farside Explosion. Yet again, we’ve witnessed a large CME that would be devastating, had it been Earth-facing. We are playing Russian Roulette.  Get ready, folks! Here is a  quote from the article:

“Something just exploded on the farside of the sun–and it was big. NASA’s STEREO-A spacecraft recorded a magnificent coronal mass ejection (CME) emerging during the late hours of Feb. 15th.”

Why Solar Storms Could Be The Biggest Risks To Technology

Over at Forbes: Why Solar Storms Could Be The Biggest Risks To Technology.

Moving to Texas, Florida and Alabama to Work At Home

Reader H.L. spotted this: Americans move to Texas, Florida and Alabama as more work from home since COVID.

A Bad Solar Storm Could Cause an ‘Internet Apocalypse’

Reported by Wired, last August: A Bad Solar Storm Could Cause an ‘Internet Apocalypse’. Here is the opening paragraph of that piece:

“Scientists have known for decades that an extreme solar storm, or coronal mass ejection, could damage electrical grids and potentially cause prolonged blackouts. The repercussions would be felt everywhere from global supply chains and transportation to internet and GPS access. Less examined until now, though, is the impact such a solar emission could have on internet infrastructure specifically. New research shows that the failures could be catastrophic, particularly for the undersea cables that underpin the global internet.”

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

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — February 16, 2022

February 16th is the birthday of Edgar John Bergen, (1903-1978) an American actor, comedian, and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. He is also the father of actress Candice Bergen.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 99 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. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. 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. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 99 ends on March 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.

Inflation: How Bad Could it Get? – Part 1, by Banker Bob

Much of my career has been in banking or related financial services including day-to-day, hands-on management of large-scale transaction processing centers for one of the world’s largest banks.

Question 1: What’s your personal measure of inflation?

Weekly grocery bill? Filling up your tank at the gas pump? 9mm or 5.56 ammo when you find some? Medical bills? Your individual perceptions are influenced by personal purchasing preferences, geographic differences, urban vs. rural spending habits, size of family, and income level.

For starters, take a very skeptical look at the 7.5% CPI reported as the 12-month increase for January 2022. The figures published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are the ones most often cited in the news. It’s hard to ignore them especially the comparison to the CPI as reported in 1979, 1980, and 1981 which reached a high in March 1980 of 14.8%. That number in isolation provides little economic context. The Fed Funds overnight rate hit 19% in December 1980 and again in June 1981. Mortgage interest rates peaked at 18.5% in 1981 while the prime rate reached 21%. In early February 2022, 30-year fixed rate mortgages ranged from 3.75% to 4.125%. The prime rate for large corporate borrowers was 3.25%, and Fed Funds had a weighted average of 0.08% (less than 1/10 of 1% or very close to zero!)

According to the US Energy Information Agency at the national average fuel price was $2.00 at the time of the election in 2020. The comparable price today is $3.37 or a 68% increase in 15 months. Even that high price will look cheap in another 9 months. Energy prices ripple through the economy making them an important leading indicator.

There are two major problems using CPI as your yardstick. First, these published numbers are a trailing indicator and not a measure of what you will pay next month for groceries, gas, heating oil, or ammo. Second, by its own published record, the BLS has made three major changes since 1980 in its methodology (1987, 1998, and 2018) morphing from what was previously a comparison of a fixed basket of goods (COGI or cost of goods index) to a lifestyle choice of substitutable items (COLI or cost of living index). Suffice to say that comparing CPI for 1980 to 2022 is a rigged way of reporting a lower rate of real inflation. (For readers interested in the details, check out the BLS reported changes. As you can imagine, it’s like comparing the cost of one pound of fresh ground hamburger at the local butcher shop in 1980 to four Quarter Pounders at a McDonald’s drive through in 2022. What can a good bureaucrat do to keep a lid on anxiety? Change the rules…

In the simplest terms, prices rise when demand outstrips supply and when massive deficit spending is paid for by increasing the money supply and keeping interest rates artificially low.Continue reading“Inflation: How Bad Could it Get? – Part 1, by Banker Bob”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

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

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From Frank S.: How a rather mundane space storm knocked out 40 SpaceX satellites. Here is an excerpt:

“In recent months, sky watchers have been treated to some of the most beautiful auroras in years as the sun enters a period of greater activity. Moderate and strong solar storms in October and November spurred the dancing purple and green lights in Earth’s atmosphere, delighting scientists and photographers.

But last week, SpaceX witnessed a different stunning impact of the charged particles hurtling through space when 40 of their small Starlink communications satellites were knocked out a day after they launched. The loss could cost the company tens of millions of dollars. Starlink ultimately will consist of tens of thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbit.

According to a SpaceX news release, 40 out of 49 Starlink satellites will reenter the atmosphere or already have entered after encountering a geomagnetic storm on Feb. 4. The satellite fleet, intended to bring low-cost Internet service to remote areas of the planet, was launched on Feb. 3 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The company said the satellites are not expected to create debris or hit the ground on reentry, instead being incinerated during the fiery reentry.”

o  o  o

Reader CW64 offered this suggestion:

“Regarding the recent post by SaraSue; an often overlooked reason for leaving a faucet or two open is to relieve pressure build-up in the pipes if they freeze. It is the pressure that typically causes damage. The This Old House television show has a good video on the topic.”

o  o  o

Mrs. Alaska had some advice on speedy seed germination:

“Most seeds germinate best at soil temperatures between 60 and 80 degrees.  For this reason, many gardeners place heat pads beneath their seedling pots.  However, we live off-grid and any heat producing item draws a lot of power.  What to do?  I put cookie sheets over the two pilot lights on my gas stove, and even inside the (cold) oven, and fill each one with seed pots.  The metal sheet temperature rises to 75 – 80 degrees F over the whole surface.
Proof:  the spaghetti squash seeds that I planted 1 inch deep on Feb 2 were 1 inch tall (above the soil) on Feb 9!  I hope that this approach will enable me to start many slow growing, warmth loving plants in my cold climate and rather chilly cabin.
Once the seedlings sprout two true leaves, I move them from the heating tray to other locations, making room for others to get off to a warm and cozy start.”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”