September 2020 in Precious Metals, by Stephen Cochran

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From Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins:

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance, and the factors that affected gold prices.

Gold ended August on a down note, logging the first monthly loss in six months. December gold futures lost 3.7% in August, while spot gold lost 4.4%. Silver parted ways with gold in August, riding its rally by ending the month 18% higher on the COMEX, and 15% higher in the spot market.

What Did Gold Do in September?

Gold went into “consolidation mode” in September. The month started with a meltdown in tech stocks. Gold prices fell as speculators suddenly had to meet large margin calls. Gold futures, which are more liquid than physical gold, lost $44 between September 2nd and 4th. Spot gold lost $38. Both ended the week at $1934. Spot gold spent the next two weeks trending between $1930 and $1955 for the most part.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died the night of Friday, September 18th. Stocks had ended the week shaky over a new wave of COVID in Europe. Countries across Europe were locking down and going into crisis mode as COVID infections surged.

Everything fell when markets opened Monday. The fight over Ginsburg’s replacement on the Supreme Court so close to the Presidential election wiped out any chance of a new stimulus bill. News Monday that someone had mailed a letter containing ricin powder to President Trump frightened markets more.

If that wasn’t enough, the dollar surged on safe haven demand after China made repeated incursions over the Taiwan Strait, forcing Taiwan to scramble fighter jets nearly 40 times over the weekend.

December gold futures fell $51.50 to $1,910.60 that Monday. It would end the week down $95.80 – the worst week since the March market meltdown. Spot gold fell $36.50 to $1,912.40 on the 21st. It would end the week $87.70 lower.

Gold attempted a run at the $1,900 mark during the last few days of the month, gaining $36 over the first two days of the week.

As of the September market close on the 29th, December gold had lost $75 for the month, and spot gold had fallen $70. Continue reading“September 2020 in Precious Metals, by Stephen Cochran”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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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 look at another bear spray fail.

Another Fatal Bear Attack in Alaska: Bear Spray Fail

In The Anchorage Daily News: Wildlife officials kill 4 bears as they investigate fatal mauling near Hope.  Here is an excerpt that underscores the need to carry both pepper spray and lead spray: ”

“There were no witnesses to the attack, located in a remote, hard-to-reach area, the agency said.

“An empty bear spray canister with the safety removed was found at the location of the attack, and it appeared that bear spray had been discharged at the site,” the statement said. “No attractants, such as a dead moose or a food cache, were found in a search of the area during the investigation.””

Gun Sales in Key Swing States Up Nearly 80% in 2020

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site, there is this at Fox News: Gun sales in major swing states up nearly 80% this year: Will it have any bearing on election outcome?

Data-Trackers Turn from Cookies to Phone Sensors

Reader C.B. sent us this: Data-trackers turn from cookies to phone sensors. Here is a snippet:

“As Google moved earlier this year to ban third-party cookies on its Chrome browsers and Apple plans to restrict tracking in its next iOS build, Abhishek Sen, cofounder of a British analytics startup NumberEight, says companies are looking beyond cookies as they explore new avenues to tap into consumer behavior.”

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

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — September 30, 2020

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On this day in 1938, the Treaty of Munich was signed by Hitler, Mussolini, Daladier, and Chamberlain. This treaty forced Czechoslovakia to cede territory to Germany. The bumbling Neville Chamberlain returned to England from the treaty signing ceremony, promising “Peace in our time.” But that didn’t last long…

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For anyone who reads Polish, a new Polish-language edition of my book How To Survive The End Of The World As We Know It (JAK PRZEŻYĆ KONIEC ŚWIATA) is being released today (September 30, 2020). This media company is brilliantly named Kompania Mediowa. They are located in Warsaw. The founding of the company was inspired by the famed compendium book, The Whole Earth Catalog. So I can see how my book caught their attention. The company also does a lot of movie and television production. The translators for the book were Rafal Wierzbicki (“Vyezbeetsky”) and Tom Jurewicz (“Yoorevitch”.)  My thanks to them!  I’m humbled to see my books translated into so many languages. As I recall, this is now 12th on the list of languages, for translation of my books. Needless to say, I don’t read or speak Polish. But at least I was taught Reverse Polish Notation, in one of my mathematics classes!  🙂

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Today we present a guest article by a fellow blogger. His blog is The Pickled Prepper. I recommend bookmarking it!

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Keep in mind that Round 91 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest begins tomorrow. 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.

Essential Spares For Your Guns, by Pickled Prepper Pete

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Don’t worry, I’m not here to recommend one gun or caliber over another, to tell you how many rounds you should store, or to insist that you have a minimum number of magazines. I do, however, want to ask if you are prepared for problems that can turn your 17-round wonder gun into a one-shot blunder or your ultra-accurate rifle into an expensive club.

I’m talking about your ability to fix your guns when something goes wrong, from a small thing such as a weak spring, a broken firing pin, a lost pin, or a damaged gas tube, to a bent op rod or a broken stock.

Here are a few problems that I’ve experienced, or seen while shooting at the range or at a competition:

  • One of the hooks on the trigger spring in my Glock failed, rendering it a single shot. That’s an example of a $1 part stopping a $450 gun.
  • I’ve blown the extractor out of a gun by using reloads that were loaded too heavily.
  • I’ve seen the screws holding optics shear off, throwing the optic off the slide during recoil.
  • I’ve seen magazine feed lips fail, resulting in all the rounds ejecting out the top of a magazine after a shooter rammed it home during a slide-lock reload. I’ve also seen the base plates fail, resulting in all the ammo dumping onto the ground.
  • I’ve seen magazine floor plates break when the shooter dropped the magazine on a hard surface during a reload over a hard surface.
  • I’ve seen numerous ARs fail for all sorts of stupid, mostly user-preventable reasons, including inadequate lubrication.
  • And I’ve had friends call me for help because they lost a tiny part or damaged a spring while working on their AR15-style weapon.

If problems like these can happen under good conditions, then you can expect bigger problems when the SHTF and you need to rely on our guns for more than just fun. (Constant carry, in all weather.) Even if you have a back-up gun, then you need to be prepared to address common failures so your primary weapon can go back into service.Continue reading“Essential Spares For Your Guns, by Pickled Prepper Pete”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on storage food cookbooks. (See the Books section.)

Books:

Feasting on Food Storage: Delicious and Healthy Recipes for Everyday Cooking

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I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage! Updated and Expanded Version

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Here is a fairly scarce out-of-print book that is worth searching for: Marlene’s Magic with Food Storage. (Watch for reasonably-priced copies of this book this on eBay.)

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And here’s the updated edition of a classic book that I’ve often mentioned: The All New Cookin’ With Home Storage

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Desperate Sons: Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, and the Secret Bands of Radicals Who Led the Colonies to War

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — September 29, 2020

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September 29th, 1881, was the birthday of Ludwig von Mises. (Born 1881, died October 10, 1973.)

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  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 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. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  5. 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. 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.
  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 90 ends on September 30th, 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.

PV Solar Panels Can Pay For Themselves, by St. Funogas

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Author’s Introductory Note: Grid-tied solar panel payback time is less than seven years in most of the lower 48 states, and quickest in some of the New England states, so don’t think solar isn’t for you just because you live in North Dakota or Vermont. RUN THE NUMBERS which I’ll show you how to easily do. If you don’t care about all the details of how and why, skip to the last section called “Quick Way to Figure out Payback Time.” There are only three numbers to enter on your calculator and you’ll have your payback time in years. Then you can come back and read the details if you’re so inclined.

From time to time on SurvivalBlog discussions come up about whether or not solar panels can pay for themselves. I’ve been amazed as I’ve traveled around the country and seen so few homes with solar panels, and wondered why more people don’t take advantage of nearly-free electricity. I’ve concluded that the three biggest reasons are 1.) most people are not aware of how simple it is to install grid-tied solar panels yourself, 2.) they erroneously think they need storage batteries and all kinds of complicated equipment, and 3.) they’re not sure how to do the math to figure out if solar panels are feasible in their area.

First, A Brief Tutorial

So, let’s tackle those reasons in a quick tutorial.

First, if you can hook up an electric water heater, you can most likely hook up your own grid-tied PV system in a couple of days. Second, if you can install them yourself and follow some basic rules of frugality outlined below, nearly everybody in the lower 48 can make a home, grid-tied PV (photovoltaic) system pay for itself in 3½ to 7 years.

My philosophy behind having a grid-tied PV system is this: for now, we want  inexpensive electricity and something simple to get us started in solar energy and, in the event of TEOTWAWKI, we want to be able to have the ability to convert our system over to something that will at least charge some batteries to provide lighting for our post-SHTF life, and hopefully much more than that. We are not trying to save the planet so let’s avoid that topic in the comments section please. (Note on EMP/Carrington Event later.)Continue reading“PV Solar Panels Can Pay For Themselves, by St. Funogas”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on the release of Todd Engel.   (See the Idaho section.)

Idaho

First and foremost, there is this update, over at Redoubt News: Exclusive: Welcome Home Todd Engel!

(The photo of Todd Engel and Rep. Heather Scott at the top of this column is courtesy of Redoubt News.)

The editors of Redoubt News note that after four and a half years of wrongful incarceration, Engel is attempting to put his life back together. If you’d like to help him and his family, then please visit the new Engel Family GoFundMe page.

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Median Ada County home sales price passes $400,000 in August thanks to dwindling inventory

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Genesis Arms of Sandpoint, Idaho has introduced a new AR-10 variant in 12 gauge with a 10.5″ barrel and an arm brace. It is classified as a “firearm”–not a shotgun, nor a pistol.  This is the same category as a Remington Tac-14.

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A recent visit to the Seekins Precision web site shows that most of their guns are sold out, but they are taking back-orders.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

Preparedness Notes for Monday — September 28, 2020

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Flash Traffic: Azerbaijan announces military mobilization, declares state of war.  Not to make light of this grave situation, but when I was attending the Military Intelligence school (MIOBC) at Fort Huachuca, we used to make jokes about Armenia and its army.  One of our favorites:  “What is the Armenian national anthem?”  Cher sings it. (And then we’d all sing the chorus.) Here is some news footage.

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Here is a new listing over  SurvivalRealty: Off-Grid Country Home Bordering State Land in Northern Arizona.

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We have resumed taking orders for Elk Creek Company. My #1 Daughter is already busy padding and packing orders, as they come in. But be advised that we won’t begin shipping out most of the orders until Monday, October 5th. (We live at a remote ranch, and don’t get into town often.)

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Today, another product review from our tireless Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio. (Pictured.) He lives in southwestern Oregon.

 

 

Buck Ground Combat Knives, by Pat Cascio

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I’ve had my Buck Knives Ground Combat fixed blade knives for a month and a half now, and wanted to give them a good workout before writing about them. However, this isn’t always the case with many other writers and websites. Many of these writers simply took the Buck press release, that was sent to them – I got it, too – and wrote their articles based on that piece of paper, without ever actually having the knives in-hand to test.

As an aside: One big-name knife company – that I won’t mention by name – once had a new public relations guy, and it was pretty obvious that he was probably fresh out of college. This young man knew just how to do public relations – by the book – not by actually having any hands-on experience. His concept was that writers would do articles on new knives his company was producing, by him simply sending them out a press release and a couple of color slides. Well, that didn’t happen – no one wrote any articles on those knives…it was only a few short months later, when this young man called me – almost begging me – to request some knife samples to write about – he was gone within six months.

To be clear on this, and I’ve mentioned this before, I will never write an article, without having a gun, knife or whatever the product is, without actually having the product in my hands for testing. If a company doesn’t want to send me a sample to use and abuse – to a certain extent – then I’m not interested in writing about their product. It is not fair to our readers, to write-up a review, without actually having hands-on experience with a product.

When I started writing, which has been more than 28 years ago, I took the advice from my long-time friend, and brother in Christ, John Taffin, who is also a gun writer. John told me “never tell lies in your articles, so you don’t have to remember those lies…” And, I’ve lived by that advice. I prefer to report the truth, the facts, my findings, and my opinions. And, don’t ask me what I had for breakfast yesterday – I can’t remember – see, what I’m talking about? It’s easier to report the truth than to make up lies.

Of course, readers can disagree on my findings in my articles, that’s only natural for some folks. That’s okay, I simply report the facts, as I see them, and my opinions, based on a lifetime of being around firearms and cutlery. I used to write for many of the printed gun, knife, and survival magazines – did so for a lot of years, but got sick and tired of spending more time – literally – begging to get paid, than I did testing and writing articles, so I stopped writing for all of them. So now write for SurvivalBlog.com on a regular basis – as a paid freelance writer, and I enjoy the freedom that SurvivalBlog’s Senior Editor, Jim Rawles, gives me to write about just about anything I want.

Back to Buck Knives, and their new Ground Combat fixed blade knives, I first heard about them last December, from my contact at Buck, and she thought they would be a great product for SurvivalBlog readers. I waited anxiously, for the SHOT Show to be over, so I could get my samples – well, it was quite a few weeks after that, before they arrived at my door – although they were well worth the wait. Buck doesn’t come out with a lot of new knives annually. But when they do, I can’t hardly wait for samples to reach me for testing. Buck has been around for more than 100 years. So they are well established as a premier knife making company. On average, a knife has a life span of about three years on the market – that’s not very long, to be sure, after that, the public wants something new and different. However, if you look at some of the cutlery Buck is producing, it has been around 50-60 years – some longer than that, so Buck knows what they are doing.

The Specifications

Buck is producing two different versions of their Ground Combat fixed blade knives, one has a spear point, and the other a tanto point – quite a bit of difference between them. The spear point blade is made out of 5160 carbon steel, where the tanto blade is made out of the same tough steel – very tough steel, to stand up to the rigors you’d use this knife for – be it combat, survival, or just hunting. Both knives have a 5.50-inch blade – I would have loved a blade half an inch longer for hand-to-hand combat, but 5.50-inches will have to suffice. Overall length of both knives is right at 10.75-inches, and the blade thickness is 0.200 inches.Continue reading“Buck Ground Combat Knives, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Brisket With Onion Sauce

The following recipe for Brisket With Onion Sauce is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book will be one of the many bonus items included in the next edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This special 15th Anniversary Edition USB stick should be available for sale in the third week of January, 2021. The 14th Edition sold out quickly, so place a reminder in your calendar, if you want one.

Ingredients
  • 3 pounds beef brisket
  • Soup Greens
  • Cloves
  • Peppercorns
  • Salt
  • 1 egg
  • Breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup green onions
  • 2 tablespoons fat
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 cups beef stock
  • 1 tablespoon minced parsley
Directions
  1. Wipe the meat with a damp cloth.
  2. Tie it into a compact shape with strips of cloth.
  3. Place ii in a deep kettle with boiling water (or part of the stock, if possibie.)
  4. Add a-bunch of soup greens, several cloves, and peppercorns.
  5. Simmer until the meat is tender, add salt when partly cooked.
  6. Take the meat from the liquid.
  7. Remove the cloth, and place meat in a shallow baking-dish.
  8. Beat one egg and spread over the beef.
  9. Sprinkle with coarse crumbs and brown under a flame or in a hot oven.
SERVING

Serve with onion sauce, made as follows: Cut up the onions and brown them in the fat. make a brown sauce of the fat, flour, and stock.

Add the parsley and serve.

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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

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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 prospects for a digital Euro currency and a new Digital Dollar..

Precious Metals:

The past week has been a rollercoaster ride for silver, gold, and platinum. On Monday, September 21st, the price of silver broke down 9%. It got as low $22.55 on September 25th. But this morning it was back up to 23.33. This level of volatility in silver and gold can be frightening. But we need to step back and look at the big picture. Here is some long-term perspective: Golden Bulls: Visualizing the Price of Gold from 1915-2020.

And always remember this: Gold and silver are not becoming “more valuable”.  The “rising price” of commodities merely reflects the U.S. Dollar gradually becoming worthless.

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Is The COMEX Fudging Physical Delivery Data?

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Despite Mint Closures, Silver Bullion Sales Surge Past 2019 Numbers

Economy & Finance:

At Seeking Alpha: Barclays sees valuations at dot-com bubble levels, cuts megacaps

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Martin W. Armstrong: Leaked files Expose $2.7 trillion Money Laundering by Big Banks

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Wolf Street reports: Hit from All Sides, European Bank Stocks Swoon to 1988 Low

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“He Needs Cash”: Ron Perelman’s Leveraged Empire Collapses In A Deluge Of Fire Sales

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”