SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: 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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M. in The Redoubt wrote to ask:

JWR, 

Do you think the benefits of owning a [registered] suppressor (flash signature and sound reduction) outweigh the increased exposure of being on the ATF registry?

 

JWR Replies:
In the present-day political climate, I would advise against it.  The high profile outweighs the potential benefits.  If you want to shoot quietly, then buy a .22 bolt action or pump action with a fairly long barrel (20″+) and feed it with .22 Short or .22 CB Cap cartridges. For example, Rossi makes pump action clones of the venerable Winchester Model 62 that will reliably shoot Short, Long ,or Long Rifle cartridges from a tubular magazine in pump repeater mode. It can also be used to fire CB Caps in sngle-shot mode, fairly rapidly.

o  o  o

Daniel Beach, the proprietor of Hammers4Hunting.com,  has written a very detailed essay, titled: The Scout Rifle Has Run It’s Course.  He makes a good case for using traditional receiver-mounted LVPO scopes instead of forward “Scout” mounts on bolt action rifles. I highly recommend  reading the article.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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 recent Wyoming snowstorm. (See the Wyoming section.)

Idaho

Video: Elderly Couple, Dogs Rescued from Pickup Dangling over Idaho Gorge. (A hat tip to H.L. for the link.)
o  o  o

Idaho concealed carry bill advances; would allow some school staff to be armed at work without permission.

o  o  o

Over at Good Simple Living; First Walls Go Up On Our DIY Home Build | Building Our Home In The Mountains

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The State obtains its revenue by coercion, by threatening dire penalties should the income not be forthcoming. That coercion is known as “taxation,” although in less regularized epochs it was often known as ‘tribute.’
Taxation is theft, purely and simply even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State’s inhabitants, or subjects.” – Murray Rothbard

Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 22, 2021

This is the birthday of Louis L’Amour. (Born 1908, died 1988.) Some of his novels have survival themes. One of particular interest to survivalists is Last of the Breed.

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Today we’re posting a review written by our resourceful Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.

SIG P239 9 TAC, by Pat Cascio

Anyone who is the least bit familiar with the SIG-Sauer line of handguns, knows that they are outstanding firearms, and in demand. The only downside to this is that all SIG firearms are expensive. They are now made in the USA – thankfully – before that, they were made in Germany, and there was a big price to pay for those guns – with import fees, currency exchange rates, and taxes. Now made in the USA, the price came down quite a bit, but they are still expensive. Keep in-mind that you usually get what you pay for, and SIG firearms are precision tools – they are “that” good.

The SIG P239 9 TAC model was a very limited run. The entire line was made from 1996 until 2018 and then discontinued for a number of reasons. Last time I checked, the only P239 9 TAC model was selling for close to $1,100. The standard (used) P239 in 9mm is selling for about $700 if you can find one. SIG jumped in on the concealed carry craze a little bit too late, with this design and with a “dated” design if you ask me. Nothing wrong with the P239 at all. Just that it was – and is – a bit too big for its intended purpose. The US Navy SEALs often carried the P239 in 9mm when operating in plain clothes. So, you know what a great gun it is.Continue reading“SIG P239 9 TAC, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Chicken & Ham Sandwiches

The following recipe for Chicken & Ham Sandwiches 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 is one of the many bonus items included in the latest edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This 15th Anniversary Edition (2005-2020) USB stick has sold out, but another small batch should be available in a month.

Ingredients
  • 1 cup cooked chicken meat
  • 1/4 cup cooked ham
  • 1/2 cup celery
  • Mayonnaise
  • Butter
  • Lettuce
Directions
  1. Mix chicken, ham and celery, all finely ground.
  2. Moisten with mayonnaise.
  3. Toast the bread.
  4. Spread between iettuce leaves on thinly buttered toast.

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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

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 current high price of reloading primers. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Here is a set of gold-to-silver ratio charts that is instructive.  JWR’s Comment: Keep in mind that the long-term trend can only head in one direction, since silver is being gradually consumed, whereas most scrap gold is recovered. I expect a gold-to-silver ratio closer to 20-to-1 within 15 years.

o  o  o

Top 10 largest gold mining companies in 2020 – report

Economy & Finance:

Half Of Americans Have Lost Income Since Start Of Pandemic, While 16% Increased Earnings

o  o  o

At Zero Hedge: RV Boom Rolls Into 2021 With Record-Breaking Sales Expected

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: Long Way to “Normalcy”: When Will Americans Return to Flying for Vacation and Business?
Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster.” – Ludwig von Mises

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 21, 2021

March 21st, 1778: Just three days after Hessian mercenary forces assaulted the local New Jersey militia at Quinton’s Bridge, the same contingent surprised the colonial militia at Hancock’s Bridge, five miles from Salem. In what became known as the Massacre at Hancock’s Bridge, at least 20 members of the militia lost their lives, some after attempting to surrender. The Loyalists reputedly exclaimed “Spare no one! Give no quarter!” as they stormed the occupied house. Judge Hancock and his brother (both Loyalists) were bayoneted in the melee by the attackers even though they were both staunch supporters of the crown and were themselves non-violent Quakers.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 93 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. 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.
  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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. 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 93 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.

 

A Prepping Change: My Move to New Mexico, by M.J.

I recently moved from Southern California to New Mexico because I requested a transfer to my employer’s office out there. I lived most of my life in Southern California; please feel free to read my 2019 SurvivalBlog article about prepping there.

The road trip was long, but interesting. I drove through the beautiful desolation of the Mojave Desert on I-40. I saw vistas worthy of any Louis L’Amour novel. There weren’t many passenger vehicles like mine; most of the vehicles were trucks. After the Mojave, night fell and I was rolling through the Kaibab National Forest. I caught a glimpse of a man walking by himself on the shoulder of I-40. (Also seen on the way: a large billboard saying: “Navajos For Trump!”)
I stayed the night in a town in Arizona, and then went on to New Mexico.

My 22-year-old Toyota Camry performed beautifully. I’d had it serviced before the trip. There I was with the cruise control set for 80 miles per hour on level ground, engine at a constant 3,000 RPM, and the engine temperature was astonishingly low. This is not something you see in the speed up/slow down/crawl driving environment of Southern California. The old girl has over 180,000 miles on her, but I won’t trade her for anything. They’ll pry the steering wheel from my cold, dead hands! The road trip put about 800 miles on the car. I just recently learned that I can work from home most of the time. When I am needed, the commute will be only about 15 minutes – a lot less than my Southern California commute!

I couldn’t fit everything in my car, so I used a moving pod service. I won’t do that again. It’s annoying to be without a lot of my stuff for three weeks, especially my bicycle (EMP-proof transportation!), my kitchen equipment, most of my shoes, and various other prepping items such as my toolbox, my measuring tape, my household battery charger, and my rollable solar panels. Next time I’ll rent a moving van and drive it myself; the only disadvantage of that is that I would have to get my car separately, or tow it.

When I wrote my previous article, I was the caretaker of my parents’ home. I had a garden, a compost bin, rain barrels, a fireplace, a charcoal barbecue, and lots of storage space for prepping items. I had a sundeck for using my solar oven. I used the house fireplace for destroying sensitive documents and other combustible waste such as used napkins, and then after two days to be sure it was cool, I put the ash in my compost bin.

Having an apartment, even a nice one like mine, is a major downgrade of my ability to prep. I have a balcony, but it faces north, so I can’t use my solar oven unless I go to the courtyard swimming pool. (However, a north-facing apartment might mean less use of expensive electricity to cool the apartment during the summer.) Store-bought vegetables just aren’t the same as home-grown vegetables. I hate having to waste compostable items by throwing them in the trash. No charcoal barbecue or fireplace; I have to hope that the grid stays up so that I can cook. Another thing that troubles me is the powered parking lot gate. While this is in place to keep out unauthorized vehicles, I can’t help but wonder what I am supposed to do if I (or everybody) must evacuate the apartment complex during a power failure.Continue reading“A Prepping Change: My Move to New Mexico, by M.J.”

Some SurvivalBlog Archive USB Stick Glitches (Mea Culpa)

The 2005-2020 SurvivalBlog archive stick has a couple of issues that have been noticed by customers. Primarily, the issues are with the bonus material included.

1) The “Food” Category has been mistakenly directed to the Firearms category and since this archive is pulled directly from the website, the resulting bonus books that would normally be found in that category are just missing. Because of the way the archive is built, there is no way to reliably send out a fix for that issue so they just are not there. If you have an earlier year archive, you can access those books from that archive, but sadly, there is no way we can place them on this year’s archive. We will repair that error on next year’s archive.

2) Some of this year’s new bonus books are very large and hence unable to be opened by users. We knew this was an issue when we released the archive, but the decision was made by JWR to include them anyway, because many users can open them. The specific problem is that they are scans of actual books and the files are literally much bigger than a normal pdf would be. Some may also show up as “corrupted” due to the large size. (But those are in fact not corrupted files.) We have been able to open all of the files on our laptop computers within about 30 seconds, but there are some customers (mostly those with older computers) who can’t. These files are too large to enable posting replacement files online and that wouldn’t fix the problem anyway. If you have problems opening those files, then you need to find a computer with more resources. Make sure that your computer in not running any other processor-intensive applications when you attempt to open the bonus files.

The archive contains a “data” directory that has all of the files in it. This directory contains over 90,000 files and some older computers will be unable to access it directly. The archive is designed to be used just like you would browse the actual web site. Open the “index.html” file that is in the top directory and it will take you to the first page of the blog. Then use the small calendar at the top of the right hand column to navigate to the specific year/month/date that you want to view. Alternatively, you can use the “Archive” menu item in the right-hand column to bring up a year/month map for faster access to a specific year and/or month and then use the small calendar to access the specific date you want.

Also note that there is no “search” function on the archive. The online web site search is driven by our server and since this archive has to work on many different operating systems, there isn’t an easy way to include a search function directly on it. You can use your computer’s search function to search within the data directory if you want, but you will need a fairly powerful computer to do that. You can also open PDFs and then use the PDF search feature to look for key words. it is

Our apologies for any inconvenience.  With an archive this vast — more than 90,000 items — it is difficult to create an offline archive that functions smoothly on multiple platforms of various vintages.  – JWR & HJL

Movie Review: Mr. Jones, by Large Marge

I visit elderly shut-ins.  Yesterday, instead of us puttering in her garden, one old gal that I visit insisted we spectate at television programming. She wanted to watch a 2019 movie from Poland called Mr. Jones.

Although filmed in Poland and crewed by Poles, this award-winning movie is in English.
Sub-titles are available for hard-of-hearing folks.
The script, acting, costumes, sets, and production values are equal or better than anything from ‘major Hollywood* studios’.
Based on historical events, I strongly recommend it, and yet… I hesitate to recommend it.
Although well-made, several minutes of this were very difficult for me to watch.
Set in the early-1930s, Mr. Jones covers a few years of a bright-eyed Welsh cub-reporter.
His specialty is the old Russia and the new ‘Soviet Union’. Knowing the Bolshevik thugs are flat-broke after burning through the Czar’s treasury with their extravagant self-indulgences, our protagonist questions the Bolshevik’s financial resources to build hundreds of new factories to produce millions of tons of war-making equipment such as bombers and tanks.
Sometime around 1931, Jones travels from England to Moscow in hopes of interviewing Stalin.
In Moscow, he discovers all foreign reporters are housed in all-expenses-paid extravagant decadence in the swankiest hotel in all the land. The reporters receive enormous stipends from the Soviet bureaucrats/thugs, and are furnished massive amounts of drugs and prostitutes to indulge as they wish. Grand restaurants are included in their ‘all-you-can-eat’ easy posting.
As you might imagine, this pay-and-play influences the articles and columns they wire home to their employing newspapers.
The result?
None of their governments — British, American, Japan, Australian, German, and globally — have any accurate information about the intentions/abilities of the Bolshevik bureaucrats/thugs.

Continue reading“Movie Review: Mr. Jones, by Large Marge”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.

And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.

But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.

Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.” – Galatians 4: 9-23 KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — March 20, 2021

March 20th is the birthday of Mel Tappan. (Born 1933, died 1980.) His perennially popular survivalist books Survival Guns and Tappan on Survival have a well-deserved following. In his honor, I designated March 20th National Survivalism Day, in his honor. This year marks the 41st anniversary of his untimely death. It is also apropos that National Survivalism Day falls in March–one of the months that both Northern Europeans and Native Americans refer to as The Starving Season–when stored food runs low, but before spring bounty appears. Plan ahead. Stock up. Don’t starve. I’m sure that Mel Tappan would approve.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 93 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. 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.
  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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. 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 93 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.