Be Ready For Infrastructure Collapse – Part 2, by J330

62

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

—

I also want to leave you with one example of the scenario that I fear the most happening in my localized area. Let’s just say that there was a 7.0 or higher earthquake on the New Madrid Faultline. (I am in an adjacent state that would be affected, per the research by experts.) I ask readers to ponder the following situation:

Powerlines are down in the majority of 3-4 states. Underground power lines could be disrupted. Substations could be damaged. Supposing that parts vendors have enough inventory ready to go, are the interstate highways intact to get them delivered? Is fuel available to run trucking lines? I’ve seen tornado damage in my area take weeks to be repaired enough to get power back online, from a storm that only damaged a few square miles. If the gas stations have gas, they don’t have power to pump it or to process your credit/debit card transaction. The scope of earthquake damage would be much worse.

Also, most of the waterlines in the ground will be broken. My small local water system has around 200 miles of PVC water mains in the ground. These range in size from 2 inch to 10 inch diameters that are usually installed in 20 feet joints. Maybe some could be saved and reused if they are slip jointed, but certainly not all. We have four elevated water tanks that will possibly be lying on the ground, emptied of over half a million gallons of water, so what mains that are left intact will be empty. Not to mention that our water supplier, the treatment plant that provides potable water to us and several other systems, affecting hundreds of thousands of customers, is in the same shape we are.

Can we get the pipe we need to rebuild the system? Will the electrical grid be up to run the pumps to get the water from our supplier if we do? Will our supplier even be able to treat the water safely to furnish us water when we can get back up and running? And guess what, the service lines from our meter to your house could be broken too. Good luck finding the pipe and supplies to fix your side.

Gas mains could be broken underground too. The fires that could result from damaged gas supply lines will be hard to put out without water in the mains. I don’t know very much about the natural gas industry, but I assume that it is somewhat dependent on electricity for distribution.

The Mississippi River ran backward and flooded a large area in 1811-1812. I don’t even know where to start to detail the consequences of that happening again. But I know that the area affected the last time is now densely populated and heavily industrialized. Besides the horrors of lives lost, and homes and businesses destroyed, there will be no guarantee that public utilities will be restored within the normal parameters of time that they have become operable in the past. The ramifications of that one possible event are terrifying to me personally, but any scenario in which the electricity grid as we know it collapsing could have catastrophic results. I realize that an earthquake may not cripple the entire country, and there are other situations that could, such as an EMP, a nuclear event, or another country attacking our country’s grid.Continue reading“Be Ready For Infrastructure Collapse – Part 2, by J330”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

95

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. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

On Thursday, I did some on-site consulting with a client with an off-grid retreat on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. I’m now en route, returning to the ranch. Today, I have a full day of consulting planned with another client. We are meeting in a small town on the east shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

We are again taking orders at Elk Creek Company. Thanks for your patience.  With both the election looming and early Christmas shopping, I expect to sell out most of my antique guns by early November. If you want to buy one, then order it soon!

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee.

Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.

For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.

My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.

By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.

I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.

I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.

For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.

Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.

My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.

But thou, O Lord, shall endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.

Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.

For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.

So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.

He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.

This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth;

To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;

To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;

When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.

He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.

I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.

Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:

But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.” – Psalm 102 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — October 2, 2020

9

Today marks the birthday of Mohandes Gandhi (1869–1948). Ben Kingsley did a great job of portraying him in the award-winning movie Gandhi.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present the first entry for Round 91 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 91 ends on November 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.

 

Be Ready For Infrastructure Collapse – Part 1, by J330

70

I feel a pressing need to share with you some things I have learned about the industry in which I am employed.

I am very blessed to have grown up on a working farm in a close-knit rural community in the south. I come from a long line of vegetable gardeners, lunchroom ladies and short-order cooks, and the main order of business has always been to get food on the table and all that this entails. I still live on the same 100-acre property that I grew up on. We grow chickens, pigs, cattle, hay and vegetables. We have abundant wildlife, wooded mountain acreage, a fruit orchard and wild blackberries. The property has three ponds, a natural spring, and a well.

My husband is a jack of all trades and always seems to know how to make anything useful and efficient with a little welding and mechanic work. We are financially stable enough to have food stocks, medicine and seeds stored away. I have like-minded able-bodied friends and family. I feel somewhat secure that I can feed my family as long as I still have control over my own land. If I don’t, then my family and I are already dead anyway. Bugging out has never been an option that I could live with. I know I am in a much better place and position than most. I never had a huge realization (like some of the writers that I enjoy reading on this blog) that I needed to be prepared, it was just always there, a normal way of life.

I work part-time at a small local utility. I mainly answer the office phone, file paperwork, and take payments. The utility provides water to less than 2,500 customers. It is an easy job with excellent benefits and I am very thankful to have it.

I am, however, often dismayed at the instability of the utility structures in the area that I live in. I am not knowledgeable enough about the electric and natural gas and propane industries enough to discuss much about them, but I will say that the entire industry of utilities is interwoven. The water utility that I work for is extremely reliant on electricity to pump water where we need it to go and to keep wastewater from going where we don’t want it to go. When the power goes out, we go scrambling to find a generator big enough to run the pump station. The office is dead in the water – no phones, no computers, no internet. That means that we can’t effectively communicate with our customers about the status of our system or their individual service connections – both of which are important in an emergency.

Water and Power

I realize that commonsense will tell you all this. But the point I want to emphasize to the general public is that you cannot depend on public utilities at all for being able to quickly operate at normal level during any type of disaster scenario. We often have tornadoes in this area. And because tornadoes are so hit and miss, the chances of everyone being out of power at the same time are pretty low. But we have had some close calls. In one example, the entire area was out of power for two weeks because the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) equipment one hundred miles away was damaged in a tornado and the parts to repair it had to be ordered from another part of the world. How would that turn out now, with Covid-19 having such an effect on international manufacturing and shipping?

Why don’t utilities have adequate generators on hand? And plenty of extra parts and materials stored on site? And extra trained laborers always available to work whenever disaster strikes? An alternate source of water, gas, or power supply in case their primary supplier can’t functionally supply their demand?

These are all good questions. And, as you probably already know, the answer is money. Most utilities are not there to make a profit, only to provide a service to the public. Some utilities are private, some are public corporations owned by members, and some are government entities governed by a city or county. But they almost never actually make a profit. Utilities rely on grants and loans and raising rates on the customers when it becomes necessary to upgrade the system, and sometimes just to make the balance sheet work. Larger utilities probably have better disaster plans in place, but I am only familiar with smaller systems in my area.Continue reading“Be Ready For Infrastructure Collapse – Part 1, by J330”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

17

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 electric cars and car battery metals. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

No Reason To Believe Metals Volatility Is Over

o  o  o

Silver Price Forecast – Silver Markets Continue to Be Very Volatile

Economy, Budgets, & Finance:

39 States Don’t Have Enough Money To Pay Their Bills

o  o  o

Also at Zero Hedge: Budget Office Releases Terrifying Long-Term Debt Forecast. This article begins:

“Back in January, when the CBO presented its latest long-term debt forecast, we – and Albert Edwards – said that this was nothing short of a “ticking timebomb“, one which convinced Albert Edwards shortly after that helicopter money was on its way. Just over a month later, this prediction came true when the Fed unleashed unlimited QE with the explicit intention of monetizing all near-term Treasury issuance in collaboration with the Treasury. The reason: the US economy was about to incur $3 trillion in debt to fund the biggest fiscal stimulus in US history, and much more to come after now that Magic Money Tree has been unleashed on the US with wide segments of the population now expecting Universal Basic Income for the foreseeable future.”

o  o  o

Goldman Expects Treasury Yields To Surge If Democrats Sweep In November

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: Who Got the $33 Billion in Farm Subsidies for the US-China Trade-War and Coronavirus Payments?

o  o  o

Reader H.L. suggested this: The First Casualty of the Fed’s New, Radical Inflation Policy

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — October 1, 2020

6

Happy birthday to singer and actress Julie Andrews (born 1935.) Her name is always associated with The Sound of Music.

—

Naturally Cozy (one of our loyal writing contest prize donors) and Privy Paper will have a booth at the Panhandle Preparedness Expo this weekend at the Bonner County Fairgrounds in Sandpoint, Idaho. (Oct. 3-4, 2020.)  North Idaho Heat will unofficially be there too, if anyone wants to talk stoves.

—

Congratulations to the prize winners in Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog Nonfiction Writing Contest!  Round 91 began today. Please share your knowledge and experience by writing an article and sending it in. Thanks, – JWR

Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced: Round 90

We’ve completed the judging for Round 90 of the bi-monthly SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. It was difficult to judge this particular round because there were so many great articles.  So many, in fact, that I wish that we had five available “top three” prize spots.  I’ve sufficed by awarding an unprecedented 13 Honorable Mention prizes.

The Prize Winners fro Round 90 are:

First Prize:

First Prize is awarded to 2A Advocate, for his article Finishing an 80% AR Lower Receiver. It was posted in three parts on September 18-19-20, 2020. Links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

  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 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 course

Second Prize:

Second Prize is awarded to R., for his article Self-Defense: You Never Know When. It was published on September 23, 2020. He will receive the following prizes:

  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:

Third Prize is awarded to J.M.  for the lengthy article Tactical Technology for TEOTWAWKI which was published in six parts on August 4-9, 2020.  Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. He will receive the following prizes:

  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 the delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Honorable Mention Prizes:

The following 13 articles were awarded Honorable Mention prizes. They will each receive $30 Amazon gift cards:

Round 91 ends on November 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.

JWR’s 20 “S” Strategy for Tangible Investments

24

I was recently asked to reiterate my philosophy on parlaying wealth into tangibles.  I emphasize tangibles in many of my writings because we need to be ready for times of inflation. Yes, inflation is coming.  With multi-trillion dollar bailouts, monetization of the national debt, and chronic Federal over-spending, mass inflation is inevitable.

I must also state that I do not believe in heavily investing or any long-term investment in any “asset” that is just a piece of paper, a string of digits on a hard drive, or other abstractions that are mere promises. Promises and kind words don’t shelter and feed your family.

Our only genuine safety is putting the majority of our wealth in the form of practical tangibles. You may ask: Which tangibles? That can be pithily encapsulated in what I’ve just dubbed The Twenty “S” Investments Strategy:

  1. Safe to drink water, from a year-round source,
  2. Storage Food — several years for your family,
  3. Shelter (a defendable house, preferably with a bunker/vault),
  4. Soil (preferably 5+ acres of rich soil, in the hinterlands),
  5. Semi-Auto battle rifles,
  6. Shotshells and cartridges–in quantity,
  7. Semi-auto pistols in common calibers,
  8. Shotguns in 12 gauge, 20 gauge, and .410,
  9. Scoped bolt-action rifles in common calibers,
  10. Standard capacity magazines for your guns,
  11. Serviceable Pre-1899 guns,
  12. Scopes and night vision optics,
  13. Silver coins,
  14. Snap-On and other brands of high quality, precise, and durable tools,
  15. Slabbed numismatic coins (AU50 to MS60 grades),
  16. Sheep and other livestock,
  17. Seeds (preferably non-hybrid),
  18. Standing timber,
  19. Swiss watches, and
  20. Sixties classic cars and trucks.

That list is organized roughly in order of importance. But the single largest “S” investment for most of us will be soil–namely the real estate of our primary residences.  Choose where you buy your land wisely.  Personally, soil represents more than 75% of my net worth. I placed a priority on owning my ranch debt-free. It took a few years, but I now own the Rawles Ranch free and clear. I sleep well at night, knowing that.

You’ve surely noticed that I’ve waxed into alliteration, so the preceding list may sound a bit trite. But this 20 “S” strategy has some ground truth for you — at least as I see it.

You will also note that eight of these 20 “S” tangibles are firearms-related. That was no accident. Your guns are the insurance policy on your other tangible preparations and investments. This is analogous to how the Second Amendment is the insurance policy for the rest of the Bill of Rights.

I hope that you find this list useful.  I look forward to your comments. – JWR

September 2020 in Precious Metals, by Stephen Cochran

6

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

25

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

14

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…

—

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!  🙂

—

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

—

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

29

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”