ETS Magazines, by Pat Cascio

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I’ve said it thousands of times, that when it comes down to firearm magazines, its just hard to beat those that come shipped from the factory with the firearm. Many aftermarket magazines just aren’t up to the quality we would like to have in our guns. You know something isn’t quite right, when the aftermarket mags don’t come in any packaging, and there are no markings on the mags as to what company made them. I won’t mention any particular magazines – aftermarket brands – that are still in business, but there are some big name companies out there, that produce substandard magazines.

I’m sure we’re all heard of Mec-Gar magazines, and to their credit, they produce magazines for more than 50 firearms companies. Just because a magazine that comes with your gun is stamped Colt, S&W, or SIG-Sauer doesn’t mean they actually made those mags. In reality, there’s a good chance they were produced under contract by Mec-Gar. If you are buying a Mec-Gar made magazine, odds are, they are the same magazines that come with your big name gun maker. Gun companies don’t want to be in the magazine business – first of all, they might produce more than a hundred different gun models and that requires a lot of different machines to make all those magazines. So, why not contract out to a company like Mec-Gar? Simply give the specs to Mec-Gar for a particular firearm and Mec-Gar can produce what you need.

Then we have some of those lesser magazine makers, who boast of producing magazines made out of the finest steel, with the strongest springs – if that’s true, then why don’t their magazines work – all the time? Hmmm, something to think about. So, for the most part, I stick with the exact same magazines that come with a gun in the box.Continue reading“ETS Magazines, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Savory Chicken

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The following recipe 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 bonus items in the next edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This 15th Anniversary Edition USB stick should be available for sale in the third week of January, 2021.
Ingredients
    • 1/4 cup butter or butter substitute or other fat
    • 1 tablespoon chopped onlon
    • 1 chopped carrot
    • 1 slice turnip
    • 1/4 cup flour
    • 1 cup water
    • 1-1/2 cup strained tomatoes
    • Salt, pepper and paprika, to taste
    • 1 chicken
    • Salt-pork fat
    • 1 cup button mushrooms
    • 2 tablespoons chopped olives
Directions

Make a savory sauce by melting butter or butter substitute and cooking in it chopped onion, carrot and turnip cut in small pieces. Stir in flour and add gradually boiling water and tomato, previously stewed and strained. Season with salt, pepper and paprika.

Cut up a chicken, dredge with flour, and sauté in salt-pork fat. Remove from the pan, place in a saucepan and cover with the savory sauce. Cook until the chicken is tender. At the last moment, add the mushrooms and chopped olives.

SERVING

Arrange the pieces of chicken in the center of the platter and pour the sauce around them, garnishing with triangles of toast and stuffed olives.

—

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 The Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB).

Precious Metals:

Bank of America: Gold set to hit $3,000 within 18 months

o  o  o

Over at Kitco: Gold prices up as bulls continue to flex their muscles

Economy & Finance:

Brandon Smith: Pandemic And Economic Collapse: The Next 60 Days

o  o  o

Peter sent us this:  3 million Americans are not paying their mortgages right now

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: How Far Will the U.S. Economy Plunge During Lockdown?

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — April 26, 2020

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On April 26, 1986, one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere; at least 31 Soviets died immediately.  I had the misfortune of being down-wind from Chernobyl, since I was TDY that year with the 2nd MI Battalion (Aerial Exploitation), working a live Guardrail intelligence gathering and analysis mission. I was stationed at Stuttgart Army Airfield. That was the operating base for the 2nd MI’s Beechcraft RC-12D (IGR-V) aircraft. By the time that I returned to CONUS on May 22nd, I had undoubtedly absorbed far above normal background radiation.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 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 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 (an $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, which 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 $100 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 88 ends on May 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.

Facing Lockdown in an Apartment – Part 2, by J.F.J.

12

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

Barricade doors and windows with heavy or bulky furniture. Keep the intruders out of your apartment, but do not trust your barricades to stop bullets. Remember that reinforced doors, boarded-up windows, and bookshelves-turned-barricade are for keeping out intruders; they are not for ballistic cover. Building bullet stops for a safe room is not the focus of this article. Please consult the shooting and ballistic experts for advice on that subject. For our purposes, let us turn to the needs of water, food, and fuel.

Water

Unless facing a water outage because of the failure of the municipal water system, continue to use tap water for as long as possible, using decontamination protocols if needed. For example, suppose that the municipal water supply is still operational, but a broken water main results in a boil order for downstream users. Filter and boil (or use chemical or other purification) the tap water for drinking and food preparation to avoid using your emergency water. In some situations, such as impending storms moving toward one’s town, store extra water beforehand in case of utilities outage. Those who have ever lived on a rural or private water system that has failed because storms knocked out the electricity to the neighborhood pumps know to fill up pitchers and the bathtub with water just in case the system goes down.

Even if the municipal water is out, water trapped in the pipes on the apartment floors above yours (if applicable) may run out of your sink or tub taps because of gravity flow. The same applies if your community uses a water tower to create water pressure. If the municipal water is likely to be out for an extended period of time, one can use the water stored in the hot water heater, but with two caveats: first, apartment hot water heater drains may not be easily accessible to tenants; and second, if no pressure exists in the water lines, gravity can force water from the heater back through the cold water lines of the building. (I have had this experience with a house that sat on piers, placing the water heater about three feet above ground level. I later had a plumber install a cutoff valve to keep the tank full so it would not drain back into the cold water pipes.) Continue reading“Facing Lockdown in an Apartment – Part 2, by J.F.J.”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

36

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 the great chicken cull.

Judge Suspends California Ammo Background Check Law

Good news for California gun owners: The onerous state’s ammunition background check law has been temporarily suspended! United States District Roger T. Benitez. wrote: “The experiment has been tried. The casualties have been counted. California’s new ammunition background check law misfires and the Second Amendment rights of California citizens have been gravely injured.”

It is noteworthy that this is the same Judge Benetiz who created California’s “Magazine Freedom Week”, last year. Clearly, he has common sense which is all too uncommon in the Federal courts. So he’s on my hero list.

I strongly recommend that Californians stock up heavily on ammo, while they can!  Notably, Brownells (a SurvivalBlog affiliate advertiser) has announced that they are again shipping ammo to California.  This window of opportunity might be brief, so don’t hesitate!

61,000 Minnesota Chickens Culled

Reader DSV sent this: Egg demand shifted, and 61,000 Minnesota chickens were euthanized

Bankrupt States Now Want a Bailout

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: States Made Risky Bets with Pensions Before Coronavirus. Now They Want a Bailout.

St. Louis COVID Snitches Get Outed

Our own Michael Z. Williamson sent this: COVID-19 snitches in St. Louis were in for a surprise

Coronavirus at Meat Packing Plants

Reader H.L. sent us this: Coronavirus at meat packing plants worse than first thought, USA TODAY investigation finds. A selection from the article:

“More than 150 of America’s largest meat processing plants operate in counties where the rate of coronavirus infection is already among the nation’s highest, based on the media outlets’ analysis of slaughterhouse locations and county-level COVID-19 infection rates.

These facilities represent more than 1 in 3 of the nation’s biggest beef, pork and poultry processing plants. Rates of infection around these plants are higher than those of 75% of other U.S. counties, the analysis found.”Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3: 1-14 (KJV)

 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — April 25, 2020

5

Today is the birthday of physicist, inventor, and entrepreneur Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937). He was known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission as well as for the development of Marconi’s Law and a radio telegraph system. He is often considered the inventor of radio.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 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 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 (an $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, which 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 $100 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 88 ends on May 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.

Facing Lockdown in an Apartment – Part 1, by J.F.J.

23

Having recently moved from a home on a one-acre lot at the edge of the country to an apartment complex on the outskirts of a small town, I have had to change my disaster contingency plans to suit my new environment. Living in an apartment in the suburbs has the advantage of allowing people to have a comfortable environment close to city conveniences and entertainment. However, apartment living has its significant disadvantages when in dire circumstances.

Communications may be cut off if landlines are damaged or cell phone towers are without power. Natural and man-made disasters play havoc with local or regional infrastructure, causing days-long emergencies with storms, floods, utilities outages, and the like, which may be difficult enough to weather even for well-prepared homeowners. Unless you and your family bug-out during a disaster you will be limited to your apartment and its immediate environs and also surrounded by the other tenants whom you may or may not be able to trust.

The basic needs of shelter, water, food, fuel, and security are constant regardless of one’s mode of housing. However, apartment living presents special challenges involving storage space, proximity to others, modifying the rented property, general security, entrance and egress to the property, and resource procurement. While some of these problems are endemic to apartment life, they can be exacerbated by emergencies, especially in true disasters and SHTF situations. Since so many Americans live in apartments in bedroom communities outside larger cities, they are obliged to use city services and conveniences. High-rise apartment dwellers in major metropolitan areas, especially those in government housing projects, face even greater challenges because they may be even more restricted in resources, activities, and space than their suburban counterparts.

Continue reading“Facing Lockdown in an Apartment – Part 1, by J.F.J.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

68

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:

This week I did a lot of fence building, and I have some sore muscles to prove it. I invested a full day to build a new woven wire fence to extend our main garden, (around the Extension Garden) by another 48 feet by 48 feet. I used 10 foot long heavy duty T-posts, making the fence just over 8 feet tall. (That will make it deer and elk proof.) The posts were spaced at 6-foot intervals. I wired up a 7-foot long piece of cattle panel–positioned vertically–to act as the gate. The gate latches were just a couple of eye bolts and a pair of double-ended snap fasteners. (Pictured). As an aside, I should mention that I’ve found umpteen uses for those, so several years ago I bought a quart-size yogurt container full of them, when once found them deeply discounted at a ranch supply store. I still have about half of them left. For gates, I’ve often found that “Simpler is Better” — especially in snow country. Building a minimalist gate doesn’t create a horizontal surface for the snow to pile on, nor a wide base to be impeded by un-compacted snow. Yet this new welded wire gate is plenty wide to allow someone with a wheelbarrow or rototiller to pass though. Anything larger can just enter from the main portion of the garden, since I’ve already taken down a 48-foot section of fence.

At Lily’s request, I also got some unused Langstroth bee hive boxes and supers from storage in JASBORR. We have two swarms of Italian bees scheduled to arrive at our local farm and ranch store, next week. (I paid for them in advance, back in January.) I constructed a stout platform for the hives in the annex garden, where hopefully the hives will be safe from any interloping bears. The platform project took less than an hour. Rather than getting fancy with carpentry, I just made the platform out of four fir rounds that were about 15 inches in diameter and 18 inches long. I simply set those on-end, and topped them with a heavy duty wood pallet, and then a piece of scrap plywood. Again, “Simpler is Better.” Or, as we used to say in the Army:  “Better is the  enemy of Good Enough.” This platform didn’t need to be fancy, just sturdy. And as long as I’m quoting aphorisms, I should mention that my father was fond of saying:  “Ranching isn’t a beauty contest.”

Later in the week, I constructed yet another garden fence for the Shed plot. It measures just 24 feet x 48 feet. This one was built with T-posts (at 8 foot intervals) and cattle panels.  Since it already had a solar electric fence charger mounted nearby, I made this fence just 5 feet tall. The plan is to run a hot wire on top. The deer might just laugh at that, or perhaps not. We’ll see…

Now, on to Lily’s much more interesting and detailed part of the column.

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.

The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.

He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.

The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.

Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.

The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.

He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth.” – Proverbs 10: 1-17 (KJV)

 

Preparedness Notes for Friday — April 24, 2020

April 24th is the birthday of Carolyn Cole (born 1961), a well-known staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times, and long-time friend of the Rawles family.

This is also the day that the Armenian Genocide began, in 1915. Ottoman (Turk) Muslims slaughtered 1.5 million of their Christian neighbors, intellectuals, and community leaders. The Ottoman government proceeded with multiple phases to round up men in mass executions and drive women and children into the desert on death marches. They also led the general Muslim citizens to participate in brutal periodic massacres within their communities signaled with the blow of a bugle. It is one of the first modern genocides and serves as a warning for us today.  There are chilling accounts contained in Islam scholar Andrew Bostom’s book, The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War And the Fate of Non-Muslims

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 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 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 (an $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, which 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 $100 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 88 ends on May 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.

How To Zero Your Preps, by G.W.D.

22

I’m sure by now most readers have had the opportunity to zero their rifle(s). (If you haven’t, please stop reading and do so now) When doing so, one of the first questions one must answer is, ”At what range should I zero?” Typically, we don’t know exactly at what range we will use our rifle, but we decide where to zero it based on two things, 1) What is the range of distances we want to be effective?, and 2) how far can we miss and still be effective? The answers to these two questions allow us to make some decisions about at what range we should zero our rifles. (Hang in there with me while I shift gears…)

Because her college campus (Hillsdale College) is closed presently, my oldest daughter is home and we have had some great discussions., recently. This morning we discussed an essay that she had recently written, where the topic was to compare and contrast how well certain virtues or abilities contribute to success during times of war versus times of peace. Her response essay included how society views preppers during times of normalcy versus times of uncertainty (i.e. coronavirus), and how the actions of preppers might seem strange or paranoid during regular times, but make a lot of sense during the times we are currently living through.

Without going into the weeds of our discussion, our takeaway was that we cannot only focus too far down the road for uncertainties, nor can we focus only on the present. It struck me that living a life of preparedness is not unlike choosing the sighting range for your rifle, we must decide how far down the road do we plan while also being effective in the short range. Regardless of the distance at which you zero, each comes with its own benefits and compromises.

As a husband and father of two sons and two daughters, each day I am faced with being both present in their lives, while leading us all as we prepare for our futures. It is a constant challenge to know how much energy I devote to the present vs. the future (and how far downrange). And arguably more important, how do I presently prepare my children to live in a way that prepares themselves for their own futures as adults, spouses, and parents. It has been a challenge to discern how far down the rabbit hole to take them in imagining what their future might hold. I don’t have the answer and I’m not sure I’ve done a stellar job, but time will tell.

At least as long as I can remember, I’ve been one that tends to focus on the future and at times, at the expense of the present. Being much more relational, my wife is quite the opposite and will often put the present needs of others before her own. I love her for this trait, as it is a gift I lack. Perhaps that may be one or two readers who can relate? For those of us who can see down the road farther, we must not lose sight of those in our midst that there is merit and value in their way also, the joy of living fully in the moment with others, taking the time to stop and enjoy the beauty of the moment and be in relationship. I have missed a lot of those “present” opportunities as I have prepared for their futures.

So, how then shall we live? This time of self-isolation has been one of growth and re-connection, for which I am grateful. It has opened my family’s eyes to what the world can and has become and has provided the context to have healthy discussions that might have been too forced before now. Rather than it being an opportunity to “be right”, it’s better for it to be a time to discuss honestly about the gaps in our preps so we can all work towards filling those gaps, whether it be through simple hard work or seeking alternatives. In a way, the lack of social distractions has allowed us to reconnect in ways that we have been unable to do before. For these things, I am grateful.

As we think about the future of our society and world, I think each of us has an idea of how this thing pans out, but no one knows 100%. I surely don’t, but I for one want to leverage this time, whether it be over in a few months (I very strongly doubt the economy or our constitutional republic will simply bounce back) or we continue the descent. But regardless of how it goes down, we should all take this time to leverage it to the best of our abilities. Here are some of my thoughts on how I (and perhaps you) might grow in this time:

  • Recalibrate with your family. If you’re shooting too high, adjust so you can meet them where they are. Encourage them with thought provoking discussions about where things are heading. Listen to their struggles and share yours humbly. I have found that humbly sharing a struggle connects in a way nothing else will.
  • Got food storage? We’ve had ours for 10 years and I wasn’t really sure if it was still any good, or if we could even cook a meal with it. Having just cracked into it, it has been fun to explore what life with food storage is like. It has had its challenges, but we’ve seen it as an opportunity to use some of it up while getting a better feel for what that might look like if stores closed. As a side note, I’ve been getting back into sourdough and it has been a great way to get the family on board with food storage, with fresh sourdough waffles or pancakes or muffins every morning.
  • Projects. We live on an old dairy that has a never ending list of projects to keep us out of trouble (and during bad weather, in trouble). I’ve taken this time to double down on some long overdue projects, while working along side my son who is learning a whole new set of skills. Some recent projects include: A new batch of chicks (egg layers), preparing for meat hens coming in a few weeks, structural reinforcements on the old barn, cleanup around the property, generator wiring, etc.
  • Organizing. I’ve had a bad habit of collecting preps with the thought that I’ll organize it all later. Well, now is that “later”. It does you no good to have something if you can’t actually find it. Have you ever needed to find a tool, and can’t find it because you keep them in five different places? I’ve decided that I’d rather have just one place and have to walk further, than to try to remember all the different places I’ve stashed things so I’d save the walk. I recently built a high hanging rack for yard tools and once I collected all the tools from around the property, I discovered we have enough yard tools for three ranches.
  • Honing skills. This is the corollary to organizing. Collecting preps without using them is not a good long term strategy. Maybe there’s some logic in the short run if we can’t get stuff, but now that I have the time, I need to start executing on some of these long range plans. Cooking out of home storage is one of my skills that we are actively working on.
  • Stewardship. Whether we think we have it good or we think we have it bad, we are all given something for which we are held accountable. I’ve told my kids countless times (you can ask them), that I’ve said: “It’s not about the hand you’re dealt, its about how you play the hand you’re dealt”. In a poker tournament, everyone is given the same number of chips, and every player gets good hands and bad hands. The player’s success comes not with getting good hands, but how they play both their good hands and their bad hands. We should treat each day as a gift and use it wisely, especially during this time. Don’t waste it.
  • Happiness. My grandmother was born in a sod house in Broken Bow, Nebraska and was the eleventh of twelve children. She lived through the Great Depression picking cotton across the south while married to an abusive alcoholic twenty years her senior. Turns out, she was just about the happiest person I have ever known, even though she had more to be unhappy about than most everyone. She would often say, “Happiness is just a decision.” During these times, we can choose to be unhappy or we can choose to be happy. It truly is just a decision.
  • Spiritual Growth. Listed last, but first in importance. If you don’t have a daily time in the Bible, then this is the time to start. And if you do, but don’t have regular times of connecting with your family spiritually, today is the day. I have found that my kids are shaken by this crisis and confused about the future of the world they thought they understood. We have had some great times of discussion and realization that we don’t know the future and the things of this world are truly uncertain. But there truly is a peace that comes when we know that there is no hope in this world, but that the only true hope comes from God above and that he is our provider. He gives us a brain and a back and hands to work with, but He is truly our provider.

Wishing you all the best.

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 the huge fallout over the WTI Crude oil futures market going negative.

Precious Metals:

Gold, silver prices sharply down as buyers spooked by crude oil

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Gold supply “decimated”; what will a recovery look like? – Perth Mint

Economy & Finance:

At Zero Hedge: Fed’s National Activity Index Crashes Into Deep Recession Territory

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CLOs Face “Extinction Level Event” As Moodys Prepares To Downgrade A Fifth Of All CLO Bonds

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Von Greyerz: A Hyperinflationary Depression Has Always Been The Inevitable Endgame

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At Wolf Street: Munger: “Nobody Knows What’s Going to Happen.” And This Time, Berkshire Is Not Piling into Stocks & Companies

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”