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 recent Rock Island gun auction. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold, silver prices see safe-haven demand on global economic worries.

o  o  o

Gold nears 7-year peak on virus economic impact; palladium hits record. A little snippet:

“Elsewhere, palladium scaled a record high of $2,841.54 an ounce and was last up 5.2% at $2,771.77.”

o  o  o

Why silver prices may climb to their highest yearly average since 2014

Economy & Finance:

At Zero Hedge: The Global Supply & Demand Shock Of The Coronavirus. (Thanks to H.L. for the link.)

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CNBC: There’s now a record number of 401(k) and IRA millionaires, according to Fidelity

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Something over at Wolf Street to file under “I told you so…”:  Coronavirus Slams Airbnb, Airlines, Hotels, Casinos, San Francisco, Other Hot Spots

o  o  o

Dominos Are Falling – China Shutdown To Crush India’s Already-Crumbling Economy

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — February 20, 2020

This is the birthday of novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson (1926–2013). He wrote many sci-fi television scripts. His novella I Am Legend later was adapted into three different movies over the course of five decades, and his story Bid Time Return became the charming movie Somewhere In Time.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of 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 $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. 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 87 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.

Prepping at the Dollar Store, by Ani

40

Editor’s Note: Coincidentally, I received two very similar articles from readers in two states, in the same month. But because they have different perspectives, I’ve decided to post both of them. (The other one was posted yesterday.)

—

With a lot of attention being paid in the past few weeks to the spread of the novel coronavirus in China and the potential but still unknown ramifications for both the health and economy of other countries. preparedness has been getting some attention. While many of us who have been avidly following the news on this virus are experienced preppers, there are many who are new to it. Some may have already done some prepping but are still lacking in supplies for many reasons(divorce, illness, job loss, relocation, etc). Some may be thinking that perhaps they should try to stock up on some stuff “just in case” they were to experience a “lockdown” as in China due to the pandemic spread of this virus or perhaps economic distress due to the disruption of the global economy. The possibility of experiencing a run on supplies as happens before hurricanes and other natural disasters can’t be underestimated. Although things appear to be pretty calm at present in the US(other than sporadic runs on face masks) one never knows what will happen. It could only take a local outbreak in an area such as NYC to raise the panic level here.

Reading some prepping web sites and articles could make a person give up in despair. So many people are just getting by without much in the way of income beyond meeting their basic needs. Some are on fixed incomes such as Social Security or Disability payments. They look at the web sites advertising freeze-dried #10 cans of meals, emergency generators and all sorts of prepper “gear” and they feel it is hopeless. What I’d like to do here is to point out all of the affordable stuff you can buy locally that will help with your prepping that is available to anyone who can come up with an extra $10 or $20 to spend on products that they will eventually use, whether during a disaster scenario, an extended economic downturn or just day to day living.Continue reading“Prepping at the Dollar Store, by Ani”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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

How Long Do Coronaviruses Survive on Surfaces?

Reader A.D. sent us this from MedicalNewsToday: Coronaviruses: How long can they survive on surfaces? Here is a key quote:

“The authors show that, depending on the material and the conditions, human coronaviruses can remain infectious from 2 hours to 9 days.

At temperatures of around 4°C or 39.2oF, certain versions of the coronavirus could remain viable for up to 28 days. At temperatures of 30–40°C (86–104°F), coronaviruses tended to persist for a shorter time.

At room temperature, a coronavirus responsible for the common cold (HCoV-229E) persisted significantly longer in 50% humidity than 30% humidity. Overall, the authors conclude:

“Human coronaviruses can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces at room temperature for up to 9 days. At a temperature of 30°C [86°F] or more, the duration of persistence is shorter. Veterinary coronaviruses have been shown to persist even longer for 28 d[ays].”

Patriot Nurse: Avoiding the Coronavirus

Avoiding the Coronavirus.

Chinese is Scrubbing Their Currency

Reader DSV spotted this: Cashless Agenda? China Is Scrubbing Cash Notes To Stop Virus Spreading So Its Paper Money Won’t Kill You

Supply Chain Chaos Unfolds at Major Chinese Ports

Reader C.M. sent this: Supply Chain Chaos Unfolds At Major Chinese Ports As Frozen Meat Containers Pile UpContinue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — February 19, 2020

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Avalanche Lily recently had her Mac laptop fail unexpectedly. The motherboard is history. So she is now experiencing connectivity withdrawal symptoms. This hardware failure came at a bad time for us, because I had just recently bought eleven guns for the Elk Creek Company inventory, so our cash is tight. So, to quickly generate some cash to buy her a new laptop, I’ve just put 20 long guns and 10 handguns ON SALE. They are discounted between 15% and 25% each. I’m hoping that at least three or four of those will sell. This special sale will end on Friday evening. (February 21, 2020.) Please take a look and see if any of these guns interest you. The discounted guns will each have the notation: “For Lily’s New Laptop...” Note that no FFL is required for pre-1899 antique gun shipments, to most states.  Many Thanks!  – JWR

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of 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 $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. 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 87 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 Dollar Store Prepping Expedition, by T. Lee

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Editor’s Note: Coincidentally, I received two very similar articles about dollar store shopping from writers in two states in the same week. But because they have different perspectives, I’ve decided to post both of them. The other one will be posted tomorrow.

—

I’m here visiting our oldest son in New York City, always an eye opening experience. After church, several of his friends have asked how to get started on building an everyday carry (EDC) bag after seeing our day bags. However, after seeing their respective apartments, we decided to start more basic (understanding we are teaching a few concepts that may be equally applicable to items within a starter level EDC bag or shelter-in-place plan). Think “just moved-into-their-first-apartment-out-of-college-basic” in terms of the problem we are trying to solve. They can build their full kit EDC bag after they prepare for the basics of shelter-in-place in the big city so to speak. To have some fun, we decided to host a grand tour of the dollar store to simply walk around with my oldest son and a few of his friends to point out items that would cost $1.00 at the Dollar Tree.

I was hoping to spark an interest in prepping with these city folks (ages 23-28) and get them thinking about how to prepare while understanding that you don’t have to spend a tremendous amount of money to make progress.   Not able to have a full game plan but the first few steps on that metaphorical long journey. On the actual physical walk over, my husband shared a 3×3 grid of probability and impact – probability marked as Low, Medium and High and then impact to you from the event happening as Low, Medium, High. We had one free afternoon – a few twenties in our wallet – and a desire to get organized for a power outage as a proxy for one of the “high probability/medium impact” events for our end users. No need to price check items at the Dollar Tree, everything is a dollar (just some humor).

These young folks just graduated from college and had literally just moved into the Big City. My husband commented that maybe instead of eight pairs of basketball sneakers, they could have bought a few cases of bottled water and I tried to sssshhhh him a bit.   We later dropped off four cases of water at their apartment and told them to stash those in the closet and put one case in their car trunk (car being kept at a local garage at some astronomical monthly fee). My son had already anticipated the “always keep your car with a full tank of gas” and we all shared a smile on that front.   We checked out their gas grill on their balcony along with propane tank and then took a good look in their freezer to gauge what type of food they cooked. Meat, check.  No soy milk, double check.

I reminded my son to keep his mini Sawyer water filter handy from camping and we took a look at their backpacking gear to ensure things were stowed in one spot.  I gently reminded him that the camping gear needs to get shoveled into the car if he needed to leave and he smiled wryly that he remembers me saying that a few times before.   We checked to make sure he had multiple choices for water storage (bottles, canteen, soft plastic and metal version that can be heated) and his Sawyer mini. They had a few leftover Mountain House breakfast packages from camping. I shared that the Mountain House meals (for example, breakfast skillet or egg varieties) work great in a tortilla wrap – and that the tortilla wraps hold up longer versus a loaf of bread in terms of shelf life). A bottle of hot sauce, tortilla wraps and Mountain House breakfast skillet inside and life is good, power outage or not.  We order our Mountain House foods from Ready Made Resources online. That works fine, and they have good prices.Continue reading“A Dollar Store Prepping Expedition, by T. Lee”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on N95 face masks. (See the Gear and Grub section.)

Books:

The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide, Second Edition: Tools and Techniques to Hit the Trail

o  o  o

Ugly’s Electrical References, 2020 Edition

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The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice―Crossing Antarctica Alone

o  o  o

The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook: Classic and Modern Filipino Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker

o  o  o

Plants of the Inland Northwest and Southern Interior British Columbia

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“It’s not as if socialism is a new idea. It was tried in the 20th century. It produced economic stagnation and despair. In its purest form, it extinguished more than one hundred million people.” – Lew Rockwell (pictured  second from left.)

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — February 18, 2020

19

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

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of 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 $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. 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 87 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.

Smelting Scrap Lead For Bullet Casting, by A. in N.D.

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Authors Introductory Note: This article describes my experience in obtaining, refining and casting scrap lead for later use in bullet casting. The safety precautions in this article are the actual ones I used in this process, and I believe them to be adequate to protect against contamination to yourself and the environment. However, I am neither a doctor nor a chemist, and if you attempt this yourself you should do your own research.

—

There are many articles on SurvivalBlog about the utility of bullet casting. This is true, especially for someone who has older cartridge guns and black powder guns, but there are also modern guns that can use lead bullets.

This article is not about casting lead bullets; however, it will be about one step back in the process. Where does the lead you want to use to cast with come from, and what do you do with it once you have it? I am going to tell you about my experience obtaining, refining, and casting scrap lead into ingots.

Obtaining Scrap

In my experience, there are two kinds of scrap lead that you are most likely to find in your search; wheel weights and soft lead. Wheel weights are an alloy of lead and antimony and are going to be harder than other lead that you may find. Soft lead is softer because it is purer, and without the antimony in it. Most of the soft lead that I have come across has been in the form of old roofing lead, but I have also seen lead weights. Of course, there are many other types of lead that can be found, such as medical lead, but in my experience are not as common.

So, where to get this lead? In my experience, there are a couple of good places. The first is to search local tire shops. Some of them will just give away the used wheel weights they have to save them the trouble of disposal. The place that I have had the best luck at is a couple of my local scrap yards. Yes, I had to pay for lead at a scrap yard, but its quite inexpensive, and they will usually have it in large quantities. Be aware that rules regarding the sale of lead may vary from state to state, but where I live its perfectly legal for the scrappers to sell to me.

There are other places to find lead. Auction sales, word-of-mouth, even posting an ad on Craigslist may lead to surprising finds. I even watched a video online of a gentleman who scored a great haul of lead at a boat auction. He bought a wrecked boat for next to nothing and was able to salvage the over 2,000 lb of ballast weight from it. The weight was pure lead. Now that’s a big score!Continue reading“Smelting Scrap Lead For Bullet Casting, by A. in N.D.”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on a big dam controversy between Oregon’s leftist Governor and Washington’s Snake River dams.  (See the Eastern Washington  section.)

Idaho

A Redoubt News video of state assembly debate: Idaho Rep. Mike Moyle Does Not Want a Grocery Tax Repeal

o o o

From the liberal Inlander tabloid: As Kootenai County grows, can it preserve what makes it attractive in the first place? (A hat tip to Cathy N., for the link.)  Here is a snippet:

“Idaho is growing faster than any state in the nation, and Kootenai County is growing at an even higher rate than the state as a whole. The county added roughly 26,000 people from 2008 through 2018, according to the Idaho Department of Labor. That’s a 19.1 percent increase, more than double the national rate.”

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New booting bill passes the House

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WATCH: Kootenai County deputy helps with ‘car break-in’ marriage proposal

Montana

Year in Review: Chronic Wasting Disease: 2019 season in Montana

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Billings: Car full of teens on the run rams into a group of police officers, Montana cops say

o o o

Behring Made Knives in Missoula, Montana makes some amazing hand-crafted knives. They take custom orders.

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

Preparedness Notes for Monday — February 17, 2020

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

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A reminder: Because I have some travel planned, a one-month shipping hiatus for Elk Creek Company will begin at 6 PM Thursday, February 27th, 2020. So if you want to order any antique guns, then get your order in soon!  Any orders received after February 27th will not be shipped until April 8th.

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I just noticed that we are now down to less than 200 of the 2005-2019 waterproof SurvivalBlog archive USB sticks. This may be our last production run for the year, so order yours, pronto.

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Today we present a review by our stalwart Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.