Thoughts on Hunting for Survival, by Ohio Country Man

…crop, and cutting off the head, wings, and feet, our Thanksgiving turkey was 6.6 pounds when we placed her, whole and wrapped in freezer paper, into our deep freezer. It’s quite a bit smaller than a Butterball, but for our small family gathering it would more than suffice. The small size was more than made up for by the novelty factor of having an honest-to-God wild turkey for dinner, and being able to tell the story of how it came to be there. Coworker’s Wife Mentions Hunting To Survive At My Place My coworker’s wife, after feigning outrage that I had “killed” my own turkey (they lived in a gentrified neighborhood in the city), was nevertheless impressed and mentioned that if the world goes to hell in a hand basket, they were coming to my place. I smiled and said in that case we would all just starve together, before…




Radio Communications for Retreat Intelligence Gathering, by R.Y.

…no sub-channel ). If there is a disaster near your area CERT maybe engaged in search and rescue. DO NOT TRANSMIT non-emergency messages on channel 1. Monitoring channel 1 ( 462.5625 MHz ) could provide important information. Amateur radio national FM calling frequency = 146.520 MHz and local repeater channels. Here are two web sites for finding local frequencies: http://www.fcc.gov/searchtools.html and http://www.ac6v.com TWO – WAY COMMUNICATIONS Disaster planning should include using two-way communications. Anything said on a radio is not secure. Keep all transmissions short! Instead of “cute handles” use false names. Example; Bob could always be called Jim on the radio. Anybody listening would assume Jim is on the radio. If available, use the “automatic roger” feature that sends a “beep” at the end of each transmission. Request repeats only if transmission was not fully understood. Use a prearranged phrase that is said at the end of the message,…




Letter Re: In Praise of the MAK-90

…AKs. The rounds are also much more expensive. Under a lot of conditions, the added range and accuracy of the .308 can be negated. We must remember we are survivalists and not soldiers in a standing army. Under what scenario does one envision engaging personnel at 500 or 600 yards? You need good optics for proper target ID at that range. It takes quality training to make a 600 yard shot. Under SHTF conditions will you automatically engage a group of armed men approaching your position? The morally justifiable scenario would be to halt them within shouting distance and determine their intentions. Maybe you have foreknowledge of a group of satanic mutant biker cannibals coming your way and decide to employ a long range ambush. Fine, a completely realistic scenario under SHTF conditions if your area is unobstructed enough for that long of a shot. If the Chinese Army invades and you employ…




Pat’s Product Review – LED LENSER M7RX Flashlight

…While visiting my local gun shop one morning, one of the employees was playing with a 300-lumen flashlight and shinned it into my eyes. I lost sight immediately, and it was several days before the dark spot in the center of my vision cleared up. Not a smart thing for that kid to do; super-bright flashlights come with a warning to not look into the light because it can temporarily blind a person and potentially cause long-term vision damage. So, we are looking at 600-lumens coming out of the M7RX.. This particular model is rechargeable, too, so you don’t have to purchase any batteries. It has a very clever magnetic charging system; you simply attach the charging device to the bottom of the flashlight. The charging device and flashlight are held in place with a magnet, and the charger is plugged into the wall outlet. If you let the flightlight…




Selecting a Portable Handheld Two-Way Radio, by R.

…door to a new group of younger enthusiasts, mentored by experienced users, if there wasn’t the need for costly and onerous regulations. R. Of course. I went with Dxengineering because that’s where I god the HT. You might find lower prices out there. Just be careful with the antenna (see he antenna comment above, and my note below) Antenna (note that there are a lot of fake diamond and Nagoya antennas out there, so go with a known good company when you buy them) https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dmn-srh77ca Cigarette lighter adapter https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/ico-cp-12l Handheld microphone (I went cheap with this version https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/pry-spm-130 I didn’t mention it, but I got a signalink Cable too. This is just the cable. https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/tgr-slcabhtw R. Although I don’t agree with the government requirements around a license, they do have a value. Just like a drivers license, or a pilots license, making sure that people can show basic skills in…




Boers, Beans, Bullets, and Bear Soup – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

…be easily purchased. And because accurate rifles in 6.5CM are relatively inexpensive and easily found available off the shelf. Aggressively marketed and widely appreciated, the offspring of the 127-year-old 6.5×55, became a wildly successful hit. IHMO, Chuck Hawk’s analysis was instrumental in growing the appreciation of 6.5 cartridges. For shots that are medium long-range, shots inside of 600 yards, one can obtain further advantage by using ammunition that uses 120 grain bullets. These produce a flatter trajectory, and extend the maximum point blank range (MPR), thereby increasing ‘danger zone’, and hit probability, attributes that making range estimate less of a problem. For ranges beyond 600 yards, use 140-grain bullets. The 140-grain bullet is by far the best choice for most situations, in particular hunting, but one can optimize our ability to hit inside of 600 yards with lighter and faster 120-grain option. When shopping for precision ammunition, I would choose…




Ballistics, Rifle Marksmanship and Why They Matter – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

…the JBM ballistics calculator that are known to be accurate. In descending order, the commercially available cartridge that bucks the wind better to the least able to buck the wind and its ability to maintain a flat enough trajectory to significantly improve the hit probably. This is about practical accuracy at mid-range targets out to 500 yards. Past 500 to 600 yards, the ability of the bullet to buck the wind becomes the most important factor. For handloaders, I am sharing my favorite load that tops the list to illustrate the advantages of hand loading and why we should strive to improve our cartridges with more capable powder and bullet combinations. It is still not too late to improve our game by purchasing better components or better commercial ammunition for the purpose of defense. Because .300 Win Mag drops 8 inches less than 6.5CM I’ve selected 300 Win Mag as…




Blackhawk 6-inch Trident Ultralite Boots, by Pat Cascio

…The Trident Ultrallte Boot – find out what feather-light toughness feels like.” This is a great description, but is it advertising hype or the truth? First of all, the 600 denier ballistic Nylon material resists tears while allowing your foot to breath as well. I know some footwear – boots in particular – have 1,000 denier ballistic Nylon – and its super-tough stuff, but it is also heavier and thicker and it doesn’t move with your foot as easily as the 600 denier stuff does. I didn’t take a knife to the 600 denier ballistic Nylon, but I played around with it long enough to know, this material simply isn’t going to tear easily. There is also an antimicrobial lining in the boot, and this helps mitigate foot and shoe odor. I’ve been down that road with some folks, who have terrible foot odor, and their footwear needed to be…




Ballistics, Rifle Marksmanship and Why They Matter – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article. Handloading to Getting Top Performance from Classic Rifles For the same reasons that the military has developed high-performance ammunition, I’ve worked hard to find this load in a common cartridge that is the .30-06 and 6.5×55 for my personal rifles. It is competitive or superior at mid range to extreme long ranges out to 1,200 yards with .300 Winchester Magnum commercial hunting loads, because the bullets used have extremely high ballistic coefficients. Like the .300 Win Mag, 7mm Magnum, .30-06, and others in this class, they are good all-around cartridges for any task at hand. The online Hodgdon Reloading Center lists a maximum load using 59.7 grains of Superformance behind a standard 180 grain lead core bullet that can produce as much as 2,840 fps with only 57,600 psi. The maximum pressure for .3006 is 60,000 psi, so there is room to…




Boers, Beans, Bullets, and Bear Soup – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

…at longer ranges. If fed the best ammunition, most bolt guns can shoot 1.5 MOA, or better, and that is plenty good enough for medium-range targets, as I define it, at 600 yards or less. After 600, the danger space, that is the space where the trajectory is adequately flat enough, that is, that the bullet flies no lower than 6 inches low, or 6 inches high as it passes through a 500 or 600 yard target. Some rifles shoot flatter than others, so what constitutes as the definition of medium long range is relative, and therefore can only be loosely defined. Because .223 is found everywhere, it is inexpensive, and the AR-15 rifle is also found everywhere, and is inexpensive. In this country, the AR-15 platform is a must-have, however, it would only be my first choice if all my friends used it, and they do. And probably so…




Radios for Emergency and SHTF Use – Part 4, by Rufus King

…that there are several other options available for emergency personal communications where all you have to do is turn the radio on, choose from a selection of pre-programmed channels, press the transmit key, and talk. With the exception of GMRS, you do not even need a license. Amateur radio is a completely different animal. It is a technical hobby designed for experimentation and personal communication. You must have a license in order to legally transmit on amateur frequencies. 47 CFR 97.5. In order to get the license, you must take and pass a licensing exam. There are three exams, one for each of the three levels of license. The Technician and General tests are not terribly difficult. The Amateur Extra test is more of a challenge. The rationale for this is that amateurs are allowed to use a very broad range of equipment. Unlike with CB, FRS, GMRS, or MURS,…




Changes for 2011, The Taxman Cometh

…which they are eligible. Many states have health insurance tax-credit programs that have been in place for years and do not necessarily have the same qualifications as the Federal program. Mara Helland’s also had some comments on the new 1099 requirements: “From what I’ve been reading, the IRS already has its hands full trying to figure out how to implement the sweeping changes to the 1099 reporting rules deemed necessary and appropriate by Congress. I have a lot of small business clients who are still able to use their Social Security numbers for reporting purposes. The idea of Social Security numbers being given out to just about anyone with whom business is transacted (it won’t take much to reach that $600 threshold) seems like high risk to me for all sorts of identity theft schemes and scams. For you, personally (as well as all other sole proprietors), I recommend you…




Letter Re: Knob Creek After Action Report, Fall 2013

The weather at Knob Creek was great, the dust was minimal and the travel was above average.  The car ran fine, I didn’t die a fiery death and the CV joints only started making noise and going bad after I got home. Yeah! Best price I saw on .308 ammo was Military Shooters Supply, Inc. with PMC and Lake City (the 2 loose packed boxes I examined all had 2005 head stamps, (de-linked I imagine) for $340 per 500rd. They had PMC 55gr .223 $389/1000 and 68gr 5.56 $429/1000. Brown Bear 7.62×39  $119/500. Pat’s Reloading prices were not as good as a show or two ago and was a little higher than usual with most of their Israeli .223 tracers coming in the $$00-450/1000 range (last time I bought some it was cheaper than all the ball ammo).  5.45 commie ammo was still exorbitant compared to a year ago at…




Letter Re: A Review of Inmarsat’s IsatPhone Pro

…the deal since there are few if any other ways to get satellite phone service for such a low annual price. Globalstar’s minimum plan is $360/year and Iridium starts at $225/year; both of these rates include no airtime. Additional airtime for all satphone services usually runs around a dollar a minute. It costs less if you have a high-priced plan and more for the cheaper plans ($1.39 for extra minutes on Inmarsat’s emergency plan, for example). That’s just for the airtime; customers pay separately for outbound calls, and callers pay hefty long-distance fees for calls to the satphone. If you think you may end up using a satphone regularly (for example, if you expect to use it from a retreat home where cell phone service isn’t available), you’d better make sure you can afford it. (By comparison, though, the cost for the kit plus a second year of service is…




The Survival Trunk Gun by J.S.

…a lot like something out of Boston’s Gun Bible by Boston T. Party (Kenneth W. Royce). This is because I like that system! There are four categories of firearms I will cover here, in order of depth from greatest to least: Centerfire rifles / carbines Shotguns Centerfire handguns Rimfires I want to show some common examples of each category, I can’t possibly list every suitable trunk gun here.  Each will be judged in the following categories from 1 to 10, with 1 being Poor and 10 being Outstanding. Size:  This evaluates the transportable size of the gun vs. the usable size — many guns can be broken down smaller for transport.  It will become more apparent in the when and how portions, but having the ability to keep and transport a gun in a small package is a big plus.  For comparison a Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifle would get a…