Brace Yourself: A Game Changer for American Shooters

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Ever since late 2012, gun enthusiasts have been talking about getting arm braces for their pistols. Those of us who live south of the Canadian border have been deprived of shoulder-stocked pistols since 1934. So there was a tremendous pent-up demand for such a configuration. And, of course, they were a boon to disabled shooters. The clever devices were first developed by SB Tactical for AR pistols, and later popularized by SIG USA. Arm braces were later adapted to mount on AK pistols, HK9x family pistols, Uzi pistols, the SIG MCX/MPX, and many more.

One key advantage of arm braces is that they make entire categories of pistols that had previously been fairly impractical into something quite practical. Here, I’m talking about nearly all of the oversize and muzzle-heavy pistols with magazine wells forward of the triggerguard. These include the Sites Spectre, Feather, and the KG-9/KG-99/Tec-9/DC-9 families of pistols. Similarly, many oversize pistols with magazines in the pistol grip also often greatly benefit from the addition of an arm brace. These include the semi-auto Ingram M10 and M11 series pistols, semi-auto Uzi (including Mini and Micro) as well as the Wilkinson Terry pistol.

Although there was some legal confusion for a few years, the popularity of arm braces is now stronger then ever. I’ll start with a brief traverse about the legalities:

 

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SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on the Idaho primary election returns.

Region-Wide:

This article is a decade old, but quite informative: Where to Go to See Old Growth Forest in the Inland Northwest

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11 Stunning Places To Visit In The Inland Northwest

Idaho

Last week’s Idaho primary election returns were mostly positive. But I’ll start with the sad headline at Vox: Brad Little, the establishment pick, wins the Republican primary in Idaho’s governor’s race. The nomination for one of Idaho’s two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, was in a seven-way race. That went to “mainstream” Republican Russ Fulcher. (Many Redoubters had been hoping for a more conservative candidate.)

The better news is that many solid liberty-loving Republicans won in the primary. These include Heather Scott and Vito Barbieri. Also, the Republican dominance in Idaho politics seems more solid than ever. In most cases the Democrats are going through the motions of selecting candidates, but they have little chance of winning.  Thankfully, most Idahoans can see through the Democrat rhetoric, and want nothing of their Big Government/Nanny State plans.

The other good news is that Bonner County Idaho voters voted against proceeding with the proposed establishment of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness area. That was a wise a wise decision, but don’t be surprised if the The Powers That Be over-ride the clear will of the electorate. At this point, what is needed is a corresponding vote by the residents of Montana on the east side of the proposed wilderness. Hopefully, that will make it abundantly clear that the whole scheme is a bad idea.

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Pocatello: Second mountain lion spotted on ISU campus in one week

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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 “HJL”. Sweden is getting in on the preparedness movement again.

Sweden and Preparedness

As Sweden gets more nervous at the thought of Russian aggression in the region, they government has begun sending out an emergency preparedness guide to all of its 4.8 million people. The document called “Om krisen eller kriget kommer” (If crisis or war comes) explains how people can secure basic needs such as food, water and heat, what warning signals mean, where to find bomb shelters and how to contribute to Sweden’s “total defense”. These are very similar to the pamphlets that Sweden distributed in 1943. They continued to update it until the early 1960s. Thanks to reader KAA for the link.

Eggs, Eggs, and More Eggs

Reader DSV sent in these articles on eggs being a part of a healthy diet. The first is a Reuters article profiling a study that showed an egg a day is tied to lower risk of heart disease. My how times have changed. It wasn’t too long ago the food industry was decrying eggs as bad for your diet and especially bad for your cholesterol. Now there is evidence that, in moderation, they are actually good for your cholesterol. I see this as a good thing. Several of our egg customers have moved and we’ve been unable to replace them. As a result, eggs are very abundant here. We no longer freeze dry them because we already have nearly 100 quarts of eggs prepared this way. We often have breakfast for dinner and keep a supply of hard boiled eggs in the fridge as snacks. I’m literally running out of ideas on how to use them.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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There were few men in the West who could whip Earp in a rough-and tumble fight 30 years ago, and I suspect that he could give a tough youngster a hard tussle right now, even if he is 61 years of age.

In all probability had Morris been known as a peaceable citizen, he would have had his money returned when he asked for it, as Wyatt never cared much for money; but being known as a man with a reputation as a gunfighter, his only chance to get his money back lay in his ability to “do” Earp, and that was a job he did not care to tackle.

I have known Wyatt Earp since early in the ’70s, and have seen him tried out under circumstances that made the test of manhood supreme. He landed in Wichita, Kansas, in 1872, being then about 26 years old, and weighing in the neighborhood of 160 pounds, all of it muscle. He stood 6 feet in height, with light blue eyes, and a complexion bordering on the blonde. He was born at Monmouth, Illinois, of a clean strain of American breeding, and served in an Iowa regiment the last three years of the Civil War, although he was only a boy at the time. He always arrayed himself on the side of law and order, and on a great many occasions, at the risk of his life, rendered valuable service in upholding the majesty of the law in those communities in which he lived. In the spring of 1876 he was appointed Assistant City Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas, which was then the largest shipping point in the North for the immense herds of Texas cattle that were annually driven from Texas to the northern markets. Wyatt’s reputation for courage and coolness was well known to many of the citizens of Dodge City—in fact it was his reputation that secured for him the appointment of Assistant City Marshal.

He was not very long on the force before one of the alderman of the city, presuming somewhat on the authority his position gave him over a police officer, ordered Wyatt one night to perform some official act that did not look exactly right to him, and Wyatt refused point blank to obey the order. The alderman, regarded as something of a scrapper himself, walked up to Wyatt and attempted to tear his official shield from his vest front where it was pinned. When that alderman woke up he was a greatly changed man. Wyatt knocked him down as soon as he laid his hands on him, and then reached down and picked him up with one hand and slammed a few hooks and upper-cuts into his face, dragged his limp form over to the city calaboose, and chucked it in one of the cells, just the same as he would any other disturber of the peace. The alderman’s friends tried to get him out on bail during the night, but Wyatt gave it out that it was the calaboose for the alderman until the police court opened up for business at nine o’clock the following morning, and it was. Wyatt was never bothered any more while he lived in Dodge City by aldermen.” – William Barclay “Bat” Masterson, in “My Friend Wyatt Earp”

Colt Combat Elite Enhanced 1911, by Pat Cascio

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It used to be that Colt 1911 handguns were pretty much the only 1911 game in town, but many people thought they were out of business the past few years. Today we’re looking at the enhanced Combat Elite Enhanced 1911 .45 ACP handgun.

Colt 1911 Handguns

For the longest time, if you wanted a 1911 pistol you had to take a look at the Colt 1911 line of handguns. For the most part, they were the 1911 to own. However, today, there are more companies manufacturing 1911s than I can list. Most companies are producing some high-end 1911s while some are producing bare bone basic 1911s. Of these 1911s, most are very well made handguns, and the sky is the limit. This is true as well about how much leaves your checking account because of prices on 1911s. In my humble opinion, Colt has recently fallen by the wayside, when it comes to 1911s. They are no longer the leader in producing 1911s, not even close. Some companies just refuse to step into the 21st century with the marketing, manufacturing, and improving of their products. Colt is guilty of all three!

Owned More Colt 1911 Than Any Other Brand

Over the years, I’ve probably owned more Colt 1911s than any other brand. Especially when I was a snot-nosed kid, I was always on the look out for the newest or “best” 1911 that Colt made. Unfortunately, even back then, in the late 1960s and even into the early 1980s, Colt just didn’t have a huge selection of 1911s to pick from. However, it never deterred me.

Back in 1989, I was the chief of police in a small western Oregon town, and one of the handguns I often carried was a brand-new Colt 1911 Commander that was all stainless steel. Unfortunately, when I received this gun brand-new in the box, it wouldn’t even feed full metal jacket ammo. It took quite a bit of work on my part to tune this gun to not only feed FMJ but JHP ammo as well. That’s not a good thing in a brand-new handgun from the leader (at the time) in 1911s.

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Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on House Hacking. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Will Silver Hit Triple Digits? Kootenay Silver CEO Weighs In

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I’m a proponent of physical metals rather than buying mining stocks, but I still found this piece at Seeking Alpha captivating: Gold Miners: Approaching A Hard Bottom

 

Stocks:

US stocks may be done outperforming the world

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Next, at The Street: Never Buy Stocks Based on Unusual Call Activity: Doug Kass Insider

 

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And then there are always clever people about to promise you that everything will be all right if only you put yourself out a bit… And you get carried away, you suffer so much from the things that exist that you ask for what can’t ever exist. Now look at me, I was well away dreaming like a fool and seeing visions of a nice friendly life on good terms with everybody, and off I went, up into the clouds. And when you fall back into the mud it hurts a lot. No! None of it was true, none of those things we thought we could see existed at all. All that was really there was still more misery– oh yes! as much of that as you like– and bullets into the bargain!” – Émile Zola, Germinal

The Game of Life, by A Modern Stoic

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I lie awake, thinking of the past and different choices I could have made in this game of life, or fantasizing about the future and the alternatives I can choose. Then I remember that the only moment that exists is the one my mind occupies in this instant.

“If thou shouldst live three thousand years, or as many myriads, yet remember this, that no man loses any other life than that he now lives; and that he now lives no other life than what he is parting with, every instant. The longest life, and the shortest, come to one effect: since the present time is equal to all, what is lost or parted with is equal to all. And for the same reason, what is parted with, is only a moment. No man at death parts with, or, is deprived of, what is either past or future. For how can one take from a man what he hath not? We should also remember these things, first, That all things which have happened in the continued revolutions from eternity, are of the same kind with what we behold: And ’tis of little consequence, whether a man beholds the same things for an hundred years, or an infinite duration. Again that the longest and the shortest lives have an equal loss at Death. The present moment is all which either is deprived of, since that is all he has. A man cannot part with what he has not. “ – Meditations, Marcus Aurelius

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.” – Julius Caesar, Shakespeare

Every moment of my life is my opportunity to make my values and goals a reality through my decisions. In other words, play the cards I hold now, not the ones I held in the past or the ones I wish I could hold in the future.

Continue reading“The Game of Life, by A Modern Stoic”

Letter: Problem Running Multiple Generators

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HJL:

I hope this finds you well.

I had an interesting event last week. Some critter chewed through one of my home power leads. (We have underground cable.) This caused half the house to go dark. Mostly, the part that was out was the part that runs my refrigeration. I hooked up one Honda EU2000 to the transfer switch. Two refrigerators only drew 400 watts. Nothing thawed, which was very good news. The power company was out that evening with a temporary fix and had a new cable run by noon the next day. Easy.

I also rolled my Whynter 95 qt freezer out onto the patio and plugged that into a second EU 2000. It pulls 70 watts and runs on 120 vac, 12vdc or 24vdc. No, I have not built the gizmo that allows two generators to run in tandem synchronized. Turns out I did not need it anyway, based on 400 watts of draw plus this 70. I find this particular freezer economical with a low power draw and a price that is a good $500 below the price of other dc powered units. And, yes, I have a couple solar panels that would take care of the freezer plus some light.

My interesting observation is that the exhaust was a problem. My house is 40 feet from my neighbor. Both of us have two stories. The zone between them was pretty unbearable due to the exhaust. I must run some sort of pipe up the side of the house, if I am going to run both. – R.V.

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 “HJL”. Yes, you should use a rifle for your home defense. Check out Reid Henrichs latest video on the subject in today’s edition.

Federal Reserve Nominee

When you get right down to it, the most powerful political positions don’t actually exist in the government. They exist in the Federal Reserve, a private banking cartel that controls the money. Elected officials like the president ultimately answer to the people, but appointed officials do not. That’s all the more reason to be concerned about the latest Federal Reserve Nominee, Marvin Goodman. You might also think that as much good as President Trump has done for the economy, and as a businessman, that he wouldn’t push Keynesian economics. Yet in 2016, Goodman argued for the Federal Reserve to have the ability to push interest rates negative at the annual Federal Reserve conference in Wyoming. He has also argued for a cash-free society to keep the inevitable flood of people from pulling their cash from the banks to stuff it under their mattresses at home. Thanks to DSV for the link.

Free Speech

From the state that wants to make selling the Bible illegal comes a new threat: California’s Senator Richard Pan, (the same Senator that pushed legislation mandating vaccinations in 2015) introduced a new bill. SB1424 (Internet: social media: false information: strategic plan) would make it a crime to raise any public questions about any “official story” put forth by the government. In other words, the government can lie to you at will and it is illegal for you to challenge that. The bill has far-reaching impacts. The bill would require California to come up with a range of punishments for people using their 1st Amendment right of free speech if the liberal government disagrees with what is said.

We’ve reported this pending legislation before, but now people are getting it. For instance, I’m not against vaccinations, I’m just against mandatory vaccinations as it takes authority away from the parent. This article shows how that pending legislation would impact that. Thanks to G.L. for the link.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday – May 19, 2018

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We are coming up on the end of Round 76 of the SurvivalBlog Non-Fiction Writing Contest. There is still time to get your article finished and submitted for these fantastic prizes! With over $11,000 worth of prizes, it could be well worth your time. If you’ve been putting it off, get it finished and sent it!

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Richard Pipes, a historian of Russia and a Reagan aide, has died at age 94. He spent his entire academic career at Harvard and was known for his work “Russia Under the Old Regime” published in 1974. His work with a group of military and foreign-policy experts had an ultimately pessimistic analysis of Soviet military strategy and foreign policy and led to conservative opposition to arms-control talks and accommodations of the Soviet Union. His work basically set the stage for Reagan’s policy of challenging Soviet foreign policy and undermining it’s hold over Eastern Europe. It’s worth noting that this opposed the current thinking of the CIA. He will be missed. Our condolences to his son Richard (of The Middle East Forum.)

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 76 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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 gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances, and
  6. 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).

Round 76 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.