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”. China’s social credit system is already having an impact on citizens even though it is not fully implemented.

China’s Social Credit System

“Nobody does authoritarianism quite like China.” Paul Joseph Watson has a new video on YouTube that explains China’s new social credit system. The system will be fully implemented by 2020 and every person will have a score that goes up and down based on their behavior. Behavior that leads to deductions in credit will include things like jaywalking, smoking on trains, bad driving, buying to much junk food. having a friend who has a low score, playing to many video games, walking a dog without a leash and much, much more. Apparently, nearly 7 million people have been prevented from buying transportation tickets on trains or airplanes already and the system hasn’t even been properly rolled out yet. There will be over 400,000,000 cameras with facial recognition at the core of the system.

North Korea’s EMP Plans

North Korea has revealed its nuclear EMP attack strategy. Of course, anyone with half a brain and the ability to read news over the last few years would recognize that North Korea never had any plans at all on giving up their nuclear capability. I suspect that the collapse of their testing facility had more to do with their willingness to negotiate than anything else. However, I’m sure there will be a new testing facility online soon. Their standard procedure has been to pretend to go along until they don’t get something that they want and then they throw a temper-tantrum like a small child. Sadly, it’s a small child with the ability to lob nuclear bombs. While South Korea is the revealed target, there is still concern that the country has the capability of attacking the U.S. as well. Thanks to T.Z. for the link.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset. Crime pays a lot better. I can bend my own rules way, way over, but there is a place where I finally stop bending them. I can recognize the feeling. I’ve been there a lot of times.
From now on, Lawton Hisp was not going to have a very nice life. They might never come after him, but it just wasn’t going to be very joyous from now on. Happy New Year, Mister Hisp.” – John D. MacDonald, The Turquoise Lament (1973)

CZ P10-C, by Pat Cascio

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One of the most in-demand 9mm pistols these days is the CZ P10-C. We have taken a close look at it and are pleased to give our test results here.

Everything I Hoped It Would Be and Then Some

It’s not often but this sometimes happens that when a pistol is so popular and in-demand they actually sell for more than retail. With this being the case, you know this one is a winner. The CZ-P10-C is under review, and it is everything I hoped it would be and then some.

CZ

CZ is world famous for their firearms, and with good reason. They are producing some world-class firearms, always have. It wasn’t all that long ago that we couldn’t walk into a gun shop and buy anything with the CZ name on it. They were pretty much banned in this country, because of political moves.

False Information in Forums

I must be the luckiest person in the world, when it comes to getting reliable firearms. After testing my own CZ P10-C sample, I did some research on the ‘net and came across all manner of complaints from people who think the P10-C is a piece of junk. Then again, and I’m being honest here, if you read about any firearms, and I don’t care what firearm it is, there are people saying they are junk. One in particular– the grand ol’ 1911– is probably one of the worst firearms ever built, if you believe some of the forums out there.

I just don’t understand people who have nothing better to do with their time than report false information in these forums about any guns. I’d be reluctant to buy any firearms based on some of the stuff I see on the Internet, really. So, take that stuff with a grain of salt, before you go believing most of the bad press that is out there. If this were true, every gun maker in the world would have gone out of business years ago. Be advised!

Continue reading“CZ P10-C, by Pat Cascio”

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. 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 antique jewelry. (See the Tangibles Investing section.

 

Precious Metals:

How Will The Rollback Of Dodd-Frank Affect Gold Price?

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Risk Of Lower Lows In Gold Price Remains Prior To Spectacular Rally To Follow

 

Economy & Finance:

Fed’s Kaplan: ‘We no longer need to be stimulating the US economy’. JWR’s Comments: Yes, we can plan on higher interest rates. Plan accordingly. Avoid installment debt, folks! Pay off your credit cards, and buy only used cars and trucks, with cash.

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Next, at Wolf Street: 438 Stocks on the NYSE Have Already Plunged 40%-94% from 52-Week Highs

 

Commodities:

7% Drop In Oil Makes Difficult But Not Impossible Environment For Gold – Analysts

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Morning Market Review for Nov. 23, 2018: Egypt deal could lure more buyers to U.S. wheat.

 

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Sunday – November 25, 2018

November 25th is the birthday of economist and comedian Ben Stein. His unscripted monologue on economics from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of the most memorable scenes in American cinema. By the way, Stein spends part of each year at his second home in Sandpoint, Idaho, so he is an honorary Redoubter. I’ve heard that he plans to retire here.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 79 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. 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 Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, 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).

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.

Round 79 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

How to Build a Compact, Portable Range Barricade- Part 2, by I.S.

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This article describes how to build a compact (folds up to a 4’x3’ travel size), portable (setup or takedown in a couple minutes) range barricade. This version uses hinges to make transporting and assembling it easy. In part 1, we walked through the approximate cost in terms of hours and financial commitment, the materials, and the first five steps of the project. Let’s continue our building project with the remaining steps.

Step #6

As Step #6, attach hinges to plywood barricades as instructed in the following:

  • On the plywood barricades, use the attached plans to locate and mark the hinge locations. All four will be “A” leafs (three knuckles), and they will be installed on the downrange side of the plywood.
  • On the bottom of the barricade, the hinges are installed 1” inset from the tall side and 13” inset from the low side. This should leave you 27” between the 2×4 feet. Hinges are set so that the swaging sits against the bottom edge of the plywood. Mark the holes for the hinge.
  • Where the supports attach to the barricade, the hinges are inset the same distance either side as the bottom hinges. If you are using the same standard dimension door hinges as this project uses, measure up from the bottom to 29-7/8” and scribe a line across. Place the bottom edge of your hinge leaf, opposite the knuckles, on this line. The knuckle will be above it. Mark the holes for the hinge.
  • Remove the hinges and drill the marked holes out with a ¼” drill bit.
  • Flip the barricade over and on the up-range side of the plywood hammer a #8 Tee nut into each hole.
  • Flip the barricade back over, set your “A” type hinge halves in place, and screw them in with #8×3/4” screws.If you elected not to build this as a folding barricade, you should now be ready to assemble it. For a folding barricade, continue with steps # 7 and #8.

Continue reading“How to Build a Compact, Portable Range Barricade- Part 2, by I.S.”

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”. Today’s question of the day is about AI and murder. Who do you charge when an AI robot commits murder?

Emergency Suture

Reader M.H. sent in this interesting tidbit of information: “Don’t have any 4-0 prolene or gut sutures handy? A temporary suture can be made of unflavored dental floss. Make sure you use an unopened roll as it is sterile.”

Protests in France

The French are not happy. Riot police ended up having to fire tear gas into a protest of 30,000 Frenchmen. In true anarchist fashion, the protesters hurled objects at police and set stuff on fire while waving an array of flags and ramming metal barriers into police. Police, in kind, are using water cannons and other riot gear in response. The reason? Apparently, the french feel that they are paying too much at the gas pump and are protesting French President Emmanuel Macron over the rising Fuel prices. Two people have been killed so far including a 62-year-old woman who was run over by a driver who panicked when their car was surrounded by demonstrators. A recent poll suggests that up to 73% of Frenchmen are in support of the protests.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” – Matthew 26:36-39 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday – November 24, 2018

November 24th marks the day that John Knox died, in 1572. (He was born in 1514.) AtheistAgendaPedia says: “Born near Haddington Scotland. He was influenced by George Wishart, who was burned for heresy in 1546, and the following year Knox became the spokesman for the Reformation in Scotland. After imprisonment and exile in England and the European continent, in 1559 he returned to Scotland, where he supervised the preparation of the constitution and liturgy of the Reformed Church.”

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 79 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. 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 Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, 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).

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.

Round 79 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

How to Build a Compact, Portable Range Barricade- Part 1, by I.S.

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Training is paramount, and how you train determines how you will respond in situations. For many of us, the limit of our firearms training has been on a “square range” (i.e., shooting bench and paper targets down range). However, limiting your training to that artificial realm will set you up for failure when things go wrong. Effective training will teach you the fundamentals of shooting, movement, and communication. Learning how to effectively use and shoot from behind cover, in a variety of positions, is a critical part of this training. A range barricade is useful for this purpose.

A Plan For a Helpful “Trunk Range”

Few of us have the room to set up a shooting range on our property. Therefore, a plan was born to create a helpful “trunk range”. The plan called for one that could be transported in the trunk and backseat of a sedan or SUV and quickly set up on an appropriate venue and included target stands, steel targets, and training barricades modeled after VTAC’s classic barricade and FrontSight’s “Wilson Wall”.

A Compact, Portable Range Barricade

This article will describe how to build a compact (folds up to a 4’x3’ travel size), portable (setup or takedown in a couple minutes) range barricade. While based off the VTAC barricade, of which plans and write-ups are available online, I have not seen anyone use hinges to create a strong and easy-to-transport design like this.

If Space Is Not a Constraint

If space is not a constraint, you can skip the folding upper portion of this design. The materials and instructions refer to this as “without the folding option”.

Continue reading“How to Build a Compact, Portable Range Barricade- Part 1, by I.S.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:

We had another pleasant week here at the Rawles Ranch. We had one last turkey to butcher for this month–this one for our own consumption for our family Thanksgiving celebration.  She was a 28-pound hen and a pain to pluck–especially her big flight feathers. But she sure was tasty. And it is nice knowing precisely how she was raised and fed. That is true for more than 90% of the meat that we eat, here at the ranch. We raise it ourselves, and hence we know exactly what we are eating.

Two of our adult children came with their spouses and our grandchildren in tow, to stay for a couple of nights, over Thanksgiving. That was very pleasant. We miss seeing them more often, but they have homeschooling, social lives, work, and church homes of their own to attend to, these days.

We hope that everyone is enjoying a restful four-day Thanksgiving weekend! We have a lot to be thankful for!  May God Bless America! – Jim & Avalanche Lily, Rawles

 

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

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”. As winter begins to set in, our thoughts turn towards heat. There is an article on a wood stove competition today that is very interesting.

WD-40 Defense

Reader T.J. sent in this video of a store clerk using the super secret WD-40 defense when he was threatened. This obviously occurs in some area where firearms are forbidden because the would-be robbers only have hand tools to threaten the clerk with and the clerk grabs the nearest thing to defend himself which happens to be a can of WD-40 lubricant. The move befuddles the attackers who eventually give up and leave. The takeaway here is that the clerks attitude was obviously the difference and the real reason why the attackers left. I can’t help but wonder how much more effective that can of WD-40 would have been when combined with one of those cheap Bic lighters also usually found on the counters at convenience stores.

Social Media

Reader M.P. sent in this article on Fox News detailing yet another reason why you really don’t want a presence on social media. As if buying a gun in New York didn’t already require ridiculous hoops to jump through, proposed legislation in the State would require a purchaser to consent to up to three years worth of search history on social media to gain approval of an application. The proposed legislation would also be applied to those who are renewing existing permits to carry or possess a pistol or revolver. Things specifically looked for would be commonly known profane slurs or biased language used to describe race, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, disability or sexual orientation as well as threatening the health or safety of another person, or acts of terrorism.

While identifying potential terrorist seems worth it for some, the language about gender, religion or sexual orientation is incredibly disturbing. Does that mean if you are a Christian preaching against the sin of homosexuality that you can no longer qualify for a permit? It also seems to be pretty arbitrary on who makes the decision of what is dangerous or offensive. I suspect this bill will be challenged on constitutional grounds.

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