On June 12, 1987, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, President Ronald Reagan publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”
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Don’t forget that we are in a new round of the SurvivalBlog Non-fiction Writing Contest. We are looking for new entries and you have an awesome chance at winning some wonderful prizes. If you’ve been procrastinating on writing that article on your latest project, now is the time to finish it and get it to us.
To begin, I should mention that our main carry pistols here at the ranch are all Glock Model 21 and Glock Model 30 .45 ACPs. I intend to keep those as our family’s standard for the foreseeable future. But in the past two years I’ve branched out into buying several SIG Model P320 9mm pistols. I like the clever modularity of these pistols. The same serialized trigger group module can be used in assembling everything from a subcompact pistol to a full size race gun. I also find their ergonomics quite good, their controls instinctive, and their trigger pulls decent–right out of the box. Notably, a subcompact variant of the SIG P320 is now my designated “Visiting the Big City” carry pistol. My willingness to carry that pistol on those infrequent trips tells you how much trust the design.
I should back up a bit and explain that there are have been four major waves in in the history of semi-auto pistols: The first wave began experimentally before 1900 with some rather clunky steel frame designs like the C93 Borchardt and the Mauser C96 “Broomhandle”. The second wave was typified by the sleek Browning design, with many variants that dominated the market for the next 80 years. The third wave came with the advent of the Glock 17, which was the first practical and popular striker-fired polymer frame pistol design. (Although, arguably, it was predated by a decade by the HK VP70. But that was a design with both atrocious sights and a very heavy, creepy trigger pull. Thus, Glock was the first company to Get It Right, with a polymer frame pistol.) The fourth and most recent wave of handgun design combines both polymer frames and modularity.
Continue reading“Window of Opportunity: The Modular Pistol Revolution”
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 bear encounters at home and in the wild, and about bear hunting.
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U.S. won’t restore grizzly bear protections near Yellowstone National Park
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Some advice from our neighbors to the north: Bear-proof your fruit trees
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I was recently a guest on Radio Free Redoubt. We discussed some exciting developments in the Redoubt Movement and more in depth on the grassroots Liberty State partition campaign.
Idaho wildlife officials approve limited grizzly bear hunt
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Unbearable damage: Foresters look to protect trees from black bears
Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”
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”.
SurvivalBlog readers living in the EU should oppose EU Parliament Article 13 which is touted as copyright protection but will actually destroy free speech on the Internet. AI algorithms will continuously search for any copyrighted text, audio, or graphics OR the links to any such material. Since algorithms will err on the side of caution and zap anything it finds infringing. This will include items genuinely included as fair use–including quotes, news article links, reviews, memes, parodies, satires, remixes, et cetera. With AIs at the switch rather than human moderators, the number of false positives for “copyright infringement” will be enormous! The EU Parliament’s vote on Article 13 is now scheduled for June 20th. Please contact your MEP and express your strong opposition! – JWR
Reader T.D. sent in this article on Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART). This plan is Big Brother on the loose. The plans include a unified data warehouse of everything known, suspected or merely speculated about every person, citizen or non-citizen. Falling under the purview of the NSA, the plan supposedly only collects information on people who have some sort of connection to a foreigner who is within the NSA’s lawful purview, but in this day and age of international business and immigration, that means everyone. You have a connection with a foreign person, even if it is tenuous or incorrect. It is suspected that Amazon, Google and Facebook are all participating in this data collection as well.
“I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they’re properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build.” – President Donald Trump
John Wayne, the iconic American film actor, died on June 11th, 1979. While John Wayne is probably best known for his westerns like The Shootist and Fort Apache, we remember him best for his roles in The Alamo and The Green Berets, both of which reflected his patriotic, conservative leanings. We do miss his trademark drawl and good looks.
If you’re looking for one of the best of the best belts for concealed/duty carry, look no further than the Blackhawk Products Rigger’s belt that is under review today.
Having worked as a police officer in the past, as well as doing private security contractor work, I trained myself to be observant, always looking for someone carrying a weapon, and in particular, a concealed handgun. One of the first tip-offs that would catch my eye would be a poorly designed holster that didn’t really conceal a handgun very well. Secondly, the tip-off would be a poor trouser belt that didn’t keep the concealed handgun nice and tight to the body.
Let me tell you a little story. Not too long ago, while in our local small box store, I couldn’t help but notice a fellow with a jacket that was too short in the body to properly cover his “concealed” handgun. Plus, his belt wasn’t thick enough to hold the gun/holster combination. The holstered gun was literally hanging upside down on his waist. No, I’m not making this up. His belt was loose to start with, and however this fellow managed it, the gun and holster were flipped upside on his side. Luckily, the holster had a safety strap. Otherwise, his gun would have fallen out of the holster. How on earth he didn’t notice this is beyond me.
Continue reading“Blackhawk Products Rigger’s Belt with Cobra Buckle, by Pat Cascio”
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 Sports Cards. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
Silver To Climb 11% In Next Three Months – German-Based Research Firm
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EURUSD at the Center of Trade Wars, High Profile ECB and Fed Meetings. (Take the time to listen to Kicklighter’s audio commentary.)
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Forex Market Insight Commentary 08 June 2018
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37,000% annual inflation rate: Venezuela’s Bolivar Surges Past 2,000,000 VEF/USD
“I saddled old Satan up, rode over, and sure enough, the East Helena butcher was up a tree over there and the bull was going around after him. His .41 rod ejector Colt had shorts in it. I never heard of such a light load being used for the purpose, as an old bull has two inches of cartilage over the frontal skull plate, and his bullets were stopped by the skull. As soon as th bull saw me he came for me. I shot him square in the forehead, killing him instantly, and he turned a summerset towards me. The old .45 Colt slug went clear through his skull. My horse jumped over the top of him and watched him, but the bull was dead.” – Elmer Keith, in Elmer Keith, His Life Story, “Hell, I was There!”, Chapter Three, “Ranch Life.”
On June 10, 1967, the Six-Day War ended as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a United Nations-mediated cease-fire.
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I just noticed that Ready Made Resources has an interesting sale right now. A six month package of Numanna freeze dried food is only $1337 and includes 2 extra Numanna Grab and Go Buckets valued at $137 each, a Sawyer Mini filter valued at $24.95 and a foldable 21 Watt Solar panel with a USB port valued at $89. This might be a good time to take inventory of your stock and beef it up.
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This has been another entry for Round 77 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:
Round 77 ends on July 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.
We should be especially careful when communicating electronically: it’s little more than trivial for a government, a corporation, or even a couple of well-equipped criminals to intercept phone calls, emails, or text messages. This article explains how to use simple, secure tools that do only encryption and do it right. These are based upon a tool that is significantly better than the name suggests, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), and offers excellent communications security for preppers. Part 1 covered PGP and how it is used. Now, we are continuing.
Now that you have created a key, there are a couple things you may want to do with it. First, you might want to set an expiration date, so that if you happen to lose your private key, you don’t have a zombie public key floating around valid literally forever. I’d set a date about a year in the future; you can easily extend the expiration date if need be. To do this:
Continue reading“PGP for Preppers- Part 2, by Groundhog Gravy”
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”. Big Brother is back with a vengeance today.
We’ve almost grown accustomed to YouTube automatically shutting down channels that deal with firearms, but the attacks in the past have mostly been targeted at individuals or smaller operations. This Saturday, they attacked industry giant Brownell’s. When YouTube announced changes to their user agreement in regards to firearms, Brownell’s spent an enormous about of time to edit and alter their offerings so that they would be in compliance. That apparently didn’t matter. Today, if you attempt to navigate to https://youtube.com/brownellsinc you are greeted by the message “This account has been terminated for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.” marking the first time we know of that they have gone after a major player.
It’s been a few years since we’ve heard much news coming out of Nicaragua, but that seems to be changing. The country has seen a significant uptick in unrest since about April 18th and at least 135 deaths have been linked to this political unrest this year. Opponents of the Ortega government have been deploying homemade mortar rounds from homemade launchers in the face of government fire. Though not as deadly as the commercially built rounds, the homemade ones are in demand and sell for about $12 USD for a dozen. The man interviewed builds the launchers and the rounds, but remains anonymous. Note that it is illegal to own weapons in this country. The only force allowed to own weapons is using them on their own citizens. Thanks to G.P. for the link.
“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” – Hebrews 3:12-13 (KJV)
On June 9, 1954, Army counsel Joseph N. Welch confronted Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy during the Senate-Army Hearings over McCarthy’s attack on a member of Welch’s law firm, Frederick G. Fisher. Said Welch: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” Of course, years later, when the relevent documents had been declassified, we find that McCarthy’s concerns were pretty much right on.
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This has been another entry for Round 77 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:
Round 77 ends on July 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.
