Ruger American Compact .45 ACP, by Pat Cascio

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Though some time back, we reviewed the Ruger American Compact 9mm pistol, today we are looking at the American Compact .45 ACP. The Compact 9mm was a winner in my book. Ruger hit it out of the ballpark. My oldest daughter fell in love with it and had to have one of her own, though she hasn’t bought a new gun in at least eight years. My name was on the list for the American Compact in .45 ACP. So not too long ago, I finally got my sample for testing.

Overview

The 9mm and .45 ACP compact models are very similar in size and most dimensions. However, here’s the .45 ACP specs, just the same. The sample I requested was the Pro model, which has no manual external safety lever. The frame is black polymer, and the slide is stainless steel. However, it is black in color (Nitride) and has a nice, tactical look to it. It comes with the combat three white dot sight set-up, which is very fast to pick up under stress. There is also a Picatinny rail on the dust cover for mounting lights or lasers. The barrel is 3.75 inches long, which is slightly longer than the 9mm barrel. The gun weighs only 28.6 ounces, so it’s easy to carry all day long. I carried it for two weeks in a Blackhawk Products leather holster. The fit was perfect.

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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 investing in classic cars. (See the Tangibles Investing section, near the end of this column.)

Precious Metals:

Adam Hamilton: Gold/Silver Shorts Extreme

o  o  o

Gold Price is Making a Comeback in a Big Way

Commodities:

Markets on a Sugar rush, stocks rise 2-10%. As preppers, when we see and food futures rise, it is our signal to stock up on physical goods, before retail prices rise, correspondingly.

o  o  o

Oil slips ahead of producer meeting, U.S. rig count

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Fire Fight, by J.M.

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Are you ready for a fire fight? One of the most discussed topics in the “preppersphere” is how to start fires. There are tons of articles, blogs, books, and products geared towards helping you start fires in wilderness or TEOTWAWKI scenarios. However, there’s one aspect of fires that tends to be overlooked—how to put them out when you don’t want them. Every year in the U.S., fires cause thousands of deaths, tens of thousands of injuries, and billions of dollars in damage. And that’s with fully functional fire departments in almost every city, town, and county.

Imagine how much worse the situation will be once fire departments are no longer able to respond and careless angry mobs are running around starting fires to keep warm, cook food, or just enjoy the pretty flames. Most of you reading this are probably at least partially prepared for the loss of healthcare, law enforcement, water, and food services. But how prepared are you to protect your family, supplies, and property from fires?

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Letter: Helpful Resources

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Hugh,

Thank you for the awesome resources you’ve shared here! I’m very grateful for your work to try to keep your community safe. I’m putting together material for our local workshops on disaster safety, and I feel like I’ve found a kindred spirit by way of your page 🙂

Here are some other pieces I’ve found extremely useful, which you might be interested in as well:

Please do keep up the great work! – S.B.

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”. Wait till you hear the latest on SkyNet!

Food Sovereignty

Maine has become the first state to enact a “Food Sovereignty” law which allows communities to regulate their own local food economy. This frees up the church potlucks and the local farmers markets. Even the local dairy farmers who sell raw milk to those who want it. You can now legally sell your eggs to your neighbor without worrying that the S.W.A.T team. They won’tl be breaking down your front door, trashing your home and abusing your family.

Old Home Day

New England has a tradition called Old Home Day where the old ways of farming are taught to those who have an interest in such things. It was originally started years ago to teach the returning soldiers from the Civil war how to farm, but it is now entrenched as a tradition. If you’re in the area, you might want to stop by and see what it’s all about.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11 (KJV)

Preparedness Movement History and My Own Preparations- Part 2, by Old Bobbert

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Yesterday, we began part one of this contributed article on the preparedness movement history and Old Bobbert’s own preparations. Today, we will learn some very personal information about him and his preparedness success with regards to finances and persevering.

Financial Freedom Through Determined Budgeting

Okay, how can someone in that credit trap situation find freedom easily. Sorry, “easy” pays minimum wage and perpetuates itself. Success requires a specific goal, a reasonable time line, and a written list of what, when, where, who, and why. There must be a specific methodology to look at efforts and consider the current position. There must be determination to successful completion on time and within budget. A budget is always needed, and it must be written. Additionally, there must be commitment to the cause.

Helping Others Change Through Our Example and Instruction

Preparedness must be more than financial improvements, more than just having enough of the many necessities of life. Preparedness must become both a new way of life and a just cause so as to enable the committed prepared person to become truly able to help others change who they are.

Preppers who care can memorize this simple Preparedness doctrinal truth.

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The Editors’ Preps for the Week

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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 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 also welcome you to share your planned activities for increasing personal preparedness in the coming week. (Leave a Comment with your project details.) Let’s keep busy and be ready!  This week’s focus is on songbird migration.

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,
This has been another busy week for us here in the American Redoubt. The weather this week has been very sunny and dry with seasonal temperatures in the 80s.

Songbird Migration

Around the third week of July, the height of summer, is rather a sad time for me. Why? Because all of our migrant birds that arrived between March and June who filled our mornings and evenings with their beautiful  chorus of songs, have now finished raising their young and have already departed for southern climes (Hermit, Swainson, and Varied Thrushes, Common Snipe, Red Wing  Blackbirds, Hummingbirds, Bluebirds, Winter Wrens, Warblers, Catbirds, and many more. Our mountains go from lovely singing voices one morning to silence the next morning. It is that profound. I’ve been listening for it during this past week and it has happened.  By Friday morning, I woke up to that profound silence.   It makes me feel very sad, because it tells us that the summer is already waning and fall and winter are coming. I want to put the brakes on it. Time is moving too fast. Hey, slow down the summer!

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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”. Be sure to look at the Home School Resources at the bottom of the column today for a couple of real gems that are easy to obtain.

Liter of Light

I’ve seen solar lights made out of old plastic bottles before, but usually, they were just stuck in a wall or the ceiling and channeled the sun. Now the Liter of Light project is teaching people to use them in more ways. A small LED flashlight placed in the neck of the bleach filled bottle gives them new life. They still work in the traditional sunlight refraction method. However, now they can also be used at night. Coupled with a small solar panel, you have a renewable and inexpensive method of light. Thanks to T.J. for the link.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Week

“And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.” Numbers 30:1-2 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – July 21, 2017

July 21st is the birthday of Ernest Hemingway. He was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. He committed suicide in July 2, 1961 in Ketchum, Idaho, after being diagnosed with haemochromatosis, and after electroshock treatments failed to lift him from chronic alcoholic depression. He lived a sad life but was a great writer.