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”. Rain water collection is the name of the game today.

Rainwater Collection

Are you thinking of moving off-grid and want to use a rain water collection system but you don’t like the blue barrels? Reader B.L. ran across an innovative system with barrel kits that are much better looking. You may not even recognize them for what they are until you look closely.

Communications

Reader P.S. sent in this article on 6 meters: Survivalist Magic. I have a couple of Icom T90As that I’ve kept handy. They are tri-banders with 2m, 6m, and 70cm. The article is right, 6m is highly underutilized and of considerable use if you have the equipment. The stock rubber ducky antenna doesn’t work very well for anything over about a mile, but I’ve had decent performance with the MFJ-1720S. You can also use the military manuals shown in the article to make some portable antennas with much better performance. (They just aren’t as convenient.)

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Protecting Electronics in Metal Military Surplus Ammunition Cans- Part 2, by J.T.

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I am sharing a better solution for protecting sensitive electronics stored in metal military surplus ammunition cans made into a Faraday cage. In the Part 1, I talked about the ammunition cans that can be used. We then began the instructions for building ammunition can gaskets by listing the materials and tools required. Now, let’s move on.

Making and Assembling the RF and EMP Shielding Gasket

The following instructions are for a 20mm M548 ammunition can, which is my preferred can size. If using another ammunition can, you will need to make adjustments in measurements within these directions to adjust for your ammo can’s size. I’ll give some guidance along the way for doing so.

1. Cut the sheet metal into a 7” by 16¾” rectangle, for the 20mm can.

But always start out by taking a good measurement. You know the old saying of “measure twice, cut once” still applies here. (See the description below as to how to measure and cut the right sheet size for the gasket.) For other can sizes, cut the sheet metal accordingly. Make sure that the sheet metal slightly overlaps the rubber seal but isn’t too big that it overlaps the exterior dimension of the lower part of the can or affects or interferes with the inside edge or lip of the ammo can.

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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 Rhodium.

Precious Metals:

First, there is this: Gold Steady Ahead Of US Data This Week, Weaker Dollar Supports

o  o  o

Some good news: Louisiana Ends Sales Tax On Gold And Silver Bullion

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JWR’s Recommendations of the Week

Here are JWR‘s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week’s emphasis is on waterproof fleece clothing and propane.

Books:

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus

Movies:

Rogue One: A Star Wars Movie

Krav Maga Lesson Vol.1 – Defense on Jabs and Hooks

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Protecting Electronics in Metal Military Surplus Ammunition Cans- Part 1, by J.T.

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In this multi-part article, I am sharing a better solution for protecting sensitive electronics stored in metal military surplus ammunition cans. There are many references for making a Faraday Cage on SurvivalBlog. Some references go back as far as 2005. One solution was proposed in 2006 that required the removal of the rubber gasket on ammo cans and replacing the seals with a conductive material (stainless steel or steel wool). Other articles suggested the use of a galvanized garbage can that is sealed up with conductive metallic tape, or an open head steel drum, or using an old microwave oven and a metal cabinet. I have read and researched many great comments and feedback on the effectiveness of these EMP protection measures.

Previous Proposals

All of the proposed solutions are more or less effective. Some have been tested using some sophisticated test equipment that gives you some confidence that different approaches will be effective. But unless your solution is tested, then it’s still unclear if or how effective your solution will be when needed in the future.

The problem with many of these solutions is that each didn’t make it convenient to access. Perhaps it required the metal container to be resealed, while other solutions were sometimes big and bulky, or untested and may not be reliable in the worst-case scenarios.

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SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This column is posted on Tuesdays. Here, we present news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies in the region of interest to preppers. This week’s focus is on several upcoming visits to the Redoubt by the US Air Force Thunderbirds aerobatic flying team.

Idaho (Thunderbirds!)

The USAF Thunderbirds precision flying team will perform on October 14th and 15th at Gowen Thunder. Gowen Field is three miles south of Boise. In addition to being a commercial and general aviation airport, the Boise airport is also home to the 124th Fighter Wing of the Idaho Air National Guard.  That Wing operates A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft. (The A-10 is more popularly known as the Warthog.) By the way, Gowen Field is  one of five military bases that are contenders to base F-35 fighters, since the awesome  A-10 is sadly scheduled for retirement.

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Parrish Miller wrote this informative piece for Redoubt News: Idaho’s Campus Carry Law Needs Reform

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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”. We’ll let Mike Williamson start it off today.

Mike Williamson

SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large sent in this somewhat humorous link about antifa opening a self-defense training gym in Chicago. Well, it’s not really a gym because they couldn’t raise the funding, so they meet in a park. They’re not really teaching self defense because no one seems to know anything about it. They don’t like the masculine dominated gym culture, so they’re exercising in the park. The spokesman says they don’t want to get aggressive. Floral hats are optional too.

o o o

Mike also sent this Facebook video of a person driving down the street in Monfalcone, Italy. This is in the heart of Europe, but you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone not in Islamic garb. Europe is almost lost.

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The Editors’ Quote Of The Day

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“The origin of all civil government, justly established, must be a voluntary compact, between the rulers and the ruled; and must be liable to such limitations, as are necessary for the security of the absolute rights of the latter; for what original title can any man or set of men have, to govern others, except their own consent? To usurp dominion over a people, in their own despite, or to grasp at a more extensive power than they are willing to entrust, is to violate that law of nature, which gives every man a right to his personal liberty; and can, therefore, confer no obligation to obedience.” – Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted, 1775

S&W M&P .45 Compact, by Pat Cascio

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Today, I’m writing about Smith & Wesson’s M&P .45 Compact. This is the “older” M&P rather than the 2.0 version.

Smith & Wesson

I used to be a huge S&W fan. I still love their guns, but over the years their customer service just isn’t what it used to be. So, whenever I have a S&W firearm, I know that I’m pretty much on my own if something goes wrong with it. Last time, S&W wanted $88 to repair something that was covered under the warranty. I told them to keep the gun. Instead, they returned it still broken!

S&W is still a leader in the firearms industry. There is no doubt about that at all. And, they are making a very strong come back in the law enforcement arena, which they used to pretty much own until Glock came on the scene. Still, S&W is doing great with their M&P line-up of handguns and AR-style rifles.

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Recipe of the Week: Homemade Crockpot Thanksgiving Dressing, by L.H.

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I literally spent years working on this recipe, taking notes, and making changes after every less-than-stellar effort. (And there were a lot of these!) There were the years I served a brick of dressing (too many eggs), and the year I served green dressing (too much sage).Then I decided I needed to learn to make it in the crockpot to reserve the oven for the turkey and other dishes, and that was a whole ‘nuther learning experience. You get the idea. 

But I finally came up with what we think (and our family and guests seem to agree) is a really good basic bread dressing that comes out of the crockpot perfectly every year, every time. If you like an old-fashioned traditional bread dressing, and consider making homemade a “labor of love” as I do, I think you’ll like it.

Ingredients

  • About 16 oz. toasted/dried bread cubes (*see note below)
  • 4 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 4 large stalks celery, diced
  • 1 1/2 tsp. sugar
  • 2 heaping Tbsp. sage
  • 1/2 tsp. thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 3-5 c. chicken broth or turkey stock, divided
  • 1 egg

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