What Is Your Purpose?, by MAC

So, like most of you, I have gotten very serious about surviving TEOTWAWKI. In fact, it can dominate my thought processes on a daily basis. From the very day I started reading Patriots, I realized that regardless of all the skills I learned in Montana growing up and the extensive survival training I learned in the military, as well as my subjection to countless “no-notice” survival exercises, I didn’t know squat about sustainable or long-term survival. Everything I had learned was focused on the relatively short term, say a few weeks at most. And, you know what? I loved every one of those exercises, no matter how miserable the conditions or the length of time in the wilderness. I especially loved the ones in which I was hunted by aggressors in “Escape & Evasion” scenarios. I loved it, just absolutely loved it!

Patriots was my first exposure to the survivalist or prepper culture and the concept of survival in a perpetual state of sustainment. In other words, survival in this context means indefinite or even infinite! My previous idea of survival was to meet the challenge, overcome odds, and then eventually be able brag about it while warming up near a cozy fire with a cold beer in my hand. That was my reward. Now, it’s not that I didn’t take survival seriously; I definitely did. However, to me, it was a means to an end. The reality of surviving TEOTWAWKI is that there is no end. It’s actually a start to a new way of life. (Also, there’s no reward of beer either, unless you brew it yourself!)

I already knew that, when considering survival, accumulation of knowledge and skill is the most important thing and that food, water, and other perishables, while important, will eventually be depleted. Only knowledge and skills will earn you more. JWR taught of things like heirloom seeds, Redoubt selection, and construction, et cetera. These were epiphanies to me and opened up the world of survival sustainment.

Was I a bit obsessed? You know it! Tell me you weren’t? I’m laughing as I write this, because anyone who has been bitten by the “prepper bug” and then tried to convey the concept to skeptical family members or a budget conscience wife certainly experienced angst. It didn’t help that prepper television shows were popular then and most of them were ridiculous. (Well, okay, maybe all of them were.) It certainly didn’t help my case with “Mama”. This is not an advertisement for Patriots or to assign blame to JWR for any stress I may have endured as a result of reading his book. (Early on, my wife would have taken her cast-iron skillet to him if she’d known his address. She thinks he’s cool now, though.) The fact is, the reason you’re reading this is because we all read that book. Patriots was life changing for me, and I’m sure it was for you. I am very grateful, and maybe someday I’ll be able to tell JWR in person. I just hope on that day we’re both standing with the sheep and not the goats!

So, it’s been quite a few years since reading Patriots and beginning the survivalist journey. Since then, several other books have impacted my life to include One Second After by Forstchen. (Unlike Patriots, these folks had no preparation.) Also, I read Scimitar Rising by Percynter, which aided in my Christian resolve to be a survivalist, but by far there is no better book to recommend than Patriots. It is common sensical, based on real expertise, and is authored by a man who lives it, not just preaches it. (By the way, I don’t like the “prepper” word or its connotation, so from this point on I’ll use survivalist.) Sustainable survival is a journey to be sure; it’s a way of thinking that transcends to a way of life. As a Christian, I’ve recognized this and reconciled it into my walk. At first I “shoe-horned” it in, making it fit with whatever Biblical scriptures I could find that supported my narrative. JWR helped with that, as he had resolved it in his heart and posted his beliefs on this site. If you haven’t read them, you should. However, while he found his peace and I thought I had, mine waned significantly with the advent of the 2016 election. No, I wasn’t one of the “crybabies” or “snowflakes”. It’s just the opposite actually. My side won! Though admittedly, I’m not sure yet what we’ve won. I’m hoping for a “Reagan” in our president-elect; I guess we’ll wait and see. I really don’t want to get into the politics here, except to say that in my almost six decades on this planet, I’ve witnessed the moral decay of society move rather quickly. The last decade seems to be moving exponentially in its pace, and it is my belief that the political left is the most responsible for this with the advancement of Progressive Socialism and Globalist ideologies. Specifically, it is the tenacious drive to remove Christian influence in society while replacing it with secular (read anti-Christian) values and behaviors. One way they accomplish this is through the “revision of history”. They’re changing history in the minds of our youth, all the while steering them away from foundational documents, like the Federalist Papers and even our own Constitution. I remember while I was in high school they changed the curriculum to remove “civics” and replaced it with “social studies”. At first, the change was subtle and the content was nearly identical, but over time the study of our governmental system and the ideals supporting it slowly evolved to a socialist agenda. Oh, and don’t get me started with Hollywood; you only need to YouTube 1950’s and 60’s television to see how fast that went in the toilet. I used to tell my kids that the one thing we learn from history is that we never seem to learn from it. However, in fairness, if they’re being taught a different history—a manufactured one—how can we blame them?

One of the hardest things for me to come to terms with was watching the country I served for 20 years in the military, a country that was founded on Christian principles and influences, slide into a Progressivism/Globalist cesspool. This was accentuated for me by the 2016 election, when it seemed the outcome would continue to result in more of the same or worse. Like most of us survivalists, I began to panic, buy more ammo, get more survival food, and prepare to bug out. I found myself angry most the time and became obsessed with the news. I watched as the country was being divided, both politically and racially. Civil unrest was, and still is, at a level where I felt I might be required to take up arms. I even considered joining some of the local militia groups. Bottom line: I was ready to pop somebody’s cork and was happy to do it! Now, I wouldn’t have initiated it, but I was definitely going to finish it if it started. That’s when I got a little tap on the shoulder…

The “tap” came in a still small voice. I was so caught up in everything that I needed relief. I needed peace. I needed direction. Where was it I found that before? Oh, yeah, in prayer. Christians know that voice; it goes something like this: “Hey, where have you been? You were praying every day, just a couple of months ago. Is there something bothering you? Can I help?” My response? Yeah well, it went something like this: “Oh thank God! I mean, thank you…Lord! Yes, I am really stressed and confused. I see what’s going on in the world and can’t help but think we’re in the end times…” And, being God, He let me ramble on until I got everything out. I ended it with, “Lord, I don’t know what to do. What should I do?” Then, I listened. It didn’t come right away; it usually doesn’t. But later, when I calmed down a bit, a thought slipped into my mind. It was of Jesus walking on the water and Peter going out to meet him. A lot of people believe that only Jesus walked on water, but Peter did too, for a while anyway. Then, he began to think about the impossible circumstances he was in, and he started to sink. It was only after he took his eyes off his circumstances and back on Jesus that Peter was lifted back on top of the water. That was the first thing God wanted me to do– get my mind off my circumstances and on Him. This opened my mind more, and I realized that I had asked my question in error. Instead of asking, “What should I do,” my question should have been, “Lord, what would you have me do?” Once I verbalized that, He got quiet, and I didn’t hear anymore. Now, for you Christians who’ve reached a level with God where He gets you to a place of contemplation and then leaves you hanging, it’s probably because you didn’t yet pick up on what he wanted to teach you. I was all excited because I got to the point where I asked the right question, and then I arrogantly expected an answer. But, it didn’t come, so I slipped back into “worry mode” for a few days before I forced myself to return to the last thing he wanted me to contemplate– “Lord, what would you have me do?”

First, I started looking at what I had been doing, then why I had been doing it, and finally to a place where I thought about how that served Him and what my purpose on earth is supposed to be. In the end, God wanted me to answer the question all along, because in doing so, I reinforced His Word in my heart. At that point, I realized that all my survival efforts had been focused on just that—survival. Is that why I’m here, just to survive? That’s why God put us here? What if it wasn’t in His plan for me to survive? What if I accumulate all this stuff for myself and my family and we all die in a car accident next week? I thought about JWR and what he directly conveyed as well as the actions of the characters in his books. There was charity and human kindness, a message, and a ministry. I’m not going to be so presumptuous to say for sure JWR resolved the question, “Lord, what would you have me do?” in exactly that way, but I’ll bet he had a similar conversation.

Once I answered the right question and resolved it in my heart, other worries surfaced and were resolved also. Well, mostly. God’s not done with me yet, and between you and me He’s got a lot more work to do, believe me. Some of my other worries center on this country and my love for it. I am a patriot, and I will fight to preserve it. I know many of you, if not all of you, feel the same way. But, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Regardless of how this president or any other turns out, the Bible is very clear; eventually, this world will decay to a point where some very bad things happen. Many will “run to the mountains” to survive, there will be a great famine and over a third of the people will perish. It’s Biblical. It’s gonna happen. There’s nothing you or I can do about it, except of course prepare to survive it. My personal belief is that the United States will not be a factor in the final battle and we will fold long before that day. There are some scholars that try to say obscure passages make reference to the contrary, but the bottom line is; we’re not mentioned. The reigning world power would be. I really hope I’m wrong, but even if I am, I want to leave you with one very important thought; you are a Christian before you are an American. If for any reason you find yourself in a position where you have to choose between God and country, you better pick God. That was harder to resolve in my heart than I thought it would be. I’ve conveyed that to my son, who is now active-duty military himself, and I know he struggles with it. That kid was a patriot from the womb.

Now, I know this wasn’t your typical “how to” article, but I would advocate that indeed it is one, because I believe that every Christian will find themselves at this juncture in their survivalist journey. I know that many of you have already identified with the feelings and emotions I described earlier, and I want you to know there is more to it. You are not meant to escape to a remote location and merely survive; you will have a purpose beyond this. You have a purpose now! Until you die, you are “the light of this world.”

Matthew 5:15 says, “…nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” As a survivalist; will you be a lamp under a basket, or will you have a plan to spread the light?

So let’s recap in a more “how to” fashion:

  1. Preparing for TEOTWAWKI is not a means to an end; rather, it is a beginning to a new way of life. Understand this precept and prepare based on it.
  2. Accumulation of knowledge and skills are what’s most important.
    1. They won’t likely be accessible after TEOTWAWKI.
    2. Your purpose could be passing these on to others or training them.
  3. Recognize that your obsession and sense of urgency can be a turn-off to others and actually accomplish the opposite of your intent.
  4. Sustainable survival is a journey, not a quick fix. There are certainly things you should do as soon as possible, like build a bug-out bag, but recognize your pocket book is not bottomless and that you can’t do everything all at once. Be patient but diligent; always move forward and have a plan. Your family is more likely to embrace your drive to be responsible rather than your obsession.
  5. Re-read Patriots again. Look for the Christian theme of benevolence in the midst of the chaos; it’s there. Some of it is blatant, like the accumulation of extra supplies that can be used for charitable purposes, while other themes are more subtle, like the behaviors of the characters when being faced with adversity. Think about this as you search for your own Christian purpose.
  6. Recognize that focusing on your circumstances will keep you from finding your resolve and your purpose, to say nothing of finding peace. Remember, God is in control. Believe that, and you will find peace.
  7. TEOTWAWKI hasn’t happened yet. You still have purpose before that happens; don’t lose sight of it. Keep God first!
  8. Continue to fight for your country and Christian values. You’re not supposed to give up and just wait for TEOTWAWKI. However, understand that if confronted with a choice, it’s “God before country”.
  9. Resolve your survivalist efforts with God. Ask the question, “Lord, what would you have me do?” His plan for your life won’t necessarily line up with your plan, but His is more important! If you’re stressed or obsessed, you probably haven’t done this correctly. This is the most important step!
  10. Finally, find and understand your purpose in a TEOTWAWKI scenario and prepare for it. As an example, you might be a doctor or dentist; imagine that after TEOTWAWKI there will not be universities to create more of you. There will be a huge need to pass on your knowledge; maybe you become a teacher. Apply the same logic to a blacksmith, botanist, midwife, mechanic, or even a pastor.

God has a purpose for you. Find out what it is and embrace it. Don’t focus on your circumstances; if it is truly God’s plan for you, then everything will fall into place and your loved ones will follow too. Don’t force it. Pray about it and listen.; He is faithful. Lastly know this; at the end of the day you are a Christian first and spreading the good news in a failing world is your ultimate purpose, now and in the future. Get out from under the basket and shine.

Letter: Just Don’t Call Me 4-Eyes

Hugh,

While doing my bi-annual “Earthquake Bag” check (the politically correct term in the People’s Republic of Kalifornia for a “Bug Out Bag”), I stumbled across a fundamental demonstration of my own personal Normalcy Bias. I discovered one of the key tools of survival I had been skipping for years– back up eyes.

As we age, we are almost all faced with the problem of correcting the vision of our aging eyes. Without this correction, most of us would have a hard time even identifying the contents of our BoB, much less using some of the contents. It could certainly aid to an untimely demise.

Flash forward a week later to when I picked up my new glasses from my optometrist and fellow prepper; I asked, “What do you do?”. He shared his inexpensive and effective solution. Below is his reply:

“Look, you just bought two pairs of very nice glasses from me and your vision is now back to 100%. But put those old glasses back on and you’re probably at 90%, and until you came in for new glasses you were doing fine at 90%.”

“So take those old glasses and stuff them in your ‘Earthquake Bag’, and you’ll do fine. I’ve been putting old glasses in my BoB that are now over five years old, and they work ‘good enough’ as backups for a bug out or emergency situation. I keep old prescription glasses for me in both my wife’s and my BoBs. Without working glasses, both you and I will be dead a lot quicker if the SHTF.”

“And in sunlight, you’ll probably be at 99% as your eye’s irises will close up, improving your vision further. But here is another thing you should do. Include some higher magnification reading glasses in your BoB. And get some of the highest power lenses that work for you– 3-4 Diopter if you need them. Get them for close up work, good enough to see the detail for stitching up a wound, getting debris out of your kid’s eye, or fixing that AR-15 you love so much. Personally, I keep an extra pair of reading glasses in every medical kit I have.”

“You don’t have to spend a bunch of money; you can pick up decent reading glasses at Dollar Tree and other places for a buck. You have no excuse not to be able to see up close and personal!” – M.M.

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Books:

Glock Reference Guide

Terra Nullius: A Journey Through No One’s Land

Movies:

Wild Horse, Wild Ride (Documentary.) Now available free for Amazon Prime members.

The Accountant 2016 Ben Affleck portrays a very unusual accountant in this action/thriller. (Rated R and definitely not for kids!)

Television:

Barn Find Hunter (Available free for Amazon Prime members)

Charlie Jade (A mind-bending series produced in South Africa about a man who transits three parallel universes. Available free for Amazon Prime members.)

Music:

Dances With Wolves Soundtrack (John Barry)

Gordon Lightfoot – Complete Greatest Hits

Instructional Videos:

Chainsaw Hack: Sharpen Your Chain Out in the Woods with a Stump Vise (Swedish Homestead)

How To Grow Vegetables In Winter With A Preppers Winter Vegetable Garden

Podcasts:

Modern Homesteading Podcast

Firearms Radio Network (several podcasts)

Online Sermon Videos:

Lordship Church, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (Pastor Warren Campbell)

Liberty Fellowship, Kalispell, Montana (Pastor Chuck Baldwin)

Gear:

Leupold VX-R 3-9x40mm FireDot Riflescope with Illuminated Reticle

Sony ICF-SW7600GR AM/FM Shortwave Receiver with Single Side Band Reception

Odds ‘n Sods:

4 Forgotten Meat-Preservation Methods Of The 1800s – J.C.

o o o

Rep. Steve King Files Federal Pro-Life Heartbeat Bill: ‘If a Heartbeat Is Detected, the Baby Is Protected’ – D.B.

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Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich. JWR’s Comment: The photo caption reads: “An armed guard stands at the entrance of the Survival Condo Project…” But it should read: “A Photoshopped mock guard stands at the entrance of the Survival Condo Project…” Take a moment to notice that his shadow doesn’t match the photo. Is this fake news, or was that a faked publicity photo provided by the project promoters?

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The last line of the Passover dinner recitation is often quoted : “Next Year in Jerusalem!” Well, let us pray that it comes to fruition with the building of the new U.S. Embassy in Israel, in 2018. The embassy staff can and should celebrate Passover on the new grounds! – JWR

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Video: Pentagon’s mini-drones swarm like bees

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Survival” means living through an involuntary situation of extended duration where death is a likely outcome.

If it’s a voluntary situation it’s a misadventure. If it’s of short duration it’s a narrow escape. A lost hunter who overnights in the woods had a bad day. If he’s mauled by a bear but lives, he had a close call. It’s not survival. Stranded on an Arctic island is survival.

It’s survival when you’re forced to make daily life-or-death choices, often between bad and worse, forced to discriminate ruthlessly between wants and needs, and to not obsess over the situation or its cause, nor dwell on regret. It’s survival when your best days are your future nightmares. Actual survivors don’t want to repeat the experience, but if they must, they’re more prepared empty handed than are most preppers with all their gear.

A survivalist prepares to outlast unrelenting mortal danger where others will die in big numbers. Likely and otherwise imminent death is what he intends to survive. Anything less is a lifestyle, however admirable or entertaining.” – O’l Remus, writing in his Yer Ol’ Woodpile Report blog

Notes for Tuesday – January 24, 2017

January 24 is the birthday of Tamara K., the editor of the View From The Porch blog. This is also the birthday of René Barjavel (born 1911, died November 24, 1985). This prescient French science fiction author wrote several books with survivalist themes, including Ravage, which was titled Ashes, Ashes in its English translation.

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The Limited Edition of 1,000 SurvivalBlog Archive Waterproof USB sticks have now sold out, after just one week. But you can still get the digital download. And that, of course can be loaded onto a waterproof USB 8GB (or larger) stick that you buy locally. Those sticks can be found for less than $20. (Check at eBay or Amazom.com)

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Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 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 that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 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 with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel 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, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $2,400 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 Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. An infrared sensor/imaging camouflage shelter from Snakebite Tactical in Eureka, Montana (A $350+ value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A custom made Sage Grouse model utility/field knife from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  4. 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,
  5. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  6. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  7. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a $125 Montie gear Gift certificate.,
  9. 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), and
  10. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).
  11. A $250 gift certificate to Tober’s Traditions, makers of all natural (organic if possible) personal care products, such as soap, tooth powder, deodorant, sunscreen, lotion, and more.

Round 68 ends on January 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.

Inexpensive, Effective, Firearms Training, by R.R.

Editor’s Introductory Note:

Three important points should be kept in mind, while absorbing the following valuable article:

  1. While quite useful, dry fire practice should only be conducted in a room with a suitable safe backstop, such as sandbags or several thickness of thick metropolitan phone books in a large box atop a desk at chest and head level. And, of course, the weapon should be completely unloaded and ALL ammunition should be absent from that room to prevent negligent discharges. Double check all of this before conducting any dry fire practice. If you want to practice clearing stoppages, then do so ONLY with dummy cartridges! Commercially made snap caps and dummy cartridges are fairly expensive and often fragile, but any competent handloader can make you large set of dummy cartridges quite inexpensively. The protruding projectiles on these dummys should be painted a bright color, to avoid any confusion. If you can afford it, buy a SIRT laser trainer.
  2. Perfect practice makes perfect, but imperfect practice merely reinforces bad habits through repetition. So it is important to get some professional training before you then continue to train on your own. Repetitively practicing a bad draw stroke, a bad stance, a bad grip, and/or a bad trigger pull just makes you a thoroughly badly-trained shooter. (I speak from experience on this. I spent 16 years practicing a lousy “teacup” grip before I finally got better training from a pro. That was a lot of muscle memory to retrain.)
  3. We live in the age of widely distributed body armor. Accordingly, all training should stress the need for quick follow-up shots to the Occular Window. Train like you’ll fight, and then you can fight like you’ve trained! – JWR

This is a guide for finding time, saving money, and training properly.

As preppers the immediate survival need will be security. Without security, every other aspect of survival preparedness could be for nothing. It would be wonderful if everyone had thousands of hours of hands on training with live fire drills to instill an instinctual perfectly rehearsed response to a variety of situations.

The key here is, what is the best training you can have for your circumstances. How can you develop high level warrior skills? You have a number of obstacles to this– time, money, and knowledge.

Time. Unlike military folks you don’t get paid to train to kill people. You have a normal job, pay the bills, pick up the kids from football or track, and cook dinner.

Money. Uncle Sam does not fund your training with thousands of rounds of ammo and professional instructors. This comes out of your general fund, which is supposed to pay for mortgage, car, kids, and food, all of which are immediate priorities and understandably so.

Knowledge. So we want to go training. That’s great, if we have the time and the money, but do we know how to train properly? Is what we are training preparing us for reality? Are we training to build specific skills, like speed and accuracy, or do we just waste ammo by endlessly punching holes in paper with no improvement and no goal in mind?

The great danger that exists, which I see all the time, is time and money wasted on training for the wrong thing. Your average person will not touch their gun unless it is to go to the range once every few months. They set up paper targets at the 10 yard line and punch holes in paper from a comfortable position, none of which will help prepare them to fight and kill an adversary who is intent on killing them.

SAVE TIME AND MONEY – DRY FIRE TRAIN

I have found that a cross between dry fire training at home and then live fire test at the range under stress (timed situation) works great. Just like with working out, dedication, focus, and understanding of how and why you train will lead to rapid gains in a short period of time.

AT HOME

Dry fire training is when you practice with an unloaded weapon. You practice all the techniques associated with firing the gun, except you spend no time at the range, money on ammunition, or feel the distraction of loud muzzle report, or the recoil of the weapon. If you think about it, everything that you do that will decide where the bullet will go is all done before there is a “bang” of the gun. You can master your draw, seeing the right sight picture, pressing the trigger, speed reloading, etc etera. All can be mastered dry.

At home, this can be done during any time you have available. Unload your weapon and place the ammunition in another room (so there are no accidents). Create a safe backstop just in case. A bookshelf with tightly packed books is a good solid stop. Place a realistic humanoid target up to aim and “fire” at, for practice. Get used to aiming your gun at a bad guy and pulling the trigger.

TIME/SCHEDULING

You first need to create a schedule of the skills you intend on developing. For example, it could be for carrying and using a pistol.

Monday – The Draw from concealment

Tuesday – Speed Reloading

Wednesday – Malfunction Clearing

Then Monday – Drawing from concealment – This would be further broken down into a process of every single movement that must be practice for maximum efficiency and consistency.

The drawing from concealment process:

  1. Clearing clothing
  2. Grip position
  3. Presenting the firearm
  4. Obtaining Sight Picture
  5. Trigger Press
  6. Clear and Reload.

This might seem overly detailed for “drawing and firing” practice, but purposefully and consciously dissecting each part of the process is going to make you consistently perform better and faster.

To give an example, when you pull the trigger how many times have you been conscious that the front site was perfectly centered between the rear site, because you could see an equal amount of light on either side of the front site? And did you feel your trigger finger pressed perfectly flat against the surface of the trigger, ensuring an even press? Did you feel any edge of the trigger being pressed?

When you have drawn your pistol, are you aware of the point your elbow is bent when you draw? Which part of your hand contacts the holster first as a reliable index point? All of this is how you breakdown every part of the process to master efficiency and consistency.

Eventually you will instinctively know and feel the proper positioning of your body, the weapon, and your mindset.

It’s the details like that that separate the average shooter from someone who aims to be a warrior. A warrior becomes a student of every aspect of their equipment, their training, and themselves. Whether you are practicing with a pistol, a rifle, or hand-to-hand, break down the process into the smallest possible parts, and start evaluating for consistency and efficiency.

HOW MUCH TIME?

This is subjective. Ideally you must have enough free time for practicing to make progress. I find it takes a good 30 minutes to really get into a good groove of dry fire practice and get enough repetitions done perfectly to have felt my technique has been sharpened. Start training slow and focus on form. Speed will come with time.

AT THE RANGE

Have a plan to test specific skills and chart your progress. You’ve spent countless hours dry firing and mastering the fundamentals, so use your precious range time to test yourself with live fire and setting up realistic type shooting scenarios.

For example, use realistic targets that look like bad guys. Some should be obvious and some not so obvious. Set up an environment. You can use boxes as fake barricades/walls to use for practicing using cover and shooting around corners/cornering. Have a buddy place dummy rounds in your magazines to induce malfunctions. You have already mastered your fundamentals with dry fire. Use range time to integrate everything. For example, your primary goes down to a malfunction your buddy induced, so did you have the presence of mind to immediately go to pistol, or did you try to clear a double feed while 10 yards from a hostile?

Live range practice is your dress rehearsal for the real deal. Wear all of your gear. I mean all of it. You need to learn what works for you, what doesn’t work for you, what will fall apart, or what needs tweaking, by testing it out. The time for your gun to jam up on a certain brand of ammo is at the range, so you can correct the problem. The time for you to realize that your range of motion is impaired by that fancy doo dad is at the range. I have had seemingly awesome gear set ups really cause issues when used. Your life depends on everything working together properly.

Two simple and effective range drills that I use to save money and improve skills are:

  1. Accuracy drill. Dry fire nine shots at the bullseye. Then fire one live round. If you score a bullseye, then you dry fire eight times and fire two live rounds. Continue doing this until you do not hit the bullseye. If you miss bullseye you have to start back over at nine dry fires and one live round. This drill will force you to do tons of repetitions and hardly shoot any ammunition.
  2. Speed drill – You and a friend must draw and fire on a target. One variation is, whoever gets a shot on the target first wins, or whoever gets X amount of shots on the target wins. Say you have to get off five shots, and all must get into the 8, 9 or 10 ring. Any misses take a second off your time.

KNOWLEDGE

Who are you learning from? There are too many myths about gun fighting from training to ammo selection. There are three people who greatly added to my understanding of what fighting was all about. The all-important and hardly emphasized part of fighting is the mindset, and these three all help me understand that.

Jeff Cooper – Color Codes of Mental Awareness

Dave Grossman – Author of On Combat, and On Killing, and The Bulletproof Mind.

Jerry Peterson – Creator of SCARS fighting system and The Offensive Mindset.

I can sum these up very well, boiling it down to everything you need to know. You must accept the fact that at some point in life, someone may give you a really good reason to kill them, maybe with a firearm or your hands. That is irrelevant. You must know is that if you must fight and kill, you will do exactly that. You have to decide that you are absolutely going to do whatever it takes to survive and win.

Here is a scenario to show the difference between your average person’s mindset and a warriors mindset.

SCENARIO – HOME INVASION AT 3AM

  1. Average Joe wakes up and grabs his pistol off his night stand. He thinks to himself, “Oh no, I might die; some people just broke in.”
  2. The Offensive Mindset – “Those jerks woke me up; they are all going to die.”

See the difference? The offensive warrior mindset has already decided that it will defeat the enemy. There is more of a focus on doing whatever it takes to win than of being afraid. Fear will cause hesitation, and hesitation causes inaction. Inaction causes death.

Aggressive intent to kill your opponent is what makes you move quickly, fight heroically, and survive. That is not to say you will act foolishly and put yourself in undo danger, but it is to emphasize immediate violence on the enemy, as severely and brutally as possible to end the threat.

STRESS INNOCULATION

This is a term I first heard while reading a must-read book, On Combat, by Colonel Dave Grossman. Stress is like a virus that can kill you. We protect ourselves from deadly viruses with vaccines that strengthen our immune system against it, creating specific antibodies ready to kill the virus so we can continue functioning.

Creating stressful training scenarios where we must think, decide, and act with weapons inoculates us to the stresses we will face in real combat. It helps us perform better. It won’t remove the excitement, but it will keep you from becoming unable to think, decide, and act.

Here’s a short word on how you will function under high stress. Think of your brain like a computer. In order to handle any problem, you have to pull the appropriate program into memory and use it to address the problem.

Under high stress levels, you will do one of four things (in order of best to worst):

  1. You have trained for this situation. You load an appropriate program and function as you were supposed to. Maybe it’s with a pistol, or a rifle, or a blade that you’ve prepared yourself, and you act.
  2. You run away as fast as your legs will carry you. Maybe you get shot in the back.
  3. You are overwhelmed and freeze (blue screen of death). Your brain computer has crashed, and you end up killed.
  4. You load the wrong program and do something in a panic, unrelated, unhelpful, and end up getting killed.

When it comes to the hands-on aspect of running guns and shootin’ and scootin’, I have to say Travis Haley has been my favorite instructor to date. Travis Haley has made a number of excellent training videos produced by Panteo Production, from AK47 to AR15 to pistols. He also partnered with Chris Costa to make the Magpul series of training videos, which are also fantastic. Travis Haley also worked in conjunction with sports medicine experts to get at the science behind every aspect of running guns, from proper body alignment of your spine and hips to the way you should position your trigger finger for consistent rapid firing.

The man is a humble professional who loves to teach. Anything I write here is a poor substitute for the fountain of knowledge that comes from him in his many training videos. Of course, seek others and get as much information as you can, but I would dare say that Travis Haley would be the best way to establish a firm foundation and get shooting like a professional on day one.

SUMMARY

Gather information. Read the works of Cooper and Grossman, and then watch the instruction from Haley. Develop your training plan. Dry fire often at home, and then monthly or quarterly (whatever you can afford) live fire tests at the range, testing gear and skills. And always maintain your warrior mindset.

Letter Re: IP Addresses in an Internet Blackout

If the powerful few decide to shut down independent news sites, more than likely they will shut down the DNS servers and leave the rest of the Internet up. The DNS servers (Domain Name System) is liken to a telephone book. You look up the name (Domain name) and it gives you the telephone number, in our case, the IP Number (Internet Protocol Number). They can accomplish this by shutting down the entire DNS systems or just selectively remove certain domain addresses from the book, leaving the rest of the book operational. Note that either way, the news sites are still there and operating.

The cure for this, if it should happen, is to know the phone number (IP address) beforehand. Then you don’t need the telephone book. It’s that simple. Below is a list of some of my favorite sites, including this site. Copy and save those numbers. If you are really bored, just go ahead and copy them in as PROPERTIES of your favorite Internet bookmarks, i.e. replace Survivalblog.com with http://185.8.177.142/ .

Note: The big sites have a dedicated computer server just for their sites. Little guys like myself rent a shared server, thus requiring a longer name than just the IP number. Also be aware that the number needs the “http://” in front of it, so if your browser does not automatically add it, you will have to. To be safe, just add the “http://” anyway. In fact, if you don’t want to append your favorites on your browser now, save the list below and just click on them and they should automatically link you to the sites.

Note that the top link is to a free service that will allow you to find the IP addresses to some of your own favorite sites. Happy hunting, but do it now! – J.C.

IP Lookup: http://ip-lookup.net/domain-lookup.php

AmericanFreePress.net http://65.23.153.127

BeforeItsNews.com http://64.62.227.18

BlackListedNews.com http://198.245.55.242

Don’t-Tread-On.Me htp://104.236.58.181

DrudgeReport.com http://69.89.68.240

FromTheTrenchesWorldReport.com http://216.117.129.6

InfoWars.com http://104.238.156.201

NationalLibertyAlliance.org http://162.242.198.79

RumorMillNews.com http://45.79.195.246

ResetUS.us http://181.224.139.64/~srcfla37/index.php/news2e629

SGTReport.com http://54.152.163.13/

SurvivalBlog.com http://185.8.177.142/

WhatReallyHappened.com http://173.236.29.251

ZeroHedge.com http://34.192.18.153

News From The American Redoubt:

Pulling Back the Curtain on Scotchman Peaks Wilderness

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Video: All-American EFX Sports: Billings’ Best Kept Secret. Here is a link to their website. While their sales headquarters is in California, their factory (and most of their employees) are in Billings, Montana.

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The Columbia River Treaty could be the death of Idaho – J.H.

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Texas billionaire brothers Wilks reach out to Idaho state officials about land – DSV

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Wyoming: City to hold informational meeting on tree-killing beetle

Economics and Investing:

Why Cheap Natural Gas Is History. A rapidly tightening natural gas market could see natural gas prices rise to $4 mmBtu as supply slumps and demand remains firm.

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Will Trump Usher In An Era Of Sound Money?

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The US dollar is now overvalued against almost every currency in the world

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Feds Should Reimburse Texas for Border Security Expenses, Say Congressmen – I agree; protecting the nation’s borders is a Federal duty. – H.L.

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

The Assembly Of Muslim Jurists Of America’a Ominous Post-election Statement – H.L.

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From Reader Prepared Grammy: This is from the local news channel. Students from my area were in DC to sing at the inaugural events. This is what the wonderful, peaceful demonstrators did to this bus full of students from the junior and senior high schools from Southern Illinois. I guess they were only concerned about the rights of the protesters, not those of the innocent children in this bus. I bet you didn’t see this on the national news. If it weren’t for the fact that Kyle Childers is a prominent citizen (an orthodontist with several offices in the area), I wonder if it would have even made the local news. And WE’RE the ones who are intolerant and unreasonable, even deplorable.

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23 Prepper Items To Look For at the Goodwill Store – DSV

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Mexican Cartel Stockpiling Grenade Launchers at Texas Border – W.C.

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First GMO apple slices to go on sale in Midwest – DSV

SIG Sauer P320 Series–The U.S. Army’s New Modular Handgun, by Pat Cascio

The Federal government is on the wrong track most of the time. If there is a hard, wrong, or difficult way to do something, they do it, nearly every time. I know this from first-hand experience when I worked for a large detective agency and we often bid on uniform guard services for the Federal government. It’s not quite as simple as being the lowest bidder, as many believe. There are a good number of loopholes involved in bidding on FedGov services, including whether your company has the capability to meet the requirements. They want to know if your business has enough cash flow, enough employees, and the list goes on and on.

When the US Military requested a new handgun back in the 1980s, the list of things that they wanted the gun to do were endless. After the first round of testing, none of the handguns had passed the testing procedures, and it had to be done all over again. Some gun companies opted out, and some new gun companies decided to give it a try. The end result was that Beretta won and supplied the Model 92, called the M9 in the military. They are basically the same gun, for all intents and purposes, with just a few slight differences. Of course, this led to protests over the bidding process and the final selection when one gun company accused the other of penciling in their bid price after hearing the others’ bids. Soon after, the military also adopted the SIG Sauer P228 9mm handgun for plain clothes CID officers, and it is called the M11.

Let’s fast forward to several years ago when the military decided that it needed another new handgun for the services. However, this time around, there weren’t too many bidders. I believe it was because the gun companies didn’t want to get involved in a selection process that could take years, maybe a decade since nothing moves fast when dealing with the FedGov. There were only a few gun makers willing to jump through the red tape and provide gun samples, based on the 300+ pages of requirements for the new handgun.

It was recently announced that SIG Sauer won the bid for the new “Modular Handgun System”. The military didn’t want just a single gun to do everything they think they wanted it to do; it had to be “modular”. You had to be able to change it to fit different missions, different sized people, and meet other requirements. For the most part, there is no one-size-fits-all, when it comes to just about anything.

Following the successful SIG P250 came the SIG Sauer P320 series of handguns. The military, in their finite “wisdom”, didn’t even spec what caliber of handgun they were looking for. Everyone assumed they wanted another 9mm. Well, even though the testing is over, we still don’t know what caliber the military wants. The nation’s leading law enforcement agency, the FBI, recently went back to the 9mm after using the .40S&W for many years. The advances in bullet construction made the switch easy. The .40 S&W does tend to have some serious recoil, and smaller-statured officers were having a difficult time qualifying. If they couldn’t qualify on the range, their real-life shootings weren’t going to be much better. So, now there is a mad rush by law enforcement all over the country to dump their .40 S&W caliber handguns and switch back to the 9mm.

Let’s take a look at the Modular Handgun System that SIG came up with. Please check out their website for all the different models. We don’t want to bore our readers to death with the seemingly endless choices the P320 comes in. However, we will mention that the P320 can be had in 9mm, .357 SIG, .40 S&W, and .45ACP. Plus, there are full-sized, carry, compact, and subcompact versions. However, it’s not that easy to make a choice. SIG came up with something very unique a few years ago in their P250 model, which we reviewed on SurvivalBlog.com, in that the serialized part of the gun isn’t the polymer frame; rather, it is a stainless steel chassis that is easily removed from the polymer grip and inserted into different sized grips.

So, if you purchase one SIG Sauer P320 model, you can change it over to different sizes, from the sub-compact to the full-sized gun and everything in between with shorter frames, longer barrels, and slides, and everything you can think of, seriously! If ever there was one handgun that you can consider as truly modular, this is it!

I happened to have two different samples of the SIG Sauer P320, both in 9mm. First is the sub-compact, and then we have the TAC OPS that is a full-sized version with a little something more to it compared to the standard full-sized version. Now, remember, I can take the sub-compact model and remove the stainless steel chassis from the frame, install it in another frame, then add the right size slide and barrel and magazine, and I have a new gun, but it is still the same gun, because it has but one serial number. It’s easier to do than explain.

Let’s take a look at the sub-compact model first. The P320 is a striker-fired handgun, unlike the P250, which was hammer-fired. The trigger pull on the P320 model is very short and crisp, considering it is a striker-fire handgun. It might well be the best striker-fired trigger pull out there, bar none. It is “that” good. The sub-compact has a barrel that is only 3.6 inches long, and the gun only weighs 24.9 oz and is 1.3 inches wide. We can now confuse ourselves more; the standard magazine capacity is 12 rds; however, you can also use the 15-rd mag from the compact model, by slipping a sleeve over the magazine, and you can use the 17 or even 21 round mags in the sub-compact model. What?

I don’t especially like the stubby 12-rd mag; my pinky finger just hangs below the magazine. So, I found some after-market mag floor plates, which were priced at $20 each. They work great. My pinky finger fits nicely on the gun now, as does it work great with the 15-rd mag with the sleeve over it. My sub-compact model came standard with night sights, too, which is very nice. There is no manual safety, and none is needed. However, I understand that the US Army may require a manual safety on some of the guns they order.

The TAC OPS model was designed for SWAT teams and elite military units. It is a full-sized gun with a 4.7-inch barrel, and it weighs 29.5 oz. It has a rear night sight, and the front sight is also a night sight; however, it is also a fiber optic night sight. That green fiber optic really shines (no pun intended) when you are outdoors. It is also 1.3 inches wide. The TAC OPS comes with four, count ‘em– four, twenty-one round magazines. These alone sell for about $60 each, and you can use these mags in the sub-compact model; they just stick out of the bottom of the grip quite a bit. I don’t believe SIG makes this model any longer; it’s not on their website, which is too bad. But they still come with regular SIG Lite night sights just the same.

Both the sub-compact and the TAC OPS come with a Picatinny rail; however, you can purchase a frame for about $40 directly from SIG without the Picatinny rail for the sub-compact. Now, if all this isn’t enough, you can swap out frames. Again, just removed the serialized stainless steel chassis from the gun, and slip it into a frame that is bigger or slimmer (to fit your hand better). My sample, on the TAC OPS, came with the medium grip, as it did on the sub-compact version.

While the possibilities aren’t exactly endless on the different configurations you can make the P320 into, there are a lot of different ways you can have many different guns just by purchasing one gun and then swapping out the chassis and installing it. Plus, it only takes a minute with no tools to do this, and you can design a gun to your liking. The frames can be purchased directly from SIG, because they do not have the serial number.

I carried the P320 sub-compact for almost six months on a daily basis, in between testing other handguns. I liked it a lot! SIG also provides a plastic paddle holster with this one but not with the TAC OPS for some reason. I don’t like paddle holsters, so I carried the sub-compact in a leather holster I modified to fit a different gun. The only complaint I had with the sub-compact model is that it just feels a little bit too chunky in my hand. The full-sized TAC OPS is the same width, but it didn’t feel chunky. Go figure!

I didn’t carry the TAC OPS on a daily basis. I only carried it a few times, and it was in a Blackhawk Products ballistic Nylon holster, a genertic sort, but the gun rode just fine in it. Quite honestly, the full-sized gun isn’t meant for concealed carry, but you can conceal it with the right holster and covering garment. You can, as mentioned, swap out the serialized chassis from the TAC OPS and put it in a sub-compact, compact, or carry-sized gun. Did we happen to mention that the P320 truly is a modular handgun system? It is, in many respects.

Up first for testing was the sub-compact model. I had several boxes of 9mm FMJ reloads I got from the local gun shop. They are manufactured locally here in Oregon. I had one failure after another, either to feed or fully extract the empty brass when it was ejecting. It was just barely dribbling out of the slide, as it was very under-powered ammo. It wasn’t the gun. I tried this ammo in several other 9mm handguns and had the same problem. Whew!

From Black Hills Ammunition, I had their 115-gr JHP +P, 124-gr JHP +P, 115-gr FMJ, 115-gr EXP HP, 124-gr JHP, and 115-gr Barnes TAC XP, all-copper hollow points. From Buffalo Bore Ammunition, I had their 147-gr standard pressure sub-sonic Heavy 147-gr JHP, 147-gr Hard Cast FN +P, 115-gr Barnes TAC XP, all-copper hollow point, +P+, 1240gr FMJ FN Penetrator +P+ round, and their 124-gr JHP +P+ loads. There were zero malfunctions of any sort with good ammo. It was just that reloaded stuff that was way under-powered. Even the +P+ ammo was easy to shoot in the sub-compact and a breeze in the full-sized TAC OPS model. In all, I fired close to 1,000 rounds through both guns, over the course of several months.

Accuracy testing was from 25 yards, even with the sub-compact model, resting it over a sleeping bag over the hood of my pickup truck. Best accuracy was from the TAC OPS, and it was the 147-gr sub-sonic heavy JHP Load from Buffalo Bore. If I was on my game, I could get 2.5-inch groups, and with the sub-compact, the best group was with the Black Hills 124-gr JHP load right at three inches. That is outstanding from both guns. The little sub-compact didn’t give up much to the big brother in the accuracy department.

For concealed carry, the sub-compact was nice, but it just felt too chunky in my hand for some reason. The TAC OPS, with the 21-round magazines sticking out of the butt of the gun, was too big for concealed carry, but it was great for duty work; however, I placed a 17-rd mag in the TAC OPS and it fit flush with the butt of the gun. Still, it was a tad too big for my own every day concealed carry. We have a carry version and a compact version from SIG, and you can buy all the parts you need directly from SIG to put that chassis into them and have several guns per se to fit your needs. Blackhawk Products sent me one of their tactical thigh holsters, and after a little adjusting the TAC OPS fit nicely. It’s just the ticket for tactical work!

I think, for once, that the US Army made a very wise decision going with the SIG Sauer P320. It truly is a modular handgun system, and there is nothing on the market that comes close to this handgun for versatility. If you can’t make this handgun into whatever handgun you want, I don’t know what you are looking for. And, don’t forget, it is available in several other calibers, too.I just wanted to mention the trigger pull one more time. It is probably the best of the best on striker-fired handguns; the only thing that comes close, or maybe could tie it is the H&K VP9 , and it probably isn’t as nice as the P320 trigger pull is.

Prices are all over the place on the P320, depending on which version you pick and what caliber. I got the sub-compact used but 100% as-new, and the price was so low I couldn’t pass it up. I had to have it. Then when the gun shop got in a couple TAC OPS, I couldn’t pass on it, either, so I worked a trade. I will say though, for what you are getting in any version of the P320, it is one steal-of-a-deal, considering what you are getting and with night sights, the gun is lower priced than you’d expect from SIG Sauer. Plus, it is made in the USA!!!

– Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio