Search Results for: shops

Letter Re: Keep Your Bicycle Running in Tough Times, by S.H.

…but are always worthwhile. Schwalbe Marathon Plus is the gold standard but cheaper Marathon is a good and common model. Assemble some bike spares and tools: tires, inner tubes, chains, spokes, patch kits, spare nuts and bolts, spare pump. Chain-tool, crank tool, sprocket tool. Carry a repair kit or walk. In a vehicle-based scenario, consider bicycles to be your life raft: not ideal, but better than swimming. If you work in a city, experience in London and Tokyo shows that everyone wants a bike as soon as transportation troubles become apparent. Shops sell out within hours of a “get back home” event. Be realistic about budget. Bikes are safety critical and can be worked hard every day, so don’t underspend. If you live within 10 miles of work or shops, you can incorporate a bicycle into your life now, and get free fitness training whilst saving on gas. – M.W….


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Walther CCP

I still remember the very first Walther handgun I ever owned. I owned it for less than a week. Bear with me; I had just purchased a brand new Walther PPK/s .380 in stainless steel. I still have the receipt showing I paid $125 for it back in 1973. I was working as a private investigator (PI) at the time and living back in Chicago, IL, where you had to register your handguns within 30 days of bringing them into the city. There were no gun shops in the city proper, so you had to purchase handguns at neighboring suburban gun shops. To the best of my knowledge, there still are no gun shops inside the city limits of Chicago. I only had the handgun a few days, when on my way home after working late one evening on a stake out I was stopped by the Chicago PD for…


Range Brass to Finished Cartridge, Tips For The Ubiquitous .223 Cartridge, by R.W. – Part 2

…correctly. I believe is by keeping it simple that you will be keeping it safe. Next, do your homework and go online to determine fair market prices for your reloading equipment needs. Most of the primary manufacturers of reloading equipment will have a package deal that offers most everything you will need on the hardware side of reloading to get you started– press, scale, funnel, primer, powder dispenser, and other sundry tools including reloading manuals or booklets on proper load data for most of the common calibers being used today. You will typically need to purchase a set of reloading dies, but there are even kits out there that may have these included in several of the more popular caliber configurations. Once this is done, I then recommend you check prices at your local gun shops or reloading supply house. If their prices are even remotely competitive, I would give…


Guest Post: Is This the End of 80% Receivers? by Timothy Priebe

…“machining or other manufacturing process includes making a frame or receiver, or taking any of the steps to make an existing frame or receiver functional…” and therefore requires a manufacture license. What has become popular over the past few years is for businesses, such as machine shops, to make its machinery available for a temporary loan in exchange for a small fee. Some of these shops have the 80% receiver owner “operate” the machinery by showing them how to set it up and having them turn the machine on. The equipment then machines the receiver so that it can be used by the owner to complete the firearm assembly. With this ruling, the ATF has now clarified that, in its opinion, any person (including incorporations or other legal entity) engaged in the business of performing machining or other similar type processes to create a firearm frame or receiver suitable for…


Mausers for Preppers, by B.F.

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…until 1964 by FN in Belgium for various countries in a number of calibers and minor variations. It reportedly served up until 1986 with the Belgian army reserve forces, and can probably be found still serving somewhere in far flung corners of the world. My Latest Find Moving to more recent history, last weekend, I was out (while social distancing) checking pawn shops for bargains. Also, I was curious to find out if they were seeing a surge in business yet. So far, no increase in people pawning items, but a big increase in people buying guns. One of my regular shops ended up bringing out some of what they think of as their less desirable guns to fill out the display. A hunting rifle caught my eye. It had freckles of rust on it, and a water stain on the stock, but a close look showed that it was…


Survival Aspects of Cartridge Reloading, by Jerry M.

…255 grain Keith SWC with 5 grains of Unique powder, which seems to drop badly if shooting over 150 yards out of the Commander size M1911 autos. By the way, don’t get caught up in the gun writers in the gun magazines. They are writing for the money, and get most of the things they write about from the factory for just writing an article about it. I use to get a kick out of Charles Askins, one article the revolver is much superior to the auto loader, the next month or so, the auto loader was better than the revolver! It was just a matter of who sent him what at the time, which was the better gun. If you are just starting out with your preps, Watch the yard sales and pawn shops for bargains on reloading equipment. I suggest an old Lyman lead pot that can be used over a fire, along…


Two Letters Re: Beans, Bullets, Band-Aids and Bicycles

…early 1990s graphics, et cetera) but it really has a ton of helpful information. Have an old odd duck French bike? He has info on it. SheldonBrown.com is his reference library, and it has helped me with plans several times. It is a great resource. My friends know I am into fixing up old bikes. I’ve traded odd jobs for bikes and bike parts, I’ve done side jobs repairing bikes for people, and my buddies always tell me when they find a deal. Networking about interests will always lead you some interesting contacts. I also believe that God knows us, and if we’ll talk to Him, he will place opportunities in our path. Ask Him to open your eyes, and when the opportunity comes along, take it, and remember to say a prayer of thanks. I regularly visit the bike shops in my area and try to send business their…


Letter Re: Resources for Preppers in South Africa

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…We have been using them for years. (Credit card and EFT) Off grid power. We use two sites/suppliers www.sustainable.co.za and www.redrhino.co.za  They stock all one needs, the service and prices are by far the best we have found. A self-installed solar geyser (hot water system) from Red Rhino is cheaper than taking advantage of the Eskom rebate with a more expensive dealer installed system, as long as you are handy and can do-it-yourself. (Cash, EFT and credit card) Solar water pumping. www.allpower.co.za this is a great locally made solar (PV) pump that can be repaired by most handymen. It uses commonly available spares in most motor spares shops. Proprietary parts are freely available from the manufacturer at a low cost. Well worth the investment. Get a spare controller board in case of a lightning strike, as well as extra diaphragms. (The system comes with a free set, replace every 12-24…


Lessons Learned on Standardizing the Home Firearms Battery, by Thomas N.

…local shops to get where I am at now. There are a couple of items that I could have gotten a higher price and a couple of items that were harder to sell than I originally thought. What follows are lessons learned selling and buying. Before listing your item on Gunbroker it pays to watch similar items and see what they are selling for. I found out that what the “Blue Book of Firearms” says and what the market says are not necessarily the same. Search for similar items and then click on the “Watch This” button. After a week watching you will get a good sense of what your firearm will sell for. The only item I didn’t sell through Gunbroker was the Colt AR Lightweight Sporter. The specific model I had was not selling at all. After two weeks of watching I elected to try to sell it…


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

…to church at Linz. The nearer we approached the more crowded became the usually deserted high road. All kinds of odd-looking individuals met us. One man wearing three hats, one set on top of the other, and at least two coats, excited our amusement … We met people drawing carts piled high with tinned foods of every description … A man and a woman were seated in a ditch by the side of the road and, without the least embarrassment, were changing their very ragged garments for quite new ones. ‘Hurry up’, the woman shouted to us, ‘or there’ll be nothing left!’ We did not understand this remark until we passed the first plundered shops. Peaceful Linz looked as if it had been visited by an earthquake. Furniture smashed beyond recognition littered the pavements. But not only provision shops, inns, cafes, and drapers’ shops had been looted. Jewellers and watchmakers,…


Depression Proof Jobs for a 20 Year Depression – Part 1: The Counter-Cyclical Jobs

…that I found in a cursory 10-minute search of the SurvivalBlog archives. There are many more. Just type a topic into the “Search Posts on SurvivalBlog:” box at the top of the right -hand bar. (We now have nearly 6,200 archived articles, letters, and quotes!)   Which Jobs Were Safe in the 1930s? One good insight on the near future can be found in the past. (As Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”) According to statistics published some 20 years ago by Dr.Ravi Batra, the safest businesses and industries during the worst years of the Great Depression (1929-1933) were: Repair shops Educational services (A lot of young men that couldn’t find work borrowed money to go to trade schools and college.) Healthcare services Bicycle shops Bus transportation Gasoline service stations Second hand stores Legal services Drug or proprietary stores To bring Batra’s list up to…


Letter Re: Learning Old-Fashioned Trades and Skills

Jim Concerning the article that Lisa sent: “Blacksmith-collector of forgotten trades”: Many survival minded folks consider learning a basic trade to help them through TEOTWAWKI. Most commonly they think farmer, gardener, blacksmith, bullet reloading. But there are many other basic skills and trades that will be highly prized and needed if the electricity goes off. Tinsmithing, broom and basket making, wheel and barrel making, pewter casting, weaving and spinning, candle and soap making, harness, horse collar, boot and shoe making, hide tanning, etc., will all be needed. Many of those trades need specialized tools, equipment and knowledge. Most 19th Century and non-electric shops have long since been broken up and auctioned. But, the tools still exist. You can find them in antique shops, sometimes put away in the corner of a barn or someone’s basement, or even on the wall of a restaurant. You can also find many tools on…


How to Buy in Quantity When on a Tight Budget, by Robert in Arizona

Let me start out, with the simple fact that we all need to prepare. And with that in mind, you must have asked yourself a million times, how can I achieve my goals for survival and food preparedness for my family on a very low or tight budget? Well the answer is simpler than you think! Think thrifty. Yes, thrift stores and Mom and Pop outlets are a true blessing in disguise. All of the things you might want to buy for home canning, food prep, food storage, Camping, Cooking, Clothes, Boots, Sleeping bags, etc. can be found right under your nose in these stores. When you are there, make sure you get to know the employees, this will give you the upper edge to a bargaining Bonanza, as I have done with all of my local stores and shops, and you also want to make sure you keep the…


Letter Re: Measuring Volume for Silica Gel Desiccant in Food Storage Buckets

…bean” problem, you can resort to either using a pressure cooker, or grinding the beans, to salvage them. The bottom line to all this number crunching is the good news: With the aforementioned exception of beans, there is no such thing as “too much” silica gel in a dried food storage bucket. If you inadvertently use two or three times too much, there is no harm done. But it would be a needless expense unless you can get it in bulk at very low cost or find someone giving it away. As you mentioned, florist shops are a good source. Another source is piano shops. Most of the pianos that are imported from Japan come with a large bag of silica gel. (Usually 600 to 800 grams.) One of those bags is the perfect size to protect the contents of a typical home gun vault.(Be sure to re-dry it once…


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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…essential services as defined by this order, visit friends and family if there is no urgent need, travel to or from a job outside the city, travel to or from a vacation home outside the city or visit loved ones in the hospital, nursing home, skilled nursing facility or other residential care facility.” LA Mayor: No Power and Water For You! Mayor Garcetti announces water and power will be shut off for nonessential L.A. businesses that don’t close. LA County Sheriff Orders Gun Stores to Close LA County Sheriff orders gun stores to close; adds 1,300 deputies to patrol. Thankfully, that was later rescinded, but not with any apology for the trampling of fundamental rights. JWR’s Comment: So gun shops are “non-essential”, but weed shops are “essential”? Considering that COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory disease, and smoking exacerbates it, I’d say that LA County officials are insane. City Dwellers Flee…