The government of France is issuing a 20-page survival preparedness booklet to every citizen, by mail.

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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The government of France is issuing a 20-page survival preparedness booklet to every citizen, by mail. JWR’s Comments: This “Votre kit d’urgence” advice is all very basic 72-hour kit stuff, including a recommendation to store flashlights and a whopping 6 liters of water, per person. The booklet’s publication was reportedly prompted by concerns over the war in Ukraine widening into a European regional war, with a risk of invasion. If the French government was serious about the risk of a Russian invasion, then they’d now be busy handing out their 1 million surplus MAS-36 bolt action rifles, 275,000 surplus MAS-49 semi-auto rifles, 350,000 surplus Modèle 1892 revolvers, and 100,000 surplus MAT-49 submachineguns — sans un bout de papier, naturellement. Those 1.7 million guns might equip some real maquisards. Somehow, I don’t think that just flashlights and bottled water are going to discourage a Russian invasion.

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Canada’s Oldest Retailer, Hudson’s Bay, to Begin Liquidating Most Stores on Monday.

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Reader D.S.V. suggested this piece on medical ethics at The Federalist: To Die Alone: Never Forget What The Lockdowners Did To Us.

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SurtvivalBlog Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson had these comments on the release of some of the JFK assassination investigation files:

“So, this is fascinating. Interarmco, later InterArms, was apparently created by the CIA. I presume for the twofold purpose of selling surplus weapons to generate income, and to occasionally dispose of items from insurgencies, etc, to eliminate trails.

It was run by Samuel Cummings, former OSS agent, and presumably CIA. When he retired, he bought out the company and it still exists as a private enterprise 67 years later (eventually owned by High Standard).

I have a Soviet DP27 machine gun, and a Finnish M41 mortar, both imported by Interarmco in 1959. The mortar transport crate still has their logo painted on the side. So did a bunch of stuff from a friend’s estate, including a Lewis Gun bought from the Irish, who got it from the Brits.
Interarms did then, and do now, import lots of militaria.

But, they did import a bunch of Carcanos among others. I have several of them here.
Including the model Lee Harvey Oswald purchased through a local dealer.

The other day, when the FBI was wailing about “But releasing those files will compromise our methods!” I joked, “What, were you radicalizing nutjobs and funding firearms for them back then, too
It appears the answer might be, Yes.”

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Reader “Pathfinder” wrote this, in response to the recent Counter-Drone article in SurvivalBlog:

“The writer seems to be citing distances of effectiveness and using them on drones (50 yds). That info is changing. The vast majority of people do not/will not test their shotguns with different buckshot/chokes to determine their true maximum effective range. Combat shotgunning tests have shown severe wounding with 00 buckshot under good conditions to be around 100 yards on humans. That is impacting the target with at least one pellet at that range. Target covering (body armor, magazine-laden vests, helmets, etc) will make a difference on the effect. Drones are not armored.

There is no mention of shot type. That is very important beyond 30 yds. Hard copper plated seems to be the best for maintaining shape and ballistics longer. These rounds must also have a modern flite control wadding system to be used at long range. Federal LE types are usually the best. However, Winchester, Hornady, and even Remington have some good ones out. Shooters must do testing to find the best barrel/choke/buckshot combination to hit a typical drone size target at range. Too, most folks don’t realize the smaller the buckshot the less energy each pellet will have down range. I believe nothing smaller than number 1 buckshot should be used and on humans, nothing smaller than 00 if the range is greater than 30 yds. They simply lack the weight for adequate penetration.

No mention of muzzle velocity. There are many “low recoil” defense loadings out there now. These are a nod to the home defense types that are concerned about over-penetration. They can be made to pattern very well (holding a tight grouping longer) but have low initial velocity thereby limiting effective range. In the tactical situations he described and for combat use on humans you want the highest velocity that will effectively pattern at the longest ranges you will encounter. The national spotlight of anti-gunners rarely looks at shotguns (big, heavy, and heavy ammo). They figure that there is little to fear. That’s fine because that gives us the wide variety of ammo choices we have currently.

Shotguns do not need a 30″ barrel for the best velocity. An 18″ barrel (the shortest you can have without ATF concerns) is nearly ideal for portability versus velocity. Ammo manufacturers also load powders that burn efficiently in that length. That all makes field portability much easier without sacrificing effectiveness.

Chokes with flitecontrol type wadding are a two-edged sword. Too tight and you destroy the wadding. Use of no choke will sometimes be counter to long-range effectiveness. Rule of thumb: use the choke that delivers the best pattern at the longest range with the highest velocity. No full chokes. They sometimes pattern well at short/med distances but damage wadding of buckshot at range. Start with cylinder bore (no choke) and work through several different tightness settings until the pattern board shows you they are no longer effective. Again, time, some expense but once you know your shotgun you will be lethal at ranges most won’t believe possible.

Thee was no discussion of multiple shots, meaning either quick shots to increase the patterns of shot or multiple trained shooters shooting at once. This would again add hit probably to drones at or even beyond 100 yds. For civilian use, 300 plus feet is pretty high for a drone to be effective in daylight but that is more your interest to decide. Simply put: the more pellets you can send the higher your probability of hits will be and I doubt a drone could take more than 1 or two 00 buckshot hits and remain effective or even fly.

This is never a short or concise topic; can’t be if all things are considered, which they must be to truly understand capability.

Note: There are “Skynet drone defense rounds” available for $39 for a three-pack. They project a net at the target drone. I have not tested them.”

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Reader “Sis” had this comment:

“Concerning the St. Funogas article on food storage: Has he considered vacuum packing food? The bags are rather sturdy but using canning jars [with a vacuum-packing jar lid attachment] would certainly work with many foods. Of course, larger items like grains wouldn’t work in jars. But jars are reusable and could be put to use when not holding canned food. I do think though that vacuum packing bags would work for insect infestations. Then place the bags in 5-gallon buckets, to keep the bigger varmints out.”

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And in response to the same article, Richard T. wrote:

“That was a very thorough article by St. Funogas. I have been using Joie bags for a variety of purposes including the freezer and they are very durable and a good value despite their initial high cost.”

SaraSue’s latest Snippet:

“Whoosh! What a busy week or two or three. We had severe weather with lots of tornadoes. One went over where I live, but did not touch down. I was in my safe space praying over the farm animals. We survived and none of the outbuildings or animals were harmed. My pregnant cow waited until all the bad weather was gone and then plopped out a beautiful little heifer. I had been so stressed about her being slightly overdue. A ranching neighbor told me that he firmly believes that cows sense when bad weather is coming and adjust their calving date. She certainly did. She waited until it was a perfect 72 degrees with sunny, blue, skies. Mother and baby are doing splendid! I love baby calves. I always “calf share”, which means to share the milk for the house with the baby calf, even though that comes with a lot of mama cow drama. I like to see a mama cow teach her baby how to drink water, how to graze, where it’s safe to sleep, etc. I want the calf to have mother’s milk for the first 5-6 months of life before weaning. That seems to make for a strong, fat, happy, little calf.

This was the first calf my livestock guardian dogs would meet. At first, they were curious, then they wanted to play with the calf, and then they began to guard the calf from a respectful distance. Perfect! One of my big fears, that was not realized, is coyotes coming in and getting the calf. I have another cow due to calve in May and am confident the dogs will do their job.

16 of the 20 large garden beds were filled, first with barn compost, and then with a compost I purchased that was tested to be without chemicals. I got a great deal on the compost because the local building supply received a large amount of it by mistake. I got it at about half price, but it took a couple of truckloads to get it delivered to the garden space. Thankfully I got help with that.

I planted out all of the seed potatoes (4 varieties), planted a bed of mixed spring vegetables, planted out a bed with strawberry crowns, a bed with blueberry plants, and 15 trees (fig, plum, and cherry) were planted. There is so much more to do, but my dream garden is finally taking shape going on Year 5.

I will be planting more berries (boysenberry and raspberry), and more trees (apple). My original orchard did not do well because the cows have access and would nibble away at the new buds and branches, which required me to re-think the orchard location. The hen house was cleaned out again. The new dog run and dog house for the rescue LGDs, and new chicken run, were finished.

This is the busy time of year, when the farm comes to life as the sun rises, and I’m out to milk early, and then late before the sun goes down. This busy time will last into late Fall/early Winter.