The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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 “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at Wal-Mart’s New Ammo Policy.

Gun Owners Question Wal-Mart’s New Ammo Policy

Even a liberal CBS affiliate couldn’t avoid covering this obvious news: Gun Owners Question Walmart’s Decision To Take Handgun AmmHighlightedunition Off Shelves

Interviewing a 2-Year-Old for Pre-School Admission?

Our Editor-At-Large Mike Williamson sent this piece on the insane competitiveness of the privileged class:
When the Culture War Comes for the Kids.

Canadian Preppers Highlighted by CBC

“It’s not a bad idea to have a safety net.” Canadian prepper shows others how to ready for disaster. Here is a quote:

“Nate is a prominent voice in the Canadian prepping movement, wherein individuals ready themselves for periods when the necessities of modern life — including electricity, technological communication and fresh food — are unavailable. For Nate, becoming a prepper was a response to individuals’ growing dependency on societal structures.

“I just realized that the more technologically advanced society becomes, the more people are removed from where their food and water comes from,” he says. “This is only going to continue as we become more urbanized. For me, [starting to prep] was an insurance policy. A lot of people don’t realize how dependent they are on the critical infrastructure for meeting their basic everyday needs.

“Where I live, if there was ever a prolonged power outage in the wintertime, it would be a catastrophic situation,” he continues. “I’m not a Luddite or technologically opposed, but it’s not a bad idea to have a safety net.”

Nate’s goal for the Canadian Prepper YouTube channel is not only to showcase survival techniques but to look at the psychological ideas behind prepping and advise those interested in the movement on how to get started. He also started the channel to meet like-minded people and discuss his passion for preparedness.”

Coast Guard Issues Warning on Charging Phone Batteries

The U.S. Coast Guard has issued a warning on charging phone batteries after California boat fire. The article begins:

“The Coast Guard has issued a safety bulletin following the California boat fire that killed 34 people, recommending that commercial boat operators limit unsupervised charging of cellphones and other electronic devices.

A brief, preliminary report on the Labor Day fire that destroyed the dive ship Conception near Santa Cruz Island was issued Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board, but it did not address the cause of the fire. The report did note that three crew members said they knew of no mechanical or electrical issues with the boat.

The report said that all six crew members were asleep when the fire broke out. Boats like the Conception, which caught fire around 3 a.m., are required to have a crew member keep watch at night.”

Maxim’s Stubby ARs to be Tested by U.S. Army

Reader G.P. sent this: US Army Expected to Test Super-Short Carbine for Soldiers of 2025. JWR’s Comment: Maxim makes very high quality products.  (I own one of their PDW arm braces, and can attest to their quality). But any barrel for a 5.56mm AR less than 11 inches suffers from too much loss of velocity. A six-inch barrel is fine for 9mm Parabellum, but NOT for 5.56 or the Army’s planned polymer-cased 6.5mm.  My favorite barrel length for an AR pistol is 12.5 inches. My friends with registered suppressors say to never use an 5.56 AR with a barrel shorter than 10″, when using a suppressor.

A Redaction Fail

Another from G.P.: ICE Fails To Properly Redact Document, Reveals Location Of Future ‘Urban Warfare’ Training Facility.

You can send your news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) Thanks!




17 Comments

    1. Because that kind of mentality and actions soon bleeds out into the rest of society. What once was of no concern to you is now of imminent concern as it is quashing your rights and freedoms.

  1. I already dislike Walmart but I am absolutely done with them now. They will not receive a single dollar from me ever again and that is the best way to handle a situation like this, deny them their funding stream. I would love to see that monstrous conglomeration driven out of business. Don’t even go in there and buy bananas.

    1. My plan also and holding strong, however there is still the problem of Walmart locations being in very small communities so that it is practically impossible to not shop there due to being the only game in town. I am in a small community and thankfully I have some options, but for real shopping (small appliances, clothing and such) I have to make a day of it and travel to better options. Maybe this will be the way small mom and pop shops to see a resurgence.

  2. Agreed on the suggestions of barrel lengths, JWR. From what I’ve gathered over my lifetime (both personal experience and reading others’ experiences), the optimum barrel length for 5.56 is 20″ for proper powder burn and expansion. I’ve personally built multiple ARs, and I was surprised when someone showed me his latest 5.56 build with a shorty 5.5″ barrel. I asked him why, since you’re losing a substantial portion of the potential muzzle velocity, and he ecstatically said he loves the “flamethrower effect”. I informed him that if he really likes a shorter barreled configuration, perhaps a better choice would be .300 BLK, which is designed for a barrel length of about 10″ and would probably perform okay in one of the available 7.5″ barrels. For a fun gun, anyhow.

    To each his own, I suppose, but the freedom to own guns comes with the freedom to build whatever goofy gun you want, right?

  3. I use to subscribe to the Canadian Prepper channel on Youtube until I listen to one episode where he criticized people of faith. My faith is a very large part of my preparedness so I found other sources of information more aligned with my lifestyle.

  4. Walmart: This is an excelent way to check your preparedness and live the senario of “SHTF” . If you HAVE to go to wallmart, rather than waiting for a day trip to a diffrent store, then your NOT prepared, what will you do when there are NO stores???? Just my opinion.

  5. Re. Future ‘Urban Warfare’ Training Facilities
    Why should Americans care about hyper-realistic urban warfare training coming to U.S. soil? They have been silent for the last 18 years while their government waged urban warfare on people in the Middle East.

  6. I’m looking for suggestions on what to do when we ban all businesses that inhibit our freedoms. I am serious in my endeavors for other businesses that do support our freedoms. However, if we ban Walmart, CVS, and who knows else, where are we left to shop? I closed my Amazon account at the end of last year so that is a big option that is eliminated. Our city has 5 Walmart’s. I can shop at another grocery store chain but they are on,y grocery, not other things. I’ve wondered when Auto Zone, Penney’s, Finish Line, Dollar General or Walgreens take steps to eliminate our freedoms, where will I go for my needs? Eventually there will be one left. It doesn’t stop me from severely limiting my Walmart shopping though. I still buy stuff but only when it is at a benefit for me to do so. I’m trying to branch out to more local stores for my family’s needs.

    What have others done when they stop shopping at Walmart? As I said, I don’t have an Amazon account. They will never see another dime from me, God willing.

  7. They always attack the weak. I’m old enough to remember when all they talked about was banning handguns, why, because there was a small majority of gun owners that owned handguns, now almost every gun owner has a handgun. presently there are millions of AR owners, but many gun owners that are into hunting or just has a shotgun in the closet still don’t own an AR, so the powers that be always attack those that are the least in number. So it’s very easy for Walmart to select open carry to attack because we are small in number, so my thought is for more people to open carry when shopping in any of these stores that request that you not open carry. Be polite, but make them confront you before you just roll over or decide to boycott. My fear is that when places like Walmart stop carrying ammo and then more States like California start to require a background check to buy ammo we will be put in a pincer type situation just as we are with firearms. Walmart does have a customer service number so let them know that your not happy with their policy. Trekker Out

  8. Almost done with Walmart. I only buy supplements there, usually because they’re cheaper than going to Vitamin Shoppe. I’ve even reduced that purchase. My groceries I by at Kroger and a local Mom and Pop grocery store. Their main brands are Our Family and Spartan. This store isn’t cheaper by any means, but the folks there are certainly a lot nicer.

    It’s kind of nuts to drop Amazon right now. That will probably be the last place I’ll have a personal secession from. As an aside, have you noticed how many firearms related items Amazon actually carries? Virtually everything except guns and ammo, and the prices are competitive. I’m almost surprised they don’t carry AR kits minus the stripped lower.

    1. Kroger owns Fred Meyer and other stores and they also made a big anti 2A political statement by first announcing they wouldn’t sell AR’s and then they got rid of their firearm section all together. That was around the same time that Dicks did the same thing.

    2. This… I was going to state that about Amazon. Just bought 3 AR’s and am outfitting them with pieces/parts from Amazon. They are hypocritical to say the least. May cost me a buck or two more, but holy cow is it convenient.

      My mother always told me “Never cut off your nose to spite your face” I see this as a true wisdom. So what if Wally world no longer sells ammo for handguns? They do carry a bunch of items that are still useful to folks of our mindset.

      My take… Do what you have to, but if you look close enough every mainstream company has caved to some extent (Bass Pro, Cabelas, Academy) all pulled AR’s after Sandy Hook. Buy now, stackem’ deep.

  9. I shop at places that have the best quality and price point.
    If one limits their purchases to businesses that are selling things you do not like or not selling things than your options are extremely limited.

    Myself I want a wide option base.

  10. RE: Walmart. We basically quit Walmart many years ago. Shop at the local family owned pharmacy, who will come in after hours to take care of my family, and give me a 90 day supply or greater with the actual expiration date of the drug on the label, with no questions asked. You want a 365 day supply, no problem just pay cash, (not controlled substances of course!) Groceries, we use the local grocery store and shop the specials, there is a small chain a few miles away, which we hit for groceries also. Electronics we buy on line. Hunting and fishing; Bass Pro is less than an hour away, we just make a day trip. Also online. We use Dollar General for most of the other stuff. It is amazing how little you really ‘need’ Walmart. Even in a little town like ours. Walmart once was just a rural store, but has branched out into the subs and cities and picked up their values; so GOODBYE.

  11. BisonPrepper James M Dakin makes an interesting point about Wal*Mart:

    Much of their sales are from Food Stamps and other subsidised items.

    After the Electronic Benefits System (EBS) crashes, sellers such as Wal*Mart will collapse… immediately after ‘vibrant diversity’ activate their local personal ‘reparations program’.

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