Your Survival Books?

What are some of the survival preparedness books that you have on your bookshelf? Regardless of the specific sub-category, we would be curious to know some of your favorites, even related novels or reference books that would be useful during times when or after TSHTF.

Add your comment on your suggested survivalist or preparedness related book or books.

Here are a few books, in random order, to get you started.

Encyclopedia of Country Living, 10th Edition
This book is phenomenal! Besides offering general information on gardening and variations on the usual ways to prepare and preserve produce, Carla Emery includes thousands of other exotic and old fashioned recipes. That alone would be remarkable, but she doesn’t stop there. She covers information on every aspect of farming and homesteading from buying a farm to delivering your own baby.

One Second After
The EMP event he describes might presently be improbable, but is certainly possible. Nicholas Taleb would undoubtedly recognize it as a “Black Swan” event: something that lies outside the range of normal experience, but that has a catastrophic impact.

Lights Out
The basic premise of the book is of a US plunged into chaos following an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) attack. If you aren’t tracking at this point, an EMP attack is the destruction of the electronic infrastructure of the country using nuclear weapons detonated in space. These weapons create an EMP that fry anything connected to the power grid and anything with complex electronics. Cars Dead. Computers Dead. Most of the things we take for granted are just switched off. This causes a cascading failure that effects everyone in the country. Needless to say this is the end of the world as they knew it. Are you ready to fend for yourself … and your family?

Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables
This book is a vast resource of information about root cellars, how to build them, and how to use them. The Bubels contend that even city apartments dwellers can arrange some sort of cold food storage area with a little imagination and a few suggestions from those who have done it before.

Nuclear War Survival Skills: Updated and Expanded 1987 Edition
With the destabilization of the balance of terror, we are back looking at the possibilities of nuclear wars, at least on a small scale. Kearny’s book is dead practical on surviving in your house or in a quickly built shelter in the boonies.

SAS Survival Handbook, Revised Edition: For Any Climate, in Any Situation
This book was written by a professional soldier who was in the SAS, or the Special Air Service. For those not in the know, that’s an elite unit of the British Army trained to carry out operations in ALL parts of the world. The book covers all you’d ever want to know about the essentials of surviving in climates such as: the polar region, mountains, seashores, islands, tropical regions, or even at sea.

Basic Butchering of Livestock & Game
Put bluntly; killing and butchering animals is not a pleasant business. Anyone who has hunted or helped slaughter on a farm can attest to this. You just have to jump in and do it. The author handles what some may consider a sensitive subject with honesty and straight-forward thinking. He also provides numerous tips and how-tos when it comes to handling and butchering several different kinds of animals.

All New Square Foot Gardening
For those of you who have not perused the book or are familiar with the new method, I’ll sum it up for you: you build these four by four boxes–no tilling required–cover the bottom with weed blocker material, and then fill it with a particular mix that Mel says works like a dream. It is an easy-to-understand, and well-organized book for both novice and experienced gardeners.

The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible (10th Anniversary Edition)
Ed Smith, an experienced vegetable gardener from Vermont, has put together this amazingly comprehensive and commonsensical manual. Ed’s system is based on W-O-R-D: Wide rows, Organic methods, Raised beds, Deep soil.

U.S. Air Force Survival Handbook
A Marine told me the Air Force survival manual was the best bar none. A comprehensive manual of proven wilderness survival tactics for every situation. Written for use in formal United States Air Force survival training courses.

Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family
The Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness bridges a very important gap between survivalism and preparedness. In the text, the author outlines effective, but more importantly, achievable, steps that your family can take to prepare for a wide variety of dangerous events. The book is a family-friendly guide, discussing the importance of creating a balanced food storage plan that the entire family can live with, objectively reviewing which water purification methods leave water tasting the best – important for finicky drinkers, and discussing how best to care for children and elderly family and friends.

These books are just a tiny, tiny sliver of what is out there. Go ahead and add some of your own to this list – leave a comment.

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And It Continues, The Dollar’s Demise

Have you heard much of this in the main-stream news? Do you understand the implications?

I noticed the reference to the article via Jim Sinclair’s site yesterday. His commentary and apparent reason for highlighting the older article reads, “At first it was a trickle. You read it here, but really did not make that much of it. Then it became a quiet unnoticed stream. Get ready to the torrent in the second half of 2012. The real range of gold this year will be $1700 to $2100″.

In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading.

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years.

The Americans, who are aware the meetings have taken place – although they have not discovered the details – are sure to fight this international cabal which will include hitherto loyal allies Japan and the Gulf Arabs. Against the background to these currency meetings, Sun Bigan, China’s former special envoy to the Middle East, has warned there is a risk of deepening divisions between China and the US over influence and oil in the Middle East. “Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable,” he told the Asia and Africa Review. “We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security.”

This sounds like a dangerous prediction of a future economic war between the US and China over Middle East oil – yet again turning the region’s conflicts into a battle for great power supremacy. China uses more oil incrementally than the US because its growth is less energy efficient. The transitional currency in the move away from dollars, according to Chinese banking sources, may well be gold. An indication of the huge amounts involved can be gained from the wealth of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar who together hold an estimated $2.1 trillion in dollar reserves.

Source: The INDEPENDENT

January 23, 2012
India to pay gold instead of dollars for Iranian oil. Oil and gold markets stunned.

India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile’s intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively. Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran’s total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets.

Source: DEBKAfile

• The Elitist Globalist Take-Down of America
• Iran: Strait of Hormuz
• Fractional Reserve Currency: A Scam, A Pyramid Scheme
• Did you know… the Dollar and Oil
• Debts and Deficits lead to Currency Downfall

5 Best Weather Radios for 2012

The top 5 best weather radios for 2012, (popular, with the least number of bad reviews coupled with the number of good reviews) as measured from Amazon statistical data are as follows…

# 1 First Alert Public Alert Radio

# 2 Sangean CL-100 Table Top Weather Radio

# 3 Midland WR-120B NOAA Weather Alert All Hazard

# 4 Midland WR-300 Weather Radio

# 5 Midland WR-100 Weather Radio

How did we determine what is the best weather radio? This year, not only did we look at the overall number of sales (popularity) and the total number of reviews (which reflect a product’s popularity), but we factored in the percentage of ‘bad’ reviews as a percentage of overall reviews.

The thinking was that the weather radio with the least percentage of poor reviews coupled with the overall number of good reviews would provide a better overall indicator of a product’s rating.

Good = 3, 4, 5-Star ratings
Bad = 1, 2-Star ratings

The ‘First Alert’ weather radio won first place while using this method with 100% ‘good’ reviews. Total: 120 reviews.

The Sangean CL-100 tabletop weather radio took second place with 94% good reviews. Total: 64 reviews.

The Midland WR-120B weather radio came in third with 91% good reviews. Total: 105 reviews.

The Midland WR-300 has been the most popular selling weather radio by far for several years and has 768 reviews, 87% ‘good’.

The Midland WR-100 has been the second most popular selling weather radio with 350 reviews, 86% of them are ‘good’.

Weather radios are not expensive, and can be life-saving insurance. As a prepper, I would not be caught without one.

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String of Rotten Luck? Try This To Help

Guest post: by ‘Be informed’

One bad incident after another seems to be hitting you, it’s unsettling, it’s eerie, it’s messing up your life. All sorts of superstitious thoughts could be floating through your mind, including the possibility that you did something and you’re getting it back now. People seem to use anything to turn around their terrible mojo from “magical” amulets to rubbing some fat statue’s stomach 7 times a day to change their misfortune.

Many survival situations have definable and workable solutions to them, on the other hand seemingly unsolvable and appears like an endless streak, ill fortune can be debilitating and depressing to say the least. In some cases it can ruin a person’s life or disrupt and cause some true everyday problems. The idea of bad luck and even jinxes on people is generally regarded as just coincidental, however there can definitely be sound reasons why someone is having an unexplained string of rotten luck.

Almost anyone can change poor luck in their life, but they must first try to logically and rationally find the underlying problem(s) that could be the causes. A common hypothesis is the stronger you believe you have bad luck the more likely you’ll bring it about. This is likely true, but different from what is commonly believed. Many people have the misconception that feeling that something is good or bad, that they will bring about some invisible cloud of energy or something that surrounds them and their aura and this will determine their destiny. The more plausible explanation, positive or negative, is more down to Earth.

Our actions and lack of actions, our thinking and decisions is widely influenced by our subconscious. Other influences include out habits and attitudes towards life and everything around us. The questions of why positive thinking doesn’t always work for the better arises much. One just has to look at some addicted gambling that just “knows” that they will win eventually and ends up walking out of a casino flat broke. Positive thinking will not work if the situation is unrealistic or if deep down you know what you’re doing is wrong and will not benefit you in the long run. Our higher self, known as the conscience (moral sense of a person) affects our fortune a lot. Pure chance also plays much into bad events in our lives and by understanding and reducing unnecessary risks in our routines, we can make bad mojo less likely to occur.

To break that rotten string of luck, these practical suggestions can help a lot.

- Find out what you’re not facing. Subsurface thoughts and worries can boil like a volcano and severely alter your thought patterns and your actions, you become imbalanced and accidents occur. Not facing problems, those small become major and overwhelming. Deep down your subconscious can be telling you to fix something in your life. Failure to even address this problem, much less to try to fix it, can lead to the “inner you” showing you in unpleasant ways that you must. Your subconscious telling you to change your course of your life, you are not in the right place or not doing what is right. That inner voice keeps telling you this is wrong for you. LISTEN.

- People in your life creating an imbalance for you. There are individuals in which no matter how much you try your very best, they are going to tear you down. This not only lowers your own self esteem, but it impregnates your thoughts with all that you do is wrong. This is an extreme catalyst for bad luck. You have to decide to live with this or do something about it. Either stay away from the person or attempt to change the way the person treats you.

- Lack of concentration. There are proper times for everything, driving through congested traffic while contemplating or worrying intensely is a bad idea and asking for something awful to happen. Focus like a laser and don’t get distracted on other issues when you have to remain sharp. So many accidents occur that never should have occurred because of distractions, pre-occupied minds, or daydreaming at times you should have remained focused. Then bad luck is blamed on it.

- Avoid desperation and spastic behavior. Like the gambler that tries in panic to get back what he or she lost, desperate actions are not well thought out and end up usually in undesirable poor outcomes. Spastic or erratic actions are unfocused, not well thought out, and can also lead to ugly results.

- Practice what you preach. When you cannot live by your own words you are setting up your subconscious to misfire, much like “does not compute” idea. Your thoughts become out of sync with each other, a type of confusion which leads to imbalances and your inner self attempting to make you live by what you say. Almost a self induced punishment of hardships on you.

- Makes amends for doing something wrong. Many people feel like they have gotten away with something, but if your higher self feels that you need to pay for something you did, bad fortune is a coming in spades for you. Most of us have that moral sense, either taught to us or is just part of our essences that deep down feels remorse for unkind and unfair actions we do, and can and does act on this quite negatively.

- Stop doing dumb things. Old advice that always lives on. Looking before you leap avoids problems that should have never become an issue. Your more intelligent part of you becomes very frustrated at empty-headed actions we all do at one point in our lives. Not learning from idiocy makes your life much more complicated and draws good fortune away from you like a repellent.

- Someone is out to get you. Sometimes there is a less complex reason you are having bad luck that has nothing to do with the paranormal or your subconscious and inner self. Someone wants to make your life as miserable as possible. People can do much damage to someone through rumors and false accusations all the way up to physically vandalising your life. Finding out whom is not as difficult as it seems because people talk and the person after you will likely slip up. Finding out is the problem, then proving it, and finally stopping it.

- Do nice and positive things. If there is anything to getting back what you put out, your luck will change for the better. It does make the world a little bit better place by being friendly and courteous to others, or just doing acts of kindness just for the sake of it. You also send a message to your inner self, maybe even condition yourself, into believing you deserve better.

- Ask yourself what am I doing wrong. Meditation gets a bad new age name. Quieting your mind and being totally honest with yourself, deep reflection is a better description. Unless you are in the deepest denial, you will get correct answers about yourself. Try looking at yourself in a mirror deeply, if you just can’t and look away, you have some real problems that need to be resolved.

There is a lot more to luck, bad and good, than the mystic hype about it. There are rational solutions to bad luck for those willing to seek it out. However, if all else fails and you just cannot change your fortune for the better, you can always try getting a lucky charm. Perhaps that four leaf shamrock can help you feel more lucky, it might or might not work, but it might look nice on you. If it makes you happy this can at least help you have a more positive outlook.

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Sell-by, Use-by, Dates

Most canned food products have a “for best quality use by” date stamped on the top or bottom of the can. “Expiration” dates are rarely found on canned food.

The general rule of thumb is that as long as the can is intact, not rusty and not bulging, the food is probably OK. In general, many say that canned food has a shelf life of at least two years from the date of processing.

However, canned food retains its safety and nutritional value well beyond two years, but it may have some variation in quality, such as a change of color and texture. Canning is a high-heat process that renders the food commercially sterile. Food safety is not an issue in products kept on the shelf or in the pantry for long periods of time. In fact, canned food has an almost indefinite shelf life at moderate temperatures (75° F and below). Canned food as old as 100 years has been found in sunken ships and it is still micro-biologically safe! No one will recommend keeping canned food for 100 years, but if the can is intact, not dented or bulging, it is edible.

“Sell by” date. The labeling “sell by” tells the store how long to display the product for sale. This is basically a guide for the retailer, so the store knows when to pull the item. The issue is quality of the item (freshness, taste, and consistency) rather than whether it is on the verge of spoiling. “Sell by” date is the last day the item is at its highest level of quality, but it will still be edible for some time after.

“Use by” date. This refers strictly to quality, not safety. This date is recommended for best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date. This is the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality, the last day a product will maintain its optimum freshness, flavor, and texture. The date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product. Beyond this date, the product begins to deteriorate although it is still edible.

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How To Fix-Troubleshoot Your Pressure Canner Problems

Guest post: by Christine Coburn

There is nothing more frustrating than when you have worked hard to get a batch of food prepared to can and then your canner doesn’t work right or for you to have Old Faithful erupting on your stove instead of staying in Yellowstone…

After 30 years of canning I have learned several “tricks” All of them the hard way. In order to understand what is causing a problem and how to fix it then you need to understand how each part of the canner works together with the rest of the parts.

The normal run of the mill canner: (mine is a Mirro 22 qt made in 1980, it has been in service full time for 31 years)

Various parts of the canner:

Pot (See the locking lugs all the way around)

Lid

Gasket

Canner Racks.. One is always placed on the bottom of the pot under your jars. The other is placed on top of the first level and then a second level of jars on top of it. This is when you are canning pints or half pints and are doing a second level. You can not stack quart jars. Failure to use these will cause your jars to break in the canner.

Stem

Pressure regulator (this is what regulates the amount of pressure in your pot)

High pressure relief valve (this is the safety mechanism to keep you from blowing the lid thru your ceiling)

Lid locking mechanism (this is also a safety mechanism to keep the lid from blowing thru your ceiling)

Problem: The lid will not fit on right
Possible cause and solution
1. The locking lugs are not properly lined up
a. Place the lid on top of the canner with the lid handles a little off set from the pot handles. Line up the lugs by sliding it back and forth until the lugs fit together and the lid slides down. Then turn the lid until the handles on the pot and the lid line up.
b. If your lid doesn’t not want to slide easily once it has seated on the lugs then coat the gasket with a small amount of vegetable oil to help the gasket to slide on the pot.

Problem: Canner will not reach correct pressure.
Turn off your burner and Slide the canner to a cool spot to cool down before trouble shooting the problem.

Possible cause and solutions:
1. Gasket not sealing
a. Soak gasket in hot water for 15 minutes
b. if gasket seems loose on the lid then you can stretch the gasket by working your way around with both hands pulling on it
c. try a coating of vegetable oil
d. Replace gasket
2. not enough heat
a. Increase heat
3. If you have a canner with wing nut type clamps then it is possible one of your clamps is not tight.

Problem: Old faithful erupting on stove.
Steam is pouring out from under the lid. Slide the canner to a cool spot to cool down before trouble shooting the problem.

Possible causes and solutions
1. Lid locking mechanism did not lock
a. Try Jiggling the lid to get the mechanism to lock. Some canners are very picky about the lid placement and this mechanism.
2. Food is hung in the lid lock mechanism
a. Make sure your lid and jars are clean before processing.
b. Check the gasket, under the gasket and the lid lock mechanism for pieces of food.
3. Gasket not sealing
a. Soak gasket in hot water for 15 minutes
b. if gasket seems loose on the lid then you can stretch the gasket by working your way around with both hands pulling on it
c. try a coating of vegetable oil
d. Replace gasket if it is dry, hard, cracked or torn.
4. If you have a canner with wing nut type clamps then it is possible one of your clamps is not tight.

Problem: The high pressure valve just popped
(Hurry and throw a damp rag on top of the valve so that you do not lose your jars, do not get your hand in the way of the steam it will burn you). Slide the canner to a cool spot to cool down before trouble shooting the problem.

Possible causes and solutions
1. Stem is clogged
a. Always make sure your pot and lid is clean before you use it and make sure your jars are clean when you put them in.

Problem: The pressure regulator quit jiggling and is now just blowing a steady stream of steam
Possible cause and solution
1. Too much pressure in pot
a. Turn down your fire a bit

Problem: The pressure regulator quit jiggling and is not blowing steam out
Possible cause and solution
1. not enough pressure in the pot
a. Turn up your fire a bit

Problem: You just bought a new gasket for your Mirro Canner and now it won’t seal or the gasket only lasts a few times of running the canner before it fails again.
Possible cause and solution
1. Turn your pot over and look at the manufacturing date. You see the 12 80 on mine (See picture below). The Mirro 22qt made before 1983 requires a different gasket than is sold at the hardware store now. You probably have the wrong gasket. There are several sites on the internet that sells the older replacements. You can call the manufacturer to make sure of what part you need. Gaskets that are used regularly should last 3-5 years. Usually what causes them to fail is not using them and they dry out.

Problem: Lids not sealing
Possible causes and solutions
1. Rims not clean when lids are placed on
a. Wipe the rims with a clean damp cloth before placing your hot lids on them
2. Pressure being dropped too fast
a. Never drop the pressure artificially. Allow the pot to cool on its own. By dropping the pressure it causes negative pressure in your pot and will pull the jar contents out into the pot from under the lids.
3. Using used metal lids
a. Never reuse a metal lid. The only lids suitable for repeated use are Tattler lids with gaskets.
4. Not enough headspace
a. Leave about ¾’s of an inch between the top of your food and the top of your jar. The jars will boil in the canner and if you do not have enough empty space in the jar then the contents will be pushed out of the jar causing grease and food to get under the lid.
5. Rings not tight on metal lids
a. Tighten rings over metal lids prior to processing
6. Rings too tight on tattler lids before processing or not tightened down after processing.
a. Tighten and then back off the rings over a Tattler lid ¼ inch then tighten the rings after the jars are processed and removed from the canner. Use an oven mitt the jars are HOT!!!

Remember: if at any time you lose the pressure in your pot you have to start retiming the food from the time you rebuild pressure!!

Remember: Always let the canner vent steam for at least 10 minutes before placing the weight on the stem. This allows the air to evacuate the pot and makes sure the stem is clear.

Remember: Always make sure your canner is clean and the jars are clean before canning or you can clog your stem. Inspect it before each use.

Remember: Always make sure you have enough water in the pot to run the entire processing time. If you let a canner run dry you will warp the pot and break your jars.

Remember: NEVER drop the pressure purposely by removing the weight or running cold water over the pot. Always allow the pot to cool naturally by only sliding it to the cool side of your stove or counter. Failure to do this can cause steam/burn injuries, broken jars and seal failure.

Remember: Any time there is a problem with your canner gently and carefully slide it to a cool place and then leave it alone until the pressure has subsided. If too much pressure builds it will make a howling sound from the steam escaping the escape valve or from under the lid. The escaping steam will burn you!!!

All American Pressure Cooker/Canner

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How To Select Firearms On A Budget

Guest post: by ‘TripodXL’

The dictionary defines logic as; a science that deals with the principles and criteria of validity of inference and demonstration: the science of the formal principles of reasoning. Basically this means that you use a reasoned basis, i.e. based in supported fact and deductive reasoning, to determine a particular path or decision that logically follows the preponderance of the calculated and obvious evidence.

The flipside of this coin is to use personal opinion for decision making as opposed to facts. Now while personal opinion may satisfy your internal personal desire, and most people will go with personal opinion, even though the evidence would show otherwise. This is perfectly “normal” in human nature, but it is not good for survival. It stuns me how stubborn people are on some topics, one of which is the BEST firearm for a particular survival situation because of non-factual perceptions, when the factual evidence shows otherwise.

You will hear people say things like “it shoots harder”, which can have two distinctly different meanings e.g. “it is very difficult to shoot” or “it has more muzzle energy at impact” and the latter is typically what people usually mean when you get them to explain what they said. Another one that people use is “high caliber”, what does that mean? If it means higher powered, then that equates to higher muzzle energy. If it means a larger caliber then you have a larger diameter bullet. Another term you hear that dovetails with that one is “high powered rifle”. Does that mean just the muzzle energy in absolute terms, regardless of caliber, does it mean just higher power in general or does it mean higher power in a particular caliber? Who knows? That is the point I’m trying to make. People will make decisions based on information that they’ve heard all their lives and just accept it as fact, even though it probably isn’t, or they will parrot what they heard grandpa say about his “thutty thutty” and how “hard it shoots” without questioning it’s validity.

When your survival is on the line (and you do want to survive, don’t you?), what is more important, your pride and your opinion, or what is best for you and yours? At some point, if it isn’t too late, you have to come to a point where you realize you don’t know everything about a topic and count on someone that does, regardless of your personal, one-sided point of view. You may have to acknowledge that some people that you look up to and “parrot”, don’t really know what they’re talking about. That’s a tough on “grandpa”, but yeah, you’re gonna have to come to grips with it.

To select a firearm there should be some defined criteria to use for the selection.

1. The first is the general quality and use of the weapon and the cost versus other alternative weapons.

2. Second is the performance, which includes accuracy, rate of fire, ease of use and dependability.

3. The third criteria would be durability, including the mean time between failures (MTBF), along with repair-ability. Repair-ability includes the AVAILABILITY of parts AND ease of repair.

4. Fourth is the COMMONALITY with other weapons AND ammo.

I think these four selection criteria are easily verifiable, objective and factual for determining the best weapon choices. If all other things are equal, then pick the one that you prefer, but seldom does that happen. Or, if money is no object, then buy what you want, lucky you. Most of us don’t have that luxury!

10/22 Ruger .22 LR

First, the number one weapon for any survival weapons cache is the .22 LR rifle. That’s a no brainer. Therefore I won’t explain it. The rifle of choice is also a no brainer. Now I said use, quality and cost of the weapon versus other alternatives. One salient and overriding fact is the fact that you NEED a semi-auto rifle of some sort in a survival situation and I don’t think that anyone can really argue otherwise. Yes, you can get a quality bolt action, rim fire, rifle for $120-$140, but since you need at least one semi-auto rifle, and since this should be your first and potentially only rifle, it should be a 10/22 Ruger .22 LR rifle at about $190.

It meets the performance standard, the durability and commonality. It is high quality, accurate, has high volume of fire and very dependable. You cannot survive a firefight with a bolt action .22 LR. With a semi-auto, .22 LR you at least have a chance. It’s durability is legendary, and deservedly so, and to repair it, short of running over it with a tank, a bolt and a trigger group will take care of any significant probable failure. As far as commonality, .22 LR ammo goes with out saying. What other .22LR semi-auto do you think you have a high probability of running across in the rest of the SHTF world, that you could use parts and magazines from? That should take care of .22 LR rifle.

Of course, I picked the most popular .22 LR and won’t catch much flack over it. But remember the principles. Not every choice will sit well with you, but it will be the right firearm, in general.

Glock 17

Now, you need a handgun. The first intuitive choice is to get a .22 LR; e.g. Model III Ruger, semi-auto pistol so that you have redundancy. That is a valid tactical concept but I think an even better tactical strategy is that you need a center fire handgun with significantly more stopping power than a .22 LR.

Now, before I finish the handgun choice, let me state, without equivocation, “I hate an effing plastic gun”. “I hate DAO (double action only)”. I am a dyed-in-the-wool 1911A1, .45 ACP fanatic. Period. Nothing shoots as sweet as a good single action trigger pull. I love a steel handgun. BUT that is my OPINION, it is my preference, it isn’t factual or evidence based. It also isn’t the best choice for survival circumstances. You ready? Here it comes. Drum roll, please. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrummpp! Glock 17, ooh, yuck! Plastic! First, I’ve heard people say they want the simplicity of a revolver and don’t want the complexity of an auto. Let’s check that out, factually.

With a revolver, you point and click (shoot). You press the button and open the cylinder and reload. Then point and click. Okay, now the Glock 17. You point and click! Hmmn! You push the button and mag comes out; insert new mag. Point and click!!! Hhhmmnn!! Maybe I missed something. Oh, yeah, the Glock has 17+1 rounds and the revolver has 6 (yeah there’s a 7 and an 8 shot, big deal), at some point round count matters, even over caliber. The functionality of a Glock is mechanically the same as the revolver; i.e. you pull the damn trigger and shoot, you push the button and reload.

The Glock 17, Gen 4, is cheaper than all but the most basic 1911A1, its quality is without compare, its accuracy is unassailable and its dependability is without question, period. Its MTBF is higher than any other gun tested. Revolvers are tested in “thousands of rounds” and semi-autos are tested in “tens of thousands of rounds”. Oh, yeah, commonality. It is the most sold center fire handgun in the U.S. So, if you need to repair it, you just put the parts in, you don’t have to be a gunsmith. If you need a magazine, ammo or parts, bet that guy you just found has some. If not, then the next one will. The most common center fire handgun ammo you will find on an unconscious National Guardsman, or anyone else for that matter, will be 9mm, not .357/38spcl, .45 ACP, .40 S&W, .44 magnum etc.

What other 9mm, polymer, center fire handgun, or any handgun for that matter, would you want to have in your hand if you needed ammo, parts, accuracy, dependability, firepower and ease of use and repair. Now, I didn’t say you would like it. IT AIN’T ABOUT LIKE. It’s about all the things I mentioned above and the expedient logistics that go with you surviving in spite of your bias. You can’t refute the logic. Yes, you can say you want something else, but you can’t refute the logic.

12 Ga. Mossberg (OR the other two)

Okay, 3 and 4 are a push as to which one you get next. This one is situational and only you can determine which one comes next, but the need for both is without question. Your tactical circumstances should determine what you get next. You NEED a 12 Ga. shotgun AND a lightweight, accurate, moderate range (300-400 yards), center fire carbine.

So, here we go on the 12 Ga. shotgun. You should have one, if at all possible. The first two alone (.22 LR rifle and 9mm handgun), at least give you a fighting chance to survive lethal confrontations. Now, you need some oomph! A 12 Ga. Pump will give you that, along with dependability, accuracy, high rate of fire, high MTBF, reparability, and commonality of ammo. There are three brands, all of which are comparable, except for price and they are Winchester, Remington and Mossberg.

An 8 shot, straight stock, groove and bead sight, synthetic stocked, double slide, can describe all three. The Mossberg 500 A “riot gun” versus comparable models of Winchester and Remington, is $209 as of January 2012, compared to $330 + or more for the other two. Now these are real world prices, NOT MSRP. You can find the 500A for $209 all day long and I have yet to find an 870 for less than $339 and I go to a lot of gun shows (the largest ones in the nation) and gun shops. A $100+ will buy a lot of stuff. It will buy 5K rounds of .22 LR, ammo; it will buy the parts for backup repair, etc. The Mossberg is just as durable and functional as any other shotgun made. We used them over in the desert and GIs prefer them to the other shotguns in our inventory.

As far as the criteria, they’re the same as the others except for price. You don’t have to like it, but it’s true and if you’re on a budget, it’s the way to go. If you buy one of the high-end SPX 590 models, there is no comparison. It is the only shotgun to pass the Mil-Std 3443G (MIL-S-3443G, 1995) for shotguns in the U.S. military, and it is 1/3 to 1/2 the price of a comparable Remington 870. These are indisputable facts. You can’t go wrong spending your money on the Mossberg OR the other two for that matter. Now, if money is no object feel free to get whatever you want, but that is not the point of this article.

The military (both ours and the Russians) did studies in the late 40s as to the nominal ranges that infantrymen would engage the enemy. What they found was surprising. Most men would not shoot AT the enemy. They would shoot TOWARDS them, and they would only shoot when they were within 200 yards. That was a big surprise. The philosophy of both governments changed from the long-range potential of standard big bore, higher powered calibers, to something of lesser range and lesser weight, since the infantryman was not going to use the greater potential accuracy and lethality anyway.

AR-15

You need, as part of your survival weapons, a small bore, center fire rifle for LONGER (not long, longER) range targets and more precise shooting at those ranges as well as a carbine-sized weapon for CQB in an urban/suburban environment. There are four rifles that come to mind.

First is the generic bolt action .223. Go back to the .22 LR rifle selection process to figure out why this one isn’t right. That leaves three rifles. The Kel-Tec Su-16, the Mini-14 and the AR-15 style rifle/carbine.

The Kel-Tec is a neat, light, functional rifle. It takes STANAG (NATO STANdardization AGreements) magazines, e.g. regular AR-15 magazines. It is the least expensive of all the three rifles, though it is very HARD to clean. It is better to have one of these than nothing, although the jury is out on its long-term durability.

The Mini-14 is very functional and very durable. Supposedly, Ruger has dealt with the accuracy issues with the previous generations of Mini-14s as compared to AR-15s, and improved them. Both the Kel-Tec and the Mini-14 are very difficult to clean and to repair. Yes, the Mini-14 is very durable, but you can’t get the parts for either of them, the Mini-14 or the Kel-Tec SU-16, like you can the AR-15s, if they do need repair.

First, you can’t get any parts that are “gunsmith” installable from Ruger or Kel-Tec. They won’t sell them to you, period (and there is no aftermarket for them, so they aren’t produced by anyone else). That includes barrels, and most of the trigger group and they use proprietary magazines for the Mini-14. That leaves the AR-15 based carbines and rifles as the only alternative that satisfies the criteria given for the selection process.

The most sold rifle in the U.S. (OBTW, this is where we live, not Africa, not SWA, not SEA, not the Balkans, not China, not S. America etc., we live in the U.S.A.) is the AR-15 style rifle. It outsells all other rifles by orders of magnitude. FYI, the price of good quality ARs is down in the $600 range, the Kel-Tec is in the $450 range and the Mini-14 is in the $750 range, new.

AR-15s are accurate out to 600 yards for the 20” rifle version (it’s what they shoot 600 yd service rifle competition with, and they out shoot MATCH M-14s, ask the Marines). They are accurate, well priced, reliable, durable, easy to repair, easy to use, have a high MTBF and above all have the ultimate commonality of being the service rifle of the U.S.A. That way ammo and parts are not an issue. With the right ammo, it is the perfect lightweight carbine for close to intermediate range self defense and survival.

Now, which one should you get? I would use the standard carbine length, 16” barrel “M-4gery” (that is M-4 forgery, a play on the pun). I would only get the 20” full sized AR-15A2 rifle if I lived where there were some wide-open spaces. I would not put any bells or whistles on it, just a plain AR with the standard A2 iron sights and the Mil-Spec 6-position collapsible stock for the carbine.

As to brand, there are many out there and the names that come to mind are Rock River Arms, DPMS, Double Star, Olympic Arms and many other reputable manufacturers. The main thing that you want to look for is that it is a FORGED receiver weapon, made from 7075 T6 anodized aluminum. You can go to AR15.com and look around and make an educated choice from the testimony on the forum. If you have absolutely no knowledge about ARs at all, then find someone to help you.

Now this would be where the article should end with me summarizing the four weapons, the 10/22 Ruger, the Glock 17, the Mossberg 500A and a quality “plain Jane” AR-15 M4gery. Now, I would not tell anyone this is the ultimate list of survival firearms. It is though, based on objective selection criteria, the best four choices for your first four firearms. This is based on a MINIMAL budget, maximum utility and getting the best bang for your buck (pun intended) versus its value and use to you as a survivor.

If you wanted to make it more inclusive, you could include a large-bore, scoped, bolt-action rifle. You could also include the .22 LR Ruger pistols that we ditched in the handgun selection. Another add on, to expand your capability to use other calibers that you may come across in surviving, is to acquire an AK style carbine/rifle. The only other thing to add to cover MOST potential populous ammunition would be a .357 magnum revolver just to eke out the most you can from ANY available ammo supply, for as many years as possible.

I know some of you are gnashing your teeth about now, over the fact that I’ve excluded your favorite pistol, rifle, handgun, shotgun or caliber/both. Let’s start with .40 S&W. It is a COP cartridge and they will shoot themselves out of ammo when TSHTF. Yes, some civilians have them but not as many as have 9mm. They (cops) will run out of ammo before most civilians and they will become a useless societal force unless supported by the military and what do they shoot?

On the point of the AK, it isn’t a small-bore rifle, it isn’t as accurate as an AR and it doesn’t meet the commonality of parts and ammo criteria. It has its purpose, but not here in the “first four” budget. Here are a few other salient facts about AKs. Over 90+% (it’s actually higher than that, I’m just being generous) of the 7.62×39 ammunition AND parts in the U.S. are imported from overseas. How long do you think that will continue in a SHTF situation? How much of it do you think you will find in a National Guard armory? How many parts do you think you will find there for your AK? How many magazines? The spare parts for an AR fit in a Ziploc, but the AK-47 parts don’t. AK costs are rising, but AR costs are falling. An AR has better accuracy than an AK (significantly better, that’s a fact, it’s not negotiable).

I stood in a room with over 25 Rangers in battalion and asked them “If you had the chance to pick up an AK or an M4, both fully loaded, which one would you pick up?” They laughed. They thought I was bullshitting them. No officers were around, just me and they said “are you kidding Sarge, it would be the M-4, who’d be stupid enough to pick up the AK, is this a trick question?” I also asked them, since they came from different platoons, if they had ever seen one fail. Their answer to a man was “no”.

My career has spanned almost 4 decades and I want people to have the benefit of my experiences and be able to survive. I share this because I want to. I have never seen an M-16A1, A2 or M-4 fail that wasn’t broken to begin with or had bad ammo (dead primers or malformed). All rifles break and all rifles need to be cleaned, period. If you don’t take care of it properly and maintain it properly, it WILL NOT work properly. If you think AKs never need to be cleaned, how come the Russians issued cleaning kits with them? Also, they are not 300-400 yard rifles, at least not on purpose. So, all the BS from uncle Bubba, about the M-16, “made by Mattel” back in 1963/64 is not valid today, regardless of how much he hates them. Read the history of the M-16.

I am a decorated combat veteran. I am a professional military instructor. I am a certified NRA instructor. I am a state certified Concealed Handgun instructor. I also teach private classes for tactics, techniques and procedures for immediate action scenarios. I have been an NRA 3-gun competitor since 1976. I have competed in International Air Pistol, Service Rifle, IPSC, small bore rifle, I teach the rifle and shotgun merit badges for the BSA and engage in other martial style competitive shooting. I was one of my units designated marksmen and one of the “expedient gunsmiths”. Most of the online, armchair, commandos have none of the individual experiences that I have, much less the sum of them. Anyone with similar experience that has a reasoned, thought out, cogent thesis, is welcome to disagree with me and we can discuss it along with those with questions. I think that I have provided the inexperienced with a viable, easy-to-understand and appropriate course for understanding and getting the best firearms for their survival dollar. Survive well. Enjoy.

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