Columns

Lead free ammunition isn’t really news. But bullets made of polymer? Polycase has been leading the charge, and now they’ve paired up with Ruger to bring the radical design to a much wider audience. So how about it? Would you carry polymer based bullets in you self defense gun? Ruger thinks so, and I do too.

Pop quiz hotshot, which guns on the market require the least amount of skill to operate with some proficiency? Here is a list of the top five guns for bad shooters.

Answer:A $25,000 inflatable concrete building. Just add water.
Question: What is a Concrete Canvas Shelter?

Believe it or not, this is not a joke, and when I encountered this product it reminded me that I have been meaning to discuss the qualifications for a proper nuclear fallout shelter for some time. But I have to admit, of all the survival preparations I’ve written about for this column, this is one of very few I have not actually worked out for myself. That is why I found this product so interesting.

Over and under shotguns have been around for quite some time and have changed relatively little over the decades. Cosmetically, the Benelli 828U looks like a slightly more space age take on the classic double, but the under the hood features are what stand out as the unique elements of this shotgun.

Thermoelectric generators are not a new technology. “TEG” power was discovered in 1821, but I have to admit, it is new to me. I recently discovered three consumer products that create electricity from direct heat, and all three of them have survival applications. One of them is the best bugout or camp stove I have ever encountered, and I would take it one step further and say that it is the best bugout cooking solution I have ever encountered, period. A second is made for generating electricity while you cook your dinner, and I had marginal success with it. The third is made for a high level of direct heat electricity production, and you can drive it from your rocket stove, a camp stove, and they have models from 10 watts up to 100 watts that use waste heat from your wood stove.

Have we left the latest ammo shortages behind yet? It would seem that way. There are more new brands and varieties available now than there were three years ago. But how do you know what you can trust? We’ll do our best to test them. This week it is Sig’s new practice ammo.

You shouldn’t take a normal flat-head screwdriver to your guns. Trust me. I know. What should you use instead? Time for a bit of gunsmithing expertise from the American Gunsmithing Institute.

The latest episode of NOIR, the NRA News series hosted by urban gun enthusiast Colion Noir, raises the question of whether it is always best for one to have a firearm during home-invasion scenario.

A few weeks ago I was interviewed on a radio show about this prepping column, and during the commercials I heard an ad for a specific survival food company that claimed to offer more “calories per dollar” than everyone else. On checking their website, that number is 250 calories per dollar. I have been buying and storing food for over a year now, since my original food article, and all this time I have had a really hard time explaining to people the importance of making the most out of their prepping dollars, and focusing on supermarket food, not survival food. The company itself didn’t impress me, especially after they bailed on sending review food when I explained this article. But then I realized, that’s it! It really is all about calories per dollar! And that claim of 250 calories per dollar may be high when compared to other brands of survival food, but compared to the foods below, all from Walmart, they are embarrassing for the actual food you get. Even expensive name brand Dinty Moore beef stew is 238 calories per dollar. Which would you rather eat? Other foods here are well over 1,000 calories per dollar, and one is over 4,000 calories per dollar.