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Prepping 101: DIY Geiger Counter - The Basics of Measuring Radiation

Prepping 101: DIY Geiger Counter – The Basics of Measuring Radiation

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Measuring radiation isn’t as complicated as all of the terminology makes it sound. Any radiation measuring device has some sort of Geiger–Müller tube, also called a G-M tube. The tube is a surprisingly simple device that turns any type of ionizing radiation into an electrical pulse. The rest of the machine we call “Geiger Counter” or “radiation meter” is just a signal amplification circuit that can contain computing chips and measurement dials or readouts. In a nuclear emergency there won’t be time for news of it to hit The Drudge Report. You’ll have to take evasive measures immediately (a topic for a future article). We are all waiting for the next big false flag or hoax catastrophe, and if it turns out to be nuclear, you’ll want some sort of Geiger counter, both to tell you when it is time to go inside, and also when it is ok to come out. For the most part, Geiger counters aren’t cheap. But I found a source for a DIY Geiger counter that takes only basic soldering for under $60, including the G-M tube. You can also get a no-solder option for still under $100, and they work great.

Laser Ammo‘s Training Trifecta: SureStrike Laser, LaserPET and Glock TJ Sight

Laser Ammo‘s Training Trifecta: SureStrike Laser, LaserPET and Glock TJ Sight

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How would you like to vastly improve your shooting skills without firing a single shot? I’ve been shooting for decades, and I can never recall a period when I felt that ammo was considered cheap. Today’s market is certainly among the most challenging we’ve had, but even if it broke loose tomorrow, it still costs money to put rounds down range. Laser Ammo offers products that are specifically aimed (pun intended) at those of us who want to increase our trigger time without increasing our ammo expense. Here is a look at three of their tools: The SureStrike laser cartridge; The Personal Electronic Target; and the Glock TJ Sight.

Prepping 101: Solar Generator Basics - Harbor Freight Kit Review

Prepping 101: Solar Generator Basics – Harbor Freight Kit Review

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It boggles my mind when someone proudly exclaims that they are free from worry should a disaster strike, because “I’ve got a generator!” That’s great for a hurricane or a blizzard, but what are you going to do if there is a real collapse and your fuel runs out? Did you, in fact, just waste [...]

savage axis cover

Savage Axis II XP, Big Bang for a Few Bucks

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Let’s say you’ve just gotten a call from a friend who wants to go hunting with you, tomorrow, and he doesn’t have a rifle. He really wants to go. And you know you’ll be able to put him on a deer, or a hog, or something, but you don’t have an extra rifle set up and ready to go. There’s a big-box retailer right around the corner. What would you suggest?

There’s a lot to presume about the hypothetical above. Let’s pretend the friend knows his ass from his elbow and is aware of basic firearms safety and function. We can assume he can get a license and that you will be hunting, not poaching. What you need is a rifle that’s turnkey. You need a gun, one in a common caliber, and an optic (preferably one that’s already attached and sighted in).

You need a Savage Axis II, the complete package.

Inside Ruger’s New Mayodan North Carolina Plant

Inside Ruger’s New Mayodan North Carolina Plant

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[one_half padding=”0 0 0 0px”] [/one_half] [one_half_last padding=”0 0 0 0px”] [/one_half_last] Ruger knows the rimfire market. There’s a lot to say about Ruger’s latest addition to the rimfire line. They run off of the 10/22 magazine and are tack drivers.  The rifles are lightweight, indestructible and inexpensive. That last part is hard to wrap your head [...]

DIY Shooting Bench for Under $100

DIY Shooting Bench for Under $100

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I am not a bench rest shooter. I don’t have the patience for that aspect of shooting sports. But I need a shooting bench from time to time, especially when reviewing guns and getting rifles ready for hunting season. Long story short, I needed a small portable bench, and I didn’t want to spend more [...]

Prepping 101: The Sun Oven - Product Review

Prepping 101: The Sun Oven – Product Review

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This story is best told as a story. I didn’t believe at first that this oven would really work. Anyone can game Youtube videos to make a product look good, and I just assumed that the All American Sun Oven was just another gimmick being sold to preppers. First of all, I live in South Florida. If a sun oven is going to work anywhere, it is going to work here. But I had never heard that such a thing was possible. I could see a huge dish, focusing the sun’s rays on an egg or something. But to get enough consistent heat to cook a chicken, or even a loaf of bread? Not so much. Not a reality. Boy was I wrong. I don’t know how the All American Sun Oven works up in snow country, but there is no reason to think that a sunny day anywhere can’t cook food just like a regular oven. You do have to move the oven around some, but at $399 for a complete survival kit, nobody who has stored freeze dried foods and pantry staples should be without one. No fuel, no problem. The All American Sun Oven works.

What's Your Pack Gun? -  How Long Could You Survive?

What’s Your Pack Gun? – How Long Could You Survive?

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Leftfield Entertainment, creators of Paw Stars and other edutainment type programs for The History Channel, Discovery, A&E and National Geographic, is looking for outdoors survival experts. “No Gimmicks. No Film Crews. No Games.” The goal is simple: survive with only what you can carry on your back. With that in mind, what gun(s) would you take?
“We’re currently developing an exciting new series with a major cable network that is going to ask the strongest self-reliance experts and enthusiasts in the world a very simple question – how long could you survive alone in the wild?” said Molly Tom, a casting associate with Leftfield Entertainment, “We’re looking for folks who want to prove that they have the skills, determination, willpower and mental strength to take part in the ultimate survival experience.”

Prepping 101:  EMP Attack - Electro-Magnetic Pulse - Natural & Nuclear

Prepping 101: EMP Attack – Electro-Magnetic Pulse – Natural & Nuclear

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Fear is among the most driving of all human emotions. When you fear something, it is very easy to take advantage of the requisite call to action inside of you. That was the original point of this prepping and survival series, to cut through all of the crap the fear mongers are trying to sell us and get to the heart of long-term survival in the face of a genuine collapse, which many of us believe is somewhat imminent.

There is a lot of banter about the fall of the dollar and a collapse of our financial system, but historically, governments and the bankers who control them don’t let that stuff happen. They start a war instead. And an easy way to start such a war would be to burst a nuke 250 miles into space, creating what is called an EMP, or Electro-Magnetic Pulse. By available information and hypothesis, such an event would be devastating to our electrical grid, thereby cutting off our ability to talk, tweet and post poorly produced YouTube videos about any financial crisis, thereby allowing them to keep us enslaved to debt, totally hush hush.

Solving Problems One Hand at a Time

Solving Problems One Hand at a Time

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A few months ago, I broke my fifth finger metacarpal while defending a bus full of cute puppies from an aggressive hoard of ninjas. The doctor put my arm in a half cast sort of thing that completely took my arm out of action for over a month. Fortunately I am right handed and it was my left arm that was damaged by the ninja blocking my quick jab with his face. All kidding aside, I did break my hand and had to wear the cast for over a month. Before the injury, I had, for many years, trained one-handed techniques, but I never dedicated full range sessions to it. While I was not as skilled using one hand as I am using two to run a handgun, I already had the basics in one of my brain’s filing cabinets and had spent hours on the most common of one-hand problem solving techniques, such as clearing clothing, drawing, reloading and stoppage clearance. For the next few days, I spent an hour so each day working on increasing my proficiency with only one hand available, and here’s what I learned.