American Survival Blog

Smith & Wesson have generated a good deal of buzz with their Emergency Survival Kit, which is basically a waterproof box with a a selection of camping gear style “survival” supplies (Blast Match, Mylar space blankets and what my generation used to call a rape whistle) topped off with a snub nosed revolver in .460 or .500 S&W. It also comes with a book on bear attacks, which is available on Amazon.com for $12.71.

S&W sells the book along with gun and some basic camping gear for $1469.

The .460 S&W is considered a little less uncomfortable to shoot than the .500, so I expect most people considering the $1469 MSR priced box of goodies will go for that caliber, which has the added bonus of being able to chamber both .454 Casull and the venerable .45 LC rounds. But the .460 is still, in my humble opinion, too much gun for the average survivalist. Unless you spend all your free time at the range, and have an enormous tolerance for recoil, these new mega calibers are not for you. Just how much recoil are we talking about? Watch this vid and see what happens to this guy shooting a .460 around 19 seconds in:

Yeah, that’s alot of recoil. Granted the .460 is bear gun strong but people have been killing bears with guns for a long time now without using calibers that will make the casual handgunner develop a flinch that will affect accuracy and allow the bear in question to get a good mauling in before your next shot.

You’ll also note that the above video is of a much beefier handgun than the snub nose in the kit, which will have more kick to it due to the loss of weight. In a life and death bear attack, accuracy and fast follow up shots are what’s going to save your life, and a snub nosed .460 won’t give either to anyone but the most accomplished big bore handgunner.

Here’s what passes for rapid firing a .460: imagine if you will that a bear is charging the shooter who missed the first shot, and wounded the brute on the second (strong language warning):

A gun is a tool, like a hammer or a knife, and like a hammer or knife it is great for self defense, but its main purpose, for the survivalist, is to put meat on the table when you can’t go to a store. In bear country big bores may make sense but for the majority of us in the lower 48, who are looking for a gun to take us through some Katrina-style rough patches, the .460 is a dead end.

A revolver is an excellent platform for a survival gun, because it’s simple, reliable and less likely to break. In an emergency anyone can be taught to operate one quickly, and a misfire won’t stop the gun from working. But in a TEOTWAWKI-style disaster, you’re not just going to be defending yourself against huge omnivores, you’ll be hunting small game like squirrels and rabbits, fending off packs of feral dogs and you’ll need to have stocked up on bulk ammunition which means going for a reasonably priced caliber. The .460 excels at none of these.

The best all round survival gun is probably the shotgun, with 12ga being the top dog, though I admit to owning and being quite happy with an NEF Survivor in .410/.45. In the sprawling megalopolis of the Northeast, the little .410 does everything I need it to do. When I need to “load for bear,” I grab Federal’s 225 grain semi-wadcutter hollow points.

But in terms of a survival handgun I’d choose either a double action .357, .44 or .45. The .357 is best because most of them can also chamber lower powered .38 specials. While not an ideal bullet for small game, you could conceivably kill a rabbit without wasting too much meat, and still have plenty of oomph left in the other cylinders.

.44’s and .45’s aren’t going to leave much behind but a smear on small game, though deer and similar sized animals are routinely harvested with these calibers. But if it’s stopping power you crave these are more manageable than a .460. If you don’t mind damaging the rifling of the barrel over time (and we are talking about emergencies), I’ve seen plenty of .44 shot loads for taking small game, but I’ve never even met someone who has used them so I can’t recommend them. Taurus offers a .45./.410 revolver in various configurations that’s just eccentric enough to pique my interest. They’re actually being made to fill a demand for anti carjacking guns in Latin America, so I’m not sure how suitable they are for survival use, but let’s just say I’m still hoping for a Judge for Christmas.

Remember that you may be a weight-lifting, gunrange owner with a high tolerance to recoil, but your family, who may need to fire your hand cannon in extremis, are not likely to spend countless hours at the range to get proficient with one of these pocket monsters. And the majority of preparedness-minded people aren’t going to either. Add to that the price tag, for which you could buy multiple revolvers and dozens of Blastmatches, and what you have is kitsch in a can.

The deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis earlier this month has many people wondering whether they have the skills to survive such a situation. Although vehicle submersion emergencies like the one in Minneapolis don’t often make the national news, such incidents are responsible for approximately 600 deaths each year.

When your car or truck leaves the roadway and plunges into a body of water, it can easily sink in 3 minutes (or significantly less, depending on the weight of the car, length of the drop, angle of impact, and integrity of the door seals.) Because of the speed with which submersion occurs, waiting for first responders to rescue you simply isn’t an option. Instead, advance preparation is key if you hope to escape from your vehicle.

How do you prepare for a situation like this?

Always wear your seatbelt.
Sure, a seatbelt may give you one hell of a bruise on impact, but you’re less likely to experience head trauma if you’re safely strapped into your seat. Remaining conscious gives you a fighting chance if your car is filling with water. Plan to keep your seatbelt on as long as possible to avoid disorientation as the water rushes into the vehicle.

Understand the physics of vehicle submersion.
Once a car begins to sink, the doors and windows cannot be opened due to the immense water pressure. If you are unable to open a door or window before the car starts to sink, you will have to allow enough water into the car to equalize the pressure.This video provides an excellent visual illustration of how the pressure changes as a car becomes completely filled with water:

Make sure you have the necessary tools.
Despite what you see on TV, car windows are nearly impossible to break without a specially designed tool. One highly recommended device is the ResQMe - this ingenious little tool combines a spring loaded window breaker with a razor that can cut through stuck seatbelts. It is inexpensive (just under 10 bucks at Amazon), and is sold as a keychain to help you ensure that you actually have it when you need it.

Other popular options include the BodyGard Multifunction Emergency Tool and the LifeHammer Emergency Hammer. Just remember that windshields (and sometimes side and rear windows) are made from laminated glass that is difficult to break. Check your vehicle handbook to ensure that you have a tool designed to break the windows on your particular car.

Make sure you have the necessary skills.
Have you read the instruction manual for your auto glass breaker? Do you know how to swim?

Plan and rehearse.
Know exactly what steps you will take if your vehicle ends up in the water, always have the necessary tools in your car, and make certain you know how to use those tools. Think about how you will help passengers follow your plan. Practicing these measures, even just going over them in your mind, will help you remain calm, avoid panic, and remember your survival skills when you really need them.

image credit: dubaddict

That’s the promise Garden Girl makes on her website. Good tips for those of you who want to try your hand an small scale food production which is a good idea. You never know when a few extra chickens and tomatoes will come in handy!

Here’s a promo video chock full of tips for the beginning urban farmer:

TEOTWAWKI is an acronym which stands for The End Of The World As We Know It. Most folks agree it was coined in the 1990’s by a guy named Mike Medintz on a survival forum. That’s the short answer.

The long answer is that TEOTWAWKI is both a concept and a bit of an ideology. TEOTWAWKI is literally a society changing, and likely world changing, apocalypse. When a survivalist talks about TEOTWAWKI he or she is talking about a scenario where there is total break down of civil order, where society ceases to exist and anarchy reigns. They may believe that TEOTWAWKI will happen in the context of massive natural disasters, World War III (or really the aftermath of it) or some believe that the world is slowly, inexorably sliding into a new dark ages. No matter how it’s envisioned, from a massive meteor strike to a suicidal conflict between nuclear armed opponents, TEOTWAWKI scenarios imagine the total destruction of our civilized world and the birth of a savage post-apocalyptic wasteland.

As a concept, it is actually quite useful even if you have faith that society can rebound from any disaster, natural or otherwise, because it gives you a standard of preparedness to shoot for that will take you through almost any disaster you can imagine. If you’re prepared to live through the absolute end of the world, a bad hurricane should be a breeze. When you put together a disaster plan, don’t just think about what you’d do in a blackout after a storm, don’t just plan on spending two or three days indoors after a blizzard. Instead imagine a world where you can’t buy groceries or gas, where there is no electric grid and no police force to protect you. Imagine that feeding, clothing, sheltering and protecting yourself and your family was up to you and you alone for an indefinite period of time.

Suddenly a few candles and some canned beets doesn’t seem like such good preparation, huh? That’s why TEOTWAWKI is such a useful concept for anyone wanting to be prepared for whatever life throws at them, because it sets the bar high enough that once you’ve gotten all your gear and plans together, you will literally be ready for anything.

As an ideology, I have mixed feeling about it. The idea of TEOTWAWKI has taken on an almost religious tone amongst some survivalists, and similar to the Y2K panic of the 90’s it’s easy to believe while reading some of the survivalist websites out there that people are not so much preparing for TEOTWAWKI as wishing for it. TEOTWAWKI is the survivalist version of the rapture in some extreme cases, the ultimate punishment met out by the survival gods on those who didn’t prepare for the worst.

But more importantly the TEOTWAWKI scenario envisions a very different kind of America than I do. I have seen community after community pull together after a disaster to help each other, from 9-11 to the big blackout a couple of summers ago, and I don’t see a time when barbarity will rule over us all. Anarchy in the legal sense may take place after some great disaster, but your neighbors and friends will still be your neighbors and friends, and those relationships are the foundation for civilization, and the keys to its survival.

I however am an optimist. I expect the best, but prepare for the worst.

American Survival Blog is a disaster preparedness blog that will gather together what I deem to be the best survival tips and products for those interested in being prepared for what life throws at them. It is a survivalist site but not one that promotes the many fringe ideologies that have (unfortunately) come to be associated with survivalism. This site will examine ways to ensure you and your family’s safety under any circumstance, and hopefully teach you ways to be more self sufficient and independent.

The name is an homage to the now defunct American Survival Guide magazine I was a fan of in the late ’80s and early ’90s, though ASB owes more to magazines like The Backwoodsman then to what as I matured I realized was hard right fantasy. Though I hope to cover all aspects of survival here, this blog is about a lifestyle of self-reliance that will enable you to survive any situation, not about apocalyptic gloom and doom or conspiracy mongering.

All are welcome, including you doom and gloomers and NWO watchers, to stop in, give us your two cents worth and hopefully form a community of individuals prepared to live through any disaster, and live through them well!

Enjoy and hope to hear from you soon.

Rob