SOY BOYS WITH AR'S
You might remember I
was talking about getting that CD-ROM with a huge number of back
issues of American Survival Guide ( like, back in the mid 80's up ).
I was going to go with Amazon but they were priced pretty high.
Luckily a minion pointed me to E-Bay. One third the price. And a
darn good thing, because overall I was very disappointed. $5 was
high enough for simple nostalgia. It is like buying Tappon's
“Survival Guns”. What is the point? You are looking at a time
machine that takes you back to the Wild West.
*
Nobody is making the
horse and buggy anymore. Even Boston T Party's book on guns is
basically obsolete ( and I can't blame him for not updating it. The
amount of work would be overwhelming. Let me explain how being a
writer works. You show up for work, clock in, dig ditches, then see
if anyone wants to pay you after that. Most complain the ditch isn't
straight enough and decline ). But the old ASG magazines? You could
reprint them today, and if you updated the ads you would be hard
pressed to tell when the articles were written.
*
It is the same old
crap, subject matter wise, as is STILL being pumped out today. Evil
Democrats want our guns, buy more semi-auto's, join a team, watch out
for national disasters, articles as disguised advertisements.
Nothing has changed at all. Same tired tropes. In contrast to this
travesty, I take pride in constantly changing my mind about survival.
I love going against conventional wisdom. Hell, I'll work twice as
hard refuting what everyone believes, just to upset the apple cart.
I WANT to slaughter all sacred cows.
*
Even my own. Do I feel
bad for going against my own convictions of two or three decades, for
embracing AR's and stocking soy beans? Absolutely not. If I didn't,
I'd just end up looking like American Survival Guide from thirty-five
years ago. Not to say I want change for changes sake. I HATE
change. I want to go back to the 1980's and freeze in place,
forever. Women's hair was better, and they weren't so uppity. We
had a President who was just as retarded, but that was age related
rather than due to being bounced on his head repeatedly as a baby (
or being a Democrat most of his life ).
*
I'm tired of change.
But in survivalism, change is necessary. Back when Tappon was
writing, southern Oregon was a survivors dream state, like Idaho (
cough, no jobs, high land prices, cough ) is supposedly today.
Surprisingly, Nevada didn't make the Go list then, either.
Tree-centric prejudice is what it is. Prior to E-Bay, there was no
real way to easily find junk land. There were classified ads in
Backwoods Home magazine ( I think I was paying $50 a month for
Kingman Arizona land while living in Florida, but had to give it up
soon thereafter as even more funds went to the ex ) but your options
were very limited.
*
Twenty five years ago
you were a damn fool for NOT making war surplus guns your survival
arsenal. Today, in almost every instance you would be a damn fool if
you did. I really should have stocked crates of Mosin-Nagants back
then! Hate the gun, as it needs a gas safety bleed, but oh, the
price. I could have planted dozens in caches and never worried about
confiscation. Of course, in my defense, if I had to have a gun I
hated, better a MN than an AR ( price and longevity wise ).
*
Twenty years ago I was
getting $1 food grade buckets and lids, used at BBQ restaurants. Now
I can't even get a decent one for $5. Even just ten years ago, beans
were half price. Before, the advice to get elective surgeries done
was sound and affordable. Now, even a ghetto dentist with a sliding
pay schedule is barely affordable. A doctor visit is financial
suicide. Thirty years ago, the biggest threat to our lives were
Russian communists. Today, they all live next door to us ( although
English is still a second language ).
*
Before, surviving a
natural disaster was a matter of weeks and minor details with the
type of disaster. Now, nobody gets rebuilt after a natural disaster
hits. Before, economic disasters were recoverable, such as the Rust
Belt getting whole new industries providing employment. Now? Hell,
even China, by combining the worst of both worlds ( capitalism with
Growth Forever disease and Communism with Central Planning disease ),
survived nicely but will still be a casualty of the end of the Oil
Age. Only obtuse idiots think gravity or depletion can be ignored.
*
In the end, as we near
the end, an AR was the best least evil pick, as most firearms
companies bankrupt after kicking quality in the nuts. And soymeal,
another least evil pick, does provide affordable protein. Would
freeze dried meat and quality firearms be preferable? Of course. At
twice plus the price. Even AK's are a better choice for reliability
in the field, and home canned meat is a much more nutritious choice.
But each of these asks you to sacrifice quantity for quality. My
choices obviously presuppose a sense of urgency.
*
But if you were taking
advice from those who refuse to chance their thinking, because macho
men Alpha Male guru's cannot ever admit to being wrong, even once,
you get crap all for advice. What was proclaimed once in American
Survival Guide is to forever more The Holy Writ. Some things are NOT
meant to be changed, such as morality and functional cultures. Other
things NEED to be changed, such as strategy and tactics if the enemy
changes. The enemy, here, being the Forces Of Entropy. And
communism. DAMN! It is good to hate communists again, with the heat
of a thousand suns.
*
I wonder how much of
our reaction that civil war has been imminent since the election is
based on our youthful fear and loathing of communists? I mean, the
FedGov nurtured and fed on that fear, to gain consent from the masses
to engage in the cold war. You remember a time when the Left was
vilified for being traitorous and NOT hating communists, right? Jane
Fonda ring a bell ( to be clear, I agree with that hate, but I also
know our Federal Overlords benefited the most from it ).
*
But isn't a return to
hating commies a bit of nostalgia? I'm not discounting the fear, I'm
just saying a tiny part of its widespread appreciation might have a
touch of seeking comfort in what we viewed as normal, back in a
normal time. A return to yesteryear, when things made sense. Even
as we knew the Commie Under Every Bed primarily served the military
industrial complex, it was still better to hate an outsider than
ourselves. It is in part a relief to find that at least one thing
didn't change. Like hugging an HK or an AK. A vote against change.
Fight the urge.
( .Y. )
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*
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“Surprisingly, Nevada didn't make the Go list then, either. Tree-centric prejudice is what it is.”
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think the only person that I ever saw pimping for Nevada, was that Kaysing commie (Godfather of the moon landing conspiracy hoax) in his book, “Great hideout’s of the west”. Admittedly, he actually made Nevada sound pretty good. Good enough that I wanted to explore it, and in fact, eventually bought land there. Though that was probably more of your later influence than his.
“but oh, the price”
Tell me about it. I still pine for the days when wool shirts were $35, which was reasonable, even in 1980’s dollars. The same shirt at $80 to $100 today, isn’t though. I probably would have stockpiled about a dozen + each of the shirts, pants, and blankets, but of course, it’s all water under the bridge now.
I think everyone suffers from hindsight, no matter what we tell ourselves :)
DeleteI still have a few consecutive issues of ASG magazine from the 90's, yeah great stuff back then. I have several of one called Wilderness Way which dealt with primitive skills how to, etc. Remember Kurt Saxon and the Poor Mans James Bond series, and The Survivor? I enjoy coming by your blog and reading while having a pot of coffee. I admire your consistency and whatever it is you apply that other folks out here of similar mind seriously lack. I lurked for a time for some reason but now I'm an outpatient. I noticed you were quoted on the Woodpile Report;'Stop trying to fix wasn't broken until you broke it, by trying to break it more.' That's a Zen riddle right there. I recall local gun store early 90', crates of SKS's in the oily brown green wax paper and GOBs of Norinco ammunition. Dragunov rifles everywhere cheap, real COMbloc metal magazines. For a parts kit you could just buy a couple more. Something sad and bad at the same time looking back from then to now. This generation has no idea...mostly. Thanks Bison.
ReplyDeleteQuotes like that are a byproduct of stream of consciousness. I can't do it if I actually tried. Of course, the downside is sometimes I'm full of crap, or extra irritating.
DeleteFrom what I remember of the early 1990's ASG magazines, the Enemies of Freedom were 1) New World Order and 2) Communists. Global Warming - Earhquakes - Hurricanes were big topics. Communications - High $$ knives - Semi Automatic rifles and pistol reviews (cool monthly raffles yo !) and some various survival skills written on about a 500 - 750 word format. Half the magazine was ads.
ReplyDeleteThis was pre-Internet though and finding this information in gun magazines other than a monthly column was very hard to find. Paladin Press, Delta Press had catalogs of books (All Hail Uncle Ragnar Benson !!), Kurt Saxon, Bruce Clayton, Duncan Long (who had a TON of firearm DIY project books). Heady times man.
Y2K wasn't a gleam of anybody's eye, let alone the possibility of the Gulf oil rig spill.
Survival Inc - Nitro-Pak - Brigade Quartermasters - Parallax survival supply catalogs.
And not a few of the ads almost belonged in the back of comic books ( harness occult powers! X-Ray vision! Secret Spetnez Fighting Techniques! )
DeleteFor some really obscure Kurt Saxon stuff, in the 90s he not only had his Poor Man's James Bond series but his magazine, was selling stuff like valarian and other herb, plus he had some books of old plants for making toys and handy stuff all reprinted from the 1930s.
DeleteSaxon talked about how he'd drifted around in life, don't remember now if he'd been in the military, tried the Klan "it's hard for a man to get those robes to drape well" and finally just settled on survivalism.
The stuff from the 1930s was because he related how he'd broken his leg or something and was disabled for months on end, maybe a year or two. First, all of his friends disowned him because that's the American Way. Secondly, he found the only society he was allowed into was that of others on Welfare and food stamps, as he had to get on those to survive. At least cheap flophouses were still a thing during this time.
Anyway, Kurt noticed his comrades using society's safety net as a hammock, and worked on, what CAN a guy do when he's disabled, to work his way up from the bottom? It came down to an attitude; the kind you, Jim, live by. Hunting-gathering-foraging-dumpster-diving whatever works, doing odd jobs, making little trinkets to sell, and so on.
And so, he published these books of plans because in the 90s (as perpetually now) the US was in a recession and (we'd not entered the period of masses of people losing their houses yet) he figured anyone with a garage and some tools and scrap wood, could at least make things to sell at local flea markets and so on.
I thought the welfare was in the late 70's, early 80's, he started the Poor Man's for his own publishing empire ( which implies funding of some kind ), adding The Survivalist. Late 80's, early 90's then he added the videos on VHS, the shortwave radio stuff, the herbs. I could be off-it has been awhile. I remember ordering Poor Man's in High School, so '79-'83. The VHS directly from him in '89 or '90 ( couldn't have been later than '91 ). His really short lived newsletter I had a sub to in '88 or '89, so the tape was probably '90-'91. Funny how you remember like one moment out of a five year period. I'm pretty sure of those dates, although no guarantee.
DeleteI think you might be right .... the welfare period was in the 70s when it was easier to get, and his re-issues of old 1930s plans to build toys and stuff were issued in the 90s when he was looking back at that time.
DeleteDear 'Extra Irritating',
ReplyDeleteSome people... appreciate your tempered approach to change.
Some folks... think you do just fine.
But, then again, some folks... are equally curmudgeonly.
My 76-year old neighbor 'Pizano', an immigrant from It-ly, announces each time I swing by "I still hate people! I just hate you a little less!"
And some people... wouldn't have it any other way.
*****
******
*****
re:
print magazines such as America's One-n-Only Surviving Guide To Survival Guides
For years, my neighbors were magazine owners/editors/janitors/telephone-answerers Bud Lang and his delightful bride.
Headquartered in that San Angeles hell-hole 1960s-1990s, they perpetrated (on an unsuspecting public) magazines such as SURVIVAL KNIVES, KNIVES OF THE FIGHTING FORCES, AMERICA'S KNIVES, and the provocative KNIVES KNIVES KNIVES, plus many more.
They are gone now, so I can share their little secret:
The two wrote all the articles and the 'advertisements thinly disguised as stories'.
All of 'em.
He was 'Marv' and 'Marc' and 'Devon the Australian' and 'M.J. of the CIA'.
She was 'Edward' and 'Thomason' and 'Anonymous to protect his identity' and 'on-duty Mister X of the Brit SAS'.
These, and dozens more.
Sitting in their two-car garage with the door up on many-a sippin' afternoon, their safes open 'to air out', I learned the biography of each knife or hatchet or machete they received for 'independent evaluation'... and then, they got to keep all the 'test items'.
The word 'scam' never crossed my mind.
I like this Pizano fella!
DeleteDid you hear the latest about the AR, according to the court?
ReplyDeleteA firearm must contain the trigger mechanism, bolt, and barrel.
The AR lower does not have a bolt or barrel, so it is not a firearm.
My guess is they will re-write the law accordingly, and then all uppers hence forth will have serial numbers. A friend and I are thinking about going in halfs on the cost of 50 or 100 stripped uppers from Palmetto. Sell em for $200 each after the fact. See what I mean about having a couple thousand laid back in the desk drawer? A financial buffer for disaster and opportunity.
Just looked up from the screen a moment ago and looked at the TV across the room and a commercial was showing a negro male with his arm around a glowing white gurl with blonde hair. If a foreigner were to look at american over the air TV today they'd get the impression negro's were the majority and were all that. Where's the remote?
One wonders if the BATF isn't making work for themselves...
Delete"If a foreigner were to look at american over the air TV today they'd get the impression negro's were the majority and were all that.”
DeleteThey’d also probably think that at least half the population were turd burglars. One time I inadvertently tuned into that queer eye show, and watched about 5 minutes of it, before determining what a shitty show it was :D Apparently the one fag took a diseased load up the pooper, because now he has HIV. I guess his mother didn’t teach him not to pick up strange things off the street, and put them in his anus :D
LOL! Chocking on my coffee, over here! To be fair, of course, I don't recall that conversation with my mother, either. :)
DeleteIt was a take on the earlier motherly advice Jim (Back in the days when mother’s still mothered) “Don’t pick up things off the ground and put them in your mouth” (Mostly things like cigarette butts and the such). I took innocent and well intended advice, and expanded it in a different, and darker direction :D
DeleteOkay, now it's even funnier. That regular advice was not remembered when I originally read it.
DeleteSpeaking of 'never crossed my mind':
ReplyDeleteShow of hands...
How many watched the GarandThumb YouTube video 'evaluation' of the new 13.7" AR upper from program supporter Sons Of Liberty Gun Works?
It tills your field, plants your amber waves of grain, then butters your toast. It's that good. And necessary.
I was almost all worked-up to buy a few, then in the quiet recesses of my mind, I heard Bud Lang and his delightful bride laughing out loud.
There is a game called 'slam one back each time you hear Sons Of Liberty Gun Works' during the video.
Or each time you read 'SOLGW is the nicest gunshop ever' in the comments.
I know, I know.
So young, and yet, so cynical.
That was cynical?
DeleteAnyone who is thinking of getting shorter-than-normal barreled ARs in 5.56 should read this article: http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/barrel-length-studies-in-5-56mm-nato-weapons/
DeleteShorter is handier but there are always trade-offs.
Tried to read-blah, blah. But thanks anyway.
DeleteI tried to read it too, and you're right, blahh, blahh, blahhhhh
DeleteMy AR has a 16" barrel, 1:7 twist, adj gas block, and weighs a little over 6lbs. With almost 2k rds through it and zero problems, I'm happy. Not bad for my first ground up build, no kits.
Before you go and spend anymore money on the older stuff like ASG, Kurt Saxon,or Paladin Press stuff, go to archive.org. Nostalgia for free, and I like free.
ReplyDeleteMixed bag of whats available. For instance, only #4 of Kurts "militiaman". Still, free.
Delete" I really should have stocked crates of Mosin-Nagants back then!"
ReplyDeleteAbout a decade ago when I was talking with the owner of my LGS (we'd been friends for many years) I asked him how he could sell those rifles at $99 each. He told me that at that time the big supply houses (wholesalers) were importing Mosin rifles from Russia in bulk for as low as $7 each (that's right, seven dollars), and re-selling them to volume dealers like him for $49 each. Ah, those were the days...
The sad part is, in a year or three, today will be One Of Those Days.
DeleteLived not to far from the ASG office in Anaheim CA about 3 miles from Mickey Mouse Land.
ReplyDeleteThey wrote and printed the hard copies there, I'm in my early twenties and just starting my Grand Parents advice to prepare for all situations,
Walk in there are 3 people my age, asked a few question's and could tell right off they were nothing but ad hack's!
Taking other peoples articles and waiting for the next lunch break.
But, needless to say I still have 55 issues that I sometimes take out and read when I need A good laugh.
I want to say, "Rawles business model", but at least he lived the life. A minion gave me some really early Mother Earth News issues, and it is amazing the naivety. But, again, at least they were living the life. The low tech/alt tech was fine ( to a degree. A lot of it was Middle Class Continuity ), but the politics and environmentalism, oy!
DeleteThere are some things that are timeless: heat-shelter-water-food. The things that change with time are the new things we learn: storage techniques, what is of value, who it was who got my nose when I was three.
ReplyDeleteThe basic needs will never change, but how we meet them may. Magazines to mimeographs to microcomputers . . .
But at least I know who got my nose. And he'll pay.
Weapons, although strategy and tactics are pretty eternal.
Delete