PRN Episode #28 FerFal

PRN Episode #28 FerFal

PRN Episode #28 FerFal
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Today on the Shepherd School Show, David interviews Fernando Aguirre, also known to many preppers as Ferfal.

Fernando grew up in Argentina and tells us first-hand what life was like during and after the economic collapse of the 1990′s.

Most preppers make educated guesses about what would happen, or what they would do in a catastrophic disaster.

Ferfal has lived through it.  In today’s interview he and David talk about what happened, common survival strategies that people used, the economics of surviving disasters, the government and how it reacts, as well as many other topics.

Fernado also gives some good tips on what he found to work in real life.  I think this is pretty important and this is one of my favorite episodes of all.  I think every prepper should read his book.

At the very least, visit his website to see what a real economic disaster looks like.

What happened in Argentina can happen here in the United States. It pays to learn how modern people survived such a collapse

http://ferfal.blogspot.com

The-Modern-Survival-Manual-Surviving

If you cannot listen on Monday, you can always download the podcast for listening at your own leisure at this link.

 

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Finger Straight and Off Trigger or Shaped as a C?

 

Shooting: Finger in the C Position
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I am a big believer in keeping your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire your handgun. The traditional way of doing this it to keep your finger straight.  That means lain along the frame of the gun above the trigger well.

I like this way.  However, I was recently shown another technique.  Personally I am still evaluating it.  But the idea makes sense so I wanted to share it with you.  Feel free to play with it to see if you think it is worthwhile.

Instead of having your finger straight you can make your trigger finger in the C position.  Just put the tip along the grip just behind the trigger well.

Then as you decide to shoot you can press your finger forward and come up behind the trigger and wrap around to achieve proper trigger placement.

Fundamentals Don’t Change Without Reason

Now when it comes to firearms training, I believe in practicing the fundamentals and not getting caught up with new techniques simply because they are novel.  However, if there is an articulable problem than a new technique solves, then I am willing to adapt and learn new skills. So when I was introduced to this I asked “What problem does this solve?”.   I was told that in a retention fight, your finger could be trapped along the slide if your attacker was able to grasp the slide.

I think that is a bit of a stretch, even if it is possible.

However, when it comes to safety there may be some merit. One problem I see with the straight finger technique comes from sloppy application or incomplete instruction. If the finger is held straight, but low so that it rests on the trigger guard instead of the frame, the finger can contract and slap the trigger.

May Help Prevent Negligent Discharge

When the finger is held in the “C” position, any of the big three causes of negligent discharge (stumble, startle, sympathetic grip) are much harder because the as the finger tightens there is no way it can hook on the trigger.

This makes the “C” position something to think about. I haven’t come to a full conclusion for myself yet.  So I don’t teach it other than use it as a discussion topic in instructor level courses, but it may work for you.

As always, I welcome your comments.

How to Make Arrow Fletching With Duct Tape

How to Make Arrow Fletching With Duct Tape

 

Duct Tape Arrow Fletching
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Several years ago I tried out Dave Canterbury’s sling bow. It was fun and I saw that it had potential,  Unfortunately, arrows are expensive.  The short arrows I bought just did not develop enough energy to be useful.

I decided to look into making my own arrows.  Arrow-making has obviously been around a long time.  So it is a pretty developed science.  Feathers arraigned in a 3 feather system are the most common.  However, some use 2 or 4 feathered fletching systems.  Additionally plastic vanes are available commercially.

In today’s article we are going to go “mad max” and create Duct Tape Arrow Fletching.

The Prepper MacGyver’s Most Common Resource is Duct Tape.

The great thing about duct tape is that is common, cheap, is not too stiff so that it can bend as it comes in contact with the bow, but when doubled up is stiff enough to direct the arrow in flight.

To make fletching simply cut three bits of tape about six inches long.

Pick up one piece and bend it lengthwise to form a “U” with the sticky side outwards. The base of this “U” is stuck lengthwise along the shaft – in other words (and the video will help) the middle of the tape is stuck to  1/3 of the diameter of the shaft with the two ends flopping free.

Now pick up the second piece and bend it like the first one. This one will be stuck in position a third of the way around the shaft from the first one, while the first bit of tape is still bent in the “U” position to keep it out of the way. You do not want the two pieces of tape to stick together until you get everything situated. (I find that clipping the loose ends of the first piece of tape together keeps them out of the way.

Once you feel that the two pieces of tape are sitting in the right position, you can allow the two adjacent wings of tape to stick to each other, forming the first complete vane.

Mold the tape against the shaft to get it to stick well. The two bits of tape will sometimes stick without being exactly in the right position thus skewing the vane or making it lumpy.

Apply the third piece of tape is applied in a similar manner.

Tips for Duct Tape Fletching

A challenge with this tape fletching is to get three flat and evenly spaced vanes.

Another problem is to end up with the vanes where you want them in relation to your nock so that you get the conventional “cock and hen feather” configuration with the cock feather at right angles to the plane of the nock.

Once you have the tape into place, you can trim the vanes with sharp scissors.

Keep the vanes tapering down to nothing at the leading end so that they ride nicely past the bow and your bow hand.

Keep the vanes as narrow as possible and make the taper as long as possible.

You can also apply a tight wrap of soft insulation tape over the very front end of these plastic vanes to stop them catching and pulling away.

Obviously this won’t give you a good a result as using proper fletching and a jig like the one below, but it is serviceable and just the thing to use if your using a homemade PVC bow (more on that later).

PRN Episode #27 Interview Survival Punk

PRN Episode #27 Interview Survival Punk

Survival Punk is a blog created by James Burnette. James takes a rational, creative approach to self-reliance, applying a punk DIY ethic to survivalism without any of the fear mongering or “tinfoil hattery” found in some other areas of the survivalist movement.

The Survival Punk blog covers a huge range of his projects, both success and failures along with a healthy bit of myth busting. He also provides a ton of dirt cheap creative solutions to common prepping needs and does a great job of integrating the paleo lifestyle with the prepping lifestyle.

I respect Survival Punk, and we partnered together on Dual Homestead where he lived on my land and worked to homestead it.  Unfortunately his anarchist tendencies and my need for plans clashed to the point where it just did not work.  However, I still think he knows a lot and he has a great website.

The show is scheduled for Monday at 10pm central time at this link.

If you cannot listen on Monday, you can always download the podcast for listening at your own leisure.

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Emergency Mangement.com Prepper Article

Emergency Mangement.com Prepper Article
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You might remember Emergency Management.com from the “Preppers are Socially Selfish” article a few months ago.* It wasn’t just their premise that upset me, but that  the “Academic” Author that proudly professed her lack of real world response experience put forth several “apologies” that were more “I’m sorry you are angry” or “I am sorry there is so many angry responses” – she never actually realized why people were angry, and soon retired without seeing the benefit preppers bring to their communities.

I also wondered about the tone of that article, since only a few weeks earlier, the editor wrote a column wondering why the preparedness message sent out by FEMA and non-governmental organizations like the Red Cross was not well received by the average citizen.

I responded to him that when you cry that the average person won’t listen to your advice, you should not follow up on the moaning by alienating those that take do your advice…

Anyway, I was quite pleased to see Emergency Management.com has posted a pro-prepper article entitled “Why Emergency Managers Shouldn’t Alienate Preppers“.  Of course this opinion was written by someone with field experience- maybe that’s the reason for the change of tone?

Just like I believed that the first article deserved comment by preppers explaining why Preppers are anything but selfish, and should be respected by the Emergency Management  community, I think this new article deserves comment rewarding the more enlightened viewpoint.

In my opinion, if preppers are tired of being marginalized, then we need to build bridges with the Emergency Management community where appropriate.

*Update:

Emergencymanagement.com has changed to Govtec and has removed the article.