Swiss Ranger Volcano Stoves supplies may be drying up

It has been brought to my attention that the supply of the Swiss Ranger Volcano Stove and canteen sets my be drying up in this country. This is too bad, these are great items and were really better than any equivalent commercial product. I think I many have saved ONE for myself, and no doubt sold the rest of them I had way too cheap considering they may not be available soon. One of my suppliers has them on back order ( this is usually terminal for an item) and another has double their price on these. This all brings up an important point about military surplus, get it while you can because when it is gone it is gone for good.

Scientific Utility Brands International, Inc.

This company manufactures some products that I have found useful for out door use and Emergency preparation  . I have managed to secure a supply of a variety of their products and think you may find it them interesting. They  seem to be quite useful and well made as well as safer than most of the alternatives.  Of particular interest are the Magic Lamp, Magic Heat, and Magic Wick. The magic wick is one of the most useful fire starters aids I have found, they really burn and are easy to use and can be used more than once with some care. They can also be used by themselves for emergency light, signaling and cooking. The Magic Lamp works on paraffin oil and is a wonderful lamp to eat by, indoor or out. All of their products seem to put of no odor at all when burning which points to very pure ingredients. The items I have obtained are at least 4 -5 years old and do not seem to have lost any fluid or deteriorated.
So watch the video and check this stuff out. The company sells directly from their web site.

http://www.scientificutility.com/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mRDi2F9-o&feature=youtu.be

My thoughts on Gun Cleaning

Every one know that you are supposed to clean them. They get dirty. I was probably a lot like other people in that I did do some cleaning and had a bent cleaning rod or two that was a dirty aluminum sectional out of an old Outer's gun cleaning kit. To go with that I had some old brushes that were good enough with at least 50% of the bristles left  and some cut up t-shirts for patches because I had used up the small sample of patches that came with the kit that I probably got at a yard sale.
  A few years ago I put on lay away an actual new .243 rifle, not just new to me but actually new. I decided that I wanted to take really good care of it so I set about learning about how to properly clean a rifle and what equipment I would need. There are a lot of good articles on the Internet, mostly written by bench rest shooters on this topic. These experts do have some difference of opinion but all express some of the same basic principles. Let me share with you some of what I think is good advice on proper bore care and gun cleaning.

1. Cleaning Rods. If you have the sectional rods made of aluminum or God forbid, steel like the U.S. Military rods, use them for something else, don't clean firearms with them. Use them for your blow gun or cleaning your flute not your firearms. They are not stiff, enough, they are usually not straight, they are over sized and make too much bore contact. The worst thing is that they get embedded with with bits of metal and crap that will harm your bore. Use a nylon coated, carbon fiber or brass one piece rod in the RIGHT SIZE for your rifle. If you have to use a segmented rod get a good one like the one out of the Swiss Military rifle cleaning kits.
Clean what ever rod you have BEFORE you use it. Really clean it, if it brass polish it. If it is nylon while you are cleaning it feel for tears in the nylon. If the nylon is hacked up, discard it, you are better off leaving the gun dirty that damaging it with a rod with a bad coating.

2. Clean as soon as possible after you are done shooting. If you can't clean the gun with in a few hours then at least wipe the bore down with a nitro solvent and leave the solvent in the gun until you can clean it, a pull through can be used for this if no rod is available. With in a few hours after shooting the crud in the bore hardens this means you will have brush the bore more vigorously. With a quick cleaning when you are done shooting you may not have to brush at all and may be able to just use a patch and get it clean.

3. Brushes. Brush as little as possible only use them when you have to. Inspect your brushes, if they are green, it they have bent or missing bristles. discard them. You can get a lot more life out of brush if you carefully clean it after you use it and you should never use a brush that has not been cleaned. I will use electrical contact cleaner or hot soapy water to clean a brush. If you use water use heat to make sure they are dry before you put them away.
Use the phosphor bronze brushes or plastic when ever possible. Discard the nylon ones after few uses, the material gets imbedded with grit you cant't get out.  Save the stainless tornado type  brushes for only cleaning a very dirty crusty barrel, the stainless ones cause too much bore wear.Use the right size brush and never reverse in in the bore. I try to only clean from the back to the front and try not to ever pull a brush back through the bore. Bullets only go one way so your brush should only go one way.

4. Patches. Ya a t-shirt is probably OK if it is clean but you can buy patches by the thousand that are the right size and pretty cheap. Use a Jag not the slotted tips. The slotted tips are just one more thing that might contact the bore that you don't need and don't do as good of a job as the proper sized jag.

5. Clean from the breach if possible and use a rod guide, if you have to clean from the muzzle be very careful inserting the brush or jag and keep the rod straight, better yet use a muzzle guide that it also nice and clean. More rifles have been damage by rods pressing on the crown or the shoulder of a brush or jag hitting on the crown than probably any other cause,

4. Use a gun vice or a buddy to hold the gun still when you have a rod in it.

5. Choose the right solvent for the job, If you are shooting lead bullets you need something for that, if you are shooting jacketed you need something with Ammonia in it to dissolve the copper. Don't use copper solvents with a brass rod. Use something that is a good carbon cleaner in either case. I have been using Tetra-Gun copper solvent and it works good but it stinks to high heaven and will burn your hands if you have any open wounds and make your eyes water. If using corrosive ammo use a cleaner made for that ( usually black powder cleaners) or use hot water and a little soap.

So I hope this helps, I will be adding to this thread so stay tuned

The Swiss Rifle cleaning kits

These very high quality, well thought out kits. Made in the late 50's for the Swiss K31 and StG 57 in 7.5 Swiss, The brushes that come with it will fit any 7.5mm or 30 cal. Including 7.5 swiss, 308, 30-30/, 7.62 and many others, you can use them on 8mm sized bores but they will be a little looser. An adapter is commonly available that will allow the use of any standard American brushes, swabs or Jags with this adapter it could be used with calibers larger than .30 including shotguns.

 The kits include a nice rubberized canvas pouch, a sectional cleaning rod that can be used shortened for pistols, a very clever and unique combination rotating patch jag and attactment tip for brushes, Three brushes a bronze chamber brush, a bronze bore brush and a nylon bore brush, an inspection mirror that has an actual peice of precision ground glass in it, a bore cleaning patch jag. and a very sturdy comfortable handle for the rod, and two large grease tightly sealing grease pots with good grease in them and aplication brushes.

Most people ship these out as they come in with dirty brushes (very hard to get that ancient dried grease out of), missing parts and with bent rod segments. I carefully inspect and clean each kit including painstakingly cleaning the brushes. (these are very nice when cleaned) replacing any unusable or missing equipment with servicable equipment from other sets and I hand pick the better of the cases. What you get is a nice clean useable cleaning kit that is both an increadible historic item and a useable field cleaning kit that shows quality far better than anything being made today that I know of. This is not a Wally World cleaning kit from the Orient, it is something all together different and special. May have metal or plastic grease pots. Both are equally nice.

 The cleaning rod on these is cleverly designed so that no steel can touch your bore, the joints are actually polished brass bearing bands far superior than the American steel rods that came with their rifles. Thats why the CMP rifles that are coming out now have the lands worn to nothing and the k31's coming out have good bores. Watch the video for a closer look at them. Free shipping to the United States 

These are available on Ebay or Email me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X40FANRHeA0&feature=plcp&context=C495527eVDvjVQa1PpcFPEwJUkP6QaKvUIjqJiPBOQHD0XAKmBSec=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X40FANRHeA0&feature=plcp&context=C495527eVDvjVQa1PpcFPEwJUkP6QaKvUIjqJiPBOQHD0XAKmBSec=

Don't starve When TEOTWAWKI Comes ; Learn wild foods in YOUR area

The top one is Physalis peruviana The bottom pic is Physalis angustifolia

Now the world has been here a long time and it's not going to end, but your experience in this world as you have known it to be could change or end. This could be a relatively short term thing or long term thing, who knows. This post concerns the importance of learning about wild foods in your area, the places that you go. I am not going to teach you about specific wild foods. Why? Because it will not do you any good. Why because wild foods are, in many cases, very specific to the area that you are in. Now some generalizations can be made. Most people know that all mammals, most fish (especially fresh water), all birds and reptiles are edible no matter where they occur. This can not be said about most plants. Most are not edible but some are and they are a lot easier to catch than birds. The edible plants in your area are specific to your area or region in many cases. Let me give you an example. Many people know that wild ground cherries (Physalis) are edible. The wild cherry that grows on the gulf coast (Physalis angustifolia ) only grows in a very small area around the Gulf of Mexico. They are common close to the coast but 10 miles inland you probably will not find them and they look totally different than any other species of ground cherry. So if I, living on the gulf coast learned about a commonly found Physalis such as Physalis peruviana , the cape gooseberry, it would not do me any good and if I taught some one that is not on the gulf coast about our Physalis. it would not do them any good. Now the fruits do look similar but that is not something that you want to rely on when it comes to plants you need to know what you are looking and not be guessing.

So what to do? Well you learn, the best way to do that is to get some literature that covers plants in your area and some advice on how to prepare it. The late great Euell Gibbons (September 14, 1911 – December 29, 1975) was one of the world leading experts on wild foods and although sadly he is no longer with us his books can still be found and are a wealth of information. Although he only had a 6th grade education he was very smart and a very well known celebrity in his day. I highly recommend his books, they not only focus on identification but also preparation of the foods that he found. Other sources of information are available. The Foxfire series has a lot of good information but is focused on the Smokey Mountains so you are not going to find Physalis Angustifolia in those either.

I do plan on showing some of the wild foods that we gather in this area so stay tuned. Surviving is fun.

Linder 10 inch "Convex" 10 inch Machete. Good TEOTWAWKI Knife or just make some kindling with it.

In years past I have offered Linder hunting knives. Linder is a very old German guild knife maker out of Solingen.  This was something a little different that I came across at a reasonable price. It is a Linder 10 machete. Blade material is supposed to be stainless steel. The blade is not marked with a country of origin though I suspect they are made in South America, possibly Argentina. Decent blade grind they come pretty sharp out of the box. Thick blade approx 1/4 inch. 1 pound 5 oz in the sheath so pretty heavy but that is what you want in a machete especially a short one.  Very generous comfortable handle with dark hard wood grips. The only complaint I have is I think the handle could have been finished better there are some tool marks on it. The wood look very porous and could use some sealant. Very nice cordura sheath with 4 snap and generous belt loop. Not a bad piece at a reasonable price. I don't know if we are going to keep these as regular stock or not. I have not used one yet so can not really speak to edge retention.
http://youtu.be/pHuHe0S1qtc

Gas Masks, Survive Chemical Attack OWS Occupy Event

While I dont consider a Gas Mask as the most important piece of equipment that a person can have in their inventory I do carry them and offer them to those that want them at a fair price. If I was someone that lived near a chemical plant, or a chemical storage facility or near railroad tracks with a history of accidents I might feel little differently about that. In the past I have carried the old Russian gas masks GP-5 (USSR) these were quite crude consisting of a ruber skull cap with adjustment straps and a center mounted circular filter cartridge. They did work within a certain head size range if the hair was cut very short. If the hair was longer they would not seal up. The center mount for the cartridge would prevent proper cheek weld with the but of a long gun ( the Russians did not teach this anyway), and they eye holes were small.  Currently I have Finnish (Finland) masks that are in new condtion, the filter can mounts to the left allowing use of a rifle or other long gun. These are quite a bit better than the russians but use the same filter can. They eye holes are larger and they have adjustment straps. I also provide a Swiss carry bag with a long strap that can be used over the shoulder or around the waist. The bag also has numerous other attatchment points for securing to a back pack or what ever. Both the bag and mask are very good quality. One thing is for sure if you need a gas mask, you REALLY need one as nothing else will really do the trick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIDn_Ger2FU

Swiss Alpenflage Back Packs, Keep your Zombie Apocalypse supplies in one place

I got these to go with the excellent Swiss alpenflage rain poncho's They are a very simple soft canvas bags with shoulder straps that gather in the front with fastex buckle one central pocket and two long narrow side pockets (the side pockets look ideal for the Swiss volcano stove/canteen) and a top flap with snaps. Nothing fancy but effective. All of the ones I have obtained so far have been in good shape, definitely used though, some have ordinance depot level repairs that are well done on a sewing machine. Good match with the poncho, these do not appear to have been waterproofed, this is always an option and may not be a bad idea to keep them from soaking up water when on the ground. They are made to be worn under the poncho in bad weather. We are offering them as a set of a poncho and a back pack. When you see the Alpenflage pattern out side the woods one tends to think it is too light colored to work well, when you get in a forest you can see it is wickedly effective. I plan to post some pictures of in the forest soon

Swiss Gear M71 Emergency Stove Survival Food Preparation

Some quick notes on this item. These are Swiss Military M71 Emergency Stoves. They consist of a can of jellied alcohol with a screw top lid, a frame that a pan can sit on and a pack of matches. They come sealed in plastic wrap and are reusable. I have found these to be very useful and inexpensive. They are available on E-Bay individually or in case lots at good prices.  They burn very hot and seem to last a long time, when the original jelly runs out they can be refilled with Sterno (I don't think that Sterno is as high in alcohol content or gets quite as hot). These come with manufacture dates on them from the 70's but are in very good condition. I have used them with a steel mug several times and they will boil a 8 oz of water in a few minutes. Great to have on hand to prepare a hot meal or to sterilize water for drinking or wound care. I do not plan on selling these individually but will include them in the bug out/ E&E bags I am preparing. Having the ability to have a quick hot meal is important to nutrition and morale. Having the ability to make clean water for drinking or wound care can be a life saver. Really an indispensable item.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHcgnsOsf6g

The video shows one in action. The vid says they are Swede but I think they are Swiss

The Importance of the Poncho, Survive Global Warming

A recent winter trip to the camp focused my attention on the importance of the rain poncho. Why you ask? Because it rained, a lot. It was supposed to be work trip and some work did get done but it rained off and on and then rained monsoon style all night,  which it often does in the winter in North West Florida. All crew member had military style rain ponchos and that started the conversation on how important they are and how superior they are to other rain gear.
Why are they superior? For many reasons, let me lay out some of them for you.
1. They work. They actually keep you dry and warm,  some rain gear especially light weight rain gear depends on being water proofed with chemicals in order to work. If the water proof treatment is not applied correctly by the factory or not maintained after the garment is washed it will leak. Years ago I worked in public safety and our department purchased very expensive water proof jackets for us. The right sleeve on mine always leaked, it had not been properly treated at the factory and reapplication of water proof spray did not seem to help much. I have had similar experience with other rain garments offered commercially. Military ponchos are usually rubberized canvas or very tightly woven nylon they have inherent water proof qualities that do not have to be maintained.
2. Easy on Easy off. This is important.  A poncho will keep you try while you are putting it on. When the rain stops even for a short time they can be easily pulled over your head with out removing any other gear. Speed can mean every thing when you are trying to keep your clothes dry.
3. Climate adaptability. A poncho is worn over the clothes that you have chosen for the climate conditions If you are wearing a heavy coat that's fine, if you are in shorts and a t shirt that is fine as well, When the rain stops you are still in the clothes that you have chosen as most appropriate. In other words they create a micro climate underneath them that is independant of other garment choices.
4. A poncho fits OVER your gear and will protect that as well, including a back pack. Some back packs make attempts at being water proof but none really are. Its a bag that is open at the top, rain will get in there. Gear that is on your belt such as knives or firearms are also protected as is your head and any head gear you wearing. Most rain gear is waist length, a poncho will reach all the way to your feet.  Military ponchos are cut to fit over packs and the hood will fit over a military helmet. They will also fit over and protect an slung long gun.
5. Versatility. A poncho can have many other uses besides rain protection. It is a handy ground cover and moisture barrier for sitting on, sleeping on, eating on, or spreading out parts of gear that you may be working on. They can rigged to provide shade or rigged as tents. A good one can be rigged into a impromptu litter for carrying casualties.
6. Portablity. When you dont need it they stow easily and will roll up into a small bundle.

So these are some of the advantages I have been able to come up with off the top of my head, if you can think of more let me know.
 I have some old U.S. military ponchos that are great. These are getting somewhat pricey in my opinion. I offer Swiss Military Ponchos, they are very generously cut, strong rubberized canvas units that snap up the front and work great . In photos I am wearing a back pack under the ponch as well as a military helmet I am about 5' 11" and over 200lb so you can get an idea of what will fit under one of these. I also offer matching canvas Swiss alpenflage back pack backs to go with these.  Getting caught out with out rain gear can be serious even life threatning and I dont recommend it. I keep some rain gear in all of my vehicles and always have it available if the possiblity exists that I am going to be outdoors for any length of time. Not so good video for a close look at these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aj0B-ccjww

Chinese Mora Knife Increadible Survival Value

I am always on the lookout for good, useful products that I can offer at a low price. I believe in being prepared and enjoying the outdoors. A person may have a million dollar collection of custom knives and other fine equipment but are these items going to be on hand when one needs them? Are you going to throw a 500.00 custom knife in a bag in the trunk of your car and forget about until you need it? I'm not. To that end I want to share one of the best bargains in something truly use full that I have come across lately. These are the Chinese copies of the Swedish Mora (Mooora) knife. The Swedish versions are fine knives and come in several varieties and fair prices. I have had one for years and love it.  I am always a little skeptical of Chinese sporting products (no offense if you are Chinese but I have had my disappointments). I ordered one of these and started using it and was quite pleasantly surprised. They seem to be pretty much equivilant to the Swedish brand with the stainless blade material at a much lower cost. I offer these on Ebay. If you want one without going the ebay route they are 9.99 and I will pay the shipping, They come in green like the original and blue and black. I have them stashed in all of my vehicles, mess kits and so forth. They have held up very well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFvbWNi-SPc&feature=relmfu

Ranger 5000 Best Survival Fire Starter Tested

Some notes on the Ranger 5000 Survival Fire Starter device. The idea for this came about on a recent river wilderness trip. Myself and a buddy were hanging out a river bank in winter and the idea came up to try to start a fire with the magnesium block type fire starters. What we found out was that it was possible to start a fire with these, if you had the time (lots of it ) the patience, good use of both arms and legs, and good light and you didnt have one of the China blocks which are not magnesium and dont work at all. If any of these elements were missing, forget it, it just wasn't happening. That experience got us thinking about other types of "survival" fire starters that ended with trying the new "Blast Match". The conclusion that I came to was that they were all pretty much a bad joke, ( I wonder how much money Bear Gorrillas has made off of his) especially when compared to the ranger 5000. So what I recomend for emergency fire starting is the Ranger 5000 product. Hide it from the crack heads so that it will have some gas left in it when you need it and you will be fine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orxvnl_D51k