How to make char cloth is a common survival question. Char cloth is a very traditional fire starter which, according to some, has been around since before the middle ages. It is commonly used as the tinder in spark-based fire starting methods, such as with a ferro rod or flint and steel. Char cloth does not burst into flame, but will easily turn into a red, slow-burning ember with just a spark. This makes it...
If you have ever watched a shooter drop a field of plates like a well-oiled machine and thought, “man I wish I could do that” then Mantis’ BlackbeardX is a tool worth considering. But, if your plan is to be the person who only takes their AR-15 out of the safe every few years to wipe away the dust, then this is not the training tool for you. Putting in just a little time...
A few weeks ago I wandered past the sporting goods section of the local big-box store and saw that they had 350 Legend ammo in stock. Actually, the only ammo that they had in stock was 350 Legend and these same boxes have been sitting there for quite a while now. So, I started to wonder if a case could be made for the 350 Legend as a survival rifle. Right off...
Our bumpy future is becoming clear to more and more folks as inflation and empty spaces on store shelves become the norm. While some folks have been getting ready for years, there are many people who are starting now and want to get prepared as quickly as possible. We have simplified all the research that goes into preparedness down to just a few solid choices for each topic so that you can do something today...
After a bit of quiet time, the Shot Show is back in Las Vegas for 2022 and somehow even bigger this year. We had the chance to chat with a lot of the folks in the industry and check out their latest projects. A common theme is delays related to suppliers and shipping, but everyone seems to be trying to find ways to work through the problems as best they can. Even with these setbacks,...
The AR15 has grown into the most customizable and most popular rifle in the country. While some upgrade are mostly cosmetic, one of the easiest ways to make a rifle easier to shoot well is to upgrade the budget minded, often lawyer approved factory trigger. Midwest Industries has added another contender to the list of trigger options with their Enhanced AR15 Flat Trigger. This is a cartridge style trigger with an anodized aluminum frame that...
Cast iron cookware has been popular for hundreds of years, in both the kitchen and the woods. The material is very forgiving of mistakes and will even help keep your food warm after cooking. Lodge Cast Iron does a solid job of producing cost competive, made in the USA products such as skillets and dutch ovens. However, one feature that is missing from this newer cast iron cookware is a machined smooth cooking surface....
There are more modern survival food options to stock your preparedness pantry than ever before. This gives us lots of different ways to keep food on the table, even when the lights go out or the delivery trucks stop running. To make planning easier, we are going to break all the options down into different categories, sorted by ease of preparation, and cover the use case for each one. This will let you decide what...
With the rising cost and limited availability of ammo, getting in some range time has become more difficult over the last year. One fun solution to this problem is laser based training using the Mantis Laser Academy Training System and the Mantis Blackbeard AR-15 Trigger Auto Reset System. We had a few weeks to get these into the hands of about a half dozen different shooters of both genders and various skill levels in order...
One of the basic rules of firearms safety is to identify your target and what lies beyond it. This gets more challenging after dark. Using tactical flashlights mounted to a firearm is one of the simplest ways to improve the nighttime target identification of possible threats and potentially avoid problems. Modern weapon lights have a high enough output to not only light up but temporarily disorient a potential threat. One of the main reasons that...
Picking out the right pocket knife is all about finding the right balance of features for a given price point. These days there are literally hundreds of choices just a website order away. LAPG has been marketing in-house designs for the last few years with the goal of cutting out the middle man to provide a really competitive value to the end-user, as seen with the TBFK S35VN EDC Folding Knife. It is clear from...