Survival Blog Reviews the Mini-14

Recently Pat of the Survival Blog reviewed the Mini-14, with which he has a couple of decades of experience. However, through email with that reviewer I found he has only owned and fired the older Mini-14s with the thinner barrels, and has not fired the newer model Mini-14 with thicker barrels and retooling, in production since the mid-2000s. This matters. (My review of the Mini-14 Tactical).

A few updates/corrections to the Survival Blog review:

• Newer Mini-14s get closer to 2 MOA, or better, out of the box, not the 4 MOA referred to, which is more appropriate for older, non-accurized Mini-14s.
• While some new Mini-14s are advertised in the $750+ range, CDNN sells this newer model for under $569, which is the price one of my brothers paid. Got mine from CDNN for $589. Sometimes police trade-ins of the older models are available for ~$400.
• Factory magazine are readily available for $15 less each than the $50 and $40 suggested in the Survival Blog review, for 30 and 20 rounders, respectively. Check CDNN and Cheaper Than Dirt. On sale for $5-10 less than that at times.
• New Minis now come with 5, 20, and 30 round magazines depending on the model, not just 5 round magazines as the review states.
• Contrary to the Survival blog review, firing pins available at Midway. But as the review mentions, spare parts are rarely needed with the Mini-14.

Let’s also address the myth; the Mini-14 is fine for killing varmints, but is not a combat weapon. It’s a 5.5.6mm round, same as AR variants. If it will hit/kill a small animal, it will hit a man as well. That’s just reality.

I have some experience with the AR-15 (M16 and M4). If you know how to repair/maintain an AR-15 variant, have the spare parts, have a lot of brass-cased ammo, and want to clean that direct impenitent system, then the AR is the carbine for you. They are very accurate, and reliable – when clean, oiled, and when you have all he spare parts you need.

My brothers and I chose the newer Mini-14 Tactical for a long-term survival carbine because we want an accurate weapon that’s not picky about ammo, cleaning, and won’t need a lot of maintenance.

The Day the Dollar Died Series – Unrealistic

The Day the Dollar Died series has ended with the 25th installment. It started off with an excellent description of what a fast economic collapse might look like, but unfortunately quickly degenerated into a New World Order (NWO) conspiracy fantasy. The military and service members were at every turn depicted as complete stooges for an Obama administration, setting up a Gestapo or East German type police state, bent on turning the U.S. into a NWO component. Even more unbelievable was the speed at which the government setup vast new organizations, rationing systems, etc. – mere days. The story simply does not pass the reality test. The series got a lot of attention, but in retrospect is not worth the time it took to read.

Survivalist Blogs: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

I started this blog in early 2007 and then let it sit for over two years. In the past couple of months of actual blogging and active (frantic?) prepping, I’ve run across a lot of survivalist / prepper blogs. Those that I return to most regularly are on the sidebar yonder. Though some are seldom updated, most days I try to hit them all to see what’s new, or peek at the archives.

Those I’ve linked to all offer something good or they wouldn’t be there. However, like most things in life, you have to take a lot of what’s there with a grain of salt. Some are very good with consistent need-to-know information for prepping, while others offer only the occasional gem. Many bombard you with Google Ads (ignore these), ask for donations, and plaster ads up and down the side (some are good products).

Egos. Some blog authors seem to imagine themselves the ultimate survivalists guru, with commentors (if comments are allowed) somewhat sycophantic. They can sometimes seem a bit preachy, thinking that their setup is the only way to go, forgetting that folks across the country (and the world) are in different situations. Sometimes they don’t know what they don’t know. This can be annoying, but keep reading because there are still gems to be found – in the posts and comments. And in the guest posts.

Plagiarism. It’s fine to use others text and ideas – as quotes and with credits. Some of the blogs (one in particular comes to mind – sometimes posts just disappear, after certain comments) I link to, how shall we say, “borrow heavily” once in awhile and pass it off as their own, with a few tweaks. Usually the writing style or level of cleverness is a tip off. A case of having to take the bad with the good.

My advice is to take stock of your situation and plans, then mine the survival blogs for ideas and links to other helpful resources of information. Help others by making substantive comments where you can, learn from others by asking questions in those comment threads. Good luck!

The Day the Dollar Died Series

The author of the Shenandoah blog, going by the moniker John Galt (a character in the novel Atlas Shrugged), is writing a series of posts titled, The Day the Dollar Died. The premise is a fast-paced collapse of the U.S. economy and the reaction of the U.S. government. I don’t agree with everything in the series – for example the portrayal of the military in some instances, and the ability of the government to implement anything so quickly and efficiently – but recommend this as a must read. It’s timely, well written, and just flat-out interesting.