Urban Survival Firearms - Reader Question on SKS

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following reader question: …… "Anonymous said…..…What’s your opinion on an SKS rifle for a survival weapon? Two of my friends in our loose knit survival group are pushing me to buy an AR type rifle, but I feel comfortable with my SKS."

UrbanMan replies: The SKS (Samozaryadniy Karabin Simonova) is a great little carbine, firing the Russian M43 round, more commonly known as the 7.62x39mm. It was put into service in the Russian Army on or about 1945 then quickly phased out of front line service with the fielding of the AK-47 (Automat Kalashnikov Model of 1947) which fired the same cartridge, although out of a 30 round magazine rather than a 10 round semi fixed box magazine like the SKS. But, of course you already know this. As well as know how durable and reliable this rifle is.

The 7.62x39mm is a much better stopper than the 5.56x45mm (.223 Remington) given the small bullet type. The M-4 is more accurate than the SKS (or the AK series rifles), but there is not reason you shouldn't be able to hit static man sized targets routinely at 300 yards with the SKS.

The standard military load for the 7.62x39mm is a 122 grain FMJ bullet with a muzzle velocity about 2,400 fps. Ammunition is easily available and fairly cheap too. I routinely see 1,000 round cases of Wolf brand, non-corrosive ammunition for around $200.

The SKS is kinda slow to load, compared to removable box magazines like the AK-47 or the M-4/M-16, but there are modification kits and detachable magazines available. They are kind of unwieldy due to the floor plate type extension on the front lip of the magazine, but none the less are quicker to reload and give the shooter 300 rounds between reloads. I wish I never let my SKS go,..one of those gun trades you wish you had back, but I have commercial versions of the AKM now.

Being part of a Urban Survival Group equipped basically the same is a great goal but needs to be carefully thought out. I would not advise any of the people in my Survival Group to “upgrade” to an M-4 for sake of uniformity and ammunition compatibility if they haven’t squared themselves away with other necessary Survival Equipment, Gear and Material, such as food as basic gear. I would think that some people are missing the boat to exclude otherwise excellent assets from joining their Survival Group because of the single reason of not having the same gun. Hopefully your group is not this way. If they were, they it may be fortunate that if you can’t join them, as their decision making skills are probably a little bent. What's next? Wanting everyone to wear a yellow ascot?

The bottom line is that everyone needs a rifle.....magazine fed even better and in a decent caliber. I prefer the M-4. That is main Survival Gun and most, if not all, people in my Urban Survival Group own at least one, but I would not feel in-adequately equipped with an SKS and the skill to use it.

Reader Question on the Case for the Coming Collapse

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received a reader comment on the post titled The Case for the Coming Collapse,…...."Anonymous said... So what are you suggesting I do? Take out my money from the bank and empty out my 401K and sit on my money at my house? I do not understand what you are trying to get me (us) to do."

UrbanMan replies: The article I drew from was by Dr Craig Roberts and was not meant as a “how to” or “what to do”, although I can see how it is implied that you should do something since the momentum for a collapse is practically unstoppable.

What you do is up to you. A prudent man would listen to a lot of sources, collect information across the board and develop a plan that is feasible for him and his family. Feasible means doable….within your capability.

That plan also needs to be Complete,…considering all possible events and circumstances. From these events and circumstances, that same man and his family could develop a list of Survival Gear, Equipment and Material that would be necessary to support the plan.

Your preparation for the plan and the execution of this plan needs to be Suitable for your goals. This list for procurement and preparation will be long and most certainly will be expensive, therefore the list will need to be prioritized.

The plan also needs to be Acceptable,…..meaning the risks on not doing the plan or the financial risks of executing the preparation plan are acceptable.

Those words,....Complete (covering all major planning areas); Feasible (within the your capabilities); Suitable (meets your needs); and, Acceptable (within accepted risks) are straight out military operational planning when determining possible course of actions to accomplish a given mission.

Now as far as financial planning goes, I am not suggesting you pull out all your money from the banks and sit on it. Think about this….you have $4,000 in cash in your gun safe – worth about $4,000 of goods today and probably tomorrow. If and when hyper-inflation hits that money will loose value. That same $4,000 will then buy less and less. Nor am I suggesting you spend all your money all Survival Gear, Equipment and Material. And I am also not suggesting you trade your paycheck every two weeks for an equal value of gold or silver. What ever you do has to meet those operational requirements for you and your family.

I would however suggest that possible things you can do, is ensure you have a minimum amount of Survival Gear, Equipment and Material which for you may or may not include firearms, equipment, and stored foods; think about keeping some cash on hand for immediate procurement/purchasing needs;....think about having some amount of gold and silver; and, above all keep yourself situational aware of indicators for the coming collapse, be it a over night major event or a gradual slide into a economic depression and chaos. You should have a plan on where to go (that is safe) in the event where you are at is no longer viable for survival.

Good luck to you and remember my first suggestion,...collect information, listen to diverse sources, determine what is valid for you, your family and your plan and get to preparing.

Urban Survival Planning - The Case for the Coming Hyper Inflation

I am including this article on UrbanSurvivalSkills.com because I believe much of what Dr. Roberts puts forth as an explanation of why a collapse of the dollar and subsequent Hyper-Inflation is not only coming it is unavoidable given just how far we have tumbled. And with Hyper Inflation will come a collapse that will create chaos.

This article is written by Paul Craig Roberts and can be read in it’s entirety at http://www.infowars.com/the-ecstasy-of-empire
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts is the father of Reaganomics and the former head of policy at the Department of Treasury. He is a columnist and was previously an editor for the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, “How the Economy Was Lost: The War of the Worlds,” details why America is disintegrating.

The United States is running out of time to get its budget and trade deficits under control. Despite the urgency of the situation, 2010 has been wasted in hype about a non-existent recovery. As recently as August 2 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner penned a New York Times column, “Welcome to the Recovery.”

As John Williams has made clear on many occasions, an appearance of recovery was created by over-counting employment and undercounting inflation. Washington cannot spend the economy out of recession. The deficits are already too large for the dollar to survive as reserve currency, and deficit spending cannot put Americans back to work in jobs that have been moved offshore.

Let’s get real. Here is what the government is likely to do. Once Washington realizes that the dollar is at risk and that they can no longer finance their wars by borrowing abroad, the government will either levy a tax on private pensions on the grounds that the pensions have accumulated tax-deferred, or the government will require pension fund managers to purchase Treasury debt with our pensions. This will buy the government a bit more time while pension accounts are loaded up with worthless paper.

The only remaining financier will be the Federal Reserve. When Treasury bonds brought to auction do not sell, the Federal Reserve must purchase them. UrbanMan comment: This is already happening.

The Federal Reserve purchases the bonds by creating new demand deposits, or checking accounts, for the Treasury. As the Treasury spends the proceeds of the new debt sales, the US money supply expands by the amount of the Federal Reserve’s purchase of Treasury debt.

Do goods and services expand by the same amount? Imports will increase as US jobs have been migrated off shore and given to foreigners, thus worsening the trade deficit. When the Federal Reserve purchases the Treasury’s new debt issues, the money supply will increase by more than the supply of domestically produced goods and services. Prices are likely to rise.

How high will they rise? The longer money is created in order that government can pay its bills, the more likely hyperinflation will be the result.

The economy has not recovered. By the end of this year it will be obvious that the collapsing economy means a larger than $1.4 trillion budget deficit to finance. Will it be $2 trillion? Higher?

Whatever the size, the rest of the world will see that the dollar is being printed in such quantities that it cannot serve as reserve currency. At that point wholesale dumping of dollars will result as foreign central banks try to unload a worthless currency.

The collapse of the dollar will drive up the prices of imports and off shored produced goods on which Americans are dependent. Wal-Mart shoppers will think they have mistakenly gone into Neiman Marcus.

Domestic prices will also explode as a growing money supply chases the supply of goods and services still made in America by Americans.

The dollar as reserve currency cannot survive the conflagration. When the dollar goes the US cannot finance its trade deficit. Therefore, imports will fall sharply, thus adding to domestic inflation and, as the US is energy import-dependent, there will be transportation disruptions that will disrupt work and grocery store deliveries.

Panic will be the order of the day. Will farms will be raided? Will those trapped in cities resort to riots and looting?

UrbanMan’s rhetorical Questions: Just how many banks will fall? How long will the “have nots” go without? Will the U.S. impose martial law? How will you survive?

Urban Survival Communications - Field Telephones

UrbanMan received this private message from a Reader:

"Urban, thought I drop you a line and let you know what I am doing for my Home Defense. My plan is to stay in my home (suburban neighborhood) for as along as I can. Then to BO if necessary to my Uncle’s Farm which is only 45 miles away. My primary route would be 63 miles because I would take the back roads to get there. Thanks for the posts on home defense, I am using a couple of those concepts, most were not new to me. My house is a two stories. I have two bedrooms that face opposite direction and viewing from both windows gives me almost a full circle view around my home. Most of the other houses are one story homes. I bought two old Army radio telephones, called TA-312’s and put one up stairs with enough wire so the person on watch can move from one room to the other and carry the TA-312 by the strap. He or she will be able to call downstairs and let us know what they see. These TA-312 telephones are great to use. I bought mine at a gun show for $150 (for two of them) and a wire spool. If I BO to the farm, I will take these with me and we can use them there. Maybe you can do an article on these radio telephones. Shelly."

UrbanMan replies: Shelly, yes the TA-312 are a great communication tool and more secure than transmitting on push to talk radios. I suggest using PACE planning (Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency) for everything, communications included. Don’t reply just on one mode or method for anything. Push to talk radios, pull strings, emergency klaxons, alert light system and horns all have places in your communications plan.

When I need to employ a 24 hour watch, putting at least one person in a position on my flat home roof, I will use push to talk Motorola radios, powered by re-chargeable AA batteries as primary voice comms, with a pull string system leading down through a skylight to a series of bells to alert people in the house. I also have a canned air horn and am playing with a couple of car horns I pulled from junked vehicles to use as a larger alert siren. However, having the ability to talk, two way, to your Observation Post/Listening Post is priceless.

There are other alike versions of the TA-312 that I see from time to time in military surplus catalogs, some of them from China or wherever. The only problem with the TA-312 is that it requires batteries to operate. Using the military BA30 or civilian equivalent “D” cells. I have not used the TA-312 very much and certainly not in the last 30 years…..(...Jesus, am I that old?). I looked around and saw where one could purchase a set of TA-312’s (two field phones) for around $150 and for another $140 could purchase ¼ mile of WD-1 telephone wire.

A much better version of the field telephone is the TA-1. This is a newer version of the landline telephone system. Although the TA-1 is much lighter than the TA-312, the main advantage of this newer model is that it uses no batteries. Also unlike the TA-312, the TA-1 uses a dynamic microphone element so it's "sound powered". Signaling to another field phone so they can pickup on the other end is by means of a built-in generator that, instead of a crank like the TA-312, uses a level that you pump. I recently saw a set (a pair) of TA-1, without wire, for $240.

I remember reading something last year, where an enterprising individual utilized two extension type phones,…those without dials or push pads, to make a commercial type TA-312 system using a battery and a separate light to power the microphone in the handset and a light to indicate a call in-coming. This is also a possibility for a post collapse communications system between fixed points.