Does WiFi Kill Houseplants?

Spoiler alert: No.

To come to that conclusion, which runs counter to the combined wisdom of several recent YouTube videos, [Andrew McNeil] ran a pretty neat little experiment. [Andrew] has a not inconsiderable amount of expertise in this area, as an RF engineer and prolific maker of many homebrew WiFi antennas, some of which we’ve featured on these pages before. His experiment centered on cress seeds sprouting in compost. Two identical containers were prepared, with one bathed from above in RF energy from three separate 2.4 GHz transmitters. Each transmitter was coupled to an amplifier and a PCB bi-quad antenna to radiate about 300 mW in slightly different parts of the WiFi spectrum. Both setups were placed in separate rooms in east-facing windows, and each was swapped between rooms every other day, to average out microenvironmental effects.

After only a few days, the cress sprouted in both pots and continued to grow. There was no apparent inhibition of the RF-blasted sprouts – in fact, they appeared a bit lusher than the pristine pot. [Andrew] points out that it’s not real science until it’s quantified, so his next step is to repeat the experiment and take careful biomass measurements. He’s also planning to ramp up the power on the next round as well.

We’d like to think this will put the “WiFi killed my houseplants” nonsense to rest – WiFi can even help keep your plants alive, after all. But somehow we doubt that the debate will die anytime soon.

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday https://ift.tt/2ECbqW6

Lucid Dreaming | Step Out Of The Plot

I have just realized a few things very early on in this journey.

I have always had very real dreams. They almost always feature me interacting with someone very specific from my past....occasionally from my present. I very rarely have fantastic dreams. In fact, the dream that put me on this path just a short time ago featured a hippopotamus that spoke to me. That resulted in a sudden lucid experience that definitely caught my attention.

Since then I have been definitely lucid a number of times but more often than not I have been with someone specific and I have been part of a very real plot. I have just realized two things.

1. People are my major dream sign

2. I need to forcefully "step out of the plot" in order to attain lucidity.

I intend to work on that, starting tonight. Anybody have any tips for that?

via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity https://ift.tt/2VpnAXY

AR-10 vs AR-15 Which Should You Choose

by Charles

Most preppers know the AR-15 is America’s most popular rifle, and even more call on one or several of these excellent guns to serve as defensive or SHTF weapons. The AR-15 brings so many advantages to the table that the reductive method is often an easier conversation to have when selecting a rifle for protection: what does an AR not do well?

That’s a common argu-sation in preparedness circles. One you might not have heard but is no less spirited is not whether you should choose an AR, but which AR you should choose, and I don’t mean brand: I mean the long-running debate between the lean, 5.56mm shooting AR-15 and its beefy, 7.62mm slinging older brother, the AR-10.

These rifles share plenty of DNA, but their differences are deeper than just caliber. Each brings plenty to the table, definitely enough to merit selection for most of us, but what is perhaps more important is a nuanced understanding of the quirks and flaws inherent to each rifle. In today’s article, I’ll be opening up the conversation on both in detail, and offering you my opinion on which one is the better choice depending on your anticipated needs.

Foreword

When shooters discuss the AR platform outside of strict academic or historical context you’ll see these rifles dubbed AR-15 and AR-10 as a sort of shorthand: AR-15 denoting a rifle chambered in the classic 5.56x45mm cartridge and AR-10 denoting a rifle chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO or .308 Winchester.

Yes, today both families of rifle are available in myriad calibers, both standard, uncommon and wildcat, but for our discussion today I will be limiting my arguments to these two standard options, as they are both overwhelmingly the most commonly available, and chosen, and because both make the most sense from a logistical standpoint: you can get either cartridge anywhere and in quantity. That is important from most preppers’ perspectives.

Also, this article will not be chronicling the design, creation and adoption of the AR-10, AR-15 or any other brainchild of the late, great Eugene Stoner except as those design choices may affect your decision to purchase or equip yourself with one.

While extremely interesting reading, it will not add anything to our discussion of practical application and merit of either rifle, and that parcel of history on either rifle has been written about in detail elsewhere.

Lastly, my opinions on both are a product of my own, not inconsiderable experience. My own preferences and prejudices lean to adaptable, generalist solutions. My intent is to be at least passably prepared for as wide a spectrum of challenges as possible. Simply stated, you will rarely have need of a truly specialized tool, including guns, to solve your problem.

Ergo, I do not care much for unwieldy, long precision or sniper rifles for the same reason I do not like CQB carbines with itty-bitty 7” barrels: they are specialized tools that give up too much flexibility to shine in one tightly defined role. I prefer, and use, a 14” to 16” barreled carbine with either a RDS or LPVO, such a setup covering nearly all of my potential, plausible shooting scenarios with aplomb.

As a likely solo survivor or small-group/unit member, you will probably not be afforded the luxury of specialization. What you need is a high amount of general competency in multiple domains. This includes your tools.

Were I looking to survive as a member of a four man band, I would much rather us all be modestly cross trained in skills (and armed accordingly) than rely on one man as the driver, one as the medic and one as the wilderness guide.

Lastly, this is not a discussion of Brand X against Brand Y or Z. My intent with this article is to assess the AR-15 against the AR-10 as classes of rifle, not a Consumer Reports-esque head-to-head of different brands. I can save all of that for another article. Keep that in mind as you ponder my judgments.

photos: above, an Ar-15, below an AR-10

AR-10 vs AR-15: What’s the Big Difference?

Let’s get this sorted right up front. When referring to AR-15’s, shooters generally refer to a 5.56mm rifle, as mentioned above, and one that is direct-impingement operated, though piston is a less common but reasonably popular variation or modification.

Aside from this possible gas system difference and a few truly oddball or older production models, AR-15s are broadly identical internally from a design perspective: you can nominally swap upper receivers, magazines, bolt carrier groups, charging handles, fire control components, etc. and expect them to at least fit and assemble the gun.

AR-10s on the other hand are 7.62mm rifles, also usually direct-impingement operated, larger and heavier than the younger AR-15 in nearly every comparison. An AR-10 is not simply an AR-15 action up-gunned to a 7.62mm NATO barrel.

No sir, the upper and lower receivers are both of completely different specification, necessary to accommodate the drastically larger 7.62mm cartridge; the bolt and bolt carrier of an AR-10 appear downright massive next to the smaller AR-15’s BCG, and the upper receivers of these guns always have something of a portly look to them accordingly.

But furthermore and more important than differences in dimension, commercial AR-10s have been produced in a dizzying assortment of variations, using one of several “standard” or proprietary magazines, receiver specs, barrels, bolts etc. This means you cannot count on being able to poach parts or magazines and simply drop them on to your AR-10, since compatibility is almost always a question.

For instance, take a bread-and-butter component all shooters and preppers will stock in abundant quantities- magazines! Commercial AR-10’s have been produced using no less than 5 different magazines, though mercifully one pattern has started to pull away as one approximating a standard.

The original, real deal Armalite AR-10 uses (rather may use…) AR-10 magazines. The other most common pattern is the SR-25/LR-308 pattern magazine used by DPMS, Knight’s Armament Co. and a host of other rifles (and now also certain Armalite AR-10’s!).

If this sounds like some kind of messed-up VHS and Betamax deathmatch, you aren’t half wrong. Too make matters even worse, other manufacturers like Rock River Arms developed a 7.62 AR’s that used modified FAL magazines. Yikes! Makes you pine for plain ol’ AR-15 magazines, huh?

While we are starting to see some convergence by most manufacturers new production to take the SR-25/LR-308 pattern magazines thanks to Magpul offering their own 3rd party version, there are tons of guns out in the wild that use Armalite magazines. Now imagine that same conundrum for all the other parts of the rifle…

The First Consideration – Parts Compatibility

That essential difference brings us to our first point of contention between the two: From a logistical standpoint, this compatibility checking is something you must be aware of. If you are the kind of prepper who does not mind stocking everything you need ahead of time, and from one or two trusted sources, an AR-10 will just be another rifle for you.

If however you are the kind of prepper who likes to tinker, tune and experiment, an AR-10 is going to be a disappointment or a major headache without extensive knowledge of what parts fit which pattern of AR-10.

Likewise, in a long term sustainment scenario, an AR-15 shooter will correctly assume he can buy, source, pickup or scavenge parts for his rifle nearly anywhere. AR-10 shooters will not be so lucky: the rifles themselves are nowhere near as common or popular as AR-15s of any make and description, and assuming you do come across one in the wild it might be a bit of a crap shoot as to whether or not you can make use of parts from it.

In essence, the AR-15 as a family is far more forgiving and amicable to mix-and-match Frankenstein’ing of parts. The AR-10 family, not nearly as much. This will be a point of contention for some, and not for others: it is not an inherent flaw.

The Second Consideration – Cost

When considering the cost of a rifle, it is useful to establish what is expected from a rifle in a certain price point, but also what we are trying to achieve with that rifle. Based on my earlier clarification, we need a rifle that is as reliable as possible while also being reasonably accurate. I have written of on many occasions my strident advocacy of high-quality firearms.

High-quality guns cost more than guns of low grade, but if you are serious about ensuring your success you will choose the tools of the highest grade you can afford.
Without dissecting the definition of “afford” ad infinitum, let us be content with the fact that there with AR-15s there is a price threshold you can drop below where real quality is impossible. Similarly, you can spend far, far in excess of the median price of a good rifle and see only miniscule returns in performance over that expenditure. Essentially, you don’t need to spend a fortune but it is always worse to spend too little.

As an example, for an AR-15, you will have a broad choice of good rifles from good manufacturers anywhere between $1100-$1500, with a handful of truly solid rifles around $900. Much lower than that and you are delving into hobby-grade rifles; not ones you want to rely on.

For AR-10s you only begin to get into decent territory around $1350-$1500. High quality examples of the breed begin around $2000 and go up from there. There is one, perhaps two makes of rifle below the lower range that is even worth consideration. They are simply drastically more expensive to get into at a commensurate level of quality.

And more. Everything costs more when you are choosing an AR-10, from magazines and ammo, to spare parts, platform specific accessories and upgrades. This is simply the nature of the beast. Understand your dollars will go further when choosing an AR-15, all things being equal.

The Third Consideration – Performance

When assessing the performance difference between an equivalent AR-10 and AR-15, we must consider their mechanical performance and ballistic performance, owing to their significantly different chamberings. Let’s start with mechanical performance first.

ARs of all stripes run the gamut of mechanical reliability from Shur-Fine toasters that shoot minute-of-barn and barely run when they do, to Thrice-Blessed hair-splitters that are seemingly invincible. That being said, if you buy somewhere in the middle of the pack by price, you will probably have a rifle that is possessed of solidly good accuracy and dependable reliability.

All things being equal, both the AR-10 and AR-15 are capable of very good accuracy, especially with good load selection. Both are reliable when given even a little maintenance, but it must be said here that AR-10’s trend toward being a little fussier than AR-15’s. Maybe it is ammunition sensitivity or an narrower optimum operating band, but all of my experience with AR-10s across the board has given me a significant enough anecdotal sample size of data to convince me.

This is not to say AR-10’s are prissy or cannot be depended on in harsh conditions (though some lesser models can be), only that by my count, they are not quite as boringly dependable as their smaller brethren. Additionally, troubleshooting and repairing AR-10s is not quite as straightforward as it is with an AR-15.

Part of this is due to the aforementioned parts compatibility concerns, but the rest is simply the nature of the beast: spring rates, gassing, dwell time and more must all be in harmony to expect good function from any AR-10.

Regarding projectile performance, there has already been rivers of ink spilled about the 5.56mm and 7.62mm NATO. The 5.56 is light-recoiling, flat shooting and shows very good performance against soft targets, but struggles more with defeating harder materials and intermediate barriers. The average magazine capacity is 30, and the even loaded these magazines do not weigh very much.

The aging 7.62mm NATO produces stout recoil, incurs a significantly steeper trajectory and shows very good performance against soft targets and intermediate barriers, even light cover, especially with the benefit of modern projectiles. The average magazine capacity is 20, and they are significantly heavier and bulkier than AR-15 magazines in any form.

The 7.62 is often automatically thought the superior cartridge from both a long-range precision standpoint as well as when discussing wounding capability. This is not quite so clear cut as the layman believes, however.

The 7.62 certainly has advantages at long range compared to the 5.56: it maintains more momentum, is heavier and bucks wind better than the light 5.56, and with modern guns and ammo can be pushed past 1,000 yards, though for any civilian this is purely academic. For anti-personnel use the 7.62 will handily defeat barriers like automobile glass and bodywork, heavy clothing, light wood material and some masonry. It has much to commend it.

The 5.56 on the other hand struggles past its extreme range of 700-800 yards, and will have some difficulty dealing with wind even before that. Automobile glass and bodywork both significantly degrade the performance of most 5.56mm projectiles. It is however a consistently solid performer against people, contrary to the popular conception of most shooters.

But for my money, the biggest difference these calibers make for their users is simply one of trajectory: the 5.56mm is much flatter shooting than the 7.62mm, and because it is so much faster it makes holding for both lead and elevation a simpler affair all the way around at intermediate distance. Simply put, it makes getting hits at range easier, and don’t believe the detractors who would have you think a 5.56 is a mosquito bite at 300 yards.

The light recoil of the 5.56mm speeds up reacquisition of the sights shot to shot and reduces shooter fatigue. Both important practical considerations. The 7.62mm NATO’s best advantages lie in its use as a dedicated long range precision rig, which, while cool and certainly a great tool for someone with that mission set, are largely wasted for most citizens as a general purpose defensive and utility rifle.

Now, you certainly can make an argument for the 7.62mm as a better choice for someone who has concerns about shooting through the aforementioned materials as a matter of course. No one who is worried about routinely engaging through vehicles or other harder structures will choose a 5.56mm first.

You may also find the solidly all-around performance of a .30 caliber rifle comforting; even in a 16” carbine format an AR-10 makes a great rifle for defense and hunting all but the very largest of game. What you give up in handiness you gain in versatility somewhat.

Final Analysis

Below is my short and sweet list of perks and flaws I attribute to the AR-15 and AR-10 family of rifles as families, and after that I will add more of my own thoughts.

AR-15 variant, 5.56x45mm

+ Light
+ Less Expensive
+ Flat Shooting
+ Low Recoil
+ Parts largely interchangeable and easy to find
– 5.56 struggles at extended ranges
– 5.56 not best choice for large game or intermediate barriers

AR-10 variant, 7.62x51mm NATO

+ 7.62 shows very good penetration and performance against barriers and large game
+ 7.62 is better all-around performer at long range, though trajectory requires more practice to mitigate
– Rifles, parts and ammo significantly more expensive compared to AR-15
– Rifle and mags heavier
– Great variety of parts and types makes upgrades and repair more challenging for novice and average users.

So on the surface, it looks like you simply wind up paying more and giving up the svelte handling qualities of an AR-15 to get into that beefy, punchy 7.62mm club. If you kit-out an AR-10 and AR-15 identically, same optics, slings, lights, etc. and lay them side by side, you’ll be surprised at how close they are to each other in form factor. Pick them up though and you’ll definitely notice a difference in weight, though it may or may not be as extreme or intolerable as you may be thinking.

This weight differential will though come into sharp contrast when you start piling on ammo. Loaded mags of 7.62mm gobble up space and pounds compared to 5.56mm. Don’t forget this was one of the principal reasons the military adopted the then-new 5.56 back in the Vietnam War: the ammo was lighter and smaller. You may not be heading into a raging infantry battle but I guarantee you weight is a factor if you care about schlepping your BOB around half of creation.

But weight is not all there is to the equation. Plenty of shooters and preppers simply want the assurance and confidence that they have a round good at “long range.” Fine. But I would question what kind of ranges they are anticipating needing their rifle for in a serious emergency? 100 yards? Perhaps. 200 yards?

I could even envision that in a prolonged survival situation in the right area. 300 and beyond? Hardly plausible, and if you are talking about real extreme distance shooting you are dreaming unless you already have well-established long range skills as a sniper or long-range competition shooter.

No, you average distance for domestic shootouts, police or civilian involved, are nearly all within 100 yards, and the vast, vast majority are within 20 yards. If long guns are being brought to bear at those distances, a lighter, faster-handling rifle is more often the better choice.

Don’t misunderstand, I like AR-10s and have owned and used several examples. The good ones are reliable, accurate and dependable, and I surely like the performance of a .30 caliber round when I may need to punch thorough something with authority. But I still choose an AR-15 almost every single time, because it can do 99/100 things that may ever need my defensive rifle to do, no question.

The Bottom Line

Choose an AR-15. If you have to have an AR-10, and can afford a good one, you will not be making a terrible mistake, but for most users their greater expense is not justified by the only modest increase in projectile performance unless hunting large game or regular defeat of barriers is a concern of yours.

I would not feel under armed with either, but the AR-15 family brings the most advantages for the most people.

 

AR-10s and AR-15s are both valid choices for primary rifles as part of a comprehensive preparedness plan. But the ubiquity and lower costs of an AR-15 will often see it a smarter choice in light of an average prepper’s needs. The AR-10’s potent 7.62mm NATO round is attractive, but the greater expense, added weight and logistical concerns inherent to this class of rifle compared to the AR-15 mean it is one that must be chosen with deliberation and care.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/2Iw9HWF

Lucid Dreaming | How to Have More Engaging Reality Checks

I have a question about having more... meaningful, engaging, motivational reality checks?

I find after about three months I am losing motivation to do my reality checks and they are no longer even showing up in my dreams. :armflap: However, a conversation that I'll have with someone for one or two days immediately shows up in my dreams. I feel like my reality checks are no longer... strong enough to motivate or to 'entertain' my brain... if this makes any sense at all. I really try to look around, use all of my senses to take in as much of the scene as I can. I don't assume I am awake. I perform two reality checks and then if I decide that I am not dreaming I ask myself what would it be like if I were dreaming?

Is there a way I can make my reality checks just as interesting for my subconscious as other things? I am also looking for videos on YouTube for the Benefits of Lucid Dreaming and things of this topic to try to generate more motivation for myself. Any suggestions or advise you all have is greatly appreciated!

via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity https://ift.tt/2SdxkCQ

MIT IAP Tackles Radio

MIT is well known for rigorous courses, but they also have a special four-week term at the start of each year called the IAP — Independent Activities Period. This year, the MIT Radio Society had several interesting presentations on both the history and application of radio. You weren’t there? No problem, as the nine lecture were all recorded for you to watch at your leisure. You can see one of the nine, below.

These aren’t some five minute quicky videos, either. They are basically live captures that run anywhere from an hour to almost two hours in length. The topics are a great mix including radio history, software-defined radio, propagation, radio astronomy, RADAR, and even 5G.

You might have to pick and choose. Some of the lectures are suitable for just about anyone. Some assume a bit more radio expertise in electronics or math. Still, they are all worth at least a cursory skim to see if you want to really sit and watch in detail. The only nitpick is that some presenters used a laser pointer that doesn’t show up on the inset slide graphics in the video. That makes sense because the inset slides are not really in the room, but it can make it a little difficult to understand what the speaker is pointing to on a crowded slide.

Of course, if you want to dive deep and you need more background, MIT — along with many other institutions — will let you use their learning material for free. We were especially fans of the circuits class but there are many others including just raw materials from OCW.

Thanks [Rob] for the tip.

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday http://bit.ly/2Io1pQx

Lucid Dreaming | Worried about a newborn baby messing with your lucids? Have no fear!

Hi Dreamers,

I'm not sure if this will apply to many people here but I thought I'd throw it into the open as it's a concern I've had. My wife has just given birth and I was worried that the sleepless nights would hinder my ability to become lucid, for obvious reasons. However, it seems to have actually had a positive benefit.

I resumed my lucid journey on the new year and so far I've only had a handful of lucids with a rough average of being 15 days apart. Now, baby was born on valentines day in the morning and so far I've had 2 lucids. If anything, getting up at night and staying up for an hour or so is making me indirectly do a WBTB. The downside is my dream recall has greatly suffered. This morning I had a pretty long lucid with 3 false awakenings that I recognised every time. I could have recorded this but unfortunately I didn't bring my phone downstairs with me as I didn't think (I slept on the sofa with baby next to me in her basket).

So all in all, its a bit of a double edged sword. I'm having more lucids but with limited recall. Gotta make the most of a situation though, eh?

via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity http://bit.ly/2TTJl1N

The 5 Kinds of Guns You Should Avoid Like the Plague

by Tom M.

It’s true that having a gun beats no gun at all, but that does not mean that any gun will do as well as another. In fact, guns, as with all tools and products of man, suffer from their fair share of losers, lemons, bad-ideas and poor performers. In fact, just like three-wheeled cars and submarines with walk out screened porches, some entire categories of firearms are just plain bad ideas.

Used for anything but self-defense, these guns may be ok. For occasional hobby or sport use they will probably serve the average low-volume shooter just fine. But for self-defense a crap gun can spell disaster with a capital ‘D’. That’s especially bad when there are so many great guns to be had for prices high and low.

Some folks may wind up with a poor- quality gun because they were gifted it, inherited it, or bought it when they just flat out did not know better. After reading this article, you will not have that excuse, as least when it comes to a few kinds of gun. Below you’ll find info on what makes bad guns, well, bad, and a few categories of guns you should avoid at all costs unless you are a glutton for punishment.

What Defines a Bad Gun?

Whether a gun is good or bad will many times boil down to opinion. Guns have objectively measurable characteristics, both as individual pieces and as designs, that can be assessed and analyzed to see how they measure up to competing designs. Accuracy, reliability and durability are all important for any gun. Other factors like ergonomics and ease of servicing also play a part.

How easy the gun is to use, and how suited it is to its intended role are also big elements in the broad rating of a gun. A target rifle that can barely hit a pie pan at 100 yards will never be seen as anything other than a terrible target rifle, no matter how exemplary any of its other qualities are. That same rifle, if incredibly reliable, light and easy to maintain could be seen as a good, even great close-quarters combat rifle.

Of course, professionals, enthusiasts and connoisseurs will argue merits endlessly over seemingly tiny or inconsequential perks and quirks, but the motto for judging a gun will often boil down, simply, to this:

“How well can this gun do what it is intended to do?”

Isn’t it all just preference? No. Preference does play a part in all of our choices, even when what we prefer is not strictly logical and rational. Sure, some knowledgeable, competent shooters may detest a well-liked and successful design over intrinsically personal or emotional reasons, but that does not change the fact that a good gun is a good gun.

Similarly, our skilled, savvy shooter may have a fondness, even a soft spot, for a certain gun that is known to be a bit less well-regarded by the rest of the shooting world. That does not smooth over that lesser guns flaws, either. “A pig by any other name…”

Do keep in mind that when a gun is declared bad, it may refer to an individual or a design as a whole. Even the finest manufacturer that spares no expense in meticulously producing guns of legendary quality will, every now and then, turn out a lemon. That lemon does not make the line bad. The reverse is also true, as some designs are so poorly thought out, made or otherwise devised that there is no amount of master-craftsmanship that will make it perform well.

Then you have a “false positive” situation: a gun of known lame design, made by a manufacturer with a poor reputation for quality that, against all odds and common-sense, runs very well, and even endears itself to its owner. Sadly, that one black sheep does not make the other 4999 bad guns to roll off the line “good.”

In this article today, we are referring to guns that are bad, bad, bad as a class, not individuals that I had a bad time with once somewhere.

What Flaws Might a Bad Gun Possess?

A bad gun or design may be obviously deficient in some essential way; fussy or general lack of reliability being major flaws. A reputation for breaking easily, having a short lifespan or being hard to use well (if it can be used well at all) are others. Another common culprit is lack of human engineering: hard-to-actuate controls, triggers and the like.

Guns intended for sector where accuracy is a must will be harshly derided if they fail to meet the standards of the day. Some guns may not seem to be lacking in any significant way, but are a case of being a “solution looking for a problem,” a gun that is too far outside common sense or conventional design as a tool intended for a specific set of circumstances.

A gun’s flaws and failings may not be readily apparent just by picking it up and running the action dry a few times, or even shooting it. Some flaws take time to manifest, or even become visible, and that may mean many hundreds or even thousands of guns in the wild, in the hands of shooters, for them to be discovered.

Some problems are retroactive, meaning what might have been a perfectly acceptable gun at one point in time is now rendered hopelessly terrible next to more modern or improved relatives in its category. The state of the art having changed so much, improved so radically, that the older alternative is now so out-of-date willfully choosing it is tantamount to negligence.

A Note

In the next section, we’ll take a look at some categories of guns you should absolutely positively avoid no matter what. At least, you’ll avoid them if you know what is good for you! It never fails though that even the most irredeemable category of guns has its users, even admirers and fans.

One of your guns may be on this list. It might hurt to hear it, or may make you angry. You will probably want to tell me off. That’s fine, and your right, but let me explain my intent. Again, if you own or use one of these guns for fun, as part of a collection or whathaveyou, feel free to ignore me and go on happily. I am not the one to tell you how to enjoy yourself, and I have been known to collect a few odd ducks and poorly conceived weird ones myself!

But, if you use, or are thinking of obtaining one of the following guns for self-defense or overall readiness, you must read and heed: each of the following categories of guns have associated with them serious pitfalls when it comes to buying and relying on them. I will explain each of those shortcomings in detail in the corresponding sections, so don’t go for my throat should you see your pet favorites name in a header.

Try to keep an open mind, and you might learn something the easy way before you have to learn it the “fun” way.

Without any more disclaimers, disavowing or disowning, enjoy the list of guns you should avoid like the plague below.

#5 – Cheapo AK Variants

“Gasp!” you say. “How can he disparage the most reliable of reliable gun, the vaunted and loved AK?!” “Why, an AK hammered together over a campfire is the most reliable artifact of man ever created, and will outlast even the pyramids!”

Easy does it there, and I hate to rain on your parade but AK’s, especially cheap AK’s, are fallible because they are made by man, and their reputations as universally invincible and reliable rifles is what makes guns in this category so dangerous.

Yes, it is generally accepted (and correct) that you can get a quality rifle of equivalent grade cheaper in the form of an AK than you can an AR. But the trouble starts when folks head out to their local gun shop or gun show and start thumbing through racks of $325 AKs thinking they will get a rifle that will carry them to the end and then some.

The plain truth is that you can make anything too shoddily to work, even a design as robust, simple and amicable to rough production as an AK. Guns in this class, as typified by the abysmal IO Inc. toasters, are simply made too poorly to be worth anything. Yes, they may shoot. Yes, they may even get through a whole magazine, but I can solemnly assure you the honeymoon period will be short lived, due to poor assembly, improper heat-treating, mismatched parts, and a host of other issues.

Companies like this frankly live and die off the backs of the romantic AK fans, the ones who think that you can put a bag of AK parts over a fire, hammer it good, poor it out and enjoy a hard-running combat rifle after you spit on it and wipe it down with a greasy rag.

You can make a primitive gun out of scrap and in short order with completely unskilled labor, but an AK is not one of them. Spend a little more and enjoy a rugged, reliable rifle that Kalashnikov intended.

 

#4 – Derringers

And I am not talking about just any small guns, as they are often coined. Derringers, the real thing, are typically two-barreled, break action guns chambered in a variety of calibers that are intended for use as hold-out or defensive pistols. They were at their most popular back in the days before the Wild West was tamed, and have, for whatever reason, stayed with us today. I’ll put my money on mystique and nostalgia alone.

The problems with derringers for defense today however are, well, the problem with them is pretty much everything about them. Derringers are smallish, suffer from absolutely horrid ergonomics, and are single-action, meaning they must be cocked for every shot. Once you have fired your piddly payload the action is broken open with the barrels pivoting upward from the rear, and you must the deal with getting two chambers clear of brass and two live cartridges into them before closing the whole contraption and reacquiring a tenuous grip on the thing.

These sins are compounded by many derringers being made to terrible standards, meaning that even these two shots will not be for sure. Caliber selection is anything from .22 all the way up to big .45’s. That being said the manufacturer of what is in all probability the most popular derringer today, Bond Arms, makes very, very high quality examples from good materials and by skilled craftsmen. That does nothing to alleviate the laundry list of flaws inherent to the derringer class itself.

If you need a tiny gun, other guns are smaller, and still hold more ammo while being easier to shoot. If you don’t mind the size of a larger derringer, a modern revolver or pistol is light years ahead of them in shootability and will have triple to nine times the capacity.

Derringers may be neat, cool and historically significant, but they belong in the past, not in your holster.

 

By Jwh at Wikipedia Luxembourg, CC BY-SA 3.0 lu, Link 

#3 – Any .25 ACP Pistol

In a word, .25’s are the single worst caliber for self defense. Even the diminutive .22 LR is a better performer than this wimpy thing. The quality of .25ACP guns varies as with all guns, but their standing as worst of the worst is not helped by the typical class of guns chambering it: tiny, diminutive pocket guns that are usually possessed of terrible triggers.

So in addition to having lackluster ballistic performance- and that was not hyperbole, .22LR’s actually penetrate more deeply and do so more consistently than .25’s across most loadings- it will be very, very tricky to shoot them well enough to deliver even that miniscule wound to a perp.

Even when encountered in the highest quality example of the breed, the Beretta 950 Jetfire, it is not enough to save this cartridge as anything but Worst. If you are considering one, and need a tiny, low recoiling pistol get a .22 version instead, as most companies that offer or offered a .25 made a .22 also. If you are looking at larger .25, get either a .380ACP or 9mm. If you still need lowered recoil, go ahead and get a large .22.

Before some of you chime in about the purported reliability, rather lack thereof, of rimfire cartridges and see the centerfire .25 as the heir apparent in the mousegun class, understand that ammunition quality not priming system is today the single greatest earmark of cartridge reliability. It might have been different 60 years ago, but a modern .22 pistol firing high quality loads (NOT bulk pack fodder) is shockingly reliable under most conditions.

At any rate, this does nothing to help the poor, downtrodden .25. Avoid this one.

 

#2 – .410 Shotshell-firing Handguns

These have been around a little longer than most people think, but have been made wildly popular by the Taurus Judge, Raging Judge, Circuit Judge and whatever other variants as well as the me-too competitor from Smith & Wesson, the Governor. On paper, these handzookas look like terrific defensive implements: the hit potential afforded by shot, with the capability afforded by .45 Colt. What a combo!

The reality is bleaker: very wide, sparse patterns and significant liability when utilizing shotshells, and an overly large, clunky, five shot .45 when using bullets. The Taurus versions are additionally not renowned for durability. The S&W Governor is made better, but both suffer from heavy triggers, great bulk and significant weight.

Still, these guns have their advocates. Some people are mesmerized by the idea of a .410 shotshell issuing forth from a handgun, and are zealous believers in it as a manstopper, even though those same folks will likely turn their nose up at the idea of a .410 shotgun for home defense. Ammo companies, being enormous capitalists and eager to sell ammo, responded with a line of “optimized” .410 handgun loads, featuring zany combinations of buck and ball or even little discus-like projectiles.

The idea is, plainly, a poor one. If you desire a shotgun for home defense, get a shotgun, not some bastardized handgun shooting snake-oil shells. You could carry one of these off stoked with proper .45 Colt loads, and have a good time of it, but in that case you are still left adrift with a gun entirely too large and awkward compared to virtually every other competitor.

 

#1 – Pistol Grip-Only (PGO) Shotguns

Oh no he didn’t! Yes, I am afraid I did. The stockless shotgun has long been the guilty pleasure and apple-of-my-eye of much of the shooting world since, well, since forever. There is something undeniably attractive about a short, handy, nimble shotgun that can blast forth a storm of deadly buckshot. The relatively recent introduction of the Mossberg Shockwave and Remington Tac-14 series is all the proof you need; these things sell like crazy!

Maybe it is all of their cumulative appearances in movies, TV shows and videogames. Maybe it is the raw appeal of lightness and raw destructive capability. Whatever it is, it is universally a poor choice for defense.

There is nothing mechanically wrong with PGO shotguns, and they will in general be as reliable as a given make of their long barreled and full-stocked brethren. Even cries of poor patterns and velocity loss fall short (sorry), as a properly shortened barrel or factory made one can still produce shockingly good patterns with appropriate load selection.

No, the issue with PGO shotguns is that they are very, very difficult to shoot well without a ton of practice, even at their intended optimum range, which is nearly bad breath distance. Without a stock to provide a third point of contact stabilizing the gun enough in front of the shooters face for aimed fire is challenging, requiring both a fair bit of strength and nerve; recoil with these little guns is stout and a failure to manage it well will result in a loss of control and perhaps even striking yourself in the face.

The obvious cool-guy alternative is to shoot from the hip. After all, how can you miss when you are so close, and the spray of pellets is nearly unavoidable, right? Wrong: unlike the Judgernors up there, these short-barreled guns still require a pretty surprising degree of precision to hit with at close range, and shooting from the hip is a poor plan for delivering that precision. Even with considerable practice, most shooters will not attain speed and accuracy enough to make that a worthwhile endeavor.

They are incredibly cool, and have utility as breaching tools, but for most shooters, they are a bad idea for a defensive piece unless you plan to put an appropriate pistol brace on them.

Conclusion

Not all guns will make the grade and pass muster to serve their owners well in the brutal intricacies of a fight. If you are choosing a gun for self-defense, you must be calculating and logical in your selections. Do not let a bargain, sentiment or glamour sway you into picking one that will set you up for failure. The stakes are too high.

via Modern Survival Online http://bit.ly/2WZP9J4

Lucid Dreaming | Help with WILD

My biggest problem with this technique is that after I reach the hypnagogic state and sometimes I can basicaly see my dream scene with my eyes closed I can't make the transition because I can still feel my real body like I am fully awake. I sometimes reach the point in which I can clearly see the dream scene and even navigate through it like a ghost but I can't touch or feel anything from it because I can still feel my real body. I had several succeses with this method, but this is a problem that I still struggle with. Can somebody please help me? I fell that I am so close.

via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity http://bit.ly/2SAUesL

Raising Pigs for Long-term Survival

by Tara

Pigs (or hogs as we call them where I live) make a great survival livestock choice. Unless you live in an urban or suburban area, you most likely have plenty of space to raise a sounder of hogs.

A hog pen and exercise yard takes up very little space. While you surely should provide a pen of humane dimensions while raising the pigs to butcher weight, you do not want to give them too much freedom to roam – they will walk their bulk off in an incredibly short amount of time.

Hogs raised on factory farms, which now sadly comprise the majority of farms in the United States, may never even step foot on grass during their entire lives – instead living inside a climate controlled habitat that passes for a barn on such commercial farming operations.

Pigs are one of the best low-maintenance and least expensive types of livestock to raise. They will eat just about anything, and make great use of your scraps while putting. Once upon a time, raising pigs in a city was nearly commonplace. The animals were used as a precursor to trash trucks and gobbled up all of the rotting food left around the streets and residential living areas.

We Americans do tend to love our bacon and BBQ pork, yet hogs are not native to our country. The animals were brought here during the late 1400s by European explorers. Just a few decades later hog farming was a booming agricultural business in the new world – second only to corn production.
Two Basic Types Of Hogs

Until the early 1900s, two different types of hogs were raised in the United States: bacon and lard pigs. The bacon pigs were fed a combination of low energy and high protein grains and greens. This type of diet turned them into an extremely muscular and long type of livestock. Bacon hogs put on weight far more slowly than lard pigs.

Lard picks had a far more compact and thick body, along with short legs. These type of pigs were fed a corn-based diet to further efforts by keepers to put weight on rapidly. Not only was lard used as the primary cooking agent of the time, it was also use to lubricate machinery of basically all types – it was even used in the creation of explosives during World War II.

Best Types Of Lard Pigs

• Yorkshire:

• Duroc:

• Hampshire:

photo above by MamaGeek at en.wikipedia [CC BY 3.0]

• Poland China:

photo above: Poland China boars in Florida circa 1917

• Berkshire. A quality meat produce that does well in warmer climates. Sows are great milk producers, and very maternal:

• Mulefoot

• Choctaw

When the vast majority of lard was removed from the public marketplace (and requisitioned for use in the war effort), housewives across America were forced to switch to vegetable oil to meet their cooking and baking needs.

Once World War II ended, the habit of using vegetable oil, coupled with a successful advertising campaign about the supposed health benefits of using the manufactured cooking oil, lard once again all but disappeared from grocery store shelves.

This was a massive blow to formerly successful pig farms across the country. Once advances in the biotech industry prompte the creation of new products for use in lubricating machines and when making explosives, lard hog farmers essentially vanished from the American agricultural landscape.

The lard hog farmers that survived revamped their breeding process to create more muscular pigs that churned leaner pork. Nearly all types of pork sold in grocery stores today are a 3-way cross between Hampshire, Yorkshire, and Duroc.

Berkshire and Poland China hogs are now on the critically endangered list.

• Tamworths – A calm and hardy breed and resistant to sun scalding.

• White Skinned – A docile breed that is also resistant to sun scalding.

• Saddleback – A super grazing breed that does well in colder climates. They are known to consistently produce larger litters of piglets. These pigs are also mostly black and boast a distinctive white band over their shoulder area. They are excellent, and are prone to producing large and top-quality litters.

Pig Raising Basics

Habitat

Pigs can be kept in a pasture with a shed style or small barn shelter or in a pen with the same type of shelter to protect them from the elements. To avoid a potentially deadly parasite manifestation, the sounder’s shelter must be thoroughly cleaned weekly and their grazing are rotate on a regular basis.

Even though most breeds of pigs can tolerate some degree of damp, drafty, hot, or cold temperatures, their living quarters. The shelter must be large enough for the entire sounder to get inside, and still have room to move about during inclement weather – and also include a warm place for the sow to farrow – give birth to piglets.

Depending upon your climate, the shelter could be farm produce stand-style shelter – a structure that has open wall and front but can be enclosed by flaps.

The pigs will need to have straw or a similar type of livestock bedding on the floor of their shelter (whether the floor is bare ground or wood) to protect them from cold and dampness.

A gravity fed feed system or a feeder that is raised at least slightly from the floor, should also be placed inside the shed. The sounder will also need water. Most pig keepers use a plastic barrel with a hog fountain drip spout.

The typical shelter dimensions for a habitat that will contain three sows and a litter of piglets measures approximately 25 feet long by four feet high by 25 feet wide.
Bathing And Mud Wallow

The pigs will require a mud wallow outside of their shelter, but inside the pen area. Laying and rolling about in the mud helps cool down the hogs and in the removal of parasites.

Contrary to popular belief, pigs are not filthy animals. They love their bath, and only choose on area of their pen to relieve themselves so their shelter or run area stays clean.

Hogs should be bathed weekly and looked over thoroughly for signs of hoof rot or damage, parasites, and any other type of abrasion or illness.

Pen Fencing

Pigs are strong, very very strong. You will need far more than metal T-posts and barbed wire to prevent them from escaping tearing apart their pen.

They love to burrow and push up against their enclosure to scratch their backs. The best type of fencing to use for a sounder enclosure include pig panels, wood posts, woven wire, wood panels, and even some strands of barbed wire and/or electrical fencing just to make sure the hogs do not push against the wood and metal fencing elements. Place the electrical fencing just above ground level to deter the members of the sounder from burrowing beneath the fenceline and prevent piglet escapes.

The gate to the pen should also be made out of metal. Woven wire rolls of fencing usually come in heights of 26 to 34 inches tall, all varieties are tall enough to prevent a walking over it when the fencing is properly supported.

Space the wood posts holding your fencing 10 to a maximum of 15 feet apart. Make sure the corner posts of the pen use thick hardwood, railroad ties, or solid and large metal posts that have been planted at least three feet in the ground. It is highly recommended to double brace the corner posts of a hog pen.

If you not have the space of the money to build a pen large enough to allow the pigs to browse for food and move about freely, you can train them to go on free range style walks in your yard – just like 4-H children are taught to do for show ring judging.

Feeding Pigs

Hogs are omnivores, and will chow down on grass and just about anything we humans eat, as well.

A pig’s favorite food includes:

• Potatoes
• Pumpkins
• Silver Beets
• Parsnips
• Sorghum
• Oats – feed only in moderation like a snack
• Corn
• Wheat
• Cooked Fish
• Turnips
• Carrots
• Artichokes
• Comfrey
• Bean Meal
• Barley

When a sow is preparing to give birth, extra protein should be added to her diet to ready her body for nursing. Piglets can get easily crushed when feeding with mature hogs. Buy or build a feed trough with dividers that permit only small piglet heads to fit inside, so the mature hogs will not bother venturing to either the feeder for the weaners or the weaner section of the sole feeder.

Weaners should be fed a feed that contains 18% protein, at least until they are 12 weeks old. The protein ratio can be reduced down to 13% of the young pig’s daily diet after 12 weeks.

A mature hog should consume between 25 to 30 pounds of its body weight in feed on a daily basis. When a hog eats the feed consumed to the butcher meat ratio is about 3 to 1. When temperatures reach and exceed about 80 degrees, the feed to meat ratio decreases, causing the pigs to drop weight.

If a shallow livestock tank or a half barrel are used as a waterer, the hogs may tip it over when attempting to climb into it to cool off during the summer and drown, become injured or trapped, or walk away but we without water all day long.

Mating

There should only be one boar per sounder pen. Although you may be excited about mating and raising your own pigs and want to buy a boar, it is best to get at least a year of hog raising under your belt before doing so.

Boars are strong, and can be dangerous when handled by novices, especially during mating season. In most areas, it is feasible to pay for stud services and impregnate a sow without going to the expense or bother of facilitating mating or keeping a boar yourself.

How To Choose And Keep A Quality Boar

1. One boar can service up to 20 sows. But, this rate of mating is generally reserved for factory farms, and can actually harm the boar, and cause a reduced sperm rate.

2. Purchase from a local breeder and not at an auction where its pedigree might not be able to be authenticated. A local breeder often has the parents of the boar on-site for inspection. The rate of a piglets growth will be largely determined by the genes of the boar.

3. Inspect the legs and the feet of the boar for any signs of deformity or weakness. Mating is an extremely strenuous activity, and the bulk of the animal cannot be supported by leg abnormalities. A boar’s toes should not be elongated, this is a sign of lameness. If the legs are stiff when manipulated, this also could be a sign of lameness.

4. The testicles of the boar should be similar in shape and weight. If the testes are either abnormally large or small, the sperm count of the boar could be negatively impacted.

5. Boars that are used to human contact from a very young age typically tend to be far easier to handle as they mature.

6. Once a boar nears maturity, it should be housed with or near a sow to encourage courting behavior.

7. Boars should not be bred until they are at least 30 weeks old, but 1 year old is recommended. When a boar is bred before it is ready, a litter of runt piglets often occurs.

8. A young or small boar should be mated with a gilt (female pig that has not yet been pregnant) to help build its confidence and increase the chances of the female hog accepting a potential inept boar.

9. If a novice boar is rejected or injured by a sow or gilt, it may never attempt to mate again and could actually choose to masturbate the rest of its life instead…yep, you read that correctly. During its first mating session, a young boar may be overly excited and attempt to mount the head or rectum of the sow or gilt instead of the proper spot.

10. Boars will rarely ever mate on a full stomach – mating is best engaged in during the morning hours.

11. It can typically take two or three attempts at a mating session before a sow or gilt becomes pregnant. Allow the boar to rest at least 12 to 15 hours in-between mating sessions.

12. When a sow arches her back and cocks her ears, it’s a sign that she is ready to accept the mating ritual and will soon stand still for the boar.

13. Mating is physically taxing for both animals even though it only takes about three minutes to accomplish.

14. Young boars should only attempt mating sessions about once every two weeks to the same sow.

15. Keep a record of the boar’s mating habits and successful litters to better help detect a decrease in fertility.

Hog Raising Tips

1. Pigs are herd type animals, and do best when raised with at least one other of their own kind. If raised from a young age with other medium livestock, most pigs will intermingle and free range with them without incidents – unless you have an exceptionally rowdy boar or over-protective sow.

2. You can begin by raising the hogs up from a young age or purchasing a sow (female pig that has given birth before) and a male pig – a boar. Weaned piglets, or “weaners” are no longer nursing from their mothers and are three months old or younger. Weaners typically weight between 35 to 40 pounds.

3. If you have never worked pigs before, starting with weaners will likely be the best option. Sows weigh around 350 pounds on average. A typical hog litter is comprised of about 10 piglets.

4. When a sow is getting ready to give birth to her litter, she will begin making a nest out of branches and any other material she can find inside her pen. The nest will serve as a place for the sow to shutter her piglets away from both predators and the prying eyes of everyone else – including her human keepers…that she might also view as predators when nursing her young.

5. A pig is not mature enough to butcher until it weighs around 250 pounds. Unless the hog is being raised on a factory farm where this weight is hit around the six month mark, it takes around nine months for a pig to mature to butcher weight. Typically, hogs are bred to give birth in the spring so they are ready to butcher by fall – negating the cost of wintering them over.

6. Butchering a hog is generally considered a quicker and simpler process than doing the same with cattle or sheep.

7. Hogs are excellent to root around your garden after the harvest. They will till the ground for you so it is ready for the spring planting.

8. Pigs will help you get rid of leftover and all the slop are not going to put into your compost pile – while putting on weight. Hogs even eagerly consume eggs and milk.

9. The lard garnered after butchering the pig can be used for many things around your survival homesteading retreat, like cooking/baking, oiling machinery and firearms, and making soap – just to name a few.

10. White or even light shaded hogs tend to do better when raised in areas without harsh winters and in warm climates. Hogs with dark coloring are better suited for regions of the country with cold winters.

11. Although they are large animals, most hogs are docile and smart enough to be trained and shown by young boys and girls who are members of 4-H.

12. Pigs can traverse hilly portions of your property and do not need quality pasture to feed themselves naturally from the land.

13. If your sow produces a runt or piglets that are struggling to put on weight, sprinkle a half a teaspoon of nutmeg and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil onto their feed for several days to a week.

Hog Health

Learn as much as you can about common pig illnesses and ailments. Knowing how to detect the signs could not only prevent the loss of the sick hog, but the entire sounder if the medical condition is contagious – which is often the case.

During a long-term disaster you will not likely be able to call a vet for help, stock up on over-the-counter medications and natural alternatives now so you are prepared for a SHTF illness in the hog pen and do not lose a valuable source of meat… right when you will need it the most.

To 15 Common Pig Ailments and Diseases

1. Sun Scalding
2. Winter Chill
3. Gastrointestinal Parasites
4. Swine Dysentery – oten deadly
5. Hog Cholera – no known treatment or cure and contagious
6. Atrophic Rhinitis
7. Lice
8. Photosensitization
9. Sarcoptic Mange
10. Brucellosis
11. Lungworms – possibly deadly
12. Pork Measles – possibly deadly to hogs and contagious to people
13. Whipworms – possibly deadly
14. Toxoplasmosis
15. Roundworms – possibly deadly

If you are looking for a quiet, low-space, and inexpensive meat source, pigs should fit the bill nicely. Start small, and do not purchase more pigs than you can handle when learning how to care for them. If you make a mistake, especially when it comes to overall health issues and mating, you could lose the entire sounder before they are old enough to butcher.

via Modern Survival Online http://bit.ly/2St5zuN

How to Pick and Choose AR-15 Magazines

by Charles

The AR-15 is America’s most popular centerfire rifle by an enormous margin, and befitting its status as the once and future king of semi-auto rifles it enjoys correspondingly enormous first-party manufacturer and aftermarket support. Even a casual fan of ARs will attest to the truly bewildering number of add-ons, modifications, customizations and accessories. Like one fast-food chain of burger purveyors opined, “Have it Your Way.”

Even the most basic components are available in a bewildering number of choices. This is also true of the AR’s magazines. A simple trip to the local gun store will turn up a dozen or more types of magazines, all proclaiming to be the One Mag to Rule Them All: 3 or four alloy varieties, steel, half a dozen plastic offerings. What does a switched-on, gives-a-damn prepper buy, huh?!

You had better choose wisely: any semi-auto firearm, no matter how impeccably designed, no matter how scrupulously maintained, will only ever be as good as its magazine. You can take that aforementioned thrice-blessed firearm, one that has never failed, never malfunctioned, stick a crap magazine in it and buckle up: you’ll be on the express train to Malfunction Junction.

Every magazine may vary in specific characteristics like material construction and capacity, but every other proclaimed feature will not count for anything in the face of the two prime considerations: reliability and durability. On that front, not all magazines are created equal. Plenty are of adequate usefulness but only a few manufacturers are of truly exemplary performance.

In this article, we’ll take a look at what makes a good AR magazine good, and which ones are worth your hard earned dollars.

AR Mags: Then and Now

The design, inception and adoption of the AR-15 family of rifles has been covered in extensive detail previously and I will not take up much room in this article to delve in to that except as it pertains to the evolutions of the AR’s magazine, which no coincidentally remains a fairly controversial component of a rifle with a controversial beginning.

When the AR was young, around the time of its military adoption for use in the Vietnam War as the M16, the rifle was designed with (and saw issued with accordingly) a lightweight, aluminum magazine, first containing 20 and then later 30 rounds. These magazines are highly distinctive and easily recognized by their longitudinal grooves along the sides, “bent” curve geometry and thin, dainty construction, especially the feed lips. Remember that salient point, it will become important later.

Then, as now, the alloy AR/M16 magazines, often called a USGI magazine, were not considered too good as far as rifle magazines went: they were very, very lightly constructed, especially when compared to the beefy and seemingly invincible magazines employed by other contemporary rifles like the M14 and AK family of rifles.

above: USGI ar-15 mag

They were fairly easy to damage. While light and otherwise a reliable feeding device when in specification and undamaged, the original AR/M16 magazine would be seen as the rifle’s Achilles’ heel long after the other teething problems endemic to its adoption were ironed out.

Over time, the now standard 30 round alloy magazine was improved for military issue which subsequently filtered down to the commercial markets and thus civilian consumption. These changes were typically revisions (arguably improvements) to the follower geometry and sometimes the magazine spring and body.

These are not always easy to identify, even to seasoned AR enthusiasts, but are typically classified by the color of the follower: black is earliest, followed by green, and then tan for the latest generation alloy magazines.

This is of course complicated by the prevalence of aftermarket “upgrade” kits which feature replacement followers in any number of colors mentioned, as well as “non-standard” colors like yellow or orange that are intended to help a user discern an empty magazine at a glance, whether in the gun or not.

Alloy would not always be the standard, however: in the 1980’s polymers were first used in the making of AR magazines. While polymer magazines made by quality manufacturers are wonders of reliability and performance, this was decidedly not the case in back in the 1980’s world of AR mags.

Early plastic mags like the Israeli Orlite and American Thermold were plagued with problems like brittleness, poor feeding reliability, and vulnerability to solvents and high temperature. The problems then were seemingly insurmountable. Sure, there were a handful that worked fine, probably, and they had their fans, but alloy magazines of good make were still far and away superior.

It was not until the introduction of the PMAG, from a then small little company called Magpul, that the code was cracked on polymer magazines: the PMAG was possessed of excellent reliability thanks to terrific engineering.

Several of its features were major shifts away from traditional AR magazine design, but shifts for the better. The PMAG was and is far more durable and reliable than the typical legacy AR magazine, and after a few prominent tests and adoption by well-known shooters the PMAG shot to stardom, and today is the standard by which magazines are measured, even going so far as to be adopted as standard issue by militaries at home and abroad.

As is the American way, the PMAG saw its fair share of “me too” imitations looking to capitalize on its success. Some of these new breed polymer magazines have features that their manufacturers hope will make them more appealing than the now ubiquitous PMAG, and some are even excellent magazines in their own right, but there are scant few that will ever approach the performance of the PMAG.

So that is the abbreviated life and times of the AR-15 magazine. But we still have not decided the question of which AR magazines are best? Is polymer clearly superior? Are metal magazines still viable? Keep reading and we’ll answer all of your questions before the end.

above: the AR-15 mag

Metal AR Magazines: Perks, Flaws and Selection

Metal magazines are usually lightweight, thin and often cheap. Good ones will feed reliably, and they are easy to procure in most places, being a standardized magazine for most NATO signatories. That is where the good ends, sadly.

Metal magazines are far frailer than their polymer cousins, and suffer from a major weakness in their feed lips. Examine the feed lips of any metal AR magazine and you will notice how thin and frail looking they are. That is a major bummer because correct, in-sped feed lip geometry is critical for magazine reliability. A dent, ding or other damage to the feed lips, say from dropping them in battle, practice or competition, will readily ruin this precise specification, and then your magazine will begin to produce feed malfunctions.

Sure, one may attempt to tweak or massage a reprobate magazine back into working order, but even in the case of little deformation the lips have been irreversibly weakened, and will never again be as reliable as it once was. This means that a suspect metal magazine may not be visibly unsatisfactory outside of using a feed lip gauge, and even when it is showing in-spec it may have been previously deformed and pressed back into service.

When considering a metal magazine, you’ll generally be encountering them in a few broad categories, rather the following are categories that I personally lump them into as it greatly expedites my decision making process on selection.

Those categories are:

• Aluminum, vintage or legacy
• Aluminum, modern
• Aluminum, enhanced
• Steel

They breakdown generally as follows:

Vintage aluminum magazines are often surplus, hand-me-downs or gun show grab-bags. While often available for free or pennies on the dollar, these magazines are usually decommissioned and being resold by unscrupulous or unknowing sellers.

Many times they will be worn out or defective in some essential way. Sure, you may get good, functional magazines out of this class, but it is unlikely unless they were kept in like-new or barely used condition. Avoid, unless buying for collectors purposes or you have no other choice. (Attempting to refurbish these magazines is often foolhardy, as mentioned.)

Modern aluminum magazines are typically close to or identical in function to vintage magazines of older mark, but are simply made recently for purchase and use. While not a bad choice by any means, you will not be doing yourself any favors choosing an older iteration of a magazine that has undergone more or less continual improvement. Buy these in a pinch, or if you get a smoking deal, but you should prioritize purchasing the best magazines possible for preparedness or defensive use.

Enhanced aluminum magazines are modern magazines that are made to the latest specification for aluminum USGI mags, and often exceed it. The excellent Okay Industries Surefeed mags are one such excellent example. These often make great choices for a primary use mag, and may only be faulted for their theoretical inferiority to equivalent polymer magazines.

Steel magazines are a less common make, being essential the same in most features to alloy USGI mags with the obvious change that the magazine bodies and sometimes the followers themselves are made of steel. These were created to address perceived faults in alloy magazines, though they are still very vulnerable to feed lip deformation, and have the added detraction of being heavy and very expensive, as typified by H&K’s enhanced reliability magazine. As a rule, not worth the expense.

Polymer AR Magazines: Perks, Flaws and Selection

Polymer AR magazines vary greatly from their metal cousins, even in basic categorization. Polymer mags were not OEM for the AR-15 family of rifles, and so there is no design standard, though the best and most popular of these modern magazines, the PMAG, is now the default industry standard by which others are measured against. Ergo, the design characteristics of polymer magazines vary greatly from maker to maker.

Some are of multi-part body construction and others are of a unibody type. Some use metal feed lips or feed lip inserts to address a perceived weakness, others have polymer feed lips all the way through. Some employ traditional feed geometry while others have sought to employ constant-curvature design for better reliability. Some are translucent, others opaque and still others have a window for visual estimation of remaining ammo. Some are designed to use snap-on floorplates for a variety of additional functions.

The possibilities are endless, and growing, as companies constantly strive to create a better mousetrap. The most essential perk of polymer magazines is that almost all of the quality brands are undeniably and provably tougher and more resilient to damage and deformation than metal magazines, especially their feed lips.

Take the Magpul PMAG for instance: the feed lips of the PMAG are manufactured in such a way that they will not deform out of spec without breakage. Sounds meaningless, until you consider the fact that a visual inspection on a PMAG that turns up a chip, crack or other obvious defect will be readily apparent. No guessing games unlike metal magazines!

Polymer magazines enjoy much longer service lives and will withstand far more incidental damage resulting from real-world use and training than equivalent metal magazines. This alone makes them the go-to choice of most serious shooters today, and I can (and will, later in this article) recommend several brands with zero reservations.

Polymer magazines still have their warts, however: some do not fall free in one brand of AR or another due to tolerance stacking issues. Some will be difficult to insert or remove in other types of rifle that utilize AR magazines, like the SCAR, some AUG’s, and many others.

Some makes of polymer magazine seek to differentiate themselves from the dominant PMAG by ensuring their single magazine is compatible with all “STANAG” magazine rifles, unlike Magpul’s offering which led to their introduction of the EMAG, a specially designed PMAG, for 100% compatibility with foreign weapon systems.

Polymer vs. Metal: Which Should You Buy and Use?

Bottom Line: Polymer. Their advantages are too many to ignore. That being said, the long answer will show that metal magazines are far from useless, or not worth your bucks. The prime consideration for selection of any magazine is reliability and durability. In almost any conceivable situation all other concerns and characteristics are secondary.

I can assure you there are both polymer and metal magazines made today that are reliable and durable, so if you absolutely must have metal magazines you can still be assured of obtaining quality ones (though I would argue that no metal magazine will begin to approach the ruggedness and longevity of today’s best-in-class polymer magazines).

This gets a little more complicate when taking in to account that most prolific users of metal magazines will have a variety of types, generations and ages of metal magazine, not 20 of one, newer make. This means making a direct comparison as to the efficacy of their grab-bag of metal mags against modern polymer magazines is going to be challenging.

If you are purchasing magazines for serious intents, I strongly encourage you to only buy modern, new magazines, whether polymer or metal. Assuming you have a good-running gun, then they will provide the performance you need when the chips are down.

The variables for selection are great, so in the interest of helping readers make good decisions on purchasing these essential components I have listed in the next section a cheat-sheet of sorts outlining the most important criteria for purchase and use of AR-15 magazines.

The AR-15 Magazine Use and Purchasing Guide

• When Purchasing Magazines
  • Buy only new, and the best, most proven magazines
    • Metal
      • Okay industries
      • Bravo Company
      • Colt OEM
    • Polymer
      • TangoDown ARC Magazine
      • Magpul PMAG Gen. 3
      • Troy Battlemag

There are plenty of makers churning out magazines with all kinds of nifty coatings, gadgets and gimmicks included, and fancy-pants moldings or finishes that look really attractive. None of that is worth a damn if the magazine does not work and can be counted on!

The best of the best magazines have been tested, adopted and rigorously peer reviewed in professional settings, not on Instagram, and not by Cousin Bobby and his pals. Do not trust your life to inferior magazines. Don’t give in to special snowflaking. Let someone else be the beta tester. Buy proven mags.

• Decommissioning Magazines
  • If a malfunction is traced to the magazine
    • First Occurrence – Mark the magazine boldly.
      • Magazine is now “suspect.”
    • Second Occurrence – destroy magazine and discard.
      • Take no chance that someone else may find and repurpose it.
  • Always suspect vintage magazines in anything except as-new condition as being suspect until proven otherwise.
  • Magazines are like socks and underwear – disposable!
    • Don’t fall in love with your magazines.
    • Use them till they fail, then discard them.
    • Don’t wait for the magazine to begin malfunctioning constantly.

That being said, if a magazine works, it flat works. I have Vietnam-era alloy magazines that run like champions. I have lesser-made freebie magazines from swap meets and given to me as promotional goods by B-tier manufacturers that work with no issue in my AR’s and other guns. And I have personally shot thousands and thousands of rounds through them I would not decommission them over name alone.

That being said, I am in no rush to buy more of them when I can buy more PMAGs or Okay mags; I would simply have to test too many of them to establish a large enough sample size to satisfy myself that they were, as a brand, good to go. I know PMAG’s and Okay Surefeeds will never give me an issue unless I have a lemon.

On that note, test your magazines! Never declare a magazine as defense or duty worthy until it can at least fire off a full 30 rounds as fast as you can pull the trigger and from any position. Like I said, lemons happen, and you’ll be scrambling to make lemonade (read “not die”) if your “infallible” super magazine you did not test but instead shoved into your defensive rifle belches forth a malfunction when two murderers are in your living room at midnight.

• Storing Magazines, Care, and Feeding
  • Take care when storing loaded magazines long term
    • Feed lip fatigue is real; caused by pressure of round stack by fully compressed spring.
      • Primarily affects metal mags of all kinds
      • Polymer magazines less vulnerable; especially PMAG w/ attached top cover.
  • Use standard firearm and ammo storage protocols
    • Store in cool, dry place
    • Rigid container
    • With desiccant or other moisture control solution.

Keeping a bunch of rifle magazines stashed loaded and at the ready sure gives the warm and fuzzies, but you need to do it properly. As I said above, take special care of leaving fully loaded metal magazines stored for long periods of time.

While I have never experienced this personally, as I shoot off most of my magazines in the course of my training and work rotation regularly, there is much vetted expert opinion on the matter of feed lip deformation caused by the pressure over time exerted by a fully compressed spring.

Polymer magazines are much less vulnerable to this deformation for the reasons discussed earlier in the article, and in the case of the Magpul PMAG it makes use of a special snap-on top cover for the express purpose of alleviating that pressure from the feed lips and sealing the magazine against dust and debris intrusion.

I can tell you from experience that I have left several PMAGS loaded for well in excess of a year, with no top cover, and later retrieved them, using them in an extended training day with absolutely no malfunctions of any kind. So the top cover, while a good design and well executed, is probably no strictly necessary for storing the PMAG loaded.

above: Microtech-XM30 ar-15 mag

Final Word

Buy good magazines, preferably PMAGS. Test them. If they fail, trash them mercilessly. If your magazines work, they work. So if you have purchased good magazines that you have proven yourself, insert and drop from your gun easily, and are durable stop worrying about the latest, greatest or “best” magazine and drive on.

The AR magazine has together traveled a long way with its parent rifle, and grown and evolved beyond its original specification nearly as much as the AR itself. But no matter how good an AR is, it is nothing without a quality magazine to feed it. Armed with this guide, you now hold the knowledge needed to sort the wheat from the chaff and the snake-oil from the real contenders so you can keep your AR loaded and making a pile of brass.

via Modern Survival Online http://bit.ly/2DnWSYw

Automated Radiosonde Tracking Via Open Source

Meteorological organisations across the world launch weather balloons on a regular basis as a part of their work in predicting whether or not it will rain on the weekend. Their payloads are called radiosondes, and these balloons deliver both telemetry and location data throughout their flightpath. Hobbyists around the globe have devoted time and effort to tracking and decoding these signals, and now it’s possible to do it all automatically, thanks to Radiosonde Auto RX.

The basis of the project is the RTL-SDR, everyone’s favourite low-cost software defined radio receiver. In this case, software is used to first hunt for potential radiosonde signals, before then decoding them and uploading the results to a variety of online services. Some of these are designed for simple tracking, while others are designed for live chase and recovery operations. Currently, the software only covers 3 varieties of radiosonde, but the team are eager to expand the project and have requested donations of other radiosondes for research purposes.

The team recently conducted a talk at linux.conf.au regarding the project, which goes into detail as to the decoding and tracking of the radiosonde data. If you’re eager to try it out, download the software, fetch your TV dongle and get cracking. You might also consider tracking cubesats while you’re at it. Video after the break.

via [crazyoperator], thanks to Slds Ernesto for the tip!

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday http://bit.ly/2TCD8r6

Ground Penetrating Radar For The Masses

Radar is a useful tool with familiar uses such as detecting aircraft and observing weather. It also has some less known applications, such as a technology known as ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Despite the difficulty of sending and receiving radio waves through solid objects, with the right equipment it’s possible to build a radar that works underground as well.

GPR is used often for detecting underground utilities, but also has applications in other fields such as archaeology and geology. For those people in these fields, a less expensive GPR was the priority of a group presenting at a 2017 National Institute of Telecommunications of Poland conference (pdf warning). The presentation goes into specific detail on how to build a GPR for around €600, much less than commercial offerings.

The presentation begins by highlighting the basics of GPR, then details the hardware bill of materials for the transmitting circuit, receiving circuit, and the DC power supplies. It also details the theory behind the software needed to get the circuit running properly, and has code as well. The processing is done on a 32-bit Mbed platform, and the rest of the GPR is built with easy-to-source components as well.

It’s always good to see useful hardware projects that bring costs of traditionally expensive equipment down to the grasp of average people. Even traditional radar systems are now available for hundreds of dollars, and we’ve even seen attempts at other GPR systems before as well.

Thanks to [Stefan] for the tip!

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday http://bit.ly/2WRqDd1

Lucid Dreaming | Skippers MILD

Skipper’s MILD

This is the technique that I personally use that got me omnilucid (all dreams lucid), and plenty of PR/Wonderland dreams (Persistent Realm Dreams)

There really isn’t a good way to explain this without bombarding someone with information i expect them to know, so I will have to assume that the person reading this, understands/know absolutely nothing about MILD.

Although, there is some hope, as this will be an extensive, detailed, layout of what I do for MILD, this will be divided into simple “Steps”.

Also, just know, I am not a complete master at MILD, but i know enough to be very flexible and powerful with it. if i was a complete master, that would be pretty boring, I like finding new stuff to do with it. :P This is just, one technique, one perspective, the goal here isn’t to give you a guide, or a handbook, it’s here to inspire you.





A few realizations need to be met before using MILD to it’s, higher efficiency, so to speak.


Realize that you know what works best for you. How you do that, is finding what is the most fitting/comfortable to what you desire, and that means no compromising!

• What I mean by that is, let’s say, you find something that really works for you, like meditating right before bed to something relaxing, while repeating your mantra in your head until you feel confident in it.

• You would have to, for one, make time for doing this before bed, and two, have a desire/willpower to do it, despite anything else. So basically don’t get lazy, and don’t make excuses for not doing it. If you wanna do it, do it.

Also realize that, you need to be open to these possibilities.

• Don’t go into MILD, looking for proof/proving it to be true. This is just gonna be a time waster to lucid dreaming. You have to be confident in it working, and be willing to refine it when, or should i say if, it doesn’t work the first night.

• This also means, you have to study yourself, really work with yourself on a deep level to find your doubts/fears with lucid dreaming and MILD techniques. A good way to do this, is to say a mantra in your head, and notice any feelings that pop up, if it feels good, then keep going, if not, then write down your feelings about it until you are aware of the doubt, and are able to show yourself more open minded approaches.

• Also, your dreams can tell you a lot about yourself, I truly believe that they all have meaning, if you are willing to see it that way.

• I can say from my experience that this was the absolute BIGGEST thing i had to do in order to really get MILD down packed to the point it is now.

• When you’re more open minded, you are more willing to find what works for you personally.

• Also, realize that MILD is just the lucid dreaming sector. You could really apply all of this to any area of your life, and end up controlling your mind to be able to reach potentials you didn’t think was possible!

Have and always maintain a positive attitude.

• You….don’t really get anything good without having a positive attitude.
• If it doesn’t work the first night, good! you just found one way to do it wrong, which clears the way to you finding exactly what works for you.
• Neither the second, nor the third, or the fourteenth? That’s good as well! Notice the subtle progress you make, notice how you’re used to working with your confines and breaking out of them.

• If you simply believe in yourself and be confident, you’ll find that lucid dreaming will become x10 times easier, guaranteed. Lucid dreaming isn’t hard, it’s just hard to explain.

Lucid dreaming is all psychological.

• Something I hold true, but i think it could help a lot of other people as well.
• It’s all within your mind basically, whatever affects how you think, and how you feel, will affect your lucid dreaming capabilities, not the "effector". "Effectors" as i call them, could be a drug, substance, food, person, good luck charm, anything that is outside of you.

• The "effector" is powerless, if the mind isn’t bothered by it. So always remember that original power that is possible with all of this.

Now for, actually how to DO, MILD.

First up, finding a good mantra.

• People usually do these types of mantras. “I will be aware in my dreams”, “My dreams become lucid”, or something like that. Usually off the fly, not really thinking about it, this ends up not manifesting easily in your subconscious mind, because they probably don’t believe it/have doubts about it, and aren’t as focused on it.

• To make a good mantra, it takes knowing exactly what you want with your dreams. Getting “Intimate” with your dreaming life. Like, write down, your main goals with lucid dreaming.

• A simple list, perhaps like this:

“- I want to be able to study information i obtained in waking life, faster within a lucid dream

- I want to be able to go to a specific place within my dreams

- I want to talk with my subconscious in my dreams

- I want to be able to fly in my lucid dreams”

• Now that you have a specific goal list as to what you want to accomplish, you can actually see it, these aren’t just swirling thoughts, this is something tangible, mind, to paper.

• Not only does this solidify in your mind better, but now you are able to make a good mantra.

• Now, as for finding a mantra, finally, just, feel a central theme that ties this all together.
• Looking back at that list, there are four things that are listed.

• Talking to subconscious, flying, going to a dream place, and higher study retention.

• For everyone this will be different, but when i see all of these things i instantly think, “Impossible in waking”, going deeper than that, i feel, “This is going to be really, fucking cool to do this in a dream.”, so subconsciously I’m open to it regardless!

• Using that as a bouncing point, my mantra would be something like:

“In my dreams, I do the impossible”

• Notice how i didn’t use, “I will be” or “I’m going”, I use something that applies that EXACT, SAME FEELING, of doing it, in the present moment, Yes! Even right now! Away from the dreaming reality.

• This is also a misconception I see a lot, that being, there isn’t much you can do about your lucid dreams, when you aren’t in them, when really, this 100% isn’t the case.

• Now all you have to do, is feel it, it is already happening, you don’t need proof, but the proof is more like the icing on the cake, instead of the cake itself. Be confident in it, and allow it to work.

And lastly, affirming it.

• This usually requires, meditation, it can be done in other ways, but i like meditation.
• Notice that whenever you are worry-free and relaxed, you are much more open and flexible to new ideas.

• It is also exactly how the subconscious mind works! The more relaxed you are, the more able you are to do things like affirmations, and even lucid dreaming/obes (outer body experiences)

• Meditation, doesn’t require any skill, nor any expectation, nor is it just “sitting down and doing nothing”. Meditation is just meditation, but how i like to define it is, “Learning how to be loud, with the silence of the mind.”

• When you get rid of all the repeating thoughts, and break out of your subconscious programming, you REALLY start to make progress.

• So whenever you are really relaxed to the point of freedom/bliss, just repeat the mantra in your head, and feel it already working.

• Then remember the feeling throughout the days and weeks, making it a part of your routine and eventually it will become NATURAL!

Post-MILD

• After you have successfully achieved a MILD, or your desired dream with this, feel amazing! It happened, and it will continue to happen! Just remember to write down the technique you tried, how you did it, and what happened in the dream.

• After you have the dream, replay it in your mind over and over again. What parts of it did you truly enjoy? What do you think caused that to happen? Things like that, really show your mind that you are interested in these experiences and that you hold them dear to your heart, and it will happen more often and more often.

And there you have it, this is my own, personalized, MILD technique, but i didn’t get here on my own, I had help from a plethora of good and amazing people.

I’ll perhaps update this to include anything i missed soooooooo here is the “Update Version” currently:




Most Recent:
Edit 1.0.0 - Jan 4th, 2019

via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity http://bit.ly/2REbl7A