Rich Chambers

Best Rifle Sling (2022 Update) Buyer’s Guide

Whether you’re spending a week in the backcountry tracking elk or you’re just out for a weekend deer hunt, your rifle sling is important. Choose a good one and you’ll barely notice the rifle is there as you hike. Choose a poor one and you’ll constantly be adjusting your firearm to try and find a comfortable position.

You could, of course, just carry your rifle the whole time, but that will get tiring really quick. And besides, you’re not trudging the dusty, sniper infested backroads of Chaparhar Province, you’re hunting. It’s supposed to be fun.

Below we’re going to take a look at the best rifle slings on the market today. If the time has come to replace your sling, take a few minutes and peruse our list before you buy anything. (more…)

By Rich Chambers, ago

How to Survive a Hurricane

An F4 tornado is a devastating natural phenomenon whose winds top 160 mph. It’s capable of reducing a house to a pile of splintered wood in the few seconds it takes to pass over.

Now imagine an F4 tornado that lasts, not for a few seconds, but for hours and you have some idea what it was like to live through Hurricane Camille (1) in 1969 or Hurricane Andrew (2) in 1992 or Hurricane Michael (3) in 2018.

Andrew not only produced wind gusts of nearly 200 mph in some spots and wiped entire neighborhoods in Florida off the map, but as it made landfall again in Louisiana it spawned 61 tornadoes as it moved inland. There have been other hurricanes that spawned even more (4).

But devastating winds are not the only threat from hurricanes. In August 2017 Hurricane Harvey (5) came ashore in Texas and promptly deposited more than 40 inches of rain in the Houston area and more than 60 inches in Nederland, TX.

Catastrophic flooding followed, more than 100 people lost their lives, power was out for weeks in some locations, while property damage was estimated at $125 billion. The Texas Department of Public Safety reported that 185,000 homes were damaged and 9,000 completely destroyed.

So while it’s understandable that some would dismiss the hysterical, end of the world reporting that typically accompanies any tropical storm, you do so at your own risk. Because even if 4 out of 5 hurricanes turn out to be little more than a windy day at the shore, the 5th could send your community back to the stone age. (more…)

By Rich Chambers, ago

Hardtack: What it is and How to Make It

When Columbus set sail in 1492 hoping to find a short cut to the Orient by going west his vessels were stocked with, among other things, cheese, honey, raisins, rice, garlic, beans, salt-pork, anchovies, sardines and an early version of what became known as hardtack. Without this “sea biscuit” as it was called at the time, chances are many in Columbus’ crew would have died of starvation before they stumbled ashore in what is today the Bahama’s.

In the centuries since Columbus hardtack only increased in popularity, especially among the world’s armed forces. In fact, a version of hardtack was being issued to Japanese and Korean soldiers late in the 20th century, and word has it the Russian army still includes it in some ration kits.

If you plan on heading into the wild on a hunting or hiking adventure you might want to bring some hardtack with you. If you get lost, snowed in or otherwise stranded for a prolonged period of time hardtack could be the difference between life and death. And, of course, should the apocalypse descend upon us and civil order break down, having a generous supply of hardtack and vitamins on hand could ensure your survival, while others are scouring through trash cans to find scraps. (more…)

By Rich Chambers, ago

Using a Tactical Flashlight as a Self-Defense Tool

The world has not been this polarized since the 1980s. Today, any sense of accommodation and camaraderie is a distant memory. You either agree with someone or you’re the moral equivalent of Hitler. Combine that with economic turmoil caused by lockdowns, widespread rioting, police departments being gutted by defunding, and vaccine mandates and things are tense to say the least.

In such an environment the average person needs a dependable way to defend themselves if they are beset in a dark parking garage or if they get caught in the middle of a looting mob (1) emboldened by the adoption of no-bail systems in various states (2). Enter the tactical flashlight. (more…)

By Rich Chambers, ago