The best resource for preppers, outdoorsmen, and survivalists.

Best Female Body Armor (Buyer’s Guide) 2022 Update

Body armor has saved the lives of countless individuals over the past several decades, but hard plate body armor, the type designed to stop rifle rounds, has one glaring shortcoming: buxom women need not apply.

In order to be effective, hard plate armor needs to be flat, but rigid flat plates do not work well for women with large breasts. But there is hope. Some manufacturers are pouring time and resources into designing plate carriers specifically for women, and we feature several below.

However, female plate armor design has still not caught up, meaning there are not yet hard plates designed specifically to harmonize with larger breasts. That said, women with more modest sized breasts should be able to find plate carriers and hard plates that will serve them well. Below, we present 4 of the best female plate carriers. ...

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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. ...

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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. ...

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How to Use a Compass

With so many digital miracles at our fingertips a lot of people have lost track of time-tested analog skills that could save their life if the power ever went out or the battery on their smartphone died. GPS, for example, is a great thing but it relies entirely on electricity, and access to electricity is not guaranteed.

Hikers, hunters and frankly just about anyone else who enjoys getting away from it all from time to time would do well to develop their compass and map reading skills. Because, no matter how much you paid for your smartphone it’s nothing more than an expensive paperweight when the battery dies.

Below we’re going to go over the fine points of how to use a compass, beginning with an introductory overview of the compass and its component parts. ...

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