Weekend Reading #77

Some longer or more involved reading:

•  Jon Low has posted his mid-month Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter. A few points I found especially notable:

    First, Jon has some comments regarding an article I had linked to about trigger control, which I will repeat in full (the original in regular type and Jon's comments in italics):

     ". . . I don’t think exact digit placement matters so long as you can pull the trigger straight back with each shot."  

[I disagree.  Consistency is accuracy.  The center of the trigger should be in the center of your fingerprint.  Everyone has a whorl, loop, or arch fingerprint on the pad of their trigger finger.  The center of the trigger should be on the center of your fingerprint.  If your trigger is not in the correct position for this to allow you to press the trigger straight to the rear, get a gunsmith to move the trigger for you.  Yes, as a matter of fact, a competent gunsmith can move the trigger on any pistol.  (Moving the trigger position on 1911's is especially easy by replacing the trigger.)  
-- Jon Low ]   

I think there is a bit more nuance to this issue. It has long been recognized that while the center of the pad works the best for firearms with a lighter trigger, the distal crease (i.e., the crease at the first joint of the finger closest to the tip) is best for heavy trigger pulls such as you will get when shooting double action. Massad Ayoob calls this the "power crease". This is why I prefer a smooth trigger face on double-action triggers. 

    A second item that stuck out to me were some comments Jon had quoted from Gabe Suarez about striking versus takedown/ground fighting in a street fight. Suarez's comments were in response to a piece from Pete Blair at Tactical Science arguing that police should use take downs because they present better to witnesses or a jury; and Suarez taking the position that in fights on the street, take downs are too dangerous because of the environment or the possibility of the suspect stabbing or cutting you while you are tied up with him on the ground. Jon agreed with Suarez, writing: "I agree with Gabe.  Don't grapple.  You will pick up all kinds of nasty diseases, fleas, lice, feces, urine, and such.  They will bite you.  They will scratch you.  (Yes, it happened to me when I was working in the hospital emergency rooms.)  Strike and twist to disengage.  Separate and weaponize." I've been told and read the same from other sources as well. Leaving out the chance of your opponent having a weapon, the street or sidewalk or parking lot is not the same as the practice mats at a dojo: a street fight presents a hard surface with curbs, rocks and other debris (possibly broken glass or other debris that will cut), with only the Lord knows what else. And if you assailant has buddies, going to the ground leaves you at risk of being kicked or stomped by them. 

    Third, Jon links to a short video that I think is important for everyone, but especially for women, older men, and boys, on fighting against someone that has you in a grip (for instance, grabbing your jacket or shirt or grabbing one of your arms). Jon summarizes and comments:

     Don't fight the grip, fight the face [gouge eyes, finger through the ears into the brain (Oh yes, your finger is long enough to reach his brain, if you are a petite woman your fingers are thin enough to get through his ear canal.  And if you've got long sharp glued on finger nails, well . . .  Can't imagine yourself doing that to a human?  Well, I can assure you that he can imagine raping and sodomizing you, and will.  So decide.), or cup your hands and clap over his ears to break his ear drums with air pressure].  Don't wait for him to hit you.  Strike first.   

    Finally, Jon comments about a video Massad Ayoob recently posted about speeding up your pistol reloads, where Ayoob recommended using the slide release instead of pulling back on the slide (the sling-shot method) to release the slide. Jon raises a good point:

     I disagree.  The reason you MUST rack the slide instead of hitting the slide stop, is because the slide might not be locked back.  You must always use techniques that work in all conditions, not just the pristine conditions of your air conditioned indoor range.   

I can affirm Jon's reasoning, albeit from a slightly different factual pattern. I had been invited by a friend to go to a shooting match and, since I didn't have a handgun suitable for such matches at the time, my friend let me use a 1911-style 9mm he had. Up to that point, I generally used the slide release; but the problem I quickly discovered when I did my first reload was that I couldn't quite reach the slide release with my thumb, so I had to resort to the sling shot method (and thank goodness I had enough experience I could make the shift smoothly and quickly). I think the advantage of doing it the same way each time outweighs the marginal time savings from using the slide release--especially if you find yourself, like me, under time constraints and suddenly discovering that using the slide release is not a viable option. 

    Jon has a lot more, so be sure to check the whole thing out.

• It's the weekend, so that means that Greg Ellifritz has another Active Response Training Weekend Knowledge Dump.  Lots of good stuff this week, so it has been hard to pare it down to a handful that particularly stick out. But here goes:
• I've grown to like some of the African hunting stories, but Greg links to one that is a bit unusual: an African hunting guide that used a MAC-10 submachine gun to deal with a large troop of baboons that had killed a village child and otherwise become a dangerous nuisance. 
• An article with good advice for concealed carry shooters entitled "Top 6 Things Every Concealed Carry Holder Should Know." Because there is much more to concealed carry than just knowing how to draw and shoot your handgun.
• But you need to be able to shoot accurately when it comes down to it as the tale of the mad dog illustrates. 
• A detailed article on getting appendix carry to work for men (or women, for that matter) with big bellies. 
• A good article explaining the difference between competition shooting and tactical/combat training. Key bit: "Tactical training isn't trying to win a match. It's trying to solve a lethal-force problem while minimizing unnecessary risk to yourself and others. A doorway on a competition stage is simply part of the course design. A doorway in a hostile structure may be a fatal funnel requiring an entirely different solution." However, if you don't care about winning a competition, you can approach it from a more combat oriented perspective.
• A detailed article from Swift Silent Deadly on putting together a more realistic bug-out bag. 
• A piece from Off Grid on the many uses for a triangular bandage. 

• And now for something completely different: "How Did the Tesla Roadster Fly? Here’s How It Works"--Motor Trend. From the lede:

The most staggering technology introduced on the new Tesla Roadster is a propulsion system pulled directly from SpaceX—the rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence company also owned by Elon Musk. In the Roadster shown at the event, four metal nozzles sit just above the rear bumper and look for all the world like the exhaust tips on your standard supercar (think C8 Corvette but spread farther apart). But this is an EV, so those pipes are not venting exhaust gases, but high-pressure air, primarily nitrogen, that’s stored in a massive black spherical tank that sits behind the roadster’s two front seats. The ball is a composite-overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV), and it’s connected by two pipes that feed the four nozzles, which function as cold gas thrusters (CGT).

• "Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter Is The Archetype The Right Must Embrace To Counter Left Wing Nihilism And Degeneracy"--Fandom Pulse. Not the character presented in the Disney movie, of course, but from Burroughs' novels. An excerpt:

    John Carter is a chivalric ideal, a man who embodies all the masculine virtues in their perfect Aristotelian mean—or at least comes close to it. He embodies duty but not weakness. He embodies strength but not cruelty. He embodies adventure but not recklessness. To put it bluntly, John Carter is a masculine hero in the truest sense of those words.

    He’s a man who knows what he wants and takes after it with every ounce of his being. He does not shirk from battle; in fact, he’s a fighting man. Battle is in his blood, and he’s called to it as his vocation. He’s a leader of men, at all times honorable and fair. He’s the kind of man who can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. You’d rather have no one else by your side and rather anyone else against you. John Carter embodies the archetype of the king, which I would argue is completely lost on the world today. 

    When was the last time you saw a man portrayed so favorably on television? When was the last time you saw a man like John Carter?

    Because I can tell you this, it certainly wasn’t in the John Carter movie.

    Now I don’t want to rag too harshly on this movie as he does still become the hero. But it does illustrate the trend media took over the 20th century. Our culture swung from strong men being strong men, to weak men becoming strong men, and finally to weak men being weak men. You can see this everywhere, even in Peter Jackson’s acclaimed Lord of the Rings movies. Aragorn is not a reluctant hero in the books. He doesn’t second guess himself. But for some reason, such a thing was incomprehensible to audiences (or rather Hollywood writers) in 2001. And it has only gotten far worse from there.

    You can visibly detect how masculinity has been increasingly portrayed more tragically as time goes on. When men are not outright evil, they’re to be demeaned as the fundamentally lesser of the two sexes. It is always the man who is less capable, less aware, less actualized. If the man is loving, he must also be bumbling and weak. 

[snip]

    Dissident literature, if it is to stand against Leftwing art, it must be uplifting to the soul—and especially to this masculine spirit. The heroic must awaken in men again. And while this does not mean all men are called to be warriors, all men are called to be as virtuous as John Carter, and as a man, to live life with that same vitality in whichever vocation he is called to. 

Read the whole thing. 

VIDEO: Old School Street Fighting Techniques

Techniques of distraction, deception, and surprise--things to look for, or perhaps even use.  

 VIDEO: "7 OLD-SCHOOL Street Fight Tricks That Still Work"
Fight SCIENCE (6 min.)

Tommy Moore: "Fight Like Your Grandad"

 A video teaching WWII style combatives.  

 VIDEO: "Fight Like Your Grandad DVD"
Tommy Moore: Bartitsu Lab, Boxing & Gutterfighting (1 hr. 47 min.)

VIDEO: 3 Basic Elbow Shields

Some basic methods of protecting your face and head. 

 VIDEO: "3 Basic Elbow Shields"
Kevin Secours (2 min.)

VIDEO: 4 Signs You're About To Get Hit

 Fight Science with some pre-attack indicators--specifically, signs you are about to clobbered. 

 VIDEO: "These 4 SIGNS Mean You're About to Get HIT"
Fight SCIENCE (6 min.)

VIDEO: Why Use The Palm Strike

Two main reasons: (i) you are less likely to injure your hands; and (ii) the open hand doesn't look aggressive which might work in your favor when claiming self-defense. 

 VIDEO: "Why I Stopped Punching (and why you should too)"
Old Guy Dojo (6 min.)

Weekend Reading #50

 Some longer and more involved reading for weekend:

•  Jon Low has posted a new Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter. For those of you doing homeschooling or wanting additional resources for university/college courses, he begins by providing a link to OpenStax which has educational resources. Some additional items:
• He includes an email from Jeff L. Gonzales on situations you might encounter if you are caught up in an active shooter situation and valid responses to each. 
• Some points from Joe Shahoud on why you need indoor cameras in addition to or before investing in outdoor security cameras for your home. It all comes down to better quality images, more likely to capture the criminals' face, and better information on what the criminals took from your house.
• Some words of advice for armed defenders: "It's really important to obey the instructions of Law Enforcement Officers.  It's really important to never reach for a gun while being questioned by LEOs.  It really important to never point a gun at LEOs."
• If you have an opportunity to work on or improve your church's security, Jon has linked to several articles on the issue (a few are grouped together, but there are also others in different parts of the newsletter so do a word search for "church"). He also includes articles on how the Jewish community has organized volunteer defense forces for synagogues and schools. We have admitted too many Muslims willing to engage in violence and persecution; the Left is becoming more violent. We've seen trans killers target Christian schools. The persecution will only get worse. 
• Jon includes the following quote from Massad Ayoob: "Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario." Absolutes are rarely correct all of the time. Point shooting was taught and practiced for a long time because most handguns had poor sights that were slow and hard to use in the daytime, let alone in the dark. But it took a lot of training and practice to be any good at much more than arm's reach. We have much better sights (or even red dots now) so it much better to use those sights. Nevertheless, we can't assume that just because shooters in the past did something different from today that they were being stupid about it. 
• I'm not the only with some critique of some points made by Ayood, because Jon explains why Ayood is wrong about the "crush grip" on a handgun: basically, that most people don't have sufficient grip strength or endurance to use a crushing grip. Jon states that shooters "must push with the firing side hand and pull with the support side hand.  This means, they must use the Chapman modification of the Weaver position, because you can't get this push pull effect with the isosceles position." Ayoob selected the isosceles stance because it was easy to teach to police officers. It also has the advantage of centering body armor toward a potential threat. But as noted, it has its issues. My opinion on the "crush grip" is that it is mostly needed when a firearm doesn't fit your hand very well and so you must make up for the poor fit by an excessively strong grip. It was the solution to my issues with my Glock 43X and is probably the reason why Glocks have a reputation for shooting low and to the left for right handed shooters. The interchangeable backstraps can help if your Glock has that option. But it is the reason that I detest handguns with a straight backstrap--they don't fit my hands.  
• Another good tip:

     Farnam teaches to turn around in a circle when scanning.  After some study and experimentation, I have concluded that this technique is in fact better than the quick check that we learned at Front Sight, which was to turn to the right until you can see behind yourself and then turn to the left until you can see behind yourself without moving your feet.  Because if you have limited range of motion, you can miss several azimuthal degrees behind you.  You may have limited range of motion and not know it, especially in high stress situations.  

     Rotating in a circle ensures you can see all the way around yourself.  Though it does require you to move your feet.   

 I'm okay with moving the feet. Being rooted to one spot can get you killed. 

•  An a link to "LVNR (Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint)" by John Farnam. Basically, how to choke out someone. 
• And on the same topic of unarmed defense, Jon has summarized comments in an lengthy email from  Tim Larkin on quickly disabling an opponent.

There is a lot more, so check it out.  

•  Next up, Greg Ellifritz at Active Response Training has a new "Weekend Knowledge Dump". Some notable links:
• "how to tell if men will attack you on the street." This is by a woman who Ellifritz describes as " a social scientist, researcher, and sex worker" where she lists some things she looks for to gauge whether the area where she is walking is generally safe. This is obviously directed toward women readers, but the points she raises are generally applicable to men as well.
• "Turn Practice Into Performance: A Practical Guide to Shot Timers." A guide to how to use a shot timer as part of your practice and training.
• Speaking of practice: "Your practice is producing rehearsal actors, not competitors." As Greg notes, this article is intended for sports generally but has application to shooting. Basically, it warns of building skill in practicing a drill because the drill does not necessarily transfer to real life (in the context of the article, an actual game meet or tournament; but in our context, a defensive encounter on the street). It has tips on improving your practice. 
• "INTEGRATED COMBATIVES | Why You Should Always Bring a Knife to a Gunfight." An article about ... you guessed it ... integrating knives into your defensive gun training. 
• "What is the Perfect Height Red Dot Mount?" Some advice on how high to mount an optic if you are primarily going to be shooting offhand (i.e., standing) or if using night vision goggles.  
• "Organized Street Crime in Plain Sight". This is a piece by a guy who ran down a thief who had broken the window of an SUV to steal some stuff. A good way to get stabbed, but the author lucked out. He chased the thief down and recovered the property. The 911 operator told him to let the guy go, so he did so, but still trailed the thief to see what happened. The next bit I found interesting:

... But we kept following from a distance so we could continue updating 911 with his location. And once I was no longer right on top of him, the thief stopped sprinting and started operating. That is the part most people do not understand. People imagine smash-and-grabs as chaotic, impulsive crimes, one desperate guy, one reckless decision, one lucky escape. What I witnessed was not chaos. It was choreography. He took off his shoes. Took off his shirt. Cut his jeans into shorts. Within thirty seconds, he looked like a different person. That is not panic. That is a practiced move. That is someone who has done this enough times to have a system.

But that is where things started to get dicey because the thief was not working alone: an enforcer showed up and threatened the author and his friend and told them to stop following; moments later, two seemingly homeless people threw a blanket over the thief; then after calling 911 again to give an update, two other people showed up and attacked them and tried to knock the phone out of their hands; and when the thief suddenly started running again, 5 people surrounded him in order for him to blend in. It reminds me of a similar incident several years ago in Seattle with a guy similarly trying to run down a thief who had stolen a laptop from a car and had a similar series of people intervene and interfere until the thief finally hopped into a vehicle and was whisked away. 

 There is more, so read the whole thing. 

VIDEO: Hat Weight--Turning Your Hat Into A Weapon

If you wear a ball cap, trucker's cap, or similar, with an open band in the back for adjusting the hat size, this might be something you can use. It is a weight that fits over the adjustment band allowing the hat to be used somewhat like a sap or slungshot.  

 VIDEO: "Government hates this, it's a hat weight"
CarryTrainer (4 min.)

Gun & Prepping News #71

 Just some gun and prepping related links that I thought interesting or useful:

• "Essential Pieces of Gear to Bring to the Range"--Guns & Ammo.  An excerpt:

If you have a giant range bag, then it’s going to get filled. I learned quickly that it’s not nearly as efficient to keep every piece of range gear I like in one bag. My range time goes smoother when I bring a small bag with exactly what I need. With a huge bag, I waste time looking for and reorganizing gear. Most of what I carry fits within a Storm Range Bag I sourced from Full Forge Gear. It doesn’t have more pockets than I need, and the pockets it does have are rarely used. Large bags hold a lot more, but contents get jumbled in the middle due to the soft base. The best feature of the Storm Range Bag is the hard bottom shell, preventing the bag from sagging in the middle. There may be no wrong answer when deciding on a useful range bag, but a hard base makes a difference. Full Forge Gear’s Storm Range Bag supports my needs to test firearms, including several pounds of ammo. The bottom has yet to collapse from the weight.  

• "Kit and Gear Selection Part 1: Choosing the Right Tool for the Job"--The Firearm Blog. Advice on selecting gear for a mission. For instance: 

    ... The infantry standard across most modern militaries has come out to 7 mags. In my time conducting direct action or hostage rescue missions (training or real), I can say I never needed that much ammunition for direct action. In most CQB (close quarters battle), I would rarely go past 2 AR15 magazines. Part of the reason for this is training to have first-round hits, shooting only at a perceived target (this requires discipline and experience); there is no endless supply of bad guys, and speed is security at this point.

    In the realm of short-duration missions, what can a civilian or LEO expect? For a police officer, you will have civil unrest with riots, active shooter(s), and warrants. The historical data with all three is limited to timeframes, and most of the individuals are not a direct threat, so kinetic engagements are highly limited. For the civilian, it's going to primarily be home defense. You may hear something in the early AM, maybe you are defending property, or patrolling your homestead and farm. Regardless, both will likely have limited engagements. In countless cases, when rounds are exchanged on the two-way range, engagements are short-duration and historical data shows the threat normally retreats. 

• "What Is the Best Suppressor for 45 ACP?"--The Truth About Guns.  The article begins with a discussion of why the .45 ACP is so easy to suppress, with the author noting that:

At subsonic velocities right out of the box, .45 ACP is one of the most naturally suppressor-friendly handgun cartridges ever developed. You don’t need special ammo. You don’t need to worry about breaking the sound barrier. You just thread on a can, press the trigger, and enjoy the kind of quiet shooting most calibers can only dream about.   

  

The article then discusses some specific suppressors. 

• "Off-Body Carry for Women"--The Truth About Guns. Rather than discuss the concept generally, the author focuses on some specific products she has used: the 5.11 Tactical LVC6 Waist Pack;  Gun Tote’n Mamas Crossbody Mail Pouch Concealed Carry Bag; Phoenix Ukoala Bag; Zendira The Friday Concealed Carry Crossbody; and the Vertx Everyday Fanny Pack 2.0.
• "The Role of the Pocket Pistol"--American Rifleman.  Jeff Gonzales begins:

 I’ve carried a pocket pistol for years, but rarely as my primary defensive tool. For me, it’s always been more of a backup—the kind of firearm that lives quietly in the margins of a daily carry system, present but never the centerpiece. It’s there for when the fight is closer than comfort, when my strong hand is tied up or when my primary handgun is no longer an option.

He then goes on to set out his own pointers and advice for selecting a pocket pistol and addresses some downsides or complications with shooting and carrying a pocket pistol. 

    I would add a few caveats to the article. First, although the photographs accompanying the article show someone drawing from the strong side front pocket, the author's experience mostly relates to carrying a pocket pistol in the back pocket--something that is probably pretty rare among those who pocket carry. 

    Second, the author states that "Even in the best-case scenario, a pocket draw will almost always be slower than a strong-side IWB holster draw." That is true if you are running a BUG match. But one of the advantages of pocket carry is that if find yourself in sketchy situation you can unobtrusively put your hand in your pocket and get ready to draw the handgun. In that case, the pocket draw can be faster than many other methods of carry. 

     Third, the whole point of pocket carry is to have a weapon small and light enough to carry in the pocket. The author recommends a pistol in 9mm, but because of the pressures involved and the size of the cartridge, 9mm pistols are tend to be larger and heavier than .380 pistols. Thus, even the smallest 9mm pistols tend to be on the margin of being too large for pocket carry and may be too large for your needs. For instance, I often see the Sig P365 and Glock 43X described as pocket pistols, but they are not unless you have some truly capacious pockets. 

• "3 Drills With The Glock 43x"--Primer Peak. The three drills are: (i) the Vickers Test; (ii) the Low-High Reload; and (iii) the Bill Drill. The author describes the drills so you can do them yourself (as well as describing his results) and includes a link to a PDF of the B8 target that you will use in the Vickers Test.
• "We Tested Six Hunting Rifles From 100 Years Ago"--Guns & Ammo. Notwithstanding the title, this is more of a review of firearms developments in the early 20th Century and an overview of rifles and cartridges representative of what would have been popular in the mid-1920s for deer hunting. I suspect that the "testing" part was probably omitted from this online article but could be found in the print edition. 
• And on the topic of old firearm designs: "Cimarron Model 3 American Top Break Reviewed"--Guns America. This is Cimarron's take on the Smith & Wesson Model 3 American top-break revolver, with the author also including some history on the particular firearm. Being top-break makes it far faster to unload than a Colt SAA and quit a bit faster to reload. 

The Cimarron version is produced by Uberti to Cimarron’s specs and is a very close replica of the original, except for a few new elements. New to the Cimarron American is the ability to fire .45 Long Colt. Originals were cambered in .44 Henry Rimfire, .44-40, .32-44, .38-44, and .45 Schofield, all shorter cartridges. The modernized Cimarron version also incorporates a hammer block safety. Pull the hammer back until you hear the first click, and a steel insert moves between the hammer and the frame to prevent the gun from accidentally firing if dropped. 

•  "Gun Disarms: It’s Not Over Just Because You Said Its Over"-- Schafer's Self-Defense Corner. An excerpt:

       I was training with another instructor years back and he wanted to show me his favorite disarming technique (the one where you slap the gun and his wrist to make the gun fly across the room).  I held the gun out for him several times while he demonstrated and then he asked me to try to shoot him before he moved and sure enough he was so fast he disarmed me every time.  I then asked him if we could go a turn where I acted like a real criminal; after he said he was ready I stepped in between his legs, grabbed him by the throat with my left hand, pressed the gun into his left temple, drove him backwards and screamed “GIVE ME YOUR…(you can probably guess)!” 

         Needless to say not only was he not able to do the technique but he nearly defecated himself.  Static training where you just stand there is all fine and dandy but a criminal just doesn’t appear out of thin air ready to shoot you if you breathe wrong; something always leads up to it and happens after it.  It also doesn’t teach you to deal with what I call the “Oh Shit Factor” where your brain suddenly falls out your butt when surprised with sudden violence.  

         Sure, the criminal may be standing there just holding out the gun and not moving, it happens all the time; but he also might be pushing, punching, choking, or grabbing you with his free hand while he screams and the gun could be held back, shoved right in your eyes, or who knows what else.  The point is after you have the technique down you should simulate a real robbery while you have to do your disarming technique in that fast and dynamic situation.     

• "Best Backpacking Gun?"--Active Response Training.  Ellifritz states that he uses an 8-shot Smith and Wesson model 317 .22 revolver. His choice is based on the fact that the area he backpacks lacks large predators, is remote enough not to worry about human predators, the revolver is lightweight and reliable, and he can use it to signal for help or take out snakes or small game ... and, if necessary, it is accurate enough for him to put all 8 rounds into an attacker's head. 

The gun holds eight shots, is essentially immune to cold or wet weather, and weighs 12 ounces when loaded.  Carrying three spare Quick Strips loaded with 10 rounds each of CCI’s excellent Velocitor ammunition gives me 38 rounds of ammunition in a package that weighs about a pound.  It’s ideal for my backpacking needs.

He has two methods of carrying:  the Wilderness Products Safepacker holster which he describes as "a quick access padded belt holster that looks like an unassuming pouch." But he also a clip draw (a metal clip that attaches to the frame) for when he is not wearing his pack. 

    I also have a 317 that I load up with Federal Punch in .22LR. But after trying a belt holster which I didn't like very well, I switched to pocket carry. The issue is finding a holster that works as my pocket holster for a snubby .38 was not quite deep enough the 317 which has a 3-inch barrel. I wound up purchasing a Barsony Woodland Green Pocket Holster ($19 on Amazon) which comes in a variety of sizes, including for 3" S&W J-frame revolvers. The holster is not as good as a DeSantis Nemesis pocket holster--the fabric is a little thin and the hammer catches a bit--but it works and with practice I was able to get around the issue with the hammer catching. I went with it because I could not find a DeSantis holster of the correct size. 

• "Land Navigation Skills and Techniques" (Part 1) (Part 2)--Badlands Fieldcraft. Part 1 goes over both major and some minor terrain features, and for each showing a photograph of how it appears to the eye and showing a corresponding look at how it is presented on a topographic map. Part 2 discusses some techniques on how to plot routes and know where you once you are in the field, plus a method for determining the location of a structure or feature not show on a map so you can relay the coordinates to someone. 
• More: "Junk On The Bunk: Land Navigation Kit"--Badlands Fieldcraft. 
• "Pimp your Bic for survival use"--Survival Common Sense. Some simple modifications to make your Bic (or similar disposable butane lighter) more useful for survival or camping. 
• "How To Grow A Survival Garden FAST"--Urban Survival Site.

There are many methods in which to grow a garden, such as traditional use of the available land, hydroponics, aquaponics, raised beds, and container gardening. All of these options are fine but for the purpose of this article, we are going to be focusing on raised beds and container gardening. This is because they provide the best overall benefit for beginners wanting to start a garden quickly. 

•  "Death and Burial" (Part 1) (Part 2)--Blue Collar Prepping. In a serious SHTF even, it is possible that no everyone is going to make it and you might have to dispose of a body (or bodies) yourself for reasons of health and hygiene. Part 1 discusses the physical disposal of the body. As the author writes:

     If it appears that “normal” life will resume within a week, your main concern will be how to store the deceased until you can get them to a morgue, mortuary, or coroner's office. If the weather is cold, below freezing, a body can be stored in an unheated building or vehicle until the temperature gets above freezing. If the weather is above freezing you have a limited amount of time before the body starts to decompose, temporary burial may be an option. The amount of time varies roughly with the temperature, along with the condition of the corpse and how they died. If it is warm or hot outside and the person died of a bacterial infection, the body can start to putrefy in as little as twelve hours. More on this in Part 2.

    If your situation is likely to last more than several days, you're going to need to consider how to dispose of the body. Embalming is probably not going to be an option- it requires some pretty nasty chemicals and dedicated facilities - so we're going to want to look into the funeral practices of more primitive times and places. Without freezing or embalming, corpses need to be dealt with rapidly to prevent the spread of diseases and to keep predators and vermin away from where you live. The options boil down to cremation, burial, or entombment. 

Part 2 discusses how to tell if someone is dead, how long they have been dead, and how to handle a dead body. As an aside, I would note that Cody Lundin's book When All Hell Breaks Loose also discusses the topic of storage and disposal of dead bodies, including some of the steps you may need to take to protect yourself legally when law and order return. 

• "Improvised First Aid Techniques for When You’re Caught Short"--My First Aid Course. It is pretty bare bones, but it has ideas for managing cuts and abrasions with improvised bandages; treating burns with cool water and plastic wraps; splinting with improvised materials; using a triangular bandage (or torn sheet); and some improvised transport techniques. 
• "Chemical Toilets for the Home – When the SHTF Good Sanitation is Vital!"--Alpha Survivalist. A quick overview of several portable toilets and then discussion how chemical toilets work and how to safely dispose of waste. 
• "Video: Survival lessons from the 1845 Meek’s Cutoff Wagon Trail through the Oregon desert"--Survival Common Sense.  An illustration of the well known maxim that a short cut is the longest distance between two points (and, in this case, the deadliest). 

World War II Hand-to-Hand And Knife Combat Training

When I was looking for videos on bayonet training I came across the three videos below on hand-to-hand combat and knife & club fighting:

 VIDEO: "U.S. NAVY WWII ERA TRAINING FILM HAND TO HAND COMBAT PART 1 & PART 2" -- PeriscopeFilm (31 min.)

 

 VIDEO: "US Navy Training Film 'Hand to Hand Combat' (Part 3/3) 1942"
Baltimore Academy of Defence (16 min.)

 VIDEO: " “CLUB AND KNIFE FIGHTING” WWII U.S. MARINE CORPS BASIC TRAINING HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING FILM" -- PeriscopeFilm (22 min.)