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Monday, January 16, 2012

III SHTF Firearms

UPDATE: I made this point in the comments, but I'll reiterate it here as well.  This project will not be a for-profit venture for my wife's publishing house.  Just like III to Liberty, all proceeds from this book will be plowed back into the 527 to advance our political goals.  Every writer who contributes will get a free copy, of course.  I hope our bloggers who contribute will also advertise it for sale on their blogs. 

Fundraising for our Movement can only go so far if we only look to one another for cash.

If we produce a product that appeals to a wider audience, we accomplish several goals at once.  We will raise money for our Movement, we'll find natural allies and grow our network of Patriots.

I've had sufficient positive response to the concept of publishing a SHTF book that we are going to move forward right away.  For those of you who reached out in email, the answer is yes: You may publish your piece under a pseudonym.

Here is the theme of the articles to submit: In a sudden SHTF event (not TEOTWAWKI) you will reach for a longarm and one of more handguns, and one or more blades.  Build your article around those items (any of them or all of them - for instance, you don't need to write about your knife if you'd rather just write about your favorite rifle). 

Write your article in your own voice.  There is no need to try to write like the guys in G&A - I'd rather have our "flavor", as it will be more genuine and sincere.  Write about your weapons realistically - list the things you like, the things you don't like, the pros and cons.  We aren't trying to brown-nose a bunch of manufacturers, our goal is to present honest information to other people who may be looking for a weapon on which they can bet their lives.

Pictures: Make sure you get some.  I don't care if you simply lean your rifle up against a tree, or you stage a shot with your wife or kids, or you pose in full ghillie - just do your thing.  The only requirement is technical: The images you take must be as hi-res as possible.  Cheapie cellphone images won't get it done - we won't be able to run them in print.  Now, I have a Verizon Droid that takes images that are good enough for print.  Rule of thumb: If your image is at least 1MB, you are good.  More MB = better and bigger in print.  Just about any digital camera will do a good job.

Get some pics on or from the range, show some targets with your handiwork.  Show the attachments that you like.  Show your drag bags if you want.  This is your presentation - just be sure to convey useful info to readers. 

I don't care what you shoot - SKS, AK, Nagants, full-throttle black rifles, Barrett .50's, it doesn't matter.  Talk about your favorite loads.  Talk about what feeds in your piece and what it doesn't like to chew.

My wife has plenty of contacts in the media/marketing departments of many manufacturers, so we can get images from them, as well.  We also have editors, so don't sweat it if you think your writing skills aren't up to being published. 

Target length should be 600-1000 words.  But that is ONLY a rough rule of thumb.  Write your piece in as many words as you need, and the editors can chop it if needed. 

Remember: This project is about weapons selection and performance.  Don't get into detailed tactics, politics, analysis of 4GW, et cetera.  Let's keep it on the weapons from a III perspective, so we can talk to NRA-types in a language that they understand.

Email your work to me: Kerodin@Kerodin.com

Let's get started right away, folks.  The sooner we get this in print, the sooner we can start reaping the benefits.

Kerodin
III

13 comments:

  1. Wonder if mountain guerrilla would submit some? Lot of good stuff lately from him, as you know.

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  2. I'd consider it. What kind of time frame are we discussing? Between work, family, training, gym,teaching, and now the blog, it might take me two weeks or so to get something I'd be willing to submit.
    NousDefions,
    John Mosby
    P.S. Brock, thanks for the recommendation!

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  3. John, if I can get final copy by March 4 (Sunday) we'd be in good shape for being in print by the end of March.

    I'll also be reaching out to all of our bloggers personally - this will be a great way to advance our Movement without hitting our wallets.

    Readers/Commentors - I only have a handful of your email addresses, so my call to you will have to be through the website. Please participate in this project. I don't care if you don't think you can write, that isn't the point. Be creative - take your wife or girlfriend to the range and snap some pics while teaching, then write a few paragraphs about the day. Take a daughter or son and let them graduate to one of the guns that is currently off-limits. This project is about real people talking to other real people about 2A.

    By the way - this will NOT be a for-profit project for my wife's publishing house. This will be just like III for Liberty, proceeds will get plowed back into the 527 to meet our political goals.

    Kerodin
    III

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  4. I'm your Huckleberry...

    I kick out a few for you, time permitting.

    Might not use a screen pseudonym though. ;-)

    AP

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  5. Kerodin,
    That's more than achievable. I've got some ideas I've been kicking through my head since I read the idea on how to approach it, from my POV...I'll get the text out to you in a week or two, and photos by 4MAR12.
    My email is NousDefionsRanger@yahoo.com

    NousDefions!
    John Mosby

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  6. Thanks both AP & John. I know you'll both bring great contributions to this project.

    AP - any chance we'll get a review opf that AR Pistol, too? ;)

    K

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    Replies
    1. I've been wondering about how that piece turned out as well. How about it, AO?

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  7. I thought about it and couldn't find a single instance of firearm not already reviewed ad infinitum.
    I just don't see the reason and must be missing something.

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  8. Yep. Haven't shot it yet, but it sure is pretty!

    That'll change though. ;-)

    It sorta "evolved" as I went, and now is quite different than what I had originally envisioned. Quite the ruckus tool though, I'd say...

    AP

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  9. Rhodes: I'm wide open to suggestions. What I am looking for is an activity in which we can all participate, that does not cost anything out of wallet, and results in a product that has market-value beyond our small community, ideally that market-appeal will reach hard and heavy into the general NRA-type gun community (where many of our natural allies should reside).

    That's how I came up with a SHTF firearm publication. 99% of everyone reading our blogs has firearms, knows enough about them to convey responsible knowledge, and can write.

    Reviews would only be part of the publication. Another portion would be an annual catalog of offerings from manufacturers (like a digest). A few more odds and ends would round it out.

    Here's what we offer that gun magazines don't: Honesty. Has anyone wondered why most gun magazines only have a cover and (at most) a few pages of glossy color paper and the rest is newsprint? It's because the gun magazines have raised brown-nosing the manufacturers to an art-form.

    Most gun magazines are only interested in covering the sexiest new toys that manufacturers are pimping this quarter. Many of our guys shoot older rifles and handguns that don't get much play in "mainstream" gun mags. Additionally, our guys have been shooting the same weapons for many years, in many cases. Our guys know where the warts are and can report them, where mainstream mags won't.

    Will it work? Will we create something that has any commercial appeal to folks outside of our community?

    Beats me. But it is a very low-cost attempt, and I'll be covering that low cost up front.

    If it works, we could find a few folks who are III.

    But, I am wide open to suggestions, folks. Raising enough money from our community for a radio buy is going to take a while. Selling shirts, patches, et cetera isn't a money-making enterprise - we basically cover costs and a few dollars gets added to the general fund.

    We need something commercial that gets us in mainstream discussions, if we are to harvest new III folks from the masses.

    K

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  10. Possibly focus the 'reviews' on practical application?

    Demonstrate practical accuracy out to 500M or so. No bench time pictures or results. Divisions between 'general purpose' (defined as a piece that can do most things very well, some things well, and a few things ok) and 'special purpose' (defined as a piece that do a few things very, very well, and most things just ok, and a few things, not so well or at all).

    How does it carry all day long? How does it do as a sleeping partner? How do you secure it to your person when you're resting?

    How well does it eat whatever it's given?

    How well does it hold up without cleaning/oiling, etc (foul weather, winter, hot summer)?

    Description of practical 'armorer's kits' to carry (spare parts) for field expedient "depot level" maintenanace, as it were?

    Can you use it as a club and still shoot it later (ie, is it strong enough to take extreme abuse and still function)?

    The importance of see through bases when using optics; quick detach rings when optics break, etc.

    Tips to mitigate platform 'down time' due to maintenance.

    Or are you looking to go in a different direction?

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  11. Trainer: Absolutely.

    The focus on the book is that some SHTF event forces you to grab your go bag, your primary rifle/pistol/knife and head out the door.

    What are your choices, and why?

    Bench testing is very boring, and every "Professional Gun Journalist" relies on the cookie cutter routine to write non-offensive pieces of pablum.

    What I'd like to convey to readers is that you chose your particular combination of pieces to keep you and your family alive, and you chose carefully. Look at the list of considerations Trainer added. Then expand further or in other directions - whatever. If you are an AR Platform guy, drop that pretty piece in the creek as it runs muddy after a storm, then pick it up and run a mag through it. You may even learn something...

    Use your imaginations, test your gear and test what you think you know about your gear.

    Kerodin
    III

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