Best products from r/Survivalist

One thing you'll want to do for that type of store is keep an eye out for product close-outs, discontinued products, inventory clearances and that sort of thing. Auctions too. If you have the opportunity to get items that your market base would want at clearance prices, even if you can't keep them in stock, it's a good idea.

For advice on specific items to stock, separate from the above advice, I would advocate for Four Sevens for flashlights: they have excellent quality products - they keep up to date with the latest production CREE LED emitters.

Hmm, what else... paracord, obviously, every military surplus type store needs paracord - get quality cord: mil-c-5040h type iii is milspec standard. There are a bunch of manufacturers of '550 cord' but mil-c-5040h type iii is something you want to be able to have labeled on your cord.

CR-123a batteries are another good item to stock. Search around online for the best bulk deals - well, you know the drill.

Various types of tape: 1000-mile-an-hour tape, Gorilla brand duct tape, Self-fusing silicone tape - these are all excellent products and go well with your market.

Look through other suppliers in the same & similar line of business: check out CountyComm, LA Police Gear, Cheaper Than Dirt... there are a bunch of them.

Edit: oh, products to stay away from (only one came to mind right now but I'll update if/when I find more): These Kind of 'ration bars' - please never buy or sell this crap: the only thing good is the quality of the packaging. These 'ration bars' should never be relied upon for emergency nutrition: all they are is cookie bars, nothing else, empty calories with no vitamins/minerals/nutrients - your typical Power Bar that you can get at any supermarket has far, far more nutritional value.

I don't know much about it to be honest. I bought some back in October, I think it was, and I use a teaspoon in my protein shakes now and then and it's still good, from what I can tell, nine months on. I've nearly run out now though. It's the seeds that have most of the protein in which need to be dried to be turned into a ground-up nutrient rich powder anyway so if they do need to be dried for next planting, the process would probably be similar (apart from the grinding). It probably wouldn't hurt to buy a small tub, open it, shut it again (to remove the factory sealing) and leave it out in the shed for a winter or two, just to see what becomes of it. I'm not sure how you'd test protein levels chemically but if it's not rancid or looking any different, I'd say it's probably alright.

I've just checked the container of this one I got last October and the 'best before' is Aug 2014. So they're saying, once opened, it'll be good for just under a year. That's probably them being conservative too. I don't know what the drop-off rate would be. It could be 90% as nutritious another year later, or 10%. If we could find that out, just having a big tub, factory sealed and professionally processed, would probably be a good thing to have stashed away in case. I bought the small tub (500g) but I reckon the larger one (2.5kg) would last a man a year (or three if rationed to survival levels).

Here's the one I got: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Hemp-Protein-Powder-Natural/dp/B003VJKT94/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

If you, or anyone else reading, finds out additional info on this stuff, I'll add it to the main post.

Don't know if you are still looking, for I had the same quest and came up with a few things.
Razor Comb This is the only razor comb I've found that uses the same DE blades as everything else out there. There are also numerous ones that take "shaper" blades, such as
this , this, or this. Also there are plastic like this. As mentioned previously the only one with moving blades is the Bressant which I am sure works fine, but probably easier for a second party to operate. There are a lot of patants out there for exactly what I would like to see, but there doesn't seem to be any products of that type, with an adjustable standoff/guard or set of standoff's that just holds a razor. Both Playtex and Barber King produced a a very similar product, back in the day, both of which can be found on eBay, and especially the Playtex ones in really good condition. However both of them take custom blades. They look very similar to the same double edge blades used everywhere else, but of course, their not quite and standard blades won't fit.

hope some of that helps

I totally agree with this book it is excellent especially with the hunting and trapping. For other things I also have When Technology Fails it had everything i needed including things that you don't exactly need to use for the end of time. It includes things such as at home water distillation as well as useful ways for farming with small plots of land. It also has a huge section on insulation and home design. One of the best buys I saw!

Ever hear of the book "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond? Yeah, skip it and get this book: "The Birth of Plenty" by William Bernstein.

The latter does a much better job of answering the same questions, summed up as "why have some societies survived and thrived and others haven't?" Bernstein nails it.

TL;DR: four factors.

1. Property Rights (otherwise why bother innovating if nothing you create is protected from infringement, or if the government can just come in and annex anything they want?)
   
   
2. Scientific Rationalism (antithesis of religious dominance; question everything without fear of religious persecution)
   
   
3. Capital markets (so money can be used to grow businesses and be a credible medium of exchange)
   
   
4. Effective communications & distribution infrastructure (so ideas and goods can flow)

I've had great success with the Gregory Baltoro 75. It is good for 3-5 day hikes and ~$220 on Amazon. REI will sell it to you for $350 (before sales tax).

• jumper cables
  
  
• tire plug kit with reamer and plug tool
  
  
• roadside flares
  
  
• extra jacket, hat and gloves
  
  
• spare shoes (depending on season, might be boots, sandals, sneaks, whatever)
  
  
• NOLs basecamp 1st aid kit equivalent
  
  
• leather work gloves
  
  
• Victorinox Rescue tool
  
  
• Safety glasses (tinted doubles as sunglasses)
  
  
• Sven Folding saw
  
  
• CS shovel
  
  
• camp hatchet
  
  
• roll toilet paper in gallon ziploc bag
  
  
• puck style axe sharpener
  
  
• extra garbage bags
  
  
• assorted zip ties
  
  
• 50' 3/8" rope
  
  
• rachet tiedowns
  
  
• assorted bungie cords
  
  
• 8'x 10' tarp (need to replace)
  
  
• wool army blanket
  
  
• waiter's friend corkscrew ( cuz the stinking expensive Vic Rescue tool doesn't have this important function!)
  
  

I couldn't agree more on having something like paracord. I also wrap about 6 feet of duct tape on itself (so its small). However, on the paracord issue I have found something that I think is better.

this stuff is great and lighter and its also much thinner and more concealable for traps and boundary warnings.

Did you know that if you eat asparagus and pee in the water, fish will be attracted to it.

not going to argue about the tablet (much better IMO for reading on) as for the storage issue 1TB SSDs are a thing, and will fit in a chromebook.

What worries me most is how much more likely you are to damage a tablet than a laptop and how are you going to power it? I cant think of anything that would need more processing power for day to day living (doesn't mean there isn't anything). and 16 gigs of storage (stock in most chromebooks AFAIK) even if half of that is saved for the OS is a lot of books (even non-OCR PDFs)

Ultimately it will boil down to personal preference and use case, just books? i have a 1st gen nook that is nigh indestructible (ok i need to replace the eink, but that was deliberate.)

need some pictures and video, and maybe have some semi reliable infrastructure? tablet would be a better bet,

making your own infrastructure? that will be a laptop.

Edit: a few words.

TL;DR: depends on what you want it for

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VRKWQK?vs=1 this is my current bag I have 2 1 for my B.O.B the other for backpacking love it recommend black for gray man or olive green

I've never used one, but WikiReader seems like an interesting product. With everyone being able to just pull up live Wiki pages from your phone, there isn't much market for this little guy, but when SHTF, being able to use AAA batteries and not having to rely on a network connection would be pluses in my book.

I don't think you can use your own SD cards though. They sell yearly updated cards (about $20), but they may be using one of the already available offline wikipedia downloaders/formatters.

You have 'hooks and fishing line' in food then 'needle and thread' in medical. Couldn't 'hook and line' do the same thing here? (It's a non-issue for me because I'd pass out if I tried to give myself stitches) So the one addition that I've added to every pack I have, the BoB, the car, the truck, hunting packs, etc. is Quickclot. That and duct tape will have to suffice for me in place of stitches.

Edit: This TraumaPack may be better. I use this one when I want to carry as little as possible.

You shouldn't rely on that Camelbak device, I've seen anecdotal reports that the don't actually do much of anything to sterilize water.

Not only that, but you can get the Sawyer Mini for about $20. It will filter 100,000 gallons, can be used in all sorts of ways instead of just a bottle, is more compact than a bottle, and actually works.

And you don't have to charge it.

Get something like an Anker battery pack, then you can do away with the solar charger and the camelbak bottle.

I would have a P-38 or P-51 military style can opener. They are small, and can also be used as a small blade or box cutter in case of emergency. I keep one on key ring. I also have this tiny flashlight which you could make smaller by removing the clip that hooks to a keychain. It is tiny and bright. A universal handcuff key, a tiny firesteel you can scrape with the P-38 can opener, and a tiny compass. Those are nice places to start.

It wouldn't hurt to have a small emergency food stash in some back corner. Here's something that's fairly self-contained. This type of thing is good for people who wait until the day before a hurricane hits to go out to the grocery store.

SAS Survival Handbook I just found out there is a 3rd edition as of Nov 2014. I just ordered the new one (linked).