For the past few weeks, I have been busy completing the final revisions and material such as the bibliography for my latest book: Could You Survive?: 13 Deadly Scenarios and How Others Got Out Alive. This is now complete and is in my publisher's hands for the final layout and production. It is still scheduled for publication in February and I will post updates regarding the availability of it here. I think many readers of Bug Out Survival will find the book entertaining and informative, but it is also aimed at the armchair reader who simply enjoys reading about how people have gotten out of some incredibly tight spots.
Many of my readers here and readers of my book, Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It's Too Late, have expressed an interest in more detailed information regarding the material presented in Part One of that book. Since my primary goal in Bug Out was to present an overview of the many possibilities for bug out locations in the Lower 48 states, the material in Part One necessarily had to be condensed to fit into the format of a 300-page book while still allowing me to cover the locations in the eight regions detailed in Part Two.
To address this I have now signed a contract for another book that will be a follow-up to Bug Out and will expand on one particular part of Part One. I will announce the specific details of the contents at a later date. I will say that it covers one aspect of preparation that is lots of fun and I am really looking forward to writing it. In addition, there may be a third related book in the works beyond that, which will allow me to greatly expand on certain aspects of survival preparedness that are usually overlooked.
For the success of Bug Out, I am grateful to all the readers who have purchased the book and the many reviewers who have given it favorable mention on various blogs, websites, and on Amazon. Bug Out has sold out of its first print run and my publisher has ordered more. If you are looking for it, there are still many copies in various stores and online retailers and more are on the way if your favorite retailer is temporarily sold out.
I've posted here before about one of my favorite methods of cooking or boiling water using an open fire - the simple green sapling tripod support. This was also described and illustrated in my book, Bug Out.
Since I find the method so useful in that it allows you to carry nothing but one simple metal pot in the bug-out bag, I thought I would give you a better look at it in this video below. I plan to do more video demonstrations of various techniques and reviews of gear in the future, and will soon have some better equipment for this. If you can overlook the poor video quality of this footage, perhaps you can still benefit from the method. When I get set up with a better camera, I'll probably shoot this again in more favorable lighting and replace it here. This was done on a creek bank here in south Mississippi.
This method of cooking is well worth trying on your next overnight stay in the woods. I've been using it for over 20 years myself, since first seeing it done by some native coconut growers in a remote coastal area of the Dominican Republic. And although I say that one pot is all you need for the bug out bag, it also works as well when you're better equipped with skillets, coffee pot, etc. I've cooked many hundreds of pancakes this way and it's easy to regulate the heat by adjusting the amount of fuel you feed into the small fire.
Whether considering a rifle for the bug out bag or for other purposes, I have a strong preference for short, handy carbines, and few rifles can meet that description better than the Winchester Model 1894 Trapper. I've owned one chambered in .30-.30 in the past, but my current favorite is this one in .357 Magnum. This is the pistol caliber carbine I mentioned in Bug Out that goes along so well with a revolver chambered for the same round. While I would still choose a compact .22 if I could only take one firearm for wilderness survival purposes, if at all possible, this handy little levergun will go along as well.
This slim lever-action rifle carries easily in the field, with or without a sling, and weighing only 6 lbs., it would be no great burden considering it's capabilities. The .357 Magnum version is more than adequate for deer at reasonable ranges and can do the job for protection against dangerous animals, although I would choose the .44 Magnum or .30-.30 version if I were in big bear country. The nice thing about the .357 Magnum is that it can also handle .38 Specials for smaller game and cheap plinking. The only hitch with these rifles chambered in pistol caliber is that you have to experiment a bit with different brands of ammunition to find the ones that feed reliably. This was never an issue with the .30-.30 I had.
Here, you can see just how compact this rifle really is, with an overall length of just 34 and a quarter inches.
Here it is compared to a Saiga AK-47 with an ACE folding stock. Overall length is very similar, but the AK is much bulkier and heavier. Of course they have different purposes, but there is some crossover in the utility of each. The Winchester is more refined in every way, with regards to fit and finish and within it's effective range it is more accurate, making it more suitable for survival hunting. I love how quick it is to handle and how it comes to the shoulder and points naturally. The AK is more of a beast, but with a whole lot more firepower potential with its 30-round mags, of course. The Trapper in .357 Magnum holds 9 rounds in the tube plus one in the chamber. In .30-.30, this capacity is reduced to 5 in the tube. But, one thing nice about a lever gun is that you can top off the magazine at any time between the shooting, adding rounds as soon as they are expended. In a modern combat role, the lever action rifle that won the West is sometimes referred to as a "CAR" (Cowboy Assault Rifle)!
The Trapper version of this Winchester is short enough to fit in some large backpacks fully assembled. I used to carry my .30-.30 that way, with the butt down and just a couple of inches of barrel protruding from under the backpack flap on my large external frame pack. I would simply put a nylon tent pole bag over the end and when hiking in places where I might encounter some park ranger or game warden, they would never guess I had a rifle in there. But if you really want to make it disappear, you can remove one screw and slide the butt stock right off, as shown below. This leaves the longest part at 24 inches. So many of the best bug out firearms options break down to 24 inches that I would never consider a backpack that didn't have a 24-inch deep compartment to be a valid choice for a serious bug out bag.
Keep in mind that this rifle was not intended to be taken down this way and I wouldn't do it all the time. For bugging out purposes all you would have to do is break it down once to pack it and then put it together once you're out in the boonies. By threading the screw back into the receiver you won't lose anything and you can carefully wrap and pad the receiver with spare clothing in the bag. This is the same concept as packing the Ruger 10/22 the way I described it in a previous post.
Here is another view of the Trapper and the AK, with the Trapper broken down and the AK's stock folded and magazine removed. The AK is still bulkier, but it has the advantage that it can be fired in the folded position if necessary.
Now for the bad news. Winchester stopped production on the Trapper several years ago, so what was once a $300 rifle has now soared in value as a collector's item. I found the one pictured on Gun Broker last year in brand new condition for a reasonable price. I've seen them going for as much as $1K, but if you look around, you might come across a used one at a gun show or in a pawn shop. Other options that are similar and still in production are the Rossi Model 1892 and the Puma. Marlin has also made limited runs of their lever carbines with a 16-inch barrel.
To explore the possibilities of the lever-action rifle as an alternative to semi-automatics like the AK-47 and the AR-15, I highly recommend you visit Gabe Suarez' Warrior Talk Forums. Although Gabe is a guru of the modern AK-47 in a combat role, there is a sub-forum on Warrior Talk called "Fighting Lever Guns" that any fan of these rifles will find of interest, as there is lots of discussion on calibers and makes, as well as applicable tactics. Gabe is also offering classes on gunfighting with lever guns. See below:
. This is now complete and is in my publisher's hands for the final layout and production. It is still scheduled for publication in February and I will post updates regarding the availability of it here. I think many readers of Bug Out Survival will find the book entertaining and informative, but it is also aimed at the armchair reader who simply enjoys reading about how people have gotten out of some incredibly tight spots. 
