[kev]

My opinion after watching a lot of youtube videos - the people that "need" to be making videos, dont.

I have a good buddy - he was in the 82nd airborne, saw combat in the Persian Gulf conflict back in 1990 and 1991, can make a 1/2 group at 100 yards with a 300 Winchester magnum, did some training with Special Forces (he is not SF),,,,,, puts everything that I have ever done to shame - he needs to be making videos, but he doesn't.

When I watch a video on youtube, its grouped into 1 of several categories:
Thats a lousy try
Thats a nice try
Thats a good try
Tacticool
Thats a good video.

A lot of the videos that I see on youtube are not pointed towards a realistic, long term survival situation. Their more pointed towards survival in the woods, or some kind of zombie invasion.

A word on firearms and survival situations - my family and I evacuated for Hurricane Andrew, my family and I survived Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike - and not once did I have to use a firearm.

My personal opinion, firearms are a necessary evil, but they are way over rated. In my thread about the top 10 survival gear items, I did not even list firearms.

If you want to talk about realistic, lets talk about food production and safe drinking water. Lets talk about ways to cook without electricity, lets talk about ways to store food - not about how well a scope preforms at 200 yards.

I can see the valid roll of hunting if some kind of long term disaster happens, but that does not include how tacticool your AR-15 has to be. Last time I checked, that deer does not care if you have a vertical grip.

How many people making "survival" videos on youtube talked about growing a garden? How many took you from working the ground, to harvesting the results?

There are a lot of good people out there making good videos - I do not want to mention any names. And there are equally number of people selling tacticool as survival videos.

There is a big difference between tacticool and survival.

 

[TareanSmiley]

I agree wholeheartedly. Many of the advice video's I see on youtube make me giggle a little. Bugging out, a zombie invasion, "big bad gubmint!" are all less likely scenarios.

You are very likely to have fatal weather problems in your life time. An earthquake, hurricane, tornado, landslide, or drought. That alone is the primary reason I come to this web site. There other other important possibilities but they are less dramatic than many care to admit, such as crime waves and political instability.

Survival is serious business, not a 13yr old's beat off fantasy.

Case in point: Nutnfancy. Many people like him, I personally dislike his review with a passion. There is no reason a review of a knife should take 10 or 20 minutes. He likes hearing himself talk, and preaching his ideals onto other people. I personally avoid advice from people such as this. This whole "I'm a sheepdog, hear me bark! BARK!" thing is getting pretty lame.

 

[PAbackwoodsman]

I agree. I try to make them but i would love to see some kick ass videos...ones good enough that i'd want to buy them on DVD's

 

[Gardengear]

"A word on firearms and survival situations - my family and I evacuated for Hurricane Andrew, my family and I survived Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike - and not once did I have to use a firearm."

By the same token, in the 70's i was we lil tad not as tall as the remington .22 i carried when i ran the trap line. The fur brought money, the meat got ate. The traps did the bulk of the work, the .22 was for targets of opertunity, or to put down anything that was to scary for a lil kid (me) to club or throat cut. Bobcat, fox and coyote would scare the crap out of me, *****, posum, squirel and ring tails i had know problem clubing.

Rabits would get the throat cut to make a blood trail from area to the trap.

Nope a ar-15 was not used.

The .22 also kept the deer and rabits out of the garden.

I like some of the utube traps building vids. along with alot of the hobo fishing vids.

And agree with you not much on gardening or growing food, i am just as guility on that note, yet my canned food and garden does more for us than the hunting and fishing. Per pound of food vs. expence in time and cost, farming/ranching beats guns and glory hands down.

However I do have a few guns as i am not willing to spread the wealth so to speak with johnny dumb a** that failed to think about renewing his resources in the long term.

 

[Kroenen117]

just cant imagine any of us without a gun of some sort..

and guns are not evil, and are always necessary. did i step in on a Twilight zone episode?


opposite day?

 

[onemoreday]

Kev can correct me here if I misrepresent what he is saying but I am understanding him to say that guns are important, but just not in the top 10. Guns can definitely provide food for you on a daily basis if there is enough game around to do that but there is no guarantee of that. What is a better guarantee of food being available every day is food production and planting and harvesting. Can guns provide clean drinking water? Not that i know of. So in terms of long-term survival, guns are useful and will be necessary but are they the most important item to have and be adept at? Not necessarily.

 

[tmootu]

Thats why I want to downgrade my weapons collection. I have an AR15 I want to sell. I figure for what it is worth I could pick up my Mossberg 930 and a decent metal detector. I too, think that the AR's are great for zombies but, for real survival a good shotgun, rifle, and handgun will suffice.

 

[justin_baker]

I would say that the importance of a firearm really depends on the situation and where you live, but still agree that in some circumstances it is really overrated!
Still though, not owning a firearm for emergency purposes is irresponsible. You need to have the ability to defend yourself and not have to rely on anyone but yourself.

 

[BOBtheBUTCHER]

Sure theres a LOT of junk and bad advice on there but sometimes its entertainment.

Id also say once you watch a lot of videos and find something of quality you learn to ignore the junk and follow the real stuff.

You Tube is kind of like the real world as far as BS artists and real people.

 

[angeryamerican]

I agree to a degree with what Kev's saying. I too have an AR. It is very untacticool. Its a plain jane out of the box model. I have a small stock of ammo. I have only fired that weapon a few times. To sight it in, and just enough to keep my proficency up. I have enough of a background in shooting, that I dont need to runs thousands of rounds through it. With that said, it is, in my mind, a vital component of my preps. Because if comes time that you need it, its too damn late to try and get it.

But its only one component of my preps. Canned food, rice, dried beans, seeds, first aid stuffs, clothes, shoes, TP (dont forget the TO) and many, many other things are also just as a vital component. The thought that if you just have a rifle you can survive anything is foolish. But more important than all of those things is the mind set to survive. Because that is the one and only prep that you cant forget to pack or someone take from you. I put alot of effort into learning how to do things that I take for granted now, if I dont have all the luxeries of today.

 

[Andrew Jackson]

Alright, having also experienced many rough hurricanes including Opal which left my home and much of the town powerless for 3 weeks really just short term preps were all that was needed. Giant coolers also help (and are also great for when you go fishing : ). Obviously as much fresh water as you can get a hold of is great. Bottled water is fine for that situation and yes no guns needed.

The only reason to really have say a years worth of food or more AND lots of guns with a stockpike of ammo is for zombies (just to point out if you ha all those supplies and your house gets destroyed by a natural disaster what use are all those preps? The only alternative there is caching)! Or errr sorry the economic meltdown which is coming. Now here is were things get interesting.

As this Depression starts to get worse crime is going to go up immensely. As well, services are going to be cut back in both government (thank god at least one good thing!) and the private sector. Even a minor hurricane could result in power not coming on for over a month and a large hurricane taking out power and services for even longer. Then those guns might become important to deal with the real possibility of hungry looters with nothing to lose.

As for the benefit of a garden. Unless you live on a farm your most likely just a hobbyist. You may be able to grow some nice fruits and veggies but they are not your main sources of food which come from the grocery store just like everybody else. Sure it is nice to add veggies from your garden to your salad but I highly doubt anybody here eats exclusively from there own garden or at least has the ability to. As a supplemental though I think a garden is a great idea to stay full during the Depression as it worsens.

As for the AR15...I do NEED them. They are a hobby, and really most things about prepping are hobbys as well. It is a combination of hobbies. The basics, water, food, first aid, flash lights and batteries are pure essentials that we just use common sense and keep extras around. However, as you continue to learn skills and dwelve into different aspects of "prepping/survivalism" most really is just stuff you enjoy doing and learning about.

 

[PoorBoy]

I was a bit guilty of some of this (the battle stuff, not necessarily videos), or maybe I became a bit of a victim of all of the 7.62 vs 5.56 type stuff when I was so preocupied with a second civil war or people storming me to steal my stuff that I didn't even finish my garden this year. It was a fail on my part, but next year, I'm gonna put the MBR stuff on hold until I can actually have some food and water to defend. Live and learn.

 

[sendkeys]

When people start getting paid to make videos the quality will go up I dont like working for free. In most cases people will end up telling you how much your video sucks anyway lol

 

[nadja]

So true. I would say about 1/2 of the "survivalists" all over and not just here , seem to think surviving would be one gun fight after another. Always remember , if you look hard enough for it you may just find it.

 

[nadja]

Armchair commandos ! Yar Yar

 

[BuellerBueller]

I've seen a few errors that can get you in trouble:

One guy goes on and on about growing a survival garden and starts out with lettuce, cucumbers, spinach. That's nice AFTER you have your Proteins, Fats and Carbs worked out. Don't waste a minute of your time on that stuff until you do. You'll starve without macro nutrients.

Many "my bugout bag" videos - but how many people can really last any length of time in the wilderness and what will they find when they get there? Don't get me wrong, some can do it, but most people need to bug in and/or have a backup bug in location. Wilderness survival, even with equipment is a very tough skill to master.

That's all that comes to mind now.

 

[getFOODnow]

i love to watch survival videos on youtube. but i get turned off when I subscribe and then find that 90% of the persons videos are on guns or knives. I then unsub. cause it doesnt interst me. I live in Canada, am not allowed a gun, and so my survival interests are on food storage, gardening, raising rabbits etc. not guns or knives. IMO there arent enough videos on these subjects.

 

[Mic]

my family and I evacuated for Hurricane Andrew, my family and I survived Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike - and not once did I have to use a firearm.

I am going to be a voice of dissension here. It is great that you were able to evacuate and didn't have to use a firearm and in most hurricane situations I can see that being true. However, if you lived in New Orleans during Rita and didn't leave I think you might feel a little differently about the importance of firearms. The National Guard had looters shooting at them for goodness sakes as they tried to bring in supplies. The people who stayed to watch their property may indeed have had to take some shots at looters and dirt bags. It was pretty dicey in New Orleans for several days after that hurricane and a firearm for protection would have been VERY important in my opinion. Now to lend credence to your point obviously food and water and ways to clean water as well as medical supplies and such would have been critical as well, but I don't think in this case I could have said they were MORE important, equally important, yes.

My personal opinion, firearms are a necessary evil, but they are way over rated. In my thread about the top 10 survival gear items, I did not even list firearms.

I have to agree with the poster above, they aren't evil. They simply are. Weather they are used for evil depends on who is holding it. I read your top 10 list and agree that was an awesome list. However different threats require different lists. It is totally true that waaaaay too many survivalists talk too much about guns and when you hear they have 100 different firearms and 300,000 rounds of ammo and no food or water they do give most of us a bad name. After all how many guns can you reasonably use at any one time or even over a period of time. However my top 10 list would still have to include some type of firearm for protection and hunting.

Think about late 19th Century America and cowboys. They had a horse, food, water, canteen, knife, bedroll, basic cookware, pistol and rifle for personal defense. The pistol was for most protection needs, but sometimes you needed to hunt or reach out and touch someone at a distance. The bottom line the world was/is a dangerous place with dangerous people. I would have to say my top 10 things would, like the cowboy of yester-year, include a pistol and rifle.

 

[Raven]

Well, I hope what I'm about to say isn't misunderstood or taken the wrong way. But one's perspective or personal needs in reference to Survivalism can vary immensely from anothers.

Survivalism preparedness can range from a specific environmental influence (wilderness, desert, artic/cold, etc.) to circumstantial influences (natural disaster, socio-political/economic collapse, emp attack, zombies, in-laws at christmas, etc.).

A person who prepares for a natural disaster may not feel the need to go out and buy an NBC Mask or protective clothing. A person who prepares for a global food shortage may not have a priority for stocking ammo, or have a specific need to buy a combat LBE type rig. See where I'm going?

I've seen hundreds of videos on YouTube ranging from weapons systems to homemade bows & arrows, to simple basics such as water procurement to sealing mylar bags filled with beans & rice, to surviving floods, huricanes and earthquakes...

And just because someone has military experience, regardless of the depth of their training or the extent of their travels, doesn't mean they are an expert in Survivalism. Granted, they are well versed in the skill, and much better suited to dealing with such situations if and when the need arises, they are far from being experts.

I have several friends who remain active in the special forces. One from my old stomping grounds in Southern WV, who won the Silver Star for gallantry. Over the last 20 years he and a few others have had quite the fare hopping around the world, but I don't know that any would consider themselves, an expert in Survivalism.

Albeit, probably more so than 95% of us here on SB. I guess what I'm saying is, that even though most of the stuff you see on YouTube, or on-line as a whole, is most often people trying to find fame or notoriety via handicam, or someone trying to sell a product, or someone trying to push their political agenda, etc.

You can still pick up valuable informatiom by taking the time to weed through it looking for the gems. Even a bad YouTube review or vid beats the hell out of watching some mindless tv show.

If I want to know how to survive a natural disaster, I find those who have. And I listen. If I want to know how to survive a civil war, I listen to the experiences and lessons learned by those who have. Same with anything else; pick & choose.

As far as firearms are concerned, I can't imagine any Survival situation where I personally wouldn't want to have one. No, I don't need a belt fed xyz dehumanizer chambered in .50 cal with a 20x3000 night vision scope...

But something for protection and perhaps small game brings me a great of piece of mind. I look at it this way, if I need to bug out for a natural disaster, I'll pack a Ruger MKIII Hunter and a small-size auto in 9mm.

If I'm looking to fight a civil war I'll carry a machine gun or a long range weapons system.

If I'm going to a family reunion, I'll carry a .380 and a clip knife.

Adjust your gear to your needs...

 

[BOBtheBUTCHER]

Thats what I was trying to say Raven! you took the words right out of my mouth lol