American Survival Guide Magazine

[good2btheking70]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if anyone knew what ever happened to this real popular magazine. I used to be an avid reader of this magazine and stumbled on some old out of print copies of this. But you know, being somewhat of a beginner prepper this magazine would be great for preppers today.
Anyways, I tried out my google-fu and for some reason cant seem to find anywhere a reference to how or when and why this magazine isnt being distributed anymore. Did any of you ever subscribe to this?
Well any info on this magazine would be good as I cant find nothing on it anywhere. There is no customer service number no where to email or even snail mail to. I used to buy this all the time back in the '80s and early '90s.
Anyways please share any information you might have as I have also checked my local Barnes&Nobles magazinr rack and even checked Borders magazine racks and nothing. Does anyone out there know what ever happened to this magazine? Man, these magazines would be awesome to get a hold of especially nowadays.

Thanks...

[TacAir]

Oddly, back in the day I wrote for the magazine.

The old man died (owner) and in true Chinese fashion, his daughter took over. She and Jim (Benson) didn't see eye to eye.

NO guns on cover! NO guns inside - we're making this a family camping magazine!

Since 80% of the sales were from the news stand - no guns meant no sales. The content was pretty pathetic at the end,no doubt due to owner meddling. That killed the rest of sales and most of the subscriptions.
No sales meant no magazine.

Jim went on line at Modern Survival Magazine (ModernSurvival.net)
but that net address throws an error, so I suspect the whole thing is kaput.

Jim was (is - if still alive) a nice guy and a great editor - he paid on time, unlike many periodicals. Flexible in content - within the guidelines.

Shame, but magazines come and so all the time. His attempt at web subscriptions was ahead of its time...

[HalfElf]

In addition to the founders death, Y2K caused a lot of the publications in this genre to collapse. The public blamed ASG, and the others for creating a mass panic about nothing, similar to blaming Orson Wells for the Radio Theater version of War Of The Worlds and the panic that ensued. I still have my wenger swiss army knife gotten as a resubscribe bonus in the mid 90's, keep it for the cork screw.

[landser]

Well then you must surely remeber Peter Alan Kasler who also wrote for that magazine, and jim is a great guy last I talked to jim he was trying to do online subscriptions and offered I think 100 bucks per article.
Sadly I must tell you if you didn't know Peter died he was my neighbor in Redbluff and at the time he had been working for the Tehama county sherrifs dept under former Sheriff Rob Heard. Peter was a huge proponet for the Glock and using ghost ring sites. Unfortunately when Rob heard was voted out Clay Parker the drunk became Sherrif and went around revoking everyones CCW issued by Rob He even revoked Peters( Peter was a deputy and the legal advisor for the sherrifs dept and had been for years). impounded Peters car and arrested peter for his dog not having a liscense Peter refused to go get his car fearing Clay parker had planted drugs on it or some other thing as attempt to get revenge and incarcerate him.
Peter literaly died of a broken heart he was a great writer patriot and advocate for the citizen at large He wrote extensively that police forces were only auxillery to citizens during a crisis or a crime and that the citizen should be respected and allowed to exercise his judgement and make arrests. Heavy sigh.... good men good magazine to bad that brat tried to turn it into tree hugging foofoo crap. have to give a nod to Chris Nyerges too.

[SIX20]

Sadly I must tell you if you didn't know Peter died he was my neighbor in Redbluff and at the time he had been working for the Tehama county sherrifs dept under former Sheriff Rob Heard.

Are you still in Redbluff?? I was born and raised in the Cottonwood/Anderson area
I live in Las Vegas now, but my entire family still lives up there.

[Spamity Calamity]

Man, that brings back memories. I remember in 96 being sixteen and reading that magazine in highschool before class would start. I bet a kid couldnt even get away with that these days....

[Illini Warrior]

if you liked the old American Survival Guide..... try out Survivalist .... about a year old now .... getting better with each issue ..... http://www.survivalist.com

[NoAm]

I checked ebay and they have several copies up for bid/purchase.

[landser]

No I don't live in california anymore I still have a few family members around but sadly the last two years 7 that lived in Redbluff, Chico and Redding have passed away I just have an uncle up there now and a niece just moved back. I left during the SKS gun bans and knew the 50 bmg ban was comming down the pipe I went to a more friendly gun state. Its become a waste land of meth manufaturers and growers from what all my friends tell me anyway the meth was bad when I left and aparently still is.

[SavageArcher]

if you liked the old American Survival Guide..... try out Survivalist .... about a year old now .... getting better with each issue ..... http://www.survivalist.com

Thanks for the link on that one. I currently get Self Reliance Illustrated and Survival Quarterly Magazine along with Backwoodsman. You can never have too much information.

[Bubba Enfield]

I was an avid reader in the '90s. It was just what I needed until I got internet access.

[liberty45]

I actually have a small pile of them sitting next to me right now from 1996.

[mr_slappy75]

This post has brought back the memories. My first exposure to this publication was as a teen back in the mid 80’s in Panamá.
I can still recall knowledge learned from articles that I read almost 30 years ago: How to properly fillet and plank roast fish –and why you want to remove as much of the fatty tissue as possible-, how to harvest and then make cord or bowstrings out of sinew, how to set up a condensation water harvesting system. Homebuilt multi-stage water filtration systems, homemade charcoal kiln, knife sharpening 101, basic farm animal care and selection, basic vegetable garden tending and crop selection.

The first time I really learned –and understood- the principles of land navigation was thru this ASG, not the Boy Scouts…the list goes on: ‘Running as a survival skill’, “toxicity of scorpions and other arachnids”, “Conifers as food sources: pine leaf tea, inner pine bark and pine nuts”.
Reviews on gear like the “Lifeknife” line of products, grain mills and food dehydrators, emergency/preparedness kits; Do you remember the feature article on “Lifesphere” (or was it ‘Lifeegg’) prefab, buriable disaster shelters? Others on crank radios or disposable flashlights? All those food storage reviews?

Also ASG’s tack on addressing firearms when compared with other magazines of the era was wholly different: Not only to educate on the principles of home/personal defense or hunting for sustenance but to speak of the most practical nuts-and-bolts no nonsense approach to building ones collection and the value of surplus .mil weapons. Hell to this day I regret not winning that Feather Industries AT-22 (and a couple of years later AT-9) when they had the giveaway.

TacAir there is a pretty good chance that I have read and probably still recall information from your articles; thanks for helping me start out! Also thanks for being here so I can thank you and that we can all share in your continuing contributions.

Landser, I am sorry for your loss, especially for the fate of Mr. Kasler, someone who contributed that much to our community and was an upstanding citizen and LEO did not deserve such disrespect and prosecution, I hope those who wronged him and his legacy will get Karmic balance back in spades.

To the OP I do believe that one evening not long ago when my Googlefoo was particularly strong I found a source for the digitized copies –sans advertisements- for ASG.

Illiwarrior, I am going to check out your site, thanks for posting it. Particularly stoked b/c you are a local ZSer and Lord knows our state needs as many homegrown businesses as we can get.

[JägerZ]

Yep, read ASG all through the late 80's into the 90's, had a subscription till if folded.
Now I read Backwoods Home and Backwoodsman mags.

[good2btheking70]

Wow, this was a great post to post up then. I had a subscription for ASG a few times and since posting this originally, I now have the ones I could still find all stacked up nice and neatly. As for all of you that responded thanks a million. Yeah, I was one of the "nerds" reading this magazine in class in the last '80s and to be honest, I learned how to do land navigation also through this magazine amongst other skills I learned.

I am glad someone pointed out to me and was kind enough to post the link to the Survivalist magazine site. For those that haven't read through that site, highly recommend it and I even put my new yearly subscription in. I doubt I'll be able to hide em from the wife....lol. She still thinks I am a nut over all this prepping stuff but oh well, I love her all the same.

Thanks a million guys....keep this thread going...

BTW...anyone know if the Survivalist website will allow ordering of any back issues, I ordered the re-print of the first magazine but looks like issues #2 and #3 are sold out...

[Gunwriter]

I wrote for ASG back in the day too.

Jim is a great guy and still around. I spoke to him not too long ago
about a project. I hope to see him back in the game sometime
in the future.....

It was a great magazine until the new owner killed it off.......

[Illini Warrior]

if anyone wants downloadable copies of American Survival Guide .... most copies from 1985 thru 1992 are available at ..... www.stevespages.com/page7e.htm ....

PLEASE OBSERVE STEVE"S RULES ABOUT LIMITING THE USE OF THE BANDWIDTH .... HE COULD USE A DONATION FROM TIME TO TIME

[Badger24]

My favorite magazine of all time, until they changed the name and turned into a family camping type magazine, Modern Survival if I recall.

[mr_slappy75]

if anyone wants downloadable copies of American Survival Guide .... most copies from 1985 thru 1992 are available at ..... http://www.stevespages.com/page7e.htm ....

PLEASE OBSERVE STEVE"S RULES ABOUT LIMITING THE USE OF THE BANDWIDTH .... HE COULD USE A DONATION FROM TIME TO TIME

Than you I-W! I promise I'll drop by this and your site this weekend as well, just been crazy busy. Take care

[Ulf]

Does anyone remember "Practical Survival" - it was published by the SOF group and existed for about 2 years - 1990-92 - IIRC.

It was chocked full of DIY and How-To articles.

I sent in money for a subscription but, never got a mag delivered - so I bought on newsstands.

Unfortunately, that collection is long-lost.

-Ulf

[Heard88]

Well then you must surely remeber Peter Alan Kasler who also wrote for that magazine, and jim is a great guy last I talked to jim he was trying to do online subscriptions and offered I think 100 bucks per article.
Sadly I must tell you if you didn't know Peter died he was my neighbor in Redbluff and at the time he had been working for the Tehama county sherrifs dept under former Sheriff Rob Heard. Peter was a huge proponet for the Glock and using ghost ring sites. Unfortunately when Rob heard was voted out Clay Parker the drunk became Sherrif and went around revoking everyones CCW issued by Rob He even revoked Peters( Peter was a deputy and the legal advisor for the sherrifs dept and had been for years). impounded Peters car and arrested peter for his dog not having a liscense Peter refused to go get his car fearing Clay parker had planted drugs on it or some other thing as attempt to get revenge and incarcerate him.
Peter literaly died of a broken heart he was a great writer patriot and advocate for the citizen at large He wrote extensively that police forces were only auxillery to citizens during a crisis or a crime and that the citizen should be respected and allowed to exercise his judgement and make arrests. Heavy sigh.... good men good magazine to bad that brat tried to turn it into tree hugging foofoo crap. have to give a nod to Chris Nyerges too.

Sheriff Heard is my dad. Parker is pathetic and his face gets redder with each passing drunken day.

[Darksword]

I loved ASG. I stumbled onto it on the shelves at my local Hastings back in the early 90's. I still remember the first issue I ever read, it was the one with the "Urban Warrior" AR-15 on the cover, with the Beta-C magazine. I remember articles on prebuilt bomb shelters made of fiberglass that you could just plop in a hole in your yard and be ready to go. It was my favourite magazine for several years. I remember lamenting when it disappeared, and only learned a couple years ago as to what had happened to it.

We need more magazines of that quality. A little less "survive in teh woodz with fishing line and your own doodoo!" and a little more urban survival and getting stuff real.

[tc556guy]

if anyone wants downloadable copies of American Survival Guide .... most copies from 1985 thru 1992 are available at ..... http://www.stevespages.com/page7e.htm ....

PLEASE OBSERVE STEVE"S RULES ABOUT LIMITING THE USE OF THE BANDWIDTH .... HE COULD USE A DONATION FROM TIME TO TIME

Thats good to know. I was about to scan all of my old issues in for my own use.

Somehow I missed that part of steves pages

[Dirty Bob]

I wrote for them also! I submitted articles on homemade stoves, a homemade bucksaw, building a "commuter kit" (get home bag, vs. BoB), and the first review that I know of of James Wesley, Rawles' TEOTWAWKI (later published as Patriots).

Later, I wrote gun articles when the magazine was online.

Tacair's account is right on. I remember Jim Benson's frustration regarding the changes. No guns on the cover was a death knell for the magazine.

Regards,
Dirty Bob Grundman