Today marks the birthday of Eli Whitney, (1765–1825) the inventor of the labor-saving cotton gin, several firearms, and dozens of other mechanical devices. He was the first to demonstrate the advantages of fully interchangeable parts, in firearms manufacture.
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A reminder: Our biggest sale of the year at Elk Creek Company [1] ends on Saturday (December 11, 2021.) Oh, and I just added this recently-arrived gem to our online store: Rare Spanish Contract Loewe Mauser M1893 Cavalry Carbine. [2]
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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest
Today we present another entry for Round 98 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest [3]. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
- The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon [4]. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
- A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course [5] (a $1,095 value),
- A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses [6], excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
- Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees [7] in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
- A $250 gift certificate good for any product [8] from Sunflower Ammo,
- American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses [9].
- Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, [10] (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
Second Prize:
- A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
- A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 [11] Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
- Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord [12] (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
- A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company [1], toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!
Third Prize:
- Three sets each [13] of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
- A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of [14] Directive 21 (a $275 value),
- Two Super Survival Pack seed collections [15], a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
- A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company [1], toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.
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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 98 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail [16] us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.