On January 31, 1616, Cape Horn was rounded for the first time by a Dutch expedition led by Jacques Le Maire and Willem Corneliszoon Schouten. They named Cape Hoorn after Schouten’s hometown.
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The Last Day! In honor of the birthday of John Moses Browning (January 23rd, 1855), we are running a 10-day sale at Elk Creek Company [1]. This January sale is always our biggest sale of the year. These discounts range from 10% to 40%. All of our gun and knife inventory has been deeply reduced until midnight, Pacific Time today (Friday, January 31st, 2025.) Don’t miss out on these Birthday Week sale prices! Update: I just squeezed in one more piece of new inventory before the end of the sale: A rare original “US”-marked Hale & Tuller Percussion Underhammer Pistol [2] made in the late 1830s. This 187+ year-old pistol is in remarkable good condition, for its age.
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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest
Today we present the final entry for Round 116 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 Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” [6] variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
- American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) [7] is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses [8]. Their course catalog now includes their latest Survival Gunsmithing course [9].
- HSM Ammunition [10] in Montana is providing a $250 gift certificate. The certificate can be used for any of their products.
Second Prize:
- A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
- Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord [11] (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
- A Laptop EMP Shield and a Smartphone Faraday Bag (a combined value of $200), courtesy of MobileSecSolutions.com [12].
- Two sets of [13]The Civil Defense Manual, [14] (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
- 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 gun purchasing privacy!
Third Prize:
- A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters [15] (a $305 value),
- Three sets each [16] 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 $200 credit from Military Surplus LLC [17] that can be applied to purchase and/or shipping costs for any of their in-stock merchandise, including full mil-spec ammo cans, Rothco clothing and field gear, backpacks, optics, compact solar panels, first aid kits, and more.
- A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company [1], toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.
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More than $935,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics [18]. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 117 begins tomorrow, so get busy writing and e-mail [19] 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.