Category: Note

May 23 is the birthday of gun designer George Lars Kellgren (born 1943 in Borås, Sweden), the founder and chief engineer of Kel-Tec. According to LeftistAgendaPedia: He designed many firearms earlier for Husqvarna and Swedish Interdynamics AB in Sweden. He moved to the US in 1979 and his original US designs were for Intratec and Grendel brand firearms. He founded Kel-Tec in 1991. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 94 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a …

The War of the Roses began on May 22, 1455. From History.com’s description: “In the opening battle of England’s War of the Roses, the Yorkists defeat King Henry VI’s Lancastrian forces at St. Albans, 20 miles northwest of London. Many Lancastrian nobles perished, including Edmund Beaufort, the duke of Somerset, and the king was forced to submit to the rule of his cousin, Richard of York. The dynastic struggle between the House of York, whose badge was a white rose, and the House of Lancaster, later associated with a red rose, would stretch on for 30 years. Both families, closely …

The last day! The Jeff Cooper’s Birthday Sale at Elk Creek Company ends at 6PM, Eastern Time, tonight!  The sale began on May 10th (Cooper’s birthday.) This is the time to round out your collection of pre-1899 Federally-exempt guns!  I’ve reduced the prices on more than half of my pre-1899 gun inventory, and all of my replica percussion-fired revolvers. — May 21st is the birthday of weapons designer John Douglas Pedersen. (Born 1881, died 1951.) His name is almost synonymous with the short-lived Pedersen Device — a conversion kit that turned a Model 1903 Springfield bolt action rifle into a …

May 20th, 1942 The birthday of Carlos Hathcock (died February 23, 1999.) He was a United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant sniper with a service record of 93 confirmed kills. — Our Jeff Cooper’s Birthday Sale at Elk Creek Company ends tomorrow!  The sale began on May 10th (Cooper’s birthday) and ends on May 21st, so order soon. This is the time to round out your collection of pre-1899 Federally-exempt guns!  I’ve reduced the prices on more than half of our pre-1899 gun inventory, and all of replica percussion-fired revolvers. — Happy birthday to my old pal, Brad C. SurvivalBlog …

On May 19, 1796, the first game law was approved in the United States. The law created penalties for hunting or destroying game within Indian Territory. Modern American fish and game laws make “living off the land” nearly impossible, outside of Alaska. — Today we present a guest article from a blog reader that is too short to be included in the judging for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. Round 94 of the contest ends in just 12 days (on May 31st), so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that …

May 18th, 1825 was the birthday of Daniel Baird Wesson (of Smith and Wesson fame). — On May 18th, 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington erupted, causing a massive avalanche and killing 57 people. Ash from the volcanic eruption fell as far away as Minnesota. Seismic activity at Mount St. Helens, which is 96 miles south of Seattle, began on March 16. A 4.2-magnitude tremor was recorded four days later and then, on March 23-24, there were 174 different recorded tremors. The first eruption occurred on March 27, when a 250-foot wide vent opened up on top of the mountain. …

A Reminder: We are running our Jeff Cooper’s Birthday Sale at Elk Creek Company. The sale began on May 10th (Cooper’s birthday) and ends on May 21st, 2021. Our inventory is diminishing, so order soon. This is the time to round out your collection of pre-1899 Federally-exempt guns!  I’ve reduced the prices on more than half of my pre-1899 gun inventory, and nearly all of my replica percussion-fired revolvers. — Today, we present a review by our Redoubtable Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.    

On this day in 1868, the U.S. Senate votes against impeaching President Andrew Johnson and acquits him of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors.” In February 1868, the House of Representatives charged Johnson with 11 articles of impeachment for vague “high crimes and misdemeanors”. (For comparison, in 1998, President Bill Clinton was charged with two articles of impeachment for obstruction of justice during an investigation into his inappropriate sexual behavior in the White House Oval Office. In 1974, Nixon faced three charges for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.) The main issue in Johnson’s trial was his staunch resistance to implementing …

Today is the birthday of Evelyn Ernest Owen (15 May 1915 – 1 April 1949) an Australian who developed the Owen submachine gun which was used by the Australian Army in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. On May 15th, 1942, gasoline rationing began in 17 Eastern states as an attempt to help the American war effort during World War II. The main concern behind the rationing scheme was conserving scarce imported rubber, rather than fuel. By the end of the year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ensured that mandatory gasoline rationing was in effect in …

On May 14th, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel, reestablishing the Jewish state after 2000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words “We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel,” prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first Prime Minister. The British Army had withdrawn the day earlier and fighting broke out almost immediately. Egypt launched an air assault later in the evening. Despite a blackout in Tel Aviv–and the …

May 13th is the birthday of firearms engineer Theodor Koch (born 1905, died 1976.) Koch, along with Edmund Heckler and Alex Seidel salvaged tooling from the bombed-out Mauser factory at Oberndorf, and with it founded Heckler und Koch. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 94 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can …

One hundred years ago this week, in May of 1921 a solar storm began, dubbed The Great Geomagnetic Storm of May 1921. These were some of the headlines: “Telegraph Service Prostrated, Comet Not to Blame” — declared the Los Angeles Times on May 15, 1921. “Electrical Disturbance is ‘Worst Ever Known’” — reported the Chicago Daily Tribune. “Sunspot credited with Rail Tie-up” — in The New York Times. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 94 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum …

On May 11, 1949, Israel was admitted into the United Nations. — Our Jeff Cooper’s Birthday Sale at Elk Creek Company is now underway, and will end on May 21st.  This is the time to round out your collection of pre-1899 Federally-exempt guns! — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 94 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three …

The Jeff Cooper’s Birthday Sale at Elk Creek Company begins today (May 10th, 2021), and ends on May 21st.  This is the time to round out your collection of pre-1899 Federally-exempt guns!  I’ve reduced the prices on more than half of my pre-1899 gun inventory, and all of my replica percussion-fired revolvers. — May 10th is the birthday of the late Col. Jeff Cooper (born 1920, died September 25, 2006). On May 10, 1972. Top Gun Graduate Randall “Duke” Cunningham and his backseater Wally “Irish” Driscoll shot down three MiGs in a dogfight and became the first Ace of the …

On May 9th, 1945, Herman Goering– commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, head of the Gestapo, prime minister of Prussia, and Hitler’s designated successor– was taken prisoner by the U.S. Seventh Army in Bavaria. Goering, who was addicted to painkillers due to a wound, was instrumental in creating concentration camps for political enemies. It was Goering who ordered the purging of German Jews from the economy following Kristallnacht in 1938, initiating an “Aryanization” policy that confiscated Jewish property and businesses. Tried and convicted at the Nuremberg trials, he was sentenced to hanging, but before he could …