On April 27, 1667, at age 59, blind and impoverished, English poet John Milton sold his copyright to “Paradise Lost” for just £10 Sterling. — April 27, 1789: he crew of the British ship Bounty mutinied, setting Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific. — On this day in 1861, West Virginia seceded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from Union. — The last day! We have been running a two-week-long sale on all of our pre-1899 antique shotguns at Elk Creek Company, with deep discounts. This sales ends at midnight tonight, Pacific Time.…

Some might think today’s hectic schedules, public perception and politics would create the kind of headwind that prevents most youths from considering the pleasures of the shooting sports.  Judging by the record number joining clubs and teams, however, mass-media’s disinformation, peer pressure and political rhetoric are losing their luster with today’s youth. They are making time to head to the range, polishing discipline and practicing concentration while spending time with real friends. Here’s a quick look at the growing trend. The figures are impressive and show no signs of slowing. In 1976 4-H Shooting Sports began on a small scale…

For a good part of the 20th century, when militaries and law enforcement agencies needed something that could provide greater effective range, accuracy and capacity than a handgun, but in a package smaller than a rifle, submachine guns and pistol-caliber carbines did most of the heavy lifting. Likewise, when a similar need for some form of personal defense weapon (PDW) arises for everyday citizens today, it’s often fulfilled by some variation of a medium-size, pistol-caliber firearm. The reductions in weight, length, muzzle flash, blast and recoil, as compared to centerfire rifles, drive the continued popularity of this approach. However, there…

Without a doubt, the Smith & Wesson Model 29 is one of the 20th century’s most shootable, collectible “superstar” revolvers. But there is much about this universally-admired .44 magnum that is not known. For example, the serial numbers of the first guns, which officially started at S131700, were not assembled in numerical order, with some of the first Model 29s having serial numbers as high as S167124. The reason for this, according to Smith & Wesson historian Roy Jinks, “…was that the factory was using frames that had already been built, but were for the .45 Target model of 1955.…

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As a public service, I’d like to share my ham radio antenna designs with SurvivalBlog readers. We handed out these antenna-building diagrams, free of charge, at Hamfests.  We sell laminated copies of wall charts and pocket band charts. Below, I am including drawings for Fan Dipoles and OMTA Verticals. (The original idea was Robert Wilson, a nice guy, we shared several ideas, but, after improving on his “math-inspired idea”, we designed and built many iterations of a more practical design.)  For the Fan Dipoles we sell a kit without wire, or a complete build.  Please note that the Fan Dipole…

Because of the fast rotational velocities the 9 mm can produce, the modern bullets it fires tend to expand quite well over a wide velocity range from long and short barrels. This expansion is critical to the projectile causing enough disruption to stop a threat. Americans thought they were done with the 9 mm in 1986, after the disastrous FBI shootout in Miami was blamed on a single 9 mm bullet failing to penetrate deeply enough. Immediately, .45 ACP aficionados and proponents of the then relatively new 10 mm began declaring, “I told you so,” and in less than a…

Armed Citizen® Today Two minor celebrities found an alleged trespasser prowling on their Los Angeles grounds shortly after midnight on April 17. Barbara Palvin, a model, called 911 and reported the “creepy guy,” as her husband, actor Dylan Sprouse, successfully held the man at gunpoint until police arrived. The suspect was arrested for outstanding warrants, though the couple apparently did not choose to press charges for trespassing. (people.com, New York, N.Y., 4/18/26) From the Armed Citizen® Archives – December 1991 After their son received several death threats, an Everett, Wash., couple arranged for an armed neighbor to be at their…

Bob Smith stepped into the Maine woods on a November afternoon in 1997 and never came back.His wife heard a single gunshot. Then… nothing.What followed was the largest ground search in the history of the Maine Warden Service. Investigators found clues—a set of boot prints, a strange arrow in the dirt, even a dead moose nearby—but none of them led to Bob.As the search dragged on, rumors surfaced: out-of-state hunters who left early, a story about an accidental shooting, and people who may have known more than they said.Was Bob Smith the victim of a tragic accident… or something far…

Kimber recently entered into the double-stack 1911 market with a number of new designs, first starting with its carry-oriented KDS9c, then expanding the line to include the competition-oriented 2K11. But in 2026, the company developed its 1911 DS Warrior, an American-made, double-stack design that is intended to be an affordable entry point into Kimber’s double-stack handgun line. Watch our “Gun of the Week” video above to see the details of the 1911 DS Warrior. “Kimber’s long been known for its line of single-stack 1911s, and recently, it came out with the 2K11, which is their double-stack,” American Rifleman Executive Editor…