Author: Gunner Quinn

On April 6, 1652 Cape Colony, the first European settlement in South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company under Jan van Riebeec. — April 6, 1768: French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville’s expedition arrives in Tahiti, claiming it for France and naming it New Cythera. — This new Southwestern Oregon listing at SurvivalRealty.com caught my eye: Turnkey Off-Grid Survival Compound — Rogue Valley — Water, Power, Food, Multi-Family Ready. — Our feature piece for today is by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson. — We now need entries for Round 124 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than…

As our country was celebrating its centennial 150 years ago, Oliver Winchester dominated the lever-action market with his Models 1866 and 1873 and was just introducing the Model 1876. But there were problems. The Winchesters 1866 and 1873 were only chambered for, respectively, .44 rimfire and .44-40 centerfire cartridges— mid-range, medium-game loadings at best—while the new Model 1876 still couldn’t handle some of the popular big-game chamberings of the day, most notably the coveted .45-70 Govt. To add to Oliver Winchester’s issues, in 1881, his neighbor in New Haven, Conn., the nascent Marlin Firearms Company—which previously made only rimfire derringers,…

A study conducted last year found some Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems would willingly sacrifice human life to avoid being taken offline. Add AI’s well-documented eagerness to dispense anti-Second Amendment propaganda, and it doesn’t take a fertile imagination, tinfoil hat or off-grid compound in the Mohave Desert to ask some frightening questions. Most notably: Does AI have ultimately have a desire to dismantle our right to keep and bear arms? Eroding Political SupportWhen America’s First Freedom writer Brian McCombie asked ChatGPT3.5, Claude, Gemini, Meta Llama2 and Writesonic if the NRA was a civil rights organization, all responded that the NRA didn’t…

Along with all of the other items that a seasoned Prepper has, barter items are critical. You undoubtedly will need items that you forgot to stockpile during the good times. This area of prepping needs to be approached with the same meticulous logical order as all of your other prepping gear. Your trading partner, the one with those critical items that you need to survive must be satisfied. You’ve gotta have stuff that he really needs, not just stuff that fit into the category of general prepping items. He may have no need for ammo but desperately needs antibiotics. So…

On April 5, 1242, Russian Prince of Novgorod Alexander Nevsky defeated the Teutonic Knights on the frozen Lake Peipus between Estonia and Russia. This became known as the Battle on the Ice. — April 5, 1424 Scottish King James I returned to Scotland after 18 years of detention at the English court. During his captivity in England, James married Joan Beaufort, a cousin of Henry IV. On 28 March 1424, a ransom agreement amounting to £40,000 sterling, after deducting a dowry payment of 10,000 marks, was established in Durham, with James affixing his personal seal to the document. The king…

If you think of Trijicon, Inc. you probably think of military and law enforcement optics, from the company’s Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG) to the Ruggedized Miniature Reflex (RMR) sight for handguns. The company is also serious about hunting, as showcased by its new AccuPoint 1-8×24 mm riflescope.     The new AccuPoint 1-8×24 mm brings 1-8X LPVO capability to the dangerous game hunter. While the AccuPoint scope line has been around since 1998, Trijicon keeps updating the models to tailor them to the needs of the modern hunter. In the case of the AccuPoint 1-8×24, that hunter is in pursuit…

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on April 2, 2026, published a proposed rule that would permit the mailing of lawful handguns through the U.S. mail for the first time in nearly a century. The change aligns Postal Service regulations with a January 2026 Department of Justice (DOJ) opinion declaring the longstanding federal ban on mailing “concealable firearms” unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The proposal, detailed in the Federal Register, revises standards in USPS Publication 52 (Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail). It expands “mailable firearms” to include pistols, revolvers, and other handguns—previously classified as nonmailable—under the same conditions already applied to…

For decades, the John C. Garand Match has been the quintessential marksmanship event for fans of the classic World War II battle rifle that bears his name. Using “as issued” M1 Garand rifles, CMP competitors at Camp Perry engage in a 30-round target-shooting competition designed to play to the rifle’s capabilities while challenging shooters in the most basic field shooting positions. For years, I’ve wanted to partake in this event, and a while back, I decided to get serious about preparing for it. With that, I decided to dust off my near-retired Springfield M1, give it a facelift and build…

Editor’s Introductory Comments:  Most regular SurvivalBlog readers recognize the initials H.L.  She has been one of the blog’s most loyal and prolific volunteers, sending news and information links since around 2010. I am confident that she spritely lives to a three-digit age. But when she does pass away, I hope that her gravestone will be inscribed: “Always a Maverick.” – JWR At age 83 now. I have some very unusual memories of my early life.  I did not lead the conventional life of an American woman born in 1942.  Conventional is fine. However, there was something in my soul that…

Today is the 101st birthday of famed Navy fighter pilot Royce Williams. It is great to see him still alive and kicking!  Williams was just recently awarded the Medal of Honor. The now-declassified story of his aerial combat over Korea against Soviet-piloted MiGs is fascinating reading. It is summarized in Wikipedia. Here is a brief excerpt from his biography: “The story of his battle with the Soviet MiGs led to Williams being debriefed at the time by admirals, the Secretary of Defense, and a few weeks later by newly inaugurated President Dwight D. Eisenhower. These authorities decided to cover up…