On October 16, 1846, dentist William T. G. Morton demonstrated the effectiveness of inhaled ether as a surgical anesthetic. — October 16, 1923: John Harwood patented the self-winding watch in Switzerland. — Mark your calendar for February 16, 2026, to order your 20th Anniversary Edition SurvivalBlog archive USB sticks. We might open pre-ordering as early as January  5th. – JWR SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their…

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A Quick Guided Tour The plates themselves are machined from aviation-grade 17-4 premium steel to the tightest tolerances possible to get a precise fit with the pistol manufacturer’s slide cuts. To survive the events the plates will be exposed to, Night Fision finished them in black nitride. Recoil bosses to prevent shearing are machined into each plate. Along with the plate, Night Fision has included a variety of mounting screws. What is nice is they aren’t going to make you guess about what screw is for what optic. One bag contains the screws for mounting the plate to the slide.…

How It Works The overly simplistic explanation for a ransom rest is this. It is a shooting vice for your handgun. While, in theory, you could simply bolt your gun to the bench, figuratively speaking, that whole “recoil” thing will be problematic. I imagine that uncompensated recoil, over and over again, will wreak havoc on your vise-like setup and your gun over time, if not during your first shooting session. Remember, part of the goal of using such a setup in the first place is to make sure the handgun maintains its precise point of aim after each and every…

The folks at Night Fision address one of the most common questions we get around here. With the infinite combinations of guns and optics footprints, how is one supposed to figure out the pieces and parts they need? You might be familiar with Night Fision from their broad offering of sights of all types, along with slide kits including sight, optic and slide bundles. The company also offers a wide selection of 17-4 stainless steel mounting plates to fit most any combination of common pistols and optics. While you can get separate mounting plates easily enough, the extra handy offering…

While CVA got its start with traditional muzzleloading firearms, the company thoroughly embraced the trend of “modern” muzzleloaders. Today, you won’t find any wood stocks or side locks in the company’s catalog, but a lineup of the latest break-action and bolt-action smokepoles. In 2019, CVA introduced the concept of “long-range muzzleloading” with the Paramount and new for 2025 is that model’s successor—the Endura. CVA calls the Endura “the most advanced muzzleloader series CVA has ever built.” The headline grabber is that the Endura is not only designed to use Blackhorn 209 powder but also select smokeless powders. To handle higher…

On Monday, October 6, the White House announced that President Donald Trump had approved the development of Ambler Road, a 211-mile industrial road in Northern Alaska. The proposed corridor would be used to transport materials and personnel from new mines in what many consider to be one of the most pristine areas in North America. The Trump Administration also announced that it would take a stake in one of the foreign-owned mining companies with mining claims in the area.“This road goes through an area where there’s no roads. Ambler Mining District at the end of that has some of the…

Among the most notable military longarms of the 18th and 19th century was the French military musket, commonly called the “Charleville.” These flintlocks saw service throughout the wars of the mid-18th century and armed French troops during the Napoleonic Wars, culminating in the June 1815 Battle of Waterloo. Watch our “American Rifleman Television” I Have This Old Gun segment above to see the details of the iconic French Charleville musket. “Most people, when they think of a muzzleloading musket of the 19th century, they think of the British Brown Bess,” American Rifleman Field Editor Garry James said. “However, the French…

According to new research conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) this year, the COVID-19 pandemic may have given invasive lamprey populations a nearly tenfold boost in the Great Lakes.The species, sea lamprey (not to be confused with Pacific lamprey, which are native to the Pacific Northwest and are facing declining populations), is a voracious parasitic fish that suction onto host species like lake trout and brown trout, wreaking havoc on their populations.Historically, sea lamprey are relatively new to the Great Lakes, but they quickly changed the aquatic ecosystem when the man-made Welland Canal provided passage around Niagara Falls for…

00:00:07 Speaker 1: This media podcast. 00:00:10 Speaker 2: Welcome to Meet Eater Trivia, the only game show where conservation always wins. I’m your host, Spencer new Heart, and today we’re joined by Randall Brody, John Nate Max, and Doctor Solomon David. This episode of Trivia is brought to you by land dot Com. This is a ten round quiz show with questions from meat eaters four verticals which are hunting, fishing, conservation, and cooking, and there is a prize. Meat Eater will donate five hundred dollars to the conservation organization of the winners choosing. Doctor David is a guest…