As I have previously reported Ian is an intern at Microsoft from Canada. I took him shooting once and he enjoyed it a great deal.
Last Friday after work he and I left Redmond and headed east to Idaho where we could have some real fun. Idaho is less repressive in a number of ways than Washington. In particular the explosives law are a pain in Washington.
Saturday morning daughter Kim, Ian and I loaded up the van and went to the Boomershoot site. Barron, Janelle, and Ryan were already there when we arrived. We were going to put on a private party for Ian and do a few experiments to test out some ideas for a new target deployment method.
Some of the pictures are below see also the fireball demo pictures here.
Ian about to shoot his first boomer.
This was just after detonation. Notice the streak of something headed to the left in the tree.
Ian preparing for the blast of debris.
Ian realizing he is going to live.
Ian realizing that was fun (debris still falling).
Ian realizing that was really fun (debris still falling).
Ian, Ryan, and Janelle (only her shadow is visible on the far right) do a miniature High Intensity Event.
Ian shooting still more boomers.
Ian seems to like this too.
Ryan brought an old laptop in need of an Idaho Stress Test.
Ryan preparing to initiate the stress test.
The test is complete in a few microseconds.
Ryan was very happy with the test results even if he did have to pick up all the pieces.
Ian, Kim, and I took the scenic route back to Moscow, picked up Barb just as she got off from work and went to VJs BBQ (there was a reason for chosing this particular place) for dinner. They have a Gadsden flag and the Declaration of Independence on the wall if that gives you a hint.
What I wonder is what the anti-freedom people in this country have to offer interns who visit. It’s not like they have anti-gun ranges to go have fun at.
Update: Linoge linked to this post and claimed one of the pictures of Ian above is “Photo of the year“. In the interests of completeness I have uploaded the original, untouched, photo here.
“What I wonder is what the anti-freedom people in this country have to offer interns who visit.”
They can get together for some recreational pouting and snooting. They can look at the fun you’re having and say it’s racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, greedy, causing global warming, making the pandas sad,et al.
Ooooo, that looks like a lot of fun. Gotta try it some day 😀
Lyle beat me to it but, “the anti-freedom people in this country” line is something that reminds me of insanity. How can anyone be “anti-freedom”. Other than a despot or statist that is.
Approximately fifteen years ago during Thanksgiving of all times a woman from Kalifornia who was married to a union organizer told my wife and myself that Americans have too many freedoms. I told her she needed to see a shrink. I had never heard someone say such an unbelievable thing. Actually moronic.
Later, I thought of all the butchered and dead bodies I saw in Cambodia who would have given their lives for just one of our freedoms, for their family members. Those poor souls had no freedoms and nothing to look forward to. They were systematically disarmed, starved and then butchered. Then we have useful idiots here in the greatest country on the planet who think we have too many freedoms. If that’s what they believe then they should lose the freedom to use oxygen to begin with.
Lastly, I see Ian still needs a haircut. Sorry can’t help it, my old man told his three sons that every week.
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Good for him!
FYI, he would be committing several felonies in Canada by merely holding that rifle. Magazine capacities of greater than 5 rounds for centerfire rifles are prohibited. Paltry 10 rounders here are felony items if possessed in Canada. The AR-15 is a restricted firearm in and of itself and while not illegal to possess requires the owner to jump through several hoops to acquire the “Restricted” firearms license. The rules to use and transport those are on par with that of NFA items here (need to permission to move it anywhere).
I’m sure he doesn’t yet realize what a big deal it is that average citizens/legal residents are allowed to own such normal rifles without onerous restrictions. In most states, an AR-15 is no different than an old Springfield ’03. When he goes back to Canada and perhaps thinks about getting the gun you let him shoot, he’ll get one heck of an eye opener. Might even push him on the path to push for more firearms liberty in Canada or, barring that, encourage him to emigrate and live in greater freedom.
My firearms storage is a stack of Canadian firearms law violations. I have over 50 felonies alone in just magazines and several of my rifles are flat-out illegal to possess in Canada under any circumstances (AK, FAL, G3, etc).
It’s nice to be free.
Looks like your intern shooters need to slack their fore-arm grip on their rifles. It appears that they’re gripping too tight with the closed non-shooting hand, therefore pulling their aim to the left.
The way I was taught (US Army), was you just open-cup your left hand & lay the rifle fore grip in the hand. Do not close the hand. If you have a sling, use that to steady the rifle.
Just my $0.02 worth.
Otherwise, I’m jealous that you’re having THAT much fun & I’m not. (sigh . . .)