Quote of the day—Powerwagon

Went to Boomershoot … with my son. He shot my .223 with my ballistic tip prairie dog loads while I shot a .243 also with ballistic tip bullets. What an amazing time. The .223 was killing the 375 yard targets while the .243 was in the thick of it at 600 to 700 yards. The next year, it was my son and me along with three of my brothers. The year after that, we added my son’s wife and my wife. What a fantastic family experience. It is really difficult to put into words the exhilaration that comes with successfully hitting those targets but is it ever fun!

Powerwagon
February 2, 2021
Comment to From a first time Boomershooter
[There are bunch of things about Boomershoot that have to be experienced to be appreciated.

Yesterday Keith mentioned:

700 yards is so far that you can bring your eyes up from your scope, see the detonation, and let out a holler of joy before the sound reaches you.

When you are shooting a paper target you don’t fully appreciate the time of flight involved. A spotter with a good spotting scope and watching the trace has a clue. But most people don’t have that experience either. And still the whole, pull the trigger, lift up your head, then see the column of dust and smoke erupt from the ground and then wait nearly two seconds to hear and feel the explosion is something quite different and remarkable.

Time of flight for a 700 yard target with a .308 Winchester shooting a 168 grain bullet is about 1.1 seconds. The sound arrives back at the shooter after another 1.93 seconds. From trigger pull to sound is a full three seconds.

Another thing which must be experienced is the thump to your chest. You feel the explosions as much or more than you hear it. Windows rattle and buildings shake miles away.

That’s for the one and two pound targets 375 to 700 yards away. I’ll let you imagine, if you can, what the 35 pound charge used to lift 30 gallons of gasoline into the air is like from 30 yards away:

Boomershoot 2019 Fireball from Joe Huffman on Vimeo.

Or, you could experience it for yourself.—Joe]

Share

4 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Powerwagon

  1. There is a psychological component to blowing things up that I’ve never heard of being researched in a positive light.
    But as you have proven Joe. It’s regular theme park fun. I’ve never seen anyone not grin after shooting explosives. Or suppressed.
    If psychologist’s only knew. Suppressors and Tannerite could be a cure for depression! What a wonderful world it would be!
    You don’t need prozac, You need some time off at Boomershoot! Go blow something up, and call me in the morning!

    • It’s been mentioned here and elsewhere that it is indeed something like magic. A tiny action here, then a much more impressive and larger action at a distance, something they guy next to you can not only see, but feel. I remember the grin that both my kids had after their first successful shot on a boomer at 375 yards, both age 16 or younger. Definitely a childhood memory they will keep forever.

      Yes, “magical” is the right word for it.

  2. we used to shoot .45-70’s and the like, (a friend occasionally brought a .50-140 sharps, now there is a handful), at 600 steel targets. the “time” involved was almost enough to fire, and reload, before the sound of lead hitting steel got back to you.

    and accomplished shooter could probably shoot one of those old dears, reload and shoot again before the sound got back.

    and, as you say, lots of fun

    p.s. sometimes, i heard “sounds,” sometimes i didn’t. lots of better shots than me, but, great satisfaction in doing something correctly ever now and again.

  3. “700 yards is so far that you can bring your eyes up from your scope, see the detonation, and let out a holler of joy before the sound reaches you.”

    Movie and TV producers, please note. Isn’t it interesting how the sound delay is part of the awesomeness, and the grandeur, for those who’ve experienced it? And who hasn’t experienced lightning, and the thunder which comes several seconds, or up to half a minute, later? Any yet, 99+% of the time, explosions or other noises in movies and television are accompanied by light-speed sound. I just laugh at the absurdity of your effects and change the channel, or turn that crap off entirely, and look for something interesting. That which you’re attempting to portray as super-duper serious, or frightening, on the screen is actually just bad comedy, you see, for its depiction of your lack of understanding (or is it outright opposition to understanding?) of, well, basically everything.

Comments are closed.