The View From North Central Idaho

When a bullet passes through air, it creates a high pressure area in front of, and around it, and creates a slight increase in temperature as the bullet impacts the molecules in the air. The pressure and temperature difference creates enough of a disturbance to bend light slightly. The result is a what appears to be a wavy donut that enters the bottom of your field of view, arcs upward above the target, and drops down into the target. (I call it a "wavy donut," JD calls it the "undulating donut of death." I like his better.)

Seeing this phenomenon with my own eye was really amazing. I knew how rifles worked, I knew the physics involved, I knew the trajectory was parabolic, and I've seen many charts of bullet flight path; but it's still hard for your brain to wrap around the idea of a tiny thing flying through the air at 2800 feet per second. Actually seeing it happen seemed to dispel the magic the non-logical part of my brain was convinced was involved. Squeezing a trigger here, didn't just make something happen there; it began a very simple set of physical principals that ended in a predictable manner that I could view with my eye.

Plus, it was wicked cool.

ErnestThing
May 11, 2009
Boomershoot 2009
[Yup. It's wicked cool alright.

On the longer shots you can see the bullet arc up above the target and the wind push it off to the side. Then, if you called the range and wind doping right you are rewarded with seeing that wavy donut drop into a little white box on the hillside and transform it into a red flash and a cloud of water vapor 20 feet tall. You and your partners are in the middle of whoops of joy when the boom hits you. The boom is a deep earth shaking sound that video cameras and sound equipment somehow cannot adequately capture with enough fidelity to duplicate the thump to your chest you feel when you are there live.

There are still two positions available at Boomershoot 2010. They are positions #2 and #4. Even though they are in the ".50 Caliber Ghetto" smaller caliber shooters may use them with the restriction that the tree line targets are not available. Sign up here.--Joe]

I wonder what caused someone to do this search:

Domain Name		usbr.gov ? (U.S. Government)
IP Address		140.214.41.# (Department of Interior)
ISP		Department of Interior
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States  (Facts) State  :  California City  :  Shasta Lake Lat/Long  :  40.6893, -122.3768 (Map) Distance  :  495 miles
Language		English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Internet Explorer 7.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648; InfoPath.1)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution  :  1680 x 1050 Color Depth  :  32 bits
Time of Visit		Jun 19 2009 11:00:01 pm
Last Page View		Jun 19 2009 11:00:01 pm
Visit Length		0 seconds
Page Views		1
Referring URL		http://www.bing.com/...danger&go=&form=QBRE
Search Engine		bing.com
Search Words		tannerite fire danger
Visit Entry Page		http://blog.joehuffm...ory,Boomershoot.aspx
Visit Exit Page		http://blog.joehuffm...ory,Boomershoot.aspx
Out Click
Time Zone		UTC-8:00
Visitor's Time		Jun 19 2009 11:00:01 pm
Visit Number		531,582

The Department of Interior did a search at 2300 on a Friday night for "tannerite fire danger". Tannerite, as most of you know, is a binary explosive used for reactive targets. It is frequently assumed that Boomershoot uses Tannerite. This is not true. We use Boomerite.

Nearly every year we have one or more fires associated with Boomershoot we have to put out. Most of the time it is because we are doing fireball targets. Sometimes it has been because a tracer caused a fire. But sometimes it was because our reactive target either caught fire instead of detonating after being shot or because the explosives spontaneously combusted. One of the ingredients in Boomerite is potassium chlorate. Potassium chlorate is one of the main ingredients in matches. It is believed it is the potassium chlorate that causes Boomerite to spontaneously combust. Tannerite (the last time I checked) does not use potassium chlorate although it does share ammonium nitrate with Boomerite. I suspect Tannerite is less likely to cause a fire than Boomerite but any time you are working with highly exothermic materials the risk of a fire or explosion is present.

If you use highly exothermic materials in association with your gun fun please be careful with it. Be prepared to put out a fire. If you spill some of the materials then dispose of it by soaking the area in water or dispersing and burying the chemicals.

We don't want the Department of Interior or anyone else banning the use of Tannerite on their land.

Checker asked about my Boomershoot shirt, then asked how far I think I could shoot. Maybe answering in kilometers was a bad idea.

thumper242
Via Twitter, June 19, 2009
[thumper242 has attended many Boomershoots and has been a valued staff member for many years now. BTW, he uses a .300 Win Mag shooting Black Hills Match ammo.--Joe]

A few minutes ago I sent the following out to the Boomershoot Announcement list:

I opened up Boomershoot 2010 for 2009 participants yesterday to give them 24 hours prior to the general public to reserve their favorite positions. As of this minute 92% of the positions are taken. There are only six positions left. Sorry about that.

First come, first serve for the remainder:

http://entry.boomershoot.org/

I am sure there will be cancellations and positions will become available throughout the year so don’t get too bummed if you don’t get a position today or tomorrow when I expect the last of the positions will disappear.

Joe Huffman
Boomershoot Event Director

I was a bit concerned that with the economy and ammo price/shortages I wouldn't get as many people signing up this year. I was wrong. 92% full within a few tens of hours after opening it up for registration--over 10 months in advance.

Update (50 minutes later): The event is 96% full with only three positions still open.

David has been posting a lot of really nice Boomershoot 2009 photos recently, Matthew has one here and here, and now Xenia has posted a couple as well.

I really like this one:

Failed fireball.
From Xenia's Live Journal but taken by her sister Kim.

It gives me some clues as to what went wrong with the fireball target this year. It looks like, as Ry reported privately to me a month ago, that half or more of the explosives failed to detonate. I know we had a problem with the targets made on Saturday. There were way too many targets on the hillside with solid hits in them that failed to detonate. Every single one of them was made on Saturday. I think the explosives were packed too tight. I need to maintain better quality control.

I've had numerous people and even the owners of one motel* contact me about the date for Boomershoot 2010.

I've set the dates to be April 23^rd, 24^th, and 25^th. Go ahead and make your motel reservations if you plan on attending.

I'm still working on the entry form software and waiting for a quote on the price of the dinner. I thought I would have all this done weeks ago but it just hasn't happened. Maybe this weekend I'll get it done and open up entries.

* A portion of the motel owner email:

Joe,

We are owners of the XXX Motel in Orofino, Idaho. We appreciate you sponsoring the Boomershoot because it gives us great business during the month of April. We have some great people who have been coming here just to participate in the Boomershoot.

We have had several requests asking if we know when the 2010 Boomershoot will happen. So we thought we would contact you and see if you have set any dates for the 2010 event? Some of our guests reserved rooms already just taking a guess when it would be.

Please let us know when you have chosen the dates.

Thanks,

Did you know that some gun bloggers had to get ATF approval?

Yes, it's true. Here is a picture of some of them.

Boomershoot ended as quickly as it began. It only felt like a few hours, but it was most of the day. I guess time flies when you're blowing shit up.

ErnestThing
May 11, 2009
Boomershoot 2009
[Yeah, time does seem to fly during Boomershoot. I sometimes worry that people aren't getting their money's worth out of the event because it's all over so fast. But people start leaving before I call the final ceasefire so I can't be that much of a spoil sport.--Joe]

I thought we appropriately articulated our opinion of czars in America on April 19, 1775. And the last Czar and his family were permanently removed from power with extreme prejudice on July 17, 1918. So why is it that our government is creating new czars? I would think we have had enough of them in this world. But apparently our government doesn't see it that way because tomorrow President Obama is expected to announce still another czar:

President Obama is expected to announce Friday the creation of the position of cyber czar, a person who will coordinate the nation's efforts to protect government and private computer systems from hackers, criminal gangs, terrorists and spies, people familiar with the plan said Thursday.

The czar will report to both the national security adviser and the head of the National Economic Council, the sources said.

Obama will not name anyone Friday to the post because the selection process is ongoing, they said.

In addition, the White House will release a 40-page report that sets broad goals for combating cyber intrusions, but does not spell out in detail how to do so, said the sources, who would not agree to be identified because the report has not been released.

Several years ago I was asked to comment on some preliminary Homeland Security plans for the Feds to "protect the Internet". As one might imagine they were just the opposite of what I thought should be done. I gave them my feedback as politely as I could while still making my points and my boss said he passed it on up the chain with his blessing.

I don't know if they have come up with something having better alignment with reality by now. We will have to see what the "40-page report" says. But just the fact that the Feds want to extend their reach into still another area where they don't have any Constitutionally granted powers when they are so deeply in debt they can't pay for all the stuff they already messing up does not bode well.

Update: The document is now available. A quick scan doesn't reveal any of the stuff I disapproved of a few years back. But it is a very high level document without many details that can be addressed. And, of course, frequently "the devil is in the details". What I did find a little odd was the frequent use of the phrase "State, local, and tribal governments" (emphasis added). There were 12 instances of the use of "tribal". Is it usual to include tribal governments in such documents? And it makes me wonder...could I set up my own tribe and tribal government? I need to look into that sometime. I own land that is on an indian reservation (Boomershoot is held on indian reservation land as well).

Yesterday Caleb and I did some more work at the Boomershoot site. We folded a bunch more boxes, and inspected the repairs Caleb had made on the stairs. We hooked up the generator and charged the batteries for a while and did some other odds and ends.

What really surprised us was the place where we had two fires recently. Unless you looked closely it was difficult to know there had been a fire:

This was a lot of fun. Joe had said that some people like to blow up Boomers at long range, while others prefer to "pick grass and dirt out of their teeth." I could understand why. By the end, my cheeks hurt from smiling so severely.

ErnestThing
May 11, 2009
Boomershoot 2009
[This was referring to the High Intensity close range shoot. I'm thinking of doing it both Friday and Saturday evening in 2010.--Joe]

One of the people participating at Boomershoot this year was a U.K. citizen. Via Facebook I found out the following:

I Got a call from the cops at 2300 last night, suggesting that I haven't been shooting my guns enough.

It was the UK police on the phone, calling my US cel number. I have a UK firearms certificate - one of the requirements to keep my UK firearms certificate is that I must shoot every 12 months, and my UK rifle club just reported that I hadn't done so... I told them that I've definitely shot in the past 12 months, so now I need to send them proof. This is, actually, the least surreal part of this experience.

So... in the land where handguns are banned and long guns are severely restricted the cops will call you and threaten to take away your firearms certificate if you haven't been shooting enough.

Since I knew he had been shooting three inch square boxes filled with explosives dangling from paracord nearly 700 yards away just a three weeks ago I offered to confirm his story. He said if he needed my help he would let me know.

Two weeks ago Kim, Caleb, and I went back to the Boomershoot site to do some maintenance, inventory, and clean up.

I did most of the clean up and inventory.

Kim folded most of the target boxes you see (still flat) on the ground in the picture below:

Caleb spent most of his time building better stairs:

The plan is to purchase all the stakes, chemicals, and target boxes we need for Boomershoot 2010 and take them out to the Taj sometime this summer so I don't worry about it being two muddy to get the materials out there next spring. We will fold all the target boxes and put them in crates this summer saving time next spring.

We still need to do some more work on the stairs, fix the "well", improve the shooters berm and fold more boxes. If we have lots of time we might build another foundation for the bridge across the creek for the shooters to use when visiting the target area.

I've long been disgusted by Hollywood's portrayal of sounds.  Sounds in space, sound traveling at the speed of light, and the ridiculous sounds of gunfire made up in a studio.  Even the news services will often do a time-shift, to synchronize the sound of a distant event with the video even though anyone who's been alive long enough to understand what they're seeing on TV knows that sound and light travel at different rates.  I just, do, not, get why TV and movie people have to screw up reality so much.  Far from adding anything, it subtracts from the final product.

For example, I think the long delay in the sound of a distant explosion at Boomershoot makes the experience more awesome.  It adds to the perception of enormity.  The movie, "Band of Brothers" is an attempt to show it like it really was, and for the most part they seem to have done a good job.  Not when it comes to sound editing though.  Super-sonic bullets whiz by, "whoosh-whoosh, zip, zip" and so on, and of course the sound always travels at the speed of light.  It's taking a serious subject and turning it into slapstick.

In the interest of universal understanding, I made this recording of .308 rifle fire from about 380 yards while setting up some rifles for Boomershoot.  The camera is about 20 yards from the targets (yeah, I was holding the camera, but I was behind a hill from the gun and in radio communication with the shooter-- completely safe).  Each shot delivers multiple sonic effects or events.  First is the "CRACK-hiss" (mini sonic boom) from the bullet.  Take the sonic boom from a jet flying over, speed it up a few octaves, and you'll have about the same thing.  That bit is interesting in that it does not come from the gun, but from the bullet.  You have no sense of the direction from which the bullet came.  Imagine standing in the water on the shore of a lake and feeling the wake from a passing boat on your legs.  From that sensation alone, you have no idea of where the boat came from, and little or no information about its direction of travel.  The bullet's wake, as sound, gives you no more information-- just a "snap" that seems to come from nowhere.  Next is the sound of impact, which is only audible in the first shot in this recording.  Then comes the "boom" from the muzzle blast, followed by the reverberation in the surrounding hills and trees.

Note that the reverb almost seems louder than the crack-boom.  That's due to the AGC (Automatic Gain Control) circuitry, A.K.A. "compression" built into the camera.  The initial crack drives circuitry into gain reduction, and the gain comes back up for the reverb.  To get the relative levels of the events portrayed accurately, I'll have to take a full-range stereo recorder into the field on another day and use its un-compressed level mode.  If you have some nice speakers (and pretty powerful, as the dynamic range is quite wide) you’ll hear it as if you were actually standing there.  Regular CD audio has a dynamic range of about 100dB, IIRC-- close enough.  This recording isn’t all that bad, though.  Crank up the volume, use good speakers, and boost the bass to get the full effect (the mini electret mic on the camera isn’t great for bass response);

This is what America is all about. Regular, hard working people, getting together to have fun in whatever way pleased them. There aren't very many other countries in the world that would let their citizens own, essentially, the same guns their military uses, practice shooting at what could be considered head-sized targets at hundreds of yards, and mix explosives in a shed for fun.

Boomershoot was a celebration of our freedoms.
A celebration of trust between a government and its citizens.
A celebration of challenge and skill.
A celebration of us.

ErnestThing
May 11, 2009
Boomershoot 2009
[Awesome post. But then I'm exceedingly biased. He's giving praise to my "baby".--Joe]

This year I decided to have a Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day. If you were a gun blogger you could show up on Thursday and get a behind the scenes tour and help (with the proper ATF paperwork) or watch the explosives being made. As it turned out most of it consisted of me standing around and telling stories. I had hoped they would have some fun ideas for doing things with the explosives like putting them in the water and/or mud, making craters, or blowing holes in old logs or some such thing. But everyone seemed to have a good time anyway, even after putting out the fire from the fireball demo.

Here is the list of Boomershoot Gun Bloggers and their posts about the event who were in attendence for at least part of Boomershoot (arranged by their shooting position on the line):

• Ry Jones (#1)
  • Moment of detonation
  • What can we learn from that?
  • Boomershoot Day 2
  • Calm down kthx
  • Somewhere, Petrdoubt is crying.
  • Made it back.
  • Boomershoot Sunday
  • Next year, it will be harder.
  • New worst injury at Boomershoot
  • Tango Down CS
• Benjamin (#2)
• Lyle at UltiMAK (#4, co-blogger here with me)
• Alan Andrews (#20)
  • Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day
  • Easy Shot
  • Boomershoot 2009 Fireball
  • Boomershoot Slacking
  • View from the hotel room window - Orofino, ID
  • Welcome to Orofino
  • The OTHER squeee! you heard was me.
  • Boomershoot 2009 - The Day
  • Through the Scope at Boomershoot 2009
  • Shooting the Anvil - Boomershoot 2009
  • Looking down on Orofino, ID
  • Dam!
  • Bloggers At Boomershoot 2009
• ErnestThing (#25)
  • Boomershoot 2009 (Added May 11, 22:10)
• JD (#25)
  • Boomershoot
  • bit of this, bit of that
  • I’ll just leave this here…
  • T-Minus
  • T-Minus (yes, a different post with the same title)
  • Boomershoot - Take Off, 4/22
  • Consternation
  • Boomershoot 4/23 - Media Day
  • Hardware
  • Boomershoot - Field Fire
  • Boomershoot Main Event
  • postcard
• Derek (#26)
  • Did I forget anything?
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Travel Day 1
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Travel Day 2, Arrival
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 3, Gun Blogger Day
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 4
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 5
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 6
  • Boomershoot 2009 – Day 7
• David (#27)
  • Boomershoot Prep Pics
  • More Boomershoot Prep
  • Less than 12 hours to go…
  • Boomershoot Dinner Raffle Prize
  • Back from Boomershoot
  • New Office Decoration
  • My Favorite Boomershoot 2009 Photo So Far
  • Trib Update
  • Triggerfinger and the Boomer Everyone’s Talking About
  • How I Broke Squeaky’s Nose
  • Derek and his prize from the Boomershoot Dinner raffle
• Bonnie (#29, sort of, she left early Sunday morning and someone else took her position)
  • Things DID happen. But first, a post about Boomershoot.
  • GAH.
  • Home.
  • Boomershoot 2009 - Epic Post #1 (Wednesday/Thursday)
  • Yes, I broke my nose. No, I don’t look like someone beat me up.
  • Spokane to Orofino
  • Friday
  • Boomershoot 2009 - Epic Post #2 (Friday)
  • THE NOSE STORY. *UPDATED* with David’s side of things.
  • Party Foul at Trib’s Place
  • The last of the photos people actually care about…
  • The long ride home.
• Aaron Neal (#50)
  • Home from Boomershoot '09
  • Some Boomershoot stuff
  • Boomershoot - the Journey
  • Boomershoot - the good stuff
  • Boomershoot - More Good Stuff
  • Boomershoot - Ponderings and People
  • Boomershoot - More Good Folks
• Barron Barnett (#54)
  • Boomershoot 2009
• Matthew (#61)
  • It's off to see the Wizard...
  • Boomershoot 2009: Media Day
  • Boomershoot 2009: Precision Rifle Clinic Day 1
  • Boomershoot 2009 High Intensity Event
  • Boomershoot 2009: Opening Ceremonies
  • Boomershoot 2009: Boomers with handguns
  • Launching the Anvil
• Kevin Baker (#74)
  • Another Trip to the Range
  • Range Report: I've Got My Boomershoot Load
  • If Someone Had Told Me a Year Ago...
  • Oh Thank Jeebus, We're Here!
  • How Cool is THIS?
  • Quick Post
  • Travel Report
  • HOME!
  • BOOMERSHOOT!
• George (#75)
  • Twi-nighter?
  • In crew rest
  • Boomblogging I
  • Boomerblogger II
  • Boomerfreezing III
  • Boomerblogging IV - Send it!
  • Boomershooting for real, Ch. V
  • Boomershoot wrap-up
  • Boomershoot photo post
• Earl
  • if I wanted to see the West, just go East
  • If I knew it all I wouldn't be on the road and so alive!
  • It's already Saturday, my library is closed...
  • Sometimes I really do well, and others...
  • Upon Reflection I am not as represented...
• Bill Waite
• Kris
  • Photo Friday
• Xenia Joy (Official Boomershoot photographer)
  • Day 217
  • - 365
  • - 365 (yes, another post with the same title)
• Joe Huffman (Boomershoot Event Director)

Thanks to all the bloggers that attended, posted wonderful stuff, and took thousands of pictures.

If I've overlooked a blogger or some posts let me know and I'll make the corrections. Thanks.

Update: I've made a couple updates since the original posting. I added a section for Kris and another post to Aaron's list.

Update2: I added a link to ErnestThing's (#25) post.

Update3: I added some more links from Matthew (#61).

Update4 (May 18): Another link to Aaron Neal's list of posts (#50).

I just finished listening to Alan's (and Squeaky and PDB's) podcast on Boomershoot 2009. It was nice. I've been reading all the various posts and looking at all the pictures everyone being posted but the podcast was something a little different and I really liked it.

At the Boomershoot dinner I promised I would post a list of all the bloggers in attendance and I will do that (and more) soon. That will probably happen this Saturday when I have some time to do the job right.

For the last two years I have been trying to increase target production and once I felt I had excess capacity I was going to get the cat (bulldozer) out there to expand the shooting line so I could handle more shooters.

This year we finished target production with more targets per unit time than ever before. And we had many targets left over after the event even though we had more shooting hours than usual. And I shut down target production at 1500 on Saturday. We finally have the target production up to a level where we could handle more shooting positions.

That was the plan. But it turns out there are other limits to our capacity that became (more) obvious this year.

• Target placement. Even after doubling the space at the tree line we have room for about 500 targets there. That is just barely adequate. We had 350 targets on the hillside which was about right. I don't think we can safely expand either target location without moving a lot of dirt.
• The Saturday night dinner maxed out the Ponderosa last year with about 65 people. They claim they can handle 100 but with our setup for the raffle 65 was crowded. The VFW building had more space but we had 93 people sign up for dinner this year and we maxed them out too. There is one other place in town that has more space but they are already booked for the last weekend of April 2010. It might be that we can rent the high school cafeteria or some such place but I haven't looked into that. I can also get the caterer to set up tents and tables and do it on-site for a fairly reasonable charge. But cringe at the thought of trying to do that in a 30 MPH wind with snow and hail coming down like we have had some years.
• The caterer for the Sunday lunch asked if we could break the shooters into two groups, say positions 1 through 38 and 39 through 76 and send them to the roach coach about 30 minutes apart and take 90 minutes total for lunch. There are just too many people for them to handle in a timely manner.

After talking to Barb about it for a bit (she is the one that attempts to inject some pessimism/reality into my visions) I think expanding the shooting line capacity would be the wrong thing to do. I should improve the experience for the existing shooters instead. The most obvious thing to do in that regard is to make improvements to the shooters berm. It is too uneven and doesn't have enough depth in places.

Another possibility is to make it easier to quickly put up more dingle berries. Many more...

The following should be self-explanatory.

Boomershoot (http://www.boomershoot.org) is an annual long range precision rifle event held in North Central Idaho. Each year soldiers from Fort Lewis attend and for two days prior to the main event help teach Boomershoot participants the science and art of accurate long range shooting. Some of those soldiers later went on to Iraq and Afghanistan and were injured and some were killed.

In October of 2007 my wife and I met Chuck Ziengenfuss at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous in Reno. He told us of his injuries and how Soldiers’ Angels helped him. It turns out that it was the second time my wife had met Chuck. She had also met at Walter Reed when she was visiting our nephew Jason Scott who was wounded in Iraq and also benefited from your help.

At Boomershoot this year we held a raffle with the intent that half of the proceeds would go to raffle participants and the other half going to Project Valour-IT. After the event someone quietly came up to me and gave me three $100 bills to give to you.

Below are the reference number and other information from my bank that is mailing you a check of the proceeds. If it does not arrive as expected please let me know.

-joe-

-----

http://blog.joehuffman.org/

http://www.boomershoot.org/

http://www.modernballistics.com/

May No Soldier Go Unloved.

Slogan of Soldier's Angels
[See my next post for more context. And yes, this is an exact duplicate of my post this time last year.--Joe]

So why not Owner? Owners don’t do NFA. Owners don’t do political organizing. Owners don’t buy 1200 feet of paracord to cause other owners to spends thousands of dollars on ammo they otherwise would not have spent. While I am certainly an owner, I am not an Owner.

Ry Jones
April 27, 2009
Ontologies
[Explaining why he doesn't fit any of Tam's categories of gun owners.

The 1200 feet of paracord probably needs some explain for those unfortunate people that did not attend Boomershoot last weekend.

It was Ry's idea to satisfy a frequent request for moving reactive targets. He did this by suspending camo painted, Boomerite filled, targets from trees. The targets swung, bounced, and taunted the shooters. They loved them and, amazingly enough, nailed the 0.5 MOA (and smaller) targets. Mike, the guy in position 76, who doesn't even use a spotter asked me "Are those four inch targets dangling on the ropes up there near the 700 yard line?" I told him that before lunch they were. After lunch they were replaced with three inch targets. "Okay," he said, "There is one less of them now."--Joe]

It was 33 this morning when I got up. Still warmer than yesterday (29) and the day before (23). Good news for boomer shooters.

Today is the big day and we have 982 targets for them.

Dad! I need more!

Kimberly Frederick
April 25, 2009
[Daughter Kimberly was on the Kitchen Aid mixer making explosives and I was constantly bringing her more 50 pound bags of Ammonium Nitrate. At peak production our team was producing 18 4" targets in just over two minutes.--Joe]

Yesterday when I got up at about 0630 it was 23F. This morning it was 29F. That should help those who were complaining about the cold at Boomershoot yesterday.

This type of situation happens every year. We know that you, the customer, are looking for mud in your hair; every year, we work around errors where people don’t get to participate at as a full level as they might like. The solution wasn’t optimal (taking explosives made for Sunday and using them Friday), but that is behind the scenes; as far as the customer knows, Mary Boomer Poppins delivered magical explosives when there were none.

Ry Jones
April 24, 2009
Calm down kthx
[Thank you Ry.--Joe]

One of the things that came up while I was telling Boomershoot stories yesterday was my first successful creation of a reactive target. I told them that I got very excited about it and there was a video. No one had seen the video. It's here. More background is here.

I suppose I should put it on one of the video servers or something but its been at its current location since before YouTube had even been thought of.

The reason I was so excited was that I had been working on trying (off and on) to make my own rifle detonated targets for over two years. After working on something for two years with nothing but failures to show for it you get really excited when one of your experiments works.

Boomershooters get a little taste of that because I make the targets challenging enough that most of them cannot get a target in a single shot. They have to work at it for a while. When they do connect it is a bigger thrill than if they had plopped their gun down on the ground and got a first round hit 10 seconds after going prone. They have to earn their reward. They don't get as excited as I did when I got my first one but then most people probably don't have the patience to work on trying to get one to go off for two years either.

We made and people detonated over 500 boomers today. Most of them were from about 20 yards away.

People seemed to have a good time. I just feel tired.

Alan made a lot of the explosives. Kevin Baker showed up around noon. Without having permission from the ATF I had him doing more mundane things like folding cardboard boxes into the proper shape and sweeping off the anti-static rug that goes inside the explosives magazine.

I was a bit concerned about Bonnie doing her first long range shooting at the Precision Rifle Clinic today. I saw her at lunch and asked. She reported things were going well and had only missed (steel targets, not boomers) three shots and that she was having a lot of fun. Great!

Derek is also a new boomer shooter and it's pretty clear from the pictures and video that he is having a good time.

This was our fireball demo. Notice the milk jugs filled with gasoline on the left and the road flare to ignite the gas on the right.

Here we have the gas mixing with the air and the fireball just starting.

The gas air mixture is in flames now.

The fireball is rising and expanding.

Ry has the most awesome picture of a detonation of a simple boomer I have ever seen.

See also Snarky Bytes and Trigger Finger posts on our day.

Cooley agreed, explaining that the Second Amendment "is significant as having been reserved by the people as a possible and necessary resort for the protection of self-government against usurpation, and against any attempt on the part of those who may for the time be in possession of State authority or resources to set aside the constitution and substitute their own rule for that of the people." Thomas Cooley, The Abnegation of Self-Government, 12 PRINCETON REV. 209, 213-14 (1883). The individual use of Second-Amendment-protected arms to check despotism, "far from being revolutionary, would be in strict accord with popular right and duty." Id.

The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed--where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.

Alan Gura
Robert A. Levy
Clark M. Neily III
February 24, 2008
RESPONDENT’S BRIEF On Writ Of Certiorari To The United States Court Of Appeals For The District Of Columbia Circuit.
[In part, Boomershoot is about being prepared to exercise this part of the constitution.--Joe]

I'm sure someone else will give better reports than me. I'm way too tired. But lets just say the fire last Sunday didn't scare me nearly as much as the one we had today. And we have a dozen people to fight this one.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and what surprised me most was that they seemed to enjoy me just standing around and telling stories as much as making explosives and blowing mud all over everyone.

And then there was the awesome picture Ry took. The target has HIGH SPEED flames shooting out of the sides just before it is reduced to it's molecular components--and you can see the bullet hole in the target. I'm sure he will post it sometime. It's just a question of him having bandwidth, both computer and personal, to do it.

Tomorrow we start cranking out targets while most of the gun blogger crew participates in the Precision Rifle Clinic.

This is an open letter to all the talk show hosts, pundits, party hacks, cheaters, scumbags, sick twisted freaks (you know who you are) and pro-freedom bloggers.  We could spend the rest of our lives cataloging the outrageous behavior of nasty, America-hating, ignorant, self-loathing, cultist, freedom-hating, anti-human, leftist politicians including Progressive Republicans.  We know they're bad, OK?  If there are three or four people who still don't get it, that's all right.

I'd rather try to figure out how we're going to get some principled Americans nominated so we're not always forced to choose between bad and worse-- between more socialism slower, and more socialism faster.  This last national election was a real puker.  The Republican Party is, at the moment, just as lost, dumbfounded, selfish and clueless as ever.  They're a herd of does, staring blankly into the headlights of an on-coming truck, and the worst part of it is; they don't even suspect that they're clueless.  They in the Republican leadership think they have some really clever answers, which amount to more of what got us into this mess.  I recently heard it described as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  That fits very well.  The Republicans have some really super great, super ultra smart ideas for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  No really, listen...  (all the while we have this simple, proven model for success, and it's being ignored.)

We need to change that.  You need to change it.  I need to change it.  There isn't anyone else.  I suppose, since it's up to us, it will have to be on the local level for most of us, being as we're not billionaires.  That's OK.  We can still do what we can do.  A lot of people are jazzed up right now.  They just need somewhere to start.  Well, pick a place, a local issue or a local politician that needs a hand (or a very public spanking) and get to it!

That there are clueless people is not the issue.  There will always be the clueless.  They'll sit on the sidelines, worrying about who likes them and who doesn't, trying to figure out where the "center" is so they can position themselves in it and claim superiority for having done so, while someone else does the lifting.  Are you a sitter or a lifter?

I have a bad feeling that things could come to blows before this government is brought under control, and I really don't want that to happen.  Do you?  This country is far too important in the grand scheme of things.

And with that; I don't have much more to say on here, other than to repeat myself or talk about the weather and what I did last weekend, unless it's to tell you what I'm doing on the local level to influence politics.  Now I think I have some calls to make.

(Note that I placed this in nearly every one of Joe's categories. It's relevant to everything we do and every opportunity we want for our kids in the future)

I went to Office Depot today to pick up some supplies for Boomershoot. I bought three pounds (it annoys me they are by the pound rather than the count) of #6 rubber bands, 200 clip on name badges, and a self-inking stamp. Everyone was nice until I told them what I wanted on the stamp. Then I noticed a distinct chill in their attitude.

I'm not sure what it could have been but it must have been one of the following lines:

Extreme Danger!!
Contains High Explosives
FlashTek, Cavendish ID 208-301-4254
Lot 2009-4-      Shift 1

I just got a call from a 14 year old kid in Michigan that wanted to know a bunch of things about being an "explosives specialist". The most memorable questions were:

• Q: What is most important about your career? A: Safety. Being very, very detail oriented and being careful.
• Q: What do you like most about your career? A: Making people happy and changing the way people think about gun and explosives.

I also told him that if he was serious about explosives as a career he should consider something other than doing Boomershoot type events. He should look into demolition, mining, and certain specialties in the military. I should have mentioned road construction but I didn't think of it until after we had said goodbye.

We are shooting what I wanted to from the beginning,.... a pilot for a new show on the outdoor channel. The show would be called "Gun Nuts", or 'Tactical TV".

Nate Murray
Sound Theory Productions
April 20, 2009
[There was a change of plan on the filming for the TV show at Boomershoot 2009. Instead of filming for the Western Extreme/Adventures Abroad TV shows it's going to be a pilot for a new show. The pressure is on!--Joe]

As I reported yesterday due to a failure in communications one of the Boomershoot spectators showed up a week early on Saturday night. I felt so bad about it that we put on a private party for them. They got the full Boomershoot experience. From helping fold the boxes for the targets (a staff t-shirt will be delivered within a week or two), seeing the targets made, shooting boomers, seeing an awesome fireball (Caleb was some distance away and thought it had enveloped us) and even helping to put out a fire.

Son-in-law Caleb and daughter Kim starting the box folding. We ended up with about 65 crates of empty boxes.

Our guest after hitting her first boomer.

Notice there is still a smile as she prepares to engage the next one.

The second boomer in the early stages of earth movement. Notice the dirt moving outward?

Our shooter was 25 yards from the boomers. Almost Entertainingly Close.

Due to some technical difficulties I shot the fireball target and there was no one on the camera.
This is want it looked like about 15 seconds after detonation. Notice the flames to the far left.

After about 15 minutes of fire fighting. We were very glad it was near the creek and we had buckets to move water with.
Click to see a higher resolution version.

While at the Boomershoot site yesterday I didn't have cell phone service (AT&T). Last year it was fine. Even yesterday it would, for a minute or so, have "four bars" but then it would go to zero. In one of those bursts of service, around 1330, I received notice I had a voice mail. I immediately tried to call out and retrieve it but even when there was signal indicated the call would not go through. "Oh, well," I thought, "It probably was just the girls at the house wanting me to pick up something at the store on the way home. I'll get the message on my way home."

I checked the voice mail about 1715 on top of a hill as I was leaving the area. A chill went through me. It was someone from work that was, "Just leaving Seattle." The time on the message was 1100. They expected to be in Orofino by 1700 in time for the Boomershoot dinner. Yeah, that would be in plenty of time for the dinner. Exactly seven days early. "See you tonight they said." And, I was told, "I found accommodations at the Helgeson."

They had stopped by my office on Friday to talk to my officemate and then we talked about going to see Boomershoot this year. They wanted to watch and also see the explosives being made but exactly which Saturday and Sunday was apparently miscommunicated.

I called back but there was no answer and I left voice mail. There is no AT&T cell service in Orofino and I was pretty sure they have AT&T as their carrier. When I got back to Moscow I called their phone again, which went to voice mail, and then the Helgeson. They hadn't checked in yet. I sent a text message to their cell. An hour later I called the Helgeson again. Yes, they had checked in and got my message but they had just left. I expressed my concern that they might not have cell phone service, which was confirmed. I said I would call back in an hour.

About an hour later they called me from a land-line in Orofino. I apologized profusely for the miscommunication and told them we were going back out to the site tomorrow and they would get a "private party". They will get to see the explosives being made, get to detonate several boomers from "entertainly close" ranges, have lunch with my parents, and maybe even test out a new fireball construction method I thought of.

Pictures tonight or tomorrow.

Both the conditions on site now and the forecast for the rest of the week look absolutely awesome. It's a little wet right now but still easily dealt with. The forecast is for the weather to be clear or scattered clouds until Friday with temperatures sometimes reaching the upper 70s. That should dry things out. Friday night, after the High Intensity event there is a strong possibility of showers. Which would wash away any spilled Boomerite minimizing the chances of a fire. From then though Sunday night it is supposed to be cloudy with temperatures in the upper 60s with, again, a chance of rain Sunday night after the event is over. I couldn't ask for a better forecast.

Here are some pictures from yesterday:

The daffodils are starting to bloom on the shooters berm.

All the snow in the shooting areas is gone.

The road into the shooters area is nearly dry.

Even with one of the seats removed the van was packed with equipment and supplies.

The Taj was over crowed after the van was unloaded.

The target prep area was dry.

I "paved" the work area where we walked in mud last year.

I found three small patches of snow on the property. This was the largest at 1:21 in the afternoon.

The same patch of snow three hours later at 4:18. I suspect it will be gone when I visit the site today.

Just after Boomershoot 2008 I received the following email:

Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2008 2:46 PM
Subject: boomershoot

Joe,

Once again I want to thank you for ruining another fine Cavendish springtime weekend; as you well know, they are far and few between in this "quiet" North Idaho community. I spent the weekend caring for my dog who is absolutely terrified of the noise generated by your idiotic activities of one quarter of a mile away. I also spent fifty dollars at the vet for tranquilizers to get him through the ordeal.

Too bad you can't direct your intelligence to a more constructive cause.

XXX XXX, a resident of Cavendish for 37 years.

I forwarded the email to a friend who works with dogs and asked for advice. I then procrastinated for nearly a year before attempting to address the issue in a polite manner. My attempt was:

From: Joe Huffman [mailto:joeh@boomershoot.org]
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 11:52 AM
Subject: RE: boomershoot

I’m very sorry you and your dogs are upset by the noise. I have consulted someone who has worked with dogs who had problems with loud noises and she had some suggestions. I thought she might be able to attend again this year. She had offered to stop by and work with you and your dogs some. It turns out she will not be able to attend. Her comments:

Tell him that one of the range safety officers is disabled woman, and has a service dog who can be at close range and the dog is practically unfazed by the sounds of close-up gunfire/explosives.* This dog was once-fretful/skittish dog at the slightest sound -- even that of a falling leaf (no joke). The dog is a survivor of brutal beatings due do gang-related pit bull abuse but has overcome most of the sound-related trauma, thanks to training and desensitization, so the dog can now handle loud sounds.

Every dog is different. We've had other people w/ their dogs attend Boomershoot in the past and their dogs seem unfazed by the sounds. In fact, the neighbor dog is so unfazed by Boomershoot sounds, he sometimes playfully runs through the field (aka shooting range), and we call a "cease fire" to ensure the dog's safety. We've waited up to 30 minutes before, until the dog playfully ran back home.

I have to disagree with you on the view that the activities are “idiotic”. Thousands of people think otherwise. The Seattle KING5 television station did a very positive video of the event which was nominated for an Emmy award in 2006. Newsweek and Outside Magazine and others have had positive articles on it as well. People travel from all across the country and sometimes (including this year) even from Europe to participate. This year, as nearly every other year, we have spectators driving from the Seattle area just to watch. All have found it to be a constructive cause.

Again, I’m sorry our once a year activities cause your dogs so much anxiety. We are having another event next weekend with a few boomers going off on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and hundreds of them on Sunday the 26^th. If it would help I would be glad to compensate you for the problems with your dogs. I would be glad to send you a check for $50 to cover the medications or for you to take them someplace else. If this is agreeable to you please give me your mailing address and I’ll get the check in the mail as soon as I can.

Regards,

Joe Huffman
Boomershoot Event Director
P.S. It’s over a mile away, not 0.25 mile.

The email bounced so I forwarded it to my brother Doug asking if he had a current email address for our neighbor. He did not but offered that I might be able to find his work email address. Then a couple hours later I received the following email from one of my cousins in the area:

Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 2:34 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Doug Huffman
Subject: dogs

Hey Joe,
Our German Shepherds are becoming very anxious and even upset in anticipation of the upcoming boomer shoot. I think the cat maybe disturbed also, however all three say that fifty pounds of T-bones would probably settle their nerves.

He had me going there for the first half of a sentence but I figured it out and fired off the following reply:

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 3:09 PM
Cc: 'Doug Huffman'
Subject: RE: dogs

Would that be 50 pounds each or 50 pounds combined?

And since you didn’t specify I will assume any bone tributes can be delivered in powdered form.

-joe-

The things I have to put up with for Boomershoot...

Things are looking really good to me. I delivered about a half ton of supplies to the Taj Mahal this morning without getting stuck or even cutting into the ground much with my van.

The snow is essentially all gone. I was able find a little bit of snow but I had to look for it and it is likely to be gone by Boomershoot time.

I'll post pictures tonight or tomorrow.

Update 1453: Live blogging from the Boomershoot site.

I've verified the problem with our "well" is that it doesn't have any water in it rather than a problem with the pump or the pipe. I put about five gallons in it and I was able to pump water out just fine.

Boomershoot 2009 shirts and mugs are available here.

The image is:

Two weeks out and there is still snow--via email from brother Doug this morning:

The snow is mostly gone. Still some on the north slopes, but a lot of that has melted in the last few days. It is supposed to get cold and snow again today and tomorrow, but be warm and sunny by the end of the week.

I'll be onsite next Saturday and/or Sunday and report back then. Only a week out the forecasts will be pretty accurate and I will be able to tell you what sort of conditions we will have. Expect mud. Especially for my staff placing targets at the tree line.

I had another cancellation.

There are two positions now available. One in the Lowlands (#16) and one in the Main area (#29) next to a bunch of gun bloggers.

Sign up here.

Last Sunday I visited the Boomershoot site to check out the snow conditions and do a little bit of prep work. The pictures mostly speak for themselves. Compare to the pictures I took the week before. And the same time last year.

View from the entrance to the shooting area.

View from standing on the shooting berm at about position 50.

The north (shooters area) side of the shooting berm. The snow is 16 inches deep in places.

This is the culvert that was overflowing the week before. Yes, those are my snowshoe tracks.

Here is where we build the targets.

Just some of the mouse damage. I'm taking rodent poison with me the next time I go.

Mouse nest in the explosives magazine.

There were seven baby mice in the nest I threw out into the snow. Micecicles for the birds. The two adults got away.

Position #47 is filled.

Positions #29 and #30 are now both open.

There are some restrictions on position #29. Position #29 will be in use on Friday and Saturday. You will not be able to set up in that position until sometime on Saturday evening. On Sunday position #29 will be covered with a canopy provided by and shared with the people in positions #25 -> #28.

Sign up here.

Update: Position #30 was taken in about 90 minutes. Position #29 would probably be gone in seconds if I said who took position #30. But privacy matters so I won't.

Position 7 is filled but I had another cancellation due to a spouse with cancer having surgery the day after Boomershoot.

Position 47 is now open. Sign up here.

We had another cancellation.

Position 7 is now open. Sign up here:

http://entry.boomershoot.org/

Update: Gone in under two hours.

Ry's asshole dial goes to 11.

I think I'll let him try it.

Currently the temperature is 48F, up from 46F about 30 minutes ago. The sun is out with only a few wispy clouds in the sky.

In places there are still 16 inches of snow or more in the shooters area. I'm sure there is deeper snow near the Taj where I am now. My biggest concern now is the transportation of 400 pounds of potassium chlorate from the road to the Taj. The shooters can bring appropriate gear and will be able to cope but if we can't make the targets in a timely manner things won't be near as fun. Worse case I can probably bring it in via ATV and trailer in five gallon containers. But overall transportation of people and targets to/from the Taj could be an issue. Another option is to bring the bulldozer over a week before the event and clear a road through the snow. Assuming the weather is decent the exposed ground should dry out.

At this point, three weeks from the event, I'm resigned to there being significant snow in places. It could be 70F and the sun shining on the day of the event but there, almost for certain, will be more snow on the ground than there was last year. And last year was the first time we had snow on the ground for Boomershoot in all ten years there has been a Boomershoot here. And we have held Boomershoot as early as April 15th before.

Damn you Al Gore! This is all your fault! [Just kidding.]

Update: More bad news.

• The "well" doesn't appear to have any water in it. We will have to bring water for cleaning up the target manufacturing equipment. And I'll have to get it fixed this summer.
• A family of mice got into the explosives magazine and chewed up a bunch of target boxes. I didn't have as many boxes as I finally decided I wanted anyway. I'll probably order some more tomorrow.
• The Internet connection is still flaky. Not as bad as I have seen it with the old equipment but it still drops out frequently even though the signal strength appears to be strong just before and just after it dies.

[Alternate title: Freeing my inner geek]

Over at Kevin's place in the comments to this post Ben was wondering if he should choose a bullet with a better Ballistic Coefficient (BC) for Boomershoot. The primary reason for making that sort of decision would be because, in most cases, it would be more tolerant of cross winds. But BC isn't the only factor to consider. Accuracy and muzzle velocity are obvious considerations as well.

What isn't so obvious and is difficult to calculate is at what point and under what conditions do you make the choice for one cartridge or another if the low wind tolerant bullet is more accurate than the high wind tolerant bullet? For example, imagine you have two guns to choose from. One is a .223 shooting bullets that, given no wind conditions, you can shoot with 0.5 MOA accuracy. The other is a .300 Win Mag that you can shoot with 0.75 MOA accuracy.

Obviously for any reasonable load in either gun the .300 Win Mag is going to have less wind drift than the .223. But it's not as accurate. So when do the wind errors add up to enough difference to make the .300 Win Mag the more likely gun to get a bullet on target? It depends on the range of the target, the altitude, the temperature, and how accurately you can estimate the wind. If your wind estimation skills are perfect it doesn't matter. But if you are perfect wouldn't be reading this blog post because you already know all the answers.

You can measure everything will good enough accuracy except the wind. But you know that you are probably within say +/- 2 MPH of the true wind speed. So now what? Which gun should you use?

It turns out I worked out the answer several years ago. The expression is not simple, but the calculation is much easier than testing at the range:

In the general case an expression for discovering wind estimation error V_w (in MPH) beyond which, at a given range (R), a less accurate but lower wind drift cartridge is the better choice.  This equation is:

V_w = 1/7563 x SQRT(( E_r2² - E_r1²)/(1/(MV₁ x (F0₁/R - 1.5))² - 1/(MV₂ x (F0₂/R - 1.5))²))

Where for each of the rifles under ideal Boomershoot conditions (3000 feet, 70F):

BC_c = 1.15 x BC
F0 = 166 x BC_c x SQRT(MV)
E_r = Error of the rifle in MOA.
MV = Muzzle velocity in fps.

So get out your calculators and start crunching those numbers!

Or you could just download the spreadsheet I made. But that would be cheating and you wouldn't feel good about yourself for at least a week.

Sorry for the light blogging the last few days. Lots and lots of Boomershoot stuff to work on.

There are two positions that have just opened up. Positions 8 and 17, both in “Lowlands”, are now open. Sign up here.

Odds and ends:

• A quick update on the weather... it has been snowing about every other day in Moscow (400 feet lower than the Boomershoot site). They got six inches yesterday.
• I paid the deposit for the Saturday night dinner.
• I arranged for a bartender for the social hour.
• We have a tentative speaker for the dinner--Sean Carlock. Carlock is the shooter in this video, is a "technical advisor" for Nightforce, custom rifle builder, and former Boomershooter.
• I'm really looking forward to seeing and chatting with all the bloggers that are showing up for Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day (schedule and outline of the events is here).

Update: April 3, 8:38 AM. Both open positions have been filled. One was taken by some people that attended regularly for a few years in the early days and were avid Blanchard Blast shooters. But I haven't seen them in ages. I frequently look at the pictures of them on the web site (the three in the foreground) and wonder what happened to them. I got a call from one of them this morning and he was asking if he should bring hip waders to get through the mud. "No", I told him, "But you might want to bring snowshoes."

Update2: Sean says he can't make it.

Boomershoot 2009 is now less than four weeks away.

Last weekend (five weeks from the event) I visited the site and found there was still lots of snow but it was melting fast. Comparing the pictures from five weeks prior last year and last weekend things looked pretty close to the same:

The difference was that it was up to 54F during the afternoon last weekend and there was a lot of runoff with culverts overflowing and the creek near flood stage:

This is the culvert I installed a few years ago.

The culvert here is running full and the excess is running over the entrance to the field.

The creek is at near maximum capacity.

In the morning I walked to the Taj Mahal figuring I wouldn't need snowshoes because the snow by the road was only about ankle deep. As I got onto the north slope near the trees at the Taj the snow was over knee deep and because it was so warm my feet went all the way through it to the ground. It was a lot of work and in the afternoon I put on my snowshoes before walking in.

But it turns out I was trading one type of work for another. Because the top layer of snow as essentially slush it would push right through the webbing of the snowshoes and ride on the top of them.

I had what felt like 10 pounds of weight (probably more like five) above and beyond the snowshoes that I had to lift with each step.

Before reporting all this I decided I would wait a week and see if the warm weather continued. It was possible that by this weekend the snow would be, essentially, all gone.

It didn't work out that way.

Monday it never got above 28F.

On Tuesday I received a Winter Storm Watch for Boomershoot country:

Here is a current Winter Storm Watch for Boomershoot (Lenore, ID) until 10:00pm, Wed Mar 25 2009, from your local National Weather Service office.

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
318 AM MDT TUE MAR 24 2009

...EARLY SPRING SNOW STORM TO IMPACT THE NORTHERN ROCKIES LATE TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT...

.A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE SOUTH FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA INTO THE NORTHERN ROCKIES THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING. HEAVY MOUNTAIN SNOW IS POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MONTANA AS WELL AS CENTRAL IDAHO. SURFACE WINDS WILL BECOME NORTHERLY AS THE SYSTEM PASSES. THIS COULD PROVIDE GOOD UPSLOPE LIFT AND POSSIBLE MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS TO THE CAMAS PRAIRIE AREA IN NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO BY LATE WEDNESDAY.

OROFINO/GRANGEVILLE REGION-LOWER HELLS CANYON/SALMON RIVER REGION- 218 AM PDT TUE MAR 24 2009 ...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING... MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW ALONG WITH GUSTY WINDS ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. 8 TO 12 INCHES OF SNOW ARE POSSIBLE ON THE CAMAS PRAIRIE...AS WELL AS THE THE WHITE BIRD GRADE AND GREER GRADES.

Notice that it says "through Wednesday Evening"? Wednesday morning I had received several more updates with the last saying:

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 AM PDT THURSDAY ABOVE 2500 FEET...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ABOVE 2500 FEET...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 AM PDT THURSDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ON THE CAMAS PRAIRIE...AS WELL AS THE WHITE BIRD AND GREER GRADES. THE HEAVIEST SNOW IS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...BUT INCREASING WESTERLY WINDS THIS MORNING WILL CAUSE BLOWING SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITIES AT TIMES.

Notice it says "above 2500 feet"? Boomershoot is at 3000 feet.

Thursday it warmed up again into the mid 40s.

Friday the storm warnings started coming in again with four to eight inches of snow predicted. Saturday, as I was having my snow tires removed and the summer tires put on, the snow storm hit Moscow (my home, 40 miles west of Boomershoot and 400 feet lower in elevation). This morning we had 3.5 inches of snow in Moscow and it was still snowing.

Although I didn't visit the site this weekend I'm nearly certain we have more snow this year at four weeks out than we did last year at five weeks out. And, if you remember, last year we had a white Boomershoot.

The extended forecast for this week is for the low to be 37F on Tuesday the highs in the 50s through Monday. So the new snow and some of the old could be gone by this time next week. But I don't trust weather forecasts more than about three days out.

It could be you will need snowshoes for Boomershoot 2009. I don't even have enough for my own staff. You will have to bring your own.

I received an email from a Boomershooter saying the 1917 Browning (here, the bottom picture in this post and picture 12 here) he had at Boomershoot 2008 "is up for sale at Cabelas gun library here in Post Falls. Boy it’s a magnet to pull people in!"

Post Falls is in north Idaho near Spokane Washington in case you are interested.

Update: Due to popular request I inquired about the price and got this reply.

Via Ry I found some great articles on explosives:

• Water Acts As Catalyst In Explosives
• Explosives At The Microscopic Scale Produce Shocking Results
• High Powered New Explosive Developed

There are more but I have to get ready for work.

I replaced most of the Wi-Fi gear at the Boomershoot site and things appear to be working well. There have been no drop outs.

We have full signal strength on my laptop at the intersection of the creek and the road. All places that I have tested have higher signal strength than before I need to get my signal strength mapping software out here and remap the area.

Lots of snow still but it got up to 54F this afternoon and it's still 44F at 1740. The snow is melting fast. That means there is lots of water in the low areas.

Last Thursday I reported the ATF responded well to my request for clearance for Boomershoot staff and gun bloggers to handle explosives at Boomershoot 2009. I have a quick update which is also positive.

The three people that had their clearances "Pending" on Thursday were all cleared by Friday.

Yesterday one of the people noticed there was a typo on his address in the clearance paperwork. I sent the ATF an email this morning informing them of the error and requesting clearances for two more people. About two hours later I received the following email:

Good morning Mr. Huffman –

I have made the correction for Mr. XXXXX and ask for a corrected print of his Letter of Clearance with the correct address. I will also get the 2 possessors added to your license.

Nice. And I sent him an email thanking him for his quick service too.

ATF still should be a convenience store instead of a regulatory agency and they still should get their wrist slapped (and others should be hanged) for some of the crap they pull. But just because someone has ATF on their business card doesn't necessarily mean they are Gestapo.

I got the following email this morning. My response follows:

From: tjif tjaf
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 10:36 AM
To: joeh@boomershoot.org
Subject: need help

 

Hi

 

 

Do you know a way to blow up a house just enough so nobody can live in anymore.

I mean the exploision must be big enough so it creates a hole or crack in the wall.

 

Why? whell nobody is living in it for now but it is located in a extraordinary forest with
som very rare birds and they dont like the be disturbed. so now is the chance to get rid

of this builing before somebody buys it and want to live in it. i thought to put a propane tank
in the bassement but i don't know if it is enough or even explodes.

 

 

thanks

 

---

Uw e-mailcontact koos voor Hotmail en profiteert van een enorme opslagruimte! Maak ook een gratis Hotmail-account aan

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 1:47 PM
To: 'tjif tjaf'
Subject: RE: need help

 

I haven’t worked with propane tanks much. Maybe someone on the Belgium Explosive Ordinance team would know the answer.

 

I don’t have any contacts in Belgium but I have put some of my contacts in the U.S. (Susan and Crystal with the ATF) on the Bcc: line in hopes they know how to contact them for you.

 

-joe-

-----

A week ago today I whined about the ATF being technically challenged as I was trying to get clearance for the Boomershoot staff (and some bloggers) to handle explosives.

Last night I got a call from daughter Kim saying I got a letter from them. "Open it up!" I said. She did and told me that all of the people I requested clearance on, except for three, were approved. Those three are pending and are allowed to handle explosives until I am told otherwise.

I am flabbergasted. That was awesome "service".

While I am of the opinion the ATF should be a convenience store rather than a regulatory agency I must admit they did their job well and without causing me pain once they actually got the paperwork in hand.

Thanks guys.

Last May Boomershoot donated two positions to the Friends of the NRA in King County (Seattle area). They thought they were going to have their dinner/auction before the end of April 2009 but that didn’t happen. The dinner/auction is now scheduled to be in May which is after the event. So they have put the two positions up for bid on eBay. Those positions are #41 in the main area and #51 on the berm.

You can see the view from the Main and Berm areas here:

http://entry.boomershoot.org/#Main
http://entry.boomershoot.org/#Berm

The entire proceeds go to Friends of the NRA to fund Youth Shooting programs and any amount above the fair market value ($150 for one person, $250 for two, $300 for three) is tax deductible.

Hurry, the auction ends in six and a half days.

I've always thought there are some events that shouldn't get National TV coverage.

Jim Scoutten
March 7, 2009
Producer and host of Shooting USA
Boomershoot coverage?
H/T to Ry (via email as well as his blog), followed by Kevin (email and blog), Say Uncle, Robb (email and blog), Phil, and Sebastian.
[I am a little insulted. Boomershoot got positive coverage from Newsweek, KING 5 Evening Magazine (Seattle television show), Outside Magazine, and numerous other media outlets (that list is just a partial listing). If he doesn't think we are appropriate for national TV coverage he is mistaken. We can and have handled national media before and done quite well.

It just so happens another national TV show is planning to attend this year anyway. I also got a request for permission from a participant doing a video with smaller audience. Boomershoot should be well represented in the media this year. The gun blogger list of participants alone is impressive.

Like I said, I'm a little insulted but Scoutten is missing out more than Boomershoot by his decision.

Thanks for all the support guys but I don't really think it's necessary to do a Zumbo on him. He's not saying Boomershoot should be banned or anything. He just doesn't think it is something he wants to present to the public.

In his followup comment he says he doesn't want put anything "on TV that could alarm the anti-gunners". I disagree. I am of the opinion that alarming them over Boomershoot then making fools of them is the more appropriate tactic (ask me sometime in private how we have baited them but they failed to take the bait). But if he doesn't want to do that I don't see a reason to attack him over that judgment call.--Joe]

Ry and I visited the Boomershoot site on Saturday. I checked the power supply and verified the batteries were fully charged and the inverters were working. The Wi-Fi was working just fine too but the last time I was there it wasn't working so I plan to replace some of the components the next time I go out there.

Ry and I both took pictures of the snow. I had not tried a Photosythn before and I thought this would be kinda neat to try. So I took hundreds of pictures. The first attempt failed and the second attempt is here. I learned quite a bit from the effort and will try some more later on but the result is still pretty interesting.

Ry has his take on the snow.

I think it's still a little early to tell. We are seven weeks from the event. I needed snow shoes to make it out the Taj Mahal but the deepest snow I could find at the shooting line near the berm was only about 17 inches deep.

We have more snow now at seven week out that last year at six weeks and five weeks out. We also had snow on the ground for the actual event too. After I visit next time we will have a better comparison to previous years.

It's a long story but I deleted the list of Gun Bloggers planning to attend Boomershoot 2009.

I have reconstructed the list as best I could and sent an email to those people. If you are a gun blogger planning to atttend Boomershoot 2009 and did not get an email please let me know and I'll add you to my list.

I'm still a long way from going up a clock tower with a scoped rifle and a sack lunch.

Tamara K.
February 22, 2009
Blah
[I thought this would be appropriate after my frustrations with the ATF yesterday.--Joe]

Although Boomershoot has an ATF approved explosive handler in Memphis she didn't blow up this car with someone in it today.

The ATF explosives examiner for Idaho said I could just email the scans of the copies I kept. But after two days of getting neither confirmation or bounced email messages about the "Employee Possessor Questionnaires" (background check paperwork for handling explosives) I was about to call him when he emailed me. He said he hadn't received any emails from me after the first one. I had actually sent him two emails in that time frame. The first had bounced and I presumed it was because the attachment was too large. So I put the 9 Mbyte .ZIP file on the boomershoot.org website (the .ZIP file has now been deleted and my logs indicate only I had attempted to download it) and sent him a link to that. That email did not bounce.

But I noticed something, the email address he used was different than the one I had originally used to contact him. I originally used <something>@atf.gov and the one he responded with was <somethingelse>@usdoj.gov. So I sent the same two emails again. One with the attachment and one with the link. Then a couple hours ago I called him. He hadn't received anything.

We verified the email addresses. The first one (which, on Tuesday, made it through to him) was wrong. The other, which I had done a "reply to" from his email was the correct one. He would not download a file from a website ("We don't do that"). Okay, so I'll try sending a plain text test message from a different email account to his preferred email address. That worked. Okay, now the 9 Mbyte .ZIP file. He's not sure what a .ZIP file is. He knows about .PDF files. .JPG files? Yeah, kinda.

The 9 Mbyte .ZIP bounced. The message:

The original message was received at Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:15:40 -0800

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors ----- "somethingelse@usdoj.gov"

----- Transcript of session follows ----- .. while talking to mailsc20.usdoj.gov

>>> DATA <<< 550 5.7.0 Maximum Attachment Size (12M) Violation

Yeah, my 9 Mbyte .ZIP file exceeded their maximum attachment size restriction of 12 M.

Maybe this is a test to see if I'm calm enough to be trusted with explosives.

I broke the 9 Mbyte file into five .ZIP files the largest being 1.95 Mbytes and sent them as attachments to five plain text emails from my alternate email address to his second email address.

About 15 minutes later he called back. He had received them but it was going to "take a while" to get them from "picture viewer" to the printer. He would start work on that the first thing in the morning.

Apparently I passed the test.

I'm going out to the Boomershoot site this weekend. I think I need to blow something up.

At 0526 this morning I got a call from my potassium chlorate supplier. Normally I would be sound asleep or in somewhat more rare cases had not gone to bed yet (I'm a night person). This morning I had been up for several hours and had gone to bed only a minute or two earlier. I have been sick and I have been sleeping for a few hours then read stuff on the web for a while then sleep some more. My sleep schedule is really whacked now.

The supplier wanted to know if I wanted the 142 pounds (see my previous post on the topic) sent ASAP. I had explained it to the other person I had talked to but this woman wanted to make sure. No, that isn't necessary. Sending it all in one shipment would be fine. I've have been dealing with this woman for several years and I get the impression that, well... it sometimes takes several attempts to explain things to her. I think this same "characteristic" caused her to fail to realize there was a significant time difference between her place of employment and that of her customer.

After getting the logistics straightened out she did mention something interesting. The reason the packaging changed is because the previous potassium chlorate I have been purchasing from them came from Spain. That company has gone completely out of the business and the new manufacture is in Sweden. The new manufacture packages it in a different manner. The packaging isn't a big deal but the new manufacture means as soon as I get the material in my hands I need to do tests to make sure Boomerite still works and is safe. In the past when we have changed what we thought were very minor variables the mix would not detonate as easily.

Oh well, it's easy to get volunteers to do help do the tests.

After going back to bed and sleeping for a few hours I got up, checked my email, and found a response to a query I made to the ATF yesterday. It was about why none of the explosive handlers who I sent in the paperwork for last November had heard anything back from the ATF. The response I got (after being forwarded around a bit) told me who I really needed to contact and I sent them an email. I received a call about 90 minutes later and we had a nice chat. The address on the back of the form is incorrect and paperwork sent to that address tends to disappear. He said I could just scan the copies I had kept (hooray for being paranoid about the government messing things up!) and email them to him. He would expedite the processing and there shouldn't be a problem with getting the approvals completed in time for Boomershoot 2009.

I have a pounding headache and a stuffed up nose but I managed to order 392 pounds of potassium chlorate this morning. Potassium chlorate is one of the main ingredients in Boomerite. It's also the most expensive (in the past it has accounted for almost 65% of the cost) and it's hard to find suppliers who can deliver it in the quantities we need.

Last Thursday I started the process of ordering and ran into some obstacles.

First, they wanted a copy of my ATF type 20 license to manufacture high explosives. The one they had on file had expired. I had expected that and wasn't concerned.

Second, I estimate we have about 100 pounds left over from last year and we need about 350 pounds for Boomershoot 2009. I wanted to order the usual 275 pound drum which would have given me a little bit left over for testing and other things during the year. But my supplier told me they only had 142 pounds on hand. Larger quantities will be available in two to three weeks. Also they changed their packaging and they now only sell in 250 pound increments. And the worst part was the price has doubled since last year. Ouch!

But, if I ordered just the 250 pounds then, at best, I wouldn't have any extra for testing purposes during the year. 500 pounds would be more than enough for Boomershoot 2009 but the expense!

I told them I would think about what I wanted to do, FAX them a copy of the license on Friday, and call them back on Monday (today). Over the weekend it occurred to me--they have 142 pound on hand why not buy that plus a 250 pound package? I called today and they said it works for them so it should be just fine. I'm not looking forward to paying the steep price but getting 392 pounds is better than not having enough with 250 pounds and better than paying for 500 pounds of which half will sit around for year.

The cardboard boxes used for the target containers have arrived and are safely stored away. There are just a very few minor supplies that need to be picked up locally now.

Mike Brown is the Idaho Sport Shooting Alliance lobbyist in Boise and he announced, as did the Apex of The Triangle of Death (info on the Triangle of Death), the good guys advanced another few yards in the battle for gun owner rights.

If that passes and is signed by the Governor it will ease some of my Boomershoot worries.

Kris tells me he is going to attend Boomershoot as a spectator and wondered if this would be an appropriate lead pusher for the event:

The original design intent is described as:

Designed as an equalizer for inconceivable and unpredictable lane changes, and other traffic related anomalies perpetrated by the cell phone using, motor home/SUV driving morons in Florida imposed on the rest of us. The below pictured machine was designed for that purpose.

Each mini gun fires at a rate of 3000 rounds per minute (6000 total). During initial test and evaluation it was demonstrated that a single 2 second burst would, and did blow a 40 foot RV with tow car clean off the road, leaving an open and unobstructed route ahead. It will vaporize an SUV in seconds! Tests further indicated that after two or three RV's/SUV's in a row were eliminated, or "friggin smoked", others voluntarily pulled off the road and thus became a "non threat."

I told him it would be welcome but the accuracy of the lead on target was far more important than the quantity.

But perhaps we can create a special Boomershoot event for this class of toy if there is enough interest out there. See also these variants.

A couple weeks ago I confirmed the reservation for the Saturday dinner location and the caterer. It is NOT at the usual place. It is a block or so down the street at 330 Michigan Avenue (VFW Building).

Earlier this week I confirmed the dates for caterer for the on-site food. Breakfast and lunch will be available Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Yesterday I put in a request for quote on delivery of 275 pounds of potassium chlorate. One of the three main ingredients in Boomerite.

A few minutes ago I ordered $500 worth of cardboard boxes, labels, and zip-lock bags.

I should have picked up some small plastic gloves (some of the women making explosives have small hands) when I was out shopping with Xenia for her wedding supplies earlier today. I'll get those another time.

I still need some more ethylene glycol (again for Boomerite).

Son-in-law Caleb says he is going to make the stakes used for holding the targets from some old pallets he got for free.

I really should start printing out badges since the event is full and I have all the names. The few new people from the probable cancellations can be put on one page of badges a few days before the event.

I think everything is under control for another great event.

This time of year (66 days until Boomershoot) not just me but participants start putting the finishing touches on their plans for the big event. Here we see the results of Bruce Da Squirrel Hunter Boomershoot project:

Here is part of the story from Bruce himself:

Well I finally finished my year long project of building a completely new Polished Stainless Steel Tripod. This couldn't have happened without the wonderful help of .223 Bill Lester and Fred Forgone working with me hand and foot to get this project completed on time for April 30th and Boomershoot once again this year. I think Fred has more gray hairs this year with me bugging him non-stop for his assistance with so many miscellaneous parts and devices even on his days off.

My hat is off to .223 Bill and Fred for sticking with me and letting me drive both of them nuts for a year while we invented and built what I believe is the best shooting platform ever invented. This Stainless Tripod was .223 Bill's first production unit since his personal prototype which was made from mild steel. A true craftsman and dedicated friend.

This years project was invented after last years highly modified hunting tripod which had a 55 pound railroad track hanging from the center of the pod which made the total tripod with rifle weigh in at approx. 130 pounds.

After great success with that unit, I was still unhappy about having to hold and adjust the rear of the rifle for every shot. My heartbeat was moving the crosshairs too much in the excitement of Boomershoot.

So back to the drawing board and the current project for this past year has been: "How do we build a better mouse trap"?

Well, you start with the best pair of talented craftsmen who can invent right along with you and build dream toys with a common goal of hitting 7 inch targets all the way out to 650 yards and 700 yards.

The attached photos show my first dress rehearsal of the unit in my living room as my garage isn't big enough with two cars in it to allow me to set this monster up in. The rifle is a Remington 700 Long Action and a Hart Custom .25-06 fluted barrel. The rifle is the only item carried over from last year.

The new tripod has an aluminum front Anti-Cant device and the rear has a polished mild steel Micro Elevation / Traversing Device. Along with these two items is a Mono-rail Anti-lift device up front that I also invented, a modified design instead of the two rail system I employed last year.

Hopefully the recoil will be less then last year with the overall increased weight (150lbs) and the much larger footprint of this unit. I had the .25-06 recoil down to that of a .22 long rifle last year. If this unit does what I think it will, there won't be any recoil this year.

This new tripod still needs to be field tested, but I have a feeling that this will be one sweet tripod to shoot from.

I can't wait for Boomershoot and the chance to really put all this work to the test.

Thank you once again Fred and Bill for all you did and sacrificed for me.

We might just once again hear the call of the wild "ReAdjust"

Does anyone have a house or three they don't need? Ry and I want to try something.

Someone had 150 pounds of explosives stolen. The cops put on a demo for the media to show how dangerous just a small amount of explosivs are. They detonated one third of a pound for the cameras. Here is a still shot (more where I found the one below).

Okay, whatever. For the last several years the smallest targets we have used (the three inch square ones) at Boomershoot have been one half pounders. The four inch square targets we use the most of are approximately one pound. The largest (the seven inch square) ones are two pounders. They lost 150 pounds? We went through over 10 times that much last year.

As planned Caleb and I did some more tests with Ry's test target. Video and commentary by Caleb.

We went to the Boomershoot site expecting to find little or no snow. We should have called ahead. There was about two feet of snow and we were unable to make it to the Taj Mahal with all our gear. We made do at the first berm. We used a paper target to zero the gun for this range (25 yards) then took a single shot with each caliber at the stack of steel plates at the base of the stump. The bullets at the steel plate went over the chronograph.

This was our setup.

In the following video you see the result of SS-109 and 30.06 blacktip ammo shot at the stack of steel plates each 0.25 inches thick. There is a gap of about 0.75 inches between each plate. Estimated velocity of the .223 bullet at the target is 2600 fps. Estimated velocity of the 30.06 bullet at the target is 2360 fps.

The .223 went through one and almost penetrated the second plate. The 30.06 went through three plates and partially into the fourth.

The .300 Win Mag pushing hand-loaded 162 grain military surplus black tip bullets was able to hit the target with a velocity of about 3315 fps. It went through all six plates:

Update: See also this paper on AP ammo. It's just the first page (you have to pay for the rest of it) but it's interesting reading.

At 8:00 AM PST tomorrow, February 8, two more positions will become available. These positions are both in the .50 Caliber Ghetto, positions 3 and 4.

You can sign up for the position by going to the following web page and signing up when they became available tomorrow morning.

http://entry.boomershoot.org/

There is a restrictions on these positions. You can only shoot at targets on the hillside. The range of these targets is from about 550 yards to 700 yards.

Last week I got a call from Nathan at Media Jungle. They make shows such as Adventures Abroad, Western Extreme, and Wild Encounters for Outdoor Channel.

Nathan wanted to confirm they will be welcome (well, DUH!) at Boomershoot 2009. I was rather distracted by some other stuff going on at my office at the moment and didn't catch the name of the show or the talking head. But they will be doing some autograph signing as well as filming and shooting.

The availability of position 43 will be enabled at 12:00 Noon Pacific time today. Sign up here if you think you are fast enough to grab it before someone else does.

Update: Gone in two minutes.

I just had a cancellation for Position 43 for Boomershoot 2009.

Due to a minor bug in my software for on-line entries after moving to a new hosting provider I won't be making the position available for at least a day or so. I'll post something here when the site is ready for accepting new entries.

Yes, my blog was down from about noon on Thursday until early this morning. My hosting provider had (and still has some) problems with a couple of their DNS servers. I really need to move to another provider.

It also affected boomershoot.org, joehuffman.org, lewistonpistol.org, lcwildlife.org, scottfamilyplace.org, jameshs.org, kimhs.org, xeniajoy.com, and email to recipients at those domains. If you didn't get a response from email to people at those domains you might want to try sending the email again. The sites in italics above are still experiencing problems so you might wait another few hours before retrying on them.

Sorry about that.

In the future people are welcome to use one of my alternate email addresses such as JoeH AT[please no spam] modernballistics.com which is through another provider.

Update: The domains are coming are slowing coming back online. I'm removing the italics as I verify they are working again.

Update2: I've moved xeniajoy.com to the new provider and boomershoot.org and boomershoot.com are in the process. Please don't send email to the boomershoot address for about 24 hours (8:00 AM January 26 PST) as I work out any bugs that might show up and the new IP addresses filter through the Internet.

Update3: Grrr... the new provider had been working fine for months with ModernBallistics.com and WhenProphecyFails.info. Now it is down after I moved XeniaJoy.com and all the Boomershoot sites over.

David has announced:

I plan to have a Boomershoot Picture of the Day every day in 2009, so check back for more!

Here are his first submissions:

• January 1
• January 2
• January 3
• January 4

If you can't figure out a way to attend you can at least drive yourself mad with desire.

I'm spending New Years Eve reading Gun Control On Trial by Brian Doherty. I previously mentioned a direct reference to me in the book from a quick scan I made. A few minutes ago I found another reference on page 53 which almost for certain is about me (and others) and Boomershoot:

I talked to lots of people in the "pro-gun" community, from those who enjoy detonating explosives with semiautomatic rife fire to dealers in highly regulated states like California.

I find it interesting that I am placed on the extreme end of the spectrum. I suppose it is fitting. And it reminds me of two quotes:

Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.

Thomas Paine

And:

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry Goldwater

Update (23:15): I finished the book a few minutes ago. I found my name in the index too.

Also of possible interest to some is that my friend and Boomershoot promoter Stephanie Sailor was mentioned in the acknowledgments. It was via her encouragement that Doherty contacted me.

I'll have more on the book tomorrow. And I have a great quote for the first day of the new year from the book.

Position 64 will become available today, Saturday December 20, at about 12:00 noon Pacific Standard Time.

Sign up here.

It is on the Berm which means shooting benches are discouraged.

I'll be on the road traveling from the Seattle area to Moscow at the time so it will depend on cell phone coverage the exact moment I open up the position. Just keep refreshing the web page to get the first available opportunity for the spot.

Update: Due to an error in my blogging software this post did not appear at 9:35 AM like I thought it did. The position was made available at 12:00 noon as planned and it was filled 21 minutes later.

I'll be making another Boomershoot 2009 position available sometime this weekend. Probably about noon on Saturday. I'll post the details when it's actually available.

In closely related news I got an email from someone today who, in part, said:

i have my countdown clock on my desk and it is 124 days and 13 hours till i leave for the boomershoot...

I probably should feel the weight on my shoulders with so many people making this a big event. But except for a few days of the year I have fun doing this.

Position 65 for Boomershoot 2009 just opened up. It’s on the shooting berm near the west end. On the berm means shooting benches are discouraged.

Sign up here.

Do it fast. I expect it will be gone within a few minutes.

Update: Gone in four minutes, 45 seconds.

I also talked to a man named Joe Huffman about his use of guns. Huffman is more unusual in his dedication to the shooting arts. He runs a yearly event called Boomershoot in Idaho, at which people shoot hundreds of yards at four-inch square targets to set off high explosives.

It's wild fun, of course--an intense experience most shooters don't get to have. It attracts a lot of media attention for that reason. Like Hughes, when I pressed Huffman on the subject, he explained that more than just pleasure and amusement lies at the heart of his gun ownership. He thinks it's important to cultivate arcane, high-skilled shooting arts in people he knows because a time may come, as the Founding Fathers knew, when such skills might be useful for more than just outré amusement.

Brian Doherty
Gun Control on Trial--Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment
Copyright 2008
ISBN 978-1-933995-25-0
[I admire myself for my modesty.

See also Interview about the gun culture.

Numerous other gun bloggers should also be receiving a free copy of this book soon. You're welcome.--Joe]

Saturday I mentioned some sniper detection devices designed by the Brits. It turns out the U.S. Army ordered $10 million dollars worth of them:

QinetiQ North America's Technology Solutions Group, a global developer of innovative technology solutions for national defense, today announced a $9.95 million order from the U. S. Army's Rapid Equipping Force (REF) for SWATS(R) Soldier-Wearable Acoustic Targeting Systems. Part of the Ears(R) Gunshot Localization System product family, SWATS(R) soldier-worn units will be deployed to U.S. Army troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan this year. The deployment is expected to be completed by early next year.

A brochure and other info are here.

I wonder if it would crash if it were placed down range at Boomershoot when the opening horn was sounded.

The handgun ban is a reasonable restriction, because handguns constitute a unique class of firearm that have an unmatched ability to cause violence and kill human beings.

Daniel G. Jarcho
Brief of Violence Policy Center and the police chiefs for the cities of Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Seattle as amici curiae in support of petitioners in D.C. v. Heller.
[Handguns cause violence? Unmatched in their ability to kill human beings?

And all this time I would have thought it was atomic bombs (super novas probably outperform A-Bombs but they haven't actually been demonstrated on human inhabited planets that I know of) that were unmatched in their ability to implement violence and kill human beings. And that is why I was accepting of "reasonable restrictions" on atomic weapons. But now that the Supreme Court says handguns are protected by the Second Amendment and, according to Mr. Jarcho, atomic bombs are less dangerous than handguns I guess that means atomic bombs should be protected as well.

I'm glad Mr. Jarcho was able to clear that little misunderstanding up for me. I'll be consulting his work more frequently from now on to make sure I don't make some future similar mistake in my classification of weapon systems. Now, where is a nearby public range where I can rent an atomic capability artillery piece and buy some ammo for it? I want to evaluate some possibilities for the next Boomershoot.--Joe]

Ry reports the KING 5 Evening Magazine video on Boomershoot 2005 was nominated for an emmy in 2006.

We blew up a bunch of pumpkins today. No time for the whole story or any pictures. Just a link to Barrons post (which has pictures and video) and the best of the video (from Kris who made it as a day trip from Seattle):

It's been a long time since I got hate mail like this. And for me it was just the one person.

Some people have all the fun.

I'm need to go blow up some pumpkins tomorrow to make myself feel better.

I've had two requests from people for help celebrating Halloween this year. Son-in-law Caleb and a friend from my work both want to blow up some pumpkins. That is planned for this Saturday.

This morning I got a report from someone else on the same topic:

As the crowd thinned, we started the good stuff. Saturday I had placed a baggie of amn mix in the seed cavity and shot it with the 300 weatherby loaded with 125 grain ballistic tips. I wanted to tell folks that I had acquired some new bullets and demo their performance. The pumpkin absolutely vaporized.

Yeah. That's what happens alright. I'll try to have pictures and video next week sometime.

Update: Video from November 2000 is here.

Chris says it's for Boomershoot. But the maximum range of targets at Boomershoot is only 700 yards. Therefore I think it might be for more than just Boomershoot. I'm thinking my evil plan might be working. Hmmm... so that would mean it is about Boomershoot, even if it isn't for Boomershoot.

I just had a cancelation of one of the positions for Boomershoot 2009.

Position 62, on the berm, is now open.

Sign up here soon if you want it.

Update: The position has been filled. It was open for two hours and 18 minutes.

You put on the most politically incorrect event on the planet.

Pat Kelley
October 5, 2008
Referring to Boomershoot.
[Pat was at the USPSA match I went to today. I think it has been 10 years since I have seen Pat. He remembered me and said a lot of flattering things. I was a little embarrassed because he is such a great shooter he is totally out of my league. But he wasn't talking about my shooting ability. See also these quotes from him in other posts:

• Quote of the day--Pat Kelley
• Shotgunning: 12 shots in 1.73 seconds

He also tried shooting my Saiga 12 gauge. He had never shot one before. He was not able to out-shoot it even though he believes it probably is possible. I wish I had thought to put a timer on him and see what sort of splits he got. I just saw a blur of fire expel from the ejection port and the 10 round magazines were empty.--Joe]

He says he is sorry about bringing down Microsoft.com today. He didn't even have to use any Boomershoot technology.

As people say, his brain is a very powerful CPU but it's running a buggy operating system.

As I reported a few weeks ago I did a bunch of earth moving at the Boomershoot range. Last Sunday Kim, Xenia, and I went back to plant grass on the fresh dirt, winterize the Taj Mahal and deliver 800 pounds of decorative concrete blocks to the Taj. Barb's Jeep was sort of dragging it's tail as we drove out to the range. We will use the concrete blocks as stepping stones around the Taj to keep the explosive workers out of the mud when it is wet. As a side note on Thursday Barb took her Jeep to be "detailed" which consisted mostly of removing mud and small pieces of concrete from the interior.

I didn't take my camera but Xenia brought hers and I planned to post some of the pictures she (and I) took of the work we did. Unfortunately the mechanism involved in transferring the pictures from her camera to me failed with the crash of Barb's desktop computer (it's complicated, don't ask because it's not worth it). I could have worked around it in any number of ways but I had, and have, more important things to do.

I did want to get a post up about the grass planting just so people would know the chances of the area being nothing but mud next spring are less than 100%. Also this gives me an excuse to post a link to Xenia (our artist) pictures from the day. As you can see from the sample below it's an artist taking the pictures and not her engineer father.

Xenia reflected in the solar panels on the Taj Mahal.

Inspired by Roberta's post I looked up something I had seen a while back--How To Make a Cremora Fireball. Here are some pictures of the results:

40-50 Foot Tall Cremora Fireball
(Photo and fireball by Noel Emge)

70 Foot Mushroom Cloud by Bluegrass Pyrotechnic Guild

And in case you hadn't connected all the dots the TSA does not (and cannot) sniff your luggage for coffee creamer or powered milk. Hence a component of my contempt for the entire concept of TSA.

This isn't the usual range report on people going to the range to shoot. This is a report on improving a range.

Yesterday, after getting a late start due to an eye infection I went to the Boomershoot site and made some improvements. The primary goal was to expand the target capacity at the tree line. This is also known as the 375 yard line. I more than doubled the length of this berm. I had originally planned to extend it to the east but due to my limited time (the dirt would have to been moved much further) and concerns shooters in the .50 Caliber Ghetto and most of the Lowlands wouldn't be able to see those targets anyway I extended the berm to the west.

The ground was dry and hard. The dozer I use is on the small side and 65 years old. Frequently I would put the maximum weight I could on the blade in an effort to get it to cut into the ground. This would lift the front end of the cat up and put all the weight on the bit of the blade and the rear sprocket of the cat. Still the blade would barely cut into the ground. It was only after making another pass on the same piece of earth after the spinning tracks had tore up the ground previously that I would get a significant amount of dirt in front of the blade:

Weight on the rear sprocket and blade in an effort to cut into the hard earth.

Below is the result of several hours of dirt moving. The previous target area was from the tree about 50 feet behind the car extending left (east) to the end of the grass covered berm. As you can see from the fresh dirt the target area is over double the previous length. This will allow us to put out a lot more targets in this very popular area.

Taken from shooting bench height, just off of the west end of the shooters berm, at position 69. Click on the picture to see more detail.

I also extended and tweaked the berm for the shooters. The extension was not to increase the capacity but to get each of the shooters a little more room. In previous years shooters were allocated six feet per shooting position while on the berm compared to eight feet on the ground. This should allow berm shooters eight feet as well.  I also tried to make it a little more level. Certain areas on the berm weren't really usable and I think I have fixed that.

Extended portion of the shooters berm looking uprange (mostly north and a bit west).

Shooters berm looking to the west from the east end.

Boomershoot 2009 will have more targets and berm shooters will have a little more elbow room.

I also checked on the status of things at the Taj Mahal. Previously the batteries were not fully charged and the water supply was having issues as well. The batteries weren't fully charged but a couple hours of running the generator and I finally got them topped off. The water still seemed to be working fine.

I still need to go back in a couple weeks and plant grass in the freshly disturbed dirt and prepare the Taj for winter.

Registration for the 2009 Precision Rifle Clinic is now open. You don't have to attend the Boomershoot on Sunday to participate in the clinic on Friday or Satuday. They are in close proximity in space and time but are, essentially, independent.

The prices for this type of training is amazingly good. And it includes shooting at a few boomers as well.

High winds with ice pellet storms. For me, that was uncommon for the Boomershoot but not the worse I have experienced at the Clinic so take it as it was. The winds we had offered an excellent opportunity to practice our wind doping and we learned our lessons and gained some confidence that we could stay on top of such winds well enough to hold IPSC size steel targets as long as we could see them. Such conditions were extreme but I doubt anyone will forget the experience or more importantly, how the Clinic shooters dominated these conditions. I am sure firing in 25 – 30 MPH winds and ice pellet storms will be something the shooters won’t soon forget.

Eugene Econ
Boomershoot 2008 Precision Rifle Clinic After Action Review
[I remember seeing a young woman at the clinic who had arrived from Austin just the day before. She was bundled up in winter clothes and the only skin exposed was part of her face which was getting pelted with ice pellets. I asked her, "Are you having fun yet?" She said she was. At the time I thought she was probably a very good liar but she signed up for Boomershoot 2009.--Joe]

The Apex of The Triangle of Death just sent me another wheelbarrow full of cash to tell everyone about their new website--Gun Ban Obama. This is your one stop site for information on how anti-gun Obama really is. Lots of quotes and other material that leave no doubt as to his true colors.

That wheelbarrow of cash sitting in my vault reminds me of something I forgot to report on. Last Wednesday I had breakfast with Pepper Petersen, "Advancement Officer", from the NRA. He is one of the people that collects the truckloads of cash so others can distribute it in wheelbarrows. We had breakfast in the Microsoft cafeteria and after telling me, "I never ask for money on the first date", we talked about Boomershoot quite a bit as well as various other Microsoft gun people we both knew. He may make an appearance at the Gun Blogger portion of Boomershoot 2009 and help make reactive targets as well as trying to connect with some long range targets on Sunday. He and his wife have a baby due about the same time so it's a little bit iffy at this point.

Rob and I had a nice chat with Caleb and Bonnie on Gun Nuts at Blog Talk Radio last night.

We mostly talked about the Para sponsored weekend at Blackwater. But we touched on Boomershoot just a little bit too.

We did talk about the bet between Caleb and I about who is the better shooter and how that bet came about. We didn't get the stakes of the bet nailed down but that may have been settled today in the comments of his post about our discussion last night. Rob and Bonnie have their own posts about last nights show too.

To answer the question that keeps coming up--the bet came about in the following email thread:

From: Say Uncle
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 6:40 AM
To: Sebastian; Ahab; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com; Joe Huffman
Subject: My dad can beat up your dad

 

http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2008/07/09/chicks-and-guns-17/#comment-203007

 

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 9:27 AM
To: Say Uncle; Sebastain; Aha'; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad

 

Almost for certain he can.

 

My dad is almost 85 years old and not thinking too clearly anymore.

 

How about between the two of us we see who shoots the best at summer camp? Aren’t you the betting type?

 

J

 

-joe-

From: Say Uncle
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 9:36 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Sebastian; Ahab; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad

 

I am but I only bet on things in which I have a positive expectation. In this case, I'm guessing I don't have such an expectation ;)

In fact, due to my recent lack of time at the range, I'll put me at dead last!

From: Ahab
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 9:54 AM
To: Say Uncle; Joe Huffman; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad

 

I'll take that bet, joe

 

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 10:02 AM
To: 'Ahab'; 'Say Uncle'; Sebastian; 'Bitter Bitch'; Deleted @progunprogressive.com'
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad

 

Name your terms and I'll think about it.

 

 

-joe-

 

From: Ahab
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 10:13 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad

 

Six pack of the winner's favorite beer?  Bottle of the winner's favorite booze, not to exceed, oh, I don't know...$30 bucks?

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 10:51 AM
To: 'Ahab'
Cc: 'Say Uncle'; Sebastian; 'Bitter Bitch'; Deleted @progunprogressive.com'
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad

 

The number of beers I have had in my lifetime can be counted on my fingers (base ten, not base two). Beyond that the last drink of alcohol I had was the glass of wine at the NRA convention dinner. That said, because of my sweet tooth there is no such thing as something “too sweet” and I like ice wine.

 

But more important to me is how are we going to determine the winner? And what sort of handicap are you giving me? I’m probably at least 20 years older than you. I’ve had a couple surgeries on my left knee and my right leg and foot is still swollen from the ATV that landed on it at Boomershoot 2008. I’m overweight and my eyes take minutes to change focus from front sight distance to target distance.

 

And what caliber gun did you select? I’m going to shooting a .45. If we do the contest at the end of the weekend after shooting 1500 rounds in the heat and humidity my old muscles, ligaments, and bones will have taken a lot more damage than someone much younger shooting a 9mm.

 

-joe-

 

From: Ahab
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 10:54 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted @progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad

 

I reckon determining the winner would be kind of challenging, and we would have to handicap because I picked the 9mm.

I don't know, let's turn it over to the posse to see if they have any ideas.  Well, everyone except for Robb, because his idea will involve jokes about sausage.

 

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 11:04 AM
To: 'Ahab'
Cc: 'Say Uncle'; Sebastian; 'Bitter Bitch'; Deleted @progunprogressive.com'
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad

 

How about an El Presidente? Score it according to USPSA rules and that would take into account the 9mm versus .45. It would also test a number of different skills including the draw, the reload, accuracy and speed.

 

And you are forgetting the handicap I should get for my age and infirmities. J

 

-joe-

 

From: Ahab
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 11:07 AM
To: Joe Huffman; Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted@progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad

 

Yeah, but you've been shooting for a lot longer than me.

 

:)

 

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:08 PM
To: 'Ahab'
Cc: 'Say Uncle'; Sebastian; 'Bitter Bitch'; Deleted@progunprogressive.com'
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad

 

Ignoring a 100 rounds or so that I shot when I was living at home on the farm I have been shooting for about 15 years. Is that more than you?

 

Regardless, I might be willing to give up on getting that handicap if you agree to a shooting test that isn't too taxing on my aging body.

 

So, what are your thoughts on the El Presidente? Or do you just want to wimp out entirely on a contest?

 

 

-joe-

 

From: Ahab
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:10 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted@progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad

 

I would shoot an El Presidente, that sounds good.  I've been shooting seriously since I was about 19, so that would give me 7 years, giving you a bit more experience.  Plus it's been my personal observation that experience and treachery defeat youthful enthusiasm most of the time. 

 

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:20 PM
To: 'Ahab'
Cc: 'Say Uncle'; Sebastian; 'Bitter Bitch'; Deleted@progunprogressive.com'
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad

 

Have you ever shot an El Presidente before? There’s not much treachery possible there.

 

-joe-

 

From: Ahab 
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:26 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Cc: Say Uncle; Sebastian; Bitter Bitch; Deleted@progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad

 

Fair enough, I've only shot one el presidente in my time, so if you've shot 10 or 12 that would count under the "treachery" category.  :)

But no, I am totally game for an El Pres as the deciding factor.

 

From: Sebastian
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:29 PM
To: Ahab
Cc: Joe Huffman; Say Uncle; Bitter Bitch; Deleted@progunprogressive.com
Subject: Re: My dad can beat up your dad

 

Sorry Caleb, but I'd put my money on Joe ;)

 

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 12:49 PM
To: 'Ahab'
Cc: 'Say Uncle'; Sebastian; 'Bitter Bitch'; Deleted@progunprogressive.com'
Subject: RE: My dad can beat up your dad

 

Ø  I am totally game for an El Pres as the deciding factor.

 

With all applicable USPSA rules applying (http://www.uspsa.org/rules/2008HandgunRulesindexed.pdf)?

 

-joe-

I can't find any further email on it but I think it was in comments on some blog post we did agreed to the contest as being the USPSA El Presidente classifier with all USPSA rules applying. The stakes will probably end up being 250 rounds of 180 grain FMJ .40 S&W ammo. That's higher stakes that I would really think are appropriate but we arrived at that after I suggested a case (typically 1000 rounds) was too much. [shrug] I can handle the pain of losing my first bet in 30 years and if Caleb is okay with taking that risk then I guess that settles it.

Just a couple more items of potential interest:

1. You will notice Caleb (Ahab) said " experience and treachery defeat youthful enthusiasm". Which was a nice way of saying old age and treachery.
2. Last night on the show I said I accepted the bet mostly because of