Ramblings on explosives, guns, politics, and sex by a redneck Idaho farm boy who became a software engineer living near Seattle.
Category Archives: Boomershoot
Boomershoot is a long range precision rifle event with high explosives as the targets. This is about Boomershoot in general and sometimes just explosives.
Part of the motivation for this comment to me was what was happening with his niece. No, I did not have any unsupervised time with her. But the environment I helped create did have a “corrupting” influence on her. She not only helped make the targets, but she was also popping boomers and having a great time. This was pretty awesome to watch. I did not get any pictures of her smile when she hit one. I also missed capturing the scowl when someone else popped the boomer she was working on. But you can get a clue of her intensity here:
But my favorite corrupting of the youth Boomershoot 2025 story is about this 14-year-old first generation American of Persian ancestry:
Can you guess what she is about to do?
Here is a clue. She is about to put on a very, very, happy face.
Watch for it and turn up the volume to hear what she has to say about it:
This is from a different day at 636 yards instead of 375 yards:
It appears the targets are significantly thinner near the steel than to the right. I suspect people used the larger steel targets to get their range and windage adjustments. Then they moved to the closest boomers for a more reactive confirmation.
An overall view of what it looks like near the start of the long-distance event:
This is later in the morning when most of the closer targets have released their nitrogen:
Boomershoot is not just all clanging steel, earth shaking, chest thumping explosions, and clouds of smoke. There were a surprising number of children there this year. One eight-year-old learned to shoot a rifle on one day and claimed more boomers than most adults the next. Of course, his instructor was a long-range national champion. Another six-year-old, shooting rifles since he was two, and has a 1,500 -> 2,000-yard shooter for a father. He hit something like seven out of eleven boomers he shot at the 375-yard line.
Boomershoot is this coming weekend. If you are there, you will be shooting at 4″ square targets at 375 yards. You can also shoot at 7″ square targets at 700 yards. This is good practice for a golf ball at 300 yards.
If you can’t participate this year, you should know that spectators are welcome.
This is from 711 yards away. This is almost exactly the range to the most distant targets at Boomershoot. Of course, at Boomershoot it is not just a PING. The BOOM makes the earth shake.
We don’t have any Boomershoot target point of view videos. That would be very cool to have.
The next Boomershoot is coming up soon on May 2nd -> 4th. Sign up here.
These are the weather summaries for the Boomershoot weather station and my weather station about 0.75 miles away at my pistol range (and underground bunker).
Boomershoot:
Pistol range:
Ignore the pressure difference. One is relative and the other is absolute. Also note that the second weather station is at least 50 feet from any man-made thing the generates heat.
Notice that the low temperature for Boomershoot was -13.4. and the low for the pistol range was 4.8 F. That is 18.20 degrees different!
The difference in the average is 3.7 F.
When I purchased the second weather station, I had some people roll their eyes at me. The implication was there is no significant difference between the two locations. Yet, from many years in the area, I suspected the Boomershoot site was colder than the surrounding fields. It just felt colder there.
That is why it is important to keep improving and expanding our gun culture. Take someone to the range and teach them to shoot. Bring a newbie or even a non-gun person to Boomershoot this year.
Support for stricter gun laws has declined significantly over the years, while the desire for more relaxed laws has grown. In 1990, a substantial 78% of Americans favored stricter gun control, with only 2% wanting more lenient regulations.
By 2010, support for stricter laws had dropped to less than half (44%). However, it rebounded in 2020, rising to 57%.
In 2023, opposition to gun control reached a two-decade high, with 15% of Americans wanting less strict regulations.
The support of the courts for the right to keep and bear arms is not enough. We must also change the culture. The trend is in the right direction, but we are far from where we need to be yet. We need a solid majority in opposition.
Here are some ways you can do that:
Come out of the closet as a gun owner and Second Amendment advocate.
Be active on social media and make sure the comments to anti-gun advocates are politely and factually ratioed.
Gun ownership is a civil right. Be a civil rights advocate.
Consider shaming those opposed to civil rights.
Take a new shooter to the range.
Introduce people virtually and/or physically to Boomershoot. The KING5 Evening Magazine video is the most effective introduction to the shooting sports I know of. It is a completely different reality from the world of gun ownership the mainstream media feeds them.
Attend town hall type meetings of your politicians and politely confront those who want to infringe upon our rights.
Registration opens for Boomershoot 2024 participants on Thursday 12/26/2024 at 6:00 PM Pacific time. Registration opens for everyone on Monday 12/30/2024 at 6:00:00 PM Pacific time.
The video from KING5 Evening Magazine was nominated for an Emmy
The Outdoor Channel
KLEW TV
Newsweek
Outside Magazine
Idaho Magazine
the Spokesman Review
Lewiston Morning Tribune
Chicago Reader
The Missoulian
You could watch videos about Boomershoot on YouTube for hours. But all the words, all the pictures, and all the videos cannot do it justice. It has to be experienced in person. People come from all over north America to participate or sometimes just watch. We have had people come all the way from England and, last year, Scotland to participate.
I asked Grok, X’s AI chat bot, “What is Boomershoot?” This was its answer:
Boomershoot is an annual high-power rifle shooting event held in North Central Idaho, near Orofino. Here are the key details about Boomershoot:
Event Overview: Boomershoot is known for its unique targets which are explosive. Participants engage these targets with long-range precision rifles at distances ranging from 375 to 700 yards.
Targets: The targets consist of high explosives, with the closest and smallest being 4-inch square boxes filled with an ammonium nitrate and potassium chlorate-based mixture. Larger targets, used for longer ranges, are 7-inch squares with a stronger explosive charge. When hit by a bullet, these targets explode, providing immediate feedback to the shooter.
Event Structure:
Main Event: The primary day involves participants shooting at these explosive targets, typically held on a Sunday in late spring. Over a ton of explosives can be mixed and used over the event’s duration.
Precision Rifle Clinic: Held on the days before the main event, this clinic offers training with both steel and explosive targets, focusing on precision shooting techniques.
High Intensity Events: These are evening events where participants can shoot at closer distances and experience more explosive action, with a limit on participants to manage the quantity of targets.
Safety and Regulations: Safety is paramount at Boomershoot. Participants must adhere to strict safety guidelines, including rules on muzzle awareness, loading, and firing only on command. Joe Huffman, the event’s organizer, holds an ATF Type 20 License for manufacturing high explosives, ensuring compliance with federal regulations.
Community and Culture: Boomershoot not only serves as a shooting event but also fosters a community of firearms enthusiasts, offering opportunities for camaraderie, learning, and celebration of marksmanship. The event includes social activities like a Saturday night dinner featuring guest speakers, further enhancing its community aspect.
Location and Logistics: The venue is near Cavendish, Idaho, with specific directions available on the event’s website. Participants are encouraged to prepare adequately, with advice on equipment like spotting scopes and ammunition.
Cancellation History: Boomershoot has faced cancellations or modifications due to external factors like the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the event’s adaptability and focus on participant safety.
Boomershoot has built a reputation over the years for being an exciting and challenging event for those passionate about shooting sports, with a strong emphasis on safety, precision, and community.
The Marine Corps has officially hit full operational capability on its new sniper rifle a year ahead of schedule.
The Corps chose the Mk22 Mod 0 Advanced Sniper Rifle, manufactured by Barrett Firearms, a company widely known for their groundbreaking work in developing the .50 caliber sniper rifle, as a changeable, multi-barrel rifle to replace two existing long rifles and give shooters three caliber options within their main shooting platform.
Those caliber options include the standard 7.62mm, the .300 Norma Magnum and .338 Norma Magnum. The caliber diversity allows shooters to select a munition for specific missions that might require more distance or more penetrating power. The rifle uses a 10-round magazine.
I recently installed a new weather station near my pistol range in Idaho. Barb gently mocked me about it because it is less than three-quarters of a mile from the Boomershoot weather station. The pistol range is also about 120 feet higher in elevation. I insisted the Boomershoot site has different weather than the pistol range. She just smirked as I tried to explain.
Late last night, after months of litigation, a federal court in Texas decided the federal ban on at-home distillation of beverage spirits is unconstitutional. The district court’s decision is fair; it is correct on the law; and it is historic.
Lawyers at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) represent several amateur home-distilling enthusiasts who want to pursue the essentially harmless hobby of at-home distilling of beverage spirits for personal use without the looming threat of legal sanctions. Under federal law, distilling in one’s home or backyard can result in a $10,000 fine and a five-year imprisonment.
The court found that:
The federal ban on home distilling exceeds the scope of the federal government’s limited powers.
The Constitution’s tax power does not allow the federal government to ban home distilling, largely because the ban does not add money into the federal treasury or protect federal tax revenue.
The Constitution’s power to regulate interstate commerce does not allow the federal government to ban home distilling, largely because the ban neither regulates interstate commerce directly nor is it related to any larger regulatory scheme.
I didn’t read the actual ruling but I suspect what the judge said can be applied to almost anything not involved in Interstate commerce. Hence, when applied to homemade grenades at a Boomershoot side event the courts would be inclined to say the Federal government can’t ban them either.
These targets are designed to provide immediate feedback when hit by a supersonic rifle bullet, resulting in a high explosive reaction that is both visible and audible from long distances. It’s what makes Boomershoot an exciting event for participants and spectators alike
The quote above was in response to “What kind of targets are used at Boomershoot?” The only things that are slightly in error are that the explosive has more ammonium nitrate than potassium chlorate and it is not really a paste.
I’m just amazed at how accurate Copilot is with Boomershoot stuff. Ironically, it makes more mistakes with computer programming questions. If you have questions about Boomershoot and don’t want to go digging around the website or wait for someone to answer your email, just ask Copilot.
In related news, Boomershoot was a great success this year. There were no injuries reported. Everything was very close to on time. Nothing was more than about 10 minutes late. We met are target production goals. As near as we could determine there were no targets which failed to detonate other than those which were hit and damaged by flying debris from other targets. There were only four targets left undetonated at the end of the day. These were three 4” targets and one 7” target. The weather on Sunday was damp but not miserably so. The light rain at the end of the day eliminated the risk of spontaneous combustion of the chemicals the next day.
We had people who came all the way from Arizona, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Scotland(!!!!) just for Boomershoot.
Of possible interest is I was giving a tour of my underground bunker to some of the Boomershoot Staff when the Precision Rifle Clinic participants started detonating their targets. We were a half mile away and we could clearly hear the detonations through the ground.
