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.

Chamber hone for 6.5 Grendel

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Via email from Rolf:

I know that several boomershooters use the 6.5 Grendel. I was having problems, and suspect a rough chamber might be the culprit. (Still awaiting a reply from Midway, where I bought the upper, as it’s a MidwayUSA house brand, before I do anything like home gunsmithing). I went looking for a chamber hone that would be right, and could not find one, and saw contradictory info on the web. So I emailed the company (Brush Research) that makes the Flex-Hone chamber hones to ask what the correct one might be. I got this prompt reply this morning. I’m pretty sure that they’d be OK with posting the info on a popular shooting-related web-site such as yours, if you want to post it for any of the Grendel shooters out there who might want to know.

From: Technical <technical@brushresearch.com>
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2020 9:21 AM
Subject: Re: [#479759] New Technical Inquiry Home

Hi Rolf,
Thank you for contacting us regarding chamber hones for your 6.5mm Grendel. We have made these for the Grendel before only they aren’t visible on our website or literature.

You’ll want to order part ID 12809  for 400 grit SC abrasive or part ID 12810 for 800 grit SC abrasive.  The following distributors can order this for you in Washington state. Simply contact them and ask them to order up the part ID’s provided:

APPLIED INDUSTRIAL TECH
4021 6TH AVE S.
SEATTLE WA 98108
(206) 223-5255

FASTENAL
9320 15TH AVE SOUTH
SEATTLE WA 98108
(206) 762-0297

Let me know if you have any other questions we can assist with.

Regards,

Brush Research Manufacturing Co., Inc. 
4642 Floral Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90022
Phone: (323) 261-2193 ext 703
Fax: (323) 268-6587

Not a contradiction

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Via Far Right Of Right@FarRightOfRight:

DefundThePolice

If you think this is a contradiction you probably made the mistake of thinking they were telling the truth when they said you don’t need guns because you have the police. As we have known for decades they have a culture of lies and deception.

With that established fact in mind we can generate hypothesizes and test them against the facts. If we include the newly established fact that they want to defund and abolish the police as we know it what can it mean?

The hypothesis which seems to best fit the data is our political opponents wish to harm us and/or take our property.

I’ve been collecting examples of “They want you dead” for some time now. The recent looting demonstrates the validity of the “they wish to take our property”. That they wanted us disarmed and dependent upon the police followed by defunding the police demonstrates not a contradiction, but consistency with this hypothesis.

Are there other hypothesizes which match the data? Are there other data points which invalidate my hypothesis?

Discuss. Then take appropriate action. Consider preparing for Boomershoot 2021. Sign up is here.

Social distancing

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The title claims “Ultimate in Old School Social Distancing”. While carrying a rifle down the sidewalk with an extended bayonet would grant you greater social distancing for a few minutes I expect the distance would be considerably shortened by the end of your walk as the police stopped by to have a chat with you.

Also, I expect an experienced Boomershooter could maintain something much closer to “ultimate” distancing than someone using a bayonet to keep the distance.

Free business/entrepreneur coaching

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A few days ago I received an email from Brian:

I am doing a bunch of webinars for entrepreneurs where we do group coaching- essentially, brainstorming and deploying ways to connect with our customer bases and increase the chances that we stay in business.
 
I’d be happy to do one for your audience. Definitely off topic for your blog. But you have plenty of business owners I bet who would appreciate getting together and access to a business coach in this format for free.

This led to:

Hello Joe’s audience,

I’m Brian Keith and a member of the gun culture like you.

Current events show me more than usual that we are in a culture war for the soul of America.

As a business coach, the main contribution I can make is helping our team’s businesses survive this season.

If you are an entrepreneur, or you know a business owner who is in the gun culture (“one of us”), I have two offers for you:

1. I can lead a regular (monthly? biweekly? weekly?) group coaching call where you bring your problems to me and we figure them out together. The group format means you get to learn from your peers, and it keeps my costs low.

2. You and I can talk one on one for an hour. You get more privacy, and leave our call with a more customized plan on what to do in your business to survive and maybe even grow right now.

What does it cost?

You and I rubbed shoulders at Mecca manufacturing Boomerite. You comment on Joe’s blog. You and I look forward to Boomershoot 2021. We’re on the same side in this cultural fight.

So the cost is free.
All you need to do- email me (brian (at) redbeardconsulting.com) whether Option 1 (regular group coaching calls) or Option 2 (a single one-on-one call with me) would best help your business survive.

Boomershoot 2020 is canceled

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At 2:45 AM this morning I sent a version of this email to all entries and the spectator and announcement list for Boomershoot:

Boomershoot 2020 is five weeks away and COVID-19 infections are still increasing across the country. I’ve had several people tell me they are not coming this year. Many states, including Idaho, have travel and social contact restrictions.

I’m canceling Boomershoot 2020.

I’m sorry to do this but both the legal and moral issues don’t give me any other options.

Regards,

Joe Huffman
Boomershoot Event Director
Cell: 208-301-4254

There has been a Boomershoot every year since 1998. It makes me sad to know that continuous record will be broken. I considered rescheduling for this fall but the end of fire season and the beginning of mud season is too unpredictable.

Quote of the day—John B.

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A couple of my friends have asked if you could move the event closer to the US-Canada border, so that we could shoot across the border rather than having to cross it ourselves.

John B.
March 20, 2020
[Via email.

I think that’s a really cool idea! It might even be an act of war or something. How much fun would that be?

But, it’s not really practical because the production and storage facilities are not mobile. And finding a suitable location might be tough. Washington State is out because of the onerous laws. Idaho doesn’t have a very long border with Canada. This would make it less likely to have a place I could rent on both sides of the border. Montana might have a place, but I don’t know their explosives laws.

But, if I had the time those are all solvable problems. Unless it really is considered an act of war.—Joe]

Boomershoot 2020 and COVID-19

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Too long, didn’t read, version: I’m going to wait and see until the end of the month before making the decision to cancel or not. The refund policy is here: https://entry.boomershoot.com/Refunds.aspx

As I live just a few minutes from ground zero in the U.S. I’m just as, or more concerned, than the typical Boomershoot participant regarding COVID-19.

I’ve talked to many people about what we should do in regards to Boomershoot 2020.

There are several components to Boomershoot. If the Federal guidelines remain in place and we adhere to them, then the Boomershoot dinner will be canceled.

One could make the case that the rest of the event is not at all that serious of a risk. People are outside with good air flow and, except for the portable toilets, not sharing door knobs or other transfer surfaces. With a big stash of disinfecting wipe the portable toilet point of risk could be managed.

There is another component that is of more concern and not as easily mitigated. Our target production facility has very tight quarters. I have dramatically improved the air filtration since last year but still it’s not nearly as good as I think it should be to be safe if someone were contagious. To top that concern off is the fact that two essential staff members are in the group considered “high risk”.

This leads me to conclude that unless things get remarkably better we should cancel the event.

My day job is working on a Cyber Threat Intelligence team. I get access to other types of threat intel as well. Last week I listened in on a call with DHS regarding COVID-19. There wasn’t any information that wasn’t already public but it was packaged a little bit better. I have also talked to a couple sources that have information that hasn’t been widely circulated. While still technically public information this information leads me to some conclusions.

  1. My expectation is that the seriousness of the situation will continue to get worse for some undetermined amount of time. It may be that summer weather will slow or even stop the spread of the virus. The threat, however, will continue to be significant for months, not just a few weeks.
  2. While things will get worse it’s not going to be life threatening to most people outside of the high risk groups.
  3. Avoiding contact with contagious people is extremely important for people at high risk. Some hospitals in the Seattle area are already at nearly full capacity and are sending injured emergency patients, sometimes, hundreds of miles away to hospitals without a COVID-19 burden.

What this means to me is that if we get some hot summer like weather for the next two weeks and things look summer like at Boomershoot things may be good enough that I will not cancel Boomershoot. I don’t think this will be the case but there is no harm in waiting. We are continuing to get the last of the supplies and will be able to put on a stellar event should we decide to continue.

The refund details are here. Basically, if the event is canceled you will get the option of full credit for next year or a refund of 95% of your credit card payment (details differ for a few people, read the policy). Your choice.

If you have questions or concerns I have not addressed here please send me an email or give me a call.

Joe Huffman
Boomershoot Event Director
Cell: 208-301-4254

Boomershoot 2020 speaker: Kim du Toit

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Kim du Toit is attending Boomershoot again this year and he has agreed to be our Saturday night dinner speaker.

I believe the last time he and his son were here was 2005.

Anyone who has spent more than a few seconds around Kim knows he is a rather “colorful” character. His personality fills the room.

He’s publicly called me both “Paparazzi Bastard“ as well as a “National Treasure“. Those blog posts of his are gone but I haven’t forgotten.

I wonder what colorful language he will use this year. Attend Boomershoot dinner and find out.

Boomershoot weather station upgrade

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I have been having problems with the Boomershoot weather station since the first few hours daughter Kim and I installed it. The Hoarfrost accumulated overnight immobilized the wind sensors:

There were other problems as well. The communication between the “indoor” part of the unit and the outdoor sensors, above, was not reliable. I didn’t have a indoor environment for it. This indoor part uses an ethernet cable to connect to the Internet and a 900 MHz radio link to connect to the outdoor sensors. I put it in a plastic box that only barely protected it from direct exposure to the elements. And the insects, such as earwigs and yellow jackets made it their home:

Sometimes the connection would go down just an hour or so after I rebooted things, got it working, and was on my way home six hours away. And then there was the time it stopped recording rainfall. It turned out a bird had pooped in the rain gauge and plugged it up.

I tried moving the sensor closer to the Internet connection unit without improvement. Then when I visited just before Christmas I decided it was time to purchase a new weather station. The wind sensors were immobilized by freezing rain:

20191225_101011

I realize the manufacture is based in Arizona, but they are making a product intended to be used to measure weather conditions. It’s not like I installed this sensor in Barrow Alaska or something. Sure, this is a bit hostile, but it shouldn’t be unexpected to the designers.

Last weekend I installed a new weather station and made the “indoor” environment a little better.

It’s not really a coincidence that both the initial installation and this upgrade took place in January. There isn’t time to do it just before Boomershoot. And it’s easier to do it before the mud is so soft that you can’t easily walk across the ground. But the cold does make it a hardship. This year, compared to the initial installation, I was able to drive instead of snowshoeing in like last time, to the shooting line where we have the weather station… after I shoveled a path through berm in front of the driveway.

Before:

20200125_080822

After:

20200125_082815

To improve the environment for the “indoor” electronics I dug a pit and installed an underground box for the solar charged batteries, the charge controller, the 12V –> 24V switching power supply for the Wi-Fi connection, and the 12V –> 5V switching power supply for the ethernet switch and the weather station “indoor” electronics.

20200125_094608

It was just above freezing temperatures and frequently raining when I was working. Moving 130 pound batteries into the pit and connecting all the wires was less than fun. Notice the mud I was kneeling in to work on things:

20200126_124624

The end result looks pretty good. I insulated the lid and with the underground environment, some heat from the batteries and electronics, the temperature should be less extreme both in the summer as well as the winter.

20200125_162127

Here is the new outdoor sensor array:

20200126_124853Cropped

The spikes over the rain gauge are supposed to keep the birds from sitting on the edge and building nests in it. I don’t know that the wind sensors are more resistant to frost and freezing rain but I know the old one didn’t tolerate those conditions well.

It’s been almost a week now with no interruptions in service to the Boomershoot live web page.

That’s me!

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It’s possible I noticed this before but it’s hard to say. The Firearms Blog has a picture of me at the event which inspired Boomershoot: At the bottom of the post is a picture from the 1997 Blanchard Blast.

I stumbled across this while reading Deplatformed: How Big Tech Companies & Corporate America Subvert the Second Amendment (very well done). This post linked to PSA: Microsoft’s ban on using its services to promote guns. Having worked there, and my daughter still working there, this is extremely annoying. And that blog post led to the Microsoft Gun Club post where the picture was found.

Boomershoot 2020 registration is now open

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Today, as of 9:00 AM PST, Boomershoot 2020 registration is open to everyone. For the last several days Boomershoot 2019 participants and staff have selected their positions. The long range event on Sunday still has 42 of the 76 positions available. The Friday and Saturday Precision Rifle Clinic still has lots of openings with only three and four of the 16 positions taken on each day. The Field Fire, practice on your own with the steel targets with a range safety officer, is an alternative to the Precision Rifle Clinic and doesn’t have a practical limit to the number of people who participate.

The High Intensity events on Friday and Saturday evenings have five and 10 of the 25 available positions still available.

“What are the High Intensity events?”, you might ask. A few years ago Oleg made a great video which captures it:

The Sunday long range event is a little harder to capture. The thumps to your chest don’t come through the filtering of the video camera:

Anette gives you an overview of the entire experience:

And once experienced you will never forget the opening fireball on Sunday morning:

Boomershoot 2019 Fireball from Joe Huffman on Vimeo.

Register for Boomershoot 2020 now for an experience you will treasure for the rest of your life.

Quote of the day—Michael Z. Williamson

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Keep calm. Spread the word.  Agitate against such outrages. Buy more guns.  Buy them legally. Buy them privately if you can.  Buy more, more, and yet more. There’s always the risk we’ll reach the point where America tips over. But that’s a chance we’ll have to take.

Because if it’s impossible for the government to seize 300 million weapons (the lowball estimate), it’s way more than four times as impossible for them to seize 1.2 billion.

Michael Z. Williamson
December 15, 2019
The Virginia Debacle, Summarized (And Why You Should Buy More Guns)
[There is more than a little truth to this. But a gun properly buried in the woods and practically impossible to confiscate might as well be in government hands or destroyed. Just one gun, and enough ammunition, in the hands of someone skilled, able, and willing to use it will be of far more use that a thousand guns hidden and unused.

Attend Boomershoot 2020 (sign up here). Learn what your gun can do at a distance, increase your skill, have the confidence to use it if you really need to, and have a whole lot of fun doing it.—Joe]