We have a speaker lined up for Boomershoot 2012 dinner.
Author Paul M. Barrett who I met in Reno at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous last month has agreed to be our speaker.
More information about the dinner and his talk, “The Ironies of Gun Control” can be found here.
I take exception with Ry saying, “Joe tried to drive the cat through the uphill side of the container, missing only by a few inches”. It was under complete control when I was within a few inches. I was out of control sliding sidewise for a few feet a minute or so earlier but it stopped before I got within five or six feet but everything else is correct.
Barron has some pictures and I will get some pictures, video, and stories (three different types of fuels failed me with the bulldozer, there was a flat tire on my vehicle, and it was HOT out there), of my own up within a few days.
On the bright side; Mecca is going to be awesome!
Oh, and those guys who stayed in bed until after 10:00 AM or 2:00 PM today are wimps. My muscles were a little sore from moving over 1300 pounds of ammonium nitrate and other stuff but I was out at the range today by 9:00 AM and shot in the Steel Challenge Pistol match with only minor complaints. I guess it must suck when you get to be as old as those other guys who didn’t make it to match. [wink]
Thanks again Ry, Barron, and son-in-law Caleb, for all the help. I couldn’t have done it without you.
I’m willing to bleed in order to own a world record.
Ry Jones
September 23, 2011
[It turns out there is a relatively easy path to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records. I questioned the wisdom of Ry’s method, which involved explosives at close ranges, and the quote above was him assured me he did not share my concern.—Joe]
Son-in-law Caleb and I went to the Boomershoot site both yesterday and today. Yesterday we removed the remains of the first Boomershoot explosives storage magazine. I had busted it up with the bulldozer last June and finally got around to hauling it off.
Today we put some old railroad ties in place for supporting a modified 40’ shipping container in place as a manufacturing site for Boomershoot reactive targets:
The shipping container should be delivered in two or three weeks. It’s going to be awesome to have a place to build the targets with lots of room and sheltered from the wind, snow, rain, hail, sleet, sun, and various combinations thereof we have endured in the past.
The railroad ties had been donated by Matthew and hauled to within a couple hundred yards by Barron and Janelle. There was a crop in the field and they couldn’t get them all the way to the site. Enough of the crop was cut last night and this morning that we got them in the rest of the way. We also brought in some gravel to position them. That turned out to be a bit of a misadventure.
I originally planned to just put down a tarp in the back of my SUV and shovel in some gravel at my brother’s place a couple miles away and carry it over like that. My brother suggested using the bucket loader on the tractor. Since one bucket full would be plenty a single trip with the loader would take less time than shoveling it into and out of my vehicle. Good idea.
The problem was that the heavy load in the bucket exposed a fatigued weld in the 35+ year old tractor and as I crossed a small ditch the front left wheel broke off:
As you can see in the second picture most of the area of the weld had been broke for some time.
We ended up shoveling the gravel we needed into the back of my SUV and delivering it the last 150 yards or so as originally planned.
My brother Doug and I looked at it fairly closely and it looks like the pieces can be taken off, tossed in a pickup, and taken back to the shop for repair. It’s probably a half-day job that is relatively inexpensive.
I was just glad that it didn’t break on the county road as I was going much faster and next to a step drop off. It could have been much more serious.
Here’s an opportunity for a caption contest:
The registration software is in good enough shape for now.
This is the schedule:
Go to http://entry.boomershoot.org/ to sign up.
I have finalized the image and slogan for Boomershoot 2012.
Thanks to Caleb for the slogan, Rolf for the image, Ry for the fireball, and Xenia for the editing.
Entry for Boomershoot 2012 will be opening up soon. 2011 participants will probably be able to enter tomorrow night or the next. I expect it will be open for everyone by September 1 or 2.
The video was taken at Boomershoot 2003 but posted on YouTube just today. I’m not even sure who took the video. But this was when our fireballs worked fairly reliably.
Son-in-law Caleb and I went out to the Boomershoot site yesterday. Caleb staked out the four corners of where we will place the shipping container for the new reactive target production facility:
The corners stake out an area 8’ x 40’. We brought a laser level and Caleb was able to determine that I had got it level within three inches using my eyeball and the old dozer. After the crop has been taken off the surrounding field this fall we will go back in with a pickup load of gravel and put a little gravel on each of the four corner locations making the rear end about 3” higher to keep water from draining to the rear, settle the railroad ties from Matthew into the gravel, and then bring in the shipping container.
While Caleb worked on staking and leveling task I worked on getting the Wi-Fi connection set up and then did some further tests on Internet provider options. One of the options included putting an antenna on a distance hill that is visible both from Mecca (this Boomershoot production facility), my brother Doug’s home, and Teakean Butte where First Step Research has high-speed wireless link available. Doug would pay the recurring Internet bill and I would pay for the equipment and do the installation.
Currently we are getting service from a neighbor who has a satellite connection but does not have visibility of Teakean Butte. The connection is slower and cheaper than the connection from First Step, a latency you could measure with a sundial, and “Fair Access” limits of only a few gigabytes per month. Doug does not have visibility of Teakean Butte either but if I were to put up a solar powered FSR connection on the hill at the power pole in the distance (about 0.75 miles away from the Wi-Fi access point in the foreground below) I could service both all of the Boomershoot site and my brother Doug.
The picture above was taken with a 300 mm lens which gives about a 6 X boost from a normal view.
The question was could I make the 0.75 mile connection with the current technology I have or would I need better antennas and/or higher powered transmitters. I pointed my antenna at the distance hill, connected to the neighbors satellite powered access point via the rear lobe of the directional antenna which was about 0.7 miles away through a few trees. I then went to the distance hill to measure the signal strength—with my cell phone. I could not connect from the distant hill but I could measure the signal strength. It will work. The signal strength would probably be strong enough I could even connect with some laptop computers. Propagation was very good and the noise floor was very low. That appears to be a viable option.
Today I did some more prep for the new explosives manufacturing site. This new place needed a name so a few weeks ago I asked daughter Kim and son-in-law Caleb to try and come up with some names. Caleb almost immediately suggested “New Mecca”. I thought about it some and suggested dropping the “New”. When I told others of the suggestion it received a warm welcome (especially from Barron and Janelle) so “Mecca” it is.
What I did today was put up the Wi-Fi access point. I wasn’t able to test it because the Wi-Fi access point at the provider wasn’t working and no one was home for me to get access and fix it. I think I’m probably going to get my own connection to First Step Research which will be a lot faster and more reliable than the second hand satellite connect I am currently using.
Anyway, here is a picture of the new access point:
The fence post was rather difficult to get into the “ground”. The place it really needed to be was mostly big rocks covered with a few pine needles. I got it into the ground and I hope to be able to test the connection the next time I go back. It’s over a half-mile to the source with partial blocking by the trees and that is a little bit of a concern to me.
Here are the railroad ties donated by Matt and delivered by Barron and unloaded with the help of Kim and Caleb we will use for the new production facility Ry is supervising:
Thanks again guys. We are going to have a great new place to make targets next spring.
As the anti-gun organizations implode and fade into nothingness I’m expanded Boomershoot production facilities.
Today the BoomershootBabe (daughter Kim) and Barron will be unloading materials for the Mecca for long range shooters. Thanks guys. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to help. I’m 350 miles away working on improving the entry software for Boomershoot 2012.
You enjoy this way too much.
Barbara Scott
July 2, 2011
[No. She wasn’t talking about sex but almost.
I was mapping out my game plan with the ATF after they said something stupid. Except I think maybe they aren’t as stupid as they appear at first glance. I asked them one little question in response and instead of getting an answer back they went silent. I suspect they realize no matter what they say next it’s going to be embarrassing for them. More details if I ever get a response from them.–Joe]
The culvert I put in a few years ago needed some fill on both sides to make it more level rather than just a mound over the culvert with increasingly deep holes on either side.
But if we finish the new production facility this culvert won’t get nearly as much use as it has in the past so it might not really matter.
A couple weeks ago Barron and Janelle got their pickup stuck when they showed up to help at a private party:
All the traffic during Boomershoot left some big ruts but the stuck pickup made them even worse:
So I smoothed those out a little bit:
The first Boomershoot explosives storage magazine hasn’t been used in many years and even though I should have taken it out a long time ago I had some sort of attachment to it. When the ATF visited last month the inspector seemed to be taking more interest in it that I was really comfortable with. It hadn’t been “up to snuff” for quite some time but I didn’t think it mattered since I wasn’t using it anyway. But she was making notes even though I told her I would take it out this summer sometime. Rather than risk some sort of requirement that I repair it I decided to take it out today while I had the cat there to break up the concrete blocks.
Before:
After:
Later this summer after the hay has been taken off the field I’ll salvage what I can from the remnants and haul off the rest of the pieces.
As I mentioned yesterday I did some work on a site for a new reactive target production facility for Boomershoot.
Progress continues and I declared it “good enough for now” this afternoon:
This looking to the north and a little bit east at about 5o.
This is looking to the northwest at about 315o.
This is looking a little more to the west at about 290o.
This is from the opposite end of the location looking back at the position the picture above was taken from.
You might notice in the first and last picture that there is section of disturbed earth that extends into the field in the southeast. This is where (I hope) the truck and trailer can enter the site with the shipping container. I expect we will have the dozer there when the shipping container is brought in so that changes can be made in the landscape should they be necessary so the trailer doesn’t get high centered or something. And if nothing else the can get it fairly close and then I can push or drag it into the final position with the cat.
Final leveling will probably be done with a hydraulic jack, gravel, railroad ties, and boards.
I started work on a new Boomershoot building site today:
This will be for manufacturing of the targets. In years past we have built the targets on the tailgate of my pickup, folding tables in the middle of an open field, and under a folding canopy.
We have sometimes made a few targets in the Taj Mahal but it just isn’t big enough for large scale production. This year we made a firm decision to move the manufacturing location to a location further from the storage location and improve the working conditions. We plan to put in a shipping container with lights, tables, and ventilation.
Daughter Kim “had” to be back in Moscow by 2:00 PM for the Zombie Carnival (I was sort of interested in going until Kim said head shots from 300 yards away would be frowned upon) so I didn’t get the dozer work completed. We will go back out tomorrow to finish up.
Although I think it would be very cool to have one of these and have the money to afford shooting it I don’t really have a place to shoot it. The Boomershoot site just wouldn’t be appropriate. This 155 mm Howitzer really needs 5 to 10 thousand yards to show it’s stuff.
I have seen this gun at this same location ever since I can remember but this week while Barb and I were vacationing in Orofino was the first time I looked at it closely.
I had no idea it was made in France. This really surprised me.
And from 1918! That surprised me too. I had always figured it was a WWII era gun.
See that smile? That is why we win.
What can the Brady Campaign do to compete with that?
This was a private Boomershoot party on Saturday. There were lots of smiles that day. The video below gives some hints as to how they were generated:
I received an email this morning:
From: XXX YYY [mailto:XXXYYY@hotmail.co.uk]
Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2011 8:45 AM
To: joeh@boomershoot.org
Subject: large bomb.
i want to make a large bomb capable of taking down a large building. i have made HMTD and some other explosives before, but what would be the easiest way to make a bomb like this? could it fit inside a large rucksack?
Huh? Really?
I forwarded it to New Scotland Yard with the following:
From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2011 5:19 PM
Subject: FW: large bomb.
I received an “interesting” email this morning. The email address is UK based so I presume this is your problem. The email properties with the IP address of interest are:
Received: (qmail 4964 invoked from network); 5 Jun 2011 15:45:25 –0000
Received: from unknown (HELO m1pismtp01-001.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net) ([10.8.12.1])
(envelope-sender XXXYYY@hotmail.co.uk)
by p3plsmtp03-05.prod.phx3.secureserver.net (qmail-1.03) with SMTP
for <joeh@boomershoot.org>; 5 Jun 2011 15:45:25 –0000
X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: Aq8XADKk602dNwDbY2dsb2JhbABTglKEG5Evjh8KFwkLCBMFIqgxjmKPD4YhBJVKgQuJXw
Received: from dub0-omc1-s20.dub0.hotmail.com ([157.55.0.219])
by m1pismtp01-001.prod.mesa1.secureserver.net with ESMTP; 05 Jun 2011 08:45:25 –0700
Received: from DUB102-W9 ([157.55.0.237]) by dub0-omc1-s20.dub0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675);
Sun, 5 Jun 2011 08:45:24 –0700
Message-ID: DUB102-w983F450C57CD57C33B6A5F9610@phx.gbl
Return-Path: XXXYYY@hotmail.co.uk
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=”_76ccd730-8744-405d-b6d5-19c72abdedaa_”
X-Originating-IP: [94.3.167.145]
From: XXX YYY XXXYYY@hotmail.co.uk
To: joeh@boomershoot.org
Subject: large bomb.
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 16:45:23 +0100
Importance: Normal
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 05 Jun 2011 15:45:24.0199 (UTC) FILETIME=[957DDF70:01CC2397]
X-Nonspam: None
Good luck and let me know if I can be of further service.
Joe Huffman
Moscow, Idaho, USA
208-301-4254
Hi Joe this is Janelle.
I called to let you know we kinda need the tractor.
Janelle Barnett
June 4, 2011
Voice mail from 10:38 AM to me.
[Her husband, Barron, got their pickup stuck while attempting to get to the Taj Mahal to help put on a private Boomershoot party. I tried to pull them out with my Ford Escape but I couldn’t even shake them. I went and got the caterpillar tractor and pulled them out with it. Pictures and video sometime in the next day or three.—Joe]
I’m doing some maintenance at the Boomershoot site. Lots of little things:
Need to do some chronograph work and practice for the steel challenge match tomorrow while I’m out here too. And that reminds me that I need to pay a special someone for all the steel targets they brought to me at Boomershoot.
Notice the clouds of water vapor from the explosions in this time lapse video of Boomershoot 2011. The winds–they are a changing.