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.

I wonder what sizes those come in

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How very odd for a couple of reasons. 1) I didn’t realize petrol (it’s from a UK paper) and Drano would cause an exothermic reaction. And 2) What in the world was going on in this woman’s mind? Did she think the men would be so stupid as to try to use the condoms?

An ex-strip club worker has been sentenced after she admitted sending condoms filled with explosives in the mail.

49-year-old Kimberly Lynn Dasilva pleaded guilty to the charges of sending threatening letters and flammable material through the post.

The ‘flammable materials’ included condoms filled with a mixture of petrol and the Drâno drain cleaner – a combination that can cause an explosion.

Her targets included strip clubs where she had previously worked, as well as a television station and a radio station. She claimed that she was fed up with being mistreated by men.

The incident occurred in Boston and there were several domestic papers that carried the article but it was only in the UK that they mentioned the materials used. The other articles I found were:

Now if they came in large enough sizes and detonated from rifle fire I might order a few from Ms. Dasilva.

Excuses, excuses

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Samantha has a list of excuses for missing work. Pretty good stuff. Adding my favorites to the list:

  • Sixty Minutes wants to interview me about my working conditions.
  • The voices in my head told me today was a good day to stay home and clean my guns.
  • I was up all night reloading ammunition.
  • I was on America’s Most Wanted last night and I need to stay low for a while.
  • My house is surrounded by a SWAT team.
  • The ATF wants to see my explosives magazine (I always use vacation days, not sick days).
  • A hundred people with guns from all over the world are showing up expecting me to give them explosives to shoot at and I don’t want to disappoint them.
  • My wife is out of town so my girlfriend and her twin sister are spending the day in bed with me.

In case you didn’t know, I’ve never used the first five–I just thought they went well together and were sort of on topic with my interests.

I’ve never used the last one either. My social director (Barb) hasn’t been able to make the arrangements even though, for the last 30 years, she keeps saying, “Sure. I’ll work on that this weekend.”

Oppressive gun law in the works

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I don’t think it will pass, at least not in it’s current form, but this bill would make most of my guns illegal in Washington State. My bolt action Boomershoot rifle has a muzzle brake therefore these anti-freedom bigots want to call it an assault weapon and ban it (wrong). Both of my carry sidearms are capable of holding more than 10 rounds (18+1 in one and 15+1 in the other). I think I can get a 20 round magazine for one of them. I think I’ll order one right now…

Nope. The highest capacity magazine for my STI in .40 S&W doesn’t hold 20 rounds. It holds 22! I bought two. I should received them in two to five business days. Just because these bigots want to ban anything over 10 rounds in a magazine I’m now going to be packing 45 rounds of 180 grain hollow points, nearly a full box, when I carry.

As I said in the comments for the online order at Shooters Connection, “I read banned books. I shoot banned (or soon to be banned) guns.”

Update: I was too angry when I wrote the above and wasn’t thinking clearly. Bolt action rifles aren’t covered by the proposed ban (yet). The short version of the legalese below is that nearly all my semi-auto firearms are to be banned. If already have such a firearm you can either turn it in, with no compensation, to the police for destruction (once such an evil gun has been in the hands of private ownership it cannot ever again be trusted, even in the hands of the police), register it, or deactivate it. The registration option means you have to not only allow the police to visit your assault weapon storage facility yearly you have to pay them to do that and to do a yearly background check on you. Yes, this bill was introduced in 2005. But it will be back in the next session. The battle for freedom never ends.

Here’s the details from the anti-freedom bigots in Washington State:

(18) “Assault weapon” means:

(a) Any semiautomatic pistol or semiautomatic or pump-action rifle

5 or shotgun that is capable of accepting a detachable magazine, with a

6 capacity to accept more then ten rounds of ammunition and that also

7 possesses any of the following:

8 (i) If the firearm is a rifle or shotgun, a pistol grip located

9 rear of the trigger;

10 (ii) If the firearm is a rifle or shotgun, a stock in any

11 configuration, including but not limited to a thumbhole stock, a

12 folding stock or a telescoping stock, that allows the bearer of the

13 firearm to grasp the firearm with the trigger hand such that the web of

14 the trigger hand, between the thumb and forefinger, can be placed below

15 the top of the external portion of the trigger during firing;

16 (iii) If the firearm is a pistol, a shoulder stock of any type or

17 configuration, including but not limited to a folding stock or a

18 telescoping stock;

19 (iv) A barrel shroud;

20 (v) A muzzle brake or muzzle compensator;

21 (vi) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that

22 can be held by the hand that is not the trigger hand;

23 (b) Any pistol that is capable of accepting a detachable magazine

24 at any location outside of the pistol grip;

25 (c) Any semiautomatic pistol, any semiautomatic, center-fire rifle,

26 or any shotgun with a fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept

27 more than ten rounds of ammunition;

28 (d) Any shotgun capable of accepting a detachable magazine;

29 (e) Any shotgun with a revolving cylinder;

30 (f) Any conversion kit or other combination of parts from which an

31 assault weapon can be assembled if the parts are in the possession or

32 under the control of any person.

33 (19) “Detachable magazine” means a magazine, the function of which

34 is to deliver one or more ammunition cartridges into the firing

35 chamber, which can be removed from the firearm without the use of any

36 tool, including a bullet or ammunition cartridge.

37 (20) “Barrel shroud” means a covering, other than a slide, that is

38 attached to, or that substantially or completely encircles, the barrel

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1 of a firearm and that allows the bearer of the firearm to hold the

2 barrel with the nonshooting hand while firing the firearm, without

3 burning that hand, except that the term does not include an extension

4 of the stock along the bottom of the barrel that does not substantially

5 or completely encircle the barrel.

6 (21) “Muzzle brake” means a device attached to the muzzle of a

7 weapon that utilizes escaping gas to reduce recoil.

8 (22) “Muzzle compensator” means a device attached to the muzzle of

9 a weapon that utilizes escaping gas to control muzzle movement.

10 (23) “Conversion kit” means any part or combination of parts

11 designed and intended for use in converting a firearm into an assault

12 weapon.

13 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW

14 to read as follows:

15 (1) No person in this state shall manufacture, possess, purchase,

16 sell, or otherwise transfer any assault weapon, or any assault weapon

17 conversion kit, except as authorized by subsection (3) of this section.

18 Any assault weapon or assault weapon conversion kit the manufacture,

19 possession, purchase, sale, or other transfer of which is prohibited

20 under this section is a public nuisance.

21 (2) No person in this state shall possess or have under his or her

22 control at one time both of the following:

23 (a) A semiautomatic or pump-action rifle, semiautomatic pistol, or

24 shotgun capable of accepting a detachable magazine; and

25 (b) Any magazine capable of use with that firearm that contains

26 more than ten rounds of ammunition.

27 (3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to any of the

28 following:

29 (a) The possession of an unloaded assault weapon for the purpose of

30 permanently relinquishing it to a law enforcement agency in this state.

31 Any assault weapon relinquished pursuant to this subsection shall be

32 destroyed;

33 (b) The transfer of any assault weapon by a licensed manufacturer

34 or dealer to a law enforcement agency in this state for use by that

35 agency or its employees for law enforcement purposes;

36 (c) The possession of an assault weapon that was legally possessed

SB 5475 p. 6

1 on the effective date of this section, but only if the person legally

2 possessing the assault weapon has complied with all of the requirements

3 of subsection (5) of this section;

4 (d) The possession of an assault weapon that has been permanently

5 disabled so that it is incapable of discharging a projectile.

6 (4) Subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to any person:

7 (a) While lawfully engaged in shooting at a duly licensed, lawfully

8 operated shooting range;

9 (b) While lawfully participating in a sporting event officially

10 sanctioned by a club or organization established in whole or in part

11 for the purpose of sponsoring sport shooting events.

12 (5) In order to continue to possess an assault weapon that was

13 legally possessed on the effective date of this section, the person

14 possessing the assault weapon shall do all of the following:

15 (a) Within ninety days following the effective date of this

16 section, submit to a background check identical to the background check

17 conducted in connection with the purchase of a firearm from a licensed

18 gun dealer;

19 (b) Unless the person is prohibited by law from possessing a

20 firearm, immediately register the assault weapon with the sheriff of

21 the county in which the weapon is usually stored;

22 (c) Safely and securely store the assault weapon. The sheriff of

23 the county may, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to

24 ensure compliance with this subsection;

25 (d) Annually renew both the registration and the background check;

26 (e) Possess the assault weapon only on property owned or

27 immediately controlled by the person, or while engaged in the legal use

28 of the assault weapon at a duly licensed firing range, or while

29 traveling to or from either of these locations for the purpose of

30 engaging in the legal use of the assault weapon, provided that the

31 assault weapon is stored unloaded and in a separate locked container

32 during transport.

33 (6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any person

34 in this state who, after the effective date of this section, acquires

35 title to an assault weapon by inheritance, bequest, or succession,

36 shall, within thirty days of acquiring title, do one of the following:

37 (a) Comply with all of the requirements of subsection (5) of this

38 section;

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1 (b) Dispose of the assault weapon pursuant to subsection (3)(a) of

2 this section; or

3 (c) Permanently disable the assault weapon so that it is incapable

4 of discharging a projectile.

5 (7) The sheriff of a county may charge a fee for each registration

6 and for each registration renewal pursuant to subsection (5) of this

7 section. However, such fee may not exceed the costs incurred in

8 administering the registration program established under subsection (5)

9 of this section.

10 (8)(a) Any person convicted of violating subsection (1) or (2) of

11 this section is guilty of a class C felony.

12 (b) Any person convicted of violating subsection (5) of this

13 section is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

14 (9) Any violation of this section shall also result in the

15 immediate revocation of the registration of every assault weapon

16 registered to such person.

17 (10) This section does not apply to:

18 (a) Marshals, sheriffs, prison or jail wardens or their deputies,

19 or other law enforcement officers of this or another state while acting

20 within the scope of their duties;

21 (b) Members of the armed forces of the United States or of the

22 national guard or organized services, when on duty;

23 (c) Officers or employees of the United States duly authorized to

24 possess assault weapons; or

25 (d) Any person engaged in the business of manufacturing, repairing,

26 or dealing in assault weapons, or the representative or agent of the

27 person who is properly licensed under federal or state laws to do so

28 and who is acting within the usual and ordinary course of the business.

Bomb building help request from New Zealand Girls High School

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I got mixed up searching for the proper email address (the domain names differed by only one letter) and first sent emails to the Boys High School school. But eventually I got it straighted out sent an email to the address I found here. I sent a correction email to the police department as well. Here is what I sent the student:

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 8:59 AM
To: Bonnie
Subject: RE: site….
I haven’t personally built either of those types of devices so I really can’t help with what you want to do.
 
I’m sure you will be able to get the help you need soon.
 
Good luck!
 
 
 
-joe-
From: Bonnie
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 4:08 PM
To: joeh@boomershoot.org
Subject: site….
Hey I need help. I want to build a bomb out of simple ingredients. I need the recipe. a timer, maybe a detonater. I was thinking along the lines of a pipe or fire bomb? can you help?

Update: I received a reply from the school:

From: Melissa
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 12:09 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: RE: Student wants help building a bomb.

Thank you for forwarding this email and we will ensure that this is followed up.

Kind regards.

Principal’s PA

Update II: On December 4, 2006 4:45 PM I received an email from “NZ Police Web Site : Central” saying, “thanks I will forward it to the Intel office in New Pplymouth (sic)”.

A piece of Boomershoot history

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I was reloading some ammo yesterday and noticed this on the shelf:

This is left over from one of the tests I did in September of 1998 when I was first trying to come up with a mix that would go boom from rifle fire. It was a mix of potassium chlorate, ammonium nitrate, and diesel. I had gotten a couple successful detonations but then wanted to try adding a lot more diesel. There were three reasons for this:

  1. A slurry would be easier to put in the pop cans
  2. Excess fuel should produce a fireball (HAH! It was over three years later before Ry and I had our first success with fireballs)
  3. Fewer measurements means less time spent making the targets

It didn’t work. Even though I nailed the pop can from only 100 yards away with my 30.06 all that happened was the back of the can blew out. To this day excess liquid of any type we have tried is bad news to the sensitivity of the mix.

Night boomers

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I’m thinking of giving (selling actually) the opportunity for people with night vision equipment the chance to exercise their equipment and skills on the night of Friday April 27th 2007. This is two days before Boomershoot 2007. This would involve about 50 targets some of which would be “enhanced” for greater night time enjoyment. Other things that would be a little different from Boomershoot are the following:

  • Targets would range from about 150 yards to 350 yards away
  • Targets would be painted dark colors instead of being light colored
  • Targets will all be 7×7 inches
  • The price will be in addition to any entry fee you have paid already for Boomershoot 2007
  • The price will be from $200 to $500 per person depending on how many people sign up
  • The price will be finalized by April 15 2007 or when it is full whichever comes first
  • Spotters are welcome but probably won’t be useful and will not need to pay
  • It will be limited to a maximum of 10 people
  • The sun will be down
    • Sunset will be 19:50
    • End civil twilight will be 20:23
    • Moonrise will be 15:23
    • Moonset will be 04:06 the following day
    • The phase of the moon will be waxing gibbous with 82% of the Moon’s visible disk illuminated
  • Shooting will start at 20:30 and last for three hours or until the targets are gone
  • A different location would be used. It is about two miles to the west of the usual site
  • If it is too wet the site will be unusable and you would not have to pay even though you said you would participate
  • All shooters will have a minimum of 10 feet horizontally and can set up starting at 19:00

This is a picture of the potential site as of November 23rd 2006:

This location is facing north. The trees will shade the area from the setting sun but not from the moon. Of course if there is a heavy cloud cover it won’t make much difference.

If you are interested send an email to JoeH@boomershoot.org with the subject of “Night Boomers”.

Boomershoot 2007 blogging (and stuff)

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Blogging about the next Boomershoot, by people other than Ry and I, doesn’t usually start until after the first of the year but it seems everything is happening early this year. Kirk made a blog post about it nine days ago: Boomershoot 2007. I expect that after Christmas people will start counting down the days and the blogging will get more intense. As last year I’ll try to link to everyone that puts up a post mentioning Boomershoot.

In the past 90 minutes the last two “regular” positions for Boomershoot 2007 filled up. One was from Arlington, Washington and the other was from Florence, Montana. There are still six positions left in the .50 Caliber Ghetto and I’ll let people without .50 cal toys to play there but they will be restricted in the available targets. This is amazing–64 positions have been taken up by November 20th which is over five months before the event.

I’ll have a waiting list so send me an email if you want to attend and didn’t get your position reserved in time. It seems there is always something that comes up for someone and they just can’t make it and I nearly always give them their money back unless they insist that I keep it–in which case I just write them down as a free entry for the next year (yes, Phil, I’m talking about you for the second year in a row). The clinic is sold out too and again there is a waiting list. See here for details on that.

Speaking of places where people are coming from we have someone coming from Minnesota this year. That is a first from that state. See the map here for a complete list of where people have come from. It looks like Kirk (above) and Scott K. will be coming from essentially the same place on the East Coast and will be traveling the greatest distance.

In a day or two I’ll be ordering most of the supplies–the cardboard boxes, zip-lock bags, and the vinyl gloves we use when mixing the chemicals. I’ll probably order the potassium chlorate soon too. I have the money and want to put all the expenses I can into this year. Remaining will be the 800 stakes, batteries (for our walkie-talkies and our electronic scales), rubber bands (to attach the boxes of explosives to the stakes), baby wipes (clean up supplies for the chemical handlers), 25 pounds of [secret ingredient #3], 50 pounds of [secret ingredient #4], road flares, and gasoline. Most of these last items will be purchased locally at places like Costco and Wal-Mart. The stakes come from the local builder’s supply place and will wait until just before before the event so I don’t have to load and unload 800 stakes an extra time and store them in my already overflowing garage for months.

I had my first Boomershoot nightmare a week or so ago. Odd… I don’t recall having any for Boomershoot 2006 although they were common for both Ry and I on several previous events. This nightmare was that I looked at my watch and realized it was 10:30 in the morning on the day of the event. It was 30 minutes past when the shooters meeting was supposed to start and I hadn’t started making the explosives yet. All the shooters were patiently waiting on the grassy knoll, ready to start shooting, and I needed another eight or ten hours to make the targets. Not a pleasant thought.

I got a call from a woman today asking if there was room for her and her sister to park their RV’s on-site and if it would be okay to cook some snacks for everyone the night before. Of course! And they aren’t even planning on shooting. They are going to be driving several hundred miles to watch their husbands shoot (the wives are giving the entries as Christmas presents). I’ve had both of these wives call me now, as well as exchange several emails and they continually express a great deal of enthusiasm for the event and I’m beginning to wonder who the present is really for. Barb frequently asks, “Why do you do this?” I keep telling her it’s for the explosives groupies–but I don’t think she believes me.

This will be the 11th event I have put on. It was the 10th event before things really clicked well and the biggest problem I had only took ten minutes to completely resolve. Boomershoot 2007 should be a real winner for everyone.

There’s plenty of room for spectators so bring your ear plugs, lawn chairs and we’ll see you on April 29th. The directions are here. It’ll be a blast!

I swear! I didn’t do it

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There was a car fire the night before I arrived in Reno for the Gun Bloggers Rendezvous in October. As I wasn’t there at the time I disavow any involvement with it.

On the way home from the Seattle area last night I arrived slightly before the police did, but not before several other witnesses, to this car fire on Highway 26:

I also did not have anything to do with this fire. My chemistry set is safely locked up in the Taj Mahal.

The GPS coordinates were 46o 47′ 36″ N 118o 49′ 19″W. The car was west bound on Highway 26 about 50 yards east of the junction with Lind-Hatton Road.  I arrived about 21:35. I left about 15 minutes later by which time there were at least three police cars and a fire truck there. East bound traffic was diverted on Lind-Hatton Road to Highway 395. To the best of my knowledge no one was hurt.

Maybe, just maybe

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I might have done some good today without even knowing it. While I was busy riding the exercise bike at the health club and listening to Atlas Shrugged I received three pieces of email from a 12 year-old kid. It could be that he just didn’t want to end up on one of my “Bomb Help” web pages but maybe he was telling the truth too. Always the optimist I prefer to believe the latter. You can decide:

From: jaron
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 7:45 PM
To: Joe
Subject:

dear joe,
hows it going? i was wondering if you could give me some info on how to make bombs.
( i know what you are thinking) no i DO NOT WANT  TO USE THIS BOMB TO HURT ANYONE!!!
i am going to be streight-out and honest with you.
i am 12.
i love bombs!( well its sorta a hobby of mine) after i made what i call a yeast bomb (yeast and flower and suger water)( the stuff reacts to make
C02 which eventuly exspands so much the bottle literly exsplodes.) noat this was in my bedroom at 12:00 or later at night.
i decided to look at bombs.
well…..i have also decided i want to be an exsplosives exspert when i grow up.
i was just wondering if you could give me some simple bomb recipes.
well…..if you think i may use the info for something  bad ( that seriously freaky school bomb threts or some thing) i want to tell you that I WILL NOT!!!! i am not a little syco and stuff.
well if you do think its ok to tell me some please only send 1. smaller things please for i do not want to hurt anyone.
2. safe to do without killing anyone or damiging unwanted targets and 3.
make it simple.
thank you for your time and if you do think im to young to poses such info i understand.( im still a bit angey but with all the horrid things going on i can relate) sighned jaron leavitt p.s. if you need to email me back [deleted email address]

 

From: jaron
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 7:48 PM
To: Joe
Subject:

i am srry i just read your last email on the page that you dont help people make bombs.
i didnt see that and please disreguard my last statement/email i understand im sorry for wasting your time and will seek bomb making instructions else where once again i am srry jaron

 

From: jaron
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 8:27 PM
To: Joe
Subject:

um……ugh.
after seeing your little page of other peoples little accidents um…..i dont think i want  to “toy”
around with exsplosive substances anymore.
i would like to greatly thank you for you have caused me to see how badly i or others may be hurt.
i still plan to be an exsplosives worker or pyrotechnition but i do not think i will be paling with anymore bombs untill i go to collage and know what the hell i am doing thank you with all gratitude jaron

The site he must of found the link to was (Warning! EXTREMELY graphic content) this one.

Boomershoot 2006 survey results

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Last night I finished up the processing of the Boomershoot 2006 survey. I removed the personally identifiable information from the comments and put the results up here in an Excel spreadsheet.

There weren’t any big surprises. I was a little surprised at how popular the opening fireball is. 37 out of 39 agreed that it is an important part of the event.

I was pleased that the question “Boomershoot safety met my expectations.” had the highest level of agreement with 31 out of 39 strongly agreeing and the remaining 8 agreeing. There was one person that had some comments about ways to improvement and I’ll think about it.

Some of the more interesting comments were:

I would like to see better and cheaper food and drink there.  Also strippers.

a night shoot would be way fun if the neighbors wouldn’t be too bothered.  Keep it really small for safety’s sake but the fireballs would be best at night, and it’s hard to find a place to shoot distance with NV. [I’m working on the details for this. If you have the money, perhaps in the $300 to $500 range, this might happen this year.–Joe]

We need to fix the weather, You should build a giant umbrella.. No a huge kibbi dome over the field!!!  Even better lets get some of those greek weather gods to work for us, and they could push the clouds away. [My family will immediately know who wrote this comment. He didn’t leave his name but I can hear his voice in my head say the words above.–Joe]

I like watching angsty geeks with guns sweat

Bring Stephanie back. [As if I need to drag her out of the garage and throw her in the back of the van. Stephanie knows her way and is always welcome to attend.–Joe]

All gun owners should be shot. [You’re welcome to do the honors. I’ll even supply the shotgun and give you your own very special shooting position. It will be a trench about two feet wide, seven feet long and five feet deep at the 380 yard line. Please wait for the start signal.–Joe]

On the price:

You could charge more-My son and I would still attend

It’s expensive, but I understand why.

I am affraid to admit this, it was a bargain.

Cheaper is always better.

should be $4000 [You can have a private event any day of the year for this price. You have my phone number. Call me any time of the day or night with your credit card number.–Joe]

In the category of “Done”:

Shooting a 50 cal and feeling everyone elses rounds being fired really wears on a person.  Having a spot to go shoot the big gun and then being able to return to a normal slot would be nice. [Position 12 is reserved for this.–Joe]

I would like a lane where you can check your sighting in before you shoot at targets.  Perhaps from 6 to 7 a.m.?  Or do you folks need that time to set up?  Either that or the previous afternoon? [Early morning is out. The range is covered with people setting out boomers. See Field Fire shooters for another option.–Joe]

In the category of “No”:

Of course if I were to have one wish (just behind winning the lottery), I’d like to see 100 pound boomers! 🙂

Permanent lounge structure.  Bigger explosions– of course. [No permanent structures. This is farm land and I want to be able to revert it with a few hours of work with a bull dozer. The explosions are already at the limit. The neighbors have double pane windows that have lost their seals and have had stuff fall off the walls.–Joe]

I was thinking of more comfort oriented things– concrete, covered shooting positions, coffee/beverage waitresses, et al. [No. It’s not going to happen. Although I won’t go as far as Ry suggests, bring in fresh dirt and water it down for the shooting positions, I am inclined to encourage a more ‘natural’ shooting environment.–Joe]

In the category of “You’re welcome”:

thank you and your family for performing this valuable service to mankind.

Joe, if I didn’t tell you before, let me tell you now: 2006 was an absolute BLAST!!! Thank you so much for a great event! After the last couple of years, where getting a boomer to boom was a very difficult proposition, you made it all work great this year. I still get a smile, every time I think of it! Thanks, again!

This is a great shooting event. Please keep it going. I enjoy the photos on your web page very much.

Explosives and Soapbox

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I uploaded a several videos to Soapbox on MSN. They, not to mention Barb, won’t allow me to upload videos of my sex hobby activities. So I did the next best thing:

Video: Kim’s Project Fireball Test
After breaking up with her boyfriend this is Kim’s first smile in a week. Fireballs will do that to you.

Video: Titanium Powder Works
One of our first successful fireball tests.

Video: Boomershoot Project Fireball Test

Video: Rocks Versus Explosives
My brothers had two big rocks in a field they couldn’t get out with either the backhoe or the dozer. Ten pounds of explosives took care of the first one. Twenty for the second.

Video: Fairly Well
This is the first ever successful detonation of the explosive mixture to be used in Boomershoot. After two years of failures I was “enthusiastic” about the results.

Video: Exploding Guitar
It was a cheap guitar. Lyle can explain further. It was his guitar and he fired the bullet that detonated it.

Video: Pumpkin Popping
Aluminium powder gave it a bright flash. Flour gave it the white cloud of dust. It was hoped the aluminium would ignite the flour but it didn’t work out.

Boomershoot 2007 clinic is full

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I just got an email from Gene. The Boomershoot 2007 clinic is now full. Contact Gene to be put on the waiting list.

Boomershoot thoughts

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Last night shooters 92 and 93 signed up for Boomershoot 2007 leaving, excluding the .50 caliber ghetto, only three positions. Even a month ago I could not have imagined such a thing would have happened. It’s five and a half months before the event! What other sort of event fills up that far in advance? My guess is that I could start taking reservations for Boomershoot 2008 right now and I’d be half full for that within a month.

I’m pleased and proud but I need to figure out the answer to just one question, what do we do next with Boomershoot? Soon, I’ll finish my posts “Boomershoot Past”, “Boomershoot Present” and “Boomershoot Future”. They aren’t about the details or the mechanics of Boomershoot. They are about the philosophical principles of Boomershoot. From that I will figure out the implementation details of “Boomershoot Future”.

Update: I had a person signed up to shoot alone request to be moved to a different position shared with his friends.  Position 19 in the main area is open again.

I’m helping

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I should have looked up their IP address (85.94.131.189) before sending my latest response. The guy sent the email from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ATF probably isn’t that interested.

Read from the bottom up.

—–Original Message—–
From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 7:41 AM
To: hood_gangstarr@XXXX.com
Cc: ATF Intelligence Division
Subject: RE: bomb

Nope. I don’t know much about any of that stuff.

There are some people that do know a lot about that sort of thing though. I put them on the Cc: line. They even have a website. Check it out: http://www.atf.gov

-joe-
—–Original Message—–
From: hood_gangstarr@XXXX.com
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 7:23 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: RE: bomb

Maybe just to remove doors locks and also it would be good to remove doors from it’s hinges as well. Do you know how to make that thing like napalm?

—–Original Message—–
From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 7:11 AM
To: hood_gangstarr@XXXX.com
Subject: RE: bomb

What type of doors? Sliding glass doors will disappear with an ounce of high explosives. The bank door to the vault is going to take many pounds and careful placement of several bombs.

Wood? Metal? What is the door frame made of? Do you want the door blown off it’s hinges? Or is removing the locks sufficient?

-joe-
—–Original Message—–
From: hood_gangstarr@XXXX.com
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 4:02 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: bomb

hi man,
can u send me some “recipe” to make a bomb out if stuff i have at home. i need some small bomb of size that could blow doors or something.
send me that if u can, thx 

Boomershoot 2007 celebrities

Posted on by

I just received word that Neaderpundit plans to attend Boomershoot 2007. We also have bloggers David from Random Nuclear Strikes and Kirk from Fun Turns to Tragedy each attending for the second time. Lyle who is a part-time blogger here and a principle of UltiMAK will be attending too. Ry of Mindless Bit Spew, of course, and “Leroy Brown” from Periodic Journal of my wanderings will be helping make things happen behind the scenes as well as doing a fair amount of “copper engraving” on Sunday.

Lee Ann Frailey (“Everything’s better with a boom“) and her husband will be there.  Steve Joachim will be back with his flying anvil (watch the video or the one here).

In the category of “people with celebrity names but aren’t really” we have Dave Barry and Kevin Klein attending. There are also an amazing number of people from a gun club at a company that must not be named in western Washington including some moderately high placed manager types.

Boomershoot 2007 is going to have some great people attending. This being the 11th Boomershoot I have put on I should be able to deliver on my end of the deal. About the only thing that can prevent us from having great time is Mother Nature.

I’m so tempted

Posted on by

“Evil thoughts” from reading this:

Your generous donation and bids on our auction will support the Freedom States Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to “Changing the Way America Things About Guns.” 

All proceeds go directly to grassroots organizations working to reduce gun violence.

Our auction items range from exotic vacation getaways to donated items guaranteed to delight and surprise!

I wonder what the reaction would be if I donated a shooting position at Boomershoot 2007 for their auction. I guarantee my donation would “surprise”. And I would get a great deal of delight from it if I could see the expression on their face. But since they would get all the surprise and I can’t get any of the delight I’ll just continue to fantasize about it.

Boomershoot 2007 continues to fill

Posted on by

Boomershoot 2007 is now almost three fourths full with 52 of the 70 positions are taken and I have received email from people that say, paraphrased, “A bunch of my buddies and I are going to be there. We just don’t know how many yet.”

I continue to be amazed. It was the middle of March before Boomershoot 2006 was this full.

Sign up soon or you’ll have to wait until Boomershoot 2008.

Uncovered meat

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To my female readers, just so you know your place:

Muslim leaders, women’s rights advocates and political leaders in Australia today condemned one of the country’s top Islamic clerics for comparing women who don’t wear head scarves to “uncovered meat” who invite rape.

…

In a translation from Arabic by the newspaper, later verified by other media, Hilali was quoted as saying in the sermon: “If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside … and the cats come to eat it … whose fault is it, the cats’ or the uncovered meat’s?”

“The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred,” he was quoted as saying, referring to the head scarf worn by some Muslim women.

Of course if some “cat” treats one of my daughters like “uncovered meat” there might be some question as to who is going to end up as “uncovered meat” for the cat. And example of daughter Kim in action is here.

Boomershoot 2007 amazement

Posted on by

Using a laser range finder and very carefully taking note of how much space I had for shooting positions I opened Boomershoot 2007 up for 70 shooters instead of the 60 we had for Boomershoot 2006. As of this minute Boomershoot 2007 has 42 positions taken which means it is 60% sold out. It wasn’t until the middle of February that Boomershoot 2006 was at a comparable level.

I know some people who are trying to get their schedules figured out and others are waiting for their next paycheck before signing up. I just hope the people I told “no hurry, it won’t sell out before January” won’t be calling me a liar.

Bondage or freedom

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Recently I had a discussion with someone that was resigned to us losing our freedom. I only weakly protested because I don’t think well on my feet. I need time, sometimes lots of time, to formulate my thoughts and to make my case. My strength is in my attention to detail and in my ability to focus on problems for long periods of time. I play a good game of chess but not a first person shooter computer game. Boomershoot for example is a particularly subtle, long term, and yet I believe effective blow against the freedom haters (see also Why Boomershoot).

He claimed Jefferson was right to say, “God forbid we should ever be 20. years without such a rebellion.” He said that it was too late to save our freedom. Our chance for freedom today was lost without a successful revolution 150 years ago. And he invoked this as an argument:

The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From Bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.

Never mind that it might actually be an urban myth that Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee wrote this (see also this). It could be true or false regardless of who wrote it. And even if were true when it was claimed to be written in the late 1700’s things have changed a bit since then. In the last 200 plus years the most amazing changes in human history have occurred. What is the effect of those changes? How does it affect our fight for freedom?

These questions affect us all. Do we resign ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren to a life of bondage? Is the best we can do just keep our head down so the “tiger eats us last”?

I don’t have definitive answers to those questions but I have some pretty good hints. Please consider these changes from the time when the above was supposedly written:

  • Long range individual owned and deployed weapons
  • Incredibly cheap and rapid transportation
  • Incredibly cheap, rapid, and secure communications

In the long range weapons category I don’t just mean extending the range of a rifle from a couple hundred yards to a thousand or more. And I don’t mean mortars that can extend that range out to well over a mile. With cell phones and/or the Internet people can now give commands to a weapon from anywhere on the planet to any other place on the planet. We can even deploy “smarts” into weapon systems that can take out a tyrant and/or his minions weeks, months, or even years after being put in place and the weapon owner is long gone or even dead.

There are many who would claim these items help the tyrant as much or more than the freedom advocate but I disagree. China, Russia, or even Canada with its oppressive gun control and socialist health care isn’t any bastion of freedom but each of those governments heavily censored communication to protect the oppressors. And in each case communication recently succeeded despite efforts to suppress them and brought about reforms. As a friend said, Computers and the Internet are a far bigger problem for the government than they are for the individual. Just look at the vigorousness of the response by the Islamic extremists to our “corruption” of their society by our communication. Or the impact talk radio has had on U.S. politics. They, the freedom haters, hate it so because it is so powerful. Open communication is the ultimate enabler of freedom in a war against tyrants and communication has never been so cheap or secure as it is right now.

The rapid and cheap transportation allows the freedom advocate to attend a pro-freedom march on Pennsylvania Avenue, or take action against jack booted thugs near Waco or Ruby Ridge on a Saturday afternoon and never miss an hour of work from his or her job in Seattle or Miami. And the communication makes it possible for them to know about the event and coordinate with others in real time rather than days or weeks after it was over and far too late to participate in a meaningful manner.

My conclusion, for all it’s lack of decisiveness, is that should we have the ambition and the courage to utilize the tools available to us we have it within our power to prevent the loss of more of our freedom and even regain many of the freedoms we have lost. I think the real question is, do you have the ambition and the courage to make a difference? Or are you going to give up?