Ry created a Wikipedia entry for Boomershoot and I touched it up a bit. If have additional information you think should be included or have corrections go ahead and add it or send it to me. If you do change it please send me an email so I can check it out.
I added the Lewiston Morning Tribune article on the 2005 precision rifle clinic and the KING 5 Evening Magazine video to the News Coverage page on Boomershoot.org.
Test results from yesterday will be posted soon.
The weather isn’t great (cold and cloudy) but it’s better than yesterday. And I’m out of town for the rest of the week and I really need to get this done so I’m headed to the Boomershoot site in a few minutes.
A few tests need to be done.
If the results are interesting enough I’ll post pictures and perhaps video later this week.
Oh, I probably will be blasting a rock at the local gun range on Work Day this coming Sunday. If you are in the area show up to help make it a better range and then watch me make small rocks out of a big rock and explosives.
See also:
Twenty pounds of HE versus a rock
Rocks and explosives video
Little rocks from big rocks and explosives
I went to the Boomershoot site yesterday. I spent the morning rearranging the Taj Mahal and managed to get all but about 100 pounds of the ammonium nitrate inside. On the drive home I realized I could get the remaining AN inside as well. I’ll do that the next time I go back. I also cleaned up some spots that had rusted due to chemical spills and made changes such that spills will be much less likely to get on the metal in the future.
In the afternoon I started doing my experiments with reactive targets. I did six different experiments. I was able to determine a 1 3/8″ thick target is no less sensitive than a 3″ thick target. In each and every test the 1 3/8″ thick target detonated with the same cartridge and at the same range (and in one case at a more distance range) than the 3″ thick target. That is great news. This allows me to use larger shooting area targets without exceeding the neighbors tolerance for the house walls being shaken.
In experiments one and two I couldn’t reliably detonate the targets even at 10 yards distant with .22LR Stinger ammo. With over ten hits at 10 yards I only got one detonation. Examination revealed burn without the boom. Black soot was around the entrance and sometimes the exit hole in the target. The .223 detonated the targets on the first shot. In experiment one I used the same chemical ratios as used for Boomershoot 2005 where we could usually detonate the targets with the same .22 rifle and ammo at 20 yards. At 20 yards the bullet velocity is about 1500 fps and at 10 yards it is about 1550. Something was different–I had introduced another variable and I knew what it was. It was how I mixed the chemicals. I made a change and in experiment three was able to detonate the targets on the first shot from 25 yards. At 25 yards the velocity is about 1475 fps.
If a little of that is good, then how about a lot of that? Experiment four–I moved the variable to it’s limit. At 25 yards the targets detonated on the first shot. Experiment five used the same mixing proceedure but I shot from 40 yards away with an estimated bullet velocity of 1400 fps. One shot one boom. Experiment six, same mixing proceedure and I switched to a different ammo. American Eagle with a muzzle velocity of about 1200 fps. Four hits at 20 yards with an estimated velocity at the target of 1150 resulted in burn but no boom. At 12 yards I got one shot one boom and my thin plastic apron was perforated by small particles. I heard and felt particles bounce off my safety glasses. My legs, being without the body armor, stung from multiple hits and still have red marks 12 hours later. The pain didn’t matter. The targets reliable detonated with an estimated target velocity of 1170 fps.
I made up another five targets and put them in storage for long range testing with the .223. If .223 bullets will detonate the targets at the same velocity as the .22LR bullets and storing the targets for a few days doesn’t adversely affect the sensitivity then we may be able to detonate targets with a .223 at 700 yards.
Last week I ordered some new boxes for possible use as reactive target containers for Boomershoot 2006. They arrived today. This year there were some indications the targets were failing to detonate because of they were very thin (some of them were only one inch thick). The new ones have inside dimensions of 6″ x 6″ x 3″. I’ll be doing some tests soon. Perhaps this week sometime. Or if I get an email from someone that wants to help out I might do the tests on an upcoming weekend if that would work out better for someone.
I spent part of the weekend cleaning out enough of the garage to make a path to my reloading bench and finding enough of my stuff to reload some 40 S&W ammo. I reloaded about 50 rounds yesterday and 400 today. There is an IPSC match next Sunday and I needed some ammo.
I’m expecting I will have some bad news to report soon. I can’t really talk about it until it shows up in the papers. I’ve been depressed enough lately and this only makes things worse. I really should go make some explosives and detonate it at both “entertainingly close” and long range just to get me out of my depression.
I made an animated gif of the blasting of the big rock in our field the other day. The combustion products from the gun show up in the second frame, then dirt is thrown up around the muzzle, then the detonation occurs. This gives you an indication of the time delay between the bullet leaving the muzzle and the detonation of the explosion. I was 127 yards from the explosion. Just a little closer than I really should have been–there were clods of dirt that landed behind us. My brother moved behind my van as the objects fell from the sky. He was concerned they were rocks.
Before.
The jugs have water in them. Except for the red targets all the explosives are under the water jugs and dirt.
After.
Here is a picture of one of the larger plastic water jug remnants:
Click on the pictures for a high resolution version.
See also my previous posts on this topic:
Rocks and explosives video
Little rocks from big rocks and explosives
Earlier this week Xenia and I entered a bunch of photos in the Latah County Fair. She entered most of these. I entered this one:
All got blue ribbons except for three of Xenia’s. The Blue Fairy on the next to the last row got a white ribbon, the one of the cat and the flower got a red ribbon, and one was entered in a different contest which hasn’t been decided yet. She is very talented. Barb and I went to the open house at the High School last night and got to meet all her teachers. She is taking “Yearbook” this year and is one of the photographers. The teacher held up last year’s “Inner Visions” (once a year school publication for outstanding literary works) with this picture of Xenia’s on the cover. We are very proud.
I enjoyed hanging around my picture at the fair last night and listening to the comments of the people when they noticed it. I think I’ll do that some more today…
My video digitizer is not working right. The audio is messed up. But here is the video anyway. At least you can see the big clouds of dirt. There was one attempt that failed to detonate when we didn’t have a “detonator target” on top of the main charge and I tried to shoot into the top portion of the milk jugs. Also, I think there was one blast on the first rock we didn’t video tape.
The complete collection of pictures for this adventure is here. Below is just a sample.
I got up about 6:00 this morning, took Xenia to her drivers ed class by 7:00 and was on my way to the farm. A little after 10:00 I had all my gear gathered up from the Taj Mahal and met my brothers at the house. We went to a field they had been removing rocks from for several days. There were two rocks that couldn’t be dug out with the equipment they had. Below is rock number one from the “back side”:
Rock number one from the “front side”:
The rock appeared to be directly connected to the earth’s crust. It also poked just above the surface of the dirt (prior to their digging with the back hoe and cat). We put one of my improvised shaped charges on top of it and got back 93 yards to shoot it. Here is a picture of the charge all ready for detonation by rifle fire:
The results were disappointing. It removed a small “cap” off the right side and showed just a hint of a crack basically down the middle. But not enough to brag about much. We hit it again in the same spot with the same type of charge. The crack got a little wider. We tried a different approach. A “water hammer”:
The detonating target for my rifle is on top. In the middle is about two pounds of HE in a thin rectangle. On the bottom is about two pounds of water in a thin rectangle. The thought was that the HE would accelerate the water into the crack and force it open further. The results were, again, disappointing:
We came back after lunch with more explosives and tried two milk jugs (about 10 pounds of HE) with rocks and water around the sides to help confine the charge. This yielded a significant break in the top side of the rock which we easily exploited with a large bar:
We put about five pounds of HE under this rock and another five pounds on top of that but still in the crack. Around that we packed dirt and water jugs:
This pulverized it:
We went on to Rock two. Having learned our lesson we packed about 20 pounds of HE in the side of it next to the bedrock and put dirt and water jugs all around it. It took four of the 4″ square detonator targets stacked on top of each other to reach a height we could see it from our shooting position:
I’ve never set off a 20 pound boomer before. In fact the 10 pound boomers a little earlier were a new record for me. We got back what seemed to be a reasonable distance which according to the laser range finder was 127 yards. I fired and clods of dirt (sure glad we didn’t put rocks around it!) landed behind us and off to the side of us. It had the desired effect on the rock however:
Video was taken as well. I’ll get that digitized and up before long.
No, not that Taj Mahal. Ry designed and supervised the construction of the explosives magazine we use for the Boomershoot. We debated on different sizes and options and finally decided to go for the “Taj Mahal” option.
Yesterday I made some modifications to keep the ATF happy. Originally the locks and hasps were approved and I used them for years without complaint. Then after the last inspection I got an email from Crystal asked me to make some modifications or get a paperwork exemption. I elected to do the modification. Here are pictures of the “hoods” I put over the locks and hasp to protect it from direct access by a saw or pry bar:
Click on the pictures for high resolution versions.
Actually it was a small U-Haul truck. They used the “shuttle” because the big moving van couldn’t make it into the confines of where Ry used to live. They called at 9:00 this morning to gain access to Ry’s old home. I had the key as Ry now lives in the Seattle area working for Microsoft.
On Saturday I helped Ry prepare for the move by taking my Astrovan over and hauling things to the dump. Ry’s main objective was to get out of town before Barb could see all the stuff I set aside to bring home, then find and kill him. But since she and Xenia were at yard sales all morning I figured Ry was safe. And besides, a lot of that stuff is going to friends and relatives of mine that I’m certain will be pleased to get it. Ry, his kids, and I worked all day Saturday to get things ready for the move. It was a small place but there was a lot of stuff to do. I left before it was quite all done. Then later Ry stopped by pick up a few rounds of linked .50 BMG ammo and to say good-bye before his drive back to the Seattle area.
Yesterday Xenia and I went over to do some cleaning. More cleaning needs to be done now that the stuff is moved out and we’ll get it done before the end of the month so Ry doesn’t have to pay another months rent on the place.
The movers arrived, called me for access and I was over there in 15 minutes. It would have been only 10 but one of the dogs “marked” one of my shoes I was going to put on. I pointed out the stuff to be moved and the room to stay out of because it contained my garbage can, vacuum cleaner, and a few cleaning supplies. There wasn’t much there and it was all packed and the small truck was rolling into town to the moving van by about 11:45. I followed the truck into town from Ry’s place. A sadness washed over me as I watched the truck drive away with the last of Ry’s belongings. At Mountain View Road I turned south and they turned north. I went on to UltiMAK to dump off the stuff Ry was giving to them and they headed towards the other side of town and the moving van that would deliver Ry’s belongs to him–340 miles away. I’m chatting on-line with him right now as I write this but I’ll miss the talks until the early morning light in my living room and the impromptu trips to the range with my chemistry set to try out a new Boomershoot mix.
Heavy sigh… closure.
I failed in my primary objective last weekend. I wanted to get hoods over the locks and hasps to comply with the ATF. Originally they said the locks and hasps I was using were fine but now I need to put the hoods on them. Not that big of a deal except I needed a welder out in the middle of the field. The welder I would have used was in use since it was on the back of a service truck being used in harvest. Harvest will be over in a couple weeks and I’ll go back and finish up that task.
What I did get done was fixing some electrical problems and properly storing more of the thousands of pounds of Ammonium Nitrate I bought. I had stored about 1200 pounds in six garbage cans under a tarp. I rearranged things inside the metal shed and got that down to about 600 pounds stored under the tarp. I destroyed several yellowjacket nests inside the shed. Put out more mice and rat poison. And finally–I don’t know how many times I have bumped my head on the overhead flourescent light. I moved it so I can stand upright even while wearing a hat. More pictures here.
I’m spending today and tomorrow doing a bunch of work on my explosives magazine and possibly some tests on my explosives mixture. I need to get things taken care of earlier this year.
My license to manufacture high explosives just arrived in the mail. They renewed it in something like 20 days. Very cool.
I know that there have been a lot of people that have had problems with the ATF but every single encounter I have had with them has been good. I don’t like their rulings with regards to firearms. I don’t like that they have been given power over intra state commerce. But given they have been tasked with making explosives manufacture, storage, and use safer I can’t really complain in regards my manufacturing of reactive targets.
Bummer. I just noticed they have the expiration date as July 1, 2005.
Update: I sent an email to Crystal last night. I got a response this morning saying she thinks she has things straighten out for me.
Something I have long said about people and organizations: I am far happier with those that make an occasional error and correct it quickly than those that seldom make an error and don’t admit it or correct it.
Update2: A few minutes ago I received a Letter of Authorization from the ATF Federal Explosives Licensing Center, via a FAX from Crystal, to continue manufacturing high explosives until the corrected license is received. 🙂
Walter Gaya was one of the Boomershoot 2004 instructors. Information about the incident which injured him and is here. Thanks to AMcLane who left a comment on Kim du Toit’s blog.
Kim du Toit reports on Walter who was one of the Boomershoot instructors in 2004:
Folks, I just heard that SSGT Walter Gaya (the “Walter” in the Walter-Adam Fund) was slightly injured by shrapnel caused by an IED in Mosul.
Thankfully, his wounds aren’t too bad (“He has a wound to one eye [he said he could still see out of it just after it happened] and a wound to his leg that has something to do with his tendon,” from Adam’s Mom), and he’s recovering nicely, and in good spirits, at the Army hospital in Landstuhl. He’ll be returning Stateside for full recuperation and rehab.
Go read the rest as well. Kim is asking for a donation for Walter’s wife. I don’t even have a job right now and I donated $10–you can do the same.
I ran across a couple new (to me) anti-gun web sites today.
I haven’t really looked over either of them very well. They are mental cases just from the names of the organizations. The first thing I saw on Handgun-free America was this screed on “assault weapons” which confirms my diagnosis:
These weapons, which are designed to spray bullets while shooting from the hip, are built to kill large numbers of human beings as quickly and efficiently as possible.
…
Plain and simple, these guns are used to commit crimes by criminals and terrorists. While the NRA claims that assault weapons have never been used in crime, they are simply lying.
[heavy sigh]
The NRA has never claimed anything like that. They have claimed they are rarely used in crime–which is true. And we don’t really need to get into the “spray bullets while shooting from the hip” portion do we? The guns have all have sights on them! And I’m nearly certain there are more rounds fired from “assault weapons” at the Boomershoot each year than there are in criminal acts. Here are some pictures of the more common uses for “assault weapons” (click on the pictures for the video):
No video available for this one.
That should put the “Handgun-Free America” people at ease, don’t you think?
We took another blow to our freedom this week without it breaking into the main stream media (minor news sources only), without a law being passed in Congress, the President signing an Executive Order, or the Supreme Court redefining the Constitution.
I got this email on Tuesday from my brother:
—–Original Message—–
From: Doug Huffman
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 5:18 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: Fertilizer problemJoe,
I just heard at Primeland an hour ago, Agrium has announced they are
shutting down their ammonium nitrate production. They have about 4000
lbs left at Cavendish, that is the end of it. They indicated we can
have that if we want it, but we have no place to store it.This announcement seems to have caught everyone off guard. We knew
Agrium was the last producer of it, but everyone seemed to think they
would be producing for a few more years.Doug
Agrium (see also their press release on this topic) was apparently the last remaining manufacturer of AN in this country and I think on this continent. Primeland is the supplier for a lot of the chemicals in the Cavendish area where the Boomershoot is held. The last several years (when I started using more than about 200 pounds in a year) I bought this main component from them. One of the local workers at Primeland has attended the Boomershoot as a spectator, has a friend that shoots there occasionally and “really wants to attend” but frequently has to work during that busy time of year for the farmers. He called up Doug to give me a chance to grab the last of it they had left. Doug and I knew this day was coming but thought it was at least a couple years away. I was going to wait until the end of this month and buy maybe 1000 pounds for next year’s event. This forced my hand. There won’t be any more fertilizer grade AN produced in this country. I barely mentioned this to anyone because we have people wanting to shut us down and cutting off my supply of AN for next year would have been way to easy for them until I had it in the back of our truck. I had to improvise on storage and store some of it in places I really didn’t want to store it (fear of loss, not fear of hazard). But I did it because of the importance of having a supply for the next few years.
We bought it today to give us the optimal amount of time to get the money in before the bill comes due. Please send in your Boomershoot 2006 entries early if you can. I need the money to cover that bill when it comes in on the 19th. I don’t have a job right now and things are a lot tighter around here than I would like for them to be.
I had about 700 pounds left from my previous purchase of 2600 pounds in 2004. Today I bought 3480 pounds. That’s a total of about 4200 pounds. To put that in perspective, McVeigh (spit, spit) used about 5000 pounds. He is a major contributor to the shut down of production in this country. Anyway, 4200 pounds is enough to make a pretty sizable boom or collection of booms. Assuming Boomershoot uses about the same number and size of targets my supply will last for five years. That should give me enough time to find a supplier of explosive grade Ammonium Nitrate that isn’t premixed with fuel oil or something else that ruins it for me. Or maybe find another explosive to use for the targets.
An FYI–the main ingredient in Tannerite is ammonium nitrate also.
Here are a few pictures from today’s efforts:
Drying out the inside of some of the storage containers.
3480 pounds of Ammonium nitrate
My brother Doug helping to fill the containers.
There are a few more pictures here.
Ammonium Nitrate in the news this week:
Simplot announces shutdown
Agrium shutdown in Canadian news
Ammonium Nitrate restictions in Australia
Early this morning I sent out the following email to the Boomershoot announcement alias (subscribe here).
From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 12:44 AM
To: Boomershoot Announcements
Subject: [BoomerShoot] 2006 and 2005 info.Prices and dates are set for 2006. Sign up early, get a discount, and make sure you will be a participant rather than a spectator:
http://www.boomershoot.org/general/entry.htm
See also:
http://www.boomershoot.org/2006/blast.htm
Gene Econ put together a great AAR and it took me over a month to get around to letting you guys know about it:
http://www.boomershoot.org/2005/2K5AAR.doc
There are links to hundreds of pictures of this year’s event here:
http://www.boomershoot.org/2005/blast.htm
The Boomershoot 2005 Video by Davis Productions is out now. I’m sure you can still buy a copy. Here is my blog posting about it:
https://blog.joehuffman.org/2005/06/30/boomershoot-2005-video/
-joe-
—-
https://blog.joehuffman.org
http://www.modernballistics.com
http://www.boomershoot.org
Blood flowing into the eyes combined with pain has a negative impact on seeing and trigger control.
Eugene Econ
Boomershoot 2005 Precision Rifle Clinic After Action Review
