Bing Crosby is a famous singer and actor to people of a certain age, performing from the mid 1920s to the mid 1970s. He was a number of musicals and comedy shows, both movies and TV. Very talented guy.
This is his 1943 rendition of the then-well-known song, singing with the Andrews Sisters, a popular trio from the era.
I don’t do race gunning for the most part, which of course qualifies me as an Internet Race-gunning Expert.
I just finished watching an episode of 3 Gun Nation. By the way; Internet TV is really the best way to watch TV. You don’t have to program a recorder to catch your favorite shows. They’re all recorded on the server, so you just go and pick out what you want, whether it’s live or whether it’s two years old.
First impressions after the episode; Wow, but there are a lof of gun malfunctions! It seemed that every shooter had to deal with a malf on at least one stage. I do not know. Is it that the guns are so specialized that they’re accepting less reliability as a role of the dice, such that when the gun doesn’t fail you get a super duper stage run? OR, is the show edited so as to highlight malfs? After that experience, I can almost envision a moment in the sport wherein someone uses a stock standard gun, wins, and is accused of having had an unfair advantage.
Watching the shooters do their run-throughs prior to shooting a stage continues to mildly disturb me. I’m thinking of a skit. It’s a defensive situation, and the defender demands a run-through before the bad guy is allowed to commit his horrible act of aggression.
There’s a conflict between calling it practical shooting and having a nice and safe spectator sport in which every shooter can maximize his performance. Wouldn’t it be just as fair for the shooters, and yet more of a practical exercise, if no one got to see the stage before shooting it? Or maybe have at least one stage no one sees before shooting?
On TV in general, a camera, a microphone and an editor can be used to depict reality, or to change it all around and mix it up. Say you want to experience the taste of a new apple variety, or you want to bring that new variety to the public. So you hire a chef, and by way of impressing us with his skills he dresses up the apple by baking it and covering it with caramel, cinnamon and nutmeg and topping it with a dollop of whipped cream.
It may be a really great dish, but in the processing you are robbed of the experience of the apple itself. Same goes with TV. If it’s a motorcycle show and I want to know how the engine sounds, they rob me of that experience by ALWAYS overdubbing heavy metal music on top of it. If you want to know something of the pace of the shooting event, you have to sort of guess, because of the fast editing and the slow-mos.
You don’t really pack a suitcase. Do you? You just put a few clothes in your gun case.
Barb L.
August 28, 2013
[There is more than a little truth in this.
This was from her watching me pack my duffle bag and before she knew about the case that had nothing but a gun, magazines, and 400 rounds of ammo in it.—Joe]
From the movie soundtrack of Last Action Hero. It was an interesting movie. It absolutely tanked at the box office, got really lousy reviews, and generally totally trashed. It had all the “right” ingredients for a hit: Arnold Schwarzenegger, pithy lines, explosions and action, hot chicks, crazy villain. But it flopped. I agreed with that assessment. It was just so over the top, it was really wrong.
Then, a couple of years ago, I read a review of it that said it wasn’t a “serious” action movie; it was Arnold making satire, and we all just missed it. Arnold was spoofing the whole genre that had trapped him. Suddenly it made a LOT more sense. In that context, it’s pretty not bad. Lots of metaphors and such, when that’s what you are expecting.
AC/DC, of course, needs no introduction, so I’ll just post the link.
Luring her out to the range to shoot your EBR is all well and good, but when it transpires that you have no ammo due to the national shortage, it begins to look like the old dodge of “running out of gas” at inspiration point.
Billll
August 27, 2013
Comment to Quote of the day—Amber Callipo
[I’ve “lured” women to the range with EBRs on many occasions. But in no case was there a sexual element present on my part that wasn’t established prior to the invitation to the range. I just don’t feel the connection between guns and sex like some people do and tend to be oblivious. That is until the woman makes her intentions clear that, at least for her, there is a connection.
Your mileage may vary.—Joe]
This sounds like fun:
Dynamic Building Clearing
An incredible and intense tactical training. Make hundreds upon hundreds of room entries, work in low light, plan missions, conduct rehearsals, execute the MISSION!
This course will teach the most modern and up-to-date version of dynamic clearing as is being used by the worlds best Entry Teams. This is a perfect course for both new and experienced SWAT officers, tactical trainers, military personnel, security contractors, or anyone who has a desire to understand the tactics being used on a daily basis in the GWOT.
Buckley, WA
September 06 – 08, 2013
But I have too many other things to do this month. And besides, if I really needed to clear a building I think I would use explosives.
Two new shows, Hot Shots and 3 Gun Nation, premiered this month on theBlaze TV. When Top Shot came out it was all the buzz on the gun blogs. This time, not so much. This time however, the new shows are NOT soap operas with some shooting thrown in.
When Survivor came out and was a big success, I got interested and watched a couple of episodes. By the description I thought it was going to be something good, where the survival skills of the competitor would win the contest. Man, was I disappointed. It turned out to be all political/mind game horse crap that you see on any soap opera, and the strongest skills are often among the first to be voted out as a threat to the weak. Belch! And Top Shot was made in Survivor’s image.
Not this time. So far. I’ve seen two episodes of Hot Shots and one of 3 Gun Nation, and they are all about shooting competition. What a relief! We got to see, as a side story, a guy fire 18 shots from an auto pistol, with a draw and two reloads, in under five seconds, and hit his target. He used a pure race gun and all race gun gear, but regardless, it is was beautiful to see.
The shows would be better if we were given a little more nuts and bolts of the game, and if we were told a little bit more about the gear (so far no one has even told us what caliber they’re shooting and so we’re left to guess based on magazine dimensions and airborne brass) but if you’re into shooting competition and you despise soap operas half as much as I do (no one gets voted off, for one thing) these are worth seeing. On episodes one and two of Hot Shot, Miculek goes for his 20th straight championship.
I’m just cringing though, hoping against seeing the episode wherein the top shooter is all angst-ridden over his ex girlfriend’s pregnancy with his best friend, and her upcoming surgery, and whether his best friend’s baby with his ex will survive, and whether the dark nemesis with a quaintly unidentifiable European accent will try another takeover of an ambiguously gay shooter’s fashion design business empire, while tempers flair over the Jade’s snooping of Monica’s love affair with Pete.
Just realized I failed to post a gun song last Friday. Arg. Oh, well, I guess I’ll make a two-fer today. Cash and Kilmer Continue reading
Last weekend Barb L. and I went to Orofino Idaho for my high school reunion. Friday night I spent a lot of time talking to one of my best buddies in high school, Bruce C. He said he reads my blog and has long been interested in Boomershoot. I told him we could have a private party the next morning if he wanted.
As I reported last Sunday Bruce had a good time. Now it is time to tell you the rest of the story.
Bruce’s wife Cyndi was there with us and even helped fold boxes and weigh chemicals for the Boomerite. When it was time to shoot the reactive targets she and Barb just watched for a while:
Bruce posed for the camera with his rifle that he had brought with him. He hadn’t fired it in 20 years but he brought it and 200 rounds of ammo to our reunion. I can’t help but wonder if he hoped to get a chance to shoot some reactive targets.
Bruce shot a few targets and thought it was a real blast:
It turns out Cyndi had never fired a gun of any type. So, of course, now was the time to take her first shots. I gave her a quick lesson, discovered she was cross-eye dominate and had her shoot left handed. She got her boomer on her first EVER shot. I thought there was a chance the new shooter smile was going to be permanent (photos by Barb L.):
Bruce shot a bunch more boomers and two of them created “smoke” (mostly water vapor with some dust) rings:
The second “smoke” ring:
I shot a few targets, Barb shot the last one, and then we went back to Orofino to continue with the class reunion.
Ry told me about this then I got an email from the Firearm Blog Editor about it as well:
(b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Agriculture shall develop a list of potential regulatory and legislative proposals to improve the safe and secure storage, handling, and sale of ammonium nitrate and identify ways in which ammonium nitrate safety and security can be enhanced under existing authorities.
AN is the main ingredient in both Boomerite and Tannerite. It seems unlikely that any regulation that does not make mining and construction use of AN, where most explosive grade AN is used, impractical will cause problems for Boomershoot. But it might for Tannerite. For example, if in order to purchase, possess, or store AN you were required to have a permit then it would make the use of Tannerite a big hassle for the individual.
But, as I can almost hear the regulators say, “And your point is?”
I fear that someday the point will have to be made with a 168 grain Sierra Match King.
The UPS guy showed up the other day. I didn’t remember ordering anything recently, so I briefly wondered what the spousal unit bought. Then I saw the box, and I had to chuckle. It was a MidwayUSA box. With some ammo. That I had ordered last year. Now that’s a backorder.
That’s cool!
Bruce C.
August 10, 2013
After detonating his first Boomer (and he stopped laughing).
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Time for something lighter. “Weird” All Yankovic has been doing spoofs and take-offs almost as long as I’ve been listening to popular music, and I’ve usually likes his versions as good as the original. And, he plays a mean accordion. If the embed below doesn’t work, try this link to Trigger Happy.
If you like spoofs, and making fun of artists who take themselves way to seriously, Weird Al is you guy.
Via email from Chet (and I think someone else Tweeted about it but I can’t remember who) we have this story:
Federal authorities on Monday cracked down on the use of exploding targets popular in the shooting community but blamed for seven recent wildfires in the Rocky Mountain region.
U.S. Attorney John Walsh and Forest Service regional forester Dan Jiron issued a prohibition on unpermitted explosives in 22 million acres of forest and grassland in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Violators face fines of $5,000 and up to six months in prison.
The Forest Service likely will impose a nationwide ban within a year. Meanwhile, other regional foresters are expected to issue similar prohibitions.
My experience is that it’s tough to ignite things with an exploding target. But these guys were able to do it and have the video to prove it. Ry and I worked on and off for over a year trying to ignite gasoline. It it was only by putting Titanium or Magnesium shavings in Boomerite were we able to get fairly frequent ignition. The type of targets these guys were using is different than Boomerite. These targets are made with flash powder and rapidly burn more than detonate.
About one out of every two or three thousand Boomerite targets will ignite rather than detonate. We don’t know why this is. We think it might happen when there is an edge hit. In any case we schedule Boomershoot to be sometime other than fire season because of the risk of fire. Even then we have had numerous fires.
The bottom line is that I understand the concern about exploding targets in the forests during fire season. It’s not very wise to take that sort of risk.
Chet asked if this change in regulation would impact Boomershoot. The answer is, “It might.” But probably not in the way most people might think it would.
Boomershoot is held on private property, not public lands, so prohibitions against exploding targets on public lands isn’t going to be a problem for us. The way it might change things is if it more people attend Boomershoot to get their “fix” of shooting exploding targets that they previously satisfied by buying their own targets and shooting them on public lands.
GAK! Been fighting a sinus infection, and forgot my Friday Gun Song! Better late than never, I guess.
A song from a long time ago, found a recording of it with a classic blues guy from the 1930’s playing it (Robert Johnson). Like many gun songs, it’s not all fluffy and light. Gov’t Mule is a pretty rock’n blues band by the sound of this recording.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq0_LjALQYU
For those not familiar with it, a 32-20 Winchester is like a scaled down .30-30, with the same sort of nomenclature, i.e., 32 caliber, 20 grains of black powder.
Machine Gun by Jimi Hendrix was more an idea than a tightly written song. It is one of many Vietnam protest songs of the era. He was a famous and talented guitar player / singer in the 1960s, and he died in 1970, likely from complications from booze and drugs (“aspirating his own vomit”). While well known, he didn’t have anywhere near the production of other well known groups and singers of the time, and most of his albums were actually released posthumously, with only three studio albums and a pair of live albums released before his death. Continue reading
Bond movies. We’ve all seen them. Most of us have laughed at more than a few of them, too. Like them or not, just about everyone knows OF them. This one is a classic.
Lulu has been around for a while, since the 60s.
The most (maliciously) creative guys I’ve ever worked with were Army Special Forces soldiers. Their imagination can come up with a million fantastic ways to ruin someone’s day. They make authors look like pikers.
Larry Correia
July 18, 2013
Ask Correia 14: How to be a Professional Author
[Good to know.
There are a few reasons for this.
One, it’s their job and they do this stuff a lot so they get more practice than you, I , or Larry.
Two, they have a different mindset. When I used to do computer security stuff I would spend a lot of time “thinking like a bad guy” and try to break things. You don’t normally think like that. It sort of rubbed off onto other things I did and thought about. I could walk through the grocery store, or drive through farm country and get distracted by all the things someone could do to contaminate the food supply from a terrorist point of view. Or I would walk through a hardware store and “see” things for improvised explosive devices in nearly every aisle.
Three, they have had a lot of training and knowledge that has been handed down through the generations. It may seem incredibly creative to you or I but it’s only a minor variation on something that has been repeatedly done for the last 100 years.
Try changing your mindset. You might be surprised what you come up with if you decide to go all Firefly and “be a bad guy”.—Joe]
Not exactly an an uplifting song, but gives a good story why someone might want to own a gun, and why they are called “equalizers.”
Miranda Lambert has been on the country music scene for about a decade. Decent body… of music.
Forget who recommended the song, but thanks.