Yesterday someone pointed out the walls for my current home project look a lot like castle walls. He was correct. And from certain angles this is especially true:
I expect the project to be completed by the end of next week or the beginning of the following week. When it is done I’ll supply more pictures.
Sebastian asked about the details of the base for the ecology blocks on the walls around my range. Here are some pictures and additional information.
The ground this time of year is really hard. It took a large dozer and a heavy excavator to get down to, essentially level. The range has a 1% grade down range to the target berm. A mini excavator was used to dig the footings about another six to eight inches deeper and three feet wide. This was filled with four inches of compacted and wetted, 3/4” with fines, gravel which was carefully (it took two people about two days complete this stage) made level. This deliberately did not match the 1% grade. Being level allowed for the back wall to be straight and have interlocking corners.
This first picture is looking down range from near the up range end of what will be the right wall.
This is the compactor in use along the left wall:
A four inch drain tile was put just inside the back wall (as seen on the right in the picture below) which exits under the right wall in the foreground:
Another drain tile, parallel to the first, will be placed 15 feet from the back wall and will catch drainage before it reaches the target berm. This will connect to the first drain tile with a Y a few feet outside the range.
The floor of the range will be covered with four inches of compacted, 3/4” with fines, gravel.
Last weekend I participated* in the USPSA Area 1 Championship. As expected, Christian Sailer won.
One of the people in my squad, Steve, runs major matches in Montana and does range officer work for other major matches. He told stories of running Christian through stages.
Christian sees the stages differently than other people. He even sees them differently than other Grand Master shooters. When Steve runs Christian on a stage he doesn’t bother to follow him. He asks, “Where are you going to end up?” He then runs to the destination (as soon as it is safe to do so) and meets Christian in time to capture the last shot on the timer.
A specific example given was a stage where there were two targets visible between two barricades. Other Grand Masters would pause and fire the four shots, two per target, then continue on to the next targets. Christian ran by at full speed, “Bang, bang, bang, bang!” This resulted in four A-Zone hits.
As Steve pointed out, Christian is in a class of his own. Here are the results of the top ten people in the match from last weekend and from looking at the Match Points and Match Percentage you can clearly see this:
| Place | Name | Class | Div | Match Pts | Match % |
| 1 | Sailer, Christian | G | O | 1460.8107 | 100.0000 % |
| 2 | Michel, Max | G | CO | 1310.4572 | 89.7075 % |
| 3 | Ramberg, Tim | G | PCC | 1275.3206 | 87.3022 % |
| 4 | Williams, Justine | G | PCC | 1243.8811 | 85.1501 % |
| 5 | Conaway, Brennan | G | O | 1229.281 | 84.1506 % |
| 6 | Tan, Loke | G | O | 1228.1294 | 84.0718 % |
| 7 | Liu, Eric | G | O | 1214.7476 | 83.1557 % |
| 8 | Chang, Jun | G | O | 1209.7619 | 82.8144 % |
| 9 | Coley, Shane | G | L | 1209.0808 | 82.7678 % |
| 10 | Steiner, Eric | M | O | 1202.3446 | 82.3067 % |
Notice how the people below him are grouped fairly tightly. There is no one within 10% of Christian.
I had hoped to watch him shoot a stage or two but he was shooting on the exact opposite times I was at the match. Here is the video of most of the stages:
* I came in 41 out of 58 in Limited Division and second out of seven in my age/division category. I had not shot an USPSA match since December of 2019. And with COVID keeping me out of the office I did not have the normal lunchtime access to the range for practice.
In another week or so I will have my private gun range and much better access to range conditions suitable for this type of practice: I’m going to be taking practice much more seriously:
Barb and I were in Lynden Washington this weekend doing some hiking in the area. On Saturday afternoon we visited Just Desserts, Lynden Dutch Bakery and gorged on sweet stuff. Just a couple doors away was Dave’s Sports Shop. I wanted to do a little browsing and with Barb reporting a sugar buzz we went in.
Much to my surprise they had primers for sale. Customers were limited to two hundred primers per household so making a hundred mile drive for them isn’t going be be all that worthwhile::
And the prices were higher than I wanted to pay. The last time I bought primers, 7/21/2017, I paid $3.00/100. These were $12.95/100:
I did a little bit of measurement and calculating. At an average of 3.46 grains per CCI Small Rifle Primer those 100 primers weigh 0.7208 Troy Ounces. So at $12.95/100 plus the 8.7% sales tax the the primers are priced at $19.53/Troy-Ounce.
The current price of silver is $27.91/Troy-Ounce, so they are priced at 70% of their weight in silver.
Of course you don’t believe the catastrophic blowouts depicted by Hollywood when a tire is shot. But what really happens?
Kenzie Fitzpatrick has the answers and video for 9mm FMJ, .223 FMJ, and 12-Gauge, 00 Buckshot.
Via daughter Jaime:
It’s been at least a couple months since I went to the range. Yesterday I remedied that. This was what my gun looked like when I pulled it out of the holster:
As I carry it every day, I knew it was going to be covered with lint.
It still functioned just fine but that was way too much holster time without being cleaned.
Wednesday afternoon Tim, TJay (mostly) and I began folding boxes for the targets. The boxes come as flat pieces of cardboard cut and formed in all the right places to be easily folded into a box. Here is what things looked yesterday morning:
That is perhaps half of the boxes. Kim, Jacob, and I folded more boxes this morning. Others folded still more boxes during the day.
This was the target production crew this afternoon:
This was the result by 5:00 PM:
I think there were three more crates of targets I added after this. With the addition of those additional crates there are over 830 targets with nearly 1600 pounds of explosives.
And this doesn’t count the nearly 700 targets already consumed yesterday and today. Boomershoot is, literally, a ton of fun.
The Boomershoot 2021 shirts, mugs, water bottle, drinking glass, etc. are now available for sale here.
Even if you can’t be there as a participant or even a spectator you can have a mug to remind you to prepare for next year and advertise to your friends who will want to join you next year when you partake in one of the greatest shooting adventures in the world.
Here is the image used:
Don’t you just have to have a picture of Brandon realizing he was too close?
Boomershoot 2021 is a go. But will you be there?
The last day for entry is April 23rd, this is six weeks away. But the Precision Rifle Clinic and Field Fire registration closes at midnight on March 31st. That is just two and a half weeks from now!
After having so many restrictions for the last year it’s time to get out and makes some noise with the rest of us!
Sign up soon so you don’t miss out:
I recently purchased a Lyman Cyclone Case Dryer from Midway USA. I’m very pleased with it. I have been using a dehumidifier and homemade draining and drying rack for years. But it was frequently a bottleneck in my process. It was noisy and made the room hot. Lyman dryer will hold up to 1000 .223 cases and far more pistol cases and have them dry in less than three hours. Typically it’s about one to two hours but with a bunch of .50 BMG brass I sort of stumbled across* it took closer to three hours.
It also takes up far less space in my armory.
* I might buy a .50 BMG someday and then I’ll have the brass to reload for it, right?
Has anyone done business with The Brass Exchange recently? That is where I used to get used brass for reloading .40 S&W and 30.06.
On September 28th, 2020 I ordered 1000 pieces of .40 S&W brass and received a confirmation of order email. My credit card was charged the same day.
As this was in the middle of the massive buying frenzy I didn’t expect it to arrive for a few weeks. But the weeks went by and I didn’t receive the order nor did I receive a tracking number.
I tried to contact them to find out the status of my order. The email bounced:
Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.
Subject: Missing order.
Sent: 12/21/2020 7:22 PMThe following recipient(s) cannot be reached:
‘thebrassexchange@gmail.com.’ on 12/21/2020 7:22 PM
Server error: ‘550 <thebrassexchange@gmail.com.> invalid address ‘thebrassexchange@gmail.com.”
Phone calls were not answered.
I contacted my bank about the failure to receive the product I had paid for. They investigated for a month then told me:
Dispute Number: 19289113
Date Posted: 9/28/2020
Merchant Name: THE BRASS EXCHANGE
Amount of Transaction: 107.10
Status: Credit is PermanentWe are pleased to let you know that the temporary credit we posted to your account for 107.10 on 12/24/2020 is now permanent.
Your dispute is now closed.
The Brass Exchange web site is still up and they claim they have product in stock. But I’m not willing to risk an order, and suggest others don’t either, unless there is reason to believe they are shipping the products ordered.
Went to Boomershoot … with my son. He shot my .223 with my ballistic tip prairie dog loads while I shot a .243 also with ballistic tip bullets. What an amazing time. The .223 was killing the 375 yard targets while the .243 was in the thick of it at 600 to 700 yards. The next year, it was my son and me along with three of my brothers. The year after that, we added my son’s wife and my wife. What a fantastic family experience. It is really difficult to put into words the exhilaration that comes with successfully hitting those targets but is it ever fun!
Powerwagon
February 2, 2021
Comment to From a first time Boomershooter
[There are bunch of things about Boomershoot that have to be experienced to be appreciated.
Yesterday Keith mentioned:
700 yards is so far that you can bring your eyes up from your scope, see the detonation, and let out a holler of joy before the sound reaches you.
When you are shooting a paper target you don’t fully appreciate the time of flight involved. A spotter with a good spotting scope and watching the trace has a clue. But most people don’t have that experience either. And still the whole, pull the trigger, lift up your head, then see the column of dust and smoke erupt from the ground and then wait nearly two seconds to hear and feel the explosion is something quite different and remarkable.
Time of flight for a 700 yard target with a .308 Winchester shooting a 168 grain bullet is about 1.1 seconds. The sound arrives back at the shooter after another 1.93 seconds. From trigger pull to sound is a full three seconds.
Another thing which must be experienced is the thump to your chest. You feel the explosions as much or more than you hear it. Windows rattle and buildings shake miles away.
That’s for the one and two pound targets 375 to 700 yards away. I’ll let you imagine, if you can, what the 35 pound charge used to lift 30 gallons of gasoline into the air is like from 30 yards away:
Boomershoot 2019 Fireball from Joe Huffman on Vimeo.
Or, you could experience it for yourself.—Joe]
Via email from Rolf (and Sneedus Feedus):
Various loadings:
|
Bullet |
Muzzle Velocity |
Power Factor |
|
300 gr (19 g) |
2,606 ft/s |
782 |
|
350 gr (23 g) |
2,557 ft/s |
895 |
|
400 gr (26 g) |
2,468 ft/s |
987 |
|
500 gr (32 g) |
2,192 ft/s |
1096 |
For comparison a fairly typical .300 Winchester Magnum load would be a 190 grain bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2900 fps for a Power Factor of 551. Or compare it to a .308 Winchester with a 168 grain bullet at 2650 fps with a PF of 445.
The semi-auto action of the Garand would help a little but I couldn’t see myself shooting that except under duress.
I made a few minor technical corrections. Other than that this is word for word from an email I received from Brian K. about his first visit to Boomershoot:
“Go ahead, shoot a few rounds!”
A kind offer from the Boomershoot attendee I was spotting for.
His spotter had to cancel last minute, so I had the novel pleasure of walking this gentleman in at 700 yards.
Now he was spotting for me!
“I should start at the 375 yard targets,” I attempted to wimp out.
“I’m already sighted in at 700 yards. Just go for those” he insisted.
Remembering everything Appleseed taught me, I fired my first round at a 7″ explosive target almost a half mile away.
Miss. But less than 10 feet off, so not terrible.
Miss. Miss. Miss. Am I going to hit *anything*?
Miss. Miss. Hit!
700 yards is so far that you can bring your eyes up from your scope, see the detonation, and let out a holler of joy before the sound reaches you.
I scored a few more hits at 700, including a single first round hit.
I learned two things at my first Boomershoot:
- I am capable of far more accuracy that I know
- I need to practice far more than I do
Thankfully Boomershoot is just three months away and there is still space on the Sunday firing line so you can discover how well you fare vs small explosive pizza boxes at half a mile.
This was a very slow year. I basically stopped shooting in late December because of a work project that was really, really cool. I worked pretty much night and day, including weekends, (except for a week of vacation for our anniversary) until sometime in March. It resulted in a patent application (still pending). Then with the COVID concerns I only went to like two or three matches and not many more trips to the indoor range for practice. Hence, my ammo needs were very modest last year. Then there was the whole primer shortage thing…
I already had a fair amount .40 S&W so I spent a lot of time reloading and brass prepping for rifle ammo.
As you can see in the table below I reloaded 657 rounds of .223 last year and another 88 rounds this month. A good portion of that was using up random types of bullets that had been purchased for load testing and found lacking. They are still good for teaching new shooters at 25 yards or Boomershoot High Intensity type events. It does include a new load for a 55 grain match grade bullet that turned out well.
The 98 rounds of 30-06 were for a Garand someone was receiving as a Christmas present. I wasn’t the gift giver or receiver but since ammo in general and Garand compatible ammo in particular were next to impossible to find I purchased a few clips to add to the ammo I reloaded. I used some 168 grain Sierra Match Kings, Federal Match primers, and Varget powder (Garand load data here) which was all at least 20 years old.
The Garand went to someone who had never owned a gun! But she had expressed a strong liking for the gun saying how much she liked the way it looked and she had apparently shot one before. So… her significant other consulted with me as to what a Garand was (!) and we conspired to find and purchase one for a Christmas gift.
[Update: I’ve been informed that while in high school she drilled with a Garand in Junior ROTC.]
So now she has nearly 100 rounds of ammo for her “new” gun and if the loads work well, and she returns the brass, I could make another 150 rounds or so from components on hand.
Hitting exactly 4,000 rounds of .40 S&W in 2020 was entirely a coincidence. These were all 200 grain Black Bullet International loads. I continued this month with mostly the same load but used up some random 180 grain bullets I found laying around. I have about another 20 primers and a couple of pounds of CFE Pistol powder left. I’ll probably not load much .40 S&W for a while. Of course I’ll need primers but also I have more .40 S&W stacked up than I imagine I will use this year.
This brings my total for the year to only 4,755 rounds. This is the first time since 2014 that I didn’t reload more than 10,000 rounds.
This brings my lifetime total of rounds reloaded to 149,484. I really expected to break 150K last year but it was a special year. But this year, almost for certain, I’ll break 150K.
223
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1998
160
–
–
–
–
–
–
140
20
–
–
–
–
1999
1,777
–
–
181
578
25
–
–
–
–
140
653
200
2000
43
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
43
–
–
–
2001
47
–
–
–
47
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2016
397
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
140
257
–
–
2017
296
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
296
2018
4,177
418
180
1,195
300
–
–
–
–
–
–
1,997
87
2019
695
–
60
80
125
216
61
111
–
–
–
42
–
2020
657
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
252
215
190
2021
88
88
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
8,337
506
240
1,456
1,050
241
61
251
20
183
649
2,907
773
30-06
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1997
180
–
–
40
20
79
41
–
–
–
–
–
–
1998
150
–
–
–
80
–
–
–
–
–
40
–
30
1999
90
20
70
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2003
47
–
–
–
18
–
–
–
–
–
–
29
–
2016
76
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
76
–
–
–
2017
213
–
–
–
–
–
–
65
148
–
–
–
–
2020
98
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
98
Total
854
20
70
40
118
79
41
65
148
76
40
29
128
300Savage
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2018
50
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
50
–
Total
50
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
50
–
300WIN
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1999
250
–
–
–
–
–
151
60
–
–
39
–
–
2000
467
50
127
142
–
57
–
–
–
–
20
60
11
2001
382
25
–
–
185
15
20
–
73
–
–
–
64
2013
499
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
100
399
2018
212
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
212
2019
316
167
149
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
2,126
242
276
142
185
72
171
60
73
–
59
160
686
40SW
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1997
31
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
31
1998
11,537
570
258
718
1,850
1,812
1,710
402
–
–
1,200
900
2,117
1999
2,795
–
894
–
299
693
506
–
–
–
–
–
403
2000
3,187
795
–
–
–
–
1,095
400
396
–
501
–
–
2001
2,295
–
300
497
300
–
–
1,198
–
–
–
–
–
2002
898
–
–
–
–
–
–
198
–
200
300
–
200
2003
602
–
300
302
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2004
1,345
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
300
600
445
–
2005
1,059
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
659
400
–
–
2006
1,000
–
–
–
–
400
–
–
–
–
200
400
–
2007
1,136
–
–
–
–
–
–
118
518
300
200
–
–
2008
2,398
–
300
–
–
–
–
900
399
–
200
–
599
2009
1,702
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
102
300
900
400
2010
1,400
–
–
–
–
100
200
700
–
200
–
200
–
2011
2,300
300
–
400
100
–
500
500
200
–
–
–
300
2012
399
–
200
–
199
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2014
530
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
530
2015
7,012
1,699
1,630
1,137
–
–
–
547
200
400
100
200
1,099
2016
17,792
2,197
700
1,462
837
1,899
1,999
1,000
1,500
1,000
1,700
1,500
1,998
2017
20,840
3,300
975
525
200
1,899
3,700
2,048
2,644
2,063
1,015
1,699
772
2018
18,105
–
–
–
750
1,699
797
1,193
2,396
3,300
4,069
919
2,982
2019
11,103
–
–
–
–
2,509
–
–
–
–
691
2,117
5,786
2020
4,000
–
307
–
–
104
896
100
806
628
1,159
–
–
2021
1,003
1,003
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
114,426
9,821
5,864
5,041
4,535
11,115
11,403
9,304
9,059
9,152
12,635
9,280
17,217
45ACP
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2017
2007
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
500
1,507
Total
2007
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
500
1,507
9MM
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1996
11,274
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
10,944
141
189
1997
7,374
300
–
–
1,190
640
65
–
100
1,088
804
1,060
2,127
2015
2,993
–
1,066
1,927
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
21,641
300
1,066
1,927
1,190
640
65
–
100
1,088
11,748
1,201
2,316
Yearly and Monthly Totals
Year
Rounds
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
1996
11,274
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
10,944
141
189
1997
7,585
300
–
40
1,210
719
106
–
100
1,088
804
1,060
2,158
1998
11,847
570
258
718
1,930
1,812
1,710
542
20
–
1,240
900
2,147
1999
4,912
20
964
181
877
718
657
60
–
–
179
653
603
2000
3,697
845
127
142
–
57
1,095
400
396
43
521
60
11
2001
2,724
25
300
497
532
15
20
1,198
73
–
–
–
64
2002
898
–
–
–
–
–
–
198
–
200
300
–
200
2003
649
–
300
302
18
–
–
–
–
–
–
29
–
2004
1,345
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
300
600
445
–
2005
1,059
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
659
400
–
–
2006
1,000
–
–
–
–
400
–
–
–
–
200
400
–
2007
1,136
–
–
–
–
–
–
118
518
300
200
–
–
2008
2,398
–
300
–
–
–
–
900
399
–
200
–
599
2009
1,702
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
102
300
900
400
2010
1,400
–
–
–
–
100
200
700
–
200
–
200
–
2011
2,300
300
–
400
100
–
500
500
200
–
–
–
300
2012
399
–
200
–
199
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2013
499
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
100
399
2014
530
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
530
2015
10,005
1,699
2,696
3,064
–
–
–
547
200
400
100
200
1,099
2016
18,265
2,197
700
1,462
837
1,899
1,999
1,000
1,500
1,216
1,957
1,500
1,998
2017
23,356
3,300
975
525
200
1,899
3,700
2,113
2,792
2,063
1,015
2,199
2,575
2018
22,544
418
180
1,195
1,050
1,699
797
1,193
2,396
3,300
4,069
2,966
3,281
2019
12,114
167
209
80
125
2,725
61
111
–
–
691
2,159
5,786
2020
4,755
–
307
–
–
104
896
100
806
628
1,411
215
288
2021
1,091
1,091
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Grand Totals
149,484
10,932
7,516
8,606
7,078
12,147
11,741
9,680
9,400
10,499
25,131
14,127
22,627
To the best of my knowledge Boomershoot is the last publicly accessible “dynamite shoot” in the country and perhaps the world. For 40 years there were one or two each year in Gateway Colorado. June 8, 2019 was their last one. Cancellation details are here.
There were a few shoots in Missouri back in the 2006 timeframe. But they have been gone for a long time.*
There are some explosives and fireballs at Knob Creek each year. But there aren’t 1,500 or more targets consuming over a ton of explosives.
Via “(no attribution, please)”:
Imagine:
On July 4th 2021, Congress passes the America’s Freedom From Fear Act.
It prohibits all gatherings of 5 or more people when shooting firearms, outside of sanctioned shooting range events and licensed hunting events.
You would now risk jail time if you went to Boomershoot in 2022, and Joe would risk far more jail time to host the event. Boomershoot is toast.
How will you feel about how you spent April 30th to May 2nd 2021, The Last Boomershoot?
There’s still space available.
Don’t wait.
We’ve had a surprising number people sign up this month. There was nothing since at least early April. Then starting on January 3rd.through today there were 11 different positions reserved or people added to existing positions,
There are still 28 positions left and if the weather cooperates I can make space for a couple more. If you are thinking you might need an opportunity to hone your long range rifle skills this is the place and time. The earthshaking, echoing, thunder of a Boomershoot target is most pleasurable feedback I know of for connecting your bullet with a target.
* There is a very sad story to go with this. It’s not really appropriate Internet material but I’d be glad to share if you ask me about it face-to-face sometime.
In my legal opinion the Rare Breed Triggers FRT is a perfectly legal, semi-automatic, drop-in trigger. And my opinion is further supported by the opinions of whom I believe to be two of the most significant subject matter experts in the industry.
Rare Breed Triggers FRT – Full Video from RARE BREED TRIGGERS on Vimeo.
Kevin Maxwell
December 2, 2020
[As Greg said in a private post on Facebook:
pretty genius, I doubt it will last long on the market.
If you’re into this type of fun then get them while they last!
FRT is an acronym standing for “Forced Reset Trigger”. And that tells you all you need to know to have your giggle box kicked over.
We live in interesting times.—Joe]
PRO-TIP
Buy the gun you want.
Wrap and mark it from Santa.
Your spouse will have to go along with it or they’ll ruin Christmas for the kids.
— NRA (@NRA) December 21, 2020
[Or just have an honest relationship with your spouse and put the gun you want on your wish list.—Joe]
Interesting. I didn’t know transparent aluminum has been around since 1980. And I always thought it was science fiction in 1986:
Still, it’s very cool stuff. 1.6” (4 cm) can stop a .50 BMG AP round.