Category Archives: Gun Fun

Stage hell

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Robb tells us about a stage from hell he shot in last weekend. I also shot a tough stage yesterday but it wasn’t entirely because of the stage design. And strangely enough both of our stages were “Stage 5” in the match.

Do you notice anything wrong with this gun?


Update: A close up of the broken safety.

People familiar with 1911s and sharp eyes will notice the safety is in the ON position but the hammer is down. This can’t happen on a normal 1911. It turns out the ambi safety was broken but I didn’t know that when I inserted a magazine and racked the slide to “Make Ready” for the stage. The tip of the safety ripped a trench through the end of my left index finger. It bled profusely.

We didn’t really understand why my finger got ripped open and after getting a band-aid I went ahead and shot the stage.

The stage was unusual. The shooter had to traverse between two barricades in the shape of a U with ports in both sides. There were targets on the sides, bottom, and the interior of the U.

Since it was a 38 round stage even with my 18 rounds magazines I had to change magazines during the course of the stage. At the far side of the U, shooting into the interior of the U at targets near the ground from a high perspective my bullets impacted the ground on the other side of the U in the shooters path–the path I had just traversed.

Good shot, huh?

Despite a mutilated finger and destroying a magazine I did pretty well on that stage:

Stage: 5 U Turn Again
Place Name Class Division Pts Pen Time Hit Fact Stg Pts Stg %
 1 BROWN, MIKE A Limited 10 176 10 30.43 5.4551 190.0000 100.00%
 2 HUFFMAN, JOE B Limited 188 0 36.51 5.1493 179.3490 94.39%
 3 MCINTOSH, ADAM M Limited 185 0 40.50 4.5679 159.0990 83.74%
 4 HIPPS, KW B Limited 10 188 0 45.30 4.1501 144.5471 76.08%
 5 WOOD, DON A Limited 176 20 41.31 3.7763 131.5277 69.23%
 6 WATSON, ROGER U Limited 10 187 0 55.32 3.3803 117.7351 61.97%
 7 ASTRELLA, JOSH U Production 186 0 56.34 3.3014 114.9871 60.52%
 8 Moore, Bill U Open 180 0 65.68 2.7406 95.4545 50.24%
 9 Uhle, Bob U Open 187 0 68.60 2.7259 94.9425 49.97%
10 Grimes, John U Limited 174 10 68.69 2.3875 83.1561 43.77%

Update: My verbal description of the stage wasn’t very good. Here is a rough drawing of what it looked like:

There were ports in most of the walls. I started on the left side of the U and dropped a magazine about half way down that side. I went around to the other side and shot through the port at the target on the left side of the interior of the U. The bullet passed through the paper target and hit my magazine which I had dropped on the other side.

Primers

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Just a hint of the current situation on primers from Powder Valley, Inc.:

At this time we are not taking any new backorders for primers that are not listed here. We currently have over 50 million primers on backorder. If you currently have a backorder in place your order will be processed as primers become available. Once we begin receiving more primers from the manufacturers and are able to begin filling current backorders we will update the website.

Via Kevin on the Lewiston Pistol Club email list.

Boomershoot capacities

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For the last two years I have been trying to increase target production and once I felt I had excess capacity I was going to get the cat (bulldozer) out there to expand the shooting line so I could handle more shooters.


This year we finished target production with more targets per unit time than ever before. And we had many targets left over after the event even though we had more shooting hours than usual. And I shut down target production at 1500 on Saturday. We finally have the target production up to a level where we could handle more shooting positions.


That was the plan. But it turns out there are other limits to our capacity that became (more) obvious this year.



  • Target placement. Even after doubling the space at the tree line we have room for about 500 targets there. That is just barely adequate. We had 350 targets on the hillside which was about right. I don’t think we can safely expand either target location without moving a lot of dirt.
  • The Saturday night dinner maxed out the Ponderosa last year with about 65 people. They claim they can handle 100 but with our setup for the raffle 65 was crowded. The VFW building had more space but we had 93 people sign up for dinner this year and we maxed them out too. There is one other place in town that has more space but they are already booked for the last weekend of April 2010. It might be that we can rent the high school cafeteria or some such place but I haven’t looked into that. I can also get the caterer to set up tents and tables and do it on-site for a fairly reasonable charge. But cringe at the thought of trying to do that in a 30 MPH wind with snow and hail coming down like we have had some years.
  • The caterer for the Sunday lunch asked if we could break the shooters into two groups, say positions 1 through 38 and 39 through 76 and send them to the roach coach about 30 minutes apart and take 90 minutes total for lunch. There are just too many people for them to handle in a timely manner.

After talking to Barb about it for a bit (she is the one that attempts to inject some pessimism/reality into my visions) I think expanding the shooting line capacity would be the wrong thing to do. I should improve the experience for the existing shooters instead. The most obvious thing to do in that regard is to make improvements to the shooters berm. It is too uneven and doesn’t have enough depth in places.


Another possibility is to make it easier to quickly put up more dingle berries. Many more…

Match Hollowpoints – Interior, Exterior, and Terminal Ballistics

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My wife reads a lot of “who dunnit” mystery novels.  The one she’s reading now addresses long-range marksmanship and the use of hollowpoint “match” bullets.  As a person normally 100% uninterested guns and shooting, she had a very good question for me; “Why do they use hollowpoints for accuracy”?  This lead to a very interesting discussion– one uninterested in guns was trying to understand something that few gun enthusiasts understand completely and rarely discuss in such detail.

I had to admit I was at something of a loss.  My best understanding is that the hollowpoint bullet jacket can be manufactured to higher standards of concentricity (the mass being better centered around the mechanical center so as to avoid wobble in flight) and consistency of mass and shape.  That is all true, but exactly why it is true I was at a loss to explain with certainty.  My best guesses are that it has to do with the process of forming the jacket’s shape, and with the insertion of the bullet’s lead core, but I don’t know the actual processes used in bullet manufacturing.

I also told her it was my opinion that since the hollowpoint jacket (having a closed copper base due to the way it’s constructed) allows none of the bullet’s lead base to melt away during the intense heat of firing, it is going to retain its mass, and therefore its consistency of mass from shot to shot, better than the open base of a standard full metal jacket bullet.  I’ve also read that the open-base FMJ can allow the jacket to partially separate from the core at the base under the pressure of firing.  If so, that would certainly alter its flight slightly and at random.

She explained that it was her understanding that hollowpoints were used to cause more trauma inside the target, and I told her that she was correct.  She was having a hard time understanding that there is no direct correlation between the objectives behind hollowpoint “match” bullet designs, and the hollowpoint bullets designed to expand and cause more damage.  This was getting too technical for a layperson, but her interest was piqued by the story she was reading.  I had to explain that hollowpoints designed specifically for expansion on impact have a wide range of designs, operating velocities and applications, and that match hollowpoints have nothing to do with any of that.  The match bullets are only designed for accuracy, with no regard to their effects on a target.

That being the case, one can nonetheless do a little experimentation.  Manufacturers of match rifle bullets usually make a point of telling the customer that they are NOT intended, and should not be used for, hunting.  There is one company, Burger Bullets, that touts their match VLD (Very Low Drag) hollowpoints as hunting bullets.  I’ve been loading Berger 7 mm bullets in 280 Remington for my son’s use at Boomershoot, and since he keeps his rifle zeroed for that load, he has also used the VLDs for hunting.  This particular bullet has a light (read weak) jacket, and while it is an awesome animal stopper, it explodes at high velocity inside the animal due to its light construction and causes major damage to any meat it comes near.  It also tears a large hole in the hide for those of us who keep the skins.  They make a tiny entry wound and a softball-sized exit wound.  That would be OK if the shot placement and angle were ideal because only the heart/lung cavity would be so effected (then too, we like to eat the heart if it’s intact).  Other match hollowpoints have heavier jackets that don’t behave much different, on impact, from a standard FMJ bullet.

Practicing for Boomershoot last week, we found one of our 30 caliber match bullet jackets behind a 2′ diameter rotten, wet log that it had penetrated.  Just the jacket, turned nearly inside-out, with no lead core.  The hollowpoint tip was almost perfectly intact, and so behaved radically different from a hollowpoint hunting or defense bullet.  The bullet had traveled 400 yards, entered and then yawed violently sideways inside the log.  The intense pressure of deceleration caused the heavier lead core to burst out the side of the jacket, separating completely.  The open-sided jacket followed through to drop on the ground just behind the log.  These match bullets were loaded in .308 Winchester cartridges made by Black Hills Ammunition.  We were using 168 and 175 grain, “red box” new loads.  I think the bullets they use in these loads are from Sierra, but don’t quote me on that.  You can call them and ask if you’re curious.

We Get it, Already

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This is an open letter to all the talk show hosts, pundits, party hacks, cheaters, scumbags, sick twisted freaks (you know who you are) and pro-freedom bloggers.  We could spend the rest of our lives cataloging the outrageous behavior of nasty, America-hating, ignorant, self-loathing, cultist, freedom-hating, anti-human, leftist politicians including Progressive Republicans.  We know they’re bad, OK?  If there are three or four people who still don’t get it, that’s all right.


I’d rather try to figure out how we’re going to get some principled Americans nominated so we’re not always forced to choose between bad and worse– between more socialism slower, and more socialism faster.  This last national election was a real puker.  The Republican Party is, at the moment, just as lost, dumbfounded, selfish and clueless as ever.  They’re a herd of does, staring blankly into the headlights of an on-coming truck, and the worst part of it is; they don’t even suspect that they’re clueless.  They in the Republican leadership think they have some really clever answers, which amount to more of what got us into this mess.  I recently heard it described as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  That fits very well.  The Republicans have some really super great, super ultra smart ideas for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  No really, listen…  (all the while we have this simple, proven model for success, and it’s being ignored.)


We need to change that.  You need to change it.  I need to change it.  There isn’t anyone else.  I suppose, since it’s up to us, it will have to be on the local level for most of us, being as we’re not billionaires.  That’s OK.  We can still do what we can do.  A lot of people are jazzed up right now.  They just need somewhere to start.  Well, pick a place, a local issue or a local politician that needs a hand (or a very public spanking) and get to it!


That there are clueless people is not the issue.  There will always be the clueless.  They’ll sit on the sidelines, worrying about who likes them and who doesn’t, trying to figure out where the “center” is so they can position themselves in it and claim superiority for having done so, while someone else does the lifting.  Are you a sitter or a lifter?


I have a bad feeling that things could come to blows before this government is brought under control, and I really don’t want that to happen.  Do you?  This country is far too important in the grand scheme of things.


And with that; I don’t have much more to say on here, other than to repeat myself or talk about the weather and what I did last weekend, unless it’s to tell you what I’m doing on the local level to influence politics.  Now I think I have some calls to make.


(Note that I placed this in nearly every one of Joe’s categories. It’s relevant to everything we do and every opportunity we want for our kids in the future)

New Shooting Range?

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The last few times I drove north to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho I noticed a sign on hwy 95 touting a shooting range.  This last time I noted the name and the location; Moses Mtn Shooting Range near mile post 391, just outside of Plummer.  Can’t find anything on the interwebs so I’ll just have to drive up there to check it out.


We sure need more shooting ranges around here.  A nice big, 500 or 1,000 yard rifle range would be sweet.

It’s official

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I won’t be attending the Second Amendment Blog Bash and NRA convention next month. I just sent my regrets to the organizer.


Xenia’s getting married in June and there are a lot of other things that are sucking up time and money this year so I just can’t make it happen.


Last year I had a wonderful time (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here for examples). Nearly every time my wife or kids talked to me on the phone they commented on “how happy you sound”. I think Barb got a little jealous that I sounded happier to be with other bloggers than be with her. Yeah, I had a really, really great time.


Maybe next year. For this year the Boomershoot Gun Blogger Day next Thursday, with 11 gun bloggers attending, is going to have to be my main fix for the year. Even the Gun Blogger Rendezvous in September is out.

Quote of the day–Jeff Cooper

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I have never been taken with the idea of selling a gun. When you possess a firearm, you possess something of importance. If you trade it for cash, you have lost it – and the cash in your hand will soon be gone. Sell something else! 
   
Jeff Cooper
Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries
June 11, 1993
[I posted this once before but it likely wasn’t noticed much in the collection of 146 other Cooper quote.


I’m selling a gun today. Other than a few guns I bought with the specific intent to resell this is the first time ever. It’s not because I want the money, it’s because the other person wants it and I don’t really have a use for it. I haven’t shot this one in years and I have another gun that fills this niche better than the one I am selling that I do shoot sometimes. Still, it makes me sad.–Joe]

Fox hunting

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Athough I harvested one deer with Barb’s Jeep and another with my .300 Win Mag I don’t really consider myself a hunter. But I do generally support hunters being able to continue their sport and harvesting food in this manner.

However–there are some hunters that give me pause. I may have to reevaulate my position on fox hunters.

Via email from Bruce L.:

Dear Concerned Citizen:

Please help ban fox hunting — THIS MADNESS MUST STOP!!

Signed,
Peter Cottontail

Barrett M82A1 for sale

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From a long time Boomershooter who will be attending again:



Barrett M82A1, Pelican case, manual
Nightforce NXS 5.5-22 x 56mm scope, illuminated mil-dot reticle, quick detach bases, manual 3 magazines, cleaning kit
500 rounds linked API/APIT (4-1 mix, in 100-round cans)
500 rounds linked ball (4-1 ball / tracer, in 100 round cans)
240 rounds linked AP (4-1 AP/ AP tracer mix, old black-tip stuff, four belts in wooden crate)
70+ rounds HSM moly-coat
Assorted used mil-surp 50 BMG brass
Ammo only for sale if M82A1 sells, but available for sale separately if gun does sell.


$15k for rifle & scope, $13k for just the rifle (I really like the scope), slightly negotiable.


Ammo at $4 round mil-surp, $350/100, $320/100 for the AP, $5/round for the HSM, reasonable bulk discounts considered, especially for purchaser of rifle. It will be available for delivery at Boomershoot w/o further hassles (except maybe the chief financial officer of the household), or otherwise with appropriate negotiation.


All state and federal laws apply, but I’m not a FFL. Cash or precious metals only, paperwork optional.


If you won’t be attending Boomershoot this year but are someplace in Washington or North Central Idaho I can probably arrange for the transportation to a suitable transfer location. Send me an email if interested: Joe AT JoeHuffman DOT Org.

Things that won’t happen at Microsoft

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Yesterday Barb had lunch with me at one of the Microsoft cafeterias. As we were getting her a visitors badge I noticed the beer and snacks in the lobby that were stacked more than half way to the ceiling. “Oh”, I said, “It’s party time.” The receptionist said, “Yes, but it’s not until 4:30 and I don’t know who it’s for and I know people are going to ask.” I told it was for our group. I had received the “meeting notice” a day or so before that. But I don’t care for beer, am not a big socializer, and I had some unit tests and code I wanted to finish up before I take time off for Boomershoot so I didn’t attend.


What is interesting to me is that nearly every other company I have worked for had strict policies against having alcoholic beverages at work. And at Microsoft they bring it to you–frequently. I think it averages about twice a month they bring in free beer and I could literally drink on company time at company expense. I usually grab a snack and chat with people a little bit but don’t drink.


With this in mind I wasn’t surprised with the opening of a new “food court” next to the west coasts largest parking garage being built just outside my office window they were going to have a pub. Sure, whatever. It doesn’t make any difference to me.


Now (via Ry) I find out they are canceling the lease for the pub. Hmmm… I probably would have never used it but I don’t care for the apparent change in culture.


I sometimes have had fantasies of Microsoft becoming more tolerant instead of less tolerant. In particular I would like to be able to carry concealed. And having an on campus shooting range would be really cool. They have lots of soccer fields, volleyball courts, and numerous other recreational areas available. Why not a shooting range? There is a large Gun Club at Microsoft. In fact I know just the place for such a range.


I visited the new parking garage recently. Here are some pictures:




As you can see there is lots of empty space in this underground garage. And with the aid of my trusty laser range finder I found places where it was 345 yards from wall to wall. It’s not really practice for Boomershoot (minimum range is 375 yards) but it’s close. And it’s would be better than anything else within 20 miles or so.


I was discussing this with some Microsoft friends at lunch the other day and they had a concern about the ceiling height. As the range gets longer the midrange height of the bullet gets larger too. Would people start hitting the ceiling beams? In particular Jim was concerned about using a 45-70 which has a trajectory resembling artillery.


It’s a valid concern. With a 340 yard zero a typical .45-70 cartridge is going to have a midrange height of over 50 inches. My AR-15 shooting it’s favorite ammo is going to have only a 7.1 inch midrange height. And my .300 Win Mag would have only have a midrange height of 6.3 inches.


I checked out the clearance in the garage and found that with a bench 30 inches above the floor there would be some beams the 45-70 bullets would connect with on their way to a 340 yard target.


So, I have to conclude it’s not going to happen in the new Microsoft parking garage.


At least with 45-70 toys.

Accurate versus wind tolerant cartridges

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[Alternate title: Freeing my inner geek]


Over at Kevin’s place in the comments to this post Ben was wondering if he should choose a bullet with a better Ballistic Coefficient (BC) for Boomershoot. The primary reason for making that sort of decision would be because, in most cases, it would be more tolerant of cross winds. But BC isn’t the only factor to consider. Accuracy and muzzle velocity are obvious considerations as well.


What isn’t so obvious and is difficult to calculate is at what point and under what conditions do you make the choice for one cartridge or another if the low wind tolerant bullet is more accurate than the high wind tolerant bullet? For example, imagine you have two guns to choose from. One is a .223 shooting bullets that, given no wind conditions, you can shoot with 0.5 MOA accuracy. The other is a .300 Win Mag that you can shoot with 0.75 MOA accuracy.


Obviously for any reasonable load in either gun the .300 Win Mag is going to have less wind drift than the .223. But it’s not as accurate. So when do the wind errors add up to enough difference to make the .300 Win Mag the more likely gun to get a bullet on target? It depends on the range of the target, the altitude, the temperature, and how accurately you can estimate the wind. If your wind estimation skills are perfect it doesn’t matter. But if you are perfect wouldn’t be reading this blog post because you already know all the answers.


You can measure everything will good enough accuracy except the wind. But you know that you are probably within say +/- 2 MPH of the true wind speed. So now what? Which gun should you use?


It turns out I worked out the answer several years ago. The expression is not simple, but the calculation is much easier than testing at the range:



In the general case an expression for discovering wind estimation error Vw (in MPH) beyond which, at a given range (R), a less accurate but lower wind drift cartridge is the better choice.  This equation is:



Vw = 1/7563 x SQRT(( Er22 – Er12)/(1/(MV1 x (F01/R – 1.5))2 – 1/(MV2 x (F02/R – 1.5))2))


Where for each of the rifles under ideal Boomershoot conditions (3000 feet, 70F):



BCc = 1.15 x BC
F0 = 166 x BCc x SQRT(MV)
Er = Error of the rifle in MOA.
MV = Muzzle velocity in fps.


So get out your calculators and start crunching those numbers!


Or you could just download the spreadsheet I made. But that would be cheating and you wouldn’t feel good about yourself for at least a week.

What are the odds of getting shot at?

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Unless you are in an usual occupation (combat military, high risk police, illegal drug dealer) the odds are generally pretty low to have someone shooting at you. It’s just certain occupations that are at serious risk of getting shot at.


What never occurred to me was that U.S. presidents get shot at a lot. Sure, I know, the Secret Service aren’t there just to keep the groupies away. But what are the actual odds of someone trying to shoot a U.S. president?


They are better than I realized:



  1. Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed on April 14, 1865.

  2. James A. Garfield was shot and killed on July 2, 1881.

  3. William McKinley was shot and killed on Sept. 6, 1901.

  4. John F. Kennedy was shot and killed on Nov 22, 1963.

  5. Ronald Reagan was shot and severely wounded on March 31, 1981.

  6. Andrew Jackson was shot at in the Capitol building on January 30, 1835, but avoided injury.

  7. Theodore Roosevelt was shot in 1912 while campaigning for president.

  8. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was shot at on February 15, 1933, in Miami, Florida, just three weeks before his inauguration.

  9. Assassins attempted to shoot and kill Harry Truman on November 1, 1950 but were stopped in a gunfight outside the Blair House.

  10. Not one, but two, disturbed individuals attempted to shoot and kill Gerald Ford during his brief time as president.

That’s four dead and 10 attempts. Since there have been 44 Presidents the odds are 4/44 or 9% of being shot and killed and 10/44 or 23% chance of being shot at. Of course that assumes the odds are constant through all time–which is a very poor assumption. But still it makes me think that’s got to be one of the riskiest jobs we have in this country. Taken as a whole, as opposed to just those in the “boots on the ground” infantry, I’ll bet being in the U.S. military today is a safer job.

Keep your lung and liver

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Caleb says he would sell off body parts to acquire the Browning 1917 I posted about the other day.


It turns out he probably could just sell a kidney and keep the lung and piece of his liver and still have some change left over after purchasing it. I inquired as to the price and got this reply:



$6000 and it comes with a ton of extras: This is a Colt 1928 variation with safety; flash hider only 635 built and in this variation the right side plate was build with a much stronger design. We had the weapon changed to 8mm due to cheaper and more readily available. Only a few were built in semi auto we’ve seen them go for between $6000-$8000 without as many extras. Pictures are available upon request.


Tripod is a colt the 1928 version with Colt brass logo on rear leg. (These sell for $1000-$1200)


(7) 250 round cloth belts


Condenser hose and condenser can


(2) Oak 250 rds ammo boxes


1918 Browning loader w/ 8mm conversion with transit box. (these sell for $1000)


Custom 2 piece Mahogany transit chest on a removable roller base. One box holds weapon and the other all other parts


Two manuals


3000 rds of 8 MM

1917 Browning for sale

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I received an email from a Boomershooter saying the 1917 Browning (here, the bottom picture in this post and picture 12 here) he had at Boomershoot 2008 “is up for sale at Cabelas gun library here in Post Falls. Boy it’s a magnet to pull people in!”

Post Falls is in north Idaho near Spokane Washington in case you are interested.

Update: Due to popular request I inquired about the price and got this reply.

School Shooting Science

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I took my daughter to her middle school (6th, 7th & 8th grade) science fair last night.  She did an experiment to determine whether dog saliva has more or fewer germs than human saliva.  You guessed it– humans’ mouths carry more germs.


There were the usual baking soda volcanoes, rotting food experiments, egg-in-the-bottle demonstrations and such.  I also counted four terminal ballistics demonstrations.  Kids took several calibers out to the field and tested them on bricks, cinder blocks, fir timbers, drywall, phonebooks, and one even used a pistol-rated Kevlar vest.  All had the results anyone familiar with guns would expect– common centerfire rifle rounds pretty much overwhelm any of these targets, while some pistol rounds can be stopped by some of them.


One kid had assumed that a .30-30 would penetrate a hard target better than a .25-06, simply because of the bigger, heavier bullet.  He of course found out otherwise.


While there were no firearms brought into the school, there were several spend bullets, targets showing depth of penetration, and several cartridges were displayed including .50 BMG tracer and a training (inert) round for a 3-inch naval (ship’s) gun.


Nice work, kids!


Sorry– no pictures (has anyone seen a rather nice, new pocket Olympus camera lying on the ground between Moscow, ID and Garfield, WA?).

School Shooting Fun

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This Saturday, the 14th, my son’s school trap shooting team hosted a trap meet.  Hosting means we show up at 07:30 instead of 09:00.  We shoveled snow while others set up the kitchen and got the coffee started, loaded the traps with targets, etc.  It also means we stay after to clean and pack things up.


Below; Our next door neighbor, Laura, busts a target.  She hadn’t fired a shotgun in her life until just this winter when I helped out by hand-throwing targets for her.  Saturday she held her own quite well.  You can tell she’s using a 20 gauge automatic, can’t you?



Below; Your average Eastern Washington high school kids in their natural setting.



Below; Alex pops one off.  He hit 28 of 50 this time out.



Below; Robert Cray wrote a song about this. (I know those buildings look pretty close for being downrange of a shooting club.  It’s the camera lens– I’m ~30 yards behind the shooter using a long lens.  Those buildings are over 350 yards away.  The 7 1/2 shot pellets are gently raining down at that distance.



Below; One of the school vehicles in the parking lot.  Reach for the stars– learn to shoot well.



This was the first time I’d watched an “Annie Oakley”.  It looks really fun.  All the participants line up side-by-side at the farthest “handicap” line (farthest from the trap house from which the targets are launched).  They worked in groups of three.  The first shooter on the left calls for a target.  “Pull!”  If that shooter makes a hit, the next shooter to the right calls for a target.  If the one who called, “Pull!” misses, the shooter to the right takes a shot.  If that one is a hit, the primary shooter (the caller) is eliminated from the game.  If the second shooter misses, a third shooter takes a shot.  If that shot is a hit, the first two shooters are eliminated. If one shooter makes a hit, but the next shooter in that group of three fires anyway, that shooter, and anyone in that group who fired and missed, is eliminated.  This goes on, in groups of three, with each shooter on the line taking a chance on being the first of three, over and over until there’s one shooter left, who of course wins the game.  I understand there is big money in some of these games, but this being a school event I think the big prize was ten dollars– almost enough to cover half the day’s ammo cost for the winner.

“I am a Hunter”

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I’d read some of her work in the past and been impressed. Brigid’s home on the range – guns and gourmet cooking from a small homestead in the Midwest.  Oleg Volk posted a link to her site recently.  Most of what she writes comes out like poetry.  This was very good;



I am not a tree hugger. Not for me the granola fueled protests to save the spotted owl. Growing up in the mountains of the wilderness, I appreciate a tree in the form of a pile of two by fours as well as in it’s original state. I do not think the trees are the home of sentient druid spirits, nor do the trees speak to me; but I am pleased to take shelter under or in their branches, reinforced in the smallness of my form next to their trunks, smiling as the branches separate me from the chatter of the world that echoes outside the woods. There, branches are what conceal me as I wait for my prey, like any animal, participating in the cycle of the food chain. I am an omnivore and those less equipped than I, forget that at their peril. It is the bringing home of sustenance. Bringing home, not a trophy so much as a sign of provision, that those that work and strive will be rewarded with a full belly and warmth.


It’s a nice change from reading about the downfall of our Republic.  She’s a prolific writer too, so you’re in good shape if you need a lot of distraction.

Road Warrior Boomershoot

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Kris tells me he is going to attend Boomershoot as a spectator and wondered if this would be an appropriate lead pusher for the event:



The original design intent is described as:



Designed as an equalizer for inconceivable and unpredictable lane changes, and other traffic related anomalies perpetrated by the cell phone using, motor home/SUV driving morons in Florida imposed on the rest of us. The below pictured machine was designed for that purpose.


Each mini gun fires at a rate of 3000 rounds per minute (6000 total). During initial test and evaluation it was demonstrated that a single 2 second burst would, and did blow a 40 foot RV with tow car clean off the road, leaving an open and unobstructed route ahead. It will vaporize an SUV in seconds! Tests further indicated that after two or three RV’s/SUV’s in a row were eliminated, or “friggin smoked”, others voluntarily pulled off the road and thus became a “non threat.”


I told him it would be welcome but the accuracy of the lead on target was far more important than the quantity.


But perhaps we can create a special Boomershoot event for this class of toy if there is enough interest out there. See also these variants.

Gun Blog .45 wins by five seconds

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I went to a steel match today and shot with both my .40 STI and the Gun Blog .45 by Para. I’d been practicing with the .45 a lot more than the .40 because I wanted to learn how to shoot it reliable. I did pretty well with only a couple times getting the grip slightly wrong and not getting the grip safety fully disengaged. What was a little disturbing however was that I did better with the .45, which has a double action trigger, and a sight radius a full inch shorter than my .40.


There is another variable however. I always shot the stage with my .40 before the .45. So I had the advantage of practice on that particular stage before shooting with the .45.



I don’t know if it means anything or not. More tests are needed. But here are the results for your examination:


































































































































































































Lewiston Pistol Club Steel Match

Steel Match – 22 February 2008

Place

Shooter

Class

Showdown

Pendulum

Smoke & Hope

5 to Go

Roundabout

Total

Time Down


1

Adam Mcintosh

Limited

15.54

19.55

11.11

17.44

11.55

75.19

—


2

Don W

Limited

19.78

22.23

12.65

18.20

14.06

86.92

11.73


3

Roger Watson

Limited

16.78

21.86

13.97

22.76

17.69

93.06

17.87


4

Todd Dow

Limited

20.94

23.16

14.82

22.95

16.01

97.88

22.69


5

Joe Huffman (.45)

Limited

18.58

26.06

15.28

22.45

16.07

98.44

23.25


6

Joe Huffman (.40)

Limited

19.18

33.1

14

22.85

14.83

103.96

28.77


7

Erik Elzea

Limited

21.34

30.67

15.40

19.93

20.42

107.76

32.57


8

KW Hipps

Limited

31.49

24.59

13.90

22.51

17.73

110.22

35.03


9

Roger Watson

Revolver

22.71

35.62

16.17

22.69

17.60

114.79

39.6


10

Jason Ewing

Limited

23.79

32.13

17.44

23.72

20.10

117.18

41.99


11

John Grimes

Limited

29.60

30.64

21.01

43.11

27.15

151.51

76.32


12

Caleb Frederick

Limited

78.67

94.57

22.48

87.54

43.08

326.34

251.15


Yellow Cells denote stage winner


Son-in-law Caleb was handicapped by using my old Ruger P-89 which hadn’t been cleaned, lubricated or fired in several years. It jammed on nearly every string of fire and many times more than once in a single string. I showed him how to clean it when we got home, gave him a key to the range, a 1000 rounds of ammo, and told him to do some further testing.