On The Fence about Attending GBR VIII?

If you haven't made up your mind about attending this year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous coming up in September in Reno, perhaps this video will help you make up your mind........

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Sponsors - Last Year

True Blue Sam put together a video showing some of the raffle items and door prizes from last year's Gun blogger Rendezvous. This year we are planning on having even MORE cool stuff for our raffle and door prizes.

Have a look, and if you are considering products like these sponsors produce but can't decide which to buy, keep in mind that they have generously been helping our fund raising for Soldier's Angels, and part of what you spend with these great folks finds it's way back to an outstanding charity helping our wounded troops!

Jerry Miculek - Way Past Fast.......

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Update

To make the Gun Blogger Rendezvous be a success, there are a number of tasks that must be completed. the hotel must be contacted, contract negotiated, publicity sent out, bloggers contacted, basic schedule of events determined, sponsors contacted, and a whole lot more.

To individually contact each one of the sponsors takes several days, and sometimes several emails and/or phone calls. new sponsors need to be filled in on all the details about the rendezvous, and how their donations contribute to the fund-raising for soldiers Angels and Project Valour-IT.

so far, I have contacted everyone of the sponsors listed below, and they are all going to sponsor the Gun Blogger Rendezvous again this year. there is a second list of the sponsors from last year whom I have contacted, but have not yet received confirmation. Most, if not all, of those sponsors will also be sponsoring again this year.

We have several new sponsors this year, including Burris optics, Allchin Gun Parts, and Tactical Solutions. another new sponsor this year is GunAuction.com. they will be bringing their bowling ball mortar, black powder, and a bunch of bowling balls. Sunday morning at the rendezvous we will be launching bowling balls out into the desert with great enthusiasm, not to mention a lot of smoke and noise! Although nothing is definite so far, we are looking into the possibility of Joe Huffman bringing a number of his Boomershoot targets, so we can experience a mini-Boomershoot at the range in Reno. Obviously, we need to clear that with the Western Nevada pistol league club. GunAuction.com will also be bringing a film crew and they will be doing a video about the Rendezvous. I guess I better bring plenty of clean shirts!

Gun Blogger Rendezvous 2013 (GBR-VIII)

Confirmed Sponsors

Allchin Gun Parts
Brownells
Cabelas
COMP-TAC
Crimson Trace
Dillon Precision
Front Sight Academy
Gunbroker.com
Hi-Point / MKS Supply
Lucky Gunner
NRA
NSSF
Second Amendment foundation
Tactical Solutions
Burris Optics
Gun Auction . Com

Most of the schedule for this year's Rendezvous will follow fairly closely to last year's schedule. There will be some small changes and some new things added, but for the most part the majority of the event will remain the same. Friday will be fixed targets out to 977 yards on the public range. Saturday will be steel shooting on the adjoining range run by the Western Nevada pistol league. Sunday morning will again be at the Western Nevada pistol league range, but this time with the bowling ball mortar and may be Joe Huffman's chemistry set. Breakfast Friday and Saturday morning will be provided by sponsors, and Saturday night the NSSF will be buying us all the pizza that we can eat! So far, we do not have a sponsor for Friday night dinner, but that may still happen.

I got an email from Molly Smith, and she and her family are planning on attending the Rendezvous. It is always fun when Molly and her family come to the Rendezvous.There may also be some other "celebrities" showing up this year, one never knows! 

It looks like this year's rendezvous is going to be significantly bigger than any previous year. A lot of the credit for this goes to Ray from the second amendment foundation, Kevin, of the smallest minority, and true blue Sam. These three have been a tremendous amount of help in publicizing the event. Thanks, guys! 

If you do not have your registration sent in yet for the Rendezvous, you should do that right away. Otherwise, we have no idea how many we need to plan for, in terms of breakfasts, dinners and space needed in the hospitality room. The sponsors need to have a fairly accurate idea of how many will be attending, so they can accurately predict just how much money they are going to spend on a meal for example.

You should be sure to make your room reservations at the Silver Legacy, and do it ASAP. To get the discounted group rate at the Silver Legacy, you must make your reservations by telephone, and use the group code GBLOG13. Part of the negotiations with the Silver Legacy is for all attendees to have free Internet access in their hotel rooms, and the use of the hospitality room at no charge for the Rendezvous. 

Another good reason for staying in the Silver Legacy, other than convenience to the rendezvous, is that if you should choose to partake of adult beverages in the evening, you can walk to your room without leaving the building. Since the breakfasts for attendees are served in the hospitality room, it is also very convenient for those of us staying in the Silver Legacy.

See You In Reno in September!!

A Simple Fishin' Trip.....

This last weekend was the weekend when our local fishing club has its annual trip to banks Lake. Banks Lake is a 27 mile long lake in Eastern Washington, very close to grand Coulee dam. In fact, banks Lake is the equalizing reservoir for grand Coulee dam. Banks Lake is 600 feet higher in elevation than the lake behind grand Coulee dam. At times when electrical demand is low, grand Coulee dam pumps immense amounts of water into banks Lake. When additional electricity is needed, water is taken back out from banks Lake and dropped through the turbines to produce additional electricity. Banks Lake is also the irrigation water source for much of eastern Washington and the Coulee basin irrigation project. Banks Lake has a large population of many species of fish, including rainbow trout, walleye, large mouth bass, small mouth bass, yellow perch, crappies, Burbot, and probably a few other species of fish that I don't even know about.

Since it is a seven and one Half Hour Drive  to banks Lake, we decided to go over one day early, and have a bit more of a vacation. Keewee had to work on Wednesday morning and afternoon, but we figured we should be able to hit the road on Wednesday afternoon or early evening, and drive most of the way to Banks Lake. We planned to stop a couple of hours short of Banks Lake, get some sleep, and drive the rest of the way to the lake on Thursday morning.

On Tuesday I checked over the RV, and got everything packed and ready to go. All that I had left to do on Wednesday was to put tabs on the boat and trailer, grease the trailer wheels, and hook up the trailer lights to make sure they still all worked. That of course, shouldn't take very long.  I had checked all of the lights on the RV the previous weekend, and everything was working perfectly.You do know what they say about the best laid plans.

I plugged the trailer lights cable into the back of the RV, and turned on the lights. The turn signals worked on both sides, but the entire left side of the trailer and the trailer lights were totally dead. A bit of further investigation showed that the entire rear lights on the RV did not work either. My first suspicion, and usually the easiest to locate and fix, was a bad ground somewhere on the left side rear wiring of the RV. Unfortunately, a little time spent with the ohmmeter revealed that the ground was just fine. I was going to have to back the RV into the barn where there was a concrete floor, so that I could get under the RV and trace the individual wiring and wires.

I pulled the boat trailer out of the way and opened the overhead garage door so that I could back the RV into the barn. Unfortunately I miscalculated the height of the RV by approximately 3/4 of an inch. As I backed the RV into the barn I heard the sound of crunching plastic. Wonderful! I had just shattered the overhead vent against the garage door.

A few hours later, I had manufactured and painted a replacement hatch cover out of half inch plywood that I bolted over the ceiling vent where the hatch cover used to be. on one of the many trips in and out of the RV, I mis-judged the step, my foot slipped off the edge, hitting the ground on its side, followed by me falling out of the RV into the driveway. the next thing that I knew, I was lying flat on my back in the driveway and KeeWee was asking me why I was laying down in the driveway. I explained to her that I was waiting for the pain to stop in my ankle before I tried to stand up. Fortunately, it was only a light sprain, and it did not swell up too much. Now, it was 10 PM, and time to get back to the wiring!

I opened the garage door to give me more overhead clearance, and back the RV into the barn. This time, without any crunching noises. sliding under the RV, I could see that a number of wiring taps had been used to splice the taillight wiring into the main wiring harness. The type of tap that was used was the kind where you slip it over one wire, slip the second wire into it, and squeeze it closed with a pair of pliers. That type of connection is notoriously unreliable. By wiggling the wires, I could get the tail lights to come on and go off randomly. The only solution was to replace all of the connectors in that section of the wiring harness. A few hours later, after having replaced all of the cheesy connectors, all of the lights worked just like they were supposed to. By now, it was almost 3 AM . What fun!

The next morning, I slept in a bit. Then it was time to hook up the trailer, and load everything into the RV so we could get on the road. When Keewee got home from work we loaded the outboard motor the fishing tackle and a few other things and we were ready to hit the road. If all went according to plan, we should be able to reach Pateros, where we planned to spend the night, well before midnight. Unfortunately, a deer decided to commit suicide by jumping in front of us in the middle of the night. The deer was hiding behind a guardrail, and jumped over the guardrail just as we approached, so there was no way that we could have avoided the deer. Fortunately we were traveling fast enough and the deer misjudged our speed slightly, so that it missed our headlights and grille, and ran into the side of the RV. Just behind the cab of our RV the fiberglass portion of the body is perhaps 6 inches wider than the cab, and that slightly wider part hit the deer in the side of the head, probably killing it instantly. There were two loud thumps when the deer and the RV came together, one when the deer's head hit the side of the RV, and the second loud thump when the deer spun around and its hindquarters hit the side of the RV near the rear wheel. That second impact probably bounced the deer into the ditch rather than being run over by the boat and trailer. We were in a very remote area where this impact happened, and sense the RV seemed to be running and driving normally I decided to continue on another 10 miles to Winthrop where I could inspect the RV under streetlights rather than in total darkness. When we got to Winthrop, to my amazement, there was virtually no damage. There was a small crack in the fiberglass, and the side door into the RV was binding a little bit, but that was all. WHEW!

We drove the rest of the way from Winthrop to Pateros without incident, and parked on a side street for a few hours sleep. The next morning we had breakfast in a local restaurant, and then continued on to Coulee Playland resort on the north and of Banks Lake.

Once we got to Banks Lake  I launched the boat, and ran it over to our camp site. after we had settled into the campsite and we had everything set organized, it was time to sit down, have a cool drink, and unwind a bit. The weather was beautiful and there was no wind, which is unusual for banks Lake. I sorted out the fishing tackle, and loaded all of the fishing gear into the boat. It was time for a few hours of late afternoon and evening bass fishing. Since the weather was wind free, I decided to run the boat fairly far down the lake to fish. Even though I did not get in too many hours of fishing, and a couple of the places that I first tried produced no fish, the last place I stopped had fish to be caught. Before it got dark, I ran the boat back up the lake to our campsite.

The next day (Friday) the wind came up and the lake was covered with whitecaps. It was way too rough to fish all day. Saturday morning Keewee and I took the boat back down the lake for some walleye fishing. We went to an area that I had fished many times before in previous years, and had caught a few walleye there. This year, walleye fishing was quite good, and the walleye were of good size. I caught three walleye ranging from 19 to 21 inches long and the three fish combined weighed nearly 9 pounds.

After a morning of walleye fishing, we headed back to the campsite. I filleted the fish, so we could fry the fillets for our potluck dinner that afternoon. They were delicious! Later in the day the wind came up again, and it blew all night, and Sunday morning too. Sunday morning it was still blowing, so we were unable to do any more fishing. We loaded the boat back onto the trailer, and headed home. The drive home was long, and tiring, but uneventful, thank goodness.

It had been a long weekend, many miles traveled, good fishing, good eating, fellowship, and a nice break from our sometimes hectic pace of life.

KeeWee took a number of pictures on this trip, and she has them posted on her blog KeeWees Corner. Go have a look.

Note: this blog post was dictated entirely using Dragon naturally speaking software, hence the possibility of phonetically correct words that are actually misspelled. I tried to catch those but I am sure that I miss some.

A Veteran Died today

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' Joe has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Veteran died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Veteran died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Veteran
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Veteran,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Veteran
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Veteran,
Who would fight until the end

 He was just a common Veteran,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his likes again.

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Veteran's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

 If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
 "OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A VETERAN DIED TODAY."

I don't know the author of this, so if anyone knows, please leave a comment so credit can be given. Thanks.

Molly Smith Video

There's a great new video on Molly Smith.




Don't know if Molly and family will be at this year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous, but she's been to most of them. Sure hope she can be there again this year.

European Steel Challenge Report Pt. 1

I've got so much news and so much going on it's hard to tell exactly where to start. I guess I could start with an update about the trip to Holland and the European steel challenge championships a few weeks ago. I had planned to get as much sleep as possible before leaving for Holland, but unfortunately, that's not how it worked out. When I got on the shuttle bus for the 1 1/2 hour ride from would be island to the Seattle-Tacoma airport I was already pretty tired. The ride to the airport, several hours wait in the Seattle Airport, and a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam didn't help much either. Fortunately, the flight itself was mostly just boring. I am not real crazy about the Airbus airplane to start with, but at least it reached Amsterdam without anything breaking or falling off, at least, nothing that I could see.

Once I had cleared customs and picked up my suitcase at the airport in Amsterdam, I walked out to the lobby of the airport and bought a train ticket to Winterswijk, where the European steel challenge championships was going to be held. with train ticket in hand, I took the elevator down one floor to the train station platforms. The train from Amsterdam airport to Arnhem departs every 15 minutes, and seems to run exactly on time to the minute. After a fairly short but relatively bleary eyed train ride through the Dutch countryside, I reached the train station in Arnhem. The paperwork that I received when I bought my train ticket not only told me the number of the train that I needed to catch in Arnhem, it even told me which platform it would be on at the Arnhem train station. Again, the train was exactly on time. If I remember correctly, the entire train ride from the Amsterdam airport to Winterswijk took a bit over two hours. since I was lugging a large heavy suitcase with me, it was difficult on some of the trains to drag the suitcase to where the seats are. In those cases, I hauled the suitcase to an area just inside of the train doors, and sat on top of the suitcase. In some of the trains, there was also some small fold down chairs along the inner walls, which I also used.

When I reached Winterswijk, I figured I would hire a taxi to take me from the train station to the hotel. Across the street from the train station is a small business that also has taxis. Unfortunately, their door was locked, and they were closed for the day. Next door, however, there was a shell station and minimart, so I walked over there to see if I could find a ride. I was talking to the lady behind the food counter in the minimart, when a fellow that she knew came in to pay for his gasoline. She asked him if he knew the way to the hotel that I was trying to get to, and if so, would he be interested in making a few quick euros? He did know the way, and we settled on five euros being a fair price. The trip itself was only about 2 miles or less, but the traffic at that time of day in downtown Winterswijk could be congested, so we took a slightly longer but probably faster route around the center of town. In a matter of minutes, I was at the hotel, and got checked in.

Once I was checked in and my suitcase was safely in my hotel room, I collapsed on the bed for a very short rest, prior to walking over to the range to say hi to everyone. The range is in the basement of the clubhouse, which is perhaps a block and a half away from the hotel. I wish we had a clubhouse and range facility like the one in Winterswijk somewhere near to where I live here on Whidbey Island. They even have a 200 m indoor range.

After a short rest, I walked over to the range and clubhouse. Since it was Thursday, and the match did not start until Friday morning, the only folks there at the range were the ones involved in setting up the match, or providing refreshments to those who were setting up the match. That means, the bar was open! After greeting and saying hi to a number of the match officials range officers, and bartenders, I ordered myself a strong cup of Dutch coffee. Even though the coffee comes in a cup about three quarters of the size of a standard American cup, the coffee itself is incredibly smooth, and has caffeine content of what must be very close to a full pot of coffee! If that stuff won't wake you up you are probably dead and beyond restoration.

As it was getting on towards evening, it was agreed that everyone would meet at the Chinese restaurant across the street from the hotel at 6 PM for dinner. The Chinese restaurant has a buffet dinner that is really quite good. Since I was scheduled to shoot the next morning, I excused myself a bit early so I could head back to the hotel room and get some sleep.

Here's a few pictures from the train from Amsterdam to Winterswijk:

to be continued.........

Skagit River Bridge Collapse

Mt. Vernon I-5 Skagit River Bridge.  Photo credit KING TV.

The spectacular collapse of the Mt. Vernon Skagit River Bridge late this afternoon happened about an hour and a half drive from us, but it is a bridge I have crossed many times. We were not in the area when it collapsed. The section that fell into the river is approximately 54 feet wide, and 160 feet long, carrying four lanes of traffic.

They are reporting no fatalities, and possibly no major injuries, although three people were helicoptered to the hospital. It is being reported that a large semi truck with a large oversize load hit the inside of the bridge structure, and the bridge collapsed almost instantly. There are no other large bridges in the area, and the bridge carries over 71,000 vehicles per day, so traffic is going to be a mess for some time.

Robb Allen Graphics Work Sample

Here's a sample of Robb Allen's graphics expertise. Robb also did the logo for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. His blog is "Sharp as a Marble" . Robb also does web site design and other stuff, so if you need someone who does that sort of a thing with good quality and reasonable prices, Robb's the guy!

Choosing a .22 For Steel Shooting

I recently got an email asking for my opinion on several .22's for steel shooting at the higher levels of competition.  After I finished answering the question, I decided that there are others who might like to read the answers too, so here it is. Please note that I am only discussing specific models, and there are other good .22 out there too.


You question regarding .22's is a good one, and there is no simple answer. Not one the top shooters are shooting 22's that are not carefully tuned. ALL 22's are sensitive and the most important feature is that they go BANG every time you pull the trigger!

At the very highest levels of competition you see a lot of S&W Model 41's. Personally, I think the High Standard, although often overlooked, is the best available. High Standard is still in production, and parts are available. The entire gun is steel, like the Mod.41. All of the High Standards with the 1911 grip angle are essentially the same inside. Even the 51/2" barrel is very accurate. The trigger is excellent, right out of the box. My High Standards, except for the barrel and sight, are just about stock. I use the Volquartsen extractor, though. After VERY large numbers of rounds fired, the older High Standards can develop frame cracks, but it takes a huge amount of rounds fired to crack one.

I like the Buckmarks, and with very little hand work the trigger can be quite good. the 7075-T6 Al. frame keeps the weight down too. I haven't put a lot of rounds through my Buckmarks, so I don't know how long they will go without wear, but since they are relatively inexpensive, that isn't such an issue.

The Rugers are very popular at the club level, and if you throw enough money and effort at them they can be very good. Using the Volquatrsen trigger group and a Volquartsen or Tactical Solutions barrel and it's a completely different gun.

The Mitchell Arms is basically a High Standard built under license in the 90's and built out of stainless steel. I have never owned one, but I have heard that they had some feed problems, and that quality control varied quite a bit. One would be good, the next one not so good. I would like to get one and try it out. Perhaps some careful tuning and fitting may make it into a very good choice.

The S&W 22A is one I have worked with, and it's not a bad gun at all, but some of the design is a bit flimsy to me. They also are prone to feeding problems, although some redesigned magazines have mostly resolved that. I like the mag release on the 22a. Most rimfire magazine releases are not so convenient.

As to the 22/45 Lite, it's too new to know how well it will stand up. It is similar to the Tactical Solutions barrel and receiver on a Ruger. The TacSol does tend to get beat up a bit where the bolt hits the barrel, but it does seem to stand up fairly well and it sure is light!

European Anti-Gun Petition - Act Now

The anti-gun forces in Europe are getting all wound up again trying to justify more gun restrictions beyond what they already have. Their premise is that by making firearms more restricted for law abiding citizens, that will slow down the criminals and terrorists. (Sound familiar?) They have a petition out to gather support for more restrictions. It only takes a couple of minutes  to fill it out, so go fill it out right away. 

The petition closes June 17th., so do it now before you forget. Bloggers, please post on this. Lets make it viral and swamp their contrived survey with common sense. The last thing Europe needs is even more restrictions on firearms.

Thanks to Ray Carter at the Second Amendment Foundation for sending this my way.

 Here's the original email from

Simone Ciucchi – FISAT President -Bologna, Italy:

 

Dear friends and gun rights activists,

Joining the call of British Shooting Sports Council we ask to IAPCAR and all gun rights association in its organization, to participate to the online survey organized by European Union Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom.

The menace to semiautomatic firearms in private hands is IMMINENT, as the online survey maliciously suggests a possible link between private possession of firearms and their us for criminal or terrorist purposes, being nothing else than another attempt to disarm honest citizens for the sake of added “firearms security”.

The questions are utterly misleading.

Question C.2 suggests that the list of prohibited firearms should be extended (it is understood that the Commission is referring to semiautomatic rifles and possibly also to semiautomatic shotguns and handguns).

Question C.4 pursues the mandatory use of locking devices in firearms (imagine the impact if this was made retrospective).

Question C.7 would provide a justification to introduce compulsory mental health tests and suppress the current derogation that allows people under the age of 18 to hunt and sport-shoot if they have parental permission or guidance.

We can expect for sure that the various anti-gun EU associations will take action to orchestrate a deliberate number of answers resulting in a public call for tighter gun control.
Deadline for participation is June 17^th 2013.         

This can’t happen and we ask you to take part to the online survey in the following steps:

Please follow the following steps:

1. Go to:  http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=ReduceFirearmsRisk
2. Choose your language in the icon that is in the upper right part of the screen.
3. Indicate your country, whether you are an individual or an organization and your name or the name of your organization.
4. Answer the questions by clicking on option “1” for each one of them. You do not need to answer the optional questions that request additional comments (questions B.4, C.11, D.5 and E.6).
5. After having answered the questions, as a security measure to avoid computer-generated replies, you will have to type in the numbers and/or letters that will be displayed in your screen and validate them.
6. Your answers will have been submitted by then. You can view them and/or save them as a PDF.

All of the European associations, especially Swedish ones, can contact the proposer of this survey in the person of European Commissioner Ms. Cecilia Malmstrom which can be contacted at these sites, possibly to explain her that firearms of private honest citizens are not to be confused with the ones of criminals and terrorists:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/malmstrom/contact/contact-me_en.htm

https://twitter.com/malmstromeu

https://www.facebook.com/MalmstromEU

Swedish citizens in particular can also contact her party, Folkpartiet liberalerna (Liberal People's Party), to let them know what you think, at the following site and email:

http://www.folkpartiet.se/  --  info@folkpartiet.se

While EU citiziens can contact Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (A.L.D.E.):

http://web.cor.europa.eu/alde/contact-us/Pages/default.aspx

Asking their respective national parties NOT to support Maelmstrom initiatives, you can find various parties members of ALDE at the following page:

http://www.alde.eu/alde-group/alde-across-europe-map-member-state/

We thank you for your help, immediate action is necessary for the protection of our common gun rights.

Best regards,

Simone Ciucchi – FISAT President

May 2013

Bologna, Italy

2013 Gun Blogger Rendezvous Info

2013 Gun Blogger Rendezvous VIII Information Sheet:

Once a year Gun Bloggers, Gun Blog Readers, gun writers, shooters, gun association folks, and industry representatives from around the country gather in Reno at the Silver Legacy Hotel & Casino to visit, socialize, compare notes, discuss everything firearms related, and get in three range days covering everything from long range rifle, steel shooting, Cowboy Fast Draw, and more. At the Gun Blogger Rendezvous there is something going on from breakfast to well into the night! 2013 will be the Gun Blogger Rendezvous’ Seventh Anniversary. 

The Rendezvous also raises money for Project Valour-IT, a division of Soldiers Angels, through a raffle of firearms and shooting sports items donated by our sponsors. Project Valour-IT buys voice actuated laptop computers for injured servicemen, who, due to the nature of their injuries, are unable to operate a computer using a conventional mouse and keyboard. This allows them to communicate with their family and friends, directly from their hospital beds, and has been shown to significantly increase their rate of recovery.

We also give out a large number of door prizes and  promotional items to our attendees. Our sponsors, in return, get a lot of positive Internet exposure through the Gun Blogs and stories about the Rendezvous.

Some of our current and previous year  include Ruger, Gunbroker.com, Cabelas, MKSSupply/HiPoint, Crimson Trace, Comp-Tac, Springfield Armory, Dillon Precision, Brownells, National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), The NRA, The Second Amendment Foundation, and more.

Last year we raised approximately $6,000 for Project Valour-IT, and this year, we hope to do even better. Every penny we can make from the Rendezvous goes to Project Valour-IT.  Even the event organizer (that’s me) pays to register for the Rendezvous!

Dates: September 5^th., 6^th., 7^th., & 8^th.

Location: Silver Legacy Resort/Casino in Reno

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Website:  http://gunbloggers.blogspot.com

Contact:      Mike Gallion

                     2704E Gabelein Rd.

                     Clinton, WA 98236

                     magaero@whidbey.com or blog@whidbey.com

                     360-321-6258

Shipping destination for raffle and door prizes, excluding firearms:

(For firearms we prefer to use certificates instead of the actual gun, and then transfer straight from the manufacturer to the winner, but we will be glad to do it however the manufacturer prefers.)
Please do not ship any packages to arrive at the Reno Cabela's store prior to August 23rd.  due to limited storage space availability at Cabela's.

                Cabela's / Reno
                8650 Boomtown rd.
                Verdi, NV 89439
                ATTN: Gun Blogger Rendezvous / Jamie

KC Eusebio Wins European Steel Championships

KC Eusebio, shooting for Team GLOCK, won the European Steel Championships held this last weekend in Winterswijk, Holland. ESC13, as it is called, is one of the largest, if not the largest steel match in the world, with over 200 entries and many countries represented.

KC won both the Open division and the Rimfire division, and had it not been for some gun problems, he may well have taken the Limited division too.

In other news, Mr. Completely missed two medals by one spot. Maybe next year........

Pollen Count

I heard that the pollen count is so high this Spring that the druggies are trying to change their meth back into Sudafed.......

Busy, busy, busy......

It's been really busy around here lately, and combining that with not having much to say, the result is a pretty quiet blog. There are now so many great bloggers out there, just about anything I think of to blog about, someone else already had the same thoughts and wrote a great post about it! Rather than turning the blog into a blog aggregator, just linking to those other blog posts, and considering how little time I've got available, I will be posting far less often, at least for a while.

So, what's keeping me so busy? Trying to pay the bills is at the top of the list, of course, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. I am now match director for two six stage steel matches a month at my local club, and I'm also working hard trying to get the club to expand the facilities to what could be truly a world class facility.

I am keeping busy organizing and coordinating the Gun Blogger Rendezvous set for Reno in September. You have no idea just how much time something like the Rendezvous can take until you actually organize one yourself! If any of you want to help, I really need some help in publicizing the Rendezvous. We need to get a few more bloggers out there.!

I am shooting a steel match just about every weekend, and sometimes two. For example, on Friday KeeWee and I will take our mini-RV and drive across the state to Yakima for theYakima club's big match of the year. It will be an eight stage sanctioned Steel Challenge match. I will shoot my High Standard/Volquartsen/OKO rimfire racer in Rimfire Open, and my 9mm. Tanfoglio Gold Custom/OKO in the Open Division. KeeWee will also shoot a High Standard/OKO in Rimfire Open.

As soon as the match is over, and even before the results are posted, we leave Yakima for Ssherwood, Oregon, for the Man of Steel Championships, held the next day. Man of Steel will be a nine stage match. After that match, we drive home, getting back late Sunday night.

Wednesday morning I climb about the airport shuttle for an hour and a half ride to Seattle Tacoma Intl. Airport to catch a flight to Amsterdam. I get into Amsterdam at 8:30am local time, Once there I catch a train (actually three trains, I think) to get to Winterswijk, which is South East of Amsterdam close to the German border. Friday and Saturday I will be shooting in the European Steel Challenge championships. On Sunday I will be able to watch the other shooters, and get a chance to visit with everyone a bit. Sunday afternoon/evening  I will probably leave Winterswijk for Almere, a suburb of Amsterdam, if I can find a ride with someone. Otherwise, I will probably take the train on Monday morning to Almere. Once in Almere I will hang out with my friend Wim and also work on some business possibilities. Tuesday morning early I head back to the Amsterdam/Schiphol airport for the long flight back to Seattle. I get back Tuesday night.

On Sunday there is a club championship match in Puyallup, Washington that I hope to shoot. The next weekend I am putting on a steel match on Saturday, and another one on Sunday. There is a match just about every weekend through Fall!

With all of the matches, there is also a lot of time spent keeping the race guns running, ammo testing, reloading, and other mechanical  work. Magazines need to be cleaned, batteries changed, lenses cleaned, guns cleaned, and so forth.

One of the keys to any success, beyond equipment preparation, is practice. To be competitive you have to spend a lot of time on the range. The top shooters will go through sixty thousand rounds in a season! I don't shoot anywhere near that much, but I do go through a lot of ammo.

FIOCCHI, the ammunition manufacturer, has signed me as a sponsored  shooter. They only sponsor three rimfire competitors, so being one of the three is quite an honor. Unfortunately, they don't have any ammunition for me yet, as they are not only sold out but back-ordered well into the Summer. That will certainly help a bit financially once it becomes available. Part of the deal, though, is that I can't sell any of it, it's only for shooting by me. Once things loosen up, though, I plan to start stocking and selling FIOCCHI products.

The OKO Red Dot Sight business is growing very slowly as I just don't have the money to promote and advertize them. It's a shame, really, as they are truly outstanding, particularly in terms of accuracy and quick target acquisition.I am in the process of building a brand new website for the OKO sights and the Magnum Mount Sight mounts I make. That should help.

So, that kind of sums up where I've been, what I've been up to, and why there hasn't been much blogging going on.

e-Postal Match "The Mess Re-Visited" Scores

Even though it's early in the year and the weather outside isn't as pleasant as it is a bit later into spring, we still had a good turnout for our March e-Postal Match, "The Mess - Revisited". Both Billl and Carteach turned in some spectacular scores, with only 3 points separating them! WOW! Very nice shooting

NAME	CLASS	GUN	CAL	SCORE
Billll	1	Ruger Mk. 1	.2LR	188
Carteach	1	S&W K-22	.22LR	185
danno	1	Ruger 22/45	.22LR	85
Mike B	1	Ruger Mk. 1	.22LR	79
True Blue Sam	1	Ruger Single Six	.22LR	70
danno	1	Ruger Single Six	.22LR	17
Mr. CCBCC	1	Ruger Single Six	.22LR	15
Mr. CCBCC	1	Ruger 22/45	.22LR	15
Mr. Completely	2	High Std / OKO Dot	.22LR	250
True Blue Sam	2	Ruger Mk III / Red  Dot	.22LR	125
Mrs True Blue Sam	2	Ruger Mk III / Red  Dot	.22LR	45
Mr. CCBCC	3	Browning Hi-Power	9mm.	10
danno	3	Browning Hi-Power	9mm.	0
Mike B	5	Ruger SP 101	.38SPL	41
Patrick Butler	5	Colt Det. Special	.38SPL	25
Mr. Completely	7	High Standard / Leupold	.22LR	190

Jimmy B already has the next e-Postal match in the series already underway over at The Conservative UAW Guy's blog, So go check out the match HERE!

Whidbey Land Slide

West Side Whidbey Island Landslide. Pic. from Seattle Times

 Thanks to everyone for their concern. The landslide was perhaps fifteen miles from us, and we are in no danger whatever.Ever since the ice receded from the Puget Sound Basin, high bluffs have been sliding down onto the beaches. In fact, these bluffs are called "Feeder Bluffs" because they constantly feed new sand and gravel to the beaches. It's called "Beach Replenishment". From the top of those bluffs the view out over Puget Sound is outstanding. So, lots of folks build fancy houses near the edges of those bluffs. Eventually, though, the bluff slides, and houses get destroyed. Notice how close the houses are to the edge where it didn't slide.

One thing that helps to hold the bluffs in place is the roots from the trees growing on the faces of the bluffs. Trees, however, block the view, so people cut down the trees. It takes ten or fifteen years, but eventually the roots rot away, and the bluff becomes even more unstable. The worst conditions for these slides to occur are after a hard freeze, where the ice crystals open up and loosen the soil, followed by a heavy rain that soaks in and turns everything into thick soupy mud. The water also adds a lot of weight to the soil, and away it goes. Although there was no heavy rain just before this slide, there had been a really unusually heavy freak snow storm that dropped almost a foot of snow in that exact area. It was also very warm to be snowing, around forty degrees, and the snow mostly melted quickly. That probably added the weight to the soil and encouraged the slide.

Presidents and the National Debt

I came across this on the 'Net, and  was wondering if some of you may have some idea if this is true, or is this false and part of some sort of dis-information campaign. It just doesn't pass the "smell Test" for me.....

March e-Postal Match "The Mess Revisited"

The e-Postal match to start out the 2013 season is going to be interesting, to say the least! None of those boring old concentric circles for us, by golly! I'm sure that some of you will apply yourselves and figure out a strategy for shooting this mess, but I've got no idea exactly how you should approach it. Should you go for the high value areas and risk getting penalized if you miss, or should you play it safe with the lower value spots? Who knows?

Good luck, be safe, and have fun!

This month we have seven classes, so there's a place for just about everything. It's time to drag out all those handguns that have been resting all Winter and limber 'em up!

TARGET: The same target is used in all classes. Do not try to print out the target from the above image. The target should be downloaded from here:

Click here to Download the PDF file "The Mess Revisited"

It is an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.

CLASS ONE: Any rimfire handgun with no more than a 12" barrel, iron sights.

CLASS TWO: Any rimfire handgun with no more than a 12" barrel, optic sights, no magnification.

CLASS THREE: Any centerfire (non-revolver) handgun with no more than a 12" barrel, iron sights.

CLASS FOUR: Any centerfire (non-revolver) handgun with no more than a 12" barrel, optic sights, no magnification.

CLASS FIVE: Any revolver with no more than a 12" barrel, iron sights.

CLASS SIX: Any revolver with no more than a 12" barrel, optic sights, no magnification.

CLASS SEVEN: Any handgun with no more than a 14" barrel, any sights, scopes, laser, whatever. This class is primarily for target pistols.

If you have something interesting to shoot that doesn't quite fit in the above classes, go ahead and enter anyway.

DISTANCE : 25 feet, or Ten yards, which ever is available at your range.

SHOOTING POSITION: Standing, un-supported, off-hand, one or two hands on gun permitted.

SCORING: In each class you are allowed ten shots at the target. Touching a line counts as the higher value. For example, a hit that touches the center 25 but also touches the surrounding white area is scored a 25. If a shot touches the black 10 on the right side, overlaps into the -5 area, and also touches the line between the -5 and the 1, you get  the 10. For a shot to score, it must at least touch the outermost ring, or else it's a miss.Ties will be decided based on the highest number of hits solidly in the black 25 point spot and not touching the edges.

Mark your score on each target with a legible pen, along with the class and type of gun used. Don't write your name on the target, only the name you want to appear in the results, as your target may get posted on Mr. Completely.

I suspect that this target will be, like most of the e-Postal matches, a lot harder that it looks. Don't throw away your targets is disgust when you think you did poorly. Send them in! You will probably be surprised to find out that you did a lot better than you thought.

STRATEGY: Beats me.........

MULTIPLE ENTRIES: You can enter more than once, in fact, it is encouraged. Shoot everything you own, and everything you can borrow! Take a buddy to the range, get him entered, then borrow his gun and enter that! The only restriction is that you can only enter once for any given gun, in any individual Class. You can shoot the target as many times as you like, and send in the best one.

Different calibers in the same gun count as one gun. For example, .38SPL and .357MAG are considered as one, as would be .44SPL and .44MAG. Different guns of the same caliber and barrel length can be entered.

PRIZES: Nope, it's just for the fun of it and the bragging rights!

SUBMITTING YOUR ENTRY: Take a digital photo of, (or scan) your targets, and email the picture, along with:

1. Your score.

2. The name you want used when we post the results.

3. Gun description - Brand, model, semi-auto, revolver, black powder, caliber, barrel length, and type of sights

4. Class: Class One, Two, Three, four, five, six, or seven.

5. Anything interesting or unique about your entry that other shooters might enjoy hearing about.

Email it all to b l o g (at) w h i d b e y (dot) c o m

If you can't scan or send target pictures, send everything else to me in an email, and we'll arrange for either fax or snail mail for the targets.

The rules are subject to revision as needed, should the need arise.

All entries must be received by Midnight on Monday April 1st. (April Fools Day seems appropriate)  and results will be posted within seven days, or less.

If you have any questions, leave the question in the comments to this post, or send me an email, or both.

Have fun!!

2012 West Coast Steel Champioships Video

Spring is not so far down the road, and with Spring comes a new season of Steel Shooting. Here's a video from last year's West Coast Steel Championships in Piru, California on American Trigger Sports Network to get you pumped up about the new season!




Yes, that's our favorite revolver shooter, Molly Smith, doing the interviews!

Fluffy?

 Every so often I get an unsolicited email like this one, but somehow this one is even farther out there than most!

 
You have drawn my attention to a site of acquaintances. I hope, as I shall like you. How I to you in a photo? The truth - pretty? But in a life I more nice!!! And as I cheerful, kind, sociable and fluffy! I like to go in for sports, read books, to listen to music. I love winter and summer. I do not love spring and slush. If I have interested you, with pleasure I shall tell about myself more in the following letter. I wait for the answer on XXXX@XXX.RU. 


Wherever she lives, they have four seasons, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Slushy! And she's Fluffy? Really?

Welcome to Gun Blog "Spooky Luke's Ammo Locker"

I suppose I am going to get part credit blame for getting Spooky Luke into blogging, as I helped to set up his blog, Spooky Luke's Ammo Locker. He's just getting started and there are some rough edges to iron out, but if this post (coffee spew alert) is typical of what we may see in the future, it's worth taking the time to have a look once in a while.

Drop by and leave a comment and welcome Luke to our world!

Weaponized Fish In Use

In response to my previous post about "Weaponized Fish" a commenter suggested this video:

Weaponized Fish

According to the FBI, the number one weapon in murders is some sort of blunt instrument. A club, hammer, or bludgeon of some sort.

I understand that under the new proposed "Assault Weapon" ban, you will no longer be allowed to freeze a whole salmon, as it becomes "Weaponized", an "Assault Fish", so to speak. After all, the only reason you would freeze a fish is to turn it into a weapon!

It is unclear if smaller fish such as herring or sardines when frozen are exempted, or if they are classified as ammunition.

High capacity magazines are also going to be banned, so if you have any old Sears catalogs kicking around, you better get rid of them as it could be a felony unless you turn them in.

Gun Show Danger?

Holmes Harbor Steel Match Results - 01/27/2013

Early on Saturday morning it didn't look too bad weather-wise, with a bit of blue sky peeking through in places. A lot of shooters got up, looked at the sky, and decided to come and shoot the match on Saturday. However, it was a trick! By match time it was raining, and it rained all day. Fortunately it wasn't too cold, just wet.  Sunday morning was the opposite. Right after dawn it looked lousy, with low clouds, fog, and rain. On top of that, it was cold. I think a lot of shooters had a look at the weather early Sunday morning, and went back to bed. Again, it was a trick! By match time, even though it was a little colder, it stopped raining, and held off just about all day. We got a little drizzle, but that was about it. Everyone stayed home on Sunday, except for a few of us die-hards! Even so, we all had a great time, and didn't get wet, like on Saturday.

#	Name	Class	stg 1	stg 2	stg 3	stg 4	stg 5	stg 6	total
1	Mike Gallion	RF-O	10.54	11.61	12.44	13.90	12.84	9.88	71.21
2	Larry Davis	RF-O	11.70	11.95	13.79	15.81	14.84	10.11	78.20
3	Blake Koszarek	RF-R	13.05	13.20	13.72	16.98	12.03	11.69	80.67
4	Larry Davis	RF-I	13.40	12.40	15.58	19.21	15.70	12.77	89.06
5	Jennifer Kelly	RF-O	14.77	18.37	17.87	24.34	23.09	15.85	114.29
6	Steve Blazina	RF-I	21.17	23.19	23.14	26.82	20.10	14.53	128.95
7	Steve Blazina	CF-P	27.80	24.38	29.04	27.96	21.69	18.04	148.91
8	Russ Blazina	RF-I	57.72	41.83	45.34	67.84	39.12	120.00	371.85
9	Russ Blazina	CF-LR	58.91	57.99	99.82	89.03	60.91	120.00	486.66

All six stages on Sunday were identical to Saturday, so comparing times between the days is a fair comparison.

February 23rd. and 24th. we'll be back at Holmes Harbor rod & Gun Club for two more days of steel shooting, and I'm working on a surprise or so for next month's matches.

Stay tuned!

Holmes Harbor Steel Match 01/26/2013 Results

	Name	Class	stg 1	stg 2	stg 3	stg 4	stg 5	stg 6	total
1	Mike Gallion	RF-O	11.08	11.11	12.77	16.23	12.07	11.57	74.83
2	Steve Mooney	RF-R	14.78	10.72	14.74	17.53	12.46	10.22	80.45
3	Larry Davis	RF-O	16.67	12.87	11.62	14.33	13.07	12.09	80.65
4	Blake Koszarek	RF-R	17.15	11.55	15.09	12.98	12.49	12.48	81.74
5	Steve Mooney	RF-O	14.54	12.72	15.90	14.83	14.30	11.12	83.41
6	Mac McInerney	RF-R	13.72	16.63	15.50	17.27	14.80	11.27	89.19
7	John Davidson	RF-O	16.08	15.98	17.50	17.74	15.72	11.29	94.31
8	Larry Davis	RF-I	16.39	17.80	16.41	17.75	16.98	10.71	96.04
9	Mark McDaniel	RF-O	14.33	15.00	23.44	21.69	18.55	13.75	106.76
10	Thomas Alldredge	RF-I	17.48	21.21	19.64	19.35	17.81	13.45	108.94
11	Mac McInerney	RF-O	19.34	16.02	25.17	19.64	17.05	13.09	110.31
12	John Davidson	CF-P	16.93	18.73	22.40	20.32	15.56	23.69	117.63
13	Dan Lavaty	RF-R	19.20	20.07	20.41	26.18	18.59	16.50	120.95
14	Dan Lavaty	RF-O	18.01	21.62	22.36	23.79	20.02	15.74	121.54
15	Thomas Alldredge	CF-P	19.14	20.39	24.11	19.97	19.75	19.34	122.70
16	Allen Vautier	RF-I	21.03	17.80	24.89	23.36	23.11	16.07	126.26
17	Jeff Proctor	RF-I	23.82	22.11	25.79	30.58	21.53	15.26	139.09
18	Thomas Alldredge	REV-I	20.07	31.28	32.86	29.12	27.09	25.67	166.09
19	Dave Ihnen	REV-I	31.09	34.76	30.52	33.87	27.23	45.39	202.86
20	Dave Shupe	RF-O	18.59	120.00	19.46	19.37	19.90	15.77	213.09
21	Dave Ihnen	REV-I	30.65	29.34	17.47	37.03	62.77	38.45	215.71
22	Jim Dyment	CF-P	60.02	41.93	56.72	40.11	40.63	37.30	276.71
23	Jim Montgomery	RF-I	63.84	42.18	79.18	44.77	48.99	29.04	308.00
24	Steve Murphy	RF-I	60.41	38.18	47.17	68.64	59.67	34.70	308.77
25	Dave Shupe	CF-P	120.00	120.00	40.44	43.07	33.08	26.70	383.29
26	Mike Muzos	RF-I	47.84	89.13	53.76	104.08	39.12	51.59	385.52