Beretta U22 Neos .22

The Beretta U22 Neos is an interesting combination of the old and the new. The design influence of the earlier Hi Standard 22's is easy to see. And yes, I know, the early Hi Standards, and the Colt Woodsmens are both heavily derived from an early Browning design. However, if you need a starting point for a gun design, you can't do much better than that, particularly if you then add modern technology and materials, as Beretta has done. The hammerless in-line firing pin/striker mechanism is a design similar both to the Smith & Wesson 422, featured in a previous Rim Fire Race Gun post, and to some less common Hi Standards, although Hi Standard more commonly used a hammer.

The quickly removable flat-sided bull barrel with a single stud to retain it to the frame is also very similar to Hi Standard. Just below the barrel near the front of the frame there's a small thumb wheel, which, when loosened, allows you to lift off the barrel and scope mount as an assembly. This is a particularly nice feature as you can mount a red dot sight and sight it in, and it stays sighted in after removing and replacing the barrel. It also allows you to shoot in two classes with the same gun, if you have two barrels, one with a scope or red dot, and one for using the iron sights. The Weaver style scope mount comes with the gun, so you don't have to buy it extra if you want a red dot or a scope. Out of the box, trigger pull was average, but a bit heavy for competition. It didn't take much to get it lighter, however.

Speaking of sights, the stock sights are adequate, but nothing special. On some models you DO get different colored easy to change front sights. You can also get the Neos in different colors of grip panels. An adjustable trigger is also an option. It's worth the extra few bucks.

To field strip the gun is a piece of cake. Loosen the knob, lift off the barrel, release the slide catch and slide it forward and off of the frame, hold the firing pin/striker in one hand and pull the trigger, and the striker slides forward and out of it's carrier. That's it!

Range report? Thought you'd never ask! When I first picked it up, it felt, well, different! Not bad, just different. I'm more used to a larger grip with more of a 1911 grip angle, so the grip felt small to me. For those of you with really large hands, you might find it a little on the small side. KeeWee, all five foot zip of lead-launching terror, loves it!

The longer barrel option and the weight of the red dot sight keeps the muzzle down fairly well when rapid firing. Like most brand new guns, mis-feeds would occur every so often, but after a brick or so of ammo had been fired, and a couple of good cleanings, those disappeared completely.

Accuracy at short ranges, where this gun is used, was excellent. One minor complaint was that the magazines are just a little bit short, and it's really easy to not get them fully seated into the gun. The cure, which is a good idea anyway, was to buy some 1/8" thick rubber gasket material from the hardware storeand contact cement it to the bottom of the magazine. Carefully trimmed, it looks like it came from the factory that way, and if you accidentally drop it onto a hard floor, it's less likely to be damaged.

If you are looking for a current production 22 caliber pistol, whether for plinking, or club competition, you should give this one a look. There are several different models available, and you can check them out at

If you are looking for a current production 22 caliber pistol, whether for plinking, or club competition, you should give this one a look. There are several different models available, and you can check them out at Beretta USA's website here.

KeeWee adds: As a new shooter (less than a year), I have found the Beretta Neos to be the perfect gun for me. The grip fits my small hands and the balance of the gun makes for a pleasurable shooting experience considering I wasn't at all sure in the first place I wanted to learn to shoot. Now that I am comfortable with this weapon and my shooting skills, I love to get out there and "give the guys a run for their money "

(I might add that KeeWee is currently in second place for CWSA season points in rimfire optical sight pin top competition with a first, a second, and a third so far, shooting the Beretta pictured above, equipped exactly as shown.)

Where are you?

I'm seeing on the Mr. Completely site report that we have some military and European visitors from time to time.

If you are visiting Mr. Completely from the military or a non-US location, leave a comment and let us all know where you are located.

You can do it anonymously, or not, whatever you are comfortable with. Just click on the "Comments" gizmo at the bottom of this post. We'd love to hear from you!!

Fish blog pic's

For some good fish blog pic's, head on over to Hog On Ice. Looks like they had a good outing.

Never heard of most of those fish, though. Around here it's mostly salmon, rockfish, and halibut. Fishin's still fishin', however, regardless of what you catch.......

Joke to start the week!

Before the 2001 inauguration of George Bush, he was invited to a get acquainted tour of the White House. After drinking several glasses of iced tea, he asked Bill Clinton if he could use his personal bathroom. When he entered Clinton's private toilet, he was astonished to see that President Clinton had a solid gold urinal.

That afternoon, George told his wife, Laura, about the urinal. "Just think," he said, "when I am president, I could have a gold urinal, too. But I wouldn't do something that self-indulgent!"

Later, when Laura had lunch with Hillary at her tour of the White House, she told Hillary how impressed George had been at his discovery of the fact that, in the President's private bathroom, the President had a gold urinal.

That evening, when Bill and Hillary were getting ready for bed, Hillary smiled, and said to Bill, "I found out who pissed in your saxophone."

(All credit/blame to KeeWee on this one! I deny everything........)

R/C B52 - Incredible.......

How's this for a giant radio control model?

Full information and videos are available here. WOW!

Memorial Day Apathy

It was once said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. On this Memorial Day, perhaps it’s a good time to think about that for a moment.

The eco-loonies, the liberals, and the moonbats all get me ticked off, but you know who REALLY get me mad? The Apathetic Conservatives. You know who I mean. They’re the ones who are the most vocal when speaking amongst themselves. It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s sportsmen’s rights, property rights, taxation, whatever. They will loudly proclaim exactly what needs to be done.

When it actually comes to taking action, however, their litany of lame excuses is incredible. When support is needed at a public meeting, even if you BEG them, they won’t show up. Petitions need to be distributed? Letters to editors or legislators written? Faxs and emails sent? These people disappear completely. The wonderful phrase “All hat, no cattle” describes them perfectly.

As so many folks have said, “Freedom isn’t free”. Freedom isn’t won and retained just by our military. When an action to take away our freedom arises that needs to be opposed, don’t sit on your butt and figure someone else will stop it.

Get involved. Find out who is leading the effort and help them out. Sure, there are other things we would all rather do than get involved in a bunch of political crap. I hate it too, we all do.

A lot of good men and women fought and died to secure our freedom. Don’t let their efforts be in vain due to your personal apathy.

Always remember, it’s a whole lot easier to retain the freedoms we have, than to get them back after they've been lost………

Rattle them plates!!

Pegi rattles the plates.

KeeWee and I just got back from the “Rimfire Hanging Steel Plate Shoot” at Central Whidbey, and a good time was had by all. The targets are six steel discs, of varying sizes, depending on the distance. The match is shot from four distances, ten, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five yards. The telephoto lens makes it look like they are closer than they really are.

You get three rounds, or flights, of six shots from each distance. You are limited to six seconds to get off the six shots. Any shots beyond the six seconds don’t count. After everyone has shot, the shooting station is moved back to the next distance, and so on. You get one point for each plate you hit.

We shoot an iron sight and an optical sight class, since a red dot sight is an advantage in terms of target acquisition time. Both classes were really close, and were decided in the final round!

LouG, bless his heart, just had to remind me of how close it was, right before I shot at the final distance. (Don’t worry, I’ll get him for that somehow!) What pressure!!

After the dust had settled and the plates stopped ringing, I had narrowly squeaked out a win both in iron sight (very close) and optical sight (also close).

KeeWee came in with a very respectable fourth in optical. Shooting a Beretta U22 Neos. (Watch for a write-up on the Neos in a future Rim Fire Race Guns post.

AnalogKid wasn’t able to make it to this shoot. Just as well, he probably would have kicked my butt…………

NOTE: More plate shoot pictures are here.

Carnival of Cordite #15 is up!

Make sure you go have a look at the Carnival of Cordite #15. This week it's hosted by Countertop at The Countertop Chronicles.

Lots gun stuff for your browsing pleasure....

Team "bloggerBlasters" Rules!

Jon sends a pin flying in qualifying, as Al Lindell does the time-keeping.

Just got back from the pin shoot at Central Whidbey Sportsman's Assn., in Coupeville, Washington, on beautiful Whidbey Island. I had hoped to take a lot more pictures, but some mechanical weirdness kept me busy trying to get things working in the short time between qualifying and the start of the pin shoot itself.

I figured if I kept calm and kept my head in the game, I'd do OK. I'd test fired everything this morning before the shoot, and everything checked out perfectly. Went up to the line to qualify, checked the red dot sight to be sure it was on, and waited for the "Commence Fire" buzzer. Buzzer sounded, and I fired the first shot, then the dang red dot in the sight went out! Imagine using a scope without any cross-hairs! Smacked the scope with my hand, and the dot came back on. Fired shot two, and the dot went out again. Went all the way through qualifying "Shoot" - "SMACK' - "Shoot - Shoot" - "Smack". YEEESH!

Needless to say, my qualifying times were none too fast. I hustled back to the gun tables and set a world record for a red dot battery change. Since the dot was nice and bright when it felt like being on, I knew that the battery wasn't low, but I figured I had a spare, so change it anyway. I scraped the contact areas for the battery with my Swiss army knife, and put it back together. It turned on, so I smacked it a few times to see if it would stay on. (and for general principles too, I might add!). Would it stay on when shooting? No way to test it except in the competition.

No time to fiddle with it any more either, as I still had a second gun (the Smith & Wesson 422, the same one featured in the Rim Fire Race guns series), and a third gun, my Hi Standard iron sight class gun to get qualified.

With a start like this, I figured it was just going to get worse, and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop! The handgun gods were smiling however, and I got both remaining guns qualified without mishap or major embarrassment. Not super fast, but at least respectable.

Then things started to improve. Due to the terrible qualifying time with the Hi Standard, I ended up in the second flight of shooters. I managed to shoot my way to the finals from the second flight. Everything worked perfectly!

I was in the first flight of shooters with the 422, and managed to get a couple of lucky breaks, also getting myself into the final round. How 'bout that! The two shooters in the final were both ME! Have no doubt, being lucky is WAY better than being good!!

The iron sight class, with fewer shooters, quickly resolved itself down to AnalogKid, "bloggermeister" from Random Nuclear Strikes, and myself in the final. The kid must have remembered me narrowly getting by him at the last pin shoot. He shot some excellent tables, and went on to win the iron sight class, with me ending up second. Not too bad for his second pin shoot!

Jon and KeeWee both qualified well, and shot well, but got knocked out in the first round, and ended up placing somewhere in the middle.

After the pin shoot was over, several of us, including AnalogKid, Jon, KeeWee, JimP and myself set up some more pins and blasted away for a while longer. If Jon and the Kid didn�t have such a long drive ahead of them, we would have been there until dark!!..

Blog Alert!

Posting will be a bit light over the weekend, as AnalogKid, KeeWee and I are shooting in a pin shoot on Saturday, and KeeWee and I are shooting a plate shoot on Sunday.

After action reports and pictures? Of Course!!

Wish us luck......

Something needs to be done.....

I am really glad to hear that the wise folks in the British government are finally taking some steps towards controlling dangerous killers like sharp pointed kitchen knives. Such dangerous weapons should only be in the hands of the military and police. The average citizen has no need of such deadly weapons.

While looking into this issue, I’m afraid I have discovered an even more deadly weapon, one which even the most evil psychopath can buy without any background at all. You can walk right in to your local WalMart and buy one, no questions asked!! Not only that, these weapons of death can be carried fully concealed, without even breaking the law.

What are these most horrible tools of murder and mayhem! Blunt Implements! Yes, that’s right, blunt implements!. How many times have you seen an article in the news where the unfortunate victim was killed by “Blunt Implement Trauma”? It happens every day!

Something needs to be done, I tell you, something needs to be done………

Thought for the day....

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Champagne in one hand - chocolate in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO HOO - What a Ride! "

Thanks and a tip of the hat to Acidman's daughter, SavannahSam, for reminding us of this. You might want to check out her blog, too.....

Filibuster Blogging

I've avoided the filibuster issue primarily because so many other bloggers are covering it, and doing so more eloquently than I could ever do. Varifrank has done an exceptional job on this topic, however, and I thought I'd pass it along. You can go here to read it. You might want to put throwable things out of reach, however......

Comments Are Working Again....

They got the comments fixed, so you can now leave comments if you like. Don't know what they did, but they fixed something on the other end.......

S&W 422 - Rim Fire Race Gun

(First a little disclaimer: The following is only a description of my personal 422, and modifications I have done to it. I am making no recommendations about any of this. What you choose to do to your own gun is between you and your gunsmith. When in doubt, consult a gunsmith. PLEASE!)

When I first saw the Smith & Wesson Model 422, I was really impressed by it's looks. It has nice proportions, and the matt finish and varnished grip panels make it pleasing to the eye. When I picked it up, my reaction was that it was WAY too light. Extensive use of aluminum, and the narrowness of the gun allowed it to be a very light package.

My next surprise was when I pulled the slide back to verify that the chamber was empty. Looking right in front of where the face of the slide had been, I discovered that there was no chamber there at all, Just a flat surface. HUH? Then I noticed a port just above the right grip panel. With the slide back, the port was exposed, and sure enough, there was the chamber. With the slide forward, the port is fairly well covered up. The barrel is mounted quite low, allowing a longer barrel without the gun itself being longer overall.

"OK", says I, lets pull the slide off and have a look inside. When I bought the gun the original paperwork was not with it, so I had no field stripping instructions. I eventually stumbled across the disassembly sequence more or less by accident. You pull the slide back a ways, put an empty (DUH) 22 casing in front of it, and then push the slide forward. This allows you to lift the little metal retainer dingus from the top of the slide. From there on, field-stripping is pretty obvious.

Another benefit of the low mounted barrel is that there�s a lot of material on top and rearward of the front sight into which you can drill and tap for mounting a scope mount. Just remember it�s aluminum, so locktite and tighten accordingly. I also polished up any and all sliding surfaces with 600 grit wet-or-dry paper. On the right side of the gun, behind the grip panel, there�s a spring that looks a lot like a ballpoint pen spring, only shorter and stiffer. I replaced it with one from a dead ballpoint pen, shortened a bit from its original length. As I said, I'm not recommending you do this, just reporting that that's what I did.

I mounted a Simmons Model 800880 42mm. Red dot sight, and to me, that made a nice improvement in the balance, but I�m used to shooting nose-heavy 22's anyway, so that's just a personal preference. The Simmons 42mm. red dot sight is mounted way forward to keep the muzzle down as much as possible in rapid-fire mode. I found that using the taco grip from a semi-crouched position works well, at least for me.

I don't know exactly why it is, but there is just something about this setup that instills confidence in your shooting, and confidence is half the battle. The 422's are not only light and fun to shoot, they are also usually quite a bargain, as in my opinion they are under priced for as good as they are.

It's really a pleasure to shoot, and if you are looking for a very reasonably priced used plinker, a gun for pin top shooting, or any other club competition that combines relatively close in range with hitting things fairly quickly, this is certainly one to consider.

My Letter to IRS

Gentlemen:

Enclosed is my 2004 Form 1040, together with payment. Please take note of the attached article from "USA Today" archives. In the article, you will note that the Pentagon paid $171.50 each for hammers and NASA paid $600.00 each for toilet seats. Please find enclosed in this package four toilet seats (value $2,400.00) and six hammers (value $1,029.00). This is in payment for my total tax due of $3,429.00.

Out of a sense of patriotic duty, and to assist in the political purification of our government, I am also enclosing a 1.5 inch Phillips head screw, for which HUD duly recorded and has approved a purchase value of $2200, as my contribution to fulfill the Presidential Election Fund option on Form 1040.

It has been a pleasure to pay my taxes this year, and I look forward to paying them again next year in accordance with officially established government values.

Sincerely,
Mr. Completely

Upcoming CWSA Pin Shoot on 5/28/05

The Al Lindell Pin Range at Central Whidbey Sportsmen's Association, in Coupeville, Washington, on Whidbey Island.

The Central Whidbey Sportsmen will be hosting a bowling pin handgun shoot this Saturday, and you're all invited. AnalogKid, from Random Nuclear Strikes, and Mr. Completely will be there, guns a-blazing! Here's AnalogKid's last visit to a CWSA pin shoot.

There are several classes, including Center fire AA, Center fire A, wheel gun, rim fire optical sight, and rim fire iron sight. Rim fire classes shoot 6" bowling pin tops, and all other classes shoot full size bowling pins. It's wild-and-wooly head-to-head competition, and the fastest shooters don't always win. Accuracy counts a lot too!

The range is easy to find. It's in Western Washington, on Whidbey Island, just a few miles South of Coupeville, on Safari Rd., just off of Hwy 20. Any questions drop me an email at

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

You should be there at 9am. for large caliber, and about noon for rim fire. Hope you can make it!

Comments Notice

For some reason the setting to allow anonymous comments keeps reverting to requiring registration. I've re-set it, saved it, and re-posted everything several times, but it keeps changing back. I'll get it fixed as soon as I hear back from tech support.

Just wanted you all to know I'm TRYING to allow anonymous comments, it just won't stay that way.

GGGGRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Indoor range report

Harry, Larry, and Heath stopped by this morning for a little rim fire brass emptying out in my mini-range in the barn. Spent most of the morning shooting and talking guns.

Heath, Harry's son, is home on leave from the Army. For shooting several handguns he was totally unfamiliar with, he still shot VERY well. A combination of young eyes and good basic shooting skills is a tough combination to beat! I don't think I'm even going to TELL him when the next pin shoot is!

Got some pictures of Larry's Smith & Wesson 22-S and Harry's Browning Buckmark for use in the future "Rim Fire Race Guns" series of posts. I should have the first post of the series up in the next couple of days.....

Gut Rumbles

Came across this blog "Gut Rumbles" a while back, and I keep coming back to it.

I've read books written by big name authors who can't tell a story nearly as well as Acidman.

It's kinda hard to describe, but I'll bet a lot of you find yourselves checking in from time to time to see what he's got to say. Have a look for yourselves!

Browser Stats

Looking at this site's activity data, I came across an interesting thing.

Over 55% of the visitors are using Firefox, free from mozilla.org, as their web browser, and only 33% are using Internet Explorer.

Times they are a changin', HUH!

New Airline's Security

Steve up in Juneau has been talking about starting his own airline. All passengers would be REQUIRED to be packing and have good shooting skills.

If you do not have a carry-on handgun, one will be issued to you, along with a short refresher course and a little range time, right at the airport.

Here's one of his first passengers. She can ride on MY airline any day.

Rim Fire Race Guns - Coming Attractions

I will be starting a series on rim fire race guns, handguns successfully used in club level competion. These will be guns that are used for relatively short range shooting where accuracy, reliability, and a fairly rapid rate of fire are all requirements.

I compete mostly in bowling pin top and steel plate competitions, and the featured handguns will initially be either ones which I have successfully competed with, or ones I have completed against. Hints and tips on "dialing in" the particular gun will also be discussed.

There will be posts on handguns from Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Browning, Beretta, Hi Standard, and more..........

Stay tuned!!

Marine Capt. Brian R. Chontosh

Just came across this story. If you haven't already read it, go here and have a look This isn't just some urban legend either, as the link is to the USMC website.

Here's an excerpt:

" While leading his platoon north on Highway 1 toward Ad Diwaniyah, Chontosh's platoon moved into a coordinated ambush of mortars, rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons fire. With coalitions tanks blocking the road ahead, he realized his platoon was caught in a kill zone."

Amazing......

Thanks to KeeWee for the info.

It's Bush's fault

Have you noticed that when the gas prices go up, some folks immediately start blaming the president? However, when gas prices go down, you don't here a word?

I'm no economist, but I suspect the prices have a lot more to do with supply and demand, rather than anything else. If somebody with a lot of money to spend tries to buy up a lot of oil, (as I understand China has been doing recently), or the amount of oil available for purchase decreases, prices will go up.

If more oil becomes available, or if the demand decreases, prices go down. That's how it works.

It even works that way on Ebay.

Pun of The Day.....

Back in the 1800s the Tates Watch Company of Massachusetts wanted to produce other products and, since they already made the cases for pocket watches, decided to market compasses for the pioneers traveling west. It turned out that although their watches were of finest quality; their compasses were so bad that people often ended up in Canada or Mexico rather than California. This, of course, is the origin of the expression ...

... "He who has a Tates is lost!"

Thanks to Grouchy Old Cripple who got this one from Airboss.

Carnival of Cordite #14

Les Jones (here) is hosting Carnival of Cordite #14. It's a MUST READ for us frothing-at-the-mouth gun nuts!

Les has also put up a link to Mr. Completely's Postal match. Thanks, Les!

Blog Alert

Posting will be a little light over the weekend, as I will be out of town until late in the day on Monday. Won't be near any computers, or even electricity, for that matter. WOO HOOO!

Cool airplanes AND guns

Just came across DirtCrashr's blog , "anthroblogogy", and you really oughtta go have a look. There's some absolutely beautiful pictures of WWII aircraft. Be sure to scroll down and check out the shooting while you're there.

I've also put a permanent link to "anthroblogogy" over there on the right.

Postal Update #2

The email address is now set up for submitting your results, including a graphic blow-by-blow description of the entire event.

Can't wait to read some of these, knowing what a creative bunch you all are. The email address is

b l o g (at) w h i d b e y (dot) com .

If you think we need to set up something for donations to cover your bail, let me know.

Smith & Wesson Model 422 - Sweet shooter!

Here's the picture of the Smith & Wesson model 422 I mentioned earlier. The 422's are not only light and fun to shoot, they are also usually quite a bargain, as in my opinion they are underpriced for as good as they are. The trigger pull, although very reasonable for an "off the shelf" pistol, was a bit heavy for my taste, but it took very little to get it down into the two pound range.

The Simmons 42mm. red dot sight is mounted way forward to keep the muzzle down as much as possible in rapid fire mode. It helps!!

Big Fish + Light Tackle = FUN!

I've been neglecting the fishing side of the blog, so this should help to restore a little balance here.

You don't find chum salmon everywhere, but in Alaska they are plentiful. This one was about seventeen pounds, and was caught on a 7 weight fly rod in Juneau, Alaska. The "glamour" salmon in Alaska are the mighty chinook, or "King", and rocket powered coho, also known as the "silver".

The chum never gets the attention that those two get, but pound for pound, nothing fights better or is harder to tire out than a chum. They are also absolutely outstanding smoked. (Should I post my smoked salmon recipe?) Very mild salmon flavor, not at all strong like some salmon species.

I do a little guiding in Alaska from time to time, and Chad and Tony were a great couple of guys to fish with . we had a ball!

Target Shooting - A Family Sport

A nice ad, and the S&W 422 is a really fine shooting .22 pistol. I think I've got a good picture of my 422 with a scope mount and a 42mm. Simmons Red Dot sight on it. If I can find the picture I'll post it tomorrow for you. You can click on the picture to make it bigger.

Washington Governor's Election Challenge Live

For those of you locally interested in the court challenge to the governor's election, TVW will offer LIVE daily gavel-to-gavel coverage of the governor election challenge case – Borders et al v King County et al – in Chelan County Superior Court.

It begins May 23 and could last as long as 9 days. Daily sessions will begin as early as 8:30 a.m. and will continue as late as 5 p.m., with a one-hour lunch break. Live Streaming media Video & Audio links of this case will be available. Go here for more info.

For me it'd be a toss-up (quite literally) between this and Gilligan's Island re-runs. Gilligan's island at least had Maryann....

Thanks to Czarina for the tip!

Range Report

Made a quick trip out to the CWSA range yesterday afternoon to punch holes in some targets for Neanderpundit's postal match that closes this weekend. Took out some stuff I haven't shot for a while. That's one of the greatest benefits of these postal matches. it gets you to drag out and dust of some of your shootin' irons you've been neglecting. (There I go again, wandering off the subject!) Anyhow the specified range/weapon types were centerfire handgun at 10 yards, and high power rifle at 50 yards. Both require iron sights.

I decided to use my nickel plated S&W Model 29 with a 5 1/2" barrel, chambered in 44 magnum. (A buddy refers to it as a pimp gun on steroids). In spite of the ammo cost when you use store-bought, there's still something really rewarding when you detonate one of those cartridges. It's even better if you can hit the target, but it's so much fun just to shoot it, who cares! Everyone should have one of these.

For the rifle match, the largest centerfire rifle I have with iron sights is my Winchester 94 in 30-30. I had also forgotten how sweet that it is to shoot, and at 50 yards, any inaccuracy is directly the fault of yours truly, not the gun. Unfortunately (?) some dummy left the targets at home for the rifle match, so I didn't get a chance to shoot the match targets. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to head back to the range on Friday. Did get it sighted in, however.

(Still haven't to get the picture posting thing with Picasa/Hello/bloggerwhazzit to work, so no pictures yet. It looks like it's sending them somewhere, but no idea where. Anybody got any good ideas? I might just have to host the pic's at my ISP and link to them there, if I can't get this other dingus to work.)

Postal Match Update #1

Having gotten some good feedback from some of the shooters, I've decided to make a few rule changes. (Cuz I CAN, that's why!!)

For those of you who shoot in a somewhat more formal range situation, and where rapid fire shotgunning is seriously frowned upon, feel free to bend, modify, or completely ignore the rules as needed. (That's the Postal Match Rules, not the Range rules)

As I said before, there's special consideration for creativity, and I know for a fact that if you all are anything, it's creative!

As the scoring is done by the shooters, rather than me, and 100 is a perfect score, at least before adding in any extra credit you award yourselves, I'm expecting a lot of good scores.

It's important to remember, however, that the description you send in with your score is even more important. Maybe a paragraph or so describing the target selected, the weapon(s) used, final results, how much fun you had, the ride in the police car, the jail stay, whatever.

Do not post your results and description in the comments section. I will be setting up a special email address for you to send them to. This way I can post all the entries at one time. More info on this once I've set up the email account.

There will be prizes! Don't have them picked out yet, but I'll come up with something. More on this also later.

The final standings will be determined by votes from you, the readers. After posting all the entries, a special email address will be set up for voting. Sorta a "People's Choice" deal. Any bets we can run a cleaner voting that we did here in Washington for governor?

Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions for rule changes in the "Comments" gizmo below.

Have Fun!

Thanks, Kim!

Probably the one single person who has done more to improve my handgun shooting is Kim Gorham. I was shooting OK, but only OK. I just couldn't seem to get any better. I had just timed in at a pin shoot, and my times were nothing special. I had asked Kim if she saw anything I could do to improve my shooting, and any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

"You got five minutes?" she says. "Sure". "OK, grab your pistol and lets go for a walk out to the parking lot. ", I grabbed my Hi Standard race gun, and out to the parking lot we went.

Inside of five minutes she had made some minor changes in my grip and my stance, but more importantly, in my mental attitude towards head-to-head competitive shooting.

She explained that you can't approach head-to-head competition with a zen-like clinical mind set. You have to be agressive, you have to go after those pins. Your adrenalin meter is way over FULL, and you need to put that to work for you. "When you look at those pins, you go GGGRRRRRRRR!!!! ".

This from one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet!

It kinda reminded me of a high school football coach's half-time "Win one for the Gipper" sort of pep talk. But you know what, she was absolutely right.

I'm usually pretty firm about not changing things in the middle of a competition, but I figured "What the hell, it's not working the way it is, so let's go for it." I moved my stance around a bit, re-adjusted my grip, and most importantly, took a whole new attitude up to the firing line.

Won my first round match, and also the second round too, as I remember. Then I came up against Kim. Walking up to the line, Kim smiles sweetly and says "Remember, you always have to be kind to little old ladies!"

Maybe in the movies I would have won, but not this time. She kicked my butt.

Anyhow, Kim has a small business making mesh bags for shooter's brass, and for other uses too, I'd guess. If you have a minute, go over to her website and have a look. It's here. Even if you don't need a brass bag, be sure to click on "About Us" for a good picture of Kim and a short bio.

Thanks, Kim.............

How good is YOUR cover?

Here's a really interesting site. The proprietor, known as "Old_Painless", has done a bunch of testing on the penetrating power of various rifle and pistol rounds, complete with pictures. He tests padlocks, sheet rock, pine boards, bricks, and a bunch of other stuff.

Be sure to look under the "Miscellaneous" tests for the 45-70 results. WOW!

A big thanks to AnalogKid at Random Nuclear Strikes for finding this site.

Mr. Completely's Postal Match

With all due respect to Neanderpundit's postal matches, it seems he has neglected to include one postal match. With that in mind, I have decided to take it upon myself to fill in the gap. Here's the rules:

Weapon: You MUST use a shotgun of at least 12 gauge, although if you have anything larger, that might just get you extra points. Blunderbusses and civil war cannons are also acceptible, especially if you load the cannon with bird shot.

Target: Use any paper target you like, in any size. Bullseyes, dart boards, your "favorite" politician or entertainer, that fat film maker bozo, whatever. Possible extra points for creativity.

Distance: Ten yards, or less, in fact, get as close as you want. Hell, powder burns on the target are not grounds for disqualification.

Number of shots: Basically, ten rounds, but fewer, probably, if using the cannon. No penalty for exceeding ten shots. Possible extra credit the more you shoot. Extra credit also if when you leave the range you have used up all the ammunition you brought with you. Let your conscience and enthusiasm be your guide. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting again. GO FOR IT!!

Rate of Fire: As fast as you like! I realize the cannon shooters have a reloading time issue here, but do the best you can. If at a public range, extra credit for getting a dirty look from the rangemaster about your rate of fire.

Spirit of the Rules: If you can figure a way to cheat, what the hell, no one's watching except the scowling rangemaster anyway.

Scoring: Score yourself on a score of 1 to 100. If you find yourself grinning, giggling, and generally having enjoyed yourself immensely after putting down the weapon, score yourself up near the 100 mark. If you had so much fun you set up another target and do it again, score even higher. If you keep blasting away until the range closes or they throw you out, that's gotta be hard to beat!!

On the other hand, if on completion you have an urge to shop for a French wine to go with the tofu you have planned for dinner, score yourself VERY low. You should also then seek counselling, as this is clearly abnormal behavior. I'd recommend checking with your local NRA affiliated gun club for a good counsellor and suggested therapeutic shooting activities.

After establishing your score, post it as a comment to this postal match post. Be sure to include complete details with your score........

UPDATE: Rather than posting your results and description in the comments, email them to b l o g (at) w h i d b e y (dot) c o m. See the updated rules posted above. Thanks!

Contestants: I'm expecting entries from you guys, you know who you are.......

Close Date: Sunday, June 5th. I'll do a post-contest post on Monday, June 6th.

Have Fun!!

If you could only have a few guns

Firehand has a good post on selecting guns, if you could only have a few of them. Some good insights on weapon selection and matching needs and requirements to the gun. Read it here.

Of course, I probably shouldn't be plugging his site since he kicked my butt in Neanderpundit's 22 rifle postal match, but what the heck, I'll forgive him this once!

SHTF Vehicle Preparation

RivrDog has a really good article at Paratus on preparing a vehicle for emergency situations, "acronymically" referred to as SHTF situations. It's well worth the time to read, and it does make you stop and think a bit! Go here to have a look. While you're there, there are a number of other articles also worth reading.

I love a bad pun..........

A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons.

The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."

(go ahead, try not to laugh.)

Fun at the border

When I was up at Custer for the pin shoot on Saturday, I got to talking to another shooter, down from Vancouver, Canada. As a rule, I've always found Canadians, and particularly BC'ers to be a great bunch of folks. Always have enjoyed their company. It's really a shame the way the Canadian goverment makes life difficult for gun owners. Trying to get his rimfire race gun back and forth across the border sounds like a real pain in the neck. You have to fill out a special form, and get goverment approval, then take the form to the guys at the border, and if you are lucky, they let you through, and then back into Canada later. Bummer.

I had a fun time a few years back trying to get my 12 Gauge Mossberg 500 into Canada. I was going to drive straight through B.C. to Hyder, Alaska, to go do a little fishing and bear dodging. Lots of bears, REALLY BIG bears, hence the shotgun. It's amazing how a brown bear right across the creek from you can screw up your casting skills, but I digress! Anyhow, the Canadian border guy asks me if I'm carrying any liquor, and I said no. "Any firearms or ammunition?" Yes, a 12 gauge pump and ten shells for it. (Good thing I didn't tell him they were sabot slugs, they are really touchy about slugs.) "OK son, you're going to have to park your van over there and come inside." (F**K!!) I'm looking at 22 hours and 30 minutes straight through to Hyder, stopping only for coffee and gas, and I really am not to happy about wasting a bunch of time at the border. I got inside and it went something like this:

"Are you bringing any liquor into Canada?" "No"
"How long are you planning on staying in Canada?" "22 hours and 30 minutes"
"What is your destination?" "Hyder, Alaska"
"Are you carrying any firearms into Canada?" "Yes"
"What kind of firearm is it?" "Mossberg 500 pump 12 gauge"
"Why are you bringing it into Canada?" "Bear defense in Alaska"
"Hmmmm. Go sit down over there."

20 minute wait - then a new guy comes over and asks exactly the same questions.
"Hmmmm. Go sit down over there."

Now another 20 minute wait, then a third guy comes over, and asks the same damn questions AGAIN!
"We'll have an inspector come out and inspect your vehicle in a bit. Go sit over there."
followed by another 20 minute wait.

After another 20 minutes or thereabouts, custom agent number four comes over. I was starting to wonder if there was a "Good cop - Bad cop" thing going on, but I reconsidered after thinking about it. They were ALL kinda surly.

Anyhow, agent #4 shows up, and we walked out to my van. As we are standing by the van, he asks me the same damn set of questions! It must have been making them crazy since it looked like they wanted to bust me for something, but I wasn't doing anything illegal! This time, however, I had just about lost all patience with these guys, and when he asked me AGAIN why I wanted to bring the shotgun into Canada. Being "Mr Tact and Diplomacy", I told him that I was bringing the shotgun because the Canadian goverment wouldn't let me bring pepper spray into Canada, so if I tangled with a bear in Alaska, I'd have shoot and kill it, instead of hitting it with the bear spray.

It was a kinda cool moment, as he thought about it for a minute, pointed at my van, and said "Get outta here!" I thought for a moment I almost caught a smile that he was trying to suppress!

Like I said before, I've always found Canadians, and particularly BC'ers to be a great bunch of folks.

I wonder how many guns come across the Mexican border...............

(I DID have a run-in with a brown bear in Hyder on that trip, and sure was glad I had the shotgun with me. That, however, is a story for a later post.)

ANWR Oil - A thought or two.....

One of the things I am going to try very hard NOT to do is to re-hash other topics already being beat to a pulp by all the other bloggers. If something occurs to me that I at least haven't seen anywhere else, then I would consider taking a swing at it.

Such is the case concerning an idea I had about the drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, otherwise known as ANWR.

If you are absolutely against drilling under any conditions, no how, now way, then you might as well just skip this post entirely. I'm not going to change your mind, and you aren't going to change mine, so let's not waste each other's time, OK?

Now let's see, where was I? Right, if we allowed the drilling, but required that the oil had to be refined in the United States, and could only be sold here in the United States, what would that do?

It would keep some jobs here, for sure. It would also reduce our dependency on foreign oil. The law of supply and demand would kick in, and retail prices would go down. Large volume foreign buyers wouldn't be allowed to buy the ANWR oil, so they wouldn't be able to drive the prices up. It would also buy us more time to develop practical energy alternatives. Of course, I'm no expert here, so I'm just sorta speculating on this, but it sounds like it makes sense......................

Question of the week?

Why do men's hearts beat quicker, go weak in the knees, get dry throats and think irrationally when a woman wears leather clothing?

BECAUSE SHE SMELLS LIKE A NEW TRUCK! (probably true...........)

Guide to Gun Shows

If you've never been to a gun show, this is a must read. If you go to shows regularly, you will recognize some of these folks, and the terminology is hilarious! A very funny read........

Neanderpundit's Postal Matches

Here's one more great excuse to get out to the range and empty some brass, as if we didn't already have plenty of good reasons, but I digress. Anyhow here's the basics, taken directly from Og's site:

Postal match clarifications

In case anyone has not been here before and wants to shoot in the postal matches, here is how it's done:

You go to this post. you download and print the targets. You take them to your local range, be it in Indiana, Texas, Alaska, new Guinea, or wherever. You shoot the suggested course of fire at the downloaded targets, you score them according to the rules, and you mail the scores in.

A day or two after all the results are in I'll post the results at Demographica and here. In this manner, all the bangbloggers can compete without having to meet.

Going postal with my Winchester 62A

Drug out my old 22 rifle for Neanderpundit's May 7th. postal match. A Winchester 62A I bought when I was a freshman in high school. One of the nicest looking 22 rifles ever made. Used to use it to keep the rabbit population under control on the farm. Also used to be able to cut the stems on pine cones hanging in the tree with it. Couldn't shoot as well as my buddy, however. He used to shoot bats out of the air with his 22. Even then I couldn't even see the dang bats at dusk, and he was shooting them down on the wing! Never did hit one. Tried, though.....

Sure can't shoot like that today! That was roughly 45 years ago, and the eyes and coordination just aren't what they used to be! Today at 25 yards I could barely see the black dots, and couldn't see the rings at all. Had to use reading glasses so I could see the front sight, the rear was only a blur. I just mentally divided the paper into quadrants, and aimed for where I hoped the bull might be.

The 62A is still a sweet rifle. I'd forgotten just how much fun it is to shoot. It's still 100% original. No bull barrel, no target trigger, no custom stock, or any of that other fancy stuff. Truly a joy to shoot.........

Bowling Pin Shooting

Went up to Custer, Washington for a bowling pin shoot today. (Their website is here) Timed in OK, then steadily got worse as the day went on. Was shooting in the rimfire handgun competition using bowling pin tops as targets. Ended up somewhere in the middle, after the smoke cleared. They DO have some good shooters there, so not being last is not so bad, I guess!

AnalogKid came out to one of the pin shoots at Central Whidbey Sportsman's range, and explained it much better than I, so you might want to go have a look here.

You might want to have a look around his site (here) for the Boomershoot pictures, too. Sure looks like they had a grand time of it!

Getting Started.........

I'd forgotten what a pain in the neck HTML can be, particularly when you don't use it very often. It reminds me of using the DOS versions of Word Perfect.

This is just a short post to make sure I've got the posting part working. Once I get pictures and links figured out, I'll get some more stuff posted.