Mr. Completely's Meme #1 starts here!

Meme's can be a pain, because when you get tagged, you then are supposed to respond, and then tag other folks, etc.

Well, that's not how we do it around here, by golly! THIS meme is strictly voluntary. Participate if you want, and if not, well, then don't. No problem.

All you have to do is answer the question in the comments section of this post. If you are a blogger, you can then then post the same question on your own blog, if you feel like it.

Here's the question:

If you were a firearm, what would you be, and why?

Are you a handgun, or a rifle, a shotgun or a muzzle loader, maybe a gun turret on a battleship, a mini-gun, or perhaps a civil war cannon? There's a Lot of possibilities.

Here's a couple of answers to start it out:

Mr. Completely: A bolt action 30-06. Very versatile, can do a lot of things, but doesn't excel in any one area. Not as powerful or as flashy as the newer rifles, but gets the job done.

KeeWee: A snub-nose .357, nickel plated, with pearl grips. Small but powerful, with a touch of class.

THIS meme isn't just for bloggers, so have at it! If you were a firearm, what would YOU be?

Breaking News - Bush Caused Hurricane

*Exclusive* CUG Headline News *Exclusive*

DU (Democratic Underground) and Daily KOS have proof hurricane Katrina was created by Karl Rove and the Bush administration.

For the whole story, (a must read), click here.

DO NOT have a mouth full of coffee when reading, or you will probably need a new keyboard.

You Have Been Warned!

bARbie-15

Are YOU gonna argue with anyone packing this? Not ME! No WAY!!

Hat tip to No Quarters

Carnival of Liberty IX is up

Gullyborg is hosting this week's Carnival of Liberty. Here's the link.

Quote of the Day

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies."

-- Groucho Marx

Hat tip to Les Jones

H2SO4 -- Where are you?

H2SO4, the blogmaster of one of my favorite blogs, Sulfuric Attitude, has gone missing, and so has his blog.

H2, as his friends refer to him, was blogging away with regular hurricane reports from his location in Alabama, approximately in the path of Katrina, the night when the hurricane arrived.

During the last hurricane, he continued blogging by candle-light from his laptop, until the power came back on.

If he lost power and phone service both, of course, he wouldn't be able to blog at all until he at least got the phone lines back.

This time not only did the hurricane blog posts stop, his entire blog disappeared from blogspot! I have no idea how this could happen. If any of you out there know H2, have any connections inside Blogspot, or have any idea what happened, would you please post a comment?

H2, drop me an email and let us know you're OK.....................

A Nasty Habit

Picture "borrowed" from Grouchy Old Cripple in Atlanta.

Mouse Guns

Here's an interesting website with tons stuff to read. You could probably spend hours perusing page after page of mousegun info.

A "mousegun" is a small pocket-size gun, lightweight, easy to conceal, and used only as a last resort to save your own life, or the lives of others.

Here's the link: http://www.mouseguns.com

e-Postal Match #2 "Snub-or-Not" News #1

Well, the targets are rolling in, and so far it looks like all three barrel length categories are roughly equally represented. Although a challenging target, it's turning out to be a lot of fun to shoot too. A number of shooters have entered with several different handguns. I handed out some targets at yesterday's CWSA pin shoot. If you get the chance, print out a few extra targets and drag your buddy out to the range too!

Don't forget that midnight Tuesday, September 6th. is when it closes.

With this upcoming weekend being Labor day weekend, it's easy to lose track and miss the deadline. If you are unable to get targets in on time due to the hurricane, drop me an email, and we'll see what can be done to get you included.

If you have a blog or a website, you can post your target pictures on your site, and send me the URL for the site.

You still need to email me your score for each target, total score, gun type, caliber, barrel length, name you want to be listed as in the results, and anything else that you thing everyone might find interesting.

You don't have to shoot your revolver double-action unless you want to. If you DO, and you hit ANYTHING that looks like the target, I'm impressed!

If a few more of you courageous souls are up to it, and you have a Jennings J-22, be sure to send in an entry with it. There will be some sort of special recognition (other than laughter.....)

When I decided to revive the postal matches, it was not because I wanted to run postal matches, it was because I had so much fun competing in them. As you saw in the previous match, I entered several classes myself. Being as I am also the coordinator and score verifier, here's how I keep it a level playing field.

1. Once a match target has been selected, I do not shoot any targets even similar to the match target, so I cannot get any advantage by extra practice on a "match-like" target.
2. I do not shoot any of the targets under consideration in the selection process.
3. I do not shoot match targets until the match has been publically announced.
4. Any of my own targets that require a judgement call as to scoring it, I have it scored by LouG of the CWSA club. Lou runs and scores the CWSA bench rest rifle and pistol matches for CWSA.
5. All of my entered targets are available for inspection, if anyone wants to look.

I want these matches to be as fair as they possibly can be for all the shooters involved. It's also supposed to be fun, and guaranteeing a level playing field, along with interesting and challenging targets, is a good way to make it stay that way.

Have fun, and get those targets entered!!

VOTERS --- We may be in more trouble than we imagined..

While looking at a house, my brother asked the real
estate agent which direction was North because, he
explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up
every morning. She asked, "Does the sun rise in the
North?" When my brother explained that the sun rises
in the east, (and has always done so since
creation), she shook her head and said, "Oh, I don't
keep up with that stuff.". . . . She also votes!

I used to work in technical support for a 24/7 call
center. One day I got a call from an individual who
asked what hours the call center was open. I told
him, "The number you dialed is open 24 hours a day,
7 days a week." He responded, "Is that Eastern or
Pacific time?" Wanting to end the call quickly, I
said, "Uh, Pacific." . . . He also votes!.

So my colleague and I were eating our lunch in our
cafeteria, when we overheard one of the
administrative assistants talking about the sunburn
she got on her weekend drive to the shore. She drove
down in a convertible, but "didn't think she'd get
sunburned because the car was moving"........Yep,
she also votes!

My sister has a lifesaving tool in her car. It's
designed to cut through a seatbelt if she gets
trapped. She keeps it in the trunk . . . . . .
My sister also votes!

My friends and I stopped to purchase a couple cases
of Coca Cola for a party and noticed that the cases
were discounted 10%. Since it was a big party, we
bought 2 cases. The cashier multiplied 2 times 10%
and gave us a 20% discount . . . . He also votes!

I was hanging out with a friend when we saw a woman
with a nose ring attached to an earring by a chain.
My friend said, "Wouldn't the chain rip out every
time she turned her head?" I explained that a
person's nose and ear remain the same distance apart
no matter which way the head is turned. My friend
also votes!

My wife and I were picking up some sandwiches from
the sub shop last week and she asked the clerk which
of two sandwiches was better. The clerk didn't have
an opinion but did say that the first sandwich was
more expensive. My wife got a quizzical look on her
face and asked, "If that's the case, why are they
both listed with the same price on the menu?" To
this, the clerk responded, "I don't think we add tax
to the turkey." The clerk also votes!

This one is a real 'clinger'.......

I couldn't find my luggage at the airport baggage
area. So I went to the lost luggage office and told
the lady attendant there that my bags never showed
up. She smiled and told me not to worry because she
was a trained professional and I was in good hands.
"Now," she asked me, "has your plane arrived yet?"
Yep, she is another one that also votes!

Hat tip to LouG for this......

10,000 Visitors Milestone Reached

Sometime during the night, we passed the 10,000 visitor milestone. That's kinda humbling, to think that that many people have wandered by and got some enjoyment from the blog.

Some bloggers will tell you that they write for themselves, and don't care if you like their stuff or not. Not me! When someone leaves a favorable comment, or gets a laugh from one of the jokes, shoots in one of the e-Postal matches, or enjoys the never-ending adventures of Mr. Completely and KeeWee, that makes it all worthwhile.

You don't have to thank me for doing this blog, it's for me to thank all of you for stopping by once in a while.

It's the best paying "job" I've ever had........

Project Valour IT Poster

Click for larger view

Donations are coming in on this project to buy voice actuated laptop computers for our recovering military folks, but a lot more is still needed.

To find out how YOU can help, click here.

Found this poster at Righty in a lefty state

The Proposed Iraqi Constitution

AnalogKid at Random Nuclear Strikes has done a thorough reading of the proposed new Iraqi constitution, and has his analysis posted here.

Here's a couple of quotes from AK's post:

"Even just reading the preamble is inspiring and something every Iraqi should be proud of. Hell, I’m a white guy from Seattle and I’m proud of them."

"Taken as a whole, this proposed Iraqi Constitution is a thing of beauty. Not only for the fact that many people have sacrificed to help its creation or that it was created under a wave of violence from those who oppose anything but theocracy, but because we all know that if the American people of today had to do the same, it would have taken at least twice as long, been 250 pages instead of 25 and not have covered half as much."

Lookin' good so far.............

Pin Shoot After Action Report ! ! !

This is what "getting your butt kicked" looks like!

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It was kinda gray and gloomy looking as we headed out towards the CWSA range for the pin shoot. Knowing that Al was going to be really pumped after yesterday's plate shoot didn't cheer up my mood much either.

Don't get me wrong, Al is a super guy and a super competitor, but NOBODY makes you sweat like Al does, and when Al's on his game, about all you can do is to try not the be totally embarrassed by him!

We arrived at the range in time to watch the center-fire semi-auto shooters, and the wheel-gun class finish up. It wasn't the sort of thing to cheer me up!

Al, shooting a wheel-gun (!) mowed down the pins and the competition like you would have had to see to believe. He even sent two of the fastest shooters from the Custer club packing, and didn't even look like he had to work at it. The wheel-gun class went the same way. AL WAS ON A ROLL! (dang........)

The center-fire shooters wrapped up, and we set up the pin tops for the rimfire classes. After qualifying Al had fast times both on iron sight and optical sight class. No real surprises here, the way Al was shooting.

I had entered my High Standard Long Barrel and my Smith & Wesson 422 in the optical class, and a second High Standard with a 7" barrel in the iron sight class. I qualified second with the High Standard, Jim was third with his Ruger, and I was fourth with the Smith & Wesson. KeeWee was somewhere around eighth in the optical class with the Beretta Neos.

That meant I got to face Al in the first round. Oh Joy! I came close to a tie table, but lost the first one, and got totally smoked on the second table. Now I have to shoot against Jim, using my Smith & Wesson. Lost two straight. Not by a lot, but by enough. I had now been transformed into a spectator. grumble......mumble...........razzen-frazzen-bazzle.........

KeeWee managed a bye out of the first round, but ended up against Jim in the second round. She just calmly turned Jim into a spectator too.

Next was Rainey (Mrs. Al), KeeWee beat her the first table, and totally smoked her on the second table. Notice the picture above. Rainey has one pin just starting off the table, and KeeWee has pin three almost on the ground, pin four hit and moving towards the back of the table, and pin five about to go away.

I keep telling everyone that it's due to her excellent coaching and gunsmithing, but no one's buying it....

All good things must come to an end, however, and in the finals KeeWee had to face Al. She shot well, but Al was still acting like he was bionic, and Al got all the marbles. KeeWee, however, beat some good shooters, and ended up a well-earned second place!

We only had three shooters in the iron sight class, so by mutual agreement we decided to shoot a round robin match, so everyone would get to shoot against everyone else. The good news was that I had only two other shooters to beat. The bad news was that it was Al and Jim! Al thumped Jim, and I think Jim's head was still spinning when I faced him, and narrowly squeaked past. That, of course, put me against "Bionic Al" for the money, marbles, and chalk!

To my absolute amazement, I took the first table from Al! YAAAA -- HOOO! It was starting to look like I was going to be "Two - and - out" once again, but at least I was no longer totally skunked! Second table, I got by Al again!! I had gotten by Al two tables to zip! Total Disbelief!!

I have no idea how I managed to beat Al, but I figure Jim had softened him up a bit, and Al was probably getting worn out from shooting against, and beating, Washington's best shooters all day.

By now the weather had cleared off and it was pleasantly sunny, so we decided to shoot a couple of fun pin contests. Five full size bowling pins were set on the very rear edge of the table, and eight pin tops were set about a foot in front of them. You had to shoot all of the pin tops off the table first, and then shoot the full size pins. If you knocked a pin top into a big pin, it would knock the big pin off the table, and you were done at that point, and scored for however many pins you were able to get off the table.

What made it hard was that several of the pin tops were lined up with the big pins behind, so you had to lean as far as you could to either side, and then try to hit the pin top slightly off-center, so it wouldn't hit the big pin behind it. I got lucky and managed to run the table, so to speak.

Then Al decides to add empty shotgun casings to the mix, making it even harder. Since these pin tops were the same ones we had been putting lead into all afternoon, they weren't very balanced, to make it even tougher. Even if you hit it dead center, you couldn't tell exactly which way it would go. My luck ran out after about the fifth pin, as it went sideways instead of straight back, and knocked a big pin off the table.

KeeWee had the luck going her way on the second fun match, and she ran the table without a bobble. Not bad for a shooter who'se only been shooting for about a year? (Did I mention that it's the coaching and gunsmithing? I did? oh........)

As we were driving back from the range, it clouded up and started raining again.

How's that for perfect timing!!

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Be sure to check out KeeWee's Corner for more on this shoot, along with several more pictures, including one of yours truly.

Click Here to read her report.

CWSA Hanging Plate Shoot -08/27/05

25 Yards, 7" plates, 6 shots, 6 seconds, a piece of cake, right?
Rainey smackin' a few plates.

It wasn't all just old geezers, either! You gotta beat these kids while we can. They just keep getting better!

3" plates at 10 yards, 6 shots in 6 seconds.

---

We had great weather for the plate shoot, mild temperature and no rain. The competition was as close as it's ever been, with only a few plates separating the top finishers.

I had been practising a bit with the High Standard iron sight gun, trying to get to the first plate quicker. It feels like it takes me forever to get the first shot off, and then I barely have time for the next five shots. It seems to have helped, as I hit just about every first plate, and having more time, it allowed me a little more time to get off the remaining shots with a little more accuracy.

To my amazement, when the scores were totalled, I had edged Al by one plate! Probably a bad idea, in hindsight, as anything that gets Al pumped up for a pin shoot is never a good thing, and there's a pin shoot tomorrow!

Optical sight class was also very close. I haven't had a mis-feed all year, but I can't say that anymore. Why does it always happen on the first or second shot, rather than the fifth or sixth? One mis-fire or mis-feed, and you don't have time to clear it and get the remaining shots off. Bummer!

All of the iron sight practice didn't seem to help me with the first plate in optical class. I think I missed most of them. Fortunately plates two through six were easier to hit.

Going into the final eighteen plates at twenty-five yards, it was just about even. Fortunately I had finally "found" the first plates, and ran a string of seventeen straight, missing the very last plate low and to the right by about an inch. That was good enough to get by Al by about four plates.

Now I'm definitely on the top of Al's list for tomorrow at the pin shoot.

Maybe if I set up lights and practice all night?

Blog Alert

Won't be any new posts until late this afternoon, as I'm off to a hanging plate handgun shoot at the CWSA range. I'll see if I can get some good pictures, and have a full report this evening.

Same thing tomorrow, as KeeWee and I are off to a CWSA bowling pin shoot, also at the CWSA range.

Wish us luck!

Last joke of the day

I wasn't planning on posting any more jokes today, but I came across a bunch of good ones over at Mostly Cajun.

Here's the first one:

Boudreaux and Thibodeaux are the main characters in a lot of Cajun jokes, sort of the Cajun equivilent of Sven and Oly, if it's a Scandahoovian story.

This first one points out the fact that Cajuns will eat just about anything they can shoot or drag out of the water:

Boudreaux and Thibodeaux were on a weekend hunt when they witnessed a UFO landing.

As the little green creatures came out of the UFO craft, Boudreaux said "Mais what’s dat?"

Thibodeaux replied as he aimed his gun "I don know me, but Boudreaux you better go back to the camp and put on some rice!"

---

I wonder if we could get Mostly Cajun to do some sound files of some of the Cajun jokes?

You can head on over here to read the rest of them.......

Mother Lode of Sub-Gun Videos

FUN about to happen.......

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I think I found the mother lode of machine gun videos! Click here to check out the first batch, and if that's not enough for you, then click here for some more.

If you've never had the chance to fire a full-auto before, this will give you a taste of the fun. Silenced, it's even more fun!

Friday Lawyer Joke

One afternoon a wealthy lawyer was riding in his limousine when he saw two men along the roadside eating grass. Disturbed, he ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.

He asked one man, "Why are you eating grass?"

"We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied. "We have to eat grass."

"Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you" the lawyer said.

"But sir. I have a wife and two children with me. They are over there, under that tree"

"Bring them along," the lawyer replied. Turning to the other poor man he stated, "You come with us also."

The second man, in a pitiful voice, then said, "But sir, I also have a wife and SIX children with me!"

"Bring them all, as well," the lawyer answered. They all entered the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limousine was.

Once underway, one of the poor fellows turned to the lawyer and said, "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you."

The lawyer replied, "Glad to do it. You'll really love my place. The grass is almost a foot high!"

Thanks to KenS for this one.......

Carnival of Cordite is up

If you've never been to a Carnival of Cordite before, it's a huge collection of links to all sorts of gunly goodness.

Click here to go see and enjoy!

A late entry for the "Flyswatter" Match.....ahem!

CCI Shotshells..........

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Got an email from GunGeek, and decided to post all of it:

Due to computer problems, I didn't get my fly target scanned in and
sent in to you. When I went to scan something else last night, I
found the target still sitting patiently in the scanner waiting for
the bright light to roll across it.

So, even though it's WAAAY past the deadline, I just had to send it
anyway because it such a classic.

You see, you didn't specify what type of ammo one had to use for
this competition. So, being the kind of person that looks at it
from a very practical standpoint (okay, I like to bend the rules
for fun), and realizing that these were supposed to be flies we
were shooting at, I chose the classic CCI 22LR shotshells.

As you can tell from the image, I quite easily shot every single
fly on the paper. I'm guessing I had them all somewhere around
shot number 4 or so. I took the liberty of pulling the target
back in after my first shot and circled all the flies that I had
hit with my first shot. You see, I was reminded of the old riddle
"If there are 10 crows on a telephone line and you shoot one, how
many are left?". The answer, of course, is zero. When you shoot
the first one, the others will all leave. It's the same with a
batch of flies sitting on a piece of paper. Therefore, since I'm
the only one that actually hit FIVE flies with my first shot, I
scored the highest realistic score. Oh, I suppose the other guys
could have sat there all day waiting for flies to come back, but
that wouldn't be much fun or help my case, now would it?

Thanks for the contest. I had a ton of fun seeing how well my
new little Beretta Neos did shooting the shotshells. FWIW, it
didn't feed or eject/cycle them very well. If I hadn't used up
all my 45 shotshells, I would have sent in a target from the
S&W 4516. It cycles them flawlessly.

Keep up the good work.

GunGeek

You gotta love it! At the least he deserves an Honorable Mention!!

A big WELCOME!

Using Sitemeter I am able to see a limited amount of information about who all is visiting Mr. Completely's blog. Don't worry, though, as not very much info is available.

I do get to see what town and/or country each visitor is from, and that's fun to see.

Today I'd like to welcome the visitors from Katy, Texas, and Tucker, Georgia.

Internationally, I'd like to personally welcome visitors from Humacao, Puerto Rico, and from Fiddletown, Australia.

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you enjoyed you visit.

Stop by anytime!!

Project Valour IT

Project Valour-IT
(Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops)

Project Valour IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss, provides voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines at major military medical centers who are recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations .

Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages to and from friends and loved ones, surf the 'Net, and communicate with buddies still in the field without having to press a key or move a mouse.

All funds received go directly to our wounded troops; 100% of your donation to Project Valour-IT will be used to purchase the laptops, software and accessories that will provide independence and freedom to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines.

If you'd like to help this worthy project meet its goals, click here to see how to make a donation.

Hat tip to ARRGGHHH!!

Lions, Cheetahs, Elephants, Oh My..............

"If a group of US researchers have their way, lions, cheetahs, elephants and camels could soon roam parts of North America, Nature magazine reports."

"The plan, which is called Pleistocene re-wilding, is intended to be a proactive approach to conservation."

Most of you have already read these quotes, and probably the whole article, several times, as it seems to be everywhere.

Unfortunately, it looks like no one has actually figured out what's going on here. If they have, and it got published, I missed it.

I've had the dubious "pleasure" of working with folks like those planning this debacle, and here's what they are ACTUALLY up to.

These bunny-hugging granola-crunchers want North America to be just like it was before the Europeans arrived. (Except for their particular part of it -- major leaguehypocrites!)

Their goal is to stop growth, stop building, stop logging, stop mining, and stop manufacturing. They want to close down all the land they can to public access, and waters too. You should see what they are planning for Puget Sound here in Washington.

They found that they could shut down logging if they could find an endangered species or so living in the woods. Case in point, the spotted owl, the marbeled murrelet, and old growth logging. The found they could shut down marine activities if they could find something endangered in the water.

Eagles, salmon, obscure plants, it didn't matter. Find the endangered flora or fauna, drag out the Endangered species Act, and "Shut 'er down!" If you could find an endangered species that people were already wearing on their T-shirts, even better. Warm and fuzzy is always a hit. That's why if the common garden slug ever becomes endangered, no one will say a word.

Unfortunately in some parts of North America they looked and looked, but couldn't find any warm, fuzzy, cuddly, endangered species. Maybe there was something or other that USED to be here, but isn't around anymore?

"That'd work, lets just round up a few and turn them loose. Instant Endangerd species!!"

That's what they're up to. If you don't believe me, just wait and see..........

Walther P22 Range Report

Walther P22 Semi-Auto .22 Caliber Pistol

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If you have been intrigued by the Walther P22, you should head on over to Say Uncle for a very comprehensive review and range report.

Click here to go look!

The Future of Commercial Aircraft Manufacturing

"Spirit AeroSystems employees look over the first Boeing 787 Dream Liner all-composite developmental nose section after its rollout ... in the Spirit AeroSystems plant in Wichita, Kan., Thursday."

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This technology may just be the way that Boeing is going to beat out Airbus in the future.

Assembling aircraft out of hundreds of thousands of pieces of aluminum, and millions of tiny rivets, is extremely time consuming and costly.

With this new large scale manufacturing capability, entire sections of a commercial sized aircraft can be molded in one piece out of composites. Each section can be stronger, lighter, fatigue-proof, and less expensive to produce.

This is certainly technology to watch.......

Here's the whole story in the Seattle P-I AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Mike Hutmacher, August 25, 2005

Shootin' Rats at the Dump

Dang! Here comes Mike and Ron!

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Back when I was in high school, (the ice had just recently receded from North America, as I remember) Friday and Saturday nights weren't just for partying. In fact, The local dump was often the most likely place to find me.

When I first heard Arlo Guthrie's song Alice's Restaurant, I just laughed, "Close a dump? NAH, it'll never happen around here."

Back then the dump, or more correctly the dumps, as in our area there were four of them within a ten mile radius, were a wonderous and magical place.

First, the dumps were a place to get cool stuff for free. The basic dump was sort of a small flat topped ridge with a small ravine on one or both sides. Real garbage you tossed over the side into the ravine. If it was something useful, you left it up topside, near the edge of the ravine, and whoever wanted it would pick it up and take it home.

City folks didn't seem to ever understand the system, and often tossed good stuff over the edge, and we'd have to drag it back up to the top. You'd think they'd be smarter than that, but if they were, I guess, they wouldn't be living in the city anyhow.

Second, you could toss beer bottles. Ah yes, tossing beer bottles. If it was an Olympic sport, in my beer bottle tossing prime, I would have been in the medals! The locals would put their empty beer bottles back into the cases, and stack the cases near one end of the dump. You'd grab two beer bottles, one in each hand. Toss one up in the air, and throw the second one at the first one. They'd make a wonderful sound as they both shattered into a zillion pieces in mid-air. I used to be able to hit eighteen or nineteen in a row. Sort of redneck trap shooting, I guess.

As cool as all of these things were, the absolute best part of the dumps was the rats. They made the most wonderful targets, and someone needed to keep the rat population under control. My buddy Ron and I volunteered to do our civic duty, an a regular basis!

I forget what Ron had for a .22, but I used my Winchester Model 62-A pump. What a wonderful rifle. I still have it, and shoot it regularly. Classic looks, and excellent accuracy.

Shooting rats took some special techniques, and Ron and I were masters. The rats wouldn't come out until it got dark, and even after dark wouldn't stand still for you to shoot at them.

We would usually arrive at the dump a bit before dark, and check out the latest stuff dropped off to see if there was anything we wanted. Then we would tape a flashlight to side of the barrel with electrical tape. Next, we had to sight in the flashlights.

We'd turn on the flashlight, and point it at an old car door, or cardboard box, and fire a few rounds. You know that dark spot in the center of the flashlight beam? We'd slide the flashlight around until the point of impact was dead center (pun?) in the dark spot.

Then we'd wait until it got dark. Once it was dark, we'd quietly walk over to the edge of the ravine, turn on the flashlights, and shine them down into the ravine, scanning the garbage below. As soon as you saw a pair of pink eyes shining back at you, you put the dark spot onto the rat's eyes, and fired. Exit one more rat.

We could usually keep busy shooting rats for an hour or so, until we couldn't find any more rats, or the smarter ones learned to keep their heads down.

Some of the best Saturday nights I ever spent...............

(Dedicated to Ron Cattron, R.I.P.)

Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1

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I happen to know that a fair number of you out there "didn't arrive on the last turnip truck", so to speak, and remember a lot of these old computers.

My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1, with all the bells and whistles, expansion interface, dual floppy drives, huge printer, the works. I still have it, and it still works just fine! What was your first computer?

If you've never taken a look around over at http://oldcomputers.net/ , and you find these old dinosaurs as interesting as I do, you should go take a look.

Allow yourself plenty of time, however, as you may be there awhile.......

Thursday Humor

Billy Graham was returning to Charlotte after a speaking engagement and when his plane arrived there was a limousine there to transport him to his home. As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped and spoke to the driver.

"You know" he said, "I am 87 years old and I have never driven a limousine. Would you mind if I drove it for a while?"

The driver said, "No problem. Have at it."

Billy gets into the driver's seat and they head off down the highway. A short distance away sat a rookie State Trooper operating his first speed trap.

The long black limo went by him doing 70 in a 55 mph zone.

The trooper pulled out and easily caught the limo and got out of his patrol car to begin the procedure. The young trooper walked up to the driver's door and when the glass was rolled down he was surprised to see who was driving.

He immediately excused himself and went back to his car and called his supervisor.

He told the supervisor, "I know we are supposed to enforce the law but I also know that important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know what I should do because I have stopped a very important person."

The supervisor asked, "Is it the governor?"

The young trooper said, "No, he's more important than that."

The supervisor said, "Oh, so it's the president."

The young trooper said, "No, he's even more important than that."

The supervisor finally asked, "Well then, who is it?"

The young trooper said, "I think it's Jesus, because he's got Billy Graham for a chauffeur!"

(Stolen from KeeWee's Corner)

Yet another postal match!

Azreel at Free Spirit Mind had so much fun shooting in AnalogKid's and Mr. Completely's postal matches, he was inspired to try running one himself. He's got classes for just about anything, rifles or pistols, that you might want to shoot.

His blog comments don't seem to be working unless you do a registration thing, but his email address is there if you want to contact him.

Here's the link to his match:

http://www.freespiritmind.com/MASD/firearms/ePostal/ePostal920

You Don't Speak For Me, Cindy

Posted without comment

Original Source: http://www.iowapresidentialwatch.com/
Hat tip to : http://www.lucianne.com/

Self Defense - A Basic Human right

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There's a very well done website on firearms and self defense called Self Defense - A Basic Human right. There's a ton of good information on all aspects of gun selection, ownership, a lot of great pictures and posters, and more.

This is also a great site for any potential new shooters to browse.

If you click here you will be transported there, as if by magic!

Hat tip to The Conservative UAW Guy

e-Postal Match "Snub-or-Not" Ramblings

Went up to the CWSA range this afternoon for some paper punchin' and brass emptying. The weather was beautiful, except for having to shoot directly into the afternoon sun.

Shot a couple of "sighter" targets with a 9x18 Makarov, and after a short while decided it was not ready for prime time, so to speak. I do think a set of aftermarket grips would be a HUGE improvement, though. How about it, you Makarov shooters, what grips do you like?

Grabbed a Smith & Wesson model 60 with a snubbie barrel, and shot a couple more "sighters" with better results. I was using up some old .38 wad cutters, and I don't think they were the MOST accurate I've ever seen, but I don't like things to go to waste.

I hung the pair of e-Postal handgun match targets, and fired away. I did better than I expected (luck?) shooting off-hand, but worse (back to reality?) from the bench rest. At least I did better than I did with the Jennings!

One of my favorite wheel guns is a Taurus model 66 with a 6" barrel. I don't know if it's had a trigger job or not, but it sure does have a nice trigger, both single and double-action, it's smooth, crisp, and light. A joy to shoot, at least with decent ammo, and therein lies a tale.

To shoot an entry for the e-Postal match requires fifty rounds, twenty-five per target. I only had about thirty rounds left! DANG!! Rummaging around through all of my gear, I came up with another nineteen rounds, mis-matched, assorted bullets,and all VERY old. That gives me forty-nine rounds.

What to do? No stores nearby, and no one else at the range I could bum some ammo from. On top of that, I had no ammo for sighting in and figuring out where it was shooting.

I decided to "Cowboy up", so to speak, and shoot what I had, even if I was one round short. (I've been accused of being short a few rounds in the past, but this time it was true.)

I loaded up the best of the ammo, and shot the first target off-hand, sighting in as I went. Didn't do great, but not too bad, either. Iron sights are always a challenge.

The second target, with the "mix-n-match" ammo was more or less a disaster, even shooting from a bench rest. The off-hand shooting had given me a pretty good idea of where to aim. The first round of the old ammo was five inches high and three inches to the left. Aiming at the center target put me fairly close for the upper left one! It went down hill from there! It was a challenge to even get them onto the paper.

I managed to get twenty-two of the twenty-four onto the paper, but scattered all over the place. I actually scored twenty-nine fewer from the bench rest than I had done shooting off-hand. Blechhhhhhhhh........

KeeWee and I packed up the gear and headed over to the bowling pin range to shoot a few pins, since there's a pin shoot this Sunday.

...............couldn't hit the dang pins, either.

Carnival of Liberty VIII is up

The Life, Liberty, and Property Community's Carnival of Liberty VIII is now up.

Click here to go have a look!

Oregon Blogger Blastorama

A bunch of good reasons not to mess with Rivrdog!

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Although I wasn't able to get there due to some prior commitments, it sure looks like the Oregon Blogger Blastorama was a success!

Saturday for lunch and range shooting, and Sunday for a practical shotgun match.

For lots of good pictures and stories on the events, check out Cogito Ergo Geek, Rivrdog, and Random Nuclear Strikes.

Maybe I can make it to the next one...........

Iraq and Viet Nam - both the same?

Sulfuric Attitude has a post about statements made by Senator Hagel of Nebraska, claiming that the situation in Iraq is the same as it was in Viet Nam.

Here's a couple of excerpts:

"He is right that things are starting to look like Vietnam. But is wrong as to what it is that looks that way. So what looks the same???

"To get the blast from the past, all you have to do is turn on the evening news and it looks and sounds just like it did then; Anti-American, Anti-War, all bad news from Iraq and none of the good, America the Bully, Terrorist just misunderstood. Sounds awful damned familiar doesn't it?"

You might want to go read the full post here.

e-Postal with a Jennings J-22

The Jennings J-22 Semi-Auto Pistol

Here's my e-Postal match entry for the snub-nose class.
98/250 offhand, and 125/250 bench rest for
a total score of 222 out of 500

Accuracy is not a strong point for the J-22 Jennings. The bullets that made these holes were going sideways!

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Ah yes, the Jennings J-22. I guess it embodies all the things that define a saturday night special! It's small, and light, and unreliable. These features, of course, are offset by a total lack of accuracy!

An obvious choice to enter in the snub-nose class of the latest e-Postal handgun match. I don't even have to think up excuses, they're built in!

In spite of all of that, it's a fun little gun to shoot. The prices for these are very low, as .22 auto pistols go, and there's a lot of them around.

I was unable to get more that two or three rounds to fire without some sort of a failure. Failure to eject, failure to feed, failure to fire the round, every second or third shot something didn't work.

The accuracy is probably on a par with a blunderbuss, but not likely that it's any better than that. By looking at the targets, it was obvious that at ten yards the bullets were often tumbling end over end. Not conducive to accuracy! Sometimes, however, the shot went exactly as aimed, but often as much as six inches off, even from the bench rest. If you ever have to fire a Jennings for self-defense, I would recommend having the muzzle in direct contact with what you are shooting at!

With all these faults, why own one of these? Well, if you like doing your own gun work, I think this can be turned into a pretty nice little 22. These were cranked out rapidly to keep costs down, so most machined surfaces are a lot rougher than they should be. A few hours spent polishing and blue-printing one of these little guys could make quite a difference. I'm sure the trigger can be smoothed up considerably. Careful bending and tuning of the feed lips on the magazines can make huge differences in terms of feeding reliability.

OK, so you can get it to function reliably, what about the accuracy, or more correctly, the total lack of any?

I suspect that sometimes the bullet, instead of being spun by the rifling, is actually just getting a groove cut into it, and it's spinning (if at all) much slower than is needed to stabilize it in flight. Perhaps a lower velocity round might be the ticket. I think if you find the right ammo, it might not do too badly. Maybe some of those sub-sonic rounds? It should be worth a try.

If you feel like playing around with one of these little guys, go for it, and let me know how it works out.

Paraphrasing another blogger, it's probably not much of a back-up gun, but it's still better than a rolled up newspaper........

Monday Joke - Early again.........

Homer, a handsome dude, walked into a sports bar around 9:58 PM. He sat down next to a blonde at the bar and stared up at the TV. The 10:00 news was now on. The news crew was covering a story of a man on a ledge of a tall building preparing to jump.

The blonde looked at Homer and said, "Do you think he'll jump?"

Homer said, "You know, I bet he'll jump"

The blonde replied, "Well, I bet he won't."

Homer placed 20 dollars on the bar and said, "You're on!"

Just as the blonde placed her money on the bar, the guy did a swan dive off of the building, falling to his death.

The blonde was very upset and handed her 20 dollars to Homer, saying, "Fair's fair. Here's your money."

Homer replied, "I can't take your money, I saw this earlier on the 5 o'clock news and knew he would jump."

The blonde replied, "I did too; but I didn't think he'd do it again."

Homer took the money..........

Ethanol - - A Gasoline replacement -- maybe.......

Chinese motorists lined up to buy gasoline
(Picture credit to Grouchy Old Cripple)

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Everyone's up in arms about gas prices, and I'm not too happy about them either.

One of the best moves I ever made was a couple of years ago when I sold my 3/4 ton Ford van with the 460ci. motor in it. It was a great van, but it got 12mpg. Uphill, downhill, local, freeway, mountain passes, pulling a trailer, it got the same mileage. I think it held about fifty gallons of fuel. At three bucks a gallon that'd be one hundred and fifty bucks to fill it up. Whew!

Why don't we just change over to ethanol and get off of the oil thing entirely? You can make it by fermenting just about anything organic, and there you go......

Not so fast, Sparky!

After you do the fermentation part, you have to distill it to get the ethanol. That takes heat. Quite a bit of it, in fact. Where do the commercial distillation plants get that heat? They burn fossil fuels.

Hmmmmm.....

Not only that, using fossil fuels to do the distillation to produce the ethanol to be used as motor fuel is roughly five percent less efficient in terms of fossil fuel consumtion that it would have been to use the fossil fuel in the motor vehicle in the first place.

Strictly from an energy usage stand point, if you can do the distillation without using fossil fuels for the heat, it might be practical, but it brings with it a host of other problems.

Other problems?

Ethanol has a lot less energy in it per gallon than gasoline by roughly a third, so you need to burn a lot more of it per mile to travel at the same speed. You also need a much larger fuel tank to achieve the same range between fill-ups.

If you've filled up your car with some of that gasoline/ethanol mix, often called "Gasohol", and thought you didn't get as good of mileage, and you didn't have as much power as usual, you weren't imagining it.

Yes, some racing engines use alcohol, usually methanol, a "chemical cousin" for fuel, but to get the power, they dump A LOT of it through the engine. Depending on the rules, nitromethane also is included in the fuel, which makes a MAJOR difference. (It smells neat, too, but I digress!)

Ethanol doesn't ignite as easily as gasoline, so getting the car started can be a problem, particularly in colder climates. Ethanol also can attack rubber parts and hoses in the fuel system. The new vehicles have changed the rubber compounds to deal with this, but older vehicles may have a problem.

Any of the two-cycle engines that use a gas/oil mix may have separation problems, although the two cycle oil manufacturers are aware of the problem and some have made their oil more alcohol friendly.

When alcohols burn, they burn clean, but when mixed with gasoline, a new polutant is produced, formaldehyde. Not a good thing to be dumping out the tailpipes of America!

Any solutions?

First, we need to produce ethanol without burning any fossil fuels in the distillation process. But where to get the heat to do the distilling? How about nuclear power plants? They have a huge heat disposal problem, hence the large cooling towers, and usually placing them on a river for the water supply. Most of that surplus heat is wasted. Let's recover it and make alcohol with it.

Second, engines will have to be developed to run on straight ethanol if you want them to run clean. This will take a bit more than just changing the fuel injection flow rate. It pretty much needs to be an ethanol engine.

Third, an ethanol distribution network will have to be developed. When there's enough demand, the oil companies will start adding ethanol pumps at their current stations. Extra filtration and water separation will be needed, as alcohol draws water like a magnet.

Initially ethanol fueled cars will be typically short range commuter vehicles, due to the limited range caused by the larger volume of fuel per mile required, and limited tank space.

And gas prices?

As demand for gasoline decreases relative to supply, prices will come down. It still all boils down to supply and demand. Unless, of course, someone else starts consuming gas faster than we are able to reduce our useage.

As to the demand part, take another look at that picture at the top of the post of the cars lined up in China to buy gasoline. You think they're effecting the supply and demand?

Blue Angels and Fat Albert

The Navy's Blue Angels along with "Fat Albert"

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OK, that's the last airplane picture for now, but how could I pass up such a spectacular picture of the Blue Angels?

Also found at http://www.strangecosmos.com

What the heck is this?

No idea if this is even real, or a photo manipulation

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If any of you have any idea what this might be, please let us all know with a comment. Gotta admit, is cool looking!!

Found this at http://www.strangecosmos.com

Picture in Search of a Caption #4

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Lots of questions come up in this photo. If it was going fast enough to still be in the air, how did it get stopped with so little damage, and the wings still attached?

Regardless, it looks like it was survivable, so my hat's off to the pilot, and also to the deck builder!

Quite a picture. How about a caption for it?

hat tip to Mary for this....

Carnival of Cordite #27 Y E E - - H A W ! ! !

Hold all my calls, I'm in a meeting - Do Not Disturb!!

Carnival of Cordite is up over at Resistance is Futile.

Click HERE and be magically transported there.....

Cake Recipe and FREE BEER!

KeeWee over at KeeWee's Corner has a couple of posts of interest that you should go see. (Of course I'm biased, so sue me......)

First, she makes a cake that uses a can of diet soda instead of oil, (or something like that, I'm no cook), but it's really moist and good, take it from me! It looks easy to make, too.....

The recipe is here.

Second, she follows the news in "EN ZED" (New Zealand), and one of the local breweries decided to give out free beer! How cool is that!!

For that story, click here.

That Figures....

UPDATE: It's working again! HOORAY!!

It wasn't ten minutes after I posted the rules for the new e-Postal handgun match #2, "Snub-or-Not", and the server with my header on it goes down.

Were they watching me?

They say they are working on it, and should have it up again soon, maybe.....

(sigh)

e-Postal Handgun Match #2 - "Snub-or-Not"

Here's what the target looks like. Download a "working copy" below.

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UPDATE: You can't use shot shells..............

This month’s match is much more conventional, and is actually three matches in one. I wanted to keep it open enough that just about anything could be used, but I wanted to spotlight short-barreled or snub-nosed weapons, the sort of gun that’s often carried as a back up.

TARGET: The target can be downloaded from http://www.magnumss.com/mrctrgt1.pdf

It is an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. When you print it out, the outer circles should measure 3 ½ inches in diameter. If it measures 3 ¼” check in your print settings and make sure that “Fit To Page” is not checked. That should fix it.

THREE CLASSES:

• SHORT BARREL: Any handgun with a barrel 2.5” inches or less in length.
• INTERMEDIATE BARREL: Any handgun with a barrel over 2.5” but not over 4” in length.
• LONG BARREL: Any handgun with a barrel over 4” but not over 12” in length.
  

Sub-Classes: Depending on the number of entries, there may be some sub-classes within the above classes.

Distance: ten yards

Shooting Position:

• First target: Standing, un-supported.
• Second target: Bench rest, but no gun vises or anything that clamps the gun. We are testing your shooting from a rest, not just the gun itself!
  

Sights: Any type of sight provided there is no magnification.

Caliber: Any caliber.

Procedure: You only get two target pages per entry. Re-shooting the match for a better score with the same gun is not permitted. Each sheet has five targets on it. Practice all you want, but not on the match targets. When you are all warmed up and sighted in, hang the first target page.

• TARGET PAGE #1: Take five shots at each target on the first sheet, shooting from a standing and un-supported position, for a total of twenty-five shots. Only twenty-five shots per target page. Hang the second target. No practice in between.

• TARGET PAGE #2: Take five shots at each target on the second sheet, shooting from a bench rest, typically a sand bag, or something similar, for your final twenty-five shots. You must use the same gun. Sitting is allowed. You must be controlling the gun, it cannot be clamped or anchored in any way. A side rest is OK, such as the edge of a shooting station or door-frame type rest.Scoring: Both targets are scored. Ten points per bull, and as marked on the target down from there. Only five shots per individual target count. If you drift one over onto the wrong target and end up with six holes, only the five best ones count. Mark your score, along with the name you want posted with your score, on the targets. Ties will be posted as ties.
  

Total possible points: 50 per target, 250 per page, for a total perfect score of 500.

Multiple entries: You can enter more than once, in fact, it is encouraged. The only restriction is that you can only enter once for any given gun. 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.

Submitting your entry: Take a digital photo of, (or scan) your targets, and email the picture, along with:
Your score for each target page, the name you want used when we post the results, gun description, caliber, barrel length, and type of sights to blog@whidbey.com.

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.

If you have a blog or a website, you can post your target pictures on your site, and send me the URL, instead on sending the pictures in.

All entries must be received by Midnight Tuesday, September 6th., and results will be posted within seven days, or less. Since the closing weekend is Labor Day, I moved the closing to Tuesday, instead of Monday.

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

Most of all, have fun, and be safe!!

Is it time to dump your AOL account?

First, let me quote a little from a recent NRA mailing about AOL in Utah and AOL's firing of Luke Hansen, Jason Melling, and Paul Carlson:

"To relax after work, they liked to hone their shooting skills at the target range and engage in friendly competition. And rather than drive all the way home to retrieve their firearms, and drive all the way back to the gun range in time to enjoy their favorite pastime, Luke, Jason, and Paul stored their guns in the trunks of their locked cars.

When America Online attorneys found out, AOL fired all three from their jobs.............."

Here's a couple of things you might consider doing to help:

1. Send a letter to AOL and tell them your opinion. Be clear, brief, and civil. (Discussing their parentage, or lack of same, probably won't help.)

Here's an address:

Jonathan Miller
Chairman & CEO
America Online, Inc.
22000 AOL Way
Dulles, VA 20166

2. If you are an AOL subscriber, consider alternatives.

3. Publicise this case. Email your friends, link to it, whatever. Get the word out there. Lets see if we can help get these guys' jobs back.

I'll be posting on any follow-up developments, as they occur. If you have any news on this, please email me, or leave a comment.

It's time to stand up for these guys, how about it?

Numrich Gun Parts - Caution Advised

If you are going to buy gun parts from Numrich Gun parts, be particularly careful. It appears that they sell "knock-off" parts that aren't always up the the original spec's. I don't have a problem with having parts made when they are otherwise not available, but they should be made to the same standards as the original.

The LAST time I dealt with those people I had ordered a part that when it arrived, was defective, and failed on first use. I called them up, and sent it back, and they sent me another one. Also defective.

Since the failure of the part could lead to a slide coming back and hitting the shooter in the eye, I telephoned them so they could at least re-inspect all of the parts in that production lot, and take out any defective ones.

To my amazement, the person on the phone didn't care that there was a safety hazard. I asked to talk to her supervisor, but was told that the supervisor was too busy to talk to me. I asked to talk to one of their parts buyers or gunsmiths, and was told that they too were also way too busy to talk to me.

Not much else I could do. I DID keep one of the "New-Defective" parts, however, in case I ever need to verify my story.

Although you should inspect any new parts carefully before installing them, if you buy anything from Numrich's, inspect them VERY carefully. Sometime's they may be the only choice, so be careful.

I bought a good condition used part on e-Bay, and it's been working fine ever since.........

Beretta Model 21-A

Beretta Model 21-A

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If you're looking for a well-made back-up carry gun, here's one to consider. Being a .22, it doesn't have a whole lot of stopping power, but as a back-up, at close range, it could certainly cause someone to re-adjust their priorities, so to speak.

There's a review and another picture over at The Conservative UAW Guy.

To go look, click here.

Illusion

(Click for larger view)

Here's an optical illusion that you won't believe. The shade of gray of the squares marked A and B don't even look close, but they are the same!

REALLY!!

Found this at Les Jones, who found it somewhere, etc. See Les' blog for the full pedigree.....

The Next e-Postal Handgun Match

I've just about got the rules for the next e-Postal handgun match finished and proof-read, and it should be a lot of fun. I couldn't find a target that was exactly what I wanted, so I ended up making a new one from scratch. I've got it into an Adobe Acrobat PDF file, and I'll be getting it up on a server in the next couple of days.

I should be posting the match rules sometime Thursday afternoon, or Friday morning at the latest, to give you all an extra weekend to get out to the range, since that can be tough with Labor day weekend approaching.

I'm not going to give away the rules in advance, but you will be able to enter with just about every handgun you own, as long as it doesn't have a scope!

All entries will have to be in by midnight onTuesday, September 6th.

Stay tuned.............

Pachmayr Pac-Skin

AnalogKid at Random Nuclear Strikes has a mention of what looks like a great product with a lot of uses in the gun world. It's called Pac-Skin and it's made by Pachmayr. Here's the description from Midway USA's web site.

"Pachmayr Pac-Skin Multi-Use 5" x 20" Strip Black
A new generation of non-slip, sure gripping technology. This peel-n-stick rubber material provides the ultimate gripping surface. A finely textured neoprene rubber surface coupled with a "peel-n-stick adhesive backing makes a perfect accessory for your favorite gun, bow or any surface where improved cushion, grip surface or equipment protection are desired. Available in pre-cut sizes or in sheets for making your own custom fit. Black."

Here's Midway's page for Pac-Skin.

A new plan for action

H2SO4 at Sulfuric Attitude has come up with a new plan for winning the war against radical Islam, and ethnic cleansing in Africa.

WARNING: Do not have a mouth full of coffee when reading this.

Click here to read his post.

Carnival of Liberty VII is up

I'm a little late in getting this up, but click here to go have a look....

Mr. Completely's new bowling pin gun

Mr. Completely's new pin gun?

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You gotta admit, that DOES look like a lot of fun..........

Sulfuric Attitude's new Header is up

H2 at Sulfuric Attitude has finally convinced Blogger to properly display his new blog header, and it really looks great! Click here to go have a look.

Of course, if you've never visited his site before, plan on spending some time, there's a lot of good stuff there.

Wish I was talented enough to do cool graphics like that...........

Pin Shooting Videos

A common reaction to shooting full auto.........

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The Southside Sportsman's Club in Battle Creek, Michigan has got some entertaining videos of bowling pin shooting with various weapons, including full auto. Three fun videos!

Click for video #1.

Click for video #2.

Click for video #3.

Unfortunately, the Southside Sportsman's website doesn't seem to display properly using Firefox, so you might have to use Internet Explorer. The video links seem to play OK with Firefox, however.

Cool video's none the less.............

Picture in need of a caption #3

(Caption goes here -- What should it be? Leave your caption in the Comments. )

Picture from Canada's own http://creamofthecrock.blogspot.com/

Gun "Safety" Video (?)

Since no one got hurt, this video's pretty funny, although it certainly could have been tragic! Click here to see it.

Hat tip to Samantha Burns on this one!

F-15 Pictures of Shuttle launch

F-15 over the launch site

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There's some spectacular pictures of the Space Center launch site and a launch itself, all taken from an F-15, over at ARRGGHHH!

If you like aircraft pictures, you gotta go look! Click here!!

e-Postal RIFLE (?) Entry.........

Here's the "Killiards" Target (click for larger)

........... and here's what I was shooting.

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After reading the rules for the second e-Postal Rifle match, (see rules here), I came to the realisation that I didn't have any long guns scoped up that would work in this competition at all.

I DID, however, have something that at fifty yards and from a bench rest, WAS reasonably accurate, even though it wasn't QUITE a rifle. Last Winter I built a 12" target barrel for my High Standard Supermatic Citation, and so far I haven't had the chance to put it to the test. Time to see what it can do......

I grabbed a box of CCI Green Tag I had in the ammo locker, headed out to the CWSA range, and hung a sight-in target on the fifty yard target stand. I had "rough-sighted" in the scope at twenty-five feet, and had set it to shoot about an inch and a half high. Hopefully this would be close enough to get it on the paper, so to speak.

I used a sand-bag for a bench rest to steady up the shot. To my amazement, it was shooting only about five inches high and two inches to the right. A few scope adjustments, and a few more rounds fired, and it was right on the money!

To be able to see the cross-hairs, I had to wear my reading glasses, which meant that anything over six feet away was more or less un-seeable! Through the scope, I could just make out the target circles at fifty yards.

I hung up the official "Killiards" target, and mentally reviewed what little I knew about target shooting. Something like "Inhale, exhale, shoot" as I remember? Remembering to start breathing again after making a shot is a good idea too!

I loaded ten rounds into one clip, and five in the second one, so I wouldn't have to count shots. Taking my time, I worked my way across and down the target until all shots had been fired.

I can see that a pound and a half trigger, perfect for pin shooting, is WAY too heavy for bench rest shooting. I would guess something in single digit ounces would be a lot better.

When I walked out and had a look at the target, I was pleasantly surprised. All fifteen shots had scored, and eleven of them had hit the center circle!

Just to see what would happen, I hung a second target at seventy-five yards, but at that range, even with the scope, I couldn't see the target circles. I tried to guess where they were, but that didn't work very well.

If you can't see it, it's awfully hard to hit it! With a higher powered scope, maybe, but not as I'm set up now.

Had a great time, met some nice folks, a father and son, out getting in a little target practice, got a little sun, and generally had a great afternoon.

Hope your day went as well..............

Blogroll Additions

Let's welcome three new additions to the Mr. Completely blogroll by rolling on over and having a look around.

First, let's welcome The Blogonomicon

And second, let's also welcome The Conservative UAW Guy

And finally, Geek with a .45

Lots of guns, humor, gun related news, guns, humor, and a few more guns. My kinda places!!

Basic Ammo Questions

Chris at Anarchangel has posted a really well written and informative article on ammunition and types of bullets. If you are a newer shooter, this post is a must read.

Click here to read it. It's well worth it!

Today is Left-Handers day!

For all of us left-handers struggling through a right-handed world, today is our day. For a lot of interesting reading have a look at the Left-Hander's Day website.

You can even take a quiz to see just how "Left-Handed" you are by clicking here.

I was at an Intel conference a while back and noticed how many of the attendees were taking notes with their left hand, roughly a third of them! Computers seem to attract lefties, I guess.

I don't see too many people shooting left-handed, however. I wonder if it has anything to do with right-handed rifling making it more difficult for us left-handed shooters?

That's MY excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it..............

Carnival of Cordite #26

The Carnival of Cordite #26 is now up.

Click here to go have a look. Lots and lots of gunly goodness!!

How fast can YOU empty all your brass?

Steve doing some SERIOUS "Fly Swatting" with a full-auto M-11

Mr. Completely generating a waterfall of 9mm. brass

KeeWee finds 20 rounds a second a little overwhelming the first time!

It's not too often that you get the chance to shoot something as exotic as a full auto and silenced Cobray M-11 9mm. , particularly the "fires from the open bolt" version.

On our recent trip to Juneau, we got the opportunity to shoot one, "up close and personal", so to speak. In Alaska, like some other states, if you fill out enough forms and jump through enough hoops , you too, have have one of these amazing machines. (Not in Washington, however Grumble, snort, fume.....)

Even if you own one of these in Alaska, you can't always just haul it to your local range and light it up. We drove about forty miles out of town, and then hiked up the side of a mountain to a remote location to do our shooting.

We were lucky enough to get a nice patch of bright sunny weather, making for pleasant shooting, indeed!.

We set up a cardboard box to squeeze off a few rounds and get an idea on the sights before taping up a "Flyswatter" match target for Steve. The rate of fire is advertised as .47 seconds for ten rounds, or .94 seconds for the twenty rounds alotted per target for the postal match. In a couple of the pictures above you can see four or five casings in the air at the same time! The rest are still travelling horizontal, but are out of the picture. WOW!

With the folding stock folded, part of the stock blocks your view of the sights, so you can't actually use the sights if using it as a true machine pistol, so we shot it with the stock extended. After warming up a bit, we taped up a target, loaded the clip with twenty rounds, and turned Steve loose. With the silencer it wasn't very loud, making sort of a "Brrrrrrrrippppp" sound, and the clip was then empty! Steve got about ten rounds on the paper, and got one fly, before it climbed out of the top of the target. Using short bursts would minimize the climb, but then you aren't REALLY shooting it full auto, if you know what I mean.

We taped up the second target, and stuck in a second clip. Concentrating a little more on controlling the climb, this time Steve got sixteen on the paper, and hit three flies, all in less than a second. Not bad!!

Then it was KeeWee's turn. Keewee's arms weren't quite long enough to reach the trigger with the stock against her shoulder, so we rested it on top of her shoulder, and Steve held on to the stock from behind. Even so, the rate of fire was kinda overwhelming! KeeWee emptied a few more clips, and then it was my turn. Boy, what fun!

It's hard to shoot when you start giggling half way through the clip! It didn't take long before all the ammo was gone.

As I said, WHAT FUN!!!

Stolen Quote......

How do you tell a communist?
"Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin."
And how do you tell an anti-Communist?
"It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."

.............Ronald Reagan

This quotation was blatantly stolen from GrampaPinhead.

You can check out his whole blog at http://grampapinhead.blogspot.com.

Great FFL Transfer News!!

H2 at Sulfuric Attitude has come across some great news:

"Today on my way home from work, I stopped by my local FFL/gunsmith shop, and happened to get a glance at the latest edition of the ATF's monthly news letter they send out to FFL's. On the very first page, it stated that the ATF will now recognize legible fax copies of FFL's when doing transfers."

Click here for the whole post.

Definitely good news........

e-Postal RIFLE Match #2 -- "Killiards"

The Killiards RIFLE e-Postal Target

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AnalogKid at Random Nuclear Strikes has the rules posted for the next e-Postal RIFLE match, called "Killiards".

Click here to read the rules and down-load the target for the match.

It's fun, it's free, and it involves shooting! How can you pass up an opportunity like this?