1000 Yard Rifle Match

Not exactly your average everyday "shootin-rats-at-the-dump" sort of rifle!

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Kirk at Fun Turns to Tragedy has a great write-up, and a lot of cool pictures posted about a 1000 yard rifle match he entered.

You should go have a look, if only for the pictures of the custom high-tech rifles.

Click Here gets you there!!

Carnival of Cordite #32 is up

Not sure what that is?
You can find out at this week's Carnival of Cordite!

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It is time once again for the Carnival of Cordite, a weekly round-up of blog posts on the topics of guns, shooting, the Second Amendment, self-defense, hunting, and more.

CLICK HERE to be magically transported there!!

Buzz meets Project Valour-IT

For those of you who have been following this, I've been doing some posts on Project Valour-IT, a project to collect money to buy voice actuated laptop computers for use by our recovering military personnel.

I've also been doing some posting on Buzz Robertson, recently seriously injured in Iraq, and recovering in Walter Reed Army hospital.

Guess What! A laptop computer from Project Valour-IT has now been made available for Buzz's use while he's recovering from his injuries!

W O O O H O O O ! ! !

Very cool, huh?

Chatsworth Fire Pictures

There are some spectacular fire pictures of the Chatsworth, California brush fire over at Lay Lines.

Click here to go read the post and see the other pictures. (Oops! Had a link mistake. Now fixed.)

No Looting Here, I'll bet!!

Nope, no looters here!!

Ruger New Model Single Six

Ruger New Model Single Six in .22 Magnum

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When I first acquired this Ruger Single Six, it wasn't because I was looking for one at all. Instead, a friend of mine needed some money!

I wish I had a "before" picture to show you just how bad it's condition was when I bought it! The original walnut grips had corners broken off, and had been replaced by a home-made pair that were crude, to say the least. The aluminum was dull, corroded, and pitted in places. The entire gun was full of sand, dirt, lint, and heaven knows what else. Inside, I found home-made springs, a bolt plunger pin made out of a nail, and general dis-repair everywhere I looked.

I completely dismantled it, cleaned everything, and decided that in spite of it's condition, it was worth restoring. I wet sanded the aluminum parts, then buffed and polished them until they looked like chrome. The blueing wasn't in too bad of shape, so a little cold-blue touch-up, and that looked OK.

Next step was to re-assemble it, and send it off to a wheel-gun expert to sort out the mechanical parts for me. I dropped it off with "Evil AL" (the pin shooting wiz) and he checked it over. A few new springs, a new bolt, bolt plunger pin, and a little fine tuning and it was mechanically back into great condition.

The home-made grips came off, and with some walnut I had, combined with some very careful woodworking, the grips looked almost like new. With the original grips back on it, the little Ruger was absolutely beautiful! It was hard to believe the difference.

Most of these Ruger's came with a .22 long rifle and a .22 Magnum cyclinder, but somewhere along the line, the .22 long rifle cylinder has long since dis-appeared. If I ever come across one, I'd like to be able to shoot the cheap stuff, as well as the magnum ammo.

Well, how DOES it shoot? I should start by saying that I'm NOT a highly experienced wheel-gunner, so my opinion should be considered as that of a shooter, rather that an expert. That being said, I have to admit that I really like shooting it. The trigger could stand a little work, but that applies to just about everything out there. .22 magnum is a lot hotter than a .22 long rifle, but still not something to overwhelm a novice shooter. It would be a fantastic gun for introducing a novice shooter to revolvers.

As to accuracy, what can I say? Most handguns are WAY more accurate that the person shooting them, and the Ruger New Model Single Six is no exception. If you don't hit what you were shooting at, this isn't a gun you can blame!

If you come across a Single Six at an appealing price, and you are thinking about grabbing it, just DO IT!

You can't help but to like it, I sure do!

More news on Buzz

Here's another update on Buzz from his Mom:

Buzz had to have surgery to debreed one of his shrapnel wounds, Friday the 16th. He did very well. He continues to do well. His spirits are good.

Friday September 23, 2005….. They took the c-collar off!!! Now he can turn his head.

Saturday September 24, 2005……My sister, Janie and I brought Ashleigh, (Buzz's 3-year old) to see him for the first time since July 15. Buzz's wife, Sarah talked to her before taking her in to see her dad. Explaining he “has a boo boo” and couldn’t get out of bed. Buzz had tears streaming down his cheeks when he saw his baby girl. Ashleigh gave him a big hug and a kiss and sat on his bed to talk to him.

Sunday September 25, 2005….Today is the “one month” anniversary of the “incident” in Iraq that could very well leave Buzz unable to walk. It’s also one week till Buzz’s 36th birthday, October 2.

While we were in the dining area at the Hotel, we noticed they were bringing out whole cakes for the Sunday brunch. We bought a cake from the Hotel and took it with us to celebrate an early birthday for Buzz. What a great idea!!! We took a carrot cake to the hospital and sang “Happy Birthday” to him.

Ashleigh laid in his bed with him and watched TV and read a book to him. It was a great day, but I know we stayed too long and really wore him out.

Janie and I got to meet one of the guys from Buzz’s unit, Chuck Yerry. He was one of the soldier's who helped pull Buzz from his vehicle in Iraq after it hit the mine. Chuck was injured in a gun fight the week after Buzz was hurt. He’s on the same floor but in a different ward. Chuck lost most of his right leg and has damage to his left leg. His room number is 5734 if you want to send him a card.

It looks like Buzz will be at Walter Reed for a while longer. The doctors have decided they need to do a skin graft on the shrapnel wound that was debreded last Friday. No date has been given for the graft.

I talked to Buzz this evening he's spirits are good. His blood count is low and he's still running a low grade fever from time to time. He's taking iron and a multi vitamin but it will take time to get his blood count back where it needs to be. I wasn't aware until the visit last weekend but he had to have 4 units of blood before he got to Walter Reed.

He passed out twice this week from doing more than he should. He's figured out now when he starts getting light headed, he needs to stop for a few minutes and rest. One day last week he even wheeled himself back from physical therapy!!

They are letting him have 6 small meals a day instead of 3 larger ones. He gets full and can't eat much at one sitting so this seems like a good plan.

Still no date for the skin graft.

Thanks for the cards, letters and well wishes...but as always mostly thanks for keeping my son in your prayers.

Take care,

............Buzz's Mom

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Here's the addresses for Buzz and Chuck.

Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Patient: SFC Richard C. Robertson
Room 5861
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20307

Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Patient: Chuck Yerry
Room 5734
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20307

UPDATE: You can send emails of support to either Chuck or Buzz at

woundedwarriers@yahoo.com

Awsome Good Guy Sniper Video

Just another day at the office....

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Click HERE For one of the best sniper films you'll ever see. A private security force sniper on a roof top in An Najaf in action.

Listen closely to the audio conversations between the shooter and his spotter. WOW!

Hat tip to Rivrdog for finding this video!

Buzz Robertson - An Update

Over the past several weeks I've run several posts regarding Buzz Robertson, a very special wounded soldier. I've solicited your emails to him in support of all he's done, and the sacrifices he's made for our country. Thanks to those bloggers who chose to also mention Buzz, and to those of you who have taken a moment of your time to send Buzz an email.

Buz is now getting eight or ten emails a day, and he's sharing them, and he and his wife are making a scrapbook of the cards, letters, and emails. Good job, everyone, I'm proud of you all!

Here's an email I received from Buzz's Aunt:

Thank you all for the cards and letters of support for SFC Richard Robertson who is in Walter Reed Hospital. His mother sent this update to me last week.

At the end of this week, we expect that he will be transferred to a rehab center in Augusta, GA. So please do not send any more cards until I get a new address for him. He and his wife have been thrilled to be receiving the cards and letters. They open them together and Sarah is keeping them to create a scrap book.

Buzz's story is a compelling one and I hope that the people who protest the war will understand that this young man has said if he could choose to enlist again he would. He understands the mission and the meaning of the War on Terror and he is proud of his service. I am proud to be related to him and humbled by his service to our country.

Thanks,

...........Buzz's Aunt


Here's an email from Buzz's mom to his Aunt:

Here's the most complete update I've sent out so far. This was for people I worked with at The Wellness Community. I thought you might want it because I included a little about the other two soldiers who survived.

I'm sure since Buzz is working with Special Operations I'll never have the "whole" story, but here's what I know.

On the evening of Thursday August 25th the vehicle Buzz (SFC Richard C. Robertson) was driving hit a mine. Two of the soldiers were killed instantly another died after being flown to Germany for treatment. Buzz's injuries were the worst of the three survivors. Buzz, Chris and Dan were the survivors. They were all treated and stabilized in Germany so they could be flown to Walter Reed in D.C., they arrived on Sunday August 28th.

One of the survivors, Chris, was in the hospital a week before being discharged. He'll be in rehab for a long time because he had extensive damage to his left leg and both feet (the docs at Walter Reed wanted to amputate both his feet.....he said "NO") he's in a wheelchair and on crutches but he's improving with each day.

The other wounded warrior, Dan, had a head injury. He had a goose egg right in the middle of his forehead. It was about 4 inches long and 2 or 3 inches wide....it was BIG! He was unconscious for a couple of days and still can't remember anything from Aug 24 to Sept.03 but he's been released from the hospital. His main concern was being discharged in time to reenlist!!! These special forces guys are made of different stuff than the rest of us. They are all incredible! Anyway he went home about two weeks ago......and he has re enlisted.

Buzz was on a vent when he arrived at Walter Reed August 28th. He had 8 bags hanging from two IV poles. He had an art line to monitor his blood pressure (spinal injuries cause your BP to drop and his did) He had a central line. He had more lines, tubes and drains than I've ever seen in one human being. All of his upper front teeth were chipped and broken. He had a large wound on his left shoulder, his right shoulder was bruised from collar bone to his waist. His left knee had a drain and several staples in it. He had seventeen staples in his right elbow in three places. He had several scrapes, burns and bruises from his right eye lid to his ankle. He was wearing a large cervical collar and couldn't move his head.

I'll never forget when I got to see him he somehow produced a big smile around all the tubes and broken teeth, then he winked and gave me a thumbs up. I had to leave the room.

He was in ICU from Sunday August 28th until last Wednesday September 14th. Now he's in room 5168. All his lines have been removed and he's eating whatever he wants. He still has to wear a Cervical Collar because there's damage to his C-4 and C-5 vertebra. They are healing but slower than he'd like. He has titanium rods on either side of his spine from the T-2 to the T-8 to stabilize his spine. His spinal incision is healing well and with help, he's able to sit up in a chair. He's had two surgeries on his abdomen and liver to remove shrapnel. His abdomen is healing well and his liver has already started to rejuvenate.

He asked for and got a trapeze bar over his bed so he can pull himself up. His upper body strength is a blessing. He looks like a different person than when he arrived at Walter Reed three weeks ago. The doctor said he was using it too much too soon - so it was taken away.

He is still running a low grade fever and they can't figure why. It was spiking 103 degrees....three nights in a row. It hasn't gotten over 100 for the past three days so I guess his body is going to fight off the infection before the doctors can figure out where it is or what's causing it... The doctors have now discovered that one of the shrapnel wounds had a fungus that came from the shrapnel -- He had yet another operation to excise the wound and that may clear up the fever problem. The wound on his shoulder still has to be dressed every day but it's healing.

All these guys are physically fit and very healthy I'm sure that's got a lot to do with their recovery, but they all have the attitude and determination to get right back up and at it again. I hope and pray my son will be mobile but I know even if he's confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, he's alive and he'll be making lemonade for the rest of us.

If you don't already have it here's his address :

Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Patient: SFC Richard C. Robertson
Room 5168
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20307

(For those of us on the internet, you can email Buzz at

woundedwarriers@yahoo.com

and tell him how much we appreciate his sacrifice. ....Mr. C.)

He will be at Walter Reed for at least another week to heal from all his surgeries and hopefully be free of his cervical collar before being discharged to a spinal rehab facility in Georgia. He'll be in the rehab facility for at least 6 months.

I know we're lucky to have him alive and I'm so very grateful for so many things I almost feel guilty for asking in my prayers that he will regain mobility, but if it can be done, I know my son can do it. I can't believe his courage, his attitude and his sense of humor. It tears my heart out to think about the struggle he has ahead of him but I know he can do whatever it takes to be all he can be.

He's my hero now more than ever.

Thanks for caring, and please keep the prayers coming....I know they work!!!

..............Buzz's Mom


Thought you'all would like a progress report...........

Wednesday Funny......

Blogroll Welcome

David, the "mover and shaker" behind the Gun Show on the Web website has decided to jump head first into the blog world, and he's off to a good start.

Here's his "Mission Statement"

To form an all inclusive National coalition of EVERYONE involved with guns; Manufacturers, Distributors, Dealers, ALL Gun Related Organizations and Armed Citizens to build a STRONG, NO COMPROMISE voice that will be heard and obeyed by our 'supposed' representatives. The elections are right around the corner and the gun-grabbers are poised to pounce on OUR CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED RIGHTS. Our present government has proven that all they need is the slightest excuse to begin gun confiscations, (as evidenced in New Orleans). We need to unite and build a very strong consensus or we will all be turned into 'subjects'! United, We Stand - Divided, we FALL. Propose the name of the organization to be "We, The People."

How much of this that can be accomplished remains to be seen, but it sounds like he's headed in the right direction.

Drop on by his blog, also called Gun Show on The Net and say HI!

Home Defense Shotguns

Does YOUR shotgun look like this?

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Xavier at Xavier Thoughts has a very informative post on home protection shotguns, and specifically what you need, and don't need.

Here's an excerpt from his post:

"A lot of money can be made in the plastic tactical whizbang market, and it leaves the newbie wondering if the shotgun itself is really a necessity if he has all that extra junk to throw at an attacker.

The truth is, a combat shotgun needs very little to be a devastatingly effective weapon, and they can be bought on the used market very cheaply.

There is no reason for any home not to have one."

You might just want to go read the whole post, by clicking HERE.

Gun Show on the Net

Picture shamelessly filched from Gun Show on the Net

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I stumbled across another treasure trove of cool gun stuff at Gun Show on the Net.

Here's their "mission statement" so to speak:

"The purpose of this website is to bring ALL things relating to guns together into one venue. This site will be under continuous construction. Any comments or constructive criticism will be welcomed. Helpful suggestions may even be rewarded. The publisher works full-time in the retail end of the industry and full-time on this site. Thought it would be good to share all the information gathered over the years.

The goal for this site is to be of maximum benefit to all people involved with guns. Including manufacturers, distributors, dealers and end-users. We will attempt to provide you an avenue to find EVERYTHING relating to guns in one place. In addition, much of the content is meant as a public service."

Grab yourself a large cup of coffee and head over and have a look. You'll end up staying a while, I'll bet!!

e-Postal Handgun Match #3 "Jack-N-Jill" - Close date extended

In order to allow more time for shooters to get their entries completed and submitted, the close date has been extended from October 3rd., to

Midnight Monday. October 10th.

Two weeks just doesn't seem to be enough time to get the targets shot and submitted, so the duration has been extended from two weeks to three.

Have fun, take a friend shooting, enter often, live long and prosper.........

Back from the Lake

UPDATE: KeeWee at KeeWee's Corner has posted a bunch of pictures from the Mayfield Lake trip HERE.

KeeWee and I have returned from our outing to Mayfield lake, in S.W. Washington. This was an exploratory trip by our fishing club to scout out the lake for a possible Fall club outing next year. Driving South through Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia Friday afternoon was *UGLY*.

The Resort and marina at Mayfield lake was absolutely beautiful. Lots of camp spaces, RV spaces, motel rooms, and multi-bedroom cabins, a store, and even their own private treed mini-ispland for tent camping. Everything was recent construction, clean, and in excellent condition. The boat launch, docks, and marina were also first rate.

I suspected something was up, however, when I walked by the fish cleaning sink and noticed a spider had built a nice web between the faucet spout and the drain in the sink. The sink hadn't been used in some time! Hmmmm..........

All of the boats tied up in the slips looked like they were set up for waterskiing, not for fishing. Double Hmmmmm......

I spent some time talking to George, the owner, about fishing in Mayfielsd lake, and he had a lot of "how to/where to" information, and it all sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

I spent a goodly number of hours over the next two days fishing, and the best I could come up with was one perch and one squawfish! It LOOKED like there should be lots of fish, lots of great structure, drop-offs, weed faces, all the stuff you look for. Just no fish.

To be fair, it may just have been too late in the year for much activity from the bass, but I have no idea why we didn't pick up a few trout or kokanee.

If you are looking for a really nice place to spend a couple of days in S.W. Washington, it's a really nice place. It' about twenty minutes east of Interstate 5 near Chehalis, Washington. Just don't count on catching your dinner.......

We'll have to give it another try when the lake is a bit warmer, earlier in the year.

e-Postal Handgun Match #3 "Jack-N-Jill" News

Well, the release of the rules and target for the latest handgun e-Postal match, "jack-N-Jill" have been well received. There's lots of challenge, some strategy required, and it's a good excuse to drag your better half out to the range for a little brass emptying!

Don't think it's ONLY a team match, however, as individual entries are also welcome!

I had a thought regarding the matches, and I would really appreciate your feedback on this. What do you all think about extending the closing date another week, making it a little over three weeks to get your entries in, rather than two weeks, as it presently is set up? That would give you one extra weekend to get out to the range to shoot the match.

I am seriously considering extending the close date for the current match to October 8th, rather than October 3rd. for this match. If it works out well, then change all of the matches to a three week length.

What do you all think? Leave me a comment below, or send me an e-mail, as if I'm going to make the change, I want to announce it in the next day or so.

Thanks for your input!!

Carnival of Cordite #31 is up

Carnival of Cordite #31 is up, courtesy of the "Resistance is futile!" blog.

Click HERE or HERE or HERE or HERE to go see!
(Hint: They all go to the same place, just checking if you'all are paying attention)

Just got back -- That's why the notice is a bit late........

The Four Rules

The Four Rules of Firearm Safety

1. All firearms are loaded.

2. Never let the muzzle of a firearm point at anything you are not willing to destroy.

3. Keep your finger off the trigger unless your sights are on the target.

4. Be sure of your target and what is behind it.

Hat tip to Xavier Thoughts

Blog Alert!

As some of you know, the business I'm in gets crazy a couple of times a year, and requires just about all of my time, day and night, for ten days to two weeks, which is why my blogging has been a little lighter than usual. I'm happy to say that the craziness is just about over for another six months, or thereabouts.

In celebration (read: to recuperate) KeeWee and I are going to pile into our extremely luxurious and exorbitantly expensive land yacht and go spend the next two and a half days at a lake a fair bit South of here, eating, sleeping, and fishing.

We'll be back on line either Sunday night or Monday morning. In the mean time, go check out the Mississippi Sin over at KeeWee's Corner.

See you Monday....................

NRA Files Suit - Finally........

NRA Files Suit To Stop Firearm Seizures In New Orleans

"(Fairfax, VA) - Today, the National Rifle Association (NRA) filed a motion in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana seeking a temporary restraining order to block authorities from confiscating law-abiding citizens' firearms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."

Better late than never, I guess...............................

Save Our Hunting - Your Help Needed!

There is a move afoot by the anti-hunting people to BAN HUNTING altogether on WHIDBEY ISLAND !

In order to counter their numerous EMAILs to the County Commissioners, we need to contact them ourselves, and to show up at the hearing on Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 at the Performing Arts Center at the Coupeville High School @ 6:00pm.

In addition their EMail address' are:

1. Mike Shelton Commissioner District #1

mikes@co.island.wa.us

2. Mac McDowell Commissioner District #2

district2@co.island.wa.us

3. William J. Byrd Commissioner District #3

bill_byrd@co.island.wa.us

Send an email to each of these Commissioners telling them of your opposition to the HUNTING BAN on Whidbey Island, and show up at the hearing on 9/26/05 !!!

If you are anywhere in the world, and you support hunter's rights, and do not want to see the anti-gun/anti-hunting people triumph, PLEASE send these three guys an email supporting hunting on Whidbey Island.

By the way, if you think Whidbey Island is a little tiny island where there might not be room to safely hunt, that just isn't the case. Whidbey is either the largest, or the second largest island in the continental United States, depending on whose chamber of commerce you listen to.

Thanks.......

Azreel's Postal Match Results

Here's Rebecca shooting the postal match

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Azreel at Freespiritmind has just posted the results from his first e-Postal match. It was a tricky target where you had to shoot fifteen circles, at ten points apiece, without hitting any of the "mines" that were nearby. A perfect score would have been 150 points.

Here's the results:

Overall:

1st. - 140 points - Kyle Cassidy: Ruger MK II, Red Dot
2nd. - 130 points - Mr. Completely: .22 caliber High Standard
3rd. - 105 points - Rebecca: Browning Buckmark
4th. - 70 points - VileBill: Para 14.45
5th. - 55 points - Uncawho: Browning Buckmark
6th. - 50 points - Merle: Romanian .22 LR - 50yds
7th. - 20 points - Merle: : Marlin M1894 44 Mag - 100yds
8th. - 20 points - Merle: Ruger MK II - 15yds offhand
9th. - 15 points - Kyle Cassidy:: Walther P22

Rifle:

50 points - Merle: Romanian .22 LR - 50yds
20 points - Merle: : Marlin M1894 44 Mag - 100yds

Handgun:

140 points - Kyle Cassidy: Ruger MK II, Red Dot
130 points - Mr. Completely: .22 caliber High Standard
105 points - Rebecca: Browning Buckmark
70 points - VileBill: Para 14.45
55 points - Uncawho: Browning Buckmark
50 points - Merle: Romanian .22 LR - 50yds
20 points - Merle: Ruger MK II - 15yds offhand
15 points - Kyle Cassidy: Walther P22

The rules for Azreel's next postal match are posted here , so go download the target, and have at it!!

Fuel preparedness

Rivrdog has a new and timely post up at his preparedness blog, Paratus, on how to store fuel, including gasoline and diesel.

You should really go read it, and think about putting a little into storage for emergencies.

Speaking of fuel, don't forget about yourselves, either. You need food, too, and here's a post on that.

As the saying goes, it's WAY better to HAVE it, and not NEED it, rather than the other way around!

Very Cool Machine Gun Video

There's a really cool video of "The 2003 Dry Creek Northern Arizona Machine-Gun Shoot." if you click here.

Big thanks to Vile Bill at Firing For Effect for finding this one!

And another postal match!

Mathew Maynard at

http://www.matthewmaynard.net/

Has just announced postal match of his own, this one for rifles shooting military based cartridges.

For the details, go here and have a look!

e-Postal Handgun Match #3 "Jack-N-Jill"

Here's the target, basically easy, but strategy makes it interesting to go for the top scores!

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e-Postal Handgun Match #1 - "Jack-N-Jill" Rules

(revised 09/26/05)

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Revision to closing date: All entries must be received by Midnight Monday. October 10th., (instead of October 3rd.), and results will be posted within seven days, or less.

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This month’s match is much more conventional, and is actually several matches in one.

As you can see, the name of the new match is "Jack-N-Jill". Like previous matches, there will be a "Featured" class, but also just about anything else can be entered too.

This time, the featured class will be a team event! YUP! One guy and one lady comprises a team. Now, if you are thinking about grabbing the best shootin' guy or gal you know, it's not going to work that way, Sorry, no ringers!

Here's how you select your team member. Start from the top of the list, and work your way down until you get a team-mate. Your team-mate must be opposite sex:

1. Spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend/ or significant other.

2. Member of your immediate family, father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter.

3. A new or recently new shooter who you have been helping get into shooting.

There's a lot of flexibility here, so I'm sure you can all find a team-mate. Here's a chance to get someone out to the range that normally wouldn't go.

Multiple entries will also be encouraged, and you can enter individually, too. You are not required to enter as a team, but you are encouraged to do so, and also enter individually too.

You can also enter the same team more than once, if you enter with different handguns so you are in a different class. You can also enter with a different team-mate in the same class.

TARGET: The target can be downloaded from

http://www.magnumss.com/mrctrgt2.pdf.

It is an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. When you print it out, the outer circle should measure 7 1/4" inches across. Each shooter needs two targets.

CLASSES: For this match, individual classes will be by caliber, or bore diameter as follows:

There will be five classes, based on the first digit of the diameter of the bore,

Class One: 0 through .199 inches
Class Two: .200 through .299 inches
Class Three: .300 through .399 inches (includes 9mm.)
Class Four: .400 through .499 inches (includes 10mm.)
Class Five: .500 or over

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 handgun, including air pistols.

PROCEDURE: You only get two targets per entry (four for team entry). Re-shooting the match for a better score with the same gun is not permitted. Both team members must shoot the same caliber, but do not have to use the same handgun.

Practice all you want, but not on the match targets. When you are all warmed up and sighted in, hang the first target.

TARGET #1: Take ten shots at the first target, shooting from a standing and un-supported position. Only ten shots per target page. Hang the second target. No practice in between.

TARGET #2: Take ten shots at the second target, shooting from a bench rest, typically a sand bag, or something similar, for your final ten 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.

For the team event, your team-mate also shoots two targets, as outlined above.Your team member does not have to shoot their target at the same time, or even at the same range. It would be helpful if you submit your scores together, however, so I know who's teamed with who!

STRATEGY: With only ten shots per target, how many do you want to shoot at the bonus bulls? Each one is 25 points, but they are far enough away from the 4 ring that if you shoot at one and barely miss, that shot scores zero. These bonus bulls are definitely "High Value -High Risk".

SCORING: Each target has a perfect score of 160, if you put 6 in the 10 ring, and hit all 4 bonus bulls. A perfect score for a team would be 640, and a perfect score for an individual would be 320. Each bonus bull can only be counted once, so hitting the same bonus bull only wastes a shot.
Mark your score on each target, and your total score on the targets with a legible felt pen. Don't write your name on the target, only the name you want to appear in the results. Also write the class, and if a team or individual entry. Ties will be posted as ties.

MULTIPLE ENTRIES: You can enter more than once, in fact, it is encouraged. Shoot everything you own, and everything you can borrow! Take a buddy to the range, get him entered, then borrow his gun and enter that! The only restriction is that you can only enter once for any given gun, in either the team or the individual category. You can enter the same gun in the team event, and shoot another pair of targets with the same gun as an individual entry.You cannot enter your team targets a second time as an individual entry.

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:

1. Your score for each target page, total of both pages and if a team entry the total of all 4 targets.

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

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

4. Class: 1, 2 ,3 ,4 , or 5

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

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

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

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

All entries must be received by Midnight Monday. October 10th., and results will be posted within seven days, or less.

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

Have fun!!

Conserving Your Energy

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Hat tip to SondraK at Knowledge is Power.......

CWSA Pin Shoot Report 09/18/05

Dennis and Andrea, A father-Daughter matchup

"Evil Al" and KimG - It couldn't have been much closer. WOW!

Here's what Kim did to most mere mortals all day long

Rainey, Cathy, KeeWee, and Pegi. Don't mess with ANY of these gals!

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Well, this time we got to the shoot on time, equipment ready, all set for a day of pin shooting. Even the weather looked good with broken clouds and sunshine, and not a bit of rain in sight. We were there in time to watch the center fire classes, and "Evil Al" was looking almost unbeatable. He seems to be making a habit of that.

KimG, from the Custer, Washington club, was also here, and was also shooting extremely well. Both of them waded throught the competition without hardly breaking a sweat.

The meeting of the immovable object and the irresistable force, however, was about to happen. It couldn't have been much closer, but this time KimG took all the marbles. Last week it was Al narrowly edging out Kim. Competition doesn't get any better than that!

Now it was time for qualifying for the pin top rim fire classes. We all shot four tables worth of pins against the clock, and our three fastest table times were added up to determine ourfirst round opponent. I had fast total time at 12.98 with my long barreled High Standard with a red dot sight. Al timed in with something in the high thirteens. I was third with my S & W 422/red dot, and JimP was right behind me. I had fast table time at 3.83 seconds for five pins. KeeWee was down around tenth.

What this all boils down to is that I shoot against AL with my High Standard, and against JimP with the S & W.

Al narrowly beat me on the first table, we tied on the second table, and I narrowly beat Al on the third table. On the deciding table after three shots I was almost a full pin ahead, when a round didn't go off. By the time I cleared the round I was way behind, and didn't have time to catch up. Knocked out in the first round by a mis-fire. (grumble-grumble-grumble......)

Next I came up against JimP with my S & W 422. Jim shoots a Ruger Mk. II. He didn't beat me by a whole lot, but by enough. Again, knocked out in the first round! The day is NOT going well. (razzzzin-frazzin-bazzin........)

KeeWee came up against Dean in the first round, and managed a win, putting her against Greg in the second round. It was fairly close, but KeeWee ended up coming out on the short end.

The optical sight final ended up being Greg against Al, and Greg took the final. (Why doesn't Al shoot like that when I shoot against him??)

Congratulations to Greg on a nice win!

The iron sight class only had three entries, Al, JimP, and myself. Wonderful! The two best iron sight shooters in the entire club! Al managed to retire Jim, and then it was me against Al for the final.

After all the dust had settled, to my absolute amazement, I had "snuk" by Al one more time in the iron sight class. It was really really close, but I'll take it!

I had the fastest qualifying time by almost a second in the optical sight class, and I'm toast in the first round. I'm the slowest qualifying in the iron sight class, and end up winning it?

Go figure!!

We all had a grand time, the competition was close, and watching Kim and Al go at it is worth the trip, just for that!

Hope you had as much fun today as we did........

Don't blame me for this one......

The patient was overweight, so the doctor put him on a diet. He said; "I want you to eat regularly for two days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for two weeks."

When the patient returned, he shocked the doctor by being twenty pounds lighter.

"Why, that’s amazing!" the doctor told him. "You did this just by following my instructions?"

The slimmed down patient nodded. "I'll tell you, though, I though I was going to drop dead that third day."

"From hunger, you mean?"

"No," replied the patient, "from skipping."

All bad joke hate mail should be directed to Grampa Pinhead...........

(heh)

On Winning - and Losing........

I don't claim to be much of an expert on winning, but I know a lot about losing. Sometimes I amaze myself with my ability to find new ways to beat myself.

One of my most embarrassing moments was in a pin shoot when I still had the slide back and locked when the commence fire buzzer went off. No matter how hard you pull on the trigger, it just won't fire!

First, lets get the obvious out of the way. If your gun is dirty, not working properly, not sighted in, or whatever, you have to take care of that first. A competition handgun should get a thorough going over before a match. After you've cleaned it and checked it over, go put a few rounds theough it to make sure you didn't mess something up when you cleaned it.

Second, you need to shoot regularly. You need to shoot enough that it becomes automatic, relying on "muscle memory" rather than thinking about what you are trying to do. You should not only practice shooting, but also practice reloading, clearing mis-fires, and dealing with whatever else might go wrong.

If you've got those things out of the way, you are ready to consider how to win, or more specifically, how to not lose. The trick is to not beat yourself by compounding your problems.

When helping a new shooter, or any other type of competitor, for that matter, I tell them that there will often be situations where you are up against someone faster and/or more accurate than you are. If they do their best, and you do your best, you are gonna get beat.

However, very few competitors are able to do their best every single time. The important thing is that you put yourself in a position to win. Don't try to do more than what you can do. Don't beat yourself, put yourself in a position to win, and let the faster person beat themselves. If they do win, at least you made them earn it!

A lot of head to head competition is mental, and it never hurts for a faster shooter to realize that if they bobble even a little, you are going to be right there.

One other thing. Don't pay too much attention to watching other shooters. For some reason, when you are shooting, it seems like you are always shooting a whole lot slower than you actually are. It also seems like everyone you watch looks like they are shooting a whole lot faster than they actually are.

A final word: Always remember that misses, no matter how fast you got them off, don't count for much........

Light Posting Sunday - Off to a pin shoot

Sunday will be a light posting day, at least until Sunday evening, as KeeWee and I are off to another CWSA pin shoot in Coupeville, Washington. I've got everything all cleaned and oiled, ready to go.

I hope I've figured out what I've been doing wrong causing me to shoot high and to the right on the first pin on a regular basis. Since I use an unconventional grip and stance, a whole lot of the conventional knowledge doesn't apply.

I spent some time with a fellow shooter yesterday to see if he could figure out what I was doing, and we think I'm dropping my elbow about 3/4" of an inch as I get the first shot off, which moves the point of impact up and to the right. (I shoot left-handed).

When you miss the first pin, the rest of the round is pretty much done for, and knowing that, you tend to try to shoot faster on the last four so you will have time to come back and get the first one later.

What usually happens, of course, is you try to shoot faster than you are able, and end up missing another pin or so.

The way to do it is to stick to your game plan and get the next four pins, then come back for the first pin, and hope your opponent misses a pin too. If so, you still have a chance.

We'll see if I can remember to keep my elbow up, and if that helps.....

KA -- BOOOOOMMMM ! ! !

You gotta admit, that looks like fun!

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Joe Huffman, the head Boomershoot guy, has entered a picture of some of his exploding target activities over at The View From North Central Idaho in the County fair.

Now if he could figure out how us handgunners could do the same things without getting ourselves killed........

Carnival of Cordite #30 is up at Gullyborg's

The Carnival of Cordite is up, with lots of good gun related stuff, including lots on the New Orleans situation.

Click here to go read it all!

See you all back here later, but in the meantime, it's CARNIVAL TIME!

You Might Be a Gun Nut If:

Is this YOUR living room?

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You might be a gun nut if:

1. Your back-up guns have back-ups.

2. You keep track of dates by how many days it is before or after a match or a gun show.

3. A burglar's only hope of escape is if he can get away before you can decide which gun to shoot him with.

4. You are a total sucker for any perfume or after shave that smells like Hoppe's #9.

5. You have more than eight different caliber firearms in your home, and you have ammo on hand for all of them.

6. You don't leave the gun range until you are either out of ammo, or the range closes.

7. You have shot at more than five different ranges in the last six months.

8. There is a Brownell's catalog, or a Midway flyer in your bathroom.

9. You read Mr. Completely's blog regularly.

10. There are at least three rifles, two handguns, and a shotgun on your wish list.

11. You need to buy ammo.

12. The guy at the Walmart sporting goods counter knows what ammo you usually buy, and asks how many boxes do you want, and is pulling them off the shelf for you, as you approach.

13. You've bought a new gun in the last two weeks, but haven't sold one in a long time.

14. Your living room wall looks like the picture above.

Feel free to add to the list in the comments below.

e-Postal Handgun Match #3 "Jack-N-Jill" Preliminary info

Well, I'm working away on the rules for the next e-Postal handgun match, and I thought I'd let you all know a couple of the advance details, so you can start planning for it.

As you can see, the name of the new match is Jack-N-Jill. As in previous matches, there will be a "Featured" class, but also just about anything else can be entered too.

This time, the featured class will be a team event! YUP! One guy and one lady comprises a team.

Now, if you are thinking about grabbing the best shootin' guy or gal you know, it's not going to work that way, Sorry!

Here's how you select your team member. Start from the top of the list, and work your way down until you get a team-mate. Your team-mate must be opposite sex:

1. Spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend/ or significant other.
2. Member of your immediate family, father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter.
3. A new or recently new shooter who you have been helping get into shooting.

This is a preliminary list, and is subject to change between now and the release of the official rules!

There's a lot of flexibility here, so I'm sure you can all find a team-mate.

Multiple entries will also be encouraged, and there will be opportunities to enter individually, too.

Just thought I'd give you all a heads up on this, so you can get your team-mate all practiced up, or vice-versa.

County Wexford

Slaney Bridge. Near Kildavin

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One of the fun things about blogging is having readers from all over the world drop by for a visit. Through Sitemeter, I can see what country a visitor is from, and sometimes even what city their internet service provider is in. It doesn't show any more than that, but it still is a lot of fun to go see where each visitor is from.

From time to time I will do a small mention of an interesting location that has visited.

This week I'd like to welcome a regular visitor from County Wexford, Ireland. I did a quick bit of research on County Wexford, and here's a bit of what I found out:

County Wexford is located in the Southeast corner of Ireland. The County has four main towns, Wexford, Enniscorthy, Gorey and New Ross with a population of 116,596.

County Wexford enjoys a rare mix of mountains, valleys, rivers, flora, fauna and breathtaking beaches spanning 200 km of coastline.

It sure does look like a beautiful place. .....

In Pursuit

I saw this saying in the back window of a pickup truck the other day, so I thought I'd put it on to a picture and post it.

AR v. AK Death Match at Say Uncle

This one?

Or this one?

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Say Uncle has got a good comparison between the AK-47 and the AR-15. You might want to go have a look, and maybe leave a comment too.

Be sure to read the comments so far, as there's a lot of good info there....

Click Here to go have a look!

Global Warming Cause Discovered!

This graph shows it all
(Click for Larger View)

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"You may be interested to know that global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s.

For your interest, I have included a graph of the approximate number of pirates versus the average global temperature over the last 200 years. As you can see, there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between pirates and global temperature."

Now that we've resolved that, can we get on to something else........

Thanks and a hat tip to http://www.venganza.org/

Google Blog Search Beta

Google's new Blog Search beta edition

Google is coming out with a search capability aimed at searching blogs.

It's still in beta testing, but it is up and working, although it probably isn't anywhere close to being up to full power yet.

You can click here if you want to give it a try.

Hat tip to Slashdot

I Love This Comeback.......

KeeWee of KeeWee's Corner got this in an email, and sent it on to me:

One of my sons serves in the military. He is still stateside, here in California. He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people were to him, and his troops, everywhere he goes, telling me how people shake their hands, and thank them for being willing to serve, and fight, for not only our own freedoms but so that others may have them also.

But he also told me about an incident in the grocery store he stopped at yesterday, on his way home from the base. He said that ahead of several people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a burkha. He said when she got to the cashier she loudly remarked about the U.S. flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock. The cashier reached up and touched the pin, and said proudly," Yes, I always wear it and probably always will."

The woman in the burkha then asked the cashier when she was going to stop bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.

A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his arm around my son's shoulders, and nodding towards my son, said in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman:

"Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen.

It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn't need to be there today.

But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to Iraq so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country that you are obviously here in MY country to avoid."

Everyone within hearing distance cheered!

Wish I'd been there.........

And the caption is?

Caption goes here!

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OK, I'll start it out, but you all always come up with something better. How about:

"Local yachtsman solves marina parking problem"

(Is that Rivrdog's car and boat?)

Monday Joke on Monday? How'd that happen?

A couple go for a meal at a Chinese restaurant and order the "Chicken Surprise".

The waiter brings the meal, served in a lidded cast iron pot.

Just as the wife is about to serve herself, the lid of the pot rises slightly and she briefly sees two beady little eyes looking around before the lid slams back down.

"Good grief, did you see that?" she asks her husband. He hasn't, so she asks him to look in the pot. He reaches for it and again the lid rises, and he sees two little eyes looking around before it slams down.

Rather perturbed, he calls the waiter over, explains what is happening, and demands an explanation.

"Please sir," says the waiter, "what did you order?"

The husband replies, "Chicken Surprise."

"Ah... I'm sorry," says the waiter, "I brought you Peeking Duck"

Please send all hatemail to Grouchyoldcripple, who I lifted this from......

e-Postal RIFLE Match #3 "Looter Shooter"

Here's the target

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It looks like AnalogKid over at Random Nuclear Strikes hasn't fully recovered from the effects of the physical beating he took from his 12 gauge, combined with a pretty good (?) case of sunstroke incurred at the last practical shotgun match a few weeks ago. That being said, he's probably still more stable than Mr. Completely, but probably not by too much.

Anyhow, AK has now posted the rules for the next e-Postal Rifle match, titled "Looter Shooter"

Below are the complete rules borrowed (lifted, purloined, absconded with?) from his site. This looks like it could be a lot of fun, and you should be able to shoot just about any rifle you've got, so let's send him lots of entries to review while he's still in "recovery"!!

Click here for the full post on this match.

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e-Postal Match Announcement

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

The September e-Postal Match is hereby ready for public consumption

The theme: Looter Shooter

Here is the scenario:

Your town has been hit by a hurricane. While your incompetent Mayor has ordered an evacuation, the street gangs stuck out the storm so that they could loot the empty homes before people came back into town.

You stuck it out at home as well. Now you have to contend with them wanting your property, your wife and your daughter.

This is your target. It is one of my own making that I have decided to call my “Totally Inoffensive Looter Target”. It prints out directly to 8.5×11in paper.

None of the rifle ranges in the local area here will allow targets with ‘heads’ on them, so I used the old NRA ‘Tombstone’ shape and put some rings on it. Yes, they’re probably off a bit center, but so are looters.

Notice the duck in the center. He is not your friend, nor does he ‘make bathtime lots of fun’. He is the heart of the looter. A hit on him equals and X-ring hit. Otherwise, the square he is in is 10 points, the next ring out is 9 points, the next ring with the crackle in it is 8 points with the furthest ring being worth 7 points and everything outside of that is a miss.

Here are the rules:

You are to use your SHTF rifle(s) for this. Semi-auto, boltie, lever gun, pump, single shot doesn’t matter. There will be iron sight, optics and magnifying optics classes.

You may enter as many SHTF rifles as you would like.

10 shots on the target. Ever shot on paper over the limit is minus 10 points.

The distances are 25yards, 50 yards, 100 yards and then anything beyond 100 is its own class.

There are no practice shots or sight in targets allowed. Nor is there any adjustment of sights allowed. You take your gun(s) to the range, put your target out and start firing at a swift, but comfortable pace.

You will have no practice shots or time to adjust your sights when the looters come knocking and you won’t have any here either. Make only line of sight corrections to keep the shots on target. This is your SHTF rifle, it should be sighted in.

You can shoot standing, kneeling, prone or from the bench, it doesn’t matter. But there is a catch: You have to shoot as if you are firing from behind cover.

One of the ranges that Postal Match participant, Merle, shoots at makes shooters fire through a portal in a wall and that is an excellent example of use of cover for this. You can pretend that the bench rest is a window sill or, when firing prone, that a box of ammo in front of your hand is a fence post knocked over during the hurricane. Yes, you can use shooting sticks.

Your results are due by October 3rd. You may email your targets to the address listed in the right hand column. If I do not respond to your email within 24 hours, please send another email without the pics and we’ll work on the problem. Hopefully GMail won’t crap out like my old RNS addy did last month.

Variations:

There is also an “Unknown Gun” class.

Take a friend to the range to shoot this and you switch rifles with him. Think of it as a “The closest gun at hand” scenario or a “Captured Rifle”. Again, no sighter targets.

If you like to include a shotgun as your SHTF gun, go ahead and let the lead fly. You will have your own class as well. #4 shot or larger diameter pellets, please. Targets will be judged by how little of the target is left after five shots.

And there you are, ladies and gentlemen. Have at it.

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Just remember, the duck is not your friend...........

Never Forget.............

Some days are just Strange.....

More or less a nightmare.....

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Today started out looking like it was going to be a really busy day, with some close scheduling, but it looked like everything would fit together OK. Our fishing club had a salmon BBQ and potluck scheduled for lighting the BBQ's at 10:30 am. , fish cooked by 11.00 am., and eat from 11 to 11.45.

Then we had a pin shoot at the CWSA range where the rim fire pin top classes should start after the center fire shooters were done, which was usually about 12:30 or 1pm. at the earliest.

It's a half hour drive from the BBQ to the pin shoot. We'd have to cut it Close, but it was do-able!

We got to the BBQ at 10:30 and helped get the briquettes lit for the BBQ. They didn't want to light. They'd burn a little, then go out. Tried a little more starter fluid. Same thing. Soaked the little so-n-so's in starter fluid, and they would barely burn.

After lots of fooling around with briquettes that acted like they had been soaked in fire-retardant, it was 11:30. One of the guys headed off to his place to get a propane BBQ.

By Noon the propane BBQ had not arrived, and we had barely luke-warm fresh, raw, Alaska salmon. I grabbed a couple of chocolate chip cookies, a piece of cake, KeeWee, and jumped into my Japanese go-kart/automobile and roared off for the pin shoot. Did I mention that I had skipped breakfast, figuring on pigging out at the BBQ? Travelling at something near Mach .088 or therabouts, headed for the pin shoot.

When we pulled into the parking lot, we could see that the pin top shoot was already underway. Bummer! For the first time that anyone can remember, there were so few centerfire shooters that they were done by noon. KeeWee and I had missed the sign-up, and had to watch the optical sight finals from the spectator chairs. Al, who had already won everything in centerfire, also walked away with the optical sight class in convincing manner.

Due to the low turn-out, there were only two signed up for the iron sight class, the two best pin top shooters in the club, Jim and Al. I asked them both if I could shoot too, just to get in a little shooting and expand the class a little bit, and they agreed. WOO HOO! Even though I had missed breakfast, missed out on the BBQ, and missed out on the optical sight rimfire class, I would at least get to shoot at a few pins.

Jim and Al had a battle royal, with a tie table, and then several close tables, but Al managed to squeak by Jim, after the dust had settled.

That put me up against Al, who had won everything in sight all day. And me, stomach grumbling, no warm-up, shooting my iron-sight High Standard. Iron sight, with my eyesight, is always a surprise.

To my absolute amazement, managed to narrowly win the first table! How could that happen? My stomach grumbled in dis-approval.

We moved to the second set of pin tables.

A hush fell across the crowd.

The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.......

Well, actually, not really!

The usual suspects were in the background, hollering wise-cracks, or ignoring us completely!

The buzzer sounded, and Al and I blazed away, with each of us hitting the first four pins almost at the same time. We both shot our fifth pin almost simultaneously!

Fortunately for me, I had hit my last pin slightly sooner, and it reached the ground while Al's final pin was a still couple of inches above it. It was the closest iron sight final all year, as I remember!

So what's with the picture? Well, after the regular pin shoot we decided to do a "fun shoot". Al set up the table as shown in the picture. The rules were simple. You had to shoot all of the pin tops and the shotgun shells off first, then you could shoot the big pins. You get a point for each pin shot off the table. If you knock off a big pin before you've shot off all of the pin tops and shotgun shells, you are disqualified and your score is what you have shot up to that point. Sounds simple, right? It wasn't!

The picture was taken from a bit of an angle, so you can see all the pins. From the shooting station, several of the pin tops were directly in front of the big pins. The big pins are sitting slightly over the back edge of the table, so just touching one would knock it off the table. The pin tops were the ones we'd been shooting up all day, and were full of lead, most of it off-center. When you shot them, you didn't know exactly where they would go! You could try to shoot them a little off-center, and hope they would go a bit to one side or the other, but it was anybody's guess where they might go! Nobody did very well, and no one was able to shoot all of them without knocking over a big pin.

It was all for the fun of it, anyway, so no one really cared...................

National Guard C-130 Pilot Report

This from Jim Partington, National Guard pilot from Hicks Field, Fort Worth


Hi everyone,

I just returned from New Orleans on a hurricane relief mission in the C-130.

Let me just start by saying I was awed. Not in what I saw in destruction and devastation because I had/have already seen enough of that on TV. What really hit me hard was the absolute determination and willingness of all those involved in the relief effort. I just want to quickly tell
you what I was a part of and what I witnessed as it just really filled me with pride and reminded me again why we are such an amazing and successful country.

It started when I showed up for the flight in Nashville. Instead of the flight planning I would normally do (the other pilot did it), I was asked to call all 60 or so of the pilots from the 105th Airlift Squadron (my squadron) and find out their availability to fly hurricane relief missions.

Now, don't forget these are all Air National Guard men and women and most have full time jobs outside of flying for the Guard. Almost without exception, every pilot offered whatever assistance was needed. No surprise.

I then jumped in the airplane and flew directly to New Orleans Int'l, which was and is only open to relief efforts. We had on board with us an aero medical evacuation team. They are a group of highly trained nurses and med techs that are qualified in evacuating wounded and sick soldiers from the battlefield and keeping them alive en route to a medical facility.

One of the many missions of the C-130 is a flying hospital. We can literally set up an intensive care unit in the back if needed. So, with our team of aero meds and flight crew on board, ! we set course for New Orleans with the rough idea that we would transport injured and sick people to Elington Field, Houston, TX. From there we would fly to Alexandria, LA, Charlotte, and then back to Nashville. Our mission ended up evacuating one of the VA hospitals' patients as well as several civilians.

The weather was not great once we neared New Orleans. We made it in and were met by an airport SUV that led us to what is normally an airline passenger gate. The difference was the gates housed medical teams (mainly military that had just arrived) and scores of sick refugees (for lack of better term). We squeezed ourselves into a parking spot perpendicular to a C-141 and next to two C-17's. There were other Air Force planes on the ground as well. By the time we finally left, five other C-130's and another C-17 had joined us.

What happened next just really made my heart swell with pride. From every direction and in about 15 to 45 second intervals, helicopter after helicopter continued to land right next to us. It was a mix of Army Blackhawks, Coast Guard helicopters as well as Marine and Army. They were joined by what must have been 15 "Flight for Life" helicopters from hospitals all around the Southeast. I saw Miami, Arkansas, and many other names painted on the sides. This was not normal operations.

These pilots were practically landing and taxing on top of each other. They came in fully loaded with sick personnel. Many right from the rooftops. One New Orleans Airport fireman took on the duty of aircraft marshaller and marshaled in choppers left and right. The helos would unload and then take right back off. It was not uncommon for a helicopter to be on the ground less than two to three minutes and then blast back off. We were parked in the triage area. These helicopters were immediately met by ground personnel who helped the people off the helos and if they couldn't walk, they put them on a stretcher or just flat carried them.

What makes it so extraordinary is when I realize that these ground personnel were just the airport workers, airline employees, cart drivers, fireman, and then the staff of all the emergency teams. It was amazing. They were not necessarily trained for the jobs they were/are undertaking. They just stepped up to the plate and did it. The tower and ground controllers were coordinating airplanes and helicopters like they had never imagined in their most terrible nightmares and were doing a very good job of it. There were literally so many helicopters coming in and out of the triage area that I do not understand how the tower guy could see through them all to control the planes once they landed. The little baggage trailers and tugs that you normally see zipping around the airport were being used to move survivors out to the airplanes. They can best be described as mini ambulances. The terminals at the airport were triage and staging areas. The airport vehicles that are usually operated by airport managers and security were leading airplanes and helicopters to newly created parking spaces. Then the huge thunderstorm hit to make matters even worse. Thunder, lightening, and driving rain pounded the airport and surrounding area for over 1.5 hours.

The helicopter pilots and crews never stopped. Everyone was so determined and working with such purpose. I literally watched one helicopter bring people in a then leave again for another load four times in the 1.5 hour long torrential rain storm. This pace was not uncommon.

Another thing that exemplified the unselfishness of the rescuers was this one old and worn out red and white helicopter. It looked like something that does heavy lifting for construction up on mountains. Basically, it did not look like one that was designed to carry people and conduct search and rescue. From all I can tell, it was just a privately owned helicopter that the two pilots decided they were going to make work for this. I still remember the pilot in the left seat. He
just had on jeans, tennis shoes and some kind of old shirt. He was a little overweight, but you could just see the determination and purpose on his face as he brought that big helo in run after run after run.

Don't misinterpret what I am describing. The military guys were doing this too, but I did not expect this from some private company or individual. It just was incredible. Absolutely incredible. There is no way the helos should have been flying in this weather. If this was just some regular mission or training flight, you can bet your kids Super Play Station that they would not have been flying. It would have been easier and probably safer to floss a shark's teeth them to have gotten these guys to stop flying.

The same thing went for everyone working to organize and evacuate the sick, hurt, and elderly inside the airport. The process was a little slower than ideal, but it is a massive undertaking not ever encountered by the agencies initially put in charge.

Long story short, the Air Force medical teams got in there and got the ball rolling. As we left, a medical evacuation command post was coming on line, which will significantly speed up the process of bringing people into the airport and them putting them on planes to fly out.

Another one of our Nashville C-130's was on the ground with us. They received their patients first. Once they could not physically fit any more on their plane, they left and we took they next group. Our aero med team and flight crew just started helping the people who could barely walk onto the plane and assisted in the loading of stretchers.

Back to selflessness, we were also joined by two doctors who had been assisting in all the relief efforts at Tulane Hospital. They decided to go on the flight with us. One was an MD in his 7th year of surgery residency and the other was an MD who worked full time at Tulane hospital. They had been working nonstop since the hurricane. Another resident MD told me how after the hurricane hit he had to go home and get some sleep. He awoke to rising water at his place, so he got in his kayak and paddled down the street, past looting, which he said was very unnerving, and into Tulane hospital where he has been working ever since. The great American spirit is indeed alive and well.

We ended up taking 20 patients on litters (military for stretcher) and 31 people (not healthy at all) that could sit up for a total of 51 to Elington Field, TX. We arrived there and were met by what can only be described as an eye watering reception. We called the field 20 minutes out and let them know we would be landing shortly and passed on our patient information.

Well, let me tell you something. As we taxied in I looked towards our parking spot and I must have counted 30 ambulances and a line of hospital workers/volunteers with wheelchairs at the ready lined up 50 deep. There was another equally long line of paramedics with gurneys.

These people had it together. We shut down engines and then watched as Elington's smooth operation kicked into gear. The sickest of the sick were rushed to hospitals. Everyone else was given food, cold drinks, seen by a social worker, doctor, and other specialists. Then, one of the head NASA people there gave me his car to go to Jack in the Box to get food for the crew. Incredible!

By this time we were running out of our 16 hour crew day and we still had two more stops. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to it all as we had to head right back to Nashville, but another crew picked up the mission. I will be doing missions similar to this one tomorrow (Fri) and Saturday. Our Guard Base (TN Air National Guard) is flying six of our eight or nine airplanes out tomorrow in direct support of rescue operations. We plan on doing this for the foreseeable future.

Overall, I cannot do justice to all the good I saw today just by writing. I wanted to try though. Basically, the operation set up down there at the New Orleans Airport is one eerily similar to that of Baghdad Int'l airport when I was there for over eight months. Just a hive of activity with people pushing their bodies and aircraft to the max. No one complains, they just get the job done and worry about the rest later. Every citizen of this country should be so proud of what their fellow citizens are doing for each other. The pressure they are working under knowing these sick and stranded people do not have time on their side is unexplainable. Our country is one of great strength and determination. It is evident in all the rescue and relief efforts that are taking place down there. If the hard work and pure grit of all the rescue and medical personnel I witnessed today are of any indication of the eventual outcome of this indescribable tragedy, then we are on the absolute fast track to victory.

I just want to add one more thing. I did not write this all out to highlight myself. In fact it is quite the contrary. I want all of you to know the efforts that are being made from the individual level to the highest level of government. Nothing is being held back. I just happen to fly an airplane from one field to another and am very happy to do it.

Please say some extra prayers for all of those suffering due to hurricane Katrina and for all of those working to save lives and rebuild a city.

Talk to ya'll soon and have a great day.

Thanks to Chuck for this story

Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem - Down?

Does anybody have any info on what's going on with the TTLB ecosystem? Nothing seems to have changed in about a week, or thereabouts.

I heard somewhere that N.Z. Bear, the proprietor, was doing some heavy lifting in the Katrina relief effort, but beyond that I haven't heard a thing.

Any of you know what's going on there?

Emails to Buzz - came back?

If any of you have sent an email of support to Sgt. Buzz Robertson, and it came back as account closed or anything like that, please note that the correct email address is

woundedwarriers@yahoo.com

Note the spelling of "warriers" ending in "IERS" rather than the more common "IORS".

We will see if we can set up a second account so both spellings will work.

If your email to Buzz came back, please re-send it to the above address.

Thanks!

Carnival of Cordite - Double Edition is UP

Here's what you've all been waiting for!

For this week's Carnival of Cordite CLICK HERE

So much for getting anything done for the next few hours.........