It's Mr. Completely's 2nd. Blogiversary ! !

Well, actually, it was on the 14th., but I got busy with other stuff and totally forgot to tell anyone! You all can help me celebrate by heading out to the range and getting in some shooting, no better way to celebrate than that, eh?

Did I buy a a "Blogger Buy a Gun Anniversary" (BBAGA) gun? Of course I did! It's a rather well used Charles Daly 1911.

Yesterday the UPS truck delivered a new hammer strut, Disconnector, main spring, and four Chip McCormick 10 round stainless magazines. I'll have a review and range report up on it once I get it all sorted out.

e-Mail From a Fan.......

Just got some fan mail:

i saw you profile online i think you are a hot guy i would love to get to know you better you are a great guy when you get some time please hit me up on msn messneger at xxxxxxxx@hotmail.com or if you have yahoo i am xxxxxxxx@yahoo.com we can hookup and have a great time

Sorry, but I'm spoken for...........

Falling Plate Rack Details

A blog reader sent me an email asking about how our rimfire falling plate racks were made. After the falling plate match on Saturday I took a few pictures.

Shooter's view of the plate rack.

We C-Clamp the plate racks to the steel tables that we use for pin shooting. If you don't have pin tables, some heavy duty tables or saw horses made out of angle iron will have to be built. They have to heavy enough so that when you pull the rope to re-set the plates you don't pull the table over.

The "No Pull Rope" end view.

The plates can be moved from one position to another by pulling out the hairpin clip and sliding the pivot pin to the side. Then the plate can be lifted out and moved to another position. The big plates are 6" in diameter, and the smaller stop plate is 4" in diameter. Since we only shoot rimfire at these plates, they are only 1/4" thick steel.

The pull rope end.

We have four racks, two with the pull rope on the left end, and two with the pull rope on the right end. We have snaps to go on the end of the pull ropes, but they aren't installed yet. Big ugly knots do the job for now.

One last modification was to weld a small piece of angle iron to the very rear of the flat bar pieces to hook over the rear edge of the table. We found that the racks would work loose and creep forward when the rope was pulled, but this ended that problem.

Hope this helps other clubs to build their own plate racks.

e-Postal Match "Golf" Results

The e-Postal match "Golf" fiendishly designed by Azreel, has now come to a close, and the results are now posted over at Free Spirit Mind. This was a very challenging target, as it LOOKED a whole lot easier than it actually was. Apparently a number of shooters got so frustrated that they didn't even send in their entries, thinking that they had done so poorly, when, in fact, their scores were at or near the top of their classes.

One of the challenges of matches like these is dealing with the distractions of penalty areas and other stuff on the target next to where you are trying to shoot. Human nature is to get distracted, get frustrated, lose your concentration, and rush your shots.

Next month's e-Postal match will be hosted by Sailor Curt at a Captain of a Crew of One. I've seen a preliminary draft next month's rules, but I haven't seen the target yet. It looks like it will be a completely different sort of e-Postal match and it will be testing your skills in some other areas of shooting proficiency. He should have the announcement for the new match posted soon, and I'll get a post and link up to it as soon as it's up.

Thanks to all the e-Postal match hosts and shooters for their participation. The next match will be underway shortly!

Red Dot Sights - How They Work

Encyclopedia of Bullseye Pistol's website has an excellent article explaining how red dot sights work, dispelling some common misconceptions about them, and discussing some of their shortcomings. This article is definitely worth reading in order to get a better understanding of these devices.

A while back I did a post on red dot sights covering some of the same topics, and touching on some others. You might want to give this post a reading too.....

CWSA Pin Range Work Party

Last Saturday we had a work party at the Central Whidbey Sportsman's Association range to tear down and rebuild the roof over the pin tables. The 2x6's and plywood were getting to be in poor condition and it wasn't going to be too long until the whole thing collapsed.

Here's how it looked a few weeks ago.

I don't have any pictures of the first part of the work party as KeeWee, who took these pictures, was in Oak Harbor shopping.

The first part of the project was to dismantle the old roof. The 2x6's across the front all needed to be replaced with new ones to hold the front of the roof.

After the old roof was removed, we dug back into the berm and created a shelf, of sorts. Once the shelf was dug, we man-handled railroad ties up the berm and put them onto the shelf to be the new supports for the rear of the roof.

Al, Randy, Chris, and Jim working, with Tom, Mike, Mr. C., and John supervising.

With the ties in place and secured with sections of rebar driven into the berm, we were then ready to place the channel and angle iron "Roof Beams" in place.

The 3/4" plywood was ready to go on, once the iron work was ready.

Jim, Mike, And Lou putting steel in place.

Once a piece of steel was in place, it was driven into the berm with a sledge hammer, then bolted into the railroad tie.

Time to put a sheet of plywood in place.

Mike, Mr. C., Jim, and Randy lifting a sheet of plywood up to the roof. Those sheets are heavy! Fortunately there was no wind blowing.....

Almost there!

The plywood sheets were deck screwed down so the wind won't blow them off. That also makes it a whole lot easier to get them off to replace them in the future.

Some of the last steel goes into place.

The final sheet of plywood goes into place.

Chris and Randy cutting off the excess steel with the Sawzall.

Once everything was in place and screwed down securely, all that remained was to cut off the excess steel. Chris, Jim, and Randy took turns sawing, as it took a while to get everything sawed off. We didn't happen to have a cutting torch on hand.

We started at 10am., and we were cleaning up and putting everything away in early afternoon. The new roof should hold up for many years with only minor maintenance. The old wood went onto the burn pile right behind the pin range, and the next day at the falling plate match the big bonfire was really welcome, as the nice weather we had for the work party had disappeared and it was rainy and cold for the plate shoot.

Thanks to all the guys who turned out to get the roof replaced. With all your help and expertise it was finished in no time, and it sure looks a whole lot better than it did!

Thanks, guys!!

Happy Birthday, Manfred!

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday, dear Manfred,
Happy birthday to you!

Go wish Manfred of Armes Et Tir Passion, our French gun blogger friend, a Happy Birthday. He picked up a Mauser for his birthday present too, Pic's on his blog.

Memorial Day Weekend

The big Memorial day three day weekend this weekend! Lots to do, got a major work party at the CWSA range tomorrow, a steel challenge match on Sunday, e-Postal targets to shoot on Monday (Gotta get 'em sent in by Monday night!). Got a bunch of reloading to do. Some of you will be firing up the BBQ, maybe getting together with friends..........

That's all well and good, but let's not forget what this holiday is all about. Let's not allow Memorial day to get lost in the hustle and bustle of other activities. When you sit down to a big Memorial day dinner, when you bite into that big juicy burger fresh off the grill, reflect for a minute on the men and women who have given their lives so that we could have the freedoms that we currently enjoy. Think about setting an extra plate and an empty chair at the dinner table as a reminder of the people who have paid the ultimate price to secure our freedoms.

Whatever else you do this weekend, never lose focus on what the Memorial day holiday is all about.

Never Forget.......

STOL Competition - Valdez, AK.

This is pretty darn amazing! For those of you not familiar with the term "STOL", it stands for "Short Takeoff And Landing" . There was a competition for bush pilots and local fliers in the Valdez, Alaska area, and here's a short video of an absolutely amazing take off. The landing is also something to see. Note the giant tires to allow landing on really rough or soft ground.

Stolen Post From JimmyB

The following post is so well done that I decided that just linking to it wasn't enough, so I stole it completely! All credit to JimmyB, The Conservative UAW Guy.

Coincidence?

Places where you DON'T see mass-shootings:

Police stations

Gun shows

NRA conventions

Shooting ranges

Gun Bloggers' Rendezvous

My house

Possible common thread -
Electricity? Oxygen? High levels of self-esteem and a sense of validation? Faith in an all-powerful government?

Hey wait! Maybe it's the presence of armed people who are knowledgeable about, and willing to use, firearms!!!

But that can't be right, because liberals tell me that guns CAUSE violence...

Hmmmmm. Back to the drawing-board.

Great post, JimmyB!! Point well made.......

e-Postal Match Closing Extended One Week ! !

To allow even more of you to get a chance to get your entries in for this month's e-Postal match "Golf", the deadline to submit entries has been extended one week, to

midnight
Monday
May 28th.

That means you can get to the range this Memorial Day weekend and shoot some entries.

If you have a high score, Don't be discouraged! Send it in anyway. This is a target that LOOKS easy, but it is very difficult to get a low score. Azreel tells me that one shooter actually ran out of ammunition trying to hit all of the holes. Shoot the best you can, send it in, and most of all, have fun with it!

You can get all the information and download the targets from Azreel at Free Spirit Mind.

So what are you waiting for?

DO IT!

e-Postal Handgun Match Closes Tonight ! ! !

Just a reminder to get those targets sent in for this month's e-Postal handgun match "Golf". Tonight at midnight is the deadline, so get 'em in to Azreel ASAP! I don't think he specified which time zone, though, so you probably have a few hours or so of slack.

If you can get to the range sometime today, take along some targets and shoot an entry or so. Don't be discouraged if you don't have a really good score and not send in your entry. This is a very difficult target and fairly high scores are to be expected.

For the rules and to download targets, go HERE!

Have fun!

Shooting Quote of the Unspecified Temporal Interval *

In a previous post I mentioned having your handgun go into "Magic Mode" in competition, where everything sort of goes on auto-pilot and you almost feel like a spectator, watching the match through your sight. I came across this quotation on The Encyclopedia of Bullseye Pistol's website that describes the phenomonon:

"The truly great shooters pay little or no attention at all to their competition, or anything else for that matter. For them, the contest takes place inside their head. The real struggle is to get in the zone. When they find it, the rest just seems to happen. It's as if the world around them melts, the distractions disappear and the universe is reduced to the few simple elements of eyes, hands, gun and target."

- Gabby Hulgan (1996 NSSA World Skeet Champion)

Title 'borrowed' and modified from Engineering Johnson.
Thanks to Manfred for reminding me of the website.

CWSA Bowling Pin Shoot -- 05/19/2007

Back from the pin shoot, and it was quite a day. The weather looked kind of threatening on the way to the match, rain and wind, but as the day progressed it got better and better, and was downright pleasant when we wrapped it all up for the day.

Being a glutton for punishment, I decided to shoot every class, and even entered two guns in rimfire optical class. That ought to keep me busy for the day, and boy, did it ever! I didn't even have time to take any pictures, so you will just have to use your imagination! KeeWee was far more sensible, and only entered the High Standard .22 Sharpshooter in rimfire optical class. To make it even more fun, since we had a fairly small turnout, we decided to make it 3 out of 5, instead of the usual 2 out of 3.

The whole day was a blur, and it went by really quickly.

First class up was centerfire optical, and I ended up facing 'Evil Al' in the first round shooting my Taurus PT92 Econo Race Gun Project gun. (See links on its construction in the sidebar). I'm finally learning to shoot it, and managed to make it past Al into the second round, much to my surprise. Al usually kicks my butt big time! Little did I realize that Al and I were going to meet up several times before the day was over. As I said before, much of the day was a blur, but I do remember that I ended up against Rainy (Mrs. Al) in the final. It was way too close for comfort, but I managed to take the class.

Last week I picked up a used Charles Daly 1911 .45 as a project gun, and got a chance to shoot it for the first time in a match in the iron sight centerfire class. LouG loaned me some ammo and a couple of magazines so I could give it a try. It still needs a little work, but it performed well, and Chris and I had some close tables. Great fun!

Next up was revolver class, and thanks to qualifying times, there was Al again facing me in the first round. Al made mincemeat of me, and I was never even close. I usually figure if I can just make Al sweat a little bit even if he wins, I've done OK. Didn't manage at all........

After revolver we went into big bore revolver. The final boiled down to LouG AKA Mad Gun, shooting a .44 Magnum S&W and I was shooting my Ruger Super Red Hawk .480. I just wasn't having much of a day with the revolvers, as Lou made it look pretty easy. I got him last time, he got me this time, next time???

One comment I heard several times, though ,was just how much fun the big bore revolver class was to shoot. Since you only get six shots for the five pins, accuracy becomes much more important than raw speed and quick reloads, as in the regular revolver class.

Hang in there, only two classes to go! After having just shot a bunch of rounds through the .480, then picking up a .22, it was quite a change. Jim, Phil, and I had some fun tables in rimfire iron sight, and Phil and I swapped back and forth several times taking turns winning a table. It's great fun when the matches are really close like that.

The last match of the day was rimfire optical, and we had a fairly good number of entries. Al and I had the two fastest qualifying times, so here we go again in the first round. Al and his Smith & Wesson Model 41 are REALLY tough in this class, but my High Standard went into "Magic" mode", and it almost seemed like it did all the work by itself. Every time the little red dot was on a pin top the High Standard fired, almost as if it was on automatic pilot or something. We shot several very close tables, but this time I managed to move on to the next round. KeeWee had timed in either third or fourth, so she ended up against Rainy in the first round. The two of them are very evenly matched, but this time KeeWee was retired from the match, and Rainy advanced to the next round.

I sort of lost track of the next rounds, but eventually I ended up in the final against Rainy. We shot several very close tables, and our last table I think we were both out of gas, as neither of us seemed to be able to hit a dang thing! By luck and a lucky roll, more than anything else, I won the deciding table by about a half a pin, which isn't much! Rainy is turning into a really good shooter..........

We all had a great time, and there were lots of really close matches, but by the end of the day I was truly tuckered out. After sweeping up the rimfire brass, we loaded up the van and headed home, at least, that was the plan, but the battery was dead and it wouldn't start. Apparently the rear door wasn't fully down and latched all day and the two cargo lights and the interior lights ran the battery flat. (I need to wire in a cutout switch to keep that from happening again!).

Fortunately it fired right up with a jump, and off we went.

Hope your Saturday was as much fun as ours!

CWSA Bowling Pin Shoot Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Saturday May 19th., the Central Whidbey Sportsman's Association is hosting another handgun bowling pin shoots at the CWSA range in Coupeville, Wa. Starting time is 9am., so don't be late!

Shooting head to head matches using full sized bowling pins, there will be classes for centerfire revolvers, optic and iron sighted centerfire handguns, and big bore revolvers. Shooting pin tops, we will have iron sight and optical sight rimfire handgun classes. The next scheduled pin shoot at CWSA is not until June 30th., so you don't want to miss this one!

Sears & Roebuck J. C. Higgins Model 88 Revolver

Hey, you can read gun reviews on the latest tactical plasti-blaster 9000 just about anywhere, but here you get the exclusive stuff that you won't find anywhere else! When was the last time you saw a gun review on anything from J. C. Higgins, eh?

The J. C. Higgins model 88 revolver, in .22 long rifle, was manufactured by High Standard, and sold through the Sears & Roebuck catalog. (Boy, have firearms laws changed!) I think I can safely say it was not a pinnacle of hand gun achievement. Not really bad, but not too great, either!

The basic spec's sound pretty good, sort of a poor man's K-22. The barrel is long enough for some reasonable sight radius and accuracy. Holding 9 rounds makes plinking a lot of fun. That is, if you shoot it single action. Double action is another story. After lightening the hammer strut spring and polishing a number of the moving parts, I was able to get the double action trigger pull down to approximately 15 pounds! Stock, you could sprain your trigger finger!

Another problem on this particular one was that the hammer mounted firing pin would not travel far enough forward to get a solid hit on the rim of the cartridge, even with the full strength hammer spring. It was kinda adjustable by bending the hammer strut, and after a number of tries I got it so it would fire every time, but you have to pull the hammer back very slightly to swing out the cylinder. I would definitely not carry this pistol loaded with a round under the hammer. It does have a transfer bar of sorts, but I don't think I'd trust it.

J. C. Higgins Model 88 Revolver

Swinging out the cylinder is awkward, as the cylinder is released by pulling forward the rod on which the cylinder rotates. About all I can say is that it works.

This is the other side, but I guess you already figured that out.
It's sorta traditional that pictures have captions, though......

The finish, (chrome, nickel?), at least it's not galvanized. It makes it look kinda like an anemic pimp's target revolver. It does grow on you, and the black cylinder is an interesting touch. Is that original, don't know. High Standard did sell a very similar model under their own name, so the cylinder may have been swapped out sometime in the past.

Look Maude! It's a "Nine Shooter" !

How does it shoot? Not nearly as well as I had expected considering the barrel length and condition. I suspect that it shoots in a different spot from every chamber. From a bench rest some shots would go exactly where I aimed, and others would be off by over an inch at only 25 feet. Shooting it single action the trigger, after only a little work, is not bad at all. I managed to complete this month's e-Postal Handgun match "Golf" with it, and even though my score was nowhere close to what I shot with a High Standard semi-auto .22, it wasn't too embarrassing, either!

If you want to plink at large targets at close range with a .22 revolver, this one is actually kinda fun to shoot. I'm sure these are often sold for under $100 in reasonable condition, and it is fun to watch the facial expressions when someone asks you what you're shooting and you tell them it's a J. C. Higgins!

Silenced H & K Mark 23 Sign

Here's one for you Mark 23 owners out there!

Found this over at Manfred's place, Armes Et Tir Passion.

180 Rule Question

A little Galco 'Holster Pr0n'

I've always wondered a bit about the 180 degree rule and holsters, particularly regarding when drawing from the holster. I've always understood the rule to apply both horizontally and vertically, as if there was an invisible wall or plane, and anytime the muzzle broke that plane you had violated the rule. The exception being when the gun is holstered or cased.

When the shooter draws from a holster such as the one above, as the muzzle comes out of the holster it is usually pointed around 20 degrees to the rear. Isn't that breaking the 180 degree rule?

To me, the situation pictured above looks kinda dangerous, as it's obviously cocked, but the thumb safety can't be seen to determine its position. The grip safety looks functional, but not all semi-autos have grip safeties, and in some cases shooters choose to pin them and rely on the thumb safety only.

I suspect different shooting organisations have somewhat different rules, but is there any standardized interpretation of the rule? I'm sure some of you out there have a much better understanding of this than I do, so that's why I'm throwing the question out for your input!

Happy Blogiversary - South Park Pundit !

Today is Josh, the South Park Pundit's second blogiversary, so why not stop by and leave him a comment of congratulations!

I wonder if he's planning a Blogiversary BBAGA gun purchase?

KRRC Fun Steel Match - 05/12/2007

It was WAY WAY too early, for me, a night person to start with, to drag myself out of bed and try to wake up enough to drive North to the Keystone ferry dock to catch the 7:15am ferry to Port Townsend. To make matters worse, now that tourist season is upon us, you have to be there an hour before departure to be sure you can get on the boat.

Fortunately we had everything ready to go the night before, and all we had to do was throw the gear into the van, pour some coffee into me, and hit the road. It was an easy 30 minute crossing to Port Townsend, then an hour's drive to the KRRC Range, crossing the Hood Canal floating bridge on the way.

LouG, who had planned on travelling with us was unable to go, as he'd had an allergic reaction to some new asthma medicine, combined with some hay fever, and wasn't feeling like doing much besides laying low for the day.

We met up with JohnD, the match director, and went through our shooter's meeting, where range safety and match rules were explained. Turn out was small, but the quality of shooters was apparent, with our squad consisting of JohnD, Dave, Jamie, KeeWee, and myself. Garrett and Daniel, two good shooting military guys joined in at the last minute. John, Dave, and I each entered two classes. I shot my High Standard optical sight .22 in Rimfire Open, and the Taurus 9mm. Econo Race Gun in Centerfire Open. KeeWee shot the High Standard 103 Sharp Shooter with a red dot sight on it.

The two military guys, Garrett and Daniel, had a bet going between them for a steak dinner and drinks at an upscale steak house, so they were both shooting their best!

KeeWee shooting stage 1, with Dave timing and John scoring.

The first stage called for four shots to the white plate, followed by one shot to the black stop plate. There were several sub two second runs. We shot each stage five times, and threw out our slowest run.

John turned in some excellent times. That's Dave running the timer.

Stage three was a more traditional falling plate rack, but you only had to shoot five plates, and rimfire did not have to knock them over.

Shooting to keep from having to buy his buddy a steak dinner!

The next stage was the fastest stage of the day, and possibly the most fun, too! Five shots as fast as you could shoot, into the single plate. Everyone really enjoyed this one!

Jamie seeing just how fast he can pull the trigger!

The next stage was perhaps the hardest of the stages, particularly considering the previous stage was pretty close to "Spray and Pray". Now the targets were MUCH smaller, and laid out so there didn't seem to be a right sequence to shoot them!

Dave blazing away, with John running the timer, and the eventual steak dinner winner watching.

The next stage was a product of John's "evil" mind, with every plate at a slightly different height, and different spacing between each. Not shooting over the top of the last plate was a challenge, to say the least!!

It's a LOT harder than it looks, once you try and hurry it!

The sixth and final stage arrived far to soon, as we were all having a grand time blasting away with great enthusiasm! This time we had five poppers, equally spaced, so you could get a rhythm going and just roll across them quickly. This was a little like shooting bowling pins, and KeeWee rose to the occasion, shooting some very good times.

Dave wraps it up, with Jaimie scoring, and John running the timer.

It seemed like the match went by quickly, but now it was time to give John a hand putting the targets away. The KRRC club has a John Deere flat bed 6x4 rig, and that makes the job ten times easier.

After the match we joined John at a local pub for a cool one and some after-match story telling. Since it was Saturday afternoon and we had a ferry to catch, we didn't have as long as we would have liked to just sit and visit. We climed back into the van for the drive back North up the Kitsap peninsula, across the floating bridge, then North again to Port Townsend and the ferry. I took a short nap waiting for the boat to arrive, then back across Puget Sound to Whidbey Island, and a short drive home.

It had been a long day, but we had a ball!

Dillon to Co-Sponsor The Rendezvous

Dillon Precision, maker of those blue reloading presses (mine's a 550B) has donated a very nice range/Ammo bag to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. One of the lucky attendees will get to take it home from Reno!

A big "Thanks" to Dillon for the donation!

Chevy 789 from N2A

Chevy 789 from N2A

If you don't want one of these, you are probably happy driving your gray Volvo station wagon with a yellow left front fender and Kerry and Free Tibet bumper stickers. In short, you are beyond hope.........

For more info, check it out at Blog Idaho!

e-Postal Match Reminder !

With lots of other things going on it's easy to forget about the current e-Postal match underway over at Freespiritmind . All entries must be received by Midnight on Monday, May 21st., so don't let this one slip past.

There are lots of different classes, and it involves both off-hand and supported shooting modes to give you plenty of challenge. There are no limits to the number of shots you can take, but you have to hit the hole, just like golf. Oh, there are also penalties assessed for hitting sand traps, going out of bounds, and hitting the water hazard, too!

Check it out!!

Shooting at KRRC Tomorrow - WHEEEEE ! ! !

Tomorrow morning at an hour people should still be sound asleep, KeeWee, LouG, and I will be off to the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club for another one of their "Fun Steel" handgun matches.

Kitsap, in no small part because of match Director JohnD, shoots a fun steel match once a month, and remembers that these matches are supposed to be fun. John usually sets up some creative and challenging stages, yet keeps them easy enough that even novice shooters will enjoy themselves. After all, it's your day off, it's not the nationals, you aren't getting paid to be there, you really ARE supposed to be enjoying the day of shooting and the fellowship of other shooters. I feel kinda sorry for some of the folks I see at other matches who are taking the match, and themselves, so seriously that they really aren't enjoying the day at all. What a shame........

If you are in the Western Washington area and would enjoy shooting some steel, come on over to the KRRC range tomorrow, Saturday 5/12/2007, for some fun! It all starts at 9am., and the rules and contact info can be found on the KRRC website.

Hope to see you there!!

GBR-II Who's Going To Be There!

Although next October seems like a long way off, it's time to start making your plans now to attend the 2nd. Annual Gun Blogger rendezvous.

Right off the top, though, I want to clear up a misconception about the Rendezvous. You don't have to be a Gun Blogger, or even a Blogger, for that matter, to attend. If you are a shooting sports enthusiast (gun nut?), if you READ gun blogs or Mil Blogs, or even if you've just wanted to ask for Og's autograph, or to see if JimmyB likes bacon as much as he says, here's your chance!

The Rendezvous is small, informal, and lots of fun. The best part is getting to meet and visit with a really interesting and diverse bunch of folks with a common love and enjoyment of shooting sports and firearms.

Who might you meet there? Here's a partial list of some of the folks planning to attend. If you are planning on attending, please leave a comment and I'll get you added to the list.

Fodder and the Commandress from
Ride Fast & Shoot Straight


Rivrdog


Say Uncle


JimmyB and Mrs JimmyB from
The Conservative UAW Guy


KeeWee of
KeeWee's Corner


LouG from
Mad Gun


US Citizen from
Traction Control


Chris & Mel Byrne of
The Anarchangel


Og, the
Neanderpundit


Kevin of the
Smallest Minority


Dave Durringer from
World Examiner


Mr. Completely of
Mr. Completely


"If I Can Make It I'll be There!" List:

Joe Huffman of
The View from N. Central Idaho
Boomershoot

Retired Geezer AKA 'Doc Peabody' &
Mrs. Geezer from
Blog Idaho

This is just the first listing and there will be more added as I get word. Joe Huffman of The View from N. Central Idaho has been pretty busy putting on the Boomershoot event, but once the gunsmoke, dust and anvils settle and the fireballs dissipate, I suspect I'll be hearing from him. I've also been in communication with a number of other bloggers who are hoping to make it to the Rendezvous, too. If you are going to try to make it, but aren't sure, let me know and I'll put you on the "If I Can Make It I'll be There!" list.

Hope YOU can be there, too!!

Wren Nest Update

How many wrens do YOU see? (Click to make it bigger!)

In a couple of previous posts I've been following the progress in a wren's nest in a cardboard box leaning against the garbage can in our carport. I was concerned at first that I might have disturbed the nest when I moved a couple of boxes, not knowing the nest was there. I carefully put everything back as close to how it was, and crossed my fingers that momma wren would return. The nest looked like it had around seven little pinkish white eggs in it. I checked it a few days later and momma was sitting on the eggs, so everything was OK. A couple of weeks later I got a picture of the nest with the just hatched chicks. Today I went out and took another picture, and you can see how they have grown. It looks like just about all the eggs hatched. In the picture above I think I can identify six little wrens. It probably won't be long now until they take to the air. Do wrens eat mosquitoes?

Sure hope so........

Cat Joke.......

A man absolutely hated his wife's cat and decided to get rid of him one day by driving him 20 blocks from his home and leaving him at the park.

As he was getting home, the cat was walking up the driveway.

The next day he decided to drive the cat 40 blocks away. He put the beast out and headed home.

Driving back up his driveway, there was the cat!

He kept taking the cat further and further and the cat would always beat him home. At last he decided to drive a few miles away, turn right, then left, past the bridge, then right again and another right until he reached what he thought was a safe distance from his home and left the cat there.

Hours later the man calls home to his wife: "Jen, is the cat there?"

"Yes," the wife answers, "why do you ask?"

Frustrated, the man answered, "Put that son of a ***** on the phone, I'm lost! And need directions!"

Hat tip to Ucawho for the story.....

President Elect Sarkozy - Congratulations!

Congratulations to newly-elected French President Sarkozy. We wish him good luck and hope he can resolve some of the current problems facing France.

The fact that the Socialist candidate lost has got to be a good start, I'd think.

His campaign promises of cutting taxes, more jobs, and moving people from welfare roles to jobs sound like he's heading in the right direction. Let's hope he can make it happen.......

CWSA Bowling Pin Shoot - 05/05/2007

It seems like it's been a long time since a pin shoot, but actually it was only a few weeks ago. I guess it's all the other matches in between that makes it seem that way. I DO know that shooting speed steel and falling plate matches really ruins you for matches where you have to slow down a bit and hit smaller targets, or in the case of pin tops, REALLY smaller targets!

Being a glutton for punishment, I decided to enter five of the six classes, and in the case of Rimfire Optic sight, I entered two guns. I was in for a busy day!

Timing in started with Centerfire Optic Sight, the one class I wasn't shooting. Next up was Centerfire Optic, where I was shooting my 9mm. Taurus PT92 'Econo' Race Gun. I had a couple of good table times, one terrible time, and a particularly good one for me, a 3.6 second run. The range record is 2.47 seconds, so my time was not particularly fast, just fast for me! Evil Al was just cruisin' though, and I actually had slightly better time than he did, which put me against him in the first round.

Revolver Optic went fairly well, too, with my time right behind Al. Once again I would get to meet him in the first round. Oh, Joy! I was trying to shoot way too fast in big bore revolver qualifying, and didn't post very good times at all.

Once the qualifying was over for the centerfire classes, we were ready to get into the matches themselves. I was busy making sure everything was ready and staged for the classes I was shooting, so I didn't get a chance to watch the Centerfire Iron Sight class. Since I had turned in the fast time for Centerfire Optic class, I would be in the first match up, and against Evil Al to boot! It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I was going to get smoked, so I had nothing to lose. It was a very long day and I don't remember for sure, but I think I actually beat him on one table and tied him on one. Then he clobbered me big time two in a row, and I was eliminated from the Centerfire Optic class for the day. Revolver class went just about the same, with me meeting Al in the first round. This time, however, he only needed two tables to retire me from the class.........

LouG and Dean in Big Bore Revolver class, with Rainy running the round.

Big bore revolver class was a lot closer. Since this is a brand new class a lot of shooters are watching it to see if it looks like something they may want to enter in the future. By now a number of the pins were a bit the worse for wear, and seemed to have gained some weight, but we didn't care. We had four big bore shooters, and we had a number of really close matches. I ended up in the final against "Mad Gun" LouG, and it was pretty close, but I managed to sneak by for the win. Next match he vows to have the red dot sight mounted on his 44 Magnum, and then "I better watch out!" He's right, too!!

Once the dust had settled from the big bore revolvers, it was time to get into qualifying for the rimfire classes with the bowling pin tops. In Rimfire Optic class I entered two guns, my Volquartzen barreled High Standard, and a Smith & Wesson model 422. I narrowly had top time with the High Standard, but there was Al right behind! LouG was third, KeeWee was fourth, and I was fifth with the S&W, followed by Rainy (Mrs. AL) in sixth. A number of other shooters filled out the list.

It seemed like every time I went to the line today to shoot, there Was Al. At the last pin shoot Al thumped me pretty good, beating me two tables straight on his way to winning it all, but this time, I hoped, I could turn the tables! Al shot a little faster, but I shot a little more accurately, and took two tables in a row to advance to the next round. Some days the bear gets you, and some days you get the bear!

Last shoot KeeWee beat LouG two straight, but this time it was the other way around, with Lou taking two straight.

Mr. C. demonstrates the "Taco Grip" technique shooting one of the close tables against Rainy.

Then I came up against Rainy with my S&W 422, and that proved to be the absolute best match of the day. It was the first time at CWSA that I have ever seen three tie tables! I won the first one, we tied the second, she won the third, we tied the fourth, tied again on the fifth, and I finally won the sixth and last table. WHEW! The other club members threatened that if we shot one more tie table we would have to set our own pins, as they were getting tired of setting up pins for us! I had made the final round with the 422! Some days you get some "Lucky Rolls" of the pins, and today they were rolling off the table for me.

Then I came up against Lou with my High Standard, and managed to move it into the final too. Final standings showed me in first and second, with Lou third. It was a great deal of fun, and the match with Rainy was a highlight of the day!

Rimfire Iron Sight class was also very closely contested with a number of near-even tables. By using a lot of luck I managed to come away with the win, but not by much!

What a day! Lots and lots of really close matches, and the pins were rolling my way to boot! We all had a grand time, and weekend after next we get to do it again. I guess I better get to reloading!!

After the match I drove straight home and took a nap...............

Life is good!!

I Can't Remember Where My Memory went.......

Hat tip to MaryS for this one......

Bring Back The Rotary Phone

Found at Roger's place.....

WINCHESTER .22 AMMO RECALL

Jeff at Alphecca and Fodder at Ride Fast - Shoot Straight have both posted on this, and I encourage all of you gun bloggers also get a post up on it.

Winchester has apparently put double charges in some of their .22 ammunition. This could be very dangerous. Here's the whole story:

Olin Corporation, through its Winchester Division, is recalling several lots of its WILDCAT® 22 (Symbol Number WW22LR) and XPERT® 22 (Symbol Number XPERT22) 22 Long Rifle rimfire ammunition.

Lot Numbers containing Letters: XN, YA, YB or YC

Through extensive evaluation Winchester has determined the above lots of WILDCAT® 22 and XPERT® 22 ammunition may contain double powder charges. Double powder charge weight ammunition may cause firearm damage, rendering the firearm inoperable, and subject the shooter to a risk of personal injury and/or death when fired.

DO NOT USE WINCHESTER® WILDCAT® 22 RIMFIRE AMMUNITION WITH LOT NUMBERS CONTAINING LETTERS XN, YA, YB or YC. The ammunition Lot Number is imprinted (stamped without ink) on the outside of the right tuck flap of the 50-round box. . .

Hope the word get out and all of this gets returned and replaced.

Pin Shootin' Today at CWSA

KeeWee and I are off to the CWSA range this morning for a fresh dose of pin shooting. I'll have a full report tonight sometime......

Get out to the range and empty some brass! Mr. C. says so!

Gun Blogger Rendezvous News

I've been working away lining things up for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous coming up in early October, and I've got some good news. It looks like we will have a couple of new big name sponsors on board this year. I haven't gotten final confirmation, but over the phone it sounds like they are going to sponsor. I won't give out the names until it's confirmed, but one of the companies likes the color blue a lot, but don't "press" me for any more hints!! (A master of subtlety, that's me!).

I talked to one of the head cowboy action shooting honcho's in Reno a day or so ago, and on Sunday, October 14th there will be a full cowboy action match at the Pyramid valley range. He is going to check to see if they could have one of the stages set up on Saturday, the day before, and have a few of their club members there to give us a demo of cowboy action shooting, and also let us all shoot a stage or so to see what it's all about. This would be in addition to our regular Saturday range sessions! It might just be worth the trip to see Rivrdog in a cowboy hat!!

If you are planning on attending the Rendezvous, you should contact the Circus Circus and get your room reservations in fairly soon. Don't wait until the very last minute!!

I will have the information on how to register for the Rendezvous itself posted soon.

Boomershoot Videos

For those of you who enjoy big explosions, fireballs, and loud noises, head on over to Phils' place, Random Nuclear Strikes, for some great videos from Boomershoot. I can't decide which one I like best, the Anvil Launch or the opening fireball.

Check it out, it's very cool.....

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If you gotta see an error message, at least let it bring a smile to your face!!

Busy Week!

Between work, getting ready for(and recovering after!) handgun matches, and pushing ahead with the Gun Blogger Rendezvous planning, I haven't had a lot of time for blogging. I've even been falling behind on reading my favorite blogs.

Yesterday evening I spent some time at the CWSA range on a work party. We picked up a bunch of rocks and miscellaneous stuff from the new berms on the 75 yard range. "Evil AL", LouG, another fellow I've never met, and I in less than two hours made quite a difference to the appearance of the berms. Do you belong to a gun club with an outdoor range? Do you participate when the club has work parties? You don't think the work gets done by itself, do you???

I got a chance to spend some time at an indoor range today with a new shooter, getting him "Dialed in" for a fun steel match Weekend after next. I reworked and blueprinted a pair of S&W model 22A's for him and for his son, and he shot the better part of a brick of cheap Federal bulk pack hollow points without a single mis-feed.

After that I loaded up another 50 rounds of .480 Ruger for Saturday's pin shoot. I had loaded up another 100 rounds of 9mm. the day before, also for the same shoot. Two days ago I fitted a new extractor to my High Standard race gun, and rebuilt and re-tuned one of the magazines with a new spring and follower. It now seems to be working as it should.

Tomorrow night I'm speaking at our local fishing club about walleye and perch fishing, since we are having a club weekend outing in early June to Banks Lake in Eastern Washington. Friday night KeeWee and I and another couple are heading over to Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun club for the once a month prime rib dinner. YUM!

Saturday morning bright and early we're off to Coupeville and the CWSA range for a bowling pin shoot. Sunday nothing is scheduled, which is a good thing!

Got some more good news pending regarding the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, but I'm awaiting confirmation before saying anything............

Stay tuned!

Reaction Time Trainer & Tester

Reaction Time Tester

Here's an interesting one to fool around with. I've seen similar before, but they were usually surrounded with advertising. This one isn't! It's a simple test. When the red dot changes color, click on it with your mouse, and it will display your reaction time. It will run four tries, and then display your average reaction time. I managed a .198 second average with a .188 fastest time, on my first try. I tried it with my left hand, being left handed, but the best I could do was around .254 seconds. I attribute that to the right hand clicking the mouse buttons all the time.

How fast can you react?

Hat tip to DAMIPHINO for the link!