Saturday, June 30, 2007

I Haven't Disappeared .....

I've been so doggone busy the last few days I haven't had time to get much done on the blog. I also lost a very close friend somewhat unexpectedly to lung cancer. He had seemed Ok several months ago, but got hit really hard by the cancer and it was a short fight. He and I had been nearly in, or just barely out of trouble together since high school. Rest peacefully Jay, you will be missed.

KeeWee and I went to the CWSA range today for a bowling pin shoot, and being as I need a LOT of practice, I shot every single class. The whole day was a blur, loading magazines, going back and forth to the line, shooting, back to reloading, quick slurp of coffee, and so on.


Centerfire Iron sight class, Mr. C.'s a little behind already, but Larry's first pin is on it's side. Not a good thing!


Larry now has two pins on their sides. I've got one pin left. I got it with the next shot.

A couple of the highlights from the match:

That .480 Ruger sure is fun to shoot when you tone down the load a bit and use heavy bullets. It does very little actual damage to the pin, but it sure does send it flying! The final in the big bore revolver class ended up with Lou G. and I head to head. Two matches back I managed to get past him, last match he got me, and this time I managed to get him. Very close - great fun!! The sound of two big bores going at it is a very cool sound indeed!

KeeWee was shooting well today, and her "Why Yes - I DO Shoot Like a Girl" shirt was a big hit. There have been some really close matches between KeeWee and Rainy all year, and today was no exception. If I remember correctly, three matches back KeeWee won, the last two matches Rainy won, and today KeeWee shot well and retired Rainy for the day. The two of us ended up in the final for the rimfire optical class. I won the first table, and the second table was very close, with both of us missing several times, trying to shoot too fast. I prevailed, just barely, and my magazine was empty, so it easily could have gone either way. Again, very close - great fun!!

Tomorrow I'm headed back to CWSA for a Steel Challenge match, and KeeWee is going to spend some time in the garden...............

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Thursday, June 28, 2007

Mini Gun ?

Really tiny blank firing 'Mini-Pistol'


That's a .45 ACP casing for size comparison.

You've all seen those videos of various mini-guns being fired from helicopters and so forth, but here's a little different mini-gun. I got it sometime in the late 1950's, along with a couple of packages of ammunition. There's no name on it, and "Japan" is stamped on it's side.

The cartridges for it are very tiny copper cylinders with a tiny wire sticking out the side. When you put the round into the chamber, the firing pin wire points straight up through a small slot on the top of the chamber. The hammer is then pulled back to cock it, and pulling the tiny trigger drops the hammer, which hits the detonator pin, firing the round. The barrel is not bored to the muzzle, and there is a outlet port on the bottom of the barrel for the hot gases to exit. The report was amazingly loud, louder than a .22 rifle, as I remember. You could also get a good burn on your finger if you hat in near the exhaust port under the barrel.

Does anyone know any more about this little blank pistol? Is there a source for ammunition out there?

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

e-Postal Match "Reload Drill" Results

Sailor Curt at Captain of a Crew of One has the results posted HERE. It was a fun and very challenging match that brought into focus some things that I need to work on, particularly my magazine changing skills. None of the matches I shoot require quick reloads, so I don't practice reloads, but I can see that I should, particularly with carry guns......

Thanks to Curt for doing a fantastic job on the match. The next match, to be announced in the next few days, will be hosted by JimmyB, The Conservative UAW Guy, who, although otherwise mild manored and pleasant, turns decidedly evil when given the chance to design and host an e-Postal match.......

Can't wait to see what he comes up with!

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Not A Revolver?

At last Sunday's CWSA STeel Challenge match an "Unidentified" revolver shooter (he looks kinda familiar, though) was seen after the match trying out one of those new-fangled "gizmo Guns", and the camera just happened to capture the moment for posterity.

After firing six rounds, he gave up on the new gun as he was unable to find the cylinder release button so he could swing the cylinder out to reload......

I could be wrong, but could this be the same shooter who regularly refers to semi-autos as "Bottom feeders" ?


Actually, all was in good fun, and that's our own "Evil Al" shooting LouG.'s brand new 9mm. EAA Tanfoglio race gun. That's Rainy in the foreground, and Lou looking on......

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.... beware the grass roots!

Found at Curmudgeonly and Skeptical

Monday, June 25, 2007

My Kinda Grill !

I don't care if it's ostentatious and impractical, I WANT ONE.......

Found at Dave Smock's place!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

CWSA Rimfire Falling Plates 06/23/07

Brandy and KeeWee. KeeWee takes no prisoners......

Saturday morning KeeWee and I headed North to the Central Whidbey Sportsman's range for the Rimfire Falling Plate match. The weather was looking pretty good, with a few clouds and blue sky peeking through in spots. Rimfire falling plate matches are fast and furious, and you get in a whole lot of shooting, since it's a round robin head-to-head format, and you get to shoot against every other shooter three times! If we have more than sixteen shooters we split it into two groups and the winners of each group shoot off for the final winner. Today we had fifteen shooters entered, giving us almost the maximum number of individual matches.

Overall scoring is determined by the number of individual tables you win. After a coupe of matches one of the shooters dropped out with mechanical problems, so we ended up with a total of 39 matches for each shooter. A perfect score would be 39. There were lots of very close tables, many decided only by fractions of a second. Tony C. was shooting really well, and "Evil Al" was, well, "Evil Al", and smokin' fast! Lou G. and KeeWee were also mowin' them down very quickly. This was perhaps one of the closest matches we've had at CWSA, with everyone winning some of the tables. The matchup between KeeWee and Lou G. was very close, and the slightest mistake meant certain defeat. Lou had a misfire on one, and KeeWee won the other two. I came up against Al early in the match, and narrowly lost two, and managed to tie him on the third. Against Tony I managed to take two of the three. Final score ended up with Al with a score of 36. I ended up with a score of 35.5, just half a point behind Al in second place. Tony was third, and KeeWee and Lou G. tied for fourth place. It doesn't get much closer than that!

After the match we headed up to Oak Harbor for Chinese food, and to pick up some cat food at Wally World. KeeWee found some plants in the garden department too.......

By now the day was getting kinda warm and muggy, so we stopped at the Dairy Queen for some cool desserts.

I sucked up a giant sized Cookie Dough Blizzard in no time.

YUMM!

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Saturday, June 23, 2007

GBR-II Attendees list Update

(UPDATED TWICE!)

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.

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 an\ything along those lines, you are most welcome to attend.

Who might you meet there? Here's an updated 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


John Donovan from
Castle Arrgghhh!


Beth Donovan from
She Who Will Be Obeyed


Benjamin from
The Reasonable Nut


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


Manfred from
Armes et tir passion


Murdoc from
Murdoc Online


DirtCrashr from
Anthroblogogy


I THINK I've got an email or so somewhere saying that

Sailor Curt of
Captain of a Crew of One


Sebastian of
Snowflakes in Hell


Rob (?) of
Sharp As A Marble



and some other bloggers of note are also planning on attending if they can. It's starting to look like a "Who's Who" of gun blogging! Very cool.........

If you are planning on attending, or are going to try to be there, leave a comment and I'll get you on the next update of the list.

Hope YOU can be there, too!!

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Friday, June 22, 2007

A Busy Weekend Planned

EAA Elite Gold Team 9mm. race gun

Man, where did the week go? It seems like it was Monday only a day ago!

Yesterday afternoon we had another work party at the CWSA range, and we replaced all of the 2 by 4's and plywood on all of the target stands on the 75 yard range.

After the work was done, LouG (AKA MAD GUN) and I shot a few different handguns for entries in the e-Postal handgun match closing this Monday night. (Get your entries shot and in ASAP!) After getting our match targets shot, Lou dragged out his brand new bright shiny EAA Elite Gold Team 9mm. race gun, complete with red dot sight. What a beautiful piece of equipment. I had no trouble at all holding a 3" group at ten yards rapid fire, and by rapid fire I'm not talking about a shot every few seconds, I'm talking about two to three shots PER second. The trigger was factory set at around three pounds, I think, and it was nice and crisp with no creep at all. It feels kind of odd in your hand, not bad, just different. Sure does shoot nice, though....

I was busy with work stuff most of today, but KeeWee and I got away for a bit to go pick up some plants from a friend of ours. This evening I need to make sure everything is cleaned and lubed and ready to go for the falling plate match tomorrow. Sunday will be a Steel Challenge match, unless it rains, then it will be another falling plate match.

KeeWee's planning to skip the Sunday steel match and plant the new plants. Match reports here Sunday night or Monday, and garden reports over at KeeWee's Corner about the same times.

Have a good weekend!!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Super Hero Humor

Ther's a bunch of these short vid's at Youtube. If you read comic books as a kid, you're gonna enjoy this!



Hat tip to Conservative Scalawag!!

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OG Meet - Naperville, IL. July 6th & 7th.

Og, the Neanderpundit, is organizing a blogger meet and some range quality time to be held in Naperville, Illinois, near Chicago. The dates will be Friday july 6th, and Saturday, July 7th. If you are anywhere near the area, if you have some cash and frequent flier miles to burn, or you just happen to be independently wealthy you might want to put the OG Meet into your appointment calendar. For more info check with Tammi.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Out of the Frying Pan, Into The Fire ........

Photo credit: Max Michel

Well, once again I've gone and done it! I've always kinda wanted to watch the very fastest shooters in the world, guys Like J. J. Racaza, Doug Koenig, Rob Leatham, and Jerry Miculek shoot in a match. On August 16th., 17th., and 18th. those guys, and lots of other really fast guys gather in Piru, California for the World Steel Challenge Championships. The overall winner will arguably be the fastest gun in the world. So, says I, why not head down there and see it in person? Yup, that'd be fun!

And, well......, they DO have a rimfire optic sight class, and, errr..., I Did shoot a few small steel challenge type matches this last year, and I DO have a pretty fair rimfire optic gun..........

So, I mailed in my entry form yesterday!

What better way to watch the match than from the competitor's area? It should be a whole lot of fun, and I'll get to rub elbows with the greats of handgun shooting. Do I stand a chance? Nope, no way, nada, not a prayer! Those guys shoot a stage in about half the time it takes me to plink my way through, but you know what? Who cares! For me it's like getting to go to Indy or Daytona and getting to run a few laps in the race!

If you'd like to know more about Steel Challenge, check out their website. For a live look, here's a video from Michael Bane's Shooting Gallery coverage of a previous world championship.

This is gonna be fun!

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e-Postal Match Entries Close Monday Night ! !

This month's e-Postal Match "Reload Drill" is drawing to a close, and you must get your entries emailed in by Monday June 25th. at Midnight.

Sailor Curt at Captain of a Crew of One, the host and designer of this month's e-Postal handgun match has the target and all the rules on his blog.

Go HERE to print out the complete rules and targets.

There are a number of different classes so you will be able to shoot just about everything you own or can borrow. There's no excuse not to send in lots of entries, but time is running out!

This is your last weekend to get to the range before the match closes, so take along some targets and have at it!!


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Monday, June 18, 2007

Dungeness River Pic's

Last weekend, as I had mentioned previously, KeeWee and I headed over to the Olympic Peninsula, and more specifically, the Dungeness river, for a weekend escape. The peace and quiet alond with the white noise from the rapids in the river make for a very relaxing time. Here's a few of the pictures. All are "klick'er fer bigger......











Not a lot I can add except to say that it's even more spectacular than the pictures can convey!

Peter Robinson Interview with Fred Thompson
(It seems to play back better if I link directly to the Google video rather than embedding it.)

If you aren't too sure exactly who Fred Thompson is or where he's coming from politically, here's an excellent interview to get you started.

OOPS! I forgot to give credit to Phil over at Random Nuclear Strikes where I came across this video, on the Random Nuclear Strikes blog! You DO read his blog, don't you?


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Sunday, June 17, 2007

Monday Slug Blogging

Go ahead, click it to make it even bigger!
You know you want to!

So I buy a fancy digital camera, and I go to the Olympic Peninsula, one of the most scenic parts of the entire continent, and what do I do? I take one of the best portraits I've ever seen of Washington State's state animal, the brown slug........

It appears that I really DID need a little rest!

Back From The Olympic Peninsula

KeeWee and I have now returned from our short weekend outing to one of our favorite spots on the Olympic Peninsula here in N.W. Washington State. She's already got a post up, including a lot of pictures. I've got some good pictures to post, too, but It'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

..... On The Road Again!

It's Friday, the weather isn't all that bad, the RV is still ready to go from last weekend's trip, so KeeWee and I are "Outtahere!!" This time, however, it's to a much closer location for some peace and quiet. We have a couple of favorite spots on the Olympic Peninsula in the foothills of the Olympic mountains. We'll be back on Sunday afternoon, and a full report will be posted when we get a chance.

Starting weekend after this one, it's back to some serious shooting, with

June 23rd. -- CWSA Falling Plates
June 24th. -- CWSA CWSA Steel Challenge
June 30th. -- CWSA Bowling Pin Shoot
July 1st. -- CWSA Steel Challenge
July 8th. -- CWSA Hanging Plates
July 14th. -- Kitsap KRRC Fun Steel
July 22nd. -- MSSA Missoula Annual Bowling Pin Shoot
July 28th. -- CWSA Steel Challenge
July 29th. -- CWSA Falling Plates
August 4th. -- CWSA Bowling Pin Shoot
August 5th. -- CWSA Steel Challenge
August 11th. -- Kitsap KRRC Fun Steel
August 12th. -- CWSA Hanging Plates
August 16, 17, 18, 19 - World Steel Challenge Championships
August 25th. -- CWSA Bowling Pin Shoot
August 26th. -- CWSA Steel Challenge

Yup, that's a pretty full schedule! I'm going to try to shoot most of the matches to get in as much real time practice as possible, so when I go to the World Championships I won't totally embarrass myself! The fast shooters shoot the same stages in less that half the time it takes me, so my goal is to enjoy myself and get a chance to meet and shoot with the really top shooters in the world. Actually as long as I'm not dead last, I'll be tickled, but if I shoot my best and still end up last, it doesn't really matter, as I'm going for the fun of it, and it's only a game, anyway!

Anyhoo, that's the nooz fer now, and I'll be back at it probably late on Sunday.



Don't forget to get your hotel reservations and registration taken care of for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. I've got some really great breaking news on the Rondy, but I'm waiting for confirmation before announcing anything. Stay tuned!!

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Registration

It's time to get your registrations sent in for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous coming up October 11th, 12th., 13th., and 14th. at the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino in Reno. The registration form is HERE in a PDF file. Download the Registration form, print 'er out, write out a check, and mail it in! Since any profit from the Rendezvous will be going to Project Valour-IT, there is also a place on the registration form where you can make a donation to them, along with your registration.


Here's part of last year's crew having breakfast.


Hospitality Room Sign last year.

One of the many highlights of the Rendezvous is the chance to hang out with the other bloggers and gun nuts in the hospitality room, set up every night of the Rendezvous. BYOB, BYO Munchies, BYO stories and tall tales.....

One of the true highlights of the Rendezvous!


Part of the firing line at the range.

Spending most of Saturday out at the range was a good time, too! Some of the wives not interested in getting in range time got together and spent Saturday shopping, sightseeing, and generally managing to just barely stay out of trouble. They had fun, and we didn't have to come up with bail for any of them.....


RIVRDOG coordinating appropriate refreshments!

If you are a Gun Blogger, Mil Blogger, blog reader, shooting sports enthusiast, gun collector, e-Postal match shooter, are in the shooting sports trade, or all of the above, you should seriously consider making the pilgrimage to Reno for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. You'll have a grand time, and also be making a contribution to a very worthy cause, Project Valour-IT.

Of course, if you are in the shooting sports trade, you can write the whole deal off as a business expense!

What a Country!!



For lots more information on the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, check out the Rendezvous website!

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Phone Poll

A recent telephone poll taken by the California Governor's office, asked whether people who live in California think illegal immigration is a serious problem:

29% of respondents answered: "Yes, it is a serious problem."

71% of respondents answered: "No es una problema seriosa."

(Thanks, Eddie!)

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Banks Lake Fishin' Club Weekend

KeeWee and I had spent a fair amount of time last week getting everything ready to go for our Fishin' Club's Banks Lake weekend outing. Check over the trailer, tune up the RV, fresh license tabs for the boat ,the boat trailer, and the RV, sort the fishing stuff, get the interior of the RV straightened out, pack the food, and more.

Our plans had been to attend the Fishin' Club meeting Thursday night, then get an early start on Friday morning for the seven and a half hour drive across the North Cascades Highway to Banks lake. We planned to spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights at the lake, then drive back on Monday.

When we got back from the meeting it was around 9:30, and it wasn't quite dark. We decided, "what the heck!", lets load the small amount of stuff still to be loaded and hit the road. If we can get a fair amount of the driving done at night, we'd be at the lake that much sooner on Thursday, and not nearly so road weary.

The weather was good and the traffic was light, so we drove the length of Whidbey Island, through Oak Harbor, across the Deception Pass bridge, then picked followed Highway 20 through Burlington, Sedro Wooley, Concrete, and on across the North Cascades highway. Everything was running OK, so we continued on across the passes, through Winthrop, Twisp, and along the Chewuch river to Pateros, where the river empties into the Columbia. Just before reaching Pateros a mountain lion ran across the road right in front of us. I've never seen one in the wild before, and we were both surprised to see one!

When we reached Pateros it was nearly 3:30 in the morning, so we decided to find a spot to grab a few hours of sleep before continuing on to Banks lake. The parking lot of a closed down grocery store was perfect!

After a few hours of sleep we got back on the road, and a couple of hours later we pulled in to the parking lot at Coulee Playland resort.


Looking West Across Banks Lake from Coulee Playland.

We got checked in, and launched the boat. When we got to our campsite we saw that Elsa was already there, so we walked up to a local restaurant for breakfast. Biscuits and gravy -- YUMMM.......


A large family of geese swimming past our campsite.

After breakfast we loaded our gear into the boat and headed down the lake for some bass fishing. The lake hadn't really warmed up as much as it normally would be, so bass fishing was a little slower than in previous years. I hooked a nice small mouth and had a really hard time getting it in, as it had wrapped my line around a tree limb laying on the bottom, and I had to both the bass and the limb. KeeWee has pictures here.

After fishing, we built a small fire in the fire pit and cooked hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. It doesn't get any better than that!

The next morning we headed out for more bass fishing, without too much success. We decided to give our favorite perch spot a try, and caught some of the biggest yellow perch I've ever seen. KeeWee, of course, caught the biggest one........ (harumpfff......)


For this area, those perch on the left are huge!


Six perch, enough for a good dinner for both of us!

I filleted, de-boned, and skinned the perch, KeeWee rolled them in pancake flour, and we deep fried them. Absolutely delicious!!



Saturday club potluck dinner.

Saturday afternoon was also the Fishin' Club's potluck dinner. Fred also deep fried some perch, and along with all the other food, everyone was stuffed!


Does that look good, or what?


The plate speaks for itself!

Saturday evening the wind started to blow, and it kept blowing all day Sunday, making it just about impossible to fish.


Some of our campsites, after just about everyone had left for home.

Sunday night we dined again on hot dogs and marshmallows. Monday morning we loaded up and drove home.

It was a great weekend!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Ray State 12 Gauge Shotgun

A friend of mine is looking for some information on a Ray State 12 gauge shotgun he has recently acquired. It is a single shot shotgun, with no other information on it other than "Ray State" and the serial number. A google search didn't turn up anything.

Do any of you out there know anything about it?

Fodder's New Tatt !

Fodder over at Ride Fast - Shoot Straight has been to the tattoo parlor, or so it seems! I assume he will have the new artwork on display at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous coming up in Reno this October.

And if you think THIS is something, you should see the Commandress's tattoo..............

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Back From Banks Lake

Short version:

1. Long drive over
2. Saw a Mountain Lion run across the road between Twisp and Pateros
3. Bass fishing down a bit from last year
4. Huge Perch (YUM!)
5. Good turnout - Great potluck dinner!
6. Lake to rough to fish on Sunday
7. Long drive back
8. Need a nap.........

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Banks Lake, Here We Come!

Just about this time every year our fishing club, aptly named "The Fishin' Club" loads up our campers, packs our tents, hitches up our boats, and heads over to Eastern Washington to spend the weekend at Banks Lake.

Banks lake is a thirty mile long man made lake near Grand Coulee dam. The scenery is spectacular, with sheer rock cliffs rising hundreds of feet straight out of the lake in places. The fishing is excellent, with a large varies of species to fish for, including large and small mouth bass, walleye, rainbow trout, yellow perch, crappies, and several other species. We always have a great time!

Yesterday afternoon I hooked the boat trailer to the RV to verify the trailer lights, and although the trailer worked fine, I noticed one tail light was out on the RV. A little cleaning of the socket and bulb solved that problem, as the bulb itself was OK. When I checked the tire pressures, I found one of the brand new duals was totally flat. They had just put new tires on the rear a couple of days ago, so I ran it back to the tire store this morning to get it fixed. KeeWee is off at the grocery store picking up provisions for our outing as I write. We should have the RV back in an hour or so, and we can get everything loaded tonight and ready to go. We have a Fishin' Club meeting tonight, then home for a good night's sleep before an early morning departure followed by six or seven hours on the road.

LouG, Evil Al, Rainy, Chris and Tony are all heading over to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, for a big two day speed steel match. Unfortunately it falls on the same weekend as our Fishin' Club trip, so I won't be able to make it to the shoot. Maybe next year.....

I won't be near a computer for the next several days, so blogging will be non-existent until Monday night at the soonest.

Hope you all have a good weekend, and don't forget to get out to the range and shoot some e-Postal match entries!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Gun Blogger Rendezvous + Project Valour-IT

I've been holding off on announcing this until I got the green light, but now it's official! The Gun Blogger Rendezvous, coming up in early October in Reno, is not only a fun gathering of bloggers and shooting enthusiasts, it also manages to raise some money in the process. The entire event is run as a not for profit endeavour, and even incidental expenses like phone calls and so forth I pay out of my own pocket. Last year our Guest of Honor was Dan McKown, and we were able to raise some money to go towards his recovery and rehabilitation expenses.

This year any money raised by the Gun Blogger Rendezvous will go to Project Valour-IT. Project Valour-IT raises money to buy voice actuated laptop computers to be given to injured servicemen and women who, due to their injuries, are otherwise unable to use a computer. These voice actuated computers allow them to stay in touch with friends and family through email and the internet. So far Project Valour-IT has provided over one thousand laptop computers. The Gun Blogger Rendezvous just might be able to help them buy a few more!

The downloadable Rendezvous Registration form will be available very soon, and on the form will be a place where you can add a few bucks (or a bunch of bucks, for that matter) to be donated directly to Valour-IT.

This is a very worthy cause, and well deserves all the support we can muster!

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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

For a Reason, Season, or a Lifetime......

I thought that this email was particularly profound, and I hope it speaks to you too:
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, th eir work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Thank you for being a part of my life, whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime.

This is to all of you out there who have helped me along the road when I needed it.

Sometimes things only come into focus in hindsight...........

This one is kind of hard to describe, but it's an animation of a stick figure that refuses to be a victim, and takes over the desktop, fighting back against the animator. All I can say is that you just have to go watch it. It's very cool......


Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

Hat tip to Dick for this one!

CWSA Steel Challenge -- 06/03/07

Sunday morning's weather looked even better than Saturday's, perhaps a little TOO good, in fact. Too bright, too much glare, and too hot can make it a long day, and Steel Challenge matches seem to be particularly tiring anyway. I decided to only shoot in the Rimfire Open (optical sight) and Centerfire Open(Optical sight) classes, but when I saw that there were only two entries in Rimfire Limited (basically stock iron sighted guns), I decided to shoot that class too to fill out the class a bit.

Rainy shooting the "Roundabout" stage.

We set up two stages. "Roundabout", and "Smoke and Hope". (To find out more about Steel Challenge matches, check out their website.

The rules call for shooting each stage five times, with your slowest run discarded, and the other four added together towards your total time. As the day wore on and we worked our way through the stages with each gun, it got hotter and hotter. I suspect I'm not the only one to end the day with a little sun burn! A number of shooters were starting to wilt, I think! Natives of Western WAshington, used to 49 degrees and rain, just don't do well in 80 plus degree weather........

Mercifully, the day finally came to a close, and the scores were added up. There were no surprises, and most shooters seemed to finish just about where they usually do. Evil Al won the Rimfire Open class, but I was about six tenths of a second behind. I just can't seem to quite catch him at the Steel Challenge matches, I think he's won every Rimfire Open this year.

JimP won the Rimfire limited class, as he usually does, but I wasn't too far behind, and I edged out Al S. by only .02 seconds total time. Can't get much closer than that!

Centerfire Open class was won by Tony C., closely beating out Evil Al. Since I wasn't drawing from a holster, I was assessed an additional ten second time penalty, so I ended up fifth, although my times were good enough to be a bit higher. If only I could hit the first plate every time.....

I didn't note the results for the other classes, so I don't know who won the revolver classes.

Finally it was time to drag my sunburned and worn out self back home for something wet and cold, followed by a nap and a shower.

Next weekend KeeWee and I are off to Banks Lake in Eastern Washington, along with a number of our fishing club members for a weekend of bass, walleye, and perch fishing, and just generally kicking back for a few days.

Shooting's a lot of fun, but you gotta take a break once in a while, too............

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Monday, June 04, 2007

Tool Uses and Definitions

Since some of you may not be familiar with all of the various power and hand tools that may be mentioned in Mr. Completely posts, I decided that a little more information was a good idea. Here you go!

Tool Uses and Definitions

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly-stained heirloom piece you were drying.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned guitar calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, "YEOWW ...."

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

SKIL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to Transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

WELDING GLOVES: Heavy duty leather gloves used to prolong the conduction of intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub you want the bearing race out of.

WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or 1/2 inch socket you've been searching for the last 45 minutes.

TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG YELLOW PINE 2X4: Used for levering an automobile upward off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters and wire wheel wires.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps neatly off in bolt holes thereby ending any possible future use.

RADIAL ARM SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to scare neophytes into choosing another line of work.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing t he maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 24-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A very large pry bar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

TROUBLE LIGHT: The home mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin," which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that 105mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids and for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts which were last over tightened 30 years ago by someone at Ford, and instantly rounds off their heads. Also used to quickly snap off lug nuts.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling "DAMMIT" at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.

Hat tip to Akafuze.....

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e-Postal Match "Reload Drill" is up ! ! !

Sailor Curt at Captain of a Crew of One, the host and designer of this month's e-Postal handgun match, now has the target and all the rules available on his blog.

The basic idea is to simulate a defensive situation where you take two quick (double-tap like) shots, reload, and take two more on a second target. You do this five times, for a total of twenty shots. Although it's not timed, you should be getting the shots off reasonably quickly, as in a defensive situation.

There are a number of different classes, so you will be able to shoot just about everything you own or can borrow. There's no excuse not to send in lots of entries!


This one's gonna be fun!

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Sunday, June 03, 2007

CWSA Hanging Plates 06/02/07

What a beautiful day to go shooting! A few puffy clouds, a bit of morning fog, no rain in sight, WOO HOO, let's go shooting!!

The CWSA rimfire hanging plate matches are one of our club's easiest and least stressful competitions, but it makes you concentrate on accuracy while retaining an element of speed, as you have six seconds to make six shots at hanging steel disks at four distances, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards. As the distance is increased, the plates increase in size, starting with 4" diameter plates at 10 yards ,and finishing up with 7" plates at 25 yards. You make three runs at each distance for 72 total shots . Scoring is simply the number of plates you hit, so a perfect score would be 72. We shoot two different classes, rimfire pistols with optical sights, and rimfire pistols with iron sights.

KeeWee Shoots Six For Six! Lou running the timer.

KeeWee got to be the first shooter, starting at the 10 yard distance. Her first run set the tone of the day, as she shot a perfect six on the first run. She just barely missed one plate on the second run, and missed two on the third run. She continued to shoot well throughout the match, shooting several more sixes at different distances. She ended up with 51 plates, good enough to secure second place, just ahead of RandyN, who was trying my (Smith & Wesson model 422) by one plate. The iron sight class was also closely contested, and everyone had a lot of fun shooting the wobbly little plates. By
Noon the match was complete, and we put all of the match equipment back into storage. We dropped Lou's car off at his place, and Lou, KeeWee, and I jumped into my van and headed over to Burlington, WA to check out the new Sportsman's Warehouse. I had heard that the Sportsman's Warehouse stores were rather impressive, and they definitely are! 60,000 square feet of hunting, shooting, fishing, and reloading goodies. It took us a couple of hours to walk up and down all the aisles checking out the inventory. I picked up a book on gunsmith machining, some stuff for my Dillon 550B press, 1,000 rounds of CCI Standard velocity .22 ammo, and a bunch of other stuff. KeeWee found a nice new coffee pot for camping, and Lou found some goodies, too! Quite a store, I can see I'll be leaving a buck or two there in the future!

After cruising to Warehouse, it was time to head back for the hour and forty five minute drive home. We made one short detour to a Mickey D's for some ice cream to cool off with, then back to the island and home.

It was a busy day, but fun was had by all!!

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Friday, June 01, 2007

Yet Another Busy Weekend!

It looks like another busy weekend coming up! Tomorrow KeeWee and I are off to the CWSA range for a rimfire hanging plate match. After the match LouG AKA Mad Gun is joining us and we're driving over to Burlington, Washington for the grand opening of a new Sportsman's Warehouse. Their flyer says it's 60,000 square feet of floor space, so it should be something to see, particularly for us country folk.......

After that maybe we'll go have a hot dog or so at Costco (YUMMM!), then head back home, roughly a two hour drive.

Sunday at CWSA is a Steel Challenge match, but I haven't decided if I want to shoot it, or just take the day off and do nothing at all.

Nothing at all DOES have some appeal, especially if it means sitting in the shade on a nice warm day sipping a cold one......

We'll see!

Heaven Help Us ! !

I just received the registration tabs for my twelve foot aluminum boat from the Washington State Department of Licensing. Enclosed with the new tabs was a full color tri-fold brochure warning me about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning when boating.

Fortunately, since I was educated in the Washington State School system, they assume that I am not smart enough to deal with long words, so they refer to carbon monoxide as CO.


My twelve foot aluminum boat in the foreground.

The brochure was also full of pearls of wisdom including the statement that "if you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning you should seek fresh air". Funny, I always though that if you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning you should immediately wrap your lips around the exhaust pipe of an idling Hummer see if you can suck hard enough to collapse the muffler!

Included with the brochure was a spiffy decal which by law must be affixed to my boat in a location visible to all passengers. I wonder what the jail time is for failure to affix the carbon monoxide warning decal? I'll bet it's more severe than sneaking in from Mexico!

Now carbon monoxide poisoning can be a real problem with larger boats with enclosed cabins as exhaust can easily be drawn into the cabin, and the result can be deadly. Smart big boat owners have carbon monoxide sensors in the cabin that set off an alarm if carbon monoxide is detected. However, look at my boat in the picture above. Not only is it an open boat, but the exhaust is under water, and if the engine is running, the boat is probably moving, and in my case, moving at full throttle. Carbon monoxide poisoning? It's just not going to happen!

The state's response will most certainly be something along the lines of ".... it was less expensive (translation: easier, and it's not my money, anyway) to send the brochure and decal to everyone."

Baloney...............

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