California, Here I come..........

As you have noticed (or maybe not) blogging has been a bit light as of late. Since KeeWee and I got back from Idaho and Montana it seems like it's been a constant stream of too much to do and not enough time. Since we're leaving for California and the Steel Challenge world Championships early Wednesday, time is getting really short. Last week I built up a second High Standard Supermatic with all my favorite "herbs and spices" as a backup for my primary High Standard Race gun. It ran fairly well ,but wasn't quite as good as the number one gun. Two days later when I was cleaning the number one I discovered major cracks in the frame. Most of these are forty or fifty years old and have had a ton of ammo fired through them, so sometimes the metal just gets tired. I had to build a new number one gun, and still keep the backup as a backup since it was just a bit slower. I took my iron sight High Standard and merged it with some of the parts from the now retired number one, and it seemed to shoot almost as well as the original number one. Since it's really bright down in California, I also decided to change over to a C-More sight with a 6MOA dot for a bit better visibility. After all of the mix-n-match of gun parts I was back to having two fairly reliable open class rimfire race guns. Saturday I headed over to Kitsap to give it a try in a match. The different sight would take a bit to get used to, and it was a couple of ounces lighter, which changed the feel of the gun. I've got a bunch of pictures from the KRRC fun steel match, but I'm so short on time I don't have time to get a full post put together. The short version though, is that it ran fine all day, and although I had a bit of trouble with the new configuration, it was mostly a matter of getting used to it. Yesterday I pulled the High Standard apart to check for wear patterns and any rough spots, and to my dismay, discovered that the firing pin was broken. After several hours of additional mixing and matching I had another complete slide ready to go. I didn't happen to have a new firing pin on hand, so I used the best used one I had. I've now put around a thousand rounds through it, and it seems to be running just fine. Just so it holds together through the match! If need be I can swap to the second High Standard, or swap a slide or barrel to get the main one running.

Tomorrow I'll give the guns a full cleaning and check over, and clean and lube the six magazines. You only need five, but I like to carry a spare just in case. After everything is cleaned, checked, and ready to go I'll shoot a magazine or so through them both, them pack them securely for the flight down to California.

I suppose I should pack some clothes and stuff too............