George Gobel & Dean Martin

If this doesn't get you laughing, nothing will!

S&W US Steel Shoot Nationals

Dave Sevigny with what appears to be a Buckmark with a compensated Tactical Solutions barrel.

Paul Erhardt of Erhardt & Associates, sent me a "Heads-Up" on some posts covering the S&W US Steel Shoot Nationals on the Downrange.TV blog. Check it out:

http://www.downrange.tv/blog/?p=2245
http://www.downrange.tv/blog/?p=2250
http://www.downrange.tv/blog/?p=2259
http://www.downrange.tv/blog/?p=2265
http://www.downrange.tv/blog/?p=2270

Thanks, Paul!

Gun Blogger Rendezvous Hotel Reservations

This year's Rondy will be held in the Silver Legacy Hotel & Casino in Reno. We have blocked out some rooms at a special rate. By booking our rooms at the Silver Legacy, they provide our hospitality room for us for five days at no charge. There's a small catch, though, that if we don't have enough rooms, then it costs us money for the hospitality room. If we have as many folks as las year, though ,we'll be fine.

We have blocked out rooms for Wednesday the 9th, through Sunday the 13th. Most folks plan on arriving on Thursday, and then leaving Reno either Late on Sunday, or on Monday. Since we will be having GBR activities on Sunday, you may want to consider returning on Monday if you can arrange it.

The room rates are a bit higher than last year as the Silver Legacy is a bit more expensive that where we were last year, but it's supposed to be rated a bit higher as hotels go, too. The rates for a room for up to two people is $69 per night on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Friday and Saturday rate is $119 per night. There is also a $3.00 "Resort Charge" on to of that ,and a 17% (!) Reno room tax. Wireless internet, usually an extra $10.00 per night, is included in the room rate.

To book your room, call the Silver Legacy direct at 1-800-687-8733 and be sure to mention the group code of GBLOG09 to get the reduced rates.

Gun Blogger Rendezvous IV Registration

Everything is all set for you to register for this September's Gun Blogger Rendezvous at the Silver Legacy in Reno on September 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th. (Note that we've moved it a month earlier to take advantage of the much warmer weather) The registration is $30 per person, the same as last year. The majority of the registration money will go to Project Valour-IT, and part of it will go to GBR expenses and the Pizza feed.

To register, download the registration form, fill it out, and mail it in along with your check to the address on the registration form. Your money will be deposited into an escrow account, so every penny is accounted for.

To download the registration form, click on The Registration Form. Don't wait until the last minute to send it in, as advance registrations give me an idea of how many attendees to plan for.

Thanks, and

We'll See You in Reno!

Hunter Ed in Juneau

From the Juneau Empire:

Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School students Monica McFadden, left, and Lilliam Marvin shoot .22-caliber rifles Wednesday at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Hunter Education and Indoor Shooting Range. The sixth-graders were taught firearm safety and how to shoot during the class.

Hat tip to Steve for the story.

Mandatory Volunteerism = Slavery ?

Don't take my word for it, go check out HR 1388 "The GIVE Act" for yourself. Oh, it's already passed in the House, so all it needs is the Senate to pass it, and a signature, then it's the law.

I wonder if you have to buy your own brown shirts, or if they are provided?

This is not good.............

Found At Major Chuck's place

Paul Bunyan Steel Match 03/22/2009

I can hardly describe just how great it is to get back out on the range and shoot some matches after being so far under the weather in November and December. I still don't have all my strength back and I seem to get tired really easily, but that, too ,will go away, particularly if I keep putting in the time on the treadmill and doing exercises. Unfortunately that sort of rehab, at least to me, is almost indistinguishable from work, and Maynard G. Krebs and I have similar views on that!

When I caught the ferry from Whidbey Island to Mukilteo, the weather was looking pretty promising, mostly cloudy, but a few small patches of blue sky peeking through. "Maybe I won't get quite as soaked as last week at Kitsap." I thought. However, the farther South I drove, the worse the weather looked. By Renton it was starting to rain, and when I got to Puyallup and the Paul Bunyan range, it was raining like it really meant it!. Bleh......

It was great to see some of the familiar faces from last year and get a chance to visit a bit before the shooter's meeting. The last time I had been to Paul Bunyan was last July. Shooter's were allowed to pick their own squads, and I got to shoot on a squad with some really excellent shooters, but more importantly, with some guys that genuinely enjoyed themselves at a match. Sometimes folks take these things way to seriously and forget that this is only a game!

The Paul Bunyan club has some interesting rules. First, you can enter the same class twice, even using the same gun, and get in twice as much shooting. Being as I need LOTS of practice, but in and out of matches, I entered Open class twice. That means I got to shoot each stage ten times! YAY!! Second, all optic sight guns go into the same class, "Open". Third, the overall match winner must be shooting iron sights, open class guns can't win the overall match. This is to encourage new shooters so they have a chance to be competitive without having an expensive race gun. If this brings more shooters out to the matches, and brings them back to the next match for more, I'm all for it!

A Double Tap plus three single hits.

On this stage the course of fire was double tap the rectangular plate, then a single hit on the other three round plates. The one plate on the extreme right was a LONG ways over from the other three! A good time was just over two seconds for the five shots.

There were some outstanding revolver shooters in our squad.

James can shoot anything, although revolvers are his specialty.

Another pic of James.

With the steady rain falling for the first half of the match I didn't take very many pictures. Instead I tried to stay under the tents and keep dry. Shooting on a squad with as good of shooters as these guys were, I was also really trying to shoot my very best. That's a great benefit of shooting with good shooters. It really makes you work to improve, and you end up a better shooter by the end of the day. I have to admit, with their encouragement, I shot some times better than I thought I could shoot. I also shot some truly ugly runs, but since out of five shot strings you throw out the worst one, they didn't hurt me too badly. When it comes to ugly runs though, I clearly outdid everyone else on the squad!

It seemed like no time at all and we were on the last stage. Time really does fly when you are having fun, and we were definitely having fun! After the last shots were fired, a few of us helped to pack up everything and break down the match. The tents were folded up, and the steel targets and their stands were carried back to the storage shed.

By the time that was finished, the results were announced. Our squad had done really well. Out of 52 entries, seven of the ten fastest times were from our squad! I had narrowly edged Will for first place in Open Class, by eight hundredths of a second! I was third in Open with my second entry. Scott was the overall match winner and also was the fastest in the Carry Gun class. James won the draw class and Mark won the Revolver class. Our squad also picked up some seconds and thirds overall. Normally I don't bother with the results in these posts, as I rate matches by how much fun we have, rather than where we finish in the final standings, but this match was special as we both had a grand time, but we all shot well enough to do well in the standings too. That's sort of like icing on the cake!

I can't wait to get back to Paul Bunyan for another one of their matches, hopefully next month. A ton of credit for these matches is due to Will, the spark plug that makes it all happen. Not only does Will do an excellent job running the match, but by the time I get home he's already emailed out the Excel spread sheet with all of the results and the individual stage times for each shooter.

If you would like to give steel shooting a try, come on out to the Paul Bunyan Rifle & Sportsman's Club in Puyallup, Washington and give it a try. Their matches are set up so even relatively new shooters will be able to hit all the targets, yet the layouts will be really challenging for experienced shooters trying to shoot them quickly.

Hope to see you there!

Stimulus Projects by State

In case you were interested to see where the bazillions of dollars of stimulus package money is going to be spent, here's the list.

• Alaska (46 projects)
• Alabama (318 projects)
• Arkansas (199 projects)
• Arizona (743 projects)
• California (1971 projects)
• Colorado (201 projects)
• Connecticut (449 projects)
• Washington, D.C. (8 projects)
• Delaware (7 projects)
• Florida (1752 projects)
• Georgia (266 projects)
• Hawaii (316 projects)
• Iowa (51 projects)
• Idaho (348 projects)
• Illinois (1031 projects)
• Indiana (713 projects)
• Kansas (139 projects)
• Kentucky (524 projects)
• Louisiana (433 projects)
• Massachusetts (266 projects)
• Maryland (54 projects)
• Maine (72 projects)
• Michigan (782 projects)
• Minnesota (335 projects)
• Missouri (403 projects)
• Mississippi (552 projects)
• Montana (57 projects)
• North Carolina (319 projects)
• North Dakota (61 projects)
• Nebraska (154 projects)
• New Jersey (261 projects)
• New Mexico (215 projects)
• Nevada (163 projects)
• New York (289 projects)
• Ohio (847 projects)
• Oklahoma (223 projects)
• Oregon (159 projects)
• Pennsylvania (352 projects)
• Puerto Rico (340 projects)
• Rhode Island (116 projects)
• South Carolina (271 projects)
• South Dakota (30 projects)
• Tennessee (103 projects)
• Texas (1240 projects)
• Utah (298 projects)
• Virginia (400 projects)
• Vermont (61 projects)
• Washington (368 projects)
• Wisconsin (358 projects)
• West Virginia (1 projects)
• Wyoming (85 projects)

I'm not so sure all of these projects are worthy of emergency funding, but what do I know.........

e-Postal Match Ending Soon!

The first e-Postal match of 2009, "Smoke 'em & Hope", will be closing on the 30th of this month, so get out to the range and shoot up some targets this weekend! If you have already shot a target or so and didn't think you did well enough to even send them in, go ahead and send them in anyway. This is a really tough match and you can expect a lot of high scores. Since this is based on a Steel Challenge stage, the lower your score the better, but these targets are really small since we are limited by an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.

Anyhow, send 'em in, you probably did a lot better than you think!

Here's the full rules and how to download the targets.

Have fun, be safe, and send 'em in!!

1,000,000 Visitors - Wow!

Sometime in the last eight or ten hours Mr. Completely passed the one million visitors milestone. I am truly humbled to realise that many folks have wandered by. I hope you all will continue to find something interesting, educational, or just plain funny here, and that you continue to stop by every so often!

Thanks to you all, as it's you, the visitors, that make it all worth the time and effort spent!

We Be Goin' To Holland

One of Amsterdam's canals.

After looking at all the deals for airfare, it turns out that if I choose the right days for the flights, the best deal on a Seattle to Amsterdam non-stop round trip was on Northwest Airlines, straight from their website special promo deal. It turns out that using frequent flier miles, unless you have a bazillion of them, it's not much more expensive, and a whole lot simpler, just to buy the dang tickets and be done with it! So that's what I did. On May 20th we fly from Seattle to Amsterdam. We arrive early in the morning, Holland time. We plan to spend the day, and that night, in Amsterdam. The next day we head out to Winterswijk, which is a couple of hours train ride away. We'll spend four days there, shooting and sight-seeing. Then back to Amsterdam for the final night, and fly home the next morning. If any of you know anyone in Amsterdam that can help me with locating the right hotel and finding my way around, let me know.

I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to pay for this, but I'm hoping some sponsors will come through and help with the hotel, food, and other transportation costs.

I have been in contact with Manfred of the Armes et tir Passion blog, and he is going to try to come to Winterswijk with a couple of his shooting friends and shoot the match too. Perhaps Manfred and I will finally meet.

Lots of stuff going on, and more news on the Gun Blogger Rendezvous will be posted soon, so stay tuned!!

Sully - Goose Killer!

The media has found out he's a Republican!

KRRC Fun Steel 3/14/2009

Thanks to our screwed up Washington State government, we no longer have car ferry service from Whidbey Island to Port Townsend, only a small passenger ferry. It would be hard to find a more bureaucratically top-heavy and less capable to do their job state agency than the Washington State Ferries. Thanks to their incompetence I have to take one ferry to get to the mainland, drive maybe fifteen miles, and take a second ferry to get to Kingston on the Kitsap peninsula, then drive from there to Silverdale for the match. It makes a long day out of it, for sure.

Anyhow, I managed to find my way to the Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club range Saturday morning without mishap. KeeWee had to work, and wasn't to enthusiastic about shooting in the rain, so I made the trek alone. When I stopped for gas I also picked up a box of sugar glazed doughnuts to eat on the way to the range. (Speed secret: Sugar Rush + Caffeine). The weather was not very good, with steady rain and wind. Some snow was still on the ground in places. We got signed in and John ran us through the shooters meeting and going over safety stuff and match specific information. We then gathered ourselves into squads and headed out to the range for some shooting!

I was squadded with John and John M., both excellent shooters, and some of the most fun guys you could ever hope to shoot with. There were a couple of new guys on the squad, and a couple of familiar faces but guys I didn't really know very well. One trade mark of any squad I'm on is how much fun we always have. By the last few stages you can usually hear us laughing clear across the range! After all, we all do this for fun (or at least we should) and if you aren't having fun, why even be there? I wish I could print some of the comments and wisecracks, but since it was an "All Guy" squad, and since this is a family safe blog, I can't! You'll just have to use your imagination.......

It sure does feel good to get out and shoot a match, though! I haven't shot in a match since last September and it showed. I had some reasonably decent runs, and some runs that were truly ugly. The big change I could see compared to last year was the lack of consistency. Laying off for five or six months really takes a toll, and being laid up sick didn't help, either. I can see that I just need to put in a lot of range time, treadmill time, and exercises to get it back together.

Two of the members in our squad were fairly new to Steel Challenge type shooting, although they were both very competent shooters. I really enjoy helping new steel shooters by suggesting things to try in terms of technique. It was great to make a suggestion ,watch them try it, and watch their times improve. As much as I enjoy shooting steel, in case you hadn't noticed, I think helping new steel shooters and watching them improve is every bit as much fun.

It seemed like we had barely started and we were on the sixth and final stage of the day. I really hated to see the match end. Because of the constant rain I didn't take any pictures, but next month I'll try to get some pictures of the match, provided, of course, I don't forget the camera as I often do.

On the way back, the rain, which had actually stopped, started coming down heavily. Driving on the freeway was miserable as the water thrown up made visibility terrible. After two ferry boat rides and some lousy weather driving, I finally arrived back at Castle Completely, tired, but happy that I was back shooting again. I've still got a ways to go to get back to where I was last Fall, but I know what needs to be done, and I'm rarin' to go!

Mr. C. To European Steel Challenge Championship?

European Steel Challenge Website

The European Steel Challenge Championships will be held in Holland on May 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. If I can figure out a way to do so, I'd like to go give it a try. Unfortunately, to do so is going to require a bit of help. I will be contacting some of the companies that manufacture and distribute the guns, barrels, ammo, and related stuff I use to see if they would be willing to help out with some sort of sponsorship. The biggest part of the expense is the airfare from Seattle to Amsterdam. What I am hoping for is if any one (or several of you if they can be combined) have any frequent flier miles that you otherwise would probably not be using that I could use to get a plane ticket. Although I would prefer to take KeeWee too, I suspect there's just no way that can happen, darn it, but it's probably going to be tough enough to just get to Holland and be able to afford food and a hotel for a few nights.

This match is not that far off, so I need to get underway with this right away. I will go get my passport renewal sent in tomorrow, as that takes some time to get processed.

If any of you can help, or have any good ideas on how to afford to put this together, please leave a comment or email me at

B L O G (@) W H I D B E Y DOT COM

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!!

Mr. C. on Bane's Shooting Gallery?

Michael Bane's Shooting Gallery

I'm hoping one of you out there can help me out. Last Summer I had the opportunity to shoot in the Steel Challenge World Championships in California. It seems that my High Standard/Volquartsen unusual race gun combined with my unconventional technique caught the eyes of some of the media folks filming the event. Tomorrow, Wednesday March 11th. Michael Bane's Shooting Gallery program on the Outdoor Channel will be showing a program filmed at that championship match. Am I in the program? I don't know, but I am in the trailer they have put out to promote the program:

http://www.downrange.tv/shootinggallery/episode115.htm

Very early in the trailer you'll see me twice, wearing a two toned light blue/Dark blue shirt. I had to laugh as the sound track has the phrase "Some of the best shooters in the world...." while I'm on the screen! I am clearly NOT one of the best shooters in the world, but what the heck, I'll take it!!

Anyhow, I would like to have someone record the program and somehow get it into a computer format that is either e-mailable or saved to a CD or DVD and mailed my way so I can have a copy of the program. KeeWee and I are living it what must be considered the "Dark Ages" TV-wise, as we have no cable or dish, so no way to see the program. It's not available on the net, either.

I think I can watch the program over at the neighbors, but I'd like to have the ability to watch it multiple times as I'm sure I'll see new stuff each viewing.

Any of you techno-TV-wizards out there have the hardware to do this?

Gun Blogger Rendezvous - Big News!

The Silver Legacy Hotel & Casino in Reno.

I've got lots of news about next Fall's Gun Blogger Rendezvous. We have moved GBR-IV from the Reno Circus Circus to the Reno Silver Legacy. We have also changed the dates, moving from Early October to Early September. It took a lot of work to work out all the details, line up the facilities we need, and to get the best room rates available.

First, about the hotel, the Silver Legacy: The Circus Circus, the Silver Legacy, and the El Dorado are all connected to each other by Sky Bridges and you can't always tell when you have moved from one to the next. The Circus Circus is on one end, the Silver Legacy is in the middle, and the El Dorado is on the other end. For those of you who have been to previous Rondy's, the Mining Machine and it's dome are part of the Silver Legacy. Looking over the various hotel reviews, it looks like the Silver Legacy is rated perhaps half a star higher than the Circus Circus.

The Dates: This year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous will be held on

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,
September 10th, 11th, 12,th and 13th.

This is the first weekend after Labor day.

Thursday will be Arrival Day, and nothing is scheduled until late Thursday afternoon/evening. Reno is amazingly busy clear through next Fall, and getting the dates I wanted wasn't easy! Holding the Rondy a month earlier will make being outside at the ranges really pleasant, weather-wise. Instead of snow, it should be shirt-sleeve temperatures. It WAS a mite "Brisk" at times last year in October.

"Dawn Patrol" Launch at last year's Reno Balloon Races.

For those of you who will be attending the Rendezvous but aren't quite as "Hard Core" about getting out to the range for the shooting, there will be plenty of other things to see and enjoy. While we are in Reno they will be holding the Annual Reno Balloon Races.

Quoting from the Balloon Races website:

(RENO, Nev.) - The nation’s largest free hot-air balloon festival, The Great Reno Balloon Race, will paint the sky again September 11, 12 and 13, 2009 at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park. What began with just 20 balloons in 1982 has grown to showcase more than 100 balloons and pilots from as far away as New Zealand and Switzerland. On average, 140,000 spectators from all over the world come to share in the wonder of this three-day event.

This year's Gun Blogger Rendezvous is going to be by far the best one yet, so circle the dates on your calendar now! I've got a number of other things about to be announced regarding GBR-IV, but I've got to get final details sorted out first.

Steel Season Approaches

Well, I finally got a chance to get to the range and shoot at some steel targets. For those of you who wander through here regularly, you know that I've been somewhat under the weather since early November. I haven't shot (or shot at!) any steel since October, I think. The good news is that both of my High Standard .22 race guns worked just fine. I, however, sucked. Really sucked! I not only can't hit anything, I even miss slowly................ BAH!!!

The Man of Steel match in Portland is coming up, so I better do a TON of practicing just to get back to where I was last Fall. I haven't been over to the Kitsap club for one of John's Fun Steel matches since last Fall, but maybe I can make it there next weekend. They are a great club with a bunch of folks that are fun to shoot with, so maybe that will get me a ways down the road to where I used to be, shooting-wise. If not, we'll still have fun!

Stay tuned, the game is afoot....................

The Grand Old Gang

The Grand Old Gang
Painting by Andy Thomas
(You gotta click this one to see the detail)

Steve Allen used to have a TV show called Meeting of the Minds, where actors portrayed various historical figures sitting around a table discussion various things. It was very well researched and acted, and was a favorite show of mine. This painting by Andy Thomas reminds me of that show. Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to sit and listen to the conversations underway at this poker game?

2009 e-Postal Match Schedule

I now have the starting and ending dates established for this year's e-Postal Handgun match series.

Each match will be designed by a different gun blogger, and it will be hosted on his blog. The basic concept is that a target is designed or selected and made available for download. From the host's blog you get the rules for the match, and how to get the target. You shoot the match per the rules, then scan or photograph your targets and email them to the host blogger. When the e-Postal match closes, the host blogger then sorts out the scores and posts the results on his blog.

What do you win if you win? Well, the match, that's it! No prizes, just bragging rights.

Typically each match will start on the first day of the month, and will end at midnight on the last Monday of the month.

Anyhow, here's the schedule:

March 1st. - March 31st.
Host: Mr. Completely


April 1st. - April 27th.
Host: The Conservative UAW Guy


May 1st. - May 25th.
Host: Armes et tir passion


June 1st. - June 29th.
Host: Snowflakes in Hell


July 1st. - July 27th.
Host: Captain of a Crew of One


August 1st. - August 31th.
Host: Curtis Lowe Blog


September 1st. - September 28th.
Host: True Blue Sam - The Travellin' Man


October 1st. - October 26th.
Host: Traction Control


November 1st. - November 30th.
Host: Sand Castle Scrolls

I've received confirmation from just about everyone, but if you are on the list as a host and don't want to host this year, let me know and I'll get you off the list.

Happy Shooting !