e-Postal Handgun/Airgun Match "Killiards"

This month's handgun match "Killiards", is a real challenge. The object is to hit each billiard ball once, and if possible, hit it's center ring for a bonus point.

A while back we did a rifle Killiards, so now it's a good time to try it out with handguns.

This "Killiards" has five classes. Depending on the number of entries, sub-classes may also be recognized. I have added an air pistol and an air rifle class, so you can shoot this match in your basement or back yard, if you prefer.

UPDATE: If there are three or more black powder handgunners out there that are willing to enter, I'll create a class just for them. If you'd like to shoot it with your black powder handgun, leave a comment, or drop me an email.

TARGET: The same target is used in all classes.

The target can be downloaded from here:

KILLIARDS Targets

It is an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. There are two choices, number 20001.pdf (in color), or 20003.pdf (in black and white). You can use whichever one you prefer.

CLASS ONE: Rim fire. Any rimfire handgun with no more than a 12" barrel, any sight.

CLASS TWO: Center fire. Any centerfire (non-revolver) handgun with no more than a 12" barrel, any sight.

CLASS THREE: Revolver. Any revolver with no more than a 12" barrel, any sight.

CLASS FOUR: Air Pistol: Any air or spring powered pistol, any sight.

CLASS FIVE: Air Rifle: Any air or spring powered rifle, any sight.

No paint ball guns!

DISTANCE - All Classes: 25 feet, or Ten yards, which ever is available at your range.


FIRST TARGET SHOOTING POSITION: Standing, un-supported, off-hand, one or two hands on gun permitted.

SECOND TARGET SHOOTING POSITION: Any shooting position - bench rest allowed. No gun vises or clamps. We are testing your skills, not the guns!

PROCEDURE: Fifteen shots at the first target, un-supported. Fifteen shots at the second target, support permitted.

SCORING: In each class you are allowed fifteen shots at each target, thirty shots total. Hitting the ball counts as one point. Hitting the center ring gives you a bonus point. Each ball can only be counted once, no matter how many times you shoot it. Touching the black counts as a hit. Each target has a perfect score of 15 hits plus 15 bonus points, for 30 points. The maximum match entry score is 60 points.

Ties will be decided based on the un-supported target score. If it's still tied, it will be posted as a tie. You can shoot the match more than once if you don't like your score and want to try again.

Mark your score on each target with a legible felt pen, along with the class and type of gun used. Don't write your name on the target, only the name you want to appear in the results, as your target may get posted on Mr. Completely.

STRATEGY: This one's simple. Hit all the bulls!

MULTIPLE ENTRIES: You can enter more than once, in fact, it is encouraged. Shoot everything you own, and everything you can borrow! Take a buddy to the range, get him entered, then borrow his gun and enter that! The only restriction is that you can only enter once for any given gun, in any individual Class.

Different calibers in the same gun count as one gun. For example, .38SPL and .357MAG are considered as one, as would be .44SPL and .44MAG. Different guns of the same caliber and barrel length can be entered. A .22 conversion on a .45 frame counts as a second gun, so you can take off the conversion and shoot the .45 too.

PRIZES: Nope, it's just for the fun of it and the bragging rights!

SUBMITTING YOUR ENTRY: Take a digital photo of, (or scan) your targets, and email the picture, along with:

1. Your score for each target page and the total of both pages.

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

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

4. Class: Class One, Class Two, or Class Three, Class Four, or Class Five.

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

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

Please put "Killiards Entry" in the email title so it goes into the correct mailbox!

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

If you have a blog or a website, you can post the target pictures on your site, then email me the rest of the information (items 1 through 5 above) excluding the pictures.

Be sure to include the URL for your website pictures.

This works well, saves some email bandwidth, and helps to publicise the matches.

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

All entries must be received by Midnight on Monday, April 24th, and results will be posted within seven days, or less.

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

Have fun!!

It's Always a Good Time For A Pin Shoot!

For those of you in the WesternWashington and North-Western Oregon area that have been considering giving a bowling pin shoot a try, but so far haven't gotten around to it, this Sunday might just be the day to give it a whirl.

Starting at 9am., this Sunday, April 2nd., Central Whidbey Sportsman's Assn. in Coupeville, Washington, on Whidbey Island, will be hosting a bowling pin shoot. There are a number of classes, so bringing more than one gun is a good idea.

Shooting at full sized pins, the classes are Centerfire Optical Sight, Centerfire Iron sight, and Revolver. Shooting at pin tops there are two classes, rimfire optical sight, and rimfire iron sight.

It's head-to-head single elimination shooting, so the action is hot and heavy right from the start.

First round matchups are determined by your best three table times out of four that you shoot in the qualifying portion of the match. That way every shooter will be matched with a similar skills shooter in the first round.

So far it looks like there will be four bloggers competing, so if you'd like to put a face to some of the bloggers you read, here's your chance. KeeWee of KeeWee's Corner, AnalogKid from Random Nuclear Strikes, LouG (a new blogger just getting Mad Gun up and running), Mr. Completely, and possibly some others too. We can also expect the ususal suspects to show up, including "Evil Al", JimP, Rainey, Dean, "Terrible Tom", and more.

If you have any questions drop me an email.

b l o g ( a t ) w h i d b e y ( d o t ) c o m

Why not give it a try?

ePostal Rifle Match for April 2006 - "Head-Shot"

Brian from My1911.com is this month's host for the e-Postal Rifle match. Brian has set up a scenario requiring some good shooting, and has a target to test your rifle skills. Not only is the target challenging, but he's a pretty good writer, too!

Below is his announcement and rules for the match. Here's his full post on the match, and where to ask any questions you may have.

Here's a mirror of his post:

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Welcome to the April ePostal Rifle match. Thanks to Mr. Completely for giving me the oppourtunity to host this months match.

The scenario is this:

You're tucked away in bed with your wife, snoring the night away. The kids are tucked away in their rooms. Slam! You're jolted out of dreams of the next pin shoot by something very heavy shattering the front door. It takes every effort to pull yourself out of the deep pit of sleep. Every movement takes a conscious thought as you roll off the bed and reach for your house gun. A shriek from your daughter's room pierces the night, shooting a gallon of adrenaline straight into your heart. In an instant your house gun is in hand and you are head for the hallway.

Your SureFire lights the way and reveals a scene from your worst nightmare -- your daughter is being dragged out the front door. The attacker pauses in the doorway and shoots you a leering grin as your daughter cowers in his arms.

You've got a split second to take your shot. The distance is about 7 yards and you're precious daughter is blocking a body shot so its going to have to be his head. A twitch in the wrong direction and the unthinkable will happen.

The targets are 2 copies of the standard Midway pistol target. Cut away a quarter of the the white from one of them and staple or tape the two circles diagonally from each other with one to the lower right of the other. The upper left is the goon's head, the lower right is your daughter's.

Scoring is +10 for the black, +5 for the rings away from the hostage, -100 for any shots to the lower right area. Start with your favorite house gun unloaded. Then quickly load and fire as many rounds as you are comfortable with. Categories will be broken down by sighting system, not caliber. You can enter as many times as you want.

Good luck! I hope to shoot it myself this weekend. Results are due by the end of April, email scores and/or pictures to my1911 * gmail.com

Save a Life - Recognize a Stroke

I wold like for all of you to read the following paragraphs carefully. There will be a test after.

During a BBQ a lady stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine and had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. (they offered to call paramedics)

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital -- (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away).

She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ - had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke perhaps Ingrid would be with us today?

Recognizing a Stroke

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

1. *Ask the individual to SMILE.

2. *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

3. *Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) ( i.e. . . It is sunny out today) If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February.

Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.

Now, close your eyes and recite the three tests. If you can't, please re-read the above paragraphs and try again.

Thanks!

NOTE to BLOGGERS: Please feel free to copy this entire post to your blog, you never know when it might just save someone's life.......

Thanks, Kim!

No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Jennings J-22 Terminator!

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As you can see in the e-Postal handgun match "Vortex" results, JimmyB, the Conservative UAW Guy, was so rude as to beat all comers in the rimfire class.

In response to his actions, I have no alternative but to stop being "Mr. Nice Guy" and take the gloves off, so to speak!

For this reason I am unveiling my new secret weapon, straight from the "Skunk Works" of the world famous Mr. Completely Labs, the Jennings J-22 Terminator! The 32x scope should allow accuracy to unheard of distances for a .22 handgun.

Testing has revealed some interesting characteristics, and some special skills must be developed in order to realise this awsome weapon's full potential. The most unusual is that since the scope is slide-mounted, and since the scope weighs considerably more that the gun itself, shooting it is a bit "unusual".

Instead of recoil driving the slide rearwards, the scope doesn't move, and the gun goes forward, nearly taking it out of your hand, especially when you aren't expecting it to act that way. Instead of the recoil pushing you back from the firing line, it tends to drag you forward towards the target. A little disconcerting, but no big deal!

JimmyB, you've been warned.........

Pin Shoot Locations

Every so often I hear a rumor of one club or another having bowling pin shoots, but most of the time there's not enough details to track it down.

I would like to put together a listing of all of the clubs across the country that hold bowling pin shoots.

If your club shoots pins, of if you know of a club that does, leave as much info as you have in the comments section below. If you have the URL of the club's website, or even an email address for the club, that would be helpful too.

Thanks!

Rimfire Roundup Notice

This has been a slow week for rimfire posts, and so far there are only three submissions. I'll hold them over until next week and do a bigger roundup.

If you have any rimfire stuff to submit, send it on in by next Tuesday night.

Thanks!

Hi Point 9mm. Carbine Stock

For those of you with Hi Point Carbines who aren't too fond of the factory stock, Advanced Technology Inc. has come to your rescue. Their new Hi Point carbine stock should be available for purchase shortly. You can check their website for more information and the names of dealers carring ATI products.

The Hi Point stock is not the only stock they make, as they have a large assortment of stocks for a wide range of different rifles and shotguns. Check it out!

e-Postal Handgun Match "VORTEX" Results

Here's a perfect score of 140 from jimmyb.
(Click for larger view)

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e-Postal Handgun Match "VORTEX" Results

NOTE: Due to 4 entries entries lost in cyberspace
and now included, the final results have changed.

RESULTS BY CLASS

RIMFIRE:

Place Name O/H B/R Score Caliber Handgun Sight Class

1 jimmyb 88 140 228 .22 Ruger Mk. II Red Dot Rimfire
2 Mr. Completely 97 130 227 .22 High Standard Red Dot Rimfire
3 Marc 99 90 189 .22 S22 Red Dot Rimfire
4 LouG 67 119 186 .22 Ruger 22/45 Red Dot Rimfire
5 Billl 86 93 179 .22 Ruger Mk. II Iron Rimfire
6 AnalogKid 85 90 175 .22 Ruger Mk. II - 10 Iron Rimfire
7 s-tay 77 86 163 .22 Ruger Mk. II 2x Leupold Rimfire
8 OXEN 59 90 149 .22 Ruger Mk. II Iron Rimfire
9 s-tay 73 71 144 .22 Colt Match Target Iron Rimfire
10 NateG 73 61 134 .22 1911 w/.22 Conversion Iron Rimfire
11 Freddyboomboom 51 50 101 .22 Ruger Mk. II Iron Rimfire
12 Freddyboomboom 43 37 80 .22 Walther P22 Iron Rimfire
13 Mrs. NateG 11 31 50 .22 1911 w/.22 Conversion Iron Rimfire

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CENTERFIRE:

Place Name O/H B/R Score Caliber Handgun Sight Class

1 OXEN 74 89 163 .45 Glock 30 Iron Centerfire
2 jimmyb 71 85 155 .45 Norinco 1911 Iron Centerfire
3 OXEN 71 82 153 9mm. Glock 34 Iron Centerfire
4 Josh 63 76 139 .45 Kimber CDPII Iron Centerfire
5 AnalogKid 51 60 111 .45 1911 Iron Centerfire
6 NateG 51 52 103 .45 Springfield GI 1911 Iron Centerfire
7 Freddyboomboom 21 31 52 .40 Walther P99 Iron Centerfire

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REVOLVER:

Place Name O/H B/R Score Caliber Handgun Sight Class

1 Marc 93 140 233 .38 S&W 686 DAO Red dot Revolver
2 Mr. Completely 82 97 179 .38 Taurus 66 Red Dot Revolver
3 NateG 75 81 156 .38 S&W 686 Iron Revolver
4 Mrs. NateG 50 49 99 .38 S&W 686 Iron Revolver
5 Freddyboomboom 7 57 64 .38 S&W 442 Snub. Iron Revolver
6 Freddyboomboom 27 30 57 357 Ruger Service Six Iron Revolver

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AIR PISTOL:

Place Name O/H B/R Score Caliber Handgun Sight Class

1 Josh 95 98 193 6mm. Airsoft HK USP Iron Air Pistol
2 Owen 92 97 189 .177 IZH46M Iron Air Pistol
3 OXEN 70 110 180 .177 Baikal Scope Air Pistol
4 Mr. Completely 89 90 170 .177 Westlake Red Dot Air Pistol

NOTE: There are two more entries for the airgun class, not shown, that apparently disappeared in the email. I will include them later today when they arrive.

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RESULTS OVERALL

Place Name O/H B/R Score Caliber Handgun Sight Class

1 Marc 93 140 233 .38 S&W 686 DAO Red dot Revolver
2 jimmyb 88 140 228 .22 Ruger Mk. II Red Dot Rimfire
3 Mr. Completely 97 130 227 .22 High Standard Red Dot Rimfire
4 Josh 95 98 193 6mm. Airsoft HK USP Iron Air Pistol
5 Marc 99 90 189 .22 S22 Red Dot Rimfire
6 Owen 92 97 189 .177 IZH46M Iron Air Pistol
7 LouG 67 119 186 .22 Ruger 22/45 Red Dot Rimfire
8 OXEN 70 110 180 .177 Baikal Scope Air Pistol
9 Billl 86 93 179 .22 Ruger Mk. II Iron Rimfire
10 Mr. Completely 82 97 179 .38 Taurus 66 Red Dot Revolver
11 AnalogKid 85 90 175 .22 Ruger Mk. II - 10 Iron Rimfire
12 Mr. Completely 89 90 170 .177 Westlake Red Dot Air Pistol
13 s-tay 77 86 163 .22 Ruger Mk. II 2x Leupold Rimfire
14 OXEN 74 89 163 .45 Glock 30 Iron Centerfire
15 NateG 75 81 156 .38 S&W 686 Iron Revolver
16 jimmyb 71 85 155 .45 Norinco 1911 Iron Centerfire
17 OXEN 71 82 153 9mm. Glock 34 Iron Centerfire
18 s-tay 73 71 144 .22 Colt Match Target Iron Rimfire
19 Josh 63 76 139 .45 Kimber CDPII Iron Centerfire
20 NateG 73 61 134 .22 1911 w/.22 Conversion Iron Rimfire
21 AnalogKid 51 60 111 .45 1911 Iron Centerfire
22 NateG 51 52 103 .45 Springfield GI 1911 Iron Centerfire
23 Freddyboomboom 51 50 101 .22 Ruger Mk. II Iron Rimfire
24 Mrs. NateG 50 49 99 .38 S&W 686 Iron Revolver
25 Freddyboomboom 43 37 80 .22 Walther P22 Iron Rimfire
26 Freddyboomboom 7 57 64 .38 S&W 442 Snub. Iron Revolver
27 Freddyboomboom 27 30 57 357 Ruger Service Six Iron Revolver
28 Freddyboomboom 21 31 52 .40 Walther P99 Iron Centerfire
29 Mrs. NateG 11 31 50 .22 1911 w/.22 Conversion Iron Rimfire

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What a fun e-Postal match this one was, complete with some really noteworthy scores.

Marc's 233, including a perfect 140 from a rest, with a double action only revolver stands out as quite a job! That got him not only the revolver class, but best overall score, too!

Jimmyb is back on track, winning two classes. He managed to sneak by me in the rimfire class, but next match I'll be watching for him. CUG, you are a marked man! I think someone needs to bring him back to earth in the next e-Postal match. Until then he's probably going to be just unbearable.

I took it easy on Josh and Owen in the air pistol class with my mighty westlake, not wanting to discourage them in a new class that looks like it's going to be very popular in future matches.

Thanks to all who entered, and keep an eye out for the next e-Postal matches to be announced next Monday at the latest, but possibly as soon as Friday if they are ready to go......

Stay tuned!

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ADDENDUM:

Thought you'd enjoy some of the comments that came in with the entries, so here you go:

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I was running out of light and I had to shoot before the deer took over the range. They walk around the range unbothered by gunfire. As dusk approaches they come out to graze, mostly between the 50 and 100 yard target mounds. That's my excuse for not shooting at the 20 point dots on the prone target, I'm entering my sight verification target.

Marc

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after reading Riverdog disparaging target pistols, I decided to shoot my beater .45 SHTF pistol. It shoots anything ammo-wise (read NOT picky!) , and if it gets bumped or scratched, no biggie! Consider this a combat/carry piece that shoots pretty well. Sadly, I am ashamed to admit this Norinco 1911 shoots great and never fails to feed, never jams, is accurate, etc. (I bought it in a package deal, so that's my excuse!!!!!!!) But in a life or death, I can count on it. Too bad it's made by friggin' commies, but I bought it 10 years ago, and didn't think about it.

jimmyb

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. It sure was fun! Especially the airsoft - I forgot how cool it was to shoot in the house.

Josh

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Just @ the time I had everything sighted, my sister called me to remind me I was supposed to go there for dinner. Therefore, I had to pack it in & take off for her place for the obligatory monthly feast ( Which I'll be damned if I'd miss. I love anyone else’s cooking, as long as it's not me having to do it.)!

LouG

e-Postal Rifle Match "Tight Groups" Results

Firehand's target: 50 yards with iron sights! Not bad!

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Azreel at Free Spirit Mind has got the results posted at his site, including even links to the target pictures, and more.

We all own him a big thanks for putting on a really good e-Postal match for us all to enjoy.

Well done, Azreel, and Thanks!

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e-Postal Rifle & Pistol match "Tight Groups" results

SPECIAL AWARDS

* South Park Pundit - Over All Winner - Scoped rimfire at 100 yards

o Firearm: Ruger 10/22
o Optics: 12x
o Distance: 100 Yards
o Score: 250

* FireHand - Best looking target - remember folks, that's using iron sights at 50 yards.

o Firearm: BSA Martini model 12
o Distance: 50 Yards
o Score: 200

* David from Random Nuclear Strikes - Only other Contestant to shoot the target at 100 yards

o Firearm: T/C Encore .223
o Optics: Barska 6.5-20x50
o Distance: 100 Yards
o Score: 120

* Mr Completely - One of Two perfect scores

o Firearm: Remington 513-T Bolt Action .22 LR
o Distance: 25 Yards
o Score: 250

Overall - Ranked by Score

* South Park Pundit
o Firearm: Ruger 10/22
o Optics: 12x
o Distance: 100 Yards
o Score: 250

* Mr Completely
o Firearm: Remington 513-T Bolt Action .22 LR
o Distance: 25 Yards
o Score: 250

* Mr Completely
o Firearm: High Standard Supermatic Citation w/unmagnified red dot sight
o Distance: 9 Yards
o Score: 240

* FireHand
o Firearm: BSA Martini model 12
o Distance: 50 Yards
o Score: 200

* Mr Completely
o Firearm: Savage/Anschutz Model 12
o Optics: Tasco 12x scope
o Distanc: 50 Yards
o Score: 195

* Simon Peter
o Firearm: Marlin 981T
o Distance: 25 Yards
o Score: 180

* Sailorcurt
o Firearm: M1
o Distance: 50 yards.
o Score: 175

* David from Random Nuclear Strikes
o Firearm: T/C Encore .223
o Optics: Barska 6.5-20x50
o Distance: 100 Yards
o Score: 120

* Mr Completely
o Firearm: Tec 22
o Distance: 9 Yards?
o Score: 110

* Azreel
o Firearm: Para 14.45
o Distance: 10 Yards
o Score: 110

* KeeWee
o Firearm: Beretta U22 Neos w/unmagnified red dot sight
o Distance: 9 yards.
o Score: 75

* Sailorcurt
o Firearm: SKS
o Distance: 50 Yards
o Score: -40

* Sailorcurt's Son Josh
o Firearm: SKS
o Distanc: 50 Yards
o Score: -105

Handguns:

* Mr Completely
o Firearm: High Standard Supermatic Citation w/unmagnified red dot sight
o Distance: 9 Yards
o Score: 240

* Mr Completely
o Firearm: Tec 22
o Distance: 9 Yards?
o Score: 110

* Azreel
o Firearm: Para 14.45
o Distance: 10 Yards
o Score: 110

* KeeWee
o Firearm: Beretta U22 Neos w/unmagnified red dot sight
o Distance: 9 yards.
o Score: 75

Rimfire Rifle - Iron Sights - 25 Yards

* Mr Completely
o Firearm: Remington 513-T Blot Action .22 LR
o Distance: 25 Yards
o Score: 250

* Simon Peter
o Firearm: Marlin 981T
o Distance: 25 Yards
o Score: 180

Rimfire Rifle - Iron Sights - 50 Yards

* FireHand
o Firearm: BSA Martini model 12
o Distance: 50 Yards
o Score: 200

Centerfire Rifle - Iron Sights - 50 Yards

* Sailorcurt
o Firearm: M1
o Distance: 50 Yards
o Score: 175

* Sailorcurt's Son Josh
o Firearm: M1
o Distance: 50 Yards
o Score: 85

* Sailorcurt
o Firearm: SKS
o Distance: 50 Yards
o Score: -40

* Sailorcurt's Son Josh
o Firearm: SKS
o Distanc: 50 Yards
o Score: -105

Rimfire Rifle - Scope - 50 Yards

* South Park Pundit
o Firearm: Ruger 10/22
o Optics: 12x
o Distance: 100 Yards
o Score: 250

* Mr Completely
o Firearm: Savage/Anschutz Model 12
o Optics: Tasco 12x scope
o Distanc: 50 Yards
o Score: 195

Centerfire Rifle - Scope - 100 Yards

* South Park Pundit
o Firearm: Ruger 10/22
o Optics: 12x
o Distance: 100 Yards
o Score: 250

* David from Random Nuclear Strikes
o Firearm: T/C Encore .223
o Optics: Barska 6.5-20x50
o Distance: 100 Yards
o Score: 120

Created by Azreel

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The new e-Postal matches for next month will be announced on next Monday, or possible even as early as Friday, if we can.

If you haven't tried one of these matches yet, it's time to get on board and give it a whirl!

Beware of this Scam!

Just got this email from LouG and I thought I'd better pass it along..........

Beware of this Scam!

Send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list!

If someone comes to your front door saying they are conducting a survey on deer ticks and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around to Shake off the ticks, do NOT do it!

IT IS A SCAM; they only want to see you naked!

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid now.

LouG

(heh!)

Blog Alert

Probably not much posting until Monday night, at the earliest.

I'll be in Mongolia roping goats...........

UPDATE: Back from the goat rope, Part I. Roped most of the goats, corralled a few more, and shot the rest, except for a couple that got away.

I'll go track those down is a day or so.........

9mm. Bowling Pin Race Gun - Preview

I've been busy on the milling machine making the sight mount for the 9mm. bowling pin race gun I'm putting together. I just did a test fit/assembly to make sure everything cleared and fitted up OK prior to final finishing and assembly. So far, so good.....

Anybody recognize the gun?

CWSA Hanging Plate Shoot

This is what it looks like from the shooting station at ten yards, the closest distance. Three inch diameter steel disks. Hit one, and they all start moving around!

"Terrible Tom" having his way with the plates.........

It was cold enough that Scruff was even wearing her hooded sweatshirt! Scruff attends most CWSA shoots.

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It's bad enough having to deal with the likes of "evil Al", but now, to make matters even worse, in rides "Terrible Tom" (also known as Tom from Master Blaster Bullets) and kicks everyone's backsides soundly.

I did my best to make him earn it, but wasn't very successful. In optical sight class where I had the best chance, he still whupped me by six plates! In iron sight class I was also a distant second place. KeeWee shot well and finished in a respectable sixth place in optical sight class.

"Evil Al" was having some problems with a new gun, and didn't shoot his normal scores either.

Next Sunday it's a pin shoot at CWSA.

If "Terrible Tom" shows his face, I'll be ready!

(Cue the soundtrack of High Noon, or any Clint Eastwood Western in the background........)

North Whidbey Sportsman's Falling Plate Match

You all are going to have to help me out as bit on this particular post. You all have good imaginations, right? Super! You are going to have to imagine the pictures that WOULD have been with this post had some dummy not forgotten the camera! (razzen-frazzen-bazzennnn....)

Anyhow, imagine a pleasant sunny day, patches of blue sky, a gentle breeze, an outdoor gun range, a falling plate match, got it? Good!

I had never been to any of the matches held at the North Whidbey Sportsman's Assn. range, since they usually conflicted with my home club's shoots, or there was something else going on that day. Today I made it to my first ever NWSA shoot, and also it was my first ever falling plate match too, having never shot in one before.

The concept is simple. Six steel disks (10"?) mounted in a horizontal row, and each one hinged at the bottom so it could be knocked over when hit. An ingenious mechanism allowed for all of the plates to be set back upright by the pull of a rope.

Four distances were set up, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards. Each shooter would shoot six shots at the plates in the time allowed at the first distance. Every shooter would shoot 3 times for a total of 18 shots.

Then the shooting station was moved back to the next distance, and three more strings of six shots were shot. Total shots fired was 18 at each distance times four distances, for 72 total shots. Scoring was one point per plate hit, so a perfect score would be 72.

To keep it from becoming a target shoot, you started in a "Low Ready" position, and had to get all shots in each string in either 6, 7 ,8 ,or 9 seconds. The farther the distance, the longer the time you had to get your shots off.

We had six or eight shooters from CWSA, and the rest were from the home club, so there were a lot of faces I didn't recognize. One of the best parts of matches like this is sitting back watching the other shooters and BS'ing with everyone! It's as much a social event as a shooting competition.

I entered both rimfire iron sight, and rimfire optical sight. Iron sight is always a struggle, and today was no exception. I changed glasses back and forth, trying to find a combination that would allow me at least a fuzzy view of the front sight and some idea where the plate was.

I managed to hit 45 out of the 72, which wasn't very good, but since there were only three iron sight rimfire shooters, I got a second place out of it.The winner, a local club shooter, scored 55 for the win.

Rimfire Optical Sight was a different matter. There's a magic that sometimes happens in a shooting match, and those of you who have had it happen will know exactly what I'm talking about. Your hand-eye coordination, your muscle memory, the setup you've got on the gun, it all comes together. Everything becomes smooth and automatic, it's almost like it goes on auto-pilot and you are just along for the ride.

When the buzzer sounds to commence firing, the gun rises automatically, the red dot moves over the first plate, and the gun fires, almost all by itself. The dot moves to the second plate, and it fires again, until all six shots had been fired. Incredible!

After the first 36 shots, my score was a perfect 36! Since my High Standard is sighted in for bowling pins at 25 feet, I have to remember to shoot lower and lower on the plate as the distance becomes farther. On plate number 37 I forgot to do that, and missed it.

I didn't miss another plate until the very last plate, plate number 72. No excuse, I had plenty of time left, but I rushed it, and missed the last plate. That gave me a final score of 70 out of 72! That was good enough to not only win the Rimfire Optical class, but it was also the overall top score for the day across all classes.

Every so often in a competitor's life a day "Goes Magic" on you. Today was one of those days!

What Fun!

Double Edition of Carnival of Cordite

The special double edition 52 week Carnival of Cordite is up in two parts:

Part One is a retrospective of 52 weeks of the Carnival of Cordite:

Part Two is all the newest content from the past two weeks:

Have Fun!

Six Wheeled Hummer H6 -- VERY COOL!

The Hummer H6

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If a SUV annoys the liberal tree-huggers, and a Hummer REALLY ticks them off, just IMAGINE what THIS rig could do! For more info check this out!

Big hat tip to Murdoc Online!

Blog Alert

As you may have noticed, blogging has been a little light for the last couple of days, and for good reason. Since I am still cursed by having to work for a living, blogging time is sometimes limited by workload.

One of the businesses for whom I provided computer and network support is having their entire offices re-carpeted, and that means dis-assembling all of their workstations and networks, and moving everything out of each room so the carpet can be installed. Then, everything gets moved back. That process started yesterday, and hopefully will be completed by Monday, so they can re-open on Tuesday.

KeeWee was scheduled for a routine colonoscopy at the hospital Thursday morning at 7:15, so all night long she was dealing with "Green Apple Quick Step" and no one got much sleep. Got her to the hospital Thursday morning bright and early. Everything went well, and all is fine, but yesterday afternoon I was basically exhausted, and was sound asleep by 7:30pm. I'm still not up to speed, but gaining on it.

Blogging will be a little light for the weekend, as Saturday I plan to head up to Custer for a falling plate match, and Sunday is a Hanging Plate match at CWSA.

Monday will be an all day project to get the client's business ready to re-open.

Somewhere in between all of that I'll try to get some posts up, including match reports from Custer and CWSA.

UPDATE: The North Whidbey Gun Club is having some sort of a steel plate match on Saturday too, so since I've never been to their club, and it's a couple of hours closer, I think I'll stop by and see what's going on there. I can use the sleep!

Gonna be busy......

e-Postal Match - Airguns

In case you missed it, the current e-Postal match "VORTEX", will have an air pistol class included, if at least four entries are received before the deadline, which is Monday night.

Xavier at Xavier Thoughts has done some recent posts on air pistols, and OXEN at Ox Rants is planning to send in an entry too.

Mr. Completely, having gone hog wild and spent $19.95 plus tax for a brand new air pistol, is confident that he will place well.

If you have an air pistol kicking around, drag it out to the back yard or down to the basement and shoot some targets for the "VORTEX" e-Postal match.

Excuses that won't work:

1. Can't afford ammo.
2. Too far to drive to the range.
3. Can't handle the recoil.

The rules and to down load targets, click on the link at the very top of this page.

Have Fun!

e-Postal Match Deadline Reminder

Just a reminder that this is the last weekend to get out to the range and shoot some targets to enter in the two current e-Postal matches, "Vortex" for handguns and "Tight Groups" for rifles and/or handguns.

The links to both matches are up at the very top of the page, so go print out some targets, and go shoot 'em full of holes!

Have Fun!

Rimfire Roundup #7

Welcome to this week's Rimfire Roundup! Lots of interesting posts this week on a variety of topics.

We'll start out with a well written post on Youths and Guns by Fug at Fugger Nutter. He covers gun selection, caliber selection, safety, and a lot more.

If you are planning to introduce some kids to shooting, you might want to give this a careful reading.

Photo Credit to the NRA

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Kurt from A Train Wreck in Maxwell took Karen out to the dry creekbed of Hondo Creek on Saturday for a little shooting with his Taurus .22 revolver. From his post of the targets and his write-up, it sounds like thay had a good time. Here's the story.

Maybe we can get a full range report and review on the Taurus one of these days!

Karen gets in a little rimfire wheel-gunning!

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A while back, Xavier at Xavier Thoughts had established a Smith & Wesson K-22 as his next Holy Grail Gun. Technically, a K-22 is a pre-1957 gun, a K framed .22 caliber Smith & Wesson without a model number.

He finally found the one he's been looking for, and at a price you won't believe!

Smith & Wesson K-22 - Xavier's Holy Grail!

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Alan at Blognomicon has now done a much more thorough review on the Walther P22. The P22 is designed to be nearly identical to, although smaller than Walther's P99 (a 9mm or .40 S&W gun).

The Walther P22

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Kim at The Other Side of Kim is missing having a really accurate .22 rifle, and he's narrowed it down a bit as to what he wants to get to fill that hole in his gun safe. One of his choices is a Remington 504-T. You'll have to read his post to see what other rifles, in his opinion, fill the bill!

Remington 504-T

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When Dan from Life in the Great Midwest went into a local gun shop looking for a new .22 rifle, he was treated as if he was intruding into someone's private club, and he left. He ended up at Gander Mountain, where they actually seemed to appreciate him as a potential customer.

He bought a Ruger Model 77 in .22 Long Rifle with the stainless steel barrel, and he loves it. Check out his post which includes a range report and review of this beauty!

There's just something about those laminated stocks......

Ruger Model 77 in .22 Long Rifle

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Speaking of Ruger rimfire rifles, Jeff at Alphecca has a short post about the banana clips from Butler Creek for the 10/22 Ruger rifles.

Butler Creek 25 Round Magazine for the Ruger 10/22.

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That's it for this week! Deadline for the next Rimfire Roundup is next Tuesday night, so send in those rimfire links!

Thanks.......

Josh's New Kimber CDP II

Josh's new Kimber CDP II

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Josh at South Park Pundit has got his new Kimber CDP II, and has a review and range report. Check it out.

I think I want one!

Tuesday Frog Bloggin'

Now I ask you, where ELSE are you going to get cool frog pic's like this!

........All part of the service!

Reno Gunblogger Rendezvous Speaker?

I'm still working on details for the Gunblogger Rendezvous to be held in Reno this Fall, and I'd like some input from you all on possible after dinner speakers.

Some of the speakers I'd like to hear at the dinner charge for their speaking engagements, and since we have no money to hire a speaker, we have to limit ourselves to someone who would enjoy being there for the fun of it and would enjoy meeting all the gunbloggers in attendance. If they just happened to live not too far from Reno, that might make it easier to get them to attend.

We want someone involved in the gun community that when you think of them, you think "Man, I'd love to get a chance to meet that guy!". He should be someone fairly well known, so his name will be recognized by most of us. He could be a manufacturer, a shooting sports competitor, a pro-gun politician, an entertainer, or maybe even something else completely.

I have ruled out other gun bloggers, since most of us read each other's blogs regularly anyway. He (or she) must also be someone that there is a way for us to contact them, so we can see if they are interested in attending the Gunblogger Rendezvous.

Put on your thinking caps, and leave your ideas in the comments below!

Thanks!

Summers on Mutiny Bay

In the early fifties, when my family first started spending our Summers on Whidbey Island, there were twenty-three salmon fishing resorts on the South end of the island. Mutiny bay, where our little cabin was located, had seven resorts on the one bay.

We had a small two room “fishin’ cabin” a block or so up the hill from Mutiny Bay resort. Mutiny Bay resort had twenty or thirty small one room cabins with a couple of beds, cold running water, and an old fashioned wood stove. There was a huge pile of the trimmings from the local saw mill, called “slab wood”, cut into 16” lengths nearby. Next to the slab wood pile were several chopping blocks and several short handled double-bitted axes. It was up to you to split the slab wood into pieces that would fit into the wood stove, and haul the wood to the cabin! Midway between the cabins were the community outhouses.

Each resort had big heavy sixteen-foot cedar planked boats for rent. You could bring your own outboard motor to power the rental boat, or rent one of the inboard boats, powered by a seven horsepower Wisconsin single cylinder air-cooled motor. Trailering in your own boat was unheard of!

To get the boats into the water, there was a mini-railroad launch with a single flat rail car, gravity ran it down the tracks to launch the boat, and an electric winch and cable arrangement pulled the cart back up the rails into the resort. An overhead electric hoist on a track lifted the boats on and off of the cart, and moved the boats to their storage places. Mutiny Bay Resort eventually had to put in a second set of rails to handle the demand for boat launching.

The inboard boats, since they were air cooled, were usually started up while the boat was on the cart and still in the boathouse. That way you didn’t have to go retrieve the launched boat if they couldn’t get it started.

Most of the outboard motors were Johnsons or Evinrudes back then. Once in a while a Scott-Attwater, an Elgin, a Martin, maybe even a Neptune or a Western Auto would show up. Sometimes a Mercury would appear, but they were known to suffer mightily because of salt water, and although they had plenty of speed, they weren’t much of a trolling motor.

The average fishing motor was around ten horsepower, and fifteen horses were considered almost excessive. A twenty-five was for small cabin cruisers, not for fishing!

In those days, salmon were the ONLY fish to catch, and anyone who came to a salmon resort and brought in any other kind of fish were looked at rather scornfully.

Many of the privately owned fishin’ cabins had what looked like two outhouses out back. One of them actually WAS the outhouse, and the other one was the smoke house for smoking the salmon. Alder trees were everywhere, and nothing is better when smoking salmon than alder.

It was a great way to spend my Summers when I was growing up.

Monday Mornings - Blechhhhh.....

I don't do mornings well, or Mondays either, for that matter. When you mix the two, I just try to maintain minimal functionality, not break anything, and not hurt myself, until Noon rolls around.

Then I can get after it in earnest.

For now, I need more coffee.........

Rimfire Roundup Reminder

Just a short reminder for all you gun bloggers to be sure to get your rimfire links in by Tuesday night to be included in next week's Rimfire Roundup.

Sometime's I'll come across a good rimfire post and get it into the Roundup without it being submitted, but I don't manage to find the time to read all the gun blogs every day, so if you have a post you want in the Roundup, please send it to:

b l o g ( a t ) w h i d b e y ( d o t ) c o m

And I'll get your post into the Roundup.

Thanks!

Master Blaster's Bullets

Master Blaster's Poly-M bullets

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I've run into Tom Stidham up in Custer at pin shoots before, but we were usually shooting different classes or something, and I never got the chance to BS with Tom until last Sunday's CWSA Steel Challenge match in Coupeville, Washington.

Tom has a small business called Master Blaster's bullets, and he's got some interesting things going on.

Tom casts his own bullets, then coats them with a special teflon/moly/polymer substance that makes them really slippery, resulting in higher velocities, reduced barrel wear, and a big reduction in lead fouling. He calls it the Poly-M bullet.

How well does it work? Don't know, but it makes a lot of sense what he says. His prices are very good, and include shipping!

I got a box of 9mm's to try out in the new race gun I'm building, and I think they are going to be just the ticket for bowling pins.

Here's his website, Master Blaster's Bullets.

Check it out, and be sure to tell him Mr. Completely sent you!

The LARK Program

A Lady Liberal Democrat wrote a lot of letters to the White House complaining about the treatment of a captive insurgent (terrorist) being held in Guantanamo Bay.

She received the following reply:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20016

Dear Concerned Citizen,

Thank you for your recent letter, in which you roundly criticized our treatment of the Taliban and Al Quaida detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Our administration takes these matters very seriously and your opinion was heard loud and clear here in Washington. Consequently, you'll be pleased to learn that thanks to the concerns of citizens like yourself, we are creating a new division of the Terrorist Retraining Program, to be called the "Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers" program, or LARK for short.

In accordance with the guidelines of this new program, we have decided to place a terrorist under your personal care. Your detainee has been selected and is scheduled for transportation under heavily armed guard to your residence next Monday.

Ali Mohammed Ahmed bini Mahmud (you can just call him Ahmed) is to be cared for pursuant to the standards you personally demanded in your letter of complaint. It will likely be necessary for you to hire several assistant caregivers.

We will conduct weekly inspections to ensure that your standards of care for Ahmed are commensurate with those you so strongly recommended in your letter.

Although Ahmed is a sociopath and extremely violent, we hope your sensitivity to what you described as his "attitudinal problem" will help him overcome these character flaws. Perhaps you are correct in describing these problems as mere cultural differences. We understand that you plan to offer counseling and home schooling.

You may need to know that your adopted terrorist is extremely proficient in hand to hand combat and can extinguish human life with simple items as pencils and nail clippers. We advise that you not ask him to demonstrate these skills at your next yoga group. He is also expert at making a wide variety of explosive devices from common household products, so you may wish to keep those items locked up, unless (in your opinion), this might offend him.

Ahmed will not wish to interact with you or your daughters (except sexually), since he views females as a subhuman form of property. This is a particularly sensitive subject for him, and he has been known to show violent tendencies around women who fail to comply with the new dress code that he will recommend as more appropriate attire. I'm sure you will come to enjoy the anonymity offered by the burka - as time goes by.

Just remember that it is all part of "respecting his culture and his religious beliefs" - wasn't that how you put it?

Thanks again for your letter. We truly appreciate it when folks like you take the time to keep us informed of the proper way to do our job. You take good care of Ahmed - and remember ... we'll be watching.

Meanwhile, Good Luck!


Cordially,

Donald Rumsfeld
United States Secretary of Defense

Hat tip to Jean Mary!

CWSA First Ever Steel Challenge Match

Got back a few hours ago from the first CWSA Steel Challenge match in Coupeville, Washington. There was only enough range area to set up two stages, but with the fairly good turn-out we had and a wind that was chilly at times, that was enough for one day.

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Here's the first stage. Shoot all four white plates once, then shoot the yellow stop plate. Repeat five times. Your slowest score is thrown out ,and the remailing four are added up, minus any penalties for missing a plate or shooting the stop plate before hitting all of the white ones. From the left-most to the right-most plate was close to 90 degrees. For today anything under three seconds for five plates was fairly fast.

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Megan, a first year shooter with obvious talent, turned in a number of times close to three seconds! It's not polite to ask a lady her age, but I would guess she was somewhere around twelve! (If I've guessed wrong, I apologise!) Proud Mama and proud papa also were shooting in the match.

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The second stage was five circular plates, much smaller than on the first stage, at varying heights, but closer together. Since the plates were closer together, times were a little faster on this one.

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We had a good bunch of shooters down from the Custer club, including "Unbeatable Gerald", Kim, and Megan and her family, and another shooter, Tom, I think.

Lots of reasonably fast times were turned in, in spite of a number of us having never shot one of these matches before. Tom from Custer won the centerfire standard gun class, Gerald from Custer won the centerfire open class, our own "Evil Al" won the revolver class, and Gerald also won the rimfire optical sight class. I forgot to find out who won the iron sight rimfire class.

Most of the class winners won their respective classes fairly easily, but the rimfire optical class was extremely closely contested. Less that 3/4 of a second separated the total times of first through third, and that's for the totals of eight rounds added together per shooter!

"Evil Al" and I were in nearly a dead heat, with me narrowly beating his times on the first stage, and he narrowly beat my best times on the second stage. The difference between second and third was in the hundredths of a second, it was that close, but Al got me on this one! I even managed a 2.51 on one of the rounds, but that wasn't quite fast enough.

KeeWee shot steadily and basically mistake free, and ended up somewhere around fifth or sixth, I think.

Iron sight rimfire did not go well for me. I was solidly in the thick of it, although not up with the leaders, until I missed a plate that I thought I had hit, and hit the stop plate. The penalty was 8 seconds, which sent me clear to the bottom of the list. That single penalty adds anywhere from 25 to 40 per cent to your total score, basically eliminating you from the match.

It was a long day, and lots of waiting around to get in 30 or 40 seconds of shooting, but this was CWSA's first match, and the next ones should go much faster.

On the way back from the match KeeWee and I stopped at one of our favorite restaurants for dinner, then home.

I'm plumb wore out!

e-Postal Rifle Match Shooting

Remington Model 513-T .22 Rifle

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Got a chance to head out the The Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun Club range this morning and do a little shooting. I have a new (to me) Remington 513-T target rifle with a long heavy barrel and a Redfield peep sight.

This was my first time shooting it, and I had no idea how it would shoot. In fact, with my lousy eyes and no scope, I didn't even know if I could give it a fair test. I put up a "sighter" target at twenty-five yards, and ten or twelve rounds later it was hitting right where I was pointing it.

I put up the e-Postal Match "Tight Groups" target, and fired five rounds at each bull. To my amazement on the second bull I managed to put four rounds through the same jagged hole! The fifth was about an eigth of an inch away from joining the first four! I think luck had a lot to do with it, but I'll take it! The groups on the other four bulls was not nearly as tight, but still, I was very pleased with my first time shooting the 513-T.

I hung another "sighter" and another "Tight Groups" target at fifty yards, and grabbed the Savage/Anschutz Mk.12. This one ought to be even more accurate, since I had a 12x scope on it. Being able to see the target has GOT to help! Seven or eight shots and it was right on the money. The last sight-in shot used up the last round out of one box of fifty, so I grabbed another box from the same brick of ammo. First shot, 3/4" to one side. Second shot, an inch the other way! What's going on? Did someone slip me a blunderbuss?

Since I had started shooting the match target, I had to continue, as you only get one chance at it with any given rifle. It would shoot one way, and I'd correct my point of aim, and it would be off in some other direction. After fifteen rounds I decided it wasn't me, and grabbed another box of another brand of ammo. After five more rounds into the next to the last bull, it had settled down and was shooting where I pointed it. Last bull, all five in the ten ring! First four bulls, blechhhhh!

It was getting cold and I didn't have too much time, so I put away the rifles and decided to give Fuze's S&W K-22 .22 caliber revolver a try. What a sweet shooting pistol! I can see why Xavier raves about the K-22's. They are all that he says, and more!

Fingers and toes were getting cold, so we packed it in and called it a day.

Blog Alert -- Light Posting Tomorrow ! !

Tomorrow morning bright and early I'll be at the CWSA range to participate in my first attempt at a Steel Challenge match.

If any of you with nothing better to do than to laugh at an old guy hobbling around trying not to fall down or trip over anything, and also trying to hit assorted sized targets at various distances, stop on by.

It should be entertaining, and who knows, you might just learn something, even if it's just how not to do it!

I'll try to get a post up tomorrow afternoon or evening, if I survive!

Unless, of course, I just don't want to talk about it..............

Bush & Saddam - Both Lying?

Thanks to From the Swamp!

Taurus Model 66 Revolver

Taurus Model 66 .357 Magnum Revolver

Taurus Model 66 with Simmons Red Dot Sight

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When I bought my Taurus Model 66, I didn't know much about their revolvers, but my poor old 9mm. PT92 had always been a workhorse, and the price was right, so I figured I'd give it a try.

The Taurus 66 is a very close clone of a Smith and Wesson, so I've been told, and exactly HOW close it is I couldn't say, but I suspect some of the parts may even interchange.

Somewhere I heard that the Taurus revolvers were built using the original S&W tooling, which Taurus had purchased from Smith & Wesson. If that's true or not, I don't know, but if any of you have more info, please leave a comment!

There are several different versions of the 66, different barrel lengths, materials, finishes, and some were six shot, and some were seven shot cylinders. I believe the old model 66's did not use a transfer bar, as is incorporated on the new model.

I've had people tell me the Taurus guns weren't much good, and no matter how hard you worked them over, they were still a Taurus, so you were basically wasting your time trying to make a good gun out of them. I've had other folks tell me that they were excellent quality, well made, and great value for the money. All I can say is that from my own experience, having three Taurus handguns, they have all been trouble-free, and seem to shoot better than I do!

The Taurus New Model 66 shown above was still in it's original box when I bought it, only slightly used. It is a nice looking gun, and there were no rough edges or signs of sloppy manufacturing anywhere to be seen.

Double action trigger pull, although not measured, was light and smooth, and single action was excellent. I suspected a trigger job had been done to get it so light and smooth. I have heard that some of the Taurus revolvers were "Dialed in" straight from the factory, perhaps this was one of them.

On disassembly, I wasn't able to see any signs of extra handwork or polishing, and there were a few places clearly smooth but unpolished which I would have polished if I was doing a trigger job.

The rear adjustable target sight was good, and had good solid clicks due to a little tiny ball and spring detent system on the elevation. Everything seemed to lock up tight and end shake was minimal.

I had shot this particular handgun numerous times, and entered it a few times in e-Postal matches with decent results, but with my lousy eyesight and iron sights, I wasn't doing justice to what the 66 could actually do.

Browsing through the Brownell's catalog, I came across scope mounts for the Taurus Model 66, both old and new models. I guessed that mine was a new model, and ordered the mount. Wrong guess! A couple of hours of milling machine time later, I re-machined it into an old model mount. I drilled and tapped two holes in the gun, and lock-tite'd it solidly in place.

I started out with a 25mm. Tasco red dot sight, but it just didn't feel right on the gun, so I took it off and mounted a Simmons 42mm. red dot sight instead. It felt much better, and I could actually bring it up and find the dot almost every time!

I was getting this all together at the last minute so I could take it to the Douglas Ridge Rifle club pin shoot in Portland to try it out and I didn't even have time to take it to the range, sight it in, and get in a little practice. I telephoned a friend of mine who lives a few miles away and lives far enough out in the woods that he can shoot in his back yard when he feels like it. He was home, so just before it got dark I headed over to his place and set up a target.

The target sits in front of his wood pile, and you shoot from inside of his tool shed and over the table saw! I loaded it up with some .38 Plus P hollow points. A couple of shots showed that I was not too far off, and a few more shots and adjustments and it was hitting where pointed. Shooting single action, of course! I am constantly amazed at shooters who can shoot double-action and hold their accuracy.

Putting the red dot sight onto the Taurus turned it into a completely new gun, especially for these tired old eyes. Now I could aim at things and actually hit them! I was REALLY getting to like the gun.

By now it was dark, so having put 18 rounds through the gun, I packed it in and headed home to get packed up for the drive to Portland the next morning. Portland would be a good test.

In Portland the Taurus worked flawlessly, and as the matches progressed I became more confident in it and gradually increased rate of fire. The last couple of matches it seemed like all I had to do was cock the hammer and when the red dot touched a pin the gun went off, sending the pin flying. Great fun!

The Taurus New Model 66 is rapidly becoming one of my favorite revolvers, right along side of my S&W Model 29 in .44 Magnum, and that's saying something!

CCW Permit Percentage by State

Here's some interesting information. This list shows what percentage of an individual state's population have concealed carry permits.

I've only posted the upper part of the list, and if your state is not shown, then the percentage is below one percent.

To see the full listing, take a look here.

1st. - 7.45% South Dakota
2nd. - 6.79% Indiana
3rd. - 6.76% Pennsylvania
4th. - 5.23% Connecticut
5th. - 5.12% Washington
6th. - 4.34% Idaho
7th. - 4.10% Utah
8th. - 3.86% Oregon
9th. - 3.45% Tennessee
10th. - 3.15% Alabama
11th. - 2.72% Florida
12th. - 2.71% Kentucky
13th. - 2.67% Wyoming
14th. - 2.41% Maine
15th. - 2.18% Arkansas
16th. - 2.11% Virginia
17th. - 1.94% West Virginia
18th. - 1.76% Arizona
19th. - 1.75% Oklahoma
20th. - 1.70% Montana
21th. - 1.70% Michigan
22th. - 1.62% Texas
23rd. - 1.39% South Carolina
24th. - 1.34% North Dakota
25th. - 1.00% North Carolina

It almost makes you want to move to South Dakota, but not quite!

Hat tip to SaysUncle!