Fun Turns to Tragedy!!!

The Skinny

I am a gun enthusiast trapped in the People's Republic of Maryland. My political affiliation is Independent, as the Ruling parties are both full of crap, and long ago stopped representing the common man. If the Libertarians weren't such freaks I would probably be one. I am a member of the Nation of Riflemen and damn proud of it. I once took an oath that I would support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. As far as I know I never broke that oath, and will continue to follow it. I am not Politically Correct and will NEVER be Politically Correct. If you need to know more, feel free, Ask.

what am I up too???

Top Referrers

Calendar

My Links

XBL

• Home Improvement
• Blogging
• News
• Personal
• Political

Monthly Archives

• August 2010
• July 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• May 2004
• April 2004
• March 2004

Most recent entries

• We need Gov Health care why???
• this thing on???
• Where is the human cloning technology when you need it.
• Do your Job
• reloading 223…
• fixed the page finally
• All mounted up
• Backed UP
• Lefty AR update
• Gastro intestinal adventures
• Garand Update
• Lack O Blogging…
• FURY…
• Woot.  SNOW…
• Took longer than expected

Navigation

Home | About | Archives | Contact

Members

Login | Register | Member List

Syndicate

• RSS 1.0
• RSS 2.0
• Atom

Join our Mailing List

Site Statistics

This page has been viewed 2404665 times
Page rendered in 0.3720 seconds
44 queries executed
Total Entries: 519
Total Comments: 1072
Total Trackbacks: 16
Most Recent Entry: 08/02/2010 09:55 am
Most Recent Comment on: 09/03/2010 10:45 am
Total Members: 17
Total Logged in members: 0
Total guests: 14
Total anonymous users: 0
Most Recent Visitor on: 09/08/2010 05:39 am
The most visitors ever was 302 on 08/31/2009 07:29 pm

Hits

Referrers

Site Credits

Powered by:
ExpressionEngine

Design by:
BlogMoxie and modified by Me

Well as my three faithful readers know, I built a rifle for Boomershoot 2005.  The action and barrel are the only factory stock pieces that remained after I purchased the rifle.  I did a custom stock and a fairly controversial paint job on said stock. 

Some people liked it some people hated it but I painted it to look cute and fluffy for the Gun Bigots out there.  I got the appropriate comments from all the appropriate security people I had to deal with on my trip.  I also had the most photographed rifle at the event.  So all in all I got what I wanted out of the paint job. 

Well I went and shot in my first (and probably last as you will see) 1000 yard international bench rest match at Quantico Marine Corps Base Range Three.  The people I met and shot with were very helpful to a 1000 yard virgin.  I would recommend the Virginia 1000 Yard Benchrest Club to anyone interested in getting serious about shooting at 1000 yards with great precision. 

I took my cam corder which also takes pictures to document the event.  I was able to take a lot of pictures of the competitors rifles (with their permission of course).  I would have gotten this post up a long time ago but was not able to get the pictures transfered off of the cam corder until I got a flash card reader that was able to handle the memory card as the cam corder was not transferring these pics.  It must have been the new card I used for this shoot as I have had no problems with other cards.  At last I have the pics so here they go, at least a few of them.

I was a bit shocked at first to see some of the competitors unloading their rifles as I was expecting rifles that looked a bit more traditional.  A bit later I learned that there were two classes of rifles in benchrest shooting (ok, there is also a factory only class).  The next picture illustrates the difference between the two classes

The Rifle on the left is what is know as Heavy Gun class which encompasses any rifle over 17 pounds. The rifle in the center is in the Light Gun class in which the rifle can weigh no more than 17 pounds with the bolt and scope also counted in the total weight.  My rifle weighted in at 13 pounds, which answered the question I was asking myself for a while.

This is what the average Heavy Gun looked like.  As you can see the diameter of the barrel is right around two inches (a couple looked even bigger).  Yikes. 

This rifle gives you a nice side view where you can see the round aluminum rails on both the front and rear of the stock that contact the “sand bags” that the shooter must have between the rifle and the rest that you shoot from.  I use the quotes around the words sand bag because the rule states that you must have an inch of sand between the rifle and the rest.  A lot of shooters followed that rule to the letter as you will see in a bit The round rails basically allow the rifle to have a very small contact patch on the sandbag which allowed them to free recoil with very little resistance.  (at 95 pounds there is not a lot of recoil going on).  Free recoil is basically where the rifle is fired without the butt of the rifle even touching your shoulder.  This allows the bullet to clear the muzzle of the rifle without any movement or interference between the rifle and the shooter. This keeps the shooter from imparting any movement in the shooting system thus changing the bullet path from the time of triggering the shot.

This rifle had a serial number of #001 and was by far my favorite rifle of the competition.  It is as close as you can come to a rail gun and still meet the one inch of sand between the rifle and the rest rule

Here it is from another angle.  I talked to the owner a bit as this one intrigued me a bit.  He has had a couple of complaints due to some people feeling that he has pushed the rules a bit since the front and rear rests are one piece, but it probably falls in that grey area that all high end sports seem to produce when competitors push the rules as far as they can in order to get that last bit of performance.  A very fine rifle but that chrome has got to be tough to keep the finger prints down to a manageable level…

Now shooting in a 1000 yard bench rest mach is a very civilized thing.  The benches are all there and set up when you arrive.  They have been pre leveled and all you have to do is bring your rifle, stool, and ammo.  Oh, no working the target pits either as they pay locals to pull targets and mark your shots.

Once again very civilized…

And here is the final picture from the event. 

I really liked the Cow paint job.  Hummm, Maybe that will be the paint job on the boomershoot 2006 rifle.

There were a couple of striking things about the heavy class.  One was just the immense weight that the rifles reach.  The second was the number of wildcat cartridges that the competitors use.  Most of the competitors make their own brass cases through a very vigorous and time intensive process.  Finally the noise that the Heavy guns produce is very impressive, even 20 feet back you can feel the pressure wave from some of them.  While I was there one of the heavy guns recorded a group of 10 shots at about four and a half inches.  Once again Yikes…

I earlier stated that it would probably be my last 1000 yard event.  I may go out and shoot with them again, but I do not feel that I can compete at the level that these guys shoot at due to the equipment involved.  I just can’t see putting 4K (minimum) into a firearm (and development time of said firearm and ammo) that serves only purpose.  Most of these guys shoot 15 rounds in a match for maybe a grand total of 30 rounds for the weekend.  I like to shoot and shoot a lot when I go shooting (I put 500 rounds through my boomershoot rifle during the three day event).  So while some people may enjoy that kind of event (I did enjoy the 1000 yard aspect of the shooting), I like to shoot a bit more. 

As far as how I did.  Can you say DFL?  yea I was Dead Last.  I shot absolutely horrible during the match portion of the event.  My sighters were spot on, but I fell apart during the event, my 10 shot group was 19 inches.  I can do better than that and will probably go out again next season when I have Barney re-barreled as the stock barrel while pretty good was just not up to the 1000 yard mark (at least with me driving) I think that the 24 inch barrel was just working too hard to keep the round supersonic at 1000 Yards.  The next one will be a 30 inch barrel set up to shoot the Palma round or maybe the 6.5-284 if my current action is up to it…  One last thing having a scope with a bit more that 22X would be very helpful as it would be nice to not have the entire X ring covered by the reticle.

1) How much music do I have?

I currently own 5739 songs that if listened to continuously would take 16.7 days to go through without repeating a single song.  My music server currently has 27.04 gigabytes of storage used.  This encompasses 531 albums spread across 411 different artists.  This is not all of the music that I own, just the stuff that has made the conversion to the digital format.  If we count the Wife’s collection the count would go to about 1000 albums.  It was a bit funny that when we combined our music collection we had less than 10 duplicates (I think the exact number was 4) in both collections.

2) What was the last CD I bought?

Crikey, I can’t remember back that far (it was probably The 5, 6, 7, 8s).  I have not really purchased a CD since iTunes was released and frankly if it were not for a few hold outs like AC/DC (I would put Metallica in that category also, but they have not put out a good album in years) I probably would never buy another CD again.  Going to a brick and mortar store is so 1990s, why would I ever want to pay the inflated price of $16 dollars for a CD again?

The last (couple) Albums that I purchased off of iTunes were
Fiona Apple: Tidal
The Presidents of the United States of America: Love Everybody
The Killers: Hot Fuss

3) What am I listening to right now?

Fiona Apple:  Criminal, off of the Tidal album. err it just changed
Now it is Rammstien: Amerika, Single.

4) Five songs I listen to that mean a lot to me?

As the Kid said…  Only 5, you bastard…  Ok the Kid did not phrase it just like that, but I bet he wanted to…

1:  Radar Love remade by White Lion, during the middle of the song I got nabbed by the Man for speeding.  Thank god he did not have his radar on, as the speed at which I was traveling would have meant spending the night in jail before seeing the judge the next morning.  As it was I spent 45 minutes in the front of the squad car while he tried to squeeze me for the exact speed at which I was traveling (which I stated was probably around 60, even though all 4 tires left the ground of the hilltop that he just happened to be sitting behind), which me being young but not entirely stupid, I was not about to be giving him. 

2:  Back in Black by AC/DC,  It was the first hard rock/metal song that I ever heard.  Nuff said.  They still rock and I will continue to buy their CDs.

3:  If 6 Was 9 by Jimi Hendrix, for its lyrical content not just the awesome guitar work (I am the one thats got to die when its time for me to die. So let me live my life the way I want to)
3A:  Room full of Mirrors by Jimi Hendrix, for taking a guitar to places that I had never heard before.
3B:  The Audience is Listening by Steve Via, for reminding me that there are people out there that continue to take the guitar places like Jimi.

4:  With or Without You by U2, for helping me out during a hard stretch
4A:  Everybody Hurts by R.E.M, once again for helping me out during yet another hard stretch
4BCD: I remember the songs and they all helped.

5:  Rock Lobster by The B52s.  Yea baby…  Lets Dance…
5A:  Kiss Off by the Violent Femmes.  (The Man: I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record?  The Rebel: Oh yea, well don’t get so distressed.  Did I happen to mention that I am impressed?) and the entire First Femmes album for helping a loaner like me make it through High School.
5B:  Fly on the Windscreen by Depeche Mode.  I would like to put about half of their music on here as I grew up with them…
5C:  Beer For Breakfast by The Replacements.  Beer for Breakfast once again nuff said…  The Mats also kept me going in High School, too bad they were done before I finished.

Yea thats Right 11…  This one goes to Eleven…

5) a few Artists who’s body of work has effected you the most.
I have instituted a New Number 5, Just because I can…  And I do expect Ben and Analog Kid to update there Memes ASAP.

1:  U2,  I laughed, I cried, I joined the Army…
2:  AC/DC,  I rocked and rocked, again and again,  They never sold out…
3:  The Presidents of the United States of America,  The never took themselves too seriously, they make me laugh my ass off and tap my toes.
4:  Depeche Mode,  they welcomed me to the Alternative revolution,  They still put on a great concert.  I have their new one on pre order on iTunes (yea baby)

6) I’m passing this meme on to:

My Wife Because I can, I want to see what she writes, and it won’t have anything to do with wool…
Cowboy Blob becuase it appears that no one has hit him with this Meme and “I just Know” he was feeling left out…
I am also hitting up individ because I think he lives in the same pitiful state as I do, and it would be interesting to see if his musical interests were shaped by the region, or not.

And finally, Alex over at NoSuch Org just becuase I know he will not post a response… 

Well the crazy work hours are over for a bit.  I was all ready to start doing some posting once I got home from New Orleans and the mission that I was working for the Navy,  But then the news from New Orleans and the gun confiscations took a bit of wind out of my sails.  Then to make matters even worse Kim du Toit went offline and fully deflated my sails.  So it has been a bit of an effort to get my posting restarted,  I finally feel like getting started posting again and its a good thing as Ben from Reasonable Nut has hit me with a killer Meme.  This meme is one I can get into as I have always loved music.  I will get my responses posted tomorrow (I Promise).

In Japan when they wish to make a change in their language they stop teaching what they want to change to their children on a nation wide basis.  In a generation or two at the most the change is made, and the people no longer remember what came before.

Now it seems that in order to make our children into

“better citizens” when they grow up the schools are no longer teaching events from history that build an individualist spirit in our youth.  Now as I don’t currently have children I really can’t speak on this as a very informed person, but when I popped over to One in a row… for a peek in my small amount of free time I saw a post where he gives his daughter an answer to one of her questions that she may not have been expecting. 

After he finished answering her question she then asks him why she is not being taught any of this in school…

A very good question that. 

So is our “public educational” system falling down on the job of teaching our children? 

Well here is the first phase of the landscaping project.  It took us a while to get around to it, as it was very hot over the last two weekends and we just were not up to the heat and the manual labor.

It was quite the learning project for Liz and I, as neither of us has had much experience laying landscape blocks.  I had done some brick work while in the army, and also a bit with my dad long ago.

Here it is from another angle.

I would like to say that we are going to get started on phase 2 of the landscape project tomorrow but it is not to be. 

I will instead be on an airplane to FL then on to New Orleans.  My company is going to be putting up a voice system for the navy along with a GSM cell system in a box for mobile comms on the Naval Air station down there.  I will post when I can.

As far as the last two weeks of no posting go I am sorry about that.  I put in 150 hours in the last 10 work days so I had little time to post.  I just had enough time to get home, eat, read a couple of blogs, and go to bed.  Wash, Rinse, Repeat… In fact I should be packing right now…

Talk at you all later…