Boomershoot After Action Report

OK, everything seems to be back to normal now, so here we go with the tale:

Well, to start out with, all of the pics in this post get larger when you click on them.

Next, I’ll talk briefly about the drive out to Orofino, ID; it was great, weather wise, traffic wise, etc. There was a 40 mile stretch between Connell, WA and Starbuck, WA that I didn’t see another vehicle and was wondering if I had accidentally wandered onto a closed stretch of highway. Very cool!

I made the trip in just barely over six hours, so not a bad pace, especially seeing as how Idaho DOT tried to screw me with a 20 minute stop for road construction on Hwy 12.

I got to Trib’s Place a bit early and was greeted by Robert Tribble (aka Bob or ‘Trib’). Before I could even unload he showed me to my room and poured my favorite refreshment for me, lemonade and iced tea mixed (aka an Arnold Palmer). Later that afternoon I met Trib’s wife, Kenda. These are two of the nicest people I have met in a long time. Their hospitality and just all around friendliness is unmatched in my book. And the breakfasts, oh the breakfasts, prime cut pork, top sirloin, sausage and cheese omelets, baked chicken, crepes, and those are just the main courses! When lunch was called at the range, I wasn’t even hungry; there was that much good food.

Even after having spent four days there plus two extra days afterwards, I still cannot come up with the words to describe Trib’s Place. About the best I can do is make you think of what Teddy Roosevelt’s hunting lodge would be like if he were still alive.

Here is the main guest Great Room, called ‘The Lundberg Room’

You want class and style, this is it pal! This picture doesn’t even do it justice. And yes, that is a Winchester 1897 shotgun hanging above the fireplace. Well used, but not abused.

If you are traveling through or even near the area at any time, I highly suggest you spend an evening at Trib’s. You will not be disappointed. Just don’t try to get in there for Boomershoot 2006, bubba, they’re already booked. I’m sure you can guess by whom.

As I mentioned yesterday, I stayed at Trib’s with uber-blogger and owner of the porch where the Nation of Riflemen gather, Kim du Toit and the Son & Heir. If you have ever read Mrs. du Toit’s description of the ‘live not Memorex’ Baron du Toit, he is everything she says; eloquent, jovial and a gentleman in every sense of the word. The Son & Heir is sharp as a whip and when speaking to him you can barely believe that you are talking to a teenager. But then again, you have to take into account who his parental units and main instructors are. If ever there was an example of why public schools should be banned outright, he is it. I can barely wait to meet The Mrs now.

After staying up into the near wee hours conversating, swapping and examining firearms and knives with those two, I awoke and headed off to the Boomershoot Precision Rifle Clinic.

The weather was perfect as the clinic began and stayed great throughout the day. Gene Econ’s teaching focused mainly on reading wind and mirage and communication between shooter and spotter. We were also introduced to the co-instructors that Gene had brought along to help with the instruction.

Now, before I go much further, I must apologize for not taking more pics of the weekend. I spent so much time either behind my rifle or behind the spotting scope that I generally forgot that I should take some pictures for y’all. Some of the pics that I will be showing here were taken by Jason and Sierra of FishOrManBlog and will be marked as such. Also, I cannot seem to find the pics of one of the four instructors, Matt, my apologies there as well. I’m sure I caught him in the act of instruction, but I either missed that pic when I downloaded them off the camera or I just plain forgot to snap the damned thing. Anyway, here we go,

Instructor Kelly, lending a hand to Ben of the ReasonableNutBlog and Kirk of FunTurnsToTragedyBlog.

Pic found at FishOrMan

Kelly is a multiple Camp Perry competitor and is a no nonsense instructor. He’s all about putting your projectile on target and does so with skill. Kelly actually knew Gene from helping him in his High Power shooting over the years and found out about Boomershoot through the grapevine. He then contacted Gene and asked how he could help.

Kirk and Ben are a couple of great guys who I am hoping to meet up with again at next years Boomershoot. I spent plenty of non-range time with them as well.

Instructor Virgil helping a couple of Clinic attendees.

Pic found at FishOrMan

Virgil was wounded in Iraq in an IED blast. He remembers the blast and the SF medic giving him an emergency tracheotomy and then nothing until waking up at Walter Reed. He is now helping Gene Econ train the soldiers who are to be deployed soon on what they will need to know to stay alive and well in Iraq.

Next up is instructor Jim giving spotting pointers to Kim and the S&H.

Pic found at FishOrMan

Jim is also an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran who is now helping Gene in teaching CQBT to the outgoing soldiers. A veteran police officer from Texas who enlisted shortly before September 11th, Jim knows his stuff and loves to shoot.

The fourth instructor whom I forgot to get a picture of is Matt. Matt is also an Operation Iraqi Freedom vet who nearly lost an arm to an IED blast. He is helping Gene with the CQBT instruction while in recovery.

All the instructors were very good men who I would be glad to shoot with, anywhere, anytime I am able. As an FYI to y’all, I do not think that any of these guys paid for any of their drinks throughout the weekend. My biggest regret in this regard is that I was only able to buy them a single pitcher of amber bock the whole time. There were just too many folks who got in before me or right after me to cover tabs.

I went stag to the clinic and was paired up with a gentleman named David. David heard of the Boomershoot via Kim du Toit’s site and purchased a pair of rifles for the event. While he didn’t have a lot of experience in long distance rifle shooting, it didn’t stop him from putting forth a Herculean effort to learn.

Here is a pic of me spotting for David

Pic found at FishOrMan

You may be looking at that and wondering about the shooting bench. Like me, David custom built his own shooting bench. Unlike me, his bench worked. I forgot to take into account of the probability of non-level ground and spent a portion of the first day of the clinic just screwing around trying to get my bench to level. David’s bench had legs made from 2in pipe that could be adjusted individually for length and/or moved from side to side for minor height adjustments and once properly adjusted, it was rock solid.

Here is my Boomershoot rifle set up on David’s bench.

By the end of that first day, we agreed that we should use his bench and my cover for the duration.

Speaking of cover, it is a pity that we didn’t set it up for that first day. No, it didn’t rain on us, but we both got sunburned to beat the band. In the late morning the clouds went away and the sun came out. Normally, that wouldn’t be a bad thing, but the winds kicked up a bit and made the environs cool enough that you didn’t realize that you were getting cooked.

Actually, cooked isn’t the right word. Deep fried is more accurate. At the end of that first day, I had burns halfway up my forearms and across my neck. The next day we set up the cover but it was already too late. What little sun we did get cooked us even deeper so that the backs of my hands were swollen and it hurt to do just about anything with them. Sunscreen was useless by then as all it did was remove the uppermost layer of skin so that the sun could get to the next one. I became like a vampire in that even exposing my neck or hands to direct sunlight was painful and indirect light hurt when the wind kicked up and blew across them.

Next year, I must remember to bring both rain gear (which I did bring) AND sunscreen.

At the end of the second day, both David and I were hitting the boomers at 380yds with reliable repetition and were working on the ones farther out. In fact, on the last round of free fire, David hit his boomer nine out of 15 times.

There was one problem though; the boomers weren’t going off. Joe Huffman had created a very good mix in testing but when put into mass production, the manufacturing process wasn’t as standardized as necessary. Not that it really mattered all that much, David and I were just glad to be hitting them.

By the day of the event, Joe had fixed the mass production difficulties and Boomershoot 2005 was off and running.

Yesterday when I was speaking of what I liked about Boomershoot, I mentioned the word “Safety�. I was not kidding. To get onto the firing line on the day of the event you had to recite the “Minimum Safety Rules�. This is a first for any event I have attended and I believe that it helps a great deal in making sure everyone is safe. This is coming from a guy who almost didn’t pass the recitation. I was repeating the rules in my head on the way to the event, knowing that I would be made to recite them at the sign in table. But just like any go/no go test I nearly froze up and was within a hair of forgetting to say rule number three.

There were at least a dozen Boomershoot staff members at any one time walking the firing line keeping an eye out and making sure every one was being safe. Joe also gave the participants express permission to verbally stop anyone acting in an unsafe manner until a staff member could be called upon. I am glad to say that about the only unsafe thing I saw was someone not wearing their ears and eyes while behind their rifle, and that was after the fact when they were remarking how dumb they were for doing so.

Speaking of the firing line, here it is looking to the south,

And to the north,

You can see the .50cal Ghetto on the far left side. I feel sort of sorry for the folks who get put in there due to the amount of blast, noise and dust their rifles put out and kick up. Then I remember that these guys own .50cal rifles and my sympathy immediately disappears.

This was, by far, the most attended Boomershoot since its inception with somewhere around 96 people in attendance. Another remarkable point when you take the level of safety into account.

After the lunch break the shows begin. We have The Fireball,

The Anvil Launch

And the Bowling Ball Mortar

Things to make you scream “Yeeaaaaahhhh!�

At the end of the day, time is set aside for what is know as “Boomer Hunting� where participants go onto the range and collect and shoot any unexploded boomers.

Here are a couple pics from the Boomer Hunters on the 380yd line

And that about wraps up my tale of Boomershoot 2005. Once again, I will repeat that you need to go to this in 2006, even if you don’t plan on shooting. There are dozens of great people to talk to and rifles to look at. I have already convinced the Analog Wife that she will be going next year if for no other reason than to tell me when to put on the SPF 50.

I will inform all of you when the dates for Boomershoot 2006 are announced.

As Kim du Toit stated in his original post after Boomershoot 2004, Joe Huffman is a national treasure and I will go so far as to include the crew that helps him put this event together and makes it happen in that description as well. Thanks Joe.