After losing way too much sleep this weekend, I’m thinking I will just tell you about it and some other blogger’s range weekends and get into news and views tomorrow. I’ve got close to a dozen firearms to clean and inspect, so here we go.
As you read on Saturday, I hooked back up with my old friend Jon who wanted to go to the range and fire a pistol he bought from me nearly two years ago but hadn’t shot more than a couple time since.
We spent most of a cold and windy Saturday on the pistol range with his S&W Model 37 (my old backup piece), my S&W Model 14-4, CZ83, Ruger 22/45 and 1911 among others. I’m pretty sure we went through over 700 rounds of pistol ammo, not counting two bricks of 22LR that we put down range.
Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so no pics of Saturday.
I had already planned on spending Sunday with the Boomershoot rifle (even though my shooting bags haven’t been delivered yet, grrrr) and Jon said he’d like to try out a couple rifles I had handy, so we hit the range again on Sunday. He called early that morning and asked if his sister Jamie could come along. I, of course, said she absolutely could.
Jamie had an older Marlin Glenfield Model 25 that was having extraction problems. I was able to get it 80% reliable, but it really just needs a new extractor, which we ordered that afternoon when we got back to my place.
Since 22LR seemed to be her style, I set her up with my 10/22. Take a look in this picture and you’ll see her starting to build up a pile of brass.
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She went through a brick and a half of 22LR in just a few hours and never stopped smiling.
Never let it be said that I don’t know how to make women happy.
Jon brought more ammo for the handguns we’d shot the day before and proceeded to lay waste to bullseyes for most of the morning while I spent some one-on-one time with the Boomershoot rifle.
In the afternoon, he spent some time with the Bushmaster XM-15.
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And the SKS and the Boomershoot rifle. He had never shot 100yds with open sights before. I think he picked it up rather quickly and he smoked through more than half of the 5.56 I brought for the day. No worries, I’m selling it soon and I have plenty more at home.
As for me and my practice/ammo test session with the Remington 700 Boomershoot rifle, I did OK and I have made my ammunition decision.
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All 5 shot groups at 100yds and a mild improvement from last week. I don’t know why I was pulling them low, but I’ll work on that some more next weekend.
I will be ordering a healthy amount of the PMC 308Win 168gr Sierra MatchKing ammo and a smattering of what Federal Gold Medal 308Win 155gr MatchKing is still on the market for Boomershoot. The PMC has been very consistent even when I haven’t. I hope to have 500 to 600 rounds in my hot little hands by the time I leave for Idaho. I am glad that the PMC ammo is only $16 a box and that my rifle doesn’t demand the uber-expensive stuff.
In defense of the Black Hills 308Win 168gr target in the upper right hand corner, Mother Nature had decided to get all huffy and was throwing 30mph gusts at an angle across the range for a bit, blowing branches off the surrounding trees. I tried to only fire between the gusts, but failed.
I’m down to a handful of that Aussie ball ammo I shot a couple weeks back and a few belts of M80 ball. I hope the ammo I ordered over the weekend gets here by Friday.
BTW, is it sacrilegious to go to the range on Easter? I hope not.
I wasn’t the only one practicing for the Boomershoot this weekend.
Kirk at Fun Turns to Tragedy was testing out his handloads. Despite having to stay up until the wee hours getting them ready, they did quite well.
I am repeating the same line that he is
“Boomershoot is getting close. 38 days till it is time to fly. Everything is under control, just keep repeating that�
Benjamin at The Reasonable Nut (who you may notice is now in my links section) also took his Boomershoot Ruger out for some practice and is getting his practice shooting prone by going to the air rifle range.
I’ve never heard the position called the “Come and get like a big funky sex machine” stance. I’ll have to not think that the next time I’m firing prone.
Now, Og the Neanderpundit won’t be going to the Boomershoot this year (although I have offered him a place under my covered position), but over the weekend he gathered up the OgWeapons and set about putting holes in paper with regularity.
“I shot and shot and shot. I ran out of 30-06. I ran out of 7.62×39 (no, not all I have, just all I took to the range) and I shot until I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. I shot until I hurt. I shot until I was sore.”
Head on over for target pics and pic links.
Finally, I cannot write up a huge post about firearms and the Boomershoot and not link to Joe Huffman, organizer of the event. That would be rude.
Joe is busy getting the explosive mix tested and ready, making sure everything is ready for the attendees and all the while making preparations for his wife’s birthday party, which has to be super special since the Boomershoot is on Mother’s Day.
UPDATE: I don’t know what calendar I was looking at, but Joe has informed me that it was LAST YEARS Boomershoot that was on Mother’s Day, and that he is not likely to be making that mistake again.
Sadly, I will most likely continue to make mistakes like that one, because I’m a goofy bastard.
Happy 50th Barb! It will be my pleasure to meet you in 38 days.
38 DAYS! Where has the time gone?
