Random Nuclear Strikes

The Bad News: My 20-60×90 spotting scope took a wind-caused tumble and the intergral base that mounted to the tripod is broken beyond repair and I am now in the market for a new spotting scope of comparable magnification. I’ve found Kowas like this one for a decent price (I’m able to may a bit more than that), but I would like some suggestions. Please leave them in the comments or the email addys are at the top of the right hand column.

The Good News: One piece of equipment I was so amazed with that I had a hard time shutting up about it was the Hensoldt Fero Z-24 scope I wrote about a couple weeks ago after mounting it on The Hun Bastard.

There are three different models advertized by CTD: The Model 1 , the Model 2 , and the Z24. They even have new production models w/o the STANAG mount for you guys who already have the mount.

I really don’t think it matters which one you get, except maybe to your pocket book. Pick your poison and buy one now, and here is why:

The scope has a built in bullet drop compensator for 7.62×51. I had originally thought that it was set for 147gr mil-surp ball ammo, of which I brough a decent selection, but I wanted to see what it’d do with the 168gr HPBT ammo, of which I had brought a whole bunch of.

I dialed the BDC dial to 400 yards and called out my target to David; an 8×10 box someone had been using the day before at the 385 yard line. After two shots and no noticable hit anywhere around it, we decided that the 14in steel gong on the right hand side of the trees. I held a bit to the right for the wind and !!CLANG!!

I was apparently hitting the box, so there would have been no miss marks.

After repeating that a couple times, I dialed the BDC up to 600yds and found another steel gong about halway up the hillside. I held off for the wind again and another !!CLANG!!

Alas, the 4x magnification was not enough to see the Boomers, so it went home without hitting any, but I was just happy knowing that having sighted the rifle in for 100yds put me in business for 600.

You HK and HK clone owners: Go directly to your Hensoldt surplus scope dealer of choice and buy one now.

And now, at long last, Boomer Clean-Up!

At the end of the day, after everyone has shot their full, Joe calls a ceasefire and his excellent crew scours the hillside for any undetonated Boomers. They collect them and bring them down to the 385yd line and stake them down. The brave (and energetic) wander on down to within 30ft of the line with their pistols and carbines (minimum 1200fps cartridges).

The call is made and the firing commences. It continues until all the Boomers are gone.

You sharp eared folks will hear a full-auto carbine in the noise. A couple of Idaho Army National Guard members checked their M4’s out of the armory and brought them along for some fun. 30rnd burst strings sound like freedom to me.

Where to start? OK, how about sleeping arrangements.

Trib’s has 3 rooms to choose from, but if’n you’re wanting to double occupy a room without actually wanting to sleep in the same bed, this oversized cot is quite handy.

Trib purchased this cot from Sportsman’s Guide for the father and son that lodged there with David and I. The son was 6’5″ and this cot was plenty long enough for the guy and he had no complaints about comfort. I’ve got one on the way. I know that SPG sells some stuff of questionable quality, but this is not one of those items.

Speaking of stuff of questionable quality, our shelter would fit that characterization. It was a constant battle of us and it vs. the winds, with us having to stake, restake and re-restake the thing down. The poles were flimsy, didn’t fit together properly, and as David wrote here, was delivered missing parts. It looked nice, but that was about it.

By the end of Sunday, it was a wreck. After we emptied it of all our stuff and as our neighbors broke down their shelters, the wind actually did take it away, pulling the stakes we purchased in Orofino to supplement the ones it came with, right out of the ground as if they were pounded into sand. Maybe I shouldn’t have named it “The Good Ship LollyPop” since it was always acting like a sail (even with the doors unzipped and tied back).

Shelters like these worked moderately better, though one very poorly set up one did loose it’s cover during the lunch break on Sunday.

Next year, I’m not screwing around and will be buying something along the lines of this one. David and I are each buying multiple spots, so we’ll make it fit.

Both the homemade benches David and I brought worked quite well and got many a passerby asking questions. However, I am going to have to reposition the rear legs so that I can get some decent seating under neath it. I ended up just taking a knee on the ground behind the table. On flat ground, I was OK; but on the downward slope the left rear leg was where I envisioned the chair to be.

Speaking of chairs, stay away from charis with feet. You are shooting from a ridgeline in a field and equipment feet sink into the ground. Even the very popular chairs like these were sinking into the ground by the second day, and this was with no rain.

I found that chairs with legs like this worked best. This looks to be the best model of the bunch as it has pockets for extra boxes of ammo and your shot record book on the side. For the southpaws, the drink holding table would even work at the bench. I’ll be supplementing my couple of chairs with a stool like this one, just in case the arms get in the way.

But for ultimate comfort to sit in while you spot targets would be moon chairs like the ones David brought. They made not actually shooting not so bad.

Notice in the description of the stool that the storage underneath is also a cooler. David brought a cooler like this one to keep his ammo out of the sun and at a constant temperature.

I’ll have another AAR for actual shooting equipment either later today or tomorrow, so watch for that.

In the mean time, enjoy these vids of the Opening Fireball and the post-lunch Anvil Launch.

Fireball

Anvil Launch

I discovered that the spot I chose for the fireball was not ideal as I was too close to get the whole enormity of the thing. Still, quite impressive and I’ll do better next year.

The Anvil Launch was one of the better ones, with the resident mathmatical instructor, Rolf, esitmating around 160-180ft. Me, I just know that it had some excellent hang time. Make sure you watch to the end to see how deep it set itself into the ground. Later on, we were joking that the guys who come in and do the launch had to figure in windage on their anvil.

Google video is taking a while to approve the vid of the Boomer clean up, so it will probably have to wait until tomorrow. See you then!

I mean, exactly what incentive do I have now to go back to work?

Oh yeah, they pay me in a usable currency. But other than that, I really don’t think I could give myself the gumption to go back after spending the weekend at Boomershoot and Trib’s Place B&B.

Since you all know about Boomershoot, I’ll save that for second. Right now, I’d like to show you Trib’s Place Bed & Breakfast.

Their establishment is the only place you will want to stay if you go to Boomershoot. Unfortunately for you, David and I have two of the three bedrooms booked from now to eternity for future Boomershoots. The above pic is of the “Lundburg Room”, Trib’s greatroom. Click the above link to go to their site.

Bob and Kenda Tribble are wonderful hosts. Great personalities, great conversations and just all around great folks who don’t mind savages like myself traipsing our firearms around their abode. Bob even let us use his photo studio table for cleaning purposes. Add in the breakfasts, Pork Steak and Eggs, Top Round and Eggs, Pork Sausage Souffle and Eggs and Baked Frech Toast (respective of the four days we spent there) with all the homemade bisuits, granola cereal and other sides, and I can honestly tell you that lunch will not be necessary.

If you are passing through or near to Orofino, make time to spend the night with Bob and Kenda. You will nto be disappointed. As I said after my 2005 stay at their wonderful place, it is exactly what you’d picture Ernest Hemmingway’s crib in Palouse country, just west of the rocky mountains to be like.

And now, Boomershoot 2007!

My ass hurts because I am still kicking myself for not being able to go in 2006. From the Long Distance Rifle Clinic, to the free fire position, to the opening fireball, to the anvil launch, and finally to the “Boomer Clean-Up” session, a better time could not have been had. The weather was damn near perfect and the people, well, lets just say we have folks ranging from David and myself, to current and former police officers to teachers to GMC managers. Everyone was courteous, polite and most importantly of all, SAFE.

The video below is just after the opening horn and about 4.5 minutes long.

There are over 75 shooters on the firing line and around 400 targets set out in the field. The tree-lined berm with all the white dots is at 385 yards and the targets there are 4x4x3 boxes filled with the Boomer material and rubberbanded to stakes.

The grass at the bottom of the hill, across the freshly turned dirt, is approximately 525 yards and stretches to the berm at the top of the hill to 700 yards. The targets in this stretch are the 4in boxes with 7x7x2 boxes mixed in. You won’t have to watch the vid very long before seeign someone set of a Boomer at the 700 yard line.

I’m still loading up other videos for tomorrow. The Opening Fireball, The Anvil Launch, and the most fun of all, Boomer Clean-Up.

Stop by tomorrow for all that. We’ll see you then.

As if there was any doubt we wouldn’t be.

Another Boomershoot has come and gone and good times were had by all. However, for the whole lurid tale, you will have to wait for a little bit longer; I have video to edit and David has pics to be developed and we both have our respective experiences to elaborate upon.

But I think this pic aptly speaks for the time spent away from the blogosphere.

David is currently driving the 800 some-odd miles home from my place and I’m getting ready to go have breakfast with Cap’n Chad, but fear not, there will be vids on the morrow.