.22 Steel Match

The entire SandCastle crew headed out to the shooting club for the monthly .22 Steel match. It's a match centered on fun. Each stage is shot 5 times and the worst time is thrown out. Malfunctions are cause for an automatic mulligan.

A typical stage has five steel plates set out in different patterns at approximately 10 yards. The stage shown here has the closest plate at ~10 yards, and each successive plate another yard back.

Finishing the last stage there was no one waiting behind us, so we took the opportunity to practice a bit. The stage had the plates are nearly the same distance, but varying heights. My typical "slow but hit on first pass scores" ran in the 4-5 second range. Trying Mr. Completely's "keep the gun swinging and just pull the trigger as the gun passes each target" method dropped the times in the high 2 second range, but typically with two misses. Picking up the misses put the times back in the 4-5 second range. It would probably work well for me but I need much more practice.

In all it was a fun morning at the range and a good way to blast through the better part of a Federal Bulk Pack. The RO's were without exception extremely helpful with the SCSon. We just need to work a bit on the SCSon's sight picture.

The SCQueen mentioned "I'd do that again".

Hit Magnet

Ok, as a relative noob at this blogging stuff, I tend to check sitemeter on a daily basis. A definite trend has emerged.... SCS is getting a lot of hits from this search term. (see pic ===========>)

My cynical self says a whole bunch of principals or overpaid administrators are looking over their MUMBOs* "Hey I gotta poll the peons, er I mean parents. What questions should I ask?" (They don't even have to look at the poll results, they merely have to check the box that says I asked ("Polled parents").

My answer related around question #3. Dang if there was ever a low hanging curve begging to be knocked out of the park... But I didn't see it at the time. I figured I was preaching to the choir and didn't lay out the arguments as explicitly as I might have. At best, I'd rate my response a "close but no cigar".

One internet post is not going to sway a school leader. But enough chinks in the armor and the logic will prevail.

Quite frankly, this one post has reached further among the interwebs than ever imagined. Should you see a similar request from your offspring unit's school, take the low hanging curve and hit the Homer that I only singled.

update: There were a bunch more hits on that post today. In fact SandCastle Scrolls is the first hit on those search words

* MUMBO = MBO (plural) = Management By Objective

Life is short....

Eat Dessert first!

Ok, it's a pithy comment from a poster.. but I just heard news that reinforced the wisdom hidden behind the laugh...

Growing up our families were about as close can be without living under the same roof. Elaine was the baby of the families while I was near the front of the pack. There were several years between us. Still she may as well have been a sister. Then their family moved to the opposite coast and we probably haven't seen each other in 30 years.

I learned today she recently died of breast cancer leaving a husband and 2 youngin's. She had not yet turned 40.

That's too young to die. Heck, I'm several years older and I'm still to young to die!

Take some time to think about what you'd really like to do this life. Make a list of things you want to do before you die. If need be lock yourself in the bathroom. Devise a plan to accomplish those goals. Then execute that plan! Do not put it off, thinking there will always be tomorrow.

There are far too many ways to check out early in this life: hit while crossing the street; a lightning strike, hit by a baseball at a game. Doing business at the wrong bank at the wrong time.

Cancer.

Want to see the Grand Canyon (see above), Alps, Sierras, Urals, Mt Rushmore, the Pyramids or Sphinx? Make a plan today.
Want to see the Aurora borealis, Southern Cross, Green Flash or a tornado? Make a plan today
Want to learn to fly, skydive, fish, ski, or drive a race car? Make a plan today.
Want to see our nation's capitol? The Indy-500? Old Faithful, New year's eve in Times square? Make a plan today.
Want to reunite with an estranged loved one, a long lost friend, a high school sweetie? Make a plan today(but accept "no" as an answer - don't be a stalker.)
Spend time with your children (or grand children). Take them fishing, sailing, or shooting (start out small caliber please!) Ride bikes, shoot hoops, throw a ball. go skiing, skating, or candlestick making (ok, a stretch but you get the point). Make a plan today. Do not put it off until tomorrow.

Then EXECUTE that plan!

(Oh, and if/when you complete the first list... Thats no time to rest on your laurels. Repeat the process!!! Set new goals and set out to conquer those goals! repeat until unable. While you're contemplating such unpleasantries, make sure you have a will or trust in place as well)

Phoenix Tea Party

Just got home from the Phoenix Tea Party held on the Senate lawn. The estimate on the radio said between 5-6000 people attended. Signs were well in attendance as shown below, but I can't report on anything the speakers had to say because the sound system left much to be desired.

Some self proclaimed Ron Paul supporters broke out their bull horns in the crowd. They really didn't do themselves any favor. We came to hear the speakers and were straining to hear but your bullhorn was just rude.

(click on pics to enlargify)

It pained me to see a child this young having to learn about BOHICA.
These guys were taking signatures to mount a primary challenge against our local RINO Senator. This is a good way to fish for signatures!
I especially liked Mom's Tea or Kool-aid sign.

I wanted to bring the debt star sign but couldn't work out how to print it large enough. I congratulated the person holding the sign as she obviously has a better printer than we do at the SandCastle. She corrected me and said she took it to Staples. Doh! Wish I'd thought of that!
Given the family-friendly nature of SCS, I normally I wouldn't run a picture like this... but the metal work was different enough to make an exception! It also offers a glimpse at the sea of signs present.

Yes, Virginia...

... There will be a Tea Party in Phoenix tomorrow. 5:30 - 7pm on the Senate Lawn. Local radio host JD Hayworth will broadcast his show from the event on KFYI 550AM. The show is also available online at www.kfyi.com

Click here for maps, agenda and parking.
Click here and here for sign ideas

NRA Membership premium

SIH has a post about an NRA Bowie knife he received as a premium and concerns about where and how to present it within the house without providing a bad guy a ready to reach weapon...

I was offered the same premium to become a life member. This at a time where I was fully ready and able to become a life member. Quite frankly the display Ki-nif-ee broke the deal. WhyTF would I want with some sucky display knife? Instead I signed up for the 5 year deal because it came with a really nice bag, at a time when I really needed just such a new bag! I didn't need a knife, I needed the bag!

This one has the NRA logo embroidered in black thread on black nylon. The logo is more subdued than I'd prefer, but then I wear a red NRA logo hat into work every day.

I fully expect the life membership will come in the near future, and much of the 5 years I just signed on for will become a moot issue. Just don't "incentivize" me with a worthless, possibly dangerous trinket.

How not to get your wife into shooting...

... give her a Ruger LCP to take her first shots.

Made a range trip to try out this month's ePostal match. Guy on the next bench has his wife and (17-ish) son with him. I'd lay odds he's retired Only-One. From the conversation during the cease-fire, it's her first time out. He even warned her it would kick pretty hard. I couldn't believe my eyes when he handed her the LCP to start out with. I thought he'd start her out with something heavier and/or smaller caliber.

She took one shot, clearly wasn't happy with it, fired again, set it down and walked off the line. I was loading magazines for the Ruger 22/45 so I offered to let her try it. She was very apprehensive and showed the back of her thumb where the LCP had bit her, drawing blood. I explained the .22 bullet is much less powerful and this gun is a lot heavier so it will be more pleasant to shoot.

She did a fine job with it. While she was shooting her husband came over and thanked me. He went on to explain "I really bought the LCP for me. I already have a .22 picked out for her..." Apparently the LCP was supposed to be a carry piece. Ok, fine but start her out small as Xav recently related. I pulled down her target at the next cease fire and gave it to her. Nice grouping a little low and to the right of center.

She didn't shoot anything else that afternoon, though I offered more .22 magazines. Meanwhile he'd blast through 17 round magazines in his XD. Good luck getting her out to the range again. That's not a very good way to start.

(However I scored much of his once fired 9mm brass).

Happy un-Birthday to me!

The Big Brown Truck made a delivery to the SandCastle just as we were finishing dinner.

"Need an adult signature". The SCQueen signed for the package.

Calling upstairs "Did you order something? Something nine millimeter?"

"Hmmm not that I recall."

But the return address label JG Sales jogged my memory. I recently noticed a major deficiency for the CZ-82. JG had it in stock and I placed an order. They warned however shipping was running two weeks behind. Checking the order, it's only been nine days. But in that time, I'd forgotten about the order.

After placing the order, I noticed AIM had the Brown Bear in stock. Not only was it a little cheaper, but I'd have saved the state sales tax. Oh well... Shopping around sometimes finds a better deal. (But these days, in stock today does not mean in stock tomorrow!).

Anyway, I'm resupplied on 9mm Makarov. I just may have to take it to the range this weekend!

Update: Hmmm... Last time I bought Silver Bear, it was hollow point ammunition. In fact, that was THE difference between Silver and Brown Bear. Brown Bear was Round Nose while Silver Bear was Hollow Point. Even the image on JG's website shows it as hollow point. (Direct link here. Be interesting to see if this image changes real fast)

But this stuff is Round Nose. Notice they've even changed the packaging. Though I didn't mention it earlier, this was also a justification for paying the higher price over AIM's offering. I sent a message to management. I'll report back with their response.

Caveat Emptor!