A good day to fly!

Skys are particularly empty these days. Between the triple digit temps and $5 a gallon gas, not many people are boring holes in the sky.

But with a rare summertime double digit day, I took an afternoon with the little plane. It's been a while since we've flown and fortunately my partner left an air tank in the hangar, as the front tire was particularly flat. So flat it made it difficult to drag out of the hangar.

So here's a couple local sights. The top one is Weaver's Needle. And below is the fountain at Fountain Hills. At one time this was the highest fountain in the world. They still crank it up the first 15 minutes of every hour.

Rules #2, 3 & 4

SDL Police K9 officer shoots his partner

I do not believe for one second this was intentional. It was an accident. But it was an accident that should never have happened and "Oops" with a 72hour vacation isn't going to make it better.

If he could shoot his dog he could have done the same to a person. No excuse for a negligent discharge like this. In fact, it bears striking resemblance to another shooting.

Would you trust this guy for a partner? Would you want him to back you up in a tense situation where you are going to be downstream of his muzzle? I don't want someone careless as this in my same zipcode.

He should not leading any team and he should not be allowed to carry a gun.

Technology - Ain't it Grand?

Ok, the SandCastle just took a direct hit by one of the strongest set of thunderstorm cells I've ever seen. Thunder was continuous and sounded more like a jet engine. Power is out all over town. Local news reports we received ~1.5 inches of rain in about 30 minutes. The streets are flooded, as is my yard. No word yet on any trees felled in the neighborhood. And Round 3 is on the way.

And across the street, the neighbor's sprinklers are on making sure the grass gets a good dose!

Summer Gun Blogger Rifle Match

I shot the Summer GB Rifle Match today in the Centerfire/Iron sights class and did far better than I expected.

Last time I shot an actual match was at least 5 years ago and didn't do particularly well then.

Here's the Slow Fire Prone target:
10 x 1 = 0, 0 X's
9 x 3 = 27
8 x 4 = 32
7 x 2 = 14
6 x 0 = 0
5 x 0 = 0
Total = 83, 0 X's

Target 1 = 81
Target 2 = 78
Target 3 = 85, 1X
Target 4 = 83
Total = 327, 1X

That's ~82%... again better than I expected.

We still have about 4 weeks to go. I may get out and try it with the Garand.

SR-1 targets for sale

Do you want to try Sebastian's Summer Rifle Match but are having a tough time finding the targets? Yea Midway offers targets but only in 100 target lots. And those targets are heavy so that adds to the shipping cost. Now Midway is showing the targets as backordered.

Here's a deal for you. I bought the 100 targets from Midway, but it'll take a long time to use them. Instead I'll make smaller sets available at cost: 8 targets, wrapped by a 9th as a mailing tube, mailed by the cheapest method I can find. I looked at cardboard mailing tubes but that added a couple dollars to the cost. The targets are on heavy paper and should make a fine mailing tube. If you are careful on unwrapping, you should have 9 usable targets.

That's two tries worth of targets for the high power match, plus a practice target mailed to you for $5.50.

Here's how I got there:
9 Targets at $0.35 each = $3.15
USPS shipping = $2.23 (cheapest available - 5 days delivery)
Tape/Mailing labels = $0.12
Total $5.50

This deal is not to make a profit. I want to make it easy for people to get targets to shoot the match.

I have 100 targets. I'm going to keep a few for my own use. That leaves 9 sets available. First come, first served. For questions and ordering details, email me at sandcastlescrolls AT msn dot com.

-danno

(disclaimer - Offer null and void if the USPS won't let me ship them this way. They said "yes" this morning but the answer could change).

Now that's a "Liner"

I visited the range to work on conquering a flinch and shoot a class 3 entry to Ahab's ePostal contest. Three of the shots ended up on the line. Two of these obviously count. The third is pretty much about as "liner" as possible. I've looked at it under magnification and scanned the attached image at 600dpi. I do not see a white line between the black of the target and the black mark of the bullet so I scored the shot as a hit.

Again, subject to review/veto of the contest master.

Meanwhile Midway is shipping out SR-1 targets for Sebastian's Summer rifle match.
(Update- corrected link to the Summer Rifle match).

RCBS - Great service!

Shortly after beginning reloading, it quickly became obvious I needed a way to undo mistakes. A bullet puller was a "need" not just a want.

So I included a RCBS puller with my next Midway order and for the next three months I was happily undo-ing my mistakes.

But one day I was pulling a .30 cal carbine bullet. The last smack dislodged the bullet but also sheared the plastic nut in half. The bullet, chuck assembly and case flew across the garage but were recovered undamaged. It's possible this is user error. I may not have snugged the nut down completely before starting a-whacking. Thus instead of spreading the impact evenly, it may have been concentrated in one spot allowing the break.

I tried to repair the nut using super glue and epoxy but neither held through more than 2-3 bullets.

This week while placing another order with Midway, I specifically phoned in the order instead of placing it online so I could inquire about replacement parts. Jessica searched her systems and advised replacement chuck assemblies are available, but the nut is not. (Hint to RCBS, if the part were available for a reasonable price, say under a dollar, I'd have just bought another or 5 and considered it a consumable item.) Jessica suggest calling RCBS direct. (Hey, why didn't I think of that two months ago?)

Calling RCBS, I didn't get out much more than "I have one of your pullers. The plastic nut broke and I'd like to get another one." She immediately came back asking for my mailing address. Wow! No game of "20 questions", no grief. Just "we'll send you a new one!".

This is a company that understands the big picture. The part itself probably only cost a penny or so to produce and another $1.34 to mail it to me. But that Buck thirty-five bought them a very positive customer perception and a leg up on future purchases. Lessee, I have immediate need of a case trimmer and a primer pocket stretcher. Those purchases are now more likely to be Green instead of Blue or Red.

That's what customer service should be!