Monday, September 24, 2012

Wounded Warrior Blogshoot

So, the Berryville range in West Virginia is nice.  I've never shot at a place that had a 400 yard range.  And all sorts of fun was had by all and sundry.

Let's get the participant list out of the way.  Lagniappe (the organizer), Tempestuous Sea, THOTPolice (and Missus), Another Day Another, JB Miller, Old NFO, Proud Hillbilly, Shekel, MSgtB (and Missus), and a passel of lurkers, like Bubblehead Les, and Stretch, and The Axe, and Morlock, and AZMrMacs.

Weather was gorgeous.  There was something nearby, dead, you can smell when the wind was right.  Probably not a groundhog because we saw those.  They understood English, must be, because they only scampered across the range was when a cease fire was called.  There was one thing... There were thousands of stink bugs.   Thousands.   It looked like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom but instead of oodles of varieties it was just stink bugs.  Stink bugs that didn't stink, so... no harm, no foul

This is the second annual Wounded Warrior Blogshoot, and range fees for everyone was $30.  People through a coupla bucks in for the fundraiser on top of that.  And then we had over $1000 to donate to the charity.  (At dinner is was $951, but we couldn't leave it at that...)

There was a pistol area that had a steel target at 25 yards.  I was using the pistols and 10/22 on this.  I was rubbish with the pistols, as you people already know.  I need MORE practice, naturally.  But the trigger on the 10/22 I fixed up must have been good.  I forgot to thing about it. But, standing unsupported I could hit the head sized steel every time, no misses.



I didn't have the opportunity at the busy range to truly test it.  I mean for Appleseed.  With good ammo I want to be able to put all the shots into a quarter sized target at 25 yards.  And I think I can do it now. 

What else.  Well here is the rifle range with dueling 7.62mm rifles.  That's my M1A on the right, JB Millers AR1- on the left.  And the berm is way down thar.


If you look carefully you can see my shoot n see on the left and there are... PUMPKINS ON THE BERM! 

So we took some time eliminating that deadly gourdish threat.


Here is the result when I wasn't killing the oncoming hordes of Orange Menace.  Les obliged with the chest prop for my camera.


So not shabby.  Hitting high at 100 with the red dot.  I'd correct it, but it will be right on at 250.  If I have a zombie or pumpking problem at 100 yards I'll aim for the chin to get the forehead.

I forgot to mention...  7.62 doesn't make pumpkins explode.  It does tear them up a bit.  You need something else for a kaboom.  And the RO obliged with tannerite in one of them...  It was a race between JB and I to hit it. And I only have 6 bullets left.  I aimed for the chin and sploded it on round 3.

Here is the 400 yard range where NFO spent most of his time:


I don't know if I had ever fired FO's M24.  I have fired his SCAR and that is just like having an easy button.  The bolty was more problematic for me.  The eye relief is tricky and FO has it set up for right handers...  I was hitting over the shoulder of the steel reactive target.  About 1 o'Clock.  Took me 3 shots to hear the 'tink'.  Not good.  Others were hitting it earlier with that rifle.

There was some machine gun action.   Dueling Uzi's for instance on full rock and roll, and I like this pic because I got some brass in the air; one near the port, the other at headtop height 2 feet in ahead of it:


"Hey, T-Bolt, come check out the gun I am gonna use in case there is a zombie apocalypse!  Got a whole box of birdshot to go with it!"



Grumble Grumble....  It was a handsome family heirloom, that double.

You never select a shotgun as your primary anti-zombie firearm. It's great for onesy twosey, but zombies travel in hordes. The reload time is onerous, and the ammo, while effective, is heavy and bulky and short ranged

After, we dined at a neat little place called John's, My Pappy's Place, est. 1963.  The fried chicken was delectable.

8 comments:

Murphy's Law said...

Thanks for coming out! You have a standing invite to come back any time, so just hit me up if/when you feel like shooting.

Keads said...

Good to meet you!

Aaron said...

Great seeing you there. Great pics.

Bubblehead Les. said...

God Willing, I'll be Back!

Old NFO said...

NJT, not your fault! As I said, that rifle is set up for "me". Considering the parallax error shooting from the 'wrong' side of the gun, you did good! And especially since you jumped on it cold!

Broken Andy said...

NJT, great running across your path again! The "give thanks to the People of Israel" and "easy button" snark are still making me chuckle days later.

pediem said...

Wait a minute! I said I got set up to ask you about shotguns and the zombie apocalypse...not that I'd use my daddy's shotgun were it ever to happen. A double-barrel just wouldn't do the trick. I've got a nice rifle on order that'll be much better for something like that!

But it was great to meet you, and I'm glad you liked the (anti-zombie) shotgun!

MSgt B said...

Nice finally meeting you. Hope you can make it to the Fun Show the 29th.