You and Me Both, Pal

Boomershoot AAR

I don't have the patience/attention-span needed for truly long-range shooting, but I've got respect and admiration for every gun game there is. Phil at Random Nuclear Strikes posts his Boomershoot After-Action Report. Looks like fun!

Rooks Rubbery

Welcome to the Saloon, Ranger!

Just Barking Mad is a very Saloon-esque blog (heavy on the booze, bimbos, and boomsticks). All that, plus tales from Ranger School! Welcome to the Blog Roll!

Down, Boy

Envy

I Heart Carrier

PBS' Carrier kicks ass! The junior ratings whining, the petty officers bristling, the officers pontificating... (I think the chiefs were smart to make themselves scarce on the two episodes I've seen). It's like being back in the service again, except that Air Force chicks were cuter than Navy chicks, as a rule.

There are exceptions to that rule... I've met three or four of them. I mean in the Naval Service side... even dated the Barbara Feldon lookalike, and bit my tongue standing in the DLI chow line behind the finest TBBBNG ever to wear the Globe and Anchor. And to my old friend Jim R.: way to go, dude!

Y'all Want Me to Blog on a Monday?

Hmph, the things I do for y'all.

Saturday, before heading up to Jon's in PHX, I made the mistake of fixing lunch. Leftover grilled chicken and fries. The only thing that tastes worst than poorly reheated fries, it's those same fries when they come up again due to an anxious stomach. I didn't use to get the heaves before practice matches... now I get them almost every time I break my limited social routine.

Got almost no sleep at Jon's (stayed up til 2 am watching Letters from Iwo Jima), but managed to stay mostly hydrated at the match, despite some minor heaves in the parking lot. Basically, forgetting to get anxious is the best medicine, but not so easy to do. I pounded water all day, but still pissed something the color Liquid Cheetohs when I got home to Tucson. A few (several) drinks and a bacon, egg, and cheese burrito carried me through to 1 am when I noticed I was still awake.

Major nappage today restored balance to the sleep deficit... it helped to sleep through breakfast and lunch while guzzling water at every chance. I might have finally lost the weight I gained over Xmas. I ought to make this nervous thing work for me.

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll Down for New Stuff
Got a caption or photoshop for this unsourced photo? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar!

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even your unused frequent flier miles.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday PM.

Winner!

Serr8d wins with a Photoshop!

Well thunk, sir, to avoid the gratuitous hottie. I like my bimbos as an integral part of the artistic/comedic content. Hint, hint, Keesie.

Honorable Mention to Rodney Dill for obscure WKRP reference :

As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

Other Contests

Support your Local Gunfighter
Gone Rick Motel
Right Pundits
Outside the Beltway
Public Pondering
WILLisms

From Flickr

Wyatt Riot

Well, Duh!

My Lil Binker's wearing camo!

POF-Master Range Review

The scope is nice! I totally trashed my game plan on Work Around and zoomed up the power to acquire the rifle targets at about 85 yards. I should have just taken a knee or flopped to prone. Cranked down to 1.5X on Wyatt Riot, the scope made a good facsimile of a "tactical" scope; I could shoot with both eyes open (kinda) through rapid (kinda) double-taps and with the table for a rest, tagged the prone steel (kinda perfectly) without zooming.

Y'all wanna help me name this rifle? It's a Patriot Ordnance Factory gas-piston upper on a plain Bushmaster XM17 receiver, topped with a Simmons shotgun scope as a low-cost effort to finally become competitive on those long-ass steel targets at Rio Salado. Or y'all can just continue hearing tales of the POF-Master...Puff-Meister... Bushy Patriot....

Protein Source

Spotted this critter slithering underneath my equipment wagon at the Ben Avery range. To my disappointment... no rattle. He was just looking for some shade, and maybe one o' them tasty lil lizards that scurry about the place.

April Cactus 3-Gun Practice

I brought back some old favorites that were originally slated for the January match. I was too busy ROing to get much video, but I got a breather while Jon shot his 9-AR on the pistol stages. I should have brought mine, but it's still got some issues. Maybe I should clean it or something.

Here are the stages as submitted:

Pistol - Start Position: Standing in Box A, normal ready.

On start signal, engage P1 through P10. From behind Table B, engage P11 through P15 and T1 through T4. Paper targets require two hits to neutralize, all steel must fall.

Shotgun/Pistol - Start Position: Standing in Box A, shotgun at low ready. Loaded handgun in holster.

On start signal, engage P1 through P10. Ground empty or safed shotgun at Table B; draw and engage P11 through P15 and T1 through T4 with handgun. Paper targets require two hits to neutralize, all steel must fall.

Pistol - Start position: Standing anywhere behind Line A, normal ready.

On start signal, engage T1 through T9 from anywhere behind Line B. Each paper target requires two hits to neutralize.

Rifle - Start position: Standing anywhere behind Line A, rifle at low ready.

On start signal, engage T1 through T9 from anywhere behind Line A. Each paper target requires two hits to neutralize.

Pistol: Start Position: Standing in Box A, normal ready.

On start signal, draw and engage P1 and P2 and T1 through T7. From Box B, engage P3 through P8. Paper targets require two hits to neutralize, all steel must fall.

Pistol/Shotgun - Start Position: Standing in Box A, normal ready. Loaded, safed shotgun on table B.

On start signal, draw and engage P1 and P2 and T1 through T7. Ground safed or empty handgun on table at Box B, and with shotgun engage P3 through P8. Paper targets require two hits to neutralize, all steel must fall.

Pistol - Start position: Standing in Box A, hands on knees.

On start signal, engage T1 through T10. Each paper target requires two hits to neutralize.

Pistol/Rifle - Start position: Standing in Box A, hands on knees. Loaded, safed rifle grounded on table.

On start signal, draw and engage the bottom row (T1 through T5) with pistol. Ground empty or safed pistol on table and with rifle engage the top row (T6 through T10) and P1 through P5. Each paper target requires two hits to neutralize; all steel must fall.

Scandy Vermin

What makes a vodka and grape juice cocktail taste tastier than a Steel Panthers: MBT Defend mission? Somehow, our rookie-green Indonesian forces ended up in the middle of Finland, and the filthy Finns didn't like that one little bit. To add insult to injury, Jon bought several riverboat Monitors to pollute their pristine lakes and I sewed the intervening meadows with land mines and dug-in infantry. We're so easily entertained who can waste a Friday night sniping Sissi scouts and T-72s while noshing on jalapeno-flavored potato chips. I wouldn't want their mission, but that's the way the dice fell. Like the Finnish Air Force in front of my Rapiers and Jon's Strelas.

BAG Day Update

Behold, Not-BOG2!! (I'll think of a better name for it some day.) I put the newly Cooley (just wanted to say that) braked POF piston upper on my BAG Day Bushy receiver and created the rifle I'll be concentrating on through next year's Superstition 3-Gun. The optics is a Simmons Master-series shotgun scope (1.5 to 5 power) with illuminated reticle.

Jon's BAG Day goody turned out to be an American Spirit Arms (another fine Arizona company) 9-mm AR flattop. Sweet!

Forgot One

Sorry, the nipple is non-functional.

Something we're working on

Disclaimer

This video is for educational and
entertainment use only.

The shooting in this video was
performed in a controlled
environment under the observation
of a league Range Safety Officer.

Feel free to critique your own performance
if you are the subject of this video.

Please do not critique a fellow shooter
based only on the audio and video
presented in this production.

The RSO is responsible to correct
and/or document deviance from format
rules and tactical dictates of the course of fire.

This production may be used to
critique the performance of RSOs,
but local league RSOs reserve the
right the beat the errant RSO
vigorously with rubber squeaky-hammers
in their own private forum and any comments
from the Peanut Gallery will be met with
scornful indifference.

Hmph

My bestest shooting buddy in the whole world is coming down to Tucson tomorrow and he says he's bringing his BAG Day gun to try out at Piter's indoor range. His BAG Day gun! I got no pictures from readers and very few posts from bloggers of BAG Day guns, and he's kept his secret even now! I was Best Man at his wedding! I nursed his sick ferret! I heroically held his left flank against an onslaught of Nigerian mechanized infantry! I dragged his dead engineer-mage (and half a dozen others) out a dungeon full of goblins with nothing more than Tensor's Floating Disc, invisibility, and some scary ghost noises! And this is the thanks I get? No premium booze for Jon this weekend! Well, he is bringing down my gas-piston upper with its newly-attached muzzle brake... upon which I've got to mount my new scope and sight it in before Sunday.... so I won't short-sheet the guest bed. Should I hide the good cream sherry?

No Contest

They all look alike, those Dutch and those Danes.

Happy Hump Day!

Something Chinese

After the match scores were posted this weekend, I did some trash-talking with my fellow RSOs. Now I'm on the hook to shoot my AK next month, having proven the superiority of Eugene Stoner's AR platform against an H&K-clone and a Kalashnikov design. I haven't fired the thing in 10 years, but if I can dust off the Daewoo after that long and do well with it, I ought to do okay with the Norinco.

Now, the question is: do I go for maximum style points and bring the Tokarev-clone too?

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll Down for New Stuff


Got a caption or photoshop for this unsourced photo? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar! (Please pardon the size and formatting -- Blogger is upgefukt today.)

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even that coupon for the free bikini wax you never used.

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday PM.

Winners!

#1 Ninth Stage said...

This is my pistol, this is my package. One is for fighting, the other for whackage.

#2 Kevin said...

Trigger discipline. So simple, even a caveman can do it!

#3 Anonymous

"Sticky until Monday -- Scroll Down for New Stuff"

Crap, now I can't visit you site again until at least Wednesday.

If Kevin would unshield his Blogger profile, I'll post a Blog Ad for him.
Thanks for playing!

Other Contests

Outside the Beltway (2nd Place Monday!)
WILLisms (2nd Place last week!)
Public Pondering (2nd Place last week!)
Support Your Local Gunfighter
Wizbang
Right Pundits
Bright & Early

Less Tubes, More Boobs

Please.

Kandahar 3-Gun Match

This is cool!

h/t Texican Tattler

Two More Stages

Didn't even video our first stage (3), two positions shooting down the long, narrow steel bay, then a right-hand turn into the "Baghdad Cafe" to hose cardboard. It was fun, but a lot of running (okay, waddling), and I didn't think y'all would enjoy watching that. (Also wanted to make sure I had enough memory to video several shooters at "Ouch! My Hand!")

Stage 2 "The Judge" will probably be a regular feature in the league. A rifle "El Presidente" from left and right barricade (with a mandatory reload between), then pistol at left and right low barricade. I scored one miss here... not bad.

Stage 1. Note to self: AIM HIGH AT POINT BLANK! This is where the hostage kills kicked my butt. The rest of the stage was almost perfect.

Video

Update: Scores are up! I finished a skosh ahead of the middle, right behind my Nemesis Russell, but ahead of the guy with the Class III pistol-caliber PDW and the lone Open Division Shooter. I think I should have scored worse (or they switched Stage 3 with Stage 4).

Ouch! My Hand!

The league let me design a stage on a topical subject for the 3rd Saturday Tactical Match: mandatory weak hand shooting. I took a little freedom away from the shooter to save the RSOs a lot of psychic trauma; no drawing, reloading or jam-clearing would be permitted. Even tossed in a free re-shoot if a rare jam occurred. Two jams? Stop and score 'em.

I took a procedural for supporting the rifle with my "injured wrist" for a few shots. Also dished out a disqualification to a shooter for grounding an unsafe firearm... so much for saving psychic trauma. But at least I didn't bring a sucky firearm.

Video

Note to Self

Whenever you're starting a tactical match, please avoid mentioning how few no-shoots you've hit since you've started this format.

And self, when returning a Glock 19 magazine back to its 15-round configuration, you might want to test-fire it in your gun before taking it to a match.

Friday Fone Fertography

I <3 Lisa the Biker Chick

Friendly Reminder

Countertop

Anyone else get this failure then accessing Countertop Chronicles?

Update: He knows about it.

How 'Bout Them D-Backs?!

After eating healthy all day and finally refilling my meds, I prepared a treat in anticipation of tonight's Diamondbacks game: microwaved hot wings and cheap but yummy box o' wine. Imagine my disappointment when the game turned out to be one I'd seen yesterday! Before I noticed it was still light in Frisco at 8 pm MST, I began to recognize the banter between the play-by-play announcer and color commentator Mark Grace as a repeat. Still, them Baby Backs are in first place!

My baseball loyalties are more simple than other sports:

Arizona Diamondbacks
Phila. Phillies
Any other NL team
Boston Red Sox
Anybody playing the Yankees

This is a shootin' weekend, so I allow myself some alcohol to ensure I'm not playing Steel Panthers until 4 am any more. Yes, Thursday night counts as a weekend when the match is on Saturday morning.

And Kenya v. Angola is gettin' kinda old. Ya think I'd pick some countries that actually abut each other, huh?

Cuts Down the Haze

Happy Birthday!

Deep Sea 129

The EC-121 shoot down incident occurred on April 15, 1969 when an American EC-121 Warning Star on a reconnaissance mission was shot down by North Korean MiG aircraft over the Sea of Japan.

The plane crashed 90 nautical miles (167 km) away from the North Korean coast and all 31 Americans on board were killed.

The Nixon administration chose not to retaliate against North Korea apart from staging a naval demonstration in the Sea of Japan a few days later. Instead it resumed the reconnaissance flights within a week to demonstrate that it would not be intimidated by the action while at the same time avoiding a confrontation.

From wiki

Nixon was a pussy.

April 15 was also Kim Il-sung's Birthday.

For FreddyBoomBoom

We Zoomies got the keychains too. The coffee mugs were on sale at the NCO Club.

Small world indeed. We always got notice whenever the Midway or Kitty Hawk was out to play. Battle groups made the Norks nervous. Thanks!

Happy BAG Day! Whatcha Get?

It's Buy a Gun Day! If you've converted part of your tax refund or economic stimulus check into a firearm, you're what today is all about! Looks like the holiday founder Aaron won't be posting a Round-up, so I'll give it a whack.

The Saloon Department of Redundancy Department reminds me that I can save a lot of cutting and pasting by making the comments a self-serve round-up. If you're a blogger, leave a link to your BAG Day show-and-tell. If you're a valued saloon customer/lurker, tell us what you've got; you can Email me Gun Pr0n pics of your bang-stick if you'd like to share them with the Blogosphere.

My own goodie was a Bushmaster AR receiver to which I've already added the stock assembly formerly belonging to BoG2. I think I'm going to ditch the Box o' Gun designation on my ARs; the (originally stripped) DPMS receiver will eventually get a custom DPMS upper (maybe next year), while the Bushy lower will mate up with the POF-USA gas piston upper. What should I call it? POFMaster? Maybe I'll just give it a girl's name, like Chief does.

Update: Looks like Kim du Toit is doing a reader round-up.

From my Blogroll:

JR of Keyboard and a .45 got a Savage Scout rifle.

Chris Byrne, The Anarchangel, got a SIG P225.

Caleb of Call Me Ahab got a 20-gauge Remington Model 11 barreled receiver.

BAG Day's Coming!

Sticky -- Scroll down for new content!

I wasn't going to participate in BAG Day since my refund pretty much evaporated paying off the credit card, but with the Economic Stimulus check only a month away, what the heck? After I gave blood today, I swung by Second Amendment Sports to check out the goodies there. Wow, that place has really changed from it's Jensen's/ Arizona Sportsman's days. I really only went in there to look around and maybe replace my crappy eye protection. Instead, I whipped out the plastic for the nifty in the box at right. Can you guess what it is? You could win a BAG Day Week Blog Ad on my side bar!

The Contest is Over! There is no winner. :(

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday -- Scroll Down for New Stuff

Not the Winning Caption:
Concentrated fire : A security agent shoots an non-lethal weapon during a presentation for the press in Nova Iguaçu, 40 km away from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AFP/Vanderlei Almeida)

Got a caption or photoshop for this AFP photo? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar!

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even the .454 Casull that you're too big a sissy to fire!

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday PM.

Winner!

The Ninth Stage wins with:

I know it's supposed to be non-lethal, but with that New York trigger I think I just squeezed one off in my pants.

Runner-up Kees wins a link with this photoshop.

Other Contests:

Support Your Local Gunfighter (1st Place last week!)
Public Pondering (1st Place last week!)
Gone Rick Motel
Outside the Beltway
WILLisms
Right Pundits
Wizbang

Have to run outta ammo first...

Created by OnePlusYou

h/t to SYLG

Mugshots

Tam posted a "Guess whose coffee mug is whose?" picture this morning. I'm no psychic rocket scientist, but I'll wager a BAG Day bagel that the Bimmer mug is Tam's and the Boop cup belongs to Roberta X.

If I turned the Saloon into a coffee shop, I'd be well equipped with muggage; I've been accumulating them all my adult life. Here's some of the more colorful ones. Most of them stay at the back of the cupboard; I have a display rack but I'm too lazy and too scared to drill into the drywall to erect it.





After I took the first picture, I remembered several other mugs scattered about the house, holding pens, paper clips, ammunition, etc. The Irish blessing cup came from a former student of mine (Hi, Tricia!), the Bob mug was my father's, and the Sensor Olympics Silver Medal mug is why I had such an inflated head in the USAF.





Forgetful me! The mugs in the foreground were in the gun safe holding separate calibers of loose ammo or spare keys. The numbered mugs were gallon gifties from United Blood Services (#4 holds my almost antique .45 ACP Black Talons). The Porsche mug was a door prize at my high school reunion (I'd traveled furthest to get there).

Now, here's the meme: you don't have to go overboard like I did (I have no life), but post a pic of your favorite beverage vessel and tag 0 - 5 more bloggers to do so. Link me if you like, but I hoarked the idea from Tam and Roberta, so at least credit them with a link.

I'm gonna tag Wyatt, JayG, AlanDP, PDB, and Fits.

Globs o' Korean Goodness

Screw kimchi. Ladies and Gents, I give to you Korea's greatest contribution to World Cuisine: Kochujang. This snappy red pepper paste (or the powder form), some garlic, and a little sesame oil is what makes Korean food beat up Japanese food and take its lunch money. Spicy Sezhuan dishes have posters of Korean poggum dishes in their gym lockers.

Love me the hot stuff. Sriracha, chipotle, wasabi, jalapeno, ketchup (lil Pennsylvania Dutch humor there).

Out of the House

Tonight the Pima 3rd Saturday Tactical Match pre-match meeting convened at the Trident Grill. As much as I hate venturing out into crowded places, I was curious about this place, since it's owned by a retired Navy SEAL. The food and service was pretty good, though my socially nervous stomach limited me to a beer and some chicken appetizers. We reviewed a couple of stages to be shot next week and hashed over some ideas to be implemented in the future. We got some evil mofo's designing stages, folks. I like it. Nice change from the Cactus League 4th Sunday 3-Gun, where I seem to be the only person submitting stages.

We actually got a lot of chatting done in the parking lot afterwards, where it was a lot quieter... though the constant parade of hotties in little black dresses heading into the place was a tad distracting. Oh, to be young again. And not so neurotic.

Allentown Updated

Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line

Well our fathers fought the Vietnam War
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers at the CYO
Asked them to dance
Danced with them slow

And we're living here in Allentown
But the restlessness was handed down
And its getting very hard to stay

Well we're waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard
If we behaved

So the graduations hang on the wall
And Bill or Dubya never helped us at all
No, they never gave us one red cent
To send kids to school
Or help pay the rent.

And we're waiting here in Allentown
But they've taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away

Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got
But something happened on the way to that place
They threw a Mexican flag in our face

Well I'm living here in Allentown
And its hard to keep a good man down
But at least we've got our guns
And a church raisin' our young uns
And we're living here in Allentown

Something Wicked in the Crisper Drawer

Fuck You Barry HUSSEIN Obama

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

From the huffpo

As someone who has spent his formative years in the small town of Lehighton PA, worshiping at SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, and learning gun safety (and gun fun!) at my dear Dad's elbow and at my Law Enforcement Explorer Post at the National Guard Armory... let me try out my Kenny B. impersonation:

I was not angry since I came to France
Until this instant.
Take a trumpet, herald; Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill: If they will fight with us, bid them come down, Or void the field; they do offend our sight: If they'll do neither, we will come to them, And make them skirr away, as swift as stones Enforced from the old Assyrian slings: Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have, And not a man of them that we shall take Shall taste our mercy. Go and tell them so.
-- Henry V.

Note to any Secret Service types who might be reading this: this post is nothing more than a metaphor of my utter disgust at the candidate's rhetoric. I wouldn't piss on said candidate if he was on fire, let alone dirty a weapon in his direction.

I'm Beginning to Like Duct Tape

A little Killer Bee Removal Advice

When the first place you call has someone with "Doctor" prefixed to his name answering the phone, keep shopping around. I want my Killer Bees removed, not psychoanalyzed. Saved over three hundred bucks.

BTW, just as the Bee-Eraser said, all the scout bees came back to the tree. They formed a small knot of hobo-bees, huddling around a pot of stew, wondering drunkenly where the hell everybody went. "Farging Bee-yotch of a Queen di'in't even leave a forwarding address!" Oughtta be gone by tomorrow.

How Accidents Happen

Absolut Alternatives

Besides Absolut Vodka, Pernod Ricard USA owns a wide variety of beverage brands worldwide. These include:

Royal Salute (scotch whisky) Chivas Regal (scotch whisky) The Glenlivet (single malt scotch whisky) Jameson Irish Whiskey Seagram's gin Pernod aux extraits d'absinthe Wyborowa (vodka) Ricard and 51 (pastis)

Martell (cognac) Wild Turkey (bourbon) Jacob's Creek (wine) Pernod (anise-based spirit) Zuco Becherovka DITA (lychee-based spirit) Havana Club (rum).

As of 26 July 2005, the brand portfolio expanded to include former Allied Domecq products:

Ballantine’s scotch; Kahlúa coffee liqueur; Malibu coconut-flavored rum; Beefeater gin;

Tia Maria liqueur; Stolichnaya vodka (distribution in the USA); Mumm champagne; Perrier-Jouët champagne.

Source: Wikipedia

I'll be replacing Glenlivet with Glen Fiddich, Jameson with Bushmills, and -- well, that's it. Thanks heavens they didn't get their dirty mitts on Jack Daniels or any of my favorite value-priced rums, cream sherries, or boxes o' wine.

Jeez, It's Bees

Saw a pile o' dead bugs in my driveway
this morning and thought, "Who dumped their dead bugs here? That's rude!"

This afternoon, my neighbor pointed out that I had a colony of bees in my tree. Where at? Right above the pile o' dead bees! Wonderful! That's all I need is having to spring for Africanized bee removal... and I gotta do it before one of my neighbors gets stung.








At least, I'm assuming they're Africanized. I haven't heard any drums or chants yet....