The shoot was great. Nice meeting several people for the first time.
I hardly ever travel anywhere without the Princess SKS and the Princess Balrog, but I was forced to today because of a grumpy ill Balrog. That was for the better I guess. It was cold and loud.
So our grand plans of dropping by to drop off food, ammo and a couple other items (as well as pick up a couple of things from a few of you- thanks gents) then split for lunch in Oly was foiled. I loaded the Burb with the 3 crock crockpot, not sure how much would still be inside since one of the dishes was kind of sloshy. Threw a couple of brand new thick towels over the tri-pot to keep as much heat in as possible and hit the road. Just for a change I thought I'd listen to some good hippy music from the 60s and early 70s on the 1hr50min drive. It was nice.
It started snowing around Kelso but the roads were still mostly clear- kind of slushy out of the middle of the lanes, but not too bad... Then a few miles before Castle Rock it turned into a white out almost. There were several sections of the drive that were thick fog and heavy snow. The freeway had a couple of inches on it and still snowing heavy and I'd passed 4 vehicles that had slid off the road (fairly fresh tracks for two of them, couldn't tell or didn't pay attention for the other 2.) I took the next exit and texted the missus to call up to the shoot to see if I was going to be in this whiteout the whole way, since the traffic that was on the freeway was mostly down to about 30mph. "Dan said it is clear skies, sunny and 70F." Alright then, back on the road. I actually put it into 4WD for a few miles - only because I didn't want to risk spilling the saucy meal in the crockpot. You starting to see how much I love you guys?
Pulled into the shoot not too late. I had the place of honor right next to the portapotty. Whoever brought that quiet generator- that is a cool machine.
About 45 minutes of meet and greet and set up followed. Got to meet Zombie66 again, after a few years since meeting at the Centralia gun show. I don't get it! He's a nice guy in real life!
A couple of WaGunners appeared to have tied one or three on last night, if the bleary eyed and slurred speech were any indication. J/k. Mostly.
Everyone gathered "on the green" to hear the welcome speech and The Rules to make sure the same number of people who arrived standing up would leave in the same condition.
Thank you RSO's for helping us keep safe!
I had to be reminded of my name (twice) Thank you Dan.
Dan and Chris bellowed out their speech and rules, then Steve Madpick seemed to have something to say. We could see his mouth moving, but it was as if he was miming. We laughed thinking it must be some of that famous MadPick humor, but that seemed to rile him up, so that bull-chested man leaned into his whispering so we could actually hear something like a breeze through a willow tree. Chris handed him a bullhorn, so then we got to hear about a 5 MPH breeze through a willow. Good times.
Finally got to meet Sted9r
I believe that we have a lot in common from our chat.
Folks crowded into the covered shooting line ready for the opening bell - there were two special packages of something called "tan or white" (I don't know, I had my muffs on) placed out there at the 100 yard berm that seemed to attract some special attention. The line went hot and about 100 pounds of precious metal was immediately donated to the Evergreen Sportsman Club. (It sounded a little different than my hippy music... More like that noise that Eddy Dean and OlyDemon listen to.) About 5 minutes later there must have been an accidental ricochet that finally hit the "tan or white" ... It was a big disappointment, because up to that time I figured the purpose of that game was to see how long we could go without hitting one of them. 5 or 10 more minutes and an unlucky ricochet hit the 2nd package. Goddamned shame guys, to see that nice explosive ruined by an unlucky ricochet like that.
After a decent duration of only slightly less frenetic precious metal donation we took our first hiatus, which was prime time to fill the coffee cups and soup bowls. Whatever you have heard about Chris' taco soup- it doesn't do it justice. First as a hand warmer then it warmed the cockles of the heart. Delicious. Lots of people brought food and drinks and supplies- thanks to you all!
I got to meet Mashie finally, after a few years of our friendly banter (Mashie-"I'm going to kick you right in the balls with my steel toed boots" Me - "Oh really? Jokes on you bud, I'll be wearing a steel cup!") We were all very careful not to flip Michael any crap about the 49ers, just like we're careful here on the board.
I didn't get to hear the final score... What was the final score Mash?
Mr OKellogg and I discussed picking up chicks together. Sometime this spring we'll make it happen.
The next round of metal donation was going to start off with a suppressor-only 10 or 15 minutes... That was cool. Walking up and down the shooting benches without earmuffs on and hearing "puff"s and ringing steel... That was excellent. Then Ops showed up. This goof ball was walking around in shorts sporting his Thunder gun thing, but with his face wrapped. I have a suspicion that he was just showing off his nice legs. (They were nice, so who can blame him?!)
Somehow the call that the line was going hot was missed by a few of us standing around a little campfire, but the gentle sounds of Ops' Thunder Gun ripping the roofing off the shooting cover as he magdumped right at the "HOT!" call got the message out to us. Several of us exercised our middle fingers about that time, and Ops exercised his grin muscles.
Fucker. Pieces of the metal cover rained down for a few minutes afterwards.
OldJim brought along a couple of beauties that he allowed me to handle. A single shot Anschutz 22LR rifle... nice heavy barrel, adjustable aperture sight, and a crisp ~1.5 to 2lb trigger. That is one fine shooting rifle. I believe that he has that gem for sale also.
After the Anschutz, he pulled out a 1911 in 38 Super. Bejeezus. The 1911 looked like a million bucks, and shot like a rifle. We were hitting a silhouette at 100 yards without any holdover. Accurate and a serious member of the Legion of Boom. Jim, please thank your wife for the item she sent along for my workbench.
Most of the food disappeared- although I think I discovered a secret familial relationship between MadPick and Thede&Co. MadPick's ability to unhinge his jaw has been long familiar to WaGuns... Lenny seemed to have an involuntary unhinging incident when he contemplated the Kahlua Cream Pie. Thank goodness that these two prefer different devour-able victims, Steve the cake and Lenny the pie. Imagine the dangerous struggle that would occur if they were both to lay claim to the same dessert! No, don't imagine it! It is too horrible. Carnage!
I was surprised at a few other things at the shoot. Apparently the DOL was compelled to issue Mr MadPick one of the few multi-trailer permit/license in the state for non-commercial vehicles. To spread the weight of his firearms and ammo over multiple axles was the only solution to his hauling needs. I didn't get a pic of his setup, but it was kind of like this except all guns and ammo.
For the drive home I thought I'd shake things up a little bit and listen to some hippy music from the 60s and early 70s.