Monday Moving

I apologize for the radio silence over the past week. Last week was a bit of a blur. Sold a bunch of guns at work. Bought a couple. Played with my new optic. And most importantly, took a new job opportunity.

So, the small town gun and pawn I'm currently at is a lot of fun.

But, Big City Range and Training Center offered better pay and better hours. Along with promotion potential.

Furthermore, being a place that mainly centers around shooting, some manufacturing, and new guns, my wallet will be a lot more thankful not being subjected to Remington 721s, Jericho 941s, and Ruger P-345s that have to have forever homes.

So, been busy. Oh, and Mickey threw a rocking Christmas party on Saturday that made me useless all day Sunday. Except for the three hours I hauled my carcas to the a small church outside a small town.

One of the kids that worked for me at Boy Scout camp recieved his Eagle. Kinda a big deal. I dusted off my old professional Scouter blazer and affixed my Eagle medal to it.

Jackie and I went. Shook some hands, hugged some necks, told a bunch of fellows that I missed them and that I heard they were still doing good work.

His Scoutmaster spoke. As did his dad and SPL. And then the new Eagle spoke.

He gave me an Eagle mentor pin. I've never gotten one of those. I used to say that out of all the trinkets, ribbons, and badges I had; only the Eagle medal, Fraternity lapel pin, and CIB mattered.

I reckon I need to add a cheap plated gold Eagle pin to that list as well.

For once in my life, I couldn't find the words.

Tinkering Tuesday - Conservative Creedmoor

So, way back in the halycon days of Gander Mountain, I sold me a whole bunch of guns. And a lot of them were Rugers. So, the fine folks in Prescott, sent me a Ruger American Predator in the newest, most awesome, best shooting, hyper sonic, tank killing, Bob Lee approved cartridge, known to man. The 6.5 Creedmoor.

Oh, that's last week cartridge. We've moved on the 6.5 PRC. Oh, wait, that was yesterday. We are now on to the 6mm Creedmoor.

Excuse, me had, to pop a Dramamine. I got a little woozy from all the bullshit. Had a dream I was shooting the Wimbledon Cup with a .224 Valkyrie and Julie Golob was spotting for me.

All kidding aside, the cartridge of the week is not a disease I'm always immune to. So, a newish cartridge in a free rifle was nothing to complain about.

But today I'm really going to talk about the optic I sourced for it. Realistically, the 6.5 CM is capable of hitting targets easily at 700 yards, even with factory ammo. It is certainly capable of taking paper targets anyway at 1,000 yards.

So, I wanted to harness the massive power of this new, controllable, brisk recoiling cartridge, oh wait, went down the buzzword rabbit hole again, but yeah, I needed good glass to make this project worth the transfer fee.

So, I went with a Loopy VX-3 3.5x10 Boone and Crockett.

The Boone and Crockett clubs is one of those organisations guys like me give money to for a cool sticker. Oh, and to promote good conservation practices of game animals. Can't hunt them if they're already dead.

I'm not real sure of the partnership that Leupold and the B&C had working; but, t's still really cool.

It's like Mil-Dots, but without all the brain sweat.

So, the recticle lends itself to easy shooting with very little weaponized math as long as you know your distance and bullet weight, which any competent shooter should know before heading out into the bush.

After the first of the year, I'm ordering a new MagPul American stock that will allow me to both use AICS mags and actually grip the damn thing. The cheap stock coming on the gun, being, well cheap.

I'm excited. And this a somewhat new area for me. Haven't really done a lot of long range shooting; nor, do ugly black plastic bolt guns generally appeal to me, but, I fell for the marketing hype. This week, anyway.

Somber Sunday

77 years ago, the yard superintendent at Pearl was still slogging about in his ruined whites assessing the damage to the Pacific Battle Force.

A crippled socialist had galvanized his country into winning a war to save the world.

In some of the far flung reaches of America's almost colonial possessions, pre-war regulars held the line.

In some cases, they were badly led. And By God were they outgunned. But held the line they did. from Bataan to Java to Wake, they fought with what they had.

And while they held the line, the Citizen Soldier reported for basic. Ford shifted from sedans to Liberators.

H&R shifted from single shot squirrel guns to the M-1 Garand.

Grandpa reported for duty and soon found himself in New Caledonia, equipped with both a sidearm and water cooled machine gun from the War to End All Wars. That wasn't terrible though; they were both designed by John Browning and still better than most anything issued by the Axis at the time.

The battle wagons of Pearl would by and large be salvaged and sent to avenge the Arizona, her damage to complete and substantial to warrant any repair efforts.

On a blog somewhere, I once read the following:

"And come Judgement Day, if the Good Lord needs a Battleship Crew  and her Marine det. at the Plain of Megiddo to fight the Forces of Evil, the best He could find will be at Pearl Harbor serving aboard the U.S.S. Arizona, still at Battle Stations, loyal to the Oath to the Constitution of the United States of America"

That is very true. RADM Kidd flew his flag as Commander, Battleship Division One, aboard the Arizona. He is still listed as missing, presumed dead as a result of enemy action. He was awarded the Medal for his actions on 7 Dec.

Today, 77 years, the Enterprise sortied after a brief seven hour stint tied up alongside the pier at Pearl. Admiral Halsey was in command in the task force. He would go on to harass and agitate the Japanese for the next four months, and then sneak a group of Army bombers to a few hundred miles off Japan. That helped set the stage for the battle of Midway.

And later, the Missouri would be anchored at Pearl. The Battleship finally declared obsolete.

But she was given one last duty to preform. Stand silent sentinel over her older sister, the Arizona. 

Rest easy, Shipmates. We won.