One of the highlights of coming back was stopping Monday at Dixie Gun Works in Union City, Tennesse. If you ever drive past it, you ought to go in. They have many old guns on display and a lot for sale. Very educational just browsing the racks and looking at rifles. Nothing new. They had Krag Carbines, .22 military trainers, flintlocks, Schutzen rifles. Stuff like that. Worth the stop.

I bought a booklet detailing Davy Crocketts last trip into Texas. I knew he had come through Clarksville where I deerhunt but this guy had used letters and news accounts to retrace Davy’s trip. Very informative. Crockett went a lot further west than I imagined and zig-zagged all over Northeast Texas. He hit Mempis, Little Rock, Clarksville, Nacogdoches, St Augustine, Alto, Washington-on-the-Brazos and San Antonio. The title of the book is: On the Crockett Trail by Rod Timanus.

If you are going to be an edjumacated man you need to know all about folks like Davy Crockett.

I read the newspapers from Texas to Ohio when we go up and back. I start with the Tyler and Dallas, pick up Texarkana and Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnatti, Toledo, Columbus and then reverse. Half the stories are about the government doing MORE and the other half griping about the high taxes, corruption and police misdeeds. The Knoxville city council is spending more money on a white elephant they bought. The Cinncinatti Fed prosecutors had a bad snitch, (which they knew), and is having to back up on a bunch of drug cases after ruining peoples lives. Teachers all over are mashing on their students, but need more money. The bridge fell in and it’s Bush’s fault, and the Feds immediatly promise to pay for the rebuild. Almost every wire story is about how wonderful the Democrats are and how the Repubs want to starve little children. Thank God for the web.

After a week at Camp Perry, the first rest stop is full of strange people with NO gear and NO guns. They sure look helpless.

Except for wind in the standing portion of the Presidents 100, (10 shots standing at 200, 10 shots prone rapid at 300, 10 shots slow-fire prone at 600, possible 300 points), the weather was good. Early relays in the Garand had wind but late ones were fine.

That was early in the week.

On Sunday the M1A match started in the rain. I mean rain like you pray for on your corn crop when you have borrowed against the old home place. In Texas, when it rains, we get under a roof that doesn’t leak. At Perry, you just go on.

I had borrowed an M1A and I asked the owner what he THOUGHT the 300 yard zero was. (whole match shot at 300 yardline) He thought for a minute and said: “Up 24”. For my first of five sighters I clicked up 24 and asked my scorer to watch the bullet trace. At Perry you shoot out over the lake north through the targets. I broke a six-oclock hold that looked good and sent a M852 168 gr Sierra into the Canadian maritime provinces. We are talking low Earth orbit. My scorer said it looked about a target and a half high.

I bet there is a dead fish washing up in Toronto with a 30 cal hole in it. I ended up THREE instead of 24. Shot pretty well from then on.

Turns out the guy had switched the front sight to a low 1000 yard blade and forgotten about it.

Gun shot very well. Very little recoil. It’s an old McMillan-stocked MTU gun. Army reserve team built it. Got wet. I shot a miss standing. Sure wish I had that one back. If it had gone in the nine ring I would have been in third place for some cash.

Instead, we packed up our wet stuff and went to Texas.

Wow - a lifetime ambition and a cucumber sandwich all in one day…

Squeaky Wheel here.

Just wanted to say “hi” in a more, um, “normal” way.

I volunteered to guest blog here because I’m currently in the process of testing out guns for purchase, and am going to be attending the TN permit class in 10 days (and hopefully getting my certificate, so I can go ahead and get into the queue for a carry permit).

I figured that some of you might be interested in reading this process from my perspective, as someone who grew up in a pretty liberal (“hippie”-ish) household.  My dad, for example, doesn’t know that I’m in the process of getting my permit, or that I’m likely going to be purchasing a gun soon (he might shit a brick when he finds out).  My stepmother is *really* against guns.  My sisters are indifferent.  So I’ve been pretty ignorant of the whole process, the 2nd Amendment itself, and the options that I have until, oh, a couple of months ago.  A lot of people who are adult “gun nuts” have shot for years, or have been exposed to guns in some capacity earlier in their lives.  I’m one of the ones who wasn’t.

I hope I can keep you at least moderately entertained, and, as always, any suggestions, insights, or constructive criticism are welcome.  As on my personal blog, however (and as Uncle said in his “fishing for guest bloggers” post), don’t be an asshole.

This will be the last you hear from me until Monday, due to a trip of my own that I’m taking this weekend.

Everyone have a great weekend!

(I *had* to use this tag, because it makes me laugh.)

I’m not Garand-poor but since the CMP was putting out 800 rifles that they had held back I thought I would take a look. Some of us went in early last Sunday with gauges and borelights and picked out the best. I thought overall the rifles looked better than what was out last year. In fact, they looked a LOT better.

I bought a January 1941 Springfield, 200,XXX, with a muzzle of 1 1/2 and a throat of 2. Uncut op-rod as well. Wood looks OK. The trigger group is a brand-new late Springfield so I am going to swap it with one of my other ones for a milled trigger guard. I don’t know where this rifle had been but it doesn’t look fired to me. No marks on the feedramps.

No carbines, no 1903s except for five pretty ratty ones. Bought two cans of LC but it was de-linked machine gun ammo.

I also came home with ten CMP ballpoints to give away. The Anniston staff was up, some of the young women for the first time. One of the helpful blondes had just gotten there after taking her first plane ride.

There is something for everyone at the National Matches.

If you haven’t ever gone to Camp Perry for the National Matches, you ought to. I’m back after ten days of shooting Presidents 100 through M1A match. This year we shot more than ever because some of the Texas State Rifle Team members decided to shoot the 1903, Garand, and M1A matches. Big fun.

You don’t have to go on a state or club team- individuals can shoot the Presidents 100, the EIC match, the Hearst Doubles plus visit the CMP North Store.

I shot pretty well. 12th in the 1903, Silver in the EIC match, 5th in the Garand, 10th in the Hearst Double and 17th in the M1A match. A lucky shot or two and I might have won a couple of them overall.

We sucked on the team stuff though. Same old problems with organization and coaching. We left the coaches handcuffed to a urinal in Cinncinatti.

“I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member” – Groucho Marx

So far, I think I have six. C’mon, it takes that many of you?

Unc’s gonna have a lot to answer for week after next….

There is nothing wrong with the picture.

You have just entered…The Outer Limits.

And obviously this isn’t Uncle.  Test!  Test!

Next week, I’ll be headed to a secure and undisclosed location. At said location, there will likely be a beach and lots of adult beverages. And I will be (or rather will try to be) out of pocket. So, I need some guest bloggers. Here’s your opportunity to guest blog at SayUncle. Criteria:

I must know you from either comments or your site.

You must post about some gun stuff.

You must not be an asshole.

Fit the bill? Then leave a comment or send me an email at:

With guest blogger in the subject line.

BTW, it will be open to multiple guest bloggers.

So, the ATF is going after Red’s Trading Post for a clerical error rate measured in fractions of a percentage point on firearms transactions. Meanwhile, the fed.gov loses 190,000 AK-47s and handguns.

Tragic:

Rule Four God Dammit! Rule Four!

Update: Unfortunately, once you pull the trigger all the “oh shit!”s and “I’m sorry”s in the world cannot put that bullet back in the cartridge case, or bring a 5 year-old boy back to life.

It seems that, though a tomato is technically a berry, that the supreme court has ruled in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable. Forget science, let judges decide. Via comments here.

Squeaky takes a handgun course.

Sorry, that’s not a shotgun for the disabled. It has a forward, protruding pistol grip designed for spray firing from the hip. It is an assault weapon.

Via David.

The Liberty Sphere notes that the supposed pro-gun Bush administration isn’t so pro-gun. Under Bush, a higher percentage of FFLs have been put out of business than under Clinton. Bush 1 is responsible for the import ban by executive order. Bush 2 has not reeled in the ATF and has stated he’d sign a ban on weapons that look like assault weapons if congress would get it to him.

PSH is the word of the day over at Les Jones.

Lots of CCW info can be found at handgunlaw.us.

Total transferable machine guns in the US: 182,619

Or, rather, not so much. In an update to turning El Nino into a short barreled rifle, I’ve made no progress on getting fingerprinted. Seems that Knox County only does fingerprinting at inconvenient times and at an inconvenient location. I haven’t made it there yet. It’s like they make it hard to buy guns or something.

I intentionally closed comments as a joke in this post. However, I accidentally closed them on one post. Not sure how. And you can comment there now, if you like. I was wondering why all you people were emailing me with comments and thought now, why didn’t they just comment. So, if you ever see comments closed on a post that isn’t over a week old, let me know.

No, I’m not getting my reasoned discourse on.

In honor of reasoned discourse, there will be no comments to this post.

Heh.

Update: BTW, there’s a definite ick factor with that image but it’s safe.

I just did a Violence Policy Center study!! Quick, send grant money!

Update: Another study! The results are totally conclusive.

Update: conclusive study proves Violence Policy Center is ten times more dishonest than the NRA!

So, yesterday, I noted Two things I never thought I’d see in the press. They were odd because one was actual positive treatment of firearms and the other was a valid rebuttal to a lame anti-gun point. Well, for two days in a row, someone in the news somewhere has actually printed pro-gun info. In NC:

Consideration of a weapons ban in Craven County buildings appears to be over.

Craven County Sheriff Jerry Monette told the county commissioners Monday night that a ban would have little effect. “Those who would do it without a lawful permit are going to do it anyway,” he said. “An ordinance would not restrict them.”

Ayup.

I don’t recall Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes needing high-powered weapons to inflict such carnage on unsuspecting, law-abiding citizens.

This past Sunday, the family went to my parents’ house. Junior and I were playing in the pool. There was this giant inflatable alligator that is about eight feet long and Junior loves to ride it. My folks also had those little weighted stick things that you throw in the pool, they sink, and you retrieve them. Junior thought it was big fun to throw them in and for me to get them. She threw two of them a bit too far, so I didn’t get them since she was on the edge of the pool and I wasn’t gonna leave her. Later, she was away from the pool by the porch (about eight feet) and she asks me to go get the two from the deep end. I tell her I will but that she needs to stay put. I swim over, dive down and grab the first one. I come out of the water and glance her way and she’s walking toward the pool and headed right for the big inflatable alligator. Before she got there, I start swimming her way. She attempts to jump on the alligator and it flips over. Did I mention she can’t swim? So, she goes under. I swam as fast as I could. I get there and she’s under the alligator. I pick up the alligator and she comes out with it. She had a death grip on the alligator. She managed to hold her breath and was OK, but a bit shaken.

The most amazing thing was that whole incident lasted maybe a second and a half. I’m no Olympic swimmer or anything, but it was only about ten feet distance to get there. And I probably covered that in something that could be measured in fractions. Despite that, when you’re living it, it seemed like forever. I could feel every individual muscle in my body moving. I could feel every individual drop of water hitting my face and back. But I could see nothing other than her kicking under water and I could hear nothing except the splash. It was the most focused on one thing I’ve ever been in my life. Time literally felt like it stopped.

She’s OK but didn’t want to get back in the pool again. And for the rest of the day, my wife commented on how sweet Junior was acting. And I joked that maybe having her life flash before her eyes calmed her down a bit.

Update: not sure how I closed comments. Must be all that reasoned discourse. They are open now.

Seen at Nashville Was Talking, comes this:

“Most bloggers wouldn’t last an hour under the journalistic quality control that a newspaper demands.” -Liz Garrigan, Editor-in-Chief of the Nashville Scene, a paper that printed fabricated information about a mayoral candidate

Yeah, taking dictation from interest groups is hard work and is subject to strict scrutiny. And when someone says something about it, your typical newspaper sticks its fingers in its ears and shouts lalalalala.