OMG! A Brit With a Gun!

I started him off with my 10/22.


I wish I'd taken a video - it was fascinating watching the muscle-memory kick in. After every shot his hand automatically moved to cycle the bolt, but he was shooting a semi-auto. It took about ten rounds before he finally overcame the urge. I then moved him up to the Para GI Expert.


Until Friday, he'd never even seen a real 1911. He ran three or four mags through this one. He was the first to shoot it (after me, of course), but not the last. We put about a hundred rounds of hardball through it Friday without a single hiccup. (Thanks to The Packing Rat for the photo. Derek's a pro.)

Then I moved him up a bit on the power level:



He must've liked it. He went on to shoot The Packing Rat's California-compliant Saiga.


(Photo credit to Derek.)

On Saturday we shot a couple of stages of Steel Challenge. Our "recruited native asset" with a Ruger 22/45:


It looks like he knows what he's doing, doesn't it? He said afterward he plans to set up a Steel Challenge match in London using AirSoft pistols.

I think he's serious!

13 Hours, 45 Minutes, Redux

After an enjoyable evening in good company, I retired at about 11:00PM last night so I could get a reasonably early start this morning well-rested.

So much for that plan! About 2:45AM the ringing of my hotel phone woke me, but when I finally got the receiver to my ear, there was only a dial tone. I tried to go back to sleep, but just a few minutes later came a knock on my door. Maj. Zeigenfuss was in need of his backpack, which had disappeared from the unlocked Hospitality room, and since I was the only attendee he knew both the first and last names of, I was obviously the place to start! It only took a few minutes (and waking a few more people) before the backpack was found, but the interruption meant that the alarm clock was NOT a welcome sound this morning!

I hit the road at 8:30AM, and walked in the door of Casa Minority at 10:20PM after three refueling stops, one stop at McD's for a breakfast sandwich in Carson City, and a stop at a Rite-Aid for some aspirin at one wide spot in the road or another. I had fun! Worth every minute, and I'm looking forward already to GBR-V!

Thankfully, I took tomorrow off too, so I have a day to recover.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

One of the greatest threats to mankind today is that the world may be choked by an explosively pervading but well camouflaged bureaucracy. - Norman Borlaug

Rest in peace, sir. If anyone has earned that, you have.

That's Unpossible!

That's Unpossible!

Anti-abortion activists murdered!

Only abortion doctors are killed, and by right-wing gun nuts! What's the world coming to?

And the Winners Are . . .

The $2,000 Front Sight training certificate: Scott Warren of Mississippi

The Para GI Expert: Sean Brzozowzski of Minnesota

Congratulations! Emails outbound!

(And Robb Alan Allen [sorry Robb - I was damned tired last night] and Thirdpower should be kicking themselves for not attending. There was another Para being given away.)

Ron. . . Ran. . . Run. . . Gathering

Apparently more than a few people have a hard time with the word "Rendezvous" (damned Froggies):


That's the sign the hotel put up outside our hospitality room.

We thought we'd struck gold Friday night when we found out who had the rooms just two doors down:


"NorCal Lefties!" We can walk next door, introduce ourselves and our very presence will make them cry!

But no, it was deceptive advertising. They were all left-handed, not politically Leftist.

Here we are Friday morning heading out to breakfast before the range session:


And I'd like to introduce you to the winner of the "traveled the farthest to get to GBR" award, reader and commenter Phil R., who came all the way from London.

Yes, the one in England:


He's studying for a PhD in Linguistics at Oxford, and until yesterday had never shot a handgun.

We fixed that.

Here are some of the guns we brought to the funshoot this year:


Mr. C's race guns.


The obligatory EBRs

Some Boomershoot long-range pistols.


SayUncle's 6.8SPC AR. He sells those, you know.


The Byrne and O'Connor Spring '09 Handgun Collection
And there was some Old School stuff as well that I'll post when I get some more time, plus some videos that don't want to upload for some reason.

Here's a shot down the firing line at the end we occupied:


Good turnout!

The raffle dinner is later this evening, and I'll try to liveblog it. I'll also try to get more photos, including some of Alan Gura, who is much younger than I imagined.

I'll post about this again, but last night SayUncle asked a question about donating toward the legal fight for our rights, mentioning that he'd received emails from people saying they'd tried to donate during the Parker/Heller litigation and had been refused. Alan said that there had been a deliberate decision to take that case all the way without outside aid of any kind, which is why offers of assistance had been politely but firmly declined. However, all the current litigation, such as the Chicago incorporation suit and many others, are being paid for by the Second Amendment Foundation and CalGuns. If you want to help now, that's where your money needs to go. I've been receiving solicitations from SAF for a while, but i did not know that they were the financiers of these efforts. They'll be receiving donations from me in the future, and I hope from you as well.

It's almost 4:00PM as I write this, so it's time to head downstairs for dinner and the raffle. More blogging later, I hope.

Quote of the Day

I still don't know what "the shoulder thing that goes up" is. - Alan Gura

Still too busy to blog. It's closing in on Midnight, and I have to get up at 7AM. Alan Gura gave about a 45 minute talk tonight beginning about 8:30, and then started taking questions. He may still be at it.

I'm glad he's on our side. I have a lot more to say, but I have no idea when I'll ba able to do it. Maybe Monday, from the looks of things.

Good night.

9/11

9/11

Everything I said in 2006 still holds.

I'm off to the range.

Too Busy to Blog

It looks like about half of us have arrived, and I'm already meeting new people, like Cap'n Bob and the Damsel, the crew from Reasonablenut, D.W. Drang of The Clue Meter, and the guy who runs the official Cheaper Than Dirt blog - imagine that, getting paid to blog.

Today the early arrivals took a guided tour of Scheels in Sparks. It opened about this time last year. Essentially it has everything that Cabela's had in our tour last year, plus two HUGE aquariums - one freshwater, one salt, and a 60' Ferris Wheel in the middle of the store. Cabela's would fit inside this place with room to spare.

And they had AMMO! AND powder! (But no primers.) Pretty impressive place. Reno must be an outdoor recreation mecca to support both a Cabela's and Scheels.

About 16 of us went to dinner more-or-less together at the Buffet in the El Dorado casino. They tried to seat us close together, but there was a limit on what they could accomplish. Afterward we retired to the hospitality room and joined up with those who had gone gambling and the new arrivals. I'll try to get photos posted tomorrow, but it'll be late, since we'll be at the range most of the day.

It's 10:30 as I write this, so I'm going to call it a night.

In Honor of My Drive Through the PRC

A repeat of last year's post:

Do you know what happened this week back in 1850, 159 years ago?

California became a state!

The State had no electricity.

The State had no money.

Almost everyone spoke Spanish.

There were gunfights in the streets.

So basically, it was just like it is today, except the women had real breasts and the men didn't hold hands.

I think maybe I ought to drive home through Nevada.

13 Hours, 45 Minutes and 845 Miles Later . . .

I'm in my room at the Silver Legacy. Departed Tucson at 4:45AM, walked in the door of my room at 19:00 on the button.

Long day.

Now to see if anyone else is here. No emails yet.

I'm SO Glad Ford Didn't Take "Bailout" Money

I'm SO Glad Ford Didn't Take "Bailout" Money


They made this a couple of years ago, but this is the first time I've been able to download a copy for myself. I thought I'd share.

For Stingray

For Stingray:

From Mostly Cajun's "Random Thoughts":

51. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Back to loading . . .

Idio-Seconds and Darwin Awards

Idio-Seconds and Darwin Awards

Gerard reports via Exurban League. Wincingly humorous.

Prepping for GBRIV

The Rendezvous starts in two (2) days. I'm leaving tomorrow morning at O-Dark-Thirty AM, and I plan on driving straight through. That should put me in Reno between 9 and 10 PM. I've decided to travel through Mordor California this year, at least on the way up. It should (I emphasize should) save me about an hour, and hopefully the scenery will be better than the sun-blasted landscape of Nevada has been these last three years.

On-line ticket sales for the Para GI Expert / Front Sight training certificate ended Saturday at midnight, or close to it. Total ticket sales, both at Soldiers' Angels before PayPal went asshat, and after LuckyGunner.com was kind enough to pick up the gauntlet, came to (drumroll please): 449! After the 3% credit card processing fee (and PayPal's cut), that means y'all have donated $4,355 to Project Valour IT. Thank you! With what we'll add at the Rendezvous, Project Valour IT should be able to pick up several new systems!

The weather this year looks to be perfect, with daily highs of about 90 and evening lows in the upper 50's. Perfect T-shirt weather, rather than the snow we got last year. And I own so many offensive, politically-incorrect T-shirts, it makes choosing which ones to take very difficult.

Speaking of choice, I'm still trying to decide what boomsticks to take with me. The Remington 700 5R (now with a NightForce scope in place of the Leupold) is a given, and one of the ARs, I think. The Garand, and I believe I'll bring Baby Blue, too. (No .30 Carbine ammo to be had in Tucson. Oops. Perhaps I'll bring Conan the Borg instead. It's been a while since that one's been out of the safe, and I have .22 ammo.) I'll have to buy some ammo for her, though. I haven't had a chance to reload for .30 Carbine yet. But I've got this new (to me) P14 Enfield I've yet to put a round through . . .

For handguns, my full-size Kimber upper is out getting the slide Gunkoted and some tritium night-sights installed. I hoped to have it back in time for the Rendezvous, but no. I think I'll bring my S&W 25-13 Mountain Gun and some .45LC for it, but I'll be leaving the companion Winchester 94 here. I might bring the Hi-Power, since I have the better part of a case of 124gr. NATO-spec Europellets. Of course, I'll bring the Para Gun Blog 45, and the GI Expert I'm giving away. And last but not least, I think I'll bring my Boomershoot pistol.

Anyway, I've got to do some running around, pick up some ammo, load some ammo, pack everything up, and then get to bed early. No posting tomorrow, probably - at least not until I get to Reno, and even then I'll probably be too wiped to post more than "I'm here!" If you're coming, I look forward to seeing you! If you're not, shame on you! But stay tuned - we'll be liveblogging a lot of it!

Here's the updated schedule of events.

I LOL'd (again)

From a link in LabRat's Parasite memes and monkeyspheres, David Wong's Cracked.com piece What is the Monkeysphere?:

(S)ome people in the distant past naively thought they could sit all of the millions of monkeys down and say, "Okay, everybody go pick the bananas, then bring them here, and we'll distribute them with a complex formula determining banana need! Now go gather bananas for the good of society!" For the monkeys it was a confused, comical, tree-humping disaster.

Later, a far more realistic man sat the monkeys down and said, "You want bananas? Each of you go get your own. I'm taking a nap." That man, of course, was German philosopher Hans Capitalism.

As long as everybody gets their own bananas and shares with the few in their Monkeysphere, the system will thrive even though nobody is even trying to make the system thrive. This is perhaps how Ayn Rand would have put it, had she not been such a hateful bitch.

The Things Worth Believing In

The Things Worth Believing In

In relation to my two recent posts, Restoring the Lost Constitution and Entropy Happens, I was reminded of an überpost I wrote almost three years ago, The United Federation of Planets. That post begins with a quote from a movie. Here it is on YouTube:


You might find that old post interesting in relation to the two new ones . . .

I Wonder

I Wonder . . .

Would Markadelphia pass the test?

Para GI Expert Ticket Sales End Saturday

Luckygunner.com will be terminating the on-line ticket sales for the Para USA GI Expert pistol and the $2,000 value training certificate to Front Sight Saturday night, September 5, at midnight. So far just a bit over 250 tickets have sold, so your odds of winning a $600 MSRP pistol for $10 are still pretty good! Get your orders in soon, and remember, it's a tax-deductible donation to a great cause!

Entropy Happens

Monday's scoop of free ice cream has drawn some traffic, some links, and some comments, and last night's gun blogger roundtable at Gun Nuts Radio has provided another spark of inspiration. Unfortunately, twelve-hour days and 2:30AM cat fights in the kitchen are conspiring to smother that spark, so I'm afraid this piece isn't going to be quite the quality I'd prefer, but I want to keep up with Rule of Blogging #1 as best I can.

One of the comments left at Restoring the Lost Constitution was this one:

"Thus perish all compromise with tyranny!"

(William Lloyd Garrison, setting fire to the constitution on Framingham Green, Massachusetts, July 4, 1854)

Word.
Billy Beck

Immediately followed by this one:

The Necronstitution.

Why try to restore a thing so instrumental in the death of America?

"The American Revolution in fact died with the ratification of the US Constitution."

http://tinyurl.com/n6xyo5

It was only a matter of time to arrive at this point. That was clear before the ink was even dry on that thing.
Matt

Obviously neither Beck nor Matt are particular fans of the Constitution, but the fact of the matter remains that there are a significant number of us who want what we believe that document promised us restored. We far outnumber those of the Anarchist bent, but (as I have been cataloging here at TSM for the last six years) we're both overrun by people who have been fed Rousseau (the overwhelming majority unknowingly) for their entire lives.

And that feeding has been deliberate. I strongly recommend you watch Bill Whittle's 13 minute piece on "The Great Liberal Narrative". As commenter "jb" put it in his linking post,

Gramsci saw it correctly, although he was a minor marxist of his time. Jailbirds rarely get recognition.

"Gramsci rejected the state-worship that results from identifying political society with civil society, as was done by the Jacobins and Fascists. He believes the proletariat’s historical task is to create a 'regulated society' and defines the 'withering away of the state' as the full development of civil society’s ability to regulate itself." (Wikipedia)

He was a communist's communist–he kept the end goal in sight at all times. Lenin and Stalin were more deadly, but Gramsci was more consistent. Give the proletariat the essentials of life, or even a bit better and they (the proletariat) will let the marxist masters do what they wish.

So what about that inspiration from the Roundtable discussion last night? Hold on just a bit longer.

Back in October of 2006 I wrote an überpost, hoping to conclude my series on "What is a Right?" entitled The United Federation of Planets. If you've got an hour or two, you might want to go peruse that piece, but the key relating to this post is that what people believe drives the cultures they live in. At one time, the vast majority of this society believed that the Constitution protected our rights and our property. Many of us want that protection back. Apparently most people think they do, but honestly don't understand that what they're agitating for is its exact opposite. Those who do understand it are (IMHO) evil.

Last night, one of the questions we bloggers were asked was "what was our favorite or most popular post?" LabRat said one of hers was Parasite memes and monkeyspheres. It's one of my favorites as well, and it starts out with this:

It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank spot in their heads where someone had written: "Kings. What a good idea." Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. — Terry Pratchett, from Feet of Clay

She goes on to argue a convincing case that human evolution prewires us to hate rich people, and embrace "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

Read it.

So if LabRat is even half right, it's not really surprising that socialism is so seductive to so much of the population, and that the ideology laid down in the Declaration of Independence very well may have had the seeds of its destruction sown with the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

Entropy happens, and it generally only goes one way without a huge influx of carefully directed power from outside the observed system: downhill. Our Constitutionally-oriented belief system has survived, mostly intact, for over 200 years - which is a pretty damned good run, historically. What the people of this nation have accomplished in that period is more than exceptional, it's quite literally so extraordinary as to seem almost impossible.

But it's not enough, apparently, to overcome the siren song of "we'll take care of you!"

That major design flaw, it seems, is catching up to us.

Good night. I hope you sleep better than I probably will.