What a beautiful weekend. Thunder Valley had its main match on Saturday, and it was great. The day started a little cold, about 32 degrees with a hard frost, but the sun was out and it hit 50 by the early afternoon. With a slight breeze it was dreamy weather for the black powder guys, and the rest of us just found it pleasant.

Not only was this the main match, but we also celebrated El Paso’s 75th (?) birthday. El Paso has got to be one of the nicest guys I have met. He genuinely cares about everyone and goes out of his way to help, even when his body isn’t up to it anymore. For his birthday we had a pitch in lunch. We normally shoot half the stages, and then break for about 45 minutes for lunch. Of course lunch is usually hot dogs and chips, but Saturday was very different. We had BBQ beef, beans of every kind, Mac and Cheese, potato salad, several different slaws, meatballs, corn pudding, cookies, cakes…lets just say that we had over 40 shooters and I bet everyone brought something. I know it’s a cliché by now, but Cowboy Folks are the best.

The shooting went well, not because I shot very well, but because I got to play with my new toy (the ’66) for the first time. Jose and taken it apart and slicked it up a little, but this was the first time I got to make it go boom. The first two stages were a little rough. The rifle functioned great and it is going to be a real machine, but the front sight is ivory and all our rifle targets at Thunder Valley are painted white. That little bead just disappeared out there and it took me well into the third stage to get used to it. I’m either going to black out the sight, or replace it with a brass bead (my preference). My pistols were all over the place, mostly because I was focusing on the rifle and not even putting much effort into the rest. In the end I won the Gunfighter Category. I beat Hardscrabble who must have screwed up somewhere, and Randy Atcher who doesn’t really count because he was shooting cap and ball pistols.

After the shoot we went up to Rebel’s garage and had a few beers. It’s pretty hard to beat a day like that. We have one more shoot for the year in two weeks, I hope the weather holds out.
UPDATE [jose]:
I'm adding the Posse Picture that Lorenzo Lain took during the October (?) main match. As for Saturday's shoot, all I can say is "You sold me rotten taters! Now you die!"