Injuries

Last month at our Department Range week I started having some pain in my right elbow. As the week went on it got a little worse each day. By Saturday my arm just plain hurt. I did a little research thanks to WebMD and self diagnosed Tennis Elbow. Now I’m not sure how I injured myself, but there you have it.

Jump forward to the last Thunder Valley main match. My arm had been feeling better so I thought I would give it a try. On the first stage the buzzer beeped and I picked up the shotgun…and damn near dropped it. I got a stabbing sensation all along my forearm and my fingers went numb. I made it through the stage but called it quits for the day right there. I figured I was either going to hurt myself more or drop a gun and I didn’t want either one of those to happen.

I spent the rest of the day in hell working the stages and watching everyone else have a good time. Well I’ve bought a brace and I’ll give it a go again this weekend. I would hate to not be able to shoot anymore this year, but I guess we will find out soon.

I have no shooting goals for next year; I just want to get back into fighting shape and have some fun.

"I have made it a rule never to smoke more then one cigar at a time. "

-Mark Twain

That Just Ain't Right

Last Saturday we went down to Thunder Valley to shoot and while Judge's arm was too sore for him to shoot, I had myself a very good day shooting. I actually beat a guy who usually kicks my butt, however, I pobably did so because when I was timing him, I stopped him when I thought he'd only shot four pistol rounds when he shot five. Even so, it was a very good shooting day for me. I'd have finished first if it weren't for a shooter from KY that came up to Thunder Valley for the first time and shot very well. Heck the top three duelists shot within six seconds of each other.

The new guy brought his family which included a buckaroo and by my count, they were all very competetive, friendly and they worked hard at whatever needed to be done. That's all I ask of anyone that I'm running the posse for. Their Buckaroo was a pretty decent shooter and mostly safe but like all kids, has the attention span of a fruit fly. I'm glad the Buckaroo safety rules were adjusted so that some of the responsibility is out of their hands.

The funny or sad thing (however you want to look at it) was that the dad was darn near my size and when he pulled out his pistol on the first stage, I almost laughed while I was timing him. He was shooting New Vaqueros in .38 and he had those things loaded lighter than the women we usually shoot with load theirs. It was one of the most pathetic thing I've seen in cowboy shooting. I'm not one to stop a gamer from being a gamer, lord knows I'm thinking of buying Cowboy .45 Special Brass and loading it to get a lighter recoil, but damn! I'm pretty sure he had those Rugers short-stroked as well, again, that's fine, but its the whole package. At some point, you look at something and say "that just ain't right".

I suppose he isn't hurting anyone, so why bother? I guess at some point, I have to agree with our good friend Manatee when he criticized another large man shooting .32s. Though somehow I find that particular shooter OK, maybe its attitude of the person or familiarity, who knows. But I find one example of a larger guy shooting small guns to be OK and another to be utterly ridiculous. I think in the end, its how you approach the game, in one case, this new shooter is doing the bare minimum with respects to appearance to shoot cowboy (or it appears that way) and is very competitive. The other guy is more entrenched in the "Cowboy" feel of things and acts the part. If I had to say, I'd say that someone who acts cowboy in entirety gets a free pass on what guns he shoots.

BTW, I find that guys who shoot completely full-house loads in an attempt to show just how manly they are and are overly bragadocious about shooting the "big stuff" are just as bad as a guy who shoots .32s.

Cooper on Glocks

"Shooting a Glock is simply shooting a single-action self-loader with no safety and a very poor trigger." -Jeff Cooper

A Good Cigar

Oh, 'tis well and enough
A whiff or a puff
From the heart of a pipe to get;
And a dainty maid
Or a bubbling blade
May toy with the cigarette;
But a man, when the time
Of a glorious prime
Dawns forth like a morning star,
Wants the dark-brown bloom
And the sweet perfume
That go with a good cigar.

-Norris Bull

PVR

So last weekend Judge and I went to PVR or Pleasant Valley Renegades range to shoot some cowboy action. PVR is in its first year and is located in Pleasant Indiana near the Ohio river at Madison. Its a two hour drive from my house and while that's quite a drive to shoot, its worth it. The best thing about PVR is the people, the folks running the place are the best. Nomore Slim owns the land the range is located on and Lizzy of the Valley and Randy Atcher pretty much run things along with Nomore. They epitomize what's good about SASS and I really enjoy being around them let alone privileged to shoot at the range.

PVR makes you feel welcome and as comfortable as possible, providing bottled water and lunch for your $40 membership and $15 shooters fee. They also have a nice area where members can put cabins, Nomore and Randy have put a couple in for themselves that were prefabbed by an Amish guy. They look pretty cool if not totally cabin-like.

This match I actually made an effort to take pictures of shooters and decided to not do action photos because you only get the backs of people when you do that. I've posted them on my Flickr account so go see the kind of rift-raft I hang out with on the weekends.

This shoot we had a great time with the nice weather, easy stages and good pards. I didn't shoot particularly well, but I'm having fun even though Gunfighter seems to be kicking my ass. I've also loaded up some brass shotshells and those are really fun to play with and I even decided to load up some smokeless shotshell reloads just because I had the stuff to do it.

After the shoot, we had a chili super that featured several tasty chilis and a deep-fried turkey. If you haven't had a deep-fried turkey, you're missing something awfully tasty! It is probably the best turkey I've ever had. So after stuffing myself, smoking cigars and a couple of beers, we headed for the homestead.

Range Week

Jose really needs to update this page a little. Range week and a few things jump out at me. People can’t shoot one handed. People do not know how to manipulate the shotgun. People can not do a proper tactical reload. People do not know how to shoot around cover. Some are decent shooters, but bad gunfighters. Others are decent gunfighters, but bad shooters…pick your partner carefully.

Things you can do without shooting the gun:

Learn to manipulate your weapon; load, unload, clear malfunction, grip, draw, re-holster

Learn how to use cover; don’t crowd, don’t shoot over, change elevation

Learn transitions; CQB and weapons

Move, Shoot, and Communicate…Live Long and Prosper.

ZOMBIES!!!

From the actual police blotter

…..age 20, reported that she was attacked by zombies as she sat parked in her Land Rover in front of the Smallwood Apartment complex at 455 N. College Avenue. She was very upset that said zombies had gotten some type of purple goo on her vehicle and she was afraid that it would damage the paint. Officers found about 3 dozen zombies a few blocks away, but they all denied any involvement in the incident and the complainant was unable to pick out any particular zombie(s) in the group as being the ones who attacked her.

This is why you should always be prepared. For more information try here: Zombie Survival Guide.

10

Bo Derrick was a perfect 10, or at least Dudley Moore thought so. The Judge is a perfect 10 right now as well. What, you say? How can that be? Well since Jose stole number 9 from me (I guess mail is delivered faster from Bloomington then Springville) I am the 10^th ever member of the Thunder Valley Rebels. Currently I rank 10^th in the Overall Cowboy contest at Thunder Valley, so that makes me a perfect 10!

On another note it looks like SASS has approved the Indiana State Shoot to be moved from the horrid July date to September! I couldn’t be happier. I had already decided if the dates were not changed I wasn’t going to suffer another miserable Shoot, but it looks like next year will be perfect…well it has to be better then +90 degree weather and +75% humidity like the last 3 years.