Shooting with my buddies, as if ya cared

[The Jackal]

We did not do this, but it was just a cool thing to see. This car has been here for years and was most likely an insurance scam

I love this pic. My buddy in the foreground is shooting my P89 while my bro next to him shoots a S&W 40 cal. You can see the action on my 9mm and both shells being ejected.

This is me with my 9mm, the teal shirt and hat show my poor taste in football teams. Damn Dolphins are killin me this year!

We like to do some trap shooting when we go out. All those spent shells are ours!

We drink beer too...
My boy with the beer is lazy about cleaning his 10/22. When we went out a couple weeks ago it was so filled with lead and grit that the trigger mechanism locked up. Lucky for him I know how to clean and fix the problem!

There is this family that shoots here 2-3 times month. One guy is nicknamed 'The Chemist.' He makes these home made explosive devices and then they shoot at them with a 50 cal sniper rifle from about 75yds out, then KABOOM! Each explosive is about the same as a stick of dynamite, so he says.

This is from our most recent outing. We got smart and used a canopy and a table. Amazing how hot those firearms get in the AZ sun.

By bud with his SKS.

My brother in-law with his tec-9.

I never claimed my friends were smart. My boy had just bought this new 17HMR and mounted a friends handgun scope on it to break it in! The damn eye relief was so huge it was pointless. No more beers for him!

My brother in-law shooting my newly refinished Marlin 336 (soon to be posted on with pics). He shoots his guns about once a year, and it shows. He jerks so much when he pulls the trigger it is amazing that the rounds do not go strait up!

 

[Bob R]

Looks like it was a fun day.

But the first thing I thought when looking at the pics was how littered your shooting area is.

Maybe you should try to organize a cleanup day out there. I have made several friends with LEO (of different types), just by doing that. The BLM guys really like to see you take an interest in the land.

bob

 

[Don Gwinn]

Grammaw stopped by. Please make sure you don't post profanity. If you have to modify profanity to get it past the filter software, that means it shouldn't be posted at all.


In other news, I'm assuming those beers came out after the guns were put away for the day. Looks like you had fun.

 

[bigun15]

I bet the exploding things were bottles of Tannerite. You can buy them over the internet if you want, they're legal virtually everywhere I think (if it's legal in CA, it's legal most places).

 

[GunnySkox]

The schtick with Tannerite is that it's a binary explosive: in its separate bottles, neither component is classified as an explosive by the gov'ment, so you can take it pretty much where you want to. Once it's mixed, though, it's legally an explosive, and you can't move it around (like, you can't travel with it. You can get the targets, take 'em to the range, mix the explosive, and then shoot them to make 'em BOOM, but once they're mixed, you can't go runnin' all over with 'em, as I understand it).

~GnSx

 

[DevLcL]

The Jackal, I dont think you should tell people that you drink alcohol while shooting firearms... but thats just me. Looks like fun overall.

Bob R, You think that place is littered? Let me post a pic of the place I go sometime. The entire half-acre area is literally 2 inches thick in empty (and lots of defective live) rounds. I think your suggestion is a great idea, if you were here you would be able to see the wheels in my head turning.

-Dev

 

[chris in va]

Looks like a damn fun time! I'm jealous. Tell you what, that clay thrower works pretty damn good doesn't it?

*Ahem* tell your friend and brother to ah...lean forward just a bit.

And yeah, that's Tannerite. Buy, mix...shoot.

 

[Fly320s]

regarding photo 1, the car: Just needs some Bondo and a little paint. Good as new.

photo 2: whew! those guns must be heavy!

 

[LynnMassGuy]

Looks like fun. I wish there was a place around here we could do that. BTW, eye protection! If you enjoy shooting you may want to ensure that you have 2 healthy and functional eyes. But hey, they're your eyes.

Regards
John

 

[Shear_stress]

Looks like a great time spent with friends in the great out-of-doors. Hope you guys picked up after yourselves!

Love the picture of the car. Reminds me of a quote from the Simpsons: "That's m'dad's shootin' car. Two more payments and it's ours."

Back when I lived out west, I had the luxury of access to BLM land. The first time my friends and I arrived at what would become our favorite shooting spot, there was a mid-70s Chevy Nova that had been towed there by someone as part of its newfound "shootin' car" status. For a while, the car was recognizably a Nova, but, over the years and who knows how many rounds, it gradually began to blend into the landscape. That's where I found out that a 22LR bullet will zip right through a car door handle. Good times.

 

[Oldtimer]

Great photos! A couple of them look almost EXACTLY like a shooting spot that I've used for close to 30 years....but it's in California!

Here's a few suggestions:

(A) I didn't see any well-defined shooting line.
Even though you and your buddies are, most-likely, very safe when you shoot, ya GOTTA have rules and set up a "line in the sand" for all shooters to stay behind while shooting.

(B) No photos of anyone raking up trash, or picking up brass! Ya GOTTA keep your shooting spot clean, or else other shooters will simply figure, "What the heck! No one cleans up out here, so why should I?". Before you know it, your shooting spot will look more like a trash landfill, and broken glass will be abundant!

(C) What, no overnight camping? BUMMER! It's great to sit around in the early evening with some scrumptuous camp food cooking and filling your nostrils! Camp food, for some reason, always tastes BETTER than home-cooked food, and there's nothing better than a freshly-brewed cup of coffee on a chilly desert morning!

(D) Some of your buddies appear to be a bit overweight! That shooting spot looks like it would be great for hiking purposes, and you might even find a BETTER spot to shoot that is just around the next hill! I bring this up because one of my long- time shooting buddies STARTED out hiking around with me and several others when we went out shooting, but that tapered off over the years. He would still go out shooting, but got lazy and stayed at our camp spot while we explored the area.
Eventually, he became downright FAT, since he became so lazy.....and he had a "mild" heart attack 6 years ago, which culminated in a double by-pass surgery AND a severe diabetic condition! He no longer goes out shooting with us....and he is 8 months YOUNGER than me (I'm now 59). If you want to have long-term shooting buddies, ya GOTTA get them to take care of themselves!

(E) You actually drink BEER while you're shooting?
HAHA! I'm not chastising you, for I do, too! The only problem is that beer DOESN't hydrate you in the hot sun! Ya gotta dilute it with water, plenty of it! Also, put a limit on the number of brewski's you consume, for you might think that are sweating it out (or peeing it out) due to the heat, but it doesn't quite work that way.

(F) HMM! I also noticed another "sin"....smoking while shooting! Hey, I'm also a smoker, but I know what smoking does to the nervous system. Smoke that cigarette, then wait about 30 minutes before shooting, and you will probably see that your accuracy will increase! Besides, having the smoke drift into your eyes isn't exactly a good thing when you're concentrating on your shooting skills!

I don't mean to sound "harsh", but the suggestions that I've given you will help you and your buddies if you have the intention of being life-long desert shooters. My dad passed away when he was 82 years old, but he was the one who got me started shooting in remote desert spots....back when I was only 6 years old....so, I've been doing it for over 50 years! I was very fortunate to have taken my dad out to the desert for what turned out to be his last shooting trip....when he was 79 years old! I can only HOPE that I can continue being able to go shooting and to enjoy the desert for as long as I can!

 

[MuzzleBlast]

I can't believe it falls on me to be the first to have to say this:

ALCOHOL AND GUNPOWDER DON'T MIX!!
EVER!!
EITHER LEAVE THE BEER AT HOME, OR LEAVE THE GUNS AT HOME!!

 

[bogie]

It is physical impossible, if you are not drinking beer while shooting, to say the words "Hey, someone hold my beer and watch me do this!"

Now, we _all_ know what always happens after someone says those words, right? Just go ahead and call the ambulance as soon as you hear 'em, because it's gonna be nasty. Extra points if you get it on video...

So, if you're not drinking beer, you can't ask someone to hold it for you, right? Which will in turn remove the need to call the ambulance. Downside is that your buddies won't have video tape to post all over the internet of how stupid you were...

Just see www.big-boys.com for examples...

 

[The Jackal]

First, sorry about the language, it will not be a future problem.

LOL! Looks like I stirred up a hornets nest a bit. I do not drink when I shoot, mainly because it dehydrates you. I can honestly say that saftey is our top priority, and noone ever gets sloppy drunk and goes shooting. I would not go if it was like this.

As far as the overwieght part, my buddy has always been big. He is by no means outa shape. The guy is 6'1" and 250lbs. He can throw an AC unit on his back and haul it up a ladder on yer roof, it is what he does for a living.

The guy with the SKS is big to, but he is 6'5" and about 230lbs. He can bench his own weight for a light workout.

We do not make a habbit of cleaning up our brass, but you are right, we should. I will do it from now on, even if others don't. I really enjoy shooting here and would hate to see it go.

The only one not whereing eye protection is the same dude shooting the HMR. He is stupid, the same one who mounted the handgun scope on the HMR. The irony is that he caught me setting my 9mm down cocked and loaded one time! A big no-no with a semi auto! You would think he would be smart about the eye protection.

There is no shooting line drawn out, but there is a slight dirt burm that runs the length of the area. we have always taken it as a given that this is the shooting line, so has everyone else, the shells stop right at the dirt burm. You can see it in the pic where we are trap shooting.

 

[Creeping Incrementalism]

Clay Thrower

Jackal,

Does that clay thrower work for you? I bought one like that
but 75% of the time the clays break while beeing squeezed into the "grip", and then it was hard to get it to release in the right direction. Then the plastic "grip" developed a big crack from trying to stick a clay in. I plan to use it as a target next time I go shooting.

 

[wolf_from_wv]

Is that loose sand or dirt?

Take a snow shovel (might have to order one... ) and cut grooves in it so it looks like a giant cat litter scoop. Run it along the top of the ground until it is semi-full, shake the dirt out, dump empties in a bucket, repeat...

 

[The Jackal]

Our clay thrower works fine, the technique for throwing is a pain in the butt. I stink at it. I use and old manual spring loaded thrower.

 

[cslinger]

Muzzleblast.

+10000

Alcohol and guns do not mix. Go do your shooting, have fun. Lock up the guns and then go out for a few beers. Not a good example to set.

Chris

 

[chris in va]

Oh c'mon guys, those throwers just take a little training. Stick the end in some hot water for a few minutes and bend back the clay holder just enough so it doesn't break it, but not so it rattles around.

Releasing the thing however is definitely an art. I used to play tennis and still throw a frisbee around, so no sweat here.

 

[iamkris]

(D) Some of your buddies appear to be a bit overweight! That shooting spot looks like it would be great for hiking purposes, and you might even find a BETTER spot to shoot that is just around the next hill! I bring this up because one of my long- time shooting buddies STARTED out hiking around with me and several others when we went out shooting, but that tapered off over the years. He would still go out shooting, but got lazy and stayed at our camp spot while we explored the area.
Eventually, he became downright FAT, since he became so lazy.....and he had a "mild" heart attack 6 years ago, which culminated in a double by-pass surgery AND a severe diabetic condition! He no longer goes out shooting with us....and he is 8 months YOUNGER than me (I'm now 59). If you want to have long-term shooting buddies, ya GOTTA get them to take care of themselves!

(F) HMM! I also noticed another "sin"....smoking while shooting! Hey, I'm also a smoker, but I know what smoking does to the nervous system. Smoke that cigarette, then wait about 30 minutes before shooting, and you will probably see that your accuracy will increase! Besides, having the smoke drift into your eyes isn't exactly a good thing when you're concentrating on your shooting skills!

Hurray! We don't need a nanny government to tell us what to do. We have each other!!

 

[ScottsGT]

Looks like a real BATFE party! You had all the elements.
Beer
Smokes
Guns
Tannerite
Way to go! I agree with picking up litter and brass. Besides, you can sell the brass and shells!