BridgeWalker
Member
Caution: this is long, and probably incredibly boring.
So, the backstops at the pistol range at my club were significantly shot up. The two center ones in particular, had more or less disintigrated beyond usability. I'm a pretty new member and didn't really know how these things work, so I was delighted when in the midst of final exams week a newsletter arrived that invited anyone to come and replace them, using the materials stored by the range. I decided to go out and fix at least the two middle ones on the first Monday of my vacation. I'd get a babysitter for Monday and borrow a cordless drill, and first go out on Sunday and make sure all the materials were there, since I'd need to get it done on Monday because of the borrowed drill and the babysitter, and see if I needed to buy anything. The battle between me and Winter commenced.
Chapter One: Sunday it snowed about eight inches. Went out to survey the materials sitution and got my Jeep stuck. Should've figured this one out in advance, since the range is down a third of a mile of dirt road. Rocked it out of the snow by hand. Turns out, Jeeps are heavier than cars. That was fun. Got home, eventually. Gave up on Monday.
Chapter Two: Rescheduled babysitter for a couple hours Wednesday afternoon. The snow was a bit meltier and I'd gotten a couple lessons from my trucker cousin on more effective use of the 4wd in my finicky old Jeep. Only had the sitter for a short time, so took the baby out to the range, checked on materials. Needed one door and a bunch of screws. Took kid to sitter (all the way across town). Got materials. Started work. Old ones too rotted/frozen/corroded to take apart and ended up mostly kicking them apart. That was fun.
Started working on new ones. Too frozen to work quickly, or with the materials I'd brought. Ran out of time, since I also wanted to get some shooting in before dark. Went and shot two rounds of skeet and had to go pick up the kid.
Chapter Three: Thursday morning, Thain didn't go into work until early afternoon, so the whole family went out to finish the job. Got one finished and the other half finished before the batter died on the drill. :banghead::banghead::banghead: Went home. Had to return the borrowed drill. Decided this was dumb, went to Home Depot and bought not only a drill, but a nifty package of 18v. circular saw, drill, and impact driver. I now not only know what an impact driver is, but how it is that people manage to drive long screw into semi-frozen damp wood without going insane. Because of Christmas sales, managed to get all the above with two batteries and a charger for $115. Now I also have the tools we need to build a reloading bench next month.
Chapter Four: Friday morning. Went out early to *finally* finish the job, armed with my new drill and impact driver and two fully charged batteries. Finished building the backstops. Put 75 9mm. holes in them.
But I only managed to recover 58 pieces of brass from the snow.
So, I think I won the battle with Winter, but with heavy casualties. Here's hoping we get a warm day or two and I can go retrieve my last 17 pieces of brass.
PS: The biggest barrier to shooting for some women is not any complicated social issue, but simply child care. Glad my husband will mess up his schedule so that I can go play at the range.
So, the backstops at the pistol range at my club were significantly shot up. The two center ones in particular, had more or less disintigrated beyond usability. I'm a pretty new member and didn't really know how these things work, so I was delighted when in the midst of final exams week a newsletter arrived that invited anyone to come and replace them, using the materials stored by the range. I decided to go out and fix at least the two middle ones on the first Monday of my vacation. I'd get a babysitter for Monday and borrow a cordless drill, and first go out on Sunday and make sure all the materials were there, since I'd need to get it done on Monday because of the borrowed drill and the babysitter, and see if I needed to buy anything. The battle between me and Winter commenced.
Chapter One: Sunday it snowed about eight inches. Went out to survey the materials sitution and got my Jeep stuck. Should've figured this one out in advance, since the range is down a third of a mile of dirt road. Rocked it out of the snow by hand. Turns out, Jeeps are heavier than cars. That was fun. Got home, eventually. Gave up on Monday.
Chapter Two: Rescheduled babysitter for a couple hours Wednesday afternoon. The snow was a bit meltier and I'd gotten a couple lessons from my trucker cousin on more effective use of the 4wd in my finicky old Jeep. Only had the sitter for a short time, so took the baby out to the range, checked on materials. Needed one door and a bunch of screws. Took kid to sitter (all the way across town). Got materials. Started work. Old ones too rotted/frozen/corroded to take apart and ended up mostly kicking them apart. That was fun.
Started working on new ones. Too frozen to work quickly, or with the materials I'd brought. Ran out of time, since I also wanted to get some shooting in before dark. Went and shot two rounds of skeet and had to go pick up the kid.Chapter Three: Thursday morning, Thain didn't go into work until early afternoon, so the whole family went out to finish the job. Got one finished and the other half finished before the batter died on the drill. :banghead::banghead::banghead: Went home. Had to return the borrowed drill. Decided this was dumb, went to Home Depot and bought not only a drill, but a nifty package of 18v. circular saw, drill, and impact driver. I now not only know what an impact driver is, but how it is that people manage to drive long screw into semi-frozen damp wood without going insane. Because of Christmas sales, managed to get all the above with two batteries and a charger for $115. Now I also have the tools we need to build a reloading bench next month.
Chapter Four: Friday morning. Went out early to *finally* finish the job, armed with my new drill and impact driver and two fully charged batteries. Finished building the backstops.
Put 75 9mm. holes in them. But I only managed to recover 58 pieces of brass from the snow.
So, I think I won the battle with Winter, but with heavy casualties. Here's hoping we get a warm day or two and I can go retrieve my last 17 pieces of brass.
PS: The biggest barrier to shooting for some women is not any complicated social issue, but simply child care. Glad my husband will mess up his schedule so that I can go play at the range.
