Tag Archives: Shooting

I got home and finished unloading my stuff from the rig.  I’m now beginning to unpack.

Here’s a quick rundown with some pictures from each day.  I’ll be coming back over the next couple days and filling in detailed posts of the major items.

Day 1:

Soaking wet.  Trudging through mud.  Lots of boxes to be assembled.  After which we decided to eat warm food in town.  I loaned Joe the shower in my hotel room so he could warm back up.

Day 2:

Filled boxes with explosives, arranged boxes in the mud for the PRC shooters.

After which we stood out in the cold and wind to run the high intensity event.

I cleaned up after high intensity at entertainingly close distances, evidently the ESS guys filmed my stupidity.  Again more on that later, last night it turned into a two part series.

The minute in-laws were running a bit late.  We were going to meet a group in town for dinner and were running late.  Way late since I looked like I had been rolling around in the mud.

We didn’t have a single seat left in the room we were in.  It was like the pre-Boomershoot dinner that was just a social hour.

Day 3:  I was instructed to guard the pot of gold, Paul Barrett, and ensure he had a good time and enjoyed himself.  He told me that mission was accomplished even with one minor hiccup.

I got both of them on steel at 400 yards and he just barely missed the steel at 630 when it all went south.

I helped with the high intensity again.  After which I stuck around since there was handling of firearms on the range to ensure safety while the ESS folks did some model shooting with Shelly and Anette.

I was chatting with the photographer and he ended up taking some pictures with me as well since I had one box to clean up afterwards.

Day 4:  Woke up way too early, so we could be on the berm setting up targets at 0700.  I was starting to feel all the walking, bending, and repetitive motions associated with the shoot.  I trudged through tossing boomers and getting them staked out.  We did a quick interview with one of the ESS videographers explaining some of the physics, and then Rolf gave an impressive show by juggling the explosives.  Yes this is the same Rolf of “Entertainingly Close”.

We get the boomers laid out, a bunch of guys are working up on the hill and then we get read for the fireball.

Yes that is Ry in the lower right.  His post on the fireball is here.  I will be doing a separate post with TMW’s video here in the near future.  I love that picture because Ry just looks like a bad ass in it.  He lost hair this weekend, I bled a bit.

There were a few exciting events, which I will blog about later.  The most exciting of which however could have ended the event permanently.  Luck prevailed and it didn’t go boom.

After the shoot was over we began the staff cleanup.  There was a lot leftover this year.  It 3 waves of a full high intensity event to get everything cleaned up.  We were exhausted, but I headed down the hill to grab dinner and then go visit with the RNS guys.  As exhausted as I was, we finally left their place about 0100.  I only see them once a year normally so it was worth it.

There were a few other side stories that I’ll be pushing up in the next couple days.  I’ve got a large pile of video and pictures for gun porn too!

So With that I’m going to go continue decompressing.  If I saw you this weekend and looked exhausted, in a rush, or like a man on a mission, it’s probably because I was.  Yes this is a “vacation” but it’s a lot of work and it’s exhausting.  So if you were looking forward to chatting with me more and didn’t get a chance, it’s not because I don’t like you.  It’s because those down times are actually pretty rare and usually done in parallel with stuffing our face.

I know there were a few people who asked me questions, and I’m very glad they asked, I was a little curt and blunt with the answer.  Again, I wasn’t trying to be or sound like a dick, at that point I was starting to seriously shut down.  I would much rather if someone thinks a target is questionable or doesn’t make sense that they ask instead of just shooting at it.  So to the man that asked me about the targets down on the end, hope this helps explain my curt response.

“Before we continue let me just say one thing.  That was fucking amazing.”

Paul Barrett – On the Boomershoot Firing Line

April 28, 2012

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[I spent the day with Paul and his wife Saturday on the firing line at Boomershoot.  I teamed up with some support from Gene Econ and some of the instructors to ensure that Paul had a good time.

The above was the quote out of his mouth after smacking some steel at 400 yards.  Then we did it again and again.  He was ready to stop after his first hit because his ratio was 1 for 3 on hits.

There is no question though with that comment he had a good time.  Even with what happened later, he shrugged it off and said, “It’s another story.”  I’ll write up details on that one later.  He was also looking forward to telling the story in the office on Monday. –B]