Favorite Rifle In the Armory…

Robb asks the following question:

What is the most fun firearm you own and why? Which boomstick puts a smile on your face every time you take it to the range? If you have another gunnie coming over, which piece from your armory to you ensure you pack in the bag to show off?

You know, I have a lot of fun toys.  All of them put a smile on my face in one way or another.  However there is only one I refer to as my baby.  There is only one that I lovingly look after like a protective father.  Others do experience the bliss that is my baby, but for them it is no where near what I feel settling in behind that stock.

The Very Beginning

Let me tell the story from the beginning.  You see, when I was about three and a half years old my dad took me to the range with him.  I do not have the luxury of actually remembering this experience.  However my father did.  My father told me numerous times years later of sitting on his lap and lining up the sights to squeeze that trigger.  After which I was grinning from ear to ear.  Which that story does strike me as interesting given when I was little me and loud noises didn’t exactly get along.  I actually cried at the beginning of Top Gun the first time I saw it… At least so I’ve been told.

I was hooked and as time went on, I would shoot small-bore rifle, shooting was in my blood and life was good.  As I began to close towards graduation my dad for a while had been talking about getting me a tack driver as a gift.  When my Uncle came to visit for my Eagle Court of Honor we went to the range

Shopping Around

This range also had the added benefit of being a gun shop.  My dad and I both had an idea of what we were looking for as the start of the rifle.  After we were done shooting for the day we went out to do some browsing for the rifle that would become my gift.

There was a Savage in .308, don’t much remember the exact model, up in the rack, I handled it and said, “It’s O.K.”.  My uncle (no relation to this uncle) and father just shook their head and said, we can get a much better tool than that.  I was raised in a family who never skipped when it came to tools.  Buy the best you can afford and don’t go cheap.

The guy behind the counter asks, “so what exactly are you looking for?”

My reply, “Something like a Remington Model 700, VS.”

He cracks open the catalog, starts thumbing through it and then asks, “What caliber, .22-250?”

At which point I reply, “.308 Winchester”.

His reply, “Good lord, what are you going to shoot with that.”

This next bit put a smile on my dads face, without missing a beat I said, “Two legged varmints at 500 yards.”

The guy behind the counter kind of chuckled and he delivered to us the cost for the base rifle.  We were now working on a plan and how it would be done.

The Gun Smith

Two weeks later we go to the WAC gun show in Puyallup.  We meet a local gunsmith who specializes in custom rifles.  A man by the name of Brett Evans of Northwest Armswerkes.  My dad gets his card and we meet up with him later in March.

We walk through the list of requirements and he begins to spec out a rifle.  A rifle that is not like any other.  A rifle that will be most assuredly mine and one of a kind.  It will be a Remington 700 action, but under the hood it would be anything but stock.  Due to popular demand though my rifle wouldn’t be finished for a while.  For you see there was a long line of people in front of me.  Good things however come to those who wait.

I met up with him mid-summer once he had all the parts in and did a few final selections on things that were choices.  After that he was off to the races.  At this point though I was off to college.

No Plan Survives First Contact With The Enemy

Originally, my destination was Huston, Texas.  That however like most plans, did not survive first contact with the enemy.  In this case the dean of admissions at Rice, University.  That is a different story for another time, suffice it to say I will never send my kid there and with the attitude I got from the admissions dean and her office staff informed me that was a school I wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

You know, they say most things happen for a reason though and I’m reasonably sure someone had a hand in that.  For you see when everything fell apart I defaulted to the University of Washington.  It was close to home but whatever I was in college. Come about 4 weeks into the first quarter though my dad was on his way into surgery.  Where?  The UW Medical Center.  It made traveling to see him much easier than if I had been in Texas.  The bad news was the cancer had attached itself to things that couldn’t be removed by the time they got there.  They had to remove a decent amount of the pancreas, but not all of it could go, some of it was attached to the descending aorta.  He began chemotherapy immediately.

Two moths later it was Christmas time, which also means it was in the same time frame as my birthday.  On the morning of my birthday my dad said we were heading out to Brett’s.

Delivery

We arrive at Brett’s and it’s like I’m 6 and it’s Christmas morning all over again.

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I know, it’s amazing, I still had hair on the top of my head and I was so much thinner! Brett gives me a run down on the rifle. Maintenance issues I need to do. Properly breaking it out of the case to use it, there’s a reason there’s a torque wrench with it. Using the 1907 sling and properly snugging it up.

Four day’s later I’m gifted a pile of ammunition to match the rifle.

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In the box was a combination of Federal Gold Medal Match, 168 and 175 grain.  As well as Blackhills 168, 175, both regular and moly coated. 

The Ending

Sadly my father would never see his last gift to me fire.  That summer he was still undergoing chemo and we never made it to the range.  I was able to make it to the range once with a friend just before he passed away.  I brought home the 5 shot group that was about an inch and a half in size from 200 yards.

He grinned from ear to ear.

I have a few things on the rifle that have changed from it’s a original configuration.  I have since put a Mark IV scope with a TMR reticle.  Last year I had intended to have the stock changed too, but alas finances stopped that plan.  Hopefully come this winter I can take it to Brett to have that work done.  If my dad had known what HS-Precision would eventually do, there is no way that stock would have gone on that rifle.  The heart will always remain.

I still shoot my baby, the first year I went to Boomershoot that was all I really had.  It performed well and I was taking the small bastards at 700 yards.  I still do.

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For me though, especially with that rifle, shooting is quite Zen.  Noise fades away, all I hear is my own breathing and pulse.  My attention is focused on those cross hairs, and every time a shot breaks I hear my dad telling me to call it.

Yeah it holds a very special place in my heart and I love that rifle more than any other in my safe.  It also gives me a connection back to my roots that the only other rifle could begin to do is my first rifle a Marlin 915Y .22.

Thanks’ again dad.  It’s the best gift you could have ever given me.

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*It came to my attention as I was writing this my dad never had his picture taken with me and the rifle.  I am reasonably sure I know why he never handed the camera to Brett.  It never occurred to me at the time to do it.  My dad’s invincible right, nothing will stop him… Yeah fuck you cancer…

SSCC #333 – DeKalb County

DeKalb County is back again, their previous incidents are here.  I’ve noticed that much of the time bad actions are all within the same area.  Take Seattle PD for example. This incident has holy hell written all over it.

A DeKalb County police officer is under criminal investigation after
being accused of kicking a woman who was almost nine months pregnant,

What was her grievous offense that provoked a response like that from the officer?

Raven Dozier said she was trying to help her brother calm down during a
child custody issue that involved police. She said she started crying
and questioning officers after a Taser gun was used on her brother.

The officer claimed he didn’t know she was pregnant, possible but doubtful, and that she came at him threateningly.  The prosecutors dropped charges against the woman.  It really is telling though given the following.  It ends up though that Jerad Wheeler is the officer from one of the previous incidents in the count.

Two other complaints about use of force have been filed against Wheeler,
including when he allegedly shot a family’s dog after responding to the
wrong address, the report said.

Considering this officer is too stupid to figure out if he’s at the right address and then threatens the home owner, is it really that surprising that he would kick a pregnant woman?  I mean he’s obviously mentally deficient and heaven forbid they actually can someone who love his Authoritah!

If anyone has information on the third complaint mentioned in the article please contact me.  Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three or more times is enemy action.  At this point he’s writing checks his ass can’t cash and obviously should not be employed in law enforcement.  That just means he’ll be promoted and given more Authoritah.

State Sponsored Criminal Count #333: Jerad Wheeler

Because the scowl of a pregnant woman about to pop is so fearsome it requires physical force.  Doubly so if she’s crying since she’s obviously hysterical!

Ear Worm Wednesday–05/16/2012

Today’s Earworm, Breaking Benjamin – The Diary of Jane

I’ve highlighted the WTF moment on this page:

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YouTube needs to fix their recommendation listing.

Not to mention Rihanna up top.  WTF!? Really

Stupid Barely Describes these Actions


Wichita police are investigating an aggravated attempted robbery at a northeast Wichita restaurant that may have been a prank

It happened at the Subway restaurant, 3200 N. Rock,
around 11 a.m. Monday. Police said two teenagers, 15 and 16-year-old
boys, walked into the building with their hands in their pockets,
ordering everyone on the floor.

One of the suspects started
counting people on the floor, while two other teenagers ran out of the
restaurant, police said. The third teenager ran away a short time later.
No one was hurt.

Assuming this is a prank.  Talk about a quick way to end up with extra holes god didn’t intend for you to have.  Is there some type of idiot game going on that is under the radar?  Just late last week there was the incident of the kid trying to rob a police station as a “prank”.

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three or more times is enemy action.  Thing is, I don’t believe in coincidence.  How this appears is: rob some place, when you get caught, claim it was just a prank.  Too bad the judge most likely isn’t going to care and neither will the prosecutor.

Lucky doesn’t even begin to describe the situation for those kids.  They were trying to appear as they were armed and if anyone had decided to react, they could easily be dead.  At no fault of the person who was defending themselves.

Seriously, what happened to the bucked of water balanced on the door?  When did robbing people become a “prank”?  When the hell did our youth become so monumentally stupid?

What Government Does…

I just stumbled across the perfect example of what government does, exemplified in a single quote:

Mark Duffy, who has operated the dairy farm at the
state-owned park for 26 years and has a lease with the state to run the
stand, said armed Environmental Police officers showed up at stand on
Friday evening and stood guard throughout the weekend, turning away
customers craving delectable sundaes and frappes.

He’s been improving the farm every day for the past 26 years, and all the sudden it’s a problem.  It reminds me of an incident some friends had after “remodeling” their restaurant.  See, there was this crappy ugly board put up in the middle to separate the dining area and kitchen.  Instead of leaving it, they ripped it out and actually put in a nice finished wall.

There were no structural or electrical changes involved in the change to the wall.  The owner of the property was actually happy with the changes.  The state however declared that their inspector must come in for you to have customers.  Thou shalt pay us our kick back to do business.  They have since got everything straitened out and business is good.

Going back to the original story, I find it telling they sent armed jack booted thugs to do “code enforcement”.  Have to justify that funding somehow right?  No one though for the state is actually saying exactly what codes were violated and what improvements were a problem.

Looking on the bright side though, some kids have gotten an awakening to exactly what government is:

There are 13 high-school and college students who
work at the stand who are now without jobs, said Duffy. While there are
140 milk-producing cows at the farm, the ice cream is shipped in from
Bliss Bros. Dairy, an ice-cream manufacturer and distributor in
Attleboro.

They lost their summer employment because some petty jackbooted tyrant wanted to get his rocks off.  On the upshot those young kids who worked there have now received a strong lesson in how government thuggery works.  Hopefully it’s a lesson they will take to heart and understand the answer to problems is never “more government”.  Government is nothing more than a necessary evil that should be restrained and shackled as much as possible.

Just remember as well, just because you own the property doesn’t mean you can do with it as you please.  I had some buddies who while building their place had to play games because they were living there as they built it.  You see the state won’t allow you to do that.  [sarcasm]Your property so what?  It’s their property and the sooner you figure that out the better.  [/sarcasm]

SSCC #331 & #332 – LA

Go read the other details of the incident.  This though was the most telling thing about the incident:

“But one thing the second officer said to me right after he took the
cuffs off was,  ‘You know why we did this?  You know why we did this,
right.'”

Because you’re a bunch of authoritarian tyrants.  He has pending litigation against your department so you proceeded to harass him and threaten him.  Good job fellas on costing the tax payers even more, I just wish it came out of your pocket instead of the public’s.

State Sponsored Criminal Count 331: John Doe

332: John Doe

Because the fact that the public can record us to hold us accountable is a serious problem and scourge.  To battle this scourge we need CCTV cameras on every corner and unmanned drones flying 24/7 monitoring the public!

A fool and his money…

See the real problem people dislike about those who make more than them, is they’re fiscally responsible.  Barring those who are our elected representatives.  They couldn’t save a penny even if it was surgically attached to their body.  They’d sever the limb to spend it.  But this helps provide a better idea of the issues with fiscal responsibility in this country.

Visa’s survey finds that a jaw-dropping $2,635 per prom will be spent by
families making less than $30,000 a year. That compares with $842 for
families with a yearly income of $75,000 or higher.

Can someone explain to me why the people making less are spending more than the people making more? It doesn’t make any sense why someone needs to spend $2,600 on a prom night.  I think total I spent about 500 bucks, I didn’t rent my tux I bought it, and my buddy and I split a limo.  I can still fit in my tux by the way, I actually wore it for my wedding.

I know some parents have trouble telling their kids no, but honestly that’s what has brewed this group of spoiled children screaming about the 1%.

Know what pisses me off, me working my ass off, trying to save money, and then being told I need to pay more of my “fair share”.  Except lets look at who’s really profiting from this mess.

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Sounds fair to be fiscally responsible and work your ass off doesn’t it?  You know, I know life isn’t fair.  Evidently we must be robbed by the state at gun point, try not paying your taxes if you don’t believe me, and have money go to a bunch of people who don’t want to work and think life’s unfair to them.  There’s random parts of life that are unfair and out of people’s control.  That’s the luck of the draw.  However taking someone else’s hard earned money isn’t you evening the score, it’s theft.

Now notice the breakdown of who’s going to be spending the most on prom and who’s getting the biggest kick backs from the Fed.  It all comes down to how much you value the money you earn.  If you don’t earn your money, you don’t really value it since it didn’t take blood, sweat, and tears to earn it.

God I need a beer cause this is horse crap.

Wonder If There’s Any Rooks…

If you’re wondering what I mean by Rooks… Go here.  My dad watched the fall of Siagon from the front seat of an EA-6B, VAQ-137 to be exact.

via OldNFO.