A Shoot - In Texas

 

Do you even remember how to shoot, so-called LSP? Good question and I loaded up some guns in the rig and drove out to the range with Fr. C to find out. There we were, out in the field with a collection of guns, a few old pumps, a CZ SxS, a single shot 20, a no name Italian O/U and a collection of Rugers.

OK, all these guns, awesome, but could we shoot them? Sure enough we could, with C opening up handily with his Ruger .357 Mag revolver against steel plates. Bang. Watch those plates swing. Then it was onto shotguns.

C kicked off with his older Remington 870, which worked flawlessly, then I followed on with a Mossberg 835 Ultimag, smoke those skeet! Big fun and it was good to see the  old workhorse doing its thing, that gun's shot a lot of dove. Then my Remington 870, which worked well enough but has a rough cycle, it's newer than C's and not as good.

Next up, my CZ .20 SxS and C's 20 single shot 20, I think it's Turkish. The single worked just fine in C's capable hands and knocked our biodegradable enemy outta the sky every time. The CZ was great too, though you have to remember to sight right down the barrel, if you see the rib you'll miss.

Great result and as always, remember kids, it's important to actually aim your shotgun, firing in general direction, whilst enjoyable, tends not to hit the target. There is, perhaps, a moral in that. A box of White Flyer down, we finished off with Rugers, a .22 American, a Mk. IV 22/45 and a .357 Mag revolver.

The latter two belonged to C and I'm jealous, I want those pistols, even though I didn't shoot the Mark IV particularly well. Obviously need one to get more practice in. And it was all plinking enjoyment from thereon in, nice one.

So there you have it. Yes, both of us remembered how to shoot and shot pretty well, see those skeet smoke and explode like Focke Wulfs over the Oder. Great result, what a boost to get out and shoot, just you, the guns and the country of the great state of Texas. It clears the head, I tell you.

#2A,

LSP

A Ferocious Wolf!

Thanks to 357 Magnum we have exclusive photos and video footage of the White Wolf Mine, somewhere in Arizona:

Yes, a terrifying, robotic "monster wolf." Bears, wisely, run from the wolf and who can blame them? Rumors of tailors, Chinese food and open source intel, wisely construed, are just that, rumors.

A typical wolf

Thanks, 357, for the link.

Cheers,

LSP

April Fools Shoot

CC swung by from the metrosprawl with a truckload of guns, he especially wanted to see if an old Winchester 1200 pump worked after visiting an armorer. We drove out into the Texan countryside to find out. 

Fail!

The 1200 was up first against the clays, which call themselves White Flyers even though they're orange. Anyway, hopes were high that the Winchester was going to work, it usually doesn't, and CC lined up to shoot, "Pull!" and off flew the orange adversaries into a big sky. Boom, down went a few clays, it looked like the gun was working.

A Glock & A Ruger

Until it didn't. After the first few rounds the troubled beast didn't want to feed, had trouble ejecting and then stopped firing altogether. You'd chamber a round, squeeze the trigger and... nothing. I advised CC to sell the April Fools gun to a pawn shop or part ex it for something useful.

Winchester Model 90?

We changed over to a CZ Bobwhite 20 and merrily smoked skeet till all the ammo was gone. What a lot of fun and what a great little gun. Thanks, TC. After a short bout with a Ruger Redhawk (sorry, Security 6) .357 Magnum and a Glock 21 .45, it was time to plink.

The Range

Shotgun shells, cans, milk jugs, bits of broken skeet, steel plates and more all fell under a deadly hail of .22 LR sent via Ruger and Remington. Hours of enjoyment and then it was time to head back to the Compound, a good time had by all.

Big Sky

In related news, New Zealand's banned pump action shotguns so that only criminals can have them. Now they're much safer.

Gun rights,

LSP

That's Pretty Country

This sure is country, I thought as I looked at the machinery in the back of someone's rig in Walmart's famous country car park. Perhaps I should set up a chapel at this particular super-center and doubtless do a roaring trade. 

But seriously, what's happened to all the country pursuits that LSPland is famous for; shooting, fishing, riding, armed walkabouts in the bucolic mesquite groves of Olde Texas. What's happened to all of that? 

Getting a 17 year old into the hallowed halls of rural academe is what's happened, and I tell you this. It's not necessarily easy transferring a kid from the Canadian system into the Texan one, at least academically. By contrast, the football part wasn't hard at all; come on in and join the team was their motto.

Still, the High School enrollment evolution is almost over, which means the horizons of sporting life are starting to open up again, thank God. Must get back in the saddle, catch some fish and see if I still know how to shoot.

Look At All The Great Guns I've Bought!

Speaking of shooting, I'm tempted to do two things. One, buy an over and under shotgun and two, a .357 Magnum revolver. But all that's hypothetical. After Hurricane Harvey, Texas may have ceased to exist, sinking, like Atlantis, under the waves of a tumultuous sea.

Thunder is heaving across the sky as I write this fascinating entry, and that's country life.

In Texas,

LSP

Up Your Pipe!(line)

Some people like to put their ready cash in a monkey, perhaps a baboon or a chimp if you can't afford the taxidermy on the larger trophy. And when a burglar confronts you in your study demanding cash, you gesture calmly to the simian floor safe, "The money's up the monkey, help yourself." It's a kind of preface to the thunder of a .357 Magnum.

Now imagine this scenario on a larger scale, replace the monkey with pipelines, a revolver with cruise missiles and you have something approaching Syria. Like the infamous monkey, pipelines are key to understanding the scenario. Here's a helpful infographic from Zerohedge:

For a quick-to-read backgrounder on the pipeline dimension to the Syrian affair, check out The Oil-Gas War Over Syria (In 4 Maps).

Then ask yourself, when you've finished reading, who the good guys are.

Here endeth the Lesson,

LSP

Shoot The Glock

So you get up, shower, say your prayers, walk the dog and buy a coffee from the local pick 'n steal, then you visit the sick; congratulations, you're on task, but what next?  Get out in the field and shoot, obviously.

I chose a Glock 21 because I like it, you might favor another weapon, like a .357 Magnum and that's fine. There's no rule. 

Targets were simple. A steel turkey at around 50 yards, steel plates at 25 and a Gatorade bottle wherever I felt like putting it. Fine, but did I still know how to shoot? Good question.

In the end, yes, but it took about half a box of cheap Federal .45 ACP to get back in the swing of things. BOOM. Tink. Down goes the turkey and BOOM, take that, Gatorade bottle as you fly through the air. The steel plates met their match too, once I'd warmed up. Boom, tink, swing.

Satisfying and, for me at least, exciting. There's something about the explosive power of a handgun that gets the adrenaline up, big fun. Still, if you plan on hitting your target you'd better practice. I reminded myself of that today.

Of course all this is banned in England, but not to worry, Brits. Nanny State will protect you.

Gun rights,

LSP

The Vatican Goes Green!

Pope Francis' Vatican has issued tough new directives requiring priests and seminarians to go green and take the "emerging planetary crisis" seriously by having an "ecological conversion."

Rome's eco-directive, called "The Gift of the Priestly Formation," goes on to state that “it will be necessary for future priests to be highly sensitive to this theme and, through the requisite Magisterial and theological guidance, help to acknowledge the appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge we face.”

Typical Global Warming

Here at the Compound we take the urgency of the War on Weather very seriously indeed. That's why we favor the workmanlike Glock 21 and its 13 rounds of .45 ACP stopping power, capable of unnerving accuracy in the most adverse weather conditions.

A Glock and a Spyrderco in the War on Weather

Some prefer the mighty .357 Magnum, but here's a thought.When the emerging planetary crisis has taken 6 rounds and you have to reload, the Glock 21's still firing.

Lead downrange, in the War on Weather.

LSP

Wheel Guns at the Range

Grilled hamburgers make you a better shot, especially with magnum wheel guns. At least that's the theory, but is it true? We took LL's Smith & Wesson .460 Magnum and Colt Python .357 Magnum to the range to find out.

It seemed to make sense to start with the mighty .460, that fires a bullet with the kind of kenetic explosive power you'd expect from a freight train roaring out of a tunnel. Mighty ballistics hi-power. After that, the Colt Python seemed a gentle gun, firing a round that was only designed to go through engine blocks. 

LL Considers The Range

But was our marksmanship improved by last night's burgers? Yes, it was. A green silhouette was taking rounds in the X Ring and before long LL suggested we move on to shooting hotel key cards. "As a training exercise," he said.

Key Cards Down

Well, you can't train too much and LL made short work of the key card opposition, proving that deadly accuracy is achievable with the significant .357 Magnum. Then it was my turn and I started shooting just low right of the "Elite" card. "Calm down, breathe," said my maritime ally, and I did. Key card down. They took a beating.

Python

So did a kettle, a steel turkey and a couple of plates, but that's a different story. Still, what's the verdict?

Big wheel guns are powerful medicine and, if you want to improve your magnum skills, be sure to grill up some burgers the night before. Thanks, LL, for the revolver opportunity. 

Gun Rights,

LSP

Mighty Hunter

A seasoned veteran of the intelligence community threatens to visit for a pig hunt in April and I think his method goes roughly like this. Wait for a massive tusker to charge you and then, calmly, deliberately, shoot it with a .357 Magnum revolver. Probably a Colt Python. In the meanwhile, LSP stands back with a 30 of some sort and a sharp kukri. 

LL Visits Texas

With that in mind, here's a typical hunting tale. 

As I patrolled along a hi-fenceline the dog came to a point, all attention, and there, 150 yards downhill to my left was a giant black pig, black hair bristling menacingly in the hot white light of a Texan morning.

Someone's Pig Hunt Gone Wrong

Fast as you like and maybe faster, up comes my AR, red dot hold on the shoulder of the pig, breathe, squeeze the trigger and... nothing. Try it again, is the gun broken? and... nothing. A split second of consternation.

Random Pictograph Somewhere in Texas

Then thumb-off the safety, fire, and the hog's running like a speeding maglev, barreling through the dystopian ruins of Detroit towards the Windsor tunnel. That one got off to fight again another day. 

Maybe this good fortune will change sometime soon.

Attention to detail,

LSP

Go On, Get A Pistol

In a bold attempt to break personal stereotypes, I emailed someone who knows about guns. What pistol should I get, I asked, and got this reply, You’re a Texan for heck sake…you will also need a wheel gun.

That set me thinking, all the way to the nearest gun shop, where I picked up a S&W .357 Magnum. The .357 is a serious round. Can it crack an engine block? I don't know, I haven't tried that, but I do know I liked that revolver.

It just felt right.

LSP