Shoot

 

"Do you even know what an actual firearm looks like, much less actually is, so-called LSP?" you ask in that wondering kind of tone, and I don't blame you. For a self-advertised Texan theological gun blog, this shallow kebob stand on the information superhighway is strangely silent about shooting. Maybe, you think, the PR was always a ruse.

Not so fast and steady on, all you punters. Shooting's definitely a part of the old LSP lifestyle, but in fairness to you it used to be more so. There's been an hiatus, a gap in the onetime daily pressure of finger on trigger, I admit that. But today everything changed.

A white limbed punter

"Join us for a shoot!" invited a friend across the airwaves, and so I did, climbing into the truck with a CZ O/U 20, a box of clays, thrower and a valupak of shells. A few minutes later I was at the ranch and saying hi to a fine body of men, all armed up with pistols, shotguns, ARs, an SKS, AK, HK, all kinds of levers and there you have it, a veritable cacophany of guns.

We set up three stations, skeet/shotgun, rifle, pistol and had at it. I went in for skeet and loved the quick presentation and sheer niftiness of the CZ 20, "Pull!" boom, skeet smoked quick as a flash. Everyone else had 12s and were envious because guess what, you can shoot a 20 all afternoon and not get a dislocated shoulder or cheekbone. Gets the job done with way less aggro, sorta thing. 

Seth beholds scope

Moving on to rifles, I enjoyed a .357 Magnum Cimmaron (?) lever, a beautiful rifle and, in the right hands, deadly. Levers, don't you think, are the forgotten "assault rifle," because presumably they don't have pistol grips and deadly exterior magazines. Well, my off-hand shooting with this repro classic wasn't very good but what a lot of fun to work the action and send rounds down range in hope of steel.

Next up, some pistol plinking at close range, and I enjoyed a S&W .22 revolver, what a lot of mechanical fun. Star of the show, apart from various full auto mods? A suppressed Bergara , chambered in 6.5 and topped with a worthy Leupold scope. 

Man, I tell you, that sleek little beast shot with unerring accuracy out to our max 400 yards steel and doubtless could have gone way further, all with factory ammo to boot. 1 pound trigger pull! Huh, clearly not something you're going to take out in the brush, I don't think, but most awesome at the long or longish distance range. Huge fun.

Then, as dusk drew in, we fell back to the ranch house for delicious food and tall tales of Thomist philosophy, urban planning, fly fishing, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, the Great Replacement, and all of that. You'll be interested to know that this house has a TOWER. Yes, a tower, and that suggestions for a minigun emplacement were well received.

There you have it, a good day was had by all. Have you noticed how free men can defend themselves and slaves can't?

2A,

LSP

Well Shoot

 

Angola Compton (AC), sorry, not *Congo, wrong war, tipped up in a brand new Lariat FX$ One Fiddy. Yes, he had a truckload of guns and a couple of .38 Chief Specials which he donated to the Compound. Thanks, AC, then we headed to the range for a shoot.

First up, all kinds of wheel gun action. Big calibers, big fun, and then test out those snubbies. Me? I've always liked the double action S&W, such a light trigger! and beautifully put together to boot, but hey, a sturdy little Rock River did the trick too, result. Next up? An Israeli bull pup, far out, and a couple of 9s, Kal Tec and Henry. Man, I was amazed, the Kal Tec was a tack driver, hunh, and the Henry worked too.

A Ruger Model 1 proved ridic easy to shoot and absurdly accurate, what a neat rifle. I loved it's short Euro stock, what a great little rifle. Of course its scope was worth more then the gun itself, but whatev, just a lot of fun and easy to shoot. AC likes to think of it as a "bush gun." Hey, I'll take it, and let's have a Pinzgauer to boot.

We finished off with a recalcitrant AR, which started off stupidly off-paper and then zeroed in with 62 grain bullets until the x ring was in the danger zone. Proper little blaster. And that was that. ENDEX at El Charro where a good time was had by all, delicious.

I love shooting and must do more.

Your Friend,

LSP

Thousand Yard Shot(s)

"Hey, LSP, why not come over and join us for a shoot on Friday at 8 am on the 1000 yard line." I thought about it for a moment, a thousand yards, would I make a complete fool of myself in the face of these expert, experienced and scientific shooters? Probably. "Sure, I'm in, see you there and thanks a lot."

So I rolled up to J's 1000 yard setup and looked down the lane towards the targets, a series of metal plates, gongs and a silhouette named Jihad. Did I see the targets? No, I did not, far too far away. But that changed when we got up on the stand with Nightforce optics and a spotting scope, I forget the brand. Then the targets came in loud and crystal clear. It was time to shoot.

J went first, to see if the guns were on, an M40 and a custom 300 Win Mag. They were, and N followed with some hits on steel. Well look at that, you can, actually, shoot that far. Exciting, eh? But of course J was guiding the show as a spotter and he knows his stuff. 

Then it was my turn. Huh. By way of full disclosure, I'm not a particularly good shooter and hadn't shot out to 600 yards, even, for years. So I wasn't expecting to get on steel at this range but hey, money on the monkey and devil take the hindmost.

Line up the crosshairs of the beautifully clear Nightforce glass on the plate. Observe the mirage roiling at the base of the sight picture. The wind is moving at what, 5-8 mph? J calls "hold fire..." the wind dies down, "Hold center." You breathe, shoot. A massive winmag explosion ensues, mitigated by the awesomeness of the rig.

And lo and behold, you're on steel. "Hit!" I was amazed, this thing works. And so it did for the next few shots. The gun was on, along with the spotter and, amazingly, the shooter himself. We moved onto the Jihad and scored convincingly.

The M40 was more tricky, with a lesser scope and its round more prey to the wind. Still, the beast got on target to good effect. And then it was over, all too soon. 

Wow. Shooting at 1000 yards and lots of sub moa to boot. What a lot of fun. Of course, for me, none of this would have been possible without a guide getting me onto the target. Big thanks go out to J for making it happen, at every level. And now look what you've done.

Looking at ballistic charts, equations and far more math than's sensible. And optics and guns and spotting scopes and... Hmmmm, I feel an obsession brewing.

And what a great morning.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Stand Up

Wake up! Make your weapons ready, climb into the Ranger and head off for action. That meant driving through the predawn brush to several deer stands and waiting for pigs to come in to corn, molasses and delicious grape Kool Aid powder at around 100 yards.

It was beautiful to be out in the field in the first light and exciting in the stand. That sounds strange, why would waiting around in a small room, some 50 feet in the air, be exciting? Consider the anticipation; would the porcuswine menace take the bait or not, will you get that shot? I tell you, it gets the adrenaline up and we knew the swine were there, no doubt about it; plenty of fresh sign and evidence of rooting. So we waited, in the still Texan dawn.

A Typical Texan Sunrise

And saw lots of deer, more deer than you could shake a Leupold scope at, which was good. It proved the bait was working and there's a satisfaction in getting your cross hairs lined up for a perfect shoulder shot, even if you don't take it.

There were turkeys, too. One minute you're glassing a deer and the next there's something gray in your peripheral vision, on the ground by the corn. Pigs! Or was it? Closer inspection revealed a tribe of turkeys, strutting and pecking at the delicious Kool Aid corn. But no pigs.

Come on, Pigs

Then it was back to the compound on the Ranger for breakfast, weapons hot and ready for random swine, who cleverly stayed out of our way. Still, it pays to be on the look out because you never know when the tusked furies will appear on their snorting path of destruction. Scope covers off, gentlemen.

On The Road

So that was the pattern for four mornings, and while we didn't see any pigs it was all a first for the kids and big adventure in itself. But that's not all.

Stay tuned,

LSP