TREKKING

TREKKING

Day One.
Well, here it is, departure day is upon me. Hope I've done all I should before leaving, but I'm sure I'll find something missing when I arrive at my daughters. But you always hope for the best.
Left home just before 4:00am headed to the Clinton/Mukulteo Ferry landing. Arrived just as the 4:40am ferry was pulling out, and thought what took so long for me to get here. Oh Well, the 5:10 is just a few minutes away. And sure enough, about 10min's later it was pulling in to the ferry slip. We got loaded up and departed Whidbey Island right on time. About 20min's or so later, we arrived on the mainland & I headed down the 405 to head East on the 90.
Things went along very smoothly and I passed through Spokane & Couer de Alene by noon headed on toward Bozeman Montana. Arrived in Bozeman about 5:15pmMDST and decided I had had enough for the 1st day. Stopped, got a motel room, fed & watered GunR, took him out to take care of business, climbed in the van & headed for a resteraunt. Had a fair dinner, and then headed back to good old Motel6 and got ready for bed & crashed. Thought I would Blog my 1st day, check the weather ahead, and then retire for the nite. UhOh, no wireless modem in the bag, DANG! Went off and left it on the desk at home. Oh well, I'll work on it & post it later on. Would like to check weather ahead, so I'll have to rely on the weather channel. Whoa, not looking good, possible snow showers ahead tomorrow. Well, I'll just deal as I go along.

Day Two.
Awoke at 5:00am Wed. and got everything together & packed back up. Took GunR out to do his duty and dangit if I didn't find snow on the ground & blowing all around. Better get stuff loaded and on the road! headed on East on 90 and had light rain, rain/snow mix, sleet, more rain/snow mix & foggy at times. WONDERFUL ! ! !
As I drove along toward Billings, I thought to myself, "What would the road conditions be going through the mountains on the 212 through the Indian Reservations"? I stopped in a rest area & looked at weather conditions ahead, asked the people staffing it what they knew, and was disappointed to learn there was blowing snow/rain & fog on ahead, although they told me the 212 was open & didn't expect it would be too bad. Hit Billings, gassed, got some stuff to eat, and headed on down to Hardin where I would pick up the 212 at the Custer Memorial where I had planned to stop & peruse the Monument as I had never done that in the past. Turned off on the 212, (stiil snowing/raning intermittantly) stopped at the Monument, paid homage to my relatives that had taken on the US Cavalry and won the battle, although the war was lost before they even began. Headed on east, ran into some really nasty blowing snow where visibility was about 50/60yds if that! kept truckin' on toward Spearfish SD, arrived there about 3:30pm and found that I90 was only about 9miles ahead. I rejoiced in that, hoping weather would improve, it did! I arrived in Rapid City SD about 20min's later, and it being not quite 4:00pm, I decided that it was too early to stop & continued on. As I was leaving RC, I saw that the temp was dropping, tuned the radio to a local station and they said SNOW was expected overnite, possibly up to 2/3in's. Great!!!
I arrived in Wall, SD and decided it was time to whoa it for the nite. Did the now usual routine with the GunR bud & Motel6 was again quite accomodating to us. I then got dinner & headed back to the motel, ran through my evening routine & again hit the sack at about 8:30 or so.

Day Three.
Awoke at 5:30, took GunR boy out to take care of business & found 3in's of snow blanketing everything around. OH BOY, what lay in store ahead? Got packed up again, got on the road at 6:00am, and found road conditions all right. The weather front that I travelled in all the previous day had passed on during the nite, leaving it white blanket everywhere except on the roads. Not too bad I reasoned and upped my speed to 75mph. Truckin' on down the road. Things are cool so far. The sun came up and I could see the clouds on off to the SE, but nothing directly ahead. I stopped in a couple of places (rest stops) and let GunR do his thing, stretched my legs and rested for about 10/15min's and then continued on. I also decided this would be my last day on the road. I had driven 13hrs on Tuesday, 11 1/2 on Wed, but this was looking to be @ 13/14hrs. But, it would be worth it! Kept on & stopped in Plankinton MN for gas (Last time), and continued on my way.
Called my daughter, and told her I would be at her place @ 8:00pm, and that she should have my G'son (who didn't know I was coming) answer the door when I rang the bell. I said I would stand with my back to the door & wait 'til he opened it before turning around & surprising him. Went on, and passed through Madison WI, where I found the drivers to be as crazy as those in Seattle. It must be some sort of Liberal thing where they all have to be, ME 1ST!!! What a bunch of rude drivers as any I've seen on the roads in Seattle. All must be thinking with their backsides up around their ears! Got on down to Janesville where I called my kid & told her where I was, and that I was getting off the highway onto the back country roads and arrival would be about like I thought, 8:00pm.
I rolled into their driveway just as the clock came up on 8;00 and went to the door. I rang the bell, turned my back to the door & waited. My G'son opened the door & I turned around & said, "HI Josh"! He was stunned! He stammered & stuttered for a moment then hollered, "Granpa"! We hugged, and the look on his face was priceless. Needless to say, he is my favorite boy, even though I have other G'kids.
Went on in & greeted my daughter & son-in-law. Had to relate my road adventures, had some dinner, visited a little, brought in my stuff to do me for the nite, and went on to bed.
I AM HERE!!! Wonderful. It was great to have the road trek behind me.

So, there you have it. My trek to WI went very well. My visit here will be a lengthy one as I haven't been able to visit in 3 years, and don't know if I'll be able to do it again in the future.
All my blog readers, I apologize for not posting very often in the last couple of years, but I've had some health issues I've had to deal with & find that I'm now a Super Senior Citizen. That's one that's 70+ for all you younger people. Get ready, you too are headed into the SSC category in your future, if you're lucky!
LouG

Well guys, here ya are, I'm gonna add a verse or two to my almost defunct blogging log.

Been sorta busy, had a medical problem the first of the year, and recovery time & shooting kept me away from the mad computer monster. I just really had a bad time trying to just sit down & key anything in at all. At times I wondered if all the hassle & bullshit I was going through was worth it.

Well, I do have to say YES to that! It has been pretty well worth it, and has led me off in somewhat of a different direction. I no longer live to go to the range. It's just one of many activities that I'm involved in at the present. I never figured that I would enjoy getting out & just walking. I step out to the tune of about 18/20 miles a week. Then I got really out in orbit & began working out on a Bow-Flex which I find I really enjoy. So that is what occupies me most of the time along with taking my DoggieDogBoy GunR to the Bark Park so he can get some exercise & socialization time with all his dog friends. Takes up a lot of my time. I've gotten to where shooting the match on a weekend is my practice time so I've not done real well in the shooting arena this year. I bypassed Ephrata & Couer de Alene matchs this year and have just shot our locals as I could. There was nothing really exciting in any of my shoots, I just sort of putted along & said "Oh Well", next time I might do better, but it was fun anyway.

I'm getting GunR & myself ready for a trip to the Midwest & then on down through Arkansas to my sons, & end up in Texas at my older daughters in late January or early Feb. I probably won't be back on the Island until the first to mid part of March. I'm going to make a real "TREK" out of it, spend some time with my kids, Grandkids & yes, GGKids too. Damn!!! Time has a way of just slipping out from under you, and you end up just another OlFart puttsin down the last days of time.

I will do more to get some "Blog" time in for those that still check my page now & again. I haven't been real motivated toward computer time this past year, it seems I didn't even check my EMail at times & would end up with 75/80 'New" ems evary time I did look to see what was there. Pain in the butt from all those "SPAMMERS" out there.

'Nuff for the moment, ScottS shamed me into doing this one tonite, but it could be another week or so when I've hit my kids place in Wisconsin.

SeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeYa
LouG

Couer d'Alene (finally)

I really thought I had posted this long ago, but then realized I was waiting for my camera to arrive for pix of the shooters, courtesy of Bill Sahlsberg. I had walked off & left it @ the range.

EBMMM
Eddy Brown Memorial Metal Match
Coeur d'Alene, ID

Hi Folks,
well, the weekend is done, and what a FUN one it was! TonyC. and I left his house at 10:00am & drove down & got on the Ferry, crossed the water & headed down 405 to 90 and on east to CdA. We made pretty good time, got into CdA right at 5:00pm, checked into the Motel & then hooked up with MrAl, Rainy & MsKimmee for dinner. Talked about the upcoming match & all the particulars on that, and then headed off to get some sleep and be READY for the match.

TonyC. and I met up with MrAl, RainyL and MsKimmee from Custer Gun Club to have a really fun time at the match. As I recall it, there were 73 shooters in various class's in center fire, and @ 8-10 22 shooters.

The match was run under Steel Challenge Rules this year, which standardizes the format of the match from location to location. Makes it a lot easier when you go to a strange area in that you KNOW the rules right off. We all got to the Fernan ID gun club about 8:30 on Saturday, got signed in and had the shooters meeting, then squaded up & began the match.

Being we were squad 5, we started on range 5, with @ ten shooters in our squad. There were some really good shooters with us, sadly, me not being one of them. I finished 44th overall out of about 60 shooters. But, there's next year, when I hope to be in better shooting shape & healed from all the 'stuff' I've had to deal with this year. It doesn't help if you only have 2/3 months to get up to speed & practice. But I had good FUN ! Look out next year
MrCompleted & KeeWee were already there, as they came in the day before, after a truly adventurous trip from the Isle of Whidbey. Keewee told me all about their midnite excursion, but you'll have to read MrC.'s blog to hear the masterful storytelling of it, from himself. It's quite a tale.

I think everyone from Whidbey Island got some placement, 1st or 2nd in all class's ( Can't include myself in that.). If there were an award for the most miss's I would probably have taken 1st place. But, you know what, at least I was there, shooting with great people & having a really good time. I could be sittin' in a rockin' chair on somebody's porch, not knowing who I am, or what it's all about.

I do feel really lucky!
Well, I give up, I know I have some pics, but can't find them!!!! FOUND ONE!!!

Weekend Shoots

Hey All,

been a while since I've posted, but it's Summer time & there's tooooooooo much going on! I've been to physical therapy & am done with that. I now run through the exercise routine on my own & seem to be doing pretty well with it. I've also added in some BowFlex routines to build back the strength & mobility that I had lost,and seem to be doing OK with that.

Went to our clubs Speed Steel match a week ago, timed out with a 146.78 sec's! WHOOOOAAAA, poop city ! Last man on the totem pole, but............ I was there, and I shot, not well, but I shot. I went to the range every other day during the week & cranked off 50/100 rnds at steel, and felt OK. Then this past Saturday, went to HHRGC for their "Dirty Harry" match. Shot my 6" Mdl 29 & had a blast! Didn't do real good, but had one helluva lot of fun. Not having fun is not being able to shoot for a couple 3+ months. I find my muscles have forgotten what they're supposed to be doing when brain says "SHOOOT Dammit"!!!
But that'll come back. On Sunday, we had another Speed Steel match & I realized I shouldn't have shot "Dirty Harry" ! My shoulder was sooooo SORE I wondered if I could even unholster my "Racer" to shoot. Did my exercises, took 4 aspirin & went to the match. Had a helluva good time & shot a 112.62 time for it. Only 2 sec's behind Ms. Rainey which made me feel pretty good in that she shot in the $$$ @ Montrose down in Colorado this year. So now this week I'm back out to the range every other, crankin' out my 50/100 rounds & getting muscle memory built back. This week I'm going to the Silhouette match @ HHRGC saturday, and on Sunday we have a 22rimfire Falling plate round robin match. I'll be doing that one too. All in preparation for going to Couer de Alene & the Eddy Brown Memorial Metal match the last weekend of this month. I may not do real good, but I know darn well I'll be having some fun times.

Well. "Nuff for the moment, gotta take the GunR bud to the "BarkPark" so he can run & have some fun himself.

Laters.....................................
LouG

Tanfoglio Race Guns

Well, here we go Folks,
the looooong promised treatise on the Tanfoglio Race guns functionality & accuracy.

The Limited gun is extremely accurate and functions very well right out of the box! Any ammo, factory or handload, it seems to just eat it right up & spit it out no problem whatsoever, EXCEPT for the magazine feed problem I discussed in a previous post. I have gone through all my mags (8) & no longer have the problem !! The trigger pull is @ 4.25lbs and crisp!

Now, the Open Class Gun is another story ! I think I ran through probably six (6) different powders and I have NO idea how many different load varieties with each one. The best powder I found was Alliants Power Pistol. With the 8 barrel ports & a three chamber compensator, it seemed to work the best. In 2nd standing was IMR 7625, and the reason for that is the amount of powder to case size and 125power factor that I wished to achieve. With P/P I can load 5.4gr with either a 124gr bullet (PF135) or a 115grbullet (PF125) with an COL of 1.120 and Win Small Pistol Primers & brass. I had a trigger job done on the OCP and brought it down to 2.25lbs, that seems to help considerably. I also am using a 10lb recoil spring & 13lb hammer spring in it, and it functions flawlessly!

Yesterday, I participated in a Speed Steel Match @ CWSA and had absolutely no malfunctions of any kind with the open class gun. I realized this after the match was completed and was extremely pleased by the fact. Now, all I need do, is to get myself back to normal function with my left arm & right shoulder working as best as possible.

Last week I saw the Orthopedics Doctor, who told me I had a torn rotator cuff & tendon in my right shoulder. I knew something not too cool was going on because it kept getting more & more sore and immovable without extreme discomfort & tryng to work it enough to shoot. I can't pick up my gun with my right arm, and I can't grip much of anything with my left hand, so I'm sorta up the creek with almost no paddle. I was told I needed surgery, but have opted to not do so until November, when we're done with the shoot schedule. Besides, three surgeries are enough for the present. I did consent to a Cortisone shot into the joint to alleviate the pain & discomfort and to help with mobility.

As for the functioning of both my Tanfoglios, I am well pleased. Another shooter in my group yesterday, was asking how I liked them, I told him they are a great buy for the money. I let him shoot both after the match, and he has decided to buy a Limited Class gun and abandon his S&W Sigma. Although he seemed to do well with it. I think he liked the heft & the feel of the Tanfoglios grip in his hand. Also the fact that they both drop the brass right in front of you in a nice little pile. Other shooters were chasing brass everywhere & all I had to do was to bend down & gather it up.

Well, there you go, If there are any questions about either gun, leave a comment with your E/M.
'Nuff for now................................
Ta Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
LouG

Bowling Pins 4/20

Hi Folks,

Here we are post weekend matchs, and it's sort of a let down. Saturdays match at HHRGC wasn't. It was soooo cold & sleety/snowy/haily/rainy that we by passed the match and stayed home, warm & snug & prepped for the pinmatch on Sunday.

Well, it was still cooold, rainy/haily/sleety/snowy at times & coooold! We had about nine hearty souls come out for the match, but most wiser people stayed home out of the blustery cold weather. I entered Open Class centerfire, revolver & 22rimfire. here were no shooters for the C/F iron sight class when I signed in, and I was the only one there that had a BigBore revolver, so we didn't shoot that class, nor did we shoot iron sight 22's. So it was sort of a limited class match.

I timed in 2nd fastest in OS/CF, and don't remember who I shot off against 1st up, but I think it was TonyC. My 2nd round was against Ms. Rainy, she tookj the 1st table, I took the 2nd, and then won the shootoff to face MrAl for the top spot. He took one, I took the 2nd, and then on the shootoff I had a misfeed & he took the class with me 2nd & MsRainy 3rd.

Then in Revolver class, it was ChrisC. & MrAl 1st round with MrAl taking it, then TonyC. and I 2nd round with him eliminating me (NO surprise there) then ScottS & AlanV. had their shootoff & it ended up with ScottS. as the winner. The class finals were TonyC. 1st, with ScottS. 2nd & ChrisC. in 3rd.

LarrieF showed up at shoot time & entered 2 guns in I/S class, he took 1st(9mm) & 2nd(45) over ChrisC. with his 45.
weren't a lot of people in the class. Then it came time for Rimfire pintops.

I timed in fairly decently, and went off against MsRainy who promptly retired me in the shoot (Revenge is 'Sweet', so they say.). And then goes on to beat out everyone for the class win (HoooooRah!)! But, there'll be next time. One way or another we always seem to shoot against one another. MrC. and MsKeeWee didn't make the match. MrC. had some construction going on ( a Tennis court or some such endeavor) and MsKeeWee said, "I'm NO Dummie, I'm not going out in the cold & wet & freeze my little bum off". So as you can see it was a rather limited match. Oh well, there's always the next one.

ScottS. took some videos, so I'll post those of me timing in.






'Nuff for now, got to see the MD on the morrow about my shoulder to see what the "HELL" now...............

Ta Taaaaaaaaa...............................

LouG

Two Match Weekend

Here we go again.........................

There are 2 matchs coming up on the weekend. A Silhouette Match @ HHRGC on Saturday, & a Bowling Pin Match @ CWSA, on Sunday!!!

I'm going to shoot the Silhouette Steel Match @ HH with MrPicuda & possibly my Henry 22Lever Carbine. Don't know how well the carbine might do, but between now & the weekend I'll find out. Silhouette Matchs are shot at 40, 50, 75 & 100yds with a rimfire or centerfire pistol & the same for rifles. I shoot the rimfire class's. Shortly I'll have a load worked up for my 22Hornet Contender & will shoot centerfire also. Looking forward to this one. MrPicuda seems to running good (FINALLY)!

I plan to shoot about 5 class's at the Bowling Pin Match. Open Centerfire, Iron sight Centerfire, Revolver, Big Bore Revolver & 22rimfire for pintops. Hope everything works well, I'm getting tired of NOT placing better than 3rd , or, being eliminated in the 1st round because I can shoot a good qualifying time, but not quick enough in the matchup against MrAl, or TonyC, or MissedHer Completely!
We'll see just how well it all comes out.

I'll give you all the Gory Details next post.

Ta Taaaaaaaaaa.......
LouG

KItsap Match Plus

Well hey folks,
here it is another week gone by with a FUN weekend in the past. WE (MrC.,WayneF.,TonyC., and I ,) all made the trek to Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Clubs Fun Steel match on Saturday.

They put on this match the 2nd Saturday every month. It's really a fun match, but the Ferry ride over, ( You need to be at the Ferry Station by 6:15/6:30 to insure getting a ride) to Port Townsend, the hour ride on down to Kitsap, the Match, and return trip works out to a 12 to 13 hour endeavor. But still fun to shoot the match & meet some new people that are gun enthusiasts like me.

We started off the match at 10:00am and by the end of the 2nd round I had to retire both my TRG & Picuda and resort to the old tried & true Ruger22/45 to finish out the match. Had a 'squib' load in the TRG, and didn't have a rod with me to knock the bullet back out to continue. OH well.................. I broke it down & just put it back in the case & figured I'd just shoot MrPicuda. Guess what!!!! The dang thing began hanging up on the 2nd round in every magazine I had with me. Can't compete that way. So, MrP goes back in the case too. I dragged out the Ruger & had a fun match despite all the other mechanical woes of the day. Haven't heard from JohnD., the Match Director, on what the results are, but I had fun & that's what's important.

TonyC. used my S&W22A & had a really GOOD day. I think with the scores I saw, he may have taken the 22rimfire class. We put a new target grip on it before we went down & he said it handled much better than with the skinny squishy standard grips. Can't wait to get it back & try it myself. He said he was going to buy the Target Model with bull barrel & bells & whistles this week. I guess he must like it the way he was shooting!

Then on Sunday, we had a Hanging Plate Match, which MrC. has elucidated the particulars on his blog, so I won't go into the details here. Again, I thought I'd try MrP out after cleaning & working it over somewhat. But...... to NO avail, same thing. Hanging up on feeding the 2nd round. What the HECK??????? So, I again dragged out the Ruger, shot the match, & ended up dead last! Guess I was somewhat disconcerted about the malfunctioning Picuda. We have two class's, Iron sight & Optic sight. MrC. took 1st place in optic & MrAl. ( Evil Al as MrC. likes to say) took 1st in Iron sights. The results are up on CWSAonline.org, if your interested.

After the match, I took the Picuda & MrAl over to the pin range so he could watch the function of this wonderful looking pistol. The conclusion that he reached after watching several malfunctions & looking into the bottom of the mag well, was that the bolt was dragging on the ejector. KEWL!!!! I headed for the house, broke it down, & YEP, the ejector had a shiny ridge running right across the middle of it. Out comes trusty Dremel tool, a few minutes work, some blue marker pen & re-assemble, work the bolt & break it down again to look. Yep! Needed more, so I ended up after @ 3/4 teardowns & polishing trick, finally achieving success! No more drag marks, and a resounding 'CLACK' when the bolt was released. HOOORAH, now to try it out.!!!

Being that there's a Silhouette Match next Saturday, I re-mounted my Simmons 3X10 scope back on it & headed out to the range. The only malfunctions I had were with Federal bulk cheapie ammo. I tried some AutoMatch ( Perfect), and also some CCI MiniMags( again PERFECT function). Set out a couple of targets at 25 & 50 yards & proceeded to check sightin. At 25yds, I shot a 1" group of ten rnds, & at 50yds, a 1.5" group of ten rnds. SOOOOPER! So I figured as long as I'm here, I can get in some practice time.
What a joke! I find that with my left hand, still not real strong, and my right shoulder giving me a pain, (right where I sit) I have a real hard time just holding on target. HAYSUS CREESPO !
Well, gotta get the old exercises going cuz there's lotsa shoots & fun to be had, & I sure don't want to embarrass myself with really poor scores. So break out the weights, unhinge the Bowflex & get back into routine exercising!

'Nuff for the moment, more shoots coming up this weekend..........................................
LouG