I made it to the gun store after work and picked up a ticket to the Friends of the NRA event. Picked up a few raffle tickets while I was at it. I can always use more guns and or a safe or two. They have some really sweet prizes. It is always a fun time. They will have an auction going on as well as prize give aways. The fillet of mignon dinner isn't bad either. Have the club meeting on Wednesday this week, so a few fun things to do.  Load up the truck and get some range time in before the meeting.

Blah

Woke up feeling lousy, so I just took it easy and lounged around today. I did hear back from the friends of the NRA. There are tickets available at the local gun shop. I will stop after work tomorrow and pick one up. Gives me a good excuse to check out their inventory as well. I was hoping on getting out and doing some fun stuff today as the weather is great. Hopefully the bug has worked it's way through. Still feel kind of blah, but hopefully up to work tomorrow. Good excuse to watch some old James Bond movies and lounge with the dog.

One day off at least

Getting busy again at work thankfully. I prefer it pretty steady. Makes the time go by pretty quick. Lost track of time and didn't get my Friends of the NRA banquet tickets for the big 4h event. Hoping I can scrounge some up. It falls on Thursday of next week. I was thinking it was a few weeks away yet.

It is actually quite pleasant outside for a change. May head up to the county fair tomorrow. Like to hit the club for a little bit and play with the AR for a while. Neighbor dropped by yesterday. His wife wants a new white vinyl privacy fence. He asked if I would like his old one if he gets a new one. It is a six foot wood fence in pristine condition. He always takes really good care of his property. Price is right. He says if I tear it down, I can have it. Have to wait and see if he is able to get the new fence at the price he wants. If I get the old one, I will get a quote from his fence guy for sinking the posts for my fence. It would work out well. I wanted to upgrade the fence a few years down the line, and with most of the materials supplied, can't go wrong. If he doesn't get the fence, I may have them quote a wooden one for me while they are in the neighborhood. I have repaired the one I have, but it is just a picket fence and the contractor didn't put it in very well. It would cut into the dog's favorite hobby of barking at everyone walking by.

Must be an election year

The poor people were not traumatized enough by some deranged loon opening fire in a Colorado theater. Obama has to use the tragic event as a photo op. I know if I was involved in a tragedy, the last thing I would want is to have to endure a visit from Obama. The anti gunners will be going ape shit. The loon could just have easily set off a pipe bomb using common parts from a hardware store. They are already yapping about metal detectors at the entrances. How about hooking up the alarms on the exit so he couldn't have left and come back in. All metal detectors do is assure that nobody has the ability to fight back if some loon does try something. Years ago, when I still lived on the border of Mordor, they had a shooting in Tinley Park in the communist community of Chicago. It was at a Lane Bryant store. The law abiding customers, who were not armed, were slaughtered like cattle. Chicago only allows it's corrupt politicians to carry fire arms. Us common folk are left to fend for ourselves.  Disarming America is not the answer. Loony nutbags will always find a way to act out there twisted scenarios on people. Taking away one's defense so said nutbags are the only ones armed is also not the answer. We live in a democracy. If someone does not wish to carry a firearm, I can respect that. In turn, I expect them to respect my right to defend myself against nut jobs.

We finally got a decent rain

It rained hard last night and again during the day today. The grass needed it badly as do the farmers. Hasn't really cooled it off alot, but it is still much better than 110 degree we were getting. I got up and hit the auction this morning and made a day of it. The Colt huntsman and the Browning pistol both went for a decent price, so I skipped them. Jungle carbine went for $500. I already have one, but if it had gone cheap, I would have snatched it up. I could not, however, pass up the Luger. I managed to get an all numbers matching 1937 Luger, two magazines and a holster with tool for $1200. They generally go much higher. Left grip has a scratch in it and there is minor wear on the bluing, but all in all, I think it was a good deal. Most websites are listing them around $2000 without the accessories.

Metal is in great shape and everything matches. I stuck around to see the machine gun sell. It went around $6000 plus the stamps. There were some really nice deals to be made. They had a lot of old original western guns as well. They had a TNW1919 belt fed gun complete with tripod, belt , original crate, all documentation, oiler and accessories. It would have been a head turner at the range. It only went for around $3000 complete. It was definitely tempting. It is a semiauto but looks like a full auto. It shoots belted 30-06 which I usually see at the machine gun shoots.. This was one of the most interesting gun auctions I have been to so far. Some very unique pieces.

Happy range day

I got up, packed and hit the club. When I got there, a buddy of mine from work was pulling in ahead of me. Shortly after, another guy from work showed up. We had a great time. I got my newest scope tuned in. It's a nail driver now. I love this scope. It's the Leupold Mark AR4X12 scope with adjustable objective lens. Even as blind as I am, I can acquire the target and see it very clearly. Had to put shoot and see target up as I couldn't make out my hits from a distance. But she held really tight groups. I am really impressed by my new AR and the scope. Will be doing business with them again. Definitely want to put together an AR 10 (as well as an AR50) down the line. Did find a need to order lots more ammo. I burned through what I bought already. Knocked out the cobwebs from the savage .17 while I was out there. Got to shoot my buddy's new 9mm Ruger. He is still having misfire issues even after sending it back to Ruger for warranty servicing. This time he brought out two brands. The UMC was the one he was having trouble with. The indentations on the primers seemed deep enough where they should have gone off. Think he just got a bad batch. He brought out Winchester white box and the gun worked flawlessly. It actually fit my hand good. It ships with a carry mag and an extended grip mag. It is his first gun and he was having a great time once he found the ammo was the problem. He got to shoot my AR as well.

Tomorrow is the big gun auction. I went to the preview today. They even have a couple machine guns on the block. No M14 though. I will have a real M14 one day. They have a MAC 10 with lots of magazines and a silencer bringing the tax stamp alone up to $400. The gun alone usually goes for around $5000. They have a jungle carbine. I have one , but will watch this one. Down here, military guns don't go for what they do up north. If it goes cheap, I will have two. They have an International Harvester Garrand. One can never have too many Garrands. They have a few Nazi Lugers that I will be watching close. There is a Browning BDA .380 up as well. I have one, but my brother does not. If it goes cheap enough, I can snag it for him. There are some really nice wall hangers I would like as well. There is a M1 carbine there. If it is priced right, it has possibilities. The Monster truck show is going on all weekend too, so there is plenty to do.

Bowling Green day

Got up early and headed down to Bowling Green Kentucky for the day. Hit the Corvette museum and some other local fare. Weather was nice, until the trip back. Ran into a heck of a storm. The temp dropped radically, rain coming horizontally and rather hard to see where I was going. Pulled under a bridge and waited for it to clear a little bit. It did cool it down about fifteen degrees in a matter of a few minutes.
 Hit a gun store in Kentucky on the way home and found the scope I have been looking for. The price was the best I found anywhere, including the internet. I need to get a picatinny rail extension as I can't quite get the scope eye relief set quite where I would like it. It is a really nice scope made for the AR's. It has an adjustable objective lens that is scaled. Sight in the scope at 25 yards with the lens set at 25. Then all that is needed is rotate lens adjustment to number of yards and shoot. You are sighted in. Taking her out in the morning for a little exercise. I will check Red Ghost gun shop on the way and see if he has the extension I need.

Vacation is getting down to the final days. They have a monster truck pull this weekend at the 4H center I am thinking about hitting. They also have a huge gun auction going at the aucion house Saturday. Not sure what direction I will be headed. I will go to the auction preview tomorrow to see items first hand and see if there is anything calling my name.

Went out to feed the fish this morning and found the plant I bought for the pond had bloomed. I finally found a plant I can't kill. Place it in water and it takes care of itself. Fish use it for shade as well. Also helps keep the algae down. Hard to forget to water it when it is in the pond.

Spent the day in Louisville. Went down to Knob Creek, where they hold the machine gun shoots, and checked out their gun store and the range. They are still working on repairing the bridge that was damaged in a spring storm which forced the cancellation of the spring shoot. Looking forward to the fall shoot. Hope they are done in time. Hate to see them cancel again. They didn't have the scope I wanted in stock. I will either hit cabelas or order it through them.



After Knob Creek, I hit Louisville zoo. It is a really nice zoo. Weather was perfect. Lots of walking. They had some rather interesting displays. The polar bear was having a blast diving for toys. It was great to get outside for a bit after the long heat wave we have been enduring. Not sure what to do tomorrow. Might hit the range if it is nice. If it is raining, off to Bowling Green to take in the corvette assembly line or Mammoth cave.

Mini trip today

Been taking care of chores the first few days of vacation. I am planning on going to
Louisville in the morning. I am going to head over to the knob Creek gun shop and also check out the gun range. It will be interesting to see it in it's normal state. I always go during the machine gun shoots. They only charge ten dollars for a day at the range, or you can get a membership for a reasonable price. They have the scope I want for the AR in stock for a decent price. Plan on hitting the Louisville zoo on my way back. Should be a decent trip. I hit the little local zoo today just to get out in the fresh air. The heatwave has subsided quite a bit. The little zoo in Evansville isn't much to see. I am use to being up north where I would hit Brookfield zoo a few times a year. It is hard to beat Brookfield. Thursday will either be a range day if it doesn't rain, or a cave day if it does. Just have to decide between Mammoth and Merengo.

It's Vacation time

Time to kick back and relax for a bit. Probably head to Cabela's  in St Louis this weekend. Like to hit the one up in northern Indiana, but that's twice as far away. May hit the zoo while in the area. Suppose to cool off around Tuesday. Plan on hitting the range quite a bit this week. The AR is a blast to shoot. Want to check Cabelas for a scope. Have some Cabela bucks saved up. Saw a few possibilities on their website, but want to check them out in person first. Plan on hitting Mammoth or Merengo cave while off as well. Caves are always a nice way to cool off during a heat wave. Been a while since I have been there. Might head to Knob Creek to check it out while there is no shoot going on. They have a heck of a gun store on premises. Going to work on the Mustang if it gets cooler outside.

Broke in the AR

Headed to the range this morning to meet up with one of the kids from work. He wanted to try out my SKS and AR. I also brought out the Garrand, M1A, and a slew of my pistols. Two of my favorite pistols to plink with at the regular range are my Browning and Colt .22's. He really liked them. They are incredibly smooth. I can't figure out why they don't still manufacture these models as they are so enjoyable to shoot and accurate as well. He will be looking for one at the gun shows to add to his collection. His girlfriend had to work, so she wasn't able to join us today. She is looking for a carry gun, but doesn't know what she wants. I told him to line up with me and I will bring a selection of different calibers out for her to try.

He got to try out the different military guns. The AR is a real pleasure to shoot. I keep bracing for the recoil that isn't there. She shoots incredibly nice. I need to figure out what type of scope I want to put on it. Did pretty well with the iron sights. The Garrand got a good workout. We had the gong on the hundred yard line going pretty good. The SKS got some exercise as well. I don't shoot it much since I got the Garrand, so it was nice seeing someone enjoying it for a while.

The area is incredibly dry. They have fireworks bans in the effect all over Kentucky and lower Indiana. The caretaker at the club said they have had six fires started along the railroad tracks by the trains going by. The railroad now has a pickup truck on the tracks that follows the trains to put out fires and report ones they can't control. There is alot of dry brush on both sides of the tracks. The whole area is heavily wooded.  I heard they lost several acres to fire a week ago. While we were at the range, we saw smoke rising from the other side of the tracks. We were going to call it in when we heard the sirens. One of the houses in the subdivision next to the club caught fire and burned to the ground. Don't know what the cause was as of yet. Fortunately, after getting home, we got a really heavy rain that actually soaked the ground fairly well. Hope we get some more. It didn't cool it down at all, but the rain is sure a blessing. Feel sorry for the poor displaced family. Hope nobody got hurt.

Fireworks ban in effect

But, that doesn't include firearms fireworks. Heading to the range in the AM, before the day gets HOT, to make some noise. My buddy from work wants a SKS. I told him I would bring mine out so he can try it out. Get to try out my AR as well. Still haven't shot it yet. Want to take the cowboy guns out to play as well. NCOWS had their shoot a few weeks back, and cowboy town is still very well set up. I have quite a bit of .45 colt ammo, but am low on .38. Need to reload some more. It has been so hot, I really need to take advantage of the time and reload so I have plenty when the temps subside a bit. Off tomorrow, work two days, then vacation time.

Half way through already

Work Monday and Tuesday and get Wednesday off. Makes for a nice short week, or two miniweeks in one. Spike is up and about and back to normal again. They knock him out for his dental, and this time, it took a real long time for him to recoupe from it. He is good for another year now. We got rain all around us yesterday. It keeps going around us. I give up on the lawn. It's toast. They have a watering ban in place as well as a fireworks ban. Everything is extremely dry.