And Now: A Word of Comfort, Compassion, Wisdom and Understanding from the Current Texas Garand Champion.

  I can't remember if I won it by a point or an X.  Not much, but that's all it takes, one point or one X.  Who knows or cares?  I won.  David Guthrie from Abilene won the year before and was second overall in August at Camp Perry.  He'll be back.  Several folks looked at the scores after day one and thought it didn't look very tough, so they drove down to beat my score.  Point or an X.  They had to go home empty.  It's good to be King, though I expected more groupies.

   My Garand is a rack-grade bargain from the CMP North store.  It won the 2007 championship and was 55th at the Camp Perry Garand Championship but wasn't really up to snuff.  (though snuff is outlawed, I think, unless you are 50 feet or more from a commercial establishment.)  No rifling left in the last 3/4 inch at the muzzle and not much throat left at the chamber.  Some red-blooded American GI no doubt scrubbed it out with a steel jointed cleaning rod to please his sgt.  Or a Korean, a Viet, a Greek, a Dane, et. et. et.   Hell.  It was THERE!

  Still, with Army ammo it was a dangerous weapon.  Kilt a couple of does at reasonable ranges.  I wouldn't stand around in front of it.  It shot the ten ring mostly and hit Xs in passing though it would cough up an 8 or 7 now and then on what looked like nicely broken shots.    But, as I have said and said and said, (to nearly everyone), I'm a CHAMPION, so at your National Matches I picked up a new Criterion barrel off a rack that looked like it used to hold Chrysler auto products.  Snuffy or Weenie or Petey or somebody let me sort through a few stocks to find the one with the best wood.  Rick Crawford put the barrel on.  The stock is soaking up layers of BLO, (Boiled Linseed Oil, one each) at the studio.  When I get it all together it ought to stay inside the 10-ring at 200 yards.  If it doesn't, I have three or four more rack-grades around here someplace.  One of them will shoot.

  The TSRA Garand, Vintage, Carbine and Springfield match is the last weekend of this month at the Temple Gun Club.  We'll sort everything out for next year there.  Big fun.  You could be King.  Just takes a point or an X.

Update:  This last go-round at Perry I was lucky enough to shoot Rick Crawfords Garand.  Much fun, but I only was 77th or so.  

Update II: I have some 30-06 National Match ammo around the house someplace.  A whole cans worth I bought off the High Road.  At the Championship you have to shoot issued ammo but I'm looking for an opportunity to shoot the good stuff.