A Garand Old Time

  The newest team guy is a burly kid from Pittsburg, Texas, Clay Heffner.  He's more Texan than the rest of us put together, and that's saying something.  He was wearing his cowboy hat today when he walked up to R Lee Ermey on Viale Range and told him he had a bone to pick with him about his "steers and queers from Texas" comment in the movie Full Metal Jacket.  They both had a good laugh out of it.  Two tough guys.  

  Clay is having a good Camp Perry and shooting better every day.  Hope we get him for several years to come.

  Clay bought an M1 Garand today in the CMP North Store.  (I haven't made it inside yet.)  Was posting when he was making the deal.  Justin Utley helped him pick out a special service grade rifle.  It's a five million numbered Springfield Armory with a new CMP stock.  When it got back to the Mar-lu resort it got a trigger job, the gas system spines peened to tighten up and a thorough cleaning.  Clay just walked out on the lawn where I am and sprayed the mainspring down with Break Free.  It smells worse than the cologne Coach Curry has taken to wearing in his declining years and that stuff will tear up your eyes.

  Clay is going to shoot his Garand in the match on Friday.  We are going to center the windage, raise the elevation to six clicks up and watch the bullet trace.

  Mike and Breda are coming over Friday as well.  Mike's going to shoot the Garand Match.

  I put a new sear in my 1903 Springfield bolt action.  I bought one at Fulton Armory on Commercial Row but it wouldn't fit.  Used the one I bought from Numrich.  The trigger isn't nearly as good as it was but makes weight.  Still a lot of cosmoline in the odd crevice and crack in that old rifle.  Second trip to Camp Perry for it.  Its a 1943 Remington that spend the post-war years in Greece.  Shot a doe with it last year and the year before.

  Nobody had any shining moments in the Hearst Doubles.  Wind spoiled some standing strings.  600 was tougher than it looked though my wind plot in my book shows an absolute horizontal line of shots from the seven ring to the eight ring on the upwind side.  The string of shots is as thick as the X ring and goes from side to side.  I held perfect elevation but couldn't call the wind.  Shot a 91X2.

  OK, Wallace McDaniel our friendly policeman from Abilene, shot 100X3 at 600.  Greg and I shot 99s.  Some of the juniors shot well on the next range over shooting the National Junior Team Match.  That's the new CMP match that replaced the Whistler Boy Match.  Whistler Boy is an NRA match.  It is a famous match, now moved to oblivion.  It is or was a two man junior team match.  Girl teams won it a couple of years and the trophy sported a tutu.  There's a little turf war that simmers between the NRA and CMP that you can catch a glimpse of every now and then.  Two big dogs on one rifle range up here.

  Had another Rock River hot dog.  Not bad.

  One more note:  Speaking of dogs, Rock River has a good looking shop dog along for the matches.  I'll post a photo later.  Every time I see that dog I think about Rachel Lucas.

  Blogging off Justin Utley's macbook, by the way, on the Mar-lu wireless connection.