TSRA Garand, Springfield, Vintage and Carbine Championship.

Garand Match last year. Relays run all day Saturday and Sunday for Garand, Vintage, Springfield and M1 Carbine.


All my guns are working guns, even the collectable carbines. I restocked this one. Hope it shoots better than it did last year. Might put one in a folding stock. Better hand position.
This doe was shot at about 60 yards with Remington soft-point hunting ammo.

Coming up in Terrell at the Terrell Rifle and Pistol Club on the weekend of the 24th-26th. Anyone can come shoot their old rifles in these 30 round matches. (40 rounds for the for the carbine). Five sighters and then away you go, prone, prone rapid and standing. Fund raiser for the TSRA NM Team. Great time.

Match Rifle Sight.

Cannon from the CSS Alabama. Off the bottom of the English Channel.


Cannon being conserved at Texas A&M labs.


Match Rifle.



Got out the metric hex drivers and popped the back sight back into place. Simple. Screwed the sunshade back on the front of the sight and it was looking right down the barrel again. It's been wonky since it fell off the cart in it's hard case between the 500 and 600 yard lines at Camp Swift during the Mid-range Championship.
Gotta clean it now and get ready for this weekend at Panola.

Sputnik

You can't imagine what a big deal this was way back when.

Counting deer at Clarksville.

Basic count tools: Old Bronco and a smart kid.

A Saturday night deer count by four of us, (a record) Fun time but it makes for a verylate night. 2:00am getting back home to Tyler after the count wrapped in a 250 mile drive.
41 deer. Almost none in the dry pastures away from the main creekbottom. 34 in that creekbottom. Pretty rough range conditions this year for horn growth.
41 is about half of our high year totals.
Beautiful stars up in Red River County. The milky Way was clear and bright in the sky and the planets looked very close. When the Moon came up we had distinct shadows laid across the pastures.
Have to do three spotlight surveys to get the data to the state so they will issue Managed Land Permit tags. Two more to go.

Johnson Automatic 1941

Gotta love the internet. You get interested in an obscure rifle and you can read all about it, bid on one on Gunbroker. Interesting rifle. Wonder if someone would trade three Garands for one?
Anyone out there locally that has a Johnson Automatic 41?

Update: Just to be clear- I'm looking to borrow an M1941 Johnson to shoot in the Texas Garand Championship.

First day of the Fall semester.

Kids off to school for the first time. I'll have a full classroom twice of mostly new Junior College students at TJC. It is a lot of responsibility though I am sure I worry about them more than its worth every year.

Update: Reasonable enough looking groups. Just a whiff of public education baking off. Early group is younger and the afternoon bunch full of working folks. They spread out and the ones sitting in the "hot seats" kind of blinked when I started heating up the chairs. They aren't prepared to have me working them like a blue heeler turned loose on a flock of sheep though...they will.

This is a rigorous course that requires engagement. You can't coast through it.

Camp Perry.

Feet on the firing line before the National Team Trophy Match.

If I hadn't shelled out for a Macbook there wouldn't have been any direct posting from Camp Perry. The shops on Commercial Row didn't bring computers this year. (which makes sense, most folks have their own now.) The lousy wifi vastly slowed things down but all my posting I did get up was from my own computer.

Every year the matches change a little. Daunting to think how much they have changed in just ten years. We don't stand for sitting and prone rapid- you start off in position. We don't stay in huts but when you do you can put an air conditioner in the window. Young Range now has pop-ups and is unusable for High Power matches. Viale pits have been badly rebuilt. NRA matches are shrinking and CMP getting more crowded. Garands cost a grand but you can buy all you want. I'm certain the first years I came that we prepped rapid fires on the previous shooters target while he was getting his score.

Never rebuilt the messhall. Sorry I missed it. Good and cheap food. The head cook stood at the door and knocked hats off anyone entering with a cover.

On the other hand I'm certain we are shooting Infantry Trophy on the same lousy targets we shot at 10 years ago.

A little pistol, probably a Smith and Wesson that dad brought back from India after WWII. It was missing for most of my life and found when my paternal grandmother died. .22 cal. Single shot. Dad, who was a kid at the time, filed the trigger down so that its VERY light. Unsafe. I shot it a couple of times but it needs work. Falls open when fired.

Camp Perry Medals.

Hearst Doubles: 13th with Utley. M1A Match: 37th. Gold in 1903 Springfield and Silver in Vintage. Gold in the LEG match with a 484X12. Crossfired in the Garand match and only got a cotton medal, size L.

I would hesitate to estimate what these medals cost me in USD.

Shutting down the Dead Cow Cam.

Young Coyote.


Armadillo cruising for bugs.


Stray dogs dumped at the lake.


Squabble over not much.


Drying out wings.


Juvenile Black Vultures.

Amazing how the pasture and woods grow up and change in just a season. Nothing left but a rack of ribs and parts scattered all over the pasture. Skull is off about 50 yards. Hide out in the weeds. Leg bones here and there. While I was ranging I came across a beaten area where a young deer had died and been eaten. Nothing left but jawbones and scattered ribs. Re-batterized the cam and moved it to a tree covering a soon-to-be scrape. Dead Cow season over and deer season started.
Update: Just too hot to go across the creek. One camera over there was submerged when the dam broke and is dead, the other OK. Sacks of corn gone wievilly. Have to toss it all.

The cheapest item on Commercial Row.

Springfield to the left of me, Winchester to the right.

Wandering the man-haul area of Camp Perry, Commercial Row, I chanced up on a small selection of Winchester Garand front sights. 20 bucks. That's kind of a deal. I think the Winchester front sights with their much wider ears are a better sight than the normal Springfields. Went back a bit later and got the bolt to tighten it down. .86 cents. That's the cheapest thing I bought at Camp Perry. Even the Bunny Bars cost a buck.
Those wide ears make me wonder if there wasn't a gay gun designer at the Winchester works. All for diversity.

Update: To move the Garand rear sight closer to the mechanical zero you just loosen the .86 cent bolt on the front sight and move it over.

Not finding a punchmark anywhere on this sight. It's slightly more than 3/4 inches wide on top.

M1s For Vets.

Clay with his big-ass hat on the line at Panola.

M1 For Vets was at Camp Perry for the second year. We could see their yellow T-shirts all up and down the line during the CMP games weekend. Last year during the awards the audiance gave them a raucous standing ovation when they rolled up front and refused to sit down or stop clapping, whistling and yelling.
My teammate Clay Hefner watched a guy struggle to shoot a Garand out of a wheelchair during one of the events and just GAVE the guy his National Match AR, case, mags, ammo. Whole deal.
Clay makes me dang proud to be a Texan.

Operation: Steal CMP Pens.

To be handed out to shooters this fall in rifle matches. Should have swiped twice as many. They really aren't very good pens, but they were free and they DO say CMP.

Brass from the National Matches.

Not including the Infantry Trophy. Lotta shooting.

Food Bag.

Food Bag on the bench at Rodriegez Range.

I ate the martini olives. I ate the Whole Foods Apple Bars. The Buffalo Jerky went quick as well as the apricots. Little boxes of raisins came and went. Wished I had more pecans to go with the block of bittersweet chocolate Katie brought from Whole Foods in Austin. One morning I finished some fresh blueberries. Had bananas but never carried them. Ate Pizza slices for a few days left over from Pizza Inn Deluxe. Took a load of raw food Larabars. Ate one. They are probably the perfect range food, but you just never work up a craving for a Larabar. Had three precious buttermilk pies from Taco Wacco. Very satisfying.

Brought about ten Larabars home along with a chunk of chocolate. Next match.

National Match Ice Cream Man

Every day after firing I got an ice cream bar from the guy selling them at the back of the range. I hope he made a million dollars.

Star Spangled Banner, Viale pits.

Day four of the NRA Highpower Rifle Championships begins with the Star Spangled Banner. From the Viale Pit wall. You can hear the countdown and the cannon near the flagpole in the far treeline. On one of the CMP days they fired someones ashes from the cannon.

Rick Crawford firing the Vintage Rifle Match.

Rick and a K31. Viale Range at Camp Perry. All at 200 yards.

Carrying Rifles in.

Came back with two more than I went with, as Breda and Mike returned the Garand and Carbine I loaned them. Ammo sack is as light as a feather. Huge bag of brass though.
Five rifles in: Garand and Carbine. My Garand. NM AR. Match Rifle. 1903 Springfield. Swiss and Infantry Trophy rifle on the trailer still somewhere. Lotta rifles to clean.
Finish unpacking the truck today.

Home.

The wisteria has been on an outreach mission. Big limb was down but someone took care of it. Dogwood looks a little wilty. Looks like Katie bought a chair and some more area rugs. Lulu looks a little more muscled up and is glad to see me. Going to have Mexican food for the first time in two weeks.
Folks in the North don't know squat about Mexican food, salsa or barbeque, and it's probably just as well.

Camp Perry photos

Folks pulling pits on Rodreigez Range at Camp Perry during the NRA Championship.


More people. I just walked along and shot during a prep period.


Hibernating California Grizzly Junior shooter. Dang, these kids shot great all week.



The number 2. Shot to hell.

Range Evacuation.

Called off Viale just in time. Two more relays to shoot and they were in the pits. Rick and I made it with carts and gear into the hut before the bottom fell out. Wish they had pizza delivery around here.

The hut life.

Groundhog among the abandoned huts across the road.


Camp Perrys famous Sycamores.


Children cleaning their assault rifle one row over.


My old 1903A3 in a sock on the rifle rack. 10 holes.

Used to keep 12 German POWs in here. Just Rick and I now, but we have internet and a little air conditioner humming away in the window. Someone duct taped the cracks in the concrete floor. Old rifle rack on the wall, post WWII.

Personal best and personal stuff.

Rick, Jason, Dave the Aussie and I were on the far end, nearly in the wind shadow of Viale range for the 50 shot Rumbold Match. NRA so there were sighters. Rick and I pair fired standing at 200 and prone at 600. I shot what I THINK is a personal-best 490X22. I've shot a couple of 490s, but I don't think I shot 22 Xs.
Shot my match rifle. Much easier to shoot than the AR15. Should have shot even better. Great coaching on the wind by Crawford, as usual. Lucky to be able to hang out with him.
I'm happier when I shoot a good score, though I am working hard to be the same, all the time, regardless of exterior circumstances. I'll probably achieve that when I am....dead.

Walking to the big bath house barefoot wrapped in a frayed towel. Plan is: if you meet someone, just say "G'day Mate, and they will think you are one of the crazy Austrailians.

Rumbold Match.

Aussie Dave Watters, Jason the pilot from Houston and Rick. Viale Range. Switching to my Spacegun Match Rifle. When I got it a few years ago I thought about calling it "obama" because it was long, black and skinny. That joke isn't very dang funny after having to live with his crowd for a year.

The Camping life

Rick's M1A on his shooting stool, Viale Range during the Springfield Armory M1A match at Camp Perry.

Springfield M1A Match today. 50 shots, all at 300 yards on the standard 300 yard target. Borrowed Rick's rifle after he warmed it up by shooting 100X13 prone on the 3rd relay. We let the other two guys on our firing point shoot first while we started in the pits. They wanted the still air. We wanted sunlight on the target faces.
The Springfield Armory M1A Match gets major hoopla, but shrinks each year. The first year was 1200 folks in a steady rain. The next year was better but small enough to put on Viale Range and its 150 targets. Last year ran about 5-600 people and today we had 357. Not a good trend. They give away pistols, rifles, money, T-shirts, et. Just can't get it going. People love this old rifle....but not enough I guess.
The guys on the first relays didn't shoot too many misses but stayed downwind. Rick Crawford shot a decent match and was 4th. I shot a lousy match and was 37th. When I walked across the stage to get a medal hung on my neck, (top 50 folks) I told the head of Springfield Armory that I appreciated them supporting this match. "Bring a friend next year," was his reply.M1a

Monday's Pizza.

Justin Utley, Me, Troxell and Foster shooting the Vintage Match.


K31 Swiss recoil.


California Junior Team Member.


Clay Hefner and Mom Hefner before the Infantry Trophy Match.


One of the TSRA Infantry Trophy Teams.

Infantry Trophy and the CMP Games weekend. Kind of a different crowd. Our fellow Texan State Team shooters heading out. Another year over. Rick and I staying on for the NRA Championships. Traded my CMP ID tag for a new NRA hat tag. New Sheriff in town. Moved into a hut. Haven't stayed in a hut in six years. They are new and improved and there is no driving. Rough though. I remember Richard Shultz and Gary Shannon prepping the hut back in the day. Schultz strung clotheslines and stapled up curtains, put a flamingo out front so you could find it. I think there might be a story about Schultz coming back from a trip to the bathroom in the dark to the wrong hut. Used to keep 12 German POWs in here. Then the National Matches used them. Still got the old rifle rack on the wall.

Guy time

M14 over the bar at Nick's Roadhouse, Port Clinton, Ohio.

Clay's mom is going to show up and disturb the force but this is mainly a guy trip. Shooting and bullets. Esoteric parts buying. Multi-pocket pants and T-shirts advertizing shooting events. Today at one of the stores I chanced across some Garand parts and bought an objet d'art: A Winchester Front sight for a Garand. The Wins have big flared dog ears to protect the post. Very flamboyant. No other manufacturer came close. Was there a gay designer in the Winchester rifle shop, circa 1940? Surely.

Nicks Roadhouse tonight for dinner. Nick was on the line shooting in the middle of the Texans today. Great burgers and some of the team hadn't been there before. M14 over the bar. Waitress with a scorpion tatt on her boobage. Big tips.

Hearst Doubles.

Cat target on Commercial Row.


Rock River hot dogs on Commercial Row.


NRA Trash Can. They had an NRA hatchet at the NRA store. I gues you could use it to chop some NRA kindling for your NRA campfire.
10 shots offhand at 200, 10 shots prone rapid at 300, 10 shots prone slow fire at 600. Just like the Presidents 100 but with a two man team. Pair firing required at 200 and 600. (Two shooters alternating on one target.) Justin Utley and I shot this a couple years ago and came in 10th. 600 points would be a perfect score.
We shared our point with a National Guard team and two guys from Tennessee. The Tenn guys weren't competitive but the Guard team was very experienced. Utley and I wanted to shoot well. We were relay one and started off first standing at 200. When we got rolling I looked back and noticed the Tennesseans had torn our scorecard in half so they each could score one of us. I didn't let them live that down. We shot OK and went to the pits. Most of the Texas team had managed to be squadded together. Fun time. Good warm-up for the team match tomorrow.
We came out of the pits to shoot 300 and got to watch the Guard. They really knew their stuff. Good shooting and coaching in some tricky winds. At 600 they were just as smooth. Team shooters really can help each other out with coaching and wind calls. When I was shooting 300, (10 shots in 70 seconds with a magazine change) I shot the first two out of the first magazine into the top of the 10-ring. The first round of the second magazine went straight up into the 8-ring. Utley was coaching through the scope right behind me and said he was so shocked he nearly left. Luckily he stayed for the rest of a 97X1.
I scored the Tenn team last at 600 as a light rainstorm blew in. They struggled and ran long on time. Was ready to start kicking the soles of their boots to get things moving faster. I had their scorecard in a big ziplock with a hand inside and was starting to drip when they fired the final shot. First time to get wet this trip. Finished totaling up their score under the tent. They sucked desperately but Utley and I shot a 580X12 for 13th place. Beat the Guard by a point.

EIC/LEG Match, Camp Perry

Dead Canada Goose, Rodreigez Range, Camp Perry.


Part deux.


100 yard line.


Trampus and some Junior girl from Missouri.

Nice bunch of folks on the firing point with me, Point 12 on Rodreigez Range at Camp Perry. Six to a point and you get to work with nearly everyone during a day's time. Mix of new folks and experienced hands all around.
This was the longest day, six relays for a full 50 point match. Overcast with the wind rising and falling. I had an OK day shooting. Standing was low at 93X1. Very dim target in the overcast morning. Sitting not very good with 97X1, including an 8 I shot out the top. I saw it, of course, just couldn't do anything about it. 300 rapid was a 99X4 with a tricky wind call. Hit it just right, shot a nine out the top. 600 ran well with two minutes of windage on the rifle. 195X6. Finished in the Gold Medal bunch with a 484X12. 53rd place. Justin Utley was 50th place with more Xs. Gregg Troxell Legged out and finished his Distinguished Badge.

At 300 a flight of Canada Geese flew across the target faces the trailing bird got hit. I heard the story and set off to find the guy and see the goose. I did both. He said he never saw the geese but several other folks did. He was missing a bullet on his target. The goose was shot cleanly through the neck about four inches behind the head. I walked down to see it at the pit change. No tags on the goose, a grown juvenile.

Presidents 100.

Cousin Wallace surfing the net outside the Mar-Lu.


Justin Utley and Kim Jenkins with his target from the Top-20 shootoff after the Presidents 100.


The top 20 competitors milling around after the shootoff.


Rick Crawford marks Justin's target for the audience as he fires on the line at 600 yards during the shootoff.

Keeping a long streak alive I missed the President's 100 by a point. Absolutely still conditions early at Viale Range at Camp Perry. I was squadded with TSRA Junior shooter Clayton Rogers, one of my favorite guys on the junior team. Shot badly standing, pretty well everywhere else with perfect wind calls. Lost one point, a nine, to the wind all day. Just didn't shoot well early in the dim morning light.
Justin Utley made the top 20 shootoff but didn't win. Fun to watch. David Keys bought everyone ice cream after dinner.

Tomorrow is the EIC/LEG match. I'm on Rodriegez Range, the preferable range which back up to the parking lot behind Commercial Row on target 12. Relay one. I'll be shooting first in the dim light again.

Karl says: Get Organized!

CMP North Store.

Buying Garands.

Man-Haul, part 2.

Clay Hefner checks the stock.


Andrew Trampus with a 60 year old vet.


Schultz improves his mind.


Garands in bulk.


The first team meeting this evening.

Very nice to have a day off to wander Commerical Row, do some grocery shopping, settle in and see old friends. Also got to witness and take part in some frienzied Garand-buying at the CMP North store. We walked in at 3:00 and they start announcing last call at about 3:20. Closing at 4:00. We bought three rifles, two barrels and two stocks. All pretty good deals. A few odd things sitting around like 40X barrelled receivers, Krag receivers with bad barrels, Mann accuracy devices, a rack of M1D sniper rifles and a barrel of unissued 1903A3 C stocks.
Wrapped up the official day with a team meeting outside the main trailer.
Presidents 100 in the morning.

Karl says: Let's read!