Tuesday, July 14, 2009

I'm back. (Obviously.)

My daughter Hannah with her nephew (my grandson) Mason Brennan Vanderboegh.

Well, I'm back. Left Wednesday and as described earlier we hit the Patton Museum at Fort Knox on the way. We spent Thursday with my mom, sister Teresa and family. Went shooting with my good buddy Joe on Friday morning and Hannah selected her favorite pistol from among a bevy of .45s, including my 1911. She went with the SA vintage Star PD (6+1) over the DA Taurus PT745 Millenium Pro (also 6+1). Joe let her shoot his CZ .40 cal., but she still went with the Star.

Saturday was the MG shoot, a private affair which was a wonderful time for both Hannah and me, although I mostly sat and watched. I did get a chance to shoot a Stemple 76-45 (a silenced version of it is a late addition to Absolved). It compared favorably with both the STENs (better than) and (equal to or slightly better than) the M-3 "Grease Guns" I've fired in the past.

As for Hannah, she fired:

1. A suppressed Stemple-derived BRP ST-76 in 9mm. (I was impressed with that one as an observer, although of course the rounds were supersonic, the platform itself was quite stealthy. Go to www.brpguns.com to see an example.)

2. A full auto M14E2.

3. A PKM tripod-mounted in 7.62x54R.

4. An MAG-58 on a pedestal mount, the early version of today's M240B in 7.62 NATO.

5. A .50 Caliber sniper rifle.

6. A Russian Nagant Carbine in 7.62x54R (and that one bruised her shoulder).

7. And last, but not least, a .50 caliber Browning Ma Deuce on tripod. She even got to put some API-T through it into a couple of burned out vehicles down range. The white flashes on the target were quite exciting, she said.

Before the MG shoot began, she shot trap with a 12 Gauge for the second time in her life and was hitting almost as many as she missed. She may have fired other full autos, but that is all I remember at the moment. Still, she was grinning from ear to ear all day long. I will post some photos when we buy a download cable for her camera.

On Sunday I got to see my grandson Mason for the time in four years. All in all, it was a perfect trip.

Mike
III

PS: And, no, I didn't work on Absolved one lick while I was away. So sue me.

10 comments:

Brock Townsend said...

Sounds like fun, and I'm sure it was good to be with family and friends.

straightarrow said...

no sue. Family first. My book has been inactive for 4.5 years due to family concerns. If I finish it fine, if not, there are other people more able than I anyway.

Joe in Reno said...

Yeah...but did you have FUN!!!?? {;>)

Happy D said...

Oh we forgive you for not working on Absolved.
But you could put another excerpt out to be kind to us impatient readers.
It has been a while and I almost have improvised munitions Inc. memorized.

Anonymous said...

Mike, I see that you are exposing Hannah to true 'diversity'!

Best,

Cory

Ken said...

A slip-on or lace-on pad tames the recoil of the Nagant carbine remarkably well. Makes it, if not exactly well-behaved, downright manageable.

I think that if one were to find an M38 (tanker carbine, no bayonet) with a good bore, add peep sight and maybe a Huber trigger, one would have a heck of a nice budget platform for crashing around in the bushes.

Anonymous said...

"...so sue me." It'll have to be a class-action lawsuit for failure to perform, heh, heh, heh.

j said...

Was wondering about youse...

Anonymous said...

"But you could put another excerpt out to be kind to us impatient readers."

I'll echo this plea. :)

straightarrow said...

An M-44 has too short a length of pull, so add a butt pad made specifically for it. It has a hole that allows for access to the cleaning/tool kit and does a very good job of ameliorating recoil. Or so I've been told.