shooting

Hope for our future

by michaeltefft

Last Saturday, on the hottest day on record, I helped as a range safety officer for a Southeast Regional youth shoot at our range in Wakefield. The meet was for young men and women (young teens) to come together for a fun day of shooting their clubs .22 caliber rifles and pistols at paper and steel targets. It was an all day event with dozens of young teens attending from several 4H and other organization clubs. I was one of 4 range safety officers there to make sure no one was injured. Most of the participants were very familiar with gun safety, so I only had to intervene a few times, mostly with parents. The teens had a great time shooting at first paper targets and then later at steel silhouettes of pigs and chickens.

From what I could observe, most of the teens were very good shots and took the event very seriously. There were a number of beautiful rifles being used and a few revolvers. It turned out that the biggest safety concern was the heat and humidity. I think the high temperature was 105 with the ever present southern humidity. Several teens had to be taken off-line to be treated for the onset of heat related problems. I managed to stay in the shade most of the time but I still drank a lot of water to stay hydrated.

Everyone had a great time and I was delighted to see so many teens and their families participating in a great sport. The love of firearms by Americans has not diminished over the years, despite attempts by some misguided groups to take away our second amendment right. I only wish that I had been introduced to shooting as a child. My dad loved hunting but I never went on a hunting trip with him. I actually hate hunting today, but my love of guns has only grown over the years. I have included a link to a short video I took of the event. That is all.

Cowboy Action Shooting

by michaeltefft

I attended my first Cowboy action shooting competition at the Airfield Shooting Club a couple weekends ago. Cowboy action shooting is where people dressed in authentic period costumes of the past compete by firing pistols, rifle, and shotgun in a timed event against steel targets. Each shooter fires 5 rounds from first one and then another pistol. Then they shoot a rifle, and finally a shotgun against steel targets. Score is based on hits scored and elapsed time. I did not actually participate but did film some of the shooting as well as take some pictures. It was a lot of fun to watch and the period firearms and costumes were very interesting. I am including some of the video and pictures I took at the end of this post.

In other news, it looks like Spring if finally here. We had a pretty wet, windy, and wild winter with several Nor’easters so I am sure most people are ready for Spring and Summer. I have been busy at church with my duties as head of the Elders Committee and treasurer. Our church seems to be doing well now that we have a new minister. I few new faces have been showing up at Sunday worship and that is a good thing. We cooked and sold Brunswick stew again and things were much easier this time around as there were more volunteers to prepare and sell the stew.

Still enjoying going to the range to shoot and attending gun shows. I will be going to a show next weekend primarily to buy ammo but you never know when an M1 Garand or Mauser may call to me. The planned trip to Kentucky to attend the Knob Hill Machine Gun Shoot is off due to the cost of attending. With the economy in the state it is in I need to be wise with the money I spend. I am always planning on the next vacation. Teresa wants to go to Italy and I favor going to Alaska. I am sure we will work something out soon. We are also still planning on moving out of state someday but the prospects of doing so are daunting.

That’s it for now.

Cowboy Action Shooting

Guns and church

by michaeltefft

I got to shoot my new Saiga rifle and I am in love with it. My son Jason and I went to the range in Pungo and shot both the Saiga and my M4 carbine. Jason really enjoyed firing the Saiga. It has quite a kick and a big muzzle flash and ejects the spent cartridges a country mile. Very impressive. And on top of all that it is pretty accurate with just the iron sights. I went by myself later that week and fired the Saiga myself. I still love my M4 but it now has a rival.

The one big gripe I have with all the ranges around here is that they won’t let you rapid fire. You are supposed to only fire a round every 4 seconds. That is not much fun. They will also not let you draw and fire from your holster, which is important to practice for self-defense purposes. Well I found a range that will let you do both things. The range is is in Wakefield and is run by the 4H. It is a private range and I have submitted the paperwork to become a member. You are your own range safety officer and can do whatever you want as long as it is safe. I am looking forward to being able to shoot there.

Our church had our annual bazaar and semi-annual Brunswick stew event recently. As usual I spent 7 hours preparing 380 quarts of stew for sale. It is a lot of hard work but the event and sale raises a lot of money for our church. Speaking of cooking, I am going to prepare a cheeseburger pie for supper tonight. The recipe is from our church cookbook and it sounds delicious. I will find out tonight. That’s it for now.

Flying, shooting and eating

by michaeltefft

It has been a busy time since my last entry here. Yesterday we had a family picnic at Red Wing park in Virginia Beach. We had a nice time except things didn’t seem the same without our mother there.

On Saturday I went to the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo to listen to Col. Darryll Welch give a talk on his career as an aviator during WWII. He was a fighter ace who flew in the Mediterranean against the Germans. He flew the P-38 Lightning, which was a twin tailed, twin engine fighter. He is 91 years old and his stories of his war experience were enthralling. After his talk there was a flight demonstration of a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter. I took a lot of photos and video, one of which I will post here.

I went shooting again at the C2 range in  Pungo. This time I took my Mossberg 590 shotgun with me. After 35 rounds of 00 buck shot I have a bruised shoulder and a lot of targets full of holes. That shotgun has a big kick and a lot of firepower. I had a set of night sights put on my Glock by the gunsmith at Bob’s Gun Shop.

My truck is back from the shop. It cost a lot of money but she is running fine now. I hope she will keep running for a while until I can buy another truck or car. I am thinking of buying something at auction.

This coming weekend I will be heading to Washington by bus with 40 other persons to attend the 9/12 rally. This is part of the effort by Glenn Beck of Foxnews to send a message to our government about our concerns with the direction our government is headed. There will be hundreds of thousands of other patriots in attendance and it should be one of the biggest protests in recent history. I am excited about being a part of history in the making. I just hope that President Obama will get the message we are trying to convey instead of belittling and dismissing us as he has in the past.

P-40 Warhawk

This and That

by michaeltefft

Lets see if I can remember what has happened since my last posting here. I know that I bought a new camera for our trip to Hawaii. I gave Teresa my old Panasonic so she can take pictures and videos. She only had a film camera and she needed a digital camera. I bought a newer model Panasonic Lumix, similar to the one I gave to Teresa except that it has 10 megapixel resolution, 12x zoom, and does video in 720p HD.

I have been to the range a couple of times to shoot both my Glock and my M4 carbine. I am resisting the temptation to buy another rifle. I really want a rifle in 7.62x39mm or .308 caliber. I am looking at a Romanian WASR-10 in 7.62x39mm or a Saiga in .308. I was able to see both models at Bob’s Gun Shop in Norfolk. I really have better things to do with my money so I may wait until Christmas to buy one.

wasr10

Teresa’s Dad is staying with us for a few days while his wife is on a Caribbean cruise. He didn’t think he would enjoy being on the cruise so he is staying with us now and his son Paul later. He has played the guitar all his life and is very talented. He entertained us last night with songs including Beatles songs. I recorded a couple of the songs with my new camera and am posting them to YouTube.

Still looking forward to our Hawaii vacation. The flight over there will not be much fun but it will be worth it. I think this may be our best vacation yet. There are so many things I want to see and do there. I plan on taking lots of pictures and video which is why I bought another memory card for my camera. I don’t want to run out of storage space.

That’s it for now.

Tea Party

by michaeltefft

Yesterday I went to a Tea Party in Virginia Beach. This was just one of many Tea Parties being held across the nation on tax day. The Tea Parties are a grassroots response to the recent bailouts, stimulus packages and ruinous government spending that is saddling the next generations with an enormous debt. They are also a response to ever increasing taxes and politicians who no longer listen to the wishes of the citizens who voted for them.

The turnout was much larger than anticipated and much larger than was reported by the mainstream media, who did their best to ignore the parties. In fact the party was held directly across from  TV station WTKR who did not bother to cover the story of 2000 people gathering to protest against big government. Everyone had a lot of fun and there were many funny signs and costumes in evidence. I took several photos and videos which I have already published to Flickr and YouTube.

In other news, I am writing this post on my new Dell Mini 9 netbook computer. The Dell allows me to surf the web from anywhere in the house, which is really great. I am writing this right now from the living room. I also went shooting with my brother Jon down in NC again. This time I took my Glock, my Mossberg shotgun and my new DPMS M4 carbine with me. Didn’t shoot as much as I wanted to because ammunition is becoming both expensive and scarce thanks to Obama and an administration that has no respect for the Constitution.

That’s it for now.

Downrange with my new shotgun.

by michaeltefft

I found a range to shoot my new Mossberg shotgun with. Yesterday I went to the A&P Arms range in Lynnhaven and shot my new shotgun. The trip was more expensive than I had anticipated as for some strange reason you have to buy and use their ammunition, which was ridiculously expensive. Anyway, after reading all the rules and signing my life away, I was assigned to shoot in bay 3 lane 15. I had 15 rounds of 00 buck and 5 targets to shoot at. Loading the shotgun proved to be very easy but I was a little surprised when I fired the first round. I had forgotten how loud a 12 gauge was and how big a kick it delivered. If you don’t hold the shotgun very firmly against your shoulder it will hurt you. Shooting the Mossberg reminded me of just how powerful and deadly it really is. I would hate to be on the receiving end of a load of 9 00 buckshot fired from it.

The pump action was very smooth and I had no misfires or jams. I did very well with accuracy, placing all my shots squarely in the center of the targets. It really helps that the Mossberg has a very useful sight. I fired all 15 of my rounds in about a half hour. I would fire about 3 rounds per target and then analyse my shot patterns. I can safely say that at 25 yards anyone I shot at would be a dead person, although I pray that will never come to pass. So now I feel confidant that I can safely defend our house if the need ever arises. And I managed to have quite a lot of fun in familiarizing myself with my new shotgun.