Lucky Gunner Blogger Shoot Part 2

So where was I..............? Oh, yeah. The intrepid blogger was at the Lucky Gunner Blogger Shoot! How lucky was I!?

Having just fired my first automatic weapons, I wandered a bit, eventually walking downrange. Man...talk about a hail storm! I got hit everywhere!

What? NO...not bullets! Cicadas! These little bastards. Here's a pic of one from Knoxville.com. Thousands of these guys were everywhere! Five or six would land on you at a time. Very annoying when you're lining up that bulls eye on the... well.... the flaming car downrange.

So, during a quiet time, here's some of the great weapons that I saw.

Some were bigger than others. Some were attached to interesting vehicles. Some WERE vehicles....well, they had wheels.


Interested visitors even got to see the results of weapon evolution right before their eyes. That wonderful Pak-38 is an indirect descendant of this venerable piece, which I had the honor and pleasure to fire:


I even got to shoot an armored vehicle.

Well, it would have been considered armored for that cannon's time period! It had sheet steel on it and everything. So what if it was painted bright..... gray?

Ok... ok... it was a school bus. I even hit it. Yay Me! Of course, all credit goes to the gun crew, but since I pulled the trigger.......ok...they still get the credit.

Or the evolution of smaller arms:
First came this:


And then came this:



In the immortal words of Vince the ShamWow Guy, "You know those Germans... they always make good stuff." I REALLY liked shooting that MP-40.


The damage down range was amazing to someone that had never seen the effects of automatic weapons. Small holes. Big holes. REALLY big holes. Burning targets. MMmmm, good times....


And yes, I put that big hole above the windshield in the school bus. It was confirmed by one of the cannoneers. I was so proud. Silly, isn't it? I just pulled a string.


Firearms of all sorts were in use.


The sense of history was palpable.

These weapons had been in wars that I had read about as a child. To think that they are still here, working, in some cases, over100 years later.

Some people brought bigger machine guns to play with: The famous Ma Deuce!

However, for once, between these guys below:






And guns that shoot "bullets" this big and do this:


For once, the Big Fifty wasn't the King of the Roost.

And of course, then there was the 37mm on the Stuart tank.........


I mean, really, THAT'S how you support your 2nd Amendment rights!

Aaaaahhhh, too much fun.
More later

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Lucky Gunner Blogger Shoot - FINALLY!

Finally! Real life has.....stopped intruding. Technical difficulties have been overcome.
I have returned.
Here is the long awaited (at least by me) Lucky Gunner Shoot blog post.

First of all, I want to thank everyone at Lucky Gunner Ammo for the invitation and for all the hard work that they put into the extravaganza. It was a great event!

Soooo, let's get this party started.

LUCKY GUNNER BLOGGER SHOOT!!!!!

The sound of automatic weapons came through the closed window when we pulled over onto the shoulder to await our turn to drive up the "mountainside." It was irresistible. I had to roll down the window. A big, happy grin became permanently affixed on my face. It just got bigger after I fired my first automatic weapon. I've heard of the "machine gun smile." Its true.

The first impressions were AWESOME! The crashed glider was brilliant!

And then, "LOOK! A TANK!" And that was by me..... not by 11 year old Darling Daughter. She was soooooo envious.

Making that first turn to the guard post just increased my excitement. HOT CHI...uh, I mean Re-enactors!

We weren't in Kansas anymore.....

My wife pulled into the parking lot and we sat there for a moment......listening to the racket. My first thought was, "I have a wonderful wife. She lets me do things like this, even though its not her thing." Thanks, honey.

And then I got out of the car, kissed the wife and kid, and marched off to the sound of the guns.


And what guns!

Cannons!
Anti-tank! Machine guns! Oh, my! I didn't know where to look or go first. So I wandered about, taking pics and videoing at random. (I really need to take a course or something.....)

Yellow shirts were everywhere. Who knew that the gun blog universe was that big? Green and Grey were there too. The WWII re-enactors were the icing on the cake. And anybody willing to wear wool in that heat definitely deserves a beer for their dedication. And their toys! Tanks, half-tracks, jeeps, motorcycles.

So, there I was, watching people fire more automatic weapons than I've seen in 25 years in the Navy. (Navy! D'uh! We don't shoot guns in the Navy. Heck, I was issued a 30 year old, shaky .45 and 2 magazines to stand watch. The pistol was unloaded.) In the Reserves we were teased with the possibility that we might, if we were good, maybe, get a chance to "familiarize" ourselves with the M-60. Then we found out, "familiarize" doesn't actually mean "shoot." Frickin' tease!

So what did I shoot? Well, I had try out that weapon of mass destruction, the Glock 18. And to the reporters out there, let's clarify:

This is a Glock 18.






Not this. This is what you guys in the press usually envision when talking about a Glock 18.




It was fun. And I can absolutely, positively, without a doubt tell you with certainty, that an untrained person firing one on full auto will kill the sky after the first 2-3 rounds.



Then I had to try out my first evah submachine gun! That S&W "Swedish K" M-76 was just the thing. I was always surprised that the ammo disappeared so fast.....Where did it go?



Then I tried out the evil black rifle. The original. The M16. God I love Mattel!

I joke! I joke!

So, shooting that rifle was a surprise. It had a surprising kick and was not as controllable on auto as I expected. But, WOOHOOO!

After that, I just wandered a bit. I found some industrious bloggers loadin' up. Happy bloggers!


The first day was wonderful. So much so that I can't put it all into one post. More later.

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I'm gonna shoot machine guns! I'm gonna shoot machines guns!

WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!


For all your ammo needs, please see LuckyGunner.com



Of course, I'm not sucking up. I wouldn'..............ok. I'm sucking up. Its the least I can do.

Wooohoooo!

Lucky Gunner Memorial Day Blogger Shoot

Do you like guns?

Do you support and advance 2nd Amendment rights?

Do you blog about it?

Then Lucky Gunner wants to thank you.

They are putting on an event. A SHOOTING event. With THEIR ammo.

LuckyGunner.com 2001 Memorial Day Weekend Blogger Shoot in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Machine guns! Shooting! Food! Free ammo! .50 cals! Anti-tank guns! FREE ammo! Celebrities!

Did I say Machine guns and free ammo? Yes I did. You SOOO want to be there.


H/t: One of those celebrities

Hanging With Yankeemom

This piece of concrete came into exsistence through the efforts of Castcon Stone and the Carnegie-Mellon School of Architecture. I have no idea what it's supposed to be, but I do know that the formwork used consisted of 4 parts and it was cast in one piece.

I had to make a trip to PA last week to perform a Quality Assurance inspection at a pre-cast concrete plant and the route I travelled took me right to Yankeemom's hooch. I would have been tarred and feathered and ostracized from humanity had I not stopped and said howdy and delivered Yankeemom's Milblog Award which I accepted for her at the last Milblog Conference because she was on baby watch. She is now YankeeGrammaw. Tee heee.

Let me begin by re-emphasizing my initial reaction upon entering the Armory:

OHMYGOD!!!!!
You have one of THOSE???

Perched in a holler at about 4,000 feet ASL is a most remarkable building. It houses the best in weapons, music, philosophy and attitude. Downstairs is a fully functional woodshop and machine shop. Upstairs is a fully functional 32 track recording studio with more guitars than I've seen since Pete Townsend stopped touring. I mean guitars of all persuasions. Acoustic, electric, acoustic electric, electric acoustic and TWO National Standard Steelbody guitars. (Go listen to Johnny Winter).

The phrase most often utterd when I could speak was OHMYGOD!!! you have one of these?

I also met two very remarkable people. YGM's other half is talented beyond description, and he knew Lowell George. He actually worked on "Down on the Farm" before Lowell left us.

I also met a friend of YGM, Stacy. (or Stacie?). Clear that up Deb, please. Stacy was a Flight Attendant and is a former military spouse. She's also hotter than a .32 Auto being sold out the back of a van.

She wants to help with our troop support efforts and I will. by-Gawd. make sure. she has every opportunity to make that goal a reality. Its the least I can do, and besides, the troops are gonna LOVE having her show up.

Now I'm gonna post a picture that isn't very good, (damn cell phone) but YGM and I are both holding AK's.

Mine has one of those horrible magazines on it.

This is an M14 getting a very special scope.


and this is an M4 chambered for a .308.
Needless to say, I will be back to YGM's, with my own ammo

Pure Awesome

MACHINE GUN BACON!!!!!!!

Shooting, Machine Guns, and Bacon! AAAAAAAAhhhhhh!!!!!!


too....much.....awesome.......must ........hold.....on.....

me want!