The Wandering Minstrel

Clickable images - the 25 yard range shortened to seven

The Better Half and I finally made time to go to our Sportsmen’s Club today. We took up residence on the 25 yard pistol range for some badly needed practice with our carry weapons. TBH practiced with “Rosie,” her S&W .442 38 special revolver. I practiced with “Fat Man,” my Glock 30 .45 compact semi-auto pistol. We walked out on the range to a distance of about seven yards from the silhouette target.

We looked in the archives and found out that we have not been out shooting since June 30, 2010, much to our embarrassment. We had a good, albeit brief, outing today and it was a lot of fun, so we’ll be back to the range sooner than later. Next time, we’ll bring some other guns from the arsenal. We chose the carry guns today just to get some rounds through them and regain the “feel” of shooting our every-day carry guns.

I was out surfing the internet today and ran across this interesting event at the Muskogee Gun Club. According to the event description, zombies will be overrunning the pistol range. It’s a free event offered to the public. While folks are shooting zombies, kids can shoot their pellet guns or .22 caliber rifles. There will be instruction for the kids on handling firearms. Both activities are free. What a neat way to celebrate the Halloween season! Clickable image.

These signs are posted at the WSC shooting range. “PLEASE HELP KEEP OUR RANGE SAFE AND CLEAN” and “BEND AT THE ASS PICK UP YOUR BRASS - OK.” When we watched the action pistol shoot the other day, folks were indeed bending to get the brass. There is a repository for spent brass at the rear of each range station. We have seen a range or two where brass literally is the ground cover. We’ll do our part to keep this place safe and clean. Clickable image courtesy TBH.

The Better Half and I went to the range today expecting to see the Boy Scouts doing some trap and skeet shooting but I guess we were too late. We were held up in the kitchen preparing ingredients for our Tex-Mex chicken chili verde to put in the crockpot.

Clickable image - action shoot targets and shooters

When we did get to the range, we saw the “action shoot’ in progress, an activity that takes place every third Saturday. It looked like an interesting activity. We’re going to have to learn the rules and get involved in it. It sure looked like fun.

The Better Half and I drove up to the Wickenburg Sportsmen’s Club today to scout out how their target holders work. We’re planning to go shooting soon and we wanted to see what we needed to do to set our targets up and shoot at them. It turns out that the target holders are made of wood with cardboard sheets attached. Paper targets are taped or stapled to the cardboard and the holder is inserted into rails downrange at 25 yards.

We also wanted to observe the trap shooting that takes place on Wednesdays but nobody showed up today. We plan to take full advantage of the range facilities now that nearly all of the retirement home is complete.

This Saturday, the Boy Scouts will be shooting trap, so we’re planning to come out and watch the boys. The Better Half will take lots of pictures, I’m sure. We’ll post some of them here.

The Wickenburg area Boy Scout District is holding a Camporee on the weekend of October 15, 2011. As a part of the weekend activities, approximately 30 Boy Scouts will be at the Wickenburg Sportsman’s Club for instruction in gun safety. After the safety briefing, they will be given instruction in Trap Shooting.

The event already has access to several shotguns, but they were asking to borrow a few more. They also need volunteers to donate some factory shotgun ammunition for the event.

I called the gentleman in charge of organizing the event and offered my Remington 870, The Better Half’s Remington 870 Junior and 100 rounds each of 12 and 20 gauge number eight shot shells. He was happy to accept our offer and we made arrangements to deliver the items.

We’re proud to support any event that gets kids interested in sport shooting. After all, they are the ones that will have to carry on the never-ending fight to protect our right to keep and bear arms and the Second Amendment itself. The Better Half and I will be attending the event and she, as usual, will have some images to share when I report on the day’s activities after it’s over.

I was on the computer this afternoon looking at the Maricopa County Assessor’s interactive parcel viewer. The map has an aerial map mode, so, out of curiosity, I scrolled across to Constellation Road to look for the Wickenburg Sportsmen’s Club rifle and pistol range. I captured this (clickable) image of the facilities.

Our facilities feature a 100 yard rifle range, 1- 50 yard rifle/pistol bay, 2 - 25 yard pistol bays as well as Trap and 1-5-stand. The longer ranges are near the center with the pistol bays just below. The 5 stand and trap ranges are near the bottom of the image across the clearing from the clubhouse and restrooms. The facility at the upper left is for the archery club which will soon be merging with WSC.

The Better Half and I had to go to the pharmacy today to pick up some medication today. There is a magazine rack adjacent to the pharmacy I spotted this September/October edition of American Handgunner Magazine. On an impulse, I tossed it in the shopping cart and took it home.

I enjoyed reading several interesting articles about firearms and shooting. This just happened to be the 35th anniversary edition of their magazine and, as a matter of fact, this was only the first time I read their magazine. The publishers of Guns Magazine publish this one on a bi-monthly basis.

There is one article in this issue that interested me in particular. It is called The Ayoob Files - The Tucson Atrocity: Joe Zamudio’s Story. Of course, the author is Massad Ayoob, known to most firearms enthusiasts and the topic - the terrible shooting in Tuscon earlier this year.

Here’s a couple of excerpts:

Situation: A loser with a gun initiates mass murder … and you, with your concealed carry pistol, are nearby.

Lessons: Citizens who stand up and fight can stop the killing … but anti-gun media may still spin their heroism 180 degrees from the truth.

. . .

Joe was prepared to stop the killer with gunfire if he had to. He says today, “I was just truly blessed I didn’t have to pull my firearm. I didn’t have to go to that place. The guy who had the gun was the wrong guy, and I’m glad I didn’t pull a gun on him. I’m glad the people took him down when they did. He was heading in my direction, toward the Walgreen’s, coming my way; when I stepped out the door I might have been the next victim, or would have had to shoot him.”

. . .

No good deed goes unpunished. The gun-banners were out in force as soon as the story hit the newswires, dancing in the blood of the victims. Some in the media turned their sights on the Glock 19 pistol used by the killer, ignoring the fact that Representative Giffords herself owned one and was known to carry it, and the fact the Tucson police responded with drawn Glock 22 .40 calibers, their issue sidearm. Because three of Loughner’s five magazines, including the one in his gun when he opened fire, were extended to 33-round capacity, a ban on magazines holding more than ten rounds became a cause célèbre once again among the antigunners.

. . .

When others fled and played dead, Zamudio literally ran to the sound of the gunfire. He was ready to shoot if he had to, hand on Ruger and safety off, but was careful not to add to the panic. He superbly controlled what could have degenerated into a mistaken identity shooting. In grueling interviews since, some with reporters who had anti-gun agendas, Joe proved himself a powerful spokesman for the right of responsible people to carry guns for the protection of themselves and others. He was one among many heroes that terrible day in Tucson … but Joe Zamudio was our hero.

There is an on-line digital copy of this issue if you care to browse it.