I can make it hold the 5-ring with good handloads

said the guy I was squadded with at the Garand match several years back, in an indignant tone of voice.

Now I was squaddded with a Jedi Master that had just scored in the top ten of the President's match. He knew his $hit and was talented.

I expected that his Garand was highly tuned and he had polished handloads and could hit a fly in the eye with it at 300 yards.

I thought he was bull$hitting me when he said that he could hold the 5-ring with his rifle yet when he shot his word was his bond. He was all over the paper!

Then it occurred to me. He was shooting strictly for fun. 

He reminded me of a NASCAR driver driving a Soap Box Derby car for the hell of it knowing good and well he was going to be beaten by a longshot by a 12 year old kid.

I later found out he had bought a CMP Garand a couple of weeks earlier and knew the barrel was shot out. He was going to rebuild it and decided to shoot it in competition knowing good and well he would not do very well.

I really respected him for that. A guy in his class usually has a big ego. He didn't. He just wanted to have fun and impress the most important person of all, himself.

Although his scores on the Garand match didn't impress me, his spirit did!

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY