Yesterday was a last minute change in plans hence no real post.

CMP changed the schedule  this summer a little and things didn't coincide as I thought they would so I didn't sign up for the Garand match.

I was going to go up on a shopping trip today but  yesterday my partner begged off so on impulse I went yesterday morning.

It was a good trip because I got to meet a few people I have known for years. Celeste Dennison is still there making earplugs and has since she made a pair for Teddy Roosevelt at the first National Match. (or so it seems) 

The usual vendors were there on commercial row, much of which bored me and some of the vendors I was glad to see.

Rifle prices are down for the first time since Sandy Hook. I could have picked up an M-Forgery kit complete but without the stripped lower or rear sights for about $500. I was sort of tempted.

Ammo was high and powder, bullets and primers were still through the roof, though. Varget seemed unavailable although 4064 aand 4895 were in stock if you wanted to pay $20/pound.

I haven't shot at Perry in a few years and maybe next year I'll enter the Garand match. 

I made my trip over to visit the Marines, most of whom had a free afternoon as they were not slated to shoot the vintage sniper match which was going on at the Viale range.  I didn't go watch it as I have shot the course of fire before and got to watch it.

What is likely to happen with the vintage sniper match over the next year or two is the same thing that happened to the Garand match.  It had no service participation for the first year or two until a couple Marines brought their own Garands and shot it on their own nickel. After that a lot of service people entered the match.

My guess is that some Marine will go out and buy a Mosin-Nagant or something and shoot it next year and open the floodgate.

I went to the Marine Armorer's van and met a couple of people there I know and decided to call the van 'Headquarters' for my time there. As usual the armorers were pretty sociable to the point of just being outright funny at times.

One of them, a woman, I had met before and I was trying to remember where and under what circumstances. She admitted the same thing.

I am a sneaky bastard and when she sat down outside the van to grab a snack I waited until she had a mouthful of Mountain Dew and then asked her, "Will  marry me?"

Of course she snarfed and when she got over it saw me sitting there with a very self satisfied look on my face. That was when we both seemed to remember where we had met. She was a line armorer at the time. She was the one that gave me the name for the Hyman Skrunkle Award years ago.

We laughed over that and she got filled in on the details of what happened to that big trophy that went with it.

We gave it to some poor henpecked guy that had been shooting for years but had never won anything. We were looking for the guy that had a wife nagging him about still shooting all those years and had never seemed to win anything.

The purpose of the trophy was to give someone something to get his wife off his back. It's probably still on his mantle.

Occasionally clubs do this. There was a nearby club that wanted to show their appreciation to a guy that busted his ass for the pistol team but never seemed to make it into the winner's circle.

At the end of the season they gave him an award for being club's "Highest Scoring Black Catholic". It was just one of those things the guys do to thank someone. 

Anyway, I did make it to Perry this year even though I didn't shoot.

I didn't buy the usual pile of crap and as I type now I realize I didn't pick up the pellets for my pellet rifle which was on my short list.

One of the things that makes me realize I am getting old is that senior NCOs look pretty young these days. You are getting old when you see a Master Gunnery Sergeant and realize you could probably address him as "Young Man" and get away with it.

The Master Guns and I chatted a while and I learned something that kind of floored me. This year the team had to teach a couple of new members to shoot with iron sights! They had gone through boot camp and learned to shoot with Acogs. (optics)

The basic service rifle has changed as time has gone on yet it is still the basic Eugene Stoner design that has served since the 60s.

Anyway, I had a good day.












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