Posted: 7/31/2012 7:48:54 PM EDT
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Just a reminder, starting this weekend, Guns Of Freedom will be at the Buffalo Chip Shooting Complex for the Rally!
We open 4 Aug and run through the following Saturday. ~10 am until we decide to shut down for the night, usually around 8. We'll have AKs, ARs, Thompsons, Uzis, all manner of belt fed goodness, with some new additions this year: a PpSh 43 and a F/A Saiga 12! Come on out! The location has changed from last year, we are now located due east of the Chip campground. You can see the back of the stage from where we'll be. Just follow the signs on Alkalai Road or follow the sound of gunfire! |
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If last year is any indication, we will be busy as hell. Which I wouldn't have any other way.
Forgot to mention...there will be .50 BMG goodness as well. We've got a M-107 and a bolt action target rifle, so by the time you hear from me by the time this is over, I'll be sick and tired of the .50 for another 51 weeks. |
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The week actually went pretty good. The only thing that sucked (besides the weather) was the new location. For the last 5 years we were north of Alkalai Road. And that's where everyone thought we were going to be again this year. But the BCSC moved the range to south of Alkalai Road, almost due east of the main stage. Found out no matter how many signs you put out, no matter how big they are, folks can't/won't read them.
No celebrity sitings this year, though we did get a visit from Vice Productions, who were filming a documentary about guns. They spent the better part of Tuesday with us and dropped $2k to shoot just about everything we had. Go Pro and Victory Motorcycles came by, but alas, the spokesman, R. Lee Ermy aka The Gunny was a no show. Something about getting ready for a hunting trip to AK or something. Almost had a HUGE safety incident on Wed. Yours truly almost lost the tip of the middle finger on his right hand. More here. Fortunately, all the digits are still attached and in good working order, much to the delight of the Missus. Most everything ran good all week long, with one major exception. Though it should be no surprise to the old timers, the M60 was a crotchety POS all week long. Learned a lot about the system from Jim Jones, what with all the trips I made taking the POS to his shop for 'issues'. Found out the Barrett doesn't like Israeli .50. Pierced a primer and f-ed up the ejector. Broke the FP in the taget .50, so for the last day we had the Ma Deuce as the only .50 on the line. The weather was a major factor all week. Between the wind and the heat (sometimes at the same time), they played hell with everything. And then it rained the last night and turned the place into a slime pit. The soil out there turned in to gumbo that stuck to everything. That pretty much killed the last day, and when it did finally dry out, it rained again just as we were getting everything loaded up to leave. The S12 was a popular thing to shoot, until we ran out of ammo. 400 rds didn't last too long. I've got it right now trying to figure out why it was having feed issues. My first two guesses are gas and ammo related, but I'll find out for sure this weekend. Winner of this years popularity contest? The Thompson. Between two 1928s and 3 M1A1s, they got a workout. We actually had to stop using the drums as they just couldn't get enough clicks in the wind up to work right. FIrst Runner Up? The Uzi. Then it was the AK, the M16, and down the line. For belt fed, the M60, when it was working, was a big hit, just like last year. And then it went down. Then the MG42 took over. I don't care who you are. 50 rounds in ~3 seconds (or 1200 rpm) will having you walking away with a smile on your face that couldn't be knocked off with a ball bat. So, all in all it was good. There are some issues to address next year...like electricity like we had at the old site. And a water source. And maybe, just maybe a new shack. The one we've been using for the last 6 yrs has just about seen its last days. |
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I tell you, I got a real education from him on the M60. From the proper way to tear it down, to proper handling procedures, to proper PMCS. I even learned how to safety wire the gas system to keep it in place.
One interesting malf we had was one he had never seen in all the years he's been working on them. The yoke in the receiver actually rode up over the piston and came back down, locking it up. Easy fix we could have done on site, but not being the expert, it headed back to his shop to figure out. Turned out, all it needed was a little upward pressure from a flathead screwdriver and viola: fixed M60. |
With the new location and layout, space is at a premium. So when he went to launch the bowling balls, we had to stop firing since to load the tube, he had to be in front of the firing line on the right side of the shack. That was the only place he could set it up so he had room for the lanyard pull without the customer being right on top of the thing. Basically at the far end from this picture:
Here's what else we had: 
I was going to post up a video of a 2.5# Star Target, but I guess I'm too interweb stoopid to figure out how it works, so here's the link. http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f17/hazmat97/Buffalo%20Chip%202012/?action=view¤t=2012-08-05_19-00-53_796.mp4 |