Gunsmith

I shoot Bullseye for several reasons. Those who know me can report that, yes, my #1 reason is for the camaraderie; I just plain like the people I meet who are shooting Bullseye.

Five days, four guns, nine disciplines and over a thousand rounds, that was the Arizona Desert Midwinter competition for 2010.

I’ve been shooting Bullseye a little over four years, since early 2005.

The wife is still on the fence about going downtown today. Yeah, it’s gonna be hot but the light rail is supposed to be punctual so we’ll sit in the car until it’s almost time for it to pick us up at the park ’n ride lot near Christown Mall. Then, it’s $2.50 each for the round trip (day pass same as two rides) to the stop right next to the Convention Center downtown. I have the maps and the schedule right here.

Before

The Desert Midwinter competition for 2009 Conventional Pistol begins today with a 900 for service pistols.

I absolutely love central Pennsylvania, from the southern border with Maryland all the way up to New York state. Every bit of it is gorgeous and the people are warm and friendly.

I travel for a living. My job often sends me out on a Monday and home again on Friday but sometimes there’s a Sunday “out” or a Saturday “back” day. As such, it’s difficult for me to shoot the Tuesday evening Nighthawks here in Phoenix. Worse, I often miss the once-a-month 2700s on Sundays when an outbound leg starts with a mid-afternoon flight.

Here are some less-than-obvious values to good equipment.

• The bullet goes where the gun was aimed when the hammer was released.

That should be obvious but, as a beginner I knew my wobble was much worse than the inaccuracy of the gun. My “off the shelf” Springfield Armory “Mil-Spec” 1911 (the Parkerized version) would shoot a 6-8" group at 50 yards. That was good enough for scores of 8, 9, 10 and X. Pretty good.