Mz. VRWC and I went to the Lucky Gunner.com Blogger shoot, near Knoxville, Tennessee and had an amazing adventure. The blog shoot was part of BulletFest 2011, a full-auto, car shootin’, appliance killing, Tannerite laced cacophony, held in support of the Wounded Warrior Project.
Lucky Gunner offered us free ammo, a chance to shoot a few machine guns, social time with other gun bloggers and a few surprises. If the event was half as good as it appeared, we figured it would be worth it to fly out from Arizona to Tennessee.
It would be a tremendous understatement to say that Lucky Gunner under-promised and over-delivered on this event. They were even thoughtful enough to provide us with “ammo waitresses”, who would get us ammo and water, so we never had to leave the firing line.
We started off with an informal meet-and-greet at a local pizza place on Friday night, where we heard rumors of tanks and other surprises. We also got to meet many of the people we would be shooting alongside. We had great conversations with Mike from Firearms Anonymous and his Army buddy, Fill Yer Hands, Reverend Kenn Blanchard, M.J. Mollenhour and Angela from LuckyGunner.
As we pulled into the range, it suddenly became clear that we were falling down the rabbit hole and into the gunny version of Wonderland. We were overwhelmed at the amount of machine guns, military hardware, ammo, smoke, noise, and hospitality available.
The 9mm subcompact and 1911 in .45 ACP that I brought along seemed inadequate compared to what was available to shoot. As I vaguely recall, I shot a lot of machine guns, including a BAR, M16s in various calibers and configurations, HKs, grease guns, and…then it all turns into one smoky blur of bullet sprayers, exploding appliances, and carbeques. I lost track of how many full-auto guns I shot in the first day. By the end of the day, I had even shot a civil war cannon!
There were tanks, half tracks, artillery, an EODT attack dog demonstration, guests of honor, and Veterans, appreciation for what our service men and women have faced for our country, great conversation, ammo waitresses, chicks with guns, handgun training, Gunnie Awards, and too way much fun to describe in just one blog post. We didn’t even get to meet all of the bloggers.
Guests of Honor at Bullet Fest 2011
We’ll be posting more about the blog shoot and giving shoutouts to more of the participants and link love to new friends. Until then, check out Rob Reed‘s compilation video of the blog shoot.
LuckyGunner.com is honoring the best gun bloggers on the internet and they want your help choosing the winners! Go to the Gunnie Awards page to vote for your favorites.
Again, this is a partial list, you’ll have to go to the Gunnie Awards page to see the rest of the nominees and cast your votes.
Get your vote in by Friday, May 27th, 2011. The winners will be announced & presented with their 30mm replica round trophy from Technoframes on Saturday night, May 28th at the LuckyGunner.com Blogger Shoot held in Knoxville, TN this Memorial Day Weekend.
One of the most amazing outdoor events is happening at the beautiful and award winning Ben Avery Shooting Range in Phoenix this weekend, the AZ Game and Fish Outdoor Expo. Two years ago, I discovered my passion for all things shooty at the Expo, and if you’re curious about hunting, fishing, archery or competitive shooting, there is no better (or cheaper) place on earth to get a taste of these challenging and rewarding sports.
So what does the FREE Outdoor Expo have to offer? Here’s a list of just some of the great things to do there, courtesy of the AZ Game and Fish Outdoor Expo Website:
This crowd-pleasing event offers dozens of exciting, hands-on outdoor recreational activities:
* Test your skill at archery;
* Take your kids to the huge catch-and-release fishing tank;
* See live wildlife demonstrations (hawks, owls, snakes, more);
* Hike a nature trail/field course;
* Try target shooting with different firearms on the range;
* Learn about outdoor skills, firearm safety and more;
* View exciting shooting demonstrations by the cowboy mounted shooters, cowboy action shooters and more;
* Attend informative workshops on fishing, hunting, wildlife conservation;
* See off-highway vehicle and boating exhibits;
* Visit with more than 100 exhibitors— sportsmen’s organizations, conservation groups, shooting clubs, wildlife agencies, and commercial vendors and exhibitors of outdoor products and services.
The event and parking are free, as well as almost all of the demos. A few of the local shooting clubs do charge a small fee (a few bucks) to cover ammo costs, but it’s still a fantastic value for anyone looking at trying out the shooting sports.
History Channel’s Top Shot put out a slick video that answers the question that hundred of thousands of competitors around the world and myself already know. If for some odd reason, you’re still on the fence regarding this question, watch and learn:
h/t to one of the most amazing competitive shooters in the world, Julie G for sharing this video on Facebook
The highly anticipated second season of Top Shot premiers this evening at 10/9c on the History Channel. A while back, I made some comments about the casting for season 2 of Top Shot, and I am very pleased to see that it appears the powers that be at Top Shot listened to those of us who begged for more shooty and less “personality”.
Watching the teaser promo video for Top Shot 2, it appears that we will be getting our wish:
As a female competitive shooter, I’m especially excited about the two female competitors, Athena Lee and Maggie Reese. Not just “chicks with guns”, these ladies are two of the top female USPSA competitive shooters on the planet (so good, they were both just chosen to represent the USA in Greece for the 2011 IPSC World Shoot). To learn more about these lovely ladies, check out the interview with Top Shot’s Athena and Maggie on the Women of USPSA blog.
While at SHOT Show 2011 last week, Capitalist Pig and I made some time to visit the STI International booth. We arrived mid-morning, and their U-shaped booth was buzzing with a crowd all the way around the perimeter of the booth at least two people deep.
STI had their entire product line out on the tables, where fondling was not only acceptable, but encouraged (not always the case at SHOT Show). I’ve recently decided that I need a 1911 in 9mm, so I made sure to get my digits on the STI Spartan. The Spartan is an entry-level 1911 that’s actually made by Rock Island Armory, then STI works their magic on it, and adds some nice features that make this pistol competition worthy out of the box. The Spartan enjoys a reputation for being accurate and a great value for the price (around $650). We had a chance to shoot the Rock Island version earlier in the week, and we were impressed with the fit and finish, as well as the feel and accuracy. The RI version is less expensive at only $400-ish, but with the STI additions (better sights, trigger, hammer…), I’m leaning towards purchasing the Spartan.
As we were fondling the lovely, shiny things, Chris from STI greeted us and asked if we had any questions. Since C. Pig and I both shoot the STI GP6, we had some technical questions, and we wanted to get one of the first glimpses of the new and improved version of the GP6. Chris spent a good amount of time with us, answering all of our questions about our current pistols, then he grabbed one of the new GP6’s, and explained all the new features. Most exciting for me is the addition of interchangeable backstraps. The GP6 already has great ergonomics and feels comfortable in my small hands, but with the smaller grips, I should be able to thumb the safety and depress the magazine release button with my right hand, a major plus for competitive shooting.
The other major improvement for the GP6 is the addition of a decocker, which STI is working hard to make available by end of 1st quarter. This addition eliminates what I believe to be a huge problem with shooting the GP6 in USPSA (practical pistol) competitions. The GP6 is well suited for the “production” division (gun out of the box division with minimal tweaking allowed), but one of the rules for this division is that the hammer must be all the way down for the first shot, which must be in double action mode. Since the current version of the GP6 doesn’t have a decocker, the only way to be compliant with this rule is to load a magazine, rack the slide, then grab the hammer and hold on for dear life while you pull the trigger and SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY manually bring the trigger back to the forward position. If that doesn’t sound uncomfortable enough, the safety on the GP6 will not engage with the hammer all the way forward, so USPSA rules force you to put the gun back in your holster with no form of safety applied. The new decocker will eliminate these safety issues and we are looking forward to this new addition, which can be added to any existing GP6.
Similar to the Spartan, the GP6 starts its life off as the Grand Power K100, made in Slovakia, then STI magic dust is applied, and voila, the GP6 is born. STI had a very special guest in their booth while we were there, Jaroslav Kuracina, inventor of the Grand Power K100. It was a treat to have the opportunity to meet the man who created our pistols, and it was awesome of the STI guys to make sure we got the chance to meet him.
Once we were through with our GP6 lovefest, we went back to perusing the STI product line, with Jose from STI as our guide through this part of the STI shiny things tour. While pistols rule the roost at STI, they did have a small selection of rifles, including an STI branded 10-22 (which looked similar to my Tactical Solutions tricked out purple 10-22 rifle, including the TacSol barrel) and the STI sporting rifle, which was super light for an EBR and nicely balanced. It will set you back a bit more than the average AR, at about $1,200 street price, but with the extra STI magic dust on it (including custom hand guard and JP trigger group), it’s a reasonable price for a competition ready rifle.
Another item that caught our eye was prominently displayed at the front corner of the booth – the STI Limited Edition 100th Anniversary Commemorative anniversary set, which contains both an STI 1911, and a special edition 2011 (a double stack 1911). According to STI, “The set comes in a handsome velvet lined walnut box with elegant brass lock and fittings and gold leaf markings on a leather top and includes a brass plaque featuring the serial number of the collector’s edition and a specially designed 2011 STI “Challenge” coin.”
If STI was tired of us hanging around at this point, they did a great job of not showing it. We finished our tour of the STI booth by chatting with Jay, who was happy to spend some time discussing STI’s contingency program for shooters competing in IDPA and USPSA. It’s a simple and straightforward program – sign up, wear an STI shirt, win an area match and get up to $600 to spend on any STI product. My application is in the mail, now I just have to work on that winning part.
STI has a great group of people that make great products. Despite the evil media badges we were wearing (and unlike a few of the larger companies that make 1911’s), the gentlemen at STI gave us their full attention, answered all of our questions, and never made us feel like we were getting in the way of something more important. I’m happy to raid my piggy bank to buy more STI products knowing it’s going to good people who stand behind their product.
Former MLB baseball player and current television personality of the wildly-popular Buck Commander series, Matt Duff, teams up with world-class shooter and all-American girl, Jessie Abbate, for a brand new series unlike any other on the air waves. Traveling coast to coast, Duff and Abbate unveil one of NRA’s best kept secrets— the multi-million dollar, grassroots fundraising movement making up the heart of the shooting world— Friends of NRA.
The show will air at 10:30 pm EST, and you can find more information about the show on the Outdoor Channel website.
Mz. VRWC and I went to the Lucky Gunner.com Blogger shoot, near Knoxville, Tennessee and had an amazing adventure. The blog shoot was part of BulletFest 2011, a full-auto, car shootin’, appliance killing, Tannerite laced cacophony, held in support of the Wounded Warrior Project.
