Did you know that if you intend to put a firearm into your checked luggage on the train, it has to be declared 24 hours in advance? And if you don't, you can't get on the train? And that if your checked bag is over 50 lb, you can put 5 lb of ammo into your carry-on and no one checks it? And if you don't declare the firearms, no one checks that either?
Me neither.
This will all change the first time someone hijacks a train and crashes it down the wrong tunnel into the coal mine, killing all those miners, or forces the engineer to divert to Cuba. I admitted to having guns in my checked luggage and they refused to let me board.
Also the "train station" in Denver is not the standard Union Station it's been since the railroad came here, but has been moved to a temporary location about a mile away. Been there 3 years now, I'm told. The Denver trolley car goes there if you know which changes to take, but not very often according to the schedule.
It cost me about twice the price of the train ticket to get an airline seat and arrive about 12 hours sooner. D'Wife even insisted I buy the ticket and get out of the house. Also there's a courtesy shuttle between the hotel and the airport. Definitely worth it.
If you write your U.S. congressanimal and ask him or her to defund the ATF, feel free to include Amtrak on the hit list.
Reno was under a cloud of smoke the whole time from the Rim and American fires.
Much like Denver earlier this year. Reno is also in a region of low, mostly bare mountains so you don't have to go very far to find an appropriate back stop for a gun range although the best places for developments seem to be near gun ranges and airports.
Elizabeth and I tried to walk a shot onto the 400 yard gong at the Washoe county range with my .22 pistol, but a lack of dust (!) near the gong kept us from succeeding. I did get one shot within 6 ft of it before loseing the markers though. Not bad for a Ruger Mk 1.
Molly showed us how to shoot steel with a revolver. Here's Liz and Molly:
Molly is a big fan of Starbucks. Consensus was that she'd had enough.
Mr C is rolling out the International Steel Shooters Ass'n which will sponsor steel matches with a broader scope than the current Steel Challenge. Think double taps, some movement, and team competitions along the lines of the shotgun work from Top Shot.
Tactical Solutions showed off a Buckmark and a Ruger, both with a serious mix of bling and utility:
The Gun Auction folks brought out a bowling ball mortar to the Fernley range, which is the Fernly Vally Gun Range, Drag Strip, Oval Track, and Road Course. Those folks know how to have fun, no?
O.C.A.T. brought their shooting system which features a laser mounted inside a DA automatic, a target on the wall, and a camera to watch the target. Your shot on the target is recorded along with times between shots, score, wobble variation as you were shooting, a time limit you can set for however many shots, and a bunch of other features. This rig allowed us to have a Top Shot Pistol Elimination match in the hotel ballroom without bothering the Corvette owners gathering in the next room. Alas, I got eliminated while trying to make the final four. This thing will also watch real bulletholes in a paper target for you and locate the holes to some very small tolerance. Put an optic on the spotting camera and it can do this from the bench out to 100 yards. Put the camera and optic up to 100 yds away from the target, out of the line of fire, and add a wireless transmitter and it can do this out to about a mile and a half. Starting price was in the $450-$500 range. I want one.
Keep checking back here. I have pictures which I haven't sorted out yet.
Update: Added pictures and a bit more commentary. RTWT. There will be a test after.
1 comment:
Glad you could make it out, even with your travel issues! See you next year.
Post a Comment