Saturday, Oct 9th, you just GOTTA stop by All Hat's tent and arrange to get in on a group picture of the GLB and friends.

If you've ever been to a GLB, ever wanted to be, ever heard or read about it, NOW is the time to get acquainted. We're going to have a group picture taken amidst all of the finery, atmosphere, and foolishness that this super event can provide.

Be there or else! 
And pass the word.
 

In January 2011 there is a 5th Sunday that no one had claimed at the range where we put on "Thunder Valley". We put in our request to the Lion's Club and Thursday the day of January 30, 2011 was approved. 

Within hours of getting the date approved work has started on putting "Thunder Valley" together. It will be a 6 stage match with lots of interesting things besided just smoke.
...................................................."Thunder Valley" ... is scheduled for ... Sunday, Sept 30, 2011
 

MARKSMANSHIP FUNDAMENTALS

MENTAL DISCIPLINE

     Analyze what you are trying to accomplish in your shooting program, then plan a direct, positive approach to your desires, such as: physical conditioning, mental preparation, dry firing, trigger control, sight picture, breathing and relaxing.  Before shooting, imagine the sights in your mind.  Close your eyes and try to keep the sights aligned in your mind's eye.  Imagine the shots going off and the positive way you are reacting to the rhythm of your shot string.  Imagine your perfect recovery and preparation for the next shot.

SHOOTING CONDITIONS

     Conditions such as wind, rain, heat, dust, and cold can adversely affect your shooting.  Whatever the adversity, it affects every shooter on the line to the same extent, ignore them!  Let everyone else gripe, moan and complain about the conditions.  But you concentrate on the job at hand.  Make each shot your best shot.  Be sure you and your equipment are ready for the job at hand, shooting match-winning scores.

BREATHING

     It is extremely useful and important to match winning scores.  Proper breaching relaxes the body, calms the mind and lowers the pulse rate.  All these points are extremely important.  Within three to ten seconds after breathing deeply, the pulse rate lowers and this is the best time to start the string of fire.  Whenever there is a break on the firing line, use this time to your advantage by breathing deeply.  Never let a slow down in the course of fire rattle you.  Welcome it, use it to your advantage by breathing deeply and relaxing, letting the tensions drain from your body.

STANCE

     The proper stance is the one that puts you in the proper alignment with the target so that you are in a comfortable position and not relying on your muscles for support.  Use the bonds and ligaments of your body to support you - not your muscles!  When you use muscles, they take oxygen, then the heart beats faster, causing a faster pulse, which gives you a larger arc of movement.  Your guns come up pointing naturally to the center on the target.  If not, shift the position of your feet right or left to bring the line of sight to the center of the target.

ARC OF MOVEMENT

     There is a natural "arc of movement" when your arm is extended, which is impossible to eliminate it.  But this can be minimized by a lot of diligent practice on your part.  By strengthening your arms, you can decrease this movement to a point that is barely noticeable.  The important thing to realize is this exists and to work with it and not against it.  By proper breathing and trigger squeeze, you can get off your shots when the arc is at its minimum.  Never make the mistake of snatching an X, or jerking the trigger when the sights are in perfect alignment, you only succeed in throwing the shots off
.
GRIP

     The grip on the gun should be a good, firm, solid grasping of the weapon, with equal pressure on both sides of the weapon.  This grip should be the same always, or a change of impact points will occur.  The placement of the trigger finger should be the same each time, with the trigger centered on the center of the pad of your trigger finger.  The proper grip must become automatic when drawing by the weapon so that no shifting of the weapon is done while bringing the weapon into firing position.  Don't grip the gun so tightly that you shake, but tight enough that the recoil is transmitted to the shoulder.

TRIGGER SQUEEZE

     A very important point in squeezing the trigger is that you use a steadily mashing pressure.  Think the trigger back in a straight line so that when the shot goes off it is a surprise.  Never anticipate a shot.  Let them all break as a surprise.  Remember: align the sights, settle into your normal aiming area and exert positive, uninterrupted, constantly increasing pressure, straight to the rear until the hammer falls.

RHYTHM

     It is very important that enough shots be fired in practice so that you can establish a rhythm in firing a string of shots.  Recovery after each shot is of primary importance so that the sights are aligned as fast as possible for each succeeding shot.  Take all the time allowed for each string, as it's to your advantage.  Watch the front sight always during recovery so that it is in alignment for the next shot.

FOLLOW THROUGH

     Follow through is simply the immediate recovery of the weapon after each shot is fired, so that you are in the same exact position for each succeeding shot.  This means the sights are in perfect alignment, the eye is focused on the front sight, the grip on the weapon has not varied, but remains the same.  All conditions should remain the same for each shot.

SHOT ANALYSIS

     After the firing of each shot, you should be able to call the placement of each shot.  If not, then you are not concentrating on your front sight.

VARIOUS CAUSES AND THEIR EFFECTS

     Overeating causes the heart to beat faster, opens up the arc of movement.  Eat a small meal before a match.  Coffee is a stimulant and causes the heart to beat faster.  Smoking causes a faster heart beat, one cigarette after breakfast speeds the heart up for half a day.  Alcohol slows the reactions and coordination is impaired.  Colas contain caffeine and speed up the heart beat.

But the most important fundament of shooting is: HAVE FUN!!

(Thanks Bladerunner. Some of us can use all the help we can get.)
 

Located on the back side of the San Bernardino mountains where mining for silver, lead, 

In the valley below Tip Top Mountain was the Rose Mine which was one of the major producing gold mines in the mountains. The mine's name is derived from the high iron content of the soil which gives the ground in the area a dull rose coloring. No where else in the San Bernardino mountains was gold found so heavily mixed with iron. The Rose Mine operated from 1887 till around 1912. In 1887 it was called the Homestead Mine and then in 1889 the name was changed to the Rose Mine. In 1891 a 5 stamp mill was erected to process the ore and in 1897 a new 40 stamp mill with 6 cyanide tanks was built. The main shaft of the mine was below the stamp mill and went down 400 feet with a network of tunnels at the 350 & 400 foot levels. Some exploratory work was done in the 1920's & 1930's but no new ore bodies were found. Around 1933 the stamp mill and all of the equipment was scrapped. There was a small village at the mine which consisted of 12 wooden buildings. One building being the store/post office, another the school and the other buildings were occupied by the mine personnel and their families. Through the years these buildings gradually disappeared. Some of them destroyed by fire.

Rose Mine 1903	40 stamp mill at Rose Mine 1903
Rose Mine 1947 +-	Main Street building 1947+-
1947+-	1947+-
camping at Rose Mine 1947+-	with fold down bed springs and cook stove.
miner cabin 1947+-  The 1947 photos were taken by the man on the left.	Gene Fendley, who also happens to be my dad,  He's holding his 1895 Winchester carbine in 30-40.

Eli Whitney's name is older than the United States itself, and the companies that bore his name are many.

Andrew Burgess was a well-known designer in his own right.

From 1878 to 1892 Whitney produced a lever action rifle using Burgess's design and with a patent by G. W. Morse.  It was the first repeating rifle to use the .45-70 Government round (and at least one other caliber is known), beating Marlin's 1881 model by three years and Winchester's 1886 by six.  It was named The Burgess Repeating Rifle.

The first few were top-loaded before a side gate was developed for the huge cartridge.  All had a magazine tube beneath the barrels and all had serpentine levers.  The first two are very rare.

There was a ‘recall’ to correct a magazine design that allowed one cartridge to fire the one above it… an undesirable trait.

The guns can be found with and without “wells” in the butts, and with a number of varying details such as thickness of magazine tubes, types of rear sights, and finishes.  Most were blued with walnut stocks, but they can be found with color-case-hardened frames, levers, hammers, and triggers, as well. 

A sporting rifle hung on the wall at The Flintlock when I worked there, and when Jackie sold the store to Walker 47, I bought the big rifle from her.  It was a mid-range model with a 1,700 series serial number and had the original style unaltered magazine.  At some point the front sight had been reversed to make a “speed ramp”… a ludicrous thing on a nearly 12 pound rifle.  Other than that, and a hundred years of dust and some fading of the bluing, it was a 95%+ gun.

Almost!

The forearm is held in place by two screws on each side.  The forward screw on the right side had been removed and a washer inside had been lost.  When the screw was replaced it was over-tightened and split the wood from the nose cap to the screw.  I watered down some Elmer's Carpenter's Glue, tightened the screw, flowed the glue into the crack, and loosened the screw.  After a week I pulled the screw, added a new washer inside and voila!  The crack had vanished.

Not being one to let such a treasure lie unfired, I rounded up a couple of boxes of light loads and headed up Lytle Creek to shoot it.  Being careful of the unaltered magazine, I shot the first five rounds into a pound coffee can sized hole at fifty yards.

Can you spell “FLUKE”?  I never came close to duplicating that again.

The gun was stolen in a burglary over 20 years ago, but if the price were right, I'd buy another tomorrow.   It was fun!

Forty Rod