Weekend Steam: Vintage Post Cards From Colorado

 These post cards aren't quite antiques, but they are forty years old, and I presume the photos were taken a few years before that.  These photos are from the Durango and Silverton Railroad, and it sure would be great to ride it now, while the aspens are turning.

Crankin' It Up: Forest Products Week Special

This week True Blue Sam is featuring a special old record to celebrate Forest Products Week: "Woodland Echoes", performed by the Neapolitan Trio for the Victor Talking Machine Company on November 28, 1913.

Good Stance, Good Shooting

Mom's main shooting buddy Deb took this photo during their latest trip to the Clemon's Creek Shooting Range, just west of Washington, Iowa.  Bea gave her Walther PK380 a workout, and it performed flawlessly.  What I find interesting in this photo is the way Mom goes into a Weaver stance automatically, making a good push/pull on her pistol, and doing a darn good job of hitting the target.  Well, shooting is fun, and shooting well is even funner.  Practice at the shooting range is rolling back, or at least slowing down the clock for Mom, and one day it might save her life; you never know.  Thanks for the photo, Deb, it made my day!

It Isn't Always About Chainsaws...

My good friend Troy has been chomping at the bit to get out and start bowhunting this fall, but it has been hot and dry, and not fit for slipping up on wary forest creatures, until Wednesday of this week.  Rain blew in, Troy hit the woods, and he nailed a turkey on his first outing.  Congratulations, Troy, and a happy Forest Products Week to you!

He Shoots!...He Scores!!!

Just in case you don't already know it, Mr. Scott at Cheaper Than Dirt! generously donates a $50.00 gift certificate every month to a lucky entrant in Mr. Completely's e-Postal Contest.  This month's recipient of an online shopping spree is none other than Mr. CCBCC, aka Sand Castle Son; Danno's boy, (above) of Sand Castle Scrolls.  Congratulations, Mr. CCBCC, and happy shopping!  Thank you, Mr. Scott, for your support in motivating shooters to go to the range for regular practice, and thanks for providing great online service at Cheaper Than Dirt!

In addition to the commercial side of Cheaper Than Dirt!, there is also the Cheaper Than Dirt Blog, where regular visitors can read all sorts of timely articles relating to the shooting sports.  Blog followers should click in several times a week to read the latest posts.

US Citizen at Traction Control is hosting the October match, and I encourage all of our readers to enter.  It is a tough match, with twenty 1" circles, which you try to hit with one shot per circle while shooting offhand at 21 feet.  Touches count for one point, and touching the dot in the center of a circle counts for three points.  It's a challenge, and it is excellent practice.  Whether you score 0 or 60, you have an equal chance for every entry to win the October Cheaper Than Dirt Gift Certificate, so get out and shoot!

Danno has provided a shot of the informational plaque on the 40 MM gun for our education and gratification.  I have seen footage of these guns in old movies and news footage from WWII, and they are darned impressive pieces of artillery. Two pound projectile... makes a .45 seem almost insignificant.

Photo Credit:  Danno at Sand Castle Scrolls

Portable Sawmills

Portable sawmills are popular with rural retirees here in Southern Illinois. I have known several old boys who have bought one of these, and as long as they don't expect to make a fortune, that's OK. This one is a Wood-Mizer, and it is the most popular portable mill in my corner of the world; Kasco mills are a distant second. The Wood-Mizer uses a monorail to guide the carriage, and Kascos use two parallel rails that are down on the ground. Bailey's sells a mill that I have never seen in person, and it uses circular blades instead of the thin-kerf bandsaw blades.

These mills can go right to the woods to cut your lumber, but of course you still have to handle the logs and lumber. One of my friends thought he would retire in the log cabin building business, but a hernia and a back injury convinced him otherwise. Still, they are a mighty handy tool as long as you make yourself behave and use your head when moving heavy loads. There is very little waste with the thin kerf, so small logs can provide more lumber than the log scales would indicate. The lumber also is much smoother than it would be if produced on a traditional circular sawmill. With one of these mills you can produce all the lumber, including siding and paneling to build a house, and I know of a very nice hunting cabin that was built that way, not too far from me.

The sawyer in this little video is a logger, and sawyer, whose other sawmill is a traditional circular sawmill, powered by a Detroit Diesel.

I Love The Smell Of Chainsaw Exhaust In The Morning

It smells like...Forest Products Week!  Now, get out there and make some sawdust!

Something To Shoot For

I wish that I could shoot this well, but I know that I will never put in the hours of practice required to develop this skill level.  Mr. Completely shot this target with his homebuilt High Standard, and it is a very good target, indeed.  Five shots were taken offhand, then five more from a rest, and you can see that he missed only one 'yote with his offhand shots, winged one, and nailed three.  Whatever your shooting skill level, you can improve it with regular practice, and these e-Postal matches are one good avenue to make yourself put in more trigger time.  Traction Control is hosting the match for October, so take a look at the rules, print some targets, and go to the range with family and friends to hone your skills.

This Made My Day,

and it will brighten yours.  Soldiers' Angels has posted a very nice article about Gun Blogger Rendezvous V.  Go take a look, and while you are there, please hit the Donate button and help our heroes.  Thanks to Mr. C for the heads-up!

September e-Postal Scores

We had lots of entries for the September contest, and everyone did a good job of shooting.  Those little coyotes are tough targets, and tagging one of the pesky critters is not as easy as it looks.  The scores are adjusted proportianately depending on the distance the shooter chose, with 25 feet being the 100% distance for pistols, and 50 feet being the 100% distance for rifles.  We did not have any entries for BB guns.  Here is how the scores stacked up.

Class I, Rimfire Pistol, Iron Sights

Merle                          Ruger Super Single Six .22 Mag 30
Billll                             Ruger Mk I .22 LR                    26
Paula                           Ruger Mk II .22 LR                   16      
True Blue Sam             Ruger Single Six .22 LR             14
Danno                         Ruger 22/45  .22 LR                  10.56 

Class II, Rimfire Pistol, Optical Sights

P Horne                      Ruger 22/45 .22LR                    76
Mr. Completely           High Standard  .22 LR               51.6
A Forkner                   Ruger Mk III 22/45 .22 LR       27
Merle                           TC 10" bull barrel .22 LR         26

Class III, Centerfire Pistol, Iron Sights

P Horne                      S & W 29-2                             50
Merle                          S & W 3913 9 mm                   20
Danno                         9 mm                                          7.92

Class IV, Centerfire Pistol, Optical Sights

Merle                         TC 10" octagon barrel 9mm       31

Class V, Rimfire Rifle, Iron Sights

Danno                          .22 LR                                    33
Mr CCBCC                 .22 LR                                    16.5

Class VI, Rimfire Rifle, Optical Sights

Danno                      Ruger 10-22                               39
Paula                        Remington 66                             23   

Class VII, Centerfire Rifle, Iron Sights

Packing Rat            Springfield M1-A 7.62x51           29.7

Class VIII, Centerfire Rifle, Optical Sights

Billll                         Hi-Point 9mm                             26

Monday's Back Again Already!

Back To The Old Grind!

Soldiers' Angels Burglarized, Vandalized

We learned at Major Chuck Ziegenfuss's blog that the headquarters for Soldiers' Angels was robbed and vandalized.  Click over to read Major Chuck's post, which includes a link to this news story.  Soldiers' Angels will need many thousands of dollars to replace what was lost, so please click on this link to make a donation, or give them a phone call to help at 210 629-0020.  You can also click on the Soldiers' Angels logo, or the Valour IT poster (left side of this page) to make donations that will help our wounded warriors.