Sunday, February 28, 2021

Blogshoot After Action Report

Man, that was fun!   Thanks to everyone who came - final turnout was over twenty which is pretty awesome.  Big Country has a good AAR posted already but here are the highlights from my point of view:

  1. The range was awesome, and a big upgrade from the first blogshoot (bird dogging the reservation paid off).  We had basically three different stages: 150 yard rifle, 25 yard pistol, and a second 25 yard section of the pistol range for Miguel's El Presidente drill.  All ranges were covered (Miguel has a great picture of him sighting in a rifle on the pistol range), protecting everyone from the unseasonably warm Florida sun.  Yes, readers up north have our sympathy - come down for the next shoot.
  2. El Presidente is a ton of fun.  You wait for the shot timer to go off, draw your pistol, put two shots into each of 3 targets 6 feet apart, reload, put another two shots into the same three targets, show clear, and re-holster.  Col. Cooper (who devised the drill) considered 10 seconds to be par for the course.  I was 28 seconds, with a 5 second penalty for a missed shot (a "Mike", or a hit outside the black).  My groupings were OK other than that, but yeah - I need to work on my tactical reloads.  Huge thanks to Miguel for running this as it was clearly the most popular event there.
  3. Well, except it's tied for most popular with Divemedic's [Update: link to the correct site now] superb "First Aid for the Gun Range" talk.  Everyone thought it was outstanding.  On the drive back The Queen Of The World even said that the three takeaways were (1) put QuickClot on the wound with hard pressure; if that doesn't do the trick in 10 seconds put a second one on, (2) if after 30 seconds it's still not doing the trick put a tourniquet on the extremity (if it is an extremity), and (3) put a chest seal on any torso wound (and don't forget the exit wound).  Crisp, actionable, and to the point.  Hopefully he'll post a list of stuff to put in your first aid kit.  Oh, and IIRC, Divemedic had the best time on El Presidente and Mrs. Divemedic kicked my butt on it. [Update: Divemedic has a great post about this over at his new digs.]
  4. The shooting was great fun, and the social time was even better.  This is our tribe, and it was good to get together in meatspace.
  5. The Queen Of The World organized everything to the nines, getting everyone checked in and doing a nice lunch spread.  I simply could not have done this without her.  Thanks also to Divemedic and Mrs. Divemedic for bringing even more food which all seemed to go to a good home.
  6. The consensus is that it's best to do this meetup twice a year, rather than every 3 months since we're coming into the burning hot summer/hurricane season.  I'll start planning the next for October/November.  Leave a comment if you would like to meet for adult beverages in the Tampa/Sarasota area.
  7. A tip o' the chapeau goes to JayG whose New England blogshoot got me blogging in the first place, way back in 2008.  I thought about you (and Mr. and Mrs. Doubletrouble, and Libertyman, and Lissa, and all the crew) more than once yesterday.  Thanks, buddy.  Gonna try to keep carrying the flame.
Once again, thanks to everyone who came, and mega thanks to TQoTW who got this working like clockwork even with a broken wrist.

11 comments:

  1. Appreciate the link love, but the new site is areaocho.com

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  2. Perhaps in place of a blog shoot, a blog day in the woods, near a cool river -- another first aid class, perhaps a solar power demo, firearm maintenance, home security video set ups, etc, and then a bit of a BBQ? I can do the BBQ but have the organizational skills of a retriever hopped up on speed in a tennis ball factory with a squirrel problem. There is more than accurately putting rounds down range that we need to know.

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  3. Good time... me n' Sapper past TFO as soon as we got home... 150 yard range walk INDEED! Great time brotherman! Looking fwd to more... even if -not- and offishul- blogshoot

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  4. Had a great time, thanks. Looking forward to next years.

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  5. Good four hours. 75-year-old muscles have lost memory and don't fit into firing mode. More practice will be done and hope to shoot maybe two or three times better the next shoot. Good organization and performance.

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  6. Sorry I couldn't make this one. Wan'ted to sight in my .22; maybe next time around.

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  7. When cleaning up after did you find a wedge shaped piece of styrofoam with a couple of scope mounts stuck in it. I unboxed my new mini 14 there and havent seen the mounts since then.

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  8. Tsgt Joe, I didn't. Hut it looked like there was a gun case at your station. Divemedic took it because IIRC he's up in your neck of the woods.

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  9. I just did another search and found them in a box full of targets. I’m sure I put them there so I wouldn’t lose them. I was shooting along side sgt bob and his son, they may be missing a gun case.

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  10. Checked with Sgt Bob, not his case.

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