-Abby was up relatively early this morning.

-Off to the the Ohio BMV for a new drivers license. Service was surprisingly fast and friendly.

-No internet access at work and more detrimental to getting work done, no network server so I could not run my CAD software (network license) or access the main color printer.

-In the absents of real work progress:
--I made a stainless steel bushing for the clutch of my poor old lawn tractor
--I also fix a Co-worker's nephew's RC truck that has been sitting in my office for two months

-Left work early (since I was not getting any real work accomplished) and got a new set of Hankook tires put on the Element.

-Got home played with Abby when I could drag her away from the mother-in-law.

-Got Abby ready for bed and then washed bottles.

-Use above mentions stainless steel bushing and a few other parts to rebuild the failing clutch in my poor old lawn tractor.

-Cleaned all three guns from the 3-gun match. (Eugen Stoner is still a filthy engineer)

-Came upstairs to find an email stating that I have receive notice of award of my first Phase II program with the DoD (Army specifically) as PI!!!

-Abby is going to walk any day now. She has taken as many as three step on her own before converting back to linoleum lizard mode.

-The large aperture on a standard rear AR-15 battle sight does not work at 200 yards. This cost me second place at last weekend's three gun when I got a big fat zero on the long range rifle stage.

-My aunt is still using a broadcast TV signal, on a 46 inch 1080p capable TV. I installed the a new antenna to help boost reception of the new digital signal this weekend.

-I finished slogging through Charles Stross' Accelerando. It is a neat interpretation of the technological singularity. That said, my "Leave it to Beaver" childhood clashed severely with the painfully dysfunctional family that was the focus of the story. In addition my desire to shoot cats and drowned kitten was also accentuated, greatly. I can not recommend the book.

-The Ohio BMV does not send a reminder until after your driver's license has expired.

-The Element needs tires badly, almost 70K on the OEM ones. 215/70R16, any recommendations?

So in the last entry I mentioned the multi-gun match GFWTR allowed me to go to this past weekend. Results where posted and I won the Limited division! I was first of 5 shooters in the Limited division. It seems that the Tactical division is much more popular. The Tactical division is basic Limited but you are allowed one optical sight on one of your three weapons, this is almost always a scope on the rifle.

There was a total of 28 competitors 5 in Limited, 6 in Open and 17 in The Tactical division. For fun I recalculated my match points total against the best stage hit-factors of both Open and Tactical divisions and I would have placed forth in either of those division despite not having the disadvantage of using limited legal equipment. I am tempted to get optics for my AR so I can shoot in the Tactical Division but to be honest shooting US-poppers at 300yards with iron sight and watching them fall is very satisfying.

I did not bring my camera this year. Last year I took lots of pictures of the stages. It turn out it was a good thing since when I did pick up my camera Monday morning to take a picture of Little Miss it was dead, that would have been pretty distracting at the match. (The silver lining is that I contacted Canon and they are going to fix it for free despite being out of warranty!). All and all the match had a similar feel to last years match and other than some bad weather for the last three stages it was a great match.

( Short stage descriptions and rambling on the match and my performance behind the cut )

As you probably already know from my previous posts I have been working on refinishing that old Remington 1100 I picked up late last fall. The finish was pretty bad so I stripped it and took a stab at refinishing the wood myself. I did a red with black accent paint job and for a first try at such a paint job it worked out fairly good. Certainly not perfect but I learned a lot and will no doubt do a little better next time.

( More details and pictures behind the cut )

I think I have the last of the parts I needed on order for the 1100 project. I just scored a +6 Dave's Metal Works magazine extension for $54 dollars from Midway (clearance, normally $75). I was serious considering a Nordic but was having trouble justifying the $80 price tag. The DMW extension comes with extra long spring and a new follower (the Nordic did not come with a new follower) so I think I did good. I ordered the DMW easy gate and Choate oversize bolt handle earlier this weekend.

I hope to do a test of my masking technique tonight for the final rubberized black highlight on the stock's paint job. I painted the stock red and I am going to fill the pressed checking with a spray on rubberize flat black paint.

The only thing that remain is deciding how I am going to refinish the receiver. I am torn between chrome (bling!) or a good baked on finish (probably more black or black and red). I think the Chrome would look really cool (obnoxious?) with the red and black furniture. Hmmm... decision decisions.

I always hesitate posting match reviews until I have seen the results of a match. Not that it should really make much of a difference but I do.

( long rambling match review with mediocre stage pictures )

ETA: oh... apparently there was a snafu in the scoring and after it was corrected I ended up coming in 2nd place behind a Master level shooter.

I hate waiting for the results of a big match. I went and shot the Easter Lake Sectional 3-gun match Saturday and now I am waiting for the results. 7 of us and a heap big pile of gear and guns piled in a 15 person passenger van and headed off to (invaded) Rochester NY. We drove up Friday, ate good food, crashed and shot the match Saturday. It was 3-gun not multi-gun so no mixed weapon stages but still fun.

Three pistol stages, no mover but still pretty good. I shot one no shoot on the first stage but other than that I did OK.

Three rifle stages I did good shoot all three clean. One of the stages was a repeat of the first pistol stage.

Three shotgun stages, The slug stage I had two misses, not quite sure how I did that given it was the first target I shot??? The two birdshot stages I rocked. The one was a close range hoser stage that came down to a stage of can you shoot and reload while moving stage and I rocked it pretty good. The other stage has a trap thrower setup to throw two clay pigeons as you went through a door. They were no penalty miss target but I still picked them both up.

I know I was the only guy shooting a pump shotgun in my squad and I suspect the only one shooting a pump gun in the whole match. Before the match I was sort of chomping at the bit to get a good semi-auto shotgun but to be honest after watching a lot of jams with the semi-autos I might just stick with my BPS. Sure you can shoot a touch faster while being accurate with a semi-auto over a pump but to be honest it all comes down to how fast you can reload and my BPS with no shell lifter gate loads as fast or faster than any other shotgun out there and that more than makes up for the slightly slower cyclic rate.

None the less I won't now have good or bad I did until the dang result get posted. Hopefully soon.

Yeah I should probably be working but 36hours in the first three days of this week has me a bit worn out especially with all the travel in the previous three weeks. A quick break to start catching up on some journal entries.

( Lots of pictures and rambling stage explanation behind cut )