We were up bright and early on Saturday, at least I was up that early; then I went back to bed. Brendan got me up a little while later thinking of course that was the first time I was getting up. Without much ado, we prepared for the 8th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot. That included a plan for breakfast and we again stopped at a local diner. This one, Susie's Diner, was much closer to the motel. I wish we had eaten there the day before too because the breakfast was so much better than from the other diner the day before and so was the service that much better. Of course it also meant we had to have all of our guns and gear ready and that required a brief stop along the way to the shoot.
So, after breakfast, we headed to a local Walmart to pick up a thing or two wee needed. Cardboard shipping boxes make great target backers for my portable stand and we picked up a couple that would amount to four backers when cut to size. Then we headed directly to the Super SeKrit location of the range for the NEBS. We were running late of when we had planned to arrive, which was supposed to have been by 930AM and we got there right around 10AM. That was the scheduled start time for the shoot but somehow we wound up being early since most folks had not yet arrived, or so we thought. As it turned out about half or more of the folks who actually were going to show were there already. This year's attendance was way down from prior years. That was okay though because it meant more shooting time and more of a chance to chat with whomever. I don't recall the time we started blasting but as usual it was prefaced by the big bang from Jack's and Deb's (our hosts) cannon. Yes, they own a cannon, a real, firing, big boomer. What a way to begin a shooting event.
There was a brief range safety speech given by John D (who stood in for Jay G who was missed this year). John did a great job of getting the word out to participants, organizing the event and getting us off to a bang-up start and as you can see in this brief video, he did a good impersonation of Jay G who usually takes care of business.
After that it was shoot as much as you wanted until quitting time. As usual, when Brendan is with me, I probably did more loading than shooting. I let him have his fun with the pistols since he eagerly had been looking forward to shooting them. He does not have a pistol license in NY and thus cannot legally shoot a pistol there. So, the trip to the bloggershoot is his chance to shoot them as much as he wants with inthe span of the event. He fired up a storm with the Remington R1 1911, Glock 26, Beretta 92FS and also a bit with the Ortgies 32 Auto.
As he was shooting one gun, I often was loading mags for the other. I had nine mags for the Remington, eight for the Glock, ten for the Berettas (had two Berettas with me but he only fired one of them) and two for the Ortgies. For some reason, he declined shooting any of the three pistols we had with us in 22LR. I shot two of those, the S&W Model 17 and the Beretta 70S but I never got around to shooting the Ruger Mark II. I also shot the Glock 26 and the Remington R1 and made a nice single hole in the paper with about 21 shots of 45 ACP during one round of my firing. For the most part though, I was loading mags or talking to this person or that one.
We got to shoot some guns that other people had along. For example, Brendan asked Matt P if he could shoot his full auto M16 with 7" barrel (Matt lives in a much freer state than do we here in NY.) We had the ammo for it and Brendan blasted away. Too bad he waited until somewhat later in the day to ask because soon after he shot that, Matt was getting ready to leave, leaving Brendan without a chance to also try some of Matt's other guns like the: G34 with suppressor, MP5, suppressed 45 ACP rifle, suppressed 458 Socom rifle, weird (Matt's own description) suppressed Ruger MKII rifle, and a SBS KSG. Oh well, maybe next time around. Brendan also got to take a shot or two with Chris L and Cher L's 50 caliber rifle.
Shooting that thing was a blast, literally because you felt one hell of a blast wave if you were anywhere witnin about 15 feet of it when it went off. I got to shoot Chris and Cher's Kel-Tec PMR-30 pistol in 22WMR. That has got to be one of the lightest weight full sized pistols I have ever shot and man oh man did it shoot. It was right on at about 7 yards (maybe a little more or so) and was a pleasure to fire. I think they come with a 30 round mag (but as I am in NY, Chris who come from CT, was restricted to ten round mags for it). Lots of fun in that gun for sure. I bought 100 rounds of 22 Magnum ammo at the local gun store anticipating that Brendan would shoot up what we already had of 22WMR in our Marlin 25MN but he never got around to it. I only fired about 24 rounds out of the Kel-Tec but that was enough to convince me I want one of them.
Speaking of firing only so much ammo, I have to say that at the bloggershoot, I probably only fired about 200-250 rounds in total. As I said, I loaded mags for Brendan and I guess in that regard you could have called me Gunga Glenn. Imagine me as the faithful gun bearer and to hell with being a water bearer. Brendan fired at least 700-750 rounds of mostly 9mm and 45 ACP with some 5.56x45mm, 32 auto and 12 gauge in there too. He fired about 450 rounds of 9mm ammo and also shot up 200 rounds of the 45ACP that we had brought along. Some of the other calibers we brought along make up for the rest of what lead he threw downrange; well, with the exception of a round or two he fired of 50 caliber BMG. He had fun doing it too, who wouldn't! All in all it was a blast that was well worth the expenditure of ammo.
There was plenty of time to socialize too, since there was no need to wait on a line to get a spot to shoot as in previous years when about double the amount of folks showed up. Yes, there is usually a line of about anywhere up to a dozen shooters or so and at least a 5 to 10 minute wait for a turn at s a shooting spot. This year though, as you can see by the following photo, there pretty much was no waiting.
As I said, we had time to socialize and jawbone and eat too. That included lots of talk about guns and some excellent eats. We usually order out from a local deli but this time around Matt P prepared and brought along an excellent feast for us consisting of pulled pork, and beef tips, both with all the fixings. He also brought along some excellent chocolate chip cookies. Someone else, I think Teri D, brought along a couple of excellent, and possibly homemade, cakes. I think there was a small line for the food even if no lines for the shooting.
All in all it was a very good day. The weather was very cooperative with absolutely zero rainfall (which was also very different than previous years) and the temperature was probably in the high 70's to maybe 80 degrees. I can't wait until the next one in 2016. Hopefully there will also be another one down in WV like the one Brendan and I attended last fall. We may get a chance to see Jay G at that one being he lives in VA nowadays. Not that he wasn't at the 2015 NEBS - at least both in spirit and in effigy. Someone, who shall remain anonymous, made up several cut out Jay faces and the result was this:
Needless to say, if Jay is at a bloggershoot, even if only in effigy, he is going to do some shooting. And so it was that it almost got done, kind of, sort of, just about vicariously.
In fact, Jay did not know it at the time, but he helped bring the day to a close with the ending cannon salvo. It certainly was not the same without him there in person but would have been a whole lot less fun if he wasn't there at least in spirit if not in effigy too. I am willing to give odds that he shows up next year!
All the best,
Glenn B
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| Most of our guns & gear for the 2015 NEBS. There were two rifles in the black case that you can barely see in the lower right hand corner and also a Beretta 92FS that Brendan was shooting and my Glock 26 on my hip. |
There was a brief range safety speech given by John D (who stood in for Jay G who was missed this year). John did a great job of getting the word out to participants, organizing the event and getting us off to a bang-up start and as you can see in this brief video, he did a good impersonation of Jay G who usually takes care of business.
After that it was shoot as much as you wanted until quitting time. As usual, when Brendan is with me, I probably did more loading than shooting. I let him have his fun with the pistols since he eagerly had been looking forward to shooting them. He does not have a pistol license in NY and thus cannot legally shoot a pistol there. So, the trip to the bloggershoot is his chance to shoot them as much as he wants with inthe span of the event. He fired up a storm with the Remington R1 1911, Glock 26, Beretta 92FS and also a bit with the Ortgies 32 Auto.
As he was shooting one gun, I often was loading mags for the other. I had nine mags for the Remington, eight for the Glock, ten for the Berettas (had two Berettas with me but he only fired one of them) and two for the Ortgies. For some reason, he declined shooting any of the three pistols we had with us in 22LR. I shot two of those, the S&W Model 17 and the Beretta 70S but I never got around to shooting the Ruger Mark II. I also shot the Glock 26 and the Remington R1 and made a nice single hole in the paper with about 21 shots of 45 ACP during one round of my firing. For the most part though, I was loading mags or talking to this person or that one.
We got to shoot some guns that other people had along. For example, Brendan asked Matt P if he could shoot his full auto M16 with 7" barrel (Matt lives in a much freer state than do we here in NY.) We had the ammo for it and Brendan blasted away. Too bad he waited until somewhat later in the day to ask because soon after he shot that, Matt was getting ready to leave, leaving Brendan without a chance to also try some of Matt's other guns like the: G34 with suppressor, MP5, suppressed 45 ACP rifle, suppressed 458 Socom rifle, weird (Matt's own description) suppressed Ruger MKII rifle, and a SBS KSG. Oh well, maybe next time around. Brendan also got to take a shot or two with Chris L and Cher L's 50 caliber rifle.
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| This rifle was literally a blaster, the shock wave caused by firing it was awesome and that was from behind it. I'd hate to be in front of it. |
Speaking of firing only so much ammo, I have to say that at the bloggershoot, I probably only fired about 200-250 rounds in total. As I said, I loaded mags for Brendan and I guess in that regard you could have called me Gunga Glenn. Imagine me as the faithful gun bearer and to hell with being a water bearer. Brendan fired at least 700-750 rounds of mostly 9mm and 45 ACP with some 5.56x45mm, 32 auto and 12 gauge in there too. He fired about 450 rounds of 9mm ammo and also shot up 200 rounds of the 45ACP that we had brought along. Some of the other calibers we brought along make up for the rest of what lead he threw downrange; well, with the exception of a round or two he fired of 50 caliber BMG. He had fun doing it too, who wouldn't! All in all it was a blast that was well worth the expenditure of ammo.
There was plenty of time to socialize too, since there was no need to wait on a line to get a spot to shoot as in previous years when about double the amount of folks showed up. Yes, there is usually a line of about anywhere up to a dozen shooters or so and at least a 5 to 10 minute wait for a turn at s a shooting spot. This year though, as you can see by the following photo, there pretty much was no waiting.
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| Lots of wide open shooting spaces on the firing line meant no lines. |
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| This shot shows most of the shooters who attended the 2015 NEBS. |
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| The many faces of Jay (or should that be the many bodies of...). Pic lifted off of Facebook, probably taken by Cher L. |
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| Savoir Faire is everywhere, and so to they say is Mr. Jay |
All the best,
Glenn B
