Must Read

Ladies & Gentleman,

Please take a few minutes out of your day today to hop on over to My Mind Won't Stop and read The Patriot Movement - The Three Percenters.

James so eloquently put into words much of what has been on my mind lately.

Appleseed Part Deux - Coming Soon!

OMG! I have a week and a half before our next Appleseed event! (Mar 9/10)

So much for my grand plans to practice-practice-practice to perfect my skills before then! I have barely touched my rifle at all!

Throw in the fact that we managed to score a Ruger 10/22 (which seems to fit me better - I can actually do a mag change without breaking position!) that I've barely shot, and that is having some issues with trigger reset at the moment....well, I've always learned best under pressure. :)  If my husband were reading over my shoulder he would pipe in and tell you that there "typically" would be a frustration melt-down or two along the way when working under pressure, but not this time, dammit! I'm going to push myself over the next week and a half, but I'm not going to stress over it.
If we can't get the trigger reset figured out, I'll just shoot with the Remington again, and pray. A lot. :)

I'm going to practice, and then go and have fun, and hopefully earn one of these.....

The coveted RIFLEMAN patch!

I think I've got it sighted in (thanks to Mr. J - would have been lost without ya!) and just need to practice with the various positions and the sling. Wish me luck!

Project Appleseed

If you have never heard of Project Appleseed, you owe it to yourself and your fellow Americans to go check out www.appleseedinfo.org.

Project Appleseed is an activity of The Revolutionary War Veterans Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to teaching every American our shared heritage and history as well as traditional rifle marksmanship skills.

It was two very intensive days, and I'm exhausted and sore as all get-out, but it was all well worth it.

Going into this, I had very little rifle experience (and not a lot of interest in them, either), and really no idea what to expect from this except that we'd be shooting rifles. I was eager to learn, but more than a little nervous, too.

What I got was two fast-paced days of top-notch instruction, history lessons (not the stuff from your school days text books, either - the REAL history) and a new appreciation for our country's rich history and perseverance in times of trouble and what it takes to reach the status of "Rifleman." 

While I didn't qualify as "Rifleman" this time, I did at least score "Marksman" and impress the hell out of myself with what I can do if I try. Mr. 2A, on the other hand, did qualify as "Rifleman." :)
What does that mean? Well, here's a breakdown of the qualification target.

Scaled down target, posted at 25 yards. Simulates shooting at 100 yds in Stage 1 (largest target), 200 yards in Stage 2 (second row), 300 yards in Stage 3 (third row) and 400 yards in Stage 4 (bottom row).
No big deal, right? Let's add in the time limits and various shooting positions and see what you think then!

Stage 1: 10 rounds, standing, 2 minutes
Stage 2: Start from standing, and on "Fire" command, drop to sitting or kneeling, fire 2 shots at the left target, re-load, fire 3 more at the left target and then fire 5 at the right target. In 50 seconds.
Stage 3: Start from standing with 2 rounds loaded. On "Fire" drop to prone, fire 2 rounds at left target, re-load, fire one more at left target, then fire 3 at center target, then fire 4 at the right target. In 60 seconds.
Stage 4: Starting from prone, on "Fire" command, fire two rounds at the first target (left) and two more at the second target, then 3 each at the last two targets. In 5 minutes. (Now that may not seem too bad, but remember, you're still in rush-rush-hurry-hurry mode from the last two stages. The important thing on this last stage is to calm and center yourself and take your time. Not an easy thing to do!)

We went through this SIX times, and they took our best target as our final score. I only shot four rounds before I dropped out.

My poor body took such a beating from all the up-down-standing-sitting-kneeling, and my neck will be sore for days. Throw in the mental stress with the time limits, and the mind games you play with yourself when checking your target after each stage......well, it's a beating!
But you know what? I'm going to do it again, and I'm going to earn that damn "Rifleman" patch. Only 3 people qualified yesterday (out of about 25) and I want to join those ranks!

So let's talk about the hubby qualifying. He actually qualified on a couple of rounds - round 3, and again on round 6. Round six was his highest score at 211 (you must score 210 or higher to make Rifleman), but I'm particularly impressed with his round 3.
During round 3, I fired 3 rounds into the last target, and when I went to take aim for the last shot, I realized something was wrong. My front sight post was missing. It had been there for all other shots in this stage, but suddenly it was gone.
During a 2-3 minute prep period between stages 3 & 4, my dear hubby ran down the hill to the car after an allen wrench, ran back up the hill and fixed my front sight post to get me squared away (by this time everyone else had begun stage 4 shooting), got back into his loop sling, plopped down into prone (panting from his sprint session) and managed to hit all 4 of his targets in stage 4.
His score was 210. 

I should also mention that he earned his Rifleman status on his three year tumor-versary.
The guy never ceases to amaze me with what he can do!

Coming up for air

With only a day and a half left in 2012, I thought maybe I should post something. :)

It's been crazy since my last post. Good and bad.

Soldier Girl made it home for the holidays, and I'm thrilled to have her here for a few more days before she has to go back to AIT. The day I picked her up from the airport, we went straight to the range so she could play with some of our new toys. :) We went again yesterday and she got to shoot a Desert Eagle, an SKS and an M1, among other things. She had a great time, and we're hoping to get her back over there tomorrow to try out some other fun toys.

Christmas was quiet and relaxed, which is how I like it. 

Work is another story......

We have been absolutely swamped at the range these last couple of weeks. I don't know if it's just that everyone is off of work and trying out their new Christmas gifts, or if it's all the gun control talk, or both. But it's been very crowded, all day, every day - and gun sales have been plentiful.
I guess we'll see what happens after New Year's when everyone goes back to work.

I won't say much about Sandy Hook, since so many others have said it so much better than I ever could, but I will say that I am deeply saddened at the tragic loss of innocent lives. 

But I'm also deeply angered at the garbage that is being spewed by the current administration about "gun control." Disarming law abiding citizens is certainly NOT the way to prevent crazed criminals from killing innocent people. Criminals don't obtain things legally, so they will have guns no matter what laws are passed. Us law abiding citizens shouldn't be stripped of a means to defend ourselves when necessary.

I know I'm likely preaching to the choir here.....so I'll leave it at that. For now.

In other news.....Mr 2A and I have been very busy working on several certifications, and we'll be teaching some classes very soon. I promise to post more about that in the next week or two.

Until then, I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year's!

Fantastic week!

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving last week with family. I got to talk to my soldier girl twice last week on the phone, and we're counting the days til she gets home for Christmas. :)

I'm still absolutely loving my job at the range! We've been quite busy, and I love meeting all the gun-loving people I would've never had a chance to meet if it weren't for this job! They're all super friendly too, and want to share their toys!

I met a police officer that brought in an AR with an EoTech sight on it. I have looked at EoTech's in various LGS, but never actually used one, and he asked me if I wanted to shoot it. I politely declined, and he then INSISTED that I shoot it. LOL Then we had a disagreement about how many rounds I was going to fire. We settled on 5, even though he really wanted me to shoot a whole magazine. :)
I tell ya....it took SO much restraint not to flip the switch on that thing to "AUTO." But I love my job and want to keep it so I resisted. :)

My co-workers have great toys as well!

I shot one of these.....

....and one of these.....

And I got two new toys of my own this last week!

The M&P is my new EDC - or will be once I find the right holster for it. I've been wearing it at work in a Fobus, but need something a little more concealable for outside of work. I think I want something similar to TT Gun Leather's snap holster, but I'm a little shy about spending that much on a holster, having never used an OWB before.

But I'm also considering a Skeleton from PHLster.com......
Holster shopping is kind of like bathing suit shopping for me....I need to try it on and stare critically in the mirror for an hour or two before actually purchasing something (or in the case of the bathing suit....talking myself out of it and never actually buying anything!). So holster shopping on the internet is torture for me. :(

Hubs upgraded the trigger with an Apex kit, and put TruGlo sights on it for me, and I love it!
I just got an extra pinky extension for the factory mag (why do they send you ONE flat and ONE pinky extension?!) as well as a 17 round mag and an XGrip adapter. I obviously won't carry it that way (well, maybe at work just to see how many people ask questions LOL) but I will be great for range time.

The Mossberg........LOVE! We picked it up last Friday, and immediately put two boxes of slugs through it (we don't allow shot at our range). I don't know much about shotguns, but Damn. I love this thing. And I love the quarter sized holes that slugs punch neatly through paper targets.
As we arrived on the firing line with it, a couple of the guys at work said "Do you know how to shoot from the hip?" I looked at them like they were crazy and said "Yeah, I've done that. But I ain't doing that today." My soldier girl called ma B-A-M-F for shooting it from the shoulder with slugs. I just laughed at her. :)
Hubs has a running list of upgrades for the shotty already, but he won't let me see it. :(
I'll try to update as it morphs through the various stages of  "upgrades."

And on a final note for today......THIS is is the scene in my garage right now. That big tub on the left? That's a 50 gallon tote. FULL. And this isn't even all of it. So if you need brass, or know anyone that does, hit me up. I'm sure we can work something out. ;)

Have a great weekend y'all! I'm going to go help a friend with some home repairs, then go out to dinner and do some birthday shooting! :)

One of these days....

...I'll get to the point where I can sort out all of the thoughts rambling around in my head, post about them daily, and stop playing these catch up games!

JOB
New job is going great! I've met a ton of great people, seen and shot some really cool toys, have expanded my wish list a lot, and have done a little bit of one-on-one teaching.
The range has been insanely busy. I don't know if it's because we're new, or because of the Election Day outcome, or a mixture of both. But it's a good problem to have!

SOLDIER GIRL
She's doing well at AIT, and her brigade marched in a Veteran's Day parade this past Monday. Sadly, I have no pictures of that. She's counting the days til she gets to come home for Christmas (and so am I!).

CHEMO
We're still battling the monster, but making progress, we think. Another MRI coming up on Monday, and we're praying that the chemo is still kicking the tumor's ass. It sure isn't being kind to the Mr.

MISC
I have a birthday coming up, and it looks like I will be getting a new firearm! I've got my eye on a S&W M&P 9 compact. Hubs has a full size VTAC model, which I love to shoot, but it's just a little big for me to conceal. So I'm leaning towards the compact version. Too bad those VTAC sights are so expensive, though, I'd love to put them on a compact!

Hubs and I will be taking some instructor training here in a couple of weeks, and I'm really looking forward to it! I won't let the cat out of the bag just yet as to what, exactly, but it will be a great addition to the classes our range already offers.

The invitation is still out there for an Dallas area peeps to stop by (email me for details please) and visit the range! You'll love the place, and I would love to see some write-ups out there!

That's all I got. More soon!

Calling Dallas area bloggers

I'm attempting to help the gun range I work at get some positive press, and I'd like to personally invite all you Dallas area bloggers to come check the place out. :)

I don't have the authority to say "Come shoot for free" but maybe it would be enough if I told you that you can shoot pistols, rifles (up to, but not including 50BMG) and shot guns (slugs only) on a single lane (no moving lanes when you want to switch from one to the other) in a climate controlled range with clean air that is recycled every 87 seconds?

Or if you're a lady blogger, come see us on Tuesday nights, and shoot for just $5.

If you want to come check it out, feel free to email me at twoamama_AT_gmail_DOT_com and I'll give you the name and address of the place.

Silly me, I think I'm going to be able to keep my privacy now that I'm working there and blogging about it! Seriously, though...just trying to avoid crazy stalker fan-boi types - even though every one at the range open carries. ;)

Hope to hear from you, and see you soon!