Feeling Social Distanced

With the world in a mess right now and everyone “Social Distanced” I thought why not talk about how A dark Day on the Santa Fe was a great match. Confederate Colt, Jane Deere, Yadkin, Rocky Creek and the rest of the team up there did an outstanding job. The stages were clean and fast and had challenges for everyone. Hats off y’all, keep up the excellent work.

This year I decided to shoot Dark Day and seeing Madame Moog won cap and ball pistols at EoT last year. I though why not. Let me tell you why not. Everyone warned me about cap and ball, and it was challenging. My biggest challenge was loading, it felt like that was all I did was load the cylinders. You learn really quick what works and what doesn’t work, like, no powder makes the ball not go down range. Who Knew? 2 balls don’t fit in the same cylinder. You’d think why not? Just trust me it just doesn’t work. Then just getting them to run smooth is asking a lot from a rookie.

It started off rocky with loading issues and my head being firmly where it usually is.(I think you can figure out where) I missed the first stage with my posse and had to come back at the end of day one to shoot stage 2 and it was probably one of the better stages I shot. Getting outside of my comfort zone is fun, new challenges and learning new things is also fun.

 I did have fun at Dark Day and we had the BEST posse on the range in my opinion. The folks from Indiana were full of energy and could shoot as good too. Our posse was led by my favorite out of towners and flowed like water. Shiloh Red and Riverview Rattler made it look easy. I am terrible with names and aliases, but we did have a kick ass posse.

Lets talk about stage 10, Here piggy, piggy, piggy. This was a fun stage, you started behind 2 closed doors that were weighted and held in place with a plastic wire tie. You get where I’m going? 2 holes in the door one high and one low. You place the loaded shotgun in the hole of choice say the line “Here piggy, piggy, piggy” get the beep and blast the doors open…… Unless you miss the plastic wire tie. Now you are asking yourself, how can you miss something that can literally be touching the end of your barrel? You would have to ask Realtree on that one. Yep BEEEEEEEP, BLAMMO then laughter. He’ll deny it but I know someone has it on video and I’m impatiently waiting for it to be posted. Later that day I was in line for the BBQ chatting with my buddy Rocky Creek Shooter who openly admitted to me that he also missed the tie wrap. Don’t worry I won’t let them forget it. Just ask Shelleen.

I came home from Dark Day ready for the Ides of March Florida State Championship. Well we all know what happened next. Seeing I was supposed to be helping set up today and seeing my buddy Wil that I haven’t seen in years instead of making this blog tells the tale. The coronavirus has everyone in a panic right now and our Federal and state government asked that event with more than 250 people be cancelled. That was the Ides. I know it was not an easy decision, but I really feel like it was the right one. Next came events with more than 50 people then 10 people. So, I have compiled a list of things you can do to pass the time.

• Deep clean your guns. I know how we all love to clean our guns take this time to get them sparkly.
• Load Ammo. If you have brass without the magic powder, bang button or freedom pellet get on it.
• Practice transitions and maybe a little dry fire. If you can shoot at home can I social distance at your house?
• Annoy your spouse and or kids. Be sure to know your limits on this one, it could go bad quick
• If social distancing last for more than 8 weeks feel free to put on your chaps and strap on your irons to mow the lawn.
• Shave yourself dolphin smooth and make hieroglyphics on the walls.
• Curl up in the fetal position in the corner and keep repeating “STAND BY” over and over this will help with the withdrawal  

That is all I have for now feel free to add suggestions in the comment section. I really feel that if we can all help, we can get through this with minimum mental damage. There is no hope for me at this point, but you can save yourselves.

So, Cap and ball is hard, Coronavirus cancelled our biggest match of the year in Florida and we’re all gonna be a little nuts when this is over. I look forward to reading about or seeing your suggestions on how to pass the time while being “Social Distanced”