10X

Homebrew. It's fun, and comparatively easy to make really, really good beer. And legally you are allowed to make 100 gallons a year for one adult, 200 gallons for a household. Most people should find that sufficient... Brewing from malt extract won't save you any money, but if you have the time to invest in brewing from whole grains (I never did) it's also quite cheap. Just think of it as reloading. For bottles.

A couple more medal events have wrapped up. Women's 25 meter sport pistol is the Olympic event closest to pistol events American's would be familiar with. It is a .22 event, it has slow and rapid fire stages, similar to our ubiquitous bullseye/precision pistol matches, although the target is different, only iron sights are allowed, and time starts with the shooter's gun hand down at a 45 degree angle, and each shot in the rapid fire stage is timed and fired separately. There is no men's 25 meter sport event, men have the rapid fire pistol event instead, which isn't a women's event. I've no idea why that is; it is the only case where the same event doesn't have men's and women's divisions. I didn't find video of the 2020/2021 Women's sport pistol event this morning, but here is a great video describing all of the Olympic pistol events: The Olympic Pistol Events Anyway, it was a shut-out for the US, which had no shooter qualify for the finals Gold: V. Batsarashkina, Russia, 38 (Olympic Record) She becomes the first female shooter to win three medals in the same Olympics, having won golds in air pistol and mixed air pistol earlier in the week. Silver: M. J. Kim, South Korea, 38 (Olympic Record) Bronze: J. R. X. Xiao, China, 29 Also concluded, the new mixed-team Trap Event Gold: Spain, 41 Silver, San Marino, 40 Bronze, USA, 42 (the highest score, yes, but the qualification round put TEAM USA in the bronze medal match) Finally, 50 meter 3-position rifle got underway with the women's qualifiers and finals. Three-position free rifle is a tough event; I shot it seriously in college and did pretty well. The rifles are amazing to behold (see the video), .22 cal, iron sights only, highly customizable to fit the shooter. The full course of fire is 40 shots prone, 40 shots standing, and 40 shots kneeling in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Shooters wear sweats (often multiple layers) under leather shooting coats and pants to dampen the pulse--though you can still see the sights move slightly with each heartbeat. It's hot under all that gear--it is common to lose a few pounds of sweat during each match. Gold: N. Christen, Switzerland, 463.9 (Olympic Record) Silver: Y. Zykova, Russia, 461.9 Bronze: Y. Karimova, Russia, 450.3 American S. Maddalena did qualify for the finals, and finished in 5th place with a 427.8. There is a nice video up of the finals Women's free rifle finals

I'm not selling mine, but if you are looking to buy new, I really like the Competition Electronics Pocket Pro. I think it is also still the least expensive option. Except for the phone app shot timers, but the one I tried some years ago never really worked. I've no experience with the newer apps.

The trap events have concluded in Tokyo. Women's Trap results: Gold: Z. Rehák-Štefečeková, Slovakia, 43 (Olympic Record) Silver: K. Browning, USA, 42 Bronze: A. Perilli, San Marina, 29 Video bit about Women's trap shooting results (I haven't yet found online video of the actual events) And in Men's trap: Gold: J. Lipták, Czech Republic, 43 (Olympic Record) Silver: D. Kostelecký, Czech Republic, 43 (Olympic Record, tie was broken by a shoot-off) Bronze: M. Coward-Holley, Great Britain, 33 None of the men from Team USA advanced to the finals.

That sucks. I'd long been a fan of ZZ Top; finally got to see them live just a few years ago when they came to Morristown.

Medal rounds for the mixed-team Air Rifle and Air Pistol events were held today. This is a new event in this Olympic cycle, with each mixed team composed of one male and one female shooter from their respective national team in each discipline. Mixed Team 10 meter Air Rifle Gold: China Silver: USA Bronze: Russia* Mixed Team 10 meter Air Pistol Gold: China Silver: Russia* Bronze: Ukraine *Russia and many of their top athletes are currently serving out a multi-year ban from international competition, as a result of being busted for state-sponsored doping violations on a massive scale. However, many of their athletes are still being allowed to compete as the 'Russian Olympic Committee' (ROC) team, flying Russian colors but not the actual flag. I'll still refer to them as Russia here. Russia making a mockery of their Olympics ban

Day three was very good to the Team USA Skeet Shooters, as they won the gold in both the Men's and Women's events! Returning Olympic Medalist Vincent Hancock was in 4th place after the previous day's qualification round, 2 birds behind the leader, while Amber English was in 3rd place, but 3 birds back. Both pulled it out in the final, each setting new Olympic records, Vincent winning an unprecedented third Olympic Gold Medal in the event. Men's Skeet Gold V. Hancock, USA, 59 (Olympic Record!) Silver J. Hansen, Denmark, 55 Bronze A. Al-Rahshidi, Kuwait, 46 Men's Skeet Finals - video Women's Skeet Gold A. English, USA, 56 (Olympic Record!) Silver D. Bacosi, Italy, 55 Bronze M. Wei, China, 46 Women's Skeet Finals - video In Skeet, after a 125 target qualification round, six shooters advance to the final. In a manner similar to that seen in the air gun events, partway through the final the lowest shooters are eliminated from the squad, one by one, until at the end only the top two shooters remain in head-to-head competition. It is another fairly recent change to how the match is run, probably made in the interest of making it more interesting for the TV audience (and more stressful to the shooters). Since so much is different in international competition than what we are used to in US shooting events, I've attached the link below with good information on how every event works. How are the Olympic shooting events scored?

Two days of competition have concluded, with medals awarded in four events and qualification rounds underway for several others. The first medals of these Olympic Games were awarded in women’s air rifle. Gold Q Yang, China, 251.8 Silver A. Galashina, Korea, 251.1 Bronze N. Christen, Switzerland, 230.6 M. C. Tucker of the United States also made it to the finals, finishing 6th with a 166.0 Olympic scoring has gotten strange, so an explanation is in order. No longer does the score after 60 shots (120 for 3-position rifle) determine the winner. At various times in recent years, a shoot off for the top 8 finishers was introduced, initially adding the score for 10 more shots to the initial qualifying score, but later dropping the qualifying score and having only the shoot off determine the standings. With the onset of electronic scoring, they also subdivided the scoring rings, so a ten is no longer perfect, you can score a 10.1 up to a 10.9, so previously unattainable perfect scores can now be exceeded because of all the 10ths adding up. Finally, they changed the final again so that after 12 shots they drop the lowest shooter, then after every two additional shots they drop the next lowest, so that by the 24th shot only 2 shooters remain. That’s why shooters finishing below the top 2 have significantly lower scores-they fired fewer shots. None of this improved the sport. Also concluding on the first day of competition was the Men’s Air Pistol event. Gold. J. Faraughi, Iran, 244.8 Silver D. Mikec, Serbia, 237.9 Bronze W. Pang, China, 217.6 No shooter from the US qualified for the final in this event. On the second day of competition, two additional events completed. Men’s Air Rifle Gold. W. Shaner, USA, 251.6. Shaner set a new Olympic record with his qualifying score! 10 meter air rifle final (video) Silver L. Sheng, China, 250.9 Bronze H. R. Yang, China, 229.4 No other shooter from the US qualified for the final And Women’s Air Pistol Gold. V. Batsarashkina, Russia, 240.3 Silver A. Kostadinova, Bulgaria, 239.4 Bronze R. Jiang, China, 218.0 No shooter from the US qualified for the final. Women's Air Pistol final - video The ten ‘dot’ on an air rifle target is just 0.02” across. The ten ring on an air pistol target is 0.45” across. Air rifle and air pistol are both shot at 10 meters from the standing position, unsupported, strong hand only for pistol, and with iron sights.

Yeah...right from anti-gun to anti-aircraft.

The O.P. Found it a home Before I could suggest giving it to a 10 year old boy whose parents you hate.

Another reason to buy that tank.

I can't find my copy right now. But if you are building a dirt berm, I'd imagine that by the time it is high enough, it is also thick enough. Although, being able to point to the manual and say your berm meets US Army specs might be a useful thing if you start getting questions from the town.

Sounds like another reason to reload.

Ah, got it. So in the Risk = Consequence x Probability model, the Consequence is identical. Absolutely agree. Fortunately, the Probability goes way down for an untrained shooter. But it never goes to zero, and it would be still be pretty high if the untrained shooter is close enough.

If that were true, the entire IDPA or IPSC target would be scored as an 'A' hit. I suspect you meant that any hit will do damage. The effect of the damage will be vastly different, depending on the shot placement.

I wouldn't do it with handguns or hollow points. Long guns, maybe, but I'm not a lawyer.

We’re just over two weeks away from the torch lighting ceremony, so it’s time to introduce the US Team least likely to turn their back on the flag or kneel during the national anthem. Our 2020/2021 Olympians are: Men’s Air Rifle: Lucas Kozeniesky, William Shaner Women’s Air Rifle: Mary Tucker, Ali Weisz Men’s Smallbore Rifle: Patrick Sunderman, Nick Mowrer Women’s Smallbore Rifle: Mary Tucker, Sagen Maddalena Men’s Air Pistol: Nick Mowrer, James Hall Women’s Sport Pistol: Alexis Lagan, Sandra Uptagrafft Rapid Fire Pistol: Henry Leverett, Jackson Leverett Men’s Skeet: Vincent Hancock, Phillip Jungman Women’s Skeet: Austen Smith, Amber English Men’s Trap: Derrick Mein, Brian Burrows Women’s Trap: Kayle Browning, Madelynn Bernau US Olympic Shooting Team I’m struck by how long it’s been since I was on the team (and then not in an Olympic year). I don’t know any of these people… Unfortunately, none of our medalists from the 2016 Rio games are back on the roster. The most experienced competitor on the team is Vincent Hancock, in his 4th Olympics, having won the gold twice before. Kim Rhode missed the cut to compete in an unprecedented 7th Olympiad (having medaled in the previous 6 Olympics). She has stated she’ll be back for the 2024 trials, and may continue on to the tryouts for the 2028 games in Los Angeles. Nick Mowrer is notable for being the first US shooter to qualify in two different disciplines (rifle and pistol) in the same Olympics since 1924. Also of note are brothers Henry and Jackson Leverett, both competing in Rapid Fire Pistol. I sure hope they are on good terms with one another. 280 shooters from other nations will join Team USA to compete in 15 events, though all without spectators due to a Covid resurgence in the Tokyo area: 10m Air Pistol - Men 10m Air Pistol - Women 10m Air Pistol - Mixed Team 25m Pistol - Women 25m Rapid Fire Pistol - Men 10m Air Rifle - Women 10m Air Rifle - Men 10m Air Rifle - Mixed Team 50m Rifle 3 Positions - Women 50m Rifle 3 Positions – Men Shotgun Skeet - Women Shotgun Skeet - Men Shotgun Trap - Women Shotgun Trap - Men Shotgun Trap - Mixed Team The mixed team events are new this year. Men and women competed together in all events until 1988, when separate events for men and women were created. Now, the separate events remain, but a mixed-gender team event has been added. Conspicuously absent from the event list is 50m Free Pistol. THAT makes me mad. Free Pistol had not only been a medal event since the inception of the modern Olympics, it had been the FIRST medal event, as way back in 1896, Baron Pierre de Coubertin (father of the modern games) declared Free Pistol to be the most difficult of the Olympic events, and so reserved it that place of honor. I really hate to see it go. That was MY event, dammit! Well, that and Air Pistol, but I was better at Free Pistol. Tokyo Olympics Shooting Preview The shooting events start with Air Rifle and Air Pistol on Saturday July 24, and continue through Monday August 2 when Rapid Fire Pistol and 3 Position Smallbore Rifle wrap up. You won't see much of these in the TV coverage, but you can find them in the online video feeds. I'll also pop in here periodically to post results.

Thanks--that's a video that I haven't seen before. Always something new to learn. This weekend's brisket turned out ok, not as tender or juicy as I had hoped, but the flavor was good. I think some of the issues were that it was really lean, so not much marbling to render. I probably should have trimmed less closely and injected more than usual to compensate. It also came from Restaurant Depot with an inexplicable cut 5" long clear through the middle of the flat. Wrapping at the stall, instead of after, may have also helped it retain more liquid. But, temperature control was spot-on, minimal fluctuation from 260 F for 17 hours, I pulled at 203 F internal, wrapped it in a towel and put it in the empty ice chest to rest, and served it about 3 1/2 hours later, when the internal temp was 164 F. I also liked the new rub variation. And the poppers, as always, were spectacular.

Good point. I'm using cider vinegar as a fairly minor component, but you're absolutely correct. Your linked video is the one I watched that sold me on butcher paper for the wrap. The brisket got past the stall overnight without any wrap, but I'm still going to wrap it soon to preserve moisture. It's at 190 F now. In a couple of hours I'll add a rack of ABTs (bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers) to the smoker. The family now insists on those whenever I smoke something.

Ah, gotcha. 185 is on the way back down. Yeah, I'll let it cool down a bit before I put it in the cooler to rest. Just put it to bed for the night, added a few handfuls of briquets, turned it for the first time, and spritzed it. Setting the alarm to wake me in 1 am for the first check, because i'm not sure I trust the way the low temp alarm on the wireless thermometer works... It's been holding 265 F nicely; that's my target, and also fairly high for a WSM. They seem to max out at 300 F with all vents open wide.

It should have time for a couple of hours of resting, insulated, in the cooler--that is a critical step. I'll likely wrap in butcher paper to get it past the stall, then leave it in the paper when I pull if off the smoker. The paper leaves the bark in fairly good shape; it can get soft when wrapped in foil. I'm shooting for a higher pull temp; I've read a number of sources that favor 200 F before taking it off the heat.

The thread title is almost spot-on. I've got a 14.3 lb brisket that is going on the smoker in a couple of hours. I trimmed it and injected it (beef broth) early this morning and it has been marinating ever since in beef broth with some cider vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and onion powder. By 6:30 I'll have it rubbed with a black pepper/kosher salt mix containing also some garlic and onion powders and cayenne. On smoke over oak/hickory by 7:30 or 8, then begins the long night of babysitting the WSM smoker. I should be able to pull it to rest by mid-afternoon tomorrow, for an early dinner. It should be a fine kickoff to the July 4 weekend.

Shamelessly stolen from one of the pilot boards: Once in a while we just have to stand back in awe of our government. The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever - to 46 million people. Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, asks us, “Please Do Not Feed the Animals." Their stated reason for the policy is because "the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves.” This ends today's lesson in irony....

I've got that same saw! So I don't need another...but mine also sat for a few years when I couldn't get it to start. When I finally found time to work on it, it was a simple matter of removing the air cleaner, hosing out the carburetor with carb cleaner, putting in fresh fuel, and it's been running fine ever since. It got a fair bit of use this year, when two monster limbs (16 and 26" max diameter) came down on my yard.