Thoughts on the Weekend

• I have the best wife on Earth.  I got a membership to my indoor range for Christmas and a membership to my outdoor range for my birthday.  They came with an admonishment, on multiple occasions, to use them both enough to justify the cost.  I'm going to have to up my ammo budget.
• The new stock and sights on the 10/22 are great.  Definitely need to do a lot more work with that one so that I can be ready for Appleseed later this year.
• I tested my theory that the 22-A1 doesn't like the Federal or Winchester bulk pack .22 and I was right.  It does, however, have no issues whatsoever with the Remington bulk pack, so I'll keep a few boxes of that around just for that gun.  Also, you have to slap the magazine up into the well like it owes you money.
• The stock sights on the 22-A1 leave quite a bit to be desired.  The front post is about 1/8" wide, which means that at any real shooting distance, I have a hard time finding center mass on the target.  In addition, while I was able to get good, tight groups out of it, they were always left of center.  Adjustments of the rear sight all the way over only moved it a little closer to the center of the target.  I guess I can either use a bit of Kentucky windage to correct, have the slide ground to put better iron sights on it, or take advantage of the rail on top of the slide to put an inexpensive red-dot scope on it.
• To the guy teaching his son to shoot on the lane next to me:  Good for you for trying to bring your teenage son into the fold. One hint - berating him about accuracy on his first time out might not be the best approach.  Seriously dude, handing the kid a Beretta 92, pushing the target out to about 40 feet, and then giving him crap because he wasn't punching a ragged hole in the X ring is counter productive.  How about you start out with safety, proper grip, sight picture, and stance?  He might get more out of that than making him shoot two-handed, one handed strong and off hand, and pushing the target out further and further.  One final thing, when you're "showing him how it's done", it's not necessary to do breathing exercises and pump yourself up like an Olympic power lifter prior to bringing that big old 9mm up to bang out a magazine full of bullets.  Also, dude, the second time the nice range safety comes over to ask you to watch your muzzle might be a hint that you need some time working on the basics yourself.
• To the mother and her son two lanes down from me:  Congratulations on your purchase of a Remington semi-automatic .22 rifle with a Leupold scope.  Again, I think that a little more time on the basics like trigger control might benefit your son.  Also, cranking off 30 rounds of .22 in 10 seconds from a scoped rifle might be fun, but y'all might not be learning much more than what the nice range safety told you when he showed you to your lane, helped you unbox your new gun, showed you how to load the magazines and put them in the gun, and work the safety.  I do have to compliment both of you on your safety.  I never felt like one of you was going to cause me to have to spend money on a deductible. 
• I will someday find the engineer who designed the 22-A1 and beat him or her about the head and shoulders with a cucumber.  The takedown on that thing is pretty easy, but putting it back together when your fingers are slippery from gun oil and grease is a pain in the neck.
• Rollerskating rinks are just as fun for me as an adult who doesn't skate as they were for me as a child who didn't skate.
• Corollary:  One of the side benefits of being half cave troll is that no ice or roller skating rink has been able to rent me skates since the 6th grade.
• The following "entertainers" are on notice that they can bite my butt:  KC and the Sunshine Band, Rihanna, The Black Eyed Peas, Miley Cyrus, Kool and the Gang, and Britney Spears.  After three hours of listening to them and every other over-produced bit of tripe to come out in the last 40 years this afternoon, I hope they all die horribly.
• To the man at the roller rink with the tattoos all the way up his arm and neck, a well-worn Harley Davidson tee-shirt, and a bandanna, I grant you 500 bonus man points based upon the smile of the wee little girl in the pink shirt you were skating around the rink with today.
• Karma:  The universal force that causes the asshat on rollerblades who almost runs you and your 3 year old son down as you show him how to rollerskate for the first time to lose it in the next corner, crash into a concrete block wall, and have to be helped off the rink by his father.
• To the young boy who lost his balance on the rink and went parallel to the ground before crashing down on his face, who then got up, laughed about it, and took off skating:  Mal Hombre!
• To the 'tween boy who put on his skates, stood up, lost his balance, landed on his butt, and burst into tears because his "tushy hurt", the envelope returning your application for a Man Card should be at your mailbox shortly.
• There may be more blatant ways to show your daughter that you love her than by giving up your Sunday afternoon during the NFL playoffs to take her and her friends rollerskating and then having dinner with her and your ex-wife, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.