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3. "The Frozen Chosen", or what I did yesterday instead of fly fishing

My fly rods haven't seen the light of day in quite a while, October 30th if I remember correct (brain is just now thawing out). We've been pounded by snow, high winds, and arctic temperatures, as probably many of the rest of you have. I've just about gone nuts the past month being cooped up inside staring at snow I can't ski on without getting pneumonia. The lower Au Sable froze again from bank to bank and who knows what the trout streams look like right now, not to mention the accesses...

So what does one do to keep one's sanity at this time of year? Go out and shoot some nice old vintage military rifles in the snow! As titled above, the event is meant to celebrate the battle of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea, when the US Army and Marines were surrounded by Mao's Red Army and had to fight their way out in even more horrible conditions than we have been putting up with lately...Well, we didn't have the Red Chinese hordes shooting back at us, but it was snowing and around 20F - which felt WARM! Also, no wind, at last...almost balmy. So I packed up the M1 Garand, a bandolier of ammo, my shooting bag, a tarp to lay on, and an OD Army blanket in case the tarp wasn't enough. We each shot at least five sighting rounds (I got to shoot 8) to make sure we were all sighted in, and thirty rounds for score, ten slow-fire prone, ten rapid-fire prone, and ten slow-fire standing offhand (the last was the toughest). I hit the paper 27 times out of thirty - targets were about two feet square with a six-inch bull's-eye. Quite the challenge, and I didn't shoot very well (185 out of 300 possible), but it was a heck of a lot of fun and a great treatment for cabin fever. And I would have knocked off a few bad guys too...

Jonathon

I think it was quite neat to get out there with your Korean War guns & stuff and go shoot some rounds. I remember my father telling me he was issued a M1 Garand when he was in WW II and he said he had earned a Marksmens badge. I have no idea what that means other than I guess he hit the target well. I kind of remember lifting one when I was a kid and remember they were quite heavy. Do you know the weight?

Matt, according to what I have read, 9.6 lbs. And that feels about right when you lift one. The nice thing about the Garand is that between the weight and the design of the operating mechanism you don't feel much recoil, the rifle muzzle merely jumps and of course you hear a good loud BOOOOOM!

I've got several other nice old military guns and they have vintage rifle shoots at the range here in Oscoda during the summer. Gonna do it this year if I don't get too busy with consulting and teaching (though I want to be because that's where I make my money)...

If you ever find your way out here I will take you to the range and we can burn up a few rounds. Oh, and hit a couple of trout streams as well!

Jonathon

Yes, the Garand is quite a gun. I shot one only once but was immediately impressed. An amazingly well thought out design that isn't obvious until you shoot it. Big, clunky, even awkward looking I'd always thought. It was heavy in hand, until you put it to your shoulder, and the weight distribution made it point fast, recoil very little, and stay on target. Very impressive rifle. They are a thing of functional beauty in my mind now.

Did you guys happen to notice that the lead photo a newbie will see when checking us out is a photo of... vintage military rifles? The next one is cheesecake?

I know it's a bleak Winter and I certainly have nothing against either, but let's not make a habit of this.

If I start seeing photos of coin collections and needlepoint, I'm afraid I won't be able to control the delete button...:)

Sorry Kurt for my part. I did try to stick the word "trout" in there, or
"invertebrate" (for those lilly-livered pinkos that hang out around here on occasion), even considered "inveterate", but decided to quit while I was behind.

:):)