Monday, November 1, 2010

Tomorrow's Vote

For my friends who could use some help tomorrow. Here are my voting plans for tomorrow. The list mostly reflects the NRA recommended list. This is a particularly important time for 2nd Amendment rights in the state of Ohio. So Governor, Supreme Court, Attorney General and State House and State Senate are particularly critical choices.

The most important ones are in orange.

Governor - Ted Strickland (D)
Lieutenant Governor - Mary Taylor (R)
Attorney General - Richard Cordray (D)
Secretary of State - Jon Husted (R)
Auditor - Dave Yost (R)
Treasurer - Josh Mandel (R)
Chief Justice of Ohio Supreme Court - Maureen O'Connor (R)
Justice of Ohio Supreme Court - Judith Ann Lanzinger (R)
State Senate - Frank LaRose (R)
State House - Lynn Slaby (R)
US Senate - Rob Portman (R)
US House - Steve LaTourette (R)

For auditor the Democratic opponent didn't seem bad either. Both were pro-gun (not that it matters for an auditor). The Republican was endorsed by CPAs and the Democrat was endorsed by mostly newspapers. I think I'll side with the accountants.

There is also a school levy I think I'm going to vote for. It sounds like they have been trying to be frugal.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Punderson State Park - Recon

I saw online that Punderson State Park has an archery range--an unattended range. I was expecting perhaps some land set aside with signs and maybe some marked boxes on the ground showing where to stand and where to put the targets you brought with you.

I was curious and decided to go check it out since I was in the area. What I found was much more impressive than I expected.







They have a range going out to at least 50 yards with actual target backstops already in place.

Here's one from a distance. Notice there are also grooves for sledding on the hill in winter.



In addition to the fairly standard looking range, they also have something like an archery golf course back through the woods. You move from station to station and shoot.







Some additional random notes about Punderson:
  • There is pretty decent tennis court at the top of the hill.
  • There is a golf course and a Frisbee golf course.
  • Restroom facilities range from not very good to actual hole in ground. Take some sanitizer.

Yum! - Perch sandwich

It is always difficult to find a good fish sandwich in Ohio. We aren't really known for seafood. Still I had an excellent fried perch sandwich today at Blazin Bills. Blazin, because it is a barbecue place in case there was a doubt.



Unfortunately, I didn't think of taking a picture until I had eaten half of it and fished of fresh baked bread they brought before it. It was delicious! It is a long way from my house, but I think I'll try to find some more excuses to drive out that way.

Range Report

Today's trip to the range was primary to get used to shooting my new Ruger 10/22 with iron sights. It seems to be shooting about 3 inches high and 5 inches left. I should be able to adjust the sights compensate but stupidly forgot to bring the necessary tools to the range.

Below are some of my later targets at 50 yards after I tried to manually compensate. I have some work to do on my accuracy.




Below is also at 50 yards with my Savage 17HMR with 3-9x40mm scope and bipod. 1 shot per target. It is very good gun. I seriously believe the only reason they aren't all bulls-eyes at that here is only my level of skill. It is sighted for 100 yards. I was having a hard time forcing my self to aim low enough.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Ohio Senate Bill 239 Passes - Restaurant Carry

A modification to the rules for concealed firearm carry passed the Ohio Senate Thursday. The Columbus Dispatch has the most detailed article I could find.

The Ohio Senate Bill, SB 239, like its House counterpart, HB 203, would allow CCW permit holders to exercise their permit in restaurants that serve alcohol just like they are allowed to already in any other store or restaurant, so long as they themselves do not drink.

I prefer the language of the Senate Bill to that of the House Bill because it actually removes words from the law and is easier to read. I don't really want to have to know about the different classes of liquor licenses to determine which buildings I can walk into.

SB 239 goes beyond the House Bill in that it also removes restrictions on how firearms may be carried in cars. The current law has some somewhat confusing language about closed containers and such which might be easy to violate accidentally or that may be unevenly enforced by officers. I personally consider this part of the revision far less important than the restaurant carry modification. There is some wisdom in at least requiring that that the weapon be holstered and in some way restrained so that it is not allowed to freely float around the car's interior. That said, I welcome simplification of the law. Hopefully that safety issue can be addressed just as effectively in training classes and the Ohio CCW handbook without requiring the force of law.

I would like to thank the Ohio Senators who voted for this bill and encourage the Ohio House members to act swiftly to pass it there as well. This is one of the few Ohio laws that affects my daily routine and I would very much like to see it adopted. It would certainly make going to Chipotle easier.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Good use of a slow motion camera.

This guy makes fine use of a slow motion camera. The part around 2:09 is particularly good.