Tyson Goes OutsideEverything outdoors and adventure!

Dec 13th WARTIME WHEELGUN

Shooting a Webley MKIV

This is probably my favorite article to date, it was just a lot of fun to write, I had a friend help me make it all work and I have since started casting ammunition for this gun which is a fun way to spend a Saturday. It was also published in the March/April 2021 of the Canadian Firearms Journal. As a result of it being published I received an email from a retired Toronto police officer saying he had used one in the 70’s, I exchanged a few emails with him because he was simply an interesting man. Its also worth noting that currently, the Liberal party of Canada has used an OIC to “freeze” handgun transfers while they push through Bill C21 to make it permanent (as well as enacts the largest firearms ban in Canadian history) as a result, the only people in Canada who will get to enjoy these guns are the people who already own them. It makes me sad to think that no Canadian will ever again feel the sense of joy and accomplishment of getting one of these old guns to work again.

Like many gun owners, I have a lengthy mental list of firearms I would like to own someday. Of course, they must be available for the right price for me to actually make a purchase. One such firearm is a Webley revolver. I am not sure why I want one, maybe its because it’s a top break or because I have a soft spot for old military firearms. Either way, a friend of mine owned one and I was a touch envious, and having shot one, I knew I really wanted one of my own.

I have come close to buying one several times, even to the point of having one in the digital shopping cart and thinking, “I better wait, $300 is a lot right now.” Well, now that I’m a touch older, but still no wiser, I decided to try and track one down. Sadly, it looks like the price on them has nearly doubled since the first time I almost bought one. I asked around, and the few that I could find were well over $500 and often the tanker model with the bobbed hammer. I wanted cheap and I wanted the option of single or double-action.

Finally, one morning, earlier this year, the stars aligned. I woke up a little earlier than usual and was too lazy to get out of bed, so instead I went on my phone and casually perused some websites known for selling used guns. I do this whenever I am bored, just in case something from that mental list jumps up. In this case, Ellwood Epps had a Webley MK IV in 38/200 (aka 38 S&W). The price was about right, just a touch over $400. Once my wife woke up, before she was able to get some coffee into herself to gather her senses, I asked her if I could scoop it up. On her way to the coffee maker, she mumbled, “Yeah, sure, whatever.” It’s a classic Jedi mind trick, use it carefully.

While I waited for the government to rubber stamp the transfer, I did a bit of research and found out this gun, according to the serial number, was made in 1944 (via armsresearch.co.uk). As a result of being made for the war effort, mine is also stamped “WAR FINISH.” I am told this is there because the manufacturer was rushing production and didn’t want people thinking all their guns were that rough around the edges. I do have to say though, this specific one seems to have a nice finish compared to some of the images I have been able to find on Google. Mine only has some milling marks on smaller features and parts, while some photos show a rough finish on the sides of the frame itself. In my digital travels I also found that the revolver was originally designed to have a 200-grain bullet, hence its designation of 38/200.

Tracing the lineage of the MK IV in 38/200 is a wild ride. The MK numbers seem to have been somewhat reused on new models in new calibers and a lot of information online is contradictory, so I did my best to sift through.  Webley & Scott began in 1790 making bullet moulds and has manufactured firearms since 1834 (webleyandscott.com). Their first top break model, the MK 1 in .455 Webley being adopted by the British and by extension the commonwealth armies in 1887. After several quick upgrades and modifications, they were at the MK VI still in .455 Webley. These were the service revolver for the Boer War and the First World War (wikipedia.org/wiki/Webley_Revolver). Shortly after the First World War it was determined that .455 Webley was too large for some soldiers to use effectively, after trials it was replaced with a small but heavy 200 grain .38 caliber, hence 38/200.  It was found, in this weight, to have similar stopping power as the .455 Webley. Initially the contract to make the revolvers for this new cartridge was given to Enfield to make the No 2 Mark 1. However, it seems Enfield could not keep up with demand and Webley was given a contract to make their MK IV in 38/200. It was the standard sidearm for British and Commonwealth forces through the second world war and into the early 1960s (norfolktankmuseum.co.uk/webley-revolver/). Police in Singapore and Honk Kong used them up until the 1970s (wikipedia.org/wiki/Webley_Revolver). Currently, Webley & Scott only make their pistols in air gun versions. India Ordinance Factories still make several pistols based on the Webley design but in .32 caliber. Notably there is a 2 inch, 5 inch, and lightweight model (4.5” barrel and titanium frame) and I would absolutely love to get one of these (ofb.gov.in/civil-trade). The lightweight model, called the NIRBHEEK, retails for 105,000 rupees (or about $1825 cad) its just a shame its in .32 caliber so its prohibited here.

One unfortunate thing I found in my research was that 38 S&W ammunition is expensive. Nearly a dollar a round locally. When I purchased the Webley, I didn’t plan on reloading for it, but that plan changed immediately upon seeing the price of ammo. So, I ordered some brass and dies. They were easy enough to find, but a 200-grain bullet does not seem to exist for a .38 caliber revolver. It seems this has been a problem since the beginning for the 38/200. During the Second World War munitions for the revolvers had to come from the USA in the form of 38 S&W, complete with a 145-grain projectile which was found to be underpowered for battlefield usage (norfolktankmuseum.co.uk/webley-revolver/).

The old Webley finally came in the mail and it was time to make it go bang. The only projectiles I had handy were some 148 grain wadcutters that my 1873 cattleman revolver (357 Mag.) likes. The most useful information I could find was in my old Number 11 Speer Reloading Manual from 1988 (the year before I was born). None of my newer books or online resources had anything to contribute. I loaded some up with Bullseye powder and headed to the range. I was shocked by two things. First, how much smoke Bullseye produces, I had never used it before and actually stopped to check online that this was normal. Now that I know it’s normal, I find it kind of fun, like shooting black powder. The second shock was that my point of impact was about eight inches low of my point of aim at 10 yards. This worried me as my sights are not adjustable.

As for the rest of the gun, the trigger feels good in single-action, no creep and minimal over travel. In double-action it was a bit of a gong show, as the only way I could shoot it and hit paper was if I went very slowly, to the point that it was faster to shoot it as a single-action. Glad I didn’t buy the tanker model. The gun was also a lot snappier in the hand than I thought the small 38 S&W would be, likely owing to the pistol’s small stature.

I was now doing research on how to make a pistol shoot higher. It turns out, its very counter intuitive to a rifle guy like me. The trick is a heavier bullet, so that is goes slower and has more dwell time in the barrel as the recoil pushes the muzzle up. This makes sense since the gun was designed for a 200-grain bullet. I was now in an odd place; in that you cannot buy cast lead bullets in small quantities and I didn’t want to buy 500 of something that would give me the same problem. I asked around online about different bullet weights and received no useful help, which is normal for online questions. Typically, asking a question like that online turns into someone suggesting the problem is the person shooting the gun. Here’s a funny side story; I mentioned once I was having trouble with my CZ 550 in 375 H&H and someone suggested I was “probably limp-wristing it.” So, take the internet’s advice with a grain of salt. That said, my internet inquires were not a complete waste as a friend from 3-gun had spotted one and contacted me to let me know he was casting 158 grain bullets for his revolver and would happily give me some to try. I swung by his house hoping to grab ten and he gave me nearly fifty. I know Kurt is a good guy because we are relatively new acquaintances, and he was casting them in a single-cavity mould. He also showed me his powder coating setup.

I ran home and loaded those bullets up as fast as I could and hit the range the next day. The darn things worked perfectly! Offhand the groups were still not great (5 or 6 inches at 10 yards), but they were to point of aim. Using a rest, I was able to get about a 3inch group at 10 yards. Using a rest, however, proved to be an interesting lesson in harmonics, resting on the barrel caused the groups to migrate about 5 inches south of point of aim.  This made me aware of two things. One, I need to work on my pistol shooting and two… I had to start casting and powder coating. I had already been batting around the idea of casting for other pistols and before this latest OIC nonsense I was casting for my cannon already, although casting a 13,000-grain (1.8lbs) slug for a cannon is a bit slower of an affair than a 158-grain pistol bullet. Luckily for me, my stepdad has been casting for years and has his local tire shop supplying him with lead, he also, more importantly, has the space and the melting pot. So now I have gone out and bought a two-cavity mould to make bullets and a used toaster oven for coating them.

Sadly, COVID-19 restrictions mean I cannot go out and start making bullets just yet, so I may have to crack and buy a box of loaded stuff off the shelf in the meantime… dang it. 

In any case, the work and the fun will continue for some time. I’ve learned a bunch and my education isn’t over. If you like getting old gun shooting again, these vintage Webleys are great projects.

Nov 28th Spectre Ballistics 10/22 Adaptor

This was an article originally published in November/December issue of the Canadian Firearms Journal, distributed through The NFA. It can be downloaded and read here.

I had the opportunity to test the 10/22 Magazine Adapter from Spectre Ballistics, a local Alberta company that’s big on creative solutions. This handy device allows you to use Remington 597 magazines in a Ruger 10/22. Why does anyone want that? Simple, magazine capacity. Rugers, due to the existence of a rare pistol variant called the “10/22 Charger” can only have a 10 round magazine because the standard 10/22 magazine is now considered a pistol magazine. The Remington 597, on the other hand, only comes in rifle models and as such is not subject to magazine capacity laws. Under Canadian law, you can modify a firearm to take any magazine and the magazine is only subject to the laws of its original manufacture. This is why so many people with AR-15s, normally only allowed 5 rounds, would buy 10 round LAR (AR-15 pistol) magazines and use them in their rifles and be legal. However, it is important to note that it is illegal to modify a magazine to fit a rifle.

So, here’s the scoop. Install is a snap, take out your old magazine, put this in its place and you are done. No milling, drilling, or gunsmithing. This I liked. As for reliability, the only issues I could make happen were pushing the magazine forward while firing, it would prevent the action from going into battery completely, creating a light strike. I twisted, pushed, and pulled every which way with no other issues, even firing the rifle upside down (in a safe fashion) caused no troubles.

After some usage, the only flaw I can find is that Remington 597 magazines are not great. I had 2 of them shatter springs. Initially I thought the adapter was causing feed issues, but upon inspection, my magazines sounded like maracas. I took them apart and found that what should have been 1 long spring was 9 pieces in one magazine and 4 pieces in the other. A bit of research online shows that some people have had much better results with the 597 magazines if they do a break in process. The process is simple, only load it to 5 rounds a few times, then only 10 a few times, then 15 so on and so on.

One thing I was hesitant about, but really came around on, is the magazine release being on the left-hand side. I worried it would be awkward, it was not. It turns out I much prefer it over the original Ruger release. With the factory 10/22 magazine, and release, I found to remove the magazine I would maintain control of the rifle with my right hand and then use my left thumb to hit the release and catch the magazine in my palm as it fell. With this adaptor and longer magazine, I can maintain control of the rifle with my right hand, grab the magazine with my left, then use my left thumb to hit the release and pull the magazine out. This allows me to always have positive control of both the firearm and the magazine. In a rushed reload, like say, a shooting competition, you could have a fresh magazine in your left hand, hit the release with your left index finger, allow the magazine to free fall (it has enough weight and clearance to do so) and then insert the fresh magazine.

I think anyone who picks up one of these adaptors will be happy they did. After being lent one to test, I’ve decided to buy one. You can buy them direct from www.SpectreBallistics.com

Aug 18th Grassroots Rimfire

This article was actually also published in the January/February 2021 issue of The Canadian Firearms Journal.

I recently had the pleasure of trying something new, to me. I was cordially invited to participate in a 50-meter prone shoot. To my understanding, we followed the rules set out by the Alberta Smallbore Rifle Association (www.absbrifle.ca) more or less. You’ll have to forgive any technical errors in this story as I am still unsure of all the rules and regulations surrounding the event. They were explained to me on a need to know basis, and I can’t help but feel some exceptions and allowances had been made to allow anyone to compete with whatever they brought. It was all for fun, so I feel no one was hurt, but professionals may take issue with it, understandably so. If you would like to correct me, there’s a comment section below, I am always happy to learn.

The shoot took place at the home of a family friend, Russ. Despite my owning several .22 LR rifles, none of them seemed up to the task of a marksmanship competition, neither did I, for that matter. At any rate, my Stepdad, Darrell, was also attending the event so he was kind enough to allow me to use his rifle and ammo. He also paid my match fee, bonus. The rifle we were sharing was a CZ that had been highly customized for long-range precision. This meant heavy with a high-power optic, he also affixed a support sling and lent me a glove. I was informed that this put us into the “hunting rifle” category, while most other people were using iron sights and were shooting sans-sling putting them in “sporting.” I was told the basic rules, we had 30 minutes to shoot a total of 20 rounds at four targets. We were allowed to take as many “sighter” shots as we needed at the appropriate targets (placed near the top of our target paper). The shooting had to be unsupported, meaning no bipods or sandbags. At this point I could feel myself starting to panic, my only goal at this point was to avoid embarrassment…

Lucky for me, there were nine of us and only three could shoot at a time, so I got to see some other shooters go first. It looked simple enough, but 50 meters can sure seem far away some days. When it was finally my turn, it was well… ugly. The days light rain had turned to heavy rain, luckily the shooting line was sheltered. I struggled to understand how to best utilize the sling. Also, in my fury of discomfort holding a 10 plus lb rifle I shot my neighbor’s target. Wayne, the fellow next door, was using a beautiful Marlin 39a with a Skinner peep sight. We both agreed on which hole in his target was mine, it was the one that looked like a flier. After that first volley, I was in second-last place in my division and things weren’t looking up.

We took a break and had some amazing chilli for lunch. We ate inside Russ’s garage, which, was more of a comfortable workshop complete with a wood stove. While we ate, we noticed the rain had turned to huge snowflakes. February in Alberta, you never know what the day will hold. The first group went out to shoot again in that heavy snow. Then just as they finished and Darrell got comfortable on the line, the snow stopped, a lucky break for us. His volley went well but, somehow, he only put 19 rounds on paper, none of use could figure out where the 20^th went. Best guess was he loaded one of his 4 magazines with only 4 rounds. After him it was my turn. I learned from my first round that 30 minutes is a long time. I took some real time to get comfortable and find a way to make the sling work for me. In the previous volley I had really used a lot of my bicep to hold the gun up. This time I slid the sling farther up my arm, above my elbow and put my hand behind the sling swivel. This allowed me to relax my arm and get some serious stability. I also dropped the optic down from 20x to 12x just to reduce the shaking. This volley went substantially better and I felt quite good about it.

After that volley we decided there was enough daylight for a 3^rd volley. Everyone’s targets had seemed to improve as the day progressed, but I felt I really improved by my 3^rd time around. By the time the dust settled, Russ had beaten me by a mile, but I still took first in my division, of only 4 people… and it was a tight race. Had it not been for the 3rd round that simply would not have been the case. There were no awards or prizes for winning since it was such a small event put on for fun. However, Russ, to keep it exciting, took our match fees and took half to pay for targets and lunch and raffled the other half off in a 50/50 style draw. Wouldn’t you know it? I won that too. If you recall earlier in this story, someone else paid my match fee, I used a borrowed gun and borrowed ammo… I was up $90 after a day of free shooting. Hard to beat that deal. I consider that money earmarked for a proper match rifle. Hopefully, I’ll get invited back next time.

My final, and best, target is now hung up on the wall of my gun room. I like it there, as a reminder that these grassroots fun shoots still exist. Seems these days everyone wants a social media bonanza with sponsors and prize tables. I worry that sometimes I lose sight of the point of shooting competitions: to be a better shooter than I was before and make some friends along the way.

Jul 29th Cannon Shoot

Every family has strange traditions… one of my family’s particularly odd ones is attending the annual cannon shoot. I was lucky enough to have this story published in the NFA’s firearms journal, their bi-monthly publication that they send to members. For more information on the NFA (and how to become a member) visit their website here.

My parents have the second weekend of September booked off indefinitely for the annual cannon shoot. Its a full weekend event, most folks drive out Friday and camp out until Sunday.  I have attended it a few times over the years and have seen my step-dad’s cannon do a lot of shooting over the years, he’s had it for about as long as I’ve been alive and definitely as long as I can remember. In 2016 I went and assisted my friend Brad who had made his own cannon and mortar, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. What I enjoy most about the competition is that its not really that competitive, I think there’s more competition on who can make the best joke on the firing line… in fact there is a trophy for that, called the “Screw Ball” award. Another aspect that I always find a bit interesting is that my step-dad and his friend Germain, who run the cannon together, are usually the youngest guys there by about 25 years. So naturally there’s a wealth of knowledge there but also there’s just something about old black powder guys that just makes them fun to hang around with.. maybe its the sense of humor required to use a dirty, smoking, outdated method of propulsion, or maybe there’s just some chemicals in that smoke that cross your wires. Either way, if you ever get a chance to spend time with a group of old black powder shooters, do it, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

Darrell and Germain’s cannon

Well, last year one of the old guard of the group had off-hand mentioned that he wasn’t sure he was up to coming out this next year. Running a cannon alone is a lot of work, in fact doing it with two people still constitutes a good workout, if you ask me. At any rate, my parents did what any parent would do… they volunteered a child as free labour to a cannoneer. I just realized that statement probably hasn’t been relatable for over 100 years. Furthermore, I am always interested in things that go boom, and learning, so I was on board immediately. My original plan was to help Brad with his cannon too, as I had the year before. However, he ended up not coming due to work obligations.. can you imagine being such a workaholic that you miss a cannon shoot? Poor guy needs help.

This year the cannon shoot was in Athabasca, which is lucky because my dad lives near there so I was able to sleep at his house over the weekend. I arrived Saturday morning and was introduced to Dan, he was an older fellow and was dressed pretty much how you’d expect a seasoned cannon shooter to be dressed. Blue jeans, a button up western shirt, suspenders, cowboy boots, and a hat that has seen more miles than I have. We hit it off immediately, we headed to his cannon and he gave me a once over of it and walked me through the procedure. Ill give you a quick step by step with some side notes here.

1. MAKE SURE NO ONE IS DOWN RANGE ( he didn’t tell me this, but its just common sense that I feel is important to drill into everyone)
2. Grease and load a led slug into the barrel. The most common projectiles are lead cylinders between 1 and 2 inch diameter, ours were 1 3/4 across I believe, and typically about 3 inches long or so. Guys make them by melting and pouring lead into a mold, the most common way to get bulk lead is weights from tire shops. We would also usually grease or lube a few slugs at a time and just set them aside. The slugs where placed into the rear of the cannon and tapped all the way in with a metal bar and a hammer until flush.
3. Next we take the breech and fill it with black powder (about a prescription pill container full.. that was our unit of measure), place some wadding on top and then insert a fuse into the side.
4. Screw the breech onto the back of the cannon (where you had just put the lead slug) usually we had to use a bar as a snipe to get it on all the way.
5. Aim the cannon at your target, typically cannons use a peep sight on the rear and a post on the front. Left and right is adjusted by moving the rear of the cannon along the ground, often a tap with a hammer is enough to shift it. Elevation is adjusted with a screw gear between the barrel and the carriage, allowing the barrel to pivot up and down on its mounts.
6. Announce to the line that you are ready, we were station two so we would yell “Ready on two!”
7. Once all cannons on the line were ready we would fire in turn “Firing on two!” light the fuse with a propane torch, announce “fire in the hole!” and watch your target and hope you hit it.
8. Once everyone has fired, the breech is unscrewed and a wet rag is pushed down the barrel to clean it and make sure there’s no smoldering bits of black powder or wadding that could set off the next load of powder. A dry rag is then run through.
9. The breech threads are wiped with a wire brush.
10. The cannon is pushed forward back to the line, the shot pushed it back about a foot
11. Back to step 1.

The Shooting line. We are second from the end (white chassis)

Black powder is very dirty to work with. I was wearing rubber gloves but they would just rip from handling bits of metal and tightening the breech on and off. I tried leather work gloves but found I needed a bit more dexterity for loading the slugs in so they were constantly on and off. By the end of the day I admitted defeat and just let my hands turn black.

Our reloading bench, that is the breech and you can see a lead slug in the lower left

Back to the actual event. Dan was giving me a quick once over of his cannon and as I bent down to have a look at the bore, my nose started to bleed. It was off to rough start today, I quickly grabbed some paper towel and plugged my nose. Its rare for me to get a nose bleed but it inevitable happens at the worst times, of course.

Our first shoot of the day was at metal pipe at about 100 yards. We loaded up and aimed the cannon. Dan said that his gun usually shoots a bit to the right so lets go a touch left of center. I sighted us in and he bent down for a final inspection, said “looks good” and we were ready to rock. Station one, a very funny man named Henry, fired and missed by millimeters. Dan handed me the torch and told me to light it. I fired up the fuse and hoped for the best. The cannon let out a crack and a whole mess of smoke and the pipe did a back-flip. We hit it a little low of dead center. It was going to be a fantastic day. We had two more shots at the piece of pipe “where it lays” we hit it once more. The next event was stumps, same distance, hit the stump and then try and hit the largest piece that’s left, 3 shots. Our first shot split the stump and the second one cracked what was left, we missed the third. The points were, I believe 1 point per hit, the rules were kinda made up immediately before we shot. This part of the event was referred to as “the junk shoot” so it was pretty free and easy. The next junk shoot was an old fire alarm bell on a 2 inch stake, about 4 feet tall. It was decided, 3 points for hitting the bell, 1 for hitting the post and 2 for cutting the post. Our first shot rang the bell and sent it sailing 40 yards down range, our following two scared the post but never connected.

Dan making sure we are lined up

Stumps before

Stumps after

I was wondering if a slug would go through or just deform the bell. Now I know.

My favorite event, which was something new they decided to try this year, was “The Post”. Each cannon would take a turn shooting at the same post, it was a point for a hit and 2 points for cutting the post down. Cutting it down would also signal the end of the round. With 7 cannons we did three rounds. Several of the teams hit it and gave it a good wobble, and you could see a lot of kindling fly off of it, but it just didn’t want to go down.. that was until, Dan and I managed to bull it over with a shot that may have been more luck than skill, but keep that under your hat for me. We decided to break for lunch, some sandwiches, chili, and a variety of other snacks. My mom is the raining champion of cannon shoot food, every year its the highlight of the event… she does the same thing at the annual DMay fun shoot too. Im sure half of those guys arent into cannons or guns, just good meals. While having lunch a few people, including Dan had mentioned that his gun was shooting very well this year. There was some joking debate about if it was fresh eyes or beginners luck that made the difference. Either way I was happy with how the day was going.

After lunch we went back for the official shoots. There were two, one shooting at individual targets at 100 yards, and we were given points for however close were were to the bullseye. This shoot was called the “Roger Cadeaux Memorial” in reference to an older member who had passed away. Dan and I did ok, but Darrell and Germain tied with another team which lead to a shoot off, one shot, closest to center wins. That last event of the day was everyone shooting, in turn, at a large bulls-eye at 200 yards. This was again a memorial shoot named after Mr. Andy Wood, who had also passed. We did manage to connect but we did not shine at this event. I was still pretty pleased with the results of the day. After that we had supper, another staple of the event. We had some meatballs in mushroom sauce, amazing homemade chicken wings, a variety salads and some very noteworthy desserts. By the end of the meal I was worried I would split open like those stumps we shot. We then sat and joked and told stories and just generally enjoyed ourselves. Dan wandered over and handed me a beer and we toasted the days success. When the daylight was far enough away, I headed to my dads and spent some time with him. Discussed the day and pet the pug.

Our results for the Roger Cadeaux event

The next morning we were back out with the cannons. The first event was tires. Truck tires were set perpendicular to the shooting line (so they could roll toward or away from us) and we had three shots to see who could get the most distance. After each shot we could go stand our tires back up. Our tire only rolled a few feet but, to our right, at station three, they managed to push theirs nearly 100 yards. Darrell and Germain had theirs roll back and fall over right behind someone else’s tire, effectively blocking them. It wasn’t intentional but we all considered it a personal favour anyway. Next, and my second favourite shoot, was water filled washer jugs and propane tanks. They were placed at random between 80 and 120 yards. There were seven cannons, so the jugs and tanks were spray painted with numbers so there were 3 with each number on them, then were drew straws to see what number you were shooting at. Dan and I got number 5. What made this fun for me was that because they were randomly set out, some targets were blocked by other peoples so you had to strategise a bit. Shooting a far target first would reduce your chances of someone else’s target landing in your way after it got shot, but it also, in our case, meant that a slight miss would mean hitting a competitors target and giving them a free point. We opted to work front to back in the hopes that people would knock their targets out of way. As luck would have it, we went three for three on our washer jugs. It is a great feeling to see those jugs explode when that much lead slams into them.

Up next were the mortars. This event was the Doc memorial. I had actually met Doc a few times over the years, to describe him as a character probably wouldn’t quite do him justice. Lets just say he was well liked and not the kind of fellow you forget meeting. In fact he was so dedicated to the cannon community that last year we had spread his ashes, via a mortar, at the cannon shoot. We also hung a picture of him at the firing line so he could watch.

The mortars are loaded and operated in a similar fashion to the cannons, though most people fill them from the top instead of having a removable breech like the cannons. For shot, some people use lead with a bit of a tail on it to help stabilize it and some people, like Dan, use cement filled beer cans. Darrell and my friend Brad (who got most of his designs from Darrell) use hockey pucks held together with an eye bolt which has a rope attached to it, this stabilizes and helps us find them when you miss and hit the trees. They all have their pros and cons, the pucks tend to bounce more which can sometimes help you get closer to target… or throw you away from it. Where as the lead and cement cans are more authoritative in their landing. Lead seems to get the least push from wind, and beer cans full of cement are typically the cheapest to make. Pick your poison, as they say. I like the pucks, personally, as they are the easiest to make and not too expensive. The goal when shooting a mortar is to get as close as possible to an object, typically a tire laid down at about 75 yards, and bounces count. Mortars are always a good time because its mostly guess work and something funny always happens, someone puts a half load and throws their shot 4 feet or doubles the load and loses their shot passed the end of the 200 yard berm. This year was no exception and Dan and I lost a can into the trees. I couldn’t find it, but I did find a different brand of beer can full of cement that someone had lost the previous year, so we came with six cans and left with six cans, who cares if they weren’t the same. We didnt do particularly well in this event but it was still fun.

After the mortars, it was all over. We packed up our gear onto trailers and into trucks. Everyone pitched in and helped everyone get packed up. We then had some lunch, leftover chili and some more sandwiches and what ever desserts were left. That chili was just as good second time around, no question. After we were all squared away we met up in the club house for the final numbers and trophies. The screw ball award went to Darrell who I believe had had and incident and dumped a breech full of black powder onto the ground. I dont recall the mortar trophy’s new owner or the proud recipients of the Andy Wood and Roger Cadeaux. Then to my surprise I was awarded “Best Effort” more as a thanks for all my running around up and down range and helping everyone load up. Its usually the award given to new comers so I kinda got it by default, but I was still more than happy to accept it. Then when they started doing the top 3 overall, I got excited thinking Dan and I may have squeaked into 3rd place. We were shooting well all weekend and I was half keeping an eye on the competition and I knew we were in the top half or so. Third place was announced and it wasn’t us, so I figured we placed 4th or so, not too shabby if you ask me. 2nd place went to Darrell and Germain, which isn’t surprising as they are pretty good with that gun of theirs. When they announced 1st place my hat nearly flew off. Dan and I had somehow accumulated enough points in the junk shoots and kept up well enough in the other events we pulled off 1st place! This gave us two trophies as there is one for overall 1st place and one for bore diameter over 1.5 inch which we also qualified for. Dan and I shook hands and celebrated our success. We each got a 1st place trophy to take home and put on the shelf to brag about to guests. Those 2 trophies (best effort and 1st place) are real conversation starters, I must say.

As we packed up and headed out I shook Dan’s hand again and thanked him for the cannon education. He thanked me for the help. Just before I left I said “do it again next year?” “yep” was his reply. I’m already looking forward to it.

It also occurred to me and made me chuckle… I have a trophy for winning a cannon shoot, and I dont even own a cannon. But never fear, I plan on building one someday, and dont worry, you’ll hear all about it.

The Illustrious Screw Ball Award. I feel like more competitions need this trophy.