THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER!
It is upon us, but we hope the majority of the heat has passed as we celebrate the Summer Monsoons. Coming from the Midwest, I’m still not acclimated to the pop-up thunderstorms as opposed to the large storm front moving through. The storms in the Southwest are far different than those of the Midwest. When I saw all the horizontal and dry lightning in the old Western movies, I thought it was special effects. Not so. The lightning is spectacular, yet dangerous for the threat of starting wildfires.
Business at Gunsite continues to be like the wildfires. We appear before the Planning and Zoning Board this week making the official request to build a few more structures, enhancing the Mess Deck, a new warehouse (allowing us to use the old Classroom/Pro Shop to be classrooms) and more. Wish us luck on Thursday morning.
Gunsite Alumni Shoot (GAS Match) is about 8 weeks away and over 230 enrolled as of last Friday. (We hold at 300.). Time for you to enroll! Devious stages are in the final design stage and more and more prizes are being cataloged. Once enrolled, you will later receive emails with all the sordid details.
One of the events celebrating GAS is the annual Friday evening Steak Dinner. This began about 25 years ago with the legendary “Knuckleheads.” Our late friend and Rangemaster Mike Hughes and I worked the Knucklehead inaugural and several other classes. The group decided to throw some steaks on the grill Friday night preceding GAS. There were about 15 of us. The next year it was 20 and then more. Now it has grown into a fundraiser for The Jeff Cooper Legacy Foundation (JCLF) and we serve about 225 attendants. That is a great amount of beef! Sign up soonest when you get the notice so you don’t get left out so you can be another part of Gunsite history and legends.
The new 350 Pistol with Optics Class is August 19 alongside the 5-day Advanced Team Tactics for Two Course. The Seasoned Citizen 260 Shotgun and 3 day150 Defensive Pistol close out the month of August. The 150 Pistol is a great introduction to Gunsite or that necessary refresher of the basics. You can never get too much of the basics! The Master has failed more than the novice has tried. Master the basics!
September brings in Day Zero Pistol and Day Zero Carbine. (These new classes have received outstanding evaluations for helping bring up the novice shooters so Monday of the 250 or 223 is not as overwhelming. Of course, the 250 Pistol and 223 Carbine follows.
The ever-increasingly and evolving Tactical Concealed Carry Pistol (TCCP) with Eric Ingersoll, 270 General Rifle, Close Quarters Pistol, a 3 Day Team Tactics for Two TT42) with Sheriff Jim Wilson and Mossberg close out mid-September. (Team Tactic for Two is a tremendous learning experience for couples who have successfully completed 250. Speaking for my bride Shari and I, one of the best classes we have taken together and helped us learn to work better together as a team.)
We continue on September with 556 Carbine, and 250 Pistol with Optics (over 60% of the pistols we see in class have pistol-mounted optics. They are not the future, they are now.) Immediately preceding GAS are the 3-Day Tactical Medicine and the Double 250 and Double 350 classes.
Then GAS . . . .
If you are attending GAS, consider the 499 Pistol or Advanced Tactical Pistol Problems/Simulators or Scoped Carbine on the Monday following.
Whew . . . And that’s not all the classes, private classes, or industry media events. There isn’t much time to shop on eBay or play solitaire in my office. And of course, I have to make my afternoon trek down range . . . . (If you know, you know . . . “IYKYN.”)
Speaking of “IYKYN,” if you follow Gunsite on Facebook (And you should as well as Twitter/X and Instagram). you see my travel postings on aircraft. I always take gun publications with me to read on the aircraft. (TSA does not seize photos of guns yet.). I put them in the seatback, take a photo to post on social media, and then turn them horizontally and hide them behind the requisite safety cards and movie listings. Let’s let some poor traveler find something worthwhile to read! Why don’t you do the same? One of my proudest was leaving them on British Airways!
Let’s talk about the Newsletter. Please feel free to share it with like-minded friends and ask of them to subscribe via this link. (INSERT LINKHERE). The Newsletter is the best way to keep up with current topics, classes, events, etc. at Gunsite.
Enough for now. Time to get back to shopping on eBay and playing computer games as well as working with the world-class staff and instructors Gunsite is legendary for.
“When are you coming (back) to Gunsite?”
Ken
To read the newsletter in it’s entirety, visit: https://mailchi.mp/gunsite/march-2024-gunsite-newsletter-1440811
