Obligatory 4th of July Post

Yesterday I took the family to the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall.  Spent much of the day explaining the Cold War, US vs USSR, NATO, Warsaw Pact, and proxy wars to the spawnlings. 

Today is the 4th of July:

So I celebrated it in traditional fashion. The BIL and his family, In-Laws, and a friend all came over.  Shooting guns, gorging on food, and blowing up a small part of the nation. 

The arsenal and the hippie-mobile. 

The BIL and his virgin AR.  He hadn't set it up w/ rear sights yet so he left quite a furrow in the ground until he got used to it:

My painter buddy and his Yugo M48 Mauser:

 I had to show them all how it's really done w/ the Dragunov.

Pistol Competition.  Ruger SR45, Beretta 92S, S&W M&P 9mm, Makarov.

Even the MIL and FIL got in on the action:

Finally the really important part of the day.  When the youngest, 5thpower, first seen here, turned seven, it was time for him to learn the art of boomsticks.  Since Feb. however, my weekends have been either crazy or crappy weather.  I've only been out maybe once. So today was the day of lead throwing for him.  After a reminder on the 'Rules', which he repeated w/o any problem, we went over the basics on a Ruger 10/22 followed by a few magazines emptied.

Unfortunately, like his dad, he's a right handed shooter but left-eye dominant.  He'll get used to that as time goes by.  We were running a lot later than planned so I'll be taking the 4thpowers out tomorrow.  We secured the sticks, left the range set up, then went and charred much dead animal flesh.

Then came the other fun part.  Blowing up a small part of the nation.  I really love smoke. The smoke bombs I picked up this year were really good.  Thick and a deep color. 

 Tank battles.

 FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!! (my favorite shot of the day)

BIL making his own 'Anti-tank rockets'.

The 'Finale'.  Would have been more showy if it was darker but the BIL family had to go to another 4oJ thing.

Feeling 'Blue':