October 1999

OCTOBER 24, 1999Sorry this report is so late. In the last thirty days I opened three new stores (Douglasville Ga, Snellville Ga, and Hoover Ala.) and had to get ready for deer hunting. But now I’ve found a few minutes so here goes!Once again the weather cooperated beautifully. I expected windy conditions and a bit cold but the weather forecast was wrong and it was warm with a mild breeze. Because of the poor weather predictions I didn’t expect a large turn out and with the wind reports I didn’t anticipate many eggs being broken. Boy was I wrong! I bought 20 dozen eggs and these were all gone before noon. I had to send out the troops for more and they returned with another five dozen, which were “scrambled” in short order. When the event was over we had three eggs left! These boys (and girls) are really shooting up a storm. I think it’s interesting to note that when we started these egg shoots the majority of the shooters were using hunting type rifles with 3-9 scopes. If we connected with three or four dozen eggs we were doing good! Over the last couple of years we started to see varmint type rifles with varmint type optics appear on the line. And the “dead” egg count grew. Now we are seeing Remington PSS, Steyr SSG, Sako, Savage 112, and other precision varmint / tactical rifles. And the handguns are just as wild. I don’t want this to scare anyone away. We still shoot a custom and a factory class (see “What the Heck is an Egg Shoot on this web page) so anyone can play.Before I get into the scores I would like to thank a couple of folks who helped me out at each event. Jeff Whittaker and Randy Costa were there at each event volunteering their time and effort. They help me set up the tent, collect money, make coffee and go buy pumpkins (more on this later). At this last event of the year we awarded each of them with a special version of the “Egg Award”. Thanks guys!On to the event! Seemed like everyone’s guns were shooting well. We added a new class at this event. Scoped rimfire at 100 yds. Sounds easy doesn’t it. Well if you ask the folks that shot it, it was anything but. Even a slight breeze can throw a 22 rimfire bullet off an egg at 100 yds. In the end, Dan LaPlume of Attleboro Massachusetts won it with a beautiful antique Walnut Hill falling block 22. This gun was about five times as old as Dan, but the accuracy was still there. Good shooting Dan!Bob Newman from Somerset Massachusetts took the honors for Factory Rifle at 200 yards. He got himself into a shoot off with Jon Wong of Westport Massachusetts and in sudden death, took the prize. Interesting to note that both Bob and Jon were shooting identical Remington 40X rifles in 308 caliber. Jon will be back I’m sure! At 200 yards Custom Rifle, Bill Gaudaitis of Needham Mass took the trophy. Bill really had his 6BR shooting. Good show Bill!We had a few folks shooting 200 yards Handgun. Phil Pryzmierski of Swansea Mass shot 5 for 5 but he wanted to shoot against the rifles so with the approval of Jon and Bob he shot in the shoot off. But as it was said in a Clint Eastwood movie, “ When a man with a pistol meets a man with a rifle, the man with the rifle wins!” (Something like that!) So with Phil out of the competition that left Ray Piche of New Bedford Mass and yours truly. I just couldn’t get my XP to shoot so Ray took home the bacon; er I mean eggs…Three hundred yards Handgun was a different story. Phil easily walked away with this trophy again. That darn TC he has with his super secret “Ballistic Compensator” is one heck of an accurate handgun! Factory Rifle at 300 yards was won by Brian Wilson of East Harwich Mass. Actually, John Beaumont of New Bedford Mass tied Brian, but family obligations forced him to leave early and not participate in a shoot off. Hitting an egg at three hundred yards is quite a feat. Both of these fellows deserve a golf clap.Three Hundred yard custom rifle was taken by Bill LaPlume (Dan’s father). When you’re hot you’re hot and Bill was steaming!What about those pumpkins! Robert Silvers of Cambridge Massachusetts called me the night before and asked if it was OK to bring a 50BMG. (I think you know where this is leading!) I said sure, bring it on down. But I cautioned Robert that the big fifty might not be competitive against the other guns that show up. Robert wanted to know if I was “egging” him on! When he showed up with the most beautiful McMillan 50BMG bolt action you ever saw, I realized that we had the opportunity to have some fun. I asked Randy if he wouldn’t mind going out to see if he could purchase a couple of pumpkins. A few minutes later Randy returned with a couple of “big orange eggs”. Not very exciting. The 750 grain slug made a nice round hole on the way in and a 2” hole on the way out. But they didn’t explode. But that didn’t stop us! We found a 5 gallon plastic pail and filled it with water. At 200 yards one shot from the mighty 50 sent that pail just about into orbit. Next time we‘ll fill the pumpkins with water! (I think this goes under the heading of “boys and their toys”). BTW…That 50 can shoot. Robert missed getting into the three hundred yard shoot off by just one egg! He was shooting right up there with the custom varmint rifles. I would like to personally thank Robert for bringing it down. It added something to the event. We even gave Robert a trophy for “Biggest Gun”. Well that’s it from this end…. I had a blast this year I sure hope everyone else did! We will be hosting four shoots next year. As soon as I get the dates I’ll post them. Until then…