Finding Yourself a Bit Rusty at the Range?

If so, here's a handy shooter's chart to help you diagnose whatever might be wrong with your stance, your grip, or your point-of-aim. Or maybe all three:

AAR: Rainy Range Trip

Older Daughter and I went to the Birchwood Range, 40 miles north of home, for some early morning practice. Of course it rained buckets all night, rained all the way there, and didn't stop until we were on the way home.

Everything was soggy, but if you wait for perfect weather in Alaska ... you'll be waiting awhile.

I dusted off the old .22 and tried some off-hand shooting, but wasn't paying much attention to my stance until Daughter reminded me about natural point-of-aim (NPOA). I had 2.5" to 3" clusters at 2 and 8 o'clock on the target, which she said meant it was an NPOA issue, and not my peep sights.

Shooting with my elbows on my knees reduced both the wobble and the size of the grouping to about 2". All this was at 25 yards.

She thinks I'm in a good place to begin the Appleseed training, next weekend.

* * * * *

I took the Garand along, but the steady rain convinced me it wasn't worth the chance of rust on that 60-year-old metal.

She took her M-4, with a new scope and cantilever mount, and I helped her move the scope forward until the eye relief was good for her.

Tried shooting it myself, but she's 5'4", and with me at 6'1" the scope was too low, and the telescoping buttstock was too short for me. I could barely get a decent sight picture.  Just the same, out of five shots I managed to put four rounds through two holes. The fifth was a flyer; that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Wasn't the extended visit we'd planned, but it was good to make some noise and send some dollars downrange.

A Museum Like No Other

From a copyright story at the Alaska Dispatch.  Excerpt:

Rainy Pass Lodge is the oldest continuously operating hunting lodge in Alaska, set deep in the wilderness 120 air miles northwest of Anchorage. 2014 marks the lodge’s 77th year in existence. Exclusively a hunting lodge in its early days, Rainy Pass Lodge is now open year-round to cater to snowmachiners, ptarmigan hunters and the Iron Dog and Iditarod races, as well as summer guests and horseback riders.

Buckey Winkley came to Alaska in 1961 and has been the resident hunting guide at Rainy Pass Lodge since 1964.

... As a child in the 1950s, Winkley enjoyed history and reading, and he immersed himself in hunting articles, hunting books, and books about natural history. “To me there was nothing more exciting than hunting a grizzly bear in Alaska.” His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all hunters. He started shooting guns when he was 5 years old, and started collecting them in high school. Winkley says he’s always been a collector, and out of the 145 antique guns in his “museum,” he’s shot more than 70 of them.

“There’s guns in here that are over 400 years old," he said.

As Buckey says in the video, "This is a 400-year history of guns, hunting, and shooting."

You really do need to go to the linked article, and watch the brief video. 

After-Range Report

Daughters & I drove up to Birchwood Range this morning, just before sunrise ... meaning a half-hour to 45 minutes before the sun would actually be visible from behind the mountains to the east.

That range was cold. There was hoarfrost on the ground about 3/8" thick, and my fingers were numb almost immediately. Warming them back up in my pockets did the trick, though, and by then my Alaskan metabolism was cranking, so they never got that cold again.

One minor injury to report: the caps on my scope's adjustment knobs were tight; needed to use pliers ... gently, gently ... to loosen them. The first one came off without a hitch, but the second one was a bit tighter. I managed to pinch the ball of my thumb in the pliers, and removed a chunk of skin.

It was so cold that I didn't feel it at first, but did notice some small spots of blood transfer on my first two fingers, and then on the scope cover. See? That cold air does provide some help for things ... like slowing blood loss.

I blotted the area while Mel opened a bandaid for me, and then we got on with the fun.

Mel's new .30-06 is a joy to shoot, and feels much like my .270 in terms of handling and recoil. No surprise there, I know.

The owner's manual claimed the scope was bore-sighted at the factory, but I don't believe it. It shot 4.5 inches low and two inches to the left, at 100 yrds. Mel's not a novice shooter anymore (just new to this rifle) so she adjusted things properly. By the end, she was shooting 1.25" groups at 50 yards.

Mine needed to be raised just a bit. The last time out, it was shooting more-or-less dead on 100 yards, so I raised it 5 clicks to be on at 200.

Due to the cold, Sam packed it in first, and got back in the car. By that time, my 1+" groups had opened up to 2+", so I decided we would call it a day. In another month, we'll be used to these temps, but the first time is always a bit of a struggle.

It makes me so proud to go to the range with my two daughters on the line beside me. You other dads out there will know what I mean.

AAR: Birchwood Recreation & Shooting Park

The girls & I loaded range bags, rifles, pistols, ammo, spotting scopes and targets in the truck, and headed north to Birchwood. After a short stop to purchase food & water for later, that is. Birchwood is a small community in the woods, between the Glen Highway & Knik Arm, with a large private airport and the Park, about 40 miles north of our house. (I didn't get any good pictures, but their website features a lot of good ones.)

The office staff was quite friendly and helpful, and the manager recognized both daughters right away.

There are eight (count 'em, eight) ranges for centerfire & rimfire weapons, and a very large shotgun/skeet/sporting clays area as well. Six of the ranges accommodate centerfire rifles, five can handle rifles, rimfire, muzzleloaders and handguns, and one of the rifle ranges goes to 300 yards. That's refreshing after the Wet Bunny Range which only has a 100-yard facility.

Daughters, setting up

The longer-distance ranges were in use for some three-gun matches and a couple of other things, so we wound up at one of the 50-yard facilities, useful for rimfire rifles of all types and handguns.

Melanie bore-sighted Samantha's new rifle to get the first shots on the paper, and they worked together for a few minutes to finish adjusting the scope. Within moments, Sam was once more shooting the centers out of the targets, as she usually does.

Mel, of course, went about her business like she normally does: quiet, determined, and very very competent. The two of them are just about evenly matched on the rifles ... they hit what they aim at, and that's the best anyone can say about a shooter.

I decided not to bother with the .270, and opted for my .22 rifle & 1911 instead. My first try at 25 yards was with a Marlin .22 and peep sights, using Appleseed's 200-400 yard qualification targets. I had three or more hits each inside the 200-, 300-, and 400-yard targets.

It was awfully nice to do that while my daughters were present to see their dad do that well with open sights, since they both have scopes.  :) In my case, I can hit whatever I can see ... and unfortunately that's not as much as I could a few years ago. Aging eyes are no joke, but I did okay, today.

However, moving to the .45 was sobering, to say the least; the first three magazines resulted in holes all over the paper. I knew I'd be rusty, but didn't realize it would be THAT bad.

It was.

All the old, bad habits I worked so hard to overcome (jerking the trigger and dipping the muzzle in anticipation of recoil are the two main offenders) were back, and I had to really bear down and focus.

So, honesty time: my initial spread was nearly a foot. Ouch. I paid attention to all the things I should: breath control, proper stance, trigger control, focusing on the front sight, etc. By the end, I was keeping them in about 4.5 inches. Not good, but a lot better than when I started.

Need more practice; Samantha says I'm taking her back there again, next weekend. That's probably a good thing. 

The Learning Curve

Attempting to forecast the weather in Alaska is an elaborate guessing game. Experienced meteorologists will admit that, but will also guess correctly more often than not ... although a "miss" can be rather epic, depending on the season.  Weather patterns here are complicated by large open areas of the state surrounded on multiple sides by mountain ranges.  Some, like the Alaska Range (containing Mt. McKinley) are so tall they make their own weather fronts.

In winter, forecasting clear weather when a blizzard is about to move in can be deadly to outdoorsmen, hunters, and those living on subsistence in the Bush.

The best of the weather-guessers at the most highly-watched news station in Anchorage has moved on, to the National Weather Service. His replacement on the morning newscast is (let's be charitable) inexperienced at reading Alaskan weather.

This morning, he forecast clearing skies with some sun. At 6:30am when I left home, it was drizzling and foggy. It's still raining at 2pm, as I write this.

I hope he gets better quickly. In another month, all this water will be white & fluffy ... and road conditions won't be so nice as they are today.

* * * * *

On the brighter side, it's only wet today, and that makes for a reasonably nice, late-fall day.  The temps are scheduled to fall, starting tomorrow, and it could be ten degrees cooler by the weekend. If there's any precipitation then, it could well be the fluffy kind.

Speaking of the weekend, to borrow some subpoena language, the girls and I are putting aside all manner of excuse and delay, and will drive north to the Birchwood rifle range. They've both joined, and the only way a membership there will pay for itself is with regular visits when weather is amenable to travel - not something one can count on, in winter.

Have a great afternoon, friends, and thanks for stopping by.

Welcome, New Friend - and a Bit More

I see eiaftinfo has clicked the "Follow" button over there on the sidebar. Welcome, sir!

* * * * *

Both daughters are headed out to Wet Bunny Rifle Range this afternoon. I had intended to go, but the new sling I ordered from the Appleseed store hasn't arrived yet, although the USPS insisted first that it would be delivered on the 4th, and now says the 8th.

You'll pardon my skepticism.

Yes, I could finish zeroing that new scope by using a lead sled, but where's the fun in that? It's no test of skill to hold the rifle in a vise while shooting.

* * * * *

We've just finished cleaning the big window in the living room, and the smaller one in the kitchen. Let's see: bottle of vinegar/water mix in one hand, squeegee in the other hand, and swatting yellow jackets with the other other hand.

Necessary, but not a lot of fun.  :)

Granny, Get Your Gun

Cool stuff from www.KTUU.com :

Sharp-Shooting Grandmas Issue Fairbanks Challenge

FAIRBANKS, Alaska—

Sharp-shooting grannies in Fairbanks are drawing people to the shooting range for the Alaska Grandma Safe Shootin' Challenge.

With just a couple of days left in the challenge, the commercial airing on local television, YouTube and at the theater is a big hit and drawing people to the range.


Go to the link to read the whole thing. You'll be glad you did.

Logistics

Situation:

Three shooters
Four firearms (.45ACP, .38 Spcl, .270 Win., .22)
Three ranges at one facility (rimfire, handgun, centerfire rifle)


Not a bad "problem" to have, eh?

Range Report, 4/23/11

It was dark and cloudy day ... naw, that's been done.

I met my friend at the Wet Bunny Range for some fun & serious paper-punching. Friend's new piece is a Ruger Blackhawk (.357 Magnum, of course). The Mysterious Stranger has knocked on Friend's door in the wee hours twice since my original report, lending some urgency to today's session with the new revolver.

For my 1911, I limited myself to the 50 rounds in a new box of cartridges, plus two loaded magazines and one extra round for the chamber. Thus armed with 67 rounds, I set out to correct my inability to hit anything aimed at, the last time we were there.

Friend had a good but earnest session, moving from left to right, kneeling, running in place before shooting, and so on.

The 1911 was much better-behaved than before, and put the bullets where I wanted them - mostly, anyway. While it's clear I need more practice, I did get more hits on the 2" orange target than not. Now that the weather is warmer (it was 37 at the range, which is warm-ish ... for the Anchorage waterfront), I have no excuse for not visiting more often.

Here's are the results from my final 10 - or was it 11? - rounds, for your snickering pleasure. A left-handed shooter, I'm still pulling the pistol to the right a bit, which I believe is from pushing with the heel of my hand in anticipation of the recoil. My most stubborn bad habit, though, is dropping the muzzle just as I pull the trigger - again, anticipation is my enemy - and therefore shooting low.

11 rounds into 3 inches at 7 yards isn't great, but it's an improvement from last time.

Pistol case

Now the pistol is cleaned and put away, and we will put our feet up for the remainder of the afternoon. The smell of Hoppe's No. 9 lingers in the room, and I suspect it will cause my wife to want a pot of coffee to introduce "a more pleasing aroma".

Hey, it worked before. :)

What Lies Beyond*

People are walking behind the backstop at the Wet Bunny Range, but bullets still travel in a straight line.  From today's Anchorage Daily News:

The coastal flats behind the Rabbit Creek Shooting Park's high-powered rifle range isn't the ideal place to take a stroll in Anchorage.

But so far this winter, a lot of people have been spotted on those flats. That has the range manager, Steve Meyer, somewhat alarmed.


~ snip ~


Despite warning signs posted on the coastal flats and on the nearby state refuge trail, an individual or a group of people has been spotted walking, skiing or biking behind the shooting range backstops eight to 10 times since January, he said.

This is where I shoot. The manager quoted in the article says that when pedestrians or skiers are spotted downrange, a cease-fire is called until the coast (literally) is clear. While that hasn't happened while I'm there, it's reassuring to know that someone is watching the far side of the backstops.

How dumb must you be to wander down a trail, past signs announcing the presence of the range, while gunshots are audible?


* With apologies for echoing, faintly, a recent post by Breda.

Range Report, 2/12/11

My daughter and I made it to the range, where it was only -3, with no wind. (Jenny & I got our wires crossed a bit, so I'll claim responsibility for that. I spoke with her afterward, and we'll be going back tomorrow.)

Melanie's pistol is a Smith & Wesson Model 442, chambered for .38 Spcl +P.  She has small hands, and the +P ammo which she will use for self-defense is a bit punishing to her after firing a number of rounds. And before anyone starts on the "girls don't have to shoot snub-nosed revolvers" meme, the purchase was a joint decision. The light weight & easy concealability were the deciding factors.

She chose to practice with standard loads today, which I applauded, especially since she hadn't practiced in about 18 months). Now that she's 21 and can carry concealed if she chooses, I wanted her to get a feel for the revolver, and to gain some confidence that she can put rounds where she wants them to go.

One thing I've found is that the masking tape which the range supplies for putting new targets on the stands doesn't really work well at sub-zero temps. We put up a target sheet for her, but I used three 3" orange dots on a target that was already shot to pieces.

We set her target at 15 feet. The first several rounds were completely off the 8.5" x 11" paper. But we talked about how she was holding the pistol, and used DeGrata's "Common shooting errors" page showing how shot placement at various points on the target is the result of jerking the trigger, recoil anticipation, and so on. (The page can be found here.)

She's still pulling to the right, as her target shows. But she kept checking to see what she was doing wrong, and you can see that she finally started grouping the shots closer together. However, due to the cold temps which were making her hand cramp, she stopped at 50 rounds.

I had taken about the same number of rounds but only used about half since I was checking on her progress for a good bit of the time. My shots wandered a bit at first, too. I hadn't been since September (amazing how time keeps getting by like that), but was doing okay by the last magazine or so, after a couple dozen shots to get my sight picture lined up correctly.

After an hour, we were both ready to go when her ammo was gone. A quick trip to Sportsman's Warehouse for replacement ammo & a padded case for her revolver, and then back home. It was a good outing.

Sunday's Range Report

Dang, the wind was cold out there.

Jenny and I met at the Wet Bunny range this morning. It was 13 degrees according to the thermometer outside the range office door; winds were 10 mph, with gusts going much higher. Wind chill was 4 above to an estimated -10.

I took along the rifle rest & spotting scope I received from my wife and daughters for Christmas, and a different type of stick-on spot from the ones I'd been using. Since I was out of the "shoot & see" black spot which leave yellow craters, I opted for bright orange spots of 3" diameter. The lack of markings on the spots made it much easier for my aging eyes to pick out my shots.

The 60x spotting scope made it child's play.

The rest is a lightweight plastic type, offering good support, but the lack of mass meant that it had to be repositioned after each shot. The soft plastic feet simply wouldn't grip the metal range tables at these temperatures. Next visit will require a different approach, including a sandbag or two.

My initial shots on this 100-yard range were high and to the left. I don't know whether the scope was bumped, the new rest required more of an adjustment to my hold, the optics were still adjusting to the air temps, or the fact that I hadn't taken the rifle out of its case in nearly six months. I suspect it was mostly the second and fourth factors. Especially the fourth one.


The wind was vicious on skin, and I had to keep stopping to warm to my hands. In fact, even now - 90 minutes after leaving the range - fingers are still tingling a bit.

As I grew accustomed to the rest, my shots moved closer to the center of the target, although remaining left of center. (There's that "bumped the scope" thing.)  My .270 has an internal five-round magazine, so it was easy - toward the end of the session - to see which group was which.

It pleases me greatly to report that the penultimate group was within a 1.75" spread (the five holes spread just above center), and the final group of five was less than an inch, with all five holes touching each other. That's the U-shaped group at 11:30 on the orange spot. Fantastic! Let's do it again, just to confirm it wasn't a complete fluke.

Whereupon I reached into the range bag and discovered I'd run out of ammo.

I know, I know: I should have put on a fresh target and kept going, but I also should have taken more than 40 rounds with me. Next time, I'll take more. If it's warm enough to feel my fingers, I'll dial the scope toward center, too.

Did I mention it was cold?

We had good time, meeting some new shooters, and some more experienced ones. Interestingly enough, all the arms were small-bore. In fact, my .270 was the largest caliber I saw there today. There was a .22, another .270, and a couple of EBRs in .223.

After the range, we stopped at Borders for hot coffee, and to catch up on conversation.

It was the best kind of day - shooting, good conversation, good friends.

Making Holes in Paper, part 2

We made it to the Wet Bunny Range at opening; there were far fewer shooters than last time. The weather was cold & blustery ... in other words, a typical October day.

I'd forgotten to bring things to raise my front sandbag to a comfortable level for the low tables they have, so I rented a shooting rest. The last time I used one of their 'lead sleds', it was pretty well worn out, and all the padding was either gone, or had holes in it. Today, they were all new. Nice.

Jenny, trying my rifle

However, the new ones don't raise as high in the front, so the rifle was aimed at the base of the target stand, at the sled's highest position. I rotated the front "V" and rested the stock on top of the cushion. That was just about right, but not quite as stable.

No matter.

We discovered that no left-to-right adjustment was necessary, but almost all our shots went high. Looks like I must finish work on my front support a.s.a.p., so that I'm not aiming for 230 yards at a 100-yard range. We did try to pull the front down, but it was forced, rather than actually "resting" on the cushions.

The other shooters there were normal folks - not a single camo outfit to be seen, and mostly experienced shooters. One fellow seemed to be firing a cannon, given the noise level his smokepole produced. On closer examination, I discovered that his barrel was ported, which explained why it seemed so loud on the line.

We concluded the shoot, satisfied that the holes were appearing more-or-less where they should, and went for coffee. Subsequent points of the discussion about Hobbes, Locke, common law, Blackstone, and the Anti-Federalist Papers will wait for a future post.

Weekend at the Range

My older daughter & I are headed to Wet Bunny Range to see how her new revolver performs. We were fortunate enough to find several boxes of .38 Spl. at the Warehouse last week, and can now plink away. She'll try a few rounds of the +P carry ammo only after getting accustomed to the feel of the "Airweight" pistol with the standard .38 fare.

I'll have my trusty 1911 along, 'cause I'm addicted to putting all those 1/2" holes in paper. It's about time to get out the rifle again, too, but tomorrow is for pistols.



Now that I have my Terrorist tag, I'm on the prowl for them. Oh, and zombies, too. Bring 'em on!

Sunday at the Range, and other things

Waiting for good weather during an Alaskan October is kinda like standing in the shower, hoping to stay dry. Come to think of it, it's exactly like that. It was still raining this morning, and appeared to be snowing above 3,000 feet. But I needed to practice with my pistol, having neglected it for awhile, in favor of sighting in my new rifle.

Off I went to the range this a.m., and it seems all the hunters are out of town. I only saw three people with long guns, but the pistol range was quite busy. It was early enough to get my favorite station, and this time I wanted to work on my grip and sight picture. I suspected that much of my recent problems had more to do with me than with the pistol.

Using the "Common Shooting Errors" chart from DeGrata Tactical, which I first saw on Brigid's blog, I was able to straighten the pistol in my hand, and stop anticipating the recoil.

At first my shots were all over an 8" target, but I reminded myself of what I'd learned, and concentrated on what I was doing. "Focus on the front sight, not the target ... use the tip of my finger, not the first joint ..."

When I was confident I knew where I was shooting, I put orange dots on the target I'd been using, plus two paper plates left behind by the previous shooter.

The results speak for themselves; you can see here where I put the last six rounds. I still need a lot of practice to be consistent, and shoot this way without having to concentrate to the point of nosebleed.

But this range trip was a LOT more fun, now that I can hit what I'm aiming at. Thanks also to all who have either posted comments or sent e-mails with helpful suggestions.

* * * * *

My favorite store had a 30%-off coupon in this morning's paper, so I went back and cleaned them out of rifle ammo in my caliber (my wife said it was okay!). I'm set now for the winter, and don't have to be stingy at the range for fear I'll run out.

* * * * *

More than half of the leaves are down now, and so we're ready for the first snow of the season, now.

I hope you've had a great weekend; thanks for stopping by.

Range Report: Win!

I was spectacularly unmotivated to begin moving this morning, and was cheerfully contemplating another cup of coffee. However, thoughts of finishing what I had begun, yesterday, kept me from imbibing enough caffeine to make my hands shake.

So I threw on an old sweatshirt & jeans and trundled down the road. The range was busy, like usual, but I was the second one there, so I set up at the same bench I used yesterday. Consistency ... it's a good thing.

I used a target that already had a bunch of missed shots on it, but they were all in the upper right quadrant. I thought, "Why not? Three quarters of the target isn't even used! It's almost like new." Must be that Scots-Irish heredity ... waste not, want not. Or, as my New England forebears said, "Use it up; wear it out. Make it do, or do without."

On my visit yesterday, I splurged & took out an annual membership - it's nice just to sign in & keep on going. Today I rented a shooting rest from the range office, hoping that it would allow quicker transitions from shooting to adjusting point-of-aim and back again.

On the picture here, you can see where I walked the shots from left to center, and up to above-center on the top target. The bottom target has just one shot, where I was checking to make sure that my two previous rounds were actually going where it appeared (see the two holes at 1 1/2" directly above the bulls-eye.

Success!

Saturday morning

Getting ready for a trip to the Wet Bunny range. (Blame the name on Tam - she got me started with her posts about the Iggle Crick shooting range.)

The pistol range is okay ... "range officer" is the first shooter to show up, and it's self-policed. Works well. The rifle range rules bother a lot of folks, judging by the comments I've seen on-line. A range employee pokes his head out of the office, Punxsutawney Phil style, and bellows through a PA system.

Since I'm putting the finishing touches on the sighting-in of my rifle, I hope they're not busy. It's annoying to be in the midst of spinning dials on the scope, only to have Phil declare a cold range.

Okay, okay, so I'm impatient. I miss the farm where I used to hunt, and the freedom to just set up in an empty field & do my practice there. But until I meet someone with enough land to allow that here, Wet Bunny will have to do.

More later.

Saturday in the A.M.

Good morning. It's 51 degrees & mostly cloudy, although AccuHunch guesses we'll reach 65 again today.

I woke up at 5:30 with a headache, and couldn't get back to sleep. But no worries, as that gave me time to enjoy the early morning quiet, and drink coffee in peace. My wife also woke up then - perhaps there was a loud noise; who knows? - so we drank our coffee in companionable silence.

We continue to debate where to take our late winter vacation; younger daughter stubbornly insists that Waikiki is the answer to life's questions. It's spendy, though, and we're not convinced that it must be the next destination. Perhaps in the early winter of 2010 ...

I'd like to go to the range this morning, if it's open & not overrun with hunters and their anti-moose artillery. It must be today (again, if it's open), because the range will be closed tomorrow for Labor Day. It's State-run and not open on Mondays, so the employees get their holiday the day before. I had hoped to find a shooting buddy for the trip, but no one is available today.

In the meantime, I'm still moving slowly, with yawning a-plenty, and not fully convinced I need to drag myself, guns, ammo, supplies, rifle rest etc., to the range and then pay the $9.00 fee to get in. I think a season pass is in order, if it will last for 12 months from purchase, rather than just the remainder of this calendar year. If only the Birchwood Range weren't 40 miles away ... but I'm complaining again. Sorry.

Well, the sun is shining at the moment, and I'm going to enjoy the day. I hope you enjoy yours.

Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday Range Report

I finally made it to the range with new rifle & daughter. Turned out she wasn't feeling well today, and didn't want to try it out.

As hunting season is nearing, here, there were a LOT more people at the range than I'm used to seeing. I suppose I'm a bit spoiled, as I have generally had the range to myself when it first opens.

I tried off-hand shooting at 100 yards, and kept the shots in the same part of the target, but not as close to the bullseye as I'd have liked. Honesty time: I put only 8 of 10 shots into a 4 1/2" group, with one higher and one to the left. None were on the bullseye. I want to do better, and will use a rest, next time, and get a better feel for what the rifle can do. I also need to become more familiar with the scope, as my previous shooting & hunting has been with open sights.

I mentioned previously that my supply of rifle ammo is limited, so I didn't stay long. There were a half-dozen more shooters setting up at the next cold-range call, and even more headed toward the firing line as I was leaving.

I will go back after hunting season has begun, and everyone is done sighting in their rifles. We'll take more pictures, including whatever I manage to do to the target.