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Being my friend has its costs.

Have to like pork barbecue, fried whole catfish, hushpuppies, blackberry cobbler...

Have to be willing to miss World Cup soccer to go shooting.

Have to like riding horses on the open range.

Have to be willing to get up in the morning without plans, jump in a plane to fly somewhere to shoot something, and then return without schedule or reservations.

Have to tolerate old jeeps without any modern safety or EPA equipment.

Have to shoot single-action revolvers and single-action semiauto pistols made of metal. In calibers that start with "4" or "5".

Have to like shooting 16 gauges.

Have to be willing to shoot a dozen or more different calibers in a single day and like it.

Have to tolerate folks wearing guns openly all the time and it not being considered a big deal.

Have to be willing to load ammo in the thousands on dedicated Dillons or Spolars and then shoot that ammo.

Have to tolerate Johnny Cash and Doc Watson.

Cannot complain about three politically-incorrect high-pressure, high-volume showerheads per shower wasting water using 240 gallon water heaters so they never run cold.

And, no, I won’t explain again why we need so many different guns and barrels in the same caliber to complete this test. Go ask my wife.

Cannot get excited that we don't have detailed plans for the next three weeks. They will come and we will shoot something. And what we shoot them with may not have existed 24 hours before we shot them. But don't ask me for details now.

And, yes, the FedEX and UPS trucks come nearly every day and you have to wait your turn to help unload them.




Those are just some of the costs to hanging around these parts.


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