Introduction by Paul Fitzgerald
Well, the elections are over, and we're stuck for another four years. However, we can be thankful for retaining control of the House and Senate. I was in quite a stew about the election results until what I heard one day on Rush Limbaugh. He said (basically) to not dwell on the results, look to the future. If the election results of one office topples your apple cart, then you've got the apple cart arranged all wrong, anyway. We can't cry over spilled milk, but must pull ourselves up and continue the strong, never-ending fight. And he was right.
Hopefully you read the recent message from our new MSSA President Steve McGhee. Obviously, Steve is full of energy and a lot of good ideas. We've also got a new Legislative Director, Tim Oliver. Hey, it's not over 'til it's over, baby! We're not slowing down, but rather shifting into a higher gear.
What can you do? First, make a New Year's resolution to put more lead down range in 1997 than 1996. Seriously, you can become more active in your local gun club, and your state association. Consider supporting our statewide legislative organizations. Take some new shooters to the range. Continue writing your elected officials about the issues.
Lastly, here's "hats off" to all of you who refused to be a BOZO, and got out and voted! And we want to hear from you here at THE SHOOTER. Got a shooting or hunting experience that you'd like to share, send it in. Don't worry about the grammatics or what it looks like; we'll take care of that. If I can't read it or understand it, I'll call you on the phone and get it straight.
You can send comments or input for a future newsletter to either P. Fitzgerald at [email protected] or B. Sliger at [email protected].
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A new Director was recently appointed by the President to fill a vacancy on the Board, and he is Tim Oliver. Tim says: "I'm a full time private investigator and security consultant and a part time police reserve officer, police firearms instructor, and Chief Strategist (lobbyist) for MOLIC (Mo Legislative Issues Council). I've been involved in practical pistol shooting (combat and IPSC) for 23 years, and I participate in ten to 15 IPSC matches every year. I learned to shoot as a Boy Scout at summer camp when I was 13 and have spent many an enjoyable day on the range with friends since. I feel we all have an obligation to protect and preserve our 2nd Amendment freedoms for the generations to follow. "
"Because of this feeling of obligation, I gradually decided to become politically active on the state level five years ago. My most recent call to political action came from MSSA President Steve McGhee. Steve called one evening and said he wanted to make MSSA more politically active and asked if I would be interested in being on the Board of Directors to help bring that about. After some discussion of plans and responsibilities of Board members, I agreed. Having spent the last five sessions in the State Capitol, I'm always pleased to pass on the lessons learned to others and recruit more people and organizations to the fight. "
"You can expect to see a column from me on legislative issues on a regular basis. But for now, let me say to the membership to please consider, in addition to your NRA and MSSA memberships, supporting the following politically active 2nd Amendment groups with your time and money:
SACMO, PO Box 2270, St. Louis, MO 63032, 314-567-2081 WMSA, PO Box 11144, Kansas City, MO 64119 GRIN, 901 W Davis, Fayette, MO 65248.
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The training team of the MSSA is setting up NRA certified firearm instructor courses for 1997 in the following disciplines: Personal Protection, Pistol, Rifle, and Muzzleloading Rifle. In our opinion anyone contemplating the use of a firearm should be cognizant of the safe use and handling of a firearm. The instructors trained by us will be able to teach this knowledge to others. The media informs us of both shooters and non-shooters being injured or killed because of ignorance and/or carelessness. This may be prevented by the implementation of the knowledge taught in the NRA firearms courses. If you or someone you know would be interested in any or all of the disciplines listed, please contact Dr. George Rupprecht, providing your name, address, phone number and disciplines interested in.
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MSSA's annual meeting was held on Oct 26. Those in attendance voted to retain the current name for the association. Bob McCammon of St. Joseph was elected to the Board to fill a vacancy. Later in the evening the awards banquet was held at Veit's Restaurant. Those receiving awards were:
David Jones Champion for Indoor & Outdoor Conv Pistol
James Kaan Senior Champion for Indoor Pistol
Lyle Andrews Senior Champion for Outdoor Pistol
Ken Spears Champion for Open HP & Long Range HP
Chris Stark Champion for Service Rifle
Mike Barron Senior Champion for Service Rifle and Long Range HP
Shiela Daniels Female Champ for Open HP, Service Rifle, LR HP
Dale Strannigan Senior Champion for Open HP
Dave Phillips Jr Junior Champion for Open HP
Chris Stark Jr Junior Champ for Service Rifle and Long Range HP
Chris Stark Service Rifle Champion for Long Range HP
David Jones, Bob McCammon, Ken Spears, & Kurt Schinze - Champion
Team for Open HP
Chris Stark, Jerry Bohnert, Mike Barron, & Skip Semmons - Champion
Team for Service Rifle
Bob McCammon, Kurt Schinze, Ken Spears, & Chris Stark - Champion
Team for Long Range HP
Paul Villmer Champion for Smallbore 3-Position
Harold Miederhoff Champion for Smallbore Prone
Paul Fitzgerald & Bob Sliger - Special Award for the MSSA newsletter
Steve McGhee - Special Award for the MSSA website (1st state assoc
in the country with a website)
Green Valley R & P Club - Recognized as Outstanding Club of the year
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Hello, my name is Paul Villmer, and I am now serving as MSSA Secretary. I have been a member of MSSA and The Missouri State Rifle & Pistol Assn (the MSSA predecessor) for 14 years and on the Board since 1992. Before taking over the Secretary position, I was the Junior Director for 2 years. I have been shooting smallbore competitively for 21 years. I have won several Prone and Position State Championships and am "Distinguished" in both disciplines. In order to make the Dewar Team at Camp Perry one has to place in the top 22 iron sight shooters. I feel fortunate to have made the team twice - once as a firing member and once as an alternate.
My goal as a high school student was to shoot in college. I was able to do that at Eastern Tenn State Univ where I was named to the Honorable Mention All American Team. I received a tuition & fees scholarship to help with expenses as well as traveling to many states with the team. This demonstrates one of the many positive things that can be accomplished through competitive shooting. I am now a practicing dentist who not only enjoys competition, but also hunting and fishing. I am involved in several community activities such as Lions, Industrial Development Board, and the St. James Church. We have a good organization in MSSA. At this time only a few people are running the organization. More volunteers are needed to expand the services that MSSA can provide.
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I have mentioned before that black powder cartridge reloading and casting bullets was probably somewhere in my future. Well friends, that time has come! It started with sponsoring several NRA Approved Long Range Black Powder matches. These were held mainly to help the NRA get the sport off the ground. I didn't know squat about the sport, and am still learning, but I had sponsored many DCM matches, and was willing to get a rule book and try it. I didn't know anyone who shot BP cartridge, and figured we would get primarily muzzleloader shooters. I might even get out the 54 cal Hawken and compete too, since it's all slow fire; I could call the match and compete as well.
I advertised the match around St. Louis, and it was published in Shooting Sports-USA. We got 8 entries at the first match. My first surprise was that I was the only one using a muzzleloader; everyone else was using BP cartridge guns in 45/70 and 40/65. The match was fired at 100 yards with standard DCM High Power targets. The 2nd surprise was how accurate the cartridge guns were; scores in the mid 90's were possible on the MR-31 for 10 shots. But not for me and my Hawken!
I was hooked, and had to have one of these cartridge guns! I did some reading and some talking, and ordered a Browning 1885 Highwall in 45/70 in July, 1996. Well it still hasn't come in yet, but I figured I needed the time to cast some bullets and learn the reloading craft. I didn't have anything to start with, since I had never cast bullets before. Oh boy, I get to buy some new "stuff."
I set up about as in-expensively as one could, buying a Lyman Master Casting Kit for $110, which included the Mini-Mag furnace, 450 lube-sizer, ingot mold, dipper, and cast bullet handbook. Next I got Lyman mold 457124, which is a 45 cal, 385 gr (nominal) bullet mold with wide grease grooves. I say nominal because the 385 gr is figured with Lyman alloy #2, which is pretty hard for Black Powder shooting.
I was ready to start melting! But I didn't have any lead. I read you could go to a plumbing supply house and buy 5 pound "pigs" pretty cheap. NOT! My two cost $9 each, which is $1.80 per pound. Scrap lead was going for about 4 bits a pound, and lead shot was approx $16 per 25 pounds, or 75 cents a pound. I didn't have a source for scrap (yet), so I wondered about the lead shot. I called Taracorp (Lawrence Brand shot) and got a shot application engineer. Told him what I wanted to do and asked him about it. He told me that the percentage antimony was 2% for soft shot, 5% for hard shot, contained no tin, but said it also contained a trace amount of arsenic, and this would make it dangerous to melt. I said it was dangerous to melt lead anyway, you had to have good ventilation, and IF you had good ventilation, would it be OK. He wouldn't say it was OK, but said he had heard of people doing it....
Using lead shot has some advantages; kind of analogous to ball powder in a powder meter or trickler. It's a heckuva lot easier to meter than cutting up those darn lead pigs to fit in a small furnace! Also, unlike scrap, where you don't know from piece to piece what your content (and hardness & weight) are, shot is consistent and very plentiful.
OK, so we're melting lead now. Just to be safe, I worked in the garage with doors open and a box fan blowing at me. I had talked to some folks with some experience in casting big slugs, and they said you wouldn't get good ones until your mold had reached temperature. What was temperature? They said I'd find out. What was "good ones"? They said you should strive for about 1/2 grain variation on a slug of 385 grains.
I kept all my bullets sorted as I "dropped" them out of the mold. By the way, you should drop them on a folded towel so the hot soft lead slugs don't get dented and deformed. The first 10 looked like crap, and I immediately put them back in the pot. The next 30 bullets were kept sorted, and weighed on a scale. The first ten had a deviation of +/- 2 grains, the next ten +/- 1.5 grains, and the last ten (bullets 30-40) had a deviation of +/- a half grain. Nominal weight was 392 grains, due to the softer lead being used. So this is what "reaching temperature" was all about. I have since learned that you can put your mold on the side of the furnace while it is initially heating up, and you will reach temperature within about 10 molds, which is probably about as good as it gets. Another parameter that is important is "mold yield." It's not enough to measure your bullets to +/- a half grain, if it takes 100 molds to get 10 bullets; you want at least 80% yield (I am told). I am currently getting about a 90% yield, so I'm not complaining.
Well, I eventually found a source of scrap lead, which is important when you only get about 20 bullets to the pound. Price was right (free!), quantity was good (estimated 800 pounds) and was uniform/consistent, but it was in large 1/4" sheets rolled up in 15-25 pound "logs". Too much work to cut it up for the small furnace. My father-in-law is a retired plumber, and when he found out what his crazy son-in-law was up to, gave me a kettle that would hold 50 pounds of lead, a 3.5 pound dipper, and a LP gas burner- furnace to heat the kettle with. This would work great for reducing the scrap lead to 1 pound ingots. I thought luck was following me around!
But here is where another lesson was learned; what a lead explosion is! I had read that under no circumstances should you let water get into the kettle of melted lead, or a violent explosion would occur. I was melting some of the logs one day while it was cold weather outside; below freezing. Apparently, the lead, which had sat outside and got cold, drew some moisture when brought inside the garage. I slid a lead log into the kettle of melted lead, and KABOOM! Molten lead went 6 feet in the air and everywhere. I was smart enough to be wearing lots of clothes and gloves, but I got a drop on the forehead and my glasses. Burned my head, and scared the stuff right out of me! This was a nasty experience and one to be avoided at all costs, no matter how much extra time it takes to be safe. More on casting bullets and loading Black Powder cartridges in a future newsletter.
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We have the chance to elect another NRA Director from Missouri in March 1997 (We elected David Oliver in March 1996). He is David Jones of Ellisville, and the biography that will appear in an upcoming Rifleman & Hunter magazine is as follows:
NRA Life/Endowment member Retired Sergeant from St. Louis Police Dept (1990) and CW4 from USAR (1995) Non-compromising advocate of 2nd Amendment. Dedicated to strengthening NRA/ILA and intensifying grass roots movements engaged in the reclamation of the right of all qualified Americans to keep and bear arms. Favors mandatory punishment upon conviction of firearms related crimes. Leader in efforts of St. Louis Police Officer's Assn to secure concealed carry rights in Missouri Legislature. Proficient in seven shooting disciplines: Distinguished Pistol, 2600, President's 100, Bronze Rifle, All-USAR Pistol Team (12 years). Awarded Dept of Defense Legion of Merit for innovative firearms training strategy. NRA Referee, Certified Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun, Hunter Safety and Police Firearms Instructor. Co-owner of big game hunting lodge in Colorado. Memberships: MO Peace Officers Assn, LEAA, SACMO, East MO Membership Council, USMC Distinguished Shooters Assn, American Legion. Education: BS Political Science/Criminal Justice, MBA.
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Twenty-four competitors from seven states gathered at Bucksnort Range near Marshall on Sept 14-15 for the 96 State SB Prone Championship. Saturday started with very cool temperatures in the mid to upper 30's with some light frost. Even with those cool temperatures, mirage was evident in the early shooting. As the day wore on that mirage would be the cause of many comments from the competitors. There were only four 400's in the 50 yard match, a sure indicator that the shooting was going to be difficult all day. The best score in the 50 Meter was a 399; in fact, there were no more 400's fired the rest of the day. By the time for firing the 100 yard stage of the Dewar, the temperature was in the upper 60's and the mirage was very heavy. It would drift right, drift left, or just plain boil. Even though the breezes were light, the changes of the mirage were swift. It took careful attention to the spotting scope to stay on top of the changes. The heavy mirage made spotting bullet holes difficult, especially on the lower bull. Many comments were made up and down the line about not being able to see. One famous shooter crossfired 13 shots, thinking he was on his own target and having difficulty seeing shots inside the ten ring. The day ended with Charles Selby from Vincennes, Indiana holding a 1X lead over Harold Miederhoff. Several others were only a few points behind.
Sunday dawned with overcast skies and the certain feeling that rain was going to come before the end of shooting. In fact, about halfway through the days firing, light rain did indeed occur. The lead swung back and forth several times during the Any Sight aggregate. Miederhoff managed to get a point ahead of Selby and fire a "clean" with 17X on the last stage to win the tournament and the State Championship. The winning score was a 3190-218X. This two day tournament had a bit of all possible conditions except for gusty winds. Those winds are being saved for another day at Bucksnort Range. Overall, seven different competitors won at least one match. This is an indication of a very close competition with shooters having similar talents. For several years, it has been a tradition on Saturday afternoon of the State Championship to fire a 200 yard any sight SB match using the High power pits. This is a fun match where the least little twitch of the breeze can send the 40 grain SB bullet sailing into the 9 or 8 ring. This year the match was won by James Schwarz from Ironton with a score of 194-3X. It is interesting that the second place shooter (David Mayfield from Pine Bluff, Arkansas) used Iron Sights to shoot a 193-6X. Smallbore competition needs more participants. Get your old SB gun out, practice some, and enter a competition next year.
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This is the time of year for retrospectives and resolutions, and I don't think sport shooters are that much different from anyone else in that regard. Competitors feel they should have practiced more, or tried working up loads with that other bullet (it's not THAT much more expensive), or rented a motel room and showed up a week early for that big match, you know, to get "acclimated" to the ranges, or to "let the powder (or nerves?) settle." Hunters are kicking themselves for not doing more pre-season scouting, or their awful habit of sleeping in 'til nearly dawn, or even taking that runty little spike buck five minutes before Bambi's grandpa strolled through. And we've all got a thing or two to say about the elections. Next year's gonna be different though, just you wait and see!
And it certainly can be. As you shift to your "resolution" mode I'd like you to consider dedicating some time and energy for the ones who'll really inherit tomorrow, regardless of how good a marksman or hunter you personally ever become. Contact legislators occasionally, and let'em know what YOU value as an American sportsperson. Teach your own kids, or a Scout or 4H group, a bit about the sport you love. Get involved in the Hunter Education Program, or NRA Marksmanship, or work in your Club to start or strengthen a Juniors Program. And if you'd like your Association to help you get started, we stand at the ready.
Feel free to call, write, or e-mail me anytime, and even attend the Board of Directors meetings when you're able. Bring your ideas, both your gripe list and wish list, to the MDC Runge Center in Jefferson City on Saturday, Feb 15. The meeting will start at 10AM. You really can make a difference in the sport you love, for tomorrow. And I personally look forward to meeting you, and hearing what you have to say.
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Today while in the middle of assembling this newsletter, I received in the mail my Jan 1997 "Missouri Conservationist." While taking a break from the keyboard, I was thumbing through it, and nearly fell out of my chair. In the Almanac section on page 33 is an article entitled, "Deer Permit System Streamlined." In summary, now that Missouri has the computerized system (Heritage Card) in place, they have decided to make a few changes to the "Any Deer" and "Bonus Deer" allocation techniques. It will no longer be a random drawing, but rather a "purchase on a first come, first served basis." When the quota for a particular unit has been filled, there will not be any more "Antlerless" permits available. Also, permits will be on sale on Feb 1. So, if you're a Bambi freak like me, you better get to your favorite place to buy a deer tag on Feb 1 or shortly thereafter. They will tell you on the spot if you get any additional tags.
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We have had difficulty in reaching the following members. If you know the whereabouts of these, please contact MSSA or have them do it. The Association hates to lose track of it's members.
- Frances Lopata, St. Louis area - Charles Beals, Kansas City area - Clay Marshall, Kansas City area
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The 35th Annual NRA National Police Shooting Championships (NPSC) was held on Sept 23-25, in Jackson, Mississippi. Missouri had a couple of shooters that rated favorably in the competitions, and I thought it was worth mentioning in this newsletter. U.S. Treasury Dept Agent Randy Bodenschatz, St. Charles, won the High Scoring Expert Class Competitor award, with a score of 1475-81X. Missouri Dept of Conservation Agent William Stimson won the High Scoring Marksman Class Competitor award with a score of 1448-55X. Congratulations, guys!
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The 67 Gun Club, Farmington, will hold their 30th annual banquet at Roseners Restaurant, Park Hills, on Sat Mar 1, at 6:30PM. The club currently has 311 members, and holds a variety of matches throughout the year at their range near Doe Run. Club members and match participants frequently come from as far as St. Louis to Cape Girardeau to shoot. If you live in S.E. MO, and aren't familiar with 67, you're missing a good place to shoot in matches and/or as a member. Annual dues are $25.
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Sep 28-29 was one of the finest weekends, weatherwise, ever, in the state of Missouri. The mornings were a little cool and crisp. The sun warmed things and made one feel great to be able to be outdoors competing in rifle shooting. Jim Schwarz from Ironton started the day winning the Prone stage with a 386. Charles Daniels from Lincoln, Neb, won the Standing with a 356. Sharpshooter Melissa Mata from Blue Springs took the Kneeling with a fine 367. For the Iron Sight Aggregate, Daniels was 20 points ahead of the nearest competitor with a 1099. Schwarz had a 1080, Len Remaly of Ballwin had a 1079, and Paul Villmer of Potosi had a 1078 at the close of the first day in the quest for the State Championship.
After an evening of BBQ ribs, brisket, and birthday cake, Sunday's Any Sight shooting had promise for a close run for the coveted State Championship Trophy. Villmer went 4 points ahead of both Remaly and Schwarz in the Prone match. Remaly came back 2 points in the Standing, Schwarz faded by 10 points. In the Kneeling, Villmer and Remaly finished with the same score, giving Villmer a one point lead with more X's, and the State Championship. The State Championship score was a 2177. Meanwhile, Daniels won all matches of the Any Sights with a final aggregate of 2220. He also established a new Bucksnort Range record with a 398 in the Any Sight Prone match.
It was a fantastic weekend to be outdoors, and being able to shoot with some really excellent folks was icing on the cake. Oh yes, the birthday mentioned was actually two birthdays. Harold Miederhoff (28th) and Paul Villmer (29th) have birthdays on the weekend of this tournament. It has become a tradition to celebrate with a strawberry cake. However, there will be no mention of the ages!
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The Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympic Games in the Modern era as a way to draw countries together in peace. Shooting dramatizes this gathering, as guns are used for peaceful competition, not war. Many hear "shooting" or "gun" and think of the war against violence. Target shooters see their sport as far removed from the issue.
In sport shooting, careful safety rules are followed, and all of the shooters energies are directed toward inanimate objects and targets, never toward other people. Using a gun as a tool of sport instigates a transformation of attitude about guns - from "weapons" to sporting equipment - that many shooters believe is a necessary step in eliminating the perception of guns as part of a culture of violence which pervades so many countries in the world. In fact, accidents when target shooting are so rare that statistics on them are not even kept. In modern Olympic history, there has never been a single injury to an athlete, official, or spectator due to a target shooting activity.
Shooting bears the honor of hosting the first awards ceremony of each Olympic Games, and shooting is one of the largest sports, both by number of events and athletes. For the last 9 Olympiads, dating back to 1960, the sport has drawn the 3rd greatest number of countries, and had to impose participation quotas to keep competitors to a manageable number.
One of the greatest surges in participation came in 1984, when women's events were first added to the Olympic program. Only two women have ever medaled in mixed competition, which was finally eliminated this year: Margaret Murdock (USA) in the 50 meter standard rifle, 3-position in 1976, and Shan Zhang (China) who set an Olympic record in skeet shooting in 1992.
The International Shooting Union (UIT) recognizes a huge number of different shooting events - 29 individual and 29 team - though only 15 were competed in Atlanta. Notice the great differences between disciplines - in guns, techniques, equipment and even personalities of the shooters. Shotgun and moving target events attract a very different person than rifle and pistol events, though all rely on stamina and concentration to successfully shoot so many rounds with such precise muscle coordination and unwavering emotional control.
To show how mental the sport of shooting can be, one man, Karoly Varga (Hungary) actually won a gold medal while his trigger hand was broken. In the 1980 free rifle prone event, Varga concentrated more than usual on the slow squeeze of the trigger. Protecting his hand gave him a more gentle, and thereby more accurate touch. The sport's reliance on such perennial skills makes shooting a sport in which size and age, unlike athletics or gymnastics, has little bearing on success. The oldest medalist in the history of the Games was a shooter. Oscar Swahn (Sweden) was an amazing 72 years old in 1920 when he won his last medal, a silver, in the now discontinued running deer, double shot, team event. It is not uncommon for Olympic shooters to have been training for more than 20 years.
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This summer I didn't get to shoot in many rifle matches, as many weekends were spent coaching my kids' softball team. However, several times when a free weekend did pop up, I decided to get out & shoot something competitive, anything, in order to put some lead down range and experience the competitive feeling. Let me start off by saying that I am not a pistol shooter, but when Bob Sliger invited me to shoot in a PPC match at 67 Gun Club for about the umpteenth time, I said what the heck, I'll give it a try! I'm here to tell you I'm glad I did; it was a real blast and something I will now do on a regular basis.
PPC matches are a sanctioned event for the NRA, however, actual sanctioned matches are only for Law Enforcement Personnel. What happens though, is clubs will also hold "non- sanctioned" matches so anyone can participate. The participants at these matches are approximately half law enforcement and half "everyone else." The match is a 60 round event, all timed/rapid fire, and you must use both strong and weak hand during firing, as well as reload in the middle of a string (strings are 6 shots; 3 magazines or speed loaders required). You can use either a semi or a revolver, in centerfire. Generally, only factory original-duty type guns are allowed; no barrels over 6 inches, and the only mods are custom grips and/or spring kits. Targets are Police Silhouette, and a typical match description is as follows:
3 yards, 12 shots in 20 seconds, 6 ea with strong/weak hand unsupported.
7 yards, 12 shots in 25 seconds, all strong hand with 2 hand support.
15 yards, 18 shots, stage 1- 12 shots strong hand in 30 sec,
stage 2- 6 shots weak hand in 12 sec.
both stages fired with 2 hand support
25 yards, 18 shots in 90 sec, 6 shots kneeling strong hand, 6 shots
barricade weak hand, 6 shots barricade strong hand. All shot with 2 hand
support. May use barricade for support.
Typical classifications for PPC matches are:
Master 560-600
Expert 520-559
Sharpshooter 480-519
Marksman 001-479
However, match sponsors can (and do) alter both the course of fire as well as the classification ranges to suit their needs. For instance, the distances may be 7, 12, 15 & 25 yards, and I've also seen the class ranges about 20 points higher across the board. Relays go quickly in these matches; 30 minutes is typical even with target changes and scoring after each distance. Entry fee is approx $5 per relay. Re-shoots are allowed and the same price. Only the highest score will be kept after a re-shoot. I would recommend if you go to one of these matches, bring at least 180 rounds; you'll have so much fun you'll want to re-shoot at least twice!
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Syndicated newspaper columnist Mike Royko reviewed in his July 11 article new devices in golf, including one that gives "shooting a round of golf" new meaning. "Finally, someone has invented a golf club that will let anyone hit a golf ball more than 200 yards exactly where it is aimed," wrote Royko. And by 'anyone,' I mean those who are so lacking in hand-eye coordination that they can not take dead-aim at the potty. With this club the most pathetic hackers can send a ball soaring impressive distances down the center of the fairways. It will do all that the hot-selling, big, fat, Bertha slob-of-a-club can only promise to do but usually doesn't.
The brains behind this remarkable weapon are D. James Duncalf and Roy Taylor, who own an engineering firm in Calif's Silicon Valley and spend most of their time designing tools for companies that make computer chips. A few years ago, a retired geezer came to them and said that he could not hit a ball far enough to make him happy. So he asked, could they help him? They were intrigued by the challenge; especially Duncalf, who had only played one game of golf in his life and didn't enjoy it. So they put their techie minds to work and have developed and obtained a patent for what could be one of the most important inventions of the 20th century.
Simply put, their golf club works this way: Put a tee in the ground and a ball on the tee. Place the head of the club behind the ball. Don't swing the club. That is the worst thing you could do, which is why most golfers are so awful. Instead, you pull the trigger in the handle of the club. This sets off an explosive charge in the head of the club. It has the equivalent power of a .22 caliber bullet. The explosion thrusts out a strike plate in the head of the club, which hits the ball with awesome force and sends it soaring down the fairway. Having done nothing more than twitch your trigger finger, you jauntily tell your opponent: "How'd you like them apples, chump?"
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