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Review Summary

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Overall Rating
4.00 star(s) 1 ratings
Overall Rating
4.00 star(s)
I don't know how to do the "drop a pin on the map and follow the vocal instructions" but my army land navigation from a paper map helped. That and the electronic compass inside my car, which I've previously denigrated as useless. Until you get out into the trees and can't see squat, there I can get disoriented quickly on winding, twisty roads and no view of the sun.

So I was out there today. I live in the north end of the greater Seattle ball of confusion, not really city but not exactly suburban either. Definitely no longer semi-rural. So the North Fork Gravel Pit is a long driving slog for me. However, I have an old friend who relocated to Everson some years ago. I decided to visit the gravel pit, then drive over to Everson and visit my friend.

First off, have a Washington Discover Pass before you go. It costs about $35 and is good for a year. But better than getting a $100 ticket from a ranger for not having it. Second, be sure to at least take a paper target with you and set it up, one of the rules of the road for shooting on DNR land. And for Gawd's sake, don't take dead TV's and other bubblegume along to use for targets, those days are way over. We live in different times now, we've got to get used to it. Shooting in the out-of-doors, off-range is pretty much gone anywhere at a reasonable distance from megaloptic living areas now. This is becoming a rare space, let's try to hang onto it as long as we can.

I'm retired, can select off-peak days and times to do this stuff. I arrived at the pit about 2:00PM today, there was only one other vehicle there with active shooters. I stopped and introduced myself, met a nice older couple. Then I drove down the pit a ways and set up my chronograph. I had some test cartridges to try out and record data on. I got all that done for four loads, nice to be able to do it off-range without having to rush and set up between cease fires. After that, I fired one of my M1A's 50 shots for pure pleasure.

Pictures:

I was parked in the southeast corner. This old '06 Mercury is the kind of car I choose to drive. I've got two like it. The other is the Ford Crown Victoria version. These are good cars. Between the two, I've got enough cars to last me for the rest of my life. No, I don't need or want a $60,000 dually Diesel pickup.
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One of my shootin' irons for this day was an SAI M1A. Also got to try out new powder and cast bullets in my Ruger .38-40 Vaquero. Some other stuff, too. Look at those little puff clouds in the background, look like air bursts going off.
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View of the pit looking toward the south west.
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This was looking toward the northwest, where the other shooter's vehicle was parked.
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The air conditioning in the old Mercury works just fine and it was badly needed today. It was 78 degrees in the shade, hotter in the sun out in the gravel pit. By the time I got over to Everson, the thermometer said 82.
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