Milsurp After Hours

Went up in the woods with a couple of friends, still a little snow in the shade but not cold.
Took my Canik 9mm, 2 AR 5.56 and my AR 7.62x39. I had never shot my 5.56 Wylde with 18"
stainless steel barrel. What a fun and accurate thing that is. Went through 650 rounds
of my ammo, not sure how much of theirs we shot up. They brought some pistols and
several rifles.
All in all a fun day, I remembered to take pics but can't post them yet. Hopefully with the
weather getting better, there will be more shooting days.

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650 rounds is a lot of ammo. No sore shoulders or trigger finger? I keep going to go shooting but never seem to get there. Could it be I'm now so over the hill I'm having a hard time getting motivated enough to get my stuff together and drive the 30 miles to the range? The worst hold back is thinking........what if it is too crowded and I have to wait for a lane?

It was 400 rounds 5.56/.223, not much recoil, 120 7.62x39 and the rest 9mm. My shoulder isn't really
sore, but my bad neck bone nerves make my left shoulder hurt........... go figure....
Have enough 5.56 mags to take 530 rounds loaded up, so no loading while shooting.
It's only about 5 miles to the woods, but the biggest pain is loading and unloading tables, chairs,
target stands, gong stands, bench rests, ammo cans and all the rest....... but worth it..
Just bought a 1999 Ford Ranger 4x4 pickup with a canopy, easier to load than my Explorer and
keeps the Explorer off the back roads and all the dirt and crud off the carpet in the back. It's old enough
that I can actually tinker with it and change some things on it. You can actually see the engine, not just
a big plastic cover. Another project.........

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It's a amazing how many old Rangers are on road still. I had a 1996 model once. On the inside, siting in the front seat, they were nearly the same feel, and actual interior space, as the Explorer of the time. Ford stopped making them for a several years but now they have them back in production. There were a lot of the 4 cylinder 5 speed regular cab versions sold back in the day for young boys to drive while the girls were more often getting the basic Mustang. I had the 4 liter 6 cylinder automatic in my regular cab. Unlike the 4 cylinder it would really scoot.

Mine too has the 4.0l V-6 and 5-speed auto trans. It has the extended cab that Ford called Supercab,
and it's an XLT so it has a few bells and whistles. I hadn't thought too much about the bigger engine
in a light ass pickup, but the other day I floored it at a stop sigh to beat the traffic and it squealed
the tires half way across the intersection..... Was not expecting that, made me laugh.....
Been a long time since I had a vehicle that would do that, am used to front wheel and all wheel drive that
won't do that anymore. The 16 year old in me may have some fun with that.

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Most of us are just big kids that look older but still think 18 or so

My wife used to say I never grew up, I just got older...................

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Now that we can post photos again, here is one of the Ranger I was
talking about. Have been working on it, added Vent Visors, replaced broken
chrome grill with black, replaced all front lights and tail lights. Added Sirius
satellite radio and wired a backup camera on my GPS. Replaced upper control
arms and ball joints and changed ALL fluids, and 4 new tires. Still shiney as
it has been repainted.
So now I officially have more money into it than it is worth......
But it's fun.

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Ford is making Rangers again now. There are plenty of old ones still on the road. Guy across the street from me has one.

Nice looking restoration. The rims are exactly like the ones on the Ranger I had.

The door sticker says it was built in Nov '98, so this month it is old enough
to drink. Maybe one night I'll take it out and go drinking to celebrate.....

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