Over the past weekend, we had our first "Skeeter Shoot". We had to have a manageable group size. Hope to see you at a future Shoot.

We ate. We talked. We ate some more. We talked more. We shot. Had a great time.

We traveled from Puerto Rico, Michigan, Miami - Palm Harbor - Tallahassee Fla., Georgia, Mississippi, and places beyond!

Wonderful Food included: Smoked Pulled Pork - Potatoe Salad - Coleslaw. Shrimp Bisque, Ham and Bean Soup, French Bread. All Homemade by myself and Kent.

Thanks to everyone who attended. We know life's busy, and we appreciate you sharing this special weekend with us!

We are already thinking about the next one.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2015 05:24PM by Kelly.

I'll keep the pics coming! Please feel free to post some of your own pics of the shoot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2015 06:27PM by Kelly.

What a great time! My sincere thanks to Gary and Kelly for being such gracious hosts, and Kent/Kelly for the fabulous food. All the participants were excellent company. I can't wait for Skeeter 2.

Karl

A little more of the weekend.

Myself, shooting one of the older guns here. The 25 Chaparrel. What a pistol/carbine. You really have to work, to miss. And that's with round ball.

The wood on Kent's guns was just getting richer. Beautiful.

I was so busy I didn't get but 2 pics all weekend. That's crazy as I'm all about pictures.

Gary

Sounds like lots of fun

The boys and I had a great time, it was a pleasure meeting everyone and spending some quality time talking about all sorts of things and shooting some fine air guns. I've been trying to get to one of these events for years and have finally had the pleasure. We look forward to future events!

We had to leave Sunday morning (unfortunately) to get to my parents for my wife's birthday celebration. The boys immediately pulled out some of the .87 caliber pellets and asked everyone to guess what they were. They got responses like, barbells for raccoons, uncomfortable squirrel stools and I have no idea. The look of disbelief when they revealed it was a pellet was comical.

The boys came up with some of their own names for this lead barbell slinging air gun, "The Fat Lady Sings" (because it truly is over when this lady sings) and "Pterodactyl" (because of the noise it makes when the air reservoir refills after each shot, I guess they know what Pterodactyls sound like) I had a good laugh.

When we arrived home they placed one each next to their trophies. The .25 caliber is for comparison.

(Hi Sal - This is Gary Interrupting the program in progress! haha.. We loved having you, Andrew, and Adam(sal's edit), at the shoot! Thanks for coming. Loved your story and loved the names for the rifle too! I'll have to think of those a bit!! Good inspiration. I notice though, that is one messed up looking slug .... that would be hard to copy ... for sure! . (One thing about the forum software .... you cannot sneak in and quietly alter anything without it squealing on you .... geez-whiz)



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2015 11:52PM by Sal.

My apology, Adam! I got your name correct all day Saturday .... then messed it up on the post!!!

Glad you were with us. Please join us next time as well.

Gary

I like to thank Gary and Kelly for putting together this event against weather and other adversities. The group the gathered there was diverse and rich in knowledge. Conversations were very interesting and we even had a keynote speaker.... Lon knows...All in all a great experience and I'm glad that I was able to be there.

My congratulations to Kent for winning this year Cup.

I hope to see you all on a next shoot.

julio

Thanks Kelly ...

For your hard work preparing for the Shoot, for your great food and Hostess Duties, AND ... for being the Official BPS Photographer. I was running around like a Squirrel for weeks prior, and during the Show. As you know, about 7pm last evening, I hit my Freshness Date. KRASH-CITY. I've been tossed onto the back porch... Boots on the steps - hat in the laundry room .... since. Pleased drag me inside or out - the threshold is goring into my ribs ... ....

Gary

Kelly and Gary,
You are truly wonderful hosts! Thanks for everything you did. It was an awesome 'mini' vacation for me.

Kent,
In addition to congrats for winning the cup, you have my vote for chef of the year too. Your food was wonderful!

Carl, and Keith and sons and girlfriend, and Sal and sons, and Lon, and Kurt, and Julio, and everyone;
You were wonderful company and it was a pleasure to meet each of you (or to see you again). Thanks for making a great weekend awesome!

Later,
Jeff

P.S. Oh, and Kurt, thanks for setting Gary up tp get that power hammer running! I can't wait to see what that results in!

More fun at the Skeeter Shoot!!

My new friend from another country !


Look at that gun ! The barrel just keeps on going .

Thanks
Kurt

What a great weekend we all had !
THANKYOU to Mr and Mrs Barnes for the invite and being such gracious hosts. Seeing all the guns and knifes that folks have bought threw the years in person was great . All of them made by Master Barnes , the pioneer of big bore airguns and youngest master blade smith .
Being able to walk thru the shop with all the simple and some homade tools was great . Pull open a drawer and ask any questions you wanted . Seeing into the small corners with all the old and new projects was amazing .
It was great meeting all my new friends and listening to and telling stories was fun . Also seeing young men getting into the sport is the way it should be .
I did like seeing all the reactive targets and digging for slugs after the shooting . To quote G.B." There should be some hubcaps laying around our here " .87 cal wow was that a slab of lead . I did see one slug that glazed off a piece of angle iron holding a target .
It was my pleasure meeting ALL of you and hope to see you'all in future shoots .
Congrats to all the winners of 1st,2nd,3rd place and especially to Miss Kelly and Kent for the wonderful food and southern hospitality !


It was truly a BLAST !!

Thanks
Kurt

Really glad you came, Kurt!

Thanks for trucking steel to BPS as well. I will love putting that to use! Can't wait.

Hey, WHAT happened to that picnic table??? Looks like it went thru a forest fire!!!....

Hehe.

Saginaw to the Florida Panhandle! Anything for Shrimp Bisque, Kelly's Tater Salad, and Airgun friends.

Gary



Kent did a short safety lecture, and used the BPS Shop FL87 to demonstrate. Is an Airgun "empty" as long as there is no slug in the chamber? He pointed the "empty" gun at a sheet of copy paper, and fired. The Fat Lady Sang (BOOM!!!!!) and the full sheet of paper turned to confetti!!!!! With only the blast of air, it just shredded the paper.

Remember, the action was made to thread on many different caliber's, twist rates, and test slugs. To start, a maximum length reservoir and Max. length 87 smooth bore barrel were fitted. It was QUITE a SMILE MAKER!

Hmmm, about that picnic table... No I don't really wanna go there, lol!
What happens at a Skeeter shoot stays at a Skeeter shoot!
Later,
Jeff

Hey Kurt,
Glad you made it home safe. Man was that a typhoon or what. It kicked my little car around for over 300 miles. It was a pleasure to meet you and hang out. I look forward to doing it again.
Take care,
Jeff

Thanks Jeff
I enjoyed meeting you and talkin guns and knives .I really enjoyed seeing your Barnes collection of old and new stuff . It was pretty crazy weather drivin home and actually up here in Michigan had an F-0 tornado in a little town called Bad Ax a couple miles east of me . The were power outages all over and roofs blown off . The news paper even showed a big sign made from I beams bent completely over. I came away lucky . All I had to do was reset the clocks .

Gary ,
I will never mention a word about the pic~nic table .
Hey , Guns,Knives , food ,AND tractors is all I remember.

Thanks
Kurt

Kurt,
So true! Glad you made it safe. There were tornado warnings and 50 mph winds when I hit town. Sheesh!

'Bad Ax,' now that sounds like a town to stay out of at all costs!

I'm glad you enjoyed the collection, that's cool. Just sorry we never got to watch the tape. Maybe next time.
Later,
Jeff



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2015 09:47AM by jcwward2.

I was wondering which model that one is with the REALLY long barrel. Is that the one fathom version?

Hey Rotor,

That's an FL87 Derringer.

I can thread on different length reservoirs, barrels, and change caliber's for testing slugs. If you'd like the full rifle version, there's a undercarriage option.

Gary

LOL!

If that barrel gets any longer, you'll need to start adding on side-stays and cable braces just to keep it from drooping under its own weight.

You note the Pic with Julio holding it. I told them to use the Panorama setting to take the pic!

Hey Rotorhead, That sounds like another worthy name suggestion for what I have simply been calling "The Monster!" Lol!

Thank you Kelly and Gary for putting together the Skeeter Shoot. You are both such great hosts.

It was wonderful to have a gathering of kindred spirts sharing their love of all things Barnes!

We enjoyed a party that allowed us to see into the hollow tree and watch the elves at work.

Thanks to all who made the extra effort to make such a special event in the real world happen.

Looking forward to sharing with y'all again,

Kent