Northern California Grendel Fest

[JASmith]

Question of the day: How many of us can attend a day-long shooting clinic focused on tweaking Grendel shooting skills for the hunter?

I am engaged in discussions with officials from a major Northern California range to see if we can make something happen. The conversations have matured to the point where we will need to have a feel for how many can attend.

As of 2/1/15, the draft plan includes several rounds of buddy-coached shooting coordinated with a 90 minute lecture describing shooting skills, techniques, and equipment that will help the hunter harvest an animal.

Please indicate in the poll if you can attend by selecting "Reside in Northern California" or "Reside Out of State." Yes, south of Bakersfield is "out of state" because the distance needed to travel is similar to the distances from Oregon or Nevada.

[acourvil]

I voted "can attend" but it would depend on where in NorCal it would be and what date gets picked

[JASmith]

acourvil, thanks for the comment.

Understood -- we should be able to publish the location once approval for the meet is obtained. Getting a precise date will necessarily have to wait until after that event.

Lead times for range reservations suggest that the earliest would be late spring and could be significantly later.

[Mountain Man]

What are the laws regarding driving into CA with an AR from another state? Magazine restrictions? These may be stupid questions but I have never had guns while in CA so I am a bit ignorant to the law there.

A rough date would be helpful in figuring out the "Go or No-Go" logistics.

[JASmith]

Mountain Man, Thanks for the question. This is what I have for now:

• Regarding the date, the shoot will be no earlier than late spring (May) of this year. Finding an opening on the range calendar may push that toward the fall.
  
• I share your concern about transporting firearms into this state. CA Laws are more restrictive than even us residents frequently realize. The most noticeable restriction is that the magazine release button must be replaced with one that requires a tool to allow the magazine to be released. The tip of a bullet works fine.
  
• There are other restrictions as well. I will post a summary and link to an authoritative source by the time we are able to announce the location of the event.
  
• FYI the clinic focus is on that first shot the hunter takes when harvesting an animal. That allows us to contemplate requiring that all rifles be single-loaded to minimize shooting time lost to malfunctions. The California button may still have to be present, but folks accustomed to the standard magazine release won't be as bothered. A device that could be very useful for load development even where you live is the "Original Bob Sled Loading Block AR-15 " at MidwayUSA: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/232...ng-block-ar-15. This makes single-loading relatively straightforward.

[rickOshay]

Waiting for the confirmed date before I know if I can join. I realize it's a cart and horse thing for securing a date. But I'd like to participate and meet more Horde members.

[JASmith]

The comments indicate worries about committed to a date and location that are arguably "pigs in a poke."

I made the poll a public poll but now realize that it implies a public commitment with the result that folks are correctly hesitant to respond.

The real purpose of this poll is to survey to see if there is enough interest to warrant moving forward. I fully expect that some who have some interest may not be able to go if the travel distance is excessive or that there is a conflict with a specific date.

Requesting commitments from you needs to wait until we have approval to use the range we are currently discussing the idea with. Once the approval is obtained, I hope to pencil in more than one date and then poll to see which Saturday (if we are lucky) has the most folks willing and able to go.

I am willing to start a fresh poll in the anonymous mode if I get more than a couple of PMs or public posts indicating that it would make a difference. (I could not figure out how to edit the poll now that it is in the public mode.)

[acourvil]

Another restriction for California is that the rifle needs to be cased during transport, and the case needs to be locked if you are in a school zone. A more significant restriction is that in general you cannot legally bring magazines that hold more than 10 rounds into the state.

IIRC, that version of the Bobsled doesn't work for Grendels, but there is another one that does. But it's also not that hard to single load from a regualr magazine.