Mysteries of the Rifle, Part Deux

In the last post, we covered up to replacing the scope on my Ruger Model 77 as my Dad and I continue to seek out some issues I have been having with consistency and accuracy of various hand loads as differentiated between his Model 77 and mine (again, both in the .243 Win caliber).  It took me a while but I finally found that picture I took over the summer once we had the scope on and were testing the rifle out:

Dad put in a concrete shooting bench at the same spot my grandfather had his old wooden bench.  You can see the 25-yard target for a rough bore-sight shot (and for practicing with my .40S&W Springfield XDM), and then the 100 yard target downrange.  The chronograph was used to ensure consistency of the loads from shot to shot (the 3060 fps was a HOT or fast load and different from all the others I shot that day; it was the last round from some loads my grandfather put together...in 1993!).  Some might notice that we don't have a shooting "sled"; one of those heavy-duty holders that you place your rifle into and lock it into place to remove the "human variable".  We feel that this defeats the purpose of handloading ammunition and shooting your own rifle.  You WANT to know how the trigger pull feels, what kind of recoil the load has, and to gain practice with working the action and reloading the magazine if/when needed.  Yes, your shoulder will hurt after a full day of shooting, but at least you will have a better understanding of how your firearm works.  But I digress...

We continued to experience a lack of consistency with the new scope but the accuracy had increased somewhat. After about 40 rounds or so through my rifle (not in series, always in groups of 3 with time in between for the barrel to cool) through the morning plus another few rounds through my Dad's M77, the issues with bad consistency and accuracy continued in my rifle while I could shoot groups under one minute-of-angle (MOA) with my Dad's rifle and same ammunition I shot through my rifle.  We both felt that the trigger pull may have something to do with the lack of consistency.  The factory trigger pull for Ruger M77 rifles of our eras was set somewhere between 6-7 pounds and there was a bit of creep in my trigger.  Think about it this way, you know you have to pull hard on the trigger to fire the gun but at the same time, you know that the "kaboom" is coming.  What would your natural tendency be?  Mine is to start to cringe as that trigger starts to slide thus my attention is taken off the target to preparing for the recoil of the rifle.  A lighter trigger pull PLUS some work to reduce the creep and increase the crispness of the sear release will reduce the chances of the human element coming into play and throwing the rifle off target, even by only a few millimeters.

SO, this past summer we sent my M77 off to a gunsmith that has worked on various rifles for my family over the past 30 years or so.  After a one month layover at the gunsmith, the rifle returned with a MUCH improved trigger.  We had asked for the trigger pull to be reduced to 1.5 pounds and it came in at that point with a very crisp release with no creep.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?  I can already hear the gun-savvy readers response to that light of a trigger pull with their eyes probably as big as a Buick hubcap.  "You can't set the trigger pull to be so light, it will go off when you bump it or drop it!  That's dangerous!!!!!".  Baloney.  First off, basic firearm safety states that the rifle should remain unloaded until you are ready to use it.  Therefore, the rifle remains unloaded when I'm driving a vehicle until it is parked and I am prepared to fire it which is usually when I'm in the place I am hunting or if I am preparing to walk to that place.  In the event I am a passenger in the vehicle (as is often the case when I am out and about with my Dad on the ranch), I will load it as we never know when we will happen upon a skunk, feral hog, coyote, or some other pest.  However, the safety will then be on until the rifle is pointed at the target and I am ready to fire AND it will be pointed out the window if there is some issue where the safety fails and the rifle attempts to discharge.  Likewise, the safety is always on while I'm sitting in my spot for the day in case it does get bumped when I nod off or shift positions.  Anyway, most rifles come with a "heavy" pull from the manufacturer because of liability concerns if something were to happen...and I bet that the gunsmithing community doesn't mind one bit because it provides a steady stream of customers!!!

Off the soapbox and back to where we were.  After the return of the rifle, we sat down at the bench once again to re-sight the rifle and again had mixed results.  My varmint hunting load of 75-grain Hornady Hollow-point bullets were shooting 1-groups, on-target, and consistently!  I felt really good about this and we left the rifle as it was at the end of the summer because we had run out of time for shooting as the wind had increased considerably and we didn't have enough other loads prepared for a thorough testing.  Another lesson learned: considerable time it takes to handload the ammunition, prepare for a shoot, conduct the shoot and comparisons, all while at the mercy of the weather (in our case at least, I'm not going to pay for an indoor range when I have one for free that is available whenever I want it!!!).  I thoroughly cleaned the rifle with that fabulous Hoppes No. 9, swabbed down with sheath oil to remove fingerprints and preserve the metal and finish, and the rifle was placed into the safe until mid-October.

By this time, our annual fall-roundup was taking place at a family ranch, the one with the prairie dog problem. After taking care of our primary task with the cattle, my Dad and I headed over to the prairie dog town the last morning we were there to do our best at reducing the population a bit.  After missing a coyote at well over 400 yards for my first shot of the day (it was a long shot, pun intended), Dad and I proceeded to use my Ruger M77 to dispatch quite a few prairie dogs.  The numbers aren't important (don't want to offend too many PETA types out there...) but we ended up shooting another 40 rounds of the 75 grain Hornady HP loads and well over half of them landed on target at distances from 100-250 yards.  I thought my problems with the rifle had been solved if I could land a round at that distance and on target as many times as I did...

However, that was not the case and will be discussed over the next couple of installments and this will bring us up to "real-time" posts as we continue to follow the mystery of my Ruger M77 .243 Winchester rifle.

Mysteries of the Rifle, Part I

The particulars of the mysteries we are going to explore revolve around a Ruger Model 77, Mark I in the .243 Winchester caliber.  My Dad has this model manufactured 2 years prior to my M77.  However, my rifle was passed down from my maternal grandfather, to an uncle, and then to me.  We don't know how many time my M77 was shot, what ammo has run through it, or what environment it was kept in.  The rifle was handed down to me after my uncle lost his battle with cancer and I never really shot it because I already had a .30-06 caliber rifle I used for hunting as well as a plethora of other choices from family members.

Our family has used the .243 pretty much since the caliber became available to the general public.  This, along with the .250-3000 Savage and .257 Roberts were considered excellent varmint and medium-sized game calibers when they came out and these game are what we primarily hunt.  However, the bulk of my grandfather's reloading work centered around the .243 and I knew that we had ample information to develop gun loads.   I also wanted to keep my Ruger at home with me to have available in case opportunities arose where I needed a medium-caliber rifle.  All my other rifles are locked up in a gun safe because of their sentimental and/or monetary value in them.

About three years ago, I brought the rifle with me during white-tailed deer season to see how it performed on bigger game.  Up to that time, I had only used the M77 to try and contain an prairie dog infestation on some family land (the prairie dogs have chewed up 200+ acres of grassland which is now unsuitable for livestock and has had much of the topsoil blow away).  Results were good with the small game and I thought that it would also be the same for larger game.  Not so...

That year when I took out my M77, I had several deer that required two shots to put down which is NOT the humane way to do things.  There were also several missed shots as well.  I couldn't understand what was going on and we took the rifle to our range and tested it.  Unfortunately the loads were shooting with no accuracy or consistency.  Accuracy meaning it was not hitting where I was aiming and consistency meaning bullets land in close proximity to each other.  My dad and I would resight my scope/rifle, all with the same powder load/bullet/primer combinations in the cartridge, and I could only get groups of around 2 inches.  We would then take the same loads and BOTH my dad and I would achieve 1/4 to 3/4 inch groups at 100 yards with his M77 in the exact same caliber.

Initially we though the problem was with the scope.  It was an old Burris variable power model and I personally am not a big fan of variable power scopes.  The sight pictures was not circular; it was more of an oval and had thick cross-hairs that I didn't like as well.  We also weren't sure how well the scope was mounted to the rifle so I decided to swap out the scope mount rings and scope to a Leupold FX-2 with Leupold rings.  Sure enough, pulling the old scope off indicated that whatever gunsmith installed the scope had tightened the rings beyond normal torque specifications.  The finish of the scope had been crushed off exposing bare aluminum and there were slight indentations on the barrel of the scope as well.  Several of the scope mount screws were also slightly stripped, indicative of over-tightening.

After reading as much as I could on how to mount scopes and the arrival of the tools, rings, and scope, my Dad and I mounted it on the M77.  We boresighted the rifle/scope and started to shoot once again with the same loads used in the initial testing.  Accuracy increased quite a bit but the consistency was still not as good as we wanted.  There was something else going on that we had to figure out and this will be discussed in the next installment.

Mysteries of the Rifle, Prologue

My family has a long history of being around firearms.  More specifically, rifles.  This comes from my paternal  ancestors settling in the Hill Country during the German Emigration in the mid-1840s and the need to place food on the table.  Although not quite as abundant back then as they are now, white-tailed deer were native to the land along with turkeys, small game, and other waterfowl.  Thus, in order to provide for the family, something had to be shot.  After all, cattle were worth way more for sale than for slaughter on their own table...

Well, technology evolved and it wasn't until after World War II that the surplus of powder, arms, and ammunition components made their way into the hands of the American public.  My grandfather took to this new realm of handloading for the various arms that the family had and new ones that were coming onto the market.  We have found records and several used targets dating back to mid 1950s with various notes about loads, rifles, and conditions.  Some of these are so worn and faded that the knowledge that was on them is lost.

I remember countless times spent with my grandfather helping him go through the handloading process, take the ammo out, and shoot as I was growing up.  My experience started off small of course; .22 LR (always factory ammo) and then gradually working my way up into the larger calibers with loads he had worked on for years.  Memories were made to the smell of Hoppe's No. 9 cleaning solvent, smokeless powder, and the sound of grains of powder being gingerly placed into the powder scale.  All this while looking around his trophy room lined with elk, caribou, a moose, bear skin, antelope, countless white-tailed deer antlers, and other game he had brought home from North American hunts.  Most of all I remember the stern and firm, but loving, way he instructed me on the proper way to handle and shoot a rifle while extolling the virtues of finding the "perfect" load for a given gun.  Time and care needed to be taken to figure out how to get the right combination for ammo, gun, and shooter.  That and a few bruises on the shoulder from loads that were a bit to powerful for a young'un...

Unfortunately my grandfather passed away a couple of years ago and MUCH of the knowledge he had was lost as to loads and rifles.  Some of this knowledge is written down in the form of odd notes in the resizer die boxes, scribbled on odd bits of paper, and always in pencil.  A few we know to stay away from because of the "HOT" or "TOO HOT" comments and appropriately marked out lines in the reloading manuals.  My dad was able to ask him about a few specific loads for his guns, but there are a few rifles that we have no idea what to do.  Some of the powders listed are no longer made, or are different formulations in some way, shape, and form.  This is where I am at now...my rifle, odd shooting characteristics, and trying to figure out what to do in order to shoot the most consistent and accurate loads possible.

So, I'm starting you on a new series or adventure as I take you on the journey to figure out how to have a rifle that is used for hunting of large game while also being able to handle smaller varmints as well.  Next up, where I have been so far on this track...

I Love West Texas...

Another reason why I love living out here; you can't beat the sunsets...

A LONG time coming

Editor's note - I've had this in my queue for almost a month now and kept waiting to publish it because of how events unfolded.  The thoughts are the same but you can see where the changes had to be made...

I grew up in Cowtown; Fort Worth, TX.  My parents made the decision to stay there because of the opportunities for my siblings and I had to expand our knowledge through great magnet schools, a lot of "culture" there, and a reasonable closeness to both my parent's families (they really wanted to live in the country).  There was also an opportunity for me in another way...professional sports.

My Dad was fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you view it) to work for Texas American Bank through the Great Texas Bank Crash of the late 80's.  One of the things that the bank foreclosed on before the great crash was a box at the old Arlington Stadium where the Texas Rangers played.  There were times when customers would come into town and the bank would take them to a ballgame and I was able to tag along at times.  This was my introduction to Major League Baseball.

SO many fond memories were formed when my Dad and I would go to those games.  He and his co-workers introduced me to the tasty goodness and fun of cleaning chilled shrimp at the pre-game buffet.  I was able to sit behind the Rangers dugout and get (notice, I didn't say catch) my first MLB foul ball when one of Dad's co-workers caught it and gave it to me (hey, I was probably around 6-8 at the time).  The box seats provided some relief from the oppressive summer heat and a location so that a foul ball could land in the box. At that time, it wasn't about the intricacies of the game, keeping stats, or hand scoring a game.  It was spending time with my Dad and watching these men slam (Juan Gonzales anyone) a ball out of the park with the wide eyes of a young boy.  Then there was the game we went to for my birthday (not in the box seats but purchased in the outfield), the Rangers had the lead going into the top of the 9th, and thunderstorms started to roll in from the west.  Nolan Ryan came in to close the game on 9 straight pitches, all strkies, and all his fastballs were over 95 MPH.

After the failure of Texas American Bank and my Dad's subsequent layoff, he and I would get the cheap outfield bleachers seats, walk into the stadium for batting practice, and listen to the theme of the Greatest American Hero play over the loudspeakers.  And how could I forget all the racket we would make banging our feet on those old aluminum bleachers.  As I started to get older, I began to understand the intricacies of deciding what pitch needs to be presented to the batter, shading the outfield to left or right field because of how a batter hits, and what a 6-4-3 double play is.  Both he and I would take our gloves to the game in hopes of catching a home run or a ball tossed into the bleachers after the inning throw-around was done.  We were jubilant when the Rangers won and sighed when they lost.  Which happened a lot.


Then there were the times we didn't get to go to Arlington Stadium but would listen to the games on WBAP 820 with Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel making the calls.  It could be sitting on the back porch after Dad had finished mowing the lawn on a rare pleasant summer evening in the Metromess.  Countless times were spent driving to grandparents in the late summer afternoon and evenings passing the time listening to the Rangers play.  And how can I forget spending August 22, 1989 on vacation in Pagosa Springs, CO, driving back to where we were staying, and managing to catch the right atmospherics to hear WBAP as Nolan Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson for his 5,000 career strikeout only to have the signal fade immediately after the strikeout was made and Holtz shouted "He did it!  Strikeout number 5,000!".

But the Rangers languished in mediocrity (Thanks, R.E.).  Lineups changed, Bobby V. was always the coach, and there rarely was a season where the Rangers were in contention for anything other than a sub-average year.  Then came the mid/late 90s.  The Ballpark in Arlington (as I will always remember it) was built and the Dollar Decker Hot Dog nights continued.  The All-Star Game came and went.  And the Rangers started to win.  Gone were Steve Buchele, Rubén Sierra, and Pete Incaviglia.  A new crop of players came in; Mickey Tettleton, Pudge Rodriguez (although he had been there a while before), Will Clark, and my personal favorite of that era - Rusty Greer.  New owners were in place and Johnny Oates was the new manager.  And the Rangers started to win.  Not only win but win the American League West in 3 out of the last 5 years of the last century.  And then lose to the evil empire of the NY Yankees.  And then it was back to mediocrity once again with a bad owner (whom admitted that he cut corners like he did with the Dallas Stars), a loosey-goosey with his integrity A-dud, and a couple of managers and general managers that couldn't do much.

Why did I share all of that with you?  Because I am not a "fair-weather" or "jumping on the bandwagon" or "late arrival to the party" fan.  I have been and always will be a Texas Rangers fan.  Part of this is due to the fond memories made with my friends and especially with my Dad, but the other part is that I have some pride in stating I suffered through the lean years now that the Rangers may have turned the corner and will move up away from mediocrity.  Even if they don't, I won't jump ship to the hottest team or one of the "old vanguards" like the Cubs, Yankees, or Red Sox.  The Rangers this year exemplified what teamwork and heart (The Claw and antlers!) can do when the rest of MLB teams try to buy their way to the top (not that this is bad, but it hampers the weaker/smaller teams a LOT).  This team has faced adversity in so many ways and in so many different years, but they manage to pull through it (just look at the history of Josh Hamilton or Ron Washington's issues in the pre-season this year).  However, I will also admit that I am a skeptic when it comes to new seasons; too many promises had been made that "this will be the year we go all the way" and then the team falls apart in the last month of play.  But they proved me wrong this year and I'm delighted!  Not only did they win the American League West, but they did it convincingly and by a BIG margin.  And now we are on our way to the AL Divisional Series AL Championship Series  WORLD SERIES baby!  Congrats to my Texas Rangers, and we'll see how well we can do against San Fran.

---

And now here I sit after the series looking back at what has been an amazing year for the Rangers.  I would argue that the umpires wanted San Fran to win the series based on some of the wacky strike zones they were calling in the games at the Ballpark in Arlington, but regardless the Rangers were out-pitched and our bats went cold at the wrong time.  It is easy to lose sight that we are in fact, the American League Champions for the first time in team history and that isn't anything to forget.  We faced down the Rays and yankees and made it through two of the best teams in the AL.  I am optimistic that the new ownership will indeed do what it has promised and try to keep the Rangers payroll in the top quarter of MLB in order to attract and keep their best players.  It also helps to hear one of the owners state that they will make sure to take care of Josh Hamilton after all he did for the team this year (sorry, I can't find the article on the Star-Telegram webpage).  In a short five months, we will find out where the Rangers will go from here.

Thank you to the Texas Rangers for a heckuva ride this year, from a lifelong fan.

One for my friends that are fans of t.u....

This one from the good folks at XKCD.org made me chuckle once again because of the last frame...and I thought of all my t-sipper friends as well when I read that last part...

Yup, Texas technically should go all the way into Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, and parts of Oklahoma...

Still Around

Yes, I still am around but I guess you could say I have had "blogger's block".  A quick perusal of my post list shows three different posts in the last 4 months that are still in the editing stage but I can't remember what prompted the thought or where I was going to go with it.  Then there has been "life" - a couple of vacations to the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico, working some cattle one weekend with my family, and then some personal things I've been working through.  But now I'm wrapping up a work trip to our nation's capitol and have some time to sit and put down some thoughts since there isn't anything worth watching on TV and I'm trying to figure out if I ate something I shouldn't have today.

I really like visiting Washington D.C.  Being a history buff, there is something about being in the midst of what I think is living history.  Not only is there all the stuff that develops and moves day-by-day, good or bad, in this town but there is also the rich history that precedes the "now".  When I fly into Reagan National Airport, I look out across the city and can't help but think that our founding fathers may have walked on some of the same ground I may.  How many people in benchmark/milestone/historical moments were in the various places that I was/am walking that aren't commemorated by a marker, memorial, or named street.  Then there are the collections; the Smithsonian system, National Art Museum, Library of Congress, FBI, U.S. Treasury, and so on - all of which bring a wealth of educational knowledge for those who seek it out (as opposed to those who go to say they have been there or the schoolkids that view a field trip as only a day away from school).  The memorials also speak to those that have come before and fought for what I more often than not and so many definitely take for granted.

The other thing I can fill up on for a bit is the "closeness" of everything.  Being able to take a 10 minute walk to work (and it DEFINITELY helps that the weather is cool and relatively dry out here right now), shops, restaurants, a Whole Foods within a short walking distance, and a fairly routine scheduled mass transit system.  Yes, there are cracks in this; the Metro is really showing it's age, infrastructure construction has resulted in some traffic jams which I guess slows the buses down, and you can see some areas of urban blight in the midst of the renewal that is attempting to take place in Silver Spring where I am working.  I also can get my fill of a vast collection of cultures.  We had lunch at an authentic Italian Ristorante two days this week and neither time was I disappointed.  Then there was the outstanding Thai cuisine I had last night in Sterling with a good friend and former co-worker from the Panhandle.  Basically, I need two more days to try out the Ethiopian food place that smells so good when I walk by and the Indian restaurant that from the outside looks like a dark, dingy hole in the wall but is rated 4-stars by several reviewers and locals.

If there was a way that I could manage to do it, I would come back much more often and explore all that D.C. has to offer.  Matter of fact, I even made the comment to my friend that if my employer had a temporary assignment lasting a year, with close housing (basically here in Silver Spring) that allowed me to walk to work every day, and weather like we've had so far here year-round, I would have to give it SERIOUS consideration.  But then after five days here, I also realize that there are so many things I miss.  The trees, hills, and overall green are nice but I feel claustrophobic at times.  I can't see the horizon to know what is moving in thanks to the mass of steel and concrete around me and outside of the city has trees which do the same.  The cost of living is much higher here, I cannot honor our founding father's gift by practicing my rights under the Second Amendment in Maryland (or D.C. proper for that matter), and the traffic would drive me insane.  Drivers here feel entitled to the road therefore normal pedestrian laws don't apply because they are running late for work, the light is still red, but they could turn right and I'm in the crosswalk and give you a dirty look, honk, or cuss you out.

I also think I'm not ready yet in other areas: how do I respond to the homeless man that follows me for a while saying I look like a rich boy and could spare some change because I walk in fancy boots?  What do I do on the Metro when a stoned/drunk out of their head guy is confronting a lady because she won't take him home with her (they got off at Metro Station so I have no idea how it ended up) and I feel that it isn't a good situation?  Getting in my car and driving to think or unwind; impossible with this traffic and it would be pretty hard to find a place of solitude within 15 minutes like I can back home...

Too many things to think about right now and I've got an early departure in the morning.  So I bid you adieu once again Washington D.C. richer in some ways and yet empty in others.  We'll see what the next couple of years bring and (Lord willing) I'll be back sometime soon.

A Retirement...

New post coming but I'll leave you with this preview as a hint:

Something to do with changing cameras...

Thoughts on HDR Photography

I am a slacker.  I've been busy and preoccupied with various things and my blog has fallen by the wayside as a result.  BUT, this has been in the queue and I've decided to get it out in hopes of jump-starting my blogging time.

Recently I have started to play with High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. The human eye can perceive a high range of brightness with clarity; from dark corners of a building to the bright blue sky out the window in the same scene. However, cameras do not have this ability. Print film/slides can "see" about 7 stops of contrast, my Canon Digital Rebel XT can "see" about 10 stops of contrast, and the computer screen can display about 9 stops. The human eye on the other hand can see anywhere from 20 to 30 stops.

This poses problems for tying to capture in a picture with what I am seeing when there is a large difference in brightness/contrast in the scene.  Before the advent of digital photography, the use of neutral-density filters, over and under exposure, ISO push, and film development techniques all tried to compensate for the limit of technology.  I still have in my gear bag many of these filters and from time to time will pull them out and use them.  Then I dove into Digital Photography when I purchased my Canon Digital Rebel XT in 2005.  After becoming comfortable with the abilities of the camera, a friend of mine introduced me to HDR photography 3 years ago.  I filed this newfangled process in the back of my mind believing I would stick to the true nature of photography and not let technology do the work for me.

Another reason I didn't dabble in HDR was an unfounded belief that anything altered or created significantly by digital means is NOT photography in true form.  Don't get me wrong, I used Paint Shop Pro and now Photoshop to remove dead pixels, dust on the sensor, and a blur or two from fingerprints or water on the lens.  However, I felt for the longest time that HDR images didn't look "real" mainly because HDR was still in it's infancy.  For example (pulled at random from Picasa), this album just doesn't look right to me for some reason.  The color balance was off and it looks as if the sky was burned into the image.  Several other pictures had this similar unnatural discontinuity.  I also had to deal with on occasion at work images submitted of tornadoes that were obvious fakes that soured my taste for heavy digital editing.

But as is usually the case, technology improves, methods improve, and my mind started to change.  I started to see stunning images created through HDR work, and now there are videos starting to arrive that are made through HDR techniques (and probably take a LOT of work!!!).  Information on various methods, techniques, and software started to grow and I finally started to realize that HDR images can bring the actual image out MUCH closer to what I was seeing through the viewfinder.  Let me give you an example:

This image was taken by my XT at 5:27 AM MDT at 0 EV.  The color in the sky is nice but the foreground is rather dark.

For this case, I had set my XT to bracket at +/- 1 EV for three shots (Ideally, I would have done +/- 2 EV and +/- 1 EV for a five shot bracket but my XT cannot do this).  So, the -1 EV shot looked like this with a nearly invisible foreground but the deeper reds came through in the sky:

And then the +1 EV images came in with the sky almost totally washed out BUT the foreground is totally visible now!

For my HDR processing, I plinked down for Photomatix Pro after reading many a blog, review, and webpage on the various software packages out for HDR work.  Taking the three images (remember, you need at least two or more images to combine into HDR, ideally several from the + and - EV sides) and letting Photomatix Pro combine them, then tonemapping the image, reloading into Adobe Photoshop Elements, then only doing a weak sharpening for this example, we end up with this image:

And THIS is what I saw that morning about as close to what it really was as I can reproduce right now.  That is what I am supposed to do; capture the images as close as to how it is in nature so that others can see and enjoy.  If HDR helps me to do so, then I am all for it AS LONG AS it is stated that the images is indeed HDR and not a single exposure.  Not disclosing this fact in my mind is misleading to the viewer/buyer and is also dishonest at the least.  I prefer integrity and honesty over being a fake or liar any day...

ANYWAY, having worked through my initial issues with the idea of HDR, I am now actively looking for scenes where this may work to help convey what was truly going on at the time I saw the scene in the picture. Matter of fact, technology has come such a long way that I now have an app on my iPhone that will take HDR images using the built in camera.  I can now capture more realistic images while out and about and share them with others while still using the digital SLR for archival, print, and maybe eventually selling higher quality images.  Besides, since I don't have a tripod for the iPhone, there are still some alignment issues with the images and the tonemapping isn't quite as robust as in Photomatix but it gets the job done:

I continue to warm to HDR photography as yet another tool in my camera bag (well, now camera AND laptop bags) to try and represent the best image possible.  It opens a new way to give you the image that I saw with my eyes or at least something as close to it as possible.  Hopefully images that make you have the same reaction when I see them in real-time:  "WOW!"...

Lesson Learned.

My laugh (and hopefully yours) for the day...