Project Appleseed

Sorry for the delay! Logistics is looking into it 

It was a fantastic event enjoyed by all! Congrats to Bulldog14 on earning his green hat!! 

Four shooters and seven instructors turned out in Van Meter, Iowa for a great Known Distance clinic. The weather was quite warm for October but everyone pushed through the heat and demonstrated they have the stuff that makes up a rifleman. Congratulations to Cody for earning his KD patch and to Adam, Shannon, Cort, and Brian for re-qualifying on Saturday. A big Huzzah goes out to Braden for shooting distinguished scores two years in a row. On Sunday Adam hit the Morgan's shingle and Mark added to our list of re-qualifiers. On our last AQT, Adam and Cody were both just one hit short of earning their distinguished patches. To end our weekend, we moved back to the 500 yard line where everyone demonstrated they own the rifleman's quarter mile with several hits in the black and a couple people with all five shots in the black.

Many thanks to Adam for bringing his side by side off road vehicle and trailer. We were able to cram nine people into the rig and one in the trailer which saved us a lot walking. But even with that, some people had over 20,000 steps in on Saturday.

Many thanks to Cody (blue hat) for all his help with administrative duties, serving as an RSO, and for keeping track of all the AQT scores.

Besides shooting and helping instruct, some of the instructors also helped with serving as RSO's and clearing the line when necessary. All their help contributed to making the weekend a great success!

Last but not least, I need to thank the Des Moines Rifle and Revolver club for allowing us to use their wonderful range.

Here are some pictures of our event. If you click on an image it will expand. Click on it again and it will shrink back down.

KD Qualifiers on Saturday

Getting zeros at 100 yds	Shooting Stage One	Sara Shooting Stage One
Getting ballistics at 200 yds	Mark in prep at 200 yds	In the weeds at 400 yds
Our firing line at 400 yds	View of targets at 400 yds	Target view at 200 yds
Shooting Morgan's Shingle on Sunday	Adam in weeds at 400 yds	Shooting at 500 yds

400 yd firing line

Adam at the 400 yd line

Standing by at the 100 yd line

Adam shooting stage one

Looking forward to this event.  happy to see you'll be there, tom.  best regards.

https://youtu.be/LwfF9cB1Mkk?si=Qupjw1WDTEx407qV
Revolutionary War Spy Ring Song.

Thank you Ghremlyn, welcome aboard !

  Huzzah, I had a great time working with Pookie when he boarder raided into Illinois

What a great event!

We had a fantastic group of shooters. The weather was beautiful but very humid. The range facility, as always, was first rate and a great place to work an event. Instructors were the best. It's an honor to work with these people.

After shooting the Hits Count target on Saturday, we started on the basics. The group was very attentive and worked hard. Their ages ranged from 12 to 71 years old. Everyone made great progress and we got in one AQT before the end of the day.

On Sunday we moved quickly through the review materials so we could get on the line as fast as possible. Since the group was so cooperative, we moved smoothly through our review and got right to shooting. Congratulations to everyone for working so hard. We managed 6 more AQTs by the end of Sunday.

We had three shooters score rifleman with two being re-qualifications. Our highest score of the weekend went to Patrick with a 231, next was Steven with 216 and Elvis with 214. Jaiden, Georgia and Thelma all scored in the 200's so they were very close to scoring rifleman and will probably make score on their next Appleseed. Most importantly everyone seemed excited to come back.

The weekend went well and everyone was very dedicated. All shooters should feel good about the improvements that they made. A big thank you to the best crew of instructors in Appleseed.  Everyone did a wonderful job and the teamwork was amazing. Check out some pictures at the following link.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/200976992@N02/0FVk2D3A95

Thanks to all.

Wendy
Miss Conduct
Shoot Boss

Project Appleseed exists because of its volunteers.

Every clinic that runs, every story of April 19, 1775 that gets told on the line, every new Rifleman or Pistoleer who leaves with better skills and a stronger sense of the history that still matters—none of it happens without the men and women who give their time, knowledge, and energy to the mission. The cadre IS the program. We do not exist without them.

From time to time we will highlight one volunteer who has been singled out by their peers as exceptional and extraordinary. These are not formal awards or official rankings. They are simply the people the men and women who work beside them looked at and said, "That one stands out."

This series is a small way of saying thank you—and of showing the rest of the community the kind of dedication that keeps Project Appleseed moving forward.

To these men and women we say, Huzzah!

October 2026 - Pookie from Michigan

I attended 4 Appleseed events as a student before volunteering, and Pookie was an instructor at every single one of them. If I didn't count him as a friend, I'd say he made me the man I am today.