Project Appleseed

YAY!  So glad to see another Ladyseed at Kingsport!

Twelve aspiring Riflemen joined us at the Wildlife Committee of Washington range on a beautiful spring weekend to learn History, Heritage, and Marksmanship! We saw many friends return from previous events who had been practicing their skills and 7th stepping which is always a great way to start an event, and even had folks join us from Oregon! On the first hits count target we had four shooters hit Daniel Morgan's shingle and Jenna made it look easy by clearing the target (a feat which she repeated three more times, clearing every single hits count target of the weekend)! No AQTs on Saturday but we learned about the sacrifices made almost to the day 249 years ago that lead to us all gathering together to celebrate the American Rifleman.

After catching up on some instruction Sunday, a total of seven shooters hit the shingle with a cold bore shot, this was over half of the line and another four shooters cleared the target! This sure got the volunteers excited for what we'd see later in the day. Our range host, Martin M., qualified on his very first AQT with a score of 212 (followed up by a 228 soon after). Returning Riflemen Dan R. and Ryan F. were not far behind, Dan also scored 212 on the first AQT and Ryan was consistently our highscore shooter of the weekend putting up a score of 230 on the first target! Later in the afternoon the Shoot Boss was challenged to an AQT and could 'only' manage 230 points, compared to Ryan's best target which scored a 234 - he earned a trip to the swag box for that. Still not quite enough for a Distinguished Rifleman patch but well within reach after a few more rounds of dry practice. Josh looked like a pro behind his rifle despite having very limited experience, and I have no doubt his highscore of 183 will jump a few dozen points by his next event. Dan D. pulled off a personal best of 198 and our undisputed hits count champion Jenna came oh so close, but a Rifleman patch remained elusive with a score of 205. Shawn, your persistence and positive attitude was an inspiration to us all.

To everyone who attended, thank you for spending your time with us on this beautiful weekend. As you go about your week take a moment to remember and honor those who have come before us and think about what you are doing to leave this world a bit better than we found it for our posterity. Hang up those targets for some dry practice (with absolutely no live ammo of any kind in the room with you) or take a friend to the range with a sighter square or two and tell them about what you learned. I look forward to seeing you on the firing line again soon.

Such an excellent weekend, was very touching to hear all of the names being read; it was an honor to be able to spend this weekend with all of you and qualify!! Especially on patriots day weekend, can't wait to begin the orange hat journey! Thank you all for your amazing support and guidance. Another fabulous Appleseed in the books!!

What a GREAT weekend in south Florida and a FANTASTIC Patriots Day shoot!!!!  Weather was perfect and the Homestead Training center was welcoming and supportive as always.
We had 9 shoots with 5 returning Appleseed shooters and 4 NEW Appleseed shooters.
To support the weekend's event we had 9 Instructors, which provide a great Shooter to instructor ratio.

Success was amazing!!  By the end of day, Sunday we had 4 brand new, first time Riflemen and Riflewomen to add to the ranks.
Yvonne scored twice with a 210 and a 213.  CJ hung in there with his AR and punched out a 214.  Kelly persevered and refused to give up and knocked out her last AQT with a 219 refusing to give up.  Finally Derek hit Rifleman with his first AQT with a 210 but continued to improve for a final score of 220!!

For all four shooters, this was their very first Rifleman's patch and all were grinning from ear to ear along with every Instructor!!

All of our Shooters exhibited tremendous improvement throughout the weekend and all were in the range of low 190's up to 205.  All with-in striking distance and ready to come back again.

The Instructors also excelled and gave everything they had.  A Great Big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to SweetCarolyn for successfully completing a flawless execution on her test out for graduation to a full Instructor and receiving her coveted Red Hat.  Our Orange Hats, Shaz, Quartermaster, Anyone But Dallas all made significant progress with several of them earning promotions themselves on the journey to obtaining their Red Hat.  And just to round out the success of the weekend, Fenix stepped up after receiving her Rifleman's patch and took on a bright, shiny new Orange hat.

Thank you again to the Homestead Training Center for hosting our event and to all the shooters that dedicated their weekend to help celebrate this year's Patriot Day's Shoot....... HUZZAH!!!

Be sure and check out all of the great pictures of the event..
https://www.flickr.com/gp/193056249@N06/4852EdW3RU

What a great weekend that was. Not o ly was it great to shoot with my three kids, two sons and a daughter, it was awesome to see their progress throughout the weekend. We had an ammo issue with their rifles at the end of the 2nd day, but they stayed the course and finished the weekend strong. Thanks to all the instructors and all the other non G-family members. It's always great to go shooting with family, but creating new friends along the way makes the days better! Excellent work everyone!!! 

Trying to hold the white-board so that it doesn't blow over for the third time...

Teaching Known Distance

Working on the basics and building a good foundation...

A few photos...

Starting the day with the safety brief:

Can there be a better way to open the new year (for many of us) than to spend the weekend with fellow patriots at Logan's Ferry in New Kensington? 11 loyal Americans (including several first-timers to an Appleseed event) came out for beautiful weather (if you don't mind a little wind).

We opened the day with our safety brief, then brought rifles to the line so that the students could show what talents and abilities they had brought with them. A look at the first Redcoat showed a wide range of skill levels, from those who had probably earned their Rifleman patch at a prior event to those who came to learn some things that they might not have been exposed to before the event.

We moved right into the basic foundational areas, including the Steady-Hold Factors, the Six Steps to Firing a Shot, then going into NPOA. Explaining that the main difference between the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Empire State Building is a good foundation helped to reinforce the need to master the basics. And master them they did.

Before the weekend was over, we had two new Riflemen and three re-quals. We also had three clear the Redcoat and earn the Pennsylvania First Regiment patch, with Larry clearing it all four times and taking home the only "Full Weekend, No Miss on a Redcoat" patch that I have awarded in the two years that I have made them available. In addition, by the end of our event, nearly half of the team had become Riflemen. You don't want to tangle with this group in a competition.

Taking a break from the AQTs, we shot a team event mid-afternoon on Sunday. Breaking up into three teams, each team member was allowed a single round (sounds kinda like Morgan's Shingle, doesn't it?) with no time limit.

The only pressure was what each team member put upon themselves. We posted a scaled-down 100-yard target for each team and let them go for it. By the conclusion, there were 10 holes in the 5 rings and 1 in a 4 ring. Two teams tied for a perfect score and the winner was decided by the one that had no shots touching the outer line of the 5 area. Our winning team members were presented with the seldom seen by highly sought Appleseed sticker, suitable for application to a gun case or ammo can.

We concluded our event with the firing of the Memorial Volley, then the final Redcoat.

Thanks to Logan's Ferry, for hosting our event, to our instructor team for coming out on the first truly beautiful weekend of the season, and to our student cadre, for attending. Don't forget to come on back and bring a friend.   

If anyone has any additional photos and would like to post them, please do so.