Castle Rock, WA 12 & 13 December, in the cold...

[Earl]

I have been working on Saturday's Appleseed, inventorying what material I have on hand (not enough, never enough), sending out the POI for the two day event to the IITs and interested parties - those day's will be shorter than this weeks. I had tried to get the lawn mower to turn over and start so I could cut, thrash and bag the clipping and wayward leaves, the mower is smarter than I and I put it away, chore undone. It is cold, bitterly and the wind is blasting more of that Artic Global Unwarmed stuff our way, it is cold. But then, being just a Library Keeper, I keep remembering Henry Knox, fine man of books that he was, and his mission to get the guns from Ticonderoga to Boston for General Washington's use. So, between the 82nd's work during the Battle of the Bulge and good old Henry Knox's example of leadership and perseverance - I guess I can weather well the two day Appleseed, wish you were here.

[Earl]

I seem to have a box of Appleseed Shoot goodies, promised delivery is tomorrow, Friday, so with all the help from my friends, the RWVA Central and my own preparations we should have a great Winter Appleseed - what did they call that Apple cider that was frozen to remove the water content and only the alcohol was left - the good stuff? Applejack? I probably have the whole process wrong, but that is what happens to fellows that quit drinking badly so very long ago. If I don't see you on my range this weekend, okay Wade's DAR, you have a great one and remember to make every shot count, targets were put on the Earth for a purpose.

[Pa Rah]

Looking forward to it, see you there.

[Wade]

Cold or not I wish I could be there , Finaly going to be able to get in my replacemet truck maight be on the road saturday  if not then monday  .

Have fun,  I hope you make good use of it .

Wade

[Kratos]

.

[kornphlake]

I'm looking forward to being there, I even went and finally bought a set of chains for my car after 3 years of telling myself it's not worth it since I never drive if it's bad enough that I need chains.  I'm not going to let some Arctic Blast stop me and I'm certainly not going to worry about some grass that hasn't been cut or a few leaves on the ground.  See you there, I'll be the guy who didn't shave for a week hoping that the stubble would some how keep his face from freezing to the stock.

If there's a spring clean up I could probably get a half dozen or so Boy Scouts to join in the clean up, if we can find rifles for all of them I'll bring them to one of the spring shoots, although not officially as scouts.

[Earl]

UPS and Bulkhead have just delivered the Appleseed support package, bring lots of bullets, there are lots of targets awaiting your best attentions. Don't you love it when a plan comes together, I think the weather will be just right, the stories you will tell your grandchildren about when they come to listen to the GOOD Old Days.

[Wade]

UPS and Bulkhead have just delivered the Appleseed support package, bring lots of bullets, there are lots of targets awaiting your best attentions. Don't you love it when a plan comes together, I think the weather will be just right, the stories you will tell your grandchildren about when they come to listen to the GOOD Old Days.

The weather forcast looks good  for this weekend over that away , It does not look like it will get really cold intell about the time I get there .

Have fun

Wade

[RL]

I am starting to think Wade is afraid of the cold, since he missed this shoot last year too.

[Wade]

I am starting to think Wade is afraid of the cold, since he missed this shoot last year too.

What chould you possably mean by that  . Can I get flash reports this year also ?

Wade

[Earl]

Well, what a wonderful day to shoot, forget what the weather wizards told you about bad - today was cold but clear, the rifles and shooters performed well, and all marks except the shoot boss handing out the t-shirts were met, it was dark as the pictures demonstrate when the rifles cleared the line.

[RL]

The weather was terrible, nary a rain drop, hail stone or snow flake to be found. I was disappointed, last years weather was better.  Lots of fun, I forgot what it was like to be on the other side of instruction.

[Wheeler44]

Another fantastic days with some huge achievements for our corner of the country........I'll let the Shoot boss and other instructors share the day with you...Fantastic......That's the only word......

Wheeler44

[Kratos]

Great day for a shoot.  Cold but clear, and it actually did warm up for an hour or so!  I was very impressed by how consistent many of the shooters were, and how their groups were tightened drastically from the previous day (this is what I was told when asked, since I wasn't present Saturday).
And of course several people shot Rifleman scores, and there are a few that are knocking on that door.

[TruTenacity]

I can't wait to read the day's report from the shoot boss and others that attended this northwest winter shoot plus, pictures, pictures, pictures please.

[Earl]

TruTenacity, patience is a virtue you have in abundance, and I wouldn't forget you, there is a terrible video of me presenting two fine RWVA Instructors their Red Cap, on Facebook for the world to see. But I have some pictures to share of shooters, too. It was better than Wheeler44 said, it was my Best AS as Shootboss in 2009, great instructors to work with, wonderful shooters picking up all we said and locking it in and proving it on the targets. Now to the lady's request for pictures.

[TruTenacity]

Thanks for posting, Earl.  I can now go to bed.

[Earl]

Am I done yet, no, not by a large amount of paperwork, money, emails and reports.... well, someone has to do it, just not tonight, there are shooters and Instructors still on the road, may they make it safely.

[JoeCool]

The first southern view down into the Castle Rock shooting range gully was awe inspiring early Sunday morning as we carried our rifle cases down. The fog made the sunlight soft enough to look at the low hanging sun, yet lit up the skyline in bright white. The rolling hills across the country scene was completely covered in glistening frosty grass blades and sparse trees. This white tapestry framed the old wooden barn standing guard over the shooting range where people were about to learn more about "what they were about" and where our country came from. That was a great moment and event thanks to the people of Appleseed.

[hawkhavn]

Great looking shoot folks!
Details! Details! TruTenacity and I are awaiting the real scoop...

HH

[Reformed Redneck]

Earl and all,

Great pictures. Good video on Facebook also. Caught in the act!

Sounds like a very good shoot. Congratulations to the new Riflemen(women), and to the new Red Hats.

Best regards,
Reformed Redneck

[Wheeler44]

By my careful calculations, If we (western Wa.) adopt Western Rose, we would be much better off...What do ya say RR ?

W44

[LTR]

Wow - Kevin Shot a 195 - Excellent!

[kornphlake]

This weekend’s shoot was my first live marksmanship instruction course and my first Appleseed event.  I arrived early to find that I was one of the only participants who wasn’t an instructor, as more participants started showing up I found that I was not only one of the only students I was one of the only first time Appleseeders.  I got a lot of help from Ethan and his dad when the other instructors were working with other first time Appleseeders down the line, they gave me the same answers and suggestions as the instructors would have given, even though they weren’t wearing an orange cap. 

My first redcoat target was dreadful, my sights were off about 3” to the left and an inch low, I hit the 100 yard target and missed the others, I did manage to hit the headshot but only because I missed another target by just enough to hit the headshot.  After shooting a couple sighting squares I got the sights zeroed well enough to be productive the rest of the day.

During the sighting in process I learned that I was doing the respiratory pause backward, I’d take a breath and hold it then squeeze the trigger before exhaling, my groups significantly improved when someone coached me on when to squeeze the trigger.  I improved my form in the prone position by putting my elbow directly underneath the target, holding the trigger back after the shot and shifting my body to achieve NPOA. 

I learned a little bit about the off hand and sitting positions too, but these are the positions I’ve done most of my shooting in the past so I felt pretty comfortable before hand.  NPOA is one of the main things I took away from the instruction in these positions, I’ve always used my muscles to hold on target in the standing and sitting positions rather than finding my NPOA.  My offhand group on the first greencoat target was better than Ethan’s by a few points and he was wearing a rifleman patch!

I promptly forgot what I’d learned about form in the prone position during the AQT and watched my sights move diagonally across the target without giving it a thought until cease fire was called.  My AQT score was 171, which I thought was pretty respectable considering I only fired 2 shots from the sitting position before cease fire was called.  If I’d changed mags faster and gotten 5 more shots off consistent with the first 2 shots I would have scored about 190.  I know that I could have improved my score by quite a bit if I’d had time to shoot another AQT target knowing that I need to shoot the sitting stage faster and taking a little more time to work on my form in the prone position on the final stages. 

I regret that I wasn’t able to shoot again on Sunday, I feel a little cheated that I don’t know the story of the 3rd strike and I missed out on a whole lot of useful practice and instruction on Sunday.  I’d really like to attend another event later in winter or this spring.  I’d planned on carpooling with two women who are friends of my wife, but they ended up backing out at the last minute.  I spoke to one of them yesterday and both she and her husband would like to attend an event in the spring ,I hope I’ll be able to join them. 

As I mentioned above, I’m a scout master and I think this would be an excellent opportunity for the boys to learn some of our American heritage and marksmanship skills.  Unfortunately the BSA has some rules that are a little restrictive.  First, Scouts are only permitted to shoot under the instruction of a NRA certified rifle instructor and when on the range must be supervised by an NRA certified Range Safety Officer.  I don’t know what the requirements are for the RWVA certification for instructor and safety officer or if they could be substituted for the NRA certification.  My gut feeling is that unless RWVA starts working with the scouts directly at the national level I don’t see them recognizing RWVA certification [I am personally frustrated with the way the scouting program is run at the national level as well as locally, unless BSA can profit (financially) from an event they generally don’t support it.]  Instructors would need to have both NRA and RVWA certification to supervise Scouts, which may or may not be true of the current instructors and range officers.  Second, Scouts are only permitted to fire single shot .22 rifles, which isn’t a huge concern, although a semi-auto or at least a bolt action repeater is more practical.  That said, our troop is first and foremost a youth group sponsored by our church.  We do have flexibility to participate in activities that do not fall within the BSA standards and I don’t think it would be too big a deal to get permission to make the event a church outing rather than a scouting activity.

[Wheeler44]

Excellent reply Kornphlake.... Stories like that warm my heart....PM me about your Scout group...We'll work something out.


W44