Bloomington, IL June 5th-6th

[Mogget]

...and stay tuned!

Mogs

[Mogget]

Why yes, it is raining buckets.

And the sky is dark, except for all that lightening.

We don't cancel Appleseed for the weather.  We do take shelter when necessary, making the fullest use of classroom facilities.

See you in two hours!      

Mogs

[George63]

------------------------

[Mogget]

Ha ha, George!

Below are a few pictures.  I will post more tomorrow, along with a full report.  For the moment, I just note that there were six Riflemen at Bloomington this weekend.  In addition, it was nice to visit with Old Glory at the Screamer.  Boy!  You never really know someone until you meet them outside of normal venues!

Mogs


Ladies, take note!  This is Derek, one of our new Riflemen: 

[EEL]

Mogs,
Old Glory was a hoot !!  Screamers....Boy, she sure took that to heart     Darn near cleared the place out   

Don't know how Coly does it......He must be a saint 

EEL

[Mogget]

OK!  I'm up and at work again!  Let's see...

Saturday started with thunder, lightening, buckets of rain, and forty brave shooters.  The upper range was relatively drier but the hardy souls on the lower range had both standing and running water to deal with for a few hours until the sun came out.  Perhaps this was an important part of the Appleseed experience for those  hardy souls who endured it because by Sunday four of our six new Riflemen came from the lower range!    

Both the range at Darnall's, which is a great facility, and the good folks at GunsSaveLife.com, who provided the range fees and free drinks, were integral to our success.  Many, many thanks to them.   Also, the catered lunch was great.

Thanks to Boba Fett for the First Strike at lunch, and to Wurstmacher and TheEditor for Second Strike stories on their respective ranges.  By the time Saturday came to an end Dave had repeated his earlier Rifleman score, but had exchanged his scope for iron sights.  Good job, Dave!

 

Saturday evening featured more thunder, lightening, and rain, with the added bonus of a tornado watch, noticed by everyone except George63, who has apparently established permanent residence status in the Rifleman's Bubble.  Sunday morning, however, dawned fair, cool, and clear.  It was a purrrrrfect day for Appleseeding, if I do say so myself   After some sighter squares and a review, the Riflemen began to appear.  Before lunch Nick, Ken, and Chris had crossed the threshold.    


After lunch, Derek and Aaron both posted some excellent scores to earn their patches.  We heard some Dangerous Old Men stories, memorably presented by Oddball, Castle Mountain, and others, and then we had a good lesson on AD shooting by George63.  Yes, there is life beyond 25 m!!!

Finally, congrats to all who attended and especially to the younger set: Brandon, Ryan, Eric, and Jacob.  It always makes me reflect with pride on the American spirit when folks show up at an Appleseed and steadily work through issues  of weather, insect life, equipment, and personal attitudes and abilities to become better shooters than they were 48 hours earlier.  I bet you all are finding Monday's workday activities something of a rest...  I know I always do!

Mogs

[Patriot Gal]

Just to let you know, Mogget.  Illinois isn't usually as laconic of speech as we have been for this AAR.  So here goes!

Great shoot!!  It is always so rewarding to work with participants who are diligent and persistent.  All of you shooters really worked hard on both the ranges to improve throughout the weekend!  Good on all of ya'!!!!! 

Super congrats to our new Riflemen Chris, Aaron, Nick, Ken, Derek and Dave with iron sights!!  Impressive!!

Personnally, I had a great time teaching IMC for the first time to a very attentive and smart group of folks!!  You made it easy for me.  Young minds are amazing at picking this information up, aren't they?? Of course adding the $$ to the "inches" number helped us, "more mature minds", figure it out too! 

I had a good time with the participants while sharing the story of David Lamson and Mother Batherick!  Our own, petite Joanne made a great Mother Batherick against our "mountain of a man grenadier", Pete (Derek's dad). Smiles all around for the human visual aids, but the point was well made as evidenced by the consensus of head nods, as to what one person can do, in the lives of many when they take action for the cause of liberty!!!

Appleseed...where marksmanship and heritage meet! 

Thanks for all the instructors who helped out this weekend.  Everyone played an important role for the success of the shoot.  BTW, just want to let everyone know that there is an Appleseed shoot up in Bonfield, near Kankakee, in 2 weeks (June 19-20).  If you didn't make Rifleman in Bloomington, strike while the iron is hot and come on up to Bonfield!!!!

Hope to see you all again out on the Appleseed trail!!!   

Patriot Gal   

[John Boch]

Minor note of correction:  Guns Save Life sponsored the drinks and the range fees for the shooters, saving each shooter $50 for the two days in ordinary, non-member outdoor range fees.

John

[TheEditor]

Here are a few pics from this weekend at Bloomington.  

TE

[TheEditor]

I'll try it again in a bit, with the real pics.

JN

[TheEditor]

George 63 teaches known distance. 

[TheEditor]

Some of the attendees and instructors listen to Mogget's benediction in the shade on Sunday afternoon. 

[TheEditor]

Despite rain on Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday night, Sunday dawned bright, relatively cool, and dry.  A more perfect day for Appleseeding would be hard to imagine.  Notice in the pic the George Washington flag, and the sponsor, GunsSaveLife.com, has a banner displayed.  This pic is from the northernmost of the two bays, with a line of 24 shooters on Saturday and nearly that on Sunday. 

[TheEditor]

The shorter of the two lines, the southernmost bay, as seen from the hillside approach.  Darnall's is a beautiful range.  I recommend that anyone in the Central Illinois area looking for a home range consider this one.  During most weekday afternoons, you can shoot longer distances ("longer" being a relative, Central-Illinois term, for those Westerners reading this) up to 300 yards.  This was also taken Sunday morning as preparations were underway to begin day two of the fourth annual, highly successful Bloomington Appleseed. 

[TheEditor]

If you are lucky enough to have Castle Mountain as one of your instructors, you will get to see this fine flag display welcoming 'Seeders to the Admin table. 

[TheEditor]

Dave R. is a four-time Appleseeder and repeat Rifleman, this time with iron sights.  He also brought a sporterized Mosin-Nagant on Sunday, just to add a little .30 caliber boom to an otherwise all-.22lr line. 

And just because Dave's not wearing an orage hat, don't be fooled.  His furious seventh stepping has resulted in Appleseed to be soon welcomed to yet another Central Illinois venue.  Watch for the announcement soon!

[TheEditor]

Oops, forgot to edit that last post.  "Orange hat", not "Orage hat".  Way to go, Editor. 

[TheEditor]

Five of the six Riflemen from the Bloomington AS.  Congratulations! 

[TheEditor]

After Dave R. put away his Mosin due to a loose scope mount, the line was again limited to .22 lr rifles.  In an effort to remedy this situation, and because Mogget stepped up and called the line after lunch, Yours Truly was allowed a brief moment of participation, with a CMP M-1 Garand.  In a true example of the Rifleman's Bubble, my friend Jeff S., who was shooting next to me, finished his course of fire, then got out his camera, laid down next to me, and got this shot.  I didn't even know about it until later. 

[Old Glory!]

Five of the six Riflemen from the Bloomington AS.  Congratulations! 

Who is going to submit this most excellent photo to the Bloomington Newspaper?
Here are the e-mail contacts.

http://www.pantagraph.com/app/contactus/

[TheEditor]

A special mention of Oddball, one of the Wurstmacher clan of orange and red hats.  Oddball was not even scheduled to work this shoot, but decided at the last minute to come over anyway.  He adopted the project of coaching our two youngest participants, whose names and looks were so similar that no one could tell them apart.  They became known, in Dr. Seuss fashion, as Thing One and Thing Two.  These two stuck it out all weekend, working from sandbags and vastly improving their marksmanship.  They had rarely if ever picked up a firearm before this, but you can bet they'll be back at the range soon, thanks to Oddball's tutelage.  

[TheEditor]

Group photo of everyone who was left Sunday afternoon.  A happy, satisfied, and awakened group of Americans. 

[Garand69]

Mogs,
Old Glory was a hoot !!  Screamers....Boy, she sure took that to heart    Darn near cleared the place out  

Don't know how Coly does it......He must be a saint  

EEL

I'm sure we are banned from Screamers for life after Old Glory's antics!   Nothing but trouble them Barabooians

Thanks for running an Excellent Shoot Mogget, your welcome in Illinois anytime. Team Illinois your making me proud, 6 more Rifleman worth of dust for California to chew on!

Great Pics Mogget & The Editor!

[Old Glory!]

Group photo of everyone who was left Sunday afternoon.  A happy, satisfied, and awakened group of Americans.  

Who is going to submit this even more excellent photo to the Bloomington newspaper?
http://www.pantagraph.com/app/contactus/    

p.s.  Garand, thanks for offering to pay my bail.      Appleseeders, don't ever pass up a chance for a little face to face with Fred and the gang.   

[Patriot Gal]

Minor note of correction:  Guns Save Life sponsored the drinks and the range fees for the shooters, saving each shooter $50 for the two days in ordinary, non-member outdoor range fees.

John

THANK YOU "GUNS SAVE LIFE!!!!!!! 

We appreciate your sponsorship to the Appleseed Shoot at Darnell's a lot