AAR: Gibsonburg, OH Sept. 25-26

[posterboy]

ohio's largest..

excuse me.. clear my throat...

OHIO'S LARGEST APPLESEED HUZZAH !

Yes.. you heard right The Great Black Swamp has now put the bar high for the rest of the Buckeye state by hosting the record a breaking Appleseed. A hearty 50 Americans venture out to learn Marksmanship,hear Heritage and Honor our Founders ! Surely the Founders were smiling on us this weekend as for once the weather was amazing !

We were greeted Friday night by Patrick and his platoon of friends he 7th stepped up from Dayton ( Huzzah Sir) ! I had met Patrick, Seth and several others at the April 19th shoot in New Philadelphia and he made it a point to come back to Gibsonburg. He told me he was planning on making those two shoots a tradition with him and his friends ! Think of that Appleseed becoming a traditional ritual twice a year.....we need Patrick to expand this idea to as many Americans  as possible !Cameron (Peddie.22) showed up with a group of Boy Scouts in tow and we had a wonderful evening capped off with an excellent history lesson of flags told by Hoover.

Saturday arrived and the crowd of 50 gathered and got registered and soon we were out on the line hearing about the legendary Daniel Morgan and firing  the first 13 shots of the day after  another great demonstration from Uncle Frank, a club member who is knowledgeable about both black powder guns and the Revolution. We the broke the instruction into 2 groups and Steady Hold Factors, 6 Steps, NPOA , IMC were all introduced to the Fabulous 50. Squares were shot groups improved and soon it was time for lunch and History. After a Strike we were back out on the for some ball and dummy. Then we moved on to seated and after a break standing and then there was time for an AQT and the last Redcoat. Scores in Each Category were doubled literally !!! Indeed a good group of students trying it the appleseed way and improving ! Three shooters shot rifleman huzzah! but they were previous rifleman congratulations anyway , Archer Ace, Gary and Beaker.

28 Sore shooters returned for Sunday with 2 Sunday only adding to the crew. We zeroed centerfires for the 500 later and then jumped into carding sights then the famous circle of fire drill on squares to drill the npoa shift home. The AQT then came out and riflemen were forged in the process. Huzzah to Ohio's New Riflemen Brian, Lorri, John, and Becky  !  Have to say that Becky is the model of persistence...I was very happy to see you break through !After Lunch we shot some more and then had a KD lesson and went to 500 yrd. We had also set a new 25m line to let those who wanted to hammer AQT's to keep doing so while the rest were on the 500 and that is where Will earned his patch on his Birthday... congratulations! Oh and Huzzah also to the Team that DEVASTATED the Lamson Star target. It was close and some hanging chads had to be deciphered but they won !

Ahhh the 500 yrd line. Morgan who I believe was 16/17 and the very dangerous daughter of newly minted Rifleman , Brian .got her AR out and eagerly got set without the slightest hesitation to shoot some steel at a 1/4 mile. She got all set and then on her very first nailed that target ...HUZZAH ! The next target was hit by Brian and soon students were lining up to put that 25m stuff to test  !

I'd like to thank all the students for coming ....YOU made this a truly special event ! YOU gave up the comforts of the couch to come and learn about Marksmanship and Heritage I know you were rewarded for your efforts....! Thanks to all of you instructors as well ..excellent as always. Miki you are always welcome even though you're a boarder raider ! A major Huzzah to Lisa and Mary for feeding the students the best breakfast and lunches on the planet..it's hard work and I KNOW Patrick and his Dayton HORDE appreciated it LOL.

Troy... as always ...you are the man

Good to see you again Huey and congrats on helping to destroy that star target  

John and Lorri hope to see you again and feel free to contact me about Adams CC and hope to see in orange soon.

Best of all Two stepped forward for their Orange Hats..A deep thank you and welcome to Gary and Beaker. Your skills are welcome and Ohio is better for it.

We say that someday soon we'll shake the hand of our first appleseed rifleman president..well maybe Ohio will have it's first Rifleman Congressman. Brian who shot rifleman is running for Congress in District 5. Talk about 7th step. Good Luck Sir.

This appleseed stuff works.....

Until October......

posterboy

[Huey]

Great weekend, brought 1 friend with me this time, we will each bring another next time (spring).  Lessons learned this weekend (for me at least)

1.  Exercise does not work by osmosis having a machine in the home - gotta use it, after the first sitting drill my back was killing me the rest of the weekend, sorry for any short temper moments it may have caused...
2.  First time out last year the rifle worked, eyes cost me.  Got a scope and tried it out FROM A BENCH (DOH!!)  When locked in with the sling eye relief issues became all to apparent.  Pace is too quick at these to get behind, especially when you need to re-zero.  Should have taken advantage of the range being hot during lunch (good idea that..) Bottom line....do PMCS on your gear BEFORE you hit the firirng line using dry fire drills for day 1!!
3.  Did I mention dry firing before I go again....
4.  Gonna throw this out there.....seemed to be a little communication issues with some of the hats on the line, maybe the use of a bullhorn by the RSO and red/green paddles by the safeties?  Little lesson from uncle there...
5. Also (not knowing how the financials between RWVA and the states are handled)...any chance that the state coordinator could have a limited amount of items from the RWVA store available for purchase at the shoots?  There were more than a few people that I notices that were really interested in getting GI Slings after seeing them used there.  Also maybe a few copies of the Paul Reveres's ride.
6.  Buttstock...excellent job out there this weekend, keep forgetting you're just a "kid"....would of loved to have you as one of my riflemen in my squads "back in the day".
7. Not to overlook the remainder of the colored hats, thanks to all of you for volunteering your time to the rest of us....
8, Big thanks to Lisa for the chow, brought perishables this time to eat but still liked having some hot grub available..
9. Congrats to all the new riflemen...hope to join your ranks soon!

Another blog review to follow....


"I know a lot of duds that wear fancy fruit salad and shiny medal , its not whats on the uniform but whats in the uniform that counts.  No matter how brilliant the General's plan, it still comes down to the RIFLEMAN to make the victory..."

"look unimportant, they might be low on ammo...."

Huey

[imaghn]

I had a super great 1st Appleseed experience.  The drive from MI was well worth it.  Unfortunately, I was unable to make it back on Sunday.  The cool Saturday evening really gave my body a hammering - Saturday night and all day Sunday I was contributing to NyQuil and Kleenex's rising stock price.  I'm feeling much better now though

I will definitely be attending more appleseed events in the future.    and I'll be bringing my ak along with me ...   (was just a hair's width away from morgan's crew)

[Miki]

What a great weekend. The weather couldn't have been better. It was nice to see some of the folks I met at Camp Perry this summer on the line.

I can't decide if my very most favorite moment of the weekend was Will FINALLY shooting that rifleman score or the smile on Logan's face when he looked at his target and it was full of holes! (Logan was the young man shooting the break action single shot.) Oh, there was also the whole 'shoot like a girl, IF YOU CAN' group. Those gals were punching some serious holes in paper. I'm just going to stop trying to figure out what was best and enjoy it all.

It was a pleasure working with all of you. Hope to see you again sometime soon.

Miki

[Ratchett]

6.  Buttstock...excellent job out there this weekend, keep forgetting you're just a "kid"....would of loved to have you as one of my riflemen in my squads "back in the day".

Huey

Buttstock is a super guy and I believe that he also passed his driving test Saturday morning before the shoot

G'burg has a great instructor core and I cannot wait to go north for a shoot. Also look forward to meeting the shooters from north of I70

[posterboy]

We missed you guys on sunday ! you're back welcome anytime !

pb

I had a super great 1st Appleseed experience.  The drive from MI was well worth it.  Unfortunately, I was unable to make it back on Sunday.  The cool Saturday evening really gave my body a hammering - Saturday night and all day Sunday I was contributing to NyQuil and Kleenex's rising stock price.  I'm feeling much better now though

I will definitely be attending more appleseed events in the future.    and I'll be bringing my ak along with me ...   (was just a hair's width away from morgan's crew)

[posterboy]

Huey

Thanks for your feedback it always helps a great deal. We'll be waiting for your blog review ...please post a link here when you get it done.


Oh and I had better be your favorite appleseed instructor by far this time too........ lol

pb

Great weekend, brought 1 friend with me this time, we will each bring another next time (spring).  Lessons learned this weekend (for me at least)

1.  Exercise does not work by osmosis having a machine in the home - gotta use it, after the first sitting drill my back was killing me the rest of the weekend, sorry for any short temper moments it may have caused...
2.  First time out last year the rifle worked, eyes cost me.  Got a scope and tried it out FROM A BENCH (DOH!!)  When locked in with the sling eye relief issues became all to apparent.  Pace is too quick at these to get behind, especially when you need to re-zero.  Should have taken advantage of the range being hot during lunch (good idea that..) Bottom line....do PMCS on your gear BEFORE you hit the firirng line using dry fire drills for day 1!!
3.  Did I mention dry firing before I go again....
4.  Gonna throw this out there.....seemed to be a little communication issues with some of the hats on the line, maybe the use of a bullhorn by the RSO and red/green paddles by the safeties?  Little lesson from uncle there...
5. Also (not knowing how the financials between RWVA and the states are handled)...any chance that the state coordinator could have a limited amount of items from the RWVA store available for purchase at the shoots?  There were more than a few people that I notices that were really interested in getting GI Slings after seeing them used there.  Also maybe a few copies of the Paul Reveres's ride.
6.  Buttstock...excellent job out there this weekend, keep forgetting you're just a "kid"....would of loved to have you as one of my riflemen in my squads "back in the day".
7. Not to overlook the remainder of the colored hats, thanks to all of you for volunteering your time to the rest of us....
8, Big thanks to Lisa for the chow, brought perishables this time to eat but still liked having some hot grub available..
9. Congrats to all the new riflemen...hope to join your ranks soon!

Another blog review to follow....


"I know a lot of duds that wear fancy fruit salad and shiny medal , its not whats on the uniform but whats in the uniform that counts.  No matter how brilliant the General's plan, it still comes down to the RIFLEMAN to make the victory..."

"look unimportant, they might be low on ammo...."

Huey

[badelve]

This was my first appleseed shoot. The entire staff was very knowledgeable & professional. Morgan & I had A blast. She talked about
it non stop for 2 days. We are planning on attending the October shoot if my work schedule permits. My only regret is that I didn't
come to one sooner. This old dog learned quite a few new tricks. It's amazing how utilizing a few simple techniques can so drastically
improve accuracy.
Hope to see all of you again in October.

                                             Badelve 

[Faitmaker]

We were greeted Friday night by Patrick and his platoon of friends he 7th stepped up from Dayton ( Huzzah Sir) ! I had met Patrick, Seth and several others at the April 19th shoot in New Philadelphia and he made it a point to come back to Gibsonburg. He told me he was planning on making those two shoots a tradition with him and his friends ! Think of that Appleseed becoming a traditional ritual twice a year.....we need Patrick to expand this idea to as many Americans as possible

To be fair, I might be responsible for planting the seed in Tom's and Will's ear, but they were as much responsible for whispering in the ears of the others as I was.

[Gordon]

This was my first appleseed shoot. ...  Hope to see all of you again in October.
 

Thanks for the post, Badelve. I'll look forward to October!
-FM

[Faitmaker]

My AAR is posted on my blog with about 70 pictures of the event.  Enjoy.  http://bit.ly/a3Xxu3

[Huey]

nice blog post     , mine should be up today