AAR: Palmerton, PA 2011March26-27

[mal]

Sorry for the delay, folks!  We had a pretty nice event this past weekend.  11 on the line Saturday & 7 Sunday.  The weather was cold (mostly 20s), but tolerable with a fairly steady wind at our backs.  Interestingly, despite the shoot being quite a ways from home, all the shooters were related or neighbors.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Also of note, most all the rifles on the line were bolt actions.  All rifles were 22LR with the exception of an SKS.

The whole group stayed up-beat all weekend (thanks!).  Most of the group came in to the weekend with some pretty tight shooting already. 

Pics below:



• Shooters on the line Saturday.
  
  
  
• Ang teaching prone steady hold factors with Chainsaw demo'ing.
  
  
  
• Our youngest attendee this weekend, Amos (age 8 ) taking aim.
  
  
  
• Our 1st Rifleman Joshua with a 227.
  
  
  
• Not to be outdone, Jay (227), Nathaniel (212) & Zach (210) scored Rifleman shortly after.  Most impressive, many of them had a single 5-7 rd magazine & *still* made time in the 2nd & 3rd stages!
  
  
• Zach, scoring an exact 210, was 'christened' into the Rifleman ranks with a handy bottle of really old murky North Bridge water that our SB Chainsaw had been keeping for just such an occasion...
  
  
  

[Chainsaw]

Good times, good times...

Well done everyone!  The young folks especially did a great job of staying safe and persevering and all showed excellent improvement.  It's safe to say that there isn't a squirrel safe anywhere in NEPA.

Right after I explain that only about 10% of shooters get the patch their 1st time out we get 40% who do it with bolt guns and 1 mag apiece.  Fantastic.

Cudos to the campers, yikes it got cold at night!

Greg & Igor, nice job, keep after those board members!  See you in July...

[arpjoe]

A great group of new Appleseeders and four achieved Riflemen qualification!  Got NPOA? Yes.  Thank you to my fellow instructors that attended an unexpected "Winterseed" - see the snow in the pictures.

A Big Thank You to the members of Palmerton Rod & Gun Club for hosting their 2nd Appleseed.

[thequietman]

I just wanted to thank all the instructors who braved the cold and the snow to teach us all something about hitting the target (any fool can pull the trigger and make a noise, it's hitting the target that counts).

I learned to shoot 30 years ago, learned the positions, the use of sling. So I thought I was mostly on the ball and just need a refresher. Was I ever wrong. There is a lot that one forgets in 30 years. I was learning all over again. I think I learned more than all the guys that got the patch put together. They say you learn more from failure than from success. And I agree. Had I shot the rifleman score my first time, I probably would've walked away confident that I know how to shoot and don't need to go to another Appleseed event. Now I know that I need practice and more important, I know how to practice (instead of just making noise, shooting full size targets at 100 yards sitting at the bench on a warm sunny day).

Couple of things I learned that day beside shooting:
1. My eyes are getting too old for open sights. While I can still see the front sight, it's not as easy to focus on it as it once was. May be I'll try a low power scope for my next event (somewhere in the 1.5x to 2x)
2. Ruger 10/22 is a great little rifle that takes a licking and keeps on shooting, but even 10/22 needs to be cleaned once in a while. And there is nothing like shooting 400+ rounds in two days to drive that point home. I was getting a bit slack in cleaning (laziness, no other excuse) and I was getting multiple FTE and FTF towards the end of day 2.
3. Magazines fail. And at the worst possible moment (thank you uncle Murphy). Always carry spares.
4. A little physical conditioning goes a long way. After two days my arms and shoulders were sore from stretching in ways I wasn't used to.

My son also learned a great deal. He did not make a rifleman score either, but his shooting improved at least 100% from when he started. His groups improved tremendously (or more like you could actually see groups, rather than being all over the paper). The instructors taught him more in two days that I could in the last two years. One thing that he learned on his own, is that scopes are not always better than open sights. In the past he kept asking me to scope his rifle. After trying both scoped and open sighted rifles that weekend, he decided to stick with open sights  for the next time.

So great experience overall. We will definitely be back for the next one in Palmerton. But will also most likely come to one in Manheim between now and then.

Igor.

[Livefreeusa]

All,
I'm extremely happy that we had a safe shoot once again. I have to admit I was a little concerned about ALL of the Bolt actions and our 8 year old shooter.... I wasn't getting my hopes up. BOY OH BOY WAS I WRONG!!!!  First our 8 y.o. Amos Couldn't hit the cardboard the target was on.... BUT with ALL of the instructors taking turns and giving some real quality one on one time to Amos by the end of the day he was proficient at 100 yards! Way to go AMOS! I wish he could have made both days, but hey, I'll see you NEXT TIME. As for our bolt friends,  WAY TO GO! Again I was wrong to think that any one with one  mag and a bolt could no way make time on the second and third stages.  Not only did you make it you all taught me a lesson Never under estimate the power of determination !  I had a great time, and once again you meet some of the nicest people at the Appleseed Shoots!