News:

We need volunteers in sales, marketing, PR, IT, and general "running of an organization." 
Maximize your Appleseed energy to make this program grow, and help fill the empty spots
on the firing line!  An hour of time spent at this level can have the impact of ten or a
hundred hours on the firing line.  Want to help? Send a PM to Monkey!

Main Menu

AAR Castro Valley, CA April 16/17 2011

Started by V, April 18, 2011, 03:04:35 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

V

Great weekend at Chabot Gun Club (the MythBusters range) in Castro Valley, 40 shooters, 11 of them new to Appleseed and there because of Calguns promotions by Penny's Dad (Jacob). Thanks mate!

I'll edit this post with more details when I can get my stuff unpacked meanwhile everyone feel free to post your experiences and please upload or llink your pictures, I saw lots of camera's out there.

Six new Rifleman join our ranks - two on Saturday, one of them on the only Red AQT of the day, and four on Sunday, one of them on the only Red AQT of the day.

Doug shot a 218 on the first Sat AQT followed by a 231 on the Red AQT
Lars shot a 213 also on Sat

Eben shot a 234 on the Sunday Red AQT
Tim shot a 222
Jason shot a 215
Doug shot a 228 and a 220

We had a good mixture of experience in the crowd from never having touched a firearm to a designated squad marksman!

Regardless of experience everyone had an enjoyable time and improved. The only negative of the weekend is the noise levels at Chabot make instruction and history telling very tiring on both instructors and students and I'd like to thank all of the students for being patient with us. We had loud-hailers and a PA system but its a wall of noise all day at Chabot.

The fun side of it are the turkeys and deer wandering over the berms and backstop giving everyone experience of a "safety" cease fire during the COF, stand easy while we stop the clock and then continue shooting once they've wandered off :)

Thanks to Mr Peter for carpooling up with me for the weekend, Ryantsg, Nero and especially his wife Pat who was our blue hat and ran Admin and scoring AQT's for the shooters all weekend.

Thank you again to the shooters who helped us set up and clear down and were a great crowd who were very receptive to both the message of the history and instruction on marksmanship. And we sold a lot of rocks this weekend, I'm sorry I mean ROCs, five new memberships and at least as many stick-on upgrades. A lot of interest in the CMP as well.

And thank you to the shooters for once again making Chabot another sell out shoot - don't forget when you come back, as many of you said you would, bring friends and family.

More later,
Cheers
Phil "V"

YTDoug



I shot a 218 and a 231 on the redcoat AQT :bow:. Thanks to the instructors for their help and skills. This was my 3rd Appleseed and I finally earned my patch.

Eljay

I only made it out Sunday.  This was the second half of my first Appleseed, so to speak, the first half being three months ago.  I avoided bringing a camera (didn't want to focus on that) but I couldn't resist snapping one cell phone shot of the morning mist and another of the flags flapping during lunch.

1kiloGarand

As promised, attached are triangle targets for practicing with @ Chabot (scaled for 20 yards). I can make them in different distances if people want them.

I'm a brand new shooter, with no bad habits apparently. I made Rifleman on Day 2, and you can check out my very first and very last red coat targets. I had total of 6 hours range time before this Appleseed. Clearly, Appleseed program really works! :)
http://i.imgur.com/cJPdw.jpg

V

Congratulations,

And thanks for those triangle targets. For those who don't know, its not only a question of scaling the targets for the ranges available at the public ranges but also that "humanoid" targets are not allowed.... we won't talk about the hoops required to get the Appleseed event targets approved. So thanks again for the triangles, I'll certainly print some of those out - Make good use of them everyone.

Cheers
Phil "V"

Quote from: 1kiloGarand on April 18, 2011, 08:02:31 PM
As promised, attached are triangle targets for practicing with @ Chabot (scaled for 20 yards). I can make them in different distances if people want them.

I'm a brand new shooter, with no bad habits apparently. I made Rifleman on Day 2, and you can check out my very first and very last red coat targets. I had total of 6 hours range time before this Appleseed. Clearly, Appleseed program really works! :)
http://i.imgur.com/cJPdw.jpg

Nero

#5
Congrats to everyone who got off the couch and made this a great weekend.  This was one of the largest Patriot's Day shoots in the country, and it's your cheerful and teachable attitudes that let it run so smoothly.  Congrats to our six new Riflemen, of whom I'd like to especially call out:

Lars (DocBach) - I know some of the other shooters were thrilled to find they had a designated marksman from the current day Army among them.  The spirit lives on!  Thanks for your service (and for the tips on shooting light barreled carbines)  O0

Tim (1kiloGarand) - from new shooter to Rifleman in two weeks, what a story!  Just shows what dry firing and a teachable attitude can do.  And making your own training aids to share as well.  We need to get this guy sized for a orange hat.  ~~:)

Jason - I told the other instructors you were going to make Rifleman with that bolt gun this time for sure.  Thanks for making a true prophet of me.  ;D

And thanks of a sort to the Chabot range turkey flock, for occasional comic relief and needed breaks.  %)  We are working on a remote controlled mock turkey that can be sent to shut down the neighboring pistol range when we're ready to do history talks.   **)

Pix and some more Chabot-centric training aids to follow later.
"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters." —Frederick Douglass

afrancke

First time Appleseed attendee and no rifleman patch for me, but I did improve enough to be happy by the last AQT with how things were shaping up. More importantly, by the end of the first day I'd learned loads of particular things to go work on that will keep me busy in the months ahead.

I was really looking forward to the weekend and it exceeded my expectations in every way. I will be coming back and bringing more people with me.

Feedback for improvement in the future:

- Hearing was made difficult most of the time by the live fire going off next door - it would have been ideal to have had the PA active with a wireless head-worn microphone for the 'come to center' moments. I suppose it also added some flavor to the whole experience to have only incomplete instruction and have to ask buddies, instructors on the line, etc. for details on what we missed as we rushed off to each prep period, but if that's not really the intent then maybe something to look at improving.

- Not enough sedition. In all seriousness, I liked the storytelling generally (especially Phil).

Eljay

At the last one they used a bullhorn type setup to great effect when it got noisy.

gamename


Great class! Jeanne and I really enjoyed it. We will definitely be attending more.  O0

-Tennis & Jeanne

Nero

A few pix from the weekend.  (I know there are more out there, post 'em up!)


V prepares hasty-hasty sling.


Most of the line, on sunny Saturday.


The centerfire end of the line, with 3 brave and persistent ladies amongst the big boomers.


Rifleman Lars - HUZZAH!  (Now it's Sunday - notice the fog in the background)


Ready on the right?


Ready on the left?


V, Pete and Ryan tag-teamed history


Attentive audience


Rifleman Doug E - HUZZAH!


Rifleman Tim - HUZZAH!


Rifleman Doug W - HUZZAH!


Rifleman Jason - HUZZAH!

And HUZZAH as well for Rifleman Eben - who I believe had the high score of the weekend - but had to leave to tend to his young daughter before we could get a photo.  Get her that Cricket and bring her out next time!


Benediction - and a blessed moment of silence from the range next door...

Full album here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/timoren/ChabotAS411?feat=directlink
"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters." —Frederick Douglass

DocBach

Nice meeting and shooting with all of you - my wife and I apologize for leaving so quickly on Sunday without saying goodbye, but we had to make our way to Fairfield to pick up our new puppy from his breeder.



Unfortunately Katie didn't shoot Rifleman and napped for most of Sunday, but next local shoot she wants to come and bring her brother and sister. Might bring out my M4gery with my ACOG, might make those 400m targets a little easier to hit!
"Soldier, you need to turn off that ACOG before the batteries die" PMI Instructor, Subject Matter Expert

Nero

#11
A follow-up to 1kiloGarand's post up-thread...

If you are a member or live close to the Chabot range, and want to practice your AQT on the public lines there, some things you need to know and have:

Chabot Fails:  Humanoid targets are outlawed on the public lines, even minimal ones like the AQT target.  (A long story involving local politics, political correctness, and some anti-gunners with a video camera. Use your imagination.)  Also, the public rifle target lines are at 20, 50 and 100 yards, not 25 meters.

Chabot Wins:  Position shooting is just fine on the public lines. 95% of the shooters use the bench only, but a Rifleman knows better.  Bring out your mats and slings, TPTB are happy to see it.  Also, timed fire is OK on the public lines - just no faster than one shot per second - and you don't breathe that fast do you?  So AQT in cadence is just fine. 

I'd only caution about doing transitions on the line - since the shooting benches cannot be moved out of the way, it'd be all too easy to bash your head or other body parts on them while transitioning.  Unless you are VERY confident in your ability to keep both good muzzle and body control during transition, you might want to instead practice transitioning at home, time yourself up to loading an (empty) mag and acquiring the initial NPOA, deduct that amount of time from the stage time, and simulate the stage starting loaded and in position when at the range.  Get a buddy to time you, or get one of those electronic egg timers that beep when the count down to zero.

Now about those targets.  No humanoids, but I've seen every kind of wacky bench rest or sight-in geometric target out there, so they can hardly object to some triangles, can they? 1kiloGarand kindly put up his version scaled for the 20 yard line.  Strangely enough, I've created something similar, so here's my version.  Like his, I've got two triangles to represent the 4 and 5 score zones, and added a bottom line and top dot to represent the 3 point zone.  These print onto 8.5x11 paper or card stock. There's also an equivalently scaled 'real' AQT that you can print out on a transparency (remember those?) and use as a scoring overlay on your shot-out triangle target to find out how it would 'really' score.  Enjoy!

(One caveat on both his and mine - the spaces among the targets are not necessarily to true scale, so try not to get the NPOA shifts built into your muscle memory.)

"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters." —Frederick Douglass

Nero

...and here's the same thing at 50 yards, if you fancy that distance or all the 20 yard lanes are busy.

Caveats: 

There's no stage 1, it won't fit on a 8.5 x 11 sheet when scaled properly.  I use a 50 yard smallbore bulls-eye target (NRA A-23) and some imagination.

Some assembly required:  And you can't fit the proper number of targets onto an 8.5 x 11 either, so you'll have to print multiple copies and tack them onto the target backer at the range.  (Note that TPTB at Chabot want all targets kept within the outline of the original paper on the target they hand you when signing in.  They get tired of replacing shot-up support boards.  That means you'll probably have to do your full AQT in three firing period - one for stage 1, one for stage 2, one for stage 3 & 4.)

"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters." —Frederick Douglass

Eljay

Nice.  I've simply been shooting at 1" squares prone, 2" sitting, and 3" standing, with as many squares as fit comfortably on a sheet, and two sheets side by side.  If the 20 yard lines are full I'll shoot 2" squares prone at 50.  I'll try some of the triangle targets next time to see how they compare but if you just want some nice multi-purpose things to shoot at having a variety of squares handy is cheap and easy.

Note that you can scoot any empty benches around a couple of inches if you're tight on space.  Not only are the ROs OK with it, I've had one just walk up and do it when he thought I was a bit cramped.

Another pro - at least one RO there has attended an Appleseed and does some light 7th stepping.

Another con - no videotaping - involves that same incident I imagine.

DocBach

My wife also wanted to thank the instructors for their lessons, and especially Pete who's encouragement helped her through some of the slump of the AQT grind! She's also "7th stepping" by telling all her co-workers about how she spent her weekend learning to shoot, hopefully some can show up next time.
"Soldier, you need to turn off that ACOG before the batteries die" PMI Instructor, Subject Matter Expert

the_rotor

Great shoot, thanks to all the instructors for a great job (V, Nero, RyanTSG, Pete, Pat).
Although I did not shoot Rifleman this weekend, I learned a lot, and in the last 2 AQTs I could start to feel it all start to come together. Maybe its a bit like getting a pilots license, its really a certificate to start learning and I feel the same about Castro.
Started the 7th step today with a couple of Troopmasters at our Pack.
Metcalfe near San Jose is my home range, if any of you are in the area and would like to shoot there, drop me a note. -Jeff
Here are my pics:

V

#16
Quote from: Eljay on April 19, 2011, 12:14:04 AM
Another pro - at least one RO there has attended an Appleseed and does some light 7th stepping.

This is Curt and while everyone should be nice to all the range officers, "they Yell because they care" you should especially make time to thank Curt as he was instrumental in helping us to get Appleseed running at the Chabot Range. He came out as a shooter to one of the Fresno shoots and was an advocate for us with the Chabot management to help our State Coordinator, Bob 210, get our foot in the door.

Thanks again Curt.

CSHR

Awwwww come on....it's not any noisier there than in the middle of a firefight and your not running or getting sweaty and dry mouthed  **)


V/MrPete/Ryantsg/Nero&Pat,     most excellent job, cudo's to all. Somebodies got to draw me a picture on how you got 40 on that line though.

Nero,
great pictures and narrative.
Is David E....the one I know from just to the right of center, came with his wife the first time....congratulations to him  **)
AIO-adapt/improvise/overcome.
That 'Redcoat' target posted herein looks like a 235 from here...must be my glasses  ++)
Thanks for the modified/scaled targets.

Looks like everyone had a fun time shooting and hearing the histories......same time and place next year?? ^:)^  ^:)^

I was there in spirit....Corona was 96degrees.. ++) but lots of involved shooters here too!

CSHR



"But rightful Liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add "within the law" because the law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." -- Thomas Jefferson

Nero

Quote from: CSHR on April 19, 2011, 09:06:33 PM
V/MrPete/Ryantsg/Nero&Pat,     most excellent job, cudo's to all. Somebodies got to draw me a picture on how you got 40 on that line though.

Fortunately, it was 33 on Saturday and 27 on Sunday, with 40 uniques, according to our Blue Hat who is sitting right next to me.  We could have fit in a few more on Saturday, but it would have been real cozy.  As it was, the RSOs were standing right at the base of the berms after we cleared the line, and a lot of shooters got 'friendly' with flying .223 and .30-06 brass.  :--- (And I found out the hard way that at least one Mini-14 ejects to the right & rear - took one right in the pie hole on the first COF  !@#)  )

Quote
Nero,
great pictures and narrative.
Is David E....the one I know from just to the right of center, came with his wife the first time....congratulations to him  **)

Yup, that's him, and Jason our .223 bolt gunner from January made RM as well.  So two of 'your class' have gotten their 'diplomas', though hopefully we'll see them back for 'graduate work'.
"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters." —Frederick Douglass

Eljay

Quote from: Nero on April 19, 2011, 10:15:10 PM
Yup, that's him, and Jason our .223 bolt gunner from January made RM as well.  So two of 'your class' have gotten their 'diplomas', though hopefully we'll see them back for 'graduate work'.

Three!  CSHR was the shoot boss for my Saturday, and on the Sunday with V/Phil I got a 228 my first AQT and a couple more rifleman scores after lunch.  On the Saturday I was way, way over on the left with the folks who shot the 230 and the 247 or whatever it was - mostly Freeman was instructing on that end.

1kiloGarand

You are welcome. Glad to help out. I hope the "strange" targets garner interest at the 20 yard line, and turn others onto Appleseed. Next time I'm at the range, I had planned on "teasing" the guys next to me sighting in their fancy guns to try shooting at my targets. Off the rest, of course ;)

Quote from: V on April 18, 2011, 08:16:53 PM
Congratulations,

And thanks for those triangle targets. For those who don't know, its not only a question of scaling the targets for the ranges available at the public ranges but also that "humanoid" targets are not allowed.... we won't talk about the hoops required to get the Appleseed event targets approved. So thanks again for the triangles, I'll certainly print some of those out - Make good use of them everyone.

Cheers
Phil "V"


Eljay

The fun part is when they see your little groups and ask how long you've been shooting.   Let's say it's May.  You answer "One month".  Then their eyes bug out and they ask where you learned.  You say, "At an Appleseed.  The next one's here, in June".

Good times.

Freeman

Freeman
n.
1. A person not in slavery or serfdom.
2. One who possesses the rights or privileges of a citizen.

"Liberty is not a means to a political end. It is itself the highest political end." – Lord Acton

Appleseed: The only program endorsed by the Founding Fathers and GSG9.
.

Eljay

Thanks - and I see you're a shoot boss now.  Well done!

Mr Pete

#24
Quote from: DocBach on April 19, 2011, 01:04:59 AM
My wife also wanted to thank the instructors for their lessons, and especially Pete who's encouragement helped her through some of the slump of the AQT grind! She's also "7th stepping" by telling all her co-workers about how she spent her weekend learning to shoot, hopefully some can show up next time.
Thanks for the kind words and it was my pleasure to help.  To me this is a dream job...I get to travel around and meet tons of really cool people.  I also get to show people they can do some pretty extraordinarily things if they give themselves half a chance.

Beautiful puppy!  My daughter's yellow lab puppy (Sparkle Heart Aloha Young...yes we let a 5 year old name her) just turned 16 weeks.  Speaking from experience you're in for a lot of fun.

I hope all those ROC (Rifleman Opportunity Card) holders get out as often as they can.  Use our CMP affiliation to get a genuine piece of American history delivered to your door (even in the SF area).  Feel free to PM (Private Message) me if you have questions.  Make good use of us!

Hope to see all the shooters again somewhere on the Appleseed trail!

-Peter

"You will recognize your own path when you come upon it, because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need." – Jerry Gillies