ID, Lewiston AAR for Nov 19/20, 2011

[TruTenacity]

Hello all.

What a pleasant weekend we had down at the Lewis-Clark Wildlife Club.  With the roads being snow-packed and a bit icy CedarPole and I crawled on into the range on Saturday.  Sunday's drive to the range was much easier.  Though there was snow on the ground Saturday morning and the ground turning to mud in the afternoon, snow flakes coming from the sky late Saturday afternoon, frozen ground on Sunday and the temperature in the mid 20s in the morning and low 30s mid day, this was not a Winterseed.

We had five attendees on Saturday - all but one was new to Project Appleseed.
We had three attendees on Sunday - two returned from Saturday and one was a Sunday only attendee.

Jeff, you started out with a great challenge attempting to get your rifleman's score with a bolt action rifle.  You made impressive improvements on how smooth you worked the action.  Also, thanks for spreading the word and introducing your friends to Project Appleseed.  It was great having you all together on the line

Christopher, you certainly were a sponge.  I was very impressed with your teachable attitude.  You improved from a score of 109 to I believe 150 before the weekend was over. 

Steve, isn't it amazing what happens when you trust Inches, Minutes, and Clicks and finally make that huge adjustment to your sights?  You zeroed right in.  Now if I could just convince you to put your elbow under the rifle I'm confident you'll see your groups shrink.

Dean and Colin, what a great Father & Son team!  Dean, you did the wise thing I wish more fathers would do which is placing yourself a few shooters away from your son.  This allowed you to focus on your own shooting skills and allowed the instructors to do their job with your son.  Thank you, thank you.

Dean, get a better functioning rifle and put a sling on it and I'm sure you'll find your shooting skills will greatly improve.  BTW, did you ever find out what was wrong with your rifle?

Colin, what a fine young man you are!  Your attentiveness not only during our time on the line, but while the instructors were telling you about your heritage was very encouraging.  Young people like you will lead the way in helping all of us not forget our heritage.

Erik, what can I say? This was your second Appleseed event and if I recall correctly you were very attentive at the first event and came very close to getting your rifleman's score.  You took us seriously when we told the attendees to dry fire.  Your scores this weekend were amazing!  You bounced between a 228 to a 243 on the regular AQT.  It was fun putting you under the pressure of the Rapid Fire AQT.  You didn't disappoint scoring a 223 with 1 minute and 35 seconds left on your time and then scoring a 242 with 49 seconds left on your time for the second Rapid Fire AQT.  Also, I want to thank you for being a very attentive listener during the history presentations.

Now for pictures.  I didn't have a resident photographer on the line so I had to be the one behind the lens.  Unfortunately the batteries ran out and I only got a couple pictures on Saturday.  I can't believe I wasn't able to take a picture of Colin with his Saturday morning and evening Red Coat.  That young man went from not being very familiar with his rifle and getting three rounds on paper in the morning to shooting three rounds in each of the 100, 200, and 300 yard targets plus the rectangle and all without a sling!  I missed getting a picture of him receiving the youth patch too.  What a shame.

Okay, now for the pictures... really.

Cedarpole was teaching the six steps of firing a shot.


Dean and Jeff


Jeff with his cleared Red Coat



Erik's five square target


Jeff checking his five square target


Time for a trial AQT



What the firing line looks like


Erik wondered if he was able to shoot in the sitting position without his boots on.  I said sure so this is what happened


Ball & Dummy done on the star target


Sunday shooters in action






Taking the .22s out to 100 yards




Challenging Erik with two Rapid Fire AQTs


The results


Erik being awarded his Rifleman's Badge mid day after shooting five AQTs.  He went on to shoot two more Rifleman scores plus the two from the Rapid Fire AQTs.  Doesn't he look happy?


Yes, I put the three Sunday shooters through an intense AQT grind, but not without their cooperation and I did not compromise the instruction and use of various drills nor did I compromise the history presentations.

Cedarpole, thanks for your help.  I couldn't have Shoot Bossed this event under a waiver without your encouragement and expertise.  Thanks for being a great team player.

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[Cedarpole]

Shawn did an excellent job summarizing the weekend, and the fine performance everyone put on, so I won't repeat it.  But I do want to thank all the shooters for coming and making the weekend very enjoyable.  You were great! 

Several shooters didn't have a sling on their rifles, and some hadn't shot their rifles in a long time.  You had to re-familiarize themselves with the Ruger bolt release and how to rapidly change magazines with the old style non-extended mag release.  These items made it tough on timed events, but you all adapted and overcame these obstacles.

Everyone, remember that an Appleseed Shoot is about having fun, not just shooting rifleman.  So practice what you learned, relax and have fun, and you'll be shooting your rifleman before you know it.

I hope to see you at another shoot!  You were all great!