AAR – Manheim, PA 2012 Jan 21-22

[mal]

The first Manheim event for 2012 was a learning experience for not only the students, but for me as well.  I love that.  But first, the general info.

It was chilly, but thankfully not too cold.  We were greeted with 3" of snow on the ground Sat that stayed all weekend as the temp topped out in the mid 20s.  The wind was a little gusty on Sat, but pretty calm Sun.

We had 3 participants both days with 3 instructors Sat & 2 Sun.  Of our participants, 1 was local, 1 came from northern Penn's Woods & 1 drove up from Virginia. 

I wish we could say that with a 1:1 student-instructor ratio we could turn out 3 Rifleman, but by the end of the weekend we had 1 Rifleman (congrats Matt!) & 2 solid Sharpshooters (and one of those had already qualified at a previous AS).

At the end of the weekend our new Rifleman cleaned his Redcoat.  Congrats again, Matt.

Oh, about that learning experience.  I found out that an AR with a .22LR conversion isn't all that accurate.  Matt was shooting at best 6-8 MOA groups, even when he popped on a bipod.  We were stumped as his form, SHFs, etc all looked good.  PA's newest IIT, Gary mentioned that the 22 conversions are inherently inaccurate, especially with mil-spec 1in7 twist barrels (i think I got that right...).  So, Matt popped in his regular bolt group & bam!  Sub-4 MOA groups.  He then tried one of Gary's 10/22s & bam!  212 AQT & a clean Redcoat.  This may be old news to the more experienced instructors, but it was news to me.  Thanks guys for sharing that & making this event yet another learning experience for me.

Pics below:
1.  3 on the line
2.  SHF instruction under the canopy
3.  6 steps instruction under the canopy
4.  Matt earning the Winterseed patch
5.  Matt cleaning the Sunday PM Redcoat
6.  I thought the M1 Carbine stock was cool, but this takes the cake, Ruger 10/22 in an M1 Garand stock!  Thanks LtCo. for bringing that along.

[GEmanuel]

Well, I guess considering we were at an Appleseed weekend in January 40 miles from where Washington quartered his army at Valley Forge, snow would be the appropriate blanket to lay shooting mats upon. Thanks to Gary for the shelter and great little "turbo heater". It made the breaks for instructions much more pleasant!
Congratulations are in order for you Matt! I know you had some physical limitations as well as equipment issues to overcome, but like the proverbial rifleman, you persisted and "got er done"
Greg, we have been together before, and I am looking forward to seeing you again in the future.
Colonel my hat is off to you sir, you not only drove up here from Virginia in the storm, but, you laid those old bones ( which I know were hurting) on that cold ground and hung in there with determination. Consider yourself saluted sir!
My best to each of you and I hope we meet again on the Appleseed Trail,
George

[Roverace]

First of all, I would like to thank Mal and George for helping me with the transition from student to IIT. George I will never forget your center of mass analogy "shooting a black cat in a coal bin eating black licorice"that was classic.
Matt congrats on shootin rifleman soon as we got the right gear in your hands you made it look easy.Greg I know you had to leave early on Sunday to volunteer ,one or two more AQT's you would of had it.Chris it was A pleasure meeting you at the shoot, your are seasoned appleseeder (10+under your belt on the shooting side) and your insight was appreciated. I hope to see you all soon at another appleseed.

PS.  Mal I know there is not much said about you in these post,I would  like to acknowledge the dedication it takes for you to do every singe shoot at Manheim 12 months out of the year as Shoot Boss ,your patience and professionalism with us new IIT's dose not go unnoticed . thanks

Roverace