Toccoa GA June 2-3, 2012

[Morpheus]

This was another great Appleseed weekend at the Georgia Mountain Shooting Range. 25 shooters braved the elements of clear sunny days in the 70's and low 80 degree range. It was great to see all of the shooters with teachable attitudes, especially when many of them did not have a lot of experience squeezing the trigger of a rifle. Huzzah!! to you all! 

The young shooters really impressed this Instructor this weekend. Daniel was a real trooper Saturday and Sunday. I didn't see hardly a time when we wasn't on the line squeezing his trigger during every string of fire! He definitely out-lasted his dad this weekend. It was obvious from the first Redcoat target that Dane and Gabrielle are two fine shooters. Gabrielle persisted even through the constant shower of hot brass she received from Dane on her left. These fine young Patriots have Rifleman patches awaiting them in their very near future.

Speaking of Rifleman, congratulations to Vincent(224 and 235? i think) and Bruce(212)!! Both of these exceptional shooters achieved their scores on their first Appleseed weekend! HUZZAH! So many others are knocking at the door as well. I saw quite a few 202's, 203's, a 205 and a myriad in the 190's. Dryfire, dryfire and then dryfire some more. Persist! That patch will be yours if you persist!

One more special note for a special shooter. Courtney, the wife of Porthos(IIT2), came to her first Appleseed on Saturday. After having difficulty hitting paper at first, she progressed nicely and was shooting some nice groups by early afternoon. From my understanding, she had rarely shot a rifle before. She also has a due date in late July. Impressive! Seven months pregnant, on a warm, sunny day. Well done, Courtney. And congratulations to you and Porthos on your soon to arrive first-born!

The Instructor cadre made this weekend almost effortless for this SBiT(shoot boss in training). Thank you to all the Blue and Orange Hats who gave up their weekend for the cause of Liberty. It was time well spent and I am honored to be counted amongst such fine folks as you.

Also a great, heart-felt "Thank You" to DrJohn. You have laid a great foundation for a wide-eyed Instructor like myself, to build upon. You, and those who have gone before you. Thank you for your reassuring and always uplifting presence this weekend.

I hope to see all you shooters and IIT's soon on the AS Trail. Remember the 7th Step!!

Morpheus

[Jambo]

It was a great shoot, Morpheus.  It was great having you as the "Boss", looking forward to many more with you and Dr. John.

This orange hat also learned a valuable lesson that, at my age, you'd think I would already know:  In Georgia in June SPF 50 sunscreen will not keep you from getting sunburned! 

Ah, who cares.  Farmer tans rule.  I bet there's also some sunburned shooters out there already checking the schedule for the next Appleseed.

Kudos to Gabrielle for the most creative use of a blanket.  It's a great way to keep the hot brass off.  I know of at least two shooters who probably wish they had been as creative.

[Melissa5]

Kudos to Gabrielle for the most creative use of a blanket.  It's a great way to keep the hot brass off.  I know of at least two shooters who probably wish they had been as creative.

Who knew hot brass could go UP your shorts??? LOL

[porthos]

A big thanks and congrats to Morpheus for a very successful first shoot as SBiT (and for the well wishes!); well done, sir!  On behalf of my better half, Courtney, I'd like to send a shout out and thanks to Jambo and Carl II, who gave her much personal attention and coaching Saturday. All of our other instructors did a fine job as well, as evidenced by the progress made by so many shooters. After having last shot a rifle some 15-odd years ago, on the first redcoat of the day, Courtney made two holes in the paper. On the final redcoat, she made 12 or 13 holes in the paper, with many of them where they belong! She also reported that though she is a tad sunburned, she had a great time, learned a lot, and will certainly be back (after she delivers, that is). Huzzah!

Congrats and great shooting to Bruce and Vincent! Bruce, look forward to seeing you and your daughter at a subsequent shoot; practice and dry fire with those iron sights, and you'll score as well or better with them as with a scope. In addition to Bruce and Vince, we also had a number of folks come oh-so-close to shooting a rifleman score. Tyler, Nathan, Ethan, Brennan, Jesse and others were knocking on the door - persist!, dry fire!, and return for another Appleseed, and you will be riflemen! Hope to see you all again soon!

-Justin

[Warp]

A big thanks and congrats to Morpheus for a very successful first shoot as SBiT (and for the well wishes!); well done, sir!  On behalf of my better half, Courtney, I'd like to send a shout out and thanks to Jambo and Carl II, who gave her much personal attention and coaching Saturday. All of our other instructors did a fine job as well, as evidenced by the progress made by so many shooters. After having last shot a rifle some 15-odd years ago, on the first redcoat of the day, Courtney made two holes in the paper. On the final redcoat, she made 12 or 13 holes in the paper, with many of them where they belong! She also reported that though she is a tad sunburned, she had a great time, learned a lot, and will certainly be back (after she delivers, that is). Huzzah!

Congrats and great shooting to Bruce and Vincent! Bruce, look forward to seeing you and your daughter at a subsequent shoot; practice and dry fire with those iron sights, and you'll score as well or better with them as with a scope. In addition to Bruce and Vince, we also had a number of folks come oh-so-close to shooting a rifleman score. Tyler, Nathan, Ethan, Brennan, Jesse and others were knocking on the door - persist!, dry fire!, and return for another Appleseed, and you will be riflemen! Hope to see you all again soon!

-Justin

Right you were, of course, Justin. Although I did add a scope since Toccoa (where I shot Saturday only) I, as you are well aware, got my patch the following Saturday (6/09) in Waco.

I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for an AAR on that weekend, which would have just wrapped up several hours ago for y'all.



I'll be back in Toccoa on Sept 1/2, and I think my M1 will make an appearance this time. I also think the scope will have found its way back off of my 10/22.

[DrJohn]

It was an honor to spend the weekend with so many fine Patriots and outstanding Americans, both students and instructors. I don't remember so many people being on the very edge of scoring Riflerman, and echo the advice of the esteemed instructors above to dry fire, dry fire, dry fire! I hope to see all of you soon again on the Appleseed "trail" and guarantee if you persist, we are going to award quite a few Rifleman patches in the very near future. Well done, all, and a special thanks to our dedicated and extremely professional instructor cadre. Huzza!