Project Appleseed

What a FUN weekend!  We had several brave souls pull themselves away from their TVs and laptops to arrive early Saturday morning to take on the mighty full distance AQTs.  They even checked the weather in advance and came anyway.  It. Was. Hot.  But they pressed on.  From amongst the six steps, steady hold factors for all positions, and the evil timer arose two new KD Riflemen!  Two instructors also reaffirmed their KD Rifleman status this weekend.     It was a pleasure to work with all of you this weekend under the Blackhawks and parachuters, and I can't wait until next time.  I'm guessing you're all still feeling a little sluggish like me, so grab a bottle of water and hydrate, sit down at your computer, and tell us about your experience this weekend.  Looking forward to seeing you all again soon!



Pictures???  Anybody???

Wow! What a weekend. hot? nah Brutal HOT! Everyone made great progress despite the heat and no shade anywhere. I think everyone had a good time and what a way to spend the fathers day weekend.
Morning Check in


Safety Briefing




Confirming 25yd zero


Are you sure those little tiny dots are 4MOA?


Breathe In,Breathe Out,FIRE!


Learning the 6 steps to firing the shot


Moving on back to 200 Yds!!


Those AQT targets sure get small at 300 yds!


Its no problem for a Rifleman though


Father and son. What a great weekend.

Popsickles on the range. After such a hot day how does it get any better than this




Spitfire51 calling the line




Say hello to our new Riflemen!




And of course what AAR is complete without a little SPQR

Lemme see if I can do this justice.

He stood silently, one foot in the edge of the prairie, one foot in the last of the gravel. He looked intently across the waves of high grass as is moved with the wind, five thin lines between him and the targets where the grass moved very little. It looked like Rifleman's corduroy, as if God's own hand was smoothing the earth to give a Rifleman a place to rest. Known distance berms with seemingly tiny white dots 600 yards away, 6'X6' backers each holding a 4" black square. He extends his left arm and moves his hand slowly from right to left, as if to help the wind at it's work.

SPQR - "This will do Jake, we will test them here."

A doughnut whizzes past his head.

YHJ - "Get in the truck AJ."

---

My heartiest thanks for all who attended. We enjoyed beautiful weather, though a bit hot, with minor bugs, enough wind to make it interesting, and the sound of centerfire.

Sixteen came to give full distance a try and the shooting was outstanding. I know because I saw every target. I think a few good lessons were learned and I hope the data gathered will be put to good use. Everyone did write their sight dope down didn't they?

This has been a long time coming and was without a doubt my most ambitious goal as State Coordinator. A full Appleseed with all POI and all History, at full distance. We got two relays of data gathering for come ups, and five AQTs in a single weekend. We made Rifleman.

Now what are you going to do next? Get back on the couch? How can you after knowing what you know now. Tell folks, tell them about John Parker, tell them about Issac Davis, tell them about the heritage they enjoy. Bring them to Appleseed so they can learn the skills, and they can hear the history.

We can never repay the debt we owe those men and women, they gave their lives for posterity, for us. But we can be citizens worthy of that sacrifice, that we can do.

YHJ

Congrats to the new riflemen.  Well done everyone who braved the heat. Extremely jealous. Can't wait til the next one.

Some pics...

Looks like a fun weekend.  Wish I could've made this one.  Congratulations to the Rifleman and all who braved the heat.

Congratulations and job well done to all! 

I wanted to ask before I forget and/or the information is lost ... did anyone record the actual temp/humidity information over the two day period? I have my guesstimations written down but was hoping someone caught the hard data. I did see some smartphones being checked (I also heard a few of them succumbed to the heat). I'm summarizing the data for my rifle. Thanks.

Quote from: Wild Deuce on June 19, 2012, 03:29:39 PM
I wanted to ask before I forget and/or the information is lost ... did anyone record the actual temp/humidity information over the two day period? I have my guesstimations written down but was hoping someone caught the hard data. I did see some smartphones being checked (I also heard a few of them succumbed to the heat). I'm summarizing the data for my rifle. Thanks.

When I looked at my smartphone I believe the official high temp. both days was 89, don't know humidity.

A big thanks to our shooters who came out and braved the heat with us this weekend.  And even more thanks go out to my fellow instructors who worked their tails off getting this event together and pulling it off.  We all especially need to thank the folks at Camp Atterbury for letting us come down and use their range.  I hope everyone learned some good lessons about shooting at distance and the importance of taking good notes, in addition to everything else we throw at you at an Appleseed.  I hope by now everyone has re-hydrated, this weekend took a lot out of everyone, but some real strong persistence through the heat and the bugs took place as well.  Now grab the person who you know needs to come to an Appleseed and drag them with you to your next event!

Oh yeah, a special thanks to Niecie for joining us Saturday afternoon.  That may have been the best tasting popsicle I've ever had.

Thanks! ... That's the warmest 89 degrees I've ever experienced.

I'm working on contacting the airfield as suggested by YHJ. I think it's called Himsel Army Airfield. They are closed now so I'll see if I can get a hold of someone tomorrow.

Quote from: Wild Deuce on June 19, 2012, 06:02:07 PM
Thanks! ... That's the warmest 89 degrees I've ever experienced.

I'm working on contacting the airfield as suggested by YHJ. I think it's called Himsel Army Airfield. They are closed now so I'll see if I can get a hold of someone tomorrow.

Weather Underground has a reporting station 3 miles east of Edinburg.

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KGEZ/2012/6/16/MonthlyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

They reported 92 degrees. I REALLY like that you are writing that down. 

YHJ

Quote from: yellowhousejake on June 19, 2012, 06:38:05 PM

They reported 92 degrees. I REALLY like that you are writing that down. 

YHJ

You have no idea the monster you've created. 

Quote from: Wild Deuce on June 19, 2012, 07:32:33 PM

Quote from: yellowhousejake on June 19, 2012, 06:38:05 PM

They reported 92 degrees. I REALLY like that you are writing that down. 

YHJ

You have no idea the monster you've created. 

It's a good kind of monster, we're totally ok with that. 

What a great weekend! Thanks for everyone's hard work putting this event on.

If someone kept a target, I need the actual measurement across the bottom of the three zone. I've given away all the ones I had. My repair centers do not include the three.

YHJ

Quote from: yellowhousejake on June 19, 2012, 08:56:42 PM
If someone kept a target, I need the actual measurement across the bottom of the three zone. I've given away all the ones I had. My repair centers do not include the three.

YHJ

From outside edge to outside edge it is 34.25 inches. From inside edge to inside edge it is 33.75 inches (.25" line thickness).

BTW, thank you for the link. I found out that if you select the "daily" tab for your report and change the location to "11II" in the History Location box, you will get all the information plus hourly observations for the airfield located adjacent to the range.

for my curiosity what are all the other dimensions? that way I can write them down in MY book

Atterbury shooters, instructors, et al,

Please forgive me for not posting something sooner.  I raced home from Edinburg (got there around 10PM), ensured I was ready for my travel for work the following morning and promptly went to bed around midnight only to rise a mere 3.5 hours later to get on the road again.  Brian Heeter can attest that I was whooped all weekend but I don't want anyone to take this as asking for a pity party...

This shoot was some of the most fun I've EVER had!!!!!!!!!  This was my first KD shoot and I can't wait until my next.  An absolutely HUGE thanks goes out to everyone (I can't remember all of you so I won't try...you know who you are) who worked so hard to help AS'ers come out and prove that they are not merely cooks.  A tremendous amount of work went into this weekend and it showed.  It just got better and better after each SOF.  Lessons were learned and on the spot adaptations were made.  It was a herculean effort to coordinate everything and, again, I want to say thanks to all.  I learned much that I will do my best to share with the Michigan cadre when we complete our "practice" run in a couple of weeks at Ft. Custer in Michigan.

I was blown away at the quality of shooting that took place and equally impressed with the history that was shared.  I am thankful for the instruction I received with IMC's and come ups.  I've heard it all a few times but it really makes sense now that I've had the opportunity to practice it.  Now the trick is to keep practicing so as not to lose the skill but rather develop it...

There were many who were knocking at the door to Rifleman.  Please keep working at it!!  With persistence and practice it'll happen in no time.

See you all again soon,
DiamondSharpShooter

That was an extreme amount of fun!  I LOVE KD!  It really shows you that everything we do at 25 meters works at full distance.  Just add your come ups and perhaps a little wind dope and you've got it.

Thanks to everybody who came out and participated.  A bigger thanks to the people who signed up to work the shoot and sacrificed their opportunity to shoot so that others could.  An extra super huge thanks to YHJ and SPQR for being our full-time pit crew.  I was back there for a little while and can tell you that it's hot, the work is hard and the scenery is much better at the other end of the range.  I look forward to spending some more time back there so that others can enjoy the awesome experience that is KD at Atterbury.  Finally, a thanks of such epic dimensions that the English language cannot adequately describe its hugeness to the folks that put all the work into arranging this shoot.  I was just there for 2 days but there was a whole lot of coordination and planning that went into this for quite a long time before.  Awesome job!

C ya,

brian