Great Falls, MT July 14-15, 2012

[George Hacker]

Wow, Montana is beautiful, big sky country with wonderful patriots who came out to learn some rifle marksmanship and more about their heritage.  The weather was warm, but bearable, and the hospitality was great.  Thank you, Great Falls Shooting Sports Complex, especially Rob, Paul, and Dave, for hosting us at your very fine facility.  You made everyone feel at home.

I heard that Montana has some good shooters.  That is true because we had someone clear their redcoat target on Saturday morning.  Nevertheless, all of the attendees were attentive and their marksmanship improved.  The children listened well and although they had a lot of fun, they didn't horse around.  It was great seeing groups of friends at the event as well as couples and families.

For awhile, I wasn't sure I was at an Appleseed until Christian ran out to check one of his sighter squares.  It was then that I knew I was at the right place.  On Sunday afternoon Nathan took his time walking leisurely to the target line when the line boss called out, "Quickly, quickly, quickly!"  Mark Davis chased him (jokingly) to the target line and back to keep things moving along.

At lunch on Saturday, we had a black powder club bring some muskets and smooth bore pistols for display.  They invited us to take a shot from their muskets.  Follow through is very important with black powder guns.  Oh, did I mention that they also brought a cannon and fired it for us a few times?  Theophilus was given the honor to light the fuse for one of the shots.

Lunches were great.  The range cooked up some hamburgers and hot dogs and served them with chips for a small donation.  The shooters were very generous so I think the expenses were well compensated.

Congratulations to our new riflemen: David with a 210 (you all know what that means) and Sean with a 222.  They each shot two riflemen scores during the weekend so it wasn't a fluke.  We had many shooters knocking at the door - Dan, Rob, Bob, and Michelle.

Keep on dry practicing - work on your transitions, finding NPOA, and smooth mag changes.  Shooters, happiness is a wonderful thing, unless it is your trigger finger that is the joyful one.  Work on squeezing the trigger and holding it back with a gentle release until the sear resets.

I hope to come out to Great Falls again sometime in the future.  I was thrilled that my nephew came out and learned how to shoot.  Perhaps more of my relatives will come out next time.  I enjoyed meeting you and spending time with you.  Don't forget to 7th step and let's see if we can save this country together.

- ShadowMan

[Mark Davis]

Another good appleseed at Great Falls.
Thanks to everybody who gave their weekend, and special thanks the Great Falls shooting sports complex,
namley Paul, and Dave, who set up the range and cooked lunch, brought doughnuts, and ran for two days to keep things going smoothly.

[Jodie]

This was our first (probably not last) Appleseed.  We learned so much...now we have some bad habits to break and practice new ones to reach the illusive rifleman status.

Thank you to all the voluteers who came to share their passion for our Nation's history, as well as their encouragement and lessons in shooting.

From Nathan and Christian
HUZZAH, HUZZAH, HUZZAH to all of you!

[Necee]

The cannon looked awesome!  Wish we could have made it to this one   Glad to hear there was a great turnout and hope to make back up there for the next one!

[George Hacker]

Here is a link to the Facebook photo album that contains pictures from the shoot.  If anyone has more pictures they would like posted in the album, please e-mail them to NWPromo (at) appleseedinfo (dot) org and I will be sure to put them up.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.425177250859267.94670.163235577053437&type=1&l=86b806e3ff

Here's a picture to whet your appetite.



- ShadowMan

[Countree]

This was another great Appleseed Event! I am always impressed by the quality of instructors and the great additudes that they bring with them. A big thank you to the instructors and also to our great shooters that were on the line.

[George Hacker]

This was another great Appleseed Event! I am always impressed by the quality of instructors and the great additudes that they bring with them. A big thank you to the instructors and also to our great shooters that were on the line.

Countree,

Thank you for paving the way for us to come out and use your range.  It is a relief to have an event where the board and general membership have an appreciation for what Project Appleseed is trying to do:  save our nation by helping us rediscover our heritage and what it means to be a rifleman.

I look forward to coming to Great Falls again,

- ShadowMan

[Joni]

Here are the pictures I put on Picasa, please feel free to take the ones you want and to tag yourself. If you want a higher quality pm me and I will email it.
https://picasaweb.google.com/GretaStuff/20120714And15GreatFallsMTAppleseedShoot?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWS9a64j8_3Dw