Leyden, MA July 14-15

[aim]

The good: I am two for two in insuring a rain-free and mostly bug-free Appleseed. While some shooters may have forgotten to bring some of the items on the cheklist, none forgot to bring a teachable attitude.
Half our shooters were under 21. Thank you for keeping the tradition alive!

The bad: While the humidity never actually got to 100% between 9AM Saturday and 5PM Sunday, it felt like we were swimming between the firing and safety lines.

The ugly: My imitation of the Headless Horsechicken went well. Fortunately, dedicated, capable and experienced instructors kept me mostly on-track and the dedicated shooters never wavered and continued to knock the AQTs off. Thank you all for a safe Appleseed.

On the marksmanship side, I am sorry more of the shooters could not walk away with patches, but with the level of persistence you demonstrated, the 201s, 203s, 206s and 207s you were pulling off cannot help but turn into Rifleman scores.

On the heritage side, the thoughtful and detailed presentations by MetalGodz, the spirited presentation by Ulysses and the obvious interest exhibited by the shooters who engaged in discussion made the history come alive. The presence of a re-enactor in full regalia (thank you Herb, sorry I missed the name of your Milice unit) certainly helped in that respect.

In a bit of a role reversal, hbennett kept the instructors in suspense, while feeding us little nibbles, bit by bit. Thank you for coming to Leyden, hbennett. Thank you for the Rifleman score on my watch. I hope you made it to KD and to the 250 yard line. Thank you for stepping up and taking an Orange Hat. Thank you for paying attention during all these Appleseeds and then applying it during your first moments as an IIT. Thank you for bringing your son, an attentive young shooters who stepped into the middle of the shoot and fit right in. We are lucky to have you.

In the interest of getting this AAR up, I will cut the narrative short, but I invite everyone to fill in the many details that I am certain I missed (for example, at least one shooter rose to the Daniel Morgan challenge. Were there any more?). goodpiper generously donated the contents of his camera to the cause and I will be posting these pictures next.

   Thank you all and see you on the Appleseed Trail.

[aim]

As promised, here are some pictures, courtesy of goodpiper. Not only did goodpiper regale us with wonderful history tidbits, did an outstanding job running the KD line, represented the LRC (our host range) and ran a brisk business selling swag to support the RWVA, but he also provided the following 18,000 words, here presented chronologically with commentary by aim:


AmericaStandsStrong explaining the prone position:


The line, about to put his words into action:


MetalgodZ, delivering a well-researched first strike:


It is now lupis42's turn to explain the kneeling/sitting position:


"...and when sitting, you will put five rounds into the 200 yard silhouette right there"


Ulysses, delivering the second strike:


Back to MetalgodZ for the third strike. Prop courtesy courtesy of www.123print.com and well-known gunblogger Jay G of MA-rooned.com (http://www.ma-rooned.com) via dwarven1 [EDITED as per dwarven1]:


Here at Appleseed, we make sure our instructors stay warm and comfortable every day of the year. Happy Birthday, AmericaStandsStrong, and congratulations on your new hat. Thank you for cooking lunch - I guess cooks and chefs aren't the same.


I believe that this is our first AQT of the weekend:


History coming alive. Not only is the costume accurate, the camera looks period as well! Thank you for making the time to show us some of the ways things were done in 1775.


A quick refresher on the course of fire for new and returning shooters on Sunday:


hbennett, completing his rainbow collection of Rifleman patches. I am privileged to have had you on the line twice, Sir.


C., stepping up to take an Orange Hat. Were you the one to help me out with the six step to firing the shot? Thank you, in any event, for your knowledge as you stepped in and helped us run a safe and successful Appleseed.


Our young Instructors, scoring and gauging (and possible shooting some refreshing breeze?):


This young shooter had to leave early. He put in a lot of effort, however, showed continuous progress and even kept an eye on the line while camping at the range overnight.


The rest of our young shooters. Some of you persisted for the whole weekend, some of you joined us on Sunday and work hard to catch up. All of you were eager, determined and dedicated and each of you earned this patch, designed by the Youth of Appleseed for the Youth of Appleseed. Next time, I will not neglect the Luther Blanchard story.


hbennett accepting an Orange Hat. Thank you for making the time to join us on so many occasion. Your unflagging good humour was equally appreciated in the Harvard rain and the Leyden sun.


MetalgodZ receiving a well-earned Red Hat. Next time I rush in for a photo-op, I will make sure to get the props in the correct size! Thank you for cooking lunch despite your colored hat.

[hbennett]

Thanks to all for another well run Appleseed.   Thanks again to goodpiper for getting my son off to a great start.  My main concern was keeping my younster on-track safety-wise.  I never saw any safety issues during the entire day, and that is amazing given the number of AQTs shot, and the number of young shooters on the line.  Appleseed instructors certainly know what they are doing.  Aim, you ran a great shooting line.

Thanks to the Leyden club for donating the ammo for the young shooters.

Thanks again to goodpiper for the loaner rifle after I broke the extractor on my bolt-gun.   Going back to a 10/22 after 3 Appleseeds with a bolt-gun really made qualifiying again sooooooo easy..

KD was a BLAST.. thank you instructors for bringing your center-fires for us to try on the 250 yd. balloon shoot. 

Best of all my son had a blast.. how do I know..hot, tired and all, he asked if we can come  back to the next scheduled Leyden Appleseed.  He may be hooked.   And he can't wait to tell his friends.

[mj52]

The Host is also a bagpiper.
He played while what appeared to be a dozen or so Hot Air Balloons lifted off as I entered Greenfield which is on my way to Leyden. I had no idea he was there but I certainly wished I could've changed plans and found the lift off spot. But a commitment caused me to persevere, (sorry)

In Honor of Our BagPiper I offer this tribute. The SOB looked good in a kilt.

As a bagpiper, I play many and various gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery secluded deep in the North Carolina Mountains.

As I was not familiar with these particular backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions.

I finally arrived over an hour late and saw the funeral officials had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played my heart and soul out for this lonely departed man who had no family or friends. I played like I've never played before for this poor homeless human being.

As I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full of peace.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

Apparently I'm still lost.... it's a man thing.

Thanks to all at Leyden.
MJ52

[AmericaStandsStrong]

[dwarven1]

Back to MetalgodZ for the third strike. Prop courtesy dwarven1:

To be completely honest, that prop is courtesy of www.123print.com and well-known gunblogger Jay G of MA-rooned.com (http://www.ma-rooned.com). Jay ran a contest on his blog with the prize of $500 worth of printing from 123print.com. I happened to win and split my winnings evenly between Appleseed and GOAL (Gun Owner's Action League, the Mass NRA affiliate organization), whose board of directors I'm on.

If anyone wants to order those maps, 123print has them stored on their servers now in my account - send me a PM and I will see if I can't get them to make this a publicly available thing. It's taken from the maps that Minuteman National Park has in their brochures.

[Mr.Freedom]

We had a good crew available for the weekend. Thank you Andre for stepping up and running a fun and safe shoot. It is always a treat to see anyone from Harvard, so it was nice to see Lupis 42. His knowledge is a pleasure to tap into. Any shoot that has Goodpiper and Metalgodz in attendance is going to be a good time for sure. New Orange hat Mike was a huge help and dove right in with any and all of the chores. I also loved seeing my son and Ulysses working together.

Another thing I would like to comment on is the youth that participated. I don't know why, well I do, but I am so impressed with young kids that don't whine and complain. I mean think about it. What those young shooters did, shoot all weekend, listen to the history, help pick up, was all done with no whining and complaining that I know of or heard. And the weather was hot, humid and around 90 degrees. Still no complaining!

I am very impressed with the youth that attended this Appleseed. Your parents and grandparents I'm sure are quite proud of you and you are truly a pleasure to work and teach with. Terrible English I just typed, oh well.

You get the point. Please keep coming to Appleseeds, you are our future and I look forward to watching you all shoot Rifleman scores!!!

Mr.Freedom