New Philadelphia, Ohio - Sept. 15/16, 2012

[slim]

What a fun time!  Huzzah!

Just got in from the long drive so I'm going to bed. I'll type more tomorrow. Please feel free to share your experiences here. Thanks to all for coming out. See you next time.

[GabeC]

It really was an excellent time. All the instructors did a fantastic job, and were very helpful at every station. As my second Appleseed, it was very cool to hear the different versions of the three strikes as each instructor adds their own insight and touches.

The highlight of shooting for me was hitting steel at 500 with an 16" AR after zeroing my rifle at only 25m.

Thanks to Slim and the rest of the volunteers for giving up their weekend and helping spread American heritage and marksmanship. Looking forward to helping out in the future. Huzzah!

[bas]

Another great appleseed! The highlight for me was clearing my redcoat at the end of Sat. Thanks to all of the volunteers and our fearless shot boss Slim. You guys were great.
Bas

[Corvette]

Wow, what an Appleseed we had last weekend at Tusco Shooting Range in New Philadelphia. The weather was just perfect and the line was full (30+) of shooters. And what a special group of shooters we had.  About a third of the attendees were children from the ages of about eight to seventeen. Many of them had attended prior Appleseeds so they knew the program and worked hard on improving their riflemen skills. It was truely special to see them horsing around at lunch being kids and then 20 minutes later, they were concentrating on the line to improve their shooting skills.  With great kids like these, the country will be in good hands.

We also had four ladies on the line who were first time shooters. There was the usual concern on Saturday about how things would go but all of them ended up excited and looking forward to coming back to continue the experience.  Jean was on my side of the line and early on Saturday when she still had not yet found paper, she was a little frustrated. We had a chat about being patient and how by Sunday, she would be shooting half dollar size groups.  Well the look I got was "yea, right, you are out of your friggin mind".  I can not tell you how excited she got when on Sunday, she shows me a Redcoat target that was only two shots from clean.  Nice tight groups with a Daniel Morgan head shot and two very near misses on the 400 yd target.  The smile on her face made the weekend for me.  Jean was brought by her son and I will bet we will see her again on the line this year with or without him. 

Slim was in rare form on the history, tugging at heart strings all weekend and he did a great job making the history kid friendly. Watching the faces of the children as he shard the stories about the dangerous old men and the three strikes was priceless.

The most unusual thing was while the weather was perfect all weekend, there was one single gust of wind Saturday afternoon that took one of our AQT targets off the line and sucked it into an updraft that must have took the target miles from the range.  It was last seen heading east up the valley. I wonder where it finally came down.

In summary, great shoot, great folks and great community.  Our future is looking bright.

Corvette

[Corvette]

Just a note to AK47sharpshooter and anyone else who visits, please post photos from the shoot if you have them.  I am sure everyone would like to see them.

[ak47sharpshooter]

Will do. Working on video as we speak.

[Slarti]

Normally I would have more photos to post... but I was too busy loading mags for the kidos to remember to take pictures.    I've posted what I have below -- all 2 shots.

Slim, Corvette, DangeousD, LindaFromAppleCreek, AK47SharpShooter, RedneckEngineer & Liberty, Goldfish... forgive me if I missed anyone... thanks for another great weekend of shooting & history.  The kids are all looking forward to the next shoot!

Once again, I'd like to say thank you for the HUGE emphasis that is placed on safety -- I've never felt safer standing downrange of 30+ rifles or more comfortable letting my children play with dangerous stuff.

I picked up the box of ammo to load up yet another mag and noticed the, "Keep out of reach of children" warning.  Then I looked down the line and laughed.   

Regards
Del

[Corvette]

Slarti thanks for the photos, hopefully more to come. Corvette

[GoldFish]

Just a note to AK47sharpshooter and anyone else who visits, please post photos from the shoot if you have them.  I am sure everyone would like to see them.

I've got a handful; just got to go through them, pick out the good ones, resize, maybe edit, and then post them.

Normally I would have more photos to post... but I was too busy loading mags for the kidos to remember to take pictures.    I've posted what I have below -- all 2 shots.

Slim, Corvette, DangeousD, LindaFromAppleCreek, AK47SharpShooter, RedneckEngineer & Liberty, Goldfish... forgive me if I missed anyone... thanks for another great weekend of shooting & history.  The kids are all looking forward to the next shoot!

Once again, I'd like to say thank you for the HUGE emphasis that is placed on safety -- I've never felt safer standing downrange of 30+ rifles or more comfortable letting my children play with dangerous stuff.

..........

Regards
Del

Del, it was wonderful to have you and your family again on the line; I really appreciate you bringing your kids out to shoot time and again.  Seeing Matthew bang steel at distance was priceless.  It's truly an inspiration to see ya'll at a shoot. 

I picked up the box of ammo to load up yet another mag and noticed the, "Keep out of reach of children" warning.  Then I looked down the line and laughed.   

That's hilarious.  Should say, "Instruct children properly (at an Appleseed) before their use of ammunition"

Thanks again for coming out.


Pictures and more comments to come.

---GF

[Johnny45]

What a great shoot we had this past weekend! The instructors were exceptional and the history lessons heart tugging. Those itty bitty redcoats are really hard to hit. While my wife and I didn't make the grade for rifleman (this time) it is on our short list of must does.
Maybe next time the club president won't be cooking for us and he'll get to shoot. I know he has been talking about it for years.
What an awesome program, if you've never been to an Appleseed shoot you owe it to yourself and your country to attend!

[RoadBlock]

Had a great time this weekend!  I was shooting a .22LR AR15 and my barrel was flexing BADLY every time I put sling tension on it so I fought with that both days.  I did get to shoot some steel over on the big range.  Having never shot past 100 yards before ( and even then only twice ), hitting the gong from 300 yards was pretty awesome! 

Couldnt have asked for better weather for both days! 

[GoldFish]

Another great Appleseed weekend in New Philadelphia.  A big thanks to the Tusco Rifle range for hosting us once again; that I've seen, your range(s) are second to none.

As Corvette stated, we had a full line of 30+ shooters show up on Saturday, eager for instruction.  Their willingness to listen and adapt as the shot groups shrunk throughout the weekend.  I greatly enjoyed seeing so many children and young adults on the line; your presence and participation are noted and definitely appreciated.  Seeing a line full of you guys shooting like you did, listening as attentively as you did, implementing information like you did, and acting like you did gave me a little glimmer of hope for this Nation.  Our generation isn't gone.

Gabe (GabeC), Dan (RoadBlock), Matthew, and Adam (ak47sharpshooter), banging that steel at 500 was pretty sweet!  Next time I'll remember to bring actual spotting glass.   Thanks for letting me shoot your rifles; I enjoyed it immensely and learned quite a bit.

It was wonderful to have the DOF represented again at a shoot; it had been too long.

slim, as always, it's a pleasure and learning experience working shoots with you.  If there are shooters out there who are interested in a great weekend experience, go to one of  -:)'s shoots.  Instructors, if you want to learn the ropes on how to be a better instructor, come to one of  -:)'s shoots.  And if anyone out there wants to know how to be a better American, come to one of -:)'s shoots.  He might get you hooked, just like he did me.

If this was my last shoot for the year, it was a good way to go out!

Pictures to come...still going through and picking out a few good ones...


Until next time, Stay the Course...
---GF

[LindaFromAppleCreek]

Wow, what a great weekend! It was my first full shoot as an orange hat, and one daughter and two best friends were there to share it. My friends went from never shooting at all to very respectable groups, excited to buy their own rifles and come back. And my daughter is finally realizing that she is to look at front site, not the target.  Riflewomen in the making! Huzzah!

I found just the right song to play on fife for Parker's Revenge: The Road to Boston. I will have it ready by next spring.

[MeanStreaker]

If there are shooters out there who are interested in a great weekend experience, go to one of  -:)'s shoots.  Instructors, if you want to learn the ropes on how to be a better instructor, come to one of  -:)'s shoots.  And if anyone out there wants to know how to be a better American, come to one of -:)'s shoots. 

Just had to pop in to give the above a big ol' "+1". 

-:)

[GoldFish]

And finally the pictures I promised.  I finally have a little bit of time today...

[GoldFish]

Here are the rest.