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Marana AZ, 10/13-14/2012

Started by PaxxAZ, October 15, 2012, 11:24:29 AM

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PaxxAZ

A wonderful Appleseed this weekend at the Marana Shooting Club in Marana Arizona, just a few minutes drive from Downtown Tucson. 

We had a hardy group of shooters show up and muster in the cool dry  90 degree weather with a slight constant breeze that seemed to keep shooters blinking a bit more than normal. 

The shooters that came out where from all walks of life and experience levels from Jose, Rifleman and  active duty Military to Paula, true beginner firing her first shot ever at one of our Red Coat targets Saturday morning.

Sharpshooter Nancy managed to hit the wire holding her portion of the line's targets not once but twice...Now that is some great shooting, not the intended target but her AR 15 was consistent.

On Saturday the shooters showed great enthusiasm for the marksmanship portion of the program, but they really enjoyed a chance to sit down and Listen to the Heritage of April 19th 1775.

While sore and in some cases lacking in sleep, most of the Saturday shooters and one new shooter came on to the line.
On Sunday the morning proved a tad bit chilly for all of us, noticeable by the fact that we had put on jackets. But that was soon replaced by breezy and gritty conditions.

The Shooters continued the AQT march even through my asking them to quicken the pace.

Sunday brought out the stories of Dangerous Old Men and 2 Courageous Women of revolutionary times. We also introduced the shooters to Known Distance shooting. At the end of Lunch We moved on to a KD version @ 22LR distances 25/50/75 and 100 meters with the shooters going forth and moving the targets each time. While a bit time consuming many took the lessons from the Lunch time discussion, and put them to use.

While no new Riflemen or Riflewomen Emerged, I was greatly impressed with all the Shooter.

The quote of the event must go to Alex our youngest shooter on the Line at age 7.
"Bi-pods are for cheaters"   >:D

After picking up all the 22LR brass from the gravel range KC the shoot boss gave a powerful benediction.

Thank you everyone for being there.
PaxxAZ
There are many things talked about that make the people of the US
different; being riflemen is one, asking why is another, as is getting
what needs doing done.

-Me 2011

Coyotl

Great shoot, I'm a little frustrated that I did not shoot rifleman. In my defense (read excuse lol), I spent the sighting in periods working on the kid's rifles.

Alex shot his brand new CZ Scout, for which the peep sights I ordered arrived Friday. I sighted it in Saturday morning then Alex decided he wanted to go back to his single shot Savage. Oh well. Sunday morning he went back to the CZ and shot it all day. I am very proud of him! I was not sure he would make it through the first day yet he shot both days without any breaks. His groups are improving or rather he has groups now and he was an active participant during the lecture parts of the event.

Jose's groups continue improving although he still came up short for rifleman. Saturday night I broke down and took the scope off of an AR and mounted on my 10/22 (I got the NODAK SPUD LLC sights from Brownell's which are similar to Tech Sights but have a built in rail). Sunday morning I sighted it in then had to make a cheek rest out of duct tape and an old t shirt before handing it over to Jose. He did a little better unfortunately I could not convince him to switch from Blazer ammo to the Winchesters my rifle prefers. I guess I will mount his scope back on his 10/22 for the next shoot.

As for me, I was feeling a little cocky, thinking I could get rifleman with iron sights. My last Appleseed I had a red dot sight (which Jose claimed was cheating). After lending my rifle to Jose I debated over which rifle to use. I had my scoped AR-10 which I know I can shoot 1" groups at 100 yards prone or the AR-15 that I built for Jose to get him into CMP competition. I decided in the AR-15. That was when I realized I had grabbed the wrong box of ammo and wound up shooting four different brands of ammo (more excuses). My first AQT with the AR was with the good ammo and I wound up with very nice tight groups (two of them were one ragged hole) from the prone. All of them about an inch high and left and completely off the tiny targets. I made the required sight adjustments using the techniques that were taught and got my groups centered where I wanted them. I did not realize the known distance drill counted since we used one target for the entire drill. When we were done I had six shots on the white. Since they were from the prone position I counted them as double and mental math said it was less than 210 so I did not bother scoring it. It was not until we were driving back that Jose reminded me that we shot 20 rounds from prone so all shots were scored the same. Doh! We'll call that one the one that got away.

Unfortunately I did not take any pictures this time.

Overall it was a great experience. I definitely need to work on my sight picture  I have been relying on optics too much. There were a few bad habits that were pointed out to me that I did not realize I was doing and I need to work on. But most important was watching the improvement on Jose's and Alex's shooting and their new insights on the American Revolution. I think they actually paid attention.
"I said I never had much use for one (pistol). Never said I didn't know how to use it." -Matthew Quigley

PaxxAZ

That is Awesome Coyotl. Learning from every shot is what being a rifleman is all about what KC was saying with his target using the M14.

Alex was great, I am sorry I did not have the time With Hose B and Alex, but a lot of new shooters on the line, and Hose B knew what he was doing.

I hope they take advantage of the booklet it has all the things they need to think about.

Again great having you all on the line.
There are many things talked about that make the people of the US
different; being riflemen is one, asking why is another, as is getting
what needs doing done.

-Me 2011

thewarriorhunter

i posted on the other thread but i'll go here as well...

i had a great time and wish my wife and i could have returned for the sunday portion... alas our schedules didn't permit it. we both had a great time and she has a pretty nice war wound. she caught a piece of brass in the waist of her pants. it looks pretty gnarly now.

i really enjoyed running my ar 15. i have a tremendous amount of confidence with it now and am looking forward to shooting it in a couple weeks to work on the skills learned at the shoot.

my wife is excited to continue to practice as well. in fact, she's told me that i MUST get a 22 conversion kit for my AR after seeing how well nancy's ran. in fact, i may end up borrowing hers to try it out and see for myself how i like it before i purchase it.

i look forward to the next time a shoot is help in the tucson area. i will definitely do my best to attend, hopefully both days.

herkyeng

Thanks to all the instructors and shooters that participated in the Appleseed shoot in Marana. I was only able to attend on Sunday but the instructors helped me catch up. My 10/22 shot fine as long as I could see through the scope but it wasn't set up properly. I've spent too much time shooting from a bench so it was out of position for shooting prone. Ah yes...excuses!  :slap:

I hope I can do both days the next time Appleseed comes to southern AZ. Looking forward to December in Sierra Vista!  :---

Scott (herkyeng)