Evansville IN, March 23 2013

[yellowhousejake]

The weather was horrible a few days before, and not much better today, but yesterday was glorious. A fine day for distance shooting. Light wind, warm sun, no rain, and cool enough to make that shooting jacket comfortable.

Twenty Americans showed up bright and early to test their Appleseed skills beyond 25 yards and they showed up prepared and determined. This was a great line of interested and enthusiastic folks who, in another instructors words, "wanted to be there".

We started out by confirming some zeros at 25 yards after the safety briefing, working the box to get our dope on sight movement, and shaking loose the cobwebs. Then on to 100 yards where we checked our zeros and recorded data before moving to 200, 300, 400, and then 500 yards. All the while recording data and learning about their rifles, applying what they had been taught at previous Appleseeds.

While the point of this one day Appleseed was day just to test skills, instructors still spent some time working the line to assure that steady hold factors were maintained, six steps were followed, and errant trigger fingers were kept in check. It was great to see how many remembered IMC and slung up without assistance. Everyone paid attention at their previous Appleseeds and it showed. It did create a bit of a lazy day for the instructors, though we had some issues that required we put our collective heads together and work to get a few rifles back on paper when scope adjustments went in the ditch.

Wrapping up the day with a chance to see bullet trajectory with tracers, thanks to Super Greg, and some time banging steel, we finished with just enough daylight left to not need flashlights when packing up.

Overall it seemed everyone enjoyed this little test/experiment and we will be sending everyone a survey to get some more feedback on your opinions of the format for this event. Please do answer the survey when it comes, and please post any thoughts and pictures you have here as well.

Thank you all for coming out, thank you for being attentive and safe as well. I hope to see everyone on the line again, with a new American in tow.

Yellowhousejake

[olefido]

Jake,

Thanks for the day! We had a lot of fun and learned a great deal. I realize that trying to get people competent at shooting out to 500 yards is a lot to ask out of a single day event. I know that I learned a lot about my shooting skills or lack thereof and those little things I can do to improve my shooting. I also learned the limitations of my equipment and for the first time in long time I realized that I was doing a lot of the things that I have learned at Appleseed without having to think about it.

For the next event, I am going to try and get some sort of optic sight set up. I learned that a short M4 sight radius, iron sights, and 48 year old eyes are not the best combination in the world. I will also be eternally grateful when somebody develops an orthopedic rifle and shooting mat for those of us with a bad back.

Thanks to you, Auntiebellum, Slim, Techres, and the other instructors, pit guys, and Niecie for putting forth the effort.

If we seemed less than enthused at the end of the day, just put it down to being a LONG day. 3;45 am comes awful early.

Can't wait for the next one.

[AuntieBellum]

It's always good to be at Redbrush.  What a great location.  We were blessed with great weather, great people, and great shooting.  Friends from Kentucky and Illinois and Ohio came to join the Hoosiers and engaged targets all the way out to 500 yards.  What a blast!  I'll try to get some pictures up later by tomorrow to show the fun.  Show the pictures to your friends, share them on facebook (or insert your choice of social media here), and bring a friend with you next time.  And maybe put on a fancy orange or blue hat while you're at it.    Thanks for coming!

[Unbridled Liberty]

Another excellent Hoosier shoot.  New info and pointers stolen.  Good to see old friends and make new ones.  FYI Jake I just wanted you to know that this old Coastie made 8 hits (mostly head and upper torso) on stage 4. 

When I got home I took the rear sight of my US Rifle apart.  The threads on both elevation and windage showed some wear but nothing was worn out.  Put it back together and the rear sight elevates perfectly.  I'm guessing there was a screw loose.

Next time I am going to have Slim sit on me while I am shooting.  That ought to anchor me in place.  Thank you Jake, Auntie, Techres, Slim, Barbie, JV, Spitfire51,  sur+rifle, and Niecie!

UL

[yellowhousejake]

Another excellent Hoosier shoot.  New info and pointers stolen.  Good to see old friends and make new ones.  FYI Jake I just wanted you to know that this old Coastie made 8 hits (mostly head and upper torso) on stage 4. 

I knew you could do it, Squids make fun of us flyboys too, whadda they know?

When I got home I took the rear sight of my US Rifle apart.  The threads on both elevation and windage showed some wear but nothing was worn out.  Put it back together and the rear sight elevates perfectly.  I'm guessing there was a screw loose.

You know, the sight cover is what provides the tension, I wonder if it was loose and now reinstalled, is working properly?

Next time I am going to have Slim sit on me while I am shooting.  That ought to anchor me in place.  Thank you Jake, Auntie, Techres, Slim, Barbie, JV, Spitfire51,  sur+rifle, and Niecie!
UL

You were shooting at least at a 45 degree angle and we could watch the rifle push your upper body sideways. Try getting down to a 25 degree angle to the target and put more UL behind the recoil.

YHJ

[Unbridled Liberty]

You know, the sight cover is what provides the tension, I wonder if it was loose and now reinstalled, is working properly?

OK, well, that would explain it then.  The CMP detail strip directions say that you have to pry the cover/spring up with a screwdriver to pop it off.  I didn't have to do that, it just came loose.  It took a good smack with a mallet on a piece of wood to seat it back in the groove.  Case closed.

UL

[yellowhousejake]

How many people you think have run to check their M1s by now? 

[Rayne]

~

[yellowhousejake]

Rayne, you are a Rifleman/Riflewoman, and that post proves it. It should be required reading prior to attending a KD Appleseed. I hope I am there when you next try for a KD score.



YHJ

[Unbridled Liberty]

Dear God, please impress upon Rayne's heart that she NEEDS to become an Appleseed instructor.  And move to Kentucky.  Please.  Amen.   

[Mudcat]

Awesome job Rayne! Trust me you are not the first to make the wrong adjustments on a scope  .  You did some great shooting though and obviously learned a lesson or 2.  I didn't have much luck matching my ballistic program to my real world data either, but it seldom does match. Nice to see another bolt action shooter on the line though, and you did some great shooting. Nice to meet you and hopefully our paths will cross again sometime. I second what Unbridled Liberty said though, you would be a great asset to have behind the firing line.

[Mudcat]

Here is a review I wrote for a rifle site, no advertising so we have to be careful about how we promote,  so it has a little different twist on it.

Yesterday I took my 3 week old MVP to a full distance Appleseed as a shooter. I have been an instructor for the http://www.appleseedinfo.org Appleseed Project for 5 years and this was my first chance to shoot a full distance shoot from start to finish. I had run them and work at them but never shot the event. I was pretty excited about shooting it and even more so about shooting the MVP. The Shoot is all shot at field positions at a standard "D" target which is 24" wide and 20" tall with a black silhouette. No bi-pods sand bags or rests allowed. Just you the rifle and the sling. The MVP is really perfect for this type of shooting at least the predator is, nice compact rifle with detachable magazine makes it a breeze for the timed sections as far as a bolt action goes. We first sighted out rifles in at 25m and I was putting 5 rounds in about 1/2" which is 2 moa we did the box drill to find out how many moa our scopes would move per click. I was using the Nikon P223 3x9 and it moved 20 moa exactly at 80 clicks both for elevation and windage. Not bad for a sub $200 piece of glass. Then we went to the 100 yard line and did prone sighters. My sighters were within the 4" "V" so I did no adjustment. Then we took 10 shots standing at 100 yards in 2 minutes off hand.This is a picture of the firing line at 100 yards. There are 2 targets to each pink backer. I have caught them at various stages of coming up and down in the pics.



Then we packed up our gear and hoofed it back to the 200 yard line. Again we did prone sighters which I was still in the "V" so no adjustment for me and the MVP. The stage 2 course of fire is 2 magazines one with 2 rounds and one with 8 rounds. You start standing and at the fire command you drop to the seated position load the 2 round magazine and engage the target 2 times then switch magazines and finish with 8 more rounds. Not too bad but you only get 55 seconds from the fire command until cease fire. I took a little too much time and did not get 1 round off in the 55 seconds. Oh well better to get good shots off than rush and get misses. Here is a pic of the 200 yard line.



Then we picked up our gear again and hoofed it back to the 300 yard line. Again we got prone sighters where I had to come up 3.5moa to get back to the top of the "V" circle.  We had also picked up a 9 oclock 10mph wind at 300 as we were no longer blocked by the tree line no need to adjust yet but took a note of it for the later stages. We had workers in the pits that would place markers for us to see where we were making our hits on the spotters. They were also keeping our score for the AQT (Army Qualification Test) as they were pulling the targets down after every string marking and pasting our holes. Stage 3 is the rapid fire prone position. same 2 mags at 2 and 8 start standing and drop to prone position 2 rounder change magazines and 8 more but in 65 seconds.I got them all off with time to spare and called all good shots. Here is the pic from the 300 yard line.



Once again we picked up our gear and hoofed another 100 yards back to the 400 yard line for stage 4. This is slow fire prone 1 magazine 10 rounds and 5 minutes to fire them from prone position. We got sighters from prone again and I came up another 3 moa and chose not to dial any windage for the 100 yards of wind because it had shifted around behind us a little. No problem making the time and felt real good about my shots all fired in Riflemans cadence, I just hoped I had made the right decision on the wind.  Here is the 400 yard line.



One last time we picked up our gear and hoofed it to the 500 yard line. There is no 500 yard stage on the AQT but it was a chance to shoot 500 yards with a pit crew giving feed back. We fired sighters from prone again. I dialed 4 moa into elevation before even firing spotters. When the targets raised and I looked through the spotting scope I was right on the edge of the target with 1 round in the "V". Oh crap I had forgot about the wind. Next set I dialed 2 moa of windage and got 3 good rounds off. When the targets rose I had 3 shots within 8" less 2 moa just to right of the "V". Woohoo. Pretty cool for nothing but a man his rifle, sling and ammo. We had a blast! Here is the line at 500 yards.



Then we got to shoot steel at all distances. just playing around and dialing our elevation. At the end of the day out of 20 shooters all great shooters most all previous Appleseeders and many Riflemen there were 3 that had made Rifleman at full distance. 1 was a perfect score which was my son shooting his 14" AR with a 3 power scope. Then me I had missed 1 yep you guessed it the 1 round I didn't get off in stage 2 but still got a 39 or 192 out of 200. One other guy had a 36 with an AR and an AGOC. I would say the MVP held its own yesterday.

But everyone did an awesome job from the shoot boss to the instructors on the line the pit crew, and the Apple Core. We got to hear some cool history that has been nearly forgotten and celebrated or freedoms of being Americans. This old shoot boss got a lot of data for a new rifle, had a great time and learned a few things. This again goes to show that no matter how much we think we know there is always more to learn, I know there always will be.

[techres]

More Pictures:

Thank goodness someone requisitioned a tall shoot boss as we needed on in the early dawn light to set up backers:





Soon we had a hearty group of shooters ready to get on the cold ground and shoot some hot rounds.  As always we did the full safety brief and covered all the standard commands:



Soon we were getting our 25 yard zeros as well as verifying sight adjustments to make sure what should be is what is:



Warms the heart to see a full line of battle rifles:







Instruction was done on the line at each range distance:





Lunch time was a rifleman's lunch, what you can carry:



While others ate, we had a couple of rifles that needed to come back to the 25 yard line and get a quick re-check of zero.



And at the same time we had our riflemen and riflewomen working on their range books:



Then it was time to get back to the line and shooting our rifles:



And watching them break:



And getting them wail on steel from 400 yards:



All in all it was a fun time with lots of smiles and fun:




The students did great and we got to learn more than I expected.  Who knew we would get to do emergency boresights or have a Garand take a dive.  Every seed is special that way.

Thanks to all of our students for walking a ton, and being cold alot all while being patient and learning well.  You were a great group to work with and great Americans to spend a day with at the range.  Thank you to each and all.


Special thanks to Redbrush Range for hosing - look forward to doing it all again!

[ironhead]

This was my 2nd Appleseed and first KD shoot and I had a blast. I had never fired a center fire rifle until I built one late last year and have had no training accept for what I read on the internet until mt first Appleseed.  This was also the first time I ever had the chance to shoot past 100 yards. What I learned is invaluable to me. As I was cleaning my rifle I was also thinking about the info I recorded from the sighters at each stage and how they corresponded to the hits on my AQT. I have pulled my data sheets and targets out 3 times since and made notes for the next time and became armed with a new knowledge. A big HUZZAH to all of the instructors and IIT's for volunteering your time for this event. I met some great people and had a great time. I also learned that it's ok for a man to sport a mohawk while shooting tracers from a pink Cricket. Making hits on steel with it out to 200 yards made it that much more right. Can't wait to put this new knowledge to work again. Can't wait for the next Appleseed.

[brianheeter]

Dear God, please impress upon Rayne's heart that she NEEDS to become an Appleseed instructor.  And move to Kentucky.  Please.  Amen.   

UL,

God said to tell you that Rayne is staying in Indiana but she will become an Instructor.   

C ya,

brian

[yellowhousejake]

Corrected data sheets attached, feel free to use, please use, learn and use them often!

YHJ

[Rayne]

~

[yellowhousejake]

Corrected data sheets attached, feel free to use, please use, learn and use them often!

YHJ

Thank you very  much YHJ!  You can bet I will be using these and I can shoot out to 400 yards here at home so I will be getting my verified data on this rifle and loads. 

I will be back to another KD shoot.

Try this on for size. If anyone was confused about the grids, MOA, etc. Here is a example using the same score sheets we used last weekend.

I hope you find it helpful.

YHJ

[SPQR]

"Rayne, SPQR wants you on the line." - Coach Norman Dale, Hoosiers

here is the citation   http://movieclips.com/p6XnB-hoosiers-movie-god-wants-you-on-the-floor/

[Unbridled Liberty]

Dear God, please impress upon Rayne's heart that she NEEDS to become an Appleseed instructor.  And move to Kentucky.  Please.  Amen.   

UL,

God said to tell you that Rayne is staying in Indiana but she will become an Instructor.   

C ya,

brian

  Good enough...for now.

UL

[techres]

For those who like video, I tossed this together from the shoot:

Evansville KD Clinic

Watch in 1080!

[vanny37]

Great day!  Learned a ton and had a blast.  Always humbling to see so many great riflemen out there... not to mention the part where your wife out-shoots you!  And always exciting to drill targets at those distances.  Thanks to everyone who made this happen.  Thanks to techres for the history and some good trouble shooting on my issues. 

Chris & Kara

[slim]

Awesome video!

[Hop]

Popping in to say I had a great time.  I've done three days at Atterbury so this wasn't exactly new but I did bring a different gun.  Don't let someone say a 14.5" AR can't get it done at 500 yards.  I would have liked a few more shots at that distance but the steel surprise was a very good trade off.  That was the icing on the cake.

I did manage to get some pretty good video (I'm on target 0-Left, a Marine buddy on 0-Right).  Feel free to watch, steal & share however you like.  This is a youtube channel play list for ~6 videos.  I can't exactly see it from work so will check back here later to make sure it's working.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV70khrbaEPcHqKpgOv-s9cNmY99Q-Sf