Noblesville, IN July 27-28 2013

[spitfire51]

An unseasonably cool weekend greeted 11 fine Americans as they joined us at Hamilton County Fish and Game in Noblesville, IN.  Nobody was complaining though as we set to work learning the marksmanship skills of our forefathers.  By the end of the morning on Saturday or shooters were building some rock-solid prone positions and getting the hang of the always-important NPOA.  Under just enough cloud cover to make the day even nicer, we gathered round to hear the first strike of that fateful day in American history.  After learning the details of the skirmish on Lexington Green, it was back to work practicing the standing position, which by the end of the day came to be known as "the greatest position ever."    Stagehand Steve then told the next chapter of our history, the battle of the North Bridge at Concorde.  After some more work on shooting while seated, the day ended with a taste of the AQT, followed by the story of where the Revolutionary War truly began.

When dawn arrived Sunday morning, it was almost downright cold.  This is the first time I've ever thrown my sweatshirt in the car for a July event in Indiana.  It quickly warmed up to almost perfect weekend weather however, and the bulk of the morning was spent hammering home the lessons from the day before and getting some shooters who had to leave early on Saturday caught up.  Then on to the AQT grind.  The weekend wrapped up with shooting some steel targets at 100 yards.  I would submit there's no better way to finish two wonderful days than with some "boom-ding" action.  While we didn't produce any new Riflemen, everyone improved their scores and knows what they need to work on for next time.    I'm also pleased to report that two previous Riflemen will be joining the ranks of the instructor corps.

To my instructors for the weekend, stagehand steve, grunt soldier, and Maynard, thanks for all your hard work.  To all our attendees, my sincere thanks for joining us this past weekend.  Kris, I now see why Josh is so awesome to work with.  Next time you fly around the world, please take me with you.  Rob, thanks for bringing Eric along with you, and good job with the borrowed rifle.  A little more practice and you'll get over the 210 hump for sure.  Eric, so will you once you've grown into your rifle a little bit.  Same goes for Rowen, and I'm glad you were feeling better on Sunday and were able to come back.  Ramey, hopefully your scope issues can be fixed soon, I know you've got the technique down.  Tim and Sarah, I'm glad you both stuck with it despite the problems with the non-adjustable sights.  David Woods, I'm glad you enjoyed the history so thoroughly.  One of these days I'd like to see you and RD shoot side-by-side, although I suspect that could get pretty competitive pretty quickly.  John, welcome back to the program.  Your first mission is to drag Roy across the finish line and help him get his patch.  His scores were getting high enough it was heartbreaking that the day had to end.  And Dave Nurkiewicz, I hope there's no longer any doubt in your mind, you can in fact shoot well.  Thanks for stepping up and taking the hat.

Remember to come back and see us again, but remember also not to come alone.

[Dnurk]

Great report Spitfire.   

This was my second Appleseed and I absolutely improved in every facet of the program.   Improved my positions, learned to trust (no......REALLY trust) my NPOA while shooting iron sights, and deepened my qppreciation for what those incredible individuals did back in 1775.   

Thanks to you, Steve, Gruntsolder, and Josh for all your help and encouragement this weekend. 

I am quite excited to be able to share my experiences and enthusiasm about Appleseed with others going forward as an IIT

[spitfire51]

Yay!  Pictures!

A son instructing his dad, one of the many great things about Appleseed


Working on building those standing positions


Now that is a chicken wing!


Stagehand Steve presents the second strike of the match


Ah, dry firing...a great use of the preparation period


Two of our youth shooters, Sarah and Eric, both of whom fought through some rifle issues and stuck with it the whole weekend


Our other young shooter, Rowen, an enthusiastic shooter who was all business when behind the rifle

[Pilgrim83]

Yea great report, Matt. Thanks to all of you for another great Appleseed. Eric commented twice on how "nice" everyone was. We went over some of the history lessons, at the dinner table Sunday evening, and he retained a lot of the knowledge. We'll get him into a better fitting rifle and back on the line soon. All in all it was a great way to spend the weekend! Hope to see you all on the line again soon (August 17th at Atlanta).   

[JByer323]

Spitfire, the weekend was fantastic, couldn't have asked for better shooting conditions, and the wind/soaring targets just made things more interesting.

This was the first of three Appleseeds that my dad attended where he didn't leave discouraged. We had been doing dry fire exercises the past few weeks most evenings, and it obviously helped him. We looked at some of his AQTs from his last shoot, and he improved fifty-some points, so that's something to be proud of. More practice will be happening tonight.

I'm not sure if he/my girlfriend will be able to get to the Atlanta shoot next month or not, but they're both excited about getting out to another Appleseed soon.

I'm off the weekend of the Atlanta shoot, and am planning on breaking in that orange hat.

Thanks again everyone for the amazing weekend!

[grunt soldier]

It was a great weekend minus the tooth pain lol.  but that is all taken care of now.  glad to have met and worked with all you great Americans.  Hope to see you all out there again soon!