Newark Ohio, August 24 & 25, 2013

[Corvette]

What a great second Appleseed at Dillon Sportsman Center in Newark, Ohio.  Special thanks to one of our shooters and fellow camper, Dan from Think Tactical Training who worked with me well into the evening Friday helping me set up the target line, hang the flags and set up the line for the weekend. Dan, I could not have done it without your help, a million thanks.

Saturday dawned with a clear sky and a good weather forecast for the entire weekend.  Our numbers swelled to 13 on Saturday with a number of walk-on.  Sign-ins were processed and before we knew it, the Welcome and Safety briefing were behind us and we were bringing rifles to the line.  Our Saturday morning Red Coats showed that we had lots of work to do this weekend.  Out of thirteen shooters, we had only four competent at 100 yards.  This was to change dramatically before the week-end was over.

Saturday morning progressed with instructions on steady hold factors, the six steps, NPOA, and IMC. We struggled through a number of equipment issues, sorted out sling solutions and equipment problems and pressed forward. Everyone worked hard on applying our instructions and groups consistently got better during the morning. After sight adjustments and talking targets, we broke for lunch and the First Strike. 

Seated and off-hand were introduced just after lunch and after working on Transitions, we were ready for our practice AQT.   During the afternoon drills, one of our youth shooters, Margaret, shot one of the tightest off-hand groups I have ever seen at an Appleseed (pictures included in replies to this AAR). Margaret showed great potential. with another Appleseed, I suspect she will join our list of Ohio Riflewomen. Next came our first AQT of the weekend at which, Edgar stepped up and showed that he was a "man that knew quite well what he was about" shooting Rifleman on his first AQT of the weekend.

The second and third strike were presented at the afternoon break and at the end of the day. The day ended with our Saturday Red Coat which showed great improvement with 7 of our shooters competent at 100, 4 at 200, 3 at 300 and 1 at 400 yds. What an improvement from our morning Red Coat.

Sunday started with our review of the safety rules, steady hold factors, and the rest of the instructions from Saturday.  After Ball and Dummy and several trigger control and NPOA drills, we started the Sunday AQT grind.  Robert, our Sunday only shooter, quickly re-qualified as a Rifleman and accepted an Orange hat to become an Instructor in Training. Huzzah!!!

Sunday ended with the ending traditional Red Coat where 6 of our 8 remaining shooters were competent out to 200 yds and 5 of eight out to 300 yds with 3 out to 400 yds.  The hard work of our shooters paid off as these results show.  After closing comments on what it means to be Rifleman, the line was broken down and the event came to a positive close.  It was a great weekend that we look forward to repeating in November at the next shoot at Dillon. 

Photos will be added as replies to this post.  I want to thank all our attendees for a safe and rewarding shoot last weekend. 

Corvette