Ariel, WA Sept 6-7, 2014

[George Hacker]

Had a great weekend at the range: awesome weather, awesome shooters, and a great crew of instructors. Out of the eight shooters who showed up, we had three new riflemen. Congratulations, Steve, Jase, and Spencer!

Please post your comments and pictures. I will add more details on a later post.

ShadowMan

[Kimber Custom]

Not sure why I wasn't motivated to take pictures on Saturday but here's my Sunday pics.





Flipper must not have showered since they are all 'gathered around' 10' away 





































Sorry Judge - one shot of the pink rifle slipped through 



Not the only cleared redcoat of the weekend but the only one I happened to be down range for.

[JackThompson]

My wife and I had a fantastic weekend!

Thank you so much to all the instructors there. AppleSeed claims to have the most rigorous requirements for instructors, and it really shows.

The drills, the 6 steps, the line safety checks, the positioning, NPOA shifts, trigger trapping. After this weekend I can recite every word of it. (Now to commit it to muscle memory)

Sight Alignment! (Front and rear!)
Sight Picture! (...Pumpkin!)
Respiratory Pause! (...at the exhale)
Focus! (...on the front sight)
Squeeze (...and trap) the trigger! 
Follow-Through! (...and call the shot)

I'll share this knowledge with my sons and daughters and they'll be a little more prepared than I was when I went to my first one! (...and I'll be prepared to take home a Rifleman patch!)

Thanks for giving us the honor of shooting your Garand Shadowman!

Jack Thompson

[George Hacker]

Jack, it was my pleasure. Great to have you and Tracie on the line.

Now for the more complete AAR. What an excellent event! The shooters came with very teachable attitudes and their targets testified to it. We started Saturday morning with no cleared redcoat targets, but by the end of the weekend 3 out of our 8 shooters had cleared at least 1 redcoat and others were close.

Families were well represented, we had Jase and his son Judge, David and his son Spencer, and Jack and Tracie. Steve and Aaron each came to the event alone.

Congratulations to our new riflemen: Steve, Jase, and Spencer. Huzzah!

We had others who were knocking on the door. Keep on dry practicing to reinforce your steady hold factors and to become more familiar with your rifles.

This is one of those Appleseed events where the theme of liberty really hit home. Learn some of the stories we told. Tell others about the courage of Captain John Parker or the sacrifice Captain Isaac Davis made on April 19, 1775. Keep the spirit of Liberty alive by fighting its enemies: ignorance, apathy, and laziness. Remember what Dr. Joseph Warren said:

That is an indispensable duty which we owe to God, our country, ourselves and posterity, by all lawful ways and means in our power to maintain, defend and preserve those civil and religious rights and liberties, for which many of our fathers fought, bled and died, and to hand them down entire to future generations.

Thanks to each of instructors who came out and gave shooters a lot of personal attention. You are an excellent crew.

Thank you, Wolverton Mountain Gun Club, for being gracious hosts. A special thanks to club president, Mark Rembowski, for bringing your .50 cal Barrett to the range for a little after class fun at the 150yd range.

Hope our paths on the Appleseed Trail in the future,

ShadowMan