Evansville, IN - 15-16 November 2014

[TJ Kackowski]

Saturday found 17 fine Americans on the line, during an unusually cold November day in Southern Indiana.  Six of Indiana's finest Instructors (yes, we're claiming olefide as one of ours now) and one of the State's best Applecore were present to coach these hardy souls.  Teachable attitudes were abundant and everyone worked hard mastering their marksmanship skills.  The result was 1 requalifying Rifleman and several others knocking on the door.  Everybody, however, showed great improvement.

Lunch was provided by the lovely and talented Mrs. Mudcat.  The 3 Strikes were presented by the talented (but not nearly as lovely) Indiana Instructor Cadre.

Sunday found us with 10 returning students to brave the nearly Winterseed conditions.  They were joined by Darkfoot who is doing his level best to turn that Blue hat into an Orange hat.  The results were significant.  One new Rifleman (Huzzah Natalie), 4 requalifying Riflemen, and several others knocking so hard on the door it's about to come off its hinges.

Just after the Sunday benediction and awarding of a new BIG Red hat to Big John, Winterseed conditions had finally arrived.  Mudcat conducted 2 AQT's to allow any who wanted to have a go at the coveted Winterseed rifleman patch.  The result was 1 new Winterseed Rifleman.  Congratulations Big John on earning that nice new hat and a Winterseed patch.

The rest who attempted to earn the Winterseed patch (which included all of the requalifying Rifleman and our new Rifleman) learned why it's so hard to achieve this award as most ended up with their optics fogged by their breath.

One other significant high point of this Appleseed was one of the students stepping up to accept a Blue hat.  After all the paperwork is finalized, we'll be making an official announcement.

Pictures to follow soon.

[Mudcat]

What a really great weekend, lots of great attitudes. Shooters from 3 different states came out to attend this shoot. Again 7th stepping ruled the day on filling the line. I thought the great improvement was evidenced in the afternoon redcoat target with a huge improvement over the morning results. Most notable was Natalie and 10 year old Lizzy clearing the redcoat. Everyone had more hits and had greatly improved though. Lizzy had a rifle issue and had to switch rifles on Sunday or I am sure she would be sporting a spiffy new patch as well. Jeremy made some big gains and fought a rifle sight issue but wound up over 200. Charmi tripled her score over the weekend! Ben was at a 208 I believe. Andy was learning irons are sometimes a little more difficult than a scope. Will and Frank made big gains and hopefully will be back soon.
Here is a Sunday group picture.

[Mudcat]

New Riflewoman Natalie, of course she chose a purple patch.

[greyfox]

Huzzah Natalie! Huzzah Big John! Huzzah shooters and volunteers all!

[Mutti]

Loved this event! Clear points of instructions and the History had me recalling some info that I hadn't retained. Very thankful for the warm lunch on Saturday - only eclipsed by the sense of Community achieved.

Unique pleasure to see Charmi climbing up : 64, low 100's to a high of 172. So close. Wish everyone could have returned on Sunday to see the progress their fellow attendees made. From Young to Old(er) - lots of progress in the History * Heritage * Marksmanship departments.

Good thing Natalie made a 211 even dropping the Hubby's errant shot - that would have been a looonnnnggg drive home. Get him to dryfire and maybe he'll join the elusive club.

Doubly enjoyable was seeing Big John get that Red Hat and getting to sign the Bill. I'd never been to a shoot where that was done before and was proud to join the group. And my Friend Olefido - IIT3 

While I didn't get my WinterSeed patch, it was a lot of fun catching sleet and freezing stuff down the back of my sweater    Especially after NavNuke warmed up the Mat so I could lay in some slushy stuff and heated up the Riflestock so it was just barely freezing  ..... Next time 

[redbaron]

As always, another top notch shoot at Red Brush! Fantastic November weather, instructors and shooters. I really enjoyed getting to spend time on the line with some good friends this weekend. Brandon is always fun to shoot with, but I must admit, I was pulling for Natalie to out shoot him. The smile on her face when SHE cleared the Saturday PM redcoat and he didn't, was priceless. Congrats on that Nat and for getting the patch! Fantastic job! And congrats to Brandon for proving his Patriot's day 210 score wasn't a fluke.      It was also good to see Charmi persist and progress throughout the weekend. I even got to see a smile out of her on Sunday!    It was very cool to see her more than double her score from Saturday's AQT to the first AQT on Sunday. Keep working and I'm positive that you will get there at your next Appleseed.

Thanks to ALL of the instructors AND shooters that made the trip, some from several hours away. You all made this a wonderful and fun weekend for me! Thanks again.

[Uncle Davey]

What was that bolty again?

[Big John]

It was a Savage something or other.

Good weekend. We had a lot of good shooting and improvement. Lots of people on the verge of Riflemen.
The weather was unseasonably cold all weekend, and ended in sleet and rain conditions. Was very pleased
with the good attitudes and persistence of all shooters. It was good to have instructors shooting as we could
tap them for special assistance. It was also good to have requalifiers and people hitting Riflemen so that the
ribbing could be given to achieve higher scores.

Very proud of Charmi, ten minutes of "THIS is NPOA, and THIS is a steady hold factor, and THIS is how it feels"
and bang, 100 point score increase. How bout them apples.

Also proud of Darkfoot Ben who did not give up and is closing in on that score, blasting an AR all weekend.

Fortunately Mutti rezeroed my rifle for me all Saturday, so all I had to do was lie in the slush one AQT and
fire by the numbers.

I've got some pictures somewhere. We need more pictures.

[redbaron]

What was that bolty again?

Savage Mark II FV-SR
http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/MARKIIFVSR

[Mudcat]

Here is a picture of the husband and wife Riflemen.

[Uncle Davey]

Thanks dude!

[olefido]

Always enjoy going to Red Brush. It's nice to work with a great and friendly crew. UncleDavey, Steve, Big John, TJ, Darkfoot, and the always excellent, Mudcat. Special thanks to Mrs. Mudcat for the fine lunch on Saturday. It also was nice having NavNuke, Mutti, and Red Baron on the line shooting. Congratulations to Natalie and I believe that Jeremy, Liz, and Charmi are knocking on the door. Thanks again for another enjoyable weekend.

[Dooz]

It was a Savage something or other.

Good weekend. We had a lot of good shooting and improvement. Lots of people on the verge of Riflemen.
The weather was unseasonably cold all weekend, and ended in sleet and rain conditions. Was very pleased
with the good attitudes and persistence of all shooters. It was good to have instructors shooting as we could
tap them for special assistance. It was also good to have requalifiers and people hitting Riflemen so that the
ribbing could be given to achieve higher scores.

Very proud of Charmi, ten minutes of "THIS is NPOA, and THIS is a steady hold factor, and THIS is how it feels"
and bang, 100 point score increase. How bout them apples.

Also proud of Darkfoot Ben who did not give up and is closing in on that score, blasting an AR all weekend.

Fortunately Mutti rezeroed my rifle for me all Saturday, so all I had to do was lie in the slush one AQT and
fire by the numbers.

I've got some pictures somewhere. We need more pictures.

Thank you all for taking the time to volunteer, it was a great time.  I look forward to volunteering when you all need help.  Just let me know. 
Charmi

[Racegun]

I would like to thank everyone who gave of their time to come out and help teach us last weekend.  Natalie and I had a great time shooting and learning together.  It was an added bonus that she shot Rifleman.  I'm super proud of her and would like to thank all that helped her achieve her goal of outshooting me.  It was a great time and was nice to shoot with great friends and also have fine instructors.  Redbaron, it was nice to have you on the line shooting as well.  We are definitely coming back to shoot again and also bringing others to experience it with us.  Thanks again.

[TJ Kackowski]

Finally some more photos of the event ... you put something off for one day and the next thing you know a week has passed ... sheesh

Saturday set-up & gathering










Mudcat and Big John get the day started to an attentive audience









olefido and Big John presenting some early instruction



Lunch under the shelter





Mudcat inspects the only two cleared Redcoat targets of the weekend



Our four youth participants receive their recognition.  It's fine Americans like these young men and women that cause me to believe that the future of our country is in good hands.



Back at it on Sunday









Big John receives his much deserved BIG Red Hat



The weather finally turned to Winterseed conditions ... Huzzah!









Strategically placed optics clearing materials were observed on the line.  Cold weather and warm breath wreak havoc with scopes.







In the end, our newest Red Hat also earned his Winterseed Rifleman's award