KD - Puryear, TN, May 30-31, 2015

[dond]

Fourteen shooters participated in this rainy KD. Six were AS instructors and the remaining eight were Henry County Gun Club members who had been to Appleseed events earlier, some as recently as the previous month. Excellent support was provided by instructors Ramblin'Wreck, LesMoore, and JPL. Saturday morning began with introductions, history, and instruction from my Full Distance COF. The history consisted mostly of stories of sharpshooters from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the War Between the States. Shooting was done on Henry County Gun Club's 600 yard range. Fortunately the firing line was a covered concrete slab and targets were able to be quickly moved from 100 yards to 400 yards, and further when necessary. Vehicles were available to transport shooters to the targets. This was usually done in the rain which prevailed throughout most of the day. As a result, the target backers frequently served a second purpose as umbrellas since they were impervious to the rain.    Zeroes and come-ups were established and KD stages were accomplished. Only one KD AQT was completed on the first day and it resulted in four Riflemen; two re-qualifiers: Rusty and Bill; and two new ones: Jim and Gene. Afterward supper was held in the clubhouse with Bar-B-Que and associated items, along with cake, watermelon, cookies and home made ice cream. 

Sunday began with more history before proceeding to the range. Additional KD AQTs were shot which resulted in an additional Rifleman; Old Navy Doc.    In addition, four steel targets were placed at random positions and the shooters used their scopes or front sights to determine the distances to these targets. The results of this were very satisfactory. As I recall, on one of these targets the predictions were all within ten yards of each other, clustering about the actual distance. Ramblin'Wreck devised a competition among the shooters based on their ranging of these targets, firing two shots at each of them, and also firing at a steel target at 600 yards. Jim was the winner of this event. Sunday was only slightly less rainy than Saturday.    But there was enough left-over Bar-B-Que and fixin's for lunch that day.    Everyone appeared to have genuinely enjoyed the event, as well as the knowledge they acquired from it.

I anticipate several pictures being posted soon.

[Ramblin' Wreck]

It was a great KD weekend and I think everyone, especially yours truly, had a very rewarding weekend.

One of the big highlights of the weekend was the announcement I got to make regarding the promotion of Appleseed's newest Senior Instructor Rusty. A well deserved advancement. HUZZAH Rusty!! 

Ramblin' Wreck

[dond]

Thank you for adding that RW. I had intended to include it and must have had a brain, uh, disconnect, and feel terrible about it.  It is indeed a well deserved advancement for a truly dedicated and hard working instructor. Congratulations Rusty. 

[Tailwind]

What a great group of instructors and shooters at the Puryear KD.  The classroom instruction included not only Revolutionary War history but local Civil War battles and famous shooters.  I learned not only the different methods of ranging but also about scope constuction, reticles and focal planes.  Of course the shooting was great but the amount of different equipment and the chance to ask questions and try different scopes, rifles and shooting methods was somthing that you could only do at a 2 day Appleseed.
I am now confident I can hit 600 yard target cosistantly. 

[Old Navy Doc]

My first official KD, and I can't recommend it enough! Amazing what can be done with a little math. It was very challenging and I need to woodshed a bit more to get my ranging skills better. Thanks to all the instructors and shooters, we all learned from each other. Thank DonD and Sarah for making this event so welcoming. Congrats Rusty, you need to add some scrambled eggs to your red hat.

[Maximum Ordinate]

While it always helps when you're shooting well... this was a great shoot.  Everyone arrived with their game faces on and ready to learn.  I had more fun here than I've had in a very long time.  :-)

Quick war story:  I was shooting my 5.45 AR15 with a 16" barrel.  This is certainly non-standard, but complicate things I was using surplus soviet corrosive ammo (packed in 1980).  I'd never shot it beyond 25m.  After getting it zeroed at 100 and learning where my 300 yard group would be... I ran out of time to gather more data!  It was time for Ramblin' Wreck's world famous Top Shot Appleseed contest.  I had no choice but to use the standard "Appleseed come-ups" and they worked for me out to 500 yards!  What we teach works!

I didn't snap as many pics as I normally do - I spent a bunch of time shooting.  Thanks to everyone who came out, especially from as far away as New York and Saint Louis!

Saturday's KD Riflemen and our Shoot Boss!


Sunday's KD Riflemen and our Shoot Boss!


Old Navy Doc getting his rocker!


Some clown with his 2 MOA group at 300 yards, shooting 35 year old ammo.


Relaxing before the safety brief!


The rest of the pictures can be found here:  http://s24.photobucket.com/user/rusty-appleseed/library/2015-05_PurTN?sort=3&page=1

in Liberty,
Rusty