Coeur d'Alene, Idaho June 6 & 7

[eert]

Another successful Appleseed Clinic comes to a close in Coeur d'Alene.  We had 21 shooters on Saturday and a packed line with 26 shooters on Sunday.  Considering the unseasonable heat, the shooters and Instructors fared well.   

Both days started with our Boy Scout Ryan leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. As Saturday was the 71 anniversary of D-Day, the Redcoat target was given a slightly different name.  Of particular note we had 11 young patriots show up with parents and/or grandparents.  Even a three generation family unit came out for marksmanship and liberty lessons!  Thank you parents and Grandparents for introducing your children to our program and our country's true birth of liberty.  Maybe our future is not so bleak!

On the shooting side of the clinic, vast improvement was made by all shooters as evidenced by the Redcoat Targets which went from qualifying Saturday morning at 4-100, 2-200; 2-300; 1 Morgan to 4-200, 4-300, 3-400; 4- Morgan at the Sunday close.  Well done and Huzzah!  Joel and David both scored consecutive RM scores on the AQT, thus earning the coveted Rifleman Patch.  Both Ken and Glenn (kudos for running a bolt gun!) were consistently improving and knocking on the door, and had Ken not had to leave at noon for his Granddaughters graduation , we likely would have had another Riflemen.

On Sunday we were joined by a group led by one of my former Red Hat Instructors, Mike.  While it was great to see Mike again, the last time I saw his daughters, the youngest was operating a Cricket single shot.  Time does fly, and now they are all young women!  Funny, I don't feel like I've aged that much.  Truly all the youth at this shoot were something special, it is so rare these days to see such polite behavior.  I believe I was thanked by every single youth!  Keep up the good work parents!

We seemed to take a while to get going on Sunday, as there were a lot of day two rifle switches needing sling and major sight adjustments. 

A take home message I have for all is to get good dry practice in, and especially work on keeping your finger on the trigger through the reset on the semi-autos.  This can be practiced by (first triple redundancy verifying no ammo in rifle, magazine, or even the room you are practicing in), sit on floor, rifle on lap pointed in a safe direction, work the bolt, squeeeeeeeeeeeeeze the trigger, hold the trigger back, work the bolt to cycle the action, slowly release the trigger until you feel/hear the reset, repeat. 

I regret the pace of Appleseed is so quick, that I don't get an opportunity to really get to know the shooters.  There were some great folks on this line, and I was pleased to make your acquaintance.  I truly hope our paths cross again. 

I want to also thank my Instructor Cadre who suffered the heat right along with the shooters.  Our new IIT's, Wagon and Journey deserve special thanks for stepping right in to make the line safe and engage the shooters.  Roland set a great example for these IITs, and it is always a pleasure to have the son help me on the line.  Mr. Clean also got his feet wet as a SBIT with a very busy line!

Oh, and about the heat, we were well into the 90's on Sunday.  This might not seem hot to those in the south or midwest, but in northern Idaho in June it was brutal.  I've never had .22 barrels this hot before, and I'm sure it was affecting accuracy. 

I did pick up a green foam pad, which I think is Joel's;  a folding chair of unknown origin; and a Troy magazine which I believe is Eddies.  Someone also got away with a black nylon loaner sling, which I would appreciate a return off so it can be used by future shooters.
 
As promised for those you gave me emails, I will be sending targets and sling instructions sometime this week. 

Hopefully someone has some pictures to post!

EERT

[Wagon]

Please excuse my low-end phone-cam, here are some pictures during the fantastic weekend.    And mark your calendar (I'd register NOW...)   --- see you again on October 3~4 

[jbeburg]

EERT,

Thanks to you and all the instructors for a great weekend. For anyone reading this contemplating taking the Appleseed course I would say do it. It is so much more than just foundational shooting instruction. It renews and exposes foundations that our country was built on. The instructors were helpful, serious (as they should be) but also able to make it enjoyable for my 8 year old--a balance not easily attained! I have every intent of trying to make it to another one.

[Journey]

This was a great first shoot as an IIT.

Thanks to everyone for braving the heat for two days. I didn't notice how narrow the shaded area was until I was looking at the pictures Wagon posted!

I was thrilled with the progress that everyone made. By the end of the weekend, we had not only several newly minted riflemen, but others who had made so much progress that I wasn't even sure they were the same shooters!

Thanks to those who came as a family. I am attaching the only two pictures I had a chance to take, of our Young Patriots.

On a personal note, I am excited to be learning, even as an instructor in training. I'll need to get out to the range soon and keep refining my technique. Being a rifleman is truly an art, and all of us can become better artists through repetition and application of the basics that we have learned.

Keep up that practice, and I hope to see everyone again soon!