Palm Bay Florida October 10-11 2015

[bill o rites]

We had a great weekend in Palm Bay with 20 shooters on the line and excellent weather little bit of cloud cover and some wind made for a very enjoyable weekend.
This is just a quick note to establish a placeholder more to follow with plenty of pics

[Guntuckian]

Twenty patriots showed up on Saturday morning ready for instruction in marksmanship in Palm Bay, FL.  The weather was near perfect.  With a Shoot Boss, an Instructor, and two Instructors-in-Training, working quickly and collectively to provide the lead, we commenced on our journey of discovery!  Suddenly, we were traveling back in time to April 18-19, 1775!

After the normal safety briefing, and an introduction to what Project Appleseed is and is not, we were dismissed to vehicles to retrieve rifles.  Red Coat Targets were shot and no one was qualified at any distance longer than 200 yards.  This clearly showed that there was an opportunity for improvement, and the fire hose of instruction was begun!

It was explained that we would not be shooting for some time subsequent to this, as that was something that we could do anytime!  Rather, we would be going through the basics of marksmanship.  But first, we would start the day with the First Strike!  Bill o Rites introduced us to Paul Revere, William Dawes, Captain John Parker, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams, among others, and then took us up through 6:45 AM on the morning of April 19, 1775.

The basic slings were then taught (Hasty Sling and Loop Sling.)  We were also taught the Kentucky-style method of slinging up, done from the seated position, with the muzzle pointed toward the berm, and the buttstock of the rifle under the trigger side thigh, and the trigger guard toward one's midsection.  The Steady Hold Factors for the Prone position were then introduced, along with demonstrations of how to shift elevation and windage.  We then went through the basics of NPOA, and first three steps of the Six Steps to Firing a Shot.  We then did a good bit of dry fire practice before firing 5 rounds at the top left sighter square, going through the first 3 steps of the Six Steps of Firing a Shot.

We then reviewed steps 1, 2, and 3 of the Six Steps, and were introduced to steps 4, 5, and 6.  This included the Follow-through sub-steps of the trigger reset technique and how to call your shot.

We then fired at the top right sighter square, using all six steps.

The sighter groups were starting to look mighty fine at this point, so we proceeded to learn Inches, Minutes, Clicks at the target line.  Guntuckian gave this block of instruction.

As the majority now had groups worthy of applying IMC, simple mechanical adjustments of moving small sighter groups into the center of the sighter target square was started.

Next came the concept of Rifleman Cadence, using a laser pointer, onto a sighter board.  Everyone could see for themselves the effect of not having their support elbow directly under their rifle, as well as the effect of not shooting at lungs empty, at the bottom of a breath cycle.  We then did some more shooting of sighters, and  proceeded to make IMC adjustments as required.

We then discovered it was time for our next course of fire, which was lunch!  Guntuckian told the Second Strike of the Match, involving the oral history story of the movement of the King's Regulars from Lexington to Concord, with poignant details of Captain Isaac Davis, and Private Abner Hosmer, and we learned the effect of the actions of the one fellow unfit for military service, Ami White.    After the story of the gathering up of the injured officers, and the leaving behind of the "expendable assets" who were the enlisted men, we learned Colonel Smith then started that long march back towards Charlestown about four hours after arriving in Lexington.  We left this story with the Regulars sendidng out flankers, and starting the march back down the Bay Road.

With our minds filled with the echoes of the Second Strike of the Match, and our tummies full of lunch, the cruelty of learning the seated and kneeling positions was begun!

After learning the Steady Hold Factors for the seated and kneeling positions, we then put this material into action!

Shortly thereafter, we were introduced to  transitioning from Standing to Sitting and from Standing to Prone, and learned where to keep our magazines during this process.  On the mat!  We also were reintroduced on how to shift our Natural Points of Aim when going from silhouette to silhouette across the rows corresponding to stages 2, 3, and 4 of the famed Appleseed Qualification Test.  It was time to apply this, and more live fire with transitions was done.

We were then ready for learning the quintessential American shooting position, the position used at Lexington Green, as well as at the North Bridge, the Standing, or Off-hand, position.  We were introduced to both the Hasty-Hasty Sling and the Hasty Sling. 

With the Time Monkey now really starting to go eeh-eeh-eeh, while laughing at us, and with a darkening storm cloud commencing to start its trek around us from first the west to the north and then to the east of us,  eyeing us, and the clouds darkening, we hastened to shoot an AQT!  We managed to get in an AQT!  And then, we managed to get in the morning's Red Coat target, with earlier holes marked, to see our improvements for the day.  Gathering up the improvements quickly, and with lightning starting to reach down to the North of us, striking the ground about 15 miles to the north of us, we then were dismissed for the day!

On Sunday morning, we had a Shoot Boss, two Instructors, and one Instructor-in-Training to lead us on our deepening adventure back through time!  Sunday morning started quickly with shooters replacing some of the drenched cardboard backers, before we were all repeating the Safety Rules, and how to make a rifle safe.  Sunday also brought us two additional students, bringing our merry band up to 22 shooters, and 4 instructors, total!  We quickly reviewed the Steady Hold Factors for prone, and the Six Steps to Firing a Shot, before shooting some new sighter rounds.  Using IMC, these data were then converted into mechanical adjustments, to put our considerably smaller groups into the center of the sighter target squares.

We then took a break, and Guntuckian told the story of the Third Strike of the Match, taking us down past Merriam's Corner, onto the site where John Parker had his revenge.  We heard the wisdom of General William Heath, the self-described "corpulent, balding, gentleman farmer", with his Moving Circles of Fire.  And of how Lord Percy stopped the advance of the trailing minutemen with two canon on each side of the road at Lexington.  This was followed by the fighting from well to well, on an unseasonably hot day, and the bloodbath at Menotomy, especially at the Jason Russell house.  We followed the minutemen down to the Cambridge Bridge, where the planks had been removed.  And, we learned that Colonel Timothy Pickering was not a coward, but he had simply not yet become resolved to the inevitability of war.  Failing to put the stopper in the bottle, due to Colonel Pickering's reluctance, the British Regulars then arrived back at Bunker Hill around dusk, as the sun set, that day.

We then commenced shooting AQTs, again, with considerably noticeable improvements coming fast.  At lunch, we heard stories of Dangerous Old Men, Brave Women, and Gallant Children.  We were introduced to the likes of Hezekiah Wyeman, David Lamson, Mother Ruth Batherick, Samuel Whittemore, and many, many, more.  Resuming, we recommenced on shooting our AQTs.  Needing a break, we then were introduced to the principles of Known Distance Shooting.  Being it was close to the anniversary of the Second Battle of Saratoga, the story of Sergeant Timothy Murphy was told.  A real flintlock pistol, similar to the brace of pistols that old Samuel Whittemore used to give better than he got, was made available for dry firing, permitting everyone to relate to the activity of everyone's favorite Dangerous Old Man!

We then brought out our Red Coats from the morning, and considerably more improvement was found!

Retrieving the now scored targets, we learned that two new Riflemen had been made, and a requalification had also been made.  Congrats Steven, Jack, and Jean!  STEVEN SCORED RIFLEMAN WITH A BOLT-ACTION RIFLE, TOO!

After tidying up the range, and giving out the Bloody Butcher handbills sent to London by a fast ship by the Founders to influence public opinion first, Bill o Rites gave a resounding Benediction.

Many new friends were made, and Riflemen were minted and requalified.  It was a glorious two days on the green at the Port Malabar Rifle & Pistol Club in Palm Bay, FL! 

We will be back on this range in two months!  Don't miss it!

Pictures to follow!

[Guntuckian]

Youth shooters with their William Diamond patches, and introducing our Riflemen!

[Guntuckian]

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IMC block of instruction at the line.

[Guntuckian]

Pictures from Ari: