Columbiana AL June 11-12, 2016

[Morpheus]

June in Alabama- check
Might get a bit warm- check
Might get a bit wet- check
Might find persistent people- check

This weekend wore me out, but I was smiling all the way home during my drive!
Saturday morning dawned bright with a promise of increasing heat during the day. The promise held true, but thanks to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office and their blessed canopies all of the shooters were able to remain in the shade throughout the event. Not only did our gracious range hosts provide the shade, they also provided a continuous supply of ice water!

While we had adequate shade and water, that by no means implies that the shooters had an easy time of it this weekend. We did have to pace ourselves and take frequent hydration breaks, but these shooters persisted! Everyone had such a great attitude, and that sure does give a boost to each instructor

Our Saturday was moving along quite nicely until about 3:00. That is when the thunder and lightning appeared without warning causing us to quickly clear the line of rifles and equipment and get everyone out of danger. We finished up the day in the classroom where we were privileged to issue the Luther Blanchard patches to all of the youth shooters: Will, Zack, Hunter, Avery, Max, Harry, and Karson. Thank you all for spending your weekend at Appleseed!

Sunday morning we picked up where we left off and we were able to get two AQTs in before lunch. It is notable that Walt re-qualified a rifleman's score (213) with his center-fire rifle. Well done Walt! Also, Kevin shot a 216 at his first Appleseed! Huzzah!! These two riflemen continued to shoot riflemen scores throughout the day. The instructors were encouraged by the marked improvement of all of the shooters this weekend, especially with the hot conditions.

Thank you all for attending. This range is one of the nicest venues that I've seen and I thank those who have gone before to secure such a facility to host Appleseeds here.  You all have made the trip from North GA very worthwhile. And thank you to the awesome instructors who stepped up and gave all that they had to make this shoot the success that it was. I hope to see everyone again soon on the Appleseed Trail!

Please share and post your pictures or comments as you are able.

Steve

[Maximum Ordinate]

Despite the deluge and high winds on Saturday afternoon, this was a great event!  Thank you to everyone who came out and persevered for the whole weekend!

I grabbed a few snapshots from the weekend...

Arriving Friday to find the instructors well-secured.   


A morning welcome!




Getting ready for the Redcoat target.


Talking Targets


Youth Patches and a HUZZAH!


A rare photo of an Appleseed Instructor in the wild, foraging for breakfast.


Our target line survived the maelstrom


Back at it on Sunday!


We love seeing families shooting together.


Position demos!


IIT AuAdvisor requalifying!  (He did so multiple times.)


Snake Eyes qualifying on his very first Appleseed weekend!  HUZZAH!!!   


Send me a PM if you'd like the full sized version of any of these pics.

Remember - a Rifleman persists!  See ya on the line again soon!

-Rusty