One day mid week KD Talladega, AL July 20, 2016

[Ramblin' Wreck]

When I decided to schedule a one day KD, ON A WEDNESDAY, on the spur of the moment I figured I might have 3 or 4 shooters show up who can't make it to one of our many weekend events. Making it a one day event meant there would be minimal time for instruction. Given there was no time for classroom it was limited to previous AS attendees or very experienced center fire shooters. I was pleasantly surprised when 10 shooters signed up who came from as far away as western Mississippi and Arkansas. Only 1 of the 10 had never been to an AS and was not already a Riflemen.

By scheduling this event I broke one of my own rules I'd declared several years ago of not scheduling any more 1 day KD events because of limited instruction time eating in to shooting time. But, in this case the shooters were experienced, most already Riflemen, and we were going to shoot on the most fabulous range in the country on electronic targets. But still, it's Alabama and it's July and it was going to be hot.

We registered at 8:00 as usual with CMP Marksmanship Park staff arriving 3 hours before they normally open to accommodate us. After the welcome and the ol' Wreck's intro and using a marksmanship story from the second American Revolution in an attempt at humor to make a point about what you learn at Project Appleseed we started on the only block of instruction of the day, trajectory. Thanks to AS State Coordinator and SI Rusty who took vacation time to help and deliver an outstanding class on trajectory focusing on NZ, FZ, MO, RTZ and come-ups. After the safety briefing we headed to Range 2.

Group photo by the statue of a marksmanship immortal.
Because of the unique layout of the CMP park we have to shoot the AQT on two separate ranges both with electronic targets. Stage 1 @ 100 yards is completely on range 2 before moving a few hundred yards to range 1 to shoot electronic targets at 200, 300 and 600 yards.

After insuring shooters had and understood their zero at 100 yards (do your holes appear where your trajectory table says they should at this range?) we began shooting stage 1 strings standing. Rusty gave out the score sheets he created and we fired 6 stage one strings and recorded them before moving to range 2. Most shooters did better than they thought they would shooting the circular CMP targets which we calibrated to be the same size in square inches as our D repair center. Early equipment failure knocked out one of our shooters but I expect to see him back very soon.


Overmountain Man can drill it at 100 yards.


John G came from Arkansas and went 5/6 on six AQTs for the day.



With a break to eat, we call it dinner here in the south, and hear some history of the battle of Alamance and King's Mountain we then moved to range 2 and longer, some much longer, distances.

We started at 200 yards and prompted shooters to predict where their holes should appear based on what they thought their rifle's trajectory should produce as we shot sighter groups at each distance. We then shot SIX, count 'em SIX, AQT qualifying rounds before ending the day just before 5 PM. You can get a lot done when you don't have to walk 400 yards to paste holes and score your target.

This is nice to have 20' from where you're shooting. No, they're not air conditioned.



Because there is no 400 yard target we shot 3 stage 4's using a reduced diameter circle at 300 yards and 3 of our 6 qualifying rounds by using a scaled target at 600 yards. Shooters discovered that although 600 yards is further than most of them had ever shot before it was no more difficult, except for needing to be more aware of the wind, than shooting at 400 or closer if you know your come-ups.

This is at 200 yards. The 600 yard berm is in the distance past 300.



Our first Rifleman score of the day came on stage 4 of the first AQT at 300 yards. Instructor John G from Arkansas posted a 47/50 and would go on to qualify in 5 of the 6 rounds we fired that day. HUZZAH John!



The next surprise was young Braxton who had come from Madison, MS and had never attended an AS before. I had worked with him a few hours on Monday (he's almost family) and coached him on SHF and NPOA. He shot a qualifying score earning his rocker and his Rifleman patch in one fell swoop.  He tells me he's coming back in October to the 2 day KD. I'll leave the light on for you Braxton.

Rifleman and KD rocker in one day.



Next up was another shooter who had been to an Appleseed but had not earned his Rifleman patch, Dexter B. He proved that he knows very well what he's about.



By the end of the day we had 7 out of our 10 shooters earn their KD rocker with most shooting qualifying scores at 300 and about half at the 600 yard stage 4 course.  A couple of instructors did it really old school by qualifying with their M1 Garands. Huzzah to Rusty and Regulator on re qualifying with irons. Next time you see him ask Rusty if shooting several hundred rounds through a Garand without much padding makes for a long day. Both of Regulator's sons "Overmountain Man" and "Johnny Reb" also qualified with Joshua going 5/6 on qualifying AQTs and he did it with irons. As I've said on many occasions over the last 5 years "all them Tates can shoot I reckon."


Senior Instructor Rusty doing it old school.


Regulator ringing 600 yards with a 60 year old rifle, 40 year old milsurp ammo and 48 year old eyes.


Overmountain Man shooting 5/6 on 6 AQTs for the day.


Johnny Reb racking up a requal. This is his 4th or 5th. He's 16 I think.



Thanks to everyone who took time out in the middle of the week to come sharpen the skills our ancestors had in abundance.

The next area KD events are in Ramseur the last weekend in August where the ol Wreck will once again don the green hat and back in Talladega the last weekend in October. Hope to see everyone back on the line for one or both of these.

For Liberty,
Ramblin' Wreck

Attention shooters! Post pictures if you took em.

[Quinncannon]

Shooting at Talladega and earning my Long Range patch was a highlight of my Appleseed experience, but was still secondary to being able to spend time with Ben, Rusty, Braxton, the Tate's and everyone else!

The professionalism displayed by Ben and Rusty in running the shoot is an example for all instructors to follow!

I'm looking forward to the next KD I can attend in the Tennessee Valley!

[Maximum Ordinate]

It was a good time and nice to be able to shoot.  I'm probably going to invest in some loctite blue for my front sight before I come back out!   

Thanks, Ben!   

[sluggo]

That looks like a great event fantastic place to shoot!

[Leadslinger66]

Ben and Rusty, I wish I could have attended! I absolutely loved the inaugural Taladega KD back in January. Definitely on my list to do again!

[Ramblin' Wreck]

Yeah, your front sight falling off will slow you down a bit. 

Wreck

It was a good time and nice to be able to shoot.  I'm probably going to invest in some loctite blue for my front sight before I come back out!   

Thanks, Ben!