Toccoa GA Sept. 17-18, 2016

[Morpheus]

It was great for this instructor to be back in Toccoa GA this weekend. Toccoa is where I attended my first Appleseed back in September 2011. Of the 18 shooters this weekend, 12 were experiencing Appleseed for their first time at Toccoa as well.

Saturday morning was a seasonably warm day with plenty of sunshine in the forecast. Our first targets of the day shone that we had a great mix of experienced shooters and new shooters, but they all seemed eager to learn and so we turned on the proverbial "firehose of instruction".

We took an extended period of time Saturday morning accomplishing a number of tasks: fitting the shooters' rifles to them, eye dominance drill, the trigger control exercise, dry fire exercise, and carding the sights. The feedback from the shooters (and the target line) told us that we had spent our time well. At lunch, we heard great presentations of the 1st Strike of the Match from Fabricator followed by the 2nd Strike of the Match from Fabricatorsgal. Back at the firing line we continued with shrinking the group sizes and learned IMC and how to bring those smaller groups on to the target. Our afternoon break brought the conclusion of the story of April 19, 1775 with the 3rd Strike of the Match by DrJohn.
The day finished with an AQT and awarding some Luther Blanchard youth patches. It's such a treat to have the young folks like Raleigh, Susie, and AJ in attendance.

Sunday morning was near perfect for shooting! Since Sunday shooting at the GMSA range is limited to start after noon, we spent the morning in review of the Saturday instruction, heard a fine module about Known Distance Shooting, and heard some stories of Dangerous Old Men and Women during our early lunch. We had rifles to the line and began with the Ball & Dummy Drill promptly at noon. After shooting some squares targets we posted an AQT and discovered that there was a new Rifleman amongst us! Mike G. had a target that scored 216! Huzzah!! (I think it was 216. I forgot to write that one down )
The GMSA range has an adjacent known distance range to us so we offered the shooters an opportunity to shoot past 25m and half of them went with DrJohn to find out what works at 25m works at 100y, and beyond!
Mean while, at the 25m range, some AQTs were being shot as well as some more squares targets. Young Raleigh chose to shoot a rapid fire (4 minute) AQT, and this one looked good. . .it looked really good! After conferring with another instructor, we concluded that it was indeed a Rifleman's target- 211! And, on the last AQT of the day, the persistent Tommy G. scored a very solid 221 for his first Rifleman score at his fifth Appleseed! Huzzah to you, sir! Your persistence paid off, and it was an honor to award that patch to you.
A light, steady rain moved in during those last few shots of the weekend, but it was 4:00 and it was a good time to case the remaining rifles and pack up our things. The weekend ended with a Philosophy of Liberty benediction given by Fabricator. Hopefully, those parting words will ring in each of the attendee's ears, and may liberty increase!

My thanks to the incredible instructors who helped at this event. It's success is because of you, and I am ever grateful.

In liberty,

Steve

[DrJohn]

It was a pleasure and an honor to have worked with so many enthusiastic students last weekend. There is a great deal of satisfaction and self respect that accompanies the development of skill. And all of our students certainly gained skill over the weekend. But what is most gratifying to us as instructors is the level of appreciation and respect given both to the Founding Generation, who paid such a steep price to obtain their freedom, and to our God given Liberty, which is ours by the very fact that we are human. Congratulations to all, and may Liberty increase forever!