++++++Unknown Distance Camp NRA Whittington Center, Raton, NM Sept. 17-18, 2016

[TaosGlock]

Another awesome event at the NRA WC in Raton, NM. Mostly due to the incredible folks who turned up. Aged 16-70 years.
We had mostly visiting and local instructors i.e. SB's, SI's, IIT's Red Hats, Applecorp and a couple of staff from the NRA WC Adventure Camp and a former student.
....all these men are dedicated patriots.
From AZ, FL, NM and CO!

Men, who if were transported back in time would strike fear in Lord Percy and King George III such that they would
reconsider even letting their "Regulars" leave the safety of Boston.

Or as the Bradford Brothers warned King George III in the London Chronicle in 1775, "This colony has raised over a
thousand Riflemen, the worst who can put a ball in a man's head at 200 yards. Tell your officers to have their affairs settled before departing England."



We engaged targets from 100-1123 yards.

This course was the test of the duties of a Rifleman: Find it, range it and shoot it,  in as a real setting as we could come up with.

A Rifleman's paradise here in Raton, NM at the NRAWC.


Old meets new. AR10 clone and an M1 Garand.


Below, this tiny target is AR500 steel. It is placed at 100 yards to represent a man sized torso at 400 yards for the 22 shooters on a regular 2 day Appleseed.
At our UDC, we placed it at just over 300 yards and it was very difficult to detect. In reality, it became a 1200 yard target.
Looking back at the firing line.


The sun just peeks over volcano country here on the Whittington Range near the log cabins.


BF and I are just rollin' in so more later....

Here is last years AAR, we streamlined this years course a bit.

http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=46934.0

[TaosGlock]

Day 1 spent on the Coors Range.

We zero rifles to 300 yards (on the full size AQT) or what is called Battle Sight Zero.


All come ups will start from this point. If you are not shooting you are spotting.


We measure reticle/front sight to help determine distance later on.
It will be checked against the laser rangefinder.

[TaosGlock]

Day 2 is at the YHEC Range.
The AR500 targets are well hidden, in various sizes and at uneven ranges (non 100 yard intervals) from roughly 100-400 yards.
Shooting is done on the ground....spotting on the benches with either a cleared, scoped rifle or binos.




Spotter shooter develop a dialogue to make each shot count.


Is there enough angle to make a difference?
AdobeWalls and Engineershooting find out the fun way.


Check that range card for come ups for your rifle/ammo combo.

[TaosGlock]

Well hidden targets. Their visibility changes as the light changes. Look for a shape or edge that is not part of nature.


Some targets are a gimme, but did you see the one above it or move on to another?


Familiar shapes change in the light but are usually easy to hit.


Not really a natural shape.


Most targets were custom colored to match the particular location.


Placed at 200 yards this target represents a man size at 800 yards.


Kodi watches over the inventory.

[sgtrock]

I tip my hat to both of you, for just an outstanding job of utilizing the resources you have and your experience as well. I said it awhile back, I would like to be able to get out there with you and have great range year. Such an outstanding job.

Thank you both.

Steve Stoner
sgtrock

[BlueFeather]

We are lucky to have access to Whittington and our 8 years of service there have served to develop such a great rapport, that TaosGlock became the chief rifle instructor for the NRA Youth Adventure Camp, and is now he is the Camp Director!

Of course Whittington is so far beyond any other shooting range, that it is fantastic just to be there!

This event was strangely stacked with a lot of Appleseed instructors - ultimately 6 out of 11 shooters! It was great to meet up with more of our clan, and it was humbling to think that we managed to share some new experiences! And of course, we took everyone to shoot at the 1100 yard White Buffalo target as a the closing to our event!

[scuzzy]

Wow - that looks like one fun event. Really cool.

[Weezer]

I need to get to NM - this looks absolutely fantastic!   Thanks so much for all the work you put into this.    Do you have plans to run more UKDs in the future?

*runs off to ask NJRefugee to book this as a romantic anniversary trip next year*

[TaosGlock]

Weezer, we are working on next years schedule. We are off to a Scoutseed this weekend and will follow up with WC staff about the 2017 schedule.
Dates will be posted on the NM section.

sgtrock, thanks for your dedication in an area where Lady Liberty is not popular. You guys keep the flame of liberty alive.

Thanks to all Appleseed volunteers everywhere!    Stay the course our cause is just.
We need you more than ever!
Dan/Gillian

Thanks to the WC for all their continued support to Project Appleseed.
Thanks to our Founders for this great country.


The sun sets on another season at the NRA WC.
Statue of Charlton Heston right near the ruts of the Santa Fe Trail here at the NRA Whittington Center.

[Engineer shooting]

Billy Dixon led the founders of Adobe Walls to the Texas Plains. The group of 28 men and one woman was attacked on June 27, 1874 by a band of 700 to 1200 Comanche's, and that is when Dixon went into the history books for firing "The Shot of the Century" which effectively ended the siege. The stand-off continued into a third day, when a group of Indians were noticed about a mile east of Adobe Walls. It is said that Dixon took aim with a quickly borrowed .50-90 Sharps buffalo rifle and fired, knocking an Indian near Chief Quanah Parker off his horse almost a mile away on his third shot.

When my Appleseed amigo AdobeWalls asked me to come to New Mexico for something called an unknown distance shoot plenty of excuses could have been made. Excuses like the cost of traveling, the checking of a firearm, the softness of my lazy boy chair etc.

On the other hand when an Appleseed friend asks it's hard to say no. Taos Glock and Blue Feather put in a lot of work for a wonderful event. NRA Whittington Center is 52 square miles of shooting heaven. From the log cabin we stayed at you could see the 100 position, 1,000 yard range. Pronghorn, mule deer and turkey all walked around the cabin, not seen but heard the call of Elk.

And how do you end a wonderful event? Why giving everyone a chance to shoot the white buffalo target at 1123 yards. With a sling in prone position almost doubling the Talladega 600 yard range my previous long distance.

New Mexico has some men and women amongst them who know very well what they are about.

[Mrs. Smith]

I'm with Weezer!  Mr. Smith and I are in southern NM, and one of these days we'll find a way to make a run up that way happen.  It might take us awhile, but it'll happen. 

[desert_diver]

This was an amazing event.  Working with a spotter to walk one's shots onto a target which is barely visible is an amazing experience. 

[AdobeWalls]

I attended this event with my colleague and most trusted friend Ken Tomblin, of the Isaac Davis Memorial Range in Tallahassee FL. I had never been to a place like the NRA Whittington Center, though I thought I knew quite a lot about shooting rifles, having grown to manhood in Wyoming, where men are men, and women are few, and - well, you know the rest . . . hunting pronghorns, forget all that other foolishness, pronghorns are a rifleman's natural challenge.
And I thought I knew a lot with having shot my fancy cabbage-shooting AR-10 clone rifle, painstakingly modified again and again on Ken Tomblin's kitchen table over months, and having hit 10 of 10 repeatedly on Ken's 400yd BSZ steel target range. But it had never occurred to me to tune my 300yd zero - my far zero - since that's what really counts with an AR-10. So I did it, eventually. TaosGlock got me to think about that.
And when we began shooting really-small targets at fairly long range on a 15 degree hillside out to 500yds, I was able to hit. Frequently on my first shot, but certainly on my second, with Ken Tomblin spotting for me (kinda grouchy, makes a better coach for a slacker like me). He even coached me to hit two very long (small) targets on the second shot when in fact I never actually saw or identified them. TaosGlock said that could be done, but Ken and I both thought, Yeah right. Then we did it. We didn't know we could do that, but we did it. Thank you TaosGlock! Thank you Ken Tomblin! I kept my hand-drawn oversight ranging map, as a trophy from the event.
That hillside practice was the best ever, for shaking out the kinks. I know that to be true, because we ended the day at the 500m silhouette range, which had the White Buffalo target high and above, 1123yds high and above, 6/10ths of a mile. I copied Ken Tomblin's elevation adjustment, of course I did! our gear is almost identical, and we set our far zeroes side by side, after having shot the devilish targets TaosGlock and BlueFeather laid out for Sunday on the steep hillside. And when it was my turn, I hit the White Buffalo 3 out of 3, and then cased my rifle.
I train horses, and I know the importance of stopping a lesson on a high point.
I didn't have much to say to our able Shoot Bosses that weekend (prudent). I'll say it here. This was a life-changing experience. I still don't know what the limit of my shooting ability actually is . . . and where did I learn to shoot like this? At Appleseed!