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Private One-Day Appleseed -- Palm Bay, FL February 11, 2017

Started by Guntuckian, February 14, 2017, 12:04:24 AM

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Guntuckian

A truly wonderful Saturday with an excellent group of 7 shooters, most all of whom were NRA Certified Pistol Instructors and Range Safety Officers before they even stepped foot onto this One-Day Appleseed venue.  The weather was Chamber of Commerce poster-worthy, too, and the Appleseed staffing was superb, with nearly as many Instructors as shooters present. On a line that normally holds 25 shooters, at event sell-out after sell-out, today we had just absolutely luxurious wide open spaces between just 7 shooters.  Lots of room for Instructors to drop down beside shooters, and work on helping shooters with the Six Steps to Firing a Shot and Steady Hold Factors.  Despite having very strong backgrounds with pistols, many of the shooters, though, were  first time rifle shooters.  Unfortunately, one of the shooters had her arm in a sling and was unable to join in the rifle shooting fun on this day, so her friends designated her as their official photographer of their joint adventure into Appleseed.  We started with a Safety Briefing followed by an introduction by all the Instructors and all the shooters who then introduced themselves.  The Four Questions were quickly introduced, followed by the BIG QUESTION of "What is the American Revolution", so necessary for framing our planned journey for this one-day Appleseed.

A total of 7 loaner rifles, with 3 provided by the host range, and the rest provided by Instructors who were present, then appeared on the line, and we began by clearing the line to prepare for a day of the only sport recommended by the Founding Fathers, Marksmanship!

The Red Coat soon followed, which showed we had two shooters effective at 300 yards and who showed themselves capable of passing Morgan's Shingle Shot test.  But, none of the other shooters were yet effective at even 100 yards.   This merely showed that we had plenty of opportunity for all to benefit from the firehose of marksmanship instruction.

We checked shooters for eye dominance, and then jumped immediately into sling usage, with the Hasty-Hasty, Hasty, and Loop sling usages.  This was followed by introducing the first 3 steps of the Six Steps to Firing a Shot.  NPOA with a laser rifle came next, and the use of the first 3 Steps to establish and verify one's NPOA was then explained and demonstrated.  Steady Hold Factors for the prone position followed, and a dryfire exercise followed that, to master the first 3 steps of the Six Steps to firing a shot.  We then went into the last 3 steps of the Six Steps to Firing a Shot, using a ball point pen to demonstrate the concept of trigger reset.  The need to avoid Dragging Wood was then presented.  We then did a dry fire exercise of the Six Steps to Firing a Shot while in prone, after first learning the trigger reset of each loaner rifle.  How many EEEEEEE's are there in Trigger Squeeeeeeeze?  A bunch!

The first 5 sighter shots were then fired at the center target square, and the concept of Talking Targets was presented.  One shooter had a diagonal linear group, and after listening to our targets talk to us, this shooter then had a turn with the laser rifle, and we all learned the necessity of getting our support elbow far enough under the rifle to avoid having a diagonal group.

Our next course of fire was LUNCH, where Sheppsan regaled us with the First Strike presented in a Midlands accent by a former Red Coat now turned American.  A very stirring presentation, too, I might add, that was told from the heart, as it captured us all, spellbound.  (I think we were "gobsmacked"!)

Our first mission of the day accomplished, in getting from Boston to Lexington, we resumed our adventure in marksmanship instruction with a couple more sighter groups, and the groups tightened noticeably, very quickly.  Several shooters now had all 5 of their rounds within the size of the sighter target square.  Inches, Minutes, and Clicks was obviously the next step, and TheMenace presented the methods of learning the simple mechanical adjustment necessary to move these tight groups of shots into the black target square.  With the adjustments made, the next 5 shots showed several of the shooters with all 5 shots within the black target squares.  The journey to becoming Rifleman-qualified was proceeding nicely!

The GreenCoat targets went up next, and the movement of one's NPOA under live fire for Stage 2, with 10 rounds loaded into but one magazine, was then done.  We then repeated the exercise, but with two magazines loaded with 2 and 8 rounds, to add the step of switching magazines and switching one's NPOA. 

Next came the Standing to Prone Transition instruction, followed by live fire with 2 magazines, to add just one additional step.

Stopping for a water break, Heidi Heidi then took us from Lexington to Concord, with the telling of the Second Strike. 

With the events of the North Bridge behind us, we resumed our marksmanship instruction with the Sitting Position.  We also learned the standing to sitting transition, and practiced it with another live fire exercise.

The traditional American shooting position, Standing, came next, and we finished the GreenCoat target.  The Third Strike came next, with Guntuckian taking us on the journey from Concord back to Boston.  Having pushed the Redcoats back to Boston, the famed AQT came next.  This was followed by the re-shooting of the morning's Red Coat targets.

With a day of drinking from the firehose of marksmanship instruction, the afternoon's Red Coat show marked improvement.  Two shooters were now proficient at 100 yards, and two more shooters were now proficient at 400 yards.  One shooter made the Morgan's Shingle Shot.  And, the same shooter CLEARED THE REDCOAT.  We definitely now had shooters who knew what they were about.  The highest score on the AQT by a shooter was just under Marksman, but, in Stage 4, she had a total of 76 out of 100 points being made.  With but a little work on slow is smooth and smooth is fast, while also practicing getting all of one's shots off in Stages 2 and 3, it is obvious that Stephanie will very shortly be shooting a Rifleman score. 

A one-day Appleseed is a challenge to even experienced rifle shooters.  With everyone using a loaner rifle, and many having only fired a rifle for the first time today, the improvements in marksmanship was nothing short of outstanding.  Many Rifleman qualified shooters, who have shot the Red Coat numerous times, have never scored a cleared Red Coat target.  Yet, one of our shooters managed to clear her Red Coat target. 

For all the shooters, you now have the fundamentals in place to practice at home with dry fire practice, while also practicing doing it within the 55 seconds of Stage 2 and 65 seconds of Stage 3 on the AQT.

An auspicious meeting of two organizations occurred at this Private Appleseed.  Undoubtedly, there will be more such events to follow.  Lady Liberty was definitely present at this event.  HUZZAH!

(Pictures to follow.  I know many other pictures were taken, so post 'em if you have 'em.) 
--------------------------------------------------
1st Appleseed:           04/20/2013 - Palm Bay, FL
Rifleman:                   02/01/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
Cleared 1st Redcoat:   02/02/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
1st KD:  Palm Bay 8/14
1st IBC:  Dunnellon 4/15
Palm Bay 4/17 KD Rifleman
Palm Bay 10/20 Rimfire KD Rifleman
NRA Certified (Rifle and Pistol Instructor, RSO)

O.___.                            
  )V        O.___.                    
  /%       ( V       ,____    O.___.
/  %      o/L         ,___--- V

Guntuckian

Pictures!
--------------------------------------------------
1st Appleseed:           04/20/2013 - Palm Bay, FL
Rifleman:                   02/01/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
Cleared 1st Redcoat:   02/02/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
1st KD:  Palm Bay 8/14
1st IBC:  Dunnellon 4/15
Palm Bay 4/17 KD Rifleman
Palm Bay 10/20 Rimfire KD Rifleman
NRA Certified (Rifle and Pistol Instructor, RSO)

O.___.                            
  )V        O.___.                    
  /%       ( V       ,____    O.___.
/  %      o/L         ,___--- V

Guntuckian

More pictures!
--------------------------------------------------
1st Appleseed:           04/20/2013 - Palm Bay, FL
Rifleman:                   02/01/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
Cleared 1st Redcoat:   02/02/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
1st KD:  Palm Bay 8/14
1st IBC:  Dunnellon 4/15
Palm Bay 4/17 KD Rifleman
Palm Bay 10/20 Rimfire KD Rifleman
NRA Certified (Rifle and Pistol Instructor, RSO)

O.___.                            
  )V        O.___.                    
  /%       ( V       ,____    O.___.
/  %      o/L         ,___--- V

Guntuckian

More pictures!
--------------------------------------------------
1st Appleseed:           04/20/2013 - Palm Bay, FL
Rifleman:                   02/01/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
Cleared 1st Redcoat:   02/02/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
1st KD:  Palm Bay 8/14
1st IBC:  Dunnellon 4/15
Palm Bay 4/17 KD Rifleman
Palm Bay 10/20 Rimfire KD Rifleman
NRA Certified (Rifle and Pistol Instructor, RSO)

O.___.                            
  )V        O.___.                    
  /%       ( V       ,____    O.___.
/  %      o/L         ,___--- V

Guntuckian

More pictures!
--------------------------------------------------
1st Appleseed:           04/20/2013 - Palm Bay, FL
Rifleman:                   02/01/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
Cleared 1st Redcoat:   02/02/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
1st KD:  Palm Bay 8/14
1st IBC:  Dunnellon 4/15
Palm Bay 4/17 KD Rifleman
Palm Bay 10/20 Rimfire KD Rifleman
NRA Certified (Rifle and Pistol Instructor, RSO)

O.___.                            
  )V        O.___.                    
  /%       ( V       ,____    O.___.
/  %      o/L         ,___--- V

Guntuckian

--------------------------------------------------
1st Appleseed:           04/20/2013 - Palm Bay, FL
Rifleman:                   02/01/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
Cleared 1st Redcoat:   02/02/2014 - Palm Bay, FL
1st KD:  Palm Bay 8/14
1st IBC:  Dunnellon 4/15
Palm Bay 4/17 KD Rifleman
Palm Bay 10/20 Rimfire KD Rifleman
NRA Certified (Rifle and Pistol Instructor, RSO)

O.___.                            
  )V        O.___.                    
  /%       ( V       ,____    O.___.
/  %      o/L         ,___--- V