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Monmouth, Maine Winterseed AAR

Started by The Old Guide, March 23, 2017, 03:32:10 PM

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The Old Guide

Friday night and Saturday AM I got a few calls; "Is it still on?" This is Maine. Press on regardless. Saturday dawned with tht temperature of 4 above. (We have to say whether it is above or below in Maine so people will know.) We held our greeting, salute, safety rules etc in the nice warm club house. Then it was down to the range. The snow was too deep for prone so Devul_Dog95 who also happens to be the club president fired up his big 4WD Kubota tractor with a snow blower and moved enough snow that we could fire prone. We had 5 shooters more than we had planned for.

We had a wide variety of skill levels, but with five IITs we had plenty of help. As usual, we had no two rifles alike on the line. North Country Lady has a 10-22 with shortened stock, raised comb, padded grip, Volquartsen trigger, auto bolt release and extended mag release. Five shooters have made Rifleman with that rifle and now there is a Winterseed Rifleman with it making a total of 6 RM. Everybody was dialed in by 11:30 and we got in our first stage by stage AQT before lunch.

After lunch and Strikes by North Country Lady and Second Mile, it was back down to the line and I was digging out Winterseed patches, four to be exact, then a fifth one on Saturday. All the center fire folks were on the right end of the line and we had a brand new, top of the line DCM M1 on the line. I got a pic of the backstop before we fired and again after the M1, M1A, regular ARs and the Grendell had torn it up. Hey, that's what backstops are for.

What a great bunch of shooters. Most were already Appleseed shooters from prior Seeds, but even the new and young shooters listened and used the steady hold factors reliably. Groups tightened. When the sun got low we ended Day 1 with the third Strike.

We had three shooters that had to attend prescheduled events on Sunday afternoon, but most shooters stayed to the bitter end and continued to improve. There were a total of ten of those beautiful Winterseed patches EARNED at this shoot. The high score of the event was 228 with numb fingers, heavy clothing, shivering and gusty winds.

By the way, we had a husband and wife team earn the patches. Hawklady fired last month at a 1,000 yard range in Alaska and scored hits. She and her husband, Ryan, both requalified as Rifleman. MattinNH came over with his two sons and Matt requalified.

We will all be back at Monmouth next month for our April 19 shoot where we should have a full line. Sign up early. This is the state where our governor, Paul LePage, designated April as "Patriot History and Heritage Month".
Our history is not a list of dates and places. It is a dynamic adventure of freedom and individual courage.

Crak's IBC, August 2010.
Fred's AIBC, April 2011
kDan's IBC, March 2012
Northeast SC Confab, Feb. 13

MattNH

it was very cold Saturday morning, but once the sun got a little higher I think we managed.

It was a pleasure to see all the Mainers again at a great club.  Both boys had a fun time and Jack was ever so close to a requalification with his 203, next time for sure.

MattNH
Appleseed is friend to all, enemy to none