Project Appleseed

Colorado Appleseed: Not for Sissies!  We got our first Blizardseed Winter Appleseed.  In April.  Stupid global warming.  Here’s a brief  photo-AAR of how much fun we had last weekend!

Well, It took me 3 hours (I shouldn’t complain; it took Newman 7 hours from Casper, WY) to drive the 100 miles to the range Friday evening – through a blizzard and a nearly impassable county road.  I know what you’re thinking, “C’mon, Blizzard?  It was probably just a light spring snow.”  Wrong.  Here are some pics from Saturday AM:


Ben Lomand Gun Club entrance.  Welcome to Colorado’s April 2009 Appleseed!


View of the parking lot before the Appleseeders arrived.


Setting up the range and posting targets before the Appleseeders arrive.

Okay, maybe it was only blizzard-like conditions.  I mean, there was *some* visibility.  We had 9 (out of 48 preregistered) show up Saturday morning.  These dedicated shooters could have stayed at home in their warm beds, but instead came out for some of this:



and this:



and a little of this:



The day went really well.  We made 2 new Riflemen and everyone else made excellent progress toward 210 – especially a husband and wife who hadn’t ever fired a rifle before.  As the sun set, fog rolled in and the instructors settled into the gun club’s farmhouse for a blizzardific BBQ.

The next morning, we awoke to this:



Gotta love Colorado weather.  On Sunday, not only did our 9 shooters from Saturday return, but we picked up 8 additional shooters who weren’t able to make it out the previous day.  The sun quickly melted the snow and turned our 25M range into slop:






This youngin’ (9, maybe 10 years-old) was one of our new shooters on Sunday; he had a great time and was all smiles all day. 

After lunch, it was off to the long range for some real fun:




100 yd standing.


Checking targets at 100 yd.


200 yd sitting.


300 yd rapid-fire prone.


400 yd slow-fire prone.  You know, at 400 yds, those targets actually do appear the size of a 1-inch square at 25M.

Everyone had a blast at the Colorado Appleseed last weekend.  Colorado owes a HUGE thanks to Newman, our shoot boss, for driving down – in a blizzard.  Most of the 17 shooters were planning on coming to the May Colorado Appleseed, we made 2 new Riflemen, and recruited 2 new IITs.  Next month, we’ll see if we can double those statistics!

A grand example of the QUALITY of the Appleseed people!

Not only those Instructor types that made the extra effort to make this very special event possible, but those that braved the uncomfortable to honor those that braved the unbearable for us!

You report is a glowing demonstration that persevering through adversity makes Americans Appleseeders, Rifleman, the best Americans there are!

Anyone can enjoy a day at the range, when all is well, the sun is out and temps just right, it takes a true Rifleman's spirit to willingly place themselves in a position of discomfort, for the opportunity to be with fellow Riflemen, fellow real Americans.......Appleseed has a way of making this happen....

Thanks to all in CO (and surrounding states) that persisted in making this shoot happen, and can serve as a beacon for others to follow......I imagine April 19th, 2009 will never leave the memories of those that attended this event

Looks like you all braved some uncomfortable conditions to say the least. While I "weenied" out this time, I'm glad you had some good shooting and new recruits - you were all in my thoughts. Reminds me of many past times when shooting conditions were not optimal, but you still needed be on-target. Congrats to all -

Newman the shoot boss, Franktown Kid, Colorado Sam, and Zombie Hunter all did a great job of running a great event under some very trying conditions Saturday.  The roads were so bad Saturday AM I was surprised to find other folks were as crazy as I was to drive out there. I hope the folks who were more sane show up for the May shoot, with nicer conditions!

It may have been cold, and with 20-30 mph winds, and snowing sideways for most of Saturday, but we consoled ourselves that we had so much nice thick sticky gooey mud. In fact I liked the mud so much I brought back about 500 pounds of it on my truck, and about another 100 pounds on my boots, rifles, clothes, brass, tarp, and shooting mat, and I think I have some stuck between a couple molars. Yummy. Sunday was not only beautiful, it retained the blessing of the mud! How lucky we were!

Despite the weather no one complained on Saturday (except me, but fortunately the sound of gunfire drowned it out). Some folks were positively cheerful. A number of folks had the light bulb go off about the benefits of the loop sling vs. hasty sling, and I think everyone 'saw the light' on the larger picture.

See ya in May...

Inspirational.

Thank you.

Those are 9 Americans (+ Instructors) that you can count on in a pinch! 

Wow congratulations to everyone who made it to that AS. Shooting in snow and mud is tough and I want to commend you on it. That had to have been a great time shooting at the long range, and I bet the whole weekend is something you all will never forget.

This one sounds like a SGN article eh Fred hint hint.  My hat is off to you all for perservering in snow and mud, wow 1911Ron

Quote from: 1911Ron on April 20, 2009, 08:20:39 PM
This one sounds like a SGN article eh Fred hint hint.  My hat is off to you all for perservering in snow and mud, wow 1911Ron

Well if somebody *ahem* Fred *ahem* wants the higher resolution versions of the photos for an SGN article... I've got 'em! 

I was wondering if Newman made the shoot or not. Last I heard they had closed all the interstates between him and his appointed range. Looks like there was fun and mud galore. Glad things went well, see y'all on the trail.

Come on Colorado.  You just had to steal all the glory didn't you.  We all know Minnesota was supposed to have been the first state to have an Apple'Blizzard!
I was planning on it being the Elk River shoot in May.  Now what am I going to do? 
Everybody's already taken all the other weather extremes!
Oh...I know...Alien invasion.... Yeah, that's it, an alien invasion.  We'll have the first Appleseed that takes place during an alien invasion.  Nobody's done that yet...Have they?  I wonder... May may be a little short notice to get that scheduled.  Maybe, September.  I don't know.  I'll have my friend give them a flyer, next time he's abducted.

Wow... quite a shoot. I can sympathize on the snow (take a look at the Athol AAR for pix), but the mud? Oh, man... that's ugly. Get many rifle malfunctions because of it?

BTW... how much snow was that? Only looks like about 7 - 8". We had about a foot and a half in Athol... 

AN AMAZING WEEKEND!!!

Friday night we were really worried about the number of shooters (and instructors) that would be able to make.

The shooters that turned out Saturday were really commited and willing to learn. The couple in particular were just fantastic. I think the conditions actually helped them appreciate the history more than they normally would of.

The turnout for next months shoot should be huge after march was canceled, and the adverse conditions this time

Nothing can stop Colorado now

We had 20 inches in Franktown thru Saturday. However the moisture at the range (40 miles east) was rain, until late Friday afternoon (when we were setting up the target frames) when it turned to sleet, then snow. Temps were right around freezing, so it was a mix.

So probably 7-8" is a good guess, with LOTS of moisture unbderneath. The road was already a muddy mess Thursday when I took the truck and trailer out. Got stuck Friday trying to get it to the berm we used. Mud, prior to snow.

Surprisingly the rifles didn't seem to mind the wintery mix. Malfunctions didn't seem to be any different than normal.

When you have conditions like this tho, be sure to emphasize to shooters to watch that their muzzles don't get jammed into the snow or mud, and especially watch the kids whose rifles may be too big for them when they are in prone. You don't want to bulge a barrel, or worse. Try to get the muzzles behind the front edge of the mats if possible.

Ha!  Okay Dwarven, your 9º totally beat our temp on Saturday.  How was the wind at your February shoot?  In Colorado, it may have been cold last weekend, but at least it was windy!

Not too many malfs due to mudd - couple shooters dipped their muzzles into the mud in front of the tarps (and then had to clear the barrel), but shooting from the tarps and matts kept most of the mudd out of the actions. 

Guys,

congratulations on one heckuva shoot....you folks, & your shooters are to be commended and recognized for the fortitude & "Git-it-Dun" mindset that sets Riflemen apart from "the rest".....
Awesome job!!!

Aftermath, according to Fred, SoCal already has everyone riding around in flying saucers, so the "aliens" (legal & otherwise) thing has already been done here......several times.......

Come on now, I know you can think up something really good.....

Great shoot guys, you did really good!!
*salute!*
LLP

     "Hint", indeed!

      We recently had a guy leave an AS early because of mud, a firing line sloped in a way he didn't like, and other issues - and on top of that he wanted a refund(!).

      While I love him for turning out, seems like to me he arrived clinging a bit too much to the deck chair.

       Likewise, I'd like to put this in SGN - you guys deserve the recognition - but I've so much backed up, waiting to get in there.... Maybe in the future I can at least get some reference to it, when I am trying to prep people for next winter's Appleseedeeds...

      Meantime, my hat's off to some tough, dedicated, shooters...

QuoteAftermath, according to Fred, SoCal already has everyone riding around in flying saucers, so the "aliens" (legal & otherwise) thing has already been done here......several times.......

Dang-it!!!  HMMM.....

Well there are supposedly no shortage of 'aliens' in the San Luis Valley (south-central CO) where those mysterious cattle mutilations take place...

If we don't have any mud at the May shoot it will seem strange. On inspecting my boots (after de-mudding) I found that both of them had sections of the sole ripped off by the mud suction!

I hope we have a full turnout next month. And we will be working with a second range in the area to start up more events later this year!

Quote from: Franktown_Kid on April 21, 2009, 12:36:25 PMWhen you have conditions like this tho, be sure to emphasize to shooters to watch that their muzzles don't get jammed into the snow or mud, and especially watch the kids whose rifles may be too big for them when they are in prone. You don't want to bulge a barrel, or worse. Try to get the muzzles behind the front edge of the mats if possible.

An excellent point that should be repeated loud and long at bad weather shoots - we had more than few muzzles that had to get snow cleared from them.

Quote from: zombiehunter on April 21, 2009, 12:36:57 PM
Ha!  Okay Dwarven, your 9º totally beat our temp on Saturday.  How was the wind at your February shoot?

There  wasn't too much wind, really - Woodsman Rifle and Pistol in Athol, MA, has it's pistol range in a "bowl" in the terrain, so it's pretty sheltered that way. Of course, it does tend to pile up the snow... hence the foot and a half of the white stuff. 

Seriously, you guys did a great job, and I'm sure that those shooters are going to be great instructors - if they're dedicated enough to get there AND shoot in those conditions, they're the kind of Appleseeders we need.

Congrats to all for pulling this one off!  After attending last year's event in Canon City, my son and I were raring to go, and with my daughter in tow this year as well.  We were in a full-on blizzard here in Denver for most of the day on Saturday and heard the event was canceled     It obviously wasn't, so that will teach us, I guess.  I would have never dreamed you could have done it based on what we were dealing with up here in Denver, but you showed what this is all about.  Anyway, looking forward to seeing you all in May!!