Winslow NJ Appleseed July 18 19, 2009

[Mikep]

I want to thank Dwarven1, B9, VaShooter and jmdavis for their participation in helping make this Winslow Appleseed a very successful event. Of course there cannot be an Appleseed without shooters on the line. I want to extend many thanks to those who registered and attended the Winslow Appleseed. And I cannot forget the club. South Jersey Shooting Club opened its doors to the RWVA and for that they received the honor of holding New Jersey's first Appleseed. Thanks to John the Range Director and Bob the Owner.

Seventeen shooters did muster for the Saturday morning clinic. They arrived prepared and ready to go.

We shot our first red coat by 10:00 AM and thereafter worked our way through the fundamentals.

Squares do their job every time. Some rifles had sighting issues and some had performance issues. These eventually were swapped out for loaner 10/22's and we carried on.

Lunch was delivered and helped keep everyone on site through the day.

The weather was warm, partly to mostly sunny, low humidity and a slight breeze helped moderate temps throughout the entire weekend.

Saturday's proceedings concluded near 8:00 PM. Certainly a long but productive day. 

Sunday was attended by ten shooters. And this day's instruction gave us one Rifleman. There may have been more riflemen had all Saturday's shooters returned and had there been fewer malfs.

We shot several AQT's both Transition/Timed AQT's and Rapid fire AQT's. The Sunday students had a full day behind their sights. They now know there are no short cuts when it comes to marksmanship or life in a land where maintaining Liberty has been taken for granted.

In summary, this was a very green line but a very determined group of people. The skills on the line improved steadily over the two days. I am very proud of the work ethic and humor displayed by both students and instructors.

South Jersey Shooting has invited Appleseed back for more events. The principals and other club members liked what they saw and they want more.

New Jersey is now on the map!

[B9]

I am honored to have been able to assist with NJ's first AS. Mikep and jmdavis do an great job of calling the line, the type that command your attention when speaking.
This is a great club and NJ can look forward to many more shoots there.
A good mix of shooters that took instruction well and stuck to it even with the sun beating down on the paved firing line.
Mikep now has a few more helpers in the state.

[dwarven1]

I didn't get an exact round count - this one was a bit low, with around 200 rounds on Saturday, and maybe 225 or thereabouts on Sunday. And yes, there were at least two shooters that I think would have gotten their Rifleman patches if they'd come back on Sunday!

[GaranDGunn]

As I said to someone in conversation earlier.  I came to Winslow NJ expecting to learn about marksmanship.  Instead I found brethren of a common ideal. 

I have to thank all of you who made this weekend happen, the range, the instructors, and the fellow shooters.  I was very impressed with the quality of instruction and demonstration.  In my industry there is a certain difference between being competent and being capable of quality teaching.  There was a perfect balance of motivational support and encouragement and still we were made to take the steps and make the scores of our own merits.  In a society which has devolved in my opinion into less of what one can achieve and more what one can get away with, this weekend was a refreshing vacation.  If the staff which came from far and wide to this event were not hand selected for their enthusiasm and quality demonstrations, then you had me fooled 

Special thanks to B9 for loaning me my rifle, and VAShooter for sharing very sage advice.  It was hardly the next day and I was prodding friends of mine into considering joining me at another NJ appleseed.  Though I hopefully will be wearing an orange hat for that one!