Ramseur NC Patriots Day

[Sigs]

 First of all, a big thanks goes out to the instructors for a great shoot at the AS Homerange! Wildman, Hawkeye, MCKNBRD, 762BBQ, Crash, Matt, Jennifer, and Lawman.
Saturday was filled with instruction, history, and a lot of rounds down-range, which adds up to a lot of fatigue for the end of day AQT.
There is a "no-fire" ordinance before noon on Sunday. To make the most of that time, MCKNBRD gave a class on 10/22 breakdown and cleaning while Hawkeye did the same for M1 and M14/M1A. This was followed by Crash telling us a detailed version of what happened on Battle Road. Review of Saturdays instruction was next and then finally time to burn some powder!
Sunday was a very special day for me, I shot a personal best. After sweeping the red coat target, I scored a 223 followed by 235! A fitting tribute to our Founding Fathers on Patriots Day.
Thanks also goes out to all the woderful people who made the long haul to get out to the homerange for this AS.

[Dan]

Definitely a good shoot. I however, need to do better than 208. 

[Sigs]

Dan I forgot about trying to meet up with you. 
I was the guy with the big brown dog

[The Kid]

I would to start out by saying thank you to the instructors again.  It was a great shoot.   It was nice to be able to see a lot of new shooters progress and get better.  Hopefully I will be able to make rifleman next Appleseed.  It was pretty painful shooting a 206, 208, and a 209  .  I will tell you though seeing a 3rd grader shoot a 156 really made the shoot all worth while. It is nice to see some of the younger kids out there doing so well.  Thanks again and I will be at the next one .

[Dan]

Oh yeah, I borrowed the rake from you, correct?

I plan to be on Applespeak later tonight, if you want to talk shop.

Or send me a PM so we can plan for the next Fayettenam Gun Show.

[Dan]

I would to start out by saying thank you to the instructors again.  It was a great shoot.   It was nice to be able to see a lot of new shooters progress and get better.  Hopefully I will be able to make rifleman next Appleseed.  It was pretty painful shooting a 206, 208, and a 209  .  I will tell you though seeing a 3rd grader shoot a 156 really made the shoot all worth while. It is nice to see some of the younger kids out there doing so well.  Thanks again and I will be at the next one .

Heh, did that kid make you consider getting a .22 AR conversion too?

[The Kid]

No! haha.  I got mine a couple months ago after ammo got too expensive.

[Sigs]

What was really cool was when that 3rd grader took over the instruction on fireing posotions!! You could see everyones face just light up at the knowledge of that little guy. I even heard a lady in the group say "Where do I get one of those." LOL!!  Its really nice to see the next generation of Rifleman on the fireing line.

[Tareece]

Ohhhh geez where do I start?

  #1... The instructors are 1st rate. Honestly, a heckova group.

   #2... I had been looking forward to this weekend for some months, as far back as January atleast. I was not disapointed with the experiance... (my shooting on the otherhand...)

   #3 The weekend did not go as smoothly as I had hoped.

       We (my brother, my son and myself) got down there and set up camp Friday evening and had a great neighbor with this bodacious of a brown lab next to us. Buddy and Sigs were great to have around.

       We knew we weren't going to have tremendously great scores but thought it was worth the effort to have man time and learn the untaught history of the Rev War and reflect on the sacrifices others endured so that we may be free today. And further discover how neglegent we as a society are in protecting those Freedoms today.

      Saturday morning my son and I cleaned our primary weapons...er "pieces" I mean . I was set to shoot my Liberty rifle (well over 1000 rds brought)  and he was going to shoot the AR (brought 500 rds). My brother had brought along a 22lr bolt and I decided to loan him the Liberty and use my BU, my never fired, no sights Remy VTR15.

     I attached my new simmons (aggh, I know ) 6-18x50 scope and secured the weaver quad mounts... and boresighted on a tree 50 or so feet away from me at the campsite.

    My shots on the Red coats were slightly to the left and as I was starting to make the adjustments I noticed the entire assembly had already loosened (which really shouldn't come as a shock, with the newness) and our next COF was zeros and I was way off paper with no clue. So, I started way behind. And stayed there all day Saturday..I tried to soak in all the lessons that the instructors were dishing out but the scope came loose 2 more times and ruined any consistency and efforts to show improvement.

      I had to drive home Saturday night and raid my stash of .223 for another 400 rounds for the shoot on Sunday. Got back at 9 or so . Live and learn.

      I no longer can play contact sports or basketball or whatever else due to back and hip problems, but this has really been a passion for me in the past and AS has rekindled the desire to punch holes.
     
       Despite my 3 ruptured discs, 2 more that have tears and a couple others that "bulge", and severe arthritis in my right hip the dreaded sitting position got to be one of my favorite stages. I couldn't get in the perfect postion, but I locked in my right elbow and let my body absorb the recoil andtried to maintain cheek weld. Getting OUT of the position was excruciating tho'!

    My favorite part of the stting was the transition portion. My son had his AR and it was consistently pounding me in my sight eye with his ejected shells and I still maintained concentration to score a 28 in that Stage. A pretty nice score for someone who can't tie thier own shoes without pain..and I used 30 seconds just getting INTO position!!!

      I got pretty consistent and continued to improve throughout the day and finished with a pedestrian 185. Now, thats piss poor for all you rifledudes/ettes and I am inspired to knock down the 210 barrier some time this year. But if I get my strays (5) into the 3's I'll be at 201 and knocking on the door to get that cherished patch!!!!

    Again, thanks for having such a great program and we all enjoyed ourselves alot.
   
   Til next time! 
   

[7.62BBQ]

  It's days like this that I know I'm blessed to be an American Patriot!
  It was a picture perfect day at the RWVA home range. We had a great bunch of Instructors this weekend. A big thanks to crashkid2k, Matt, azwildcat2001, Hawkeye, Lawman, MCKNBRD, and of course Wildman. Thanks goes to Chip for volunteering on the line.
  We had 38 shooters on Saturday, all of them ready to drink from the Appleseed firehose. This was the 234th anniversary of 4/19/1775 minus 1 day and In Honor of those who died gloriously fighting in the Cause of Liberty and their Country we shot volley fire in 6 man teams at the Red Coats at 4pm EST. The shooters heard every name of the fallen patriot, told to AIM...FIRE!! All knew that every Appleseed was doing the same all across America 
  We shot a couple of AQT's then called it a day. Only made 1 Rifleman on Sat., but had a few score 205-208, almost there.
  On Sunday we had 28 shooters show up, ready to persist on the Appleseed trail. We can't shoot til 12 on Sunday so we had MCKNBRD give a 10/22 breakdown and cleaning demo, followed by Haweye giving a M1/M14 breakdown/cleaning demo. I think the shooters really got alot out of these mini lectures and I'm sure the CMP will have a couple of Garand orders in the mail soon .
  It looked like it was going to rain all day Sunday but all we got was a little sprinkle here and there. Reviewed the 6 steps, NPOA, and then the history of 4/19/1775. Next came AQT's. At the end of the day we had 4 more Rifleman patches to give out. These guys did not give up. Sigs had the high score of the weekend with 235, welcome to the trail fellow Appleseeder! I hope that baby grizzley bear you call a dog gets better. I want to see you guys at the next Appleseed.
  Now let me take time to thank all of the Patriots that showed up this weekend. When I read the above posts I know why I come down to Ramseur and help out with the Appleseed program. You guys really are the salt of the earth.
 

[fredfunder]

I would like to thank all the instructors. It was a great shoot, I left a cook in March but took home a lot of info and practice transitioning to position, dry firing and NPOA. I found some videos on the internet that help out to ( http://www.archive.org/details/Rifle_Marksmanship_with_M1_Rifle_Part_1 ) & ( http://www.archive.org/details/Rifle_Marksmanship_with_the_M1_Rifle ).  I came back Sunday April 19 and swept the red coat target plus got RIFLMAN on the first AQT whit a scored 219.  Met some great people in March and April and had a great time and really enjoy the history lessions. Thanks, Fredfunder.

[SavageShootr]

CONGRATULATIONS to all of the new Riflemen. Feels good, don't it?

Thanks for the Great report. Good job 762BBQ and all of the Instructor Crew out there doing the home range proud.

~SS

[Matt]

To all the students who are thanking the instructors: thank YOU. Thank you for bringing a teachable attitude and a desire to get involved. It makes an already enjoyable task that much better.

[Bonden]

Thanks to all the instructors and all the participants for a well run shoot. 
My body may have been broken on Saturday. I may have been bummed out about a 177 AQT.  I limped home Saturday night and spent all day Sunday trying to recover.  But I left Ramseur fired up and determined to come back in May and qualify.  I left Ramsuer determined to master NPOA, six steps and the rifleman's cadence. 

I'm fired up!  I can't wait til May, and I'm bringing a buddy!

[SurpriseBreak]

I second, third and fourth what others have been saying.

WHAT A WONDERFUL THING APPLESEED IS!!!

Thanks to Fred for creating Appleseed; Wildman for facilitating the RWVA Home Range, and ALL the great instructors for the gift of their time, treasure and talents.

There are a lot of components to an Appleseed, but being surrounded by good and like minded people is a benefit (beyond learning the un-taught history and shooting skills ) that is very uplifting.

I look forward to many more Appleseeds and seeing many of you in the future.

Thanks--SurpriseBreak (Jeff)

[NCDoberman]

I also want to thank everyone. Thanks to the instructors for all their help, thanks to Fred for creating appleseed, thanks to the other participants for being there. I met some great patriots this weekend.

I had never done anything like this and it was well worth the money. I learned so much in those two days. I will be attending several more appleseeds in the future and when my son(not due till August) is old enough I'll be bringing him to learn. The six steps gave me outstanding improvement and I'll continue to use and practice them. I went from an AQT on sat of 125 to an AQT of 189(while failing to fire 4 rounds on the 3rd stage) on sunday. Next time I believe I can get across that 210 hump.


Thanks again everyone,
Will

[hawkeye]

I can't add to what has been said, great shoot. I thought Kevin did an outstanding job as shot boss, lots of shooting time ,I love seeing shot groups shrink as the day progresses. Thanks to all that came and supported the program! Here's some of the pictures that I took.

[Fred]

...when my son(not due till August) is old enough I'll be bringing him to learn...

       Hmmmm, that should be about 2017 or so. He may have, if we can stick to our schedule, the honor of being the 2,000,000th Appleseeder - that year!

         

[Dan]

Good pics.

BTW, what was the head count?

[7.62BBQ]

Dan,
  Head count was 38.

[azwildcat2001]

Hey,

I just wanted to thank Kevin for putting on a great Appleseed. It was a pleasure. I also wanted to thank all of our wonderful students. All showed up with a great attitude, which made teaching a true pleasure!!! It was a great weekend.

Jennifer
azwildcat2001

[FourIze]

I'd like to say thanks to all the instructors, too.  I came down on Saturday with my LTR, put my ego on the shelf and had a couple of "light bulb" moments (maybe more like three or four, but definitely "shooting on empty lungs instead of half an exhalation" and "proper sitting position"), and managed to squeak out Rifleman with a 218.  What's that my cousin always says?  "Even a blind hog finds and acorn once in a while." 

The history was GREAT!  I learned stuff about Lexington and Concord that I'd never heard before.  Great job, y'all!  And thanks to Fred for getting this started!  I picked up some flyers from Wildman on Sunday and have been passing them out to everyone who asks about my black eye.

Speaking of that, I came back on Sunday with my M1 Garand which I had bought from CMP about 15 years ago but never shot (I know, I know... shame, shame...) and learned a TON from Hawkeye about how to tear it apart and put it back together.  He also checked the headspace for me so I knew it was safe to shoot!  The AQTs were not as easy this time around.  I shot a 130 and a 178, but was having a devil of a time loading partial clips, so I was saving WAY too many rounds, especially in the rapid fire stages.  I've got to sit down in the living room and load partials with dummy rounds till I can do it in my sleep; then I might have a chance.  Kevin came by during one of the stages and reminded me to hold the trigger back and follow through even with the recoil (I had forgotten  ).  Once I got low on ammo (I only had 100 rounds at the start), Hawkeye and Wildman took me over to the big range and we shot at 200, 300 and 400.  Guys, it really IS easier!  I noticed about halfway through the day that I had a goose egg on my right cheek - Hawkeye said I was probably just too tense (which was an understatement with all the loading issues I was having) and not relaxing and "rolling with it" when the rifle went off.  Anyway, I got in the car to head home Sunday evening and had the beginnings of a black eye from the pounding.  I've gotten several opportunities to spread the word as a result.

As soon as my CMP ammo order comes in, I want to come back down and try to make Rifleman with the M1.  It is an absolute BLAST to shoot!  My 12-year old daughter is coming, too, to start working on her Rifleman patch.  She wants a .22 for her birthday in June.

Thanks again to all the instructors, and my fellow shooters, who were extremely helpful and encouraging!  Let's do it again!!