We were blessed with beautiful weather, a delightful shooting club that extended Appleseed every consideration, but especially, a respectable turnout of some of the best students ever, some of whom had already been to a prior event, but most of whom were first-time Appleseeders. We began as usual with our Safety Briefing and how to make a Safe Rifle, then we brought our rifles to the line. We elected to shoot in two relays in order to allow us to remain together as a group, and the results of the first Redcoat target indicated we had a bit of work to do. We studied how to create a stable shooting platform in prone (Sling Use and the Steady Hold Factors), then the integrated act of firing the shot (the Six Steps), and the third fundamental how to shift and align sights on target (Natural Point of Aim). Shooting in relays allowed a more measured pace, time to hydrate, prepare magazines and such, but it does not move as quickly as the more common custom. After studying Rifleman's Cadence, how to get feedback from the targets (Talking Targets), and how to adjust sights (Inches-Minutes-Clicks) we had lunch and listened to the first portions of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Strikes One and Two. After lunch we studied the Sitting-Kneeling positions, then transition to sitting, and lastly the Standing Position. After some more much needed squares drills, we heard Strike Three during our afternoon break. We shot one AQT before we our final Redcoat target of the day.
Sunday we had only seven students, and this allowed us to shoot all together. After a review of the previous day's material, using mostly the students to present the review, we did more squares drills, then prepared to shoot the AQT targets by doing Ball and Dummy on the AQT sighter. This proved to be an "awakening experience" for at least four of the students, who had an Aha! moment when the idea of relaxing into the sling became a personal experience, not a verbal concept. Shooting improved remarkably after this drill, and the students had a hard time repressing much deserved smiles about their new ability. During lunch Sunday we heard about Dangerous Old Men. During our afternoon break from shooting AQTs, we had a classroom presentation of Actual Distance shooting, with a number of thoughtful questions and comments that followed. Then back to the AQT targets. Although there were no new Riflemen over the course of the weekend, skills definitely improved, sound fundamentals were developed, and most importantly, the precious importance of Liberty both to our founding generation and to us, was constantly emphasized.
Don, Geoff, Bob, and Paul, what a pleasure to see you again. I had hoped that all of you would shoot Rifleman this weekend, but although you are on the cusp, you were not quite over the top. But you are so very, very near. Persist, my friends! Ted, how very generous of you to spend your weekend doing something that was important to your son, and taking joy in his joy and improvement. Great parenting! And Nathan, your incredible enthusiasm is infectious. It was so gratifying to see such improvement when an instructor could spend some time with you and help you develop an art which you so obviously enjoy. Anita, it is hard to believe you had handled a rifle for the first time only four short days before. And that you have such a fine relationship with Peter that you spent your weekend doing something new and unfamiliar, but something very important to him. Great improvement on your part! Peter, you were a joy to work with, eager to learn, energetic, and about as enthusiastic as I have ever seen. Let's do some work on that drat sitting-kneeling position and you will be a man to be reckoned with. Jason, watching you as you had your Aha! moment during Ball and Dummy was priceless. I know you have gotten banged up a bit from prior athletic endeavors, but you have the makings of a fine Rifleman. Persist, my friend. Bill, it was gratifying to have a man who had so obviously been shooting all his life, to come out and listen to our way of doing things with an open mind. You were a pleasure to work with and I look forward to seeing you more at our club. Spencer, you are obviously one of your grandfather's favorites, and it was wonderful to see the two of you together. Thank you for giving Appleseed a chance. Zach, I expect you enjoyed the history as much as you enjoyed the marksmanship, which was considerable. You may want to think about attending another Appleseed and about changing the color of your hat. A real pleasure to have you for a student. Hope we see you again.
That free marksmanship pamphlet to which I referred is: Becomingriflemen.wordpress.com. Highly recommended. Persist, dry fire extensively, share what you have learned with others, and please come back and bring others to future Appleseed events. Huzza, all!!
It is very exciting to see my brothers in Georgia doing so well!! Congrats to all!!
-Spartan
This was a great weekend and I want to thank everyone for coming out. I usually like to take a lot of pictures at these events, but just got to busy at this one running the line and such. However, I did get one picture when I got home. My apologies for not posting it sooner; I had numerous computer issues this weekend and sadly had to 'put one down'. Again, thank you to all that came out and made this even special and an even greater thank you to DrJohn for his attentiveness and tutelage, Morpheus for his steadfast inspiration and Jambo for his well of knowledge.
The most 'Holeyist' of relics, my orange hat...
Congratulations Roswell!!
What a wonderful weekend of teaching! Great instructors all around.
As usual I learned a lot from my Appleseed "elders". As for the unusual: I actually got to use MY rifle for a change! Roswell, your hat made an excellent target. I never thought I would enjoy shooting up someone's hat as much as I did. I look forward to shooting up a lot of orange hats in the future, and I look forward to seeing mine get "perforated".
Thanks to the great students and wonderful Georgia cadre of instructors. Congrats to Roswell for earning the coveted Red Hat!
Congrats Roswell!!!!!
Sorry for not replying quicker; my personal computer died. Thank you for the congratulations gentlemen. I'm honored to be in such company.
Quote from: Jambo on October 16, 2013, 02:12:33 PM
Roswell, your hat made an excellent target. I never thought I would enjoy shooting up someone's hat as much as I did. I look forward to shooting up a lot of orange hats in the future, and I look forward to seeing mine get "perforated".
Jambo, you will no doubt have that red hat soon. You deserve it my friend. I hope I'm there to shoot it. :) And to be honest I never thought I'd have that much fun watching someone else shoot my hat. Lol