Fredericksburg, TX 16-17 October 2010

[Reddot]

A great weekend, 31 dedicated Americans, off the couch, learning about rifle marksmanship and about THEIR heritage.  Could not have been a more perfect weekend, weather was cool and clear, the range is fantastic and the people were, well, they were Appleseeders--the finest folks you'll ever meet.
Three men, who now know well what they are about, made Rifleman--all three are considering taking orange hats. At the risk of missing someone, I'd like to recognize some very special Fredericksburg folks who always make sure things go well--Ron Smith and his lovely family for all the support on the range, Tanya who gets folks there, Jerry who always brings a loaner rifle or two and lends encouragement and Rodger Glen for mowing the place and for handing out Appleseed Challenge Coins to each of the new Rifleman, a Fredericksburg tradition.
I also want to thank my brother instructors, ZonkerTX, Dragit, Scuzzy and RainmanJS--your instruction was great and your preparation was evident, and much appreciated.  Rainman--thanks for cooking the instructor dinner--for a superior Rifleman, you're a heck of a cook!!
I saw a lot of cameras out there this weekend, hopefully we'll get some pictures posted soon.
I'm looking very forward to being back in December.

[zonkertx]

Here are the pix I took this time.  Trying attachments rather than img tags that link to content on my server.

I also have a gallery page up with click-to-enlarge thumbnails.  You can get the original unresized pix from this and save to disk.

http://www.ebfulton.com/appleseed/FBG_10-16/

[scuzzy]

What a great shoot!

Perfect weather, good people, and southern hospitality. The people there in Fredericksburg added the icing to the cake. What a great crew. Special thanks to Tanya, Ron and Roger for helping out with all of this.

The shoot went smoothly without any problems. Things were going a bit slow with the tube feds and younger shooters on Saturday. I got a comment from one shooter that things were going a bit slow. I just smiled and said just wait, you'll be eating those words soon enough. heh. On Sunday once we got into the AQT Grind the same shooter looked like, well, like maybe he wanted things to slow down a bit.

History was presented by Zonker, dragit, and Reddot who all did a good job. I got to do the DOM story which is about my favorite for reasons obvious to all. I added to the story a bit with the addition of Levi Preston (pg 164 of Revere's Ride) about why they fought.

On Saturday for the Instructor Dinner we decided we didn't feel like driving into town. Good choice as it turned out. Jesse fried up a really good fish dinner. He cooked up some Talapia with some sort of sauce. It was absolutely one of the best fish dinners I can remember in a long long time. Thanks Jesse.

Mark Martinez was one of the new Rifleman. Sure hope he signs up for IIT. He's got a really cheery disposition and is always joking around. Good man. I wish I could remember the names of the other two but by Sunday evening I was a bit worn out.

[BDG]

Sounds like you guys had a great shoot. I recognize a few of those faces from the first FBG shoot. Good to have them back. Who woulda figured the Texas Hill Country would be a good place for people to shoot rifles? hehehe

Congrats on continuing the fine tradition of Appleseed to the fine folks of the area.

And Scuzzy - hope to see you soon... perhaps in Davilla.

[Zephyr]

This was my second Appleseed shoot. I only participated Saturday due to some conflicts but it was certainly worth it. Drank a little more knowledge from the firehose. Just can't get it all in one weekend. The main things I'm practicing this week are trigger reset, follow through, sling use, and shooters cadence. Trying to work on the 'perfect practice' part. I really appreciated the instructors help, encouragement, and especially patience. One of the positive things I saw was the effort the instructors made to help everyone be successful inspite of age, fitness, and equipment differences.

Thanks.
Robert

[Zephyr]

A short story

The last few days of practice I noticed that my groups would get larger and more irregular after an hour and half in the noon sun. I started cleaning my 10/22 every evening, got a sweat band to keep my eyes dry, pulled the slipping nylon sling back up my arm continually and was certain that every prone shot should be going to the bullseye. After all, that was where I was aiming.  I started losing faith in my Ruger barrel. Lots of rumors out the there about the stock barrel and accuracy. Finally came up with my theory of "barrel fatigue". The barrel was getting tired in the hot sun. It could only take so much and then the shots would go wild. So when the groups got outrageous (6" prone) I would quit. Besides, my 63 year old back, knees and neck were tired and sore. Why waste bullets when the barrel wasn't doing its part. This failure of basic quality of the Ruger barrel was limiting my marksmanship growth. Today, the same thing started happening and the groups getting lower. What was the scope doing!!! Thinking that I needed to adjust it I shot from a benchrest with 3 shots each at four bulleyes. Couldn't believe it. Right on target, tight groups, and the last one not over a 1/4".  I had no idea this rifle could do that. Moral: it's so easy to blame the equipment. Now I'm going to look to my technique for growth. If the groups are lower, I must be pointing the barrel lower. Large groups mean the barrel isn't pointed at the center of the target. Prescription: lots of perfect practice.

See you at Davilla.
Robert

[dragit]

Welcome to that world in between called "PLATEAU" Robert.  I know I have visited (and sometimes return) there in many endeavers.  This is a period of blaming other factors because it certainly could not be us. 

I usually see this occur at shoots (and I experienced it myself):
1. Tight groups on squares targets in the morning
2. Good scores on stages 1-3
3. Good groups on stage four but outside of the target resulting in............  not enough points.

There is a point at which one day you will shoot the AQT (or whatever you are shooting at) and KNOW your shot or shots are on target, not HOPE they are on target.  Voortrekker said to me when I was at this point, "One day it will all come together".  And he was right, you will KNOW when that day comes.

"Endeaver to persevere" as the politicians told the old Chief in Outlaw Josey Wales.
See you in Davilla.

[(DW)]

I really enjoyed the Fredericksburg location, even though I could only attend Sunday.  On the drive in Sunday morning, I saw a spectacular, bright red sunrise on 290 in Johnson City.  I talked with a couple of the guys who brought their wives to Fredericksburg so they could also enjoy the beautiful weather on Saturday and Sunday, but I doubt the wives had as much fun on Sunday, since they were not actually shooting.  What could be better?

Thanks to all the volunteers for putting together a great event.