Patriots day arrived cold but quickly warmed to comfortable in the afternoon. Their were 6 registered shooters and 2 walked on for the event. All but one were first time 'seeders! Two of the shooters, Tony and Laura Ruiz, had never fired a rifle before or even held one!! Yikes!!
They received some orientation the night before the shoot from the Detters and were ready to go Saturday morning. Mother Cobbler and Umdaddy loaned them Ruger 20-22's for the shoot. They listened, learned and were very receptive to all the instruction. An instructor or AC/RSO was at their side all the time. They preformed admirably and had a great time!! Their objective now is to procure rifles and come back to Appleseed!! Yea!!
We knew we had our work cut out for us after the first redcoat!! You sure wouldn't write home about it!! Things started off bumpy on the first few squares but soon smoothed out as proper positions were assumed, slings were figured out ect.
David lost the extractor out of the bolt early on and used his bolt action as a back up. Sunday he earned his patch with the Savage bolt action, scoring a 218!!! Then went on to re qualify two more times with 216&214!! Yaa-Hoo!!!!
Paula scored a 184, Patrick scored a 185 Saturday but was unable to attend Sunday. Ray struggled with no line bifocal lenses in his glasses. He improved each AQT and stuck with it!
Bob and son Jess had to leave early Sunday but had a great time. Bob wowed everyone by putting a shot into the center of a star target----with his eyes closed!! Now, that's a rock steady NPOA!!!
Before leaving Bob was shooting well into the 180's. Had he stayed??
Jess received a young patriot's patch.
Laura shot a 141 while Tony struggled with the time pressure!!! He did improve though.
We juggled some things to make time for the Memorial Volley. At 3:00 PM sharp the first volley was fired and the reading of names continued until finished. I heard someone say it was like a funeral memorial service!! Very moving experience for all!
Tony Ruiz had some very stirring words for the group as he is from Cuba and has first hand experience with communist/socialist system and the eroding of peoples rights. I think some eye's were opened a little wider!!
Smiler gave a great dangerous old men presentation. As usual, libby and kat performed flawlessly and kept me grounded a few times when I ran off the rails!! Mother Cobbler cooked hot dogs and made peach cobbler for Sunday lunch!! Yumm-Yumm!!
This was a great shoot and everyone had a good time and learned!!
Our duty photographer will be along with pic's.
hornet41
Sounds like a great time was had by all, I'll make it to Centerton one of these days!
I really enjoyed the shoot and the history thanks to all the instructors , i wish i could have returned Sunday. Will definatly attend next event , Patrick
My son Jess and I had wonderful time Saturday and Sunday. His confidence has skyrocketed and I wouldn't be a bit surprised to be back at another Appleseed before the end of the year. Thanks again to Umdaddy, Mother Cobbler, Kat, Libby, and Jennifer.
Thank you so much to Mo, hornett41, for coming back to our neck of the woods. It was a special Patriots Day AS and we really had a great time.
Thanks to our Centerton, AR range, Kenneth thanks for letting us use the range for AS and for mowing on Saturday night. Jon thanks for the kind words during lunch and setting up the dates for our AS.
Paula, ar_fiddler, it was great seeing you again, you are so close to rifleman I can just feel it.
Bob, dragon wood, great forum name, you did a good job if you were able to stay all day Sunday I believe you would have gotten close to rifleman.
Jess congratulations on the youth patriots patch, hope you got all your homework done.
Patrick, Hawkteck, thanks for coming to our AS, it was great meeting you and your wife, hope to see you both again.
Laura and Tony, what can I say but thanks for spending your weekend with us O0 You both are on the correct road to marksmanship.
Ray it was nice meeting you, sorry for the issues on the bifocals.
David, congratulations on your rifleman score and re-qualifies.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.516732068363340.1073741831.443856938984187&type=3
I am having issues getting the photos to post again so here is the facebook link.
Mother Cobbler
i had an immensely good time. even if i didn't make rifleman's score. one of these days........ thank you all for a notable weekend. the memorial volley was very moving. jonathan herring, the young man whose mother awoke him: that name made me falter. thank you mother cobbler for helping me with this forum. mo, i am trying to 7 step! i am inviting folks; i want them to love this like i do. looking forward to june. see ya there. --p--
Going to try to post photos again for Patriots Day Centerton, AR AS
(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=516732118363335&set=a.516732068363340.1073741831.443856938984187&type=3&theater)
Safety briefing
(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=516732441696636&set=a.516732068363340.1073741831.443856938984187&type=3&theater)