Redmond, WA, Nov 12/13, 2022 AAR

[Prescott]

The 2022 AS season is almost wrapping up, as there is only one more event for the Interlake Sportsman range this year.  For the middle of November in the Pacific NW, we had a great weekend for rifle marksmanship and to spread the heritage of this great nation.   The weather was a bit chilly all weekend, so luckily the Interlake Sportsman range has a heated club house were we could tell stories at lunchtime.

The event was sold out, but unfortunately we had 7 no shows for the event.   Two of these students did notify us that they could not participate in the event, but the other five did not communicate with us.   This is unfortunate as this range is always sold out and the registration could have been opened up to allow others to participate.

The students were all eager to learn or continue to practice their marksmanship techniques.  It is always a great event when the student are eager to learn and apply what they have been taught.   The group was a good mix of new students and return students who wanted to polish their marksmanship techniques.   The students were also very attentive to the stories of April 19th, and were engaged in the history stories.

There was a lot of good shooting over the weekend.   Two returning marksmen had the goal of earning their Distinguished patch, but neither scored the required 240 points while using optics.   However, they shot many scores in the 230's, so it was a pleasure to watch their exhibition of their skills.   By the end of the weekend, we had three shooter requalify their Rifleman scores and also had three new Riflemen in the Pacific NW.  Congratulations to Jeff, Robert and Brian for earning their patch.   There were a couple more shooters that were close to earning their patch, but everyone started to get cold and stiff by the final AQTs on Sunday.

One characteristic of a Rifleman is persistence.   If you did not earn your patch this weekend, remember to dry practice at home.   The old adage, "practice makes perfect" is true will all sports including rifle marksmanship.   On the comfort of your living room floor, you can master trigger control, the Steady Hold Factors and NPOA shifts.   By spending time each week, you can master these skills and then come to another event and earn your patch.

One of the best things of this weekend was getting to work with the Redmond instructors.   The AS program is very fortunate to have this dedicated group of instructors in this area.   Their enthusiasm and professionalism is what helps keeping selling out each event at the Interlake Sportsman range.   I hope to come back and work more events next year.   I would like to give a special thanks to Ian for stepping up and starting the Shoot Boss in Training program.   In order for AS to keep growing, the program needs more Shoot Bosses to run events and Ian will be a great fit for that role in the NW.

[nimitz]

Thanks for the awesome shoot Prescott!