AAR New Smyrna FL October 23,24, 2010

[willorith]

The squeal of delight as a young lady fires a Garand for the first time. The joyous dance of victory when that same young lady clears the Redcoat, including the head shot. The perseverance of another young lady that overcame many equipment failures to end up shooting a 217 on the final AQT on Sunday evening. These are the highlights of a wonderful shoot in Florida.

The first Appleseed at this range proved to be a success from every angle. The range is topnotch and highly enthusiastic about Appleseed. We would like to stage an event every month there in 2011. They hosted a pistol competition on Sunday that drew 156 shooters. This range knows how to promote an event.The shooting population and the want to be shooting population can well support 12 Appleseeds a year.

Five shooters Saturday Barry, Barry, Stephanie, Lauren and her dad, Paul.

Barry and Barry made a good showing on Saturday with respectable improvement all day, but they were unable to return on Sunday to close the deal.

This was Stephanie's fourth Appleseed, and right from the first Redcoat she showed great technique, wonderful trigger control, and correct position. All of the instructors were impressed by her mastery the integrated act of shooting. So, why didn't her scores reflect it? We eliminated all other factors and concluded that she was shooting better than her rifle. The .22 LR conversion in her AR wasn't up to her skill level. we circulated several LTRs through her hands until she clicked with one, and her score reflected the skill we had observed all weekend, 217!

Lauren, a 19 year old Freshman at FSU brought a fresh enthusiasm to the line that put a smile on everyone's face.
She and her dad, Paul were shooting very good scores just shy of the mark when they had to leave early on Sunday to get the lass back to Tallahassee (there is a song in there somewhere I think). Had they stayed the day, I think we could have boasted of a 100% conversion rate for Sunday's shooters.

In the middle of the day Saturday Brownbess had a great idea. There were several clay pigeons scattered on the berm behind the target line. We commented on the remarkable restraint shown by the shooters in not taking aim at these orange targets. Brownbess suggested that we use the clay pigeons as a stress reliever. I concurred and BB called the line as the shooters reduced the orange dots to orange dust in short order. The shooters enjoyed it so much that we will make it a regular part of our shoots. Lauren even went hunting for more "lost birds" to shoot on Sunday. She scattered them widely and showed perfect form as she shifted her NPOA from target to target and worked her way through the scattered birds, reducing each one to bits then blasting the bits to dust. We allowed Lauren to shoot her closing Redcoat early so she could get on the road. To cap off a great weekend of shooting, she cleared it and danced all the way back to the line.


Lauren's dad is justifiably proud of his daughter. I am pleased and honored to have had the opportunity to teach her a little bit about riflery. Paul is no slouch in the shooting department either. He turned in a 208 before leaving early Sunday. This was the first Appleseed for both of them and I am sure that they will be back.

Three instructors had their CMP Garands there, and shooters that desired to were allowed to shoot a little history. The excited exclamation of delight from Lauren as she loosed her first round will forever be a highlight of my Appleseed career.

My heartfelt thanks to a great bunch of patriots that came out to partake in our natural right, and to a wonderful facility that provided a safe place to hold this event.

The success of this event was due in large part to the efforts of the two IITs, 9mm4545, and Bill o rites, and the senior Redhat, Brownbess that worked together to make me look like I know what I'm doing. Thanks, guys.

[9mm4545]

'Twas an honor and a pleasure to be there. Small in numbers but huge in spirit and a very smoothly run event. All I can say is that the NPOA-shift drill with scattered clay pigeons was brilliant, effective, and needs wide circulation in the corps. Oh yeah, it was also a 100% blast and the shooters loved it. Besides, them clay birds needed killin'.  My hat is off to Stephanie for her dogged determination and her successful earning of the coveted Rifle(wo)man patch. Lauren and Paul: you guys were wonderful to work with and I do see expert Riflemen in both of you just itching to emerge. I look forward to seeing all 'yall again somewhere on the trail.

[willorith]

I have two blue foam mats that I believe belong to Paul and Lauren. If you wish the returned, let me know where to send them.

Brian

[BrownBess]

What a fun shoot New Smyrna was.........Looking forward to getting back there with all the great IIT's, ShotBosses and last but most important, The Shooters