Boaz, KY - September 24-25, 2011

[dond]

Seven shooters were on hand, three for Saturday only. And Saturday was a beautiful day for shooting, except for an early rain shower. By the time we had shot a few one inch squares, had IMC, and fine tuning on a few squares, most of the shooters had groups of 4 MOA!  Shortly after noon, a father and son had to leave because the son became ill. He was still recovering from a very serious illness. But they have been to previous Appleseeds, and will return again.

After shooting two AQTs, one shooter had 199 with a bolt rifle. He and I were both convinced that if he had had a semi-auto, he would have gotten a Rifleman Score easily. He had been offered a semi-auto several times, but refused. He will be back!  And I will be glad to see him since he is a fellow flat track racer, and he is an engineer at the nearby Remington-Marlin factory.

Sunday was NOT a beautiful day for shooting. It was cold and it rained all day.  Four shooters were there at the beginning, but one left just as the shooting was about to begin.

We took a break from the AQT grind mid afternoon for a KD discussion. After this, the shooters decided they had enjoyed as much of the rain and cold as they could stand, and believed that was enough. One of them had a 204, and we found out the next day that another had a 206. There is little doubt that if we had continued, they both would have patches by now. But did I mention that it was cold and wet? And that kind of weather had not really been expected?    But they too will return. 

I was pleased to see that some of the shooters were taking notes during my instructions and discussions.

We were occasionally graced with the presence of a rather carefree and lackadaisical bull during both days. Thankfully he did not wander downrange. Sunday at lunch the shooters and instructors were kind enough to warn me - after the fact - that he had been walking behind me while I was arrayed in my bright red poncho.   

The instructors, JPL, Les Moore, and Hornet 41, all performed magnificently. And Hornet 41 did a masterful presentation of the history.

In addition, Hornet 41 is to be congratulated for earning his Red Hat, and JPL and Les Moore are to be congratulated for progressing to IIT1 status.

[LesMoore]

This was my first Appleseed event as an instructor in training, and it was great despite the rain on Sunday.  All shooters were interested and involved in all aspects of the instructions-evident in the note taking I observed.  I was also impressed by how good the groups were very early on in the day Saturday. 

It was nice to see some return shooters, even if they had to leave early due to illness-and I know they will be back!  In the meantime, we will continue to have them in our prayers.

We had new shooters that I feel confident will return to another event and score Rifleman!!!

[hornet41]

Well, is it possible to have an Appleseed without rain??? I guess not. We were just short of scrounging for material to build an Ark on Sunday!! In spite of the soggy conditions the shooters stuck with it. As we only had one pop up canopy, not everyone could be under cover. Chuck was a machine on his bolt gun! He did not want to borrow a simi for the AQT's. Ed, who also was shooting a bolt action wanted to stay with it. Didn't take long for the time factor to "register" as to why a simi is preferred. John was persistent and his scores continued to improve. Eddie had optics trouble with his M4 and borrowed a rifle. He was out in the rain most of Sunday until we "made" him move under cover. He was going to just tough it out!! (gotta admire that spirit though).
Josh, my 14 year old grandson would not use the loop sling. I made several attempts to get him to use it. Finally after badgering him enough he sort of agreed. Got him slung up and asked him if that was more steady. He said yes and as a result his scores improved the next AQT. On the way home he said "I like the loop sling"!!! Well DUH!!!!!!
lesmoore and JPL did a fine job. DonD kept everything running smoothly as usual. Overall a fine shoot and everyone acquired new skills honed on the anvil of the AQT's!!!!!
hornet41

[ChuckS]

Had a great time at my first Appleseed.
Call me stubborn, but I want to shoot the AQT with my bolt gun! 
I might try it with a semi next time though.
Great to meet everyone, excellent instruction & history, and I missed the bad weather.
Already registered for Oct 30 in TN - racing that Saturday but I'll be there Sunday to shoot.

[POP]

Send some of that cold and wet down South.  Been nothing but dry and seriouly hot temps for months.   

"There is little doubt that if we had continued, they both would have patches by now."  Ya'll keep trying ... you'll earn those patches.

"Sunday at lunch the shooters and instructors were kind enough to warn me - after the fact - that he had been walking behind me while I was arrayed in my bright red poncho.    "   You were the first line of defense, Don. 

Way to go on your History, Hornet 41.

Any day you are on the range with Americans telling the strikes and learning how to shoot is a great day.

POP

[NoBite]

This was my first Appleseed. I'm "John" IRL, NoBite most everywhere I go on the net. After shooting the first redcoat target it was determined that I rode the short bus to the shoot. I had the local gun store (name omitted to preserve the innocent) install Tech Sights on my 10/22 prior to this match, but had not taken the time to sight in the rifle. I hit the paper with three rounds on that first target. That was a bit embarrassing, but not the high point. Lesmoore came over to give me a hand with the next target. After shouldering the rifle she reminded me of the first step, acquire the sight picture. I remarked that I could not see the front sight. She told me "that's because it fell off your rifle!" Yep, the front Tech sight had fallen off the rifle. That rifle, with the new sights and the new dandy magazine release, recently cleaned up and as nice as I've had it in years, was useless.

Dond to the rescue. Don told me he brought extra rifles in case something like this happened. He looked me square in the eye and said he had one with the Tech Sights and one with a scope. Which did I want to use? I must have given the wrong answer twice because he repeated the question until I answered, "the one with the scope." Don was right!

I came to the shoot because it had been years since I had shot any of my rifles much and I had forgotten much of the basics. I have a nice M1 Garand in my safe that I want to shoot, but frankly did not want to make the fool of myself at the range. I learned much, much more than I anticipated about marksmanship and even more about our country's rich history.

Hey, Don, the Paul Revere book you showed us is available as an e-book via Amazon. I know because I purchased it yesterday and have downloaded it. Looking forward to learning even more.

This weekend was really great. All the instructors were free with good advice and showed remarkable patience in the face of me "dragging wood", shooting my buddy's target, failing to get off all my rounds under the time until Sunday afternoon, and, of course, the weather conditions. Oh, yeah, I also had this horrible habit of canting my rifle. Finally, we figured out that having a taut sling was different than having one so tight you cut off the circulation to your limb.

I'll be back. And, yesterday at lunch when I took my 10/22 to the gun store to get the front sight fixed, I talked up Appleseed to two other guys standing in line. I went out to my car and retrieved a brochure Don gave me. Maybe one of those guys will come to a shoot in the future.