Well, nobody seems to have posted an AAR for Ramseur yet, so I'll toss in my two cents to get started... :)
I was sold on the idea of the road trip to the home range and a weekend campout, so I drove up from Alabama for the weekend. Let me get right to the obvious and say that the Ramseur range is an amazing facility on some beautiful land! I've only heard of one range in all of Alabama that might be comparable, but I guarantee that place wouldn't have thrown wide the gate for me, a newcomer, to camp on the land and have free run of the place after hours. That feeling of being welcomed and trusted meant more than I can say, and being able to lodge for free helped make the trip possible. So my sincere and heartfelt thanks goes out to the landowners and range staff there in Ramseur, and to Kevin, our Shoot Boss for the weekend.
I'm not new to shooting, but this was my first Appleseed and first formal, systematic rifle marksmanship training. Even knowing that, I don't think I was prepared to deal with how many bad habits I'd picked up and how many new techniques I'd be learning in such a short time. I was impressed by how articulate and effective all our instructors were, even the younger ones. It was obvious they had all internalized what they were teaching and weren't just reciting some memorized "instructor's guide."
We had beautiful weather all weekend, but Saturday was an awful day for me. The Browning .22 I took along broke down early with an extractor problem - and even after I got it limping along again, it still managed to jam up once per stage or so. I was fighting my gun, fighting to get down just the basic mechanics of the positions and sling techniques, and fighting my own frustrations at not being as good as I thought I was. I sat in my campsite that evening and stewed right along with the soup I was having for dinner, fairly well convinced that timed drills and AQTs and "bring any rifle" were all a contrived crock of you-know-what.
Sunday dawned, and found me a bit more relaxed. Steve gave an interesting walk-through on breakdown and operation of the M1 Garand, and we put off shooting until the afternoon to be good neighbors to those worshipping nearby. Unwilling to suffer a repeat of Saturday, I left the Browning in its case and shot a .223 AR all day. The AR ran like a Swiss watch, and I was finally able to focus on my problems rather than the rifle's. I began to see how the timed drills helped, I got the sling working correctly, and I finally managed to eke out a 201 on an AQT before the end of the day. I didn't perform as well as I had hoped, but I now have tools I can practice with and confidence that I can improve... not to mention incentive to attend more Appleseeds. I also have brass burns down the left side of my face, neck, and arm, which I keep getting to explain to people. :)
As things were wrapping up, a gentleman (whose name I didn't catch, unfortunately) treated us to an exhibition and demonstration of a replica Revolution-era musket and a beautifully carved Pennsylvania Long Rifle. We got the range cleaned up, and then I got to spend a few more minutes before twilight on the upper range with Kevin and another young man who had stayed to get a crack at some steel with M14s. All in all, a great experience, and well worth the trip.
If there's a place for submitting suggestions for improvement, I have three small ones. I don't want to air them on the public forum, because they're just observations, not public gripes.
One lesson I learned was this: Achieving Rifleman is nothing to sneeze at. If you're new to Appleseed and the techniques as I was, don't make it harder than it has to be by using a challenging rifle (if you have a choice). While the techniques do work with any rifle (as advertised), the courses of fire at an actual shoot are heavily weighted toward semi-auto, detachable-magazine-fed rifles with a capacity of at least ten rounds - more so than I anticipated after reading up on Appleseed. If you show up for your first shoot with a cranky tube-fed rifle, like I did, you may feel a bit left behind and not get as much out of the weekend as you might have. Get the basic ideas down first, then bring your challenging rifle and be like the guy who shot Rifleman this weekend with a bolt action. It's tough to be fighting yourself and your gun at the same time.
Thanks again to all for a highly worthwhile experience.
Bard
Bard,
You've officially contacted the customer service department for North Carolina Appleseed. PM me with your observations and I'll address any concerns you may have.
Stimey
NC State Coordinator
Hi, We had the best time at Ramseur, NC - April 17-18, 2010. Here are some pictures.
(http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/296/dscf0023ym.jpg)
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(http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/3438/dscf0015v.jpg)
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Thanks, Fredfunder.
What a great weekend for a shoot, I had the whole family out this time. Mrs Hawkeye is hooked , and now under stands why I'm tired after a weekend of Appleseeding . We seem to have the best people at Ramsuer , meet a lot of great folks. Here's a few pictures that I took of the kid , and lawman instructing and of other activities. Thank you to everyone ! Hawkeye
The kid and lawman are going to be some fine Appleseed instructors!!! They have came a long way since last March & April of last year!! :) . Have a great day, fredfunder.
What a great weekend we had!!
We drove in from Kentucky. I attended this Appleseed with 3 of my children, two of which had never shot a gun before. We all had a great time. The younger two kids just worked on safety and making their shots to the paper. By the end of the shoot, they were much improved and very pleased with themselves. Thank you to those instructors that gave my young riflemen-to-be the extra attention and encouragement. What a joy to watch their improvement and huge smiles!!
My oldest son and I had a fabulous time as well. This was my third Appleseed and his second. We had our fair share of gun trouble, mostly nuisance type stuff, but just enough for us to have a hard time finding the groove. Neither of us made rifleman, but I managed to get to score a 191 and he was right behind with a 188. I just can't seem to find a consistent NPOA, but that might have something to do with being 16 weeks pregnant. So I will continue to be persistent, and I will finally score my Rifleman's patch. Hopefully before I can't make it down into the prone position anymore! I am thinking about the Rifleman's Boot Camp in May, so we'll see!
One highlight for all of us was the volley fire held in memory of those that fell at the beginning of the Revolution. It started at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. It was quite meaningful to us that all Appleseeders across the country were doing the same thing at the same time. What a tribute! It sparked great conversation for our family as we were driving home and inspired even our young shooters.
The instructors were great teachers. Very patient and clear, and eager to help. I can't remember everyone's name, so won't name any specifically, but the staff was top notch. The fact that they all volunteer, makes their time even more valuable, since they do it for free. Maybe not everyone shows or states their gratitude, but our family stands and salutes every volunteer in this organization!! Thank you!!
We stayed after the Sunday session, first to help clean up, then to work with our M1A on the long distance range. My son was thrilled with his performance and his smile couldn't have been bigger. A perfect end to the weekend. The range is amazing. If anyone ever gets a chance to make the trip, TAKE IT!! It is so worth the miles.
I can't recommend Appleseed highly enough. We always have a great time, learn a lot, & make new friends, always pressing on to the goal of our family of eleven becoming Riflemen (& Riflewomen)! We will be back soon, guaranteed! Thanks to all of those that make this possible. You are appreciated!
Sorry for taking so long to post but I wanted to say that I too had a total blast. I didn't shoot rifleman but still learned a lot and can't wait to do it again. Okay, I can wait a little while or a least to the scaps heal on my elbows!!
I really want to thank the range guys.They all did an exceptional job. I am the guy who brought the musket out on Sunday and have been a Rev War reenactor for over a decade so I was curios as what the history part would entail. The instructors did a better job than college history professors I have had. I learned somethings and will differently add the Paul Revere's Ride book to my collection.