Another excellent shoot in the books...
T''was a beautiful weekend at the Manatee County Gun and Archery Club in lovely Myakka City, FL. This was the second Appleseed I've attended where it was just flat pleasant all weekend. I could really get used to this! We ran hard all weekend without the risk of falling out from the heat! We found ourselves Saturday Morning with fourteen eager shooters chomping at the bit to get out of the gate and practice their heritage! After a brief intro, the safety rules and line commands were given.
We sent the shooters to their vehicles to bring their rifles to the line in a safe condition and after we cleared the line we went right to work! The Redcoat revealed that there was much work to be done so we instructors mentally prepared ourselves to give these shooters our all while Rick regaled them with the First Strike of the Match. We had a young patriot, Josh on the line who impressed all of us instructors with his teachable attitudes and his very own M1 Garand which we'd let him put to the test for the first time on Sunday. The younger shooters always remind us why we serve. I couldn't imagine leaving them a country lesser than what I enjoyed when I was their age. I know his mom, Beth, was proud to see him comporting himself so well and it was fun watching her shoot her prone stages in sitting position and still manage to shoot well.
We had some repeat Appleseeders with two from as far away as the panhandle! Julio and Veneza made the 8 hour trip to Tampa and Julio made it all worthwhile by taking home his Rifleman badge with a score of 212! Veneza showed constant improvement and was a delight to work with as she is the epitome of charm, grace and sunny disposition! :)
Kevin and Peter are both repeat Appleseeders. Kevin received his rifleman's patch back in February at Myakka at the same event where I received mine. Even more interesting is that I had shared the line with them at my first event in Hernando in October of '09. Kevin showed he hadn't let his rifleman's skills grow fallow shooting multiple rifleman's scores over the course of the weekend. Peter had equipment issues through much of the weekend, but when he had a rifle that would run, proved he was a force to be reckoned with. Another of our newly minted riflemen this weekend was John, a fellow Manatee member. He scored a 220 on Saturday to earn his badge and came back Sunday ready to do it all over again with a very fine Garand.
Other shooters knocked on the door all weekend! Jim was tuning in scores in the high 190's showing that he's got just a few wrinkles to iron out to get him over that last bit. Lewis and Deborah had to leave us before the KD portion on Sunday, but both had shown steady improvement throughout the course of the weekend with Deborah really improving by leaps and bounds.
All our shooters spent the better part of the weekend drinking from the fire hose of marksmanship wisdom. We had all the usual issues, dancing fingers, comfortable positions, wood draggers, and ppl trying to shoot the target while forgetting to shoot the rifle. I was blessed with a crew of patient and capable instructors who worked these issues with the shooters while keeping a sharp eye out for safety issues.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with this group of shooters. Watching them take each issue they ran into in stride and come up with ways to resolve them reminded me that a rifleman's greatest tool is the one between his ears.
By the time we hit the KD portion of the event, I was pleased to no end that ALL of the shooters were shooting good groups at 100 yards! My fellow Tampagunforum member, Phil, came roaring back from equipment issues on Saturday (his front sight fell off!!!) to roll into the KD portion on Sunday with a first 5 shot group that was about 11 MOA low and 2 left but about 3.5 MOA in size. He proved he had IMC down pat by making a single sight correction on his Tech Sights and put the next group all in the paint on a 4MOA square. Excellent Job!
By the end of Sunday, we completed 7 AQT's, a KD instruction and all instructional courses of fire.
After a short benediction, we left the range cleaner than we found it and put another event in the books. I was blessed with fantastic attendees and great volunteers that kept me on track all weekend long. I'd like to thank Rick B, Rick H, Kevin and Martin for your service!
sounds great wiley wish i could have been there bill o rites :~
Your are right, getting my rifleman badge make the drive down well worth it. Just wanted to let you all know that the instruction and training was excellent. :~ Your demo with the ATD (Advance Trigger Device) was fantastic, it tighten my group significantly. The constant reminder "Dragging wood, Julio, dragging wood" was another reason for getting my badge. Sometimes it is the little things the instructor says that makes a big difference. For example - my biggest challenge is the standing position. I am all over the place. Best I shot was a 36 with 3 in the "5" zone (no "V") and the rest all over the place, made up for it in Stage 4 and got my rifleman score. During my Stage 1 of my last AQT Rick B. mentions to close your eyes and adjust your body till you stop wiggling. So I tried it -- :bow: I couldn't believe how steady it felt -- got 7 in the 5 (with 4 in V) and 3 in the 3 zone. Best standing I ever shot. Didn't get rifleman score - gun jammed during stage 4 and couldn't finish it. Can wait to try that again at the next Appleseed. It is Garand time now. My hats off to the instructors -- Great Job ^:)^, I appreciate what you did.
I just wanted to thank the instructors for a great weekend. I learned and re-learned a lot of great info and will keep practicing for next time. I was surprised on the amount of equipment failure I had on rifles that I normally have had no problems with. The AR ended up with a broken extractor spring and I fought mag failures with the 10/22 all day sunday. I shot a 189 one time and missed 5 rounds on stage two because of a mag failure and then a 206 on another round with a mag failure on both stage one and three, each causing me to only get off nine rounds. That's kind of upsetting but everything is worked out now and I'll be better prepared next time. Thanks again to every one. I'll be back for my badge. Jim
Jim, it just wouldn't be fair if you got your Rifleman badge without first experiencing the various equipment issues that can, and will, arise. Appleseed has become a crucible, both for rifle, and shooter. Only the strongest will prevail. Take the lessons that you learned to heart- you now know some of the weak links in your rifles- magazines, and, apparently, extractor springs.
Were you using steel cased .223 ammo? I only ask, because I have heard reports of this ammo damaging extractors.. Unconfirmed, and always second-hand, but there it is...