We're back. Back at Burro Canyon, in the mountains of Los Angeles County, the county that some said would never let in an Appleseed. Well, they were wrong. Lady Liberty is still a pretty popular gal in these parts. ;)
Even though it rained buckets and even hailed today, we were gifted with a beautiful weekend, balmy and cool with just enough wind to remind us that we were outdoors. Mr. Sun shone brightly on 14 eager students, young and not-so-young, there to drink from the firehose of marksmanship and heritage crewed by intrepid Orange Hats Psych Doc and BuckleNose. We got through our safety brief and passed rehearsals in no time at all, and got to shootin'!
Our first round of Redcoats showed quite a few saying "ouch!" and encouraged us to dive into the instruction. 8) Psych Doc handled the fine points of shooting while BuckleNose ran the line, and groups began steadily shrinking. Over lunch we heard about the Three Strikes, and a chill wind rose in a distant echo of that dark and chill morning in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but through it all the sun persisted, and we hit the line ready for more.
And, wouldn't you know, that Saturday AQT revealed not one, but two Riflemen! Sergio, returning to Burro Canyon, put it all together and amazed us with a cool 220! And later that night we discovered Kevin's 212, tucked away in a pile of unscored targets. Awesome shooting! ..:..
We also took a moment to honor a young lady among us, Ali, with the Luther Blanchard Achievement Award. She had come to shoot with proud papa John, and shot enviable groups all day -- despite having never fired a rifle before. Our youngsters have a lot of spirit. :cool2:
Sunday was warm and bright, and we were joined by new shooters David and Mayer, who got the accelerated course as the rest rocketed through review and hit the AQT's once more. Along the way we took a break with a 100 yard "pumpkin on a post," and every single student nailed it. :--- Yup, these techniques work, no matter the distance.
Finally it was time to go, but we had one last thing to take care of: It seems Psych Doc had outgrown that Orange Hat of his, but luckily we had this nice shiny red one to keep him from getting sunburnt. :D But best of all, the Orange Hat hadn't even gotten cold before it was scooped up by returning Riflewoman Pat! ^:)^ Welcome aboard!
Thanks to everyone and to Jerry at Burro Canyon for making it a great shoot. We've got another one coming up in just a few weeks, so keep practicing, and I'll see you there!
Pictures from the shoot. Feel free to copy. PM me if you need a copy in higher resolution.
(http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/yy96/as_rocketman/Azusa%20CA%2025-26%20Feb%202012/burro_sat_am.jpg)
The view at Burro Canyon on Saturday morning. Couldn't have asked for a nicer day to shoot.
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Poya works with Matt (fresh home from Afghanistan -- thanks for your service!) on Ball and Dummy drills
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Ali and her pops John work on those squares in sitting
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Sergio makes the grade and receives his Rifleman patch! So did Kevin, but we didn't know it until everyone'd gone home... Check your e-mail!
(http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/yy96/as_rocketman/Azusa%20CA%2025-26%20Feb%202012/luther_blanchard.jpg)
Ali with her well earned Luther Blanchard award!
(http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/yy96/as_rocketman/Azusa%20CA%2025-26%20Feb%202012/robert_rh.jpg)
Robert celebrates his new choice of headgear! Congratulations! Boy, those are shiny when they're fresh...
(http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/yy96/as_rocketman/Azusa%20CA%2025-26%20Feb%202012/pat_oh.jpg)
And Pat joins the Appleseed family as our newest Instructor in Training!
(http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/yy96/as_rocketman/Azusa%20CA%2025-26%20Feb%202012/burro_group_sun.jpg)
That's all, folks! See you here in March!
Hi all,
What a fantastic weekend! Beautiful weather and a great group of Americans leanring about and enjoying their freedoms as a community. It just doesn't get much better in my mind.
Congrats to our two new riflemen, Sergio and Kevin. Also to the many newer shooters who made tremendous progress over the weekend. With a little more practice, and for a few of you, some friendlier equipment, I think we will be handing out a number of patches soon.
7th grader, Ali, who had never fired a rifle before, stole the show by consistently outshooting her whole family, including her pop. Talk about natural talent!
I can't remember who it was who asked me about non-steel core ammo for their Mossin (7.62x54R), but I happened to see an advertisement for it in the paper when I got home from the shoot. Big 5 has it on sale this week.
I look forward to seeing you all again on the range!
All the best,
Robert
Hi All, Just wanted to thank everyone for another great AS. Bucklenose did a fine job running the line and Psych Doc told the tales in a fine "storyteller" fashion. Rocket Man ran a nice, tight, good paced shoot even with the last minute time constraints. He showed true Shoot Boss capability to adapt to the circumstances and make it work. I, for one, learned a lot and I hope everyone else did as well. I was shooting next to Sergio. We paired up for the Ball and Dummy COF. It was so cool to watch him start to really put it all together and then go on to shoot a great qualifying score on the AQT. Congrats Sergio and Kevin. Congrats to Psych Doc on his Red Hat as well. He offered up his Orange Hat so I jumped on board. I hope I can do as good a job as he has done.
Pat
Anyone interested in reading, listening to or watching lectures on the Revolutionary War, here is the link to the Yale open course given by Dr. Freeman. This is a free lecture series, open to all. It really touches on the reasons we ended up with a revolution and how the people of the time came to feel the way they did. If you are interested, it is worth a look.
http://oyc.yale.edu/history/the-american-revolution/content/class-sessions