This is the placeholder for Rainbow CA Apr 21-22. Please feel free to post pictures, comments, and experiences.
Well, once again we had a very rewarding event at L.E. Duncan's Rainbow Range and Gun Club. Our 24 attendees spent a blistering Saturday followed by a chilly Sunday on the line and under the easy-ups learning marksmanship and heritage in grand Appleseed fashion.
Ever wonder why all the Rainbow events sell out so quickly? Well, ask Jeff, our reigning Seventh-Step Champion, who recruited, equipped, transported and funded seven of his family members for this event. That's right, Jeff bought seven of his daughters, daughters-in law, sons, sons-in-law, and even an exchange student from Australia to the event, and equipped each of them with Liberty Training Rifles, ground mats, ammunition, drinks, food, transportation and tons of encouragement. You won't be surprised to learn that, with a heart like that, as well as being the recruiting champion, Jeff also became California's newest Rifleman, qualifying with a respectable 215 early Sunday. Do I hear a big hand for Jeff out there?
And another special thanks to Rob, a Period Re-Enactor who came attired as a colonial-period long-hunter complete with all the accoutrements. His talk on Sunday added to an already special event. Thanks Rob!
Saturday was busy as usual with the normal Appleseed program, and after lunch we participated in the nation-wide volley for liberty for liberty. Does anyone out there know how many simultaneous events were occurring around the country?
Saturday was also very warm, the first truly hot day of the year. Temps were in the 90's and higher on the line, and the perpetual Rainbow breeze took the day off leaving us simmering in the sun. Fortunately folks brought a half-dozen easy-ups which we circled together for some welcome shade for instruction, lunch and history.
Sunday arrived sheathed in dense fog. The fog and quite cools temps reigned throughout the day, a welcome change from Saturday's weather. Not quite snow as they apparently had at the Sarasota Springs event Sunday, but cool enough for us California folks all the same.
Norm and Sheri should be posting photos from the weekend's event shortly, and since a photo is worth a thousand words, I'll let them tell more of the tale of the weekend's event.
And lastly, genuine thanks to all the instructors who made it to the event this weekend. We were able to provide lots of one-on-one attention to the students through your efforts, which showed in the marksmanship improvement across the board, as well as in the smiles and faces of the attendees. Thanks to all of you!
Mark
4Posterity
Had an awesome time Sunday you guys are awesome teachers and historians :bow:
I was soooo close to rifleman in the Low 200's and twice was at 206 (4 points away!) I will get it on thenext appleseed. A rifleman persists!
Just a point of order, could everyone please post their first name at the end of their first post in this thread? That way we know who's who. Thanks!
And now on to the good stuff: another excellent shoot at Rainbow!
Congratulations Jeff on making rifleman. Hopefully you'll be out on the line instructing with us soon.
Jeremy, you're my hero for the weekend. This is at least your third AS where you've been really close the whole time, and yet you still come out and give it everything you've got. I could sense your very understandable frustration, but you maintained a very open mind and willing attitude, and I know you're going to make rifleman soon. Just keep practicing all the things we teach - Steady Hold, 6 Steps, NPOA - and you'll be fine. You've got the character of a rifleman, and that's what truly counts.
I also want to give a shout-out to Bea, who had never fired a gun in her life before Saturday morning, and seemed a little unsure of the whole situation, but she faced the challenge head-on and looked like a pro by the end of the day. We instructors were all very disappointed that she didn't make it back out on Sunday. Sending her back to Australia with a Rifleman patch would have been AWESOME!
Justin, it was great working the shoot with/for you on Sunday, and I hope to work more shoots with you soon. You gave me a lot of great pointers and ideas on how I can improve as an instructor. Thank you so much.
Again, thanks for everyone who came out, and I hope to see you on the line again soon! Thank you to Duncan's and all the fine folks there who host the event and give us so much support and so many events.
Remember: Know what you are About, and Persist.
~Cody
Hello All, Thanks for coming out this last weekend. As promised here are the photo's to enjoy!
Thank you for posting the pictures. It's always fun to have pictures of yourself shooting so you can post it on facebook and spread the apple seed :)
Kenny Chin checking in!
This was my first Appleseed and this was a great experience, I learned a lot, and my last AQT of Sunday was a great leap in score compared to the ones we did Saturday. Big props to our instructors. I'm relatively new to shooting ( started in december) so I would highly reccomend this to anyone just getting started.
My second comment is that I really appreciated the depth that our intructors went into on the history during our lunch breaks. I read the description of these activities prior to the event and didnt expect much more than a 30min quick lecture, but I really appreciate people taking the time to go over this.
For reference I'm the guy in the whit hat in picture 8
I mean picture 9
Hi this is Rob and Adrienne!
From Adrienne: I just wanted to let everyone know how much fun I had. This was the 5th time I had ever fired a gun, so I was still new to the whole thing.
Thank you to the intructors! Especially Debbie and Dawn who took me under their wings, and reminded me to breath, how to put on that darn arm sling, and how to position myself. Also thanks for Norm for letting me borrow equipment and helping me with the sights. I love scopes now! Also thanks to all of the other instructors - everyone was so helpful and eager to teach - it is greatly appreciated.
I went from completely missing the targets on Saturday - to getting Marksman and getting the last headshot of the day.
I had so much fun and walked away with so much knowledge. Thank you to everyone for making it such an enjoyable weekend! ;D
From Rob:
In short; Appleseed has been one of the most positive events I have ever participated in. Everyone at the shoot had a very positive attitude, the instructors were always there to help, and I learned more in the first morning on the actual mechanics of making a good shot than I have in 20 years of shooting.
The history portion of Appleseed surprised me. I had never heard much of the minute history of April 19 before last Saturday. The way Mark and the other instructors made the history come alive was amazing. I wish I would have had teachers and professors with that much knowledge and charisma when I was in school.
I have some things to work on for the next shoot: I am still dragging wood with my index finger, I am still trying to strangle the forestock with my left hand and I need to keep a better shot count when it comes to the 400 yard targets.
I will be coming back to Appleseed, and I am bringing more friends.
Rob
Hi Everyone! Thanks for another GREAT Appleseed last weekend.
We had an awesome group of students. It was amazing to work with so many new shooters on Saturday... At the beginning of the day, you didn't even know how to load the rifle, let alone fire 10 shots in 55 seconds. But by the end of the day day, you were transitioning like champs!!
I have to give a huge shout out to Jeff and his family! You guys were awesome to work with.
IIT's - it's always a pleasure to work beside you. Cody, thanks for pushing me out of my comfort zone with the history presentation.
Justin - You have a great style and I learned many things from you.
Finally, thanks to Debby and the Rainbow Range for being such great hosts.
See you next time!
Dawn
I'm not as eloquent with the words as a lot of you are, but thanks to everybody for coming out!! It's always a good time at Rainbow, from the instructors to IITs to attendees. I'm glad I get to be a part of something so important, and I'm glad I get to share it with all of you!
Speaking of sharing, I took a couple (yes, two) pictures. Here they are!
Here's a picture of the line on Sunday:
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e240/ifphoto/2012-04-22140721.jpg)
And here's 4Posterity sending a few rounds downrange with an M1A, showing us all how it's done!
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e240/ifphoto/2012-04-22150906.jpg)
I hope to see everyone soon at another shoot!
I love it when Rainbow Range hosts an Appleseed event! And, I love it when the students are able to put everything together and go from not hitting the target on Saturday morning, to having a decent group by the end of the day. And, then to tighten it up even more on Sunday and be well on the way to Rifleman! Adrienne is the big success story of the weekend. Congrats on a successful weekend. I'm sure looking forward to seeing you make Rifleman!
I'm also looking forward to hearing about how, after exposure to Appleseed & shooting, our Aussie exchange student Bea singlehandedly gets the gun laws changed to the benefit of all Australia citizens. ^:)^ Wouldn't that be cool!
Thank you to everyone for coming out to Rainbow. You all made wonderful progress. And, thank you to my fellow instructors for sharing their knowledge and helping to keep it all safe.
See you in June!
Debby
Congratulations on scoring Rifleman Jeff O0
I believe of all the 7th steps #7 is the most difficult to master ;D Great job Sir
Welcome aboard ;)
Here are the photos from Saturday the 21st which Sheri took using my camera.
And, here's the rest of the photos...
I love the one of our Aussie foreign exchange student, Bea, receiving her Luther Blanchard patch.
enjoy,
Debby
Sorry it has taken so long to post this. I first want to thank all that attended and stuck it out through the heat on Saturday. Rob, thank you for taking your time to come out in period clothing and explain the intricacies of all of the equipment. I found it very interesting how they thought of how to camouflage themselves with their jackets. Adrienne it was great to see you smile with the loaner rifle and seeing it all come together for you. It was great shoot all around and I look forward to seeing all of the attendees, IIT's, Instructors and our shoot boss, Mark at another shoot soon. one more thanks is due all of those that stuck around both days to help pick up and to leave the range cleaner than we found it. Debby, thanks to you and the range for hosting another great event.
Norm
Big thanks to all the shooters that showed up! Huge thanks to Jeff for bring his entire family! Hope to see you bring so more new faces! Also congrats on becoming the newest rifleman!
Thanks to all the IIT's and instructors that participated! This event would have been no fun without you guys!
Also Hagen and Kenny where knocking on the riflemans door with scores of 189-206! Rifleman persists!!! :] see you guys at the next one!!
Bravo Jeff,
:bow: All hail the king of the 7th step! :bow:
Thanks everyone! We all had a great time, and the kids learned so much. This reply is so late because I was unable to register to the forum, kept trying, but finally gave up. After all this time I tried again and bingo. Hopefully someone from this shoot comes back and sees this :) I'll continue to spread the word!
Jeff
Persisitence could be a riflemans motto O0
Glad you did so and I enjoyed reading your 1st post .
Welcome aboard ^5