I arrived at the range Saturday morning at 7:45 there were six cars waiting for someone to unlock the gate. People, who had preregistered, were eager to get started. By 8:45 sign in and was complete and at nine o'clock Believer and Dinky began the safety instruction, and we were off to the races. (Safety instruction, redcoats, six steps, use of sling, prone standing and sitting positions.)
We were expecting the temperatures to be in the mid to upper 90s and believe me, we were not disappointed. At times, the aroma of sunscreen seemed stronger than the smell of gunpowder.
There were more than a few shooters, who by the end of the day were knocking on the door of 210. During the last AQT on Saturday, somebody shot the bottom wire, and only one shooter, managed a riflemen score.
Sunday morning after the necessary target line repairs had been achieved four more shooters achieved riflemen scores. By the end of the day Believer had awarded a total of seven riflemen patches for the weekend.
One of them went to my baby boy who just the weekend before memorized the six steps spent one week dry firing by the numbers and shot his riflemen score on the first AQT Sunday morning. I think Believer ran five or six AQT's on Sunday and my baby boy scored rifleman on every one of them. Yeah, I'm little proud of him. Pa Rah
A hardy CONGRATS to all the new Rifleman, with a special nod to the Pa Rah offspring!
Good to see that Vale is on the map as a 'place that Riflemen are made'
Thanks for the word!
Wow Fantastic. ;D ;D
Way to go Oregon!
Congrats to all the new Riflemen.
Good show Pa Rah, Now to get you both on the road to your red hats. OR could use you as an instructor. MT may miss you though. Pat that boy of yours on the back for me and tell him I said good job, and keep up the heritage.
It was my first Appleseed, but it won't be my last. I had a great time, unlearned some bad habits and met some good people. Thanks for helping.
Drink coffee - Do stupid stuff faster with more energy.
We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.
There will be a $5.00 charge for whining.
These were a few of the sayings on the wall at the Starlight Cafe in Vale OR. You have to love a place like that! They tell it like it is. If you are ever in Vale, OR, stop by the Starlight Cafe, they have great home made pies. (It is one of the benefits of traveling with the AS program.)
Dinky Dao and I met at the Boise ID Airport Friday evening and drove over to Vale to check out the range. It is a beautiful place. 480 acres of hills, rock formations and sage-brush. Several pictures were taken and I hope that several will show up here soon!
We stayed at the Bates Hotel. Dinky stated that she was not going to stay if there was a woman in a rocker out front.
Sunday was 95 and windy. Sunday was 85 and windy.
There were some serious young men on the line. The hung in there, listened, learned and worked. Several of them made rifleman and several others were within 10 to 20 points away. We had two rifleman on Saturday. The were both high-power guys. We had 6 more on Sunday. Seven other shooters shot over 200, but were unable to quite get to 210.
One of the serious young men scored 235 with a borrowed LTR on Sunday and then about two hours later scored rifleman again with a borrowed M1A.
Overall we had 27 shooters on Saturday. On Sunday we had 1 new shooter and a total of 18.
That part of the county is open range, and the cows are everywhere! Plenty of cow-plops around, found out the dried ones make good markers for your foot so that you can regain your NPOA.
Special thanks to the folks at the range for helping and shooting with us! Also a special thanks to Pa Rah and Clodhopper, with out you guys it would have been a rough weekend. Many thanks to Pa Rah's wife for the lunch, it is such a big help to not have to worry about lunch. (The food tasted great as well!)
I encourage others who were at the shoot to jump in on this thread!
Oh yeeeeah..the Starlite Cafe...best pies in the world. ;D ;D ;D
Oatmeal pie ROCKS.
And every time I read that sign that said "Drink more coffee..." I'd start to laugh...it just never got old... :)
The weekend started out hot but engaging, as Believer got everyone in line and in focus. Talk about a great teacher. I was actually surprised by how much I learned from him. ;D Sunday cooled down a bit and by the afternoon, we started to have some fun with the targets.
Got to see some folks again in Vale (M14 trigger and his crew was there, PaRah and Clodhopper came to shoot but we put them to work ::)). Met some new shooters as well (PaRah's son Evan was there, Fire Captain Daniel came from California, Dr. Bob and Lou it was nice meeting you - got your email by the way of the nail gun by DeWalt that looks like an AR...too funny :D, the guy with the Century Arms AK 47 whom I was almost certain was going to shoot Rifleman with it (his groups were crazy awesome...with an AK...can you hear the shock in my voice??), the young guy from Idaho who tried to out run me in a looooong sprint to the latrine Sunday morning, the newly enlisted military recruit who was eager to learn marksmanship, the gentleman who told us Sunday morning that he actually practiced NPOA when he went to the restroom the night before (LOL!!!)...the list could go on and on. We even had a military recruiter on the line! After the shoot Saturday, folks lined up for a great photo out in front of the rock formations that lined the back side of the shooting range. Talk about a beautiful backdrop!
I was very surprised by the level of marksmanship right out of the gate. It was obvious we had a very exceptional group of shooters on the line in Vale. That was inspiring to see. Some of the older shooters who hit Rifleman on the first AQT (that is, after shooting every target prior with a near perfect score, mind you...even the sighter squares...) jumped in to help coach the remaining students (Oh yeah, you know what I was thinking there...Instructors in Training ;D :D ;) Ya better believe I was gonna try and rope'em in. :o)
Thanks Dave, for the use of the range. Talk about a beautiful place to shoot. Same to you PaRah and Claudhopper, for getting the range set up for us and for getting PaRah wife to bring that wonderful lunch everyone was served on Saturday and Sunday. It was yummy in my tummy...LOL!! Not to mention all the publicity, radio and newspaper ads you put out to get people to come to the shoot. Thanks a million. ;)
And yes, Believer, had there been an old lady sitting in a rocking chair in one of the windows at the motel, I was soooooo sleeping in the rental car... :o
Dinky Dao
p.s.
...I wanted to take a picture of that "Drink more coffee" sign so I could blow it up and tape it to the back of "The Guy's" car.... ;D ;D ;D
LOL!!!
As requested a couple more pictures from Vale.
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HOT DOG!!! You got me front and center in Picture #1! Wooo Whooo!
Welcome to the fourm Californian, After your post yesterday I thought it was you but the photo confirmed it.
Pa Rah's son Ethan, who earned his rifleman badge, is the man responsible for putting the M1A in the hands of the minuteman.
Beliver, nice to meet you. Really got a kick out of the story of Jack and I always thought he was the kind who would name a good dog something like that.
To you folks who accused me of working at Vale appleseed, it was Dave and Rod who set it up all I did was hang around and slough off and burn a few rounds.
Thanks all for the great shoot. I had a blast... I am even going out this weekend with my buddy to shoot the AQT's again. Thanks for all the awsome instruction.
BTW wheres my rifleman patch Believer? Did you forget to mail it to me?
I was wearing my teashirt and a couple of WWII vets handing out flowers stopped and chatted with me. I could sense that they were glad to see the younger 20 somethings learning the craft.
I may try and make it up to the spokane WA shoot later in the year if I can convince my father to go.
Thanks all for the great shoot.
How far is Vale from Portland? Got a nephew in Portland that, with a little encouragement, might join you.
colycat
Colycat, Vale is directly east of portland about 9 hours. Might as well be in idaho. haha. All the way over by Ontario. might be better off to get him to the Castel Rock, Wa shoot in august. Or come shoot with us in yakima in october.
jerry