Our second ever Appleseed Shoot at the Marion Road Gun Club was every bit as good as the first, if not better. The Instructors found a few familiar faces amongst the shooters, which is usually a good sign of past experiences, and we also met some new-to-Appleseed folks, which is also a good sign of past experiences. In fact, this time at MRGC in Macon, GA our firing line was almost full of eager shooters, ready to drink from the Fire Hose of Appleseed Knowledge.
We started our Saturday morning with the usual Safety Briefing and went right in to the first Hits Count Target (Redcoat). 15 of the 23 shooters showed themselves to be effective at least out to 100 yards. By the Saturday p.m. Redcoat 17 of the 21 remaining shooters had an effective range of at least 100 yards. Well Done!! :---
We heard the First Strike of the Match to start our lunch break and then Scar(IIT1) gave us a heart-felt Second Strike. Well done, Sir! Not to be outdone, our afternoon break brought us the Third Strike by his better half Scarlett(IIT2). Well done, indeed! The Scar/Scarlett family is (at least to me) the epitome of Appleseed. On the rare weekend that they don't have to work they grab a bucket and continue bailing out the sinking ship of Liberty. I know they are not the only ones who make these sacrifices but they are the ones that I see most often. It is refreshing and encouraging. Thank you for stepping up and stepping out of your comfort zone to present the history of our Founders.
Saturday ended with a presentation of eight Youth patches and one new Rifleman patch. Congratulations Christian!! with a score of 225 backed up by a 217.
Sunday was another beautiful day and saw the return of 13 shooters. The morning Redcoat tallied 12 shooters effective to at least 100 yards and one target was actually cleared! Huzzah! Don G.!! After some squares targets for review and sighters we began the AQT Grind. At about 4:00, we moved the line back to 100 yards and the shooters were able to see first-hand that a 4MOA shooter at 25y is a 4MOA shooter at 100y.
Amidst the smoke and dust that Sunday afternoon one target stood out among the others. Andrew, one of our young shooters was able to achieve an impressive 210 on his AQT. :bow: :bow: His Rifleman Patch was presented by DrJohn while I provided the "North Bridge Water" baptism for his exceptional accomplishment.
The many young shooters this weekend were a joy to be around. Ethan was our designated sharpshooter on Saturday. He and his father left a little early Saturday afternoon and I learned after they left that Ethan had sustained a significant head injury only the day before. He shot his rifle with much enthusiasm and no complaint in spite of the headache he had all day long. You are welcome on our line anytime, young man. :)
Another young shooter went from a score of 42 on his first AQT to a 142 a short time later. Way to go Allen G.!! After a number of 146's in a row, Rebecca S. came up with a 176 and a big smile ;D! That is all the payment this Instructor needs to be a part of these events. Will N. was the pillar of persistence shooting his centerfire all weekend. Keep it up and I'm sure your shoulder will feel a might different dry firing! Thank you to the others as well, Eli, Garrett, Luke, David, Owen, Micah, Kyle and Brandon. It would be an honor to see you all again at another shoot soon. :)
Thank you to the wonderful Instructors. I say it every time because it is true, you all are the finest people I know. Thank you for making the ShootBoss job as easy as it can possibly be.
A testament to the shooters of this Macon event: I arrived at the range with a shoot box full of GI Web Slings, but by the time we left Sunday afternoon the shooters had cleaned me out and I still had others wanting to purchase their own sling. Time for me to order another dozen! I see that as a sure sign of future Riflemen. They are determined and they will PERSIST!!
Remember to dry fire and the Seventh Step! Let's fill those lines and awaken more sleepy Americans!
Morpheus
I think the shoot went very smoothly, and the shooters did an excellent job of following the safety rules as they were improving their marksmanship skills. The lessons on and discussion of Liberty were, as usual, exceptional. A good time all around. :)
Here is a shot of the line from Saturday. Picture taken during prep.
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The Rifleman patch that was earned on Saturday. Congratulations to Christian, and to Dr John.
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Now that is one heck of a musket!
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Marion Road Gun Club once again went out of their way to make sure we had a great shoot. We're always grateful for such support.
The shooters were eager to learn, never complained and persisted throughout the warm weekend. Vern and Phillip applied skills and progressed very well. Young David handled that rifle like he was born with it. It was good to see Dan do so well again. Keep practicing perfectly guys.
Three ladies (Julie, Courtney and Karen) were the ones to get all three shots on the 400 yard Redcoat target Saturday afternoon. Shoot like a girl...if you can!
Cameron was oh so close to shooting expert with two scores of 208. Hang in there buddy. A rifleman persists.
I can't wait for the December shoot!
What an honor to be among such outstanding Patriots last weekend. As mentioned, young Ethan had a significant head injury the previous day and came with stitches and head dressing, but showed magnificent persistence. Young David, in the middle of the line, also did an outstanding job of listening to instruction and closely adhering to the Safety Rules as he progressed along the road to Rifleman. Rebecca, who could barely hit the paper on her first Redcoat target Saturday morning, was scoring consistently in the 140s to 160s by Sunday afternoon, and her big smile was proof that shooting is just downright fun! There were too many wonderful and gallant students for me to commend each and every one, but we said that the instructors get paid only by the improvement in marksmanship that our students exhibit, and we were paid abundantly last weekend. My commendation and thanks to you all. Some of you were only a whisker from that 210 score milestone. Persist!
Remember to continue to dry fire, and to spread the message of Liberty. We look forward to seeing all you fine people again, and soon.
DrJohn
I had a really great time this weekend. We had a great bunch of shooters that were all very safe and eager to learn marksmanship and more about liberty. It was in the high 80s all weekend and we were in direct sun, but I didn't hear one shooter complain or ask when we were going to have a break and all were attentive during the histories. We really couldn't have asked for a better bunch.
More pictures, better late than never.