This was ONE GREAT APPLESEED! Thanks to Brokenlock Longrifles Gun Club for hosting us. Thanks to the students who came out on this chilly weekend to fill the range that the Club generously provided. And thanks to the Ohio instructor crew for the dedication and professionalism that made the event a success!
Weather conditions were "not optimal", really just BARELY above Winterseed conditions. The students worked tirelessly to improve their marksmanship, and succeeded brilliantly - warming the hearts of their hypothermic instructors. They listened attentively to the history presentation (or maybe it was just the COLD keeping them awake?).
When the smoke had cleared and the rattle of gunfire had faded into the twilight on Sunday, we had found FIVE patriotic Americans who "know well what they are about", and had three more who scored over 200! Heck, TWO cleared their Redcoats in the dim light of this late fall evening! Jim3 took top honors with a score of 229 with his AR15 (and later kept the Line Boss dancing with hot brass from his Dragunov). Jeff (first time shooting? Really?), Dan, and Garl also took home Rifleman patches. And last, but not least, Emily earned her patch and avoided a dip in the creek by posting a 211.
Congratulations to all for persisting and prevailing in adverse conditions. We need more Americans like you, so come back - and bring your friends!
Congratulations to all!
It was a great time! I think my toes are still attempting to warm up. Note to self, steel toed boots in freezing temps is a terrible idea. In the future I will make time to clean up my winter hunting boots first. It was awesome to watch the progress of the shooters as the weekend progressed. Everyone made the best of the temps and all left with a smile on their face. I saw many people go from nervous and apprehensive to really knowing what they are about. Being my first time in an orange hat, I think the best part for me was watching the development of confidence the students showed as the weekend went on. I was especially proud of Jeff who had never shot a rifle before, and walked away Sunday as a rifleman with a score of 227! Huzzah!
While the time on the line was fantastic, the heritage was just as good. EZ3 made the strikes relate-able and held the attention of the entire group. Mr. Happy's "performance" of the Dangerous Old Man Samuel Whittemore was a site to see, and I will definitely be borrowing some material as I learn to tell those stories myself.
Thank you to the students who came out, and to the instructors and IITs (EZ3, Corvette, Tube Sniper, MrHappy, KAH) who were very informative and patient with me. It was a good feeling to end the weekend with more friends than I started with. I look forward to seeing you all again soon.
First kudo's to EZ3 for border raiding from PA to help us as shoot boss. If we can return the favor, just beat the muster drum and we will be there. One of the shooters kept everyone on the positive side of the weather by replying to each complaint about the cold with.... "..but hey it's not raining!"
The trains the passed by the range had the courtesy to come during teaching sessions or during prep so we didn't have to interrupt any courses of fire to wait for them. Everyone on the line worked very hard on their fundamentals Sunday morning and it showed in the results Sunday afternoon.
I look forward to future Wooster shoots. Huzzah, Brokenlock.
Corvette
PS Tip to future roommates with EZ3, take your shoot muffs with you to the room. Saves you the trouble of getting them from your car in your shorts at midnight. Alternatively, be sure to fall asleep first. :-)
Yes, it was very gratifiying to hand out 5 Rifleman patches to Jeff, Dan and especially Jim2, Garl and Emily. It's been several events now with them and it's like seeing my "kids" graduating from college. I'm soooo proud of them, sniff,sniff.
It's always a pleasure to work with EZ3 and Tubesniper and a job-well-done to our IITs Corvette and GabeC. Let's not forget KAH's cameo apperance on Saturday, always a pleasure.
What makes this event all the sweeter is the fact that we aren't permitted to start shooting until 12 noon on Sundays at Brokenlock, add in the time change and we had mighty few hours for our pilgrams to win those patches.
Weekends like this one is why I do this.
Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah!
Garl AND Emily! Riflemen!!!! Congrats to the others also-but I have great memories of working with them, and Emiliy's brother at previous Appleseeds) Great job!
Emily, are you ready to shoot the M1 again??
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