Montpelier Virginia, November 17-18, 2012
Yet another sold out shoot, once again on the magnificent Range 1 belonging to the Cavalier Rifle and Pistol Club, the weather was great and the shooters were dedicated. When it was done it would be 2 more beautiful Fall days on the range. A mix of previous and new Appleseed shooters yielded 5 Riflemen by Sunday afternoon. 35 shooters started out on the road to rifleman on Saturday. Under the tutelage of SGTMACE, BD, ADAMSOD and DANGEROUS COOK and with the able assistance of DOGLOVERCHOW and HUZZACK the shooters made their way through Redcoats, sighters, "zombies" and AQTS; mastering slings and MOA and clicks, prone sitting and standing positions. 2 of our new riflemen scored it for the first time, 2 of our "repeat offenders" did it again and then there was Bob. Throughout the afternoon Sunday, during the "AQT Grind", Bob continued to post Rifleman scores until he topped out at 236. Yes, pressure was gently applied by the shoot boss and Bob was wearing a new hat before he left. Sunday also brought us a Rifleman returning to the call of the 7th step, Dan, a previous "repeat offender", helped on the line all day wearing his new headgear in that lovely shade of orange Much improvement was observed up and down the line but it was Kathy's "Eureka Moment" on the last AQT that raised her scores by about 20 points. That Rifleman's patch is waiting for her next time.
Boy, was this a great Appleseed! Of course it's always more fun when you're shooting well. The 236 on my 8th AQT included a FTF on the sixth shot of the third stage, so there is much room for improvement.
The instructor team did their usual outstanding job managing the event and providing personal instruction to the new shooters.
Two skills came to me on this one that made the difference in accuracy for me throughout Sunday:
1. focusing on the crosshairs of the scope as though they were the front sight (This was something Tim said during the sight-in circle-up);
2. trigger control, specifically just steadily increasing pressure and allowing the gun to fire, rather than pulling the trigger.
It was especially nice to see how many women (9, I think) and children participated in this shoot, as well as how many participants were obviously new to the shooting sports.
In terms of shoot management, I learned:
1. on a windy day, zip ties through holes in the cardboard backers work better than binder clips;
2. it would help to pad the wire with some cardboard strips around the stakes so that they do not chafe and cut through the wire.
Cathy will be back ASAP, possibly at Lynchburg on the 9th, to hunt down her patch.
Photographs of our new Riflemen are attached!
It's always a pleasure to have an Appleseed at Montpelier.
The line was full and I think every single shooter was putting all they had into the marksmanship AND the history.
Man, this stuff is fun.
I naturally enjoyed having my daughter at her first Appleseed.
Seeing her hit a high score of 194 had me playing the proud papa the rest of the weekend (and beyond).