It was hot, it smelled funny, it was dirty... we wouldn't have it any other way (except when we would). Seven brave souls ventured out to Sunland, CA this past weekend for an Appleseed weekend. All showed tremendous spirit, determination and magnificent progress.
(http://www.gonejohnny.com/_AARs/0813_Sunland/line.JPG)
Ryan & Tamara: Sat only walk-on's. Neither had ever fired a rifle before. Tamara had never fired ANYTHING before. Both were shooting qualifying scores by the end of day. Smiles increasing in size, right alongside their abilities.
Stephen was also a Saturday only shooter (with the coolest camper truck you've ever seen... seriously). Stayed right with it the whole day and promised to be back again sometime soon. From qualifying at 100 in the morning to 300 by the afternoon, we'll all be more than happy to have him along for sure!
Another Sat-Only shooter Dawn was back for more instruction and range-time after having taken a few months off. Rusty in the morning, she was right back on track in no time at all.
Vincent, although having some technical difficulties early on - also stuck with is was is strongly within 10 or so points of shooting his Rifleman score by end-of-weekend. You've got to love a guy that stays up until 1AM dry-practicing the Saturday night of an Appleseed weekend. Persistence, certainly!
Previous shooter Jon brought along his father-in-law Marty this weekend as a birthday present. Even bought him a rifle and supplied the ammo. THIS is a SMART MAN right here... AND an extremely good example of spreading the message and getting people to our lines!
Focus, focus... Jon pulled it off! 217! BAM... R-I-F-L-E-M-A-N-!-!-!
(http://www.gonejohnny.com/_AARs/0813_Sunland/jonpatch.JPG)
It what is starting to be a tradition at our Sunland offering, Sunday afternoon saw some improvised field-positions using Instructor supplied rifles and ammo out to 125, 175 and 350-yards. All went at least 7 for 8 with the M1 rifle on their first try! Way to go, guys... I mean, we could say we knew that was going to happen... but still... you got it there, we just turned on the fire-hose!
Some more pics:
(http://www.gonejohnny.com/_AARs/0813_Sunland/jonberm.JPG)
(http://www.gonejohnny.com/_AARs/0813_Sunland/vincentberm.JPG)
(http://www.gonejohnny.com/_AARs/0813_Sunland/marty.JPG)
(http://www.gonejohnny.com/_AARs/0813_Sunland/rain.jpg)
Thank you to Gratefuldog, Ventra-Steve, cibGrunt and Foppish Dandy (who came by for a few hours Sunday afternoon) for allowing me the privilege of spending a weekend with them.
Till next time,
Favor Center!
- GoneJohnny
I hope everyone had as awesome of a time as I had. I'm stoked we had a opportunity on Sunday afternoon to break out some real military rifles and shoot full distance in improvised positions and prove the skills we learned earlier in the weekend really work in the field. The delay of the sound of ringing steel at a distance after taking the shot is most satisfying.
Jon, congratulations!!! The practice paid off with a skill set that will last a lifetime.(and a patch of course)! We're all looking forward to seeing you on the line again. I'll IM you some opportunities to continue to shoot with us, specifically an opportunity to break out your Garand and shoot it all the way out to 1,000 yards with the rest of us in November if you like. I promise you'll enjoy it.
Vince, you're shooting well and almost there. There's no doubt in my mind you'll qualify as riflemen on you next outing with us. We have shoots in Piru every month if you can make it.
Steve, first of all, loved your truck; I told my girlfriend all about it. You're a big guy, after we got your gear set-up for you, you were shooting well too. After the summer commitments, hope we can see you back with a friend.
Dawn, I know we'll see you again. It was my pleasure meeting you.
Steve
Jon... congrats, I knew you would get it done.
What a great group of hard working shooters. Seeing you push past the heat and dust and learn new skills with a rifle was amazing. Keep working at it. You all have the potential to shoot a Rifleman score.