We had a great mid-week event at Elk River Training Center in Pelham, TN this week! We had a total of 12 shooters, including 5 walk-ons. Most were experienced shooters, but several were using loaner rifles or new rifles, so they were in a bit of a learning curve. The weather was HOT! Ramblin' Wreck kicked off the event with the First Strike. We did a lot of instruction and dry fire drills in the morning and by afternoon we were seeing some decent groups. At lunch time we went inside to the Training Center's classroom to cool off and hear Coke Guy tell the Second Strike. In the afternoon we kept up a moderate pace and worked to keep hydrated in the 90+ degree temps. We finished up the day Tuesday in the classroom again with Overmountain Man giving the Third Strike.
Shooters arrived by 7:30 Wednesday morning and we got started before 8:00 to try to get ahead of the heat. After the safety briefing we, fired a Redcoat, taught transition to sitting/kneeling, and the standing position, and got in 2 AQTs before lunch. It was 95 degrees on Wednesday so we took an extended lunch break to give shooters an opportunity to cool off and get plenty of water. During lunch Ramblin' Wreck taught Known Distance and Coke Guy gave several Dangerous Old Men stories. We went back out and shot more AQTs in the afternoon. We didn't have any new Riflemen but we had some scores in the 180s. Around 3:00 the shooters were ready to call it a day. A couple of shooters had center fire rifles that they wanted to zero, so they brought those out and worked with those until about 4:00.
All the shooters expressed their desire to return and earn a Rifleman's Patch at a future event. Elk River is a great place to get all sorts of firearms training. Paul, the property manager at Elk River was one of our shooters this week and is looking forward to hosting more Appleseed events this fall. Ramblin' Wreck already has a KD on the calendar for Elk River on November 1st and 2nd.
The highlight of the week for me was receiving my Shoot Boss hat from my friend and mentor Ramblin' Wreck! May liberty increase! Huzzah! ^:)^
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This event was a "first" on two levels. It was the first 25 meter shoot at the Elk River Training Center in Pelham, TN. What a great facility. ^:)^ We look forward to scheduling many more events here including a KD I will be adding to the schedule for November 1-2 this year. Watch for that.
This was also the first event for Marty "Regulator" Tate as a full fledged Shoot Boss. He did a great job and I look forward to working more events to support him as he embarks on his Shoot Boss journey.
Ramblin' Wreck