A hardy bunch of 9 true Americans showed up on a steamy Florida weekend to learn some history and marksmanship. Considering the brutally hot conditions, the progress was quite remarkable as there was a huge improvement throughout. Many thanks to our intrepid instructor cadre: Smoakingun, Rambo Granny, Ridefun2, and Minutemom. You guys are the best!
Some of the highlights were finally giving the old orange hat of our newest Red Hat instructor in Florida a "proper" retirement. Congratulations to Smoak for doing that new shiny Red Hat proud, but if you want to save your orange hat, you will need a baggie. Over the weekend we saw two new Riflemen revealed: Greg and John. These are some men who know very well what they are about! Gary, I hope you and Joey can return for another Appleseed sometime in the cooler months. Bo, make sure that your trigger finger resists the urge to "dance" and remember, your front sight is your friend. Some extensive dry fire with relaxing and stretching will make the positions more tolerable, Steve. If you can get that front sight sharply focused, then you can put off buying a scope for a while longer. :-) Brandon, it was good to see you on the firing line again. There is a Rifleman within you striving to get out. Matt, after reviewing the Steady Hold Factors, spend some time dry firing and your groups will shrink. That 70+ year old rifle you were using will continue shooting better than either of us for many more years. Seeing you and John both shooting rifles older than any us, with bolt actions and iron sights, was a thing of beauty. Parker, it was great having you on the line and I do look forward to seeing you progress as a Rifleman. To everyone, practice your form (perfectly) in the living room and when you get to the range, the difference will be amazing. Don't forget to help spread the word so that our next shoot in Gainesville is bigger and better than ever.
Well, let's try this again since my post and all the pictures I uploaded must have crashed the system :P
It was another great weekend at Gainesville Target Range spent with the best people in the country - Appleseed folk! What a great bunch of guys showed up to hone their marksmanship skills and learn some American history. The improvement made by all on the line, despite the 100-degrees-in -the-shade weather, was a joy to behold, and all of us instructors went home well paid. They did our forefathers proud. Congratulations to Greg and John, our two newest riflemen. I sure do hope to see everyone again at a future event, maybe even to see some of you take an orange hat O0.
I have to agree with Bruce that seeing Smoak's orange hat dance all over the berm and get blown to smithereens was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend! It was inspiring to me, and I can't wait until it's my hat that is exploding ;D
Thank you to all the wonderful instructors as well. I feel like Appleseed is my extended family and it was great coming to the reunion! See you next time!
I'm going to post pictures in the next post so I don't lose this again, lol.
Learning prone postion
Holy crap was it hot!!!!!!!! Thank God for Bruce's ice water drencher (obligingly operated by smoakingun >:D)
Practicing standing position
Just.......awesome!
Congratulations John!!!!!
Greg, Janet got your picture - hopefully she'll post it!
Smoak,
Have u been workin out, or is it that new red hat? O0
Had a great time! All the instructors were great. Wonderful experience and I definitely want to do another one sometime. First I'm going to get a modern rifle :) Certainly recommending Appleseed to everyone I can.
-Greg
Some photos from the camera of Rambo Granny...
Greg, I might be afraid of what you could do with a "modern" rifle. That antique you were using seemed to do a pretty good job for you. As we like to say, "it's not the arrow; it's the Indian"...
QuoteCertainly recommending Appleseed to everyone I can.
7th stepping! O0
Chris & Trey:
And I thought it was hot when it hit 81 in Tok, Alaska this past weekend! ;D
If I remember my Gainesville days, 100 degrees is so hot even the cicadas stop singing!(?) And waves of heat rise off every patch of asphalt.
InfernoSeed, indeed!
God bless,
fisherdawg
Quote from: fisherdawg on July 02, 2014, 07:01:52 PM
And I thought it was hot when it hit 81 in Tok, Alaska this past weekend! ;D
Oh what I would have given for 81 degrees! We were all dragging by the end of the day!
Dragging by the end of the day? Speak for yourself; some of us were dragging much before then! :)
**)