Full line this weekend on the Escambia Gun Club Range, the weather was warm and fine, splendid AppleCore Alchemist, and the shooters unusually amenable to coaching. New Riflemen - women and men!
Photos.
New Riflemen from Saturday (no way to explain why Saturday follows Sunday in Computer World, but oh well) . . . and hats off to our crackerjack IITs, who did a great job in the heat and the sand . . .
And (not finally either) it seems that JustKim and GunJunkie squeaked through Shoot Boss In Training, ran the show, answered every suggestion with "Well, make it happen," and generally proved their worth 10 times over, as proven by the increases in Redcoat scores day by day. Congratulations JustKim and GunJunkie!
Chaos07 and ChileRelleno proved themselves yet again as fine instructors, and set the pace for coaching shooters to Rifleman status. And Lucky Lori provided graceful charm and quiet authority throughout. When the shoot suddenly went to 24 pre-reg shooters plus a handful of walk-ons, we had the right crew for a great result.
What a great weekend to be out and at an Appleseed, beautiful weather and great people.
I added my son to the roster and he made five, I looked the next day and wham! Twenty four kindred souls.
It is my understanding that Alchemist is man that makes these turnouts happen, not too mention the setup and tear of the "80 yard and 1/4 inch" range and coordination with the hosting range, Escambia River Gun Club.
HUZZAH!
Saturday morning was kind of daunting with 24 or so rowdy unruly shooters, at least eight or nine (8-9) of which were young kids.
These kids turned out to be, in my fatherhood educated opinion, pretty well behaved and teachable.
The Goon Squad... Eeerrr... I mean the Instructors Cadre, soon whipped them into a semi cohesive group of mostly attentive and eager to learn Appleseeders before lunch.
The Noteworthy
A senior gentleman was with his three(?) nieces, he was no slouch as he was shooting ragged one hole groups with regularity and is an experienced and patched Rifleman.
His nieces weren't so great, but were very focused and learned quickly.
And guess what? Two of those girls earned those coveted Rifleman Patches.
One young woman in particular, Rebecca (?), was considered least likely to earn a patch.
But some serious one on one instructing by one of our best, three different rifles and a few flavors of ammo, she finally made it.
Yep, the program works.
One young man by the name of Bob (?), worked his tail off too and earned his Rifleman's patch.
He put blood, sweat and tears into it... Ok maybe not tears, but he did staple his hand and get blood on his target.
Some one always has to staple their hand, right?
Not So Noteworthy
Several shots after rang out during the Cease Fire call, but none so blatant as to squeeze one off after the third call.
A couple instances of bad muzzle control and a Father who copped a bit an attitude when I caught him trying to take a rifle off the line unannounced/unescorted/uncased but at least it had been safed.
I learned that even having a cheat sheet to read off of, makes no difference if you don't bother to read it.
That I'm somewhat easily distracted and embarrassingly failed to follow through clearing my line properly, leaving my RSO's standing at their ends of the line.
That knowing how to do something personally does not qualify one to instruct others in it.
My greatest personal challenge will be learning how to teach, how to observe the big picture of SHF, 6 Steps and NPOA, and spot the problem(s). That and getting my fat arse/bad back into any of the seated positions.
Thank you for y'alls patience with me.
Has the idea been considered to construct several "clip on" ( using duct tape) laser bore sights to a block of wood (grooved on one side to fit a 22 barrel), so that shooter and instructor could see exactly what quality of NPOA the shooter is able to acquire? Duct taping the laser sight to the shooter's rifle barrel allows the shooter perhaps a more meaningful grasp of a dead-still NPOA vice "timing" his NPOA. Having 4 or 5 clip on bore sights might be faster and more meaningful than the instructor holding the card in front of the sight. Cost would be minimal.
One third of the adults were women and three of the five new patches went to them. One of the young ladies that scored Riflewoman was an intern from Germany and until a week previous had never held a rifle.
An outstanding weekend at the range. We had a full line with a wide range of rifles and ages. Hats off to young ones they did a great job. As seems to be par for the coarse the women out did the men, might have something to do with listening a little better. Thank you Alchemist for the great numbers, the range set-up and everything else, fantastic job. A big thanks to Engineer Shooting, Lucky Lori, Adobe Walls, and all the other hats, none of this could happen without you. A special thanks to Engineer Shooting for the great history and it's skillful delivery. Congratulations to my wife, JustKim on her new green hat, you worked hard for it.
Lets do it again soon.
Congratulations to Kim and Chuck for another great shoot boss in training event. The line was packed with students. The ladies ruled and outperformed the men . Great job The men did well also so keep working at it and come back in October and "shoot like a girl if you can " Thanks for all the hard work of the instructors Ken Richard Tim Chili Duane Bob Kim and Chuck . (hope i did not leave anyone out ) The weekend could not have run so smoothly and safely without everyone. Hope to see everyone back in October.
Lucky Lori
I came down from TN. for this event. I brought with me 3 young people, Erika, Kristen and Bob. Not all experienced shooters, yet thanks to good instructors all 3 earned their Rifleman patch. Had a great time, met some wonderful people. And although I am being ribbed about being called "A senior gentleman"(truth is truth) by Chile Relleno it was worth it! Thanks Again, hope to see y'all in October.
This was a good safe shoot with amazing progress by all. -- 5 new riflemen (women), 4 of which were at their first Appleseed! Like I said AMAZING! The weather, the instruction, the learnable attitudes were all wonderful! Erika showed up determined to score and persisted until she did. Rebecca went from never touching a rifle to scoring rifleman in a week's time - I was SO impressed with her persistence. Kristen made it look easy - impressive, and Bob watching both of the girls score was determined to do the same. Joel scored the first day - CONGRATS! All others adult and children all did an amazing job - Thanks so much to Chaos and Chili --GREAT JOB! and of course thanks to Ken, Lori, Richard, and Bob!!
CONGRATS also to Gunjunkie! Thanks for everyones support and look forward to seeing everyone again.
HUZZAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not much more can be said that hasn't already been done so above. Thanks to Engineer shooting and Lucy Lori for another great shoot. It was a pleasure working with Alchemist, Cadman, Just Kim, Gunjunkie and ChileRelleno again.
Most important it was great to work with so many shooters! Looking forward to seeing you all again at the next seed.
:F