We had a great time this past weekend in Nappanee, IN. The weather was perfect, we had 7 motivated shooters, "September Flies/October Flies", great instructors, and two new riflemen. You can't ask for anything better than that.
Congratulations two Scott and Dennis on scoring rifleman. You guys rocked it! We had a couple of others that I was sure was going to get it done but couldn't quite get over the hump. Hang in there guys! A rifleman persists! You'll get there sooner rather than later I am sure. Kudos to Hailey, our youngest shooter. She learned how to handle her rifle safely and by the end of Sunday was shooting pretty good groups. I expect she will make rifleman one day as well.
A big thank you to my instructors who took time from busy schedules to instruct at this event. You are the best!
I know a bunch of pictures were taken so let's get 'em posted up!
The third time is the charm, I guess.
Thank you so very much to Graywolf, Tinman, and Pinkie (sp?) for the instruction, guidance, history, and keeping everyone safe while still keeping it fun. You truly have to be dedicated to the cause to volunteer your free time to help others and I greatly appreciate it. This was my third Appleseed and I've had nothing but good experiences, which speaks volumes about the volunteers and attendees.
I really enjoyed the bonus of being able to shoot some steel targets, too. Being a fairly new shooter, that was my first time shooting steel and it was a blast, especially the game we played with the tree target. Thank you!
Also, thank you to the Nappanee Conservation Club for hosting and allowing us to use their facilities.
I'm relieved to have finally earned a rifleman patch. Thanks Graywolf for having us try a rapid fire AQT - I've never been a great test taker and it did seem to help break the mental block I was having. I'm glad I was able to follow up later and shoot rifleman again on a normal AQT, too. While I've got a ways to go with being more consistent, it gives me hope for better scores in the future.
I was a disappointing 1/2" from clearing a redcoat for the first time (missed the bucket shot to the left) so I've got that to look forward to, along with dragging my daughter to an event in a couple of years.
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I wanted to add that ever since I missed scoring rifleman at Nappanee back in April, I'd been working on developing an AQT practice app for Andriod. I used the app leading up to this event to help practice all the fundamentals I'd learned in my two prior Appleseed courses and it really helped. Between practicing the various positions, dry fire, transitions, mag changes, timings, etc., it seemed to make me feel a ton more comfortable at the line, which I think improved my score.
I also felt like I wanted to try to give something back to the Appleseed community after seeing how great an organization it is and how dedicated the volunteers are, and, being a software engineer by trade, it seemed to make sense.
For anyone who's interested, here's a video demo of the app - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyZSjKZBU3w
And the full thread with info/download link - https://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=51966.0
I'm also working on an app to help with scoring AQTs... more on that later!
Thanks again, all,
Eighty (Scott)
This was also my third appleseed shoot.
And i just wanted to reach out and let you know that the reason i was not there on Sunday was on account of my back. It was tight as a drum. I spent the day in bed.
And i had no way of getting ahold of anyone. Please let the other orange hats know why i was gone.
And Greywolf i have never heard you repeat your history lessons that you give us each appleseed shoot. Its always new material. And you do have your delivery and pause down to a science .
Thank you all for your guidence and patience with me.
Dennis B
Eighty, I have a spreadsheet tab I would share with you to score targets.
MCZplus (Mike)