Enthusiasm and anticipation were high in advance of the Appleseed Clinic scheduled for Saltwaters Shooting Club in St. Augustine on the Memorial Day weekend. 17 pre-registrations with 8 youth shooters and lots of family groups. A motivated crew of instructors consisting of Red Hats Florida's sovereign State Coordinator B.C., TomM1Thumb (traveling nearly 100 miles to help out with all the youth), Heavyduty77, and Theri were joined by IIT EdRee.
Despite weather forecasts for possible storms 15 of the pre-registrants showed up on Saturday. Checkin, Safety Briefing, and 8 loaner rifles later the Redcoat target revealed the need for instruction the Appleseed way. The Fire Hose of Instruction was dragged out and the shooters were fully immersed. Before shooting the squares target we covered Dry Practice and every shooter was given personalized coaching during a group dry practice session. Once we started the squares, every single shooter was shooting 8 minutes or less within 3 squares. Talking Targets and IMC were explained and as the groups moved onto the black squares we progressed through the intricacies of seated/kneeling positions, magazine changes, transitions, multiple targets, Rifleman's cadence and trigger reset. The First Strike was presented at lunch. We progressed through the Green target practicing Stages 1, 2, and 3. before breaking for the Second Strike. We then launched into the AQT. While no new Rifleman were revealed, Art had a very respectable 209 - despite only using 38 rounds (only loaded 8 rounds for Stage 1....) So close. After the 3rd Strike we shot the Redcoat again where much improvement was revealed. After the Benediction, several shooters wanted to stay to shoot "One More AQT" - AWESOME. While no one shot the score, the motivation was inspiring.
Sunday was another story. 8 shooters showed up with anticipation despite the weather conditions forecast. Alas, it was not to be. We had barely begun before a walk on named Alberto arrived with sheets of rain that washed the squares targets off the backers and made the backer numbers bleed their colors down the backers. We tried to wait it out and gave instruction, inspiring stories of courage and individual actions on April 19, but as the rain persisted the sovereign State Coordinator viewed the weather radar and advised the shooters that there appeared to be several more hours of the same. We offered to stay and shoot for any one who wanted, but after looking at the muddy puddles that were around (and on) the shooting positions, not a single shooter wanted to continue. We gave the benediction, cleaned up and, sadly, called it a day.
Dry Practice, Dry Practice Dry Practice. Persist. We will see you at another event when there is better weather.
in Liberty,
FLawyer
Rifleman, Instructor & Shoot Boss.
Great students and good times! Saturday was overcast but still a fine day for marksmanship and history. On Sunday we tried to shoot in a tropical storm, we found it to be less than optimal to say the least! Thanks to my fellow instructors and Saltwaters gun club! See you next month!
One of our shooters misplaced a knife at the shoot. If you found a knife please advise.