It was a soggy weekend in Gainesville, but even the prospect of slogging through a mini pond to reach the target line on Saturday could not stop our 5 students from staying to improve their marksmanship skills and learn about their heritage as a nation of riflemen. The first Redcoat target on Saturday showed there was much improvement to be made, and all 5 students got down to work with teachable attitudes and zero complaints.
No riflemen were uncovered this weekend, but I have no doubt that if Chris, Nate, Derrick, Paul, and Tess continue to practice what they learned, they will achieve rifleman status. I know this because we went from only 3 shooters having a maximum effective range of 100yd on Saturday morning, to all 5 shooters having a maximum effective range between 200 and 400yd, with 4 making the shingle shot on Sunday afternoon! Now that's what I call improvement!
Nate, Derrick, and Tess chose to forgo more AQTs on Sunday afternoon in order to shoot out to 100yd, which was a great way to see that what works at 25m also works at greater distances. After a little trial and error with come ups, all 3 were able to make solid hits in the black. Way to go guys!
Thanks so much to the instructor crew that made this shoot so successful! Henry, Chuck, Kim, and Will, thanks for making the trip from out town. We loved having you. Smoak and Kyle, you are like my backbone, and thanks for helping me set up on Friday Kyle. Jean, how is it that everything just runs so much more smoothly when you are there? Is it the coffee and donuts? Nah, it's just your magic. And finally, thanks to my hubby Sid for his support, and for coming out to shoot Kyle's AK! It doesn't get much more fun than that!
It was nice to be in Gainesville again for some good-ol' heritage and marksmanship. Minutemom and kylemason were familiar faces, but it was my first time working with smoakingun, stoneknives, gunjunkie, justkim, and greendragons.
The weekend got off to a dreary start, but a handful of patriots young and old decided to stick with it anyways. It's always heartwarming to see anybody show up to these events at all, but there's an added layer of pride when it happens despite adverse weather. There were no summer soldiers or sunshine patriots anywhere to be found!
:F
The shooters did GREAT! Teachable attitudes are the #1 nontangible thing needed for these events, and everybody had one. I've seen individuals make drastic improvements before, but I've never seen a whole line make drastic improvements... until now! Nobody quite made Rifleman score, but there were some really solid scores going on. Keep it up (aka DRY FIRE) and Appleseed will be running out of patches to hand out!
Thanks as always to the Appleseeders who give of their time to make this happen (and to greendragons for making it happen beneath cover, with free coffee and donuts for all.. seriously where would we be without her), and special thanks to our shooters for making it all worthwhile!
Thanks again to all the instructors that volunteered their time to run this shoot. Nate, Derrick, and I had a great time. It was good seeing Smoak again, and proves again the dedication of the volunteers that donate their time and knowledge to a great program. I will definitely be working on all the pointers that were given to me this weekend and will be looking forward to the next shoot; I want that Rifleman patch!
Until next time,
Chris
BTW, I have ordered a copy of Paul Revere's Ride...
O0
It was a great shoot in Gainesville! Despite the crappy weather Saturday morning, Chris, Nate, Derrick, Paul and Tess stuck is out for what ended up being a beautiful weekend! Lots of improvement was made by all shooters and I know each one will earn the Rifleman patch with persistence. It was great working with Chris, an awesome shoot boss, Kyle and Will who are both well on their way to becoming red hats, and Henry, Smoak and Chuck, who are all awesome and knowledgeable red hats - and especially Jean - she is the world's best blue hat -- she definitely goes above and beyond the call of duty!! Thanks to the Gainesville Target Range for their hospitality - what a great range and great support! We definitely look forward to participating in other shoots in Gainesville.
Mighty fine work my friends! O0