One of the first public Appleseed Pistol Clinics in the west is in the books and was a great success! Pikes Peak Gun Club was once again the location for ten of us to get together to embrace our unique American heritage and sharpen our skills as pistol shooters. We had one shooter drive all the way from Texas and we later discovered it was none other than KProctor. He had disguised himself by signing up as a shooter for the event and it was our great pleasure to finally meet the instructor who seems to be hitting every state in the Appleseed southwest region! We also had Gayle load up the motor home once again and drive across the state to spend the day with us working hard to improve her pistol. In the end we only had one shooter who was actually from Colorado Springs. Everyone else had to put in some miles to be a part of the event and the motivation definitely showed on the firing line!
We kicked off the day as a group reviewing the safety procedures we would observe and then everyone stepped up to show us the basic controls on their pistols and determine how they would dry fire the upcoming exercises (and also our revolver shooter Karin!) We practiced some handling and pistol manipulation until everyone was safe and then we dived into the fundamentals - stance and grip, firing the shot and natural point of aim. Groups started to get smaller and we moved on to controlled pairs, shooting with one hand and transitioning between targets.
Lunch was spent enjoying a meal together and talking. We talked about the American Revolution and discussed the men and women that would be there at the very beginning of the American War for Independence on April 19th, 1775. It's a privilege to sit down with such a liberty-minded group and savor our unique heritage.
After lunch we were back on the line, learning immediate action items to deal with malfunctions if they should occur in an emergency when off the range and then the basics of empty pistol reloads. We finally got our first look at the challenging Appleseed Pistol Qualification Test - The PQT. No one claimed the test was too easy!
- - - to be continued - - -
We took a break in the afternoon for the Gonzales Pistol Challenge. Okay, I just made that up, but we did have a little "throw down" and the top shooter went home with the famous Gonzales Flag! Yovanni was unstoppable on the line and would go home with the honors!
Most of our group with the famous flag
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We continued with the PQTs, and everyone kept making solid improvements on both their shooting and, more importantly, their safe pistol handling. Tom was the first shooter to make the score and earn his Pistoleer™ patch. And this was fresh on the heels of earning his Rifleman's patch at our last rifle event in Colorado Springs - well done!
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Soon after, Yovanni passed 210 and took his place amongst the Colorado Pistoleer™s.
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Several other shooters were so close to the score, that we actually stayed a little latter to give them a chance to cross the line. KProctor made multiple runs over 200 with his centerfire, but always just shy of the 210 mark. It was a heartbreaker but KProctor knows all about persisting and was undeterred. Greg's score was also climbing steadily all day and I hope to be there when the patch is earned!
Everyone made solid improvements and I look forward to joining all of you on the line again a future event. Let's get out there and share that spark of liberty with our fellow Americans.
I hope everyone will share any other pictures you might've taken, as well as any comments.