As winter looms on the Colorado Front Range, we were lucky enough to wrap up the final Appleseed of the year with extremely mild weather at the Boulder Rifle Club.
As the sun broke over the Flat Irons, the temperature was crisp to start out Saturday, but the shooters on the line, a mix of new and returning Appleseeder's, did not let that deter them from practicing their marksmanship skills.
We moved quickly through instruction on day 1 as everyone on the line was shooting well and we began to see groups shrink very quickly as everyone practiced their sling use, prone positioning, 6 steps of firing the shot and natural point of aim. Zuke gave a rousing presentation on sighting in rifles and inches-minutes-clicks and after some "public math" as it quickly became known, everyone was dialed in and on target.
We heard riveting recounts of the events of April 19th, 1775 over lunch and jumped right back into the sitting and standing positions and transitions in the afternoon. Everyone was absorbing information like sponges and we moved quickly enough that we were able to squeeze in our first AQT and had two returning Appleseeder's, Chris and Bryson, both re-qualify as rifleman! Congratulations to both of them.
On Sunday, the Boulder crew returned determined to continue to improve their skills. Warm, mild weather persisted as the shooters practiced transitions, sling use, and NPOA and the AQT grind began. The rifleman's dance was in full effect and everyone talked targets and made incremental improvements to keep their groups tight and on-target. We had a quick lesson about field cleaning rifles as some folks started to experience failures to eject and feed during AQT drills. The afternoon Redcoat demonstrated undoubtedly that every shooter made big improvements from where we started on Saturday morning and I think it was safe to say everyone left on Sunday evening with the fire of liberty burning in their minds and a great satisfaction for all they had accomplished.
A big thank you to all of our shooters at this event. Your persistence through equipment issues, your great attitudes, open minds and hard work did not go unnoticed and it showed in the amount of improvement everyone made.
A big thank you to our team of instructors: Zuke, Black Russian, bri and christy for making the long trek from Denver and Colorado Springs to make this event happen, and a big thanks to our Shoot Boss: Luminous Rabbit for putting this event on. Another big thanks to the Boulder Rifle Club for hosting us at their fantastic facility! It was a great weekend!
It was a beautiful weekend in the foothills of Colorado. Good weather and good company!
And congratulations to Zuke on receiving his Red Hat! It was a long time in the making, but a rifleman persists!