Pistols Clinic, March 26-27, Toledo-Curtice at Wolf Creek Sportsmen's Association will forever be known as the "Polar Pistol" Event.
1st day, Saturday, we had 5 eager to learn Pistol shooters braving the rain, snow and sustained 20 MPH Northwest wind, 40 degree temps along with wet muddy range.
The tireless Appleseed support team for the event, took on mother nature by installing elevated platform to shoot our event, canopies with sides to block the wind, unfortunately the heaters would not stay lighted due to the constant wind blowing them out. So, the event had numerous in club house warm up brakes that gave an opportunity to hear history and work on the basic inside.
Our shooters prevailed and overcame adversity of what mother nature was giving the event. They used the advantage of working on basics to the active range that showed they will overcome the weather. The day proceeded with shooters putting their learned knowledge to practice. By end of day 1 we were on time with a practice PQT and ready for the warm hotel rooms.
Day 2, started out with promise of no rain, but the temperature did not move over 28 degrees with noted feels like temperatures of 16 degrees F with biting wind from the Northwest across Lake Erie at 18 MPH. By midmorning, our transplant California father & son, gave in to the cold temperatures and could no longer feel their hands. The cold temperatures continued to affect the ammo, and mechanics of remaining pistols for the rest of the day. The shooters couldn't put enough hand warmers in their ammo or pockets to keep all the pistols & hands functioning properly.
The "Polar Pistol" ended with Josh, at his first Pistol event, getting his Pistoleer™ patch with a 211 and Rob requalifying with a 213.
Congratulations.
Thanks to Wolf Creek Range, the support team: Slowbutsure; Slow and Steady, Chico, AaronIDC, B.T.O. and club member Mark for their support. Must also include our shooters who supported our set up and tear down every day: Rob, Josh, Jeff, Richard & Kyle. Thank You
Great event, congrats to all. Corvette
One new Pistoleer™ and one re-qualified Pistoleer™. Great job on a cold, wet miserable weekend to be outside all day!
Can anyone explain why phone pictures sometimes get rotated the wrong direction when uploaded to the forum? I always download the pics to a computer and then upload them to the forum. They are correctly oriented when I look at them on the computer but once uploaded they are turned 90 degrees.
How the heck do we fix a picture after it has been uploaded?
Smart phones are the usual culprit, where they take all pictures in the same orientation, then use some internal data from the phone's position sensors to "fix" them so that they're upright. Since the photos aren't on your phone or computer anymore, that data isn't available, and the photos revert to their original orientation. You can't fix a photo once it's been uploaded to the forum (other than deleting them), but there are a couple of ways to make sure that uploaded photos come out good:
- If you have photo editing software, that can fix the rotation, as well as crop the frame and tame the resolution down to a size that's manageable.
- You can also use a photo hosting service (for free). Mrs. Smith made a nice tutorial here: https://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=61535.0 (https://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=61535.0)
just want to say thanks had a great time even in the 16 degree weather :--- :--- :---
Quote from: BTR harley on March 29, 2022, 05:42:04 PM
just want to say thanks had a great time even in the 16 degree weather :--- :--- :---
It was good to have you with us - glad you made the trip.
Maybe next time you come down it will be warmer . . .
Maybe
If only we could control the weather!
Great persistence in adverse conditions.
Quote from: Shep on March 30, 2022, 09:02:29 AM
Great persistence in adverse conditions.
Very true, Shep.
I have the utmost admiration and respect for those pistol shooters that attended both Toledo-Curtice and Piqua and displayed the dedication and perseverance to overcome a weekend of sub-freezing temperatures. I tip my Orange Hat to each one of them.
Thanks to all the instructors who braved the harsh weather along with us shooters. Thanks to Meadow for the numerous tips, and encouragement he provided.
The hot lunch both days was a real treat and most appreciated.
I'll see you all again in May as my quest continues.
Jeff
Where- Wolf Creek Sportsmans Association - Toledo-Curtice, OH
What- Project Appleseed - Pistol Clinic
When- March 3/26-3/27, 2022
Who- mooster - an alumni of several Appleseed rifle shoots. I have taken a fair number of pistol courses over the past 10 years. I try to hit the range every other week and occasionally take part in 2-gun matches (but don't do that well!)
Gear- newer gun for me. M&P40 2.0 but using a Storm Lake 9mm conversion barrel. Slide was milled by ATEI for the Aimpoint ACRO P2. I only had 200-300 rounds thru this gun before this class as I'm transitioning away from the gun I've carried for 10 years (M&P 9C with RMR).
Why did I take the class- I'm a huge proponent of the Appleseed program and have brought many friends and family members to the rifle events. I was excited to hear there was a pistol curriculum and wanted to learn new pistol techniques and reinforce old ones.
What I Expected From the Class- I expected a course covering great fundamentals while picking up a good dose of history. I was looking forward to hearing the new stories added to the Appleseed curriculum that focused on pistols. Too much of history is passed over in school curriculums and I believe it is critical to learn the stories of individuals that contributed to key points in history.
What Actually Happened From my Perspective- I received quite a few new tricks and skills to add to my shooting toolbox. The Sam Colt and Sam Walker story was interesting.
Learning Items I Noted/Learned/Reinforced-
NPOA - works for rifles and works for pistols - and works for archery and other activities requiring repeatable body mechanics too!
Grip - I've had problems with my pistol grip approach for a while. As an alumni of several of MDFI's "You Suck It's Not the Gun" classes, it has been pointed out that I shift my grip after my 1st shot of every string. This was especially apparent in shot strings as my 1st shot is frequently low and right. Complicating my grip situation was that I crashed my OneWheel skateboard back in December and my wrist has only recently started to regain full movement. The class was a good opportunity to relearn grip and hand positioning. In addition to practice, I may try different grip modules on the M&P to see if one fits better (I currently use the smallest one).
An additional issue with my grip is that I tend to rest my thumb on the thumb safety due to my time with 1911's. I sometimes end up riding the slide release lever - resulting in the slide not locking back on the empty mag
Stance is another item I ended up correcting from class exercises. In my attempt to avoid the "tactical turtle" I sometimes stand too erect or even lean a bit back(see pictures). This position doesn't help with recoil mitigation. Toward the 2nd day I found a nicer medium of leaning forward to mitigate recoil while not losing situational awareness.
The 9mm barrel in the M&P40 has some limitations. Gander Outdoors had M&P40 2.0 handguns for a song when they were going out of business. I had an extra M&P9 1.0 barrel laying around the house - so I picked up the M&P40 2.0 to make use of the barrel. In other handgun classes I have used expended casings for ball and dummy exercises with my M&P9C. With this particular gun configuration, the spent casing in the magazine gets hung up on the bottom of the feed ramp and immediately results in a jam. I'm guessing the slide movement for the 40 is longer than the 9mm and resulting geometry issue is causing the jam. The gun not being broken in and the very cold weather were additional variables I will have to consider. For ball and dummy exercises I will have to rely on inert/dummy rounds in the meantime.
Mag carrier - I forgot to grab a mag carrier when I was packing for the class. Grabbing mags from the table was OK but I could have shaved some time if I had brought a carrier.
I would recommend that folks bring 7 or more training mags to the class. This speeds up the PQT (no interruptions for reloading) and makes the class go faster. Mags are consumable/disposable items and folks should have a bunch of mags for each of their guns - some for classes and other ones just for carry.
Critique for the Instructors- ALL of the instructors were fantastic, very patient and generous.
Overall- The pistol Appleseed was a course and I highly recommend it to seasoned and new shooters. I think Appleseed shoots (whether rifle or pistol) are some of the best bargains in the shooting industry.
Future- I'm hoping to take the course again to further improve my pistol competency. I would also like to try the class again with one of my 9mms with iron sights.
Thanks to:
The instructors and staff members for their hospitality, guidance and patience! The food was great! The facility building was a great place to rest during the history and discussion sections of the class.
(https://i.imgur.com/zjnwOwf.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/JHkR8cZ.jpg)
Brass on sitting on top of frozen puddles. I think my Tauntaun froze at the outer marker outside the club....
(https://i.imgur.com/HsLflbq.jpg)
Quote from: mooster on April 03, 2022, 04:49:00 PM
Brass on sitting on top of frozen puddles. I think my Tauntaun froze at the outer marker outside the club....
(https://i.imgur.com/HsLflbq.jpg)
Whoa, this photo brought back a chill . . .
Come back when it's warmer - it'll be funner