Eighteen shooters gathered at the Ames, Iowa Izaak Walton League on what turned out to be a cool and soggy spring weekend. While the weather may have been damp, the spirit of liberty, marksmanship and heritage was not! Following the usual welcome speech and introductions, we dove into our safety briefing and then our first Red Coat target of the weekend. One of our youth shooters attending her first Appleseed event, cleared her first ever Red Coat target! Two other returning Appleseed veterans also cleared theirs. From there on out, we were off to the races in fine fashion.
The group received detailed marksmanship instruction for prone, sitting and standing positions, Six Steps to firing the shot and Natural Point of Aim. Lot's of improvement by everyone. Over the course of the weekend there were four shooters who requalified as Expert and a few new attendees who were knocking on the door.
Saturday proved to be quite damp and windy. Unfortunately, our carding the sights exercise had to be truncated due to the deterioration of targets. I decided we should have lunch instead and think warm dry thoughts. The rain mostly subsided and we went back to instruction and practice. After completing our first AQT late in the afternoon, this intrepid group wanted to shoot one more before sloshing home to enjoy a hot shower. They made all of us instructors proud.
Sunday was dry but much colder (40's). We just threw on more layers and were thankful we didn't have rain. Weather is just a nuisance that can be overcome. What was far more important and powerful was the hard working attitude of these shooters. Kudos!
I'd also like to thank our instructor crew who once again demonstrated the kind of skill and professionalism they are known for in these parts.
Thank you all!
Coaching on the Line:
(https://i.imgur.com/lbHTqZu.jpg)
Shooters Proned Out:
(https://i.imgur.com/IDBEIdQ.jpg)
Appleseed Dad Telling Strike One:
(https://i.imgur.com/BBu9czW.jpg)
Rhysling Instructing Standing SHF:
(https://i.imgur.com/5rz9XVr.jpg)
More Coaching on the Line:
(https://i.imgur.com/QuixBol.jpg)
Shooting from Standing:
(https://i.imgur.com/JTuXbUr.jpg)
Twineagles Teaching KD:
(https://i.imgur.com/xglUmJj.jpg)
Shooting from Prone:
(https://i.imgur.com/EMNu3Zj.jpg)
Daughter of Liberty Instructing Six Steps:
(https://i.imgur.com/qOUbH6T.jpg)
Safety Briefing:
(https://i.imgur.com/4x9KLI7.jpg)
The BERM:
(https://i.imgur.com/kglmNay.jpg)
More Coaching:
(https://i.imgur.com/6zNNJeZ.jpg)
More Prone:
(https://i.imgur.com/udRgmiD.jpg)
Determining the Winner of a four team competition:
(https://i.imgur.com/caxdRGb.jpg)
Strike Three:
(https://i.imgur.com/2vX8IWG.jpg)
I had a good time; would have been much better if it had rained about 1" per hour and been about 35°F the whole weekend, but you can't win them all.
It was fun to work with Mark.
Was one of, if not, the largest event I've been to.
Sorry I had to bail early on Sunday.
Burnett