August in NC you are guaranteed heat and humidity - except at THIS Appleseed!
The weather was unseasonably cool - in the 80s, and not the 90s - which makes the 50% no-show rate a bit puzzling.
The anticipation of hot, humid weather may have kept the total pre-regs to a minimum.
The father-son team of Chris and Liam showed up and proved to be serious students, soaking up not only the marksmanship, but the History.
Chris listed himself as 'proficient' and his son as 'newbie' and he was spot-on, shooting in the 190s to low 200s until Sunday, when he turned in a 215 and 217 to be awarded his Rifleman badge!
Eleven-year-old son Liam was an apt pupil and ended the event in the Sharpshooter range, with a little assistance from a sandbag. If he follows our suggestion to sling up and dry fire 10 shots prone a couple of times a week, he will have no trouble getting a Rifleman badge for himself.
Chris had the opportunity to zero his .270 at 300 yards, and the chance to shoot Fred's M1A, which for some reason was proving cantankerous, prob because of a feeling of rebellious neglect over Fred's lack of attention in recent years. [NOTE: That will have to be remedied!]
As a learning point, once again it seemed that scope graduations are about 30% - or more! - coarser than the official indication. The .270 trajectory indicated coming up 24 clicks (per the official specs) to go from 100 to 300 yards. Our shooter was told to go up only 20 - but ultimately, he came back down 8 clicks off the 20 to hit the 300 gong! That's quite a deviation from spec!
All-in-all, a great weekend marked by great weather and disappointing turnout...but we hope to see our two shooters again at a future Appleseed!