There are times when the weather just doesn't seem to want to cooperate. But that wasn't the case at this Utica, SD Appleseed. The weather was perfect, although a little windy Sunday afternoon. But even that proved to be advantageous for a very useful object lesson which I will explain later.
We had a great group of shooters show up ready to hone their marksmanship skills and increase their American history and heritage knowledge. After starting our event with a safety briefing, it was off to the races with marksmanship instruction and April 19, 1775 history lessons. We had a nice mix of youth and adult shooters. Congrats to Abe for re-qualifying rifleman and for Chris earning his rifleman's patch. Everyone showed great improvement.
The last thing we did on Sunday was move over to the range's 100 yard bay to try a little long distance shooting with rimfire. Earlier in the day, instructor Greg provided an excellent explanation of target detection, range estimation and the effects of distance and environmental factors on ballistics, like wind. At the 100 yard bay, our shooters witnessed firsthand how distance and cross winds of 15-20 mph affect the trajectory of a .22LR bullet. They first shot 5 rounds and examined the point of impact on their targets. They then estimated appropriate hold overs to account for the environmental factors and shot another 5 rounds to move their point of impact on target. Good stuff!
New Rifleman:
(https://i.imgur.com/UF7wuEX.jpg)
Sharing the Strikes:
(https://i.imgur.com/r6NcfJA.jpg)
Proned out:
(https://i.imgur.com/CfqTiOC.jpg)
First Redcoat of the weekend:
(https://i.imgur.com/jYd0lZO.jpg)
A beautiful weekend:
(https://i.imgur.com/vYZeQ1F.jpg)
Thanks to the Yankton Sharpshooters Club for hosting our event. They have a great facility.
I had a great time at the shoot. Shooters were good people. Other cadre are good people. Progress was made by all. The wind about noon on Sunday was not good. 5 of the 8 shooters were 16 or under and they all did really well. The smallest shooter, 11 years old, wasn't much bigger than her 10/22 which did lead to some muzzle things. But mostly she did great. Having twins on the line with the names Tim and Tom can be confusing. Sleeping at the range helps with costs. Minervas Grill and Bar has a really good Steak Gorgonzola.
All in all, a good time.