Seven dedicated students braved unseasonably cold and blustery an Appleseed pistol clinic in Annapolis, Maryland this weekend. Only a week or two after we had weather in the 70s, shooters faced windchills in the 20s, particularly with sustained cold winds on Sunday! We even had a few flurries on Sunday...but there is no Winterseed patch for Pistoleer™s (hint, hint!).
Saturday began with the Red Coat target and Sharif K took the coldest bore button challenge (shooting the button first before the rest of the target) and cleaned the target to earn his Immortal 400 patch and a bonus Sons of Liberty patch from the shoot boss. All of the shooters qualified at some distance with 4 hits in one of their targets - so we knew we had a great group to work with. We kicked off the core instruction and went through a series of drills to build competency and confidence in skills. Before the day ended we were able to get in two PQTs and got TWO Pistoleer™s immediately. Sharif K knocked out a 241 on his FIRST PQT (and re-qualed with a 230 on the second), and Eric M put up a 226 as well - congrats to you both! Michael K (who was unable to attend Sunday) came oh so close with a 208 - we hope to see you at a future event to get over that line. Sharif cleaned the red coat again to wrap up a nearly perfect day shooting.
Sunday brought back 5 shooters as the temperature dropped further and sustained winds made frequent history and instructional breaks in the heated club house very welcome. A couple of dropped shots on the Red Coat thwarted ambitions, but that was ok as we immediately got into shooting drills and PQTs. Eric M tied Sharif for the best score of the weekend with a 241. Sharif was on the road toward a higher score a few times (99 on Part one) but just couldn't beat that first stellar score (240, 239, 238, among others). The final Red Coat showed a lot of tired and cold shooters.
Deon was one of our most consistent shooters despite not qualifying - he was consistently in the mid-180s all weekend but we be hampered by a bad stage or a malfunction. He has all the skills to earn that patch next time. Bruce topped out at 175 - but he hit the button 3 times; I know you were frustrated and left wondering about your pistol so we hope to see you back soon. Seth was using a new pistol and showed significant improvement on Saturday. Mark was also using a new pistol and was showing major improvement in rapid fire, target transitions - and despite being a righty, shot lights out left handed. I know he will continue to practice and build proficiency toward a future event.
Overall it was great working with such a great group of students. I would also like to thank the instructors for gutting out a shoot in less than ideal conditions - Kniwolf tag teamed the core instruction, demos, and key segments (onion, draw, holster) with me and I appreciated the opportunity to do the 3 Strikes and Sam & Sam. Mike was great as our club rep and LSO - he helped work out conflicts with some other club events on Saturday that allowed the event to happen - Huzzah!!!! But it was really their one-on-one engagement and coaching of individual shooters that made the event such a success. You have my thanks and admiration :F
Pictures are posted to a Google photos album here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/83p4XPFi1xAiJNng6 and will soon be posted to our Maryland Appleseed Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064405762810
Thanks again to Anne Arundel Fish and Game for hosting us in their action bays. And we hope to see everyone on the line at a future pistol or rifle event!