16 shooters showed for our April 19th shoot at the Home Range, despite weather calling for rain on Sat.
The rain came for most of the morning, at one point really pouring for long minutes, so that we took the unusual step of moving the presentation of the Second Strike of the Match into the morning, right after telling the First Strike.
The clouds finally parted, and patches of blue showed, and we started shooting, learning the position basics, the Six Steps ("Do you mean the six things?" one shooter later asked, when at the target line being asked what it takes to shrink the shooter's group to 4 MOA), NPOA (the "Rifleman's Secret"), Rifleman's Cadence, etc, etc.
Slightly over half the shooters had at least one Appleseed under their collective belts and naturally that showed up in their performance on the targets; for the rest, it was their first - and that showed as well on their targets.
Aside from the rain, the weather was mild, and the day pleasant - until right at the end, when the rain came back. At one point the sun was shining brilliantly that afternoon while the rain was pouring down. (In the old days, we called this a "sun shower", and for all the kids, it was a real treat to run around in it, with parents screaming at them to "get back in the house". ::) )
Sunday morning before the Redcoat target was shot, the shooters heard the story of the Nevada Appleseeders who did so poorly on their Sunday AM Redcoats that the Shoot Boss made them do it again under threat that if they didn't show they had learned anything on Saturday they'd be put on a bus to Texas. No doubt inspired by the story, our firing line turned in an excellent performance to start the day off right.
The line was then challenged to answer the question "What is the American Revolution?" along with "What is the Spirit of '76?" and reflected on the fact that when the Treaty of Paris was signed on Sept 3, 1782 the British Empire, which spanned the globe and only the day before had a grand total of ONE sovereign person - the King - but as of the signing of the peace treaty between America and Britain THREE MILLION sovereign citizens were created - only they were no longer part of the British Empire!
It was no doubt the greatest transformation in history, at least since early Roman days. Since the only sovereign folks at the time were kings, czars, sultans, chieftains, emperors, etc, it is likely there were no more than a few hundred sovereign individuals on Planet Earth the day before that parchment was signed.
Last and not least, our attendees were challenged to go forth and spread the word to others about Appleseed. A suggested "hook" to get people interested might be to ask them "Did you know that at one point in our country's history, the entire future of the country revolved around a SINGLE rifle shot?"
Turnout at this event was greater than normal, but our instructors turned out en mass for our traditional "April 19th" event. Thanks to all, student and instructor, who made the effort to commemorate what is probably the most important day in American history!
This is only what one person at the event saw and remembered. Other comments, personal reactions and experiences - and viewpoints - are welcome!
We had a very good turn out of both shooters and instructors. For the April 19th celebration shoot. On Saturday morning we had 19 shooters even though it was calling for rain most of the day.
We set-up the backers with the hit counts targets and squares. Had the good morning introduction than told the First Strike followed by the safety instructions brought the rifles to the line and then went over the target and prepped magazines. That's when the sky opened up and the rain and wind came making targets wet mats blowing around and targets blowing off the backers. As true Appleseed instructors we adjusted told the Second Strike. The rain stopped targets were replaced and we shoot the first rounds of the weekend. This was the way it went most of the day instruction during the rain shooting during the sun.
Sunday was a better day weather wise a little colder but great day for a little KD instruction followed but the Red Coats target. We had 13 shooters the but they got a lot of great instruction. We did a few squares than Ball and Dummy than did some more AQT's. We had a told of 6 riflemen 2 new and four requalifies. We than headed to the KD range to shoot 100, 200 and the centerfire rifles shoot 300. At the end of the day we handed out a new orange hat and told a lot of really cool history.
At 4:00 on Saturday we did the memorial shoot. This was my first and the first for most all of the shooters.
I believe I need to speak of the instructors that attended this event. I've worked with all of them before but this was the first time I got to be the SBIT with this much experience on the instructor side. 1 IIT3, 1 brand new instructor 2 DSB's that are also charter pistol instructors 1 state coordinator and the founder of Appleseed (Fred). Watching them work as instructors taking off the high level hats and teaching shooters. Getting on the ground going over any issues that they see. There was major improvement as the day went on. I got to talk to one new shooter after the weekend was over. They said they shoot a 92 for there fist ever AQT and their last one was a 197. They plan on coming back because they want there Rifleman patch and a Orange hat.
I've been to a lot of events both as an instructor and as a shooter and I'm still amazed that there is history that I've not heard before. Fred can tell a great story but so can the other instructors. Thank you for helping me all weekend.
Great AAR Fred. Makes me wish I could have been there. Maybe I'll make one of your future events.
Ramblin' Wreck