IMGUR Pics: https://imgur.com/a/eRfbced (https://imgur.com/a/eRfbced)
Nestled in the mountains of Colorado, near the town of Grand Junction, lies the Cameo Shooting and Education Complex - a world-class shooting range run by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. There, on this last weekend in April, close to 1,000 extremely motivated and exceptionally talented ladies of the A Girl & A Gun Women's Shooting League held their 11th annual National Conference. What an amazing event!!!
Project Appleseed was there with a van-load of rifles, plenty of targets, three Senior instructors (JustKim, Mrs. Smith and Steck) and yours truly to staff six events in three days - Four "Half-Day" Appleseeds, and two events for prior Appleseeders to work on Rifleman. To say that we were busy would be an understatement - but the camaraderie, fun, and infectious enthusiasm of the attendees more than made up for the long hours at the range!
As a reminder, a Half-Day Appleseed concentrates on prone position shooting, and we shoot the hits count (aka Redcoat) target for score - five rounds per silhouette (score per shot is 1 point per 100yds - so a hit on the 100 yard silhouette is 1 point, on the 400 yard silhouette is 4 points) for a possible total of 50 points. The shingle is a bonus shot worth 5 points by itself.
Every day started with an historical speech on what makes our Nation so amazing - inspirational quotes by George Washington, Adams and Jefferson really roused the group, and got our shoots started the right way! We presented Safety rules, Safe Rifle, Ammo Malfunctions and then got down to the business of the day.
Our first class on Friday morning was truly exceptional, particularly considering that most of the shooters were beginner rifle shooters!
On Friday morning, for the first time I can remember, we had a shooter score 55 points on the target - That's a perfect score of 5 hits per silhouette and one on the shingle! (Great Shooting Janice! - a remarkable job!) When asked, she admitted that she'd taken some other rifle classes, but really dug the Natural Point of Aim (NPOA) - It really works! We had several other shooters in that first class score over 40 points, which is worth an Appleseed Pin! And a number of ladies score in the 30s as well - Great shooting for sure!
Our second class on Friday had a 50-point shooter (Great Shooting Alexandra!), as well as a brace of 40+ shooters! Several ladies shot excellent scores that day, and earned their pin. Saturday's Half-Day class had a 52-point shooter (Great Shooting Diana!) and 4 more shooters over 40 points!
Sunday's Half-Day class high-score was 48 points (Great Shooting Carol!) and another 4 shooters earned pins.
Our two "Advanced" Classes each started (after Safety!) with the April 19th Memorial Volley - a solemn affair. Presentation of patches and the "Bloody Butchery" broadsheet followed, and then a picture under the Betsy Ross flag. After that we reviewed the positions and ran an AQT per class! No Riflemen patches this time, but our high-score was a 187 - an Excellent score, and well on the way to 210!
There is no doubt that the spirit of America lives on in the hearts and minds of our A Girl & A Gun attendees!!!
Of course, none of this would be possible without the tireless help of our BOTG: Alarm Lister and MyNameIsEarl - You guys did so much to get our bay ready and helped organize everything on the ground for us! Thanks so much!!!
A VERY SPECIAL shout-out to the fine folks at Waco Tactical Fitness, who donated Ammo and provided the DOZEN loaner rifles for the event! HUZZAH!!!
I'm sure I'm missing some folks - Anyway, thanks again to AG&AG and the Cameo Shooting Range (And Robyn S., who is, simply, awesome! O0 )
I know I speak for our whole cadre when I say that we were super happy to staff the Conference in 2023, and are looking forward to being there in 2024 - See you then!
Jim (Ghostring)
:F
I have a BUNCH of pictures! Just need to get them uploaded. Stay tuned!
Here you go!
Included are the pics for the drive up and back, just because :)
https://imgur.com/a/n9Usl07
Thanks to the Otero County, NM Chapter of AGAG for giving Ghostring and I an alternate route back that didn't involve white knuckles and didn't really take extra time.
Looks like a great event! I'm glad we could partner with them. Good job everyone! O0
It was great to have Appleseed represented at the A Girl & A Gun conference. How about that range?!
Way to go crew! Looks like a great time was had by all! O0
Sweet game with the Red Coats (totally steeling it! ) . Awesome job! O0 :beer: O0
Quote from: Eagle Keeper on May 11, 2023, 12:34:21 PM
Sweet game with the Red Coats (totally steeling it! ) . Awesome job! O0 :beer: O0
No need to steal, Eagle Keeper! It's part of the standard Half-day Course of fire ;)
We had a wonderful time!
I have to admit one of the coolest things about that range is the sound of gunfire from all over the facility that bounced off that mountain all day long. It reminded me of the sound of small jets in the distance, in waves. Pretty awesome.
This was a fantastic event!! We had the opportunity to work with approximately 80 amazing women in just three days. Each lady walked away with a new appreciation of our heritage, history and the Project Appleseed mission. Ghostring made sure to send each of them on their way having heard the "What is the American Revolution" speech. These half-day events, although they didn't include tons of rifle marksmanship instruction (prone only in most of them), included awesome history, renewed pride in our country, and the desire to return to a full two-day clinic. It was very rewarding to work with such an incredible crew and spread our message to so many women in such a short period of time. AND -- we are invited back for next year!! ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^
This was a fantastic event and every AG&AG lady that I talked to loved what was presented and the enthusiasm with which it was done. Great big kudo's to all of you.
Also it was great to finally meet Ghostring, Mrs. Smith & Steck in person. It was also great to see JustKim (Hugs) from our great state, here in Florida.
That was my wife's 11th AG&AG conference and my 10th of helping setting up ranges and supporting our wonderful ladies.
Now that AS will be back next year, make sure you let myself and MyNameIsEarl know what you will need as we will again be heading up the comm's and part of the Range Logistics team. We will make sure you are all covered.
GREAT JOB!!!!!
Makes my heart flutter to see that all that work we did in marketing, including developing the half day course of fire, is being put to great use in spreading the "virus" of Project Appleseed! Great job all!