A great weekend of marksmanship and history at the Black Creek Gun Club In Mechanicsville, VA! 8 shooters, half of them first-time Appleseed attendees, came out for a fun weekend with distinctive weather days. Saturday may have been the hottest day of the year for Virginia, with temperatures reaching the upper 90s and heat index closer 110! Shooters and instructors made ample use of the shade as often as possible as we set about learning the fundamentals of rifle marksmanship and the history of what happened at Lexington Green. By 4pm the shooters had absorbed just about all we could give them for the day so the redcoat was engaged and the shooter sent off to rest, hydrate and get some AC.
Sunday's weather was much nicer - temps only in the mid 80s and the humidity lower. No live fire allowed at the range on Sunday's until 1pm, so the pace was a bit slower in the morning with plenty of classroom discussion, history telling and a setup of laser rifles so everybody could get some practice establishing their NPOA. When the range went hot, the redcoat target was first up followed by the first AQT of the weekend. We used the carding the sights drill to help reinforce the concept of natural point of aim and then finished out the day with a few AQTs and the redcoat.
While the end result may not have resulted in any Rifleman patches awarded, a lot of learning occurred based on the dialog between shooters and instructors. I truly do hope to see all of these shooters on the line again.
Great event!
A big "Thank you" to all the participants and instructors for making this a fun and safe weekend.
I hope to see all of you at another Appleseed Clinic soon.
Stay Vigilant,
Messer