We had a great weekend at the Piqua Fish and Game pistol range. The weather was very cooperative, which was extremely unusual for our fall pistol events, but made for a really pleasant weekend.
Thirteen eager shooters filled our line to begin the morning instruction. Several shooters had been through the Appleseed Rifle program but it was their first pistol event, and a couple of shooters were completely new to Appleseed. It was a wonderful group of people that joined to participate in our American heritage.
We moved through the layers of instruction and history and were still able to get in four Pistol Qualification Tests (PQT's). Two shooters (both Riflemen from many rifle events over the years) qualified as Pistoleer™s on Saturday, Chad A. scored a 221 then reconfirmed with 224 and 228 out of a possible 250; Brian J. earned his patch with a 212. We had three re-qualifications over the weekend, Jason J, scored 211 and 212, Jeff M. shot a 218 and 213, and Messer454 re-qualified with a 220.
Sheepdog 180 started the morning on Sunday with a voluntary inspirational service before the start of the Appleseed, he gave a very moving message about his work with Agape, the local food pantry based in Sidney, which serves not only Shelby County, but helps many other area food banks and Churches as well.
Saturday afternoon all shooters made a steel plate ring at forty yards, proving their skills can go way beyond the seven yards we had been shooting all weekend. Next we broke up into teams of three for a Pumpkin shoot. Armed with twenty rounds for each shooter they were given forty-five seconds to do all the damage they could onto their pumpkin set at a distance of twenty-five yards. Team one was the clear winner, but team three should have won an award for most artistic, somehow they managed to carve out an amazing Jack-O-Lantern face on the back of their pumpkin!
Some of the instructors began complaining about not being able to participate in the seasonal fun, so the Shoot Boss relented and watched as they blasted the ruminants into puree! It's somewhat astonishing to watch grown men giggling with glee as bits of pumpkin fly into the air!
We had four people clear the Hits Count Red Coat target, Chad A. proved his skill by clearing all four of his targets over the weekend. And before someone suggests it, yes I've been trying to get him to take an Orange Hat for years! Jeff M., Robert D. and Shadow870 also cleared a Red Coat.
I think all would agree that due to the dedication of our amazing instructor crew consisting of Doc Willi, Shadow870, Griffin, Messer454, Mac and Sheepdog180, it was a truly successful, fun and memorable weekend.
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Thanks so much to the instructors, I am at least 75% better with a pistol now than last week and I have two pistols sighted in. I struggled on Saturday to hit anything but by the end of the day on Sunday I fell right into that familiar bubble from rifle instruction. I didn't shoot the score, but I'm not far off!