What a gorgeous June weekend! The weather was about as good as it gets here in Washington, and we took full advantage of it. There's nothing quite like spending a whole weekend outside with fellow Americans working to better themselves and learn about our shared history.
And what great history we heard! Gunsmoke Music told the story of Emily Geiger, which I've never heard at any of our Washington events. I strongly suspect that story will be reprised at the Colonial Festival and/or our Ladyseed event later this year. We also had some unique family history presented by kRosHairs, who shared the story of the Almost-Battle of Marshfield and his personal connection to Abel Chase, who marched against the Regulars on April 19th, 1775. This was the first time this particular rendition of that history has ever been shared at an Appleseed!
Of course, we also did a little instruction in rifle marksmanship :)
Shooters improved significantly over the course of this weekend. Of our 18 shooters this weekend, 11 were first-time Appleseeders. On our first Hits Count target of the weekend, we had 11 shooters who didn't clear any silhouettes, and only 2 shooters who scored a hit on Morgan's Shingle. This group was not disheartened - they came ready to learn.
Our instructors were particularly impressed with how quickly our shooters picked up on what we were teaching. This attentive group showed their improvement by our last Hits Count target on Sunday: Every single shooter cleared at least one silhouette, HALF our shooters hit Morgan's Shingle, and we had one shooter clear the target - Congrats Megan!
Our high scorer for the weekend was one of our youth shooters who has joined us before. Layne was back with a clear focus on earning his Rifleman patch, and he had clearly been practicing since his last event. He cleared a Hits Count target on Saturday, and walked away with a 205 as his top score on Saturday. He returned on Sunday to put up a 208 - so close! Layne, I know you'll be back and I look forward to handing you that patch the next time I see you.
For all of our shooters this weekend, remember that riflemen persist! This is not an easy skill to pick up, but you now have all the tools you need to continue growing your marksmanship skills both on and off the range. While you're at the range, practice listening to what your target is telling you, and challenge yourself with some ball-and-dummy practice. Off the range (with no ammo present), do some dry fire practice. This is a free way to improve your marksmanship - and you can practice all 6 steps of firing the shot this way. Keep practicing, and join us at a future event to earn that Rifleman patch!
A special thank you to WCW Shooting Sports for letting us use the member's range all weekend. Over half of our attendees this weekend were members at WCW, and this was a great way to build the skills they need to ring those 10" gongs at 300 yards! For those of you who are not yet members at WCW, I highly encourage you to consider a membership. To all of our shooters: if you enjoyed your weekend at WCW, please let them know by sending an email to secretary@wcwshootingsports.org
To BirdDog, Doc Sporseen, Gunsmoke Music, kRosHairs, and ultragtr: Thank you for being an amazing instructor team! I have heard from multiple shooters how lucky they felt to have our combined expertise on the line, and your time and attention shows in our shooters' improvement. I am so thankful to be able to work with other folks who care so deeply about helping their fellow Americans.
Pictures from the event:
Our very first course of fire - Note the unused sling dangling here!
(https://i.imgur.com/69VBuUr.jpeg)
Shooters get help building up stocks and getting used to using the sling:
(https://i.imgur.com/bjeLslC.jpeg)
One of our shooters getting stock fitting from the Shoot Boss during our (dry) Prone Practice:
(https://i.imgur.com/nrMMmZe.jpeg)
Our shooters getting briefed on their next course of fire:
(https://i.imgur.com/CUncLPK.jpeg)
ultragtr teaches IMC:
(https://i.imgur.com/eRKN6DC.jpeg)
Shooters engage targets in the seated position:
(https://i.imgur.com/ejeqXdL.jpeg)
Our high scorer for the weekend taking all 5 minutes for the slow fire Prone stage:
(https://i.imgur.com/LIbaULC.jpeg)