We had an excellent inaugural Standard 25m Rifle Clinic at Nashua Fish and Game Club range near Nashua, Iowa. This is our first shoot there and the club were terrific hosts. We look forward to future shoots there to enjoy their excellent facilities.
We had a nice mix of first time and returning Appleseeders. Congrats to Justin for re-qualifying with a rifleman's score. Justin previously earned his Rifleman's patch at a Known Distance Event. Typically, we see folks earning their patch at a 25m event first. Justin just likes to do things different than the rest. And congrats to Jason for earning his Rifleman's patch! He attended my Ames shoot in August and I suspected it wouldn't take him long to qualify. Outstanding!
And finally, congrats to the rest of the shooters who all improved their marksmanship abilities. The instructor cadre had a blast working with you all and look forward to seeing you on the Appleseed Trail.
The rest of the AAR, I'll leave to Burnett who did an excellent job on his SBIT2!
As the SBiT, I came up with my version of the AAR, and I'll post it below, as a practice run. I'll post it as a quote, maybe. Bear with me.
QuoteNashua, IA AAR – Sep 14-15, 2024 25m
Well, the inaugural Project Appleseed 25m Rifle Clinic at the Nashua Fish & Game club is in the books. And I am pretty happy how it turned out. We had seven shooters signed up and seven shooters showed up. Three had been to events before and four had not. Of the four newbies, one is eleven and two are 13, so...
Saturday was pretty cloudy all day with just light sprinkles in the morning. The temperature was comfortable. Sunday was clear and close to 90° by afternoon, so not all that pleasant. And being down in an old gravel pit, surrounded by trees, the breeze really didn't get to where it helped. For the afternoon break, we were able to find a shady location where there was a little wind.
We got started, doing the normal starting stuff and working our way to the morning Red Coat, which did show room for improvement. We had our 1st Strike and the drills. And with the small group we got ahead of the time monkey and were able to shoot two squares before lunch. Lunch involved the 2nd Strike and some conversing; you know how it is.
The afternoon ran as smoothly as the morning and we were able to get a 2nd AQT in, and it is a good thing we did. Justin had been to some 25m events before and not shot the score. He had made it at a KD, but not at a 25m. He did it this time with a score of 227. I say it was a good thing we got the 2nd AQT in because Justin was not going to be able to be there on Sunday. Congrats! I'm hoping we can get him to take an orange hat sometime.
Instructor IOWA-mark did an interesting spin with the 3rd Strike. He handed out question cards that were chronologically in order. The person with the appropriate card would read the question and Mark would answer it. A cool change up.
Sunday came around and things got off to a good start again. Start time was to be 8:30, but as everyone was there by 10 minutes after 8:00, we got rolling. After reviews and such, the AM Red Coat showed improvement from Saturday. We chopped our way through reviews and what-not and found ourselves at noon.
As the SBiT, I covered the Target Detection and Range Estimation of the KD presentation, and then...
Mark wowed us all with an interesting presentation of the Making the Shot that involved a large squirt gun. Between that and his interpretation of the 3rd Strike, he brought a bunch of fun creativity to our little shoot. Bravo Mark!
Then, back at it with an AQT. Improvement, but no Riflemen. Another AQT, still more improvement, but still no Riflemen. Yet. Break in the shade where there was a breeze. I briefed a Rapid Fire AQT (my favorite to shoot an AQT, BTW). Then they shot the RFAQT, and guess what... Jason managed to shoot a 211. With a BOLT-ACTION. At his second event. Congratulations to Jason! He'd be a good one to take a hat too.
While, it wasn't really all that hot, the heat and sun were taking their toll. We shot one more AQT just to see how it went. We decided to be done after that. The Sunday PM Red Coat was the best of the bunch, so improvement had happened.
After the closing and some standing around shootin' the bull, the inaugural Project Appleseed 25m Rifle Clinic at the Nashua Fish & Game Club came to an end. And it had been a good event. We will definitely have to get back there.
Justin and Jason. We forgot to get a group picture. I screwed that one up.
Justin small.jpg
Jason small.jpg
It was great working with everyone this weekend. Great people, great location, great shoot. I look forward to seeing you all again. Thanks to all-mark