We had a fantastic event in Dubuque this past weekend. The weather forecast was for rain on Sunday, but it blew over and the entire weekend was nearly perfect.
Fifteen shooters ranging in ages from 9 to 82 came out to learn rifle marksmanship skills along with some history of our founding fathers and the events that took place on April 19th, 1775 when the Revolutionary War broke out. Seven were youth and eight were adults. Ten were first time attenders.
We started Saturday with some brief introductions and telling the first strike. We then did our safety briefing, brought our rifles to the firing line, shot our first Hits Count target, and started working on all the fundamentals of rifle marksmanship along with the telling of more history. I was very impressed with how attentive everyone was and with how much everyone progressed in their marksmanship skills.
Sunday included a review and some practice of all the marksman ship skills, a commemorative volley to recognize the forty colonists who sacrificed their lives on April 19th to secure our freedoms, a team competition shooting the Parker's Revenge target, testing our Natural Point of Aim, and several AQT's. Again, I was very impressed with everyone's improvement, with their enthusiasm, and with how they listened and were engaged in the both the marksmanship instruction and history lessons.
Five people earned a rifleman patch on Sunday.
Braden - requalified with scores of 225, 239
Tyler - requalified with scores of 215, 226
Greg - earned his first rifleman patch with a score of 211
Jack - an Orange Hat instructor with a score of 219
Adam - an Orange Hat instructor with a score of 223
A couple others might have earned their rifleman patch had it not been for some equipment issues.
Many thanks go out to the Izaak Walton club of Dubuque for allowing us to use their wonderful range.
I'd also like to thank all the shooters for being a joy to work with, for all their hard work and persisting throughout the weekend, and for helping to clean up at the end of the day.
I would especially like to thank all of the instructors who volunteered their time and gave up their weekend to be with us instead of their families, who drove three to four hours to get here, who patiently worked with all our shooters, and for some who gave up the comfort of a soft bed to sleep on the ground at the range.
One final thank you goes out to Braden who has decided to join our ranks by accepting an Orange Hat and begin his journey to becoming an instructor! Huzzah !!!
Here are some pictures from our event. If you click on them they will expand. Click on them again and they will shrink back down.
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Here is our group at the end of the day on Sunday. Four people had to leave early and four were camera shy so half our group is missing.
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Mark and Adam
Presenting Standing Steady Hold Factors
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Shannon coaching on the line
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Shooting some Squares
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Shooting stage 4 of the AQT
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Some adaptive shooting for Mike
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Ball and Dummy drill
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Reviewing AQT score
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Presenting William Diamond patches
Two camera shy youth not shown
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Orange Hats shooting an AQT
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Braden requalifies
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Greg qualifies
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Jack requalifies
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Adam requalifies
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Getting ready to transition
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Mark instructing sling usage
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Shooting stage two of the AQT
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"Out" standing Orange Hats
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