On this beautiful sunny weekend we held an Appleseed Pistol Clinic at the Mansfield Fish & Game Club (https://mansfieldfish.com/). We appreciate their support.
First thing Saturday morning, we heard some history: the First Strike of the Match that lit the fires of Liberty on April 19, 1775, with a massacre at Lexington. This day, as one of us aptly put it later in the weekend, is the answer to the question: "It's a free country - but why?".
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After the safety brief...
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... and making sure everyone was on the same page as to the anatomy of a pistol ...
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... we obtained a baseline of everyone's proficiency. Then we gave the fundamentals of pistol marksmanship ...
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... with some dry practice of each concept. We finally sent more rounds downrange mid-morning, after which we proceeded to alternate between further new concepts (such as reloads, malfunction clearance and the two rapid-fire techniques) and drills.
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Over lunch, we heard the Second Strike of the Match, and the sacrifice of Isaac Davis. A few more lecture/drill alternations later ...
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... and we were ready to shoot some Pistol Qualification Targets!
Congratulations to all the Pistoleer™s! At various points during the weekend, Drew, Bill, Tom, Gavin and Erik (photo TBD) showed us they knew what they were about!
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And all the other shooters showed remarkable improvement. A Pistoleer™ persists!
Amidst the grind of alternations between PQTs and drills, we took a break to hear the Third Strike of the Match - the pivotal moment when warfare was ignited, and the conclusion thereof.
Returning on Sunday, we don't shoot until noon on Sundays at Mansfield, but that deterred us nil from starting out with plenty of review, history and dry handling of firearms.
We started with a review of all the marksmanship we'd taught on Saturday. We heard the history of two gentleman named "Sam". Then after a somber reflection upon the Onion of Defense (and a safety brief!) we reviewed various topics of equipment selection, with Jake bringing out a collection of a variety of different pistols for the students to handle - they really do fit your hand like shoes! Also at this time, Lesky brought out his collection of antiques, giving us a visual perspective of the kind of arms borne in 1775.
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Soon enough, noon arrived, the redcoats were engaged, and it was off to the races with more drills and PQTs!
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A couple of intermissions were had for a handful of other vignettes about some Dangerous Old Men on the field in 1775. But finally, around 4pm, it became clear that a new skill was being practiced that isn't in our curriculum: how to shoot while tired.
We hope to be back at Mansfield next year for at least one each of a rifle and pistol clinic. Here or elsewhere, we hope to see all of you back out on the firing line with us.
Many thanks to the crew at Mansfield, and particularly Lesky for all the heavy lifting you do every year to provide Appleseed with a smooth arrival and departure.
And thank you to our awesome crew of Appleseed volunteers - Jake1918, Lesky, BrianMac and Rifle Rabbit - we appreciate your efforts keeping Marksmanship, History and Liberty alive in Massachusetts!
Photo Roll (https://imgur.com/a/xW9RTks)