A rifleman persists! And the attendees at this weekend's shoot really proved it!
Every Autumn we have an annual Appleseed KD course at Red Brush Rifle Range near Evansville, IN. Normally we have great weather, so much so that the shoot boss often complains we don't get a chance to practice calling the wind. Well that certainly wasn't the case this year!
Registration ran smoothly with ShootNDrive on the table. The first day of instruction began in the classroom with sessions on IMC, Trajectory, come ups and collecting data. There was great engagement throughout. We then moved to a 100-yard bay where the students shook out their equipment, refined their accuracy, and got familiar with the sighting systems on the centerfire rifles. A 100-yard AQT was conducted which got everyone in practice for the 400-yard AQTs the next day. All the shooters demonstrated good groups, so excitement was high for Sunday. At the end of the day, the iron sights were zeroed to 25 yards as an approximate Battle Sight Zero of 300 yards and the scopes were zeroed at 100 yards.
Then the thunderstorm came overnight and in the morning. After a very dry month, there was significant rainfall in a short time. The range couldn't shed the water quickly enough, which delayed setting up the target lines. Luckily, Darkfoot brought his large 4-wheel drive truck which allowed the instructor corps to get out as early as possible and get the lines in place. Great work instructors! But even with their effort, we did not get out to the bay until around 11:30 AM.
While they worked on the lines, the marksmanship instruction continued indoors with additional aspects of the three challenges to distance shooting. This included a deep dive into range estimation and making the shot including wind estimation and environmental factors. We also had some special history where relics from the 1770s including a London newspaper with stories on Hugh Percy's departure from America, the tactics colonists used to "harass" the British forces, and an actual tax stamp.
The shooting started with Morgan's Shingle at 250 yards. The six shooters strove to join Morgan's cadre. Congratulations to Matt who overcame the tough conditions and earned his Cold Bore Morgan's Shingle patch!
(https://libertyassociate.com/appleseed/Appleseed%20KD%20October%2018%202025/Matt%20Shingle.jpg)
The temperature dropped by about 25 degrees from the end of Saturday to Sunday morning and we confirmed a change in 100-yard zeros between the days. And we also had PLENTY of practice with wind. At one point we had a fairly consistent 0.5 to 0.7 value 15 mph wind. And low and behold, Fred's rule worked like a charm. Then we started having gusts where the wind would drop to about 5 mph and then it would gust to between 15 and 25 mph. This made the transition stages more challenging as with the time controls one couldn't wait for a gust to dissipate.
We had several shooters knocking on the door of their KD patch between the two AQTs we managed to squeeze in before the light vanished. We were very happy to see Myrradah requalify KD with a 47, just a point shy of earning his distinguished patch!
Unfortunately, we lost light and were only able to do 500-yard sighters once.
On the history front we had fine presentations by Darkfoot, Alexandra the Great, and Big John on the various contributions of riflemen during the American Revolution. Being close to Halloween, we added that the "Headless Horseman" is based on the folk tale of the "Headless Hessian of the Hollow." This is the story of one of the mercenaries reportedly struck down by Washington's men during the battle of White Plains, New York. I also added in a bit of extra historical context on Washington's powder shortage and the raid of Bermuda.
A very big thank you to the shooters and instructor corps for persisting! We hope to have you on the line at our next KD!
NOTE: More photos to come in the following days.
This was a workhorse of a shoot. We utilized a 100 yard bay on Saturday to review the fundamentals and get some range work in out to 100 yards. It was the last day of summer. On Sunday, we tapped the 500 yard line and did everything from a 25 yard sight calibration to 500 yards sighters with AQTs in between in much cooler weather with the wind that the shoot boss booked for a wind challenge for our shooters.
I was very pleased with the safety and spirit of the shooters which rendered a very smooth shoot on the execution side once the rain delay had occurred.
I hope to see both student and visiting cadre again at Redbrush. Bring enough students and cadre and we will run the pits next year.
It was a great weekend with some good people! The Red Brush Range is a real jewel and kudos go to the board and members that maintain it. Instruction was great and my Saturday results were where I felt I needed to be to finally break through and get my KD rocker. Unfortunately my consistency was not there on Sunday, so my quest continues. I had a great time, met new people and got to break bread with a great group of instructors. Thank you sur+rifle, Darkfoot, Alexandra the Great, Big John and ShootNDrive for all your hard work and sacrifice to put on this event. I definitely want to return to air out my M1A. :snipersmi