We had a great weekend at the home range in January. The weather was perfect; the range was perfect; and we had a more than perfect shooter to instructor head count. To boot, 2 of the shooters had taken orange hats before and it was evident that they were passing on their skills to their friends and family that they brought with them. The new Appleseeders were already pretty good shots too, so our weekend was pretty easy instruction-wise.
Saturday was spent hearing the Strikes and learning all the fundamentals of shooting rifle. Our IITs got some time in practicing our teaching and coaching skills. Many thanks to Fred, Bulldog14, Cinncinatus-, Aurelian, LadyJ, and MissusGage for the mentoring all weekend. It's a well spent weekend when everyone walks away having learned so much. The story telling all weekend was fanstastic - thanks Fred and LadyJ for the Strikes and EVERY volunteer on Sunday morning for the DOM/DOW stories.
Congratulations to Derry and Randy for requalifying. Randy - you are a natural teacher and already took the hat. I'm looking forward to seeing you on the instructor side sometime SOON (subtle hint). Randy cleared his Hits Count target all 4 times!!! Congratulations! Anthony and Micheal were so close to that Rifleman patch. Keep up the good shooting and you'll get it next time I'm sure. Everyone else had awesome groups throughout the weekend, but the groups never lined up on the same AQT. Again, keep up the perfect practice and I'm sure you'll succeed. Ava was our walk-on on Sunday. Anthony took to heart our plea to 7th step, went home and brought Ava the very next day. I'd say the message hit home. Ava shot great. That incredible shooter-instructor ratio paid off. We were able to give her a lot of one-on-one instruction and she soaked it up like a sponge. We hope to see you back for the 2 full days soon.
(https://i.imgur.com/F1ezHXW.jpg)
Fred shares the First Strike
(https://i.imgur.com/74EvT5B.jpg)
LadyJ reviews how to make our rifles safe
(https://i.imgur.com/Xwzujbv.jpg)
Aurelian & MissusGage demonstrate shooting in the prone position
(https://i.imgur.com/AoHG2J1.jpg)
Caleb shoots in prone
(https://i.imgur.com/Mn9vMCs.jpg)
Cincinnatus- coaches Anthony on prone
(https://i.imgur.com/h9iQ7bA.jpg)
Ben shooting in prone
(https://i.imgur.com/jOmFMIq.jpg)
Caleb was a willing model to try demonstrating the kneeling position.
(https://i.imgur.com/nB992P8.jpg)
Cincinnatus- coaches Anthony on sitting
(https://i.imgur.com/i0TPsfY.jpg)
Cincinnatus- coaches Ava with sitting
(https://i.imgur.com/IO54e1g.jpg)
Fred coaches Anthony on standing.
(https://i.imgur.com/6JzMyiT.jpg)
Ben shoots standing. That AR looks good on the line! Shoots good too.
(https://i.imgur.com/V7OgiQh.jpg)
Fred adds some pointers for Talking Targets
(https://i.imgur.com/boBIwdG.jpg)
Aurelian covers the 6 Steps of Firing the Shot
Sunday was time for a lot of shooter review done by shooters - They all did a phenomenal job.
(https://i.imgur.com/dm1obSY.jpg)
Anthony walks through the sitting positions with Ben as his model while Fred adds some pointers
(https://i.imgur.com/03VBNUU.jpg)
Caleb walks through the prone position - Ben was a great model
(https://i.imgur.com/6SQtxc1.jpg)
Caleb walks through all the sling configurations with his stepdad Randy as the model.
(https://i.imgur.com/8TSxyLm.jpg)
Congratulations to Derry, aka Bulldog14 on requalifying as Rifleman. Don't let the patch fool you - Bulldog did a great deal of mentoring shooters and IITs (and shoot bosses) both days.
(https://i.imgur.com/fhcx48N.jpg)
Congratulations to Randy for requalifying as well. You'll get that 250 next time.
(https://i.imgur.com/ia2QG70.jpg)
Caleb was awarded the William Diamond patch. Thanks for joining us this weekend. It's great to see younger shooters on the line, especially ones that shoot so well.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZP6WWR3.jpg)
Anthony is temporarily lured away by a cool truck. I'm betting we could ride in the cool truck at the KD later in the month.
(https://i.imgur.com/PsMUKxO.jpg)
Caleb & Randy paired up for the Ball & Dummy drill
(https://i.imgur.com/sOZAW8S.jpg)
Ben & Anthony paired up for the Ball & Dummy drill
(https://i.imgur.com/Z7FQsIj.jpg)
Time to switch places.
(https://i.imgur.com/uyCqvhH.jpg)
It was a bit chilly on Sunday. Still, only wearing a hoodie in January is pretty nice.
(https://i.imgur.com/9K6giBA.jpg)
Putting that KD lesson to use at the KD range - what an awesome range!!!
(https://i.imgur.com/szFI2jR.jpg)
Another shot of the KD range