What a weekend! What a HOT and HUMID weekend for a terrific Trail Life group of 10 boys and 4 dads ranging in age from 7 to 40+. This was the second event for this group. Last year we met many of them in Martin. This year they trekked a few hours extra to Ranger and brought 5 brand new shooters with them. A huge shout out to wileycoyote for dropping off his Appleseed trailer with so many rifles, mats, and the canopies.
Gator0246 gave a fantastic 1st Strike and set the bar high for history - I hope Maximum Effort and I were able to maintain his standard for the other Strikes later in the day. We jumped right into learning about marksmanship and these guys ate it up. The new ones were super observant and thankfully very safe. Many thanks to the non-shooting dads for helping keep a watchful eye on the boys. Our newest orange hat, Kevlar, fit right in. He did great as victim model, coach, and RSO the first day. We were lucky enough to get Maximum Effort here the first day too. What a difference an extra volunteer makes, especially great ones like this crew. As Saturday wore on it dawned on us that it might get a little warm. It was still morning when I saw the temp was 78°, but the heat index was already 94° - and then it got hotter. Everyone stuck with the program and persevered. The shooters did outstanding. Their groups got better and better. They understood Maximum Effort's lesson on Inches, Minutes, Clicks. They made appropriate corrections and most had groups well within 8 MOA and centered on the black squares by the end of the day. We weren't all able to finish out last Hits Count target on Saturday due to some trespassers, but the groups that were shot, were superb!
Sunday morning dawned as another hot and muggy day. The Trail Life had spent their 2nd night camping, and still looked fresh and ready for the day. They helped us with the review. Kevlar told us all about Betty Zane and we were ready to shoot another Hits Count Target. They were the best targets yet. We dove right into more shooting and made sure we had zeroed rifles before moving on the Ball & Dummy drill. If one of our goals is to teach riflemen how to teach others, we succeeded! These boys (and their dads) were awesome teachers! I could hear each pair encourage and correct each other and their targets showed improvement on our very next exercise. We broke for lunch shortly afterward and were treated to Gator's lesson on Known Distance Shooting inside the slightly air conditioned garage. I'm not sure the break indoors, the unbearable heat, or just camping for a couple of days, but it wasn't too long after lunch that our shooters started dropping off. The heat index wasn't quite at 100°, but it was so close. A few shooters were able to stay to complete an AQT - Cade, Matt, and Brett - Congratulations! No one got a rifleman score on that AQT, but for 2 first time Appleseeders, Cade and Matt, you got very respectable scores of high 170 and high 180's. Brett wasn't satisfied with his good score, so he asked for a second AQT. Gator jumped on the line so he didn't shoot alone. Brett did great!!! 219 - as Percy would say, "We have men among us who know very well what they are about." Well done, especially in that heat.
Overall, it was a great shoot. Thank you Trail Life for breaking in this new range and the camping area. This was at my house and has been a goal of mine since I got the property. The enthusiasm and helpfulness of the shooters and volunteers are some of the things that make Appleseed so special. I hope we see you guys again soon. Keep up the perfect practice between now and then.
I didn't get a chance to take a lot of pictures this weekend. Feel free to share yours.
(https://i.imgur.com/Z7En4Az.jpg)
A great Trail Life group.
(https://i.imgur.com/gQuI7EE.jpg)
Our range for the weekend.
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Gator0246 starts the weekend with a terrific 1st Strike. He knows all the details.
(https://i.imgur.com/I1sQzd7.jpg)
Maximum Effort gives a great 2nd Strike
(https://i.imgur.com/QMBMBIm.jpg)
Perk of having the range at home - puppy breaks!
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Ball & Dummy
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Ball & Dummy
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Ball & Dummy
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Kevlar pointing something out to Matt
(https://i.imgur.com/JXNAvz9.jpg)
And then there were 3. It was soooo hot - no exaggeration a jar of peanut butter exploded as they were loading it onto a truck. The other 10 or so shooters held out until about 2pm. All were doing so well.
(https://i.imgur.com/YNDGH6O.jpg)
Brett shoots prone
(https://i.imgur.com/aSSolgJ.jpg)
Gator0246 jumps down and shoots in prone too
(https://i.imgur.com/EFiipKk.jpg)
What a way to end the weekend 3 shots in the last target of 4th Stage. Nice shooting, Brett!
(https://i.imgur.com/gFEQi63.jpg)
Congratulations! Brett scored a 219!
Awesome! I love the Trail Life events. They always seem extra special. This looks like a great one. I can't wait to work this range. O0