Fresh off the heels of an outstanding April 19th event at this same location, with over 25 students in attendance, the Alaska Appleseed instructor cadre were concerned about the May event. Less than 10 students registered for a class is usually not a good sign. There's a certain energy that a large event generates, invigorating the students and instructors alike. Start reducing the number of students, and the energy level drops accordingly. Sometimes, though, a small class can be a good thing.
It was a good thing at this event.
The Townsend Family returned for their second event, and they were joined by father and son duo, Frank and Rowan, first time Appleseed attendees. Rounding out the class was multi-Appleseed attendee Kevin, who had previously scored Rifleman, but only just barely, and never consistently.
With fewer attendees, and a full complement of instructors, each student received a significant amount of 1:1 instruction & coaching, which fostered many 'Aha!' moments throughout the weekend.
The initial Hits Count! target was a big flashing neon sign to our instructors, indicating that we had our work cut out for us- of the 10 students on the firing line, only four engaged successfully beyond 200 yards. 4/10 couldn't successfully engage even the 100 yard target.. 40% bayonetted, 30% cleared the target, and 30% somewhere in between. A typical mix of skills on the firing line.
We got to work, instructing sling use & prone position, then ensured that each student was set up for success by helping them fit their rifles to their body geometry. A few scopes needed to be moved forward, a few rifle stocks needed to be built up to ensure a proper cheek weld.
Once all students were successfully getting into a proper prone position with their rifles, we continued the instruction to include the first three steps of firing the shot:
- Sight Alignment
- Sight Picture
- Respiratory Pause
These steps are the building blocks for Natural Point Of Aim. After the group instruction, each student received personal coaching on how to truly relax into the position; some found this more difficult than others, but all understood the concept.
With an understanding of Natural Point Of Aim, the next block of group instruction covered the final three steps of firing the shot:
- Focus
- Squeeze the Trigger
- Follow Through
This group instruction was followed up with a trigger reset drill, in which each student was walked through each successive step, including dry firing the rifle, with an instructor coaching them the whole way. Once the rifle clicked as the hammer dropped on an empty chamber, the instructors ensured that the students were keeping their eyes open, calling the shot, and properly holding the trigger back. This was repeated numerous times with each student, to ensure they were beginning to build good habits.
4 MOA?With the building blocks of Rifle Marksmanship set into place, the students were introduced to the "squares target", which features five 1" squares. When posted at 25m, each square represents a four Minute of Angle target. Now, if you read enough online, you'll be well aware that just about every modern rifle shooter can shoot sub minute of angle
all day long. So, what gives? Why so large a target?
Well, here's a hard truth.
Most rifles are capable of ~1MOA accuracy.
Most rifle shooters aren't.
Given that 30% of our students could barely keep their rounds on backer first thing in the morning, being able to keep their rounds on an 8-1/2x11" sheet of paper, let alone contained to a 4MOA target would represent a
significant improvement. Five rounds, no time limit, prone position with sling. Ample time to execute all six steps.
Not only did our students all keep their rounds on paper, most of them even had discernable groups. As they prepared to head down range to inspect their targets, they were introduced to the concept of "Talking Targets"- every group fired has a story to tell, if you're inclined to listen. They learned how to discern the meaning of subtle differences in respiratory control issues, trigger finger engagement, target focus vs sight focus, and then practiced diagnosing their own targets (with instructors available for assistance). The target doesn't lie, and those who executed the six steps well, shot well. Those that didn't, didn't. It really is as simple as that. After engaging the squares targets a few times, groups started to shrink; our students were listening to their targets, and making appropriate correction to their technique.
"I'm shooting good groups, but they're not on target!" The age old problem, encountered at every Appleseed. Most times, the target is saying that the nut behind the butt of the rifle needs to be adjusted. Sometimes, however, it's actually the sights of the rifle that need to be adjusted, and our students were were introduced to the concept of
Inches, Minutes, Clicks, or IMC. IMC is the step-by-step process of receiving feedback from the target, and making appropriate changes to the sights of the rifle. With IMC presented, the students were then given the opportunity to adjust their sights and verify that the corrections made resulted in the appropriate changes on the target.
Quote from: ItsanSKSA dull pencil has a better memory than the sharpest mind
When you start making changes to the sights of the rifle, (or any changes to the rifle, really) you should write it down. What changes you've made, why you made them, what you anticipated the changes to do, and what the results were. This is the foundation of what should become a DOPE (
Data
On
Previous
Engagements) book for the rifle. As most of our students were relatively new to the art of Rifle Marksmanship, time was taken to explain this process, the value of it, and some examples of commercially-available DOPE books were handed out for examination & review. Each student was then tasked with starting their own DOPE book for their rifle.
As you might surmise, the amount of information presented, and the level of one-on-one interaction between instructors and students took a great deal of time. While every event is different, this event seemed
slow. But, that's exactly what the students needed.
The rest of the course went to plan, if slightly behind schedule.
The final Redcoat target of the weekend proved that the instruction worked, with all but two of our students qualified at a minimum of 100yds.
Kevin showed impressive progress, consistently scoring above 210/250 throughout the weekend, and clearing all but one of the Redcoat targets.
Frank also proved that he knew well what he was about, absolutely smashing the AQT every time it was offered, with a high score of 229!
Harold tied this high score with his own 229, and consistently cleared the redcoat as well.
Most importantly, everyone left this event with a better understanding of what it takes to live up to the title of American, and about some of the first people on Earth to be called such. Kevin, when offered the Orange Hat of Instructor-In-Training, graciously accepted, and shall henceforth be known as DryFire365.
There is photographic evidence of much of the above, which I will endeavor to post ASAP, and I would be ever grateful if my fellow instructors could help fill in some of the details that I may have missed.
In Liberty,
ItsanSKS