As the sun rose on Saturday morning at Virtue of Defense Shooting Range in Old Fort, NC you could tell it was going to be a great weekend of history and marksmanship. The day began with some fantastic history told by Tar Heel as he regaled us with the events of April 19, 1775 with the first strike. We then posted our first Hits Count target with one shooter narrowly missing the shingle which would have resulted in a cleared target. But a rifleman persists and that did not damper any spirits. As we moved into the formal marksmanship instruction the shooters showed great attentiveness and were engaged at all times. As we broke for lunch we did not let any time go to waste and Bulldog expounded upon Tar Heel's great first strike when he had the audience captivated with the second strike.
We moved on to learning the various shooting positions and the shooters did great! As is usual in the mountains of North Carolina a storm decided to roll in mid afternoon and lightening caused a lightening lock down as we all sat in our vehicles to ride out the short lived storm but not before Deveraux could finish out the history of the day with a great third strike. We finished our sole AQT of the day with one of the shooters ,a repeat Appleseeder, re-qualifying... HUZZAH! And the Hits Count target showed we had some exceptional shooters with the scores showing it, including one cleared target.
Sunday proved to be much like Saturday with some great instructing and even better shooting! Recon82 taught the known distance classes and afterwards the shooters shot out to distance showing that what works at 25 yards also works at longer distances. All shooters had 4 MOA groups or smaller! We packed up from the KD range and moved back down to the 25 meter range and began our review of Saturday with the shooters answering a lot of questions that were asked by the instructors showing that they had indeed retained what was taught the day prior. During our lunch break StarvingPilgrim told not one but two stories. The shooters got to learn about Samuel Whittemore and Martha Bratton.
After lunch we got to shooting some AQTs. Our shooter from Saturday requaled and we had one of our newest Appleseeders qualify for the first time with a 213! He decided not to stop there and score a 216 on the next AQT. After our second AQT we broke out the Parkers Revenge targets which were very well received by the shooters. The winning score was decided by 2 shots! It couldn't have come any closer. We then shot our 3rd and final AQT of the day and not to be satisfied with a 216 our newest Rifleman decided to shoot a 223! Another afternoon storm decided to come in and we were just barely able to get our last and final Hits Count target of the day done and the scores continued to improve. What a great weekend! A huge thanks to the shooters for coming out this weekend and learning some of what took place to found our great nation. A huge thanks to our instructors who showed that Appleseed Instructors know very much what they are about. And finally a huge thanks to Virtue of Defense Shooting Range for allowing us to use their great facilities. HUZZAH!!!
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What a great event! I'm glad I could share time with all the patriots who came out to shoot and teach in the green scenery of Old Fort, NC. Thanks especially to the instructors who travelled so far from all over the state to support the cause.