We had 10 great shooters come to show they knew more about their equipment and skill than your typical shooting enthusiast. 200 yards with a 22 rimfire is a task that is not only daunting, but attainable. By the end of the weekend, 4 would distinguish themselves as RFKD rifleman and we even had one hit the shingle placed at 125 yards from the standing position. But I am getting ahead of myself.
With beautiful fall weather we had a group of 10 folks ranging in age from 10 to 72. It was great seeing all of the folks from prior events. We knew everyone and it was nice to see our old friends come to another event. The 200 yd RFKD is known as the hardest course we offer. With bullet drop of 27 MOs from the 50-200 yd targets, that is a lot of dialing. And wind is magnified a lot more with rimfire.
We started our morning with some refreshers on IMC using MOA and MIL. We discussed trajectory and come ups specifically related to the 22. Data collection, being a critical skill for a Rifleman, was also covered.
Our first target of the weekend was the test established by Cpt Morgan himself. That calling card, if you will. Everyone took careful aim, and none were able to distinguish themselves at this callout. We brought targets to 50 yds and discovered there were sight adjustments needed. IMC was implemented and we are on our way to our first AQT. We did a rinse and repeat with sighters and adjustments, then shoot the stage on our way out to 200. By the end of our first day, 3 Riflemen distinguished themselves as RFKS qualified. Jim, Derek, and Basil all turned in over the magical 40 to qualify. We wrapped up our day and let folks prepare for the next day with good data.
Day 2 - another glorious day in America. We went through our normal morning brief and got rifles to the line. We did a range estimation exercise as our first task. Teams created and fabulous prizes awarded to the best estimation results. It never ceases to amaze me how well some of these folks can do this task. the winners were within 1 yard on their estimations. Kate and Derek were one team and Greg and Basil were the other that nailed this exercise. Now that we had better data for our rifles we gave folks another chance at Cpt Morgan's Shingle. Basil connected with it from standing. HUZZAH!! We shot a couple more AQTs and included a fun shoot in our day. The AQTs would yield one new RFKD qualified Rifleman, Greg. The fun shoot was a 25M AQT posted at 50yds. We ran the standard stages. Basil turned in a 180 to win another fabulous prize. Everyone showed great improvement with most scoring into the mid to upper 30s. Tom was at 39, so close...
It was a great weekend at the Deer Creek Conservation Club. The membership gives up access to this range for us to use it 3 weekends a year. They are great people and very supportive of Project Appleseed. We appreciate everything they do for us. I had a crew of JBH, EchoCharlie, and Traveling man help me run the event. Thank you each for helping with the weekend.