So we'd finished another Appleseed weekend. It was windy and dusty at Piru so we had a lot of rifle failures and all the instructor's LTRs were out. My pair were out taking abuse all Sunday.
So Memorial Day Monday I am sitting in the back yard cleaning rifles. Its fairly mechanical now, so it gives me time to think, lets the mind roam.
I looked through my safe. Back in '96 freshly flush with money, in the dark days of Ruby Ridge and Waco, I'd splashed out on a sub-moa tack driver, a $3000 Robar SR-60, Macmillan stock, Rem 700 BDL action, bipod, $1500 Leupold long range tactical scope, over $6000 all told. Head shots at 800 yards no problem - for the rifle.
I then built a project based on the savage 110, another tack driver, $3000 by the end.
My Springfield M1A $1500. The rifle I was shooting when Bob 210 tapped me on the shoulder just one short year ago and told me about a program called Appleseed that they were running at Piru.
And then there are my two little ruger 10/22 carbines. $200 pieces of c**p by all accounts, with a cheap web sling and what some here have described as a c**p tech-sight. And as I once again cleaned my little POS LTRs, with more damn paint still flaking off the aluminum receivers with each cleaning, I began to cry.
The thought had crept into my mind that I've lost count of how many riflemen each of those little rifles has produced. How many ASes have I done where I hand some guy, some kid, some women, one of those little guns and seen them transform over the two days into awake, active, American Riflemen.
And while this weekend they didn't produce any riflemen they performed in conditions where other rifles folded and allowed the shooters to make progress and awaken to the path of American Rifleman.
So I realized, as I put those little rifles in my gun safe and looked at them amongst the thousands of dollars of bigger, badder rifles, that those tiny little babies were the most powerful weapons I own. They do more for freedom and liberty in this country every week than any thing else I own, even though I never get to fire them.
I cried again, as the old mantra ran through my head - "This is my rifle. There are many like it..."
I wonder who will get the privilege of using them this week at Fresno. I wonder if they'd understand if I tried to explain the privilege I now feel owning them.
A meager 25M range; a cheap Liberty Training Rifle; a box of .22s; a volunteer willing American; some AQTs; an RWVA instructor...
Mix in a dash of history, a dollop of heritage...
And what do you have?
"I love the smell of Liberty in the morning..."
:)
Appleseed.
13 colonies.
One nation.
One people.
One Day...
(Nice post, V.)
The LTR, humble rifle for a humble program.....and a humble Rifleman.
Very nice post indeed!
It is incredible the pride one can develop in being able to hand, not a rifle, but a tool of Liberty to a stranger, and by the end of the weekend, that humble tool has transformed that stranger into not only a friend, a fellow Rifleman (or future one), but more importantly, a brother/sister for liberty and the cause to preserve our nation.
+1 for an outstanding post! In my case, my 'humble' .22 LTR and .22 AR are the centers of my training program as I prepare for deployment. Along the way, I've gotten my girlfriend to go to an AS weekend, and hope to add more to the roster in the future. I got to share the word on AS this week with an Army CQB instructor and his assistant, who had never heard of the program despite being less than 20 miles from a dedicated AS range. Plant the seeds everywhere, my Brothers...
"My rifle I know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire,
the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make.
We know that it is the hits that count.
We will hit..."
.
V, you've struck a nerve. I've often said, "big-azzed gun safe: $2000; 250lb of wood and steel inside: $3000 (lots of low-buck C&R's); the ability to arm an entire city block: PRICELESS!".....but you've also helped more people EFFECTIVE with those loaner-armaments. :need a George S Patton smiley presenting you an award here:
I gotta get me a damn .22!... :o :D or at least a Ciener kit (different thread in this forum kind of talked me into one)
The lowly 22LR ruger brings forth liberty.
I believe someone mentioned loaners should have thier stock notched for each rifleman produced.
The importance of the swiss cheese could be explained to the borrower at each AS.
The more holes the rifle, the more holy the rifle.
Yep, great post. With scope(Leupold) I have about $900.00 dollars tied up in one Ruger 10/22. There's not much left on the gun that is stock. People look at me like I'm crazy but you know what, that gun gets used and it keeps me sharp. I like it SO MUCH I'm going to build another one just like it or dang close. With that gun I was able to shoot Rifleman on my first attempt at the AQT at Davilla/Tx 5/09.
Worth $900.00 you bet your ......
I love my LTR, yes it's as common as a ham sandwich, it's not carved up with Rifleman tracks but it has created a believer out of one shooter. ;D
Thousands of CCI Blazer, QDAQT targets, tech sights, NPOA, and a shooting mat, this is what weekends are made for.
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Thousands of CCI Blazer, QDAQT targets, tech sights, NPOA, and a shooting mat, this is what weekends are made for.
You forgot to mention Lock-tite.... >:D
My humble LTR, made a Rifleman out of this wayward shooter. And many more will follow.
LTR's: Turning a 'rifle behind every blade of grass,' into a, 'RIFLEMAN behind everyblade of grass.'
I have to thank J Papineau for the lock tite on my LTR.
How did I miss this post?
No internet on the gun range yet.
Jules asked for a 10/22 of her own after our first Appleseed in January. We found a 10/22 jr. fit the bill. Since then Jules has taken a shine to my first 10/22, a late '64 that has taken more abuse than any rifle should, and more than any other rifle I own, but the little champ chugs along without a failure yet that I didn't cause.
Jules' little rifle was loaned out to young Sara in Fresno, who showed she could tear a 5 shot ragged hole in a piece of paper at 25 meters with it. I'm hoping to see her make Rifleman with it soon.
A notch for every rifleman? I think, maybe, it's time I take out dad's old engraving pawls and freshen up. One little piece of scroll work on the receiver for every rifleman. That would sure look pretty sitting in the Appleseed museum. I gotta get moving, I'm already one behind.
In grateful memory to V (and eager anticipation of his future return), this needs a "BTT".
Thanks, Phil.
Powerful thread, thanks "V" and thanks Fred for BTT....O.L.
O0
Thanks, "V" for all you have done for Appleseed.
I hope I have the opportunity to meet you in the future back on the Appleseed trail!
All the best!
Patriot Gal