Project Appleseed

A very interesting weekend of Heritage and marksmanship, along with several back-stories, that added to the drama and atmosphere of the event. I'll let the "guilty parties" speak for themselves, but I can disclose that mud and vehicles were key ingredients for a couple "sticky" situations.  ::)

After the initial safety talk, shooters started prepping for first encounters with the "redcoats"...

VAshooter made this his Stinson trifecta, returning as a last minute stand-in for dond. As usual, he did a great job of keeping things moving along, despite a Sat morning delay in getting the event started.
Following VAshooter's orders to engage the "redcoats"...

Kyjam and brdholman did a fantastic job as a support team, demonstrating a well-rounded knowledge of line commands, safety, shooting positions, and continual engagement with the shooters. If you ever attend an AS when kyjam is instructing, let me just say that she is very "animated".  ;D  Her and her husband are both some of the nicest folks I've met in AS.

Our first IIT from WV--dst27--got his feet wet in more ways than one at his first AS as an instructor.  :)   Thanks for stepping up Don...you are going to do wonderful things for the WV AS program!  O0

We had 11 shooters on Sat and 12 for Sun, consisting of a mix of repeat "customers" and several new faces. Margaret was a sweet lady who never really shot a rifle before, but by Sun, she was holding her own...
No new Rifleman, but a couple were getting close, with our own wvmmfalcon having an AQT score of 206 on Sun...we'll have a patch waiting for you in July.  ;) Our first WV woman instructor prospect made her intentions known before leaving on Sun, and I can see our first female Rifleman patch being handed out in WV within a month or two...yes, I'm referring to you Beth!  <:)  The "falcon" and I were already scheming how we will "initiate" you when you score Rifleman (hint: think water)...and you just thought I was busy spotting those shrinking groups through my scope!  ^-^
BTW, it was a pleasant surprise to see you, Keith, and Alex show up for this AS. Thanks for bringing along the two Mikes and Brian too.

VAshooter put things in perspective with his periodic history lessons...
The props were brought out for authenticity, but the canopy was the only thing in danger of getting bayoneted  ;D...
Mojo--WV's AS Mascot--learned his history lessons too...
Tired after a full day of Heritage and marksmanship; perhaps Barry-WV and his son represent Appleseed at it's finest...family values, passing on the tradition of the Rifleman, restoring hope in America...

I almost forgot...a big THANK YOU! to spanner for donating a beautiful tarp to the range.  O0  Also, thanks to the "northern guys" for the donation of some shooting mats.  :)

I atended this AS with my 11yr old son.  It was his first AS
and  we  both  had  a  great  time.    Great  instructors
and  also  thanks  to  The Machine  for  hosting  the
event  and  making  some  much  appreciated  range
improvements.

Brad and I had to leave early and did not know about Beth wanting to join the ranks!  Beth, you are on the edge of Rifleman and will be a great instructor.  Hopefully you can do some training over here in Ky.

Everyone improved this weekend and there are at least 3 that will be Rifleman very very soon.  Thank you for the teachable attitudes and complying when I called "chicken wing!".  O0  With most being close to Stinson, I hope you will attend the July or August Appleseeds.

TM and SusieQ, thank you for being so hospitable.  You welcomed us in with sincerity and down-home kindness.  We look forward to seeing you again.  VAshooter, thanks for making the long trip to command the troops and for your insights.

Once again, another interesting appleseed. Thank you shooters for showing up, it would be a dull weekend without you. Thank you VAshooter for coming down and offering your wisdom. It's always good to work under as many instructors as possible. Thank you Tm and SusieQ for catering to our every need. Dst27 did a great job helping out with whatever needed done.  When asked to run to a vehicle for more targets, he did just that. He was running back with targets and water in hand. 
As always at an appleseed, when something needed to be done the instructors and shooters alike jump in with both feet and get it done. It's nice to see people who have never met band together to accomplish a common goal. Reminds me of some other people we heard stories about this weekend.
All of the shooters have talent and the ability to shoot rifleman scores. I saw nice groups from everyone. There is so much to learn. Stick with it, practice at home,dry fire is free, and find another appleseed to attend.

Man, that's what I get for posting an AAR without checking what was already on the forum. I thought I was first and then I scroll down and find everyone had posted descriptions of the weekend and The machine has imported SuzieQ's great pictures.

Thanks again for making another fine Appleseed weekend.

VAshooter

I wrote up a report of the weekend for Facebook and the WVCDL forums, as there was more for us than just the AS.

Report as follows:

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Appleseed weekend.
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Today at 11:34am | Edit Note | Delete
It's been four straight days of sending lead and copper downrange. Mike, Mike Jr., and Brian all traveled to the land of freedom (WV) from their communist states (NY and NJ respectively) for the promise of shooting cool hardware and getting some precision rifle and combat handgun familiarization. I think these goals were accomplished in spades.

Day one was Friday. Brian and the Mikes (sounds like a band name, huh, complete with a play on words for "mic") arrived chez Keith after driving all night. But, they did not allow their fatigue to impede their will to belch fire downrange. So I declared Friday "Commie Gun Day." We loaded up the Mosin-Nagant, an SKS, and an AK and headed to Walmart and Gander Mountain. We loaded up on Russian ammo to match the Russian rifles, and headed directly to the local public range. To our joy, we found that at noon on a Friday, you tend to have the range to yourself.

We sent HUNDREDS of rounds downrange slaying plastic water bottles, and making them dance all over the range. After just a few minutes of rifle instruction, all three of the commie-state imports were nailing the drinking bottles at the fifty yard line with, appropriately, the communist-designed rifles. Soon, the fifty yard line was presenting a challenge for no one, and the bottles were gathered up and moved to the one-hundred yard line, where their fates were equally gruesome. Bottle carnage was everywhere. It was a massacre. The lighting and shooting conditions were perfect. At one point, Brian said "See that shiny thing out there glinting at a hundred? I'll give you a quarter to hit that." And that's how I won a quarter. By shooting a quarter-sized object with an SKS at a hundred yards. We capped off the day by grillin' some burgers on the porch. The commie-staters got a little taste of the zen-like feeling of shooting fatigue felt after a long day of focusing on your front sight post.

Then came Saturday. Day one of the Appleseed. Mike, Mike Jr., Brian, Beth, and my son Alex arrived at the farm hosting the event at eight AM and lugged our gear to the firing line. We were delayed a bit getting started when one of the instructors got his four-runner stuck on the "road" from the farm-house to the range. This was convenient, as, it allowed the sun to warm the range to temperature and humidity conditions more commonly found in say... Nicaragua, or maybe Equador. It was hot, and it was unbelievably humid. It was so hot, my sweat was sweating. It was so humid, my shooting glasses were fogging from ambient moisture.

Now I can't speak for the commie-staters, nor my wife and son, but I was hot as hell while receiving the instruction. Miserably so. But once we settled in and started putting the instruction to use, the heat, humidity, and voracious bugs completely left my mind for a few seconds during every shot. And what was interesting, is that I think everyone was coming to the conclusion that precision marksmanship is hard. But then, I suppose if it were easy, everyone would be a leet-ninja-super-sniper, right?

However, one of the cooler things about the Appleseed shoots is the history. As we broke for lunch, we learned about the first day of the revolutionary war. Now, I have to confess. I was a little worried that the history instruction would involve some crazy right wing-nut philosophy indoctrination. No. None of that vibe whatsoever. It was simply an accounting of the names, times, places, and events told in linear story fashion. Details you don't learn in school. Names and back-stories on folks that helped Paul Revere on his express ride to warn the colonists. Accounts of what happened on Lexington Green, and how the colonial militia came together at North Bridge. How the colonials absolutely destroyed the pride of the Crown's army on their route from Concord. The little details of hardships of colonial life. What it meant for these people to take up arms. What it meant when the British burned a house in colonial times. Times when people did not have insurance. When if your house burnt, your only recourse was to start cutting trees and hack another one out of the woods.

History aside, by the end of the day Saturday, that zen-like exhaustion had everyone absolutely wiped out. We were too tired to even cook. So it was pizza with glazed eyes and nodding heads as everyone fought to stay awake long enough to eat. We'd spent twelve hours in the blazing sun and sweltering humidity, slung tightly to our rifles, focusing intently on our front posts. Sleep came quickly. Morning came too quickly.

Sunday, it was all business. Except for a continuation of the history lesson when we broke for lunch, Sunday was all shooting. Across the board, scores kept climbing. Round after round after round. Breathe. Focus on that front post. Squeeze. Recoil. Follow through. Repeat. I was so disappointed with my scores. I had qualified expert in the Marines. But let me tell you, precision marksmanship is a highly perishable skill. If you don't practice it, you don't keep it. Qual after qual my scores slowly crept up from "marksman" territory towards "sharpshooter." On the last shoot of the day, I finally qualified sharpshooter. But the crossed rifles of "expert" (or as the Appleseed calls it, "rifleman") eluded me. Yeah, that's the bad news. But the good news, is that my wife qualified high sharpshooter. Just a few points from expert. Yes, she out-shot me. This is nothing new. She's always out-shot me. However, I do get to take credit for teaching her the skills years ago. But her scores are nonetheless impressive, because before the Appleseed, she hadn't picked up a rifle in five years. The Appleseed folks were begging her to return, qualify expert, and start working on being an instructor for them. To my joy and astonishment, she agreed! (Awesome! A shooting activity my wife LOVES!)

The real success story was Brian. Brian's exposure to shooting a rifle prior to the Appleseed was essentially zero. Brian went from nowhere (rifle-skills wise) to outscoring me by two points on the final qualification. From zero to Sharpshooter in TWO DAYS. Julie, one of the instructors, gave Brian an informal "most teachable" award. It was well deserved. I'm convinced that if Brian will do another appleseed, he will qualify expert. He's got it in him.

Now, Sunday night, we were all just as beat. Talk about wrapping a good day of intense shooting up right, we nailed it. We grilled burgers again, and then capped off the evening with Arturo-Fuente cigars (courtesy of Brian) and Yeungling beer courtesy of Beth. I slept like the dead Sunday night.

Monday we switched gears. First, we took most of my arsenal, as well as Mike's Enfield and 03A3 (which is an amazing rifle, BTW) and hammered a steel swinger target at 225 with everything we had. The AR-15, the Sig 556, the M1 Garand, the .17HMR, The Enfield .303, the 03A3, all of them rang that four inch by twelve inch steel plate at two hundred and twenty-five yards repeatedly. These guys were putting the skills they'd learned with small bores to use with big battle rifles. And they were drilling that plate. It was awesome.

However, we'd been working all weekend on shooting VERY small targets with a considerable amount of time to do it. The last half of Monday was different. Combat pistol instruction. I taught Brian and Mike the basics of the four-point draw. I taught them about weapon retention, and how you can fire from a retention position. The grins on those guys faces as they drew, fired from retention, then switched to a more distant target was awesome. What was cool for me was seeing them make good hits while doing it.

And to top off a great day at the end of a great four-day weekend, all us guys came home to find that my wife had been slaving over barbecue all day. Awesome Q. I inhaled it. And I don't think I was the only one. That Q just evaporated when we got home.

I couldn't begin to put a round count on the weekend. I would estimate we burned up about five to eight thousand rounds between us all. And everyone learned, or relearned something. Pure. Awesome.

So, go to www.appleseedinfo.org. Find an Appleseed shoot near you. DO IT. It's free for women, children, and active duty (or active reserve) military. Do it. It's a wonderful experience.

Great report siglite! O0  It was even greater getting to meet you again in a non-political venue, along with your family, and buddies from "commie country".

I guess Beth wanting to follow up this event with the intent to score Rifleman and instruct, was a pleasant surprise to both of us. ;)  She did tell me that her rifle skills were initially attributed to the instruction you've given her over the years. Apparently after 5 years of inactivity, her recall of what you taught paid off and gave her a good head-start. If she does, in fact, score Rifleman and instruct, it would make her the first female to do both in WV! She seems like one very determined woman and it wouldn't surprise me if she did both.

I wasn't aware that Brian never possessed rifle skills until you pointed it out here. His really is a success story! And as you stated, the skills learned over the weekend translated to to actual distance at 225 yds. I agree--"awesome"! Brian told me that he will be returning to attend another AS here at Stinson in the future; we'd love to have him back.

Like I touched upon during the shoot, AS and WVCDL are a perfect complement to one another and I look forward to working with your group more in the future. I appreciate you giving us exposure to the membership through your first-hand account.

Unfortunately, weather conditions are always unpredictable, but "Mother Nature" seems to have a way of revealing the areas in our lives and rifle systems that can use a "tune-up". :)   I like the opportunity to shoot in all climatic conditions as a way to evaluate and overcome deficiencies in myself and my rifle. That's an important reason why Appleseeds are held during any weather condition that doesn't imminently endanger the participants.

I'm really glad you all learned something new about our Heritage and the the fundamental rifle skills of our predecessors. I look forward to seeing all of you again! <:)  Oh...thanks for the pizza shop tip...