Day one.
Shoot boss - kDan
Line Boss - lprgcfrank
RSO - Spanner
RSO - Rob
RSO/Floater - B9
Perfect range and club house. The club made us lunch as if we VIP guests. Thanks the the club and especially George.
I believe the number of shooters was 26. They all took instruction very well.
One safety issue, corrected by kDan and lprgcfrank(now a Red Hat). We will discuss that later but for now I will say lprgcfrank moved with the agility of a ten year old. He literally flew like superman. Airborne for a good 3-4 feet from what I saw.
Two Riflemen today. Several more tomorrow for sure.
I was only able to do today and will miss all the fun Sunday. :'(
The club house
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0656.jpg)
kDan
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0694.jpg)
lprgcfrank
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0662.jpg)
Rob
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0665.jpg)
Spanner
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0666.jpg)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0673.jpg)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0690.jpg)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0708.jpg)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0682.jpg)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0676.jpg)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0684.jpg)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0677.jpg)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0689.jpg)
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(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm75/B964/DSCN0716.jpg)
4 more riflemen today - also an interesting guest who joined us on the line today :-)
I'm not an expert on the photo's so I just attached them.
Our final Rifleman of the day GaranDGunn shot a 216 on the last rapid file AQT of the day and joined those picking up a pail. Garan is our newest IIT! Welcome Garan! We look forward to your help in expanding the Appleseed program in New Jersey!
I just wanted to point out that the rifle in the photo of me at the top is a "blue rifle". It's plastic. It's not an AR-15 with a mag in it, leaning against a flimsy aluminum table, as it looks. Apparently, however, when a sweaty instructor gets a good cheek weld on this excellent demonstration tool (thank you frank!), it is hard to take him seriously afterwords for the blue streak it leaves across his cheek. Baby's bottom wipes become necessary to restore discipline (thank you Ed!).
How's everybody like my REI Walrus para-fly with flags a-wingin'? It's the first time I took that out to AS and I think it's gonna be a staple. Fits on the bike and is smaller than a tent. As much as I love to watch those $69 walmart canopies achieve lift off - seriously it's always a high point except for the one that landed on my rental car in Ohio (AAAAHHH!!), I am partial to my 10-year old light-weight backpacking gear. Stake it down and listen to the wind rip frustrated. I think I'll be sleeping under it this week-end - Elbridge NY - come on out folks!!! I've already rigged the guy-lines to better handle my AS nylon flags (thanks Fred!). (or... thanks Bulkhead!)
We made six Rifleman at Hallstead. Four on Sunday with about 2/3 the number of shooters. It did rain for a minute Sunday, but mostly it was hot and sunny. A lot of folks didn't realize just how many rounds a shoot boss of the Junior Birdman school (Ramseur 2-0-8!) and a post-grad of Nickle's New England Rapid Fire School (summer '08)... just how many rounds a shoot boss of these combined camps will get down range. The boys did it really - I just sat under my canopy drinking Rob's water and pretending to be important ("Bring those knees up!", "Don't drag wood!", "Follow through", etc). Frank, B9, Spanner (I foresee another instructor coming out of this family before Labor Day), and Rob were kicking butt, and our shooters were attentive and pretty excited. We put about 750 holes in paper per shooter, at least, the shooters that had enough ammo. We even went through half a brick of my own private stash. Heaven Forfend! Congrats to Garan - Sunday only shooter, 2nd AS after Winslow a week before, now IIT, from New Jersey even! He's got Frank's hat (psst - you can wash it) Dave qualified on like three different rifles, but is keeping the hat at a distance for the moment. It's good to understand the commitment.
The folks who ran out of ammo didn't complain though. I think they were happy to have an acceptable reason not to stay in the sun. Everybody learned, everybody gained. I have a feeling we'll be back at Hallstead. If not this year then next. It was nice for kDan to be able to go home at night - a first. I'm hoping to leave the 8 hour drives to Dinky and the Guy from now on.
I want to take a second to thank Robino, our second NYC Instructor (well, IIT). At least as far as I know. If I'm wrong and we've got another NYC IIT (or shooter besides the three I know personally), please let me know. I'll buy him brunch at Lodge! Rob is a school teacher and a wrestling coach. It's hard to talk to NYers about AS - just look at the numbers for Calverton, and it might help that Rob was born in Slovakia, but he's a citizen and a right patriot at this point. He's wearing the orange hat Bob210 gave me last 4/19 at the first Piru event. (Am I a name dropper or what!) Yes, I washed the hat before I gave it to him.
I ran out of ammo at about 1,200 rds, Brian did about 1,500 rds and should get a purple heart for the 20 brass burns he took and still maintained his sight picture and trigger squease! Thanks again Dan , Rob and Frank and Lynn for a grat time and some great instruction. Dave
The butterfly on the rifle is a beautiful picture. Crop it right and it will be worthy of framing.
Quote from: Redchrome on August 03, 2009, 11:48:07 AM
The butterfly on the rifle is a beautiful picture. Crop it right and it will be worthy of framing.
The butterfly stopped and visited a number of shooters on Sunday - It sat on Brian's leg as he was shooting - it wasn't phased in the least.....
Quote from: lprgcfrank on August 03, 2009, 12:26:36 PM
Quote from: Redchrome on August 03, 2009, 11:48:07 AM
The butterfly on the rifle is a beautiful picture. Crop it right and it will be worthy of framing.
The butterfly stopped and visited a number of shooters on Sunday - It sat on Brian's leg as he was shooting - it wasn't phased in the least.....
Perhaps the butterfly was an unmanned drone. Watch what you say around dragon-flies as well. Obama is listening. @@)
Quote from: lprgcfrank on August 03, 2009, 12:26:36 PM
The butterfly stopped and visited a number of shooters on Sunday - It sat on Brian's leg as he was shooting - it wasn't phased in the least.....
It's kind of surprising how deaf insects seem to be at times. Gunfire doesn't drive away mosquitoes and flies. I hit a mosquito once with the recoiling slide of a Glock (it flew right behind the gun as I fired), but other than that, they seem quite content to buzz around while people are shooting.