Another fun one.
499 rounds of well-aimed fire.
5 riflemen out of 17 shooters.
Three were first time Appleseeders.
We shot full distance on Sunday.
Characterized our rifles/ammo out to 400 yards and shot 1 AQT.
What a great facility !!!
Thank You VTNG Ethan Allen Firing Range !!!
(Reserved for future edit with more info)
sk
A young man posted some pics of the shoot on the m14 forum http://www.m14tfl.com/upload/showthread.php?t=73033. The range was beautiful. I wish I had been there.
--Todd
Actually, I think there was about 5 first time Appleseeders, though I'll admit 2 of them were well informed about it. That would be my Son, and my daughter. Finally got them to come, and thankfully, before my son heads out on the "2-way range" next year.
THat poster on the M14 Forum is none other than Tony Dedo, one of our newest IIT's.
Note to self: Apply sunscreen to EVERY part of the body that can burn! (In other words, don't miss any spots $$-0 ) The front of my neck is still tender after 3 days.
Fourth AS and first as IIT. What a hoot! We had an absolutely great bunch of shooter that demonstrated incredible improvement. Full distance with full size AQT's and pits was new for me, but incredibly effective. While working the pits one shooter commented that he now knows what a deer hears when a bullet misses its target.
Ethan Allen Firing Range were excellent hosts and commented on how professionally the program was managed. They stopped by often just to have a look. We were also serenaded with the sounds of full-auto and 3-shot bursts coming from other berms.
This location is worth the trip so mark it down for next year!
Actually, those HMMWV's that were stopping by was the Sergeant of the Guard. One of them got the duty both days, and is a friend of mine.
One of the local units was doing pre-deployment training, and on the range next to us (different direction), doing Individual Movement Techniques. Using blanks only, but assaulting positions, and the range is an 800 meter movement, Infantry style. Also, on the north side of post, there was a Machine Gun range going, plus the pop-up range.
Just spoke to one of the shooters a few minutes ago (Jim, and he's a co-worker). He says he did pretty decent full distance (around 172, IIRC), but still has work to do to improve that. We'll see him back, not sure how soon.
Lessons learned:
+1 on the sunscreen !
Don't forget your coffee mug.
Marksmanship really is a perishable skill, set aside time for enough practice to retain profency. ++) :~
I'm glad to have been there and I plan on attending/instructing again.