Louisiana wrapped up it's second shoot this past weekend at the Shurburne range, compliments of the LA Dept. Wildlife/Fisheries.
A sincere thank you to DonD and his wife Sarah for coming down into the "deep south" to run our event. Their passion and dedication to Appleseed was evident from the start; Don as a gifted instructor/educator and Sarah helping to run the line, keeping a watchful eye on us all to make the shoot a great one. All through the weekend they served as true ambassador's to the RWVA and Appleseed, this is not something they do- this is what they believe in and they take the time to share and spread the word. Thank you.
We started Saturday with 18 shooters on the line, ready to brave the heat and humidity that is a Louisiana tradition. After running through the preliminaries, we hit the line running. It was great to see some shooters returning from out first event, as well as all the new faces here for the first time. We had 12 return for more hot and muggy instruction on Sunday.... all in all, 6 achieved a rifleman' score (huzzah'!!) and after accepting his patch, Stephen took that 7th step and became our first LA Orange Hat. Congratulations to all.
A special part of the weekend was late Sunday. Hank, first time Appleseed shooter, not only scored Rifleman twice (.22/.223) but he graced us by bringing out his Brown Bess to the range. Just holding a rifle representing that historical time was an experience, but getting the opportunity to shoot off a round was a unique opportunity. Everyone stood and watched as we took turns loading and firing, with dubious accuracy, that amazing rifle. One by one we would emerge from the black powder cloud, each with an identically huge smile after firing a piece of history.
Shooting a rifle like that helped to put the weekend into perspective... adding yet another layer of respect, reverence and awe for our Founding
Fathers. This is the rifle that they trained to shoot with incredible accuracy, this is what they grabbed as they went out the door to an uncertain fate, this is what they held on to as they stood their ground, this was a tool they used to forge out our country.... inspiring does not come close.
Thanks to everyone who attended, for those that struggled to reach the 210 (myself included...) we will be back out in October ready to try again. Louisiana is on the map and ready to go...
Sounds like a great Appleseed, (aren't they all ;))
CONGRATULATIONS to the new Riflemen and LA first Orange Hat O0
Excellent job getting this shoot scheduled Ulshop.
I'm the Hank referred to above.
First a big thank you to DonD and Sarah. I'm having a tough time putting into words the passion for what they believe in. Sir and Madam, thank you. It was an honor. I came for the rifle instruction and left with much more.
Clarifying a bit on the Brown Bess. Bessy is properly called a musket. The barrel has no rifling so it is a smoothbore like a shotgun. It's primary use in battle was volume of fire, 3 times a minute by most Regulations of the Militia of the day. Off the battlefield it could be used in various ways. The same .735" diameter 600 grain ball going around 1000 fps used in battle could be used to take deer sized game. Load it with much smaller shot and an overshot wad and it could be used for taking birds or small game. If you could only afford one gun in 1775 you got a smoothbore for its versatility. Although the Bess was in wide use by the Patriots quite often they simply picked up the family fowling piece in the beginning. During the later stages more Bess' were acquired from Redcoats and Loyalists who shall we say didn't need them any more.
Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia rifles were more suited to the land of the Colonists. Where hunting for game required more accuracy and range than the effective range of 50 yd the musket provided. In addition Colonial riflesmiths crafted these guns with bores of .50 or slightly less for two issues. The short supply of lead and gunpowder. With the musket ball you could get only 12 balls per pound. With the rifle you could cast between 70 and 120 balls. The powder charge was typically 50gr as opposed to the 80 to 100gr of the musket. Longer range, more accurate, cheaper to shoot. Only negative was that it took about a minute to load.
Glad y'all enjoyed the Brown Bess. Shooting the Bess always reminds me of the sacrifice the Patriots made. After DonD's telling of April 19, 1775 I have a deeper respect for the Bess and the men who carried it. Don't feel bad about how y'all shot for accuracy. I've yet to hit a 50yd target with it. Even at 25yd most cooks can't hit the target. I saw more hits on target here than anywhere else I've shot it. Yes, it does shoot low and left. Forgot to mention that.
I'll be there for the next one I'm off work for. Now that I've scored Rifleman with scoped guns it's time to step it up and do it with iron sights. Excuse me. I've got guns to build and uppers to get.
Louisiana Rocks!!! This was just the second AS in LA and it was fabulous. The people were gracious and friendly. And their shooting was great. I've never seen a group advance so quickly on the one inch squares. And we crowned LA's very first IIT, spmcpeek, with an Orange Hat on Sunday morning. That afternoon he did a good job of calling the line. Ulshop, the brand new state coordinator, is doing a tremendous job of promoting AS. And I want to thank him for the fine post above. The event was held on the LA Wildlife and Fisheries land, and the LA Dept. of W&F Education Program Manager is solidly behind the program. In fact, he is going to contact another range, which is sort of under his auspices, to encourage them to begin holding ASs. It appears that the program is about to blossom explosively in LA.
Twelve had pre-registered. One did not show. We began shooting with eighteen. Twelve returned the second day. I was the only instructor present. Rhodes, who had attended the previous AS, graciously offered to help clear rifles. He did this in spite of having to use a walking cane due to recent back surgery. And Saturday was really hot and humid. Everyone was concerned about him, but he insisted on continuing. He was prevented from returning Sunday because of a balky truck.
I even enticed my wife into helping clear rifles. And she did a fine job. Furthermore, she proved very adept at correcting the shooters who were making mistakes. Now if I could just persuade her to start shooting!
Two shooters shot Rifleman scores the first day. And both were first time Appleseeders. Four shot Rifleman scores the second day. One of these had achieved this on Saturday with a 22. But he did it with an AR Sunday.
A few individual stories are appropriate. First, I would like to thank Hank again for graciously supplying the Brown Bess and allowing us all to shoot it. It was a very enlightening experience.
While we were setting up the range Saturday morning, a very fine gentleman, Rick, a West Pointer, came upon us accidentally while enroute to Houston on a business trip. He was looking for a camping place in preparation for moving his family from South Carolina to Louisiana. We persuaded him to shoot with us. Unfortunately, he had to leave after only about an hour. He would have highly preferred to stay, but could not afford the time. I asked my wife to return his check, but he adamantly refused. He had never heard of AS before, but was so impressed by it that he wanted to contribute to it. Everyone was very impressed with this fine young man. I'm sure we will be hearing from him again.
The only lady present was having trouble with her rifle and I loaned her one of mine. She began shooting extremely well and enjoyed it immensely. She declared that she was going to buy herself a 10/22. Unfortunately she was late about getting one of her earplugs in for one of the strings. As I understand it, she already had a damaged ear drum and she had trouble with it that night and thought it best not to return on Sunday. However, her husband did, and told us about going to a gun store Saturday night. She told the clerk that she wanted a 10/22. He asked if she wanted the pink one. She said no, and asked to see the stainless steel one with the plastic stock. She shouldered it and said to the clerk, "This one doesn't offer as good of a cheek weld as Don's." He just stared at her with his jaw agape. She will outfit it to be a good LTR and join us for the next AS. And I'll be surprised if she doesn't make a Rifleman.
We also had a U. S. Marine who shot with us and earned a Rifleman score. He said he would take what he had learned and apply it the next time he was on the range at his base.
Don THANK YOU! It is hard to put into words how fantastic the weekend was...
Karen is waiting on the parts to come in for her Ruger. What have you created!?! Now I am gonna have to be scrambling to shoot my Garand better so she doesn't get rifleman before I do. We were both overwhelmed by the experience and I hope our paths cross again!
Gonna qualify with that Garand...
I posted a bit about Shurburne on my blog. Hope that y'all like it.
http://pierrelegrand.net/2009/09/03/my-first-appleseed-shootaugust-2009-video.htm (http://pierrelegrand.net/2009/09/03/my-first-appleseed-shootaugust-2009-video.htm)
My First Appleseed Shoot...August 2009 Video
Here is a snippet from the post.
Wow what an experience. I grew up handling rifles, handguns and shotguns imagining my whole life that I knew what I was doing. To a certain extent I did as did the other 18 who joined me for a terrific experience in the 90+ heat of Southern Louisiana. But, I quickly realized that Don, the gentle retired physics professor from Kentucky who volunteered to be our instructor, knew a lot more than me and indeed more than the small group of Marines who joined us. We learned about dragging wood, NPOA (Natural Point of Aim), how to use a sling, tighten up groups, breathing, zero sights and in general how to focus on getting hits on the AQT Army Qualification Test from the standing, sitting and prone positions.
We learned this from a man who was slight of build and had a gentle voice with a Kentucky drawl. Part of the weekend is spent hearing the story, as told by Don, of the first day of the Revolution. In his soft Kentucky drawl he told us of the bravery and determination the fighters for this nations freedom had...it was an amazing experience since as he was telling us a story too many of us are not familiar with the other rifle range continued operations. Against the backdrop of the crack of rifles we heard about the ambushes, the sacrifices, the tragedies and the horrors of the war. Horrors that our founders faced squarely. Don was an amazing instructor who volunteered to drive here from Kentucky to run this shoot...he is a man who knows what he is about. His wife rocks too!
Apparently he was also pretty darn good at teaching shooting since out of the 18 who came 6 qualified as riflemen before the two days were through. Looking at other Appleseeds and their success ratio this seems to be a testament to Louisiana shooters as I don't think most Appleseed events have that sort of success ratio. Btw I did not qualify...my top score was 178 with, you guessed it Don's rifle.
Karen, the Warden/Wife, went with me to see what it was about...Don didn't think that the Marlin Papoose she was shooting was doing her any favors since as a survival rifle it is very short and not really meant for taking precise shots. He lent her his Ruger 10/22 that was tricked out with a Hogue Stock, Tech-Sights, and a variety of other neat stuff. Well as soon as he did this she started shooting extremely well. Don had created a monster! He thought that was pretty neat...I thought it was awesome!
Here my friend Larry and my wife, with the white cap, are preparing for a session. Take a look at Karen's form...knee up, support elbow under the rifle, trigger finger NOT dragging wood, great cheek weld and the resulting group proved the beauty of her form. This is Saturday and it is about 95 degrees. That night Karen dragged me to Academy sports to find a Ruger 10/22...the clerk offered her a pink one. She smiled and said that nah let me see the black one. Tried it out and told me that she didn't like the way the stock fit her, the cheek weld wasn't right, said that we would have to find a Hogue Stock and other other tricked out stuff...clerk's jaw dropped.
Y'all have started something. Before this event I told one of the bosses at work that I was doing a two day rifle workshop. He was interested and wanted an after action report when I got back.
Once I expounded on the quality instruction and the end result of the weekend he wanted more information. Steered him here and he signed up for the workshop in College Station, TX this weekend. Since he has only iron sight rifles he's borrowing my scoped rifles to keep his options open. On top of that he's bringing his grandson to shoot for the weekend.
I am just one man but I've gotten two to the range. I challenge you to do the same.
Fantastic Ellis, I'll be IIting at CS(with my brother in law & nephew). I keep looking at the Sherburne shoots vs my schedule, it's not that far & I just may end up there one day soon.