Just got back home from a wonderful weekend at the Egyptian Rifle & Pistol Club, Marion, IL. Thank you to Larry Morse for his hospitality and helping out throughout the weekend.
Saturday found one pre-rifleman with a 208 on the only AQT that we shot that day. Too bad that he was a Saturday only shooter.
Sunday morning was spent honing the skills needed to get through the position and target transitions. Two new rifleman were forged on Sunday afternoon. One Sunday-only shooter that had previously received a patch, also proved himself with a Rifleman Score. Congratulations guys. Others were shooting in the 180's and 190's, persevere guys. Hope to see you at other Appleseeds. Make sure you bring someone with you.
Astrid, thanks for the honey.
Post your experiences and comments here. Thank you all.
Thank you to Wurstmacher, MissouriBrigade and NoFoMoHo for the excellent instruction. Also a huge thank you to Larry Morse, The Heartland Training Team, and Egyptian Rifle and Pistol Club in Marion for this opportunity.
Another great 2 days at the Appleseed Project for our family. What we learned most was : Persistence. We had spent the week before identifying which brand of rounds were most effective in which weapons, sighting in at home and remembering/practicing the cadences. This time we had 2 hour travel time to and from the range coupled with the 2 hours of farm chores before and after the shoot.
I've never had more respect for my children and husband in the 16 hour days that they were willing to put in to have the opportunity to learn more and gain knowledge
Saturday was an easier day for us as most of our equipment worked or could be fixed/identified as an issue. We participated as a family on the line and with the help of the Instructors most of us were able to achieve tighter groupings. The opportunity to sharpen our knowledge and improve our memories of the basics (6 Steps) was invaluable. Again our youngest child was able to borrow from Wurstmacher a 10/22 to replace to left handed bolt action he was using. We also discovered that one of the Marlins we were using was a "fit" for our daughter. She was having difficulty getting on paper until she and I switched Marlins. In her words - that Marlin with that scope was like "relaxing" and time slowed down so she could shoot more effectively.
Sunday my husband and I decided to split up the family. While our daughters are "good listeners", our feeling was that they should achieve some independence and take responsibilities for their own actions on the line. With the utmost faith in the Instructors abilities, we sited them down the line from ourselves. I personally believe that the ability to take direction from another individual(s) helped their groupings and "attention to detail". By decreasing the Mommy look" syndrome they were able to focus their minds on what should be done to achieve personal excellence vs "pleasing their parents". This also helped me to focus on the areas that I need improvement on.
Sunday was a day for persistence. Our scopes slipped. One backwards on the rails and one forward to the sites on two separate rifles. I eventually had to stop using the Marlin due to misfires. This provided the experience of a great deal of frustration on my part and to separate my mind from "I'm failing - what is my problem?" to "What can I do with what I have?". Wurstmacher then let me borrow a 10/22 with "tech sites". Since I had been using a scope, this provided the chance to apply the Rifleman's flexibility and learn something new! I did achieve better groupings, but I needed to slow down and the assistance of MikeD (the gentleman who I had been next to on the line Saturday) managed to improve my trigger control (follow through). Respiratory pause is something I need to work on and will before the next Appleseed.
The highlights of the weekend:
Our eldest went from shooting 50's Saturday to 140 Sunday.
2 Rifleman were made which we had the privilege of witnessing.
Thank you again to all involved and we'll be back!
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Thanks to Wurstmacher, NoFoMoHo and Missouri Brigade for a Great Day as well as Larry Morse and The Egyptian Rifle Club for being such great host. Wish I could have been there on Sunday, but had church obligations that prevented me from being there. Was disappointed that I missed Rifleman by 2 pts :wb: but there is always next time!
As usual the instruction was great, just wish my son would have been able to attend this time but we are talking about getting the whole family over to Evansville next month if harvest is complete by then.
I posted a complete review at my website "AAR for Marion IL" http://www.krfarm.net/?p=2322 (http://www.krfarm.net/?p=2322) stop by and check it out, leave a comment if you can.
Again thanks to all the nice folks I meet and see you all on the trail!
73
RedFox24
Nice Weather and a nice facility near a lot of people. Thank you Larry for getting the shoot scheduled. Great to see some familiar faces and to meet some new ones.
A few photos from Marion/Sparta: flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/22465254@N04/sets/72157625349646750/)
My favorite
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/5161797680_dda49ac8d7_m.jpg)