can anyone say tropical storm seed or tornado seed.Despite the heavy rain 15 patriots showed on sat and toughed it out learning our countrys History and practice Marksmanship.Sunday 6 patriots returned and were determined to complete the COI.Funny thing happends when you shoot a soggy target,it tends to rip and slide down the backer.
I must say these patriots showed the rifleman spirit persisting thru the elements. They would not give up.Finally the evil shoot boss called it (because of lightning)and force the end of weekend.
Thank you Mark,Charlie,Braedyn,Sean,Stephen and Max for setting a fine example of patriotism and to my cadre Rick,for being an excellent leader,Cory for great job doing demos(second to none),Douglas for driving 3hrs to pick up the slack and for Jose doing an excellent 6steps
Thank you all for your service :bow:
Archie Bowen
More pics
thos are assume :cool2:
the soggy bottom boys are at it again **)
What can I say? Weather is one of those unknowns that's hard to forecast in advance. Great group of patriots with large differences in marksmanship skills.
To the rookies, I hope we gave you a good foundation to start building on. To the veterans, don't get discouraged. I identified two of you that were knocking at the Rifleman's door at COB Saturday. Had the weather cooperated, I'll go on a limb and say that there would have been two 210+ scores when the event adjourned Sat afternoon.
To all, there is a cliche that reads: "Freedom isn't free". I furthermore hope that we showed that the liberties we have today, we owe to those who paid for it with lives and blood.
Airplanejoe
I've never seen Myakka so green, or so wet.
thanks to all at the Myakka event,it was a beautiful weakend to celebrate freedom. I learned more skills to apply on my path to earning my rifleman patch. 3 times a charm. The level of perseverance and tenacity I witnessed was absolutely inspiring, our forefathers would be proud, no whining at all.The boys and I were planning our trip to clermont AS on the ride home. The instructors we were so fortunate to have really made a great event, Cory, you proved how much you wanted to be there when most guys would have just sat on the couch.The history that Rick and Archie shared with us keeps that fire burning no matter how much rain mother nature gave us,the whole AS crew went above and beyond to make a great event, Huzzah!
The rain was coming down at a 45 degree angle at one point. At least 25 to 30 mph cross winds. A beautiful day for an Appleseed!
Targets were so wet they would not hold staples. Although ponchos were offered the shooters just accepted that it was wet, ignored the rain and pushed on. Rifles were dropping wet, scopes fogged up, no one gave up. O0 At one point Sly223 put it to a vote; continue on or call it a day due to the weather. They all looked at each other and said, "let's do it." :bow:
Hope to see you all along the Trail another time.
Douglas
Douglas you will see the 4 of us at the Clermont AS in 2 weaks. The history we learned taught us how the founders faced down diversity and adapted and overcame, Appleseed and the weather is teachingi t to us now, giving up was not an option for them, nor is it an option for us now, This program has shown me that the shooting part is just a small part of the overall program , the disipline and character building are a big part for me and the guys I came with,our instructors set a fine example for all who attended (4 guys 1 motel room 2 beds = sacrifice)
Amen Brother Archie ... You Guy's and Gal's definitely proved that your not " Fair Weather Patriots " Sunday.
Carolina and I want to thank you instructors from the bottom of my heart for the grit, patience and kindness you showed under very trying conditions.
To everyone else out there I highly recommend shooting these foul weather shoots and learn to "improvise adapt and overcome"
Here are some Personal Lessons I learned from this wet shoot and past wet Appleseed shoots.
1. Shooting gloves that work soaking wet ( and the future addition of a little skate board deck tape on the fore-end and pistol grip ). Pruned hands and plastic stocks are a no go, the stock on the rifle I used this time has a textured finish that grips great dry and sucks wet. I did not have this problem on the last 2 wet shoots as i was using wooden stocked rifles.
2. The Winchester high speed HP (550 box) my daughter was using, while accurate in her rifle, makes for some interesting sticky when wet, hard when dry build up in the action and the mags of her Ruger 10/22. I have not had this problem with the Federal Auto Match 40gr or Remington 40gr (blue) Target ammo that I use in my Ruger or Remington 597.
3. Flip up scope caps that you can ready just before you shoot and microfiber lens cloth's.
4. Canvas M1 slings work wet and 1907 leather sling work wet, the nylon silent sling I've tried slip wet and so does my pretty leather M1 (Greek) slings.
5. The "on fog" wipes for your shooting glasses only last a few hours in rain and none of that stuff works if you blow out a big breath on your rifle stock, which directs directly up the back of the glasses and scope, on a 100% humidity Florida rainy day. (iron sight don't steam up)
Learning to cope with wet triggers, sand splashed in the action, slippery mag's and add hot 22 brass steaming on a wet shirt ( it leaves a real mark like big bore brass ) will teach you focus, confidence and adaptability.
You cant learn this stuff shooting on just pretty days.
Once Again,
As Shoot Boss for this event a lot of great points have been made, But pics and verbal do no justice to the elements facing us all shooters and instructors alike.
My most crowning achievement at this event is that these folks get IT!
They are about marksmanship no doubt but this crew Knows the importance of staying informed as functional citizens in society and it like every thing else this weekend ,mention it once and every one gets it!
I've been to many shoots were the emphasis is on the marksmanship, These fine Americans know that it takes a lot of character to become a Rifleman and that it's not all about the Marksmanship, but the Tenacity needed to Hunt that Patch down,and all the other Characteristics involved in becoming a Rifleman. This crew and these shooters although they have not shot score are Rifleman in their heart,the way these Patriots are willing to earn there Patch and continue the Rifleman life style,is far more important than the guy who comes to the line squeaks out a 210 and disappears into the woodwork forever!
I take great pride in knowing these shooters really know what Appleseed is All about.
We were still able to get two AQT's on Saturday and Sunday was halfway through the third when Big Bad bolts of lightening shut down the firing line. We then returned to the club house and I performed the KD clinic. We then released the shooters and it got nice for 45min just enough to start questioning if I had made the Right call and the weather and lightening proved me correct we were only in between band of weather.
I want to give special thanks to Airplane Joe for working so hard on Sat.
Also to Douglas, my blood pressure always goes down a bit when I have this wealth of knowledge on my line.
Archie-Fantastic performance Sir, Words can not explain how proud I am to have you by my side I love you Passion Sir, it is contagious!
Corey, Sir you have shown incredible improvement,and you dedication to this program will never be questioned by this Shoot Boss again! Folks let me explain this young man has no transportation and goes so far as to provide his own bus ticket to ride in from outta town all the way across the State and this is a big state.
Archie and Corey storm trooped the state with me in BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK EVENTS! THATS RIGHT THREE WEEKS IN A ROW.
Archie is taking this state by storm, since arriving this year he has been fast tracking his trail as far as working every possible event and turning in PC like their hot potato's, Most likely,He will be promoted after this weekend to IIT4 he has more than distinguished himself on the line, and so far the PC at a glance looks good!Congrats!
Corey- is also a young man coming into his own, Is starting to become confident in all that he does this was a slight character defect that he has overcome, I can not say enough about this young man and how proud I am to serve as Fl Cadre with him. I have also become to know these two fine men(Archie & Corey)and am proud to call them Friends and Brothers in liberty.
The poor old Shoot boss got sick sleepin' in deplorable conditions Sat.night,pouring Rain hot in the van with windows down and mist across everything!
I still have a lot of info to add to this event, I will try again later,
Thanks again to all, my new found Brothers and sisters in Liberty
PS thank you to my wife easing back out on the trail and showing that she knows very well what she is about, No one made score this weekend,But I now know that these folks have a burning desire, and given halfway decent weather they will all do very good!She got the second highest score of the weekend with a 194,Henrey got her by one point with a 195. Scoring these targets was so difficult we were ready to take the backers down for scoring as you could not seperate Target from backer with out tearing them up.
Whatr an outstanding way to improve one's character through adversity!HUZZAHH!!!
thank you for the kind words sir.rick your too generous :bow: here are some pics :pop:
The RWVA (Appleseed) has a weekly program called Rifleman Blog Talk Radio that you can access through your computer. My question is: how can I download the program to a flash drive (I tried a CD and the file is too large).
What I want to do is listen to it in my car during the time I'm driving. I really don't have the time to sit 2+ hours in front of my computer at home to listen to it.
Airplanejoe
Great question Joe,
This may need to be moved somewhere,(I don't know where)
But I am never available at the times in which it runs and three adults and a child are competing for the computer!
Joe if you can download it to your computer first then drag it to a flash drive or install the flash drive first where to download select the flash drive. and sly who are the other 2 adults you were talking about.
My wife & Daughter(14 goin' on 40)
Alkeford, thanks for the suggestion. I was able to download the file to a flash drive, but I need to copy it to a CD to play in my car. The file is too large to fit on one and I can't find the option to split it in two (or three). I think it was a good idea with no way to implement it.
Airplanejoe
I use to use a FM modulator that plugged into the cigar lighter it had a USB connector and Aux mini Jack built in. I was able to plug a USB Flash drive in with a lot of MP3 music or jack the Ipod in the aux jack too. I found this listed at Wally Word 25$ but I've see them a little cheaper at Best Buy.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/19714441?adid=22222222227014874810&wmlspartner=wlpa&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=14067870790&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem
Thanks for the info, Stoneknives. I'll pay a visit to WW and the other electronic stores in my area and see what I can find.
airplanejoe
The weather causes you to change your POI,
on the spot so as to do a lil' history,
durring the downpours,
and save the instruction and course of fire, for when it calms down.