Another good shoot at the good ol' Davilla range.
While it was a small crowd of 5 what we lacked in size was made up for in persistence. Although we didn't give out any of the coveted Rifleman patches just about everybody was knocking on the Rifleman door. They were close, real close.
For the instructor crew there was me, Scout, reliable, AlarmList76, and Bullet. Hi guys!! and gals!
The shooters:
Drew and Ryan: A father and son team. These are the kind of people that give you hope for this country. Drew was doing great and is almost there. Keep it up Drew. Ryan, who is I believe right around 10 years old, seemed to have a blast. Since the rifle was a bit big for him we set him on on a sandbag and he started tearing the targets up. There was a huge improvement from Saturday to Sunday. I had the pleasure of working with him most of Sunday.
Matt: He has been to several Appleseed and is persistent. He is almost there too. An achy back makes it more of a challenge but he isn't giving up. I told him that's alright. It took me a LOT of Appleseeds to get my patch. Computer affected eyes surely don't help. His attitude is "I'm not giving up." Way to go. He's not into the 190's so just a hair more and I see a patch in his future.
Pierre: Another shooter there into the 180's. I enjoyed talking to him on Saturday after the shoot. He is very involved in the local Austin area trying to affect change for the better. It's a pleasure to know there are those who are out there trying to make a difference.
Ellen: A really nice lady. I was impressed with her attitude. She stayed cool and collected the whole time. And yup, another 180s shooter. Hope to see her back out again.
Thanks all for coming out, both shooters and instructors.
Having the scope base come loose didn't help my scores either. I bought the rifle used with a scope already installed. Last night I discovered that the previous owner had not used any Loctite on the screws. I have corrected that oversight. Since the screws attaching the scope rail to the receiver aren't readily accessable, those were the only ones I didn't check while out at the range. Murphy's Law strikes again!
I also had some failure to eject problems during timed stages that trashed the scores of at least 4 of the AQTs. Since I've read multiple criticisms online of the brand of ammo I was using, I'm going to splurge and go with CCI Mini-Mags for my next Appleseed.
I'm trying to decide if I want to go over the College Station this weekend. With the scope base tight, I should be able to break 190. I also want to see if the loose scope was to blame for some of the first shot flyers I was seeing.
Here are a few pictures of our illustrious instructors; even one with Scout showing Ryan how to properly size tender and set it with the wind to get a fire going on the first attempt. What a great team.
Thanks again everyone,
Drew
Just a quick follow-up...
When we left, Scout stressed the importance of dry fire practice and how much it could improve your shooting. We'll, dry fire is the only opportunity I've had to practice. But today I got a chance to run into the local range for 15 minutes. Here are my results at 25 yards, standing, and using a hasty sling. Obviously I've still got LOTS of room for improvement, but I do believe this is better than anything I shot standing while at the event.
Thank you guys (and lady),
Trooper-D
PS. I don't know if the low shots are due to the sights or me. I took the scope off my rifle, put it on Ryan's, and put the Tech Sights back on mine. I could only bore sight the Tech Sights before going to the range and the range didn't have a lane where I could use bags or anything to properly zero the sights. The good news is that the stray was not my first shot! Whoohoo! I may be getting past that stray first shot syndrome.
Good for you for dry firing.....I always find it amazing how much improvement I can see when I just take the time for some good dry firing.
I think all 5 of you shooters need to come back next month and get your Rifleman patches! Deal? :) Oh, and don't forget to bring a friend!