Ramseur, NC 1st Pitolseed May 4-5
Our first public Appleseed Pistol Clinic event in Ramseur was an outstanding success for both students and instructors!
We had 13 students on Saturday and 9 on Sunday. This was the first ever Appleseed event for 8 of the 13 students. Our youngest, age 8 had been to two previous Appleseeds accompanying his father. Our oldest, age 64, was a lady with limited pistol experience at her first event. Everyone performed safely on both days with keenly focused attention and careful compliance to all instruction.
Hawkeye, who developed the program of instruction and the course of fire did all of the teaching. He was ably aided by his son, Lawson, who modeled all of the handgun positions and techniques with practiced smoothness and precision. Sincere thanks to the US Army who provided Hawkeye's exhaustive training and experience as he served, also allowing him to refine and polish his excellent teaching skills as a drill instructor, mentor and guardian of young servicemen. Through his commitment and all those like him, Project Appleseed and countless future students can build on these efforts to insure our legacy is not lost.
During the morning briefing, 7.62BBQ and Hawkeye, emphasized that this was the first ever public pistol event for Project Appleseed and that their observations and feedback would be greatly appreciated as we develop and improve this option. Just as every Appleseed is a learning event for both students and instructors, the pistol instruction followed a comforting parallel to all that we teach in riflery.
Appleseed's experience with rifle marksmanship will enable us to build on this program for pistol owners to serve a greater number of American gun owners. Although different skill sets must be developed, they build on the same safe and tried historical marksmanship fundamentals we currently employ.
The History and Heritage aspect of Appleseed was especially well received by the first time, pistol oriented students. Their keen focus on personal responsibility and self defense was a strong component of what they gleaned from our presentations. Lawrence presented the first strike and Thaifighter followed with a brilliant and moving presentation of the 2nd and 3rd strikes. The benediction completed the day and reinforced the urgent responsibility that each of us must communicate to our families, friends and public servants in these rapidly changing days to come.
From personal experience, having received only minimal pistol instruction many years ago from the NRA and more recently from a concealed-carry handgun course, the benefit of more detailed Pistol instruction using the Appleseed techniques and format was fundamentally confirmed! We look forward to future events which will add experience and improvements to this new Appleseed option!
O0
We want one! (FL) ..:..
Thank You to all that helped with this event. Overall it went well, with a little fine tuning we will have a good program. I can't believe how cold the weather was that late in May but no one complained. The round count was about 116 the first day and just short of 200 the second day. Just like Appleseed the grind caused a few problems with pistols failure to feed etc... Thank You again to all that attended, I will schedule another one in June. Thanks
I look forward to seeing the course of fire and instruction used and the process for current instructors to become pistol certified.
Is this under discussion somewhere else on the forum and I've just missed it?
I think a Appleseed Pistol Clinic in IA would go over well. What targets are being used?
Mike
The standard FBI bowling pin target.
I had a great time at the Appleseed Pistol Clinic. I learned a lot and my wife who has never shot a pistol before gained a wealth of knowledge that weekend. She also got to shoot several different pistols that she would not have gotten the chance to shoot anywhere else. And as always she shot better than I did.
Sounds great sorry I missed it!
There's a Appleseed Pistol Clinic being planned for June. Stay tuned... O0
I look forward to this moving out to the other states O0
This is great, and I think my club would go for it in a heartbeat. Where can we get details of the COF and protocols for the Appleseed Pistol Clinic?
Appleseed Pistol Clinic is in beta mode now give us time to work out the bugs and we will release it. It takes time to do it right.
Good stuff Man,
Lets do it right,
to even be close to what we have on the long rifle discipline,
it is going to be difficult at best! ..:..
Once it is sorted out, I suggest we get some MI/SIs to come to Rams and learn it, so it can be passed on to rest of country.
I've got a fair bit of experience teaching NRA (BP, PPITH and PPOTH) and tactical pistol classes. Would love to bring this down to PMRPC.
tk
I have accepted a gracious offer to include a day of Appleseed Pistol Clinic instruction into a RBC I will run late this August at the home range in Ramseur, NC. Please consider attending the RBC. IT's a great way to advance your skills as an instructor and the camaraderie is priceless. We will run a full KD lecture and shoot out to 500 yards for a full day. The shoot boss is marginal, but the range is amazing. ^-^
My son and I had a great time at the Appleseed Pistol Clinic (he's the 8 year old). He has already asked me a number of times about attending another one. I noticed that one is scheduled for June 29, but we already have family obligations that day.
The training was outstanding! My son and I both improved immensely over the two days. The instruction was terrific, and the curriculum was well thought out. I especially appreciated the willingness of the instructors to provide individual help where needed. The instructors were particularly supportive and encouraging to my son. A couple of them were calling him "Tex" which thrilled him, once I explained what it meant.
From our experience, I'd say that the Appleseed Pistol Clinic is superior to the Appleseed for kids my son's age. My son is big for his age, but given his size he is more comfortable operating a pistol than a rifle. He enjoyed the Appleseed, but he simply had more fun with the Appleseed Pistol Clinic.
For anyone considering bringing kids to a future Appleseed Pistol Clinic, I'd recommend thinking carefully what kind of pistol you supply for your child to use. My son used my Ruger Mark II, with which he did fine. However, the Mark II is quite heavy, and he had a hard time holding the pistol properly toward the end of the day when he was tired. Also, the Mark II doesn't operate in the same manner as most standard (modern) semi-autos. The way you charge the bolt at the rear of the pistol and how you release the magazine are unique. I'd like my son to develop skills that are as portable as possible, and (since the class) I have purchased a Walther P-22 his use. The P-22 is light, has a normal slide for cocking the pistol, an ambidextrous safety, and drops the magazine in a more standard way. It's a little finicky with standard velocity ammo, but otherwise it seems to be a good choice.
The course included instruction on moving while shooting, draws, and quick magazine changes - all things that I was interesting in working on. As someone who carries concealed, I think that these are important topics. The dry fire drills we learned at the class were a bonus, and have been particularly helpful. My son and I practice several times a week on these drills, and have improved my marksmanship considerably.
I'd like to thank all of the instructors who were involved in this class. They were all truly outstanding.
Do you get a pistolman patch for making score? and what does it look like can you show a pic
We are working on the patch and PQC we will try one out at the June Appleseed Pistol Clinic.