We had a great group of scouts come to the Appleseed home range. Rain, mist, and drizzle didn't deter them from enjoying themselves, learning new things, and having a great camp out, a benefit we enjoy at Ramseur. We saw lots of enthusiasm over the markmanship instruction and the history of the true events of April 19, 1775. They learned about the price of liberty paid for by colonial Americans.
Most of these young men have never been introduced to rifle marksmanship. I want to thank the dedicated instructors who volunteered some 25 liberty training rifles for the scouts use. They were very appreciative. Needless to say, the improvement in there skills was awesome as demonstrated by the final red coat target Sunday afternoon. Ben, a life scout, age 16 achieved Rifleman status on the first AQT on Sunday with a score of 218. His parents were very proud. These young men will be back and I expect to see many more earn their patches.
They were given three special treats on Sunday. Hawkeye gave his famous Garand clinic where he explained the history of these fantastic rifles while he disassembled cleaned, replaced all the springs, and greased Pain Killers recently acquired service grade CMP Garand. At the same time, Goliath gave his interesting and insightful Ruger 10/22 clinic. After lunch, the scouts received a demonstration of Garand ballistics (discussed in the long distance lecture) by observing Pain Killer shooting tracer ammunition at a rifleman's cadence out of his just fully serviced Garand. With only a 25 yard zero and 9 clicks of elevation, every round from his Garand struck the 500 yard target. Yes, what we teach works!
I look forward to seeing these young men and their families again.
A couple more photos.
This was truly a great event! Very satisfying to teach Marksmanship and Heritage to such fine young men. They camped out at the NC Home Range for 2 nights and gave us a teachable attitude for two full days.
A special thank you for all the Instructors that provided 24 LTR's for these Scouts and their Leaders! This is a testament to our fine IC in NC, I am sincerely thankful to be working with such a fine crew. Thank you to Hawkeye for getting my new M1 Garrand squared away and functioning so well!
PK
All the scoutseeds that I have done have been a real pleasure , the kids are engaged and soak up the instruction like a sponge. Our instructors do a great job of keeping the line safe and moving. I,m more than happy to work on a Garand, I never meet one that I didn't want to follow me home. Steve had a service grade that looked more like a special grade, mostly new parts ,CMP is the best deal for Garands. Steve zeroed at 25 and shooting M25 tracer put all rounds into the target a SR1 at 500 yards. Most folks take a while to get use to the Garand he took to it like a duck to water. Another fine weekend at Ramseur! Steve
Ammo!
We were most impressed with the coordinated effort that the Moms, Dads, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents made in repairing for this Appleseed. They searched for and acquired ammunition from every available source, pooled their efforts and arrived with enough to supply the scouts for this Appleseed and their next! Your effectiveness and determination is admirable!
Parents and Leaders;
No one is ever sure if their countless efforts are truly making a difference. Most of the time, all the planning and preparation goes unnoticed by those who benefit the most, especially if it is done well.
Please let this group of Appleseed volunteers reassure you that it was evident to us, how truly valuable the investment you've made will be to our future. Scouting is one to the organizations dedicated to preserving our values and traditions for the next generation. It was a pleasure to meet and work with each of you!
Congratulations Instructors!
Dr Dave(cdavidhord on the forum), performed his duties brilliantly to earn promotion to Appleseed Shoot Boss at this event. He also made the great photos! Pain Killer, our dSB, aided adamsod, our State Coordinator, in bringing this great group to Ramseur.
Sincere thanks to Kardiak Kid, Hawkeye, Julia_H, Fox4, saltypaws and Pelon for their commitment and for supplying all the loaner rifles needed for the scouts to participate.
Good Job Scouts, Parents and Instructors! O0