We had a great event in Columbiana, Alabama last weekend. The ole shoot boss got a chance to work with my Appleseed brother and sister instructors in the Yellowhammer state to spread the message of liberty to some dedicated patriots. We even had one new instructor come all the way from Illinois to work her first shoot as an orange hat. Thanks keep_smilin_txn.
You would expect the weather in central Alabama in July to not be very conducive to shooting but we were blessed by having overcast conditions both days that kept the temps in the 80's. That, combined with the usual great hospitality shown by the Shelby County Sheriff's office, gave us near perfect conditions for the event.
(http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/l502/Ramblinwreck77/Appleseed%20Events/Columbiana%20Alabama%20July%2020-21%202013/SCSOFiringlineinColumbiana_zpsd3133c9d.jpg)
Firing line set up by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office for Project Appleseed.
We had a few returning Appleseeders but most of the line were first timers who showed great improvement. Our one new Rifleman of the weekend, Mike C., is the epitome of persistence. He has been attending area Appleseed events for 3 YEARS before shooting a qualifying score of 220 on Saturday. He followed that up by coming back on Sunday and asked for an orange hat. Welcome to the Appleseed instructor family Mike.
I'm looking forward to working an event in Alabama again soon. Y'all are great folks. I didn't get many pics so post em if you took em. You can see a few more I took here.
Ramblinwreck
HUZZAH for Mike for persevering! :bow:
It was great to meet the shooters and share the message of liberty... y'all arrived focused and ready to learn. Lots of improvement on the line and I forsee a number of Rifleman patches in your near future!
A special thanks to Sheriff Curry for hosting us at his beautiful training facility!
-Rusty
Congratulations Mike! I knew you could do it.
Alright Mike! I was hoping to get back on here and read about your success. Well done and much respect for your dedication and persistence!
A few pics from the event. Perfect weather.
As always I had a great time in Columbiana. Thank You to everyone on the congrats for me making Rifleman and earning my patch. I will wear it with pride and honor. I am looking forward to continuing on this journey as a new IIT. Not trying to get long winded here but I would like to share my story for any newbies out there that have not achieved a rifleman's score yet.
I have participated in Appleseed events for 3 years. Looking back on old AAR's I counted 6 Appleseeds that I have attended. Only 3 of those I was able to attend on both days. The other 3 I attended on Sundays only. With my heavy work schedule as it is, that was the best I could do. The not being able to go both days slowed me down. Also I've had equipment and ammo issues that slowed me down. At one event I had a rifle to failure to eject at the time we started the AQT grind. At another event I had a scope to come loose and lose zero during the first stage of the first AQT. At another event I had a bad batch of Federal bulk of 550rds of 22LR that had a large percentage of bad rounds in the box. Wished I would have noticed them sooner. Tracy was helping me to go through them. We found so many bad ones he told me to put them up and gave me a box of Federal Auto Match 22LR. That helped but I was mentally fatigued at that time.
I had made my mind up that this trip to Columbiana was going to be Appleseed #7 for me and I was determined to make Lucky #7 my day to make it. I had done some dry fire exercises for a few nights prior to going to the live range to make sure everything was good. I checked my scope, bolt, extractor, and trigger group. Cleaned everything properly b4 Sat. morning and sighted at 25m.
When Sat. arrived I started shooting well then one of our IIT's (KeepSmilinTexan) explained to me about how to relax my left shoulder in the sling while shooting prone. This helped tighten my 400yd groups on the 4th stage on AQT,. This helped me the most so I shot a score of 220pts.
So the moral of the story is to be prepared b4 all Appleseed events but also be prepared for anything to happen during the Appleseed event. Be prepared for all kinds of weather cause we have shot in the extreme heat and humidity, extreme cold, rain and high winds that was literally blowing all of the targets down. But I saw these as challenges and I never gave up. So I am now challenging you to push through it and never give up.