Our Appleseed Event this past weekend is one for the Record Books IMO.
Never before have I seen the number of Shooters make Rifleman at one event as was witnessed at this Shoot.
Thank you must first go out to Long Island Practical Shooters Association for hosting our Shoot.
I said it at the Shoot and I'll say it for every Shoot we have here on Long Island. LIPSA gave us a home and enabled Project Appleseed to return to Long Island. They opened their "gates" to us because they believe in our Mission.
THANK YOU LIPSA!! O0
Next to my Instructor Crew. You were GREAT!
Josey Wales, heartlessmcfly, Short Circuit, Incognito, Joeydiver, Chiefsailer and special thanks to Jersey and kazzooo both who drove from New Jersey to lend a hand. Both who accepted the Orange Hat. You guys/gal are the heart beat of these events. We've built an excellent crew here on Long Island and the future is bright for Project Appleseed on our home turf.
Now for our SHOOTERS!!
OUTSTANDING!!! :bow:
How do I tell this story?
We had 21 Shooters show up on Saturday morning. You could feel the excitement in the air as the cars were pulling in. I knew something special was about to start.....and start it did.
As we say in Appleseed they drank from the fire hose. They took in the Information, Instruction and History that was presented to them. We safely started our event and worked our way to shooting those AQT's.
First AQT...... 3 Rifleman!
That "Something Special" had begun.
By the end of Sunday we had 11 Shooters shoot the "Rifleman Score".
Here's our Rifleman and their scores.*
Chris.................................210
Steve.......................226, 220 & 217
Rob....................................210 & 229
Bill........................................219 & 221
Bow.............................................220
Anthony.......................................211
Our Repeat Rifleman:
Brian..................................218 & 219
Aaron...................................221
Paul..................................220
Our Instructors who re-qualified:
Josey Wales...............................220
kazzooo.....................................212
* The scores listed above are those I recorded. I gave up keeping records because some of those RIFLEMAN shot the score so often I just couldn't keep track of it any further. EVERY AQT had several shoot the Rifleman score.
Why am I hearing Tina Turner singing SIMPLY THE BEST as I type this?
CONGRATS TO ALL.
Lets not overlook out youth shooters.
Ariana and Rian who hung in there both days and let us know the future of our Nation is not lost.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR MAKING THIS EVENT THE SUCCESS IT WAS!!!!
Photos to follow but I wanted to get this posted for those who didn't attend to hear about this one.
LONG ISLAND STRONG!!!!
Had a great time, this is my second Apple Seed event. I can't thank everyone enough for the guidance,knowledge,kindness and sharing of equipment. We all worked together with positive attitudes to help one another. We even fabricate a make shift tent city to keep us dry while shooting.
Rich and Nick are all aces, true gentlemen with patience to get you the knowledge and skill development to achieve the goal of Rifleman. Thank you all again. Looking forward to Winterseed
..When I arrived at the range Saturday morning and I put my Red Hat on my head to meet VietVet & start the days events. I took a moment and a long hard look at the Rifleman pin on my hat, and I looked at it and asked myself the question, "Am I still a Rifleman.?."
..We have been building an Instruct crew at Westhampton LIPSA range and they showed up in full force. Rich and I had the line running like a well oiled machine by lunch time. So, I looked at Rich our Shoot Boss and asked if I could shoot a few AQT's?.
..I have been Instructing for over 6 years and being that I live in New York City do not have the trigger time in practicing. I do shoot a little on Fridays when we set up events but mostly at our events we are Instructing and very rarely shooting..
..By the third AQT I was falling into my rifleman's bubble. On the fourth AQT I requalified with a 220. I am proud that 6 years later too the month I can still put my money where my mouth is as an Instructor & as a Rifleman..
..We had a great weekend in Westhampton Long Island. My friend, my partner of the event ran a great shoot as to be expected. I'm proud to be his right-hand man.
Long Island is the home of many Riflemen. We showed them redcoats what we are made of with 11 out of 21 shooters scoring the 210 or higher on the AQT and earning the Rifleman patch. Strong Island is a stronghold of American Riflemen and that makes me proud. It is great to make new friends that believe in the same things. Hope to see you all again and thank you for being there and sharing your time with Project Appleseed..
..Those Redcoats can eat my shoes!!!
Never Surrender
Strength & Honor, Josey Wales
Great Weekend!!! As Rich said above the amount of new and repeat Riflemen this weekend was amazing!!! Bravo to all those who earned their patches either for the first time or once again! And for those who didn't get a patch I saw how your score increased dramatically as the weekend progressed. Keep practicing and return for the next one and that patch will be yours!
This was my 4th Appleseed event and first as an IIT. It was a little strange not shooting, and at times I really wanted to. But I loaned my rifle to another first time participant who was having difficulty with his rifle and the look of joy on his face and thankfulness that he could continue to shoot was very gratifying. This participant also did us all a favor by not only attending Appleseed for the first time, but also bringing along his teenage daughter and son. The future always looks a little brighter when the kids attend an Appleseed event and stick it out for both days with no complaints. I enjoyed helping others this weekend and look forward to becoming more involved as I attend more of these events.
Thanks to Rich and Nick for running the show and all the other IITs that were in attendance.
God Bless America!
~Stephen
Dupe. Please Delete.
Another fun, safe and inspiring event. Great satisfaction in seeing the progression new and seasoned shooters made over the weekend. I was especially proud of the teens Chiefsailer mentioned above. They were disciplined, focused, took direction and I only needed to make a few corrections with them during the AQT's, allowing ones score to go initially from a 20 to 140 and another getting a high score of 173 by Sunday afternoon. Plus hearing that they were looking forward to the next event was a bonus.
Great job!
Had a great time once again, 5th Appleseed , repeat Rifleman, although It isn't shown up there,,,No biggie, best score of the day was a 234, Scored and witnessed by Chiefsailer. I can honestly say,, Project Appleseed has given me much better shooting habits, Long Island is strong and proud with Project Appleseed.Thank you Rich, Nick and L.I. Instructors...Road trip for 2016 in the works..
Not sure what can be said that hasn't been already. Saturday was a perfect day at the range. Viet vet and josey kept everyone moving, no small task when the line is full of that much enthusiasm and friendship. 2nd Appleseed and got my patch. That was good, but the highlight for me was the next few aqt's I shot were better and better. Just proves that if you listen to what is being taught and let yourself learn an apple seed shoot will help anyone's skills improve. Sunday Mother Nature looked like she was going to fight us but the sky's cleared up and the poor instructors almost had to use their toes to keep up with the scores being handed to them. I want to thank the instructors and shooters that were there because the combo of everyone made it a great weekend.
I want to thank all the instructors again for a fun and informative day on Saturday. I was only able to make the one day but I came away with a renewed sense of why our 2A right are so important. Thank you guys for the history lesson and the shooting instructions . I have a ton of stuff to work on between now and the next Appleseed.
Rich and his staff are awesome my 15 and 17 year old and I had a lot of fun and we learned so much this weekend . Your staff and especially Joeydiver was very patient with us which made it very enjoyable . The history lessons from Nick opened are eyes and made us want to stay more envoled . The course is much faster paced then I was expecting and when my rifle malfunctioned Cheifsailor was right there with his own personal 10/22 thanks Cheif . Everyone there is so nice a wiling to help ,they made us feel like one of the crew . Thanks guy's and we're looking forward to seeing you in the future.
Also a special thanks to Joey for letting Ariana use his trusty 10/22 all weekend . Thanks bud. :)
VietVet and Josey Wales,, The hardest working guys in NY Appleseed. Job well done men, Long Island has a great history of being very supportive of the American way of life and Project Appleseed is no exception.
What Sgtrock said---times two. O0 O0 O0 O0 O0
This was my Third Appleseed event and every time I go I improve a little more. After earning 2 patches I am finally feeling like I have developed the muscle memory, posture and positions to fall right into my comfort zone and shoot a good score with little effort. The instruction is excellent, Rich and Nick manage a safe range and a comfortable learning atmosphere. The program is a test of shooter and shooting system. Nicks presentations of the three strikes are always a pleasure to listen to and the goal of Appleseed has been met with this shooter! I only wish I could get more tickets so I could bring every one I know to one of these events! I cant say enough about this program, I could type pages about what I learned that would take hours to compile and read. Thank you for all involved in making this happen.