This was a special shoot for me. All but two of the participants were previous Appleseeders and the weather was a nice change from the summer inferno. We had not one but two new Instructors who officially retired their Orange Hats at this shoot in a hail of gunfire and explosions. Kudos are due to Randy (Falcon793) and Chris (Minutemom).
A first time shooter (Sandy) began with a fantastic group on the first squares target of the day on Saturday. The rest of the weekend was trying to make that feat repeatable and consistent. Sandy, you improved more than you can know and it was a pleasure working with you. I do hope you can join us again as you will become a Rifle(wo)man if that is your desire. Dimetri, Sofya, and Lucy: you guys are awesome and it was great to see you again. Thanks for bringing Yuri, another fine person and a very good shot, becoming better and better. Wes, you and Perry are always a delight and it was once again a pleasure seeing you both. Perry, your determination is an inspiration as you work through finding a position that will work for you. Hang in there; it does get easier!
While we had no new Riflemen, Wes and Dimetri both re-qualified with very respectable scores on the AQT, as did several (all?) of the instructors. The small gathering had the feel of a intimate family get together and the high instructor to student ratio made for some rapid progress.
You may recall that I mentioned a series of very good YouTube videos presented by Ryan Cleckner of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WRO17sk_dI&list=PLACF2AEF0EC711484 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WRO17sk_dI&list=PLACF2AEF0EC711484) Some very good advice on scope mounting and tuning along with a lot of other great information on long range shooting. I hope you find these videos as useful as I have.
Thanks to all of the great instructors who made this shoot a success: Rambo Granny, Falcon793, Minutemom, and Smoakingun. You guys make it look so easy...
Don't forget, we have a new shoot in November near Hawthorne. Lovely facility, no range fees, camping on site is available and the weather should be as good as it gets in Florida. It should be epic!
Good times! I saw amazing improvements from all the students. Congrats again to minutemom and Falcon, well done on your new red hats! The pictures I took are below:
First things first, I want to give a big congratulations to Chris and Randy for earning the red hat. Both of you are going to make great instructors. You absolutely deserve it.
I also want to thank all of the instructors(Bruce, Janet, Smoak, big Chris, Chris and Randy)for another great event. I have immensely enjoyed every Appleseed I have attended but I have to say I think I enjoyed this one the most (THREE rapid fire aqt's-what's not like about that!) Only thing that could have made it better was if my son would have been able to make this one but hopefully next time he will be able to.
You folks really put your hearts into these events and it shows. I always take away something new both in terms of history and marksmanship. I'm sure it can be frustrating at times trying to impart that knowledge but you patiently keep at it and I can vouch that it pays off.
Thanks again and hope to see all of you soon.
Wes
Quote from: 9mm4545 on October 31, 2016, 04:22:41 PM
You may recall that I mentioned a series of very good YouTube videos presented by Ryan Cleckner of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WRO17sk_dI&list=PLACF2AEF0EC711484 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WRO17sk_dI&list=PLACF2AEF0EC711484) Some very good advice on scope mounting and tuning along with a lot of other great information on long range shooting. I hope you find these videos as useful as I have.
Thanks for sharing this. Looks like another night of Youtube ahead...
vr/
Monkey
Fun shoot!! I really enjoyed working with our young patriot, Lucy, and watching her marksmanship improve over the weekend! Great job in raising a young lady who knows what she is about, Dimitri and Sofya! And speaking of Dimitri, congrats to him and Wes for re-qualifying with very respectable scores!! And thank you also for bringing along Yuri and Perry, both a delight to work with and who made impressive improvements over the weekend. And finally, Sandy, I was so impressed with your persistence and great attitude - you are definitely a rifle(wo)man in the making! I hope to see you all again soon on the line!
And finally, thanks to my Appleseed family of instructors, Bruce, Janet, Smoak, Big Chris, and Randy. I am so incredibly proud to don the red hat and join a group of such passionate and talented people! I enjoyed participating in the blowing up of Randy's hat >:D
This one will always be in my fond memories due to the awesome students and retiring 2 orange hats at one event: Randy's hat was nearly down to the molecular level while Minutemom's was suitable for framing by her husband.
Minutemom & Lucy.
A real fedora!