This Appleseed was a memorable and fun-filled, family-oriented weekend, with an outstanding group of 15 patriotic shooters, and 9 staff, total. In many ways, too, this weekend had the feel of an old-time Appleseed, as all but one of the rifles had IRON SIGHTS. Only one telescopic sight was on the line! With two dozen patriots working diligently as a team to boost marksmanship skills, the desired improvements flowed quickly. On Saturday morning, our Red Coat targets showed we had 2 shooters effective at 100 yards, 1 shooter effective at 200 yards, 1 shooter effective at 300 yards, and 1 shooter effective at 400 yards. Two even managed to pass muster with Morgan's Shingle shot test, nailing the shingle, on Saturday morning, and one cleaned the Red Coat. And, by the end of Saturday, we had 2 shooters effective at 100 yards, 3 shooters effective at 200 yards, 2 shooters effective at 300 yards, and 2 shooters effective at 400 yards, and 3 shooters now passed Morgan's Shingle shot test, and one shooter cleaned the Red Coat again. These great improvements then continued all day Sunday, with even better results being achieved! And, the Appleseed Qualification Test (AQT) scores continued to rise all weekend, too. Some of our newest shooters advanced from Unqualified through Marksman to Sharpshooter, and nearly to Expert scores, scoring 185 to 197, respectively, and one of our repeat Appleseed shooters even advanced from her personal best at a recent prior Appleseed event of a score of 205 to 208 on the AQT at this Appleseed. With a threshold of 210 out of 250 to score Expert, she will undoubtedly be a Rifleman-qualified Expert in the VERY near future.
This Appleseed was also the final Instructor Progress Check for "Bear Arms", who did much of the instructing this weekend, and who successfully passed his full Red Hat exam, achieving his coveted shiny new Red Hat. It takes, on average, 160 hours of study and demonstration after scoring expert with a rifle, and being an expert Rifleman, to then become an expert Instructor. "Bear Arms" accomplished finishing this task this weekend, showing mastery of all the Appleseed core material that must be mastered to become a full Instructor. Congrats, David! Well Done and Well Deserved!
This Appleseed was also the penultimate Appleseed for "drumNgun", before testing for his coveted Red Hat next month in South Florida. Maurice did much of the follow-up instruction on Sunday, and successfully demonstrated a growing mastery of all Appleseed core material.
This Appleseed was also an opportunity for "Flier" to begin his path down the Appleseed Trail, and he successfully passed his Instructor in Training (IIT) 1 exam. Congrats, Philip!
After our Safety Briefing and Red Coats on Saturday, Bear Arms regaled us with the story of the First Strike, and the fire-hose of marksmanship instruction then immediately commenced. We jumped immediately into sling usage in the standing and prone positions, with the Hasty-Hasty in standing, and the Hasty, and Loop sling usages in prone, and the prone Steady Hold Factors. This was followed by introducing the 6 Six Steps of Firing a Shot. A block of NPOA instruction with a snazzy green laser rifle came next. Sighter squares came next, and our shooters had tiny little groups in but 2 sets of sighters. This was amazingly fast! Bear Arms then presented a well-taught Inches, Minutes, and Clicks (IMC) presentation on the target line, with minimal public math angst being needed. After making the necessary simple mechanical adjustments to move their now tiny groups into the middle of the target square, the majority of our shooters now had tiny groups centered in, or very near, the 1-inch squares. That's the way it's done! (By the way, we also had several rifles on the line with factory sights, and these were ALL successfully sighted in by applying IMC, and simply using a brass punch, a hammer, a screwdriver, and a sheet of paper, folded, to make all the necessary Minutes of Angle of corrections for windage and elevation. IMC works!)
Our next course of fire was LUNCH, and drumNgun brought to life the story of the Second Strike of the Match, just 243 years ago. We even learned that part of the reason for the billowing white clouds of smoke at the Meeting House was due to flour being burned, it being found present in the large quantities necessary to make hard tack, the MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) raw material equivalent of that day and time, far in excess of the amount needed for feeding individual families.
We did a couple more rounds of sighters, while adding Rifleman's Cadence, to get everyone's rifle completely dialed in, with the groups squarely centered on the sighter squares. Then, the Green Coat targets went up, and the sitting and kneeling positions, along with transitions from building a nest, to standing, to dropping into position quickly were all introduced. Adding two magazines, with 2 and 8 rounds, the stage 2 silhouettes of the Green Coat targets soon had served their purpose!
Next came the Standing to Prone Transition instruction, on the Stage 3 section of the Green Coat target.
And, the final piece of the marksmanship puzzle, the traditional position of Americans at Lexington Green and at the North Bridge, STANDING, was added, finishing off the Stage 1 section of the Green Coat target. A gray AQT target went up. And, Bear Arms then brought us back from Concord to Boston with the telling of the Third Strike. Rested, and refreshed with hearing the Third Strike, and ready to tackle the famed AQT, our shooters then settled into shooting their first AQT of the weekend. And, we had three shooters just shy of the necessary 210 needed to score Rifleman, with scores above 195, and literally just 1 or 2 shots shy of Expert.
On day two, Sunday, all the shooters returned, and, the fire hose of instruction commenced anew.
The Red Coats on Sunday morning followed, and we quickly reviewed our sling usages, the six steps to firing a shot, and NPOA. Shooters also worked on learning their trigger resets for THEIR rifle, by dry fire practice with their rifles across their laps, and with the muzzle pointed down range, before recommencing live fire. We reviewed IMC, with drumNgun instructing, and final sight adjustments were made.
Lunch followed, where we heard stories of the Gray-Haired Messenger of Mortality, Hezekiah Wyman; Samuel Whittemore; Prudence Cummings Wright, Timothy Murphy, and the story of Kings Mountain with Shelby, Crockett, and Sevier proving to be Colonel Patrick Ferguson's nemesis. We also heard letters, written by women of the sacrifices they made during the Revolutionary War, read by Maid Marian.
We then commenced a sequence of AQTs. During a water break, a Known Distance presentation was given by "Bear Arms."
The AQTs continued. Altogether, 4 AQTs were done on Sunday, for a total of 5 over Saturday and Sunday. And, a repeat Riflemen was found! Stephen H.scored Rifleman, with a score of 219.
Everyone improved their marksmanship skills greatly this weekend, and honed their marksmanship skills. There were numerous AQT scores that were just 1, 2, or 3 shots short of a Rifleman score of 210. If you didn't quite make it this weekend, keep up your dry fire practice, and you will get there soon.
Hallie, your high score of 208 is knocking on the door! Keep your focus through all of Stage 4, and you will be a Rifleman qualified expert! Your groups are great and getting better and better. Awesome, even!
Jolie, your high score of 197 is amazing for but one weekend attending an Appleseed. We are so glad you decided to join in the shooting fun, and try shooting with us! HUZZAAH!
Charity, your perseverance is amazing. We are looking forward to seeing your scores get higher and higher.
Stephen B., your passion is highly evident, and your groups are getting smaller, too. There is a Rifleman patch in your near future, I'm convinced! Keep up the good work, and try dry fire practice. Your scores will then improve in very short order!
Carolyn, your passion is highly evident. And, your scores are getting much closer to Rifleman qualified, too. We are looking forward to seeing your scores get higher and higher.
Mark, your groups and scores are getting better and better. You are well on your way to a Rifleman's Patch!
Matt, some dry fire practice, and you will be getting your Rifleman patch very soon.
Kelly, your enthusiasm is amazing. And, your scores are improving rapidly.
Tim, your skill level is getting better and better. Just keep practicing the bolt toggle release and general manual of arms with all the rifles you use, and you will find that slow is smooth and smooth is fast, and your scores will jump by leaps and bounds.
Ed, your passion is highly evident. With some dry fire practice, you will achieve Rifleman, soon.
Jonathan, your skills are improving rapidly. You will be earning your patch soon!
Thomas, your scores are knocking on the door of earning a Rifleman patch. Some dry fire practice, and you will likely easily get there at your next Appleseed!
Nathaniel, your groups are getting TINY! Work on staying focused through all of Stages 3 and 4, and you will be a Rifleman soon.
Asa, you are a great shot, and only need to work on smoother magazine changes and building your nest, so that you can save time during the transition stages and then score Rifleman repeatedly. You will be scoring Rifleman again and again and again very soon.
Stephen H., you are now a 3-times Rifleman! It's great to see you scoring higher and higher on your AQTs. There is a DISTINGUISHED patch in your near future coming soon, I am sure!
In grand Appleseed fashion, we cleared the line, and we all pitched in and left the host range cleaner than when we arrived for our Patriots Day Weekend.
Kudos to the Port Malabar Rifle and Pistol Club for so graciously providing us a range for the weekend without any range fees! The fully covered line, with a separate area for the history portions, is a great venue. Also, kudos to PMRPC for permitting camping on site. DrumNgun spent the night on the range, camped in relative comfort!
All in all, this was a glorious weekend in the company of fellow patriots, with 24 altogether of us gathering together this weekend to help save the Ship of State from sinking. Our spirits were definitely lifted. See you again, soon!
Pictures to follow.
-- Gary
:F
Great write up... felt like I was there. Congrats to BearArms. Huzzah!
:pics:
just saying. **)
What an awesome group of patriots - it was truly an honor to be on the line with you! It is so exciting to see so many of you knocking on the door of earning the Rifleman patch! It will happen soon if you persist and persevere . . . and even sooner if you dry fire practice! Thank you again for making the weekend so special!
(Pardon the delay in posting pictures. I had to consult first with Scuzzy to discover just why the forum software wouldn't let me upload them, despite their size being only about 500kB, each. The problem was the pixel sizes were too big. The method of photo processing that works best on Facebook doesn't work here! The original size of 3000 x 4000 pixels was simply too large. Resizing down to 1200 pixels by whatever pixels, maintaining the aspect ratio, was what fixed the problem. -- Even crusty old Shoot Bosses always need teachable attitudes in order to learn how to fix photos when virus scanning software on the Appleseed Forum chokes! Thanks, Scuzzy! You are the man!)
We are so proud of our Youth who attend our events. Here they are with their William Diamond patches!
We are also so very proud of our re-qualifying Riflemen! Steve does it again, with a 219 this time! This is his third time scoring expert! A distinguished patch is in his near future!
And, "Bear Arms" earned his Red Hat, and we retired his Orange Hat from his Instructor in Training days in true Appleseed style. 10 Rounds, each shooter! FIRE! Huzzaah!
Attend an Appleseed, and you will learn about the Six Steps of Firing a Shot. There is a 7th Step in Appleseed, too, and it is telling others about Appleseed, and even bringing out family and friends to experience an Appleseed. Steve, who has now scored Rifleman 3 times, takes this 7th Stepping to heart, and brought out his family to this event. They had nicely matching shooting mats and matching iron sighted rifles! And, how they could shoot! Some very nice Marksman and Sharpshooter scores. I forecast a family of Riflemen qualified shooters in the very near future. HUZZAAH!
I remember working with Steve and Family.
Great people. Pic from Hollywood A few years back.
A few more photographs from the weekend...
https://maidmarian.smugmug.com/Project-Appleseed-Palm-Bay-FL-Dec-15-16-2018/i-xTkwqRr/A
nice job! :pop: :pop: