This was another big Appleseed weekend at the Pikes Peak Gun Club in Colorado Springs. 10 shooters took the line at a sold out event to embrace their heritage of American marksmanship and liberty. One shooter, Gayle, came all the way from the south western Colorado almost 7hours away with her motorhome and camped right on the range. Tom had been to several previous Appleseeds in pursuit of his Rifleman's patch, missing the mark multiple times by only 2 points - he was on a mission but would this be the time? We also had a lot of families come out, Black Russian's daughters, Lian and Jade, Captain Parker's son Ian drove down from Ft. Collins, the brothers Michael and Robert, and, of course, Bill and his three sons, Patrick, Peter and Stuart. Driving up from New Mexico, we also had LibertyHammer drive up to join the Colorado Cadre.
Near the end of Day 1
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339119203_ae40dd48a8_h.jpg)
(You can click to see larger size and then click again to shrink down.)
More photos to come when I get caught up.
Sounds like this was a very productive shoot! Congrats to the new Red Hats and the IIT3 keep up the great work!
Thanks Colonial Shooter, it really was a weekend where all of our shooters made impressive progress and several instructors were able to complete some long overdue progress checks.
Like every Appleseed, the first morning was a full assault with the firehose of instruction. We covered the foundations of precision rifle marksmanship along with sling usage and sight adjustments.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339968602_10200bdf81_h.jpg)
Sling - not just to carry the rifle
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339124348_c6ee19b9fd_h.jpg)
Always keep the muzzle . . .
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339967372_e5f7eb1e6e_h.jpg)
Six steps
|
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339811751_1df9297cf4_h.jpg)
Natural point of aim
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339810991_fce957d0c2_h.jpg)
Captain Parker and IMC
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339965357_de554f08ad_h.jpg)
Let's adjust the sights
|
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339964742_fda5c7e20e_h.jpg)
Peace
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339809141_500315ec7a_h.jpg)
Less talk, more shoot!
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339808691_765d067cd5_h.jpg)
Story time - First Strike
|
After the first morning, it was a nice change of pace to sit in the shade, eat and hear stories from April 19th, 1775.
The afternoon brought more instruction and an introduction to the Appleseed Qualification Test (AQT).
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339963117_906ec09cc9_h.jpg)
Standing
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339118728_f573e9e294_h.jpg)
Gayle made the trip all the way from Durango!
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339961587_c66823aa8c_h.jpg)
Bill brought his sons to learn marksmanship
|
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339961092_607260be4b_h.jpg)
Captain Parker and his son, Ian
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339117413_c193f31d23_h.jpg)
Black Russian and his daughters
|
Where danger is, dear mother, there must your son be. Now is no time for any of American's children to shrink from any hazard. I will set her free or die. - Dr. Joseph Warren[/i]
At the end of Day 1, one instructor traded in her orange hat for red.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339117013_19972b9367_h.jpg)
Congratulations!
Day 2 kicked off with Zuke and Tom cleaning the Red Coat target and that's always a good omen.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339116213_c288b74feb_h.jpg)
Then it was time to review what we learned and get back to work.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339958802_9ecff56feb_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339803341_4e4e2741fc_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339114348_a117bbc0d2_h.jpg)
|
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339114098_6277eb07db_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339113848_9955a14b72_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339113468_38fdf49be0_h.jpg)
|
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339801736_48a65ad9b0_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339801361_779345e783_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339956027_c0c9b5e800_h.jpg)
|
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339111873_0775420479_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339111418_86b7f7955a_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339799476_88df1ac432_h.jpg)
|
Just like every Appleseed, the mark of success is how many will put that "seventh step" into practice!
Here's everyone shooting Stage 4 of the AQT - the "money stage"
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339798501_bf4fa48a40_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339109708_ba82fdf3ce_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339953377_426f28f6a2_h.jpg)
|
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339797601_87ac29370d_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339952632_30602c6fca_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339952247_7a172a7bd3_h.jpg)
|
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339951962_5a8c04eadc_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339951627_d866472306_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339795836_ead258d327_h.jpg)
|
"Those of us who were born free and have known freedom all our lives sometimes forget what a precious blessing it is."
Half of the participants in our Appleseed were under the age of nineteen. They were a great group and definitely took their marksmanship instruction seriously. We remembered the young patriots from the American Revolution and presented the "Patriot's Patch" to all of our youth shooters. Well done all of you!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339106773_1aca255d75_h.jpg)
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them…"- Richard Henry LeeBill and some of his boys took one last AQT before calling it a day.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339104538_c4b09e590e_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339792791_bae56f8095_h.jpg)
|
All of our shooters made great improvements with their marksmanship, but after the smoke had cleared, we had two shooters who earned their Rifleman's patch, both of them scored 215.
Captain Parker earned his Red Hat, and then presented his son Ian with his patch.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339106493_db5222ca57_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339950052_9a4270331a_h.jpg)
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339794101_aa703e8d65_h.jpg)
|
He might be prouder of his son entering the ranks of Riflemen than he is of his new Red Hat!
Our second Rifleman on Sunday was Tom. He's been out to several Appleseeds and had previously just missed the score. He showed that the most important characteristic of the Rifleman is persistence.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339104943_6fa75c21d3_h.jpg)
As the day came to an end, we presented two instructors with the Colorado Cadre patch. Zuke has actually been a part of Colorado Appleseed for a few years, but this was the first opportunity to get him his patch. LibertyHammer came up from New Mexico for his first Colorado event and I hope we'll get him up here for an event in the near future.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339103418_9ecb2dc410_h.jpg)
Zuke
| (https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50339969132_f79673937c_h.jpg)
LibertyHammer
|
Please post your pictures and thoughts about our event if you get the chance!
Over the past decade or so, I've participated in more than half a dozen Project Appleseed shoots, achieving a high score of 208 on the AQT on two occasions. Recent upgrades to the Ruger 10/22 alleviated any opportunity to fault the weapon for a failure to score 210 or better.
Coming into this event with high expectations that I would finally capture the elusive goal of earning the Rifleman patch, cleaning the Redcoat on Sunday morning was a harbinger of good fortune.
With adept coaching and guidance provided by an outstanding cadre of instructors, I scored 215 on the fourth course of fire.
Kudos to Ian for earning his patch, and to all my fellow shooters, among whom there are no doubt numerous future Riflemen & Riflewomen, for their kind words of congratulations. Special recognition to Capt. Parker, Black Russian, and or course, our shoot boss Captain, for all of their vigilance, encouragement and support.
Energy and persistence conquer all things. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Thanks for coming out Bravhrt. It really is in the best tradition of Appleseed to see someone persist and earn their Rifleman patch. I hope we'll see you again on the line to push your score up and earn that Distinguished patch. Be sure to bring your friends and family! :)
Kudos to all for a great day. Loved all the pictures!
Looks like you have two more Red Hats in Colorado...outstanding.
Congratulations, Captain Parker...hope to see you in Georgia next month.
CokeGay
We found another Rifleman! Black Russian was cleaning out his daughters AQTs from the weekend and found one that looked surprisingly . . . awesome! After an official re-score, the AQT was 217 instead of 195. Apparently, our shooter wasn't scoring hits if they weren't entirely inside the line!
Anyway, I'm glad we corrected the record and congratulations Jade - another Colorado Rifleman!
(Patch on the way)
Looks like this group produced 3 new Rifleman out of 10 shooters (and a requal). Nice work!
How do I keep missing all of these cool shoots?!?! Oh yeah...I'm always signed up at other cool shoots; duh.