Autumn is here in Massachusetts. Morning temperatures are starting to fall into the 30's, and the trees have taken on the red and yellow colors that makes the hills appear to be on fire.
And at this October Appleseed these shooters of Massachusetts seemed to be on fire themselves. Neither the raw rain in the morning, not the specter of the Covid pandemic could dampen the resolve and spirit of the 18 Patriots that stepped up to the line to take the Rifleman challenge. Given the limitations of club hours ( a 1200 Sunday Start time) the Shoot boss drove those patriots at a pretty hard pace to get in all the points that an Appleseed is supposed to cover and in 3/4 the time generally allotted. We were very fortunate that the Mansfield Fish and Game club donated several hundred round of now scarce and costly ammunition. This allowed all shooters the ability to grind out more AQTs than would have otherwise been possible. Many thanks to Mansfield Fish and Game for being such wonderful hosts and such dedicated supporters of the Appleseed program.
We were rewarded with warm clear skies by mid-morning on Saturday, the same on Sunday and 7 brand new Riflemen for the weekend! Huzzah!!
One of the shooters made Riflemen on the second day, and had never fired a rifle until the day before, a truly amazing feat.
While many still have a ways to go, ALL made notable gains toward a Rifleman score. My hat is off to you!
This Shoot boss was privileged to work with such a well seasoned group of red hats and eager and extremely dedicated orange hats . All overcame the challenges of the weekend and demonstrated th sort of professionalism one comes to expect at an Appleseed event. Well done, gentlemen, well done. You made it look very easy.
It sounds awesome!!! Patriotism is alive and well in the cradle of our liberties!
Man, I have GOT to get up there one of these days to help with a shoot!
Good job Shoot Boss. it was trim, no time wasted between safety, history, instruction, shooting and our heritage, a motivated group. Couple things surprised me a bit was how quickly almost all shot groups got smaller and the relatively high shot count given the amount of overall time.
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