A most excellent but exhausting weekend in New Philly OH shooting a full distance KD. Honestly, I don't know how you folks in the southeast US do it...we had highs in the mid-90's with high humidity and I'm quite sure I left my body weight in sweat in the air of eastern OH (and that's a lot of sweat, I assure you).
We had a crack group of students come, prepped for the event and ready to learn. Nearly all were first-time KD-ers so there was a lot of learning to do but everyone stepped up. Saturday was spent getting our come-ups, plowing through 2 AQTs and hearing some great Rifleman-focused history about the Battle of King's Mountain and the Overmountain Men and also the story of Timothy Murphy. We also got good info on our sighting systems as we calculated Clicks From Bottom to get a repeatable baseline zero. This saved us a few times were sight settings were mis-input...just turn to the bottom and start over. We ended the day with a single shot to the "Morgan's Shingle steel target".
Congrats to Evan and Andrew on taking their Known Distance Rifleman tabs and Evan for following that up with at least 3-4 more RM scores.
Sunday dawned even more hot and humid but the shooting outpaced the weather. We reconfirmed our 100 yard zeros and proceeded to get in an additional 4 AQTs during the day. We also ran a "Box Drill" to get real information on the calibration and repeatability of our sighting systems. This revealed some scopes that weren't "quite" what the turrets said they were as well as an iron sighting system that apparently didn't have a working windage system. Good info. We also ran a range estimation exercise where we learned how to use our sighting systems as a measuring tool and then ranged scaled targets (speed limit sign, a door, a semi-truck trailer, a human and a yield sign) as teams of two. Our friendly competition showed that we had 4 of our 5 teams get the ranges within 20%, 2 of the 4 get them within 10% and 1 team that nailed the 3 of the ranges dead-on. Nice job!
In addition, we heard the story of Daniel Morgan and how he embodied
Thanks again to the shooters - Dan, Jon, Dave, Dan, Andrew, Amy, Jim, Greg, Deb and Evan - the instructor cadre - cwcdl79, Rattlehead (and Erin!) with guest appearances by Corvette, Fidget and Shadow870 - and the Tusco Rifle and Gun Club.
Quote from: SteelThunder on June 28, 2021, 10:56:35 AM
A most excellent but exhausting weekend in New Philly OH shooting a full distance KD. Honestly, I don't know how you folks in the southeast US do it...we had highs in the mid-90's with high humidity and I'm quite sure I left my body weight in sweat in the air of eastern OH (and that's a lot of sweat, I assure you).
We had a crack group of students come, prepped for the event and ready to learn. Nearly all were first-time KD-ers so there was a lot of learning to do but everyone stepped up. Saturday was spent getting our come-ups, plowing through 2 AQTs and hearing some great Rifleman-focused history about the Battle of King's Mountain and the Overmountain Men and also the story of Timothy Murphy. We also got good info on our sighting systems as we calculated Clicks From Bottom to get a repeatable baseline zero. This saved us a few times were sight settings were mis-input...just turn to the bottom and start over. We ended the day with a single shot to the "Morgan's Shingle steel target".
Congrats to Evan and Andrew on taking their Known Distance Rifleman tabs and Evan for following that up with at least 3-4 more RM scores.
Sunday dawned even more hot and humid but the shooting outpaced the weather. We reconfirmed our 100 yard zeros and proceeded to get in an additional 4 AQTs during the day. We also ran a "Box Drill" to get real information on the calibration and repeatability of our sighting systems. This revealed some scopes that weren't "quite" what the turrets said they were as well as an iron sighting system that apparently didn't have a working windage system. Good info. We also ran a range estimation exercise where we learned how to use our sighting systems as a measuring tool and then ranged scaled targets (speed limit sign, a door, a semi-truck trailer, a human and a yield sign) as teams of two. Our friendly competition showed that we had 4 of our 5 teams get the ranges within 20%, 2 of the 4 get them within 10% and 1 team that nailed the 3 of the ranges dead-on. Nice job!
In addition, we heard the story of Daniel Morgan and how he embodied the American dream.
Thanks again to the shooters - Dan, Jon, Dave, Dan, Andrew, Amy, Jim, Greg, Deb and Evan - the instructor cadre - cwcdl79, Rattlehead (and Erin!) with guest appearances by Corvette, Fidget and Shadow870 - and the Tusco Rifle and Gun Club.
Great event at a great range. Thanks to SteelThunder and Fidget for boarder raiding to help out.
Corvette
Had a great weekend with the Michigan crew and the great shooters and instructors. Transferring the sling and positional shooting skills from a 10/22 to an AR-15 is a real challenge, at least it was for me. It should be easy ;D - until you factor in the recoil, the longer barrel, adjustable butt stock but no idea where the cheek riser and the length of pull adjustment should be, heat and humidity (must be why I forgot all my fundamentals), shooting mats that felt like a hot stove after 10 minutes in that sun (hot brass can not compare to how hot that mat got).
Thanks to all those who helped me locate my lost regular eyeglasses - on the last 100 yard stage I apparently tipped my gear bag just enough when I picked up the rifle that it left my "must have to drive" glasses laying on the orange painted firing line. Lesson learned - eye glasses go into a case which goes into the bottom of the bag while I am wearing shooting glasses all day.
Looking forward to another try hopefully in October.
Deb
Slow but sure, just like our first regular Appleseed, our first KD is always a learning experience. It is great that you took your next step on your Appleseed journey, even with the nagging details like loosing your glasses. I look forward to working with you again at Marion or New Philly in the fall at our next KD's.
Corvette
That was a great weekend of shooting. After (finally) earning my Rifleman patch in April (my 5th Appleseed spread over a lot of years), it was a revelation to try to do the same thing at actual distance...with a different rifle, and scope system, while trying to pick up what the differences are between shooting successfully at 25 meters with a .22 and then trying to repeat it out to 400 meters with an AR.
The lessons and good habits at 25 meters all apply -- and help -- but it's not exactly the same thing.
Thanks to Steel Thunder, Corvette and all the other instructors for running a safe range and helping correct lots of little errors. And, for all the reminders to hydrate. Keeping up with that became a chore in all that heat and humidity.
When we would do the test firing at different ranges, I would feel like I had it dialed in pretty well, but from one AQT to the next I could never really get into a groove.
However, I know that the process works. How do I know? Because Evan made it look easy all weekend long, and three of my neighbors on the line were knocking on the door of Rifleman (two of them shooting with iron sights).
Going to try to work out the kinks in my gear, get more familiar with my scope and try to work out the kinks on getting a repeatable NPOA with the AR as compared to the 10/22.
I'm working to get the ammo and time situation set up to hit another KD in October - hope to see some familiar faces then.
Dave T,
Yep, I went through the same process myself. Moving your skills at 25 meters to the real ranges is another challenge that is not easily achieved. It took me three KD's before I was able to shoot the score. I will be working both of our October KDs at Marion and New Philly so I expect to see you at one of these. It was great to work with you this past weekend and remember, a Rifleman persists.
See you soon.
Corvette
What a wonderfully warm weekend at Tusco rifle club! It was a pleasure to have so many first timer KD participants come out, not to mention working with the likes of Steel Thunder (Mr. Thunder) and Fidget!
Let me start by saying I had a wonderful weekend and thank you to all the instructors & fellow shooters who made it possible. I always learn something new at every event I go to and this event was like drinking from the fire hose for the first time all over again. Between the history, the mechanics of shooting, the program itself, and how to be a better instructor were just a few of the subject areas I grew tremendously in. I look forward to seeing everyone again at some point in the future.
I was not able to take as many images over the weekend as I normally like to and many of the ones I did take did not turn out to be post worthy, but here are a few....
(https://i.postimg.cc/qMb3bJxh/01.jpg)
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The first picture caught my eye. The guy on the left looks like he is shooting a SKS. This made my day! I know first hand how precise the SKS can be with certain modifications.
The first rifle I ever bought was an old Yugo SKS encased in cosmoline. The rear sight was twisted and it was never accurate. It did however precisely put bullets in the same hole over and over again. I eventually bought a Techsight and it shoots as well as my M1 Garand. I am curious to know how well it was able to handle the drop of a 7.62x39 at KD ranges.
Forgot to post these sooner!
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Quote from: Mutant Texan on July 04, 2021, 01:23:58 PM
It did however precisely put bullets in the same hole over and over again. I eventually bought a Techsight and it shoots as well as my M1 Garand. I am curious to know how well it was able to handle the drop of a 7.62x39 at KD ranges.
This was exactly the same experience that I had with my Yugoslavian SKS (see avatar pic).
That particular rifle did well at KD, up until I took it to the 400yd line. No matter what ammo I tried (and I tried them *all*) I couldn't get that rifle to group better than 6 MOA at 400.
The SKS does well at "battle sight zero" distances, but the cartridge leaves too much on the table at Rifleman distances. Hand-loading for the rifle will certainly open up more opportunities, and I have found that heavier projectiles (~150gr) tend to do best at 400 and 500yds. Finding .310-.311" diameter projectiles in that weight is a difficult exercise, and a costly enterprise...
I REALLY like the idea of different colored dots. O0