Project Appleseed

After Action Reports! => After Action Reports => Topic started by: BrightSparc on May 21, 2022, 08:57:36 PM

Title: Racine, WI Known Distance AAR May 21st, 2022
Post by: BrightSparc on May 21, 2022, 08:57:36 PM
A glorious day in Racine.  A perfect day for distance shooting.  There was little to no rain and cooler temperatures prevailed.

2 of 7 joined the quarter mile club.  Congratulations to Eric on earning Distinguished Known Distance and Jason for achieving a Known Distance patch.  Everyone was scoring high and performance on Morgan's shingle at 200 yards and moving targets at 300 yards was humbling.

A very special honor was being present as IronMike - by unanimous vote of Project Appleseed's executive committee - was promoted to Designated Shoot Boss.  IronMike exemplifies "men who know very much what they are about..."  Instructor, leader, mentor, friend .... rifleman - the best of the best.

And pictures.....
Title: Re: Racine, WI Known Distance AAR May 21st, 2022
Post by: BrightSparc on May 21, 2022, 08:59:11 PM
pictures....
Title: Re: Racine, WI Known Distance AAR May 21st, 2022
Post by: BrightSparc on May 21, 2022, 09:03:15 PM
and more
Title: Re: Racine, WI Known Distance AAR May 21st, 2022
Post by: BrightSparc on May 21, 2022, 09:04:36 PM
and even more....
Title: Re: Racine, WI Known Distance AAR May 21st, 2022
Post by: BrightSparc on May 21, 2022, 09:11:25 PM
Blessed with good weather, 4 AQTs - at distance - were completed.  The rifleman - due to range configuration - shot standing and transition to seated stages at 200 yards.  Transition to prone at 300 yards and prone at 400 yards.

The rifleman also stretched their skills out to 685 yards at the end of day.
Title: Re: Racine, WI Known Distance AAR May 21st, 2022
Post by: Red Wing on May 23, 2022, 11:25:38 AM
Thanks for hosting, and congratulations again to Iron Mike on his promotion to SB!

All my mental prep. went into visualizing the range we were on last October, and when I found out we'd be doing Stage 1 at 200 yards, I was less than perfectly confident. To boost my confidence, I took the opening Morgan's Shingle-themed shots standing. The target was bigger than a shingle, at about 185 yards. SB instructed us to take two shots, to prove that a hit on the first wasn't a fluke. I was first up, and I hit with both shots.

Confidence boosted. I did my best to consistently apply everything I've learned over the past year (my first Appleseed was June of '21) as we gathered dope. Unsurprisingly, my calculated-dope was off. I had a good 25 yard zero (from the previous week's Appleseed), but I'd be shooting Hornady Frontier 68 grain BTHP Match, which I hadn't yet. Calculator gave POI as +12.5" at 200, +11" at 300, and +0 (even) at 400. I was suspicious about the numbers, but it was a (Hornady) calculator so...I tried it.

After gathering dope, estimated POI were: +8" at 200, +4" at 300, and -16" at 400. After getting the first AQT back, I refined those estimates to +6", +2", but kept 400 at -16". By the end of the day, the 400 groups were still high, so I think -12" is more accurate. In any case, thank goodness there was no wind to deal with. When we shot the first AQT, I held high in case I hadn't adjusted boldly enough, and was glad I did, because 9 of my hits were between the bottom of the 5 zone and the bottom of the paper, and I dropped a shot from Stage 2 that creased the bottom of the paper. Luckily, I didn't push the Stage 4 shots off the top of the page, but the group was definitely high.

For the second AQT, I'm pretty sure I made two adjustments instead of just one for my 300 yard shots, and even though I felt really, really good, about the string--and they really were in a pretty nice group--they were all 2-3" off the bottom of the paper--I had changed my dial, but then dropped my POA to the 'V' instead of holding up at the 5, resting the crosshairs on the target's "shoulders", where I had been so far. Doh.

Offhand at 200 yards is a fair challenge for sure, and on the third and fourth AQTs, I wasn't able to get the hits during Stage 1. I did, however, tighten up (almost) everything else, and the grouping on the fourth AQT is, I think, quite pleasant to look at. Barring the rushed shots on Stage 2 after a fumbled mag change, and those two high left shots on Stage 4, I still could have pulled in another qualifying score.

To wrap this up: After the 4th AQT, we stretched our rifles out as far as we could. The lack of wind helped me get hits on steel at 585 yards, and to get within a foot or so at 685 yards. Overall, a pretty good day.
Title: Re: Racine, WI Known Distance AAR May 21st, 2022
Post by: ProudPapa14 on May 23, 2022, 12:21:34 PM

Huzzah to IronMike - Congratulations on the dSB.

Congratulations to all who attended the KD in Racine.  Well Done!
Title: Re: Racine, WI Known Distance AAR May 21st, 2022
Post by: stevieray on May 24, 2022, 10:39:47 AM
It was an excellent experience to be part of the Saturday KD shoot,  thanks all.  Learned alot.  Hope to do it again soon.

Thanks everyone

Chris