What a great start to the Appleseed program in northern Utah.
I arrived a bit early at the Wahsatch Shooters Association range and had the joy of watching the sun's rays march closer and closer to the foot of the mountains that held the range facilities, moving across Kaysville and Layton, until it finally started to peak over the peaks themselves.
The facilities at the Wahsatch Shooters Association worked perfectly for our 21 shooters who showed up Saturday morning, and with the help of Mike White, our local BOTG, and others who stepped up as soon as they were checked in, we got the target lines set up in two adjacent bays. 13 shooters were on the uncovered bay while the other 8 enjoyed a bit of shade in the 2nd bay.
With John and Craig, we started off the morning with the welcome, safety, unload & clear and line command instruction. After folks retrieved their rifles from the cars, we got started on the first Redcoat target. Several shooters took advantage of some tables to help out with their shooting to overcome some physical limitations, and the line got running. Squares galore as we walked through the POI, breaking for lunch for the 1st and 2nd strike. Then back to the line and we finished up the day with a classification AQT, a full AQT and the re-shoot of the Redcoat. The improvement was seen as we went from 6 to 7 at 100 yards, 1 to 4 at 200 yards, held steady at 1 (300) and 0 (400) but went from 1 to 4 who qualified for Morgan's Rifleman Company. The 3rd strike, CMP information, 7th stepping information and benediction finished off the day.
Sunday saw another great day with 12 shooters (10 original and two new for the day) on the line in a single bay. More drills and fine tuning along with multiple AQTs filled the day. Dangerous old men and women kept us company through lunch and several hydration breaks.
The range officers who were on hand were very impressed with the program and are looking forward to the return visit, already scheduled for September 19-20.
The shooters ranged from the youngest at 12 up to one gentleman who simply said he was "fast approaching 80". All performed admirably with all but a few new to the Appleseed experience.
I think that northern Utah is definitely in good hands with the crew that was present this weekend, with lots of discussion about 7th stepping for the next event and also finding and contacting new ranges to host Appleseeds.
Great thanks to the IIT crew for driving far and stepping up at the last minute.
Once again, a wonderful weekend in which I got the privilege of meeting and working with some great Americans.
PERSIST!
AZG
This was only my second shoot but I dont think it could get any better than it was.
Azgromit thank you veary much for making this the shoot, that I hoped to orginize.
I hope that you can make it to the next one in september.
Also a big thanks to the IIT's that made it possible to shoot bolth bays.
monkey
A Big thanks to Mike for organizing this, and My friend Dan for telling me about this Appleseed.
AZGromit, John and the other Saturday orange hat (sorry I forgot your name!) are great instructors, thank you for your points, tips, tricks, and critizisms.
Its strange that a word can sound so omious yet hopefull... PERSIST! :D
Thanks again guys, what a great experience!
Travis
O0 Sounds like a great time! Wish I could have been there!
AZGromit is a wonderful shoot boss, anyone on his line should be happy to be there, smiles all around (except for strike 1, thats a sad one)...
Hope to see y'all soon
PP