So you have decided to attend an Appleseed Event? Excellent! I am sure you will agree with 10,000 of your fellow "Appleseeders" that the marksmanship skills learned, the history lessons absorbed, and the fellowship shared will make your event a weekend to remember.
As an Instructor, allow me to describe what you can expect.
First and foremost,
Safety is our highest priority. Before any rifles are brought to the firing line, you will understand the four safety rules that will be in effect for the duration of the weekend. You will learn the four overlapping safety actions you must take to put your rifle in a safe condition. You will see our qualified Instructors personally check every rifle on the firing line at the end of each lesson to ensure all of these strict safety policies are enforced at all times.
You will learn fundamental rifle marksmanship skills in order to effectively engage targets out to five hundred yards. This is primarily done through the use of reduced-size targets placed at twenty-five meters that simulate 500, 400, 300, 200, and 100 yard distances. Depending on the range's capabilities and the skill level of the students, actual firing at these distances may be available at your event.
Our world class Instructors will teach you:
- The Six Steps to Firing a Shot
- Use of the sling as a shooting tool
- Proper field positions: Standing, Kneeling, Sitting, and Prone
- Natural Point of Aim and why it is important
- Understanding Minute of Angle and how to precisely adjust any rifle's sights
- How to diagnose your shooting errors through studying your targets
- And much, much more!
Most importantly, you will learn how to teach others these important and uniquely American skills.
But don't think that this is all classroom learning. You will do a lot of shooting at an Appleseed event to reinforce these lessons. Depending on the skill level of the students, you can plan to fire anywhere from 500-900 rounds of ammunition over the course of the weekend.
In addition to the Marksmanship lessons, you will also hear and come to understand what transpired on April 19, 1775, when the first official shots of our War for Independence were fired. If the events of this fateful day are taught anymore, it is usually done with more fiction than fact. At an Appleseed, you will learn the true events that occurred by average people that defended their homes and way of life. You will be introduced to John Parker, Captain of the Lexington Militia, a farmer that mustered his friends and family directly in the path of 900 formidable British Redcoats and bravely declared,
"Do not fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." You will meet Isaac Davis, who was asked if he would have the honor of leading his company of Minutemen on an approach towards British Regulars. Captain Davis responded with,
"I haven't a man that is afraid to go!" You can expect to be amongst very knowledgeable, dedicated, and well trained volunteer Instructors and fellow Americans from all walks of life. Fathers, mothers, children, grandparents, High Power rifle champions, and firearm novices will gather with you. You will stand next to them in the morning as Americans. You will learn together in a family-friendly setting. You will leave as friends.
Thank you for wanting to participate in America's fastest growing Heritage Program - The Appleseed Project.
I look forward to meeting you.
For a checklist of what to bring, download and print this PDF file
So, you're wondering what goes on at the Appleseed weekend?
Saturday morning around 7, your instructors will probably be on the range building the target lines for the weekend. If you want to get a head start on being a true Rifleman... you know... the kind that sees what needs to be done and does it, I'm sure they'll appreciate a hand (a cordless drill and a hammer wouldn't hurt, either). About 8:00am will be the start the registration process. Make sure to bring ticket from online registration and sign the waiver for yourself and the kids, and we'll make sure you're squared away on the check in sheet and have some handouts to look over. You'll bring all your equipment except rifles over to the firing line, pick a spot, and get comfortable. The safety briefing starts at 8:30, where the instructors will introduce themselves and teach the most important lesson of the day: Safety. You'll learn how to make a rifle safe, how to safely handle a rifle, and what line commands we'll use to run a safe firing line.
Once the shooters have brought their rifles to the line, we'll introduce our redcoat target. It'll answer the question "How effective are you with a rifle?" and you'll shoot it at the beginning and end of each day to get a sense of your progress. There are thirteen shots from the prone position. Three for each 100, 200, 300, and 400 yard silhouette, and one for a special target to see how well you match up with the Revolutionary War era Riflemen of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Hits count, and the smallest (simulating furthest) target with all three hits on it is your effective range.
With that baseline finished, the marksmanship instruction will begin. The instructors will present the fundamentals of marksmanship in blocks that will build on top of each other using a simple 1" squares target. We'll introduce a concept by explaining it to the group and making corrections on the line in a dry fire exercise. Then you'll fire groups at a square to work that block into your routine. Saturday morning will be spent learning the steady hold factors of the prone position, the six steps to firing a perfect shot, the sling as a marksmanship tool, using inches, minutes, and clicks (IMC) to precisely zero the sights, natural point of aim (NPOA), and the Rifleman's rapid fire cadence. If the students are absorbing the material well, you might even learn about the standing, sitting, and kneeling positions before lunch or soon after.
When it's time for lunch, the instruction won't stop there. Here comes the best part of the weekend: The Story. You'll learn about April 19th 1775. What led up to it. Paul Revere's ride. The massacre at Lexington. The defense at Concord. The Regulars' retreat to Boston. Dangerous old men and women. It will be tough to remember all the details, but impossible to forget the spirit. It's a lot for one sitting, so we'll spread it out over the rest of the weekend too. You'll be able to put yourself in the shoes of some of the first and greatest Americans and hear their stories that you probably didn't get in school. What did they risk? How did they do it? Could we even come close to some of those feats if we had to today?
Back to the rifles, your goal for the rest of the weekend will be to shoot a Rifleman, or Expert score on the Army Qualifying Test. The AQT tests almost every marksmanship skill of the Rifleman, and your target will tell you no lies. There are 40 shots. 10 standing on a 100 yard target, 10 sitting or kneeling on a 200 yard target, and 20 prone on multiple 300 and 400 yard targets. You'll be timed and have to change magazines and transition between positions. You'll have to score 210 out of a possible 250 to qualify, and it might take you a few hours or a few weekends, but no matter how long it takes a Rifleman persists.
Your instructors will be down in the dirt with you, making sure you're getting the basics right on every shot. They'll run short drills between AQTs to focus on the skills that need the most work. You'll do multi target drills to work on NPOA, rapid fire drills to develop your cadence, and ball and dummy drills to cure you of flinching, bucking, and jerking the trigger. These will be the same drills you take home with you to practice on after the shoot by yourself or with friends and family. Remember, you're not just learning to take the shot, but to pass on what you've learned to others. Your instructors were probably in the same spot a year or so before, and are hoping you'll be out on the Appleseed trail with them not long after your shoot. It's a big country, and we need all the help we can get.
On Sunday afternoon, if you're fortunate enough to be at a full distance range, the shooters with the higher AQT scores will start shooting at real distances. You'll learn about target detection, adjusting for the wind, range estimation, and setting elevation for the distance. With full distance, you'll be able to confirm battlesight zero, and see that the 25 meter work translates directly over to the real thing.
By the end of the weekend, you'll either be a Rifleman or know what you need to do to finish the job. A Rifleman gets the most out of his rifle. A Rifleman knows the sacrifices it took to win the basic freedoms most take for granted. A Rifleman remembers those who stood up against impossible odds to do it. A Rifleman won't let it all fade away.
Isn't it about time you became a Rifleman?