Just thought I'd get this going before I hit the road. Lets shoot! :~
I'll be leaving late but will see you all tonight. Looking forward to it!
My wife and I just back from Fenton, and I had to get on here and say what a great time it was (after I cleaned the guns and showered of course). The weather could have been better, a little warmer and less rain would have been appreciated. But I don't think the camaraderie or the Instructors could have been better!
This was my first organized shoot of any kind, and my wife basically was not a shooter. I was amazed to find out how much I didn't know about shooting with a sling. My wife and I really appreciate the help and attention we received. Her best score was a 165 on the AQT which I thought was very good considering her lack of experience. The best I could do with my Mini 14 with iron sights was 195, so I wimped out and swapped rifles with my wife for my scoped 10/22 and got my Rifleman's patch! :).
I really cannot say enough about our Instructors, and everybody that was involved with putting on the event!
I'm going to try to work out my schedule to be at the event in Oct. in Williamston, Hope to see ya'll there.
Mike and Beth
Congratulations on earning your patch. O0 Your wife will make it next time.
Sounds like a good start on MI having a real presence in Appleseed. Now that you will have your own SB in the state(TC right?) there should be at least 1 more shoot this year O0
This was my first Appleseed shoot so I wasn't sure what to expect, but generally when you get good folks together and lots of guns, it's a good time. This was certainly the case. The instruction was all very good and I was able to correct a few things I have been doing wrong up to now. Getting proper NPOA was big for me, once I had that down, the AQT went easier. I was doing some decent shooting early on, but taking too long getting settled for stage 2 (sitting....ugh), and had a few mag change mishaps, so I wasn't getting all the shots off before time was up.
Day 1 went by with me hitting a best of 196 on the AQT with my tech-sighted Ruger 10/22. Day 2 starts out with a 176 (crap! I'm getting worse!). 2 AQT's later laying on a wet mat and holding a slippery rifle stock I got my Rifleman's patch with a 215. Relief!
After that I switched over to my AR15, and I knew my score would drop when I saw that my front sight post was wider than the 400yd target in my sight picture (yikes!). I'm pretty sure there will be a National-Match post in my near future....that should help.
Thanks to all the instructors who traveled to get here. They all showed their passion for teaching marksmanship and RW history over the weekend. A tip of the hat to you all.
I hope to get to another shoot in the near future....stay safe everyone!
Bryan
This shoot was one of the best I have ever experianced.
All AS are great ! This shoot was truly special .
Thanx to the IITS + Red Hats who worked to make this AS a success.
Because of thier hard work + dedictation , attendees were given the tools to advance rifle skills + apppreciation of our foundation O0
Great job EVERYONE + thanx for making this a shoot such a model for future AS in Michigan O0 I will post more when I get to my notes.
To the shooters ,you folks are FANTASTIC! Michigan gun culture rocks!
Because of your attitude's,attentivness+enthusiasism you made this AS so very special for Me
Semper Fidelis
JA
This Appleseed was a first for me as well. In fact, I had only shot a rifle 2 or 3 times previously. Learning how to shoot properly was incredible! Every single red hat/orange hat there was top notch. They all showed great patience, great skill and great comeraderie. I could tell that not only this event, but the reason behind having these events really matters to them all. One of the more memorable points of the weekend was the history lesson(s). It really put it all into perspective for me. We all hear about "The shot heard round the world", but hearing it from those instructors really made it personal. Thank you all!
To the other shooters at the event - it was a pleasure to meet you all, and I hope to see you at another Appleseed. Congratulations to all that earned your Rifleman's patch! It took me until mid afternoon Sunday, but I finally managed to break that 210 O0
Thank you to everyone at this event!
Jeff Curths
Great shoot folks! Little rainy sunday...whatever ::)
Well we finished the weekend with six riflemen, and one junior riflewoman Veronica (age 11, and never stopped scoring it all day) out of the 20 shooters. One man who knows very well what he is about snatched up an orange hat. So Michigan is off and running. :~ :~
Very nice meeting all you ladies and gents.
GOOD JOB MICHIGAN!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats to the Riflemen(JR riflewomen) and new orange hat.
dragonfly
Pictures of the shoot.
More
More!
more ;D ;D
:~
:o
Look at that well deserved Red Hat on Trisha CONGRATS way to go!
See you all on the trail,
dragonfly
What a great weekend lots of great people. Those that showed up for sunday were rewarded with a true Appleseed experience as liquid sunshine was in abundance for most of the day. I would like to thank everyone for participating and a special thanks to those who made this event happen.
You know, It's about time we had something in MI to be proud of. A huge Thank You to all the folks that put their butts on the line and made this happen. It was awsome. Lets keep it up. Looking forward to have a lil one dayer out to my place. I should be able to accommodate 6 or so as I mentioned at the shoot.
Lon
It was so great making Riflemen and women in Michigan! I want to thank all the staff who had to travel MANY, MANY miles to make this happen - Johnnyappleseed (CA), Trisha (WI), AhhShoot (WI), Fuzzymath(OH). A special thank you to TC for coming even though it was the weekend he was moving himself and his family from IL to MI (and we are thrilled to have our own SI in the state now!). Thanks to Johniim for being THE Michigan IIT! Congratulations and thanks to intheburbs for joining the crew after getting his patch this weekend!
Congratulations to all SEVEN of the Riflemen and women who earned their patch at this AS- Dean and Bill on Saturday (overachievers, aren't you?) and Mike (Ironsides), Lon (Prone-n-Groan), Bryan (Jonesy), Jeff (Skippy), and Veronica (Jr Appleseeders are our future!) on Sunday despite the bizarre weather patterns and unseasonable COLD and WET! A big thank you to all the shooters who showed such discipline and persistence - I have never seen so many students use those prep periods so well for dryfire and transition change practice, and you never slacked off. It was an honor and a pleasure and I hope to see you all again on the Appleseed Trail!
BeeFree
Hey!! Way cool!! Trish got her Red Hat from none other than Johnny Appleseed!!
Leader of "clan Appleseed"!!
Rock on, guys!! O0 <:) O0
LLP
Quote from: Prone-n-Groan on August 25, 2009, 03:50:52 PM
You know, It's about time we had something in MI to be proud of. A huge Thank You to all the folks that put their butts on the line and made this happen. It was awsome. Lets keep it up. Looking forward to have a lil one dayer out to my place. I should be able to accommodate 6 or so as I mentioned at the shoot.
Lon
Mini-AS - let's do it! Check your PM and let's get it set up.
Seven Riflemen!!!
Fantastic!
Congratulations, and remember; being a Rifleman isn't only about shooting well.
You've gotta get MI, up and running! &) &) **)
Congrats to Bill on the Orange Hat. O0
It's quite a great step, towards saving you're country!
Trisha.....What can I say? ::)
Orange was never your color. Congratulations!
You know, I have not been to Michigan before....
Get some more shoots schedule; and I may swing by. ;)
I'll see you on the Appleseed Trail!
:~ :~ :~
Aftermath
(p.s. The origional Johnny Appleseed; never saw the fruits of his labor.... JA-you most certainly have. O0)
Man, I wish I would have known about this shoot! It is right around the corner from Detroit. Oh well, I am signed up for the Sept Gibsonburg shoot. Maybe next time...
Wow, what a wonderful Appleseed. I was worried that after driving 8-9 hours to get there, if it was going to be worth it, and let me tell you all it was! What a wonderful group of shooters, and you all really seemed to enjoy learning everything from the 6 steps to the stories of our history.
I had the pleasure of working really close with Veronica this past weekend, and to see her face light up when she went from not being able to get more than 1 shot on the paper to making 4 minute groups by the end of sunday was amazing! My two daughters aren't quite old enough to fire a rifle, but when they are I hope they love shooting just like Veronica does, she is an inspiration for everyone. William you have a wonderful daughter and you should be very proud of her. I also want to congratulate you on scoring Rifleman and taking up that Orange Hat, I know you will wear it proudly.
I also want to congratulate everyone who shot Rifleman this past weekend, keep going with it and teach someone else. Why go to the grave with all of this wonderful knowledge you have?? What's the point of that?
To all others who haven't reached that 210 quite yet, keep persisting because that is what a Rifleman does. It was a pleasure working with all of you and I hope to hear or even work with you in the future.
To all the instructors, it was a pleasure working with you all. I once again learned a lot from all of you and I hope we get to see each other again on the AS trail.
Thank you dragonfly, LayloPro, and Aftermath for the congratulations. I know I will see a couple of you again really soon in the WI/MN area. O0
I entered my 1st shooting competition today. On the line were medals for 1st and 2nd place in handgun and rifle AND a one-year membership to a shooting club 6 miles from my house valued at $480 for the shooter with the highest combined total score. Yeah, that's a LOT! They boast of being the most 'state of the art' facility around.
We shot pistols first and I found myself in 1st place by 2 points.
The rifle round started and I knew if I shot from a bench rest (like EVERYONE else was) I could win that membership. BUT, having been to an Appleseed shoot I also knew if I threw my blanket down and shot from the prone position there were folks that would ask me "What the heck are you doing? And WHY"?
It was a 'no brainer'. The blanket went down and I took my time to find my NPOA. The competition was 10 rounds into one target at 75 feet. I had loaded 2 mags with 5 rounds each, as I knew that the mag change would give me time to think.
As I fired my first 5 rounds I heard TC saying, rather loudly (not a bad thing by any means), "keep your finger ON the trigger" and Fuzzymath saying, "it takes as long as it takes" and Johnny Appleseed saying, "You CAN do this", and Trisha saying, "You have the longest fingernails of anyone I've ever seen at an Appleseed". (Which I have since cut down to a reasonable length.) And John saying, "What is your target telling you?" I thank you all for your patience and encouragement. It takes me time to process and practice what I've been taught. And practice I did. Down in the basement everyday. Dry firing and thinking through all I was taught.
After my first 5 shots I stopped to reload and evaluate my target. I was shooting slightly low and right and not having time to adjust my sights I re-evaluated my point of aim.
My next 5 shots scored 49 out of 50! For a total of 93 out of 100 on the rifle portion. Not superb, but, I was pleased as it meant folks would be asking me about my choice of shooting 'prone' versus 'bench rest'.
OH they did and I handed out the cards John had given me about "see if you can hit this 1" square at 82 feet. Explaining that I learned how to do this at an Appleseed shoot and they could learn the same in Williamston Oct. 17 and 18.
Hopefully some of them will take the challenge and be there.
Bottom line, what I learned is that my heritage and getting others involved is more important than the short-term goal that only benefits me. Was just a bonus that I didn't have the highest combined score, but the owner of the range did, so he gave the membership to the second highest combined score. Which was me!
I'm still in the basement practicing everyday because I WILL shoot rifleman one day! Maybe in Williamston. If not, I'll keep trying. Just call me tenacious. Never give up!
Miki
I knew it from the start --- a TRUE APPLESEEDer!
Thanks so much for posting that, Miki, and I look forward to seeing you on the Appleseed trail.
-FM.
Well done Miki! Gotta love it when doing the right things turns out to be the best thing for everyone!
Let's hook up with the range owner and have an Appleseed at your new club.
What a great story!
Prone position just made it all that sweeter! O0
-Deacon
Miki, thanks for sharing your story, it's always great to hear you are using what you learned at the AS at a competition. I also want to commend you on dryfiring down in your basement, keep it up! and I hope to hear that you make it to another AS before the winter hits. :)
I would love to hear your story about your AS weekend on the Women of Appleseed stories, here is the thread if you haven't seen it yet:
http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=4577.0 (http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=4577.0)