Project Appleseed

I finally had a chance to watch the video.  Mark, thanks for sending.  It was interesting.  Thanks for sharing

I went to CanCon East on Saturday at the Clinton House (Clinton, SC).

I shot the 1 Mile Challenge and earned the challenge coin.

They provide a Barrett 50BMG, ammo, a steel plate at 1 mile, and a spotter to help you. You get 2 shots. My first shot missed. The spotter told me to hold on the right edge of the target and the 2nd shot was a direct hit. 

The whole time I was behind the rifle, all I could hear in my head was "SQUEEeeeeeeze!" 

What a fantastic weekend! Many thanks to all the shooters who made the choice to spend a weekend in the outdoors, learning about Liberty, Heritage & Marksmanship! You all did a fantastic job and I look forward to seeing each and every one of you out on the line in the future!

We are hoping to add a pistol event in July, which is going before the range board, and if they approve, it will happen!  This range and the range liaisons/owners are fantastic to work with.  They kept asking what they could do to help us, and we got to park the MACC (Mobile Appleseed Command Center, AKA the camper) on the range.  Jerry also gave us some potential leads for ranges closer to Louisville, KY.

What a great shoot!  The instructor crew was on top of everything.  Participants showed improvement. I hope they continue to practice and come to more Appleseed Events.

Thanks for taking a bigger bucket. 

New Places, New Faces

    We had an opportunity to bring Appleseed to the Impact Zone Range in Hempstead, TX this past April 25-26th weekend.  We celebrated our Patriot's Day event with a new group of dedicated Americans!  All 20 participants who attended were eager to learn, eager to listen and a true pleasure to speak with and share such an important weekend with.  We had many local students which is wonderful to see since we are trying to grow a new Instructor base in the area.  With the energy and attitude of the students starting at such a high level in the morning, we knew it was going to be an amazing event!

   Our first diagnostic target of the weekend proved the intent of our students rather quickly.  Out of 20 students, 14 students proved initial field effectiveness at 100 yrds. 5 of those students further proved field effective at 200 yrds.  Furthermore, 3 of those students proved field effective at 300 yrds.  One was also even able to be effective at 400 yrds!  Four students were able to place one shot in Morgan's shingle which means we had one student  complete the Red Coat target even before we began our instruction.  Great to see this our starting point for the weekend.

    As the first Red Coat Target of the weekend had wrapped up, we began our formal instruction period.  We gave our students the necessary background of proper sling usage, prone steady hold factors and the "First Half of the Six Steps of Firing the Shot".  When facing our new target, our 25 Meter Drill Target, it was clear the students were indeed paying close attention.  We had several students who were new to the program and needed a bit of help to get their rifles in order.  Luckily, we had a wonderful group of Instructors present who were able to help.

    We continued practicing on our 25 Meter Drill Targets and slowly introduced additional instructional points.  We talked through the concept of making sure the obtained "Point of Aim" was one which is obtained using a fully supported and fully relaxed body – thus making it is a true "Natural Point of Aim".  After a few remedial skills drills, our students began to better understand this concept and put it into practice.
 
    We wrapped up the morning's portion of the instruction by addressing the "Second Half of the Six Steps of Firing the Shot".  All of which are less active than the First Half, but in practice – just as important as the First Half.  By this point in the day, our students needed a bit of a break, so we used the opportunity to inform the students about the first actions which took place 251 years ago on this weekend's date which began the Revolutionary War.  We presented our "First Strike of the Match" history story and focused our attention to a time when everyone living in the Colonies viewed themselves as a subject of a much different governmental system than we have today.  We asked our students to think about how the colonist's world shifted in one single day.

    After our break, our students were provided with instructions on how to take their improved precise groups and now place them accurately on the intended target by following our Inches/Minutes/Click methodology of adjusting their sighting systems.  Unsurprisingly, everyone was able to achieve sufficient accuracy rather quickly which allowed us to move on to our next block of positional shooting instruction.

    Once everyone's rifles were now as accurate as we could make them, we moved on to our next challenge for the weekend – Positional Shooting.  While less stable than prone shooting, the seated/kneeling position is still one which needs to be mastered in order to take field effective shots in less than ideal conditions.  While our students began practicing the new positions it was clear the early summer Texas temperatures were starting to impact everyone's activity level. 

   Speaking of activity level under challenging conditions, we had two students, Ryan and Mattie attend the event in true colonial recreation outfits!  The enthusiasm was greatly appreciated!  Honestly, how these two die-hards were able to withstand the building heat and humidity was a triumph in itself.  I was practically on a slow simmer while wearing modern synthetic based materials clothing, hahahaha!  Thank you for your willingness to share the difficulty of our forefather's garbs with our students.

    After mastering a new difficult position, we threw an even more challenging task at our students, shooting while in the Standing position.  Again, the advantages the standing position affords in terms of speed and quickness must be weighed against the loss of stability.  The Hasty sling certainly helps maintain control of an unstable system, but there are many degrees of freedom yet unaccounted for.  Our students did their best to shoot from standing while not getting too discouraged by the results, hahahaha!

    The late April Texas weather definitely threw us for a loop during this weekend.  The early part of the morning was tolerable with a bit of overcast skies, but this all changed in the afternoon.  The lovely East Texas humidity and sunshine made the air about as thick as cornbread.  Our students had clearly endured a long day of instruction and skills practice and wished to wrap things up early.  We posted up a Red Coat target and observed how our student's skills increased during only one day of instruction and practice.  By this point in time, we only had 17 students now on the line.  Of these 17 students, we had 5 students now field effective at 300 yrds.  More impressive was seeing we now had 3 students who were field effective at 400 yrds!!!  We had 1 which cleared the Red Coat, again (Way to go Devin!!!) and now 4 students which hit the Cedar Shingle qualifying square.  Not bad for the first day.

    As quickly as the first day of our event ended, the morning of the second day began.  The Houston weather looked to be a solid repeat of the first so we knew we needed to take advantage of the cooler morning hours.  Our morning Red Coat target showed we were now down to only 17 shooters out of 20 at the start of our event.  Out of our 17 students, 4 were now proficient out to 200 yrds which was similar to the last target of the previous day.  Only one was able to qualify higher and cleared the Red Coat Target.  Way to go Michael!!!
 
    We then jumped into making sure all the rifles were still holding their accuracy by shooting a few 25 Meter Drill Targets.  Luckily, the rifles held their zeroed adjustment from the previous day and all of our shooters broke off their marksmanship rust quickly.  Kyle had to get accustomed to a new rifle since his barrowed 10/22 from the previous day had self-disassembled on the first day, hahahaha.  This allowed us an opportunity to go ahead and post up an Appleseed Qualifying Target and give our students a few of their current skill level.  On our first AQT we had a number of solid scores, but no new Rifleman yet.  While the weather was somewhat cooperative, we decided to take advantage and post up another AQT opportunity.  After a few refinements and coaching pointers, our students scores were on the rise.  Michael, a Rifleman already at a previous event, was able to requalify with a great score of 221 while using a new rifle he had just added to his collection.  Way to go Michael!!!!

    We took a bit of an early lunch break and discussed the events in Concord, Massachusetts on the same day 251 years prior.  Again one of our Instructors, Bollocks, skillfully walked our students through the heroism of individuals such as Captain Isaac Davis of the Acton Militia which set forth the flame of freedom on this day.  We used this rousing history discussion to springboard into another series of AQT targets to see if a short rest and small snack would help a few students. 

    Before putting up another AQT, we played a bit of a skills-gambling game for fun.  This was an all-or-nothing effort to show each student's best ability.  If there was a single miss on a Red Coat Target posted at 45 degrees then the target score was zero.  Each hit counted was in direct scoring proportion to the scaled AQT size.  Reagan and Sean looked to come out as an even tie for score.  We had to fix this!  A quick tie-breaker showed Reagan as the winner of the event and the coveted "Don't Tread on Me" insulated tumbler, donated by Ghostring himself!  Way to go Reagan!!!!!

    As the AQTs began to add up, our students were gaining in their confidence and skills while still facing significant new challenges.  With the forth AQT of the day approaching quickly, our student's energy was being drained by the Texas sun.  There was enough energy for Devin to push his personal record best up to 234 as a requalification for Rifleman.  Keep at it sir!!!!  Only a few points away from Distinguished Rifleman!  Way to go Devin!

    By this point in the afternoon, a small break was again called for which allowed "Sir Not Appearing in This Film" to finalize the key history discussion regarding the coalescence of Rebellion within the Colonies.  It was this final unification and understanding of the actions taken that fateful day which led to the Freedoms which we enjoy today.  Steve did a great job of inspiring our students because they all agreed to give the weekend one last AQT in honor of our forefathers.  Most students did an amazing job, as earlier in the day.  Some improved while others saw their scores decrease due to fatigue.

    The weekend wrapped up with a serious discussion regarding the need to take action in one's own political life in order to protect our Freedoms we take for granted all too easily.  We honored the architect of the Revolution, Dr. Joseph Warren, with a unique addressing of the Last Red Coat of the Weekend.  Our students were certainly a bit worn-out by this point and their final target reflected this.  This should not be thought of as a decrease in the capability of our students over the course of the weekend, but rather an indication of the level of effort they put out during a very action packed day.   A better gauge of skill would be to note the number of students  who learned something new and put it into practice.  Confidently, I can say all 20 students fit this category. 

     It was an amazing event with amazing students.  I will say again, it was an honor to be with such a group of serious Patriot on this ultra special weekend!  Our Instructors and myself are still touched by how solemn everyone held this weekend's importance, and the reverence shown during our Patriot's Day Weekend!  Thank you!

Chad Stovell – GenX Minuteman

Well done, my Brother!
I will work a shoot with you any time!

Congratulations!