Project Appleseed

It's always nice when shooters return to our 25m events to work on their fundamentals and earn their Rifleman patch, but there's nothing like having returning shooters prove that they can apply those skills out at distance!  Our recent Rimfire Known Distance clinic at the Wildlife Committee of Washington was filled with folks who knew what they were about.

The Shoot Boss arranged for there to be just enough rain on Saturday morning to keep the dust down throughout the weekend, and we spent time in the Chalet reviewing angular measurements and how gravity impacts trajectory in Earth's gravity.  We talked a bit about the wind, but mostly we stressed that whenever shooters touch adjust their sighting system they must WRITE DOWN what adjustments they did.  Good data collection is an important skill for Riflemen!

Our first target on Saturday was Morgan's Shingle: real 3.75" x 5.25" cedar shingles placed at 125 yds.  Of our 15 shooters, 4 folks came ready with good data (or at least a good guess) about the right sight adjustment for that distance and I was proud to hand out 4 new patches. 

Saturday was mostly about data collection.  We spent all moving the target line from 50yds to 100, 150, and 200yds and collecting data on how shooter's rifles (and ammo) behaved at those distances.  We had no appreciable wind to speak of, and everyone got good data without losing reference to which zero they had on their rifle at any given moment.  We had 4 returning Riflemen prove they knew what they were about on our first AQT - but all of them posted higher scores on Sunday!

Sunday is where the real fun started.  We started with the Shingle again, and 6 of our shooters scored a cold bore HIT on their shingle!

Now that our shooters had all the data they needed to confidently engage targets at ANY distance between 50-200yds, it was time to introduce a little Range Estimation and Target Detection into the mix.  We hung steel targets at intermediate distances and challenged shooters to make a first round hit after ranging the targets.  While waiting to take the shot, shooters were instructed to try and find a number of objects the Shoot Boss had hidden around the range.  Duck decoys are hard to spot!

We managed 3 AQTS on Sunday, and I was very impressed that out of 15 shooters this weekend we had 8 Riflemen (2 of them FIRST TIME Riflemen and 5 of them FIRST TIME KD Riflemen).  In no particular order, we had:

Name of Rifleman	Score (Hits Count Method)	Notes
Jamison	43	Returning Rifleman
Chris B	47	First KD, returning Rifleman
Patrick	44	First KD, returning Rifleman
Matt P	43	First KD, returning Rifleman
Jenny	40	A new Riflewoman!
Ty	41	A new Rifleman!
Rob	40	First KD, returning Rifleman
Qifan	40	First KD, returning Rifleman

Congratulations to all!  For those of you who did not make Rifleman at this event:  you have the tools and the persistence to make it happen!  Practice, and work to collect as much good data as you can about how your equipment performs at all distances.

Instructors, thank you for an incredible weekend.  I know you all have fun at our 25m events but there really is something special about making Riflemen into KD Riflemen.  Thank you to Doc Sporseen, Mike AKA Bandaid, Iborche, Tkdninja!

And now, the pictures!  All credit to Iborche and his excellent camera - thank you sir.

Mike AKA Bandaid covers Trajectory and Come-Ups:


CaptainRebop shares how he formats his data book:


Matt P working on ranging a target:


Chris B gives the Thumbs Up that he hit the Shingle:


Jamison showing off his newly hole-punched Shingle:


The Shoot Boss demonstrates what it means to move like a Rifleman:


Wildlife appears on the Wildlife Committee of Washington rifle range (and we dispatch a UAV to move it along safely):


Shooters working on becoming Dangerous Old Men at the 200yd line:


Jenny marking targets and doing some IMC math at 200yds:


Doc Sporseen talks about Range Estimation using Mils:


CaptainRebop discusses shooting at an angle (DO NOT MEME THIS IMAGE):


Doc Sporseen and Jenny get our 150yd line aligned to shooter positions:


Could you detect this target at 200yds?


How about this one at 300yds?


Jenny shows off her qualifying target!

I'm glad you found a good home for it.

I have the rifle. I bought it for the 250th markings but also for the sights.

That's pretty cool!

Fulcrum, it's gone. It was adult stock cut down. The rear swivel mount was broken (loaner).

Hi.
If this is not allowed than do what you need to do.
Ive been with AS and used a class B rv 20 ft van to do so to a number of ranges, mostly Ohio but also W.Va and PA. As an alternative to bunk houses, tent camping and motels its been great.
Im needing to sell my van so if anyone one is interested reply back for more info. It's on my property in Strongsville (outside Cleveland) fyi.

That's a nice offer. Is the stock a factory youth stock? Ir is it a regular stock that has been cut down at home?

I have a Ruger 10/22 with a shortened stock.

It would be a good one to teach young'uns. It's ugly, but it's free.

Thanks, I am planning to shoot in the Bang & Clang on Saturday, if we could work around that it would be great.  Now I just need to find one more instructor.

This was a great event.  Thanks to the Spann Family for hosting us!!

CONGRATS to Bud on scoring his first Pistoleer score, and to everyone else who made excellent progress throughout the weekend.

The weather was SO HOT (CALIENTE).  Everyone did a good job of staying in the shade and hydrated.

I'm already looking forward to the next one!!

Shooters receiving their well-deserved Caliente patches!


Bud's 221 Pistoleer score! CONGRATS Bud!


Group Photos:





Cooper and wife Kathryn waiting to shoot the next string of fire.











James' perseverance:


James hung in there all weekend even after several nosebleeds.