Project Appleseed

A beautiful weekend at the very nice Wasatch Shooter Association Range only one month after the last - way to go Utah!

Dave (Rifleman2000) is now a range master at the club with keys so we no longer have problems with access in time, and we sorted out the Sunday shooting restrictions - its 9 til dusk on Fridays and Saturdays, 10 til dusk on Sundays.

We had 11 shooters registered and four of the free two-day shooters never showed up so we had 7 shooters on Saturday and 2 on Sunday, with Dave (rifleman2000) and Trent (two-of-three) doing the instruction on Saturday and me, dave and Bruce (Manu Forti) instructing on Sunday.

Bruce is a returning Rifleman from previous Appleseeds who brought his son Robert. Bruce shot a very nice re-qualifying score with his M1A this time. Robert came so close on Sunday with a 205 - keep it up Robert and thank you to Bruce for stepping up to become an instructor on Sunday. He's coming back to the September (Friday/Saturday) shoot and bringing a friend and their son as well, Seventh stepping at its best.

We had a three generation family shoot with us for the first time, Millie, daughter Becca and son Ben (7). They brought a Cricket, a single shot and mag fed 22's. Millie switched to one of Dave's rugers and was soon posting some very credible scores for a new shooter. Becca stoically shot with her rifle till we reached the limit of adjusting its stock sights and the frustration they brought. We switched her to a ruger and the very next set of targets showed good groups and she scored a high of I think 180 or thereabouts. Incredible job. If they had been two day shooters I'm sure she would have got a patch. They left asking advice on new rifles to buy and asking about Appleseed around Portland OR so I'll get contact information to them on that. Clearly a family with the Rifleman spirit - it was great to meet you all. Especially young Ben with his Cricket. He was our designated Marksman and even got the old Shootboss to help him with some standing stages - wear that Blanchard patch with pride my man.

Finally Meghan came with her Dad Trent and again made great improvement during the single Saturday. Again some dry practice at home and another shoot and she will get there.

So how are we doing Utah? A low turnout shoot? A failure? Heck no! We had some new faces and some old faces. We had another rifleman step into the hat. Slowly, like all states at first, we are building a cadre pretty soon it will start to snowball, I see nothing but a bright future for Appleseed in Utah, word will spread, more hands make light work. The main issue to be solved is the Sunday attendance.

Discussion of this with those present is that Friday Saturday can work, people will take kids out of school on Friday for a "mission" oriented event, not a sport/hobby shooting event, even if they won't miss Sunday Church. As word spreads about what Appleseed really is about, Saving the Nation, not a hobby or a score in shooting, some people may be persuaded about Sunday. The preferred solution (on an admittedly small sample) is that two Sequential Saturdays would work best, Sat 1 the teach day, Sat 2 the AQT grind. Once they get an instructor cadre in place around the local ranges that can work for them if we can get Eventbrite to handle it (I see lots of scope for people turning up on the "wrong Saturday")

Two weeks from now we have the Cedar City shoot. Pre-regs for that are really low right now. Northern Utah and Southern Utah are working as two distinct groups due to the distance involved but if people know friends and relatives "at the other end" please make an effort to get them to attend an Appleseed.

Once again, a pleasure and an honor to share the heritage with you all and thanks to all the instructors, new and old, for putting on a great weekend.

Everyone feel free to chime in.

Cheers
Phil
PS I saw someone with a camera, get those pictures up - don't be shy!

Hey Phil - just wanted to say "THANKS!"  We all had a great time and we're gonna try to make some shoots in OR now!  Ben had such a great time and I really appreciate everyone's patience with him - especially you Phil with teaching - it made it a really positive experience for all of us!  I was really excited to go from hitting almost nothing to getting all but one of my redcoat shots - hopefully next time! 

To anyone thinking of attending - bring a well padded ground cloth and camp chairs are very good to have also (they are not on the list  )


Happy shooting!
Becca

Just a thought on the Sunday/Utah thing.  The LDS don't miss church on Sunday, but they are a "target rich" group for this sort of thing - especially if you hit it from the self reliance angle.  Also, I think one of the Boy Scout merit badges is a shooting one.  I personally would go for a Friday/Saturday event, I would certainly take my kids out of school for something like this, but we don't miss church on Sunday.  Just an observation from someone who is LDS - hope it helps!

Quote from: redmom on August 02, 2010, 01:44:56 PM
Just a thought on the Sunday/Utah thing.  The LDS don't miss church on Sunday, but they are a "target rich" group for this sort of thing - especially if you hit it from the self reliance angle.  Also, I think one of the Boy Scout merit badges is a shooting one.  I personally would go for a Friday/Saturday event, I would certainly take my kids out of school for something like this, but we don't miss church on Sunday.  Just an observation from someone who is LDS - hope it helps!

Thanks for the info and suggestions, we're trying to work things out to help the Utah cadre of instructors, growing every shoot, address these to help grow the program faster.

Cheers
Phil