Project Appleseed

SB- Mike (mike93lx)
Redhats- Alix (luv2bfree), Matt (lupis42)
IITs- Eric (goodpiper), Mike (metalgodz), David (davidgw1)

Riflemen- 5!

New IIT's- Jeremy and Vicki  CONGRATS!! 

Wow, what a weekend.  The weather was absolutely amazing and the turnout was fantastic.  Everyone that pre-registered showed up for Saturday and almost the entire group was back on Sunday.

We had all levels of experience on the line...from people that hadn't shot a rifle before to veteran Appleseeders, and this made things particularly enjoyable for me.  The selection of rifles was very diverse as well with a 60+ year old tube fed pump a 22 Magnum and the obligatory 10/22's and 795's.  Several loaners were given out, a ton of mags, and a pile of slings were all in use for the event.  When mid-day Sunday rolled around, the Garands, Mosins, and AR's came out and started to liven things up a bit 

Congrats to all of our new Riflemen!  Jeremy, Steve, Vicki, Andre, and Drew all put up solid rifleman scores.
Vicki has been working at it for a bit now and was knocking on the 210 door all weekend and capped it off with a 214 mid-day on Sunday.  Mike, I hope you can still cook!
Drew was one of our new shooters...he had only been out once before and put together a couple great AQT's.
Steve was going some great shooting and put it all together for a close 213.
Andre, with his beautiful CZ and Leupold setup was shooting great from the beginning and definitely earned his patch.
Jeremy showed us all that he could get it done and after putting up very strong scores on target after target, I had to have him mix it up and shoot the prone stages while sitting.  He put up even more Rifleman scores doing that!  That is some impressive shooting.

Let's all make sure to congratulate Vicki and Jeremy on their new Orange Hats!  We're lucky to have you both on board.

KD was done in groups with the rimfire shooters using the 100 yard berm and the centerfires using the 200.  Isn't it amazing how everything that we teach you at 25m applies at the longer distances? 

Once everyone had an opportunity to put some rounds down range at KD, Tyler and Jeremy stepped up to my challenge of shooting the "Advanced" AQT at 100 yards with the 400 yard targets.  Those targets are awefully small and very tough to hit while standing, but they got it done and both qualified as Riflemen again!

It was great to have some repeat shooters from May and to see how much they've improved, especially Blake.  He was putting some awesome groups together and I know he has a Rifleman in him waiting to come out.  I wish I could have seen his smile after sending the first round down range from my Garand.  I heard that it was something special 

Young Ulysses had a blast and was showing constant improvement.  I think he shot every centerfire that was on-site by the end of the day on Sunday and had a smile on his face the entire time.   

Eric, Alix, and Matt all did an awesome job with the history and I know they got a bunch of people really into the events and people that were involved on April 19, 1775.

I'm uploading the pictures now and will get them up shortly.  I'd love you hear your feedback and experiences from the Shoot.

See you all on the Trail!

Leyden Rifle Club, view from the 200 yard Firing point down towards the 25M line


The whole line working on prone


NPOA, NPOA, NPOA!


Ulysses having a blast with Mike's AR (converted to 22LR)


Eric giving a great second strike


Leyden Rifle Club's 100 and 200 yard range (with pits!)


The KD firing line (with a couple beautiful AR10's on the left)


Jeremy getting his Rifleman patch


Andre getting his


Drew


Steve


Vicki (she was jumping around and moving so fast from the excitement that we missed the picture    I don't know how you guys kept it from her for 45 minutes 


We missed this pic too, but I'm so proud and excited that I have to post it.  Tyler and Jeremy both earned patches (again) from the very hard Advanced AQT

Dude... 

Quote from: crak on September 27, 2010, 11:31:11 PM
Dude... 

You missed a good one!  Calverton looks like it was a great time too.

Almost all of the emails sent to MA@appleseedinfo.org after Appleseeds go something like "It rained so I didn't feel like coming.  Give me a refund."   

This time it got TWO!  Nice work, everybody.

Here's the first:
Well, you are the only person whose email I am certain of (although I can easily figure out the usernames of several of the people on northeastshooters), so I am sending this to you. As a further disclaimer, whatever I say applies to pretty much everyone at the event, so if I forgot to mention somebody by name, it is simply because I am lousy with names, was overwhelmed with information and am still digesting it all.

That being said, this was my first Appleseed, my 5th ever date at a range (not visit to the range, of course) and second instruction event (the first being a GrayGuns 1-day pistol class that took place at the same time as the *previous* Leyden, MA Appleseed). I did come home with a Rifleman badge (but I had to switch to my model 70 Marlin to earn it *and* get assistance prepping mags), and my son (who seems to have tried every type of rifle on the line!) and I both had a fantastic time. My personal tally appears to be 800 rounds of .22 (half bolt-action CZ, half autoloader Marlin) and 99 rounds of 7.62x54R.  Oh, and a 218 on the one target that really mattered. Thank you, Matt, Alix and Anne for scoring!

Absolutely everyone at the event, instructors and students alike, were amazingly nice, exceedingly generous - with their time, their equipment and their ammo, - and exceedingly supportive, patient and just plain genuine. The two Mikes (the shoot boss and metalgodz), Eric the bagpiper, Alix and Matt and the rest of the crew taught me a tremendous amount and took my son Ulysses under their wing to an embarrassing extent. The history part was presented in an engaging manner, the shot was run well, with things moving along, yet without any feeling of being rushed (or disappointed!) and plenty of opportunity was afforded to work on individual problems as they crept up. Everybody seemed to be everywhere at once - and yet everything was smooth and the expected chaos never materialized. Somehow, even the weather co-operated, which is quite remarkable in New England. Congratulations (and thanks) form a fairly recent citizen for this taste of the American Experience!

The other people on the line were a treat as well, equal parts talent, good humor and generosity (and many other qualities that I was too busy to notice). Being on the line, with a target in front of you and eyes and ears on, is not an environment conducive to appreciating your fellow shooters, and yet during reloading periods, lunch and history presentations I was able to enjoy a great bunch of people - and expose my son to same. The newly minted IITs (Jeremy and Vicky, in the order in which they received the hats, are the only names I remember) will be great in the events to come, as they were great companions on the line!

Today, contemplating a thick stack of well-utilized targets, a bit of a sunburn and a weekend filled with new experiences, new rifles and new people, I am amazingly glad I had the chance to be a part of this event and am looking forward to the next opportunity. Please transmit my most heartfelt appreciation to everyone responsible for an unforgettable weekend. Furthermore, please pardon my lack of verbal (or linguistic, as the case may be) ability to fully articulate how special and unusual this experience really was. The volunteers are truly deserving of more praise than I am able to express.

  Andre M.

And the second:

Just wanted to say what a wonderful time I had this weekend at the Appleseed Program in Leyden MA. I experienced remarkable staff, great history and began the road to being a reliable riflewoman!
My best!
Barbara

Wow, thanks for posting those.  I have to take my hat off to the shooters.  Everyone was interested and involved throughout the weekend.

You guys made my "job" easy!

Memo to Goodpipers wife: Pleeeeeeeeeassssseee keep the brownies coming!!!!!

Hmmmmmm, I should post pictures of my left elbow. This is NOT THE WAY to attain NPOA.!! Ouch, grrrrrrrr......

I'm waiting to see if we get any pictures of Vicki's shoulder too, I imagine it got a good tenderizing what with all that 7.62x54r.  Congrats to all our very talented and dedicated shooters.   

Mike, those elbows looked RAW by the end of the day. I'm glad you stuck it out and at least finished a redcoat off with the Garand...even if we learned that you're anticipating the recoil.  


Glad to see the letter from Barbara. For those who weren't there to see, even with a little trouble manipulating the rifle at first, over the course of the weekend she went from peppering the paper to putting some decently tight prone and sitting groups on target. Her husband John ended Saturday with some quite good looking AQTs as well...with an open-sighted tube-fed rifle, a seat belt and what appeared to be a dog leash for a sling, and a shooting position that forced him to choose between re-positioning his body every time he chambered a round, and not being able to see the sights over (or through?) his glasses. GOOD JOB TO YOU BOTH!


Andre started Saturday shooting quite well, with a redcoat that was almost cleaned from the beginning. His patch was well-earned, and his KD shooting on day 2 was great!  It was a pleasure to have you and your son there.
(NICE Mosin, by the way...Now I need to go out and find a nice Finnish one for myself. I think it's a disease. )


Matt, thanks again for the box of shoulder tenderizer mil-surp. I'm happy to have brought the guns to shoot it, since at least 2 people who were shooting it had not shot anything other than .223 or rimfire before. The M44 really brought out John's flinch (and Anna's  ) and the ball and dummy worked quite well to get rid of it. As for the bruise...We were at Dick's looking at a Rem 700 heavy barrel in .223 for Vicki and the guy behind the counter was commenting that it comes in .30-06 and a couple of 7mm choices, but he's downsizing because it kicks too much for him, and she'd probably want something a little smaller. Vicki says something to the effect of: "I'm not looking at it in something smaller because I can't handle the kick, I'm looking at it in .223 because I want something that shares ammo with my boyfriend's AR." You should have seen his eyes bug out when he saw her bruise.


Eric, thank you and the Leyden Rifle Club for having us, and thank you for your piping. There's something truly poetic about the boom of a .30 cal, the clang of the 250yd steel, and the bearded guy in the parking lot with the bagpipes.

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for a fantastic weekend.  It was my second Appleseed, and very nice to have it at my home range.  The instructers were all superb, and it was great to see a couple of familiar faces.  I look forward to working with all of you in the (very near) future! 

~Jeremy

Quote from: voidoid on September 28, 2010, 07:34:33 PM
Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for a fantastic weekend.  It was my second Appleseed, and very nice to have it at my home range.  The instructers were all superb, and it was great to see a couple of familiar faces.  I look forward to working with all of you in the (very near) future! 

~Jeremy

Jeremy, welcome aboard!  You have a ton to offer and we are going to put your skills to good use   &)nn

Great job Mike (Mike93lx)

As a Leyden Rifle Club officer it was great being able to host another Appleseed here. I'm also proud that two of our members earned Rifleman patches: Steve, and Jeremy (voidoid)

The only thing topping  the weather last weekend were the people, both with and without "hats". It's "neat" having more local folks. I hope to be able to continue this trend and keep the message going.
Again Thanks to EVERYONE!
Eric (goodpiper)
I've got some pics if I can figure out how to get them here

Hey everyone, it's Blake.

Had a great time at the event, hope to be attending the one in November.

Hoping that Alix will upload her photos soon, saw that she got a good one of the M1 recoiling as I shot it. Also, Mike (Metalgodz) if you're planned on being at the November event, think you'll bring the Mosins? After the Garand I wanted to step up to something with a little more bang to it. 

It was a great weekend!  The leaves were turning and two shooters took orange hats!  

Andre, thank you for the opportunity to shoot your Mosin!  

Here are some more photos.

-Alix