Project Appleseed

 Nine Brave souls dared to endure the heat and anything Else thrown their way,They all managed to adapt and overcome.
The temp was cool and breezy about 96 as a high and 90 in the am prior to 9am and after 5pm.Three to five mile per hr. gusts up to twenty at times. The wind chill made it feel much cooler like the high eighty's,
We got off to a great start,everyone on time on Q, and ready to go with great teachable attitudes.
Jack brought his kids back Lydia and Mathew,and Krista. We then had three gentleman Dan, Ray and Scott, We also had Alex, active duty Navy Journalist,and Resident Cadre.
The first good thing was we had Eddy show up and was I never more happy to see the calvery in a bright orange hat.
After the safety briefing we got some redcoat posted and Showed much Rust and great need for improvement.
Eric,Ed, and Myself started the firehose of instruction,it really seemed as though these folks were starting to get it!
Low and behold indexing strong positions six steps NPOA and shifts on into adjustments and the groups started to shrink!
By the end of Sat. we had two AQT's and one new Rifleman Alex knocked off that rust,and turned in a 214!
Sunday was even better, everyone well rested and eager to show off how much they learned and retained.
Right out of the gate things really started to flow and we rolled out approx.8-10 AQT's.
We definitely had some high points, Krista, who had never fired a firearm,started to grasp the one on one instruction and started giving Mathew her boyfriend a run for his money.
Lydia Small only in stature is already a force to be dealt with kindly and carefully. She has a Lizzy Zane like personality.
Her father Jack was getting a kind dose of Equip challenges. Which stay tuned there is info posted on those after market charging handles.
Scott was having a time trying to time the trigger squeeze, with the gallop of his horse thus causing control issues.
Jose (Airplane Joe) showed up Sunday and shot score with his AK.
Ray, smart man little experience, did not deter him, He too made score!
His buddy Dan (Marine)Also shot score and by the way they shot the same score of 221.
That's right folks 4 of 9 rifleman, and for those who did not make it this time, I know they posses what it takes. They have to go  ^:)^get it!
I have no doubt that these fine young Americans can achieve what ever they desire to obtain.
Thanks to our attendees for a much needed cool refreshing weekend of Liberty.
Itsansks, thanks again Sir always a pleasure.
Everyone Needs to congratulate ED Nukes of hazzard, He was promoted to IIT3,He has performed duties at least to standard and is a great asset to our program, and the FL cadre.
Once again thanks to all for a great event!

Thank God that there are folks willing to volunteer their time to make these events a reality. Again it was for me a super learning experience. Just when I think I've reached terminal velocity on the learning curve someone proves me wrong. Huzzah!!
On equipment issues, especially for the Ruger 10/22, there are literally thousands of aftermarket parts. Some are good, others are junk and the rest fall somewhere in between. I would talk to someone with experience using that kind of rifle before trying make a better mouse trap by helping the engineers that designed it. By the way, I too have a box full of aftermarket gadgets that were part of my rifles before I gravitated back to OEM parts. It's not the arrow, its the Indian . Improvise-Adapt-Overcome.
Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah!!!

Sly223 said almost everything I had prepared, but I still want to weigh in here: this event was fantastic! The pace was brisk and enjoyable, the wind kept us from stewing (too much) in our own sweat, and the Instructor Cadre was on the ball the entire weekend.

While it was great to finally turn in that qualifying score, I still have many more marksmanship goals ahead of me: I very much still strive to shoot to standard with a centerfire, and once I'm there, I plan to chase after KD with the Garand. That said, the single most enjoyable moment from the weekend was the three RFAQTs we shot on Sunday: while I never broke 200, I had an absolute blast!

Anyway, without further ado, here are the photos from this weekend:

The sun rises over the incredible Manatee Gun and Archery Club.


ItsanSKS and NukeofHazard provide some additional insight into the standing position, while Sly223 looks over the POI.


The right side of the line gets familiar with the prone position (I may need to add some length to that stock...)


Malfunctions: yup, we've got plenty of those! This one was a first for us, though.


It's a bad day to be a graycoat!


Our KD shooters took things out to 100m, where .22s drop and 5.56 flies high. A great educational moment!


If it looks stupid... but works... it is anything but.


She may not have a forum name yet, but I would like to tender my suggestion... Stovepipe! If she's the future, I think we'll be alright. With a little more practice, and an agreeable rifle, I have no doubt you'll blow right past my 211!


Florida's newest Riflemen:






That's all for now. I have one, maybe two events left in me before I head off to foreign soil for several years, but wouldn't trade the events I've attended for anything. I'm sure I see many of you on the trail in the years to come.

Until next time.

this is Dan aka guy who had a thousand ftf's but still made rifleman.

this way a terrific way to get hardcore back into marksmanship after 14 year lax in training since marine corps boot camp.

appleseeds training was strait to the point and got the fundamentals down for even the slowest of learners.the speed of instruction was dead on and very informative.

the instructors where very thorough and patient.always ready to lend a hand or loan a piece of equipment including a rifle(thanks Eric).

the benefits of this program will stay with me for another 14 years +.

ever since the shoot has ended i have done nothing but walk and talk appleseed getting as many people as possible to the next shoot.

thank you to the cadre and thank you appleseed for renewing my hope in America.

I can add nothing to what's already been said about the quality of the program, so I'll just throw in a couple of coments:

bigwinr69: Semper Fi!!

.pptranger: From my AR Owners Manual (Bushmaster); "Each graduation (notch) moves the POI as indicated: 100 mts -- 1 3/8 inch". I don't know if other brands are different.

sly223: My sources for AK stuff (scope side-mount) are; www.part4ak47.com, www.tickbitesupply.com and www.onesourcetactical.com. There are more, I just like those three.

Check 6

airplanejoe