Project Appleseed

An instructors-only Known Distance Clinic was held on private property near Frostproof, FL on February 1st and 2nd of 2014.  I served as the SB for day 1 of the event, and left 9mm4545 and ThaiFighter as co-SB's for day 2. 

The KDC is designed to give RWVA Instructors a firm understanding of the principals involved in engaging targets at, and beyond, the Rifleman's Quarter Mile.   

Saturday morning found many members of the Florida Cadre mustering up in the early morning fog, gathering around DaddyFatty and his grill.  Generous portions of fried potatoes, scrambled eggs and delicious bacon were served, and appetites sated. 

Then the days instruction began, provided by yours truly.  This instruction covered topics such as Target Detection, Range Estimation, Wind Estimation techniques & Compensating for Wind/Gravity (External Ballistics).  Each topic was covered in detail, and an emphasis was given on how these topics should be approached with students at our Appleseed Marksmanship Clinics.

After pouring over the Advanced Marksmanship Techniques, the instructors were ready to begin putting this information into practice, so we all headed to the KD line.     

We started off by verifying 25m zeroes.  Once verified, we then used that same 25m zero to engage the "D" silhouette at 100, 200 and 300 yards, without making any sight corrections.  After firing sighter groups from each distance, targets were inspected, pasted, and come-up information written down.  Most shooters found that they could reliably engage the "D" silhouette without any sight corrections at all, though a couple required a 2-3 minute adjustment to reliably hit at 300.  When all shooters had written down their come up data for 100, 200 and 300 yards, we pushed back to 400.

After illustrating the utility of Battle Sight Zero (BSZ), all shooters were instructed to apply the "standard come up" of 3 minutes, to go from 300 to 400 yards, and engage their targets.  While some shooters successfully achieved hits in the black, others found their groups higher or lower than center, some considerably so- however, this, in and of itself, proved the point of the standard come up.  All shooters, starting from a good 300 yard zero, were able to find their groups at 400, by applying the standard come up.  This is on rifles that ranged from scoped bolt actions to iron sighted AR's.  Once their group was located, and I-M-C performed, groups found themselves placed squarely in the black.

Applying the standard come up of 4 minutes similarly worked well at 500 yards.

Due to the physical layout of the range, and limitations of the berm, shooting at 300, 400 and 500 yards required that we implement relays of no more than 5 shooters, with only three being able to simultaneously fire at 500 yards.   Establishing and verifying zeroes for the various distances available effectively closed the firing festivities for day 1. 

As I was only available to assist for the briefest portion of Day 2, I will allow 9mm4545 and ThaiFighter to fill in the details of how the rest of the event progressed.

I will close by saying that it was a great pleasure to work with so many fantastic instructors from Florida again.  Visiting with ya'll was like a family reunion.   

If you attended this event, let us know what you thought of it, and provide any pictures you may have taken!

In Liberty,

ItsanSKS