Project Appleseed

Most a placeholder for now.

For Saturday we had 5 centerfire shooters and one at 25m.  They were periodically joined on the line by some of the instructor cadre, since we had plenty on hand. 

We started out with 3 sighter strings to determine come-ups, as it was taking folks a bit to get warmed up.  We got in one KD AQT before lunch, and broke for the 1st strike of the hammer (1776 style) as well as a lesson on windage.  Rain had been threatened for the day, and seemed to be always hovering just off to our west.

After lunch we managed to get in two more AQTs - only the final one ended up damp.  No KD riflemen today, but some showing promise.

Then we broke for the second strike of the hammer, and a lesson on battle sight zero.  Since we only have 200 yards at this range, we came up with some half-size targets - paper prairie dogs - and all of the centerfire shooters got a chance to determine a 'prairie dog zero' based on their come ups, and then test it at distance.  The prairie dogs took a beating! 

That took us to the end of day, since we have to be off this range by 4PM.  Tomorrow we'll have more AQTs, the 3d strike of the hammer and some Patriots of 1776, and then an 'unknown distance' (range estimation) exercise for score.

The rain that had held off on Saturday visited the range that evening, and left things a bit muddy.  There was a moat around one of the 200 yard target stands!

We started off with a story of a Patriot of 1776, Dr. John Riker, and then swung right back into the AQTs.  We were down to just centerfires for Sunday, including a Garand and M1A, and when the instructors brought out their 30 cals, we had 30 / 223 equality for the day!  Lots of good noise!   

Everyone came ready to 'grind' and we got in 4 KD AQTs for the morning, which must be some sort of record.  Ron repeated his previous KD rifleman score with his trusty AR, and other were knocking on the door.  Then we tore down our downrange target setup, preparing for the afternoon.

At lunch we told the 3rd strike of the hammer - the Battle of Princeton - and another Patriot of 1776, Jacob Ford Jr.  Then an instructional unit on range estimation, with some paper and pencil exercisea to practice the math involved.  Meanwhile, some wily instructors were downrange, setting up reference objects and targets at various - unknown - distances.  Mostly produced by looting the junk in my garage, the reference objects included 5 gal paint buckets, 4" and 6" 'posts', some fake stop signs, #10 cans, and large yogurt cups.  While the cans and cups were considered legitimate targets themselves, the other objects were flanked by stakes carrying balloons to be to targeted.

Shooters paired up, creating three teams.  (Instructor Freeman joined one team to make the even number).  We had four rounds of range estimate and firing.  At each round, teams picked a target that had not yet been shot.  Each pair made a joint estimate of the range, using their sighting systems, which was compared to the true range from my laser rangefinder.  There was some good work here - two teams were within one yard in estimating the distance to a stop sign at 176 yards!  After reporting their estimates, each team member got 5 shots to take down the target, with the other spotting - which could be quite challenging, given the unknown range, the breeze and the bobbing balloons.  There were some impressive shots made!    

After we walked the range so shooters could see the actual distance vs. their estimates, we returned to the firing line and the shooters got to finish off the remaining targets (and their ammo supply) with a free fire period.     Freeman and Han Solo had a lot of fun plinking the survivors with HS's new Remy 700!  Meanwhile, the shoot boss was cranking away on the calculator, scoring the results.

Each shooter got a score that was the combination of their shots fired and their team's penalty points for error in the range estimate. We did four rounds, which got more and more difficult as the closer targets fell. Lowest total score to win.  It was very close, but when the dust (mud?) settled, Bob and his Garand were third with 16 points, Ron and his trusty AR were back at 2nd with 15, but it was Robert and his sometimes-cranky M1A who took away the prize with 14 points!

This was our first try of this KD format, and it seemed to work out well, though we came up with a few ideas for improvement.  As a personal note, this was my swan song as shoot boss at this location, as we will be relocating to Idaho this summer.  I leave you all in good hands with Freeman, haleson and Han Solo!

(Pix to follow.)

Yikes!  Good luck in Idaho!

Sorry for being slow with the pix, it's been a heckuva week!

Saturday threatened rain all day, and finally delivered.


The range setup - 75, 100 and 200 yard stands, with the 25m line peeking in at the left.


The .223 end of the line - 2 each ARs and Mini-14s, with Ken spotting


Speaking of Ken, here's his .30-30 lever gun - the Pic rail spoils the cowboy look a bit!   


Virginia was a 'no photo', but when we gave her the coveted Nero & American Amazon 'fabulous footwear' award, she relented and let us photo her feet...


Sunday was nicer, with some lingering mud and small showers


The .30 end of the line - Bob with M1 and Robert with M1A


Hitting the deck in stage 2


Chris coaching


Shoot boss scoring


Setting up the unknown distance exercise - my F-150 was not included in the targets!

If you squint you can see some fake stop signs, 5 gal paint buckets, #10 cans and other reference objects

Ron repeats as KD rifleman


Bob and his M1 came third in the unknown distance contest


Ron is back, placing second...


But it was Robert and his M1A in at first!


There are more pix in the full album.

Nero,

Thanks to you and all the instructors. My suggestion for the unknown distance shoot is to get some bigger balloons for the longer distances. 

Bob

Actually, we're thinking of bottles filled with something carbonated, or something else that will react nicely and can be prepared in advance.

The balloons worked reasonably - and it was intentional that the shots got more and more  as things went on - but they were a pain to set up and if the wind had been a bit higher they would probably all have have been thrashed to death before a shot was fired.