Project Appleseed

Not sure if this belongs here but..

I put on a semi-formal SPR style match at my place over last weekend.  I had five shooters, 2 of which had previously attended an AS scoring rifleman.  Rifles were magnified AR's and distances were from 80 yards to 600.  Had about 7 courses of fire and one of them included a Morgan's Shingle to bring some perspective and honor our heritage.

With all the fanciness on the line not one shooter was able to hit the target which was a full size shingle I purchased from Rifleman Targets.  The par time to engage the target was 30 seconds standing for one shot at 250 yds so no real time stress either.  After the shooters were cycled through we had a moment of reflection and I think it really sunk in as to the reality of the proficiency and the equipment used by our forefathers.

Skills pay the bills...

How big is that shingle?

I think it is 9x7

The Appleseed taught standing position is excellent for teaching new shooters to hit the 16+ moa AQT target, but that position is not nearly steady enough to consistently hit the 2ish moa target you were shooting at. The 10 ring of an SR Highpower target is a 7" circle, normally shot at 200 yards, and Ive seen that target cleaned plenty of times, so it can certainly be done. It will, however, require tho shooter to develop a position that has more bone support and less wobble than what appleseed teaches to new shooters. Search YouTube for ken roxburgh's video about shooting standing - that's a great place to start.

3.4 X 2.7 moa.....yeah I can hit that under the distance and conditions given

While the Army D target is huge at 100, the standing demo does offer a lot of what is required to place a round on a much smaller target, but there is so much info, I fear most shooters do not absorb all of it. I demo all of the points of instruction, but rarely see shooters employ much of it. Most shooters seem to lean forward, with support arm stretched way out - lots of muscle input.

Standing needs to be as compact as possible. Loosen the hasty sling up to allow support hand to come all the way back - as far as possible. Lean back and get hips over heels - knees relaxed. "All bunched up" comes to mind.

With practice, you can get that wobble down to a very tight area. Next is trigger control and anticipating the motion of the front sight / crosshairs. Take slack out of trigger and be ready. As the sights are coming onto target, finish trigger squeeze - don't wait until sights are on target or by the time the hammer falls, the round will break / hit off target. With an AR, the recoil is so mild that with proper sling tension (not allowed in HP comp), you can actually have the buttstock on top of shoulder, allowing the same sight pic as in prone (or very close).

Once in position, with sights on target, close eyes and wobble it out until it feels "centered" - open eyes. Shift with rear foot to bring NPOA onto target. Repeat NPOA drill. As little muscle as possible and get the wobble down to minimum. Our own Willorith can print a very small group in standing. When he got his patch, he couldn't do the trans to seated, so he shot it standing and while the second stage sils are still huge - not nearly so much as 100 yard version.

Still, a shingle at 250 is an excellent challenge and servers to show what can be done, even with what would be considered marginal gear by today's standards. Huzaaah!