Project Appleseed

Anybody seen this series of videos by the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit?  It looks very, very familiar... I detect the influence of Appleseed.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO9YtafxLYlSvBu2LuTtqasXxBjXsi5_4

Having watched the videos, I don't see the Applessed influence. As a matter of fact the Appleseed instruction standards closely resemble older AMU instruction, which makes sense since Fred studied High Power shooting and used parts of that in the creation of the Appleseed instruction.

Appleseed instruction has been combined with AMU instruction for specific purposes. The first Milseed in 2009 for a group of soldiers who would serve as SDM's is an example. In that training Boltgun71 based his instruction on a combination of Appleseed instruction and AMU SDM instruction. The results were gratifying with the students able to use M4's with ACOGS to achieve a 70% first round hit probability out to 700 yards.

Some things you will notice about AMU training. One is the stress on sight alignment and trigger control (and trigger control is defined as activating the trigger without moving the rifle). Another is the instruction to let your finger lie naturally on the trigger with a high (and tight) grip. A third is the focus on sight alignment. Poor sight alignment makes good shooting extremely difficult.

Brandon Green is a great shooter and coach and a National Champion.

The fundamentals of marksmanship are universal, and granted Appleseed is largely based on National Match/High Power shooting which has long been the focus of AMU as well...  but just the way certain things were put, and the way certain things were explained... things I've never heard outside of Appleseed.  Maybe you're right jm, but I wouldn't be surprised if some Appleseed points of instruction filtered back into the AMU.  I've seen an Appleseed influence in several other disciplines and instructors.

FWIW, I agree with the "AMU way" of trigger finger placement, at least on the AR.  With an AR, the spot on my finger that moves the rifle the least is at the first joint, rather than the pad... same as on a pistol (or anything with a pistol grip, really)... and it certainly allows for a more solid and less contorted trigger hand grip.

Another difference is how they teach the prone position... with the shooter's body as close to as in line  with the rifle as possible, to recover from recoil more quickly.  A lot of High Power shooters do it this way now, too. 

I'm glad to see that the standing is being taught by the AMU as "combat style" or "3-gun style" rather than competition target style, as that is what the soldiers are going to be using, considering unsupported standing is almost exclusively for CQB conditions.

The last index finger joint (distal phalangeal joint) on an AR is an effective contact point with the trigger shoe because the distance from the back of the pistol grip to the trigger is rather short, especially if you have long fingers.  I've seen other AMU videos where they teach this as the contact point.

I see less "Appleseed" in this series of AMU videos than I've seen in ones from the USAR marksmanship program of a few years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcI2JbIf2tUhEzSYNfGSIyQ

Yeah, when I teach our standing position, I add that this isn't a dynamic or close quarters type position, but is for when you need to squeeze every bit of stability you can out of the unsupported standing position.  I remind them to stop every few rounds, rest their support arm, and take a few breaths by saying that you are never going to stand upright and fire 10 rounds in a row like this in real life... you will shoot, at most, a few rounds at a time like this, usually just one... we just have you shoot 10 to see how consistent you are. 

That position does have plenty of potential for real-world use outside of competition though... particularly for when your quarry is unaware of you, and you can't get into a more stable position or find anything to rest on.  I've used it to good effect when hunting.  It would also be effective for 2A use if, say, you wanted to take a shot out of a window into the street below, but wanted to stand back in the room so as to minimize your exposure.