Project Appleseed

Eleven shooters gathered Saturday at the Rockcastle Shooting Center. The event began with a classroom session dealing with various items of rifle marksmanship, as well as history. Afterwards they emerged into a cold, wintry day on the range. At100 yard intervals they obtained sight settings, shot successive AQT stages, and calculated come-ups. At lunch, history was again presented. One AQT was accomplished with four riflemen earning their patches. Two shooters had a score of 49. That evening some came to an impromptu instruction session.

The classroom session Sunday dealt with range estimation and a discussion about scopes, as well as more history. And the weather was even colder on the range than it was the day before. But the shooters persisted and after calibrating their scopes, or front sights, they performed range estimation on two targets placed at random locations. One of these targets was a cardboard silhouette and the other was a 9 inch metal disc. The estimates were amazingly close. After telling them the accurate distances of these targets, they were instructed to fire 3 shots at the steel. I believe everyone hit the target at least once and some hit it all three times. Lunch was accompanied by additional history. Afterward three more AQTs were shot. No new Riflemen were made, but the best scores were 49, 49, 47, and 43. This was a great shoot in spite of the weather.

One of the best results of this event is that we gained a very capable and serious Orange Hat; Wolfgangatom. He will definitely be a valuable addition to Appleseed.

Several pictures were made at the event and I expect them to be added soon.

This event would not have been possible without the excellent assistance of instructors; Charley, little buddy, and Guntuckian. They performed admirably.

A big thanks to Dond, Charley, little buddy, and Guntuckian for a great weekend. I definitely learned a lot. I've been looking forward to this for months and it was definitely worth it. I'm looking forward to giving back to the community and spreading the knowledge and skill.

Here are a couple photos:

Even though I didn't make Rifleman this time around, it was a fantastic weekend!  I learned a lot and plan on practicing more of those skills on my home range.  I know to bring a heavier load for my rifles next time around and to verify my suppressor is tight between strings.  That's what happened Sunday afternoon Don.  I realized it as I was packing up when I quickly grabbed the can to see if it was cool enough to get put in the case.  It had loosened up considerably, which explains the crazy difference in POI between morning and afternoon.  Many thanks to DonD, Guntuckian, Charley, & Little Buddy for all the knowledge and insight.

Great students, great staff, and a great range at Rockcastle Shooting Center in Park City, KY for our Kentucky KD this year.  The weather was admittedly a little chilly, dropping to 45, 43, and finally to 39 degrees.  But, no Sunshine Patriots were at this KD.  Lots of perseverance and grit, and the results showed.  The camaraderie at the Lodge was great, too.  The evening session on Saturday night permitted going over lots of things in a one-on-one student to instructor ratio, and really helped to hone skills.

But, pictures can best tell the tale.

We found 4 new KD Riflemen.  And, we honored our youth shooter, Ethan, who was the sole recipient of the Wm. Diamond Patch.  And we gained a new Orange Hat, too, WolfgangAtom!  Welcome, sir! 

-- Gary

His Excellency, Master Instructor DonD!

And, border raiders Charley and Little Buddy, who also helped make this KD function smoothly.  Kudos!

The classroom lecture was in the Lodge, which is where we started.

More pictures!

More pictures!

More pictures!

More pictures! 

We also had an Unknown Distance (UD) exercise, for two targets placed randomly at 321 yards and 183 yards, respectively.  The accuracy in estimating the distances to these two targets using one's own rifle was astounding.  Several students got within just 4 to 7 yards in their ranging estimation calculations using either just their scope reticle or their front post.  KD Math truly works!  Laser range finders are great, but are greatly overrated, as a Rifleman can always just use his rifle to range his targets!

The shooters then prepared 3 rounds each, from a very cold bore (39 degrees) and everyone proceeded to get hits onto the 9-inch gong at 183 yards, with each shooter shooting their 3 rounds, taking turns.  All the Riflemen-qualified shooters made all 3 hits with their 3 rounds onto the gong, but everyone got at least one hit on the 9-inch gong.  Huzzah!

So, just how many MOA is a 9-inch diameter gong at 183 yards?  Using the rule-of-thumb of 1 inch per 100 yards, it's about 4.9 MOA.  But, using the more precise value of 1.0472 inches per 100 yards for an MOA, it is only 4.7 MOA.  A Rifleman can take a rack-grade rifle, and ball ammo, and easily make hits onto 4 MOA targets out to the Rifleman's Quarter Mile.  We proved it.  Each student had  to shoot 3 rounds, taking turns, and the auditory feedback was immediate.  Bang, ding, bang, ding, bang, ding.  It was a glorious day for Liberty.

(If you missed this year's KD, we will be back next year!  So, practice your fundamentals at 25 meters, and come on out next year, to Master the Rifleman's Quartermile!)

-- Gary

Great pictures and report Guntuckian, thank you for posting! I'm looking forward to future shoots and learning to instruct.

I remember my college archery coach advocating that we videotape ourselves shooting to improve form and technique. Besides nostalgia, the pictures are helpful because I can see several things I need to fix that I had no clue I was doing in the moment.