Project Appleseed

The day started warm and muggy with possible thundershowers. Despite a few distant rumbles, we were blessed not to have any rain for the day.

After registration, we gathered under the pavilion for opening remarks. To kick off the history, CokeGuy gave us the first strike. Then we covered safety and moved to the firing line.

Once on the line, we did the pistol familiarization exercise to be sure shooters and instructors alike were comfortable with the pistols. Afterward, we shot the morning redcoat and discovered we had some good shooters on the line, but still had a little work to do.

We covered grip, stance, steady hold factors, and eye dominance. Then we checked the shooters stances and did a bit of dry fire to reinforce these skills.

We covered draw and fire for demo purposes only, then went over low ready and close retention, again practicing the skills.

After covering the 6 steps, NPOA, trigger reset, and some dryfire, we went live! When shooters engaged the tombstone targets, we saw some great groups out of the gate.

Next up was mag changes followed by drills, then malfunctions.

During lunch, the ‘ole shoot boss gave the second strike, then it was back to the line.

We did controlled pairs followed by demos and practice of one handed and slow fire two handed shooting.

Overmountain gave an awesome third strike, then we moved on to PQT's.

We had two folks who earned their Pistoleer™ patch as well as one requalification. Congratulations! Tommy turned in two 214s and a 217, Neil scored a 220, and Alex requalified with a 212.

We rounded out the day discussing the Onion of Self Defense.

To Tom, Ken, Carol, Charles, and Marina, you all shot well and had some good groups throughout the day. Keep practicing the fundamentals. I'm certain each of you will earn your Pistoleer™ patch soon! Also, I'd like to give a very special mention for most improved to Marina, who had never shot a pistol before the event. At the end of the day, she turned in a 182! Huzzah!

Thank you to all of the shooters who came out. You were all a pleasure to work with and we hope to see you on the line again soon! You are the reason we do what we do.

As always, thanks to the awesome instructor cadre who turned out to run this shoot.

Lastly, thanks again for everyone's participation. I hope you had a great day. Thank you to the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church for the use of the beautiful facility.

A few pics from Overmountain.

Sounds like a great event! Good job everyone! Congratulations to the new Pistoleer™s and to Alex on the requal. The rest of you can do it. Persist and dryfire!

August 6th was a while ago. Sorry for the late post.  I had an awesome and frustrating time. Frustrating that the Pistoleer™ patch still eluded me.  Thankfully, Leadslinger had some great tips and I practiced with them at home, making Pistoleer™ a few weeks later.  I got to stand next to Tommy who had either been in the Olympics or had trained for them in the 70's.  He helped me a lot and had a lot of fun with his friends that I'd met at a rifle event.  This time they were shooting.  Marina was awesome - after one PQT her very proud father-in-law (Cokeguy) pointed out that she'd beaten the Olympian on the 5th stage.  Holy smokes, that's some great talent since his score was incredible.


Leadslinger introducing the volunteers - all had so much to offer

Axeman gives the safety briefing

Leadslinger teaches the proper way to grip a pistol (worked for me later - thanks!!!)

Overmountain tells the Third Strike

Tommy gets his Pistoleer™ Patch

Neil (Trekkie) gets another Pistoleer™ Patch