Project Appleseed

What a difference a month makes!  Far from the cold, cold temperatures of last month's event the Gainesville, TX range hosted a private half day shoot for fifteen 4H club members.  These brave souls worked through the Spring temperatures of anywhere from 58 to 86 degrees.  Oh, the humanity!

Nearly all of these fine attendees were pretty new or completely new to firearms.  After a detailed  safety briefing, we rolled straight into a discussion of the Steady Hold Factors, the Six Steps of Firing the Shot and Natural Point of Aim.  Students then had the opportunity to practice the new-found prone position while dry firing; We then rolled onto the squares target.  After 5 squares, students were squared away enough and reasonably sighted in to move on to the competition hits count target.  We were able to complete TWO of these hits count targets before the end of the day.

Throughout all of this, our heroic students were treated to a sampling of History and Heritage with lessons and practical applications of David Lamson, Mother Batherick, Hezekiah Wyman, Samuel Whittemore, Elizabeth Zane, Captain Morgan, Timothy Murphy and even a 100,000 foot overview of the events of April 19 1775.

Regarding the Hits Count target - the first of two started strong, and students had a chance to see the importance of changing that always-important Natural Point of Aim.  One mother in particular was able to score better than the 40 required points to earn a nifty Project Appleseed pin.
It's safe to say that performance was even better on that Second Hits count target.  It's always a little easier when you know what to expect, right?  Speaking of making it look easy . . . That same mom decided that her last score wasn't quite good enough.  She decided to go ahead and CLEAR the entire target, scoring 55 points out of 55.  Oh, did I mention that she was using iron sights AND that this was her first time using a firearm? Absolutely incredible!  Mom's son decided that he couldn't let mom pass him up TOO much, and scored his own 40+ points for his very own pin.

Sincere thanks to RAY OF SUNSHINE, GUGISMAN and MRAKESTRAW for coming out and making this event the success that it was.  I think we'll be seeing many of these fine fifteen on our lines at a weekend event in the (near) future.  Also thanks to GUGISMAN for taking the pictures.  I couldn't do this without you.
The shoot boss had a chance to speak with the 4H coordinator the day after the event.  From what I hear, everyone was all smiles and had nothing but positive remarks about the instructors.  All we can say is that the feeling is certainly mutual!