Project Appleseed

Place holder. This was a well attended event with something special. More to come!

Our rifle marksmanship clinic was held at the Coshocton Gun Club in Coshocton, Ohio on Saturday May 20, and Sunday May 21. The Coshocton Gun Club is situated in a beautiful setting in the high rolling hills of central Ohio. The Friday evening before, the local Appleseed cadre (thank you DblSchott) already had the firing line prepared with multiple canopies, leaving only the need to set up the target line.  The arrangement looked like weather protection overkill. 

Early Saturday morning, the canopy strategy made more sense. The rain started as registration progressed in the club house at 7:45 a.m. There were 14 registrations and 4 walk-ons for a total of 18 students. We tried to wait out the downpour with introductions, safety briefings, first strike, personal stories, all to no avail. The Coshocton Gun Club facility has a very nice, covered area for their short range, so there was enough semi-dry area for everyone.

Equipment to the line, rifles uncased and the posting of the first redcoat was completed by 10:00. Most shooters were previous Appleseed participants. One cleared the redcoat and 4 joined Daniel Morgan.

This event was a family affair. There were 3 family groups and 2 father/son teams. One father/son pairing involved Owen, who was 8 years old with a new bolt action rifle (with Ruger open sights) and a ton of enthusiasm. He became our designated marksman and shot prone from a support. By the end of Saturday his shotgun sized groups shrunk to respectable 8-inch groups. He would not give up.

With instruction for the day complete, one AQT, a concluding redcoat and finally sunshine. We added 1 new rifleman on Saturday, congratulations to Andrew, with a score of 212! Two shooters requalified, Mike with 218 and Aramis with 211.

Sunday May 21 was sunny, humid, and muddy. The canopy arrangement was very welcome. All but 1 of the students returned, with great enthusiasm. Following the safety briefing and a quick review of Saturday instruction, rifles to the line and the morning redcoat. Hits per silhouette increased significantly over the previous day. One cleared the redcoat and 2 joined Daniel Morgan.

Following a set of squares to confirm zero and the ball and dummy drill, on to the first Sunday AQT. Mike shot a score of 221 to requalify. Mike repeated his requalification on AQT #2 with a score of 237. Mike pulled a three-peat on the third AQT (231) and Jubilee requalified with a score of 214. Congratulations to both! Josh was very close to requalification with a score of 208, accomplished with open sights and a tube-feed rifle.

The instructors agreed that it was time for a fun shoot. Two teams of 8 each shot at the couch potato TV set. Team Jubilee was the winner by a thread.

Remember Owen, our designated marksman? Well, he was finally persuaded to try a different rifle with a scope on the last AQT. You could hear expressions of delight across the hills of Coshocton County when he looked at his target. I think dad will be making a new investment shortly.

Many thanks to the Coshocton Gun Club for hosting our event. It is a beautiful setting. Thank you to the Appleseed instructor crew for making the hard work of pulling an event together very easy. I will call out this group because they are very special: Ember; DblSchott; Schottzy; Skifire; NavyShooter; Doc Willi and Shoot Boss Charley.

The Coshocton rifle clinic young Patriots! This is what it is all about.

Congratulations to new Rifleman Andrew! Father Mark working with daughter Anna.

More photos from the weekend!