Project Appleseed

The Central Texas Silueta Association range is located just down a dirt road from Dietz range in New Braunfels. And Dietz range is next to one of the oldest shooting clubs in America, the New Braunfels Schuetzen Verein (Established July 4th, 1849). So, when you travel to CTSA, there's a historical marker on the way.

I think that's kinda cool. Historic, even!

On this fine weekend, 7 hearty shooters braved the odd weather to come and shoot at Known Distance with their trusty firearms. None of them knew that the very first thing they were invited to do was shoot a small piece of steel with one shot (their first shot of the day!) at 250 yards. That's right - Morgan's Shingle on day ONE! One of our shooters, who insists to be anonymous (<REDACTED> hailing from <REDACTED>) did so. But that's not the whole tale. Maybe. Anyway, I'll get back to the shingle in a moment.

Our journey to KD started Saturday. It was super overcast with a chance of precipitation (Which did NOT happen), and a bit of a breeze from our back. No shadows the whole day, great shooting weather!

We started with safety and then a try at the shingle, and then made a quick retreat back to the outdoor training facility (benches) where our shooters learned how to make the shot at distance, focusing on ballistics and come-ups. Several of the shooters came prepared with their KD Homework, and that illustrated well how the standard come-ups compared with the calculated come-ups of the group. Our group was ready to go, and the range provides a trailer with seating for 12, so we hitched it up and got in and -- OH, NO! -- a flat tire on the trailer!

A quick examination confirmed that the tire was flat, off the rim flat. Thinking quickly, two of our instructor cadre worked on taking the wheel and tire to a local tire store, and the rest of us persisted in our KD endeavor - gathering dope for our rifles at the proper ranges, and shooting the KD as we went!
We broke for lunch at the 300 yard line, fixed trailer working for us again, and were treated to tales of Ephraim Brank and others during our working lunch. Soon, lunch was over and we continued the KD.

Did I tell you about the shingle on Saturday? We had an instructor try and shoot it. That's right, our very own Don'tFix1776 decided that he wanted to try it with iron sights. And standing.
...so we let him!

So, Dont'Fix1776 stood at the line like a Greek god, his muscles rippling as he somehow found the strength to heft his mighty M1 Garand and...wait, that's not right. It was an M1 Carbine.

Let me start over.

Don'tFix1776 casually stood at the line and almost effortlessly brought his minuscule M1 Carbine    to his eye and flicked the rear sight to the 250 yard setting. Almost losing the tiny .30 Carbine cartridge in his hand, he gently coaxed it into the little chamber and snicked the op-rod to the loaded position and...

Back to the KD!

So, we finished the first KD, and minted two Riflemen! Peter and <Redacted> did a great job with a 218 and a 232, respectively! The next KD was shot Australian-style, and we had another new Rifleman!

Our Sunday started with some drizzle and a low (LOW) ceiling. This time the wind was at our face and the combination of the drizzle and wind made it pretty damp. Wet even. Constantly wet. That said, we started the day with a shot at the shingle again and...

Wait! - I didn't finish the Saturday shingle story, did I?

Well, Don'tFix1776 stood and squinted into the distance like some sort of modern day Clint Eastwood surveying his domain...with a final scowl and a more dedicated squint, he carefully lined up the sights on his carbine...let out his breath...squeezed the trigger...and...

FLASHFLASHFLASH DING! hit that shingle like it owed him money. Dude didn't even break a sweat.

So Sunday, the very next day, Eric and Nick hit it as well! Eric did a fine job the whole weekend, and just missed Rifleman, but he said that hitting the shingle and getting his shingle patch was outstanding, and he definitely made that shot count! He'll be back!!

Our Sunday started with target detection and range finding, and we had some EXACT estimates from our shooters! Not one, but THREE, of our shooters were able to calculate the exact distance to our targets - even the giant bear that was stalking the party! Kudos for that!

We continued with a detailed description of battlesight zero, MPBR and BDC reticles, and we shot THREE more AQTs before the drizzle and rain made it almost impossible to see past 200 yards :/

Bram, Peter, Nick, Allen and <REDACTED> each became Known Distance Riflemen, with <REDACTED> almost making it to Distinguished with a 232/46, and Eric (a new Morgan's Rifleman!) just missing the mark at 38!

All in all, a FANTASTIC shoot at a super range! Thank you again CTSA for a wonderful opportunity to shoot, and thanks to the 7 super shooters for braving the odd weather and making it a great weekend!

Ghostring

(Pictures delayed as I make sure we edit out our <REDACTED> shooter!  )