Project Appleseed

Another great weekend at TCSC in the books!  5 students made the pilgrimage out despite the HOT conditions to be on the line for this two day pistol event in June.

The morning's hits count target showed that there was skill present, but we also had some work to do.  The class stayed attentive and soaked up all points of instruction.  After our morning of instruction and drills, BBQ_Bandit presented a superb telling of the first strike to which the students (and instructors) were very attentive and asked plenty of questions.

The afternoon's instruction was well received, and we even had time to cover the second strike, presented by k3. We were able to fit in some PQT action in the afternoon, to which Alistair rose to the challenge and qualified with a 226!  Afterward, we snuck in our final redcoat of the day, but Pitcairn's button proved elusive!

Sunday started promptly on time, despite the tremendous amount of mud on all the gear that was left in the bay from the day prior, and we reminisced about Saturday's weather as Mother Nature decided to turn up the heat on day 2.  Off_paper provided a great Onion of Self defense interactive Q&A, BBQ_Bandit finished up his fantastic version of the third strike, and k3 gave a fantastic Sam and Sam presentation.   

Great progress was made by all students present.  Sarah started the event as a new shooter, but came out of the event with plenty of experience and confidence!  She also improved her scores by well over 50% by the end of the weekend!  That's a true testament to her dedication and fortitude towards learning.  Joe, a repeat student of mine, brought different gear to the line this time in pursuit of that elusive patch.  While the patch still remained elusive, he was incredibly persistent throughout the weekend with scores in the high 190's and low 200s, despite MANY malfunctions.  I firmly believe that I'll be presenting him a patch at his next Appleseed.  The same goes for Clint, who showed up with a relatively new firearm to him, and yet still managed to stay consistently in the 190s for the entire class.  Zach, a repeat Appleseeder yet a new Pistol Clinic student, persevered through the challenge of running a subcompact all weekend.  He too made great strides, and his scores significantly improved from where they were on Saturday morning. Each and every one of you made great progress throughout the weekend!

Alistair, another repeat student of mine, had a score to settle at this Pistol Clinic.  He'd made some improvements to his gear and came back with the coveted Pistoleer™ patch in his sights.  We shot many PQTs through the weekend, and Alistair qualified Pistoleer™ on EVERY. SINGLE. PQT.  Way to go!  His high score over the weekend was a 229, and his lowest score was a 222.  Congrats again; you deserve that patch!  Also, Alistair cleared the hits count target, which provided the opportunity to share the story of the Maryland Immortal 400!  And one more thing...he took high score (again) on the Big Dot Little Dot Challenge - just like he did at one of my Pistol Clinics in Dec 2022. 

The last chance at Pitcairn's button proved elusive, and despite the challenges presented throughout the weekend with the weather, all the students ended the class on a positive note.  As I said earlier, I couldn't be more proud of the progress made by each and every one of you.

I highly encourage you all to practice what you learned with both live and dry fire. Working under the pressure of the clock is something that some practice can also overcome.

Pictures are available in an online album here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GpabYAB2pAVaecwMA and will soon be posted to our Maryland Appleseed Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064405762810

I hope to see everyone on the line at a future rifle or pistol event!