Project Appleseed

Ames, Iowa had a great 25m rifle clinic.  Marksmanship greatly improved despite the seasonally hot August temps and the occasional distraction of a rather friendly groundhog of unusual size.  We had a sold out event and half our group were first time Appleseeders.  I'm also always amazed at the number of out-of-staters we have at our Ames events.  Some folks drove quite a ways to get here and I really appreciate that.

Congratulations to our newest Rifleman qualifiers, Matt (211) and Joseph (215, 222)!  And good job out of our re-qualifiers, Nick and Adam!  We had others who were knocking on that Rifleman door.  On the whole, everyone worked really hard to improve their skills and the results showed.  My encouragement to everyone is to keep persisting!

Thanks also to the Ames Izaak Walton League and its members.  They are gracious hosts who allow us to take over their outdoor range for our events.  (I'm thankful for the many trees that give us a break from the August sun and heat.). Also thank you to the great instructor cadre who helped me out:  Joe, Greg, Shannon, Mark, Rex, Jack and Brian!  You made my job super easy!

Last, but not least, two new volunteer instructors have been added to the ranks. Adam and Nick decided to take orange hats and begin their journey towards becoming Appleseed Instructors.  Huzzah!

Many folks took pictures and I suspect some will post their pictures of the event here.

Great job everyone! Here are a few of the pictures I took over the weekend.

Most of our group on Saturday

For these smaller pictures, if you click on them they will expand. Click again to make them smaller.

Carding Sights

Nick going for his distinguished patch

Shannon and Jack presenting steady hold factors

Brian and Jack presenting seated position

Shooting squares

Matt earns his rifleman patch

Joseph earns his rifleman patch