Project Appleseed

It was just a spectacular weekend for Lady Liberty at the Flagler Gun Club.

It was the largest turnout we had for several years at the F G C. 17 Shooters and 10 volunteers started bright and early on the 250th Anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord. 12 of the Shooters were attending their first Project Appleseed event; 7 of those were between 10 – 16 years of age.  There were 5 family groups plus an assortment of individual shooters.  The entire Gauntt family attended – all 4 of them, all first time attendees.

Once all of the administrative details had been completed and the shooters were welcomed to Project Appleseed and introduced to the Instructor Cadre for the weekend we were all treated to a stirring First Strike by John (JC/DC).  We then launched full speed ahead into the standard 25M Rifle course of fire.  The initial Hits Count target showed that there was room for improvement – only 1 returning Shooter cleared the target.

We shot a couple of squares before lunch.  During lunch Pete (HeavyDuty77) presented the Second Strike which was intently followed by everyone.  John covered Talking Targets and IMC before we returned to the firing line.  After a couple more squares to make sight adjustments and confirm zeroes we covered the seated position and transitions.  We then shot the first (and only) AQT of the day.  Bruce (9mm4545) solemnly presented the Third Strike with special emphasis on General Heath between the third and first stages of the AQT.  There were no new Riflemen (nor any requalifications) on Saturday.  Within the Gaunt family, Maddie took home the honors for the day with a score of 168.  First timer Jonathan shot a very respectable 204 on his very first AQT!!! (he would do better on Sunday).  Almost all of the shooters got out of Boot Camp. 

We then prepared for and shot the Memorial Volley promptly at 4:00.  At the conclusion of the Memorial Volley each shooter was presented with the special event patch for Patriots' Day 2025.  After a few minutes to reflect on the sacrifices of the founding generation, we posted and shot the Hits Count target which revealed much improvement.  After the Benediction the Shooters were released for the day.

On Sunday morning Ed (edree) gave a presentation with his muzzle-loading rifle and told about Timothy Murphy and the Shot Not Taken.  Several of the 13 returning Shooters expressed a desire to shoot an AQT as early as possible before we go to the hotter part of the day.  We adjusted the program and after the safety briefing and the Sunday Hits Count target (which showed great improvements overnight) we launched right in to the first AQT of the day.  (We also used it as a diagnostic to see where we really needed to focus the instructional review and remedial drills.)  There were four who shot the score on this AQT – 1 new Rifleman and 3 re-qualifications. 
We then followed the standard sequence of events for the review of instruction and remedial drills.  Ball & Dummy, Rifleman's Bubble, Rifleman's Dance were all completed prior to lunch.  During Lunch several Instructors presented various DOM and DD.  John covered The Three Challenges of a Rifleman: Target Detection, Range Estimation and Making the Shot. 

We shot the newly minted Parker's Revenge target between AQTs in the afternoon.  The Shooters seemed to enjoy the target and the competition aspect.  After the 5th AQT of the day the Shooters (and the Instructors) were reaching the point of diminishing returns (and a shrinking line as several people had to leave for Easter Dinner commitments).  5 Shooters shot the final Redcoat.  Awards were presented and the Benediction presented prior to removing the rifles from the line, clearing the Range and departing. 

During the Weekend first timer Jonathon who shot a 204 on Saturday shot a very respectable 215 and was awarded his Rifleman patch.  Rachel who had battled malfunctions all weekend "borrowed" husband (and IIT) Matt's AR15 platform rifle and shot a respectable 212 on the penultimate AQT.  Maddie Gaunt again had honors in her family with a very respectable 192!.  All in all there was one new Rifleman and 7 requalifications.  Despite not being a patch collecting organization there were also a number of others who just missed getting one of the special April 2025 Rifleman patches. 

I want to express my great appreciation for the fine Americans who could have been doing a lot of other things on a beautiful April (Easter) weekend in Central Florida but chose to come learn with Project Appleseed.  I could not have made it through the weekend without my excellent cadre – Bruce, Janet, Pete, John, Chris, Ed, Mike, Matt and Dix.  You guys enabled me to push through some health issues and pull of a great weekend.

More pictures to follow

Here's a 2 min 40 sec music video of the event. You can download it from my Dropbox (free). You do NOT have to sign up to Dropbox to view this.
This is too much resolution to upload directly to forum.
Just click here to see &/or download.
Video

Great weekend!

Great video - Thank you for making/posting it!

Nice video. Love the flag sneakers.