Project Appleseed

What an absolute blast of a weekend! 22 individuals joined us on Saturday for a crisp, breezy day of instructions!
With the opening red coats we found what work we had cut out for us.  After reviewing our steady hold factors and six steps groups appeared, and steadily shrunk. by the time we broke for lunch and a rousing first strike we were well on our way.
Ohio Piper started our heritage journey off with a rousing, and detailed , 1st strike.
Transitions and the seated positions were introduced, followed by a great 2nd strike from PA's own Yates!
before we knew it our time was drawing to a close. We honored those that fought and died on that fateful day with a somber and touching memorial volley. All vowed to return on Sunday despite the weather to hear the rest of the story.
Sunday morning dawned crisp, but with the promise of stillness and sunshine (which is rare in NE Ohio in April). Our morning redcoats showed vast improvements. Our students were eager to soak up instruction, and hear the 3rd strike.
Standing SHF were introduced and then the AQT. Before we knew it lunch was ready where a truly inspiring display of martial arms of the times was brought out to bring to life our dangerous old men tales. After lunch a few more AQTs were shot, brining us 4 repeat rifleman, and 3 new ones!
and then....Parker's revenge!
teams were created, plans crafted, with "dispatch riders" bearing crucial information as time was running out and plans were already being set. Col Smith's column came into view, and the results were stunning! congratulations to bay 4!

Thank you to Tusco Rifle club, all of our shooters, and importantly those instructors that came out. Skaht, Tick Magnet, Texas T, Ohio Piper, Griffin, JiminBolivar, and Yates. Without you this would not have been possible.

Until next time...

TLDR: Fantastic 1st Appleseed. 10/10 experience, will attend again! (Maybe an annual tradition around 4/19?)

My experience in a nutshell:

• I scored Rifleman on my 1st AQT (and on one of two subsequent AQTs!)
• I cleared my 2nd Redcoat
• Great instructors
• Comprehensive coursework
• Practical fundamentals learnable on a .22 that demonstrably translate 1:1 to centerfire rifles
• Meaningful historical retellings of pivotal moments that sparked the American Revolution - shared passionately and enthusiastically
• Apolitical but patriotic calls to action about American values we ought to all share
• Fun, good food, and camaraderie throughout!

Long version: I attended my first Appleseed 25m rifle course this past weekend with the fine folks at Tusco Rifle Club in New Philadelphia, OH. I've been shooting .22 and centerfire rifles for decades now, but until now, I hadn't remotely gotten the accuracy I was aiming for (pun intended) unless I was shooting off of a bag or a rest. There's no better time than the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord to pursue this, so I spent the weekend relearning how to shoot, and shoot well.

25 meters may not seem very challenging, but the time pressure of the AQT is frankly humbling - it forces one to be comfortable with, proficient with, AND efficient with the manual of arms and ergonomics for YOUR rifle, especially if you're not used to quickly reloading your .22 plinker (I used a Ruger 10/22 with a 1-6 power scope) and moreso if you haven't used a sling for anything but carrying the rifle before.

First of all, the instructors were fantastic (cheers, CWCDL79!). Safety was paramount, and the firing line was managed well. To my earlier point about ergonomics, one of the instructors provided me with foam and a self-adhesive wrap bandage, and taught me how to build a field-expedient, cost-effective riser to comfortably raise the cheek weld of my 10/22 - and that was even before the first shot of the day was fired!

All of the instructors were patient, attentive, and they indulged a volume of technical, situational, and historical questions throughout the event. The instructors were hands-on (with permission), helping steer us into better posture, attaining comfortable and repeatable holds, all around the principles of NPOA (natural point of aim). They would offer quick corrections during a string of fire that afforded IMMEDIATE improvements in accuracy, and they were diligent in observing trigger technique, breathing, and even muscle tension in the shoulders and hands (especially in my case, I had a habit of gripping the fore end of my stock - loosening my grip and letting the sling tension and my palm "do the work" stopped my shots from stringing left-to-right).

Second of all, the coursework teaches a lot in a very short amount of time. After short periods of instruction at a picnic pavilion, we immediately applied what was instructed - hands on. We built up the techniques with a decent volume of trigger time on the firing line, and expended a good amount of ammo doing so. I went through a little more than half of a bulk pack of .22LR, so I estimate I fired in the neighborhood of ~300 rounds, plus the centerfire rounds I fired from a different rifle later on. Bring a teachable attitude and forget what you knew before, LISTEN TO THE INSTRUCTORS, and apply what they teach, and you too will see immediate improvements in your shooting. Fold what you learn back into what you know works well for you personally, and you will be stacking shots one on top of the other. My standing accuracy improved DRAMATICALLY with proper sling use and stance.

Third, the history and individual accounts of the battles of Lexington and Concord as shared by the instructors throughout the course was a welcome surprise and for me, a highlight of the weekend. Candidly my expectations were a lot lower in this area - I anticipated a rehashing of high school level US History (i.e. Stamp Act, Coercive Acts, colonists mad, taxes bad, British bad, yay minutemen and liberty). The instructors were all very knowledgable about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War, the weapons and tactics of the day, the timeline of events on April 19, 1775, but then we started getting down to the personal stories of the individuals of the day - and that is where the risks, the motivations, the dire consequences of treason(!) by the patriots were illuminated for me in ways that I've not felt before. Consider as an example, the risk Robert Newman (the keyholder of North Church), and John Pulling (the man who lit the lanterns in the church steeple to signal Paul Revere's "one if by land, two if by water" warning) took in simply alerting the militia outside of occupied Boston. Newman was immediately arrested, and Pulling and his wife were just barely able to flee, but left behind everything they owned save for a family bible. They were willing to be hanged just to warn others, and that was damn powerful. Their stories and the stories of so many patriots of that day were a really genuinely wonderful part of this weekend-long course, not just a welcome break from doing "rifleman's yoga" in prone and seated/kneeling.

The memorial volley was a deeply meaningful way to close out the first day, and I would post my video of it, but I kept catching hot brass on my back from my shoot neighbor and it's got a lot of me swearing like a sailor

Finally, (beyond the obvious marksmanship skills I learned, applied, and will carry forward) my takeaways from the instructors were that:

• liberty is fleeting. "It's a republic, madam - if you can keep it" - Franklin
• difficult decisions were dire but pivotally important to forming our country
• one should know their neighbors and aim to find the common good
• do good for one's community and foster community
• participate in democracy
• above all else: vote, and
• if you don't like who's on the ballot, maybe run for office and maybe be the change

Huzzah!

Jason, thanks for your comments and detailed review. As an instructor, it always means a lot to have a shooter see gains and improvements when they come to an event. As a volunteer, this is our paycheck. I hope that we see you back on the line in the future, it was a pleasure working with you. And, by the way, there could be an IIT hat in your future as well. See you down the trail...

A couple of photos from the event...

One more

Sound like it was  a great event!