Project Appleseed

Overview, History, and Weather
We had an excellent 25m event at the always excellent Goin firearms range in Muenster, Texas. We had 14 students come out and brave and heat to learn history, heritage, and rifle fundamentals. With great help from our instructors, ranging from instructors in training to senior instructors, this event was extremely successful. Every student learned and had a great time!

Both days were very busy, and every minute was filled with history, instruction, or shooting. In the morning we got immediately down to business trying to beat the 100 degree weather. History was interspersed throughout the day, but we a much needed air conditioned working lunch in Paul's classroom where we covered strikes and even more history. AF5US alwas tells a great Daniel Morgan story, ScottinTX had an excellent strike and our MonocogMike covered a Samuel Whittemore, his first Dangerous Old Man tale!

AF5US covered inches, minutes, and clicks and got our student's tiny groups exactly into the square. One student brough a scope with milliradians, thankfully Af5US' knowledge and teaching ability allowed the student to quickly adapt IMC from typical imperial units to metric.


Lightbulb Moments
On the second day we had a detailed ball and dummy drill. The students were advanced enough that they helped each other learn. By asking the shooter to pay attention to what they are seeing and what they are feeling the student-coach could help the shooter pay attention to what is important while actually shooting. If your line is advanced enough, having students see potential errors induced by the shooter in the ball and dummy drill is extremely helpful.

To help encourage practice and drill techniques we shot more Greencoats targets than usual. Part of learning how to shoot well is understanding how to practice well, both with no ammo (dryfire) and real ammo (live fire). Depending on the class, there is a balance that needs to be adjusted between lecture and hands on experience. To misquote one the best lines of cinema "When it's time to shoot, shoot don't talk!"

Because this group was more advanced, and they wanted to shoot, we drilled more Greencoats than usual to give students the opportunity to become more familiar with the techniques but become familiar with how to practice. This also allowed our advanced instructor cadre to get more 1-on-1 coaching.


Patches
The students came prepared to shoot! We had not one, not two, not even three, but four new Riflemen! After trying for two years one student finally earned his Rifleman and qualified back-to-back-to-back! A rifleman persists, even if it's takes years, and no one can ever take that achievement and excellent scores from him.

We saw scores rise for everyone across the board these two days. This was reflected in an excellent hits count targets during the morning and afternoon of day 2.

Everyone earned a patch who attended! The extremely hot weather bode for a "Caliente Seed" patch. While we all know about the extremely cold weather of Valley Forge, sometimes people forget about the hottest battle of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Monmouth. Temperatures ranged into the 90's and 100's during this battle! When it gets hot or cold scores and moods suffer, that is an undeniable fact. But our students persisted and earned the Caliente Seed patch for sticking with us through the heat.


Advancements
We had two IIT's advance! It takes many long hours both on the range and in study to earn the title of Appleseed Instructor and two IIT's are rising to that call. MonocogMike and TheSingingShooter have advanced to IIT2 and IIT1! I look forward to their history and instruction.

Even better, we had a shooter take an orange hat! LittleMissE is working on PC0, but we'll make sure to get her back on the line, this time on the other side as an instructor.


Conclusion
I want to thank all of our shooters and instructors for a safe and fun shoot. For all shooters seeking a patch or shooting excellence, consistent dry practice will get you there. For IIT's itching for that red hat, study hard, practice, and we'll see you on the range! Come back to another clinic and bring a friend