Project Appleseed

Just over 150 years ago, a smart German politician said "There is no such thing as bad weather, only good clothes."

This past Saturday; despite snow-filled roads who must have been on low-salt diets; despite snow coming down throughout Saturday; despite being encouraged by their local government to stay indoors; seven hardy Americans showed up to Harvard Sportsmen's Club, ready to improve their marksmanship, learn something about their American heritage, and prove that old quote correct. Rumors of a "Winterseed patch" usually draw crowds of previous Appleseeders who chase this patch, but this time was different - all but a couple of these Americans were first-timers.

Sunday was a tad more intimidating - the snow and clouds were gone but the wind chill dropped to minus-20. Still, over half of the shooters who still had working rifles, returned. Our second AQT of the day revealed there was a Rifleman among us - congratulations to Matt for scoring 229 at your first Appleseed having never shot a rifle before! The others who stayed saw a good amount of improvement on their scores, up into the 170/180 range - a Rifleman persists!

Thank you to the rest of the Instructors who provided invaluable assistance this weekend - lupis42, MattNH, BrianMac, Lesky and Rifle Rabbit. And thank you to Harvard Sportsmen's Club for hosting us this weekend, and we look forward to returning under better weather later this year!

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The area around the firing line required some snow-shoveling before we could bring rifles out:


Some of the buildings at the other bays at Harvard Sportsmen's Club, sported icicles this weekend:


... as did the muzzle of one of the shooters' rifles on Sunday:


During a string of fire, we get a good view of the patina of snow on the equipment area:


(other photos TBD)

For anyone wondering how seriously to take that icicle patch, just take a look at what the rifle looked like after a few minutes away from the line for instruction.  Great job to mmirate, and to all those who came to shoot and to instruct in these extremely adverse conditions.  It was cold enough to freeze the CLP in the triggers, but not to keep the Americans from coming out to shoot. 

OK - I said I earned my winterseed patch a few weeks ago when it dipped in the upper teens to upper 20's. I'm giving mine back after seeing a real winterseed.  That looks like an AWESOME weekend!!!  Congratulations on your well-earned patch, Matt and to all the volunteers and shooters that came out.  What a shoot to remember. 

 

Can you recommend good shooting gloves that keep your fingers warm and allow you to shoot easily?

Best way to keep your fingers warm is to use a thin glove (something like Mechanix) for the actual shooting, and stick your hands into a big mitten or muff with a heater the rest of the time. 

The only thing I can say is "A rifleman Persists." You guys set the bar high on persistence.   

Quote from: UpACreek on February 10, 2026, 12:37:50 PMOK - I said I earned my winterseed patch a few weeks ago when it dipped in the upper teens to upper 20's. I'm giving mine back after seeing a real winterseed.  That looks like an AWESOME weekend!!!  Congratulations on your well-earned patch, Matt and to all the volunteers and shooters that came out.  What a shoot to remember. 

 

Can you recommend good shooting gloves that keep your fingers warm and allow you to shoot easily?

Years ago we had a Winterseed at SaraSpa where we got about a foot of snow. Thankfully, the club's shotgun director snowblowed some shooting lanes for us. I think all the snow should be melted by August this year!

Great weekend.  Great job Milo.  The sun did come out ...

Thank you all for a fascinating, educational weekend. I learned a ton and appreciate all the knowledge shared along with the fact that you all were willing to be out there running such a smooth event despite the difficult conditions. I'm looking forward to another event at some point - hopefully when its warm enough that my trigger and/or bolt doesn't freeze again  .

As far as gloves go - as mentioned the hand warmers in pockets were clutch. The other key thing was waterproofness; I started the day Saturday with non-waterproof gloves and they were pretty terrible once they got snowy. I swapped to a pair of waterproof pnuma recon gloves for the rest of the time and those + the pocket hand warmer breaks made a big difference.

Quote from: lupis42 on February 10, 2026, 01:04:39 PMBest way to keep your fingers warm is to use a thin glove (something like Mechanix) for the actual shooting, and stick your hands into a big mitten or muff with a heater the rest of the time. 

And if possible, leave the mitten/muff on your support hand even when shooting. You don't need dexterity on that hand.

I became a huge fan of hand and toe warmers this past weekend

I love the forum name alsomatt.  Great job on your 229 and we'll see you at the next one, hopefully with better weather conditions

Quote from: alsomatt on February 10, 2026, 04:36:42 PMThank you all for a fascinating, educational weekend. I learned a ton and appreciate all the knowledge shared along with the fact that you all were willing to be out there running such a smooth event despite the difficult conditions. I'm looking forward to another event at some point - hopefully when its warm enough that my trigger and/or bolt doesn't freeze again  .

As far as gloves go - as mentioned the hand warmers in pockets were clutch. The other key thing was waterproofness; I started the day Saturday with non-waterproof gloves and they were pretty terrible once they got snowy. I swapped to a pair of waterproof pnuma recon gloves for the rest of the time and those + the pocket hand warmer breaks made a big difference.