Project Appleseed

It was a beautiful spring weekend at Hobbs Island Shooting Range in Alabama!  We're grateful for all the support and friendship with the range owners, Don & Matt.

Instructors and shooters from Alabama and Tennessee gathered early Saturday morning. 

After introductions, AH1Tom told us the First Strike of the Match.  Then, the Alabama State Coordinator had an presentation to make!  TheBeardedWonder (a gentleman named Mark) accepted an Orange hat and would be working his first event on this Patriots' Weekend!  HUZZAH MARK!!!

Then we jumped into safety, the Hits Count target, and lots of drills and other lessons.  Just before lunch, we shot a couple of squares and the groups looked great!

At lunch, your author shared the Second Strike.  After a well-earned break, we jumped back into marksmanship drills.  Things were going very well and it was soon time for AH1Tom to tell us the Third Strike, when the Patriot militia chased the Redcoats back to Boston.  Then, it was time for an AQT and Hits Count target!

After recognizing Tom and Jonathan for shooting Riflemen scores in the 230's, it was time to wrap up the day.  The Alabama sun was hitting hard, so we cleaned up and were out the gate before five.

Shooters from Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky joined us Sunday morning!  It's Alabama tradition to shoot KD on April 19th proper, so instructors arrived early to set up the range!  Appleseed is great for families - DonD had three generations of his family on the line - daughter and grandson.   

We began the day with the inspiring story of Prince Estabrook, who's blood was spilled on Lexington Green on the morning of April 19th.

Our Sunday instruction focused on shooting full distance.  As the 12 shooters were evenly split (rimfire vs. centerfire), we covered trajectories, come-ups, and how to shoot the AQT at full distance for both.

TheBeardedWonder volunteered to be our grillmeister.  Between his burgers & dogs and AnthonyB's famous baked beans, everyone ate well at lunch.  During lunch, we learned about Inches-Milliradians-Clicks and how a Rifleman manages shooting in the wind. 

The day was smooth with shooters gathering data and shooting AQT stages.  We paused just before 3pm for our Memorial Volley - on steel targets.  Don brought out his M1 Carbine to shoot with us.  I am confident our Founders heard us hammering those targets. 

Like we do every year, instructors and shooters signed a copy of the Bloody Butchery poster.  We presented that to Don after the volley.  It will join other signed copies hanging in the clubhouse.

After the Volley, we wrapped up our AQT.  Tom F. and Nephi both earned Known Distance bars!  Ramblin' Wreck earned his RKD patch, despite the wicked wind at 200y! 

It was a pleasure working with all our shooters.  A special shout out to McKenna who was shooting a rifle for the first time and easily hitting the 200y RKD targets!

I'm grateful to the instructors who came out to help: Google, DonD, Booney Stomper, Tennessee Beast, Tennessee Hangfire, AH1Tom, AnthonyB, and our new OH, TheBeardedWonder!

I hope your Patriots' Weekend was as fulfilling as ours.   

No AAR is complete without pics... I got a few.  Please share some of yours!

in Liberty,
MO

The Alabama Senate Resolution about Patriots' Day and Patriots' Month.


Alabama's motto


Saturday Pictures

TheBeardedWonder accepting an Orange Hat












That's not a hat - it's a hair retention device!


Our Chief Master Instructor hydrating

























Sunday Pictures

Shoot Boss breakfast


Lots of bitty flags across the range, marking where we drilled holes for target backers.


A rare convocation of four MIs




Sunday was a little chilly


IMC review with full distance examples


Rocking the vintage sweatshirt




Smiling on a cold morning




MI Google trying something a little different


Safety brief






KD and RKD targets together




Booney preparing for the Memorial Volley


Ramblin' Wreck finally nabbed that RKD patch


Tom F. and Nephi earning their KD patches

This looks like an awesome event!!!   

In my 5 years with APPLESEED this is without a doubt the event I have had the most fun. A standard AS event on Saturday followed by a KD on Sunday. This was amazing to do back-to-back.

The amount of work that had to be done to prep for this as well as the groundwork was amazing. I am grateful to all who did the prep and instructing. Thank you for making this a success.

I wish we could incorporate this more into ranges that can accommodate both.

What a pleasant group of shooters I had the blessing to know and shoot with!