Project Appleseed

This last weekend, we had a group of shooters that knew very well what they were all about.  This was out second to last Idaho event for the year, and it was a great center fire known distance event.  I would like to thank the Fernan Rod and Gun Club for hosting this event and making the long range rifle available to Appleseed.  There will be one more 25m rifle event at Fernan in a couple weeks.

The majority of the students had their rifles all zeroed and ready to go.  The first shot of the weekend was at the Morgan Shingle.  Only the youngest student, Troy, was able to hit the target.  One student needed to mount their scope on Saturday morning, so it took some extra time to get it set up and get his zero.  As soon as everyone was zeroed, it was time to work on getting the come ups out to 400 yards.  We were only able to get through the 300 yards come ups on Saturday. 

On Sunday, the shooter were given another opportunity to shoot the Morgan shingle.  Ashley, Jared and Cal were able to join the ranks of Morgan Rifleman.  We were then approached by the Chief Range Safety Officer for the Fernan Rod and Gun Club and informed that we were being required to share the range with the members.  The CRSO was informed that AS is required to have control of the range and be allowed to call cease fires and safe all of the rifles on the line.  The CRSO agreed that we could do that, so we continued on with the program.

Once the shooters had their 400 yard come up data, they started shooting AQTs.  The Fernan members were very respectful to our program and there were no complaints about our cease fire periods or the need to verify their rifles were safe.  Troy, Early, Jared Cal and Ashley were able to shoot their KD rifleman scores.  Troy and Earl put on a marksmanship clinic and showed everyone their marksmanship skills.  Troy shot a 49 to earn his Distinguished patch and Earl shot either a 49 or 50 hit target, to earn his Distinguished patch as well.  One hit was likely a double, and the spot that he hit had been pasted over a couple times, so it was hard to verify if it was a double hit.  However, that would have to account for a missing hit and Earl was shooting too good to have thrown one off of the paper.  Therefore, with gentleman's honor, I am going to consider the target a perfect 50 hit score.  Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah!

All the students, for this event, traveled from out of town to spend the weekend at the Fernan range.  I would like to thank all the students for the dedication of improving their rifleman skills.  You all showed great character in your persistence in the development of your rifleman skills.

As I mentioned to you all, I am going to be dedicated to growing our Pistolseed program in 2027.  I will be running fewer rifle events next year so I can accomplish this goal.  The new Pistolseed program is really good, so hopefully I will see at a Pistolseed event.

It was great to have such a gathering of serious shooters working on their riflemanship skills. For an instructor, it is very rewarding and fulfilling to see this advancement and dedication. It was a pleasure having you all on the firing line and I hope to see you again. Bring a friend next time, they'll thank you.

Thanks to Prescott, Mr. Clean, and Schooner for conducting this event.  I really wish I'd been able to be there to see those distinguished shooters and their targets.  Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah indeed!  Congratulations to the Morgan's Riflemen as well.  I'd been hoping try to qualify on that this year with a flintlock instead of my M1 Garand, but it will have to wait for next time.

I also want to second Prescott's thanks to Fernan Rod & Gun Club for their cooperation with us for this event.  It is not popular with members who show up to shoot and find the entire rifle range reserved (the club does not usually allow this, and made an exception for Project Appleseed).  We deeply appreciate the support and cooperation of the FRGC officers and those members who wanted to shoot in respecting our need for the line boss to be in charge of the entire line, even for those not registered for the event.  Maybe some of them who saw those Distinguished scores will register for the November 25m Rifle Clinic!

I hope to see you all on the line again next year.