Project Appleseed

I'm sure Gromit will be along shortly to put in the official numbers, but I figured I will kick this off.

After a 9+ hour drive I met up with JamesE on Friday evening, then we met Gromit and his friend Samantha at a local restaurant to plan the next day. 

Saturday morning James and I drove out to the range, which had already been set up by all the local instructors.  After an instructor meeting and bay assignments, we went through the benediction and safety rules as we kicked off another Appleseed. 

We had most of the newer shooters on one bay and the more experienced and centerfires on the other. This seemed to work pretty well, and both bays kept pace with each other until the very end of the day.  Saturday saw one AQT completed and all 3 strikes performed.  We managed to finish up just before the thunderstorms rolled in, which was nice timing.

Sunday mornings drive to the range was though the clouds, with foggy visibility down to about 200 ft.  Fortunately, by the time I got to the range it had cleared.  We got the shooters gathered up, did a review of what we had learned Saturday, and started cranking out AQTs.  That morning gave us one new Rifleman.  At lunch the instructors got to give some history in the form of Dangerous Old Men and Women, with some additional 7th stepping.

Back out on the range we did some more AQTs with a few drills to break things up.  We managed to make a Rifleman and a Riflewoman that afternoon, with a couple more shooters knocking on the door by the end of the day.  Gromit finished up by thanking everyone for coming and pushing the 7th step.  He also promoted LongRifle and ZombieHunter to full instructor status  , so now maybe CO won't have to import RH's from AZ, CA, and MO.

We had several young people at this shoot, and they were some of the best behaved kids I have ever worked with.  They shot all the courses of fire and never complained, even when some of them were obviously getting tired by Sunday afternoon.  Their parents should be very proud of them, and I hope I see them all on the line again one of these days.

Although I managed to catch a cold this weekend, I had a great time in CO working with Gromit, James, and all the CO instructors and shooters.  Appleseeders are the best people to hang out with, bar none.  You are all welcome in Missouri any time.

Greg

Poor old RW won't be the lonely and only Red hat in CO now.  Finally the true Americans in this fairly warped state have come forth and been crowned with the highly coveted red hat.  Congrats to Longshot and Zombie I Know we have several more barking at their feet.

Party isn't over yet guys.  We need you both wearing Green hats before 4/17-18/2010 when CO shows the rest of the country how to really thrown a big 4/19 party 

RW,
I know you are all excited to have some more Red Hats out there, but Longshot is in our backyard and you CAN'T have him!!        

Now LongRifle, he's a different story.  You can keep him.... for now.  But since we're losing TreadCarefully AND Sheepdog here in the Land of Suck, we may try to draft him.  Although prolly not much chance he'll leave CO to come to Illinois   

Congrats on the Red Hat guys!!     CO is a better place.

EEL

Inly need the Red Hat to be the Shoot Boss at an Appleseed. THe forum title "Shoot Boss" is nothing mor ethan a really good Red Hat that has demonstrated they can Shoot Boss well.

Oh yeah, I thought that sounded wrong,  Congrats, LongRifle!! 

Glad to see that it's not ONLY the SB who can start the AAR 

Saturday morning we had 33 shooters show up to drink from the firehose of Appleseed information.  The Ben Lomond Gun Club is a great facility and allowed us the two bays we used to separate the 22s/newer shooters from the more experienced/centerfire ones.  With 2 red hats and 6 IITs, I'm definitely spoiled for all future Appleseeds.

Splitting up the shooters between the two bays let us get the two IIT4/Instructor candidates the opportunity to demonstrate all of the POI, as well as letting the other 4 IITs get plenty of instruction time. 

Sunday we had 36 shooters total attend to start fine tuning their skills and practice more and more AQTs.  No rain on Sunday and a little bit of sun later in the afternoon.

Our 3 new riflemen were Tracey with a score of 212, Josh with a score of 225 and Bob who shot 210+ two times, but I only remember the second score of 225.  Bob has also stepped up to put on an orange hat and walk the Appleseed trail with us.  He's "RF" on the forum here so welcome him aboard.

Many thanks to all of the Colorado team for the great work in set up, tear down, instruction and everything in between.  I'm sure CO is well on its way to making great strides along the Appleseed trail.

AZG

Quote from: RifleWoman on September 01, 2009, 02:47:50 PM
Oh yeah, I thought that sounded wrong,  Congrats, LongRifle!! 

Another name change:  Alan is 'Long Rifle'  not Longrifle  (that's yet another person!)

This was my first Appleseed.  Thanks to all of you for a great event.

I shall return!

As Greg said, the youngsters I saw were great. No safety issues to speak of and they looked like experts in the handling of their rifles.

Congratulations Alan (Long Rifle) on obtaining the Red Hat!

I'm positive you will do it justice!

When we get new forum software I'm going to forbid any user names that are close to each other.  It's just to confusing.   

What a great weekend!  Again, it was no Blizzardseed, but hey, it’s a welcome change to be able to shoot in nice weather sometimes.  The Red Hats were great, thanks for coming to Colorado, guys!  The Orange Hats were numerous – a big thanks to FranktownKid and crew for setting up the range Friday afternoon.  Ben Lomand Gun Club was a great host, yet again.  I encourage anyone near the range who’s not a member to join the club.  And most importantly… the shooters were fantastic!  They were full of enthusiasm and persistence.  Here are a few pics I snapped of the weekend.  Apologies that I didn’t take as many as I usually do, but I was preoccupied making sure I got through all the instruction/demo requirements to be Red Hatted.  Oh yeah!  And a big congrats to LongShot… um Longrifle… er Long Rifle on getting his Red Hat and FranktownKid and Nitro45 progressing to IIT2! 


Early Saturday AM at the sign in table as the first Appleseeders arrive.


Berm 2 working on sitting position Saturday afternoon.


First Strike at lunch on Saturday. 


Sunday afternoon with some of our younger shooters, who did a fantastic job.

What a pleasure it was to instruct the fine citizens of Colorado on rifle marksmanship and our American Heritage!  I enjoyed every single second of my time with you.

To those of you that were on my line, I want you to know that I readily accept all of your comments about my living in the SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA.  I know that many of you learned the importance of proper NPOA shifting, and that the next time I come to Colorado, I can see hips shifting just like I do at home.  As General Nathanael Greene said, "I wish we could sell them another hill at the same price we did Bunkers Hill."  If I have to take that kind of ribbing to get the point across, then that's what I'll do.

I'm excited about the future of Appleseed in Colorado.  You folks have a great group of instructors on the rise, and a talented and motivated State Coordinator.  I just hope that you occasionally need help from CA.  It will be my honor and privilege to travel to your state again.

BTW, before I went to the airport on Monday, I hiked to the top of the valley at Seven Falls, elevation 7200 ft.  Despite being totally out of breath, I managed to talk about the Appleseed Project to two separate couples along the way, one from Pennsylvania, one from Arkansas.  If I can do it in CO, you can do it.  Let's get busy, Colorado!  A Rifleman persists.

Come on back any time James, and that goes for Greg in MO and AZGromit too! I think next year is going to be a bit busier here!
Maybe next time we'll get you to climb Pike's Peak...

I have been to pikes peak!   I ain't climbing that in anything other than a cushy SUV...

I really want to take the COG railway up to the top next time.

If you have not been there folks, it is the 8th wonder of the world.

Standing on top of that peak makes you realize how small you are in this world!

BUT not insignificant... there is a big land and lots of folks out there who need to be brought into the Appleseed fold.

Glad you all had a great shoot, and are expanding just like California did starting last year.

You Colorado folks might just pass up Texas...

Just a quick note to formally announce the IIT promotions (since I just got the chance to grade the rest of the PCs turned in over the weekend):

Long Rifle promoted from IIT3 to Full Instructor
Zombiehunter promoted from IIT3 to Full Instructor

Franktown Kit promoted from IIT1 to IIT2
Nitro45 promoted from IIT1 to IIT2

Congratulations Appleseeders!

Here's your bigger bucket...

AZG

I took my wife and youngest son. Both of them had a great time!

On the way home my wife said "Mario show my how to clean the gun" She is hooked.

She also wants me to lay out a 25 meter range at our house so she can practice dry firing !

My son is going to bring two friends to the WHAC gun club Appleseed.

As someone who volunteers a LOT OF TIME each month with the Boy Scouts I appreciate you your time and expertise.


Thanks

Mario

BigMod CO, that sounds really great! We'll be back at Ramah in November...

Hello all, I'm Rob from Colorado Springs. 

This was my first Appleseed.  I brought 2 friends with me, all 3 of us had a great time, and learned a TREMENDOUS amount...many many thanks to those who put this event on and traveled great distances to do so.  In a world with so many bad things confronting us every day, you folks are indeed a blessing to our nation! 

Just a few things I came away with...

Equipment Issues, it is capital-A Awkward for a right handed shooter get to the M4's bolt release once weak hand is wrapped up in the sling...charging handle works too, but methinks Stoner should have designed an ambidextrous bolt release.  Apparently the military had already decided not to emphasize sling shooting even then?

Equipment Issues, the low price of the 3' x 5' black door mats sold by Home Depot / Lowes makes them ideal for use as shooting mats.  The ribbed surfaces used to clean your feet with are less than ideal on your elbows (I've got matching scabs to prove it!).

Equipment Issues, those GI web slings are wonderful ... does anybody still make them (I've only seen the oldies being sold)?... And do they come in black (and about 18 inches shorter) to better suit the current generation of military pattern rifles?

Hydration Issues, I drank 6 x 500 mL of water on Saturday.  Now, if that had been pepsi or coke, I'd have taken on ~1000 calories and a boatload of caffeine.  I'd have been vibrating!  Bad for group size, not to mention the "two cheek sneak"...

History, I am in eternal gratitude of those who gained our freedoms 230 plus years ago, kudos to those who teach and keep that history alive!  On a small note, having spent many years in Bahstawn, I can tell you that the name of the town of Concord is pronounced exactly the same as the word "conquered" by the locals and not like the supersonic airliner "concorde".  I also didn't hear any discussion of the Battle of Bunker Hill ... "don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes".  Despite excellent skills in marksmanship they had to conserve the limited ammunition they had for maximum effect.

As for me, I shot a 208 on Sunday afternoon - just shy of qualifying.  As much as I wanted to qualify, I'm happy with how I did and I have a plan to improve.   I will persist, I will attend another Appleseed, I will volunteer to help in any way I can at future Appleseeds once I've qualified.

Just use your right hand, keep your fingers together, reach OVER the carry handle / scope and hit the release button w/ your "paws".  Try it.  No biggie   

EEL

Springs Rob:

You might try one of these, a Magpul BAD:  http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/Magpul_BAD_Battery_Assist_Device_Lever.html

-David
Edgewood, NM

Quote from: Springs Rob on September 04, 2009, 01:03:28 PM
History, I am in eternal gratitude of those who gained our freedoms 230 plus years ago, kudos to those who teach and keep that history alive!  On a small note, having spent many years in Bahstawn, I can tell you that the name of the town of Concord is pronounced exactly the same as the word "conquered" by the locals and not like the supersonic airliner "concorde".  I also didn't hear any discussion of the Battle of Bunker Hill ... "don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes".  Despite excellent skills in marksmanship they had to conserve the limited ammunition they had for maximum effect.

Rob,

Thanks for coming!  Otherwise I would have driven all that way for nothing. 

Duly noted on the pronunciation of Concord...

We try to focus on April 19th, 1775 in the history, which is why we don't mention the Battle of Bunker Hill.  Although it is interesting that Percy actually saved his force by holding Bunker Hill while the rest of his force escaped back into Boston.

Glad to hear you'll be back.  A Rifleman PERSISTS!

Greg

Springs Rob, we are going to be developing quite a few orange-hat instructors in training in the Springs area in the near future. We have myself and RF so far, and perhaps one or two more that slip my feeble mind. Also a few folks in the Denver area and Rich (Franktown_Kid) in between. We will be happy to have you join us. We'll be needing to grow some more red hats out of the orange crop next year!

Good news about more orange hats in the Springs. They should look into Frontier gun club. It's right outside of town. Wish i could do more for Appleseed right now but things happen.