Project Appleseed

it was late when I wrote this,,,,,                                 which is why the date was wrong,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Just arrived on site. Situation normal.

12 Pre-Reg with a nice mix of guys gals and Juniors.

I have high hopes for the shoot and will post more tomorrow.



All Is Well-
Kool

We had at the end of the day 3 qualified at 200 yards, and 2 qualified at 300 yards on the final red coat.

One got the 'small target' shot.

Two were unqualified but much improved.

I would like to thank AS minuteman for stepping up and making that long drive from LA to come and assist me. Without him I don't think the shooters would have had near the good time fun in the sun that we did.

Also, special thanks to "Slacker", a member of the range and one of our more accomplished appleseeders (repeat customer, has the rifleman's patch already. He stepped up and stayed till every one was gone so we didn't have to rush rush rush to be off the range at 1600. It made a huge difference in the quality of instruction becuase we didn't have to rush.

He came back and scored 227 on the one and only AQT of the day. He asked me if he gets another patch, and I smiled and told him: No, but I could get you into a cool orange hat no problem." We will see what develops.

Nice group of folks (aren't they all?). We had a couple show up, the gentleman sporting a Marlin 94 (?)lever action rifle. With out a sling, and with buckhorn sights, he turned in a Sub-4 Moa group with it. Really nice shooting "Philbert"!

I would advise all who attend shoots in this climate to obtain 'pop up' shade canopies and to bring them to the shoot!

I will be needing to go now. Musten't be late.............

And so we complete another action packed weekend......

Sunday saw the return of everyone but three of the Saturday bunch. Slings were obtained overnignt, ammo was scrounged up and shooting jackets that hadn't been used on saturday were in full effect on Sunday.
People who tried to resupply on saturday night with 22LR ammo (and of course there wasn't any to be had) bought it from fellow students who had brought extra.

Once again, a few verbal snap shots until photo bucket gets up and running on this one.

"Plank" (a very dangerous old fella') sitting in a chair due to age and infermity, displaying perfect Camp Perry fourm shooting the AQT with an oxygen bottle hooked up to his nose (plus the fact that he and his son "Joe the Plumber" had driven all the way from Tuscon!). Nice job guys!
#1 son is now perched at about 190 on the AQT and couldn't get over the hump THIS TIME. As I told you guys yesterday: If it were that easy it might not mean as much. Keep at it and remember that you have to do ALL of the six steps as perfectly as possible for every shot.

We had a couple of guys who were with Oath Keepers show up and turn in some very respectable scores once they got some equipment issues sorted out. We had to use their truck to tie the shade tent to so it wouldn't blow away.

Lots of props to Neo Guy for comming out and helping out. He shot a lot of pictures and I am hoping they make it onto this post. Thanks dude.

The first redcoat of the day showed that the improvements seen on saturday were not luck or coincidance, but actual skill.

4 of the 7 shooters were qualified at 2 and 3 hundred yards to start the day.

"Philbert" continued to hurt our heads  with 2 1/2 MOA groups using a Marlin lever action in 30-30. Unfortuantly, ammo price and supply being what it is, he had to mother (conserve) his ammo. His wife, the bare foot "Contessa" qualifed out to 300 yards with a borrowed 10-22. She shot every stage and accounted for herself very well indeed in the persistance department.
Later in the day we put a Springfield 03A3 in Philberts hands, with what ought six ammo I could scrape together (30 rounds or so), and of course THAT was a little bit scarry because with adjustable sights the gent was able to turn in some clover leaf groups. It's really nice to see a first time 'seeder apply that level of concentration to the endevour. I see a CMP Garand in your future, brothah"

And of course "Capital Ell" (you know who you are by elimination dude! sorry but I don't know your screen name) Went to work trying to get over the hump with a certain gritty determination that I recognize as one of the hall marks of a guy who didn't get it done this weekend, but who surly will.

We didn't get a chance to do a full distance AQT due to time constraints of the range. However, we (AS Minuteman and myself) were able to do and introduction to target detection that was thorough but not overly long.

Just so, the 'Dangerous Old Men' stories were told at lunch. We had a little time to have a Q and A session. I think the only question asked that we couldn't answer is where The Guy get his hair styled  Just Kidding.

We also did an extensive Section on "How to Dry Practice, and why it is SOOOO important in do so".

So...... In the aftermath ( if I didn't say it enough at the time ) it is important to remember that Rifleman is more than a patch on a shooting jacket or a score on a qualification. It is an inside job (visualize Kool Aid thumping his heart with his right hand) and well worth the effort to accomplish.

We packed it all up and were out the gate in the nick of time. And so another one goes on the books where the final scores that people posted didn't necessarily reflect the progress actually made. And with this group especially I am sure it is only a matter of some consistant dry fire practice to make the scores reach beyond 210.

I am thankful for having had the chance to meet you all, and look forward to returning for the next one.

More pix to follow.

Please go ahead and chime in any time, guys.....




Kool aid out

And another thing.....

I was very impressed with the level of trigger control seen in the first time students!

Looks like a fun shoot!

Good work on the Q&A session, I think you got that one -just right-!!

The journey does begin & end with the "inside job"......I do believe I will "borrow" that from you for the future....

And Ken really did step up, & go the distance last second to get the job done! Huzzah!! We missed ya buddy, but you can get just as baked @ Boulder as Corona, so you only missed the beatings......

The shooters sound like a group that already had a firm grasp on "what they were about", and that is always a pleasure to be around.....Well done folks!!

Sounds like another portion of a great AS weekend.....and we get to do these! Is that great, or what?

Schedule up the next one, I think there's some folks out there that want to get further down the path in this!

LLP

Quote from: kool aid on September 20, 2009, 11:56:20 AM
I would advise all who attend shoots in this climate to obtain 'pop up' shade canopies and to bring them to the shoot!

Ain't that the truth...  I figured this out the hard way Saturday in Kaysville.

.

QuoteIn the aftermath ( if I didn't say it enough at the time ) it is important to remember that Rifleman is more than a patch on a shooting jacket or a score on a qualification. It is an inside job (visualize Kool Aid thumping his heart with his right hand) and well worth the effort to accomplish.

Kinda reminds me of this from the Karate Kid movie:

Daniel: Hey, what kind of belt do you have?
Miyagi: Canvas. JC Penney, $3.98. You like?
Daniel: [laughs] No, I meant...
Miyagi: In Okinawa, belt mean no need rope to hold up pants.
[laughs; then, seriously]
Miyagi: Daniel-san...
[taps his head]
Miyagi: Karate here.
[taps his heart]
Miyagi: Karate here.
[points to his belt]
Miyagi: Karate never here. Understand?


I can see Koolaide doing this one 

Koolaide:Appleseeder-san...(or whatever)
[taps his head]
Koolaide: Rifleman here.
[taps his heart]
Koolaide: Rifleman here.
[points to RM patch]
Koolaide: Rifleman never here. Understand?

(hearts and minds people, hearts and minds)

I really wanted to come out and help Kool on this one, but circumstances did not allow it. I did however supplicate for divine providence to supply what was needed.
Cal 


     

You know Cal, you keep making the comparisons between karate & AS (or life), and you're gonna see some eerily strange "concurrences"..... <

Besides which, we just finally got him off his Haiku fix a few months ago.....

yeah.......

You weren't the only one suplicatin' for intervention, devine or otherwise.

Here is your revised script, cal...

Kool Aid: Out of unifrom, but wearing that NASTY old red hat (his original one),  flip flops with the toes worn through, and a shamagh around his neck.....hows that sling workin' out for you?

Shooter:Ummmmmm..............(first time shooter expects......
god knows what from this..... tall dude with the

weird

nickname.....

KA: Well it looks like you're grimacing pretty bad there.

S: Well, yeah it hurts, kind of......(sling is so tight his hand is blue......(

KA: Uncomfortable is okey, but we ain't trying to
make you into an airborne ranger, okey?
You can ease up just enough so you don't tear something.
S: okey, how 'bout like this? (Blood Flow returns)

KA: great.  now show me your trigger reset. I'll work the bolt for you so you get the idea of cadance.

and so forth

This is why they send me to the hinterlands............... Not ready for prime time shoot boss. That's me.
Just trying to help out.......

The impossible, once performed, becomes Standard Operating Procedure.

But this wasn't impossible.

This was a walk in the park compared to the good old days of
"One Shoot..... One Red Hat"
that were the lot of the REAL old timers 'round here. I had freakin' ASMM.  My MAN!

So were were just doing it like we were taught to do it. Nothing fancy.

Had a fella' get his second rifleman score. Asked me if he got another patch for his achievement. I told him:
No, but I could fix you up with a cool new HAT
Maybe the handle "the slacker who shall remain nameless". Slacker for short.

I wonder if I scared him off...... 

My only regret is that we didn't have more cow bell. I packed it but some how I couldn't find it. I think scratch hid it from me...... I mean a real cow bell. To beat on as a visual aid (okey, auditory aid) instead of using the usual clown bat....... Keep them guessing..... Beatings being so..... 2007.

Good folks out Vegas way.
Enough already. Lets get back to work now.......

.

Hey Koolaid,

Not my best work, but I had to stay off the berm. 

Good seeing ya,

Neo

A few more pics.....

Note the bare feet The Contessa is sporting in second stage.

Her husband Philbert gets acquainted with Kool Aid's now famous Nose Breaker 03A3 Springfield .