Project Appleseed

Saturday we had 23 shooters show up for the Santa Barbara Appleseed. Rain was predicted well in advance and the Winchester Canyon Gun Club was gracious enough to call me on Friday, and after I told them we don't cancel  Appleseeds, they offered  us the use of their 100 yard range (covered) so we wouldn't be standing in the rain all day. They also let us use the shack (with a nice wood burning stove) over on the shotgun range so we had somewhere to go to dry off and warm up at lunch time.
 
Well, this was by far the hardest (weather wise) Appleseed I have done. It was very cold, high winds, and even with the shelter, the horizontal rain just found it's way under there. Though snow was predicted, it did not. But the temperature, I would guess, lingered in the upper 30's. This has been the wettest rain season here in over 10 years.

Everyone was soaking wet and cold. But of the 23 people that showed up, 20 were left at the end of the day!! The range folks were stunned and amazed at the persistence of Appleseeders.
Like true Appleseeders, we ended the day with 20 shooters. We had several youngsters at this Appleseed, Lucas, Tara, Kyle and the rest, and I did not hear one complaint!! All of them were presented the patch at the end of the day. The people at this Appleseed were just, well, INCREDIBLE.  Not even one safety issue, some first time shooters, and on their soaking wet shooting mats, or no mat at all, these Appleseeders, thirsting for their heritage and Marksmanship carried on throughout the day.

We had some repeat Appleseeders, some Calguns shooters, and UCLA was represented by a couple of great guys Amrish and Merrit (hope I got that right)  David was shooting extremely small groups and with a little work on the transitions, would have nailed it.

Improvements in score were seen across the board. Some were knocking on the door for a riflemans score. Merrit, Alex, David, Gannon were getting close. Everyone was eager to learn, moved quickly, and a full first day of an Appleseed was completed.

Day two : the rain cleared. The winds were running around 30-40mph and we lost the use of the 100 yard range. We moved all the backers to the 200 yrd range and set up over there. The 200 yrd range actually offered a little shelter from the wind.

9-Appleseeders were present on Sunday, and scores improved more. Three shooters were in the 180-190 range. And knowing, with a little practice, they will soon be shooting that rifleman score. Again, the youngsters that were there all day Saturday, persisted through Sunday without one complaint!!!

We had one Riflewoman on Sunday. This was her 4th Appleseed. My daughter Jessica shot her score and eagerly accepted an Orange hat. Though her pants tore open on the line, Marpat Pippi happened to have an extra pair. Well, Koolaide had the honor of presenting her with her patch, and we have been toying with the idea of giving her the screen name koolbreeze.
By the end of the day, the wind had died. The sun was shining, it was starting to warm up. Through the rain, wind, cold and mud, the Appleseeders at this event impressed me beyond belief and I would like to thank each and everyone of them for the persistence and good attitude they showed throughout this event. These are people who know what they are all about.

I have a few pics I will post up tonight.

CONGRATULATIONS JESSICA!!!!!

I like "Breezy", if I get a vote here.

SS

Three Huzzahs  for "Breezy" (untill an official handle is issued) Congrats on a job well done Jess!    (in the cold nasty weather to boot!)
Cal 7.62

Ah Jessica,

That last picture is great. I felt so bad at the last few seeds as you've gotten so close but for equipment problems. As Cal says, to get your score under such difficult conditions is a real testament to your perseverance. Welcome to the ranks, I look forward to working with you in the future.

And hey, you get to choose your screenname, make it a good one. No pressure 

Cheers
V

Yowser!! Another stellar AS @ SB.....

And the 20 folks hung in there thru the worst of it.....you're right, that speaks volumes about the perseverance of the shooters...we know the Instructors aren't going home early!!

Jessica, it's probably a good thing KoolAid was only there for Sat....he has a "knack" for coming up with "odd" names for folks who haven't gotten their screen name worked out yet.....Koolbreezes, or Breezy seems to fit ya, but as the folks say, choose your own......it's yours!!

You certainly earned it!! Congratulations!!

And Debbie! Did you enjoy working that event as much as shooting at one??!!?? Fun stuff, eh?? Welcome aboard!!
ArtKat, you too!!

Great results in the face of some weather adversity, all!! You guys did really good!!

LLP

Oh and Kool Aid and Hollywood returned on sunday. Yes we did.....


Photos don't capture the half of it. They make it look like a holiday in Spain.

More like summertime in Scotland. Biblical, the rain we had.
Wind driven,
         cold,
              torrential.

WONDER!

GLORY!

What a great chance to shake down ourselves and our gear.

I thought those folks back east were hard core........ Our guys took the prize on saturday: some of these guys shot in cotton sweat pants, many without optimal rain gear or gloves or hats. The roof leaked pretty good, and we had spray clear to the back of the firing line. The kids just stayed enthusiastic.

First of all, thanks to the powers that be  at the Club who gave us the covered range for the shoot saturday. All of those sunday pictures you are seeing of the firing line? Nice and dry looking? More like the bottom 40 of Wades place when it rains. That is- a river runs through it when it rains!

THANKS!

We had a concrete firing line with a tin roof during the worst of it. Even a covered heated shed for lunch and history.

We were fine. Make sure you oil your rifles really well.....


Jacq presided, we persisted. Thanks for putting us (Hollywood 'n Me) up, bro. A nest of machinists! What fun.

Family Marpat, Artkat and Dano;
the usual suspects, the usual results- lots of attention to detail, sincere and constant engagment of the shooters.

I love the way the Santa Barbara/Ventura 'crew' has shaped up. Thanks guys. A real pleasure to work with y'all.

And, my compadre Hollywood. Thanks. Couldn't have done it without you man.

Kool Aid

ps.
cool breeze? nahh

hard way!

Yep...
  Wet, cold & just downright nasty!
It was pretty cool to see so many Americans stick it out, despite the weather!
  I had a good time seeing old friends and meeting some new ones!

Congrat's Jessica, you certainly earned it this weekend.

Thanks Jacques for putting on a great show!

Next time...
  Andy

A great shoot! Santa Barbara Appleseeds always draw a great crowd of folks. Congratulation to Jessica again for hanging in there. It helped to have the sacred Pink 10/22. Go Girl Power.

Dano

Thanks for the pics Dano.

Jessica says thanks to you all.

She will be on here soon, but can not decide on a screen name. She is thinking Major Malfunction. A scar on my limited gunsmithing abilities. What do you think?

MM... I think I like it!

Jessica can choose her name. If she wants Major Malfunction, I'd say she should go for it. It is certainly a cute name.
Everyone would understand what it means.

I look forward to working with her.

SS

Jacques,

Congrats to your daughter, Jessica... You should be so proud! As she should be, too...

I think Jessica will be a great addition to the California instructor corp.

Did the ammo change help any? Just wondering...

Cameron

Quote from: Camljr on February 16, 2010, 02:33:36 AM
Jacques,

Congrats to your daughter, Jessica... You should be so proud! As she should be, too...

I think Jessica will be a great addition to the California instructor corp.

Did the ammo change help any? Just wondering...

Cameron

She did use that ammo. I think it helped a lot. There wasn't any ammo problems. Much better than that federal bulk pack. The Aquila seems cleaner, and doesn't gunk up the action like the breased up SK Standar Plus does. Those oiled down SK Standard plus also tend to pick up everylittle piece of dust and dirt that flys by.

I'll echo what everyone else said about the weather.  It was awful!  I had a great time and learned a good amount - certainly enough to improve my shooting.  I'll be back to another Appleseed soon, both to score Rifleman AND, more importantly, to get my t-shirt! 

Quote from: MtnMan on February 17, 2010, 06:37:31 PM
I'll echo what everyone else said about the weather.  It was awful!  I had a great time and learned a good amount - certainly enough to improve my shooting.  I'll be back to another Appleseed soon, both to score Rifleman AND, more importantly, to get my t-shirt! 

If you payed for 2-days and did not get a shirt, PM me your Address and size and I will send you one.

Everyone improved at this AS. That was a good thing

I couldn't think of anything and just wanted to get on here so this will do! Yea I was supposed to go to a super bowl party that I was planning for weeks but decided to go to the Appleseed to qualify.  Definitely some determination.  It was a great shoot the group reflected off the instructors The pink .22 helped out a lot thanks dano! Can't wait to get started instructing!

I know- we'll call you 'super jessica'!