Hernando Sportsman's Club 01/30,31/2010

[PHenry]

An Opportunity to Improve our Character!

A Rifleman thrives on adversity and a cool, rainy day offers an excellent opportunity for a Rifleman to improve his or her character thru  said adversity. Just such an opp was afforded 23 fine Americans on January 30th, 2010. Cloudy skies, wet rifles, and determined spirits were all present at the HSC last Saturday. It will never cease to inspire me to see "ordinary" Americans working hard, in tough conditions, to honor the traditions of their ancestors. Huzzzah!  

From Amy, who while delicate and lady-like in appearance, surely has the grit of Prue Wright herself - to Sean, who hammered out one AQT after another right alongside the adults, two days in a row! Not a discouraging word could be heard from one end of the soaked line to the other.

There was Todd, a veteran of Iraq, who brung us a most teachable attitude and some interesting insights on life in a combat zone (for one thing, the heaters in MREs don't git used in combat - no time for such "luxuries"!).

And who could forgit Annie, Julia, & Matt - three fine college students that helped restore this old man's faith in the character of today's American youth! Ya'll keep practicing and dry fire every chance you get - I know there's a Rifleman in each of you!

Gene, a "repeat offender" who never troubles himself with anything less than a fine American-made .30, finally succeeded in getting some people to join him and one of them assured me that he would return. Way to 7th step Gene!

We also had a couple "2A personalities" on the line for this event. None other than Massad Ayoob and Gail Pepin! They cranked it out on the line just like the rest. "Mass", as he is called, scored a Rifleman's score on Sunday and Gail did very well also. They were pleased with the event overall and Mass is planning to do a story about their experience soon. We'll all look forward to hearing how Appleseeds looks from a firearm expert's point of view. Come back and see us anytime ya'll - it was an honor and a pleasure to have you on the line.

Too many more for this old brain to recall by name, but all were cut from a fine cloth for sure.

Despite the rain most of the day on Saturday, much was learnt and fire hose of Rifleman knowledge flowed. The six steps met the Rifleman's dance and the round count just kept climbing with no end in sight. Alas, no Rifleman were revealed, but several showed great promise.

Saturday ended on a special note. The new Mademoiselle Yotnottin - "Yotnottin Rangers" Rifleman patch in honor of our beloved Jacqui, who was called home to meet the Founders in August of last year. It were decided that the last shooter Jacqui worked with should be the first-ever recipient of that coveted purple badge of honor - congrats Clinnon. I am certain that Jacqui would be pleased. And kudos to Willorith for conceiving of, designing, ordering and buying the patches.

Sunday brought cloudy skies and cooler temps, but no rain. We hit the ground running and by lunch time, were already finished with Ball & Dummy, well ahead of schedule and ready to enter the famous AQT grind! The time monkey was on and Line Boss was in the zone. The pace was hectic, but the attendees knew that Isaac Davis was watching and so they forged ahead undaunted.  

At mid-PM, the KD range was opened up and four HP shooters were culled to see if they could reach out to 200 yards with the same level of accuracy they had enjoyed at 25M. By this time, two Rifleman scores had been turnt in and a couple others looked imminent. RickB gave a fine KD intro and let the four shooters place 5 sighters down range to verify their zeros. Upon arriving at the target line - what did we find? Every single shooter was making the exact same groups in MOA at 200 that they had been shooting at 25M. Eureka! That which is learnt at 25M really does allow you to shoot to greater distances! Looks like old Fred was right all along. Who woulda guessed?

We ended Sunday with seven AQTs shot and four Riflemen - men who in Lord Hugh Earl Percy's own words are "men who know well what they are about". Congrats to Mass, Todd, Chris, & Jim! And my personal thanks to all of you for keeping my record intact and not giving Fred any excuses to take away my faded red hat.  

Thanks to our own Panhead for becoming our sponsor at HSC, so that we can continue to hold events there, and kudos to the HSC for their continued commitment to our worthy cause. And bless Tammy for all of her fine food!

As much work is involved - I always feel better after completing another successful Appleseeds event, secure in the knowledge that Liberty is just a little bit safer than before and the hope renewed that maybe, just maybe, my sweet little grandchild will be blessed with the same Freedoms I have known when she grows old and gray.

My heartfelt thanks to all who attended and all to all of my fellow instructors. It was an honor and a privilege to spend a weekend with each of you working to pay our debt forward by maintaining the traditions of thems that came before us. May Liberty endure in America.

PH

[GoldFish]

Sounds like an exceptional shoot.  Wish so bad I coulda been there to experience the magic myself!

---GFG

[ItsanSKS]

Another outstanding event run by Florida's resident Senior Instructor, PHenry!

After being advised that there were a plethora of instructors due to be at this event, and that my Instructor services would be welcome, but not necessary, I decided to arrive 'incognito' to shoot evaluate instructor effectiveness.

Was difficult to stand aside as other instructors worked one-on-one with the other attendees, though I couldn't help myself when the shooters next to me were exhibiting classic issues such as trigger control, or improper sling use.  Guess once you've taken up the hat, the willingness to help others never really goes away.

With a high student-instructor ratio, the improvement in group size was rapidly apparent- it never ceases to amaze me how the first 3-4 sighter squares show textbook improvement, as the shooter gradually discovers and corrects errors in position and shot execution.

Many thanks go out to the folks who attended this event, and even moreso to those who made it possible- Staff of Hernando Sportsmen's Club, PHenry and his rag-tag team of instructors. 

Oh, and lest I forget, none other than Massad Ayoob- *the* definitive expert on all things pistol, was in attendance for the entire weekend, and has posted a write-up on his blog, which can be found here.  He has indicated that an article will be present in a future edition of 'Backwoods Home' magazine. 

Many thanks to Mr. Ayoob for his dedication to the firearms culture of America; I would also like to congratulate him on scoring Rifleman- it weren't an easy feat, even for someone as accomplished as Mr. Ayoob. 

Instructor Brown Bess took many pictures this weekend, and I am patiently awaiting their posting... hint/hint.

[lprgcfrank]

Mas Ayoob just posted a great article on his Backwoods Home Magazine Blog from this shoot!

http://backwoodshome.com/blogs/MassadAyoob/2010/02/01/appleseed/

Great job!

[LayloPro]

Very nice job, all!!

I had been wondering when Mr Ayoob would be able to attend an event, and can think of -zero- dissatisfaction that he arrived @ yours, PH!!

Nicely done, and well received, from reading his blog. You guys (and gal!!) all did good!!

And 4 RM from 20 or so shooters ain't half shabby either!!

Keep rocking Florida guys, you're keeping it on the map!

Very well done!

LLP

[RickB]

Congratulations to all of the great shooters--everybody stuck out the whole day on Saturday.  Between the rain and the strong, chill wind both shooters and equipment got "slightly" damp and cold.  The conditions weren't comfortable but real grit and determination overcame the circumstances.

I managed to spend time chatting with several shooters--it's amazing the different backgrounds and skill levels they arrive with.

Sean, one of our younger shooters (I think he's 12), has been to a couple of shoots with his Granddad.  He is determined to earn his rifleman's patch and become an instructor.  During ball and dummy drill he was paired with Annie, a first time Appleseeder.  Annie showed quiet, determined improvement all day and ended up with a solid 175 score.

Annie's friend, Julia, told me she had never used a firearm of any kind before Saturday morning.  She didn't have any idea how to make it work.  She went from barely hitting the cardboard to making solid scores on the AQT.  The two young ladies were accompanied by another first timer, Matt.  Since we had three "Matts" on the line, Willorith nicknamed him "Shooting Matt."

On the other end of the line John, who I think is of High School age, brought an ancient Moisin-Nagant bolt gun.  While he didn't manage to shoot a rifleman score he was doing quite well--PHenry invited him to shoot on the KD line.  It isn't easy shooting a full distance AQT stage 2 with a .30 caliber bolt gun but he "gave it his best shot" and averaged 4 points per round fired.  The other shooters were quite impressed--not only with his shooting but with the flash and blast from that Russian rifle.

Finally, I have to mention Chris and Amy.  When I gave Chris the news that his AQT was a solid rifleman's score he grinned with quiet satisfaction.  Amy, on the other hand, was so excited for him that she was jumping up and down.  It's wonderful to see how the Appleseed experience can be so great for couples and for whole families.

BTW, do check out Mas Ayoob's blog.  He accidentally gave me a promotion to "Senior Instructor" in one of the photo captions.

RickB

[BrownBess]

OK Shooters. here is a link to some of the photos done this weekend, feel free to download and use anyway you would like...
Thanks to all for enduring the 'Monsoon' and the frigid weather....Best Wishes, Paul 'BrownBess' Brown

http://picasaweb.google.com/paulrbrown52/AppleseedHernando13010#

[Colorado Pete]

Having Mr. Ayoob on the line and giving a thumbs-up in writing is going to be a big boost to the program. He is quite well-known in the firearms world. This is a feather in our cap!

[PHenry]

CP,
Feathers are good - buckets are better. Let's hope that his article brings mo buckets! The road is long and the cart is heavy. The water rushes in at an ever-increasing rate. Time is short - to the pumps, to the pumps! 

[John Boch]

Ayoob is a good guy.  I've taken some of his coursework and have nothing but good things to say about him.

The fact that we, as Appleseed, got Ayoob there and that he thought enough of the program to write a glowing AAR speaks volumes for the fine job the instructors did and the program they taught.

Good work.

Ayoob's enthusiastic thumbs up is valuable to the program.

John

[SamD]

In case you didn't notice, he has posted two followups on that shoot to his blog.
They build on the first and make a very nice picture of Appleseed.

SamD

[BrownBess]

SamD, make that 3 as of Sunday.....

http://backwoodshome.com/blogs/MassadAyoob/2010/02/06/the-guns-of-appleseed/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MassadAyoob+%28Massad+Ayoob%29

[Old Glory!]

Mademoiselle Yotnottin - "Yotnottin Rangers"

To remember is to honor.