AAR: New Breman, NY August 28-29, 2010

[boltgun71]

What a great weekend at New Breman!  Early Saturday morning brought us 16 Appleseeders, some new to Appleseed and a few repeat Seeders', the largest group so far at New Breman for a shoot.  Word is certainly getting out and many more repeat Appleseeder's are bringing friends and family to shoots as well.  They must like what they see.  

We had a military family from Fort Drum come, husband, wife, and two sons, plus one of the son's best friends.  Unfortunately the youngest son and their friend weren't old enough per NYS Law to fire a rimfire rifle in the Appleseed.  Luckily they brought their BB guns with them to the shoot and we made them our "Designated Snipers" for the weekend and they fired all weekend long off rest at one end of our firing line with a new IIT helping them along.  They had a blasts, it was great having them on the line!  Oh, and you should have heard them reciting the 6 steps and safety rules, they had them down cold!

One of the instructors had his parents come; they drove to New York from Missouri I believe for this shoot.  The father fired all weekend and he has just recently finished radiation treatment for cancer, he attended the June shoot at New Bremen while he was still receiving treatment.  His persistence and positive attitude is a model for all of us to follow.

We also had a new shooter drive about an hour and a half to attend this shoot and learn how to fire a rifle.  He had never fired a rifle before and was a complete newbie.  He started out struggling with the unknown but by the end of day one he was operating the rifle smoothly and shooting tight 4-6MOA groups all from field positions!  I commend him for coming out and seeking professional training to learn how to shoot.  He had no bad habits as well.
We had a large group of instructors present to help this weekend, 7 total in all I believe.  One drove as far as Brooklyn to help at this shoot.  Thank you everyone for helping out.

On Saturday the first Redcoat brought us 12- 100yd shooters, 2- 200yd, and zero 300 and 400yd shooters and 3 got the headshot.  By the end of the day we had 10-100yd, 7- 200yd, 6- 300yd, 3- 400yd shooters and 8 shooters got the headshot!  What a significant improvement for one day!  We only got one AQT in on Saturday but that gave us a repeat Rifleman from a previous Appleseed.

Sunday brought us 14 return shooters ready to blasts some recoats and AQT's.  The first redcoat provided us with 14- 100yd, 8-200yd, 6-300yd, and 1- 400yd shooters, and 5 who got the headshot.  Then the grind started and continued throughout the day at 25m.  By the end of the day we had 2 new Rifleman and 2 more repeat Rifleman!  Congrats to all our Rifleman!  Several more were close with at least 4 other shooters firing into the 190's to low 200's.  Persist and you will get it.  

During the presentation of the first new Rifleman patch of the day I also presented an IIT with a new Rifleman patch that had been earned but not given yet.  Congratulation goes to Mind Games for earning her patch on an AQT awhile back and then stepping up to take an Orange Hat and help out at this shoot.

Lunch was provided free of charge by the instructors on Sunday with fresh fried fish and Hawaiian pulled pork.  

A class on ballistics was given after lunch and in the afternoon we ran the full distance range in addition to the 25m line all afternoon.  All the shooters who wished were able to be rotated through to Full Distance to confirm BSZ and attain zeroes out to 400yds.  One shooter, a new Rifleman, was astounded to see how tight his group was at 300 and 400yds with just using a sling.  The shooter shoots a-lot of tactical carbine shooting and remarked that his group at 300 and 400yds was tighter than what used to be an acceptable group for him at 150yds.

Over all it was a great weekend and I look forward to hearing everyone's comments.

Pics will come soon.

[Spartan]

Sounds great, wish I could have made it.

[Another D.O.M.]

Fantastic!  I'm already looking forward to trips to New Bremen for next year.

Great job all, and thanks again for your service!
MJA

[boltgun71]

Sitting Steady Hold Factors




Our junior air rifle shooters!

[boltgun71]

Our new Rifleman!





Finally, our very own IIT Mind Games getting presented her patch after having fired Rifleman prior to this Appleseed.  She had never actually received her patch and I decided to give it to her during the shoot so she could get her time in the spotlight.

[Tj]

I would just like to say what a good time this weekend was.
I've learned alot.
I t was great to be around folks who are looking for the History of this great County.
Although I do find alot of political correctness among the group.( Its just that I'm sick off the PC)
Everyone was very nice and very helpful.
Although the gentlemen who was in charge seemed to be very long wind,and came off as kinda
creepy.
The one man there with the red hat I didn't know what to think of him.
All the men in the orange colored hats where very nice and helpful.
Thanks for the good listen
        Tj

[B9]

I would just like to say what a good time this weekend was.
I've learned alot.
I t was great to be around folks who are looking for the History of this great County.
Although I do find alot of political correctness among the group.( Its just that I'm sick off the PC)
Everyone was very nice and very helpful.
Although the gentlemen who was in charge seemed to be very long wind,and came off as kinda
creepy.
The one man there with the red hat I didn't know what to think of him.
All the men in the orange colored hats where very nice and helpful.
Thanks for the good listen
        Tj

Glad you had a good time.

If you continue to go to Appleseeds and maybe one day become an Instructor will will find that you have much in common with some people you would least think. Not many groups I know of have 20 some year Army folks, doctors and punk rock band members all working side by side on a volunteer basis.

The guy in the red hat? No one here knows what to make of him either other than he is one fine Instructor and American.

[U.S.Cavalryman]

TJ I am glad you had a good weekend. As long as you learned I am Happy. And you said the Orange hats were "helpful" 

[vibbit]

TJ glad to hear you had a great weekend and enjoyed yourself with a bit of History.
Appleseed has many different kind of people from all walks of life with many different backrounds.
Hope you can make it to another appleseed sometime.
Glad to here you found the orange hats very helpful.
good luck in your future on whatever you decide to do .

[Weekend Warrior]

Just thought I'd get on here and share these so long as I had them.

[Weekend Warrior]

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[Weekend Warrior]

Hey if someone knows how to put these in the body of the post let me know. I'll put more up.

[Olsarge]

Me and my family had a blast!  Although, I did not earn the Rifleman Patch, it was not my reason for attending.  My whole reason for attending this event was to introduce my wife and kids to the sport.  It was a complete success.  They felt very welcomed and can't stop talking about it.  All the instructors were awesome, especially the guy in the Red Hat!  We had a great oppourtunity to spend some time with GDan after the Saturday shoot and feed him some venison.  It takes a great commitment to this organization to drive as far as he did for the weekend and I and my family thank him.  We hope to make another Appleseed soon.  And a special Thank You to Mind Games for assisting the Young Snipers!

Great Job Instructors!!