Marion, Ohio May 17 & 18

[Corvette]

Place holder for real AAR to follow. Had a fantastic shoot at Meeker Sportsman Center. More to follow.

Corvette

[Corvette]

What a great Appleseed.  We had a full line at Meeker Sportsman Center this past weekend in Marion, Ohio.  Saturday morning started with a our shooters seeing a directional sign guarded by a Red Coat pointing them to the Rifle Range at Meeker Sportsman Center.  This shoot at Meeker was very much a family affair. There were a several family/friend groups that came to this shoot.  The bragging started at registration Saturday morning with who was going to out shoot who.   

Saturday morning opened as always with Introductions, welcomes, and an Appleseed safety brief. Before we knew it, we were shooting our first Red Coat of the weekend. Tim set a high standard by shooting a clean Red Coat. 

Instructions on steady hold factors in prone, the six steps, and NPOA followed. All the shooters worked hard on absorbing all the instructions and we spent much of Saturday morning sorting out equipment. Before we knew it, it was noon and time for lunch and the First Strike.

Then, the weather started a sequence of being great, tolerable and miserable. It would rain, hail, get sunny and then rain again.  Our shooters pressed on and ignored the distraction of the weather.
After lunch we continued the instructions with the steady hold factors in seated and offhand. The afternoon break included the Second Strike and before we knew it, we were shooting a practice AQT.  This was followed with a live AQT at which time Tim shot a 227 to earn his Rifleman's patch.
The Third Strike was presented at the end of the day and Saturday came to a close. 

Folks arrived early Sunday morning with everyone returning for another day of Appleseed. Sunday morning including several NPOA drills and the AQT grind.  Unfortunately we did not make any other Riflemen even though we had some folks knocking on the door.  Mark and Cassie kept inching up to the magic 210 but they couldn't quite get there.   I am sure that both will shoot rifleman the next time they come to an Appleseed.

The KD lecture was presented at lunch and after a couple of final AQT's we moved into the KD portion of the weekend. Center fire rifles were brought to the line and targets were available to shooters at 100 yards, 200 yards, 300 yard and steel at 400 yards.

Shooters confirmed there far zeros, tested their come ups to 300 and 400 and had an excellent time reaching out at distance.  There were several comments of note during Sunday afternoon.  Cassie had the opportunity to shoot an M1 for the first time.  When she finished her last round and the enbloc clip popped out, she looked up to her father with worry on her face and said, "Was it suppose to do that?"

It was also impressive to watch Rondeau, one of our youngest IIT's, take his Dad's Remington 700-308 rifle and bang a 4 MOA piece of steel 7 out of 8 shots at 400 yards.  This was truly one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had at an Appleseed.  By the way, Rondeau did this from the seated position, not prone. 

We wrapped up the day with a call to action to get involved in your local community and a great shoot came to an end.  We look forward to our next shoot at Meeker Sportsman Center in Marion, Ohio.  We expect that a number of our attendees will be back to take another shot at earning their Rifleman's patch.   

Corvette

[Corvette]

Lost and Found:

To all the attendees at the Marion, Ohio Appleseed. Several item were left at the range. Let me know if these items are yours.

1. Someone left a folding chair.  Blue with a white and red accent stripe.
2. Black Lands End jacket.
3. Red/Maroon hoodie.

Let me know if any of these items are yours.

Corvette

[Corvette]

Also, to all shooters from Marion, Freedom was missing a sling that he had loaned to one of our shooter last weekend.  If you ended the weekend with a sling that you didn't start the weekend with, PM Freedom on the forum and coordinate its return.  I know he would appreciate it.

Corvette

[Dougum]

Just a note on long range shooting that we didn't get to that I am ecstatic to have figured out: The KD lecture is a general basis for your long range shooting. We say that an Ar should be zeroed at 25 and 300. I, however, found that mine is pretty well zeroed at 400 yards. I will have to confirm but I took it up 3 moa for 400 yards and found that it was roughly 3 moa high... then we backed it down 7 moa for 100 yards, and it again seemed about 3 moa high. I will have to confirm this but I think because my optics are mounted higher than the typical sight height and because I was using ammo that is loaded a little faster than mil-spec.

On another note we had an awesome time teaching you all how to shoot a little better and informing you of your heritage. The weather could not have been better, at least on Sunday. Many of you are very close to hitting rifleman and I would love to work with all of you again.

Doug

[Corvette]

Here are some photos from the weekend.

[Corvette]

Come on where are the rest of the pics?

Corvette

[Steadfast]

Concerning picture 4......maybe I do need to get an orange hat to cover up that bald spot I have going on!

[Dougum]

Why yes, yes you do need one, however the bald spot is not the issue. Your skills are needed by all of us.

[Steadfast]

Here are some photos we took.

[IronLady]

I agree completely... your skills are needed by all. You should get your hat this weekend!

[Corvette]

Here is the Lydey Clan.  We expect them back in August to take another crack at their Riflemen patches.

Corvette

[Corvette]

And, let us not forget the young ones getting their Luther Blanchard patches.  Big HUZZAH for these fine young men.  They "knew what they were about" and they safely worked hard all weekend. 

We look forward to having them on our line again in August.

Corvette

[Beebop]

Hey, guys---

Great job on the weekend. The whole crew, everyone, I mean it---you guys all did a great job.

Our group has been talking shooting since we all left. I dry-fired for about a half hour last night on my garand.

The history was great, as well.

I'm looking forward to my next chance. Hopefully I'll get all of you guys. Had a great time.

[Corvette]

Beebop welcome to the forum.  When you guys decide which shoot you are going to next, post something down in the Ohio state forum.  That way Freedom, Chevy Shooter, Dougum and me will know your plans and can sign up to work your shoot. 

Big fun this past weekend, thanks for joining us on the line and joining the forum.

Corvette