AAR Whittington Center Raton NM, Oct 3/4, 2020

[Long Rifle]

Had another amazing event at the Whittington Center (WC). Ten shooters came to the WC to refine their skills on targets from 100 to 400 yards.

Saturday morning we started with a steel redcoat at 300 to test the students ‘out of the car' zeros. We had one hit out of 10. Next up was shooting squares at 25 to review 6 steps, NPOA, & rifleman cadence. Once everyone was centered on the square we put up 4MOA squares at 300 to graphically demonstrate near zero and far zero (and as a by product we created a BSZ). We also shot at 200 with the same sight picture to observe how that related to our battle sight zero.

Next up was the 1st ever Morgans Shingle shoot. Mrs Smith brought her facsimile of a shingle and everyone had 2 chances to hit the shingle from prone to see if they might ‘qualify' to ‘join' Morgans Rifleman Corp. There were 7 of 10 hits; a pretty good hit rate. Those that hit it from prone were required to shoot form standing on the next opportunity on Sunday. There were no hits from standing on Sunday. It is humbling to feel how hard that shot is, even with modern equipment.

We started full distance AQTs around noon on Sunday. We shot the first 3 stages from the fixed firing line twice and then moved everyone to the 400 yard firing line and verified 400 yard come ups. We shot two 4th stages and then moved everyone back to the fixed firing line for the final exercises.

The goal was to hit the 4 MOA target at 500 yards (rifleman 1/4 mile). We only got one hit. Worthy of note was that this was done by Steve who almost sat out the final exercise because he said he couldn't see the target. I described where it was and he proceeded to hit using his IRON sights. Everybody else had optics. I was smiling ear to ear after that shot.

All in all, I thought it was successful shoot with lots of improvement and folks leaving with lots of hard won knowledge. I look forward to hearing from the students themselves here on the forum about their impressions.

[lprgcfrank]

I happened to be at the Center for another event and swung by to visit a participant who was an Appleseed student back in PA many years ago. 
LongRifle and team did a great job!  Their organization and planning were exemplary!
Lprgcfrank

[Mrs. Smith]

Frank, it was good to meet you! And best of luck on your bid to be elected to the board of the NRA.

Long Rifle, thank you for working in the inaugural marking of Morgan's Shingle! Those fine folks will be sent their patches as soon as they've arrived from the manufacturer. And yes, it was truly humbling to take a shot at that shingle from a standing position with modern equipment, and miss. Those men TRULY knew what they were about.  Huzzah!

[sleepy]

Never a bad day at Whittington!

Working with Alan is always a learning experience; so many new ideas to borrow from.

Working with inspiring shooters like the group we had is a joy.

Being there for the kick-off of the Morgan's Shingle was something special; hope to have a chance to shoot one some time.