Pelham, NH AAR April 23-24, 2022

[Luigi]

What a great weekend for New Hampshire's Patriots Day shoot!  Twelve motivated shooters enjoyed better than average New England Spring weather as they set about improving their marksmanship skills and absorbing a pivotal chapter of the history of our nation's birth - and how those two are intertwined.
     After the safety brief, we shot our morning Redcoat, then got to our Points of Instruction:
          > eye dominance
          > proper sling use as a shooting aid
          > prone position and Steady Hold Fsctors
          > 6 steps of firing the shot
          > The all-important Natural Point of Aim
          > how to adjust your rifle's sights / scope with confidence via IMC - Inches Minutes and Clicks
          > Talking targets - how to use the information your bullets encode onto the target to diagnose your     
          areas for improvement
We put these points to practice via a series of dry, then live drills, along with learning the sitting/kneeling and standing positions - and how to properly shift to achieve NPOA - no muscling the rifle!  after lunch we put it all together shooting the AQT target - with more drills interspersed.

We heard the history of Patriots Day - the events that led up to it, the people who made the incredible, difficult. choices for liberty that changed history,cand the aftermath that led to our independence. Plus some truly Dangerous Old Men and Women!  Isaac Davis and Samuel Whittemore are my personal favorites.

At 4pm we paused for the Patriot's Day Memorial volley - along with every Appleseeder in the nation, over a thousand strong - year after year deemed to be the largest coordinated simultaneous volley in the world! it was a moving experience for us instructors, as I suspect for everyone else.

The evening redcoat proved the effectiveness of Appleseed's instruction as scores at every level doubled from the morning.

Sunday brought eight shooters back; we shot the redcoat twice more, more AQTs, did a ball-and-dummy drill, then heard a known distance lecture at lunch.  What we learn at 25 meters is extendible out to the Rifleman's Quarter Mile -  500 yards - with the application of range estimation techniques and a basic understanding of external ballistics.   We moved to the 100/200 Meter range after lunch, where shooters got to see that assertion demonstrated on their targets -the effect of bullet drop and holdovers at distance, proving that they can hit at range with confidence.

Three shooters made the rifleman score, with one stepping up to take the Blue hat of Applecore - thank you Dan!

It was a great shoot, all the shooters exhibited good safe behaviors all weekend.  It was truly a pleasure shooting with all of you, and we hope to see you at an Appleseed again soon!  In the meantime, the essential points of marksmanship we presented are in the guidebooks we handed out.  The next time you are at the range or dry-firing at home, take a moment to review it to brush up on the Points of Instruction.  And if you get the opportunity to visit Lexington Green, Battle Road, the North Bridge at Concord- it's an amazing experience.  Thank you for choosing to spend your weekend with Project Appleseed.  Your feedback, positive or constructive, is always welcome. and if you liked your experience, tell others, that's how we grow the program! Thanks again.