AAR Gainesville TX Rifle Clinic - 25/26 Feb 2023

[Ghostring]

Before I start, a very warm SHOUT OUT to Paul Goin and his Range!

Up near the giant wind turbines of Marysville, a little north and west of Gainesville, is a range owned by Paul Goin (Pronounced like Go In).
It's his own property, and he takes very, very good care of Project Appleseed. We hold Pistol Clinics, 25m Rifle Clinics and Full Known Distance events there. He is a man who truly knows what he is about. Y'all should come out some weekend and shoot with us!

Now, on to our story!

On a cold, overcast, drizzly, cold (did I say that already?) morning of February 25th, in the year of our Lord 2023, upon the sainted grounds of Goin
Firearms, did trod 7 Americans harkening from three great families...

They came to learn the History and Heritage of our great nation. They came to learn marksmanship. And, they came to shoot.
Boy, did they come to shoot!

The Cadre that day included

• ...the steadfast MRAKESTRAW, an Instructor attending to his SBIT2 - that momentous journey almost half-fulfilled!
• ...The fearlessly mustachioed KPROCTOR, a Shoot Boss in his own right - lending his audacious talents!
• ...The gritty JOE BAUERS, an IIT3 working on TWO of his PC4 history presentations!
• ...The inimitable BRASS MONKEY, himself an IIT0 and his fair EEVEE, an IIT2 - both accompanying...
• ...The relatively harmless GHOSTRING, filling in for AF5US. At your service!

The day started cold (a recurring theme!) admin check-in duties were handled by mrakestraw and Joe Bowers
Joe would be practicing his skills this weekend, hoping to try for full Instructor in a month or so. He presented the Safety block, and did a great job!

KProctor kicked it off as Line Boss, to be relieved later by Joe and Brass Monkey (this was the first time Brass Monkey called the line! Mrakestraw made sure he did it right, and he really found his voice there by the end!)

Our first hits count target of the day wasn't terrible, but not great either. No shooters past 200 yards, and only 2 made it that far.
That would change dramatically!

Sling usage and Prone were modeled by EEVEE, and instructed by Ghostring. A break for tuning up and dryfire in a good prone position.
6 Steps was handled by KProctor - we did the split 6 steps, and introduced NPOA in the middle. mrakestraw and KProctor handled the demo for sitting/standing and Joe did an excellent IMC presentation.

Everyone was able to do their own sight adjustments, and that worked out perfectly after Joe's IMC!

At lunch, Ghostring told the first strike, followed immediately by mrakestraw's second strike - an excellent one-two punch of American magic!
Later, Joe would tell his third strike, and follow it up with a DOM - both requirements towards his PC4 (First strike to go!!)
Benediction on Saturday was Ghostring, with mrakestraw handling it on Sunday - Excellent work!

Our final hits count target on Saturday showed marked improvement: All 7 shooters made it to 200 yards, and two of them went out to 400! We even had a clean target and 4 shingles! Huzzah!!

One clean target, 4 shingles, and 1 at 400 on Sunday morning, before we checked sights and etc.
We broke out our Ball and Dummy drill on Sunday, right after checking the zeros on our rifles - followed by NPOA drill. This was extremely helpful for Will, who found out (doing the drill) that he was muscling all. the. time.  Fortunately, his NPOA paid off in the end!
We shot AQTs for the rest of the day, starting normal and then Australian-style - 6 AQTs on Sunday. We only really needed 5
The final hits count target had 3 at 400, 5 at 300, 4 shingles and two cleaned targets!

Oh, and also, Mrakestraw did a great job and passed his SBIT2 evaluation! Brass Monkey passed his PC1 to make IIT1!
And Joe is one step closer to Full Instructor!  Man, I love this crew!!!

Now, on to the shooters! 

JOE brought his dad DAN and also AMANDA to the shoot, both as shooters. SCOTT came back for his second Appleseed Shoot (after attending his first at Gainesville just a few months prior), and WILL brought his son AARON and his sons-in-law JAMES and NESTOR. WILL had attended an Appleseed shoot "about 10 years ago", and thought his sons might enjoy it. This was DAN'S 5th Appleseed, he reckoned, and the first for the boys. AMANDA had just attended an IBC in Albuquerque earlier in the year with JOE, and wanted to earn Rifleman so she could finally wear her signed Orange Hat! Whew! So, three families - how did they do?

Right out the gate, at the first AQT on Saturday, at his first Appleseed, Aaron shot a 233!    He would go on to score a 210 and a 233 over the weekend.
Dan was ON FIRE - he's a rifleman already - but he scored Distinguished twice (scope) with 240/240! His other scores were awesome at 231 and 238   Remember, Dan is Joe's dad - so he has some bragging rights! He also TOOK AN ORANGE HAT!
Scott fired a DISTINGUISHED score on Saturday with IRONS, hitting a solid 231! He switched to centerfire, later, and also TOOK AN ORANGE HAT!
James qualified on Sunday with a 212, then followed up with a 226 - At his first Appleseed!
Nestor, at his first Appleseed, and ON HIS BIRTHDAY, scored rifleman with a 213, followed up with a 225!
Will, the father/father-in-law of these three men scored Rifleman with a 211, and, not to be left out:
Amanda, after having equipment difficulties ALL DAY, was able to score Rifleman with a magic 210!    AND SHE TOOK AN ORANGE HAT!!!

So, for those following at home, that's 7 Shooters - 7 Riflemen with 3 new Volunteer Instructors!   

There are pictures, we'll get them up soon! 

[scuzzy]

Dang! 3 out of 7 took the Orange Hat? Nearly 50%. Awesome.

Y'all must have done a heckuva job.

Thanks all.

[AF5US]

Absolutely outstanding. Three new orange hats - I'm going to have to have you cover for me more often   

Ghosting is light on details here, but his efforts are NOT to be underrated. I was regrettably needed for a business trip out of state including through the weekend. Ghosting did a looong drive to ensure that MRAKESTRAW had a chance to get credit for all the hard preparations he'd been working through.

You, sir, are fantastic.

And he's not the only one. Thank you to every one of you that made this weekend a success. I was sorry to have to miss but I never once had any concerns. I knew everything was in strong hands.

[KProctor]

pics

















( did you guys know that the OD green Rifleman patch is infact so dope that it can levitate resulting in super dope photos?)

[Steck]

Criminy you guys what a great shoot!

Would love to hear from you new IITs ...
What Moved You to Step Up And Become a New Volunteer Instructor ?

[Danoman]

The reason I took an orange hat is because I love shooting and teaching, I'm an instructor for 2 other things already and kinda get off on running a public event/seminar plus I just had to show up Joe Bowers and get to distinguished before him 😎 ðŸ'' but all that aside I look forward to helping others to get better and especially teaching our real history.

[Mrs. Smith]

Huzzah!!  Looking forward to meeting you on the Trail, Danoman!  And I'm sure you'll keep that son of yours in line 

[ScottInTX]

I have been thoroughly impressed with everyone that I have come in contact with at the two Appleseed events that I've attended.  Not only have I received quality instruction on marksmanship, and  great lessons in the history of our nation, all of this done by a group of volunteers.  How could I not want to be a part of this program?  I would like to be able to help teach others. 

[Ghostring]

HEY! We made the front page of the Liberty Pole!

Forum Post: https://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=64790.0
Quick Link: https://tinyurl.com/mvy5sty3

Y'all did a ROCKIN' job this past weekend - super proud of all of you!

LIBERTY!

[AF5US]

 

I'll send the link to the range owner!

[KProctor]

Can we just talk about the fact that Scott shot distinguished with irons took an orange hat and has hisbutt  "prone position" as the literal top photo of the newsletter......

Way to set the standard my dude

[mrakestraw]

What a great shoot! Thanks again to Ghostring and his crew for stepping up and coming all the way up from Houston. Thanks to Joe Bauers and his crew from coming from Lubbock and taking all of the hats.

I hope to see all the shooters at our known distance events in the future (we have a lot coming up).

I hope all of our orange hats come back to Gainesville, we've got a great range!

[Shipwreck]

I'd first heard about Project Appleseed a little over a year ago. My husband and a friend of ours go to events somewhat often, both are orange hats at the moment. My husband had been trying to convince me to attend an event for quite a while. He said he knew I would love it if i gave it a chance, but at the time I just had (and still do have) so much going on in life I didn't think I could fit one more thing. In October 2022 he convinced me to go to a Ladyseed. The instructors were amazing. Mrs. Smith did an incredible job helping me improve my shooting. I also loved the excitement and passion behind the storytelling. You could tell the instructors loved what they did. At that point I knew one day I wanted an orange hat, but still thought I couldn't fit in one more thing. I got the opportunity to attend one day of an IBC recently, and I guess you could say that was the second strike of the match  . I had so much fun learning, and again, you could hear the passion behind the storytelling. I could see everyone really loved what they were doing. It was interesting to me, to see so many different types of people coming together to volunteer for such a noble cause. It reminded me of the history of our country, everyone putting aside differences, and working together to fight for liberty. I saw the same thing at this last event, and once again the instructors were AMAZING! Everyone put in so much effort to help me become a better shooter. I'm sure it took a lot of patience for them to work through my stubborn attitude, especially during the time when I was very frustrated with myself and not in the best of moods (Thank you KProctor).

After everything I've experienced with this program (and because I do LOVE to learn, teach, and shoot), I couldn't find a reason good enough to not take an orange hat.

                                                                                   

[Mrs. Smith]