McMinnville TN April 29-30, 2023 AAR

[ArmyVet]

11 shooters joined us a Mountain Top Rifle and Archery Range to celebrate our heritage and learn rifle marksmanship. Our wonderful cadre got everything set up quickly and efficiently. I had the pleasure of presenting the Appleseed Certificate of Appreciation to our host facility, which was very much appreciated. Our continuing thanks to Mountain Top Range for allowing us to further the mission of Project Appleseed!

After the morning history and safety briefing we eagerly set up the firing line and our shooters engaged the Hits Count target. It was not a bad showing, but there was room for improvement. Our shooters embraced the instruction well and started showing improvement immediately. Most were ready to do IMC after 2 squares!

Lunch was happily completed with more history and IMC. The shooters performed this very well and soon we were ready to move on to the sitting and standing positions.

We were also treated to an impromptu visit from MI Ramblin' Wreck who was nearby and wanted to stop by a say "HEY!"

A break for restrooms and water was wrapped up with the 3rd strike. Our first AQT of the weekend produced 2 Riflemen with Terry and Dave showing they know very well what they are about.

The afternoon Hits Count target made it clear that this group of shooters listened and absorbed our instruction with improvements for all ranges, 6 shingle hits and 1 cleaned target!

Sunday was cooler and the wind would prove to be a small distraction (it's called Mountain Top Range for a reason!). After an even better Hits Counts result (8 shingles and 2 cleaned!), we confirmed zero and started the Ball & Dummy exercise. The wind was a bit of a concern for the cadre, but it did not seem to be a major issue for our students.

Our Riflemen were impressive:
Terry 217 & 239
Alyssa 215 & 218
Seth 223 & 233
Keahi 212
Shannon 211 & 222

In keeping with the tradition of the Tennessee Valley, several of our instructors re-qualified as well:
Eagle Keeper 242(!)
Cleveland 235
Wiley Coyote 226
Rustygun 221 & 223

The Known Distance exercise was an impressive showing as well. The shooters fired a 5-round sighter group, performed IMC @ 100 yards, and were all on target with the next group! After emphasizing the importance of "return to zero", the shooter verified this by using the sighter square on the next AQT target. All did the RTZ properly and we were able to proceed right into Stage 4.

The Patriot's Day Memorial Volley was well received by our students. After hearing the true story of April 19th, 1775, hearing the names of those that made the ultimate sacrifice and honoring them meant more.

Overall, this was a great event with a great group of shooters and a fantastic cadre of instructors. I saw a lot of pictures being taken so I hope to see some of those shared here 

[Cleveland]

It was a real privilege to get to spend the day with such an amazing group of students and instructors.

Congratulations to all the riflemen and to Maximum Effort on his promotion to Instructor.

Huzzah,
Cleveland

[ArmyVet]

Some pictures are coming in because....




Shannon re-qualified with scores of 222 and 211.


Alyssa qualified with scores of 215 and 218.


Rustygun re-qualified with scores of 223 and 221.


Seth qualified with scores of 223 and 233.


Terry qualified with scores of 217 and 239.


Eagle Keeper led the way with a distinguished 242.


Keahi qualified with a score of 212.

Congrats to all 

[Palousie]

More photos are on the way! Here are more of the qualified and re-qualified riflemen and our new red hat!

[Palousie]

Sorry, there are so many. It's so hard to choose!






































































They were such good photos but 

[JustKim]

Looks like a great shoot!!  Love to see all the pictures and all the great scores!  CoNGRATULATIONS to all of the shooters and their rifleman and near rifleman scores.  I also really love seeing our young orange hat -- you go girl!!!  Looks like you kept her busy and she did a great job!  AND congrats to our new red hat!!!

[Roswell]

Wow! Looks like a great event! Congratulations to the MANY new Riflemen, and to the new red hat Maximum Effort! Well done everyone! 

[Rusty1949]

It was an fantastic event, can't wait to do it again. All the instructors did a great job helping to improve our shooting and with the history lessons. Lessons we need to pass on and never forget. Now I just need to work on my speed, still having a bit of trouble getting off all my shots on stages 2 and 3. Miggy, your groups were looking great Saturday I can tell you are well on your way to that rifleman's patch. Keep it up.   Thanks to Palousie for all the pics, it's great to be able to see yourself shooting from a different perspective.

[TheMenace]

Congratulations to all on a great shoot!
Rusty1949, you'll benefit from extra dry practice on stages 2 & 3 to improve your efficiency and economy of motion with transitions and mag changes. It works!