Jonesboro, IN May 3-4, 2025 25M Event

[Geek]

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

This sums up our weekend perfectly.  We had cold, rainy, winding weather all weekend.  We started Saturday with 12 shooters and dropped to 7 on Sunday.  Those that were there came with great attitudes.  We started our Saturday with the First Strike to set the tone for our weekend.  The first Hits Count target showed we had room for improvement.  We opened the fountain of knowledge at firehose volume and started shooting sighter squares to get small groups.  The participants were regaled with the Second Strike during lunch and got back to the sighters.  We covered IMC for accurate sight adjustments and got ready for our first AQT target as we discussed transitioning to prone.  After covering all of the shooting positions and their respective AQT stages, we had one new Rifleman, Traveling man, and one requal, twenty2lr.  The group heard the Third Strike and closed out the day with our final Hits Count target.  Improvements indeed.  3 folks cleared the afternoon Hits Count target and were rewarded with a George Rogers Clark quarter.

Sunday was a blustery day.  Only 7 shooters made it back.  We started the day in the clubhouse for review as we waited for the worst of the rain to pass.  After the review, we headed out to the range and shot that first Hits Count target of the day.  WOW.  That first target looked good.  We moved to sighter squares to help those that changed sighting systems from scope to irons overnight and others that needed some tweaks to Point of Impact.  We moved to shooting AQTs and by the end of the day, Traveling man shot distinguished, Elias and Robert both showed us they knew very well what they were about by scoring Rifleman a couple of times each.  We ended the day with our final Hits Count target.  For the first time of the weekend, every shooting got 3 rounds in the 100 target.  That is better than 40% of the first group that shot it <read the bottom paragraph on the target for details>.  Huzzah! 

We closed out this weekend's event with a couple of great milestones.  We have new Riflemen in our ranks.  One even shot distinguished. Project Appleseed in Indiana added three new volunteers to our program.

We formed several new friendships this weekend.  I want to thank the range, Deer Creek Conservation Club, for hosting this event.  It is a beautiful range.  It sounds like we may be adding to the clubs membership as a result of this event.  I also want to thank the cadre that gave up a weekend to help put on the event.  Jayshoneybunny, TheGunslingingGamer, and EchoCharlie were there both day.  Hemi286 came out to help on Sunday.  It was very much appreciated to have the fresh perspective shared on the second day.

For those that made the score, as said in the beginning, Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods.  Your persistence this weekend makes those patches and even greater value.  For those that did not make the magical 210 or above score, everyone was improving.  Most people take several events to master those 3 pillars of marksmanship.  Practice dry firing as much as possible.  It is the cheapest, most effective way to build muscle memory.  Remember that only perfect practice is what you need.  Everyone's scores improved.  I am proud to have served as your shoot boss this weekend.  I want to thank you for choosing to spend your weekend with us.

The only picture taken on my phone is here.  Please add your pictures.  I know several were taken this weekend.