AAR Gaines, PA - Aug 27-28, 2011

[Chainsaw]

Pennsylvania's northern tier -  Where the gas drilling water trucks outnumber the people, the Eastern Diamondbacks outnumber both and the scenery is as fine as any East of the Mississippi.

This was the inaugural shoot at a private land range sponsored by Smitty's Sports/ Gaines Gunworks in Tioga County, PA.

Last year I spoke with Frank (three cheers for Frank!) about Appleseed, drove the 3 hours to his property and was shown what was effectively the side of a steep hill.

This summer I again visited, but this time, voila! a 25m range is carved out of that hill just as pretty as could be.

Well, this weekend was the very first Appleseed there.  Lightly attended, but momentous none the less.

Six brave folks cast aside hurricane concerns and shot on Saturday.  We fit in as much as we could Saturday since Sunday's forecast was indeed dire.

Sunday morning's heavy weather kept all but two diehards home.  We were able to duck indoors and completed all of the Sunday "talking" in relative comfort.  By 11AM the weather broke and we started shooting.  It actually didn't just clear up, aside for some mud, it morphed into an almost perfect Appleseed day.

Frank and Bill showed some commendable persistence and were rewarded with a 212 and 209 as there final scores of the day.  (Frank even cleaned two Redcoats, niiiiice!)

That's right, Rifleman Frank...  Before long he'll be running Appleseeds on his own property.

Here's to many more shoots in Gaines!  Huzzah!

-Tom

PS  thanks Joe for making the trip with me
PPS  Local flavor:  The range is off of "Hanky Panky" Road.

[sgtrock]

Nice job Tom

How did you manage to get good weather on sunday, must be the carma thing happening , Great job none the less, Congrats to Frank and Thanks for the use of the land,, Bills knocking on the door, next time up it will be a walk in the park,

sgtrock

[Chainsaw]

I was impressed by those two.  Both are quite experienced shooters, but (certainly not meant to embarrass them) they aren't quite as agile as they used to be.  They pushed themselves pretty hard, did the AQTs to "AppleSPEC" and made a good showing.

Well done gentlemen!