La Grande, Oregon July 26-27, 2014

[kenjo]

Wow! What a way to cap off the journey to SB! This was one of the most unusual Appleseeds I've attended so far. We should have a patch for Family Appleseeds.

Due to the number of "youth" shooters, ages 7, 8 and 10 we decided to provide a separate line and program of instruction for the youth shooters and the regular shooters. The youth shooters were under the experienced eyes of Nero and American Amazon, who developed a POI specifically for young shooters. The goal was to bring them along at a pace more appropriate for their ages and task tolerance, rather than throw them into the traditional AS course of instructions. By Sunday, a couple of them were ready to "graduate" over to the regular line. Fortunately, the facilities at the La Grande Rifle and Pistol Club allowed for two lines, with enough distance and angular separation to ensure that line commands from one line didn't interfere with the other, and shooters could go downrange safely when the other line was hot.

All the shooters, regardless of age, came to learn and improve, with very good results. Two returning riflemen, Troy and Ty, put in repeated Rifleman scores. At this point, I have to give a tip of the tricorner hat to Troy who clearly demonstrated he very much knows what he is about by turning in scores of 242, 244, 246 and 248! Huzzah! Now, if he can just find those next 2 points...

Two new Rifleman patches awarded! Chris turned in a solid 217 after adding some length to his stock so he could get proper SH factors.



Stephanie started out the weekend by assisting with the youth shooter line but wandered over to the regular line on Sunday, picked up a rifle, and after a couple of AQTs was rewarded with a bath with (simulated) Charles River water after turning in a score of 210!


Here's a few photos from the event (I was a bit busy so couldn't take more):

Shooting KD at 100 yards--check out the nice scenery; there is a large steel gong on that hillside at 200 yards.


Garrett ready to put some rounds down range--he came with a teachable attitude!


Mjorin (Lance) in the orange hat was our representative from the club and did an outstanding job of arranging for our use of the range for this event and moved up to IIT1 in the process. Thank you Lance for your hard work to make this event happen.




George (Shadowman) had a blast with the mighty M1 Garand! After the shoot on Sunday he let some of the young shooters fire off a few rounds. Thanks, George.




Thanks to all the participants who brought the fixin's for potluck dinner at the range Saturday night. Gave the weekend the feel of a family picnic. With guns.

Feel free to add your pictures.

[cgweigand@gmail.com]

Thank you, Kenjo for providing top notch instruction/instructors, and great history for our shoot!   I think we learned even more this year and we cannot wait till the next shoot we can attend!  A Huge HUZZAH from the Weigand family! Jacob, Tony and Cora

[George Hacker]

Congratulations to our two new riflemen: Stephanie and Chris. Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! You both persevered and took the instruction to hear and your targets showed it.

Troy and Ty, you two are awesome shots. It is great to see a father/son pair on the line shooting together. I knew I had seen you both before and when you mentioned the Grabner's farm, my memory was jogged. Hope to see you at another shoot in the future.

Ahnika, you improved a lot as the weekend went along. Keep practicing what you learned and you will continue to get better.

John, keep practicing as well. I'm glad you came back Sunday to get some more time behind your rifle to reinforce what you learned on Saturday.

Tony and Cora, it was a pleasure meeting you. Jake is an awesome boy who was very attentive to the instruction he received. Not all boys his age are good listeners. Jake, it was a pleasure working with you on the line. Keep going out with your dad and practice what you learned. Garrett, you are a fine young man as well. It was neat to see you and Jake develop a new friendship. I hope you keep in touch with each other.

Kenjo, congratulations on your new green hat. You ran a safe and fun shoot last weekend. I look forward to seeing you continue to grow as a shoot boss.

Nero and American Amazon, it is a pleasure working shoots with you two. I hope our paths keep crossing on the Appleseed Trail.

Mjorin, thank you for all your work as the local boots on the ground at the range. We couldn't get our foot in the door without the effort that you put in. It was a pleasure working with you on the line. You have a very teachable attitude, and that is what you need to be a successful instructor. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality and for helping me collect my gear on Sunday evening. I hope we work more shoots together.

Finally, I'd like to thank La Grande Rifle & Pistol Club for hosting this event. We couldn't do Appleseed without the support of clubs like you. You have wonderful range facilities and thank you for allowing us to camp on site.

ShadowMan

[Nero]

And now some pix from the kid's young at heart line:


Hailey with Trevor


Kaellyn with Steph


Kelton


The firing line, including Nero's big feet




Improvised rests were the order of the day.  Somehow we came up with a height to fit everyone.


Grand-dad John before we got him a sling


Ken gets his well-earned shoot boss hat from Tim and George