AAR - Pistol Clinic in Annapolis, MD July 16-17, 2022

[Catch-10-22]

We completed our second Pistol Clinic in Maryland this weekend at Anne Arundel Fish and Game (AAFG) in Annapolis Maryland and what an event it was!

We expect July to be hot in Maryland and the weather delivered with hot, humid, and sunny weather for most of the weekend. Luckily we were prepared with canopies over the firing and equipment lines to help moderate the sun and heat.

Saturday started with a "hatting" ceremony - ProgressNotPerfection took her Orange hat after some minor (ahem, year-long) cajoling. I couldn't be more proud to have her part of the Appleseed instructor cadre.

Once we finished our introduction to the course and safety briefings, we started shooting with the Pistol Red Coat target...and we realized from the results that this class had a lot to work on. So we started with instruction and drills to build core skills - stance, grip, 6 steps to firing a shot, and trigger control. As groups improved significantly, we started adding smooth reloads, controlled pairs, target transitions, one-handed shooting, and rapid fire. We broke up the instruction, demos, and shooting with a rousing First Strike by BBQ_Bandit at lunch to the applause of the students.

With significant progress shown by all students, we put up our first two PQTs of the weekend. We had a few students in the 190s and even had a couple students - Brian S, and Andrew C - in the low to mid 200s! But while no students qualified out of the gate, we did have two instructors requalify Pistoleer™ - ProgressNotPerfection and Off_Paper demonstrating they know what they are about. Unfortunately there was a lot of thunder rumbling in the distance and the radar was lit up like a Christmas Tree so we had to get packed up quickly and earlier than expected and had to skip the Saturday Afternoon Red Coat. Luckily we were finished before the downpour started and students were very happy not to get caught in it.

Shooting Sunday began with the Red Coat and this time it was BBQ_Bandit clearing the target one-handed to earn his Maryland Immortal 400 patch! He would also requalify Pistoleer™ with a 227 before the weekend was over! We did some warm-up drills and instructional refreshers to build back up skills and confidence, then listened to an excellent Second Strike from Off_Paper before the first two PQTs of Sunday. Some of our students finally broke through - Jack M qualify with a solid 217 and retired instructor Andrew C qualified with a 218 - Huzzah!

BBQ_Bandit then delivered Third Strike at lunch which was followed by a fun Big Dot Little Dot competition amongst the students with Jack M taking first place. Kniwolf covered the Onion of Self Defense and Holster considerations/instruction in between PQTs. Our history wrapped with Sam & Sam delivered by yours truly (Catch-10-22). While no additional students qualified, we did have another instructor CatGravity FINALLY earn his Pistoleer™ to become a fully qualified Pistol Shoot Boss! As PQT scores were generally curving down as the heat and tiredness ramped up, we wrapped with the final Red Coat target. One of our students had to give up his spot this weekend with significant burns on his trigger side hand - Jeff came to watch his friends shoot and the shoot boss offered to have him shoot the final Red Coat as a consolation prize. But even with a burned hand and no practice Jeff went ahead and cleaned the final Red Coat of the day - a Pistoleer™ persists!

I couldn't appreciate more the attention and dedication showed by the students - even those that did not qualify progressed unbelievably throughout the weekend. And several folks were within striking distance with scores in the 190s to 200s. Many times it was a malfunction, mental error, or one or two errant shots that thwarted an otherwise qualifying target. I highly encourage you to practice what you learned with live and dry fire. Working under the pressure of the clock is something that some practice can also overcome. Everyone showed they had what it took!

I also really appreciated the strong instructor presence and participation that made this a safe and successful. In addition to all the instructors mentioned above, MDShooter was our club sponsor and RSO - his design of our firing line (brass catching, etc.) and instructional support throughout the day was critical. In addition to providing the Onion and Holster segment, kniwolf guided many of the drills and did a lot of line bossing. But we couldn't have done it without the full team there.

Pictures are available in an online album here: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPeqReCN8PYVCBM4X2OZmlRnKbsiwTZTkqZpYxCvPiXTOKyCHx-NbgizPZ0LUl5mw?key=WmtTS3V5cE1FbDEyaTZLS1hIUEluRHBPNTQ3bnFB

Hope to see you on the line at a future event!

[BBQ_Bandit]

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this event... we get paid by the smiles!!

[Agent711]

Awesome job everyone and what a joy to hear you took an orange hat ProgressNotPerfection. Huzzah!

[ProgressNotPerfection]

Great write up Catch-10-22!  Thank you to everyone who's encouraged me to step up and take the hat (even if it did take a little while for me to agree  ) .  I look forward to continuing to learn from you all! 

[striknine]

Another awesome event. If it's one thing I can count on it's having a great time at an Appleseed event. I mean c'mon who wouldn't enjoy themselves with a weekend packed with Revolutionary War history and Marksmanship training? All of the instructors were super helpful and at the core just great people in general.
It was hot weekend for sure but we didn't let that slow us down. The firing lines canopies were a great idea and very effective.
I wasn't expecting to make Pistoleer™ this event, however the repetitive reminders about the core skills helped tremendously. 
Thanks to everyone that participated and to Jeff and Mark for making it possible.

Jack M