Canton, GA - 10/9 Pistol Event - AAR

Roswell · October 10, 2022, 12:32:58 PM

What a great day! BIG thank you as always to Sheriff Frank Reynolds and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office for always being such great hosts and supporters of Project Appleseed. We had 6 eager students show up at the CCSO on a beautiful albeit chilly Sunday morning. Luckily, we began the morning in a heated classroom.

First thing on the docket was greeting and introductions. After all the housekeeping was done, we jumped right into the history with the First Strike of the match as told by Captain John Parker.

After the First Strike, we held the Safety briefing and then finally brought our pistols to the line. We started from the beginning with pistol terminology and 1 on 1 pistol familiarization. We then shot the Hits Count Target to set a baseline for the day. Quickly, we saw that there was some work to do, but everyone had hits on paper and the day was promising.

Next on the agenda was Grip and Stance, then an eye dominance drill, before getting into our first dry fire exercise of the day as the Instructors checked their stance and grip. We moved on to Drawing and Firing (for demo purposes only) and at the same time went over Close Retention, Driving Out toward the target, and Low Ready. We then had a dry-fire exercise utilizing Close Retention, Driving Out, and Low Ready. We then completed the tripod of marksmanship with instruction of the 6 Steps of Firing the Shot, followed by Natural Point of Aim with a trigger reset exercise to boot. The students were rewarded with their diligence as we went live. After two targets shot and data on the board, we went over Talking Targets. We then progressed to doing magazine changes. After doing some live fire practice of that, we moved to malfunction clearing. Tap, Rack, Bang & Rip, Rack, Bang. Everyone had a lot of fun doing some of those drills before heading inside for lunch and the Second Strike of the Match.

Overmountain did a great job on the Second Strike and everyone enjoyed a well earned break from the fast paced morning. After cleaning up, we jumped right back into it. We learned about Double Tap and Controlled Pairs and then did a fair amount of practice on Controlled Pairs. Next up was One Handed Shooting. We practiced both Left-Hand Only Shooting and Right-Hand Only Shooting (You never know when you might have your arm in a sling or have to carry something... like a baby). After a really fast-paced morning, we switched gears and worked on some slow fire.

We took another break inside for Upacreek to do a stirring telling of the Third Strike of the Match. Having been refreshed, we shot 2 PQTs before taking another break to talk about the Onion of Self Defense. Then it was 2 more PQTs and we finished up with Sam & Sam. When the whit smoke of hundreds of pistol shots cleared we saw we had 2 men amongst us that knew what they were about. Return Pistoleer™ Alex shot a 226 and a 212 with his .380 (he is working his way through all the calibers and I love it!

). Not to be out done though we had a new shooter, Brian score Pistoleer™ with his 9mm and a score of 223 at his first Pistol Event!

As they say in the south, a good time was had by all!

I hope to see all the shooters again on the Trail soon. Each of you has what it takes to be a Pistoleer™!

In Liberty,
Roswell

Roswell · October 10, 2022, 05:28:15 PM

I neglected to mention that we also had a special visitor! After lunch, a woodchuck was found running on the berm. Then he decided to go home. We must have been making too much noise, because he decided to leave again and ran behind the targets towards an empty range. We called an emergency cease fire and the students performed it admirably. Even Axeman, who REALLY wanted to fill his crock-pot.

I think some students got video and hopefully one will post.

Later, I found out the deputies use him as their mascot. His name is Carl. Sorry Axeman. He has protection.

JennetteRerucha · October 11, 2022, 03:17:10 PM

It was a perfect day! We learned a bunch and had a wonderful time. Thank you so much!

Roswell · October 11, 2022, 05:07:41 PM

Thank you for the kind words! Your family was a delight to work with. We love seeing families period, but you guys were also extremely attentive and had great questions. Don't worry that none of you made Pistoleer™. You all learned A LOT and progressed well. Keep practicing what we taught and I can't wait to see what you do next time.

upacreek · October 15, 2022, 04:56:27 PM

This was another awesome Appleseed event and not just because I got to spend the day with old Scout friends. It is great to see families at these. 2 families plus I think we should be able to claim Alex as Appleseed family - hopefully we'll see his real family soon. The shooting was fun and I always learn something new. This event taught me to shoot with my left eye (cross eye dominant) and yet another way to grip the pistol - thanks Ross & Matt! Someday I'll be able to put it all together. Jeanette, Jerome, and Derrick - I hope to see you guys again at either a rifle or pistol event. I know it was a drive for you. Alex - I hope to learn from what you do. Brian and Val - it's been way too long. I hope to see you guys again soon with the kids (rifle event) Axeman - Read again that Carl is off limits! Carl needs to move his fat little butt faster while he's behind the target line. That guy flaunted his protection.

Wow - pictures! What a novel concept for me. Mrs. Smith's how to tutorial works if you actually open the thing up.