Denver, CO AAR - April 1-2, 2023

[Lead Sled]

As spring emerges on the Colorado Front Range, we kicked off the 2023 Appleseed season with our first shoot of the year at Skyline Hunting and Fishing Club! We greatly appreciate the support of SHFC in hosting our events.

As the weekend began, the Colorado spring weather was glorious and sunny with no wind. A great way to start learning fundamentals of marksmanship.

We moved quickly through instruction on day 1 as everyone on the line was shooting well and we began to see groups shrink quickly as everyone practiced their sling use, prone positioning, 6 steps of firing the shot and natural point of aim. Everyone on the line was gaining ground quickly in learning the fundamentals so we talked targets and made sight adjustments before lunch!

We heard riveting recounts of the events of April 19th, 1775 over lunch and jumped right back sitting/standing positions and transitions in the afternoon. Cash, Daniel and Paul were wagering who would buy the first round of milkshakes after we were done shooting based on the best AQT score of the day. The spirit of friendly competition for the day made for a fun addition to our marksmanship activities. The wind was picking up in the afternoon, but that did not deter anyone on the line from shooting the first AQT of the weekend. After the dust settled from that, we had our first Rifleman of the weekend! John put up the first Rifleman score with a very respectable 226! He also cleared both Red Coats of the day! Everyone walked away from day 1 feeling like improvements were made, and everyone was excited to get back to it on day 2.

We returned to a much windier morning on day 2, proving how fickle Colorado spring can be. We were made aware that a Red Flag warning would be in effect starting at 11AM on Sunday and we would have to stop shooting at that point. That did not deter the group one bit and they double-timed to get their gear ready to start shooting. We did a quick review and got right to shooting a Red Coat. Instructors coached on the line and we managed to shoot three AQTs and another Red Coat before being shut down for the extreme fire weather. Everyone's AQT score continued to improve even with the abbreviated schedule and instruction during AQT's! We had several shooters knocking on the door of a Rifleman's score, several personal best AQT scores, and Eric cleared our final Red Coat of the day! Thanks to all of our shooters for being flexible and adapting to our abbreviated schedule. Your ability to adapt, improvise and overcome helped us make the most of the time we had, and in the true spirit of Riflemen, you turned a non-ideal situation into something really great! Thank you for attending this shoot and spending the weekend with us.

Many thanks to our team of instructors: Zuke, flux, bravhrt and codefogey for making this event happen. It was a great weekend!

Feel free to post any pictures you took in this thread!

[johndenver]

[johndenver]

Thank you to all the instructors who make these events fun, informative and a valuable reminder of the price of freedom that was paid by the first patriots

[Lead Sled]

Some photos of the day! I didn't get to take as many since we got cut short Sunday, so if anyone else has any, feel free to add!

[johndenver]

Eric & Cash

[flux]

It was great to see so many familiar faces on the line this weekend! Thank you to all who participated.

[bravhrt]

A great 2023 outdoor season opener, despite the truncated session on Sunday.

It always heartening to see returning shooters, with seven of ten participants at this event being Appleseed "veterans", including three of our youth shooters!

Shooters: Thanks for your display of enthusiasm and dedication to liberty. I hope to see you back on the line later this season.