Colorado Springs, CO AAR - Aug. 19-20, 2023

[Lead Sled]

The dog days of summer continue on the Front Range and what better way to take advantage of the summer than to do some shooting! We had 14 shooters join us at Pikes Peak Gun Club in Colorado Springs this weekend for another fantastic weekend of marksmanship and liberty! A big thanks to Pikes Peak Gun Club for hosting us this weekend.

On day 1 by 9AM it was already hot so we got rolling right into the fundamentals of marksmanship. We practiced the prone position and loop sling, learned about the six steps of firing the shot and NPOA in the morning. Groups were improving by lunchtime.

We took a break in the shade and heard riveting recounts of the events of April 19th, 1775 over lunch. We got back to shooting and quickly worked through sight adjustments, the sitting and kneeling positions, transitions, and the standing position. Everyone was feeling good so we dove right into the first AQT of the weekend! At the conclusion of that, a rifleman emerged! Brian demonstrated he knew very well what he is about, starting strong and qualifying on the first AQT of the weekend with a very respectable score of 221! We had two students, Brian and Sean both clear the Red Coat at the end of the day! With marked improvement in shooting, and with several others knocking on the door of a rifleman's score, we ended day 1 hot and tired, but already looking toward day 2 with excitement and optimism.

We returned to more heat on day 2, so everyone was eager to get shooting. After some morning review and sight adjustments, we dove back into AQT's. We shot a warmup AQT before lunch and reviewed the standing and sitting/kneeling positions. After our first AQT of the day Deech, Eric and Steve were all shooting scores just below 210. We decided that a ball and dummy drill was in order to see if that drill might show some areas that could be tweaked to push them over the top. I think everyone took away something from that drill to be improved. During lunch we heard stories about Timothy Murphy, some dangerous old men and Doctor Joseph Warren.

After lunch, we went right back to AQT's. After another regular AQT to shake off the lunch tiredness, we decided the rapid-fire type was in order. An inadvertent shot that broke the target line wire made all the targets wave in the wind in the midst of the AQT. Everyone wanted another shot at the rapid fire AQT after the line was repaired so we shot another rapid-fire AQT. We saw more improvement on both of those and many shooters were diagnosing targets and looking for areas to tweak and improve their fundamentals! We took a quick break and discussed other considerations for shooting at full distance. That spurred some excellent conversation about the topics of ballistics and wind! After two more regular AQT's, everyone was feeling hot and tired, so we decided to conclude our weekend.

Another pretty special milestone happened at this event. Lead Sled and Bravhrt both received their 25 event pins! Thanks to Bravhrt for coordinating recognition for this achievement and congratulations to all the Colorado Cadre that received 25 event pins this summer!

Thanks to all of our participants for spending the weekend with us. It was a pleasure shooting with you all and we appreciate you all dealing with the heat, having really great, teachable attitudes and for really bringing a great atmosphere to this event. Everyone made continual improvement throughout the weekend and I am very impressed with where we concluded. You all should be very proud of your marksmanship and I hope you continue to practice and further your shooting careers. Hope to see you all at other events or a KD in the near future!

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

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

[Lead Sled]

Brian shoots the score and both Brian and Sean clear the Redcoat!

[Lead Sled]

25 Event Pin Exchange!

[Mrs. Smith]

great job, Colorado!

[Captain]

Awesome to see you guys all rocking the PPGC! Congrats to the Riflemen (and to those Appleseeders who got their 25 event recognition).

[bravhrt]

Much gratitude to Pikes Peak GC for hosting this event. They are yuge supporters of our program and we'll certainly be back @ PPGC in April '24.

Kudos to the shooters and instructors, working their way through a very warm weekend with well timed breaks, plenty of hydration, and ample application of Neutrogena SPF 55.
And of course to SB Lead Sled, for running another great shoot.

Reservations are still open for the November 25m shoots at Boulder Rifle Club and Skyline Hunting and Fishing Club.
Here's the link to upcoming events: https://appleseedinfo.org/schedule/?qstate=CO&state=Colorado