AAR: Wabash, IN Oct 17-18 2009

[techres]

What a great weekend!

Day 1: Saturday

I woke up early Saturday morning and drove up north to Wabash in the dark looking forward to another great shoot with a bunch of northern Hoosiers.  The whole way I was thinking about the shoots that I attended at the Wabash range and the time there that I first scored Rifleman.  My mind had clear pictures of The Guy telling the story of the Lexington green while I ate and sat on the grassy hill and soaked it all in.  I also through about TC teaching positions from the ground and Dinky calling the line as an Orange hat.  It seemed like a lifetime ago, but really had only been a year and a half.

Dawn was just breaking when I got there and found other instructors and students waiting for the gate to open  which it did within moments when our local Orange hats arrived.  They came an hour early, but there was already a line at the door as it were!

Soon we had everyone gathered up, signed in, and safety briefing done.  It was time to get down to business!

We had over 20 shooters on the line, with a strong showing of AR-15's and 10/22's.  Soon the "Thud! Plink!" sounds of liberty filled the frosty morning air:






It was quickly evident that although we had shooters at all levels of experience and training, we had a tremendous amount of raw talent to work with and a whole bunch of learning attitudes from every one of the attendees.

We worked all morning on the basics: 6 steps, NPOA, and IMC.  Soon we needed a break and the smells of a smoked lunch wafted over from the clubhouse hill.  It was time to eat!



With a belly full of Brauts, dogs, burgers, and home made chips, it was time to recline, relax, and listen to Bill teach about the first strike of the match (I could not get everyone in the pic):



Back out to the range and we were off to refining new skills. 



Soon students took their turn to be teachers in the ball and dummy drill:




Then it was time to teach the second strike and the story of the men and women of Concord.

Once our duty to remember was fulfilled, we returned to the line and added in the standing and sitting positions:



And after a long day, we got up an AQT and wouldn't you know it, we had "hammered out" one riflewoman and one rifleman:





Both worked at it very, very hard.  The first was new to training and had equipment failures that she had to work through but she trooped on and earned her score with determination.  The second ran his AR hard and like a champ.  My beaming smile in the pictures is from pride!

The day was a long one and people were tired and ready for a good night's rest after cleaning rifles at home.  But that could only be done after teaching the third strike of the match and a discussion of the seventh step.

I know I slept well that night.

Day 2: Sunday

We had a smaller group on Sunday, with one new walk on teen.  Some of us (instructor's included), were sore and cold, but looking out onto a field of frosty grass and thinking about another great day of heritage and marksmanship.

Quickly we were back into a few sighter squares and then straight into the "anvil of the AQT":





And before you knew it, we had another rifleman:



He had worked impressively, and was someone I knew from an affiliated board (INGO) and both Bill and I had been keeping an eye on him and his 10/22.  The shooter was happy too, and immediately started plans to bring in some heavier thumpers for the afternoon portion of the day!




Another round of "ball and dummy" helped some of our shooters who were developing flinches and bucks:





Come afternoon, and another belly full of fine catered food, it was time to talk about some Dangerous Old Men and their vital contributions in skill, leadership and marksmanship on April 19th.  And back into the AQT's we had another rifleman soon:



Let me say this about this shooter: he had one of the best standing positions I have seen on the trail.  SOLID barely covers it.  And he took all two of his minutes, impressive.

We kept it up took the time to run Parker's revenge.  All the students did superbly well, but the father/son team who won it did so with a perfect score and two ragged holes where the officers would have been!  Again, the coin was earned and our ancestors remembered with honor and act.

AQT after AQT hammered away and soon the very same father that won the Parker's Revenge game took a rifleman's patch to match his son's:



His other son was very close and now has to catch up to his brother and dad!

As the day ran from us, while we kept hammering out our AQT's, our one Sunday only new shooter was getting one on one training with a variety of instructors who each took time to rotate him and get him up to speed:





By the end of the day, everyone was getting tired,  but we had enough time to push out a few more AQT's.  As a group, all of our shooters were doing superbly well, but many were knocking right at the door.  On the last AQT of the day, two more shooters put all the pieces together and scored over 210!





The first is a special friend of one of the Wabash IIT's and was having a rough time with her rifle.  She was smart enough to sit out of a round in order to get her mind out of an angry place and back into the bubble.  It worked!

The second is a gentleman who worked hard all day with his heavy thumper M1A and struggled through all the transitions and finally got the AQT together the way it needed to be.  Look at those holes!  I watched them appear in the last string - one on top of the other!

Then came the last Red Coat of the day and the final talk about the program and our nation's future in the face of what was left to us by our ancestors on April 19th.

As always, I had a great time.  There is no better way to spend a weekend than to get to meet caring and concerning people.  Getting the opportunity to speak about April 19th is the gift they give to me.  The best training I, BillofRights, Resdep, LibertyHH, 17Chap and the other instructors can give is our gift in return.  Each of these events is memorable:  the line of AR's firing both days no matter the cost of ammo, the youth taming their rowdiness to do serious adult training, the instructors who were my teachers when I was a student, and the hard work and improvement each and every student put forward this weekend.

Thank you to each and every one of you, and I hope to see you all down the Appleseed Trail again soon!

Techres

[Junior Birdman]

   SA-WEEET!  Looks like a "picture perfect" Appleseed. Thanks to all who came and thanks for all the hard work and dedication out there guys!  JB

[J Jessup]

Great report and pictures!   

Special thanks to our hosts at Wabash Wildlife and Sportsman Association for making the range available to us and for the great folks who cooked the food.

It was great to meet some new folks, see new Riflemen developed and renew old acquaintances.

I'd like to hear from some of the shooters.

17Chap

[ThirdEye]

This was my second Appleseed, and I thought it went really well.  The instruction was great, the weather was fantastic, and my dad, my brother, and I had a great time.  It seemed better organized than my first Appleseed, which was at the same range in June of 2008.  The history lessons were a bit longer and more detailed this time, and we didn't finish up on Saturday until about 7:00.  This was rough for those of us who had to drive a decent distance to get home for the night.

Techres was a great teacher and mixed quite a bit of humor into the lessons to keep things fun.  It was cool to see this guy instructing, since the last time I saw him he was just down the line from me at my first Appleseed.  He picked on us AR guys a lot, but I'm pretty sure he didn't really mean it.

Thanks to all the instructors, the host range, and the lunch crew.  It was nice not having to eat cold Subway sandwiches 2 days in a row.

[Joshua M. Smith]

What can I say?  It was great!



Thanks to all, and I will be attending future Appleseeds as time and money allow.

Josh <><

[techres]

Techres was a great teacher and mixed quite a bit of humor into the lessons to keep things fun.  It was cool to see this guy instructing, since the last time I saw him he was just down the line from me at my first Appleseed.  He picked on us AR guys a lot, but I'm pretty sure he didn't really mean it.

I tease those I feel kinship with.  That means everyone at the seed, but especially AR guys.  Why?  Because I am one!

And on that note, I was trying not to be giddy about how many AR's were on the line.  You just don't see as many at one time these days.  Cudo's to you and you all did great!  Hope to see you again soon and with an AR again.

[natlmatch]

Techres,

                  That was an awesome write up!

Regards,

NM

[Satchmo]

Wow , what a great weekend. From one of those "dangerous old guys who knows what he's about" I couldn't have had a better time. I spent two incredible days with my sons learning and enjoying the time together. Thanks so much to the great instructors, the gracious host facility, and the wonderful cooks for an unforgetable weekend. I will return with as many friends as I can as soon as I can. Thanks again for making an old guy happy.

[hawkhavn]

Looks like Chef Techres and crew whipped up another boooffet of marksmanship alright.
Great job guys!
Congratulations to the new Riflemen and Riflewomen (I like the plural there!)!

Remember you'll have another Appleseed chance almost inyour backyard on NOV 21-22.

Hawkhavn

[Joshua M. Smith]

Where would that be?

At this point I'm not sure how to start threads - looks like you have it set up so only certain folks may do so? - and haven't found the schedule yet.

Not to hijack this thread you understand... just trying to figure out how to post new threads and find stuff.

Thanks!

Josh <><

[hawkhavn]

Josh,

Here's the schedule:
http://www.appleseedinfo.org/as_schedule2.php

Ft Wayne is the next shoot up on NOV 21-22.
Here is the registration link: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/467042938 %20%20%20%20%20
Info link: http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=10142.0

It just went up this morning.

Hawkhavn

[Mudcat]

Great write up and pics! Congrats to the new Riflemen women included! Sounds like a good time was had by all.

[Bill of Rights]

Yet another shoot thoroughly enjoyed.

Rarely do I leave a shoot without being sore, physically tired, mentally exhausted.... and yet with a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment at having fulfilled my duty to our Founders, having helped turn couch potatoes into shooters and Riflemen. I am honored by working with such men and women as connect themselves with the Appleseed program.

Thank you to Techres, LibertyHH, 17Chap, Resdep, Steve, and Justin, my fellow instructors, to the range staff and volunteers, and most of all to those who came out to accept the duty that our Founders put before us.

Blessings,
Bill

[ATM]

Sounds like a fun and productive weekend at Wabash.

Kudos and congrats all around!

[airdog]

This event was truely glorious. The content of the instuction in itself is complete.However the skill dicipline and concern for the student exhibited by all of the instuctors is responsible for the high level of success accomplished by the students before or at the end of the second day.RESDEP I made it contact me as you desire. STEVE I hope you got my note.

[rvb]

I also attended the Oct 17-18 at Wabash. I was one of the AR guys.

I'm not really a "rifle" guy, have a few and shoot them a couple times a year... and at that it's usually 3-gun type hose-fests. Arriving at the range I joked with my buddy that I could probably shoot equivalent or better groups off-hand w/ a pistol at 25 yds than prone with my rifle... but that's why I was there... to learn something and become more "one" with my long gun.

I was a little apprehensive what the "tone" would be. I had heard stories about anti-personel drills and was afraid the tone would be very 'militia-ish' or anti-gov dispite not being a billed as a militia group. Instead what I found was the instructors did an excellent job rooting the need for aimed/accurate fire in historical context and relating the training to our individual responsibility and heritage as citizens. I'm sure every 'seed is different based on the personalities of the instructors, but techres and all the others did an excellent job and I think anyone at the range looking for stronger sentiment would have felt out of place.

As for the shooting, I'm definately a better shooter today then on Saturday morning when I showed up. I took away a lot of things I want to dryfire out, and I will be taking the AR along with me more often to the range.

As I expected, my handgun skills translated over very well (I have many years experience in practical pistol shooting). Sight-alignment, trigger control, and shot calling are the same no matter what the trigger is connected to. I pulled out a 230 on the first day and backed it up with several high 220's on Sunday. Getting the "Rifleman" patch on Sat took any self-induced pressure off, and I felt I could experiment more on Sunday and learn the effects of different grips, sitting styles, sight pictures, sling tension, etc.

All in all, 2 great days of shooting. Now I just have to let the burns on the small of my back heal from the hot brass belonging to the guy next to me...

Making it even more fun, I built my rifle out of spare parts, including an old "ban-neutered" barrel just a week before the shoot.

Thanks,
-rvb

[colycat]

RVB,

Welcome to the forum and NICE shooting   Looks  like you very much get the message of Appleseed.  What are you going to do next??  Its sounds like you are a perfect candidate to teach more Americans.  We really do need your help in some capacity to save this great country.

Think about it.

Colycat

[Lynette]

Hi folks,
Sorry for the late comments.

I was shocked and tickled! to receive my Rifleman patch that Saturday.  I have honestly never shot a rifle before and never shot prone.  I was even using a borrowed gun that was sorely in need of being TAKEN APART and cleaned!

The training was like having my own personal instructor the entire weekend.  I went with the mind that THEY were the experts and I listened to EVERYTHING and tried to do everything they said.  Guess what?  IT WORKS!!! 

I'm told I take instruction well and being that I was a newbie, I didn't have any bad habits to deal with.  I must have a bit of a natural talent if there's such a thing with shooting.  I would site up and my NPOA was just there, from go.  Regardless of that the training was necessary.  I didn't know what to do.  I doubt I could have been consistent, especially when shifting.  I didn't know how to work the gun, how to site a rifle or all the safety.

By the end of day two I had experienced what seemed like everything that could go wrong.  But I found the up side that I now know how to deal with it.  Plus I can now dump a stove pipe or change a magazine with the speed of a mad man.

There was a verity of people - teachers and shooters.  It was neat to see and hear the different kinds of rifles and scopes.  I loved the history lesson.  I loved that they would wait if you needed to run to the restroom.  I loved that when I forgot to put my safety on I wasn't yelled at (even the second time!) or embarrassed.  I loved that they focused on "it was NOT a competition."  It is about you, your confidence and your IMPROVEMENT.  I love that lunch was great and cheep but that's kudos to the gun club.

They recommend aspirin or Tylenol as directed (one of the instructors really chimed in with "as directed." lol)  They weren't kidding! 

I'm thankful that our laws still allow our 2nd amendment right and pray that enough people are aware and politically active so our God given rights are never taken from us. 

I highly recommend the Appleseed. 

[Shooterer]

Joshua,
Nice offhand (standing) shooting, I've been shooting High-power matches for a few years and I would be proud of that group.

Keep up the good work and invite a friend to the next seed.

Shooterer