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Phoenix After Action Report

Started by Rumpshot, October 21, 2007, 12:17:05 AM

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Rumpshot

Here goes for my first AAR.

I was a little disappointed in the numbers (not sure what they really are, but KoolAid will know), but I was quite pleased with the number that did show up.

A Hat Tip to Fred and Staff for the fine work they did today.  I don't think I saw anyone bleeding from the beatings.

Yours truly needs lots of work yet.  By the way, I am a pretty good Cook.
Member Arizona Apple Core.
Appleseeds are formed in the Apple Core.

Francis Marion

#1
Missed you all this time, an emergency this week precluded attendance.  Thanks for hosting- Like to hear how it went.  Don't let Koolaid trade all his '06 brass.

Fred


     Believe the official count was 42 on the line, not a bad turnout, but not a great one. We'll have to issue a challenge to our AZ Appleseeders - esp now that we've doubled and tripled the number - to make the next turnout at least 100.

     The remarkable thing is that these guys showed  up being able to outshoot everyone else Fred's experienced on the Appleseed Trail.

      Of the 42, one was qualified at 400 yards, FIVE qualified at 300 (twelve percent, if you do the math, right?), EIGHT qualified at 200 yards (twenty percent) - and SIXTEEN qualified at 100 - that's over a third.

     Leaving NINE who did not qualify at any distance.

     Compared to Texans, and any other state, this is indicative of pretty good 'come as you are' shooting.

     If we'd been in Texas, the numbers (based on past experience) would have been TWENTY who did not qualify at ANY distance, and twenty who qualified at 100 - and TWO at all the other distances combined...

     So naturally, when they improved during the course of the day, it made the instructors feel really good - since the credit goes to them, right? ;D ;D

     Tomorrow is another day, and on a world-class range like Ben Avery, it's sure to be another good day on the Appleseed Trail...
"Ready to eat dirt and sweat bore solvent?" - Ask me how to become an RWVA volunteer!

      "...but he that stands it now, deserves the thanks of man and woman alike..."   Paine

     "If you can read this without a silly British accent, thank a Revolutionary War veteran" - Anon.

     "We have it in our power to begin the world over again" - Thomas Paine

     What about it, do-nothings? You heard the man, jump on in...

Rumpshot

12 hours at the range yesterday.

11 hours at the range today.

TIRED!!!!

Ask Fred about the wind.
Member Arizona Apple Core.
Appleseeds are formed in the Apple Core.

funfaler

Sounds like a GREAT weekend!

Thanks for your hard work and effort in making this shoot happen, get some rest then let us know how it all went.


The dips in your couch will go away if you get up and take the Seventh Step!

1911Ron

#5
Well here we go, it is now Sunday night where did the time go? Saturday was a busy day, Redcoats, 1" squares, AQT classifications and the QD AQT  whew ;D Wish i could report that i made Rifleman the first day but i can't :o

Sunday dawned bright and WINDY!!  boy did we have problems, but the RWVA engineers sprang into action ;D we tried many things,we finaly ended up cutting the legs off of the target stands so they stood only a foot or so off of the ground. We then proceeded to shoot, did i mention that it was windy boy was it windy ;D we started of with Redcoat targets did a classification AQT and did a QDAQT That was pertty much the drill for the day along with ball and dummy drill and wouldn't you know i do everything right and when Fred shows up i don't hold back the trigger and i let my finger come off of the trigger ???

I had alot of fun and met some great people, i'm a little soar and tired( a good tired mind you ;D) we made some plans for future appleseeds and i might become a Redhat who knows( i have to shoot Rifleman first) oh did i mention it was windy ;D

I forgot to mention i shot my LTR both days and only had a few problems late in the day but not as many as some all problems i believe was due to the blowing sand and dirt oh did i mention it was windy ;D

Fred


     I couldn't say the day was particularly windy but early in the day witnessed 3 or 4 of the expendible target stands explode and come apart during a gust of what I presume was wind, the piece, some of them, winding up on the firing line.

     They kept doing that periodically until as Ron said, we cut the legs off. He neglected to add that we staked them down with rope and stakes - and during the rest of the day we only lost a half-dozen more.

     The public area of the range was shut down because of (I think) they said "wind" - and CMP cancelled their day of shooting and went home, but there didn't seem to me to be any wind to speak of.  ;D

      In Indiana, I remember a gust sucking the targets off the cardboards at 25 m; if you reached up quick enough, you could catch your target as it passed over your head.

     Today, it was the entire cardboard sheets that took flight, and wound up on the firing line, to be retrieved and returned, with two billion more staples punched in.

     Much later in the day, even tho I did not notice any wind, I saw a 4" X 4" X 12" rug-covered wood block used on the benches - I saw it rolling merrily down the concrete firing line... ;D

     Wind? Can't say I saw any, but it got pretty dark a few times from all the flying dust, dirt, and sand.

     We instituted what I think we will in future call "sand/dust drill" - as soon as your rifle was checked and cleared, you were told to put it in its case for protection. Mags and ammo were to be kept under cover, chamber flags needed to be secured to keep them from blowing away - and more than once I looked to the match director's elevated station to see Bob 210 crouching down low (he said it was to keep the wind noise from drowning out the mike, but one wonders... ;D ;D

     The procedure was to keep rifle protected except during prep and actual firing.

     AZredhawk fired a rifleman score on the rapid-fire AQT that ended the day, under some pretty tough wind conditions. Congrats! (He made the third rifleman of the weekend.)
"Ready to eat dirt and sweat bore solvent?" - Ask me how to become an RWVA volunteer!

      "...but he that stands it now, deserves the thanks of man and woman alike..."   Paine

     "If you can read this without a silly British accent, thank a Revolutionary War veteran" - Anon.

     "We have it in our power to begin the world over again" - Thomas Paine

     What about it, do-nothings? You heard the man, jump on in...

MOGromit

Some pictures from the adventures on Sunday.  The wind and dust made me wish we had some of the rain they got in Ottowa, IL.


Fred

#8
     Caption for third pic down: "You have just been drafted into the RWVA engineers!" or, "The public range can be closed, CMP can cancel their shooting for the day, but the RWVA Appleseed will continue as planned, wind or no wind!"

     Caption for fourth pic down: The "high" target board, even "tied down" could not withstand the wind. The "cutdown" version next to it proved pretty tough. Believe some of the guts got up to 50 mph.

    Caption for fifth pic down: "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome" - the RWVA motto in action. As you can tell, the primary wind direction was from the targets to the firing line. When a gust hit, the target backer would not simply "blow down" - no sir, it would explode, with scattering pieces of 2 X 2 and cardboard headin' for the firing line, to the shouts of "Incoming!"

     Next-to-last pic: That's Rumpshot in the sitting position, savoring the benefits of being the "mover and shaker" in making the AZ Appleseed happen. Thanks, Rumpshot! :)

    Good pics, AZ. Thanks much for posting them. Got more?

    Anyone else got pics?
"Ready to eat dirt and sweat bore solvent?" - Ask me how to become an RWVA volunteer!

      "...but he that stands it now, deserves the thanks of man and woman alike..."   Paine

     "If you can read this without a silly British accent, thank a Revolutionary War veteran" - Anon.

     "We have it in our power to begin the world over again" - Thomas Paine

     What about it, do-nothings? You heard the man, jump on in...

funfaler

50 MPH heh?   That is only 73 feet per second, it should not affect POI much at all, at 25 meters,.......why quit, Besides, as stated earlier, Horizontal targets only make you a better shot ;D

Congrats to AZRedhawk44 and the other, un-named Riflemen.  If you factor in a 'wind handicap' you must have done very well.

Good job folks, look forward to hearing more about this shoot and all the future events as well! ;)

The dips in your couch will go away if you get up and take the Seventh Step!

risky buisness

As I read these posts I see the word wind(?) included in most of them, altho I see hats on the shooters in the pics, and a roof on the building and still reference to wind, come on guys, ask Bob210 about wind, thats where you have to stake the slim fellas down to keep them from rolling away, where curbs just prevent cars from moving on there own on to the side walk.

Geeze, you know its windy when you go by the airport and see a piece of 36" pipe log chained to a phone pole for a wind sock.
seriously, this sounds like a great experience for all who attended, many thanx for the effort to put it on, outstanding!!
Risky Buisness, Rifleman and worlds fastest single shot M1 Garand operator

Rumpshot

Glad it is over, it really was a long hard weekend, and then there was the shooting too.

Thanks to Fred, Bob210 and koolaid for coming out to put on the program.  Looking forward to a repeat performance soon.  Details to follow.

I was under the MISTAKEN impression that we would be shooting stationary targets.  Usually I would have brought my Remington 870 for the moving targets we were using.

Fred mentioned that the targets did not blow down, but  "exploded".  That is true.  The wooden parts of the target frames would often end up half-way between the shooting line and the target line.  Early in the day when they were snapping off the legs, some complete target frames with "pruned" legs made it all the way to the shooting line.

The next to last photo above shows me in poor form.  Look at the light above my head.  During the last relay, the light exploded and showered me in the sitting postion.  I then had to transition to prone on a glass covered mat to finish the relay.  I think AZGROMIT has photos of the aftermath.

Congratulations to all who came and participated.  I hope you had a good time and learned lots.

Rumpshot

PS  Would you like fries with that?
Member Arizona Apple Core.
Appleseeds are formed in the Apple Core.

Rumpshot

POI was not a factor in the light breeze we had.  Shooting glasses kept most of the fist sized sand from impacting the eyeballs, but created some nasty flinching.
Member Arizona Apple Core.
Appleseeds are formed in the Apple Core.

AZRedhawk44

This was a great shoot, very informational and a lot of information to soak up.

I shot rifleman with a reported score of 212... I took the target home and looked at it again and I actually shot a 217, I missed one hole when tallying up on the firing line.

Wow, I learned a lot.

I learned:
1.  If you're gonna reload your ammo, don't do it in a rush the Thursday and Friday evenings before a weekend shoot.  You'll screw something up, I promise.  I ended up not completely tumbling the case lube off my brass, and I gummed up my chamber with a mixture of Hornady One-Shot and finely powdered walnut.  This caused my M1A to malfunction after about 60 rounds, and I transitioned to my backup rifle, a Marlin .22.
2.  If you're gonna use optics above and beyond the stock irons, make sure they're solid.  Mine weren't on my M1A, and the recoil of the rifle rattled them loose, losing my zero.  Between the ammo and the optics, the M1A was a lost cause for Saturday.   :'(
3.  Went home Saturday night, picked up a couple hundred rounds of factory .308 so I don't have dirty reloads plaguing my reliability, cleaned and lubed the M1A, removed the optics and ARMS mount.  Came back Sunday morning and participated in the Appleseed Engineering Program with my rifle left out, chamber open, in the light Arizona breeze we were experiencing.  Came back and the receiver looked not unlike a piece of heavy grit sandpaper.  Sigh.  M1A went back in the case, and shot the rest of the day with the marlin .22.  At least the .308 ammo held down my shooting mat.   ;)

Thank you, Fred, Bob and Gromit, for the six steps to firing a shot and NPOA instruction.  I can still feel where improvement can be made, and I still need to shoot rifleman with my M1A instead of my squirrel teaser.

I'm gonna chase after that red hat, I think.  One shooter asked me at the end to work with him to shoot rifleman, and he and I will be returning to the public range at avery in about 2 weeks for a refresher course.  Anyone else want to join us?  Rumpshot?  Gromit?

MOGromit

I have some more pictures I can post, but couldn't figure out how to put in the captions (as Fred gave and I've seen on other threads).  I was using "Additional Options..." and then "Attach:___" to put the pics on.

Is there a way to load the pics up and then use the Insert Image option to specify them?  I've just got the pictures on a thumb drive, not on a 3rd-party website to link to with "http..." code.

Thanks,
AZ Gromit

Rumpshot

Gromit,
I have done some, but don't recall offhand how.  A work around is to post the photos, then do the caption in a subsequent post.

Thanks for taking the pictures.  I knew I would not be able to snap many photos, so I intentionally left my camera at home.

Thanks for coming and participating.

Rumpshot
Member Arizona Apple Core.
Appleseeds are formed in the Apple Core.

1911Ron

I to want to thank Fred, Bob210, Koolaid and Rumpshot for putting this on.  I would like to mention one individual that was there his name was Garret he was 11 i think and he always had a smile and willingly helped out with what ever needed to be done, when i asked how he was doing shooting wise he would say ok, when asked if he was having fun he would reply yes.

The people where great i met Azredhawk, Azgromit again and his wife Tiffany,Cris Knox and his son Brandon along with Jim, James and Garret and of course Fred, Bob210,Koolaid and Rumpshot. Again thanks for everything.

kool aid

Quote from: 1911Ron on October 22, 2007, 02:23:18 PM
I to want to thank Fred, Bob210, Koolaid and Rumpshot for putting this on.  I would like to mention one individual that was there his name was Garret he was 11 i think and he always had a smile and willingly helped out with what ever needed to be done, when i asked how he was doing shooting wise he would say ok, when asked if he was having fun he would reply yes.

The people where great i met Azredhawk, Azgromit again and his wife Tiffany,Cris Knox and his son Brandon along with Jim, James and Garret and of course Fred, Bob210,Koolaid and Rumpshot. Again thanks for everything.

Right back at'cha brother.

Nice to see a turn out as large as it was.

Truth be told, it was a pretty good one, and a nice indicator of the strenght of the local community's promotional efforts in advance of the shoot. Very few Walk on's (3) vs the pre reg. (35+). Look forward to the next one.
Take a moment and remember the kind of man you chose to be when you got yourself out of that last scrape. Maybe you prayed that you would be different if he delivered you. Maybe you found hope here you thought unreachable. Do not concern yourself with anything 'els THAT. Make the mission first.

Muddogg

That wasn't wind...that was God giving you moving targets!  ;D

Sounded like a fun time, and looks like you showed those CMP folks a little wind doesn't stop a rifleman!
-The Muddogg

chrisknox

#19
What a day!  I'll add my thanks to Fred and the rest of the group who organized this shindig.  I had chores and honey-do's on Saturday and only visited the first morning.  Son Brandon and I were able to make the second day breeze-fest.  I can't rightly say how windy it was, but I don't recall the last time I turned a shovel over for fear it might blow away and hurt somebody. 

For what it's worth, today is a gorgeous day in the mid-70s and with just a puff of breeze.  Yesterday was an Appleseed special.

Despite the wind -- or maybe because of it and the opportunity it presented to work together to overcome an obstacle -- it was a great day.  Absolutely the most intensive shooting instruction I've ever received.  Anyone who wants to get together at Ben Avery for a follow-on and refresher, give me a shout.  Brandon, impudent youth that he is, is rubbing it in that he beat me.  I need to shut that nonsense down in a hurry.

All the pictures here are from Saturday morning.  I was in survival mode on Sunday and the thought of pictures did not cross my mind.
And -- the rifle?  Wouldn't go out naked of a rifle.  When shoes and clothes and food, when even hope is gone, we'll have the rifle.
-- John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

TucsonJohn

Let me chime in with thanks to Fred, Bob210, Koolaid, Rumpshot and all the other folks I met and their efforts in making this event come off as well as it did.  If you haven't been yet, you owe it to yourself to make the time.  Thanks AZGromit for the pics and the preparations.

The only prior structured rifle instruction I've had was as a kid at YMCA summer camp in Prescott, AZ.  Bolt action .22s and wait your turn, a program LOOOONG since gone.  Since that time I've acquired cool stuff in my safe, built some rifles for fun, bench-shooting and whatnot, shot plenty of rounds - but your typical lack of shooting skills and knowledge.  I feel I left the Appleseed Sunday afternoon having learned things I need to learn.  You can't ask for much more than that.  Also left kinda dusty.

I started Saturday morning with a too-new-to-me 10/22 and found I was unqualified for redcoats.  I'll figure that out later, but suffice to say before lunch I bit the surplus bullet and switched to the FAL, thankfully found there was hope.  A big howl out to Koolaid for his help and for picking up my spirits on a humbling morning on the line - appreciate it.  Meanwhile the instruction firehose was running full blast - "OK, I need to do this, and then I need t-  LOAD!!" [fumble fumble...]  But it works good. Overload the brain, overload the body, then make 'em get it together.  I shot a 189 on the Sunday AQT - an "improvement" [:cough: double] from our first AQT Saturday.  And Fred was yelling at me during that round too. Is that February date for Phoenix booked yet? What about Tucson?

Regarding the Sunday conditions:
- I feel we received poor instruction on proper handling of targets in motion. Do you aim for wood and try to slow 'em down first or just lead 'em, and by how many minutes?
- Our target-securing tools would've been familiar to a 1775 militiaman.  Well, maybe not those nifty multi-tools.
- More seriously, keeping your rifle running under field conditions was tough, and a seriously useful exercise.  You don't learn that with your safe queen on a balmy day.  I was running in bolt-action mode on more than one occasion and thinking how to fix that.

Yeah I was sore, red-eyed, and tired last night.  Had a haul to Tucson.  But at the end of the day I got a hot shower, a hot meal, rubbed various medical products on sore bits, and got to sleep on an actual mattress.  Was thinking that's pretty soft living relative to a guy picking a real fight using muskets.

P.S. My first post!

Old Dog

That can't be Fred!!  When I saw that picture I thought it was me!!  Something must be wrong with that camera.  Fred's a lot skinnier than that.  I've seem him in the flesh, more than once and he wasn't that thick, front to back.  Either that or working all these Appleseeds isn't wearing him down, it's "widening his horizons" (or is it dimensions??)  I'm not going out to AZ till you get a new camera that takes pictures right.

Saw some good reviews of this one on the M14 Firing Line Public Forum, too.
http://www.m-14forum.com/upload/showthread.php?t=43200&page=2
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."

—Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle

AZBastiat

I, too want to thank everyone who helped put together and run the Phoenix Appleseed, especially Fred, Bob210, Koolaid and Rumpshot. I'd been attempting to follow Fred's Guide to Becoming a Rifleman for more than two years with disappointing results because I didn't know what I was doing (wrong sling usage, implementation of prone/sitting/standing, etc.) Learning the correct way made a huge difference in my shooting right away. I have to believe I'll improve a lot more with practice.

The RWVA instructors are some of the most committed liberty activists I've ever met.

bob 210

#23
Well saturday dawned bright and beautiful in the Arizona desert and as we pulled up to the Ben Avery Shooting Facility I realized how lucky these Arizona folk were to have such an outstanding shooting range.....I know where I would spend most of my time if I lived there!!! Once we got passed the line at the gate for the CMP Western Games we pulled into the parking lot of the Small Bore Rifle Range.....did I mention the 100 yrd + concrete firing line was covered, had lighting for the firing line and the targets, had a PA system for calling the line, had target backer post holes already set up at intervals out to 100 yrds, and had plenty of tables, benches, and rifle racks spaced out the whole length of the firing line!!! :o Folks in Arizona.....in case you didn't know.....take advantage of this world class shooting facility!!! :o :o

  As Fred, Kool aid and I pulled into our parking spaces and began to unload, it was good to see Rumpshot, Ron1911, AZGromit and other volunteers already hard at work setting up target backers at 25 yrds.A great big THANK YOU to Rumpshot, and Ron 1911 for putting this shoot together. With 40 pre-reg's we were expecting the usual half as many walk-ons , but only a few materialized for a total of 42 shooters for saturday, we proceeded to post Red Coat Targets. Kool aid proceeded with admin and we gathered them up for an introduction into the pool of marksmanship training and the history of April 19, 1775. It was interesting to note when questioned about April 19, 1775, to their credit, the Arizona folks actually had some competant answer compared to the usual blank stares usually seen when bringing up the question on the streets of CA :-\ :'(

   As Fred posted earlier, the first RED COAT showed some promise as we had the following scores:
1 @ 400 yards
5 @ 300 yards
8 @ 200 yards
16 @ 100 yards
9 non-qualified
9 @ 250 head-shot


   Fred began to explain the Rifleman Tradition-the ability to hit a man sized target @ 500 yards with a rack grade rifle a ball ammo. He continued to explain how the Appleseed Nationwide Tour was not an event but the beginning of a journey towards rifle marksmanship, and that a Rifleman persists....not only in the pursuit of marksmanship, but also in waking up a sleeping nation to the heritage of this country.

  Then it was off to the land of 1" squares. Everyone joined together in the "six step chorus" especially my favorite...step number 5......squeeeeeeze the trigger!! And they all were taught to be the master of their triggers.

  Another 5 rnd sighter group and we delved into IMC......inches, minutes, clicks and math problems.
More sighter groups...... more instruction.......covered sling positions.....hasty hasty, hasty, and loop sling.......prone position.......npoa


  Then it was time for the Rifleman's all purpose cure or APC.......the ol' ball and dummy drill.....and out came those little gremlins of rifle marksmanship......flinching, bucking and jerking. Like all good Rifleman, the shooters persisted and put those gremlins under heel.


  After lunch, Fred proceeded to go over the history of April 19,1775......and to their credit our shooters gave him their full attention, with nods of approval and recognition of the debt we owe those that sacrificed that day.


  Next we posted two green Classification AQT and went over standing and sitting positions including how to aquire npoa of each position.....thanx AZGromit for stepping into the pool of instruction at this point....good job!! We used the Classification AQT targets to polish our shooters in preperation for the first Quick and Dirty AQT of the weekend.

We completed our first QDAQT and welcomed another Rifleman into our ranks.......later on at the end of the day we were notified of another Rifleman score by a shooter that was obviously so humble that he was trying to avoid the praise of his fellow shooters.....so we let him know that we couldn't rob the other shooters of the opportunity of hearing about the skills he used to attain such a prized level of marksmanship skill and that we would let him explain it to them in the morning.

  The light of day was fading fast as we prepared for the final Red Coat of the day........and let me tel you about sunset in Arizona......it's like a light switch.....but we managed to "get her done" and sent our shooters home....tired and dirty, but with their thirst for rifle marksmanship fully satisfied by drinking from the firehose of the Appleseed Program.


   Waking up early sunday morning dying of a thirst only the "dry" heat of Arizona can bring, I stepped outside of the hotel room to get something to drink from the car and to my horror I realized a strange and yet foreboding sensation as a powerful gust of wind almost lifted  me off my feet and propelled me down the stairs.Now I have seen and survived the wind of Wyoming on several occasions, which is constant stampede of dust and grit from 25 to 45 mph, but this Arizona wind was a different beast altogether. It would come at you from one direction at 35 to 55 mph determined to blow your hat and your hair right of your head.....and then stop completely and come at you from the complete opposite direction!! :P

  As we pulled into the shooting range and started setting up target stands our challenge was set before us. How do you not only keep target backers from flying 20 feet into the air and sailing straight for the firing line, but how do you manage to keep said target backers from desintergrating into kindling when a 50 mph gust hits them in the form of a giant dust devil. We realized that this would be like shooting while being under a full artillery fire. It was time to gather up the troops, pool our resources and come up with a plan.

  The Appleseed Core of Engineers stepped up in grand fashion and it brought a tear to my eye :'((or was it the grit flying into my face?) to see them put their shoulders to the wheel and work together to rebuild/repair target backers even as they exploded from the next gust of wind. :-\ After a little trial and error a working model was figured out and we proceeded to cut the target backers down and stake them out with rope and paracord. After a couple of hours of work we were ready to start with review.


   We reviewed the four safety steps, sang another chorus of the six steps, went over npoa,reviewed the history of April 19, 1775 and visited a few greybeards who stopped a supply wagon and heard about grenadiers surrendering to an old widow woman.

  Another Red Coat..with improvement from the previous day....amid the occasional target backer explosion! :o
Then it was off to our first QDAQT of the day. One of the shooters that shot Rifleman the previous day repeated his feat. Then it was time for another ball and dummy and then a trip to the carnival to shoot out the star....after running a lap around the firing line ::).

  After lunch....more instruction and then the story of Samuel Whittamore.

  Another Classification AQT for some polishing and then it happened.....exploding target backer in the middle of prep period. :P So we cleared the line and amid cries of "Staple men staple, for God's sake staple as fast as you can!!" we sent runners to repair the target boards and then it was of to what we thought would be our last QDAQT. Our favorite Rifleman shot his third Rifleman score, proving that it wasn't a coincidence.

  Then Fred came up with a great idea......how about a 40 rnd rapid fire QDAQT? What a great idea and a great way to end this great event!  40 shooters firing 40 rnds in 4 minutes.......that's 1600 rnds in 4 minutes!!! :o As the firing began a thunder developed.....could it be?........yes it was........we heard the undeniable sound of Liberty!!!!! :o :o :o

  When the dust finally settled, we had a knew Rifleman in our ranks.....Congrats AZredhawk44!

  After a lot of clean up we gave the benediction, awarded a Rifleman patch and sent our tired and dirty shooters on their way to continue their journey in rifle marksmanship!!!!

  As we rode out of town into the sunset like some kind of old western I kept thinking about what a great bunch these Arizona folks are, and I find myself looking forward to the next time we meet at Ben Avery!! :D
  Bob 210 
If ye love wealth better than liberty,the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom,go home from us.We ask not your counsels or arms.Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. SA

funfaler

It is great to see the new posters, welcome and we look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

The AZ Appleseed program has great potential, and it is exciting to see so many folks stepping up to make it happen, thanks to All that have been mentioned above for a good Appleseed Shoot.  I am sorry that I missed it, and look forward to working my way out West for a visit and some work.

Keep the energy going, looks like Arizona can easily become a State of Rifleman, and be an example for some of the others ;)

Thanks all for your efforts!



The dips in your couch will go away if you get up and take the Seventh Step!

cannonman61

Hey all,

Did Kokalis make it to the event as advertised? And if so, what was his intitial reactions to the shoot!

If this was covered earlier, I missed it and am sorry for repeating things already covered.

CM61
Artillery lends dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.

Rumpshot

Quote from: cannonman61 on October 23, 2007, 10:55:15 AM
Hey all,

Did Kokalis make it to the event as advertised? And if so, what was his intitial reactions to the shoot!

If this was covered earlier, I missed it and am sorry for repeating things already covered.

CM61

Peter Kokalis was indeed at the shoot on Saturday morning, as was Chris Knox.  Chris returned on Sunday with his son and joined in the festivities.

I had also invited the Governor of Arizona, Senators McCain and Kyl of Arizona, as well as several other dignitaries.  I recieved notice of regrets from the Governor, Senator McCain, and one other legislator.  The rest were no-shows.

I also submitted press releases to the following:

Newspapers
Ahwatukee Foothills News
Arizona Republic
East Valley Tribune
Prescott Daily Courier
Arizona Daily Star
Arizona Daily Sun
Casa Grande Valley Newspapers
Northwest Valley News
Phoenix New Times
TV
KNXV (ABC-15)
KPHO (CBS-5)
KPNX (NBC-12)
KSAZ (Fox-10)
KTKV (Ch. 3 / WB 6)
Radio
KFYI 550 AM
KNAU 88.7/ 91.7 FM (NPR)

Not surprisingly, I was unable to determine if the press releases were published in any form.

Since CMP was set up with the "store" right next to our range, we had lots of folks walk over and watch/ask questions.

I will try to do better with publicity next time.
Member Arizona Apple Core.
Appleseeds are formed in the Apple Core.

AZRedhawk44

Rumpshot, you did a fantastic job.  Press Releases?  Wow.  Not your fault if the dirty libs and pompous neocons don't want to print/write/talk about America's rifleman tradition.  We'll git 'er done in our own way.

Looking forward to the February tentative AZ appleseed at the same facility.  Let me know how I can help... assisting with morning set up, line officer, whatever.  Can somebody PM me the details of the Boulder City, NV appleseed that was discussed this last weekend?

Go 4 TLI


The Revolutionary War Corps of Engineers at work.

Before.

After.

Al Qaida inflitrates the firing line. "Convert to Islam, or the Redcoat gets it!"

Fred


     Great pics! Can't see enough of 'em! Brings it all back, and preserves it for future generations - to show how tough and dedicated we all are. :D

QuoteAs I read these posts I see the word wind(?) included in most of them, altho I see hats on the shooters in the pics, and a roof on the building and still reference to wind, come on guys, ask Bob210 about wind, thats where you have to stake the slim fellas down to keep them from rolling away, where curbs just prevent cars from moving on there own on to the side walk.

     Yeah, yeah...all I know is that my hat that I'd tightened down from the previous week at Hoover Dam (there's a real updraft that hits you when you look down over the edge) wouldn't stay on my head - even after I took it up to the final adjustment (had to break thru the "war emergency overdrive" wire to do it  :)) - and it still blew off my head! Only when the ear muffs were on, could I get it to stay.

     Yeah, WY has wind, no doubt about it. But AZ has a wind that has a mind and character of its own, I'll wager.

     Let me echo the thanks to Rumpshot, 1911Ron, AZgromit, AZredhawk and the others who showed up - and on Sunday, pitched in like it was Bunker Hill, to get those target stands anchored to the ground - "Quickly!" ;D

     A big thank-you also to people who showed up the best shooters I've seen anywhere to date, people who right from the first Redcoat target put those so-called rifle-totin' Texans to shame...

     Let's get a couple of you guys qualified as instructors, and then we'll lead a strike team into Texas to clean that state up, and make riflemen out of them. No more line-dancing - at least on weekends - no sir, it's out to the firing range! What a difference in the state of Texas, all those wives suddenly finding themselves married to REAL MEN. Gosh, wonder it if would foster a whole new generation of riflemen ;D - then we'd know we've got things rolling!

     And think how much our Lone Texan Scout would appreciate the help!

     AZ goes down in my book as a great Appleseed weekend. Stay tuned! I think Rumpshot is working on four more Appleseeds, all around the state, for next year.
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      "...but he that stands it now, deserves the thanks of man and woman alike..."   Paine

     "If you can read this without a silly British accent, thank a Revolutionary War veteran" - Anon.

     "We have it in our power to begin the world over again" - Thomas Paine

     What about it, do-nothings? You heard the man, jump on in...