Cedar City Feb27-28 2010 AAR

[sleepy Joe]

I know it is late...  here is how it went down.  first I want to thank the folks that helped make this a successful event, my two IITs Chris and Trent who did an excellent job of keeping the line safe and making it possible. also Will C. and Fred B. who made Rifleman on Sunday and picked up his orange hat ... congrats Fred.  When  we arrived on Saturday we did not have a way to drive the posts into the frozen ground so while the line was being set up I did the registration and the first strike We had a good turnout on Saturday ..... 18 shooters it was pretty chilly, snow on the ground. We had a fair amount of youth and they impressed me with the way they took instruction and kept the line safe. After Trent and Chris set up the line we were able to get in all the instruction, the 3 strikes and still went through an AQT. Talk about drinking from the fire hose. the first redcoat did not look so good but the shooters were ready for instruction an tightening those groups, at least most of them were on paper.  My wife enjoyed the people and the beautiful countryside. We had a special treat David Marlin brought an 1831 Musket to show us and let some of the kids hold it ... it went nice along with the history
 On Sunday we had 1 returning shooter Chris H. and 2 new shooters. it snowed throughout the night and there was fresh blanket of snow on our rental car in the morning.  I know 3 shooters and 3 instructors is not something somebody would brag about but there was a lot of 1 on 1 instruction by the end of the day we had 2 new riflemen Chris who shot a 220 then backed it up twice with a 218 then a 215... nice shooting Chris.  Fred also shot a rifleman score of 218 and picked up his Orange hat very impressive guys.  My wife Ana and I had to catch the 700 flight out of Las Vegas and since the NHRA finals were going on there at the Las Vegas Motorsports park we had to leave a bit early but it was still a full day. all in all it was a successful shoot, we met some very interesting people and got to ride thru some beautiful scenery. hope to see you on the trail
Joe

[sleepy Joe]

more photos

[sleepy Joe]

I am working on adding more photos

[Two-of-Three]

A very chilly weekend indeed.  I think Sunday actually wound up being colder -- mostly because of the constant breeze.

It was great to watch the various shooters progress in their skills, some of them "unlearning" some bad habits to get there.

The best for me was being able to spend time with Fred the Plumber and his boy.  Fred is one staunch, local Project Appleseed supporter, and help him find his The Key(tm): trigger -- both control and follow through.  He'd participated in a few AS events but had always come up a dime short of Rifleman.  Getting that trigger finger to behave pushed him right over the top. 

After Fred shot his Rifleman score, his boy -- who'd been slowly progressing through the 100s at his first AS -- came up to me and earnestly said, "Will you do what you did to Fred to me?" meaning watch him like a hawk and drill into instill in him the fundamentals so Rifleman would come naturally.  He didn't quite shoot expert before we packed up for the day, but he had gone from low 100s to high 100s.  For a first time shooter: 

One thing I learned:  Utah needs more instructors!  Come on, my fellow statesmen; let's get out and make Project Appleseed happen in Utah!  (But maybe not in February! BRRR!  )

[Two-of-Three]

Ah, I forgot an interesting side note:  I picked up a shooting mag at my local Big Box store t'other day and it had an article about shooting better (more accurately) in the "real world" -- i.e., hunting big (dangerous) game, not bench shooting.  The author went on quite a bit about "NPA" (a.k.a., NPoA: Natural Point of Aim) and shared an experience he had at a rifle-centric training school:  they setup at night on a 300m range; the line boss waited until everyone had found their [NPoA] and adjusted until it lined up with their targets ... then he switched off the lights (it was night, remember) ... and waited ... a long time ... then gave the fire command in the dark.  They had been at-the-ready for thirty to 60 seconds before squeezing the trigger in pitch black conditions.

This is obviously not something we would want try at an Appleseed shoot, but it serves as an excellent illustration of NPoA:  if you're muscling that rifle, there's no way you'll still be on-target after a minute of not being able to see -- and if one really had true NPoA, (s)he should be able to put three to five rounds into the target without being able to see it.  The only way to hit that target when "shooting blind" like that is to have really, honestly found and aligned your NPoA; you can only get about half of The Six Steps in:

• sight alignment ("What sight?")
• sight picture ("Eh, again ... what sight?")
• respiratory pause ("breathing in ... breath out ... hold
• focus your eye on the ... oh nevermind, you can't see to be focusing anything on anything else
• squeeeeze the trigger ("waitin' for that surprise br--[BANG!]")
• follow through -- well, keep the trigger back until the rifle settles, and "call the shot" (Does your mental snapshot taker have infrared?! )

Well, how'd you do, shootin' blind and all?  If you followed steps 1-3 and found your NPoA before the lights went out, you should be able to take that mental snapshot of a sort; it won't be visual, but rather tactile:  Did you stay relaxed and keep your in NPoA?  Did you pause in your breathing like you've trained?  Did you use good trigger control, both before and after the shot fired?  Call the shot, then.

Not something you'd actually ever need to do "in the real world" -- shooting blind -- but it serves to drive home the point of how critical NPoA is.  Fun as a little mental exercise.

[sleepy Joe]

we do do an exercise (carding the sights) that is like shooting in the dark so once they get their NPOA they have to trust it . At least they should trust it .  here are a few more photos

[sleepy Joe]

yes it was cold Sunday ... I think it got up to about 30 or so ... culture shock for this Texas tropical climate boy

[Two-of-Three]

Yup, carding sights works very well -- I think I used it at least twice, maybe three times for this weekend -- and much more practical than the shooting-in-the-dark example.  Carding's usually a NPoA eye-opener for students.  "OH!  That's what you meant."

Nice pictures!  But who's that funny lookin' guy aiming down range with that musket?   {coughs once, and wanders off}

[Buttshot Comanche]

This after action report is from Cris Talley who was a spark plug in getting this shoot started.  We appreciate greatly his help! 

"The Appleseed Shoot on February 27th & 28th was a great success.

Almost twenty shooters showed up on Saturday and performed very well in spite of the cold weather.  Lots of youth (about 1/2 of the shooters) stayed the entire day and gained valuable experience.

Almost every shooter, adults and youth, remarkably improved their marksmanship by the day's end.

We were very fortunate to have Joe & Ana Chambers, from Porter Texas, to our shoot.  Joe is an absolutely outstanding shoot boss and the information and knowledge he provides is invaluable.  Ana, also attended and helped keep the shoot running smoothly.  We cannot thank them enough for traveling so far from home to run our Appleseed Shoot!

We want to offer a special thank you to Mr. David Marlin for taking his time to bring a 1831 Springfield Armory Musket for everyone to see.  It is very close to the muskets used in the Revolutionary War - a remarkable piece of American History.  Everyone was impressed.

We want to thank "Trent" for coming down from Northern Utah to help instruct the shoot.  He was gracious enough to stay two hours after the match was over to help two young shooters learn more of the basics.  Thank you Trent!

Also, we want to thank Stan Easily for securing the range for us and providing, once again, the materials for the target set-up!  Without this there would not be a shoot.

Finally, we want to thank our coordinator, Will Christensen, for putting everything together so we could have this Appleseed Shoot.  As usual, he produced an outstanding shoot and we sincerely appreciate his fine efforts.

Sunday February 28th was even colder than Saturday.  Very few shooters showed up but the good news is that two of them qualified expert and received Rifleman patches.  They are Chris Huffman and Fred Bronsema.  Congratulations to both!  The will now go through the instructor training course.

Thanks again to all,

Cris Talley"

[Sir Not Appearing In This Film]

yes it was cold Sunday ... I think it got up to about 30 or so ... culture shock for this Texas tropical climate boy

"Does it hurt your mouth as much as it does mine to say the word Northener?"

Looks like a great shoot! Congratulations!

[sleepy Joe]

Watch out SNAITF theres "Northeners" everywhere

[Double D]

Woo hoo Fred!! Grats on the rifleman's score