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Gunnison, CO -April 17-18: Lightening and Thunder

Started by Romeo's Hero, April 21, 2010, 02:06:31 AM

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Romeo's Hero

Well California welcomed us back with a reminder of Colorado - We had clouds, rain, hail, and sun today - but it was a little warmer.

This last weekend in Gunnison,CO was an amazing experience. We had 23 shooters on Saturday and they were a great group of shooters. We started the day off with a great safety briefing and an intro to the events of April 19, 1775, we also began to do the special presentation of the weekend which was to describe the history of each of the Rev War flags that are flown at the shoots.

Despite the rain the night before, which caused so much mud that most shooters were unable to drive up the road to the range, and added 10 pound to each of our boots we got started right on time, with lead down range a little after 9:30. The shooters drank from the firehouse and continued to improve all day on Saturday. Right before lunch we taught about IMC and then during the lunch the shooters enjoyed the 1st and 2nd strike and anticipated hearing the final strike of the match later in the day.

After lunch we continued instruction and then a little before the volley fire we presented Bloody Butchery by the British, after an emotional reading and 3 Huzzahs shooter took prone position to prepare for the volley fire. Then...

...as I read the first name it was welcomed with LIGHTENING...THUNDER....and...HAIL which lasted through till the end of the volley.

As the shooters returned from the target line the sun came back out and it was beautiful for the rest of the day. For me as the SB and Line Boss for this volley it was a very moving experience, I hope the shooters were just as moved by it.

The day continued with instruction with a short break in the afternoon for the final strike. The only AQT of the day presented us with 4 rifleman scores, 1 follow-up score, and 3 brand new riflemen. We presented patches to all the riflemen and for Jonah - he was also doused with a little bottled water for his score of 210  O0.

After presenting the patches, the Appleseed Challenge coin was presented to the shooter who cleared the Red Coats on Saturday afternoon - congrats Chris.

We discussed the 7th step and as we describe that the Orange hats fits all shapes and sizes many shooters pointed to themselves as to what was missing in between the hat and rifleman patch... Ben, who shot rifleman at a previous Appleseed (and this one) stepped up, and took the Orange hat. Welcome to the instructor crew Ben (no forum name yet).

More about Sunday after I get a little more rest....

Thanks to the Colorado instructors that were there - Double D and I couldn't have done it without you.
Cowboy - Thank you for providing such a beautiful range (and letting the instructors shoot a little further after the shoot)  ;D
Rifleman's Cadence: one well placed shot every 2 to 3 seconds..... unless your hyperventilating (modified from AmbulanceDriver)

A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. - Theodore Roosevelt

esaabye

#1
Thanks to all who came out, now time for the pictures...

The day started in Mud

We then moved to shooting and mud...
At 2pm the skies closed in, hail and thunder started and we shot the national COF.
Finished the day with 3 new Rifleman and a repeat, 1 IIT.

Sunday was great weather, sunny and 60 all day.  Lots of shooting, some nice stories including a history of the range flag (pictured).
We had some wardrobe malfuntions as noted in the photos and our shoot boss found the exact ange of the mini-14 ejector.

Thanks to everyone who got of the couch and made it happen!