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Leyden, MA May 22-23 AAR

Started by dwarven1, May 24, 2010, 12:01:34 AM

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dwarven1

This is a VERY brief report; I'm utterly exhausted from an awesome shoot. I'll fill in the details tomorrow.

14 shooters Saturday, 10 shooters Sunday, 4 riflemen total. FOUR cleaned Redcoats on Saturday afternoon.

And one amazingly improved young shooter.

Our shooters ranged from a father & son team from western NY & N. E. Pennsylvania who were obviously VERY experienced shooters - they hit Rifleman on their first AQT on Saturday - to a 13 year old local boy who had NEVER held a rifle in his hands before.

Young Blake's first AQTs were about what you'd expect - they looked like a shotgun hit the target. He started grouping Saturday but the groups were still large. I threw several different IITs & instructors at him - his rifle was wobbling quite a bit. Tried a shorter stock. Rifle still seemed to be too heavy for him. IIT Mike93LX put a bipod on his scoped LTR and worked with him extensively Sunday - Mike and Blake made a HELL OF A TEAM as Blake went from scattergun targets to scoring in the 220's. Granted, it was with a bipod... but his groups were down in the 1 and 2 MOA range. He showed amazing determination, never complaining ONCE and shooting every round.

I awarded Blake a RWVA challenge coin for making such amazing strides - this is a young man who knows very well what he is about. I'm looking forward to seeing him at the September Leyden shoot. (I'll try and have a lighter rifle there for him to use - I can't wait to see what he'll do with it.)

And I'm very impressed with Mike93LX's work with Blake - he really made a breakthrough with him. Excellent job, Mike.

I'll add to this in the morning.
Unhappy it is ... to reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?

GEORGE WASHINGTON

luv2Bfree

What beautiful weather for this shoot!  No black bear sightings, despite Saturday AM warnings.  I will say that Leyden is a "hidden gem"...' cuz you can't get there from here, although you may only be just a mile away (ok, that was MY navigating experience).
Many thanks to Eric Goodpiper for the use of his range, and to Mrs. for the brownies!



"A thunderbolt falls on an inch of ground, but the light of it fills the horizon" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

MetalgodZ

Quote from: luv2Bfree on May 24, 2010, 04:44:46 PM
What beautiful weather for this shoot!  No black bear sightings, despite Saturday AM warnings.  I will say that Leyden is a "hidden gem"...' cuz you can't get there from here, although you may only be just a mile away (ok, that was MY navigating experience).
Many thanks to Eric Goodpiper for the use of his range, and to Mrs. for the brownies!
Tough to find, but a beautiful range. Glad to finally shoot Rifleman and glad to get home and get some ibuprofen into me. Many thanks to the shoot dwarf boss and everyone who showed up to instruct. I think Vicki and I will be back for the next Leyden shoot, if not to an earlier one. She was only a few points from Rifleman, and while she's already said she's not comfortable instructing, I don't think she's going to let me be the lone Rifleman in the house...especially with that purple patch available.

The two (very) dangerous old men from CT were fun to watch, and may have convinced Vicki and me to take a drive out to OH for a CMP purchase and to watch and/or compete. Blake's improvements were pretty substantial, his challenge coin was well-earned, and it sounds like he'll progress as soon as he's physically able to hold that rifle in place.

I've got to post a picture of Vicki's shoulder after shooting the known range portion with the M44 and later shooting with the M44, Enfield, and Garand at the 200yd steel. No complaints out of her, just "hey, check THIS bruise out."  **)

Almost everyone was gone and the range was fully cleaned up by around sundown, and the day came to a fitting end with Eric "firing for effect"  with his bagpipes from the parking lot, and an M44, an Enfield, a Garand, and an AR15 pelting the crap out of a 200yd steel target.

fprintf

Stuart here, refusing to grab a hold of the rifleman patch in the picture above. I wondered why Dwarven1 was holding it up there for so long!  

My story, as with most, is long and begins with my Dad buying me a BB-gun, a Crosman 760 powermaster, long gone at some tag sale. But the recent story began a few months ago @ a safety briefing at my local club. CortJestir was also there and gave me his business card that has the 1 inch black square on the back. Up to that point I only had a handgun and not much interest in rifle shooting, really I wanted a shotgun for home defense. Anyway I had heard of Appleseed somehow previously but it wasn't until the introduction that I decided to look into Appleseed more closely. I stumbled into the LTR thread on Northeastshooters.com from a posting on Reddit.com, finally deciding I would build an LTR and start looking into local events.

I finally bought my Marlin 795 a few weeks ago, actually a pair of them so that I could have one and my son could have the other. Then, of course, the search for all the bits and pieces to make them into an LTR. A little trigger work on mine, putting a scope on it for these 40+ year old eyes, putting the sling on backwards and then putting it on the shelf. About a week and a half ago I decided I just couldn't wait to the first available CT event (for me) in July and I had to start searching other states when a brand new event in Leyden, MA popped up about 2 hours drive away. My buddy Larry had also expressed interest in doing an Appleseed after I sent him a bunch of links via Facebook and before we knew it we were signed up and completely like little kids before Christmas. CANNOT WAIT, MUST GO SHOOTING NOW!

I think Larry and I printed the directions three different ways between us, completely prepared for a slog through the woods. We only got lost once and fortunately had a Google Maps printout to get us back on track only 1/2 mile off course. When we arrived at one of the turns we saw a sign saying "APP  LES  EED" and we knew we were on track, then we saw an Orange Hat placing some more signs. A quick hello and some instructions how to get through the woods on the trail, past a few hippie places with signs complaining about the range, and we were there!  

I have never learned so much about shooting in such a little time. It wasn't all that much time before we were set up on the line and shooting our first red coats. I knew I didn't do so well when from a prone position I didn't even get one Red Coat with 3 shots. *gulp* By the time lunch came around my groups had improved significantly and I had figured out mostly what I was doing with the scope. I was still having trouble getting correct eye relief on my rifle scope and ended up using a jaw weld to get consistency. This continues to be a problem.  I found the NPOA to be completely understandable and quite often when I found my NPOA the sights would come right back onto target and it was a matter of doing a respiratory pause, squeeeeeeze the trigger and then observe the round hitting someone on the 3, 4 or 5 portion of the target. My cadence was really fast and I got yelled at a few times (yelling being required to get through my head *and* to get me to hear through the ear plugs).

My first AQT I scored a 204 and was pretty pleased. My second AQT we did a "New England Style" 40 shots in 4 minutes and I scored a 212. I was psyched beyond belief.
 Dwarven1 spent quite a bit of time with the .30 caliber guage on the target so I wonder if it was close.

Again, I cannot believe the improvement after a few hours of instruction and am disappointed I couldn't come back for Sunday. I am also disappointed to hear I missed the bagpiping, another fun thing I used to do and have put on hold for a little while. I will add that the discussion about the events on April 18-19, 1775 helps emphasize why this stuff is important. I had just finished reading Paul Revere's Ride and they had an amazing amount of detail memorized. It is a story worth retelling.

TL;DR:  Shot a Rifleman score on Day One of my first Appleseed. Many Thanks to everyone.
I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog-gone it people like me!  ~Stuart Smalley

fprintf

Quote from: MetalgodZ on May 24, 2010, 07:11:48 PM

The two (very) dangerous old men from CT were fun to watch, and may have convinced Vicki and me to take a drive out to OH for a CMP purchase and to watch and/or compete.

Those guys were from Binghamton, NY and they were very dangerous indeed. Blake was between them and my target, so on Day One I got to glance over and see them competing vs. one another to see how many shots were in the black. Amazing stuff, you don't want to be on the wrong side with them on the other side, you won't stand a chance!
I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog-gone it people like me!  ~Stuart Smalley

dwarven1

#5
OK, got some sleep, some food, some Aveeno on all the mosquito bites, so on to the AAR.

Leyden Rifle Club is set DEEP in the woods at the end of a dirt road hard up against the Vermont border in Western MA. This is our first shoot there but not our last, as IIT Goodpiper is the club president. There's a 25 yard range, a parking lot and a 200 yard range. That's pretty much it...

Saturday, we had 14 shooters - 4 ladies, 9 men and 13 year old Blake, who'd, as I said, never shot a rifle before. His mother, who is very much against guns, was, I think, pretty impressed with us by the end of the weekend. I thank her for letting us teach Blake of his heritage and how to shoot. She let him come because he was so eager, and I tried to put her mind at ease about us.

Sunday we had 9 repeat shooters from Saturday and Goodpiper's daughter Anna, who'd previously shot Rifleman, join us.

Weather was cool and cloudy on Saturday and warm and very sunny on Sunday (as my red neck proves).

Instructors: Dwarven1, CortJestir and Crak (on Sunday afternoon, anyway)
IITs: Luv2BFree, Goodpiper, Lupis42, Mike93LX

Round count - 296 on Saturday, and I lost track on Sunday. Two Redcoats, a star target, a set of 1" squares to check zeros and do some drills, a bunch of RFAQTs, a few stage-by-stage AQTS and, on the 100 yard range, we did a set of sighters on the C-AQT, some ball & dummy and then a set of 400 yard targets. Sunday afternoon at 5:00 I gave the shooters a choice of doing more AQTS or getting the redcoats up and shutting down... the 7 or so shooters who were still there UNANIMOUSLY requested more RF AQTs. So we got about 4 or 6 more AQTs off and it's a good thing, since MetalgodZ (Mike) shot a 214 and accepted an orange hat, since this was his second shoot. His wife Vicky is now the only Cook in their house... look for her to improve past the 190s she'd been shooting; she's got motivation!!
                  14 shooters      11 shooters
Now the Redcoat numbers:
         Saturday AM   1@ 400   PM -    5@400
                     2@300      4@300
                     3@200      6@200
                     10@100      11@100
                     2 HS         4 HS
                     0 cleaned      4 cleaned
                     3 zero hits      0 zero hits

                  10 shooters      6 shooters
            Sunday   4@ 400      PM -    1@400
                     4@300      0@300
                     9@200      3@200
                     10@100      3@100
                     4 HS         4 HS
                     4 cleaned      0 cleaned
                     0 zero hits      0 zero hits

Amazing improvement was made, but you can see that the law of diminishing returns (and the fact that some of our shooters had a long way to go to get home) was hitting us late Sunday. I was frankly blown away by the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning results.

Riflemen: Father & son team Paul & Jim and Stuart (fprintf) on Saturday, and MetalgodZ on Sunday. I don't remember scores too well and didn't think to write them down. IIRC, Paul (the father) was somewhere in the 230s and Jim was in the 220s. Stuart was a 212 (and no, it wasn't close, Stuart!). Mike (MetalgodZ) was a 214 and I seem to recall that his lady, Vicky, has topped 200, so I imagine she'll be practicing between now and Harvard.

New IITs: MetalgodZ (Mike)

Honorable mention to our designated sniper, Blake. (I'm sorry, I just can't say enough good about this young man!!) I will brave the mosquitoes in September to be at Leyden again just to see how well he can improve. (I'll also be bringing a couple of quarts of mosquito repellent... and eating a LOT of garlic the week before. Yeesh. Seems every shoot I do at a range in the deep woods I get eaten alive. Grumble)

One last thing... if anyone finds an Arrow T-50 staplegun with the initials RS on it in magic marker, could you get it back to me? It seems to have gone on walkabout.

Now... pictures!!


Mike93LX giving instruction. Gentleman sitting on his shooting pad next to his rifle is Ted, a second time shooter who uses a wheelchair. We cleared the line with him there so he wasn't spending most of his day hauling himself in and out of his chair.



The line Saturday morning. We saw several bolt actions on the line, and it was exclusively .22. The centerfires came out on Sunday for the KD section.





Ted shot the whole day seated as he was able to get waayyy over in a seated position. Soon as we can get him to shoot Rifleman, Adaptive Appleseed will have a new IIT. Ted's another game shooter - never complained, always smiling and always trying hard. Keep practicing, Ted!



Just remember not to shoot your neighbor's target, though... a subtle hint was all it took to cure THAT problem.  ;D



Hey, Scooby-Doo! Where are you? NorthEastShooters member Major Boom-Boom braved the dirt road in his Mystery Machine.





Shooters Tony and Ted. See what I mean about getting FAR over in seated?





Shooters Jim and Paul. Paul wasn't real happy about his son tossing hot brass on him, so... Hey, a Rifleman persists!


When you sling up TIGHT, seems that a welder's glove is a good thing to wear. I'm going to have to try that...



Riflemen Paul (center) and Jim (right) with their new Rifleman patches.


Rifleman Stuart (fprintf) with his new patch.



Look at those nice, clean Redcoat targets!!



And young shooter Blake with HIS cleaned Redcoat target AND a shiny new Project Appleseed challenge coin.



Rifleman Mike (MetalgodZ) with HIS new patch. I forget to get a picture of him wearing his shiny new orange hat, though...



Even though she's got to do all the cooking now that hubby Mike is no longer a cook, she's still smiling after a weekend on the range!



Seems some of the neighbors don't appreciate having the range nearby... and they're also clueless when it comes to what to protest, as the club isn't a non-profit and DOES pay taxes.



And given that they're over a mile away through deep woods, I have to wonder if they really can even HEAR the gun fire (state law says no firing after 10 PM, so they're not breaking any laws...). I wonder if they heard the instructors on the KD range at 6:30 last night...  >:D

Unhappy it is ... to reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?

GEORGE WASHINGTON

mike93lx

Great report Ross!  Thanks for running a fun and safe shoot.

Blake really did do a great job.  He kept at it and listened to all of the instruction that we offered.  I'm hoping to make it to the September AS at Leyden and see him do even better.

Congrats Mike!  I'm looking forward to working with you at a future AS.

Goodpiper, I know that you worked really hard to get an event at your club and we all appreciate it.  I have to say that there is something special about being on a line of old battle rifles with Amazing Grace being played on the pipes.  It was simply amazing.

dwarven1

Oh, yes... two other things.

1 - Thanks to Mike93LX for trucking his grill out to western MA; we grilled some hot dogs for lunch, which kept the shooters at the club and not driving 20 minutes each way to find something to eat.

2 - thanks to Goodpiper for letting me crash in a spare room. Next time, I'm staying the night before the shoot and the Saturday OF the shoot, if you have room, Eric. Driving back Saturday night and then out to Leyden Sunday morning really wiped me out.
Unhappy it is ... to reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?

GEORGE WASHINGTON

crak

Leyden was awesome.  Glad to meet Eric, who really is a good piper.

I heard Buzzworth on the Appleseed radio show once say something to the tune of "I think the ranges trying to keep quiet to please the neighbors are doing it wrong.  They should be having machine gun shoots, mortars, helicopter landings, night exercises!"
Check your drama at the door.

CortJestir

Indeed, this was a fun and safe shoot. Congrats to all around!

I'm miffed that I missed piper piping though...grrr, guess I'll have to make it to the next Leyden shoot.

But yeah, talk about being in the midst of hostile territory. On my way out, a lady taking her dogs for a walk gave me the evil eye. I thought I would turn into stone. Who would have thought Medusa owned a pug and a golden retriever?
CT Appleseed Facebook Page

"I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." - Ralph Waldo Emerson :D

Mr.Freedom

I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words you posted about Blake. I want to thank Goodpiper for our classroom instruction. I want to thank Ross for putting on a great shoot. And though I was not there Sunday(the price of being a responsible adult and not mooching off the working man) I want to thank Mike for his guidance with Blakes shooting. A great group of people, although I did not get much of a chance to socialize as I had to leave early Saturday. Also thought Todd did a good job, and loved the way the shoot started with Ross talking about our proud American history. Maybe Michelle Obama would have proud of her country for a second time ;D.

The best thing about the shoot.....brought Blake and I closer together and now have the kind of Father and Son relationship that I always envisioned.

Thanks again, Mr. Freedom
Don't Ever Forget 9/11

I Pray Not For An Easy Life, But That I Become A Strong Person.

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph Thomas Paine

mike93lx

Quote from: Mr.Freedom on June 01, 2010, 06:40:06 AM
I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words you posted about Blake. I want to thank Goodpiper for our classroom instruction. I want to thank Ross for putting on a great shoot. And though I was not there Sunday(the price of being a responsible adult and not mooching off the working man) I want to thank Mike for his guidance with Blakes shooting. A great group of people, although I did not get much of a chance to socialize as I had to leave early Saturday. Also thought Todd did a good job, and loved the way the shoot started with Ross talking about our proud American history. Maybe Michelle Obama would have proud of her country for a second time ;D.

The best thing about the shoot.....brought Blake and I closer together and now have the kind of Father and Son relationship that I always envisioned.

Thanks again, Mr. Freedom

Mr. Freedom, thanks for the feedback!  I'm really glad to hear that we had a positive influence on Blake and your relationship with him.

I hope that you both will be able to make the September Appleseed.  I will definitely be there and I'm really looking forward to see what Blake can do.

-Mike

dwarven1

This NEEDS to be updated.

Blake did eventually shoot Rifleman and became a Red Hat. And now, five years after Blake attended his first Appleseed, he's going through Basic... and I just received the following from Mr. Freedom, Blake's father:

QuoteThink Blake was thinking about Leyden Appleseeds when he started this phase of training(shooting off a rest and NPOA?). Cake was a word he used in his last letter.



Instructors... if you have EVER doubted yourselves and how much good Appleseed is doing... well, I think we've got some proof here that we CAN and DO make a difference.
Unhappy it is ... to reflect that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Mr.Freedom

Thank you Ross, I just read this for the first time. Blake has earned an US Army Infantry patch for shooting Expert. That is the highest level. So proud of him and the Appleseed family.
Don't Ever Forget 9/11

I Pray Not For An Easy Life, But That I Become A Strong Person.

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph Thomas Paine