AAR: Chaplin, CT June 19-20, 2010

[vernic82]

Dawn broke early on the Fin, Fur & Feather Range in Chaplin, CT on 6/21, and the heat soon followed.

kdan, TOMINCT, mike93lx, eribenn, vernic82 and surprise guest Instructor smithy worked quickly to get everything in order to accommodate our full line of anxious shooters.

It was great to see many new folks beginning the journey as well as familiar faces as they journey along the Appleseed Trail, Brian, Helen & their girls, Jon, Derrick & his boys, Brian K & Taylor.

Did I mention the HEAT?  It may be the reason I did mention others

Saturday was chock full of instruction from TOMINCT's POI which all shooters jumped right into and seemed very comfortable with drink from that fire hose.

As the heat rose and the day wore on, lunch grilled up by a Rifleman who can cook, was enjoyed as kdan detailed all with a very concise 1st Strike.

The afternoon brought more instruction in Stages, which resulted in new riflemen veteran Appleseeder Brian K (and the newest rifleman in my family - he's my brother-in-law!) along with 1st timer Danny who drove all the way from NYC to attend!

As the heat took its toll on everyone we wrapped up Saturday with a rousing award ceremony for our many young shooters and benediction by TOMINCT.

With Sunday the heat came back along with many 1day shooters giving us a longer line.

The day was filled with Drills, and AQT's, punctuated by another lunch grilled by yours truly with TOMINCT gave us a wonderful 2nd & 3rd Strike.

The day saw many knocking on the door of 210 & also gave us new riflemen, Jon chased down that patch and made it over the top with a 210!  Congrats Jon, it's been coming ever since you & I attended our 1st Appleseed together 2 years ago my friend!

It was great to see Glenn get that patch too and thank you for your service Glenn!

Sunday wrapped up with D.O.M&W by vernic82, our benediction by TOMINCT and a thunderstorm - which finally broke the heat!

[vernic82]

Oh shooters - I forgot to mention - I found a pair of prescription glasses on the registration bench at the end of the day on Sunday.  If they're yours let me know!

[kDan]

SB - kDan
SBIT - TominCT
RedHat (sat only) - Smithy
IIT's - Vernic82, mike93lx, eribenn

Riflemen - 4

New IIT's - Jonymo

Redcoats:
Saturday am had 14 100yd, 7 200yd, 2 300yd, 3 400yd and 6 make the headshot.
In the pm there were 15 @100, 12 @200, 7 @300, 2 @400 and 6 on the headshot.
Sunday started with 30 shooters and 14 @ 100, 6 @200, 4 @ 300, 0 @ 400 and 0 on the HS.
In the pm we had 15 shooters remaining with 9 @ 100, 4 @ 200, 3 @ 300, 2 @ 400 and 0 HS.

Wow it was hot.  I'm still recovering.  Drinking water constantly since I left.  This is a very nice range set back in the trees of eastern connecticut, but the trees stop where the rifle range begins and the grounds are low and humid. 

Tom did a good job watching and running the event.  I'd like to congratulate our 4 new riflemand and Jonymo for stepping up and taking the hat.

We wrapped up on Sunday with about half of our start numbers due to the heat and folks that needed to travel.  We didn't make the kd because of the pending thunderstorms, the heat, layout of the range, and the groans of disatisfaction when I went through what we were gonna do to be able to run a kd portion.  After a meeting with instructors and a poll of the shooters, it was scrapped.  We raced the storms right up til the last redcoat before the sky opened up and everybody that stayed to clean up got soaked.  It was a nice break from the heat but I had to drive three hours with wet shoes and socks.

One thing that stuck out in my mind at this event was how many families and other groups showed up.  Saturday things were a bit distracting because we hadn't made a point of separating loved ones and instructors had to compete with fathers, husbands, wives and best friends for time with the shooters.  This was rectified on Sunday.  It was a piece of work to make sure that everybody was isolated, but it was definitely worth it.  My quote, "Shooter, look at the person to your right!  Now look at the person to your left!  Do you feel any unconditional love for that person?  If so, raise your hand.  Appleseed is all about breaking up famlies."  Got a little laugh, but by the end of the day, I think people saw the benefits of taking instruction from INSTRUCTORS, and the more experienced shooters were glad to be able to concentrate on improving as opposed to figuring out how to sling up their 8 year old.

[Boondoggle]

Fred, Dan, Tom, Mike & Eric,

As per the usual you guys put on a great event.  Many thanks to each of you!  My buddy Keith and his boys had a great time, and they are looking forward to their next Appleseed.  Sunday morning I loaded three cases of water, a case and a half of seltzer and a bunch of sodas with forty pounds of ice into the cooler.  At the end of the day there were about only ten or twelve waters left. I'll see you guys at an Appleseed sometime in the fall.  That heat was brutal!

Thanks again,

Boondoggle & Family

[Mogget]

kDan,

How many unique shooters total?

Thanks,

Mogs

[theope]

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who volunteered to make this happen.  I recognize and appreciate what it takes to give up a weekend for this and speak for at least myself and Lindsay when I say think you.

Secondly I should say that from the time I was a kid the American Revolution was a topic of something nearing obsession for me.  Not only would I have done anything to attend a clinic like this when I was younger but I'm truly surprised at the stories disseminated here that I didn't get in all my readings so many years ago.

I have done a bit of formal training with the handgun - it being the primary weapon of self defense in our modern world - but this was my formal introduction to precision rifle shooting.  I got a ton of information over the weekend; more than I can consciously absorb but plenty for future practice and improvement.  I also got a bit of experience (not in the least were things like bring shade and gatorade to my next Appleseed) and learned about both weapon systems I used over the weekend (the lightweight 10/22 and more substantial M1A).

I appreciate also the patience of the instructors who spent time with Lindsay to help her get comfortable with weapon manipulations and range commands - two things she's had little to no experience with.  She's quite proud to have scored an AQT to marksman's standards and is already scheming to bring a friend next time.

I'm proud to have shot to Rifleman's standards on the first day, although I wasn't able to duplicate the effort when switching to the bigger rifle.  I look forward to hopefully seeing some, if not all, of you again.  I'm going to look into doing a Rifleman's boot camp myself, with the intention of scoring 210+ with the big bore and seeing if volunteering and/or instructing is in the cards for me.

Thank you again
Danny Hobart

[TOMINCT]

 I believe the number counts were 32 on Saturday and 30 on Sunday. One sat. only shooter returned Sunday and a few 2 day folks didn't make it back Sunday. Also, there were 4 Sunday only shooters.

Both days started comfortable but became oppressively hot by mid afternoon. It took some time to get things rolling on Saturday with the SHF's, six steps and NPOA but you could see that it was starting to sink in with some fair groups from some of the new and newer shooters. Squares and a greencoat were used to get people sorted out as  the temperature started climbing. By the end of the day things were moving safely but slowly. kDan decided to split people up for sunday and I believe it made a big difference in getting some of the newer shooters absorbing the instruction and their friends/significant others to practice what we preach and get some quality rounds downrange.

This event was almost full, a great thing for a new this year location. As kDan said earlier there were several families there and this is starting to make a big impact, I believe, on AS in Ct. I hope that it continues.