AAR Columbia, Maine on April 16-17, 2011.

[TOMINCT]

 First, I'd like to thank the shooters and instructors that made it to the shoot. A lot of things went on over the next 36 hours that would make this a memorable shoot to say the least.

Saturday the attendees were great, showing up on time and ready for the days instruction. Although everyone there had fired a rifle before I believe it was fairly recent for some of them. All rifles were 22rf so that made a lot of things easier. Out of 16 shooters we had one bolt and 5 tube fed Marlin semi autos. Also we had 4 families at this shoot!

After the safety briefing and the first redcoat we got down to business on  a squares target. Once the SHF's, 6 steps and NPOA were taught we went to a trigger finger drill and IMC. Because of the number of open sight rifles a fair amount of time was spent getting people on as best we could.

At lunchtime the students heard the 1st strike and we proceeded to get people used to shifting NPOA, cadence and other positions. After firing on greencoats we stopped to tell of the BBB on the 19th of April and had The Old Guide read off the names during the volley. The day finished with and AQT and the final Redcoat.

Sunday was interesting. Th weatherman predicted rain, heavy at times, windy in the 25-35 mph range with gusts to 60mph. And for once he was right! Only 4 two day shooters didn't return we had our work cut out for us as the wind picked up and demolished the target line and left 2-3 inches of water on the firing line.

A quick check on things found this unacceptable and the instructor crew moved the target line to an adjacent pistol range with higher berms, better drainage and in short a little more hospitable place to be. Students were asked to make new backers ready with redcoats and numbers while the range changeover got underway. By the time the new lines were set the backers were ready for hanging. However the wind continued to do a number on the targets, pulling them off one at a time, even with ten staples in some of them! Eventually the wind let up and the first redcoat was engaged at 11:45 am.

Even with the weather getting better some shooters, mostly the juniors got soaked from run off and several left throughout the course of the day. After a quick squares target to warm folks up we started the AQT grind.

All told we had one repeat shooter, Maggie, who pushed it hard with two 205's. Everett made it with a 210, backed up with a 214. Nice. And a jr. shooter that had on/off grouping over the 1st day proved himself under the watchful eye of The Old Guide and managed to fire an impressive 186! Nice shooting Mark!

There were a lot of things that made this a slower running shoot than usual but I think it was one of the more satisfying shoots I've been involved with. Through the newer rifles, jambs and the worst mother nature could throw at us most returned Sunday and did their best. There will be pics shortly.

A Rifleman persists.

[FIRST Responder]

First, I'd like to thank the shooters and instructors that made it to the shoot. A lot of things went on over the next 36 hours that would make this a memorable shoot to say the least.

Saturday the attendees were great, showing up on time and ready for the days instruction. Although everyone there had fired a rifle before I believe it was fairly recent for some of them. All rifles were 22rf so that made a lot of things easier. Out of 16 shooters we had one bolt and 5 tube fed Marlin semi autos. Also we had 4 families at this shoot!

After the safety briefing and the first redcoat we got down to business on  a squares target. Once the SHF's, 6 steps and NPOA were taught we went to a trigger finger drill and IMC. Because of the number of open sight rifles a fair amount of time was spent getting people on as best we could.

At lunchtime the students heard the 1st strike and we proceeded to get people used to shifting NPOA, cadence and other positions. After firing on greencoats we stopped to tell of the BBB on the 19th of April and had The Old Guide read off the names during the volley. The day finished with and AQT and the final Redcoat.

Sunday was interesting. Th weatherman predicted rain, heavy at times, windy in the 25-35 mph range with gusts to 60mph. And for once he was right! Only 4 two day shooters didn't return we had our work cut out for us as the wind picked up and demolished the target line and left 2-3 inches of water on the firing line.

A quick check on things found this unacceptable and the instructor crew moved the target line to an adjacent pistol range with higher berms, better drainage and in short a little more hospitable place to be. Students were asked to make new backers ready with redcoats and numbers while the range changeover got underway. By the time the new lines were set the backers were ready for hanging. However the wind continued to do a number on the targets, pulling them off one at a time, even with ten staples in some of them! Eventually the wind let up and the first redcoat was engaged at 11:45 am.

Even with the weather getting better some shooters, mostly the juniors got soaked from run off and several left throughout the course of the day. After a quick squares target to warm folks up we started the AQT grind.

All told we had one repeat shooter, Maggie, who pushed it hard with two 205's. Everett made it with a 210, backed up with a 214. Nice. And a jr. shooter that had on/off grouping over the 1st day proved himself under the watchful eye of The Old Guide and managed to fire an impressive 186! Nice shooting Mark!

There were a lot of things that made this a slower running shoot than usual but I think it was one of the more satisfying shoots I've been involved with. Through the newer rifles, jambs and the worst mother nature could throw at us most returned Sunday and did their best. There will be pics shortly.

A Rifleman persists.

That Was a great shoot, I thaught i was a good marks man but man the first red quote proved me wrong, Not one bullet hit paper And by the end of the day i scored 171 on my AQT now i am a rifle man not a cook even thaugh i can still cook, A big thanks to all the instructors namly Scrambler and Nick oh, and prescot Thanks Guys that was fun and VERY informative And a big thanks to Wade for the range and his time Great job evreybody!!!

[Boreas]

Another great shoot with TOMINCT and SeanO at the helm. We had a very strong instructor/student ratio. I was only able to attend the first day of the event, and was assigned the extreme right end of the line with four shooters. Karen, with one of the aforementioned tube fed Marlins, Butch, shooting a factory sighted 10/22 with a simple sling, Everrett shooting a Tech-Sighted 10/22 with a simple sling, and Maggie shooting a Tech-Sighted 10/22 with a web-sling.
   Karen had problems with the Marlin right out of the gate, FTFs on almost every string of fire, and a zero that wandered steadily to the right. The latter was found to be due to the orange plastic front sight moving in it's dovetail, we staked the slot to tighten it up, problem solved. Unfortunately the FTFs continued and ultimately we removed the rifle from the line and armed her with one of SeanO's loaner LTRs. Once free of the Marlin, her shooting improved very nicely.
  Butch did well, but I know he would have done way better with better sights and a more serious sling. Unfortunately, the sling on his rifle was not removable or I would have set him up with a web sling. His rifle ran very nicely.
   Everrett had a very nice 10/22 which ran flawlessly, but his sling was of a very simple nylon type. I loaned him a web sling and he was off and running, he saw the light immediately.
  Maggie had a nice 10/22 with a web sling. She experienced a few failures to fire due to light primer strikes which increased in frequency as the day wore on, I'm guessing due to fouling on the bolt face.
  All four shooters were very receptive to instruction and had clearly come to learn. We had a good time, and on the volley Butch, Everrett, and Maggie shot on the same target. When we went downrange to score and post new targets, we found two edge hits on the shingle, prompting one of them to comment "Look, we nicked the shingle a couple of times." afterwhich I dubbed the three of them the "shinglenickers". If all else failed we could have started a polka band.
  After the students left for the day, TOMINCT, The Old Guide, Drew, and I shot a couple of AQTs and a red coat before we lost light. We then retired to the clubhouse and had a pleasant dinner together with SeanO. What a great bunch of guys.
  The next day the weather was quite interesting, but not very conducive for shooting  . While I couldn't attend the shoot, I was with them in spirit all day, and very late in the afternoon I fabricated an excuse to drop by the range to see how things were going. I was pleased to see one of the "shinglenickers" (Everrett) had made Rifleman, and another had come very close (Maggie).
  I really couldn't think of a better way to spend a day or weekend, thanks to the instructors and shooters who made it possible. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

[SeanO]

Once again, we had a bit of Maine weath-uh, but, once again, nobody whined. This had to be one of the most attentive classes I've had the pleasure of working with.

TOMINCT and Boreas (Mr. North Wind himself) have given such complete accounts of the shoot that I'm hard-pressed to add anything except my thanks to the crew for doing such a great job.  Tom, Roger, Drew, Larry and Robin are among the most personable and professional instructors that I've had the pleasure of working with.  They're everything that's good about Appleseed;  they know the material cold, and they work wonderfully well with people.  Can't ask for anything better than that.

Now we're all out hunting for a location for the next 'Seed so that we can make it all happen again.

[TOMINCT]

 Here are some photos from the weekend. Our rifleman Everett, some of the junior shooters present, the IT corps and what a target line looks like after 60 mph winds.

Looking forward to more at PRFGCA at Columbia in the future.

[Boreas]

Holy cow Tom! I wasn't there to witness the target carnage, what a mess! I've shot on that range for quite a few years under some pretty unfavorable conditions, but I've never seen anything like that.

[The Old Guide]

We had to move to the 50 yard range which is more sheltered. The shooters made up targets on backers inside as the team moved the line. The winds had bent the steel posts right over. My travel trailer sure was rocking.

[TOMINCT]

 Yes, it was definitely unfit outdoors for man or beast. Fortunately no one was out side when it got really bad. As TOG mentioned it was a team effort to get things running after the worst was over.

  The Pleasant River Fish and Game conservation Assn. (PRFGCA) has been a great supporter of Appleseed and have in the planning stage a raised area for the 25m firing line. This would take care of the wet/damp conditions that are frequent there after rain storms.
  Regards, Tom.

[Boreas]

Tom, today I spoke with a couple of the executive board members about the club purchasing a 10/22 and putting an LTR together for the use of the membership. Getting to the line with a suitable rifle is an obstacle for some in these times. So far the idea has been met with very favorably. 

[SeanO]

Sumthin' tells me that you're going to have a lot of fun modifying the new club 10/22.  At club expense....

[Boreas]

SeanO, that will be fun in the short term. The real and lasting fun will be seeing more Rifleman patches on the shoulders of club members! 

[SeanO]

If you build it, they will come....

[TOMINCT]

 And last but not least a survey was done by North Country Lady on where the participants heard about Appleseed.

AS website: 2
AS flier: 3
Word of mouth: 1
PRFGCA- the host: 5
Backwoods Home Magazine: 4

[The Log]

Sounds like one to spin yarns about around the campfire someday - "I remember way back in '11 we ran a shoot in Maine where..." Doesn't seem like it needs much exaggeration to make it a good story, either! Way to persist, fellow New Englanders. We had some windy and rainy moments on Saturday, but nothing like that!

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