AAR: Simsbury, CT - July 10/11, 2010

[CortJestir]

Ah, what a weekend!

The weather and a late start time on Day 2 sure threw us for a loop, but we adapted and persevered. 15 shooters came into the weekend, 3 left as Riflemen, and the rest made significant improvements in their marksmanship skills. But more importantly, all came away with a better understanding of our American heritage.

Day 1 started with the threat of rain all day. Temps in the muggy mid-80's, but compared to the 100+ temps a few days prior, I'd take it again in a heartbeat. As we prepared to shoot our first squares target, the skies opened up and it deluged sheets of wet stuff. The target line overturned in the ensuing storm. Not a problem, though, we'll just practice in dry-fire a bit more what we just learned and when the rain abates, we'll make the line safe and repair the targets. Right? Wrong.

Just as we thought the rain couldn't come down harder, it did. And half the firing line started flooding. Ok, a Rifleman adapts and overcomes. Make those rifles safe and let's move 'em to the dry side of the line. Fortunately, we had the room. We had a shooter looking on his smartphone at the weather radar and confirmed it was gonna last a little longer than we thought. So the First Strike was told while the instructor crew braved the elements and righted the target line.

We got things rolling again pretty quickly after the storm surge. We had quite an attentive bunch of shooters on the line. And it showed with their first groups. By the end of the day, we made 2 Rifleman.

We couldn't get lead down range until 11am on Day 2, so we had reserved some history for Sunday morning to wake folks up and get them excited about the day. The weather was better on Sunday - no rain and a bit cooler in the morning. But it did heat up in the afternoon during the AQT grind. The shooters persevered though and shot AQT after AQT, never once grumbling. Doing a KD exercise as well as a Shoot-the-Star game helped break up the afternoon as well. People didn't start peeling off the line like they do so often in the heat. I was very impressed by the fortitude of our group.

I must specifically mention a few folks who I was very impressed with. First was one of our youth shooters, Rebecca. Her bigger brother Jeff, who has shot Rifleman, rode shotgun with her at this event, coaching and helping her along the way. From what I understand, Jeff has been shooting with his little sister for the past 6 years. It was so nice to see this relationship on the line. On top of that, Rebecca is a great shot! Her high score was somewhere in the 190's if I recall. She came very close to earning her patch and I have no doubt she will get it at her next Appleseed.

Also, my very good friend Ti was able to make it out again for Day 2. And this time, her fiancee (and also a very good friend of mine), Pete S., finally got on the line. I had been working hard on getting him to an Appleseed and it paid off handsomely. He bought a Marlin 795 just for the event - their first rifle - and I gather it won't be their last firearm. They shot tremendously, being relatively new shooters. They are already asking when the next one is.  

Finally, our three rifleman. Todd Z. took the patch first with a score of 216 on Day 1. Matt R. followed shortly with a score of 217. And on Day 2, Bob M. walked away with a 213 on his AR-15, after having practiced most of the Appleseed with his .22. It is interesting to note that all 3 shooters who made Rifleman are members of Metacon Gun Club - they must have something in the water up there.    Well done, all of you, and congratulations!

Speaking of Metacon Gun Club, a special thanks to Dom B., our BOTG for the event, who had worked tirelessly for 6 months to set up this 2nd Appleseed event at Metacon. But setting it up did not stop there, he was there on both days as our liaison to the club and even grilled up hot dogs and served soda to the students and crew. So, my hat is off to you, Dom. Thank you for making this happen.  

On a personal note, Appleseed has come full circle for me. A little less than a year ago, I was at this very range attending my second Appleseed. This is where I shot my first Rifleman score with a Ruger 10/22 and then again with my AR-15. And this past weekend, I was instructing. Sure gives me goosebumps just thinking about it...

Pictures soon, but I wanted to get this party started, so chime in!

CJ

[The Log]

I'll chip in here and echo CJ's sentiments about this impressive group of patriot-marksmen. They could have peeled off en masse at any point on Saturday, and given the heat, humidity and bugs, who could have blamed them? But by and large they stuck it out, and even though the line was getting a bit "ripe" by Sunday afternoon, spirits remained high and nary a complaint was heard. If I had to give the Appleseed Persistence Award to any one of these fine Americans or Brits, I'd be hard pressed to single one person out. Everyone had issues, whether environment or physical or, especially during Sunday's heat, mechanical, and everyone stuck it out. I could tell that those few who didn't rejoin us on Sunday did so reluctantly, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them on the line again someday.

And ditto that "thank you" to Dom for the hospitality and feedback. It was really gratifying to hear that Appleseed made a positive impression on him, and that we good guests to such a gracious host club. Good dogs, too! And shooting up against the foot of Avon mountain

A personal thank you to Vernic82 for stopping by on Sunday to "FredEx" me my AR upper. Sadly, now that I'm an IIT, it doesn't appear that I'll ever get a chance to actually shoot again  Oh well - a Rifleman persists.

[fprintf]

As one of the shooters, it was an interesting event of extremes. Extreme rain, extreme humidity and for Connecticut it was remarkably warm. Thankfully the line is completely covered and no one had to deal with either rain or full sun all weekend. What a great location to have an Appleseed shoot!

Personally I figured out that I need a whole lot more practice on iron sights to enjoy them beyond the 300 yard targets. I am really just guessing where the target is as the front sight blurs and unblurs late into the afternoon. But as CortJestir was fond of saying, a Rifleman persists. And so I did, raising my scores throughout both days, shooting every AQT I could.  I think my highest score with the irons was in the 190s, and it was not at all fun. To prove I could still do it I used my son's scoped 795 on the last AQT of day 2 just for fun, blasted away and still scored a 207. It was the easiest "almost" rifleman I had shot all day and I guarantee all the practice on irons helped. I did wonder if I was fresher the score would have been higher. But it doesn't matter except for bragging rights.

You know how I figured out calling the shot works for me?  I was using the scoped rifle and shooting the 100 yard target standing. I shot 2 shots, calling them both at the top of the 5 ring. Then I looked downrange to shoot my next shots and saw "my" two shots were in the 3 ring at the bottom of the target. I stopped shooting, put my rifle on safe and took a good look downrange. There were 4 shots in my target. Two *exactly* where I called them in the black and two in the bottom white area - that weren't mine. Someone shot my target. So I cleared my rifle and took a few minute break. Someone had two less shots on their AQT for sure, and I wanted to save my ammo for the final AQT anyway.

The Shooting Star event was the *best* way to re-energize everyone. I was honestly amazed at how tight the group was on both star targets, that would be a good before/after test in addition to the Red Coats. That was so fun and it brought the fun back into the shooting event for many, particularly my son.

Many thanks to the instructors for spending their entire weekend with us. To CortJestir for a really nice job on Strike of the Match 1, 2 and Dangerous Old Men, to TomInCT for bringing the target frames and for very engaging and interesting job with Strike of the Match 3, to the instructors for loaning my son & I a 795 magazine each, to Dom for persisting all year long to make this event happen, to Jason and Dan for yelling in my ear telling me to get my leg up, to follow through and a myriad of other issues. Finally a huge thanks to everyone for running a safe event, particularly for ensuring my son, Jason, operated his rifle in the safest manner possible.

Stuart

[vernic82]

Well, when's the NEXT Metacon Appleseed

I'm felling the need to 'Seed there

IIRC there's some open months later this year in CT

[JanPCT]

Imagine how proud I was of my daughter this weekend. She and her brother have been shooting together for about 6 years...all by a fluke!! He was supposed to take his brother one day - well, he was at work, and couldn't go...so I said - take Rebecca - she'll go with you...and of course I trusted him completely!! That's how it all started - he has bought her a few guns over the past few years, and she continues to get better!! Now they are getting mom (that would be me!!) hooked. I look forward to attending one of these programs, and actually have someone that may come with us too!! Having 3 sons that all shoot - 3 daughter in laws that all have permits, a brother that is a Marine Veteran Marksman/sharpshooter...geeze - even my own mother went to the range!! What have I been missing!! This history portion of this is great - we seem to forget just what it was like way back when....this is a great history lesson! I thank you for putting this program together, and I hope that you have more of them..I look forward to participating!!..and I will spread the word!!!

[CortJestir]

Thanks for chiming in, Stuart and Jan. You both are very fortunate to have children who enjoy one of our basic liberties and who understand its importance from a young age. I hope to see both of them at future Appleseeds. You too, Jan. We'll get you on the line soon too. 

And now for some pics. Sorry for the late arrival of these...

[bmargolis]

Todd -

Thanks so much for the weekend. The program exceeded my expectations in every way. I learned more in two days than I had in the previous 45 years I have been shooting rifles! It's nice to see some others praising the program as well. I'll join Dom in being an "champion" for Appleseed at Metacon.

Bob

[CortJestir]

Thanks for the kind words, Bob. It was a pleasure to see you progress over the weekend - with every string improving and groups shrinking. And the icing on the cake was you took those skills learned on Day 1 and applied them on Day 2 when you broke out your .223. That patch didn't come without some hard work and determination. Well done!

We also appreciate the help with Metacon - we'd sure love to get up there again. And thanks for the photos! I'll be posting those up shortly...

[CortJestir]

And some more photos, courtesy of Rifleman Bob:

[davidgw1]

Wish I'd realized this shoot was happening--I was so focussed on not making it to Jericho that I never thought to check in CT.  Next time, I guess.  See you all soon.  DaveW