AAR Colebrook, CT 7/31-8/1

[vernic82]

Saturday;

This shoot had THE most beautiful weather at any I've been too!

With TOMINCT SBing, myself (vernic82 (IIT4)), 2paranoind & chuckwagon (IIT2's), jonymo & fprintf (IIT's) we began the day with a full sold out line of 30 shooters and several walk-ons who ended up observing.

Later in the day we were joined by crak & cortjestir for great instructor coverage for all shooters and IITs, their presence was a great value to all.

Tom took charge and sailed the 30 great Americans through a through COF and instructions.

I was tasked with the 7 centerfire shooters we had on the line and what a great group they were with all seeing very steady improvement as the day progressed.

Although Tom will fill in the AAR with the detailed #'s, names, etc,  I can say we didn't end Saturday with any new Riflemen, however there was many instances of marked improvement in shooters scores, with the top I believe being a 205 at the end of Saturday which I scored and was a ceterfire shooter.

Sunday saw most shooters returning however a family issue prompted my early departure.

Thank you all those shooters who attended and please post your experiences, pictures, etc.

Yours in Service,

vernic82

[The Log]

A quick follow up AAR on the Colebrook shoot. What a huge success!! We started with 30 shooters on Saturday with 20 returning for Sunday and most sticking it out to the end. Perfect weather, spectacular enthusiasm from a great crowd of Patriots, and as always, awesome hospitality from NWCSA. My quick list of memorable moments:

• A total of four Riflemen, all on Sunday.
• Being "on stage" for the first time explaining COFs and going over SHFs, the Six Steps and NPOAs
• Venison chili. 'Nuff said.
• Having so many instructors on the line to get great feedback on how I was doing. Crak, thanks so much for staying on my case and helping out.
• Having "Black Beauty", my Marlin 795 LTR, make its second rifleman on Sunday. Sebastian was driving tacks in his rapid fire AQTs and came up with a 215 and later a 237!! And his KD groups were a thing of beauty.
• Seeing my Seventh-Stepping efforts finally pay off big time, as my wife, her sister, my BIL and our two nephews took the firing line. It's a great feeling to know that 1/6th of the shooters were there because of me.
• And best of all, bestowing the coveted Rifleman's patch on my wife on Sunday at her first shoot. Not too many IITs get to hand out patches (thanks CJ!), and very few get to kiss the shooter and get away with it. Now, what was that in the instructor's manual about no contact with the shooters?

I'll post what pictures I have as soon as I can find my camera buried in my shoot bucket. Suffice it to say that this was the best shoot yet for me - especially since my wife hasn't stopped talking about it and can't wait to go to Chaplin on Sunday for the Grind. She wants to beat her score - and mine!!

[TOMINCT]

Yes indeed, a great weekend with a full line of patriotic Americans to make it happen! The long line ran smoothly with the number and quality of insructors on hand. Saturday ran well through out with stage by stage AQT's the norm and finishing out the day.

Sunday after the safety briefing and a refresher on SHF's, the six steps and cadence we commenced with the grind. After a few SxS AQT's and more instruction to polish the RFAQT was incorporated. All ran well thru the remainder of the day with 3 riflemen and 1 riflewoman. The first being Andy with a 210 and a cool bath of North Bridge water. Next was Jacub with a 217. BTW both of these guys did it with bolts, Jacub with open sights. Nice!

  Later Sebastian, who had to swap out his rifle with a loaner, got his patch. And the final RM award went to Patty who perservered thru the weekend with POI problems that eventually became a loose scope issue that was discovered when it fell off the rifle! Great job!

  Altogether a very satisfiying shoot with a good number of family groups in attendance with a wide variety of equipment including bolts and a lever. This was the second sold out shoot in Ct. this summer and it was great to have a full line with the few no shows being filled by walk ons.

And finally the Instructor Corps did an outstanding job in safety, teaching and fixing alll the way thru the last AQT. Thank you all. Photos should be forthcoming... Regards, Tom.

[asaksa]

It was a beautiful weekend for sure! Qualifying for my Rifleman really made it fun.
I want to thank all the volunteers that helped with a great Appleseed.
Two of my three boys came so close to getting their Rifleman patches that the discussion on the ride home was when we could do it again!!

See you all again soon
Andy

[fprintf]

I really enjoyed watching Andy's and Chuck's boys improve their scores throughout both days. Andy's boys were really really close to the required Rifleman scores, needing only a little push and attention to putting all the instruction together to get them over the edge. Great event!

[The Log]

Andy -- I totally forgot to list my getting to douse you as a high point!! And watching you and the boys do so well. And forgetting to mention that you and Jakub managed to score our first two Rifleman scores with bolt-action rifles!! And probably a ton of other stuff too. Like the fact that my wife hasn't stopped talking about the shoot yet, and can't wait for Chaplin so she can bang out some more AQTs.

[The Log]

Some pictures...

Chuckwagon dishes out his venison chili on Saturday.


Shooter Deb and her family entertain the media.


Vernic82 makes Red Hat on Sunday!!


Shooter Andy gets a well-deserved bath after his 210 score with an iron-sighted bolt-cutter. He later turned in a 215...


Jakub gets the patch, again with open sights and bolt action.


Our youth shooters Will and Conor stuck with it both days.


A Rifleman persists! Coke gets a special patch for the extra effort and shows off the sweet grouping on his 200 yd KD target, which he shot from his weak side with his M1.


Green is the new Red? TomInCT gets his Green Hat from Crak.


The family that 'Seeds together... Five shooters and one IIT from the same family! 2paranoid, his Rifleman wife Patty, her sister Deb and husband Chuck, and our nephews Charles and Will. Everyone stuck it out to the end.

Now somebody needs to get me that picture of me giving my wife the Rifleman patch.

[darrowj]

Thank you everyone for a great time.  I arranged this so my father, 2 brothers and I could spend some quality time together on a fine summer day.  It was as close to a perfect weekend as I could have hoped for overall.  Many good memories were made. 

None of us had ever been to an Appleseed before.  With that said though I can say with confidence that it will not be our last.  After scoring a 207 on one of my last AQT's of the day Sunday I seriously want another crack at 210 soon.

 

[Glock23]

Hey, CONGRATS on the Red Hat there Fred!  
And CONGRATS on the Green Hat Tom! 


A few shots of the line (vernic82 gets photo credits):

[CortJestir]

Some more pics, courtesy of the NWCSA house camera. Thanks, Chuckwagon!