West Georgia Youth Range (Waco, Georgia) August 14-15, 2010 AAR

[franklinfarmer]

We had good weather and a fine group of 38 shooters on Saturday.  The heat of the previous day on the range was blistering, and I was expecting the worst, but a cloudy day with light showers from time to time was just about the best we could hope for.  

Sanderman79 and I camped Friday night with two shooters, and a third showed up for our late night ruminations on fixing the world's problems---though the newcomer (let's nickname him "SKS Perseverance") was too tired to join Col Barrett and the other camper through their 3:30 AM marathon.  (I'm glad I didn't make it to the end either!)

The shooters were pretty much elbow to elbow in two pistol pits on Saturday and the Southern pistol pit produced two riflemen.  One was an accomplished high power shooter getting his first taste of Appleseed, and after posting in the high 230s, I hope we've got him hooked to join with us as an instructor.  I believe this was the third Appleseed for our other rifleman, who nosed over the line with a 211.  Steady progress got him there, and we had another half dozen on his heels consistently shooting scores between 180 and 200.  One 12 year old I'll mention, in particular, tacked 80 points on her previous high score to get a 196.  

Apparently, the shooters in the Northern pistol pit were enjoying themselves so much they didn't calculate the scores on their AQT's.  It turns out that they had at least one rifleman up there as well, though it didn't get announced when we awarded the patches. I also got news that one of our campers, a former marine with a minimal goal of duplicating his 238 from basic training on Paris Island was posting in the low 200s at the end of the day.  

It was a pleasure to meet many of you for the first time and to see many others again.  I'm sure I speak for all the instructors, when I say it was our privilege to work with all of you.  I hope that many of you post below and fill us in on your progress and experiences.

The West Georgia Youth Range has as its mission getting youth involved in shooting sports, and it was clear that the members who were there as shooters and observers recognized our shoots as very much in line with their objectives.  So, I hope we'll have the opportunity to use their facilities regularly in the future.

At least half a dozen shooters and members of the range mentioned to me that "even if they didn't pull the trigger all day" they were really interested in the history presentations.  It's my sincere hope that those presentations set many of those in attendance on the path to learning more about our remarkable history and heritage.  I'll remind you that there are good book lists and places to start right here on this forum.  Let us know what you find out.

The second day, as the clouds cleared and the blistering heat made a feint at returning, Mogget and Fred took a half dozen AR shooters and a couple M1A shooters down to the 200 yard range.  The majority of shooters were able to duplicate their 4-5 MOA groups and make sight adjustments to move the centers of those groups.  We ended the day late (around 5:30) with some unexpected difficulties, perhaps loose sights and such, resulting in a couple shooters on the long range having difficulty finding the paper and a few in the pistol pits with falling AQT scores.  But all in all it was a good day.

Most shooters stayed around another 30 or 45 minutes to help us clean up.  They did an absolutely excellent job, and I offer my sincere thanks to them.

This was my first foray into shoot bossing, and I was quite thankful to have Mogget, Sanderman79, Flathead, Colycat, and Fred there to hold my hand.  I guess the higher ups were pretty worried about me, no?  Seriously, I guess we would have muddled through on our own, but your help was very much appreciated.  (Edit:  There was no intention to leave Col Barrett out of the above paragraph; I was simply listing those with shoot boss or shoot boss mentor qualifications.  In retrospect, it occurs to me that the addition of Barrett gives a full list of instructors on the shoot---I think---and so, he might have felt left out.  Special thanks go to Barrett who I was counting on as part of the "we" who would muddle through and was indespensible to say the least.)

Oh, did I mention that there were some reporters there?    I didn't see much of them after the safety briefing, so I'll let those in the Northern pistol pit comment.

UPDATE:  The unidentified rifleman mentioned above has posted over on the Georgia board under the screen name tshaw.  He did it with one 7 round mag in a bolt action rifle.  Quite impressive!

[Johnnyappleseed]

Looking good Georgia 
JA

[colycat]

Well, Im starting to feel normal again after parachuting into this shoot for the weekend. (first full body scan and pat down at the airport,  what ever happened to the friendly skys stuff?)

This was a really good seed and all the students seemed to think so also.  BTW,  do they know they can post here on their weekend?  I saw plenty of folks taking pictures and it would be really nice to see some of them.

Franklin,  I will try to fiqure out who the guy was who scored rifleman on my line with the bolty.  I gave you his name, but with everything you were doing, guess it was not noted.

My thanks to all the GA instructors and students for making me feel so welcome

Great to see my friends Flathead and Sanderman again.

[AdamSKSAR15]

I'm the one who squeaked by with the 211.  I went to my 1st Appleseed in Toccoa and learned quite a bit.  Enough to actually pass the AQT this time.  More importantly, I had 5 others there who I talked into coming (and they are already preparing for their next one).  It was a great time and the facilities were very nice.  Those who couldn't make it on Sunday really missed out.  Things that impressed me were: Franklin Farmer's family.  (The most well behaved, intelligent kids I've met in a long time)  The lady RWVA instructor from Wyoming (I think).  She was nice enough to let me be the Line Boss on Sunday for a little while which I really enjoyed and she was very patient with her instruction.  It was also an honor and a privilege to spend most of the day on Sunday with Fred.  I could tell that it was important to the instructors that we did well and they took the time to really make sure we understood everything.  I particularly enjoyed shooting on the 200 yard range and it must not have been as complete fluke to get a 211 because I did pretty good on the long range too.  It was nice to see Kayla again and she did well in her interview on FoxNews.  I am going to need to work on my calculating of minutes, clicks, etc... for the next one.  A big thanks to those volunteers and patriots who gave their time to give the class.  We students are better people for attending. 

[Mogget]

Wisconsin!   

And we love to have guest Line Bosses! 

Best of luck with your special challenges and Godspeed in all else,

Mogs

[cswhitfield]

You guys bear with me as I am new to this posting business.  Waco was my first but certainly not my last Appleseed.  You guys did an excellent job.  You have a great facility and made excellent use of it.  The instruction was beyond what I expected, on par with the Marine Corps with no drill instructor attitude only compressed into a weekend.  No small feat, I salute you.  I was made to feel welcome and at home the minute I drove up Friday evening.  I'm the guy with the goal of duplicating my qualification score at P.I.  It was 237 but I'll accept the challenge of the extra point.  I was so wiped out Sunday I had to just sit awhile before heading home but it was more than worth it.  Thanks again for an excellent event and program.  The guys that organized and ran the event deserve a big thumbs up!

Semper Fi

[sanderman79]

I had a great weekend. The range was great and we had a packed house for our first time there. It seemed to me like we really impressed to club. I think we can expect to have at least 3 more shoots this year and many more next year. The Fox crew was interesting, but seemed to have a good time and took what we had to say to heart. I look forward to more AS in Waco. 

[Fred]

    The locals will tell you it was a cool and refreshing weekend. I thought it was HOT.

    Even if the rain sprinkles felt good...

    A great crowd who despite the heat and sweat (as one said, "This is Georgia! In August! You expect to sweat!") kept at it.

    As a "visiting professor/instructor", I found what I've come to expect in this program: that you guys in Georgia have some good in-state RWVA instructors to teach you not only rifle marksmanship, but the heritage it is incumbent on each of us to know. They truly "know what they are about".

    Saturday the firing line was packed as tight as I've seen in Appleseed. Looks like we'll have to expand to a third bay if we have that many again.

    The Fox News people were surprising nice, not only at the AS, but in their reporting of our event.

    We induced the reporter to fire a redcoat or two, as well as the soundman and his daughter! (Who left saying they'd be at the upcoming AS in Toccoa! )

    We even got to do some 200-yard shooting Sunday PM, and some shooters got to see the "quick and dirty" rifleman way to quickly get a zero at 250 yards! (Shooting at a rock in the berm 250 yards away - a rock smaller than a gallon jug - and from prone [naturally!] - our shooter HIT the rock twice in six tries - pretty good!!! I didn't ask, but bet it was likely the first time he'd ever fired a rifle beyond 100 yards.)

     To all you WGYR attendees this weekend: We're off to a good start at this new location. We have a great club with leaders convinced of the value and benefit of this program not only to their club, but to the country.

     Let's keep up the momentum. By talking this program up to your family, relatives, friends, co-workers, neighbors - anyone you know.

      It won't be easy. You'll soon find there's a wall of apathy, ignorance, and laziness out there, in modern America.

     But you learned this weekend: A Rifleman persists!

     You don't get discouraged. You don't quit. You remember your heritage, and some people much like you who, 200+ years ago, didn't quit, either.

     Don't let them down.

     Hope I'll see each and every one of you on some future Appleseed firing line - wearing a Red Hat!

[cswhitfield]

Still trying to learn how all of this works.  I'll post some pictures of the Waco event if someone will coach me through the process.  Want to say again how much I enjoyed the event and appreciate the work and effort you guys put forth to make it such a success.  A special thanks to Franlin, Col. Barrett. Sanderman, Colycat and Fred.  I'm headed to camp with a fist full of AQTs and a couple of bricks of ammo.  Wish I had my Red Coat targets to challenge the guys in the hunt club with.

Thanks again to all who make this program possible.

Semper Fi

[goose]

Still trying to learn how all of this works.  I'll post some pictures of the Waco event if someone will coach me through the process.  Want to say again how much I enjoyed the event and appreciate the work and effort you guys put forth to make it such a success.  A special thanks to Franlin, Col. Barrett. Sanderman, Colycat and Fred.  I'm headed to camp with a fist full of AQTs and a couple of bricks of ammo.  Wish I had my Red Coat targets to challenge the guys in the hunt club with.

Thanks again to all who make this program possible.

Semper Fi

Send me a civilian email, and I'll send you jpg of the redcoat.  black coat in this case, but you can dr. it up with red.  I scanned the target, so it's in two parts, but representative of the correct size for 25 meters.  --Jim / goose     (jterry@ups.com)