AAR Ramah CO, Aug 28 & 29, 2010

[Long Rifle]

The Ben Lomond Gun Club near Ramah CO is a great venue for an Appleseed event. We had 2 great days of shooting last weekend. There were a lot of new shooters at this event and that was great! All of the instructors were excited that you came and we hope that you learned some techniques that will improve your marksmanship. We also hope that you have a better appreciation of your heritage after hearing the stories of the birth of our country.

Congratulations to Eric on getting his Rifleman patch. Appleseed needs instructors so if you're interested in taking an Orange Hat get in touch.

Good job to all the kids that participated. You're the future of our country. Thanks for coming. It would have been easy for you to stay home and play video games but you came to learn about your heritage and marksmanship. I'm proud to have worked with you.

We look forward to seeing everyone again on the Appleseed Trail. All the best.

[Colorado Pete]

All in all a good shoot. There are more comments on this one in the Colorado state thread.

[quietman]

Went to my first Appleseed in Ramah, CO this weekend. There were several reasons for going. I knew I'd not been taught marksmanship correctly and I was interested in the stories from history I'd heard snippets of. Plus, it was a chance to take my wife shooting and have someone else teach her, and teach her correctly.

Also took 2 young women in their 20's who'd never shot before.

Good points:
Safety, safety, safety was the priority
Event was well organized
Instruction was excellent
Instructors were very encouraging and patient
People that showed up for the shoot were just downright good people.
Historical stories were great

Bad points:
Umm, well, about all I can pick out are it was really hot on Saturday, and really windy on Sunday. neither one of those could be controlled by the instructors.

I learned a lot and had fun doing it. So did my wife and the other 2 women.

Now here's where we get into why I felt this was such a good event.

My wife was struggling with getting a good sight picture. The instructors were working with her and couldn't, at first, figure out what the issue was. But they persisted and finally figures out it was the progressive lenses in her glasses. These are not bifocals or trifocals but gradually change focal length from top to bottom. The way they are set up, when she looks through the part that puts the front post in focus, the entire target at 25 yards is just on big smear.

The instructors were genuinely concerned with the issue she was having. Once they figured it out, they grabbed a scoped rifle for her that was an instructor's and problem solved. She'd have quit if they hadn't persisted in trying to figure out the issue. The fact that really cared about helping her impressed my wife deeply. They also placed an interest and desire in her to learn how to shoot well.

Then there's the other issue. I had one extra rifle, the 2 women, who are sisters, brought their dad's 22. But it was a single shot so was not usable for how Appleseed teaches (You need a magazine fed of some type). Before the instructors could offer a spare, one of the participants handed them an extra 10/22 he had. Like I said, Just good people there.

I've always been abysmal with open sights. By Sunday after lunch I was shooting a 4 inch square at 100 yards with open sights in a 30+ mph crosswind with a Marlin 60 and hit 12 out of 14. Maybe not as good as some of the people here, but a marked improvement for me.

If you'd asked me to do that Saturday morning, I'd have busted up laughing. (I even told the shoot boss that)

To put it another way, their instruction had me shooting a tighter group with open sights at 100 yds than I was capable of shooting at 25 yds before coming.

My wife and the other 2 were only able to go Saturday. All of them have already told me they plan on going back again and my wife has the date picked out she wants to go. All of them want to do the whole weekend next time.

Was curious what I'd score on the AQT, but the set screw came out of my front sight and the front post of my tech sight fell off. Made it a little difficult to aim   A couple of instructors offered to let me finish with one of their 10/22's, but I was just too tired to fuss with a rifle I was unfamiliar with.

That was probably the only important screw that I hadn't put loc-tite on as I figured the factory would have done that. Oh well, will see how I do on my next shoot.

Would definitely recommend this to anyone. And make sure you bring friends, you'll have more fun and have something to talk about later.

[quietman]

Went to my first Appleseed in Ramah, CO. There were several reasons for going. I knew I'd not been taught marksmanship correctly and I was interested in the stories from history I'd heard snippets of. Plus, it was a chance to take my wife shooting and have someone else teach her, and teach her correctly.

Also took 2 young women in their 20's who'd never shot before.

Good points:
Safety, safety, safety was the priority
Event was well organized
Instruction was excellent
Instructors were very encouraging and patient
People that showed up for the shoot were just downright good people.
Historical stories were great

Bad points:
Umm, well, about all I can pick out are it was really hot on Saturday, and really windy on Sunday. neither one of those could be controlled by the instructors.

I learned a lot and had fun doing it. So did my wife and the other 2 women.

Now here's where we get into why I felt this was such a good event.

My wife was struggling with getting a good sight picture. The instructors were working with her and couldn't, at first, figure out what the issue was. But they persisted and finally figures out it was the progressive lenses in her glasses. These are not bifocals or trifocals but gradually change focal length from top to bottom. The way they are set up, when she looks through the part that puts the front post in focus, the entire target at 25 yards is just on big smear.

The instructors were genuinely concerned with the issue she was having. Once they figured it out, they grabbed a scoped rifle for her that was an instructor's and problem solved. She'd have quit if they hadn't persisted in trying to figure out the issue. The fact that really cared about helping her impressed my wife deeply. They also placed an interest and desire in her to learn how to shoot well.

Then there's the other issue. I had one extra rifle, the 2 women, who are sisters, brought their dad's 22. But it was a single shot so was not usable for how Appleseed teaches (You need a magazine fed of some type). Before the instructors could offer a spare, one of the participants handed them an extra 10/22 he had. Like I said, Just good people there.

I've always been abysmal with open sights. By Sunday after lunch I was shooting a 4 inch square at 100 yards with open sights in a 30+ mph crosswind with a Marlin 60 and hit 12 out of 14. Maybe not as good as some of the people here, but a marked improvement for me.

If you'd asked me to do that Saturday morning, I'd have busted up laughing. (I even told the shoot boss that)

To put it another way, their instruction had me shooting a tighter group with open sights at 100 yds than I was capable of shooting at 25 yds before coming.

My wife and the other 2 were only able to go Saturday. All of them have already told me they plan on going back again and my wife has the date picked out she wants to go. All of them want to do the whole weekend next time.

Was curious what I'd score on the AQT, but the set screw came out of my front sight and the front post of my tech sight fell off. Made it a little difficult to aim   A couple of instructors offered to let me finish with one of their 10/22's, but I was just too tired to fuss with a rifle I was unfamiliar with.

That was probably the only important screw that I hadn't put loc-tite on as I figured the factory would have done that. Oh well, will see how I do on my next shoot.

Would definitely recommend this to anyone. And make sure you bring friends, you'll have more fun and have something to talk about later.