Raton, NM NRA Whittington Center Sept 11-12

[TaosGlock]

The final shoot of the year at the NRA Whittington Center was held this weekend.
Trophy fall/early winter hunts shut down the CF and RF ranges and prevent us from hosting any more AS till 2011.
But do not fear, the 2011 dates are about finalized and we have even more shoots scheduled here for 2011 plus an RBC.

This last one of the season was one of the best yet. And it is Americans like this group of shooters that make it that way.

"Oh what a glorious morning is this!"- Sam Adams
Just before sunrise. Sierra Grande and Palo Blanco Peaks on the skyline.


Sunrise over the NRA Whittington Center's Coors Range, our dedicated DAR at this location.


BlueFeather, Shoot Boss, greets the sunrise with some limbering exercises. The days are getting shorter and there is much work to be done in the next 2 days.


Redneck finishes the backers while a group of wild turkeys checks out his progress.


Long Rifle fires off  "The six steps to firing the shot" with his usual excellent handouts.




Then uses his teaching aids to demonstrate Inches, Minutes and Clicks and what size a 4 MOA square is at 25-500 yards.
L-R: BlueFeather, redneck, Trigger Hippie, Sheepdog, oneshot_onehole, and NMI9100.


Sheepdog demonstrates trigger reset with his M1A. Hold the trigger back, let it come forward until you feel and hear an audible "click".
Then, from this point, start the trigger squeeze again.


Sheepdog and Long Rifle demo the kneeling position. One of the fastest positions to acquire.


Sheepdog and redneck demo the standing position. The least stable of the field shooting positions but the one you are most apt to use.


Trigger Hippie does the Ball and Dummy Drill with one of the SKS shooters.
Learn today, teach tomorrow. The shooters "tomorrow" began "today" as they coached each other to cure and detect shooting errors.


Coaching the prone position. redneck and oneshot_onehole.
Prone is the most stable of the field positions.


Fixing a sling and fine tuning the Steady Hold Factors in prone. Do you know the SHF's for each shooting position?


oneshot_onehole and NMI9100 on the line.


Sheepdog explains the AQT to shooters.


Long Rifle assists as oneshot_onehole explains Stage 3 of the AQT.


Molly cleans the Redcoat while proud hubby Joey looks on.


Husband Joey on the other hand kept gripping the stock too tight. Redneck had a cure for that.


Joey's groups magically shrank.


And he was a great sport to boot!

A Rifleman adapts, persists and overcomes.
And by late afternoon, day 2 we had...a Rifleman 213!!
Sheepdog patches up our first and only Rifleman.
Congrats Joey!


NMI9100 fires off the Third Strike of the Match. The Revolutionary War began at 12:30 on April 19th at Meriam's Corner.
Do you know the actual events that caused that to transpire? Better get to an Appleseed soon!


Standing position.


NMI9100's son Ethan waiting for the "Fire" command.
Ethan did not miss a beat or a COF for the whole 2 days.


Day 2 soon....

[TaosGlock]

Day 2:
Reviews, more history/heritage at lunch, more AQT's and:
Known Distance (KD) on 4 minute steel targets to 700 yards!

BlueFeather awaits the shooters arrival. The LTR rack also holds the rimfire rifles the shooters will use.

The KD loaners were also furnished by the instructors. These included an FAL, an LRB M1A, a Finnish Mosin Nagant...all supplied by NMI9100.
I supplied a M96 1903 Swedish Mauser and a 1943 M1Garand. Interested shooters were allowed to try these out and we had a few takers.


The CMP (Civilian Marksmanship Program) is unique concept in the world.
Shooters at an Appleseed event are made aware exactly what the CMP program is all about.

Attending an Appleseed qualifies you to purchase rifles and ammo from the CMP. M1's are around $500.
Ammo is still reasonable and plentiful for these fine rifles.
I let shooters try out the M1.

From one of the CMP Appleseed handouts, I paraphrase in part from Bill Mattocks, former Sgt, USMC, 1979-1985:
The most abundant surplus rifle in the CMP warehouse is the M1 Garand.
Gen. George S. Patton said: "the M1 is the finest battle implement ever devised".

The M1 is a semi auto rifle in 30-06.
The rifle is powerful and accurate and the 06 is the most popular and one of the best cartridges in the world.

Some say it is the rifle that won the war, meaning WW2. There is a lot of emotion tied up in this old reliable warhorse.

These M1's were lovingly stored in US arsenals in hopes we would never, ever, again have to use them to defend liberty on foreign shores.

We have always risen against tyranny and our country was born in bloody revolution.  
And since then we have never failed to step into the breech when called upon to do so.
As Americans, we have never bowed to anyone, from April 19th 1775 to today.

During the uncertain times of WW2,  our Republic was threatened by two enemies on two different fronts.
The M1 Garand gave us a decided edge in battle.

The M1 Garand represents us, our blood, sweat and liberty.  It represents our fathers and grandfathers lives in battle.
The M1 is not just our heritage but represents the terrible price of freedom.

The M1 may well represent who we are, who we were and who we will be in the future.

500 yard hits with an M1 Garand on the 4 minute steel target are a no brainer from prone.
The shooters easily see that what works at 25M works at 500 yards, the Rifleman's Quarter Mile. That 500 yard plate took a beating too!

Most RF shooters stayed with the 100yd KD.
Long Rifle, oneshot_onehole and NMI9100 all supplied stands and steel for the 100-300 yard portions.
For 100 yard KD we had Stage 1 Redcoat size targets to simulate 400 yard shooting.
That was fun and very rewarding.

Shooters started out shooting at a stage 1 Redcoat and measured the bullet drop in MOA and made the necessary corrections to their sights.
This was necessary as the tiny hanging steel targets were 6x4 MOA.


KD rimfire line


Bill and David get ready for KD.


NMI9100 coaches Molly at 700 yards on his LRB M1A.

Sheepdog coaches Joey with his M1A.


Instructors and students shoot KD at Whittington.


The AQT grind with the KD targets in the sun. Sheepdog instructs shooters on the standing position.


What works at 25 yards works at 700 yards. Just look at those hits!


Target detection is tougher when that 700 yard plate is now black.


Instructors shown with one incredible group of American shooters:


Instructors:
David (NMI9100), Mike (Sheepdog), Bob (redneck), Alan (Long rifle), Jim (oneshot_onehole), Bill, Dan (TaosGlock) Gillian (BlueFeather).


As the sun sets on our last NRAWC for 2010 season, father and son finish off the last shot of the season on the 300 yard steel.
David and Ethan with his 6.8 AR.

[BobABQ]

Great photos and AAR as always!

[nmmi9100]

This shoot was a lot of fun.  We had some REALLY great students.  Not a complaint one.  And EVERYONE hung with it until the last.  None of the tired folks on the sidelines...these folks were serious about learning their heritage and how to shoot.

Molly went from never having shot a rifle on Saturday morning to getting 195's on the AQT and cleaning the Redcoat on Sunday.  She even went to work with my M14 spanking the 700 yard steel with regularity!

Molly's fiance Joey wasn't to be left behind...it took him a bit with Sheepdog's M1A but he was on steel at 700 as well that afternoon!  Redneck's egg trick and Joey's good sportsmanship at learning were key factors in his earning the Rifleman patch.

David learned his Yugo SKS is more of a serious rifle than he ever thought.  With just a little bit of a rifleman's dance he was on target at 500 yards...dishing out a real lashing on steel.

Alan was doing very well throughout both days...his peak AQT was 209...I'm certain he'll be back to one of our Albuquerque shoots in the coming months.

Matt was doing very well with numerous scores over 190 and a couple over 200...I expect we'll see him again soon as well.

Ilene and Arlene, both made major strides in improving their scores...their first Appleseed was a tremendous success.

And Mr. Harold Daniels and his granddaughter Sarah, both did an awesome job of 7th stepping.  They both attended our 28-29 August Raton AS...and based upon their direct efforts, they brought in Ilene and Arlene (Sarah's mom & her sister), Joe and his wife, and Molly & Joey.  In short, the Daniels clan and friends were about 1/2 of our line at this shoot.

Throughout the weekend, I was continuously impressed by these folks' willingness to learn.  They  checked their egos at the door and soaked this stuff up like a sponge.  It was a pleasure to work with you all.

-David
Edgewood, NM

[BlueFeather]

The caliber of students was extremely high!   

The target density was high as well, but we ultimately put it to good use.  I told Molly on saturday that she would be hitting the 500 yard target she could barely see, by sunday.  She hit that, and then hit the 700 yarder at least 5 times!  Her excitement drove most of us the whole weekend.

Dan's distance steel was great and it gave good lessons in how target appearance changes with the light, but the steel that Alan and Jim (Long Rifle and oneshot_onehole) brought was incredible: 3/8 plasma cut bell targets, painted various colors and hanging off stands so that, when hit, they both swung and made a fantastic gong-like sound.  We could even see the paint chipping off all of the targets, so we knew when they were hit.  Jason, in a 22 managed to hit one of the hangers on two of the 100 yard targets and then he proceeded to 'spin' the targets repeatedly.  This from someone who was generally hitting 6-8 MOA groups before the steel!

We all had a great time, got all of the COF done and on schedule.  The steel broke the monotony of AQTs such that students were excited till the end. 

[TaosGlock]

And thanks to redneck for bringing 2 students.  Matt and Jason are from the gunsmith school in Trinidad, CO, just 30 minutes away.

Colorado's Trinidad State Junior College first launched their gunsmithing school in 1947.
That makes Trinidad's gunsmithing program the oldest active gunsmith school in the nation, and the first of its kind ever offered by an American college.
The gunsmithing program immediately attracted capacity enrollment, dominated by veterans of World War II.
In its 63 years of existence, the school has earned the respect and support of many leading companies in the shooting industry,
including Brownells and Sinclair International.

Remember it was in 1945, that P.O. Ackley established his shop here and his shop, just 2 years later evolved into the gunsmith school.  

redneck is 7th stepping here big time as he is a senior most student at TSJC's gunsmith school.