Hinesville, GA--Ponies and Buffalo and Cannons-Whoo Hoo!

[Son of Martha]

If you missed it, you missed a great shoot!

41 shooters got a dip in the marksmanship pool this past weekend, courtesy of Rye Patch range and the 2nd GA Artillery (http://2ndgeorgiaartillery.org/index.html).  With temps just about perfect for shooting during the day and perfect for camping at night, I think we have a winning combination.

With the help of the IITs Cannonman61 (Dave), Tracerfire (Rusty) and SgtCap (err...Sgt. Cap...)  Instructors Silence and the other one were honored once again for the opportunity to spend time with our fellow Americans, teaching, talking, and learning for a glorious 48 hours.  The 2nd GA also hosted dinner on Saturday night, with 1750s-era dishes, cooked over wood fires.  Afterwards attendees got to return to the range to try out the Brown Bess muskets, and a lucky few even got to touch off the 3 pounder cannon (Grendle).  Later still was the campfire talk, as people from NC, FL, AL, and MS finally had time to get to know one another (no time on the line, too busy learning!).  Sunday was the AQT grind, with the ammo running through like water as the shooters got the opportunity to polish their technique.  By the time we secured operations around 4 p.m., every one there had a great "torture test" of the rifle and support gear.  Several scopes came loose or had other problems (including one we found that had the adjustments labeled backwards).  Several folks found that they needed to include some tools for sight adjustment in the range kit.  A couple culled unreliable magazines, or discovered that the rifle really isn't reliable after 300 rounds without cleaning.  Good--this is all information that a rifle owner should have regarding his equipment...It means he has used his equipment  .  No worries wearing them out, and with ammo prices being what they are Appleseed gives you the excuse to shoot while at the same time returning benefit for the expenditure.

  A tremendous hat's off to the re-enactors of the 2nd GA Artillery, Morgan, Eli, Micah, Chad, Bethany and of course Commander Dave (Cannonman61) for the hospitality and effort they put into this event.  Thank you to the attendees, without ya'll this would be pointless.  Special thanks to those who brought young folks, getting the kids trained in proper firearms safety early can save a life someday.

  For those already missing the camaraderie, there will be another one in October (4-5th).  If ya can't wait until then (I know--me neither), there will be one in Toccoa, GA the 29th-30th of THIS month  .  Camping is available there, also.

  I saw lots of guys with cameras--let's see the pics!  Mine are coming as soon as I figure out how to get the film outta this digital camera...

SoM

[militiaman 1741]

The cannons were cool, but I've fired them before; the muskets were cool, but I've fired them a lot. Miss Debbie's meal was wonderful, but I have had that pleasure many times in the past.

What was exceptional at this Appleseed was the instruction: patient, encouraging and effective as my daughter (Bethany) who had never fired a modern rifle before had a high score of 198 on the AQT (in high heels no less (see picture)) after the excellent teaching by Tracer and SOM.  Can't say enough about good things about them.

The fireside chat was invigorating as well as informative; an only sometimes contentious.

I have posted as many photo's as I can; will post more later.

[Riverside]

Sam & Dave, and Cap too, ran a great line!  Thanks men!  My son Deren and I had a ball.  We drove six hours from Jupiter FL to come and it was worth every mile.  I went to Orlando last year, and the second time is better.

Deren shot a 205 for his last AQT, and is determined to get rifleman next time.  He is a rifleman at tomahawk, though. Hah!  Everything was great fun and there was excellent instruction.  We are already planning for Myakka and bringing some buddies.  Thanks SoM for the history lesson.  It really made an impact on my son, he really had no idea of what the revolution was about.  23 years old, and a product of government schools.  Thanks for the great work.

God Bless Appleseed and the RWVA!

Mike Powell
Jupiter, FL

[cannonman61]

Well I am DEAD tired and my knee is sore as hell, but I think, from my personal perspective, that it went very well, in fact it seemed to be the best one here yet.

We had 15 campers in 5 camps on Friday night. It was cold, but we stayed warm in the reenactor tents under our wool and hides. I sweated at first so caught a chill from the damp. Militiaman brought 3 of his kids, his boss, and one of Eli's friends. I was there with Davie Jr. Tracerfire and his friend Rob from near Gary Indiana arrived at 3pm Friday and Camped too. And we, Davie and I, had the range set up and everything set and ready before Ron (SoM) got there at 5:30.

The campfire talk was animated to say the least, both nights, but especially Saturday night! People all seem to know that something's wrong here in the US, but there was little in common about just what it is or what to do about it. SoM gave them "Fred's Plan to Save America" as a decent alternative to the varying ideas presented. All stayed very respectful and cordial

We had another Appleseed first with the first official Appleseed dead horse burial detail. Davie and I arrived on site to setup at about 10am to find a dead horse literally right next to the camp area near the edge of the west range. Ewww! It was the old nag Talon and I saw months ago on its (literal) last legs. It had died 2 weeks ago Sunday and Tim (landowner) told his help (teenagers) to drag it out beyond the far cannon berm and bury it. Well, they roped it up and dragged it with a pickup to the spot where the rope broke and just left it. ( The vultures and the pond gator probably loved that!) I drove back to town to town about 3pm to show Tracerfire the Mission Essential Gun Shop. There I visited with the landowner's wife, Marcia and told her about the horse. She was appalled! I went back to the site and by that time Militiaman and troop were there and we were just about to grab our shovels with a plan to cover it with at least some dirt and straw when we heard a backhoe and here comes Tim (landowner) and proceeds to bury it right there.( Marcia must have rally got on old Tim!  ) God I love this place!!!! Only at an Appleseed! What fun, What fun!

We had, IIRC, 38 on line Saturday and we started with 30 on Sunday. We had some heavy attrition throughout the day on Sunday and by the ending AQT at 3:15 we only had 10 students left on the east range, having combined the ranges earlier. IIRC, we had 3 riflemen and 5 more knocking on the door with 200 or better. Militiaman's middle son, Micha, made rifleman with a 217. His 15yo daughter, Bethany, went from low 50s Saturday to 198 Sunday. Up until Saturday, she'd never shot ANY type of rifle, modern or period!! ( Muskets yes, rifles, no)  Fred should taut that one! Eli struggled with equipment problems all day Saturday. The rifle I gave him as a present is sadly not up to the task( old Winchester 190) and his brother Micha, bought a new Savage semi-auto that had so many problems he ended up using my Rifleman maker 10-22 to get his 217. Eli brought a friend, Ben, and he shot well on Sunday as well. All three of my 10-22's and my Marlin 60 were loaned out both days. My son , David Jr. shot a 179 Saturday and was unhappy with his progress and sadly, did not want to return on Sunday. He will work to make it the next time. A new shooter from Atlanta (Sean) with a brand new 10-22 shot all day Saturday with his stock sighted rifle, then borrowed SgtCap's 10-22 and promptly shot a 218 and then later a 242!!!
His first shots Saturday were barely on the paper. Talk about progress. He left knowing what to do and how to do it and how to make his rifle shoot like Caps!

Dinner on Saturday was spectacular! We fed all of 40 people, both students, Instructors, landowner and a member of the media. All of those who partook proclaimed the food extraordinary! All period correct and researched for foods and receipes from Savannah in the 1770's. Pork roast, Wild rice and green bean stew, Sea Food chowder, Greens, period cookies, a period drink made with fruit, honey and spices, sausage and fried apples, and hot off the griddle journey cakes! We had a newspaper guy show up on Saturday am and he was so impressed he came back for the dinner ( I invited him, he didn't crash the dinner ) and on Sunday we had a freelance guy from WTOC TV come by and take short video clips and ask Ron questions and he is trying to get a piece on the air. I will pass along any press coverage we get out of this event.

The musketry and cannon were thunderous fun! SoM got to plaster a redcoat with 47 musketballs in a cannister round. He had the laugh going. The nightfire round I made did not work as well as I had planned, at least from my vantage point. Back to the drawing board I guess. Silence whacked the officers musket off with a solid shot, although we couldn't see it at the time( found out when we retrieved the redcoats Sunday). Silence also won third place medal for musketry! Great work Silence! His Brother Emblyn won the medal for high score junior with a 217. Sean won the high overall rifleman medal with a 242 and Militiaman's daughter Bethany won the high female shooter with a 198. Congrats to all. Wear your medals with pride.

I think everyone was happy and tired when they left. I hope all had a shining time. I certainly tried to make it one. As always, the saddest time is 1700 on Sunday evening and I had to say goodbye to friends, old and new.

I encourage all that took picture to post them as I tried, but being an IiT and a site laison didn't leave me much time to shutter bug, but I did try. A couple below.

Dang boys! I wish you'd all been here!!

CM

[cwc400]

I wanted to make a quick posting regarding this weekends appleseed. A special thanks to Cannonman and all of the Instructors again this weekend everyone of you are a class act and it is a pleasure to have you as friends. One word describes this weekend "WOW!" people came from near and far (up around Northern Illionis and several from down Florida way). It was great to meet all of you and we look forward to seeing you in Hinesville and at other RWVA - Appleseeds in the near future. I can only hope that by the fall appleseed that I have a better rifle (considering all the trouble I had with mine - not ejecting rounds every third or fourth shot at the most) but that will be something that I can work on. My Marlin 60 is a good rifle heck two months ago I shot a 217 in the mini my first qualifiing rifleman score that we had here so I have no excuses ..... I heard from Dave tonight that we had a 242 for a high score and man that is some shooting....... I guess that means I will have to take Cannonman out to the range alot between now and October to get my equipement and act together...... I hope to see all of you in the near future and I hope that all of you "Aim small and miss small!"

For God and Country
Chad "Crash" Carpenter aka cwc400

[cannonman61]

Guys,

My borrowed camera from my wife is a 7.5 megapixel camera.

The size of the pictures is overwhelming the SMF forum so I have them on webshots.com

Follow the link to the 17 I posted there.


http://community.webshots.com/album/562679815XLrHsF

CM

[capt.kirk1701]

Howdy to all! I just wanted to say what a great time my son Anthony and I had at this shoot. My buddy Rob and his son Steven had a blast as well. I know that the instruction is absolutely the best deal going! I'm going to try to do everything in my power to get the ball rolling and set something up in east central Florida. Thanks to cannonman, SoM, and everyone else for providing me with some of the most fun I've had in a long time!!
Paul Heer

[alex4922]

Man..what a great time!! My son Matt, my friend David and I were able to attend Saturday (Matt got a virus late Saturday and we had to leave early). As usual the instruction, food and comradery were exceptional.

Thanks to David, Sam and their fellow patriot with the injured foot for the fine riflery instruction. Matts shooting improved a lot (he enjoyed rubbing in beating my score on the AQT)...course I had to remind him that there IS a difference in using a poodle shooter 5.56 to a real battle rifle in 7.62!

My friend David had not really enjoyed rifle shooting as much as pistols but as things heated up with position changes and challenging time limits he turned to me and said "this is freakin great.. I love it"
He plans on attending the Toccoa Appleseed with his daughter later this month.

I did better than I thought I would with my HK 91 clone. Gotta work on my sitting and standing positions more and learn my sights better. It was great "under fire" training trying to concentrate on the sights with Chad's .22 brass raining down on me. Thanks again with the help scoring targets Chad!

All in all a really good weekend. Thanks again to the fine folks of Hinesville for their hospitality.


                                                                                                Alex

[cannonman61]

Hey there all!

We got some press afterall!

Click on link to view the article.


http://www.coastalcourier.com/news/article/5990/


I hope you all like it.

CM