Middlegate Appleseed

[battleborn]

  Finally got a chance to get registered with the site and give an AAR.
This was my first appleseed shoot and I must say that I am very pleased that I went. Weather for the shoot was typical Nevada where 3 or 4 seasons in one day is sometimes normal.  Wind, snow, cold and more wind on saturrday, Sunday was snow, wind and cold in am and wind and blowing sand in afternoon.  I beleive that 26 started Sat and only 4 of us finished out through Sun.  There was talk about another appleseed in June? If so I may have 3 or 4 more along with me.
I will be posting flyers soon and telling everyone who will listen about the benifits of this program. Not only the marksmanship but of teaching the history.
Oh, I only shot a 204 and a 205 but will be out ASAP with new tech sights to practice on the range and have been practicing the steps in my living room with wife and kids looking on.

[Fred]

    "...wife and kids looking on..."?

     What, they don't get to practice?

     Let's hope the kids can't walk yet, or you'll be roundly criticized for not passing on the tradition(!).

     Have you figured out how to post pics yet? We could use some pics of this event - especially Sat AM, with a pic of the sun shining, following by gray skies and a blizzard...

    Actual count for Sat AM was 28 on the line. We lost at least three (all "old guys") before lunch, but finished the day with most of the crowd.

    Sunday only ten showed up, and the shooting on the initial redcoats target was so bad, Fred did something he's never done before (well, rarely ): lashed into them, asking them what John Parker would think if he could see them now, and directing another redcoat target be put up, followed by another brisk tongue-lashing, ending up with "911 is just a phone call away, and I can have that bus with "Texas" on it here in no time - and you guys can go join 23 million other non-shooters..."

     Just as he was wondering if he'd been so hard as to be counterproductive, the shooters figured out that they were supposed to hit the red things down-range - and started doing it! Sometimes, "tough love" is the only answer! And fear of being sent to Texas? (Tweaking Scout's nose a little, don't really mean it.)

     Hey, 'Texas' is a great motivator - thanks to the Lone Star State for helping us with Appleseeds across the nation. I bet we have the only good shooters in Texas on this site...and as we get more, they'll be on this site, too!

     We had some high-dollar rifles on the line - some kind of HK bullpup, and a Swiss STG-57 - but as usual, the plain vanilla rifles were the ones to last the day out.

     We made one rifleman, and battleborn was knocking on the door pretty hard.

     Lots of guys acting like they've never been outdoors in the blowing sand, leaving ammo boxes open, gun cases open (how does it protect your rifle to put it in a case already filled with sand?), leaving mags out in the open, etc. I saw one mag which had sand drifting up around it.

     Alternate spells on Sat (particularly) of snow and melting meant wet mats which quickly turned to wet sand - ugh! In the afternoon, the snow turned from flakes to 1/8" hard pellets - sorta like hail, but made of snow instead of ice - must have been new to some of the shooters, as one or more commented about the "raining styrofoam pellets"... But that's exactly what it looked, and acted like. It was certainly new to us guys from the east coast.

     Because of a late-developing concern about the backstop (like, first thing Sat AM, decisions had to be made), we had to move the firing line forward closer to the dirt berm, and the shooters were on the edge of a low gully, in some cases slanted slightly down, aiming (or trying to) at a target that was slightly up. Most guys shifted around and found a compromise that was workable.

     We gave 'em a good dose of the history, with atticus taking up part of the load, and prosperity calling the line.

     Middlegate Station put on a nice buffet meal for lunch on Sat, and again for breakfast on Sunday.

     Did I mention that the instructors arrived near midnight on Friday, and drove out to Middlegate, arriving at 3 AM (we had to stop at Walmart, official RWVA Logistics Center - and then had to scour for cardboard!) and getting up 5:30 AM Sat morning - not voluntarily, but because for some reason the guy in the room next door went out and cranked his diesel truck up and let it idle from 5:30 to 6:30 AM!

    So we were all fresh as daisies all day Saturday - must have been, as we ran them until near 7 PM. (Maybe that's why everyone skedaddled before Sunday AM came around?)

     Anyone have pics they can share with us?

     And, yes, there is a date in the works for June, so pass the word, and let's get the firing line filled (there's easily enough room for 50).

[golfer7080]

It sounds like you need some Scout trained and hardened Texas instructors  in Nevada so sign me up as an IIT. 

Chris
aka golfer7080

[DarrellM5]

Just got registered for the forum so I thought I'd give an AAR on Middlegate.

This was my first (of many) Appleseed events and I had a blast.  If it was this much fun in the nasty weather, I can't even imagine how great it must be when the weather cooperates.  This was my first experience using slings on rifles for anything other than transporting the firearm.  What an eye-opener.  The instruction was great.  It's a nice departure from some of the instruction I've received where they say "you're doing really good, but you need to work on this" even when you totally screwed up.  If Fred or the other instructors were disappointed, they let you know it.  My groups on Saturday were decent, but nothing to write home about.  Concentrating on all of the steps helped me to pull them in tighter and make rifleman on Sunday.  The history lessons were great too.  They really gave me a desire to learn more about the Revolutionary War.  I've obtained a copy of Paul Revere's Ride from amazon which I have been devouring nightly.  I plan on attending the Appleseed in June and again in November.  I've already got several people wanting to come along.

Thanks to everyone responsible for the Middlegate Appleseed.

[arashi]

Another pic of Sat from another participant.

[Fred]

      What a picture!

      Brings back fond memories...

     Thanks for posting - and now that you're here, we'll expect you to grab a bucket...