Castle Rock, WA AAR Aug. 20/21, 2011

[Joni]

Another wonderful weekend with wonderful people we would never have otherwise met!!
We finally got our summer weather, about 90 degrees both days.

Congratulations to Shadowman for taking the orange hat, did a good job this weekend and love working with you.

Congratulations to Prescott for earning his red hat, can't wait to see you in it!!

Congratulations to Virgil and Brian for earning your Rifleman Patches, bet that cool water you got for your 210 scores sure felt good today!

Congratulations to Andrew, Robert and Kelsey for earning your Young Patriot Patches, you young men worked so hard today, and your scores are getting better with every AQT.

Congratulations to the whole crew for keeping the shoot in good form, and Thank you participants, you made such great progress and we look forward to working with you again soon.

Here are a few pictures, more to follow

[Joni]

Here are a few more, most of them will be posted on a Picasa link which I will post tomorrow.

Thanks again everyone for making this weekend one of the greatest!!
Joni

[Joni]

Gotta get Theophilus giving Shadowman his Orange hat!!

[Joni]

well, I thought I had it down, but the link is not working. I will work on it tomorrow when I am fresh! thank you for your patience!

[Prescott]

This was a great Appleseed at Castle Rock.  The whole weekend ran really smooth and the participants were eager to learn and made progress in their marksmanship skills.   Everyone was able to enjoy our warmest weekend of the summer while they worked through their AQTs.

Thanks to all the ladies that showed up this weekend.  We look forward to seeing you again at the Ladyseed in October.

Congratulations to Virgil and Brian in earning their Rifleman patches.

Shadowman, thanks for taking up the Orange hat and joining the instructor core in the Northwest.   You have a great natural of telling the heritage and I am looking forwards to more stories.

I also want to thank everyone who has helped me down the Appleseed trails.  It all started by Wheeler44 dragging me to my first Appleseed and then continued with lots of good mentoring from Earl, RL and the other NW instructors.  I will put my new Red Hat to good use and continue to expand the scope of my responsibilities in the NW. 

[Western Rose]

Congratulations, Prescott!!!

Thank you, ShadowMan!!!

[Evenstar]

Thanks for taking up the orange hat, ShadowMan!

Prescott, congratulations on that shiny new Red Hat!!!

Sounds like a great shoot (thanks for the pics, Joni)! Hope to make it to Castle Rock sometime soon.

[kenjo]

Anyone who has been to an AS at Castle Rock in the past and saw the improvements to the range this time had to be impressed. Thanks to Cliff  , there is a fancy new bridge across the creek and improved drainage so the mud bog has been eliminated. I finally got to meet Wade! An excellent host and very helpful to everyone, especially shooters having equipment issues with their rifles and lots of great instruction thrown in.  It was very convenient to be able to camp on the property as well. RL did another fine job as shoot boss. Excellent heritage presentations and a good group of shooters made the weekend very enjoyable.

[Scramblin]

 
Big smiles all weekend.  Perfect weather, no swamp, a new bridge, lots of shooters with teachable attitudes, a crew that is really gelling into a team, our always welcoming host; just cant think of anything that did go well this weekend.

2 new riflemen and many more knocking on the door.  Since I saw Joni busy selling ROC cards, I'm guessing the September shoot will be chalk full of new riflemen.

Griff- nice work on the Red Hat.  Super fun, but still work, and we all appreciate the effort.

Shadownan- Thanks for stepping up!  Lot's to do and learn.  Just ask for help.  We're all easy to get to.

George- first time I heard Rebbeca Simpson story.  Thanks you.  It was inspiring.

I took a good bit of pics.  They are all up on picasa.  Here is the link. 
https://picasaweb.google.com/Brian.Norton206/20110820CastleRockWAAppleseed?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLH7g-zyzMOo9AE&feat=directlink

I look forward to seeing you all on the trail.

Scramblin aka Brian

[fyrediver]

I want to thank all the Instructors and volunteers, and Wade of course for his hospitality.  Even though this was my first Appleseed I was made to feel very welcome and a member of the family.  Thanks to all of you.

I learned a lot and look forward to learning more history and improving my marksmanship skills.

I would also like to thank George for the cooling water after I achieved my Rifleman patch!  It was truly appreciated  .

I'm looking forward to many more Appleseeds to come.

Fyrediver aka Brian too

[Wolfe]

Thank you all for making this a fantastic experience! I was disappointed to not make Rifleman this time (that's my competitive side showing) but I learned a lot and know what I need to practice to make it. My Son (Cory) and I plan to be back again when the weather is a little cooler.

Biggest lessons learned from Wade:

• Keep the booger hook on the bang switch
• What a "banana clip" really looks like (I foresee a tshirt in the future for this one)

Seriously, though, I got home after a long slog through traffic and fixed my hardware failures and practiced a few times. With the GI sling installed I was finally able to maintain a (nearly) rock-solid NPOA. I'm hoping that some serious practicing is going to pay dividends on the next Appleseed. My son is hoping to attend again in cooler weather so he can pay attention to the lessons taught by the excellent instructors both for the marksmanship skills and the history.

Thanks to Wade and Joni for being such great hosts. Thanks to the instructors for the lessons taught and the fun shared. Thanks to the other attendees for being such friendly people and a positive experience.

Todd

[George Hacker]

George- first time I heard Rebbeca Simpson story.  Thanks you.  It was inspiring.

Actually nerves got the best of me and I botched her first name.  I was able to share the story of Deborah Sampson (heh, Deborah and Sampson are both judges in the Bible - that will help me not to make the Rebecca mistake again).  Her story is a very inspirational story of a woman patriot and I learned about her at my second AS in Corona, CA from 22calgal.  There is more information about her on the Internet, but a Reader's Digest version can be found here: http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/sampson.html.

Thank you, Theophilus and Joni, for inviting me to Appleseed.  It was an honor to have Theophilus present me with my rifleman's patch and my orange hat.  Also thank you to the other instructors who took me under their wings and helped my first AS as an IIT go well.  RL - thanks for letting me serve and you are a pleasure to work under/with.

Shooters - you all did an excellent job!  Although we only had two riflemen, many others were knocking at the door and know what they need to practice to have success.  Everyone improved a lot by the time I skipped out for a wedding at lunch on Saturday and the improvement continued Sunday morning and early Sunday afternoon.  I suspect the heat got the best of us and that is why scores were waning late in the day Sunday.  Who ever said an Appleseed was easy?  I hope we cross paths on the Appleseed trail in the future.

Wade, thank you for putting together an awesome range to shoot.  You are an awesome host and it was a pleasure meeting you.  We appreciate Cliff's efforts to improve the range as well.  He is very modest when you tell him so.

- ShadowMan (aka George)

[George Hacker]

I would also like to thank George for the cooling water after I achieved my Rifleman patch!  It was truly appreciated  .

I'm looking forward to many more Appleseeds to come.

Fyrediver,

You were a pleasure to meet and work with.  Your teachable attitude really paid off.  Congratulations on the rifleman's patch.

Also, you're welcome on the baptism because of your 210 score.  Personally I think the baptism photo would make a wonderful avatar photo IMHO.  I hope to see you again on the Appleseed trail (perhaps in the future with an orange hat?).   

- ShadowMan

[George Hacker]

Prescott,

Congratulations on earning the red hat.  Well done!

- Shadowman

[grayv]

I would like to thank RL and the rest of the crew .  I  had a great time and received some first class Training . Really enjoyed the history lessons. Thanks to our host Wade that's a great little range you have there.
- grayv (aka Virgil)

[Joni]

OK, lets see if this works better then last night! Let me know if it doesn't work!

https://picasaweb.google.com/GretaStuff/CastleRockWAAugust20212011AS?authkey=Gv1sRgCOb4vc_fzcKGMw

Thanks Scramblin' for your pictures.

[Ducko]

Looks like a great shoot! Congrats to Virgil and Brian for getting thier Rifleman patch and to Griff for earning the Red Hat! 
Ducko

[Roland]

Griff, congratulations on your red hat.

Glad to see we have a new IIT.

Good job to all of the Castle Rock crew, hope to make it out there soon.

Roland

[Wade]

I did miss saying  some thing to a shooter about the why there rifle was not working right  an AR the primer's kept coming out of the case's  suspect(reloaded) the ammo primer pocket reamed out to much,  Rifle probably not at fault change out ammo and see if that fix's it ,,,not sure what else it could be  other then ammo issue.

Thank you all for coming to the shoot  .

Wade

[kenjo]

Some interesting malfunctions, indeed. Thanks, Wade, for helping folks out with their rifle problems.

[George Hacker]

Biggest lessons learned from Wade:

• Keep the booger hook on the bang switch
• What a "banana clip" really looks like (I foresee a tshirt in the future for this one)

Todd,

I thought you might appreciate the following link:  http://simpleanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/29jun10-banana-clip-vs-30-round-magazine/.  It was a pleasure meeting you at the Appleseed last weekend.

- George (aka ShadowMan)

[Wade]

Some interesting malfunctions, indeed. Thanks, Wade, for helping folks out with their rifle problems.

The longer you do this the more you will learn about bolth Shooting and Rifles and Rifle / ammo  problems ,,,,,,I tend to think of myself as bolth a teacher and a student .

Wade

[Wolfe]

Biggest lessons learned from Wade:

• Keep the booger hook on the bang switch
• What a "banana clip" really looks like (I foresee a tshirt in the future for this one)

Todd,

I thought you might appreciate the following link:  http://simpleanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/29jun10-banana-clip-vs-30-round-magazine/.  It was a pleasure meeting you at the Appleseed last weekend.

- George (aka ShadowMan)

Thanks for the link, george. Yep, that's kinda what I was thinking for a shirt.

I'm already thinking about bringing my shiny (sorta) new RWVA membership card down for the next shoot to see if I can persuade Joni to let me in the door as a ROC. Either way, I'm itchin' to get back out there and take part again. I also have some ideas for subtle recruiting that I'm kicking around. It would be good to have the chance to talk with folks to see if I'm crazy or if there would be some interest.

[Crazymama]

My mother-in-law and sisters went to this and we love love loved it!  For me, it was the first time I've ever held a gun for more than 10 minutes, and I learned SO much. 
Instructors were eager and ready to help at all times, and I was so impressed with their versatility, helping people at all levels.
My goal was to become more familiar and comfortable with my .22 (my husband's actually), and that was reached and surpassed.  Now I'm wanting a .22 of my own, WITH a scope  , and hopefully one of these days getting my rifleman patch.
I also LOVED the stories that were told from the American Revolution era.  Thank you to everyone for a spectacular weekend!!!
(And note to self, go to an Appleseed weekend during a cooler month.  It was hot!!)

[Western Rose]

Posted with permission:

Dear RWVA,

I don't know if I can attend the upcoming event in October, but I want to tell you how much my daughters and I enjoyed the whole Appleseed experience this past week-end.  It was wonderful, to say the least!

Everyone was so professional, knowledgeable, and especially, PATIENT!  Each of us wanted only to become more familiar with shooting and to feel more comfortable with the rifle, but we came away with so much more than that.  It was a terrific experience, and all 4 of us want to thank you for a most memorable week-end.  We've decided to make it at least an annual event.

Thanks again, and God bless you all!

Lee

[George Hacker]

Everyone was so professional, knowledgeable, and especially, PATIENT!  Each of us wanted only to become more familiar with shooting and to feel more comfortable with the rifle, but we came away with so much more than that.  It was a terrific experience, and all 4 of us want to thank you for a most memorable week-end.  We've decided to make it at least an annual event.

I hope they all come back before a year passes by.

Lee and daughters, you four were a pleasure to work with.  You came with the most important ingredient for a successful Appleseed: a teachable attitude.  Looking forward to meeting your husbands on the Appleseed trail.  They will learn a lot and hopefully have a blast at the same time.

- ShadowMan

PS:  Don't forget to dry practice what you've learned.  It would be awesome to have you earn your Rifleman's patches the next time you come. 

[Roland]

Biggest lessons learned from Wade:

• Keep the booger hook on the bang switch
• What a "banana clip" really looks like (I foresee a tshirt in the future for this one)

Todd,

I thought you might appreciate the following link:  http://simpleanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/29jun10-banana-clip-vs-30-round-magazine/.  It was a pleasure meeting you at the Appleseed last weekend.

- George (aka ShadowMan)

Speaking of... http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2010/02/01/banana-clips-do-exist/

Roland