Ramseur NC

[oberonsjester]

I want to thank everyone that put on an excellent weekend at the home range.  It was my first Appleseed and I was very impressed by the Instructors and the facilities.  Next time I want to see what I can do on that long range.  I owe a personal thanks to Jim and Dinky Dao for their encouragement and pointers.  Jim managed to work Natural Point of Aim into my thick skull and Dinky Dao showed me at least 3 bad habits I have picked up along the way.  I couldn't have made Rifleman without your help!  Thanks to Wildman for the shower (and hot water).  They were both an unexpected surprise.  The other instructors that participated in group sessions were enthusiastic and put on some of the best pep talks and history lessons I have heard in a long time.  I'll leave the stats to others, but I had a great weekend.  Thanks for all you did to put it together.

Jim

[Old Dog]

Perserverance.  Oberonsjester has it.  He did not give up.  He was so close to a Rifleman's score Saturday afternoon and so tired from a day of shooting.  He came back Sunday and got a 206 followed by a 215 (if I got it wrong speak up) with his iron sighted AR15.

Man, you just can't understate the importance of NPOA (understanding it and how to get yours).  Once again the AQT proved that being able to shoot small groups doesn't get you a Rifleman's score.  Those shifts between multiple targets will move those nice little groups right off the next target if you don't take the time to get your NPOA between targets.  Congratulations on that Rifleman's patch again oberonsjester.

I believe we had either 40 or 41 people on the line Saturday.  More youngster's than I've seen at any Appleseed I've ever been to.  Saturday was a pretty routine Appleseed first day.  Lot's of folks showing up to be reminded of our heritage as Americans, to learn how to better shoot their rifles and to start down the path to becoming a Rifleman.  We had four people earn Rifleman patches on Saturday and added three to that on Sunday for a total of seven (that's almost 20% which I think is a pretty good ratio).

Lot's of 10/22's on the line, several AR's, only one M1A, a couple of M1's, a couple of bolt action .22's, an FAL, an AR18 and some other rifles that didn't make it through the day, either day.  There was only one SKS but the young man using the SKS was occasionally getting 5 shots inside the 1" square (rumor was one of the instructors was trying to talk him into selling it ).  The SKS shooter was hampered by not having stripper clips and the AQT stages were really hurting him as loading without the stripper clips is really slow but he stayed with it and told me he thought he would do alright in spite of that.  His father should be proud of having a son with that kind of attitude.  He didn't make excuses, he just kept trying.

It's really important to find out whether or not your rifle is dependable and sighted in but it needs to happen before you travel to an Appleseed and lose training opportunities fighting with a stubborn rifle.

We had two youngsters (looked to be 12 to 14 years old shooting M1 Garands and German Mausers and doing alright.  Anyone who says the big rifles kick too much could take a lesson from these kids.  I swear the one shooting the 8mm Mauser looked like that thing slid him backwards on the rug 3 inches every time he squeezed the trigger but he kept on squeezing that trigger and working that bolt.

Saturday the weather was perfect.  Sunday we got a bad thunderstorm with lots of rain, wind, lightning and some hail.  We had to stop for awhile as the rain and wind first began stripping the targets off the cardboard backers and then began dropping the cardboard backers to the ground as well.  When the rain slacked off the shooters rehung the cardboard and the targets and we got in some more AQT's before the end of the day and picked up two more Rifleman scores in that last hour and half.  Some folks left during and right after the rain storm.  I'll bet the two new Riflemen are glad they stayed and kept shooting.

edited - we had two or three 1 day folks show up on Sunday.

[MCKNBRD]

GREAT days on the range at Ramseur!  I can tell ya, this Appleseed thing was awesome! 

Now I just need to get something that will shoot to 2 and 3 hundred yards regularly...the Mini-30 is a great brush gun for deer, but it doesn't help much at 200+ yards.

Met some great folks, had a great time, and look forward to the IIT trail or an RBC in my future.

Just that minor technicality of income to deal with.

Folks (Wildman, Ding, 7.62BBQ, M1A4ME, VAShooter, Dinky Dao, Atlas, et al.), I had a great time.  I learned some stuff I was doing wrong (thanks for the help in the prone and sitting, Ding!) and hopefully helped the guys beside me a little.

Byrdman

[Ding]

Yo McknBrd!

Glad you enjoyed the Appleseed experience!  It was great to meet you and many thanks for jumping right in to help with some of the Admin stuff Saturday morning.  I hope you come back soon and become an IIT.  We need as many people with your enthusiasm as we can get.  Tell all your friends! 

More soon,
Ding

[Redwolf]

Wildman, Ding, 7.62BBQ, M1A4ME, VAShooter, Dinky Dao, Atlas, all the instructors. I had a great time. Like M1A4ME said perseverance counts. After shooting 208's and 209's all day Sat and Sun, it wasn't till after the rain on Sunday I made it. Thanks.
John 

[luke-gr]

Mckngbrd, glad to hear you had a good experience.  Im planning on the July 4 event at Ramseur.  I see this is a 3day event in July....What will be done differently on a three day event?

[VAshooter]

I want to thank everyone who attended the Appleseed at Ramseur April 19th and 20th. I especially want to thank all the adults who brought kids. More than half the shooters were young men and women and they are the future of this country.

The instructors were just like the "Energiser Bunny". They just kept going and going. We had a big crowd of shooters so they had a lot to do. As shoot boss I had a ringside seat watching Atlas Shrug on Saturday. He was up and down the line stopping every couple of shooters to correct an error or improve their position and then he would move on. He may well have set the record for number of shooters helped in a single afternoon. Dinky Dao was late getting in because of work but she made up for it once she arrived. Many shooters mentioned how much her instruction helped them. Student not only came to instruct but brought shooters with him. One of them, Enoch Chen helped us when we were short handed and still found time to make Rifleman.

This was the first Appleseed I have attended where the attendance on Sunday topped Saturday. We lost a few after the thunderstorm but it was a great group of shooters both days. We had a total of 41 shooters. 25 of them were juniors and seven of them are now Riflemen. We had many more who broke the 200 barrier.

Everyone loved the red AQT targets. Once they saw them they didn't want to go back to the black ones. I had a revolutionary war musket and bayonett on display for the history discussions and I think it brought into focus the thought of standing on Lexington Green facing seven hundred British troops with fixed bayonetts.

Thanks again to all of you for your particpation in remembering and honoring the men and women who gave so much and passed on the gift of liberty which we now enjoy.

VAshooter

[luke-gr]

Im planning on the July 4 event at Ramseur.  I see this is a 3day event in July....What will be done differently on a three day event?

Sorry, but bump for an answer hopefully.  Just wondering what will be involved on the three day event?

[VAshooter]

You guys will have to wait for Junior birdman to answer that. He is the Shoot Boss that weekend. You will have some great instructors on hand and I know it will be fun.

VAshooter

[Junior Birdman]

  I'm just the SB for the Boot Camp. Haven't assigned a SB for this event yet. My guess is that 90% of the shooters will leave Sunday night. More trigger time for the rest of us!!!    JB