Eureka, CA, Redwood Gun Club, Sept. 3-4

[Nero]

An even dozen Americans got off their couches and came out for some marksmanship and heritage on Labor Day weekend in beautiful Eureka, CA.  The coastal air conditioning did its job, and gave us mid-60s, with sunny breaks for lunch both days, and some occasional fog drifting through to remind us that the Pacific Ocean was just a dune away.

However, the equipment gods were not smiling, and both Murphy and the time monkey came to visit as we dealt with misaligned sights, sticky scopes, brand new rifles with jamming magazines, and poorly maintained borrowed rifles, plus some negative assistance from bad batches of Remington 22LR.    By lunch we had worked through our six steps, prone and the myriad variations of sitting and kneeling.  We told the stories of how colonists became Americans, and the first strike of the match, and returned to work.

Good and safe work by the shooters sped us through our transition drills, and then they got even better, turning in the nicest set of initial standing targets I've seen from shooters of such varied experience.     Given this, we moved right into shooting an AQT by stages, and much promise was shown.  We broke to rest and complete the stories of the 2nd and 3rd strikes, and received the welcome news that Redwood Gun Club was extending their usual closing time to 5PM for our benefit.  We shot through another AQT, and Brian posted a day's (and weekend) high score of 195.  After shooting a set of redcoats that showed much improvement, we closed the day with the time monkey slinking back into the nearby marsh.

Again our hosts came through for us on Sunday, and we were able to start a half hour early.  We were also joined by IIT APEX (Amy), the better half of our local instructor couple.  After shooting another set of redcoats that showed an evening's rest had also helped, we used our bonus time productively to beat down on equipment and position issues.  Half the line debugged gear and shot squares to perfect their sights, while the other did a series of NPOA drills to work on issues that had appeared on Saturday's targets.

Then the line came together again to shoot star targets for NPOA, where some of the newer shooters showed the old hands how it's done!  Then a couple of transition and mag swap drills, and into the AQTs.  We shot the first by stages, doing several dry practices of NPOA shifts on stages 2-4 before shooting them.  Then a break for lunch, and stories of some Dangerous Old Men and Determined Dames.  New IIT Tythagorus (Jon) and veteran Blue Hat American Amazon (Pat) took their turns in the telling. 

Then back into the grind.  After three more we broke for a ball and dummy drill and a bit of rest, and summoned up our energies for one last AQT.  Falling scores showed we were reaching our limits of endurance, confirmed by the final redcoat.   After some final words from our founding fathers, and Luther Blanchard awards to our young shooters Sally and Kyle, we packed up the gear until next time, because we'll be back!   Thanks to everyone who took leaflets to spread around when we have our next shoot scheduled!

Chu, Alan, Brian, Charles, you're knocking on the door.  You know what you've got to do - plenty of practice, including dry fire - and make good use of those 'spare' AQTs that got left behind.  And lose that miserable scope, eh? 

Karen, you were putting up some nice groups and I'd like to see more.  Hope you get a chance to shoot with us again.

Kyle, you did well considering the equipment issues, and had impressive results on the star target exercise.  Persevere and it will come together.

Wayne, the equipment gods just had it in for you this weekend.  I hope Leupold does the right thing on that scope , and that we see you and it again, because you were showing some good stuff with that .270.

Janet, I know you're going to get that score someday, because you've already got the heart of a rifleman.  Persevere, improvise, adapt and overcome, you've got it, and all in good humor.  I can't say that improv'ed front sight was a thing of beauty, but it was a thing of wonder, and it worked.    And I hope my photo comes out so I can prove it.

Andrew, Fiona and Sally, you're a great gang.  Designated sniper Sally had the redcoats in fear all weekend, showed great trigger control.  Once you've got a bit more height on you, I think you'll be just as good in the other positions.  Fiona showed some good improvement after dealing with rifle fit issues, and had the best socks on the line.  Hope that photo comes out too! Andrew, I could tell it was starting to click for you by the end of the weekend - hope to see you again, and we'll get you to that 'knocking on the door' spot as well, and then through it.

Pat and I really enjoyed our trip up to the Redwood Empire, and hope we'll see you all again along the Appleseed trail!

(Photos to follow as soon as I get the cameras downloaded and edited.)

[Mr Pete]

Sounds like an excellent time!  I hope to make it up that way sometime soon...I've only ever passed through the real North of California.  When I went to UC Santa Cruz (Go Banana Slugs!) I was often reminded by friends from Redding that we were not in Northern California.

Way to go Nero!
-Pete

[APEX]

What a fun weekend! I really appreciated getting the opportunity to get some more training calling the line and becoming accustomed to clearing the different types of rifles. It was great seeing five familiar faces from some of the last shoots too. Having so many people committed to making Rifleman is truly a sign of success!    I also enjoyed meeting all the new people that share a love for this country and the freedoms our ancestors fought for. Thank you Nero & American Amazon for giving us all such a great opportunity to improve!
~APEX

[Nero]

Turns out we left the cable for Pat's camera at home  - and she was our 'designated photographer'.  Maybe just as well since the upload speed from our campground is worse than a modem back in the bad old days.    So here are a few shots out of my camera as a down payment, and there will be more tomorrow or Wednesday.

The calm before: Hanging targets


Pat, Sally and Andrew at registration.


Sunday PM - American Amazon (Pat) scoring AQTs, while Tythagoras and APEX watch the line.


Chu in standing.


Janet's strange and wonderful front sight. 

What do you do when the stock sights on your borrowed 10/22 are hopeless?  Bring out a magnetic fiber optic front sight.  It slips around?  Zip tie it on.  Still too low?  Use another zip tie as a adjustable shim.  Still walking around a bit?  Apply some thread locker to hold it in place.  Improvise, adapt, overcome.  Also note the 'Appleseed standard' sling mount in the background.

More to come.

[Nero]

More pix to come, but first some shooters asked me about getting printable target files, including scaled AQTs:

For PDFs of a lot of the standard Appleseed targets, read through this thread:
http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=3710.0

For AQTs scaled for 50ft, 60ft or 50yds, read this thread:
http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=23542.0
(Since the Eureka range isn't as politically correct as the Bay Area, you won't need to use the 'zombie triangle' AQT versions, instead use the 'scoring overlay' for the appropriate range, it's just the AQT itself scaled.)

[Nero]

Pix part deux:

Saturday morning redcoats


Why yes, I do shoot lefty!


Ty demoing kneeling


Friday PM history


Idaho has bull moose visit their shoots, Leadville has foxes, we had a bold little gopher whose home on the range was just behind the safety line.  He kept popping out to see what the ruckus was about.  I'm told he was very attentive to history. 


Sally, Andrew and Fiona in the grind


Alan and Chu


Janet and Kyle


Brian


For posterity - Kyle and Sally


Bloody butchery, and a serious case of hat head


Men and women with hats


The complete album is here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114208333789247233986/Eureka911#

[Johnnyappleseed]

Nice shoot Eureka !
Apex nice to see you working ! Tythagoris you too Sir