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Waco, GA April 21-22

Started by franklinfarmer, April 24, 2012, 10:45:13 AM

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franklinfarmer

Aside from some blowing dust, mats, and rifles on Sunday, we had wonderful weather in Waco for this Patriot's Day shoot.  We had a great group of shooters who were willing to learn and made rapid progress in spite of a somewhat abbreviated schedule of marksmanship instruction.

The RedCoat numbers for Saturday tell the story:

           Morning    Afternoon
400         1                6            (The one in the morning was Shaftoe)
300         2                5
200         5                3
100       10                7
HS          4               11 
cleaned  0                 3

The Sunday redcoat numbers are unrecoverable in an enormous pile of shoot supplies at the moment, but I do recall that one shooter (Sarah) got three out of the four head shots on the four redcoats, and Gabe cleaned the Sunday afternoon Redcoat with his bolt action rifle.

By the end of Saturday, we had two new riflemen (Robby and Dennis) and three shooters requalifying (Chip, Justin, and Shaftoe).  On Sunday, we had two more new riflemen (Gabe and Jim) with Robby and Dennis shooting a number of requalifying scores.

We're very pleased to have one of our requalifying shooters, Justin, take an orange hat.  Huzzah!  I could tell by the look in his eye that Chip will also be helping us out in the future.

Oldfudd treated us to a demonstration firing of his Brown Bess musket (not to mention the google eye sergeant  shoot on Sunday).  In addition, we fired a memorial volley with the White Cockade played by Wy Knott (IIT3 on violin) and Leah (Blue Hat on drum) during the prep period. 

One of our shooting families, the Duncans, operates a sound and film-camera rental business and donated a great PA system for the weekend.  The sound was just right, and as I was calling the line all day Saturday, you have my special thanks.

A stapler with the name RG Hay was left at the range.  I've got it.

Ramblinwreck has posted some photos here:

http://s1121.photobucket.com/albums/l502/Ramblinwreck77/Appleseed%20Waco/

I know cswhitfield got some more and they'll appear below.

The instructor turnout was also very impressive, and I'm going to try to list their screen-names here:

Ms.Shell (Blue Hat)
Leah (Blue Hat)
Asa (Blue Hat)
Ed+B (now IronMan IIT1)
Mechanic (IIT1)
Gretchen (IIT2)
WorM2 (IIT2)
Red Niva (IIT3)
Wy Knott (IIT3)
Sherpa (IIT3)
goose (IIT3)
cshwhitfield (IIT3)
bagel
Shaftoe
TravelPatriot
Morpheus
Ramblinwreck
franklinfarmer
oldfudd
DrJohn
friedenmeister (State Coordinator)

my apologies if I missed anyone.  This was the only venue in Georgia for celebrating Patriot's Day at an Appleseed, and I'm very pleased that we had nearly the entire instructor corps of the state join us.

As I mentioned at the shoot, the West Georgia Youth Range has been and continues to be very supportive of our efforts, and I encourage shooters to support them with donations and involvement in their organization.  Special thanks go to Don Rutherford for weed-whacking the entire field of fire for our shoot on Friday night.

Don't forget the May 19 WGYR Youth Turkey Shoot!
(Edit:  Just so no one gets confused, the people at WGYR know how to do a turkey shoot right---with .22 rifles!  This is *not* a shotgun event.  So bring your .22 and your under 17 shooter.  They'll have unlimited sighters, and then one shot for record---best shot gets the turkey.  As I understand it, there will be divisions for scoped rifles, open sights, and maybe also separate division by age.)

Please post your comments about the shoot.  Don't spare us criticism; that is how we improve.

FF
It is certain, I think, that the best government is the one that governs least. But there is a much-neglected corollary: the best citizen is the one who least needs governing. The answer to big government is not private freedom, but private responsibility.

--Wendell Berry, "The Loss of the Future" in The Long-Legged House  (1969)

The problem is not Democrats.  The problem is Republicans who lack the intellectual clarity to become libertarians and libertarians who lack the physical discipline to become riflemen.  ---Kenneth Royce

Morpheus

What a great weekend! Red Niva and I spent quite a bit of time last night removing sand from the loaner rifles and we had big smiles on our faces.

The Sunday Redcoat numbers are:
                  Morning               Afternoon
400           1                          2
300           5                          1
200           1                          4
100           1                          4
HS             2                          5
Cleaned     0                          1

The noticeable improvement in the Sunday p.m. numbers is remarkable due to the fact that the wind conditions were a bit beyond our norm. I'm not talking about bullet deflection, I'm talking about shooter deflection and targets waving in the wind. Some shooters had put things away by this time and I'm sure it saved them from accumulating a bit more dirt/sand than they already had.

Saturday morning saw many new shooters not even hitting paper and as franklinfarmer stated, the rapid progress was impressive. The high number of instructors allowed us/me to concentrate on a few shooters.
Dennis, congratulations on your rifleman score. Well done, sir!
Kim, it was great to work with you on the line. Your persistence on Saturday and the noticed improvement in your shot groups was my reward for the weekend. I hope to see both of you and your family again at an Appleseed soon.

Mark and Keoni, What a difference a day makes! Keoni went from uncertainty in the positions and sling use on Saturday morning to looking like an old pro by Sunday afternoon. Thank you both for spending a father/son weekend with us at an Appleseed.

At each event that I have the honor to instruct, I get a bit more encouragement that our quest for Liberty is not in vain. The marksmanship is important and fun but seeing the shooter's eyes opened to the history and the true events of April 19, 1775 is (at least to this instructor) more rewarding than 20 cleared Redcoat targets.

Thank you shooters for your time this weekend. Remember the 7th Step!! Tell others, talk about our heritage, get them to an Appleseed!

(and don't forget to dryfire)

Steve
"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them." Patrick Henry
"We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it." Nancy Pelosi (and Paul Ryan, kinda)

cswhitfield

Another great Waco Appleseed.  I wish I could have stayed for the whole weekend.  Thanks to all who came out to help us celebrate Patriots Day.  A special thanks goes to the West Georgia Youth Range for hosting us.  We really appreciate your support.  A very special thanks to Don, from WGYR, for his work on cutting the grass and helping to set the target line.  Old Fudd I wish I had got to see you demonstrate the Brown Bess.  Franklinfarmer you are certainly "top drawer" as a Shoot Boss. 

Craig

PS: a few pictures from early Sat.
... what counts ... is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our bursts nor the smoke we make.  ... it is the hits that count.

cswhitfield

a few more pics
... what counts ... is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our bursts nor the smoke we make.  ... it is the hits that count.

cswhitfield

a few more
... what counts ... is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our bursts nor the smoke we make.  ... it is the hits that count.

cswhitfield

and finally
... what counts ... is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our bursts nor the smoke we make.  ... it is the hits that count.

Iron Man

It was definitely an awesome event.
Looking forward to being part of more shoots!

I'm kinda bummed that I couldn't stay all day Sunday.
I really wish I could of been present for the google eye sergeant  shoot.
Maybe someone took picture of this shoot or the google eye sergeants?

BTW, thank you for the pictures cswhitfield.
"Without the Law; Mercy and Grace become worthless.
Without Mercy and Grace, the Law condemns us all." -E.H.E.

Iron Man

Mac Attack

I posted this in another thread but felt it would fit better here:

Myself and my Son attended the Waco Appleseed event this past weekend and we had a excellent time!  The entire cadre of instructors were very professional and genuinely enthusiastic about passing on the history and philosophy of the Appleseed Project.  We found the training we received to be enlightening and the history of the revolutionary war made me interested to learn more about about it.

I would personally like to say thank you to all the instructions who spent a significant amount of time helping my son, Keoni.  On the first day Keoni could not put his rounds on target....he could not even hit the paper target :'(!  He also could not shoot quick enough to finish stages of the AQT within the given timeframes.  This caused him to be frustrated because he could not keep up with the rest of the shooters and really put a damper on his ability to enjoy the training.   With all the personal attention and encouragement he received from the instructors (Ed. B spend the whole first day with him. Sorry I forgot the rest of the names of those who helped), by the end of the second day after some adjustments to his rifle he was consistently hitting his targets and finishing his strings before the end times  ^:)^.  As a matter of fact, he shot better than me on day 2 and most of the time was done shooting before I was :slap:

I can't express how proud I felt to see him progress from a new shooter to an experienced shooter.  By the end of the second day as I watched Keoni shoot the stages of the AQT I noticed how fluid in his motions were as he went from standing to sitting, standing to prone, how he adjusted his sling and shot via the six steps....etc.  His confidence was up and he even had a few words of advice to me on how to improve my shooting... his advice was correct :).  To cut to the case, we both had a great weekend and learned a whole heck of a lot and are now motivated to continue to improve the skills we gained during the event so one day we too would join the ranks of the Riflemen!

My sincere gratitude to all the instructions for a well run class.   

On a side note,  I have this small shooting target at home that I regularly hit 4- 5 times out of every 10 shots from a bench.  Yesterday I shot at it from the sitting position using all the skills I gained from the Appleseed shoot and I was able to hit it 10 out of 10 times! ^:)^  It's truly amazing how much I learned in such a short period of time. 


Mark and Keoni

franklinfarmer

Quote from: Mac Attack on April 25, 2012, 12:55:10 PM

On a side note,  I have this small shooting target at home that I regularly hit 4- 5 times out of every 10 shots from a bench.  Yesterday I shot at it from the sitting position using all the skills I gained from the Appleseed shoot and I was able to hit it 10 out of 10 times! ^:)^  It's truly amazing how much I learned in such a short period of time. 


Mark and Keoni

(Big grin)  That's the kind of thing that makes an instructors day.

It's not mentioned above, but your comment about Keoni being an "experienced shooter" made me want to mention the following:

1.  Please remember Travel Patriot's excellent instruction on hearing protection.  It's not just hearing protection that counts, it's *adequate* hearing protection.  If you're in a loud environment (centerfire under a covered firing line for example), be sure to take the time to double up with plugs properly inserted and muffs on top.

2.  Most shooters go through a somewhat lengthy period in which they develop a strong sense of muzzle awareness and chamber awareness.  For me it was at least six months or a year *after* I started handling/carrying firearms almost daily.  There are many people in this situation, even at gun shows, as you sometimes hear of negligent discharges and serious injury at those events for just this reason.  So keep that in mind with your children.  They may not have developed those two key awarenesses, and until they do, it's important to make liberal application of Appleseed safety rule number 4.
It is certain, I think, that the best government is the one that governs least. But there is a much-neglected corollary: the best citizen is the one who least needs governing. The answer to big government is not private freedom, but private responsibility.

--Wendell Berry, "The Loss of the Future" in The Long-Legged House  (1969)

The problem is not Democrats.  The problem is Republicans who lack the intellectual clarity to become libertarians and libertarians who lack the physical discipline to become riflemen.  ---Kenneth Royce