Wabash, IN June 14th & 15th (Now with Pictures!)

[techres]

At the end of day one, I will say this has been a great shoot.  Sunny weather, a goodly number of shooters, and at the end of day one - two Riflemen.  I am happy to report that one of them was myself with a 241.  Guess the third time is a charm!

After a few last minute details were worked out with the range President, the shooting was on.  22's seemed to dominate the line (not surprising given ammo prices) and M1's almost outnumbered AR-15's.  People brought water and when that ran out others loaned out theirs.  Tools, skills, and even food was shared up and down the line as always.

Training went well, as did the riviting history that we expect (and need) to hear.  No ND's, no firing after the the "ceasefire" commands were given. 

Shooters came from far and near with plates from surrounding states as well as surrounding counties.

I have pics and will post them after the shoot.  Right now I need to get some care for my sunburn (I WILL be using sunblock tomorrow).

[LibertyWriterHH]

I saw your target techres...very nice! It was a pleasure to shoot by you in the Freedom shoot! The shoot day was a very good one, weather was very nice..little warm...BUT good all the same..( I have a matching sunburns to fell your pain brother!). Everything went smoothly, EXCEPT for the VERY rude and distracting antics but our local club presedent. I want to appoligize to all the people who were offended by the whole un-professional display we all witnessed. PLEASE accept our appoligies from the rest of the club members, the presedent nor his actions represent the TRUE Wabash Wildlife and Sportsmanship Club. This is NOT how we behave here. Hopefully Sunday will go off alot better, without and incident, and we can get down to some down to some serious training, and get a few more RIFLEMEN under our belt! See you all bright and early!

[J Jessup]

Thanks to all--a great event.

This was my first Appleseed so I didn't know what to expect i was only there on Saturday, but had a great time, I learned a lot and got good and sore from stretching muscles and ligaments that hadn't been stretched in years.

The next to last thing we did on Saturday was shoot the QDAQT.  I missed Rifleman by 3 points.    I marked the shots I dropped and have that target posted above my home desk as a reminder to get prepared.  I plan to come back.

I started reading through Fred's Rifleman publication again yesterday.  I lot of what I read prior to going makes a lot more sense now that I've seen and done most of it.

Now that I have seen the sling and positions (seated especially) I plan to practice them and stay stretched out.

I plan to get an M14 type sling so I can better utilize the loop sling.

I am motivated to get better.  Thanks to everyone who had a hand in putting on the event for an informative and cordial day of shooting.  I'm planning on October.

17Chap

[TreadCarefully]

Well, the Wabash Appleseed is in the books, 4 Riflemen, 2 each day. Beautiful weather at a beautiful range. 38 shooters on the line on Saturday was wonderful to see, especially since there were close to a dozen under 21 years old. We saw some big improvements on Sunday too, with many people sure to become Riflemen soon.

The Guy and Hawkhaven gave us some inspirational history and we learned about the Liberty Writers program.

Many thanks to the boots on the ground that made this all happen. I can't wait to go back in the fall. We can get 75 people on that line, let's do it!

T

[hawkhavn]

TC,

We did manage to get one more Rifleman on the last AQT of the day, not sure if that is in your count or not.
Another good Hoosier shoot, friendships made, great people. I've been seeing reviews pop up on other web forums and all were positive.

hawkhavn

[techres]

My count had 4 which included the one at the very end of the day.  And one of those was under 18 if I understood right.  I took pictures and movies and will post them in the next day or so.

Thanks again, it was a great time for all.

[TreadCarefully]

I got an email from the 4th Rifleman. He was very excited.

17Chap, keep up the good work and we'll see you in the fall!

[techres]

Ok, I have pictures up on Photobucket here:

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm61/techres/Wabash%20Appleseed%20June%202008/

I would suggest "Grid View" as it looks best.  If people cannot view this, I can post all in a thread, but the download rate will be brutal.

Highlights include our leaders:


Shooters:


And More:


Check it out. 

Movies will be next..

(Oh, and these pics are reduced from the originals.  If you want copies of the full deal, IM me.)

[Dinky Dao]

Hey, thanks for the pics, techres! I'm glad you made it out to the shoot! We had a good array of rifles on the line this weekend. There were so many tube fed .22's that I was ready to dub Wabash the 'tube fed shoot'.    It was really HOT and although several folks on the very end of the right side of the line Saturday were starting to sway from the heat, everyone persevered. The phrase for the day was 'HYDRATE! HYDRATE! HYDRATE! Thank goodness for the student who offered up his cooler! I really appreciated that! And, of course, I was glad to see so many females on the line with rifles. One of the ladies was telling me (as I was adjusting the eye relief on a loner scope fore her) that she had come that day by herself. I was so proud I almost had a tear fall. LOL!! I even had another female (Sarah) who was so determined to learn, she was willing to give up a good portion of her lunch Sunday just to spend it out on the line going over steady hold factors for all the positions (and was I ever glad to give up my lunch to help you out with that, yeppers, yeppers! And boy did it pay off. She went from being all over the paper to nailing the center square during TC's 2 partner perimeter vs. center shoot! I gotta tell ya, I was smiling from ear to ear when I saw that target!  )

techres, I liked the commentary you added to the pics online, it really tells the story. Especially the very last one. I was cracking up over the 'Dinky Confers' pic. I think you must have snapped that one just ask I turned around to ask Hawkhaven a question. 

I hope to see you and all the shooters again at another shoot this year. Grab a buddy and drag them along next time! As your last pic stats, empty chairs mean shooters on the line (where we need them to be  ).



Every American with a rifle....what's it gonna take?...

Dinky Dao

[colycat]

Dinky Dao,

I have to meet you, my bride of 31 yrs said" if I die, find a woman like her!"

I am sure we will meet on the AS trail.

Coly

[Dinky Dao]

LOL!

Too funny. 

Colycat, I'm sure I'll be in the Wisconsin area sometime before the year is up, so no doubt you'll get your chance. And make sure you bring you wife. Would love to meet her. She sounds like a hard act to follow.   


Dinky Dao

[jzimm9mm]

Hey, I thought I'd post my take on the Wabash Appleseed.

Things seemed to get off to a slow start both days, but I came to find out that the delays were due to liability release form problems (both days).  This seems silly since there had been previous Appleseeds hosted at this club, but obvious to anyone that was there Saturday morning internal club politics reared its ugly head.  Hopefully the problem gets resolved by the October shoot.

I can only assume that the fallout from Saturday's antics is what drove us to put 24(ish) shooters on about 20' of target space on Sunday.  I think the relay system actually ran pretty well, and safely, once people figured out where their target was.  It was disappointing that we didn't get to utilize the 400 yards of range though.

The instruction demonstrations were technically right on, but I thought to myself that I was glad I had read the Guide, got a real sling, and had been practicing my positions and 6 step shooting before coming to the Appleseed.  I think I might have been a little overwhelmed otherwise.  However, it looked like any shooter that was struggling got plenty of one-on-one time with a coach and that's great.

I thought the safety precautions and method of teaching the safety rules was top notch.  I felt safer on that firing line than at my local range with a DNR rangemaster.  Most of the shooters showed great muzzle awareness and discipline too.

My wife asked if I learned anything (yes, I wish she had gone too) and at first I wasn't completely sure.  But after giving it some though I certainly did learn some things.  Specifically, changing elevation in each of the different positions, and not dragging wood.  The ball and dummy drill was great as well.  I will be doing that much more often.  And I learned that no, there is not a magic trick to shooting standing, it really is just harder.

Although I had previously read Fischer's book, I though the instructors did an excellent job putting emotion and drama into the history and really making you think about what it must have been like to be in that situation on April 19.

It was also nice to see a decent sized group of regular folks that share some common ideals.  It really shows that you aren't alone even if people you interact with daily haven't awakened yet.

I was there with two guys I work with.  I think our tales of the Appleseed might have inspired another coworker because he finally got off his butt and bought an M1A and 1000 rounds.  He's not in the Appleseed boat yet, but we'll keep working on him.

Thanks very much to all the instructors.  I had a great time.

Jer..

P.S.  I also learned that the M1 is a beast of a rifle to go 300 rounds with, but you gotta love 'em.

[TreadCarefully]

Jzimm,

It was great meeting you this weekend. Glad you and your friends had a good time. I hope I will see you all (and a few  new guys you bring) in the fall.

I have received a few comments similar to yours from other students. In particular, one said that we should first explain why you need a sling before we jump in explaining how to use it. That's a good point and we will add that in. Any other thoughts on things that need better explanations?

I think that once you get used to keeping the buttstock of that M1 tight into your shoulder that you will find that it is a joy to put 300 rounds through it in a weekend.

Thanks again for the kind words and advice. See you on the Appleseed trail!

[aardvark]

Great shoot. Great club/site. Surprising number of teens, young adults, and women. These are the future of the sport and the country.

Friendly, helpful and dedicated club members.

Except for the Club President. What a display he made of himself the first day before we even began to shoot. The ranting. The arm flailing. The yelling and dropping of "F-Bombs". The stomping around the gun line. I thought we may all have had to leave, but cooler heads prevailed. I feel sorry for the members of this club. Fortunately, he doesn't reflect the attitude and actions of those members we worked with the rest of the weekend.

I came to the shoot determined to forget all I "knew" about shooting from my past. I ended up with a 188 on day 2, which I was happy with as a starting point. Since then, I have been stretching so I call shoot sitting and standing more comfortably and relaxed. I have setup a 25 meter "range" at the home and made copies of some target segments from the shoot for practice on individual position and distances. I have shot at least 3 times since the Project, with about 100 rounds each time. I read the 6 points of the shot about every day or so to refresh my memory and try to make the shot as natural as possible. I am even starting to get my NPOA down for standing and sitting. I am so geeked out it is embarrassing.

I learned a lot more than I expected and am determined to improve for the next Appleseed event I attend. Hopefully, that will be at Wabash again, if the club President can be reigned in and taught to be civil. My wife intends to participate in the next event, so I will need more rifles, ammo, scope.....

[TreadCarefully]

Sounds like you drank deeply from the Appleseed well that weekend aardvark! Glad to hear it. Keep up the practice. Matter of fact, pm me your address and I will stick a few AQT's in the mail for you. You may be a Riflemen before you even show up next time!

See you again in Wabash in any case.

T