Lodi, Wi June 9 and 10, 2012 Wounded Warrior Fund Raiser

[Infidel]

This was a great Appleseed lots of shooters willing to learn, it was fun to watch everyone progress. congrats to Trigger Nick our newest and wettest shoot boss . I especialy want to thank all of the vendors who supplied prizes and food you really went above and beyond my hat is off!. I personally want to thank Armalite for the match grade upper that I won it is just too cool Thank You. I hope this can be an annual event and we can grow it so we have to use two bays, and that the Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa contingent return. Hope every one had so much fun that they join us in October!.

Infidel

[colycat]

Those orange hats are so bright they glow!  Time for you guys to get down in the dirt and break them in. 

[MissHardCoreHeidi]

Thanks for the nickname suggestions!! I had a blast this weekend and I LOVE the pics. I loved shooting the m1 grand and thinking about putting it on my christmas list!! Hope to see you all soon!!

[dragonfly]

  

Thanks for the nickname suggestions!! I had a blast this weekend and I LOVE the pics. I loved shooting the m1 grand and thinking about putting it on my christmas list!! Hope to see you all soon!!

[Eric Buhlmann]

I loved shooting the m1 grand and thinking about putting it on my christmas list!!

Haha! Be careful there.  I went to Anniston to get ONE.....and THREE followed me home!!!

[Miller]

I loved shooting the m1 grand and thinking about putting it on my christmas list!!

Haha! Be careful there.  I went to Anniston to get ONE.....and THREE followed me home!!!

Anniston is a dangerous place no doubt.  Luckily all that followed me home form there was 692 rounds of M-2 ball and a bayonet.
The CMP North store at Camp Perry in Ohio is even more dangerous and closer.  I left there with a rifle, enough ammo to make walking to the car a trial, and a sober feeling.  If you hit Camp Perry take the time to drive to all the ranges and read the plaques about who they were named for.  All of them contain the full Congressional Medal of Honor citation for the soldier the range is named after.  Strong stuff.

[Miller]

So as promised a little more now that I've had a shower, some sleep, and a few mgs of vitamin I.

A great weekend with a great bunch of folks raising money for a great cause and spreading the flame of liberty. 

I hope based on the success of this weekend that fundraising shoots become a regular feature on the shoot schedule from coast to coast.  Appleseeders are, without exception, some of the most generous people on the planet.  Willing to open their homes to complete strangers based on nothing more than a shared passion for our great nation.  People so generous are a natural match for such great non-profits as The Wounded Warrior Project.

And as so many prior have said so many thanks must go to the manufacturers that donated so generously.  Seeing such support from our partners on the manufacturing side of the shooting world just made my day. 

The generosity of the shooters reinforced again the caliber of folks that give up the comfort of their couch to come learn their heritage.  And even while getting deluged with knowledge and broiling under the sun they were up beat, involved, and generous beyond words.  And the improvement shown from Saturday morning to Sunday was amazing.

And the instructors... Wow.  A sunny morning in a sandy clearing in the Wisconsin country side.  A virtual convoy of cars and trucks appears and an hour later a tent city has sprung up and class is in session.  The ability to simply get stuff done shown by these folks at every shoot I've attended is awe inspiring.  And they do it all for nothing more than the chance to spread the story of how we as a people came to be and to wake up sleeping Americans.  I'm proud to be working my way up their ranks.

For myself...
It was good to spend time on the line as a shooter and work on my skills, it was great to meet so many great folks, and I'm proud beyond words to have been able to participate.

Thank you all.

[colycat]

It's story time....

My favorite experience of the weekend, happened at 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday.  A very young man and his father showed up and heard that he could get some experience shooting various rifles at an Appleseed.  I told him that it is a little bit late to get started with the Appleseed, and gave him some brochures and talked up Appleseed.  I ask them to sign up for the next Appleseed in the area. 

Then, young William, pulled out of his pocket, I believe it was maybe about $8, and he said he wanted to donate to the WWP anyway. 

It melted my heart.

Needless to say within 10 minutes I had him with a 10/22 rifle, went over the four safety rules, how to clear a rifle, and put him into a steady hold prone position.  I assigned an IIT to work with him the rest of the afternoon, while I went over to give his father a bottle of water.  We talked some more about Project Appleseed.  When the course of fire was complete young William sought me out and proudly showed me his Redcoat target with a nice group.

His father was so impressed that he donated some money as well.  They stayed to help clean up.

That's my story; let's hear yours.

[Miller]

Talked with William and his father a bit.  Discussed sling technique, impressions of the program, etc... Had no idea of their whole back story.
Was really impressed with young William.  I see a hat in his future.
And his father showed the sort of open miindedness to new ideas that makes a good Rifleman.  We will do well with them involved.

[LibertyFighter]

Awesome story ColyCat! That gave me goosebumps! It seems like when I get down and start to think that I am the only one left that really cares about the state of our country something like that happens and it encourages me to keep on keeping on! I have two awesome experiences from the event. First is what I talked about in my post about the pure genuine passion that the instructors have for our country! Seeing the instructors tear up and get emotional when they talk about our country and the flag and our freedoms really kindles the fire inside of me. Seeing a young man 13 years old correcting a 27 year old seasoned Army Marksman is another thing that really shows that Appleseed is an amazing program! But my favorite part of Appleseed is seeing my wife out shoot me! (Don't tell her I said that) If you all didn't notice on Saturday, she wasn't very excited to be there and was mainly only there because I drug her along... about half way through the day I started to get a little discouraged because I knew she wasn't gonna want to come back on Sunday... BUT Saturday on the way home after clearing her red coat she said "What time do we GET to come back tomorrow?" and all I said was 0800 babe! I was so proud of her for stepping outside of her comfort zone and proving to herself that she could do anything! I see another ladyseeder in the near future! Can't wait for the next Appleseed! I hope that we both become riflemen at the same time!

[colycat]

That is soo cool about Stevi and wanting to come back for more.  I was the same way at my first seed,  but the thought of clearing the red coat,  heck, some days I still can't do it.

Anyone else has a good story of some kind?

[MaverickAR6]

Awesome story ColyCat! That gave me goosebumps! It seems like when I get down and start to think that I am the only one left that really cares about the state of our country something like that happens and it encourages me to keep on keeping on! I have two awesome experiences from the event. First is what I talked about in my post about the pure genuine passion that the instructors have for our country! Seeing the instructors tear up and get emotional when they talk about our country and the flag and our freedoms really kindles the fire inside of me. Seeing a young man 13 years old correcting a 27 year old seasoned Army Marksman is another thing that really shows that Appleseed is an amazing program! But my favorite part of Appleseed is seeing my wife out shoot me! (Don't tell her I said that) If you all didn't notice on Saturday, she wasn't very excited to be there and was mainly only there because I drug her along... about half way through the day I started to get a little discouraged because I knew she wasn't gonna want to come back on Sunday... BUT Saturday on the way home after clearing her red coat she said "What time do we GET to come back tomorrow?" and all I said was 0800 babe! I was so proud of her for stepping outside of her comfort zone and proving to herself that she could do anything! I see another ladyseeder in the near future! Can't wait for the next Appleseed! I hope that we both become riflemen at the same time!

Similar story with my wife last Sept.  She was using a .22L dedicated upper AR with iron sights (I didn't know we could use red dots or scopes at that time).  She moved to a red dot and made progress all day long, almost clearing the Red Coat at the end.  She was sore as heck that night but insisted on going back to get better.  Didn't want to shoot AQTs anymore... just wanted to work on tightening up her groups (AQT transitions were giving her back troubles).  Then Colycat let her shot his scoped 10/22 late Sunday morning... she pretty near dropped  a full 10 round mag into the 1" black square on a sight-in target.  Had she been using a scope on her AR from the get go... she would of out shot the whole firing line, myself included by the end of day Sat.

She would of been at the Shawano shoot this past weekend, but she excepted a job promotion that puts her on the road 4 out of 5 days of the week traveling to her corporate office.  Driving doesn't fare well with her back.  To bad, I was all ready to surprise her with a new scope I picked up for her back when I thought we'd make the April Shawano date.   

Waiting patiently for her next opportunity....

[Miller]

The look on Joe V.'s face when he showed me his AQT with a 220 just before Goldfish gave him his patch has to be one of my high points.  He'd gotten some comradely ribbing through the weekend from both myself and Eric and the look of satisfaction on his face was priceless. 

Now we just need to get him to another 'seed and get him a hat....

[Brown]

It's story time....

My favorite experience of the weekend, happened at 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday.  A very young man and his father showed up and heard that he could get some experience shooting various rifles at an Appleseed.  I told him that it is a little bit late to get started with the Appleseed, and gave him some brochures and talked up Appleseed.  I ask them to sign up for the next Appleseed in the area. 

Then, young William, pulled out of his pocket, I believe it was maybe about $8, and he said he wanted to donate to the WWP anyway. 

It melted my heart.

Needless to say within 10 minutes I had him with a 10/22 rifle, went over the four safety rules, how to clear a rifle, and put him into a steady hold prone position.  I assigned an IIT to work with him the rest of the afternoon, while I went over to give his father a bottle of water.  We talked some more about Project Appleseed.  When the course of fire was complete young William sought me out and proudly showed me his Redcoat target with a nice group.

His father was so impressed that he donated some money as well.  They stayed to help clean up.

That's my story; let's hear yours.

Close to that.
Late on Sunday a older gentleman came up to the registration area saying he knew the event was going on but just could not get away soon enough to join us on the line. He still wanted to do his part and handed me $100 to donate to Wounded Warriors.
he did not stay but maybe 4 minutes from start to end. just long enough to thank Appleseed for doing this fundraiser,pass along a generous donation,shake a hand,and depart.

But the best part of the weekend for me was watching Heidi and her enthusiasm. Eric MUST be one proud papa with her as a daughter.

[GoldFish]

Sorry I'm a little late to the party, but after long drive home and some time to get the Wisconsin sand off of me, I'm back.

This weekend turned out to be one heck of an Appleseed weekend!  Twenty+ eager Americans showed up and stuck it out in 90-100+ degree heat.  My genuine thanks go out to everyone who made this event happen.  To the WI instructors, thank you for the hospitality and generosity shown as well as the lessons taught.  You know, Ohio really isn't that far away.   Shooters, I really enjoyed being one of you for the first whole weekend since 2009. 
I took a different perspective than I normally have at shoots, and I enjoyed it tremendously, which is a direct result the program itself, but also because of the environment created by the other shooters and instructors. 

Thank you Brown for handling the the prizes and running the drawings, special shoots, etc.

Eric, Heidi, and Brown, the next time I shoot in some sort of competition, I'll enjoy being 'handicapped.'

That's quite the story, Coly.  I would have liked to shake that young Patriot's hand.

Seeing instructors offer their M1's to be shot by all the shooters was something special, and listening to all the bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-pings was incredible!  Watching the berm constantly splashing up mounds of sand with each shot left me speechless.  U.S. Rifle Cal .30  

Nick, you think you could get Wolfie to post that vid she got of you getting dowsed?

This weekend confirmed to me that Appleseeders, Instructors and shooters, are the best people in the world.


Stay the Course,
---GoldFish

[dragonfly]

Introducing new shooters to the M1 Garand priceless 

U.S. RIFLE CAL. 30 M1

Practice, persistence, patience, dryfire, dryfire, and a little humility. What a great country we live in    definitely worth saving. Once again thanks to you all for sharing our great heritage.

                                        Shooting - the only sport endorsed by the Founders
                                           an American Tradition since - April 19th 1775 

D-fly   Keeping the Faith

[dragonfly]

Some more pics

[dragonfly]

Some pics from Sunday

[dragonfly]

And more

[Bisonwill53704]

  Thanks to all the volunteers and the Winnequah Gun Club for organizing and conducting a GREAT event. Sam and I enjoyed it immensely!  When I checked in with him today, he responded "I had a great time and learned a lot; wish we could do that every weekend!"
   Thanks to the many great sponsors that supported the fundraising efforts for the Wounded Warriors:
Vortex GREAT OPTICS (I use them a lot) and located in Wisconsin!
Armalite   
ProMag     
Craddock   
Techsights (well engineered and effective! another great Wisconsin company and on my Liberty Rifle, a Ruger 10/22)   
Patternmaster   

And thanks to our instructors, a great and knowledgeable clan that made us all better riflemen, better versed in our history, and more aware of the need to make our heritage live in our words, deeds, and choices.

Spread the word. Appleseed is a solid and worthwhile weekend commitment:  it is fun, it is informing, it builds useful skills and self confidence, it is centering, and it is FUN!  I'll be shooting at Appleseed events for a long time to come!

[Ratchett]

Sam and I enjoyed it immensely!  When I checked in with him today, he responded "I had a great time and learned a lot; wish we could do that every weekend!"

Between the smiles seen up and down the firing line this weekend and the above comment, justifies every  mile and minute spent working as an Appleseed instructor. THANK YOU shooters for giving us a weekend job that is so rewarding!!!

[Miller]

Between the smiles seen up and down the firing line this weekend and the above comment, justifies every  mile and minute spent working as an Appleseed instructor. THANK YOU shooters for giving us a weekend job that is so rewarding!!!

Exactly this.
A thousand times this.

[ShaneinWI]

I enjoyed shooting the A2 sights on my 22 so much, that I ordered and installed a set on my 5.56 AR last night.  Glad I stuck with the peep sight.  I could definately see the improvements throughout the weekend with my shooting.  The plan is to do alittle shooting on my own in the morning.  I printed off some of the targets from this site to continue to improve.  Still pretty excited about all that we learned last weekend.

[Johnnyappleseed]

D-Fly great job on this project and fantistic job explaining it to the Rifleman radio audiance 

A new IIT will be using it as part of his samuael whittamor presentation. He said D-Fly called into the show and it got him so motivated he wants to tie it in .

I will try to archive to program but this puter does not work very well  probably operator error 

[colycat]

After shooting the US Rifle cal 30, Stevie clears the Red Coat at the end of the day, Saturday.

[ShaneinWI]

It's been almost 3 weeks and I finally got a chance to shoot alittle more.  Although I wasn't able to clear the redcoat target during the training, I took a few minutes last night to shoot on my own and cleared it on the first try w/ open sights.  All the training and shooting details must have really took hold in my brain.  Looking forward to keep working on the skills I have learned. 

[Miller]

That's the firehose Shane.
It may not all come together that weekend but as bits slot into place you'll find things just "clicking".

[Trig]

after much anticipation....here is the video of me getting soaked, we were finally able to track it down!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiGEybZocx4

[Trisha]

Putting this on our Wi FB page!! BTW it isn't true anymore...you aren't the newset SB anymore, but I'll forgive you, just this once.