March 23 Emerald City Gun Club (faux) Appleseed

[TheSquirrelPatrol]

I signed up for this Appleseed even before it was officially open for registration, and spent the last couple of weeks getting excited, doing dry fire practice, and running around frantically in search of .22lr ammo.  Unfortunately, it seems that nobody else in the region was similarly excited, as I got a call Thursday evening from Transform informing me that I was the only shooter who hadn't cancelled.  I didn't want to make the whole cadre come out just for me, but I didn't want to stay home and dry-fire more either.  Fortunately Transform was kind enough to give me the third option of coming down and being his guest for the day at the range and receiving all the normal instruction he could give me.  My own private Appleseed instructor as shoot buddy for the day?  I'm there!

This would have been my second Appleseed, the shoot in Ariel last month was my first.  At Ariel, I shot my best AQT of the weekend early Sunday morning, and that was a 174.  My second best was shot towards the end of the day Saturday, that one was a 173.  Most of the rest of what I shot Sunday was in the 140 range, as my bolt was being sticky, and more importantly my arms had turned into noodles.  My last Red Coat at Ariel was a humiliating multiple bayonetting, and I don't think I was in any condition for a quickie surgery and on with the rest of my life, unlike Capt. Samuel Whittemore.

When we opened fire on the line today in Springfield, I had a new scope mounted that had only been bore-sighted, so I didn't expect to put rounds on target, and we weren't surprised.  However I did get nice groups straight below the red coats, so we dialed in 64 clicks to bring my shots up 8 inches, and my next Red Coat was clear to 400 yards.  A good start to the day!  Transform thought he saw several things in my shooting that he could work on, so we started in with zero targets and the lessons.  Many a square was perforated, with the groups getting smaller or larger and changing shape as Transform and I played with my steady hold factors, but never widening into some of the horrible sprays I'd created at Ariel.

Around 4:00pm as my arm was starting to hurt a bit more than I liked, we stapled up an AQT.  I ran out of time trying to work the bolt and only put 5 rounds into the target in stage 3, and still scored a 180.  With only one non-scoring round and three 3-point rounds in stage 4, I think I must pronounce myself happy with my progress.  I'll happily give Transform most of the credit.

After a short break to clean up, we moved over to the 200 yard range and put some rounds into 100 and 200 yard targets to lock in a bit of KD theory, and have a bit of fun.  I have no idea where my 200 yard shots went, but my group at 100 yards was arguably among my best of the day.  A .30-06 might be in my future...

I had a blast of a day, made obvious progress, and have lots of things to think about and work on during dry-fire practice before the Patriot's Day shoot.  Thanks for having me down, Transform.  Too bad nobody else came!

[Transform]

It was a real pleasure to spend the day with TheSquirrelPatrol today. I think I saw the makings of a future Appleseed instructor! I can't speak highly enough of his focus, determined persistence, positive attitude, and obvious progress.

That said, I want to be clear that today's shooting was NOT an official Appleseed event. The Appleseed event was unfortunately canceled. This was just a friendly get-together between two shooters, helping each other to improve.

[Audrey]

It sounds like you two too an unfortunate situation and turned it into an awesome opportunity for working on marksmanship skills. Transform jumping on an opportunity to spend the day shooting and spending time with a fellow Appleseeder? Sounds about on right! (:

Josh and I have been quite busy recently and really needed a weekend off (or least I did) from doing anything; honestly it's the first unplanned weekend we've had since... October? or possibly earlier. This range is the most convenient Appleseed range for us. If you have the opportunity to do the Appleseed event on the 20th-21st we look forward to shooting with you on the line!