Castro Valley, CA October 19-20, 2013

[Nero]

We had 27 shooters on the line for Saturday.  A very safe batch of shooters.  We got through one AQT.  No riflemen, but David holds high score at 198.  Some good stuff on the targets, we look forward to great things tomorrow!

And --  haleson earned his Red Hat - Huzzah!   

Here's the link to info about Appleseed friendly activities at Chabot Gun Club:
http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=23542.0

(http://bit.ly/1gTen1F  points here.)

[Nero]

More details tomorrow, but:

3 Riflemen!  Congrats to Jeff, David, and Glenn.  And several more knocking on the door.  Lots of improvement shown - remember to dry practice, and come on back!

Welcome aboard to Mike, our new Blue Hat!

Lost and found:
A blue folding chair and dark blue sweatshirt were found after Saturday's shoot.  I have them.  If they are yours, send me a PM via the forum, and we'll figure out how to return them.

If you'd like to contact any of this weekend's crew, here are their forum names, so you can send a message via the 'Send Message' tab above:

Tim = Nero
Chris = Freeman
Pat = American Amazon
Ken = haleson
Wes = Relentless
Darryl = 3Huzzahs
Kim = kilakiwi
Laurie = mamasgotaruger
Paul = SonJ

[Eljay]

Well done, Ken!  Wasn't that long ago at all that he first made rifleman!

[haleson]

Thanks, Eljay!

You could say I'm an overachiever . . . but "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!" 

[Eljay]

Nicely put.

Anyway, I'm impressed, and hopefully I'll make it to an Appleseed again someday and we can chat again (I'm the guy who told you (correctly) that you had scored a 215 if you don't recognize the handle.)

[Nero]

A now it's time for some pix!  (Thanks to Blue Hat Paul who took many of these...)


Flags a'flying - now all we need are shooters!  (Instructors Chris, Darryl, Pat)


Ken and Pat working the line, getting gear set up.


Fire!


Don't forget to hydrate!


No Halloween zombies appeared - they knew we were ready! 


Ken delivering the First Strike


Posterity!  Our youth shooters from Saturday



Ken receives his well-earned Red Hat.  Huzzah!   

Sunday's photos to follow...

[Nero]

Ball and dummy - one of the few times things slow down enough to take a lot of pix.  Angelo's rocking his M1 Garand - note the debris spread onto the concrete by muzzle blast.


Shooter & coach, while IIT Wes gets a new rifle on paper for a student.


Father, son, and our sometimes cranky sound system



Meanwhile, on the right


Reach for that cookie!


What's the next steady hold factor??


Veronica received the Fabulous Footwear award from the instructors 


Part of the line on Stage 1.  And some of them are even resting - good job!


The line is clear!  The line is clear!


Another look at John C. Garand's finest.  (We had a very eclectic assortment of rifles on the line - see the full album.)


Drop that mag!  Non-CA viewers can just be glad they've never heard of a 'bullet button'.


A little SHF review


Darryl gave us David Lamson - military strategist!


That's OK, Dad.  You shoot this AQT, I'll cheer you on!


And we have Riflemen!  Glenn (that's Dad) brought in a 214, then upped it to a 228!  (And he made the first 210+ score by a new Rifleman using one of my loaners.  He was invited to put the first notch in the stock - may it collect many more!)

David (not shown) qualified with a 213, and once the pressure was off, made it into a 233!  Huzzah!


Jeff's high score of 231 was bumped off by David, but then he returned the favor with a weekend's-high 238!  Awesome job! 

And last but not least, Mike (22Reasons) stepped up take a Blue Hat, to help the program while working on his score.  Welcome aboard!

There are lots more photos in the full album.

[Eljay]

I know I've seen too many of these when I saw the pink zig zags on her soles and thought, "Oh, that's going to win the footwear competition".

[22Reasons]

Hello all!


Michael here from the shoot this weekend. Thank you for all of the great info and inspiring stories. Robin and I had a fun weekend and walked away with a definite idea of what to work on to get Rifleman next time.

I am excited to begin helping y'all with the shoots and will compare the local Appleseed schedule and the Small Bore class at Chabot so I can don my blue cap at least once before the end of this calendar year. I work at an outdoor clothing/gear company so the winter months become very busy for us.

Please forward me to any resources I should check out in the mean time!

Michael, "22 Reasons"

[geminix3]

Hi all, and thanks again! Finally getting the chance to catch up with this, and I gotta say, these are some great pics! Veronica was stoked that her shoes had such an impact...

More importantly, it was a nice chance for me to get her to the range for some focused time spent working on marksmanship. Did it have any impact? Well, I don't know if anyone noticed, but as of late Saturday, she was only comfortable shooting while sitting - didn't want to shoot in prone (uncomfortable) or standing (too heavy), so she spent her afternoon sitting. By Sunday's AQT's, she was using all three positions, and even having fun with the challenge of getting into position from standing. Wasn't shooting too bad, either. I was knocked out. Oh, and she wants to come back again, too.

For this alone, I owe a big thanks to Nero and crew. But there's more- for my own part, I was hoping to get some good pointers, and work on my technique. I've spent some time working on the positions on my own (gotta love those old Army training films!), but never had the chance to have experienced eyes looking over my shoulder. What a difference! With two quick tips about my trigger control, my score went up 15 points, and my whole cadence is changed. Pretty damn cool. Big thanks the 3huzzahs for that one. Now I've got some new habits to set during dry fire practice.

I was really hoping to make the grade with grandpa's old bolt action, but the firing pin gave up the ghost just as I was starting to get my groove. It dates back to the 30's, so I can't really fault it. Love that rifle- damn does it shoot. Maybe next time. After I shot my high score of the day with Nero's scoped loaner ( ), I did manage to shoot a 204 with iron sights, on Veronica's 10/22, even though my old eyes could barely focus thru that giant aperture. I've since discovered that Tech-sights makes a small aperture kit, so I've installed it. It's a bit flimsier than I'd hoped- made of urethane, so I can't really see how it'll hold zero, but we'll see. The .046 aperture makes all the difference for me, though, so I'll be back with it next time.

For me, at least, I'll know I've truly fought for my "Rifleman" patch when I've earned it with irons!

Gotta get rolling, but I'll be back with more feedback later. You've given me alot to think about. Thanks again, all! Truly fun and exhausting weekend!

Glenn