Columbia, Maine, Dec 7-8, 2013.

[TOMINCT]

 Well, the finale for the season in Maine. A small but persistent group endured a fair amount of hardship to overcome malfunctions, sight in issues and weather conditions bordering on severe. Yup, we had a Winterseed, officially!

The short version, 6 shooters on Saturday with 5 of them returning Sunday, 2 Rifleman and much improvement thru the weekend. Genio made the cut Saturday with a very warm 220, followed by Jason on Sunday, nailing it with a 211. Jason crept up score wise all day Sunday and got it on the last AQT of the day. Way to go!

All the shooters did well overall dealing with temps in the hi 20's Sat, low 20's Sunday and wind varying for 5 to over 30 mph. No complaints or excuses heard. Mainer's are usually ready for anything.

Hope to have some pics up soon, still located downeast. More detail to follow.

A Rifleman persists.

[The Old Guide]

The gent who did not return on Sunday got sick during the night. He sent an E-mail that was highly apologetic and will return in April unless we have a Seed before that.

This was definitely a persistent bunch. With a 20 degree temp and a 30 MPH wind the chill factor on the chart was equivalent to one above. Zero degrees with no wind is comfortable to Mainers, but a 20 to 30 MPH below freezing wind is just brutal. One shooter sat out Sunday afternoon because she was shivering and had incipient hypothermia. You can't hold NPOA when you are shaking all over. She will be back.

We did go to Known Distance in that wind, using Redcoat targets. The shooters were pleasantly surprised to see they could hit the target with a .22 at 100 yards. One shooter had a 3 inch group at 100 yards in that wind.

We were pleased to welcome TominCT back to Maine. He said he didn't want to get rusty. Not much chance of that.

Pleasant River fish and Game were excellent hosts as usual. They had a brand new raised firing line and always but on a good feed at noon. We had four instructors for six shooters so they all had plenty of tender loving care. I was impressed with the shooters' perseverance. All shooters improved as indicated by the final Redcoat targets.

[Boreas]

Another good shoot at PRF&G! Not that there are any bad ones...  It was definitely on the nippy side. It was gratifying to see Genio get his patch early on, and really nice to see Jason's score creeping steadily upward until he made Rifleman. The setting sun came out just long enough to nicely illuminate the target line on the last AQT, so it must have been meant to be! I think the value of Appleseed instruction was evident to all who attended. A nice bunch of shooters on the line, all improved. Thanks to the instructor crew, and to Bob and Tom (the kitchen crew) for a hearty lunch. Pics to follow...

[Boreas]

Pics....

[Boreas]

More pics....

[PaleRider]

Hey wait a minute now! We in South Texas had an Appleseed the same weekend, and it was in the upper 20s all day on Saturday. We were outside ALL day with the wind chill in the teens! What's with the INDOOR pics at your Seed?!!! LOL!

[TOMINCT]

 Only half of them were fired inside, really!

One photo shows the loooonnng shadows, it drops fast on the edge of the time zone. Sunset was 3:50 pm and that came all to fast. Those who made RM did it with little room to spare.

May as well add now, the club did a great job hosting the shoot with a good hot lunch available on both days. The 25m firing line was raised this past year and will go a long way to having a reasonably dry firing line when the weather kicks in. And it does in Washington county, more often than not!

[Boreas]

Tom nailed it. We spent what daylight there was shooting. The inside pics were after dark (check the windows)....

[Josey Wales]

..You guys closed the year in a great way.  You guys rule.  Thanks Tom, The Old Guide and fellow Americans of Maine..

....Strength & Honor.............Josey Wales..................