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National Rifle Association's Whittington Center, Raton, NM April 19-20, 2014

Started by TaosGlock, April 24, 2014, 02:03:33 PM

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TaosGlock

What a glorious weekend this was!
At the NRA WC:

On the Coors Range:


It started with a fantastic sunrise over South River Peak:


Patriot's Day was honored once again at the NRA's Whittington Center, hosted by Project Appleseed.
Imagine a shooting range in a wilderness of 33,000 acres.
All filled with various shooting disciplines as well as trophy hunts for Elk, Mule Deer, Antelope, Black Bear, Cougar and Turkey.

All this along the historic Santa Fe Trail to boot!  Which crosses NRA WC property!


Appleseed teaches the fundamentals of precision marksmanship using the concept of traditional combat riflery.

Shooters, welcome to the Whittington Center!

What a glorious time to be frre and enjoy the blessings our Founders have bestowed upon us!

This amazing group had fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons, couples and friends who brought friends back! WoW!

This event celebrates our 7th year at this location. Huzzah!

16 of America's finest Patriots showed up to learn of the events that happened on April 19, 1775. That was the day our Nation was born.
We had 2 Riflemen and the rest of the group were knocking on the "Rifleman's " door.

A hearty thanks and a big Huzzah to the NRA staff for the use of the Coors Range.



A sling is one of the primary tools of the Rifleman. It steadies the rifle for faster, more accurate and consistent shooting.
We use and recommend the simple GI loop sling. One of Uncle Sam's best inventions!
Here Captwa helps other shooters on the line prep before the April 19th, 1775 Victory Volley.
His 1903A3 Springfield in 30-06 is most capable battle rifle for any Rifleman.


Shooters learn the "6 Steps to Firing the Shot". BlueFeather explains this in a 2 part lesson with Cowgirl 51 on the right.
Just look at this gorgeous classroom!



To the right of BlueFeather below is Cowgirl 51 and Captwa. To BF's left is Cowboy Harper.


NPOA-Natural Point of Aim.  Where the rifle naturally wants to shoot.
Do you know how to find your NPOA, place it on target and then trust it?
Here the shooters are ready to shoot at 100 yards.



As their groups naturally shrink, then we move on to IMC aka Inches, Minutes and Clicks. Here NMMI9100 instructs IMC.
From here on, shooters at the target line will always ask the question, "How big is my group and where is my group?"
Later, they learn to analyze their groups more closely.




The unique aspect of Project Appleseed is "The Story" of April, 19th, 1775. That was the day our Nation was born.
America was born on the principles of effective marksmanship starting predominately at Concord's North Bridge. We deliver the heritage portions
at various times during the day depending on many factors.
We sum this up as the 3 Strikes of the Match.

At our AM break BlueFeather did the First Strike.
In the afternoon breaks, Captwa delivered the Second Strike and NMMI9100 delivered the Third Strike.




As Paul Revere said, "Turn out Turn out the Regulars out!" The regulars were out, in the form of our Redcoat targets shown below.
This is a humbling target that answers that eternal question, "what is my effective range?"
An estimated 14,000 folks turned out to form a new Nation back on April 19th, 1775.
All in an era with no cell phones, radios or electronic social media. How many folks could you muster today.....think about that for a bit.



...more to come.
89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

TaosGlock

On April 19th, 1775 words like "Don't Tread on Me" were not just popular slogans bandied about like 21st century bumper stickers.
These words defined a code which helped define the American Revolution.
This is not the same as the Revolutionary War according to John Adams. Do you know the difference?
Come to an Appleseed to find out!

Flags of our Founders. These flags represent the blood shed for the freedoms we enjoy today.
We proudly fly them outside and inside when we are at the NRA WC.




Hot lunch provided by NMMI9100 and his grille and Cowboy Harper brought Buffalo Dogs!



BlueFeather: Shoot Boss, and now Line Boss, runs and keeps a tight line.

And calls the line for the Patriot's Day Volley.



Our Patriot's Day Volley was held 2PM Sat. All Appleseeds nationwide participated. 
This nationwide volley represented the the largest coordinated firing line in the world.
Just look at that line of shooters! Our Founders would be proud Project Appleseed is carrying on a tradition of marksmanship and heritage.
We fired 13 shots that represented 13 folks that died on April 19th, for 13 colonies, (there were many folks who died that day). 
They died for the creation of a new nation.



Sarducci kneeling on the end with his Mosin 91/30.


These folks had the tightest 100 yard group measuring 8" max spread and won the Patriot's Volley group shoot! Congrats!
Quick! How many MOA is that?
L-R: Mac, Batman, NMMI9100 & BlueFeather, Matthew and Art.



...more to come.
89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

TaosGlock

Day 2 the weather changed in Northern New Mexico. What started out as light drizzle at night with snow at the extreme elevations, turned to wind and light rain. By noon the conditions were becoming very challenging. The shooters tarps eventually became small swimming pools.
We took an early lunch. After noon we moved the firing line back under the covered range. The rain and mud still made it interesting but the shooters pushed on.

Below, down at lower elevations, as the light storm moves in NMMI9100 and Cowboy Harper keep the line going on the AM Redcoats.
A herd of deer come by to check us out.



The flags of our Founders took a beating, but hung tough and never failed.


Captwa has this end of the line.




A river runs thru it.


We finally have to move both the firing line and target line back to get some relief from the wind and rain.
Cowgirl 51 and Cowboy Harper watch the line with Cowgirl 51 as Line Boss.



Small pools in front of the firing line give an errie reflection. 'Batman' works the bolt like a champ during the wet AQT grind.


...more to come.
89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

TaosGlock

A pause to score AQT's. Captwa scores while that same group of deer decide it is safe to wander onto the target line.


After all that cold wet weather, things finally started to clear up.
The sun shone thru on our very tired and weary group of both shooters and instructors.

There was something else very "clear", we had 2 Riflemen!

As Lt. General Lord Hugh Percy said on the events of April 19, 1775,
"They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about..."

Congrats to both our youngest shooter, Walker aged 9, and our oldest shooter, Art at 72 years young. Amazing!  ^:)^ :---  217 and 216 respectively on the AQT. Minimum score is 210 needed for Expert status.
Both know very much what they are all about.

Homeland security is a Nation of Riflemen!

Shown with Shoot Boss extraordinaire, BlueFeather.

But wait, there is more!
Walker, son of David (NMMI9100) also cleared the Sunday afternoon Redcoat!
If we could only have all fathers/sons have this sort of relationship with heritage and marksmanship, America would be as strong as ever!

John Adams said it better:
"Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it."― John Adams



Note: as pictured above, there was a little frn incentive as well to help with this young Rifleman's ammo fund! ;)

A snow dusting on the 8700' plus volcanoes after the storm moved out:


...more to come.
89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

nmmi9100

Thanks for the great shoot, once again!  Very positive shooters, several who had been with us before.  TaosGlock and Bluefeather run a heck of a shoot.  Great shoot boss, solid IITs, a spectacular location like NRAWC, and some very positive shooters make for a great event!

I learned something very important on this shoot.  Don't offer a 9-year-old boy 10FRN to clean a redcoat...he just might do it!  TaosGlock got burned on this as well, for 5FRNs.

Seriously though, Walker has been coming to Appleseeds on and off since my first one in June 2009 (he was 4 and shot a crickett).  He's picked up a lot.  He can't hold the rifle up very well yet at 9 so we make him designated sniper on a sandbag or bipod.  On Sunday, he cleaned the morning redcoat, then shot a 238 on a Greenie-Meanie ammo-conserving 20-round AQT, then backed it up with mag changes and all with a 217 on a full 40-round AQT.  I'm pretty proud of the little squirt!

-David


TaosGlock

Finally, it's KD time! :--- :~  The NRA WC is king of KD ranges. :bow:   Period. &)

On Day 1, while at the Coors Range we repaired/refreshed the 900 yard 18"x18"target.
How many MOA is that? It is now ready for our 3 Day KD camp in a couple weeks.
TaosGlock, NMMI9100 with son Walker and Batman made the trek up the mountain.

The view back towards our firing line:


After the main event was over, it was finally time for some KD!
The day was young at 5:15 so it was off to the famous White Buffalo on the 1125 yard line!
Spotter, NMMI9100(R) and shooter, Ty(L) below.

Below: Tools of the Rifleman. Ty hammers it with a FAL
Not pictured were an M1 Garand, which was shot extensively.
Come to an Appleseed and qualify to get an M1 Garand for $650 delivered to your door!

Also not pictured was Captwa and his 1903A3 Springfield.  He made a 1125 yard shot with a rifle whose rear sights only go to out 800 yards! A Rifleman can do it and consistently!
Below, Captwa makes hits on his M1A


The fundamentals that work at 25 yards, also work at 1125 yards!
Below, our new shooter Jen easily finds out. As well as Cowgirl 51!
She and the other shooters made short work of the White Buff with a very capable battle rifle, the FAL and the M1 Garand.
Other hits were made with a 260 Rem belonging to NMMI9100 on an accurate AR10 type platform.
Great work gals! And you guys who hammered it as well.  :~




My normal "cold bore shot on the White Buff" with my Swede mauser went BOLO as the rear sight went tango uber combined with the soft point hunting ammo (grabbed the wrong stuff) so I got skunked in the fading light. :))    Isn't it great to discover this in class with your students!  %) :slap:

Riflemen are made not born.... and this weekends group belongs to the elite 1000M White Buffalo class.  :bow: :---

At 7:30PM, we called it a day.

...more to come.
89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

TaosGlock

A huge thanks to all the shooters who took time off from their daily lives to get re-acquainted with
their heritage and learn/refresh the fundamentals of precision marksmanship.


A big thanks to my all volunteer instructor crew who worked tirelessly to assist this event.
Thanks Captwa, Sarducci, NMMI9100 and BlueFeather! And....

A special thanks to our newest Instructor couple (soon to be Shoot Bossing the middle part of the state...once again):
The Harpers, Jeff and Carrie aka Cowboy Harper and Cowgirl 51.
Thanks for all your hard work! :bow:

Thanks to ALL you awesome shooters who showed up and to this special April 19th event.

A big thanks to the NRA Whittington Staff for the use of the prestigious Coors Range!

And a huge thanks to the Founders who shed blood and sacrificed their fames and fortunes so we could be free men and women.
May their flags fly proud and remind us always of this fact.
We will never forget!


The sun sets on another great Appleseed. The Coors Range back at our cabin watched over by Kodi the dog.


Our next 2 day Appleseed is on August 23-24.
Our 3 day rifleman's long distance center fire boot camps are on May 9-11 and Sept. 12-14.
These fill fast!

Here is an AAR:
http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=29768.0


Until then, remember the words on the bumper sticker below:


O0 :~
89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

BlueFeather

Awesome AAR as usual Dan! This was a great event with fabulous people! The weather was a challenge, with a wash out on Sunday. 

We get to see a lot of the same people in another two weeks when we have our KD event. More fun!

/G
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. (not Edmund Burke)

ABQSC2

This was my second ever Appleseed, and I had a blast!  Great instructors and fantastic students.  The weather wasn't the greatest, but I still learned a lot.  Ya'll are a great bunch.

CSHR

BF&TG,

As always the AAR looks like a lengthy Life/Look/NatGeo magazine article....fantastic pictures with great explanations!! Kodi on guard duty :-)

Looks like you had dedicated people and who'd of bet the 'over-under' (oldest-youngest) shooting Rifleman scores?

Nice to see they don't mind a little rain and cold.

And now I'm 'homesick'.

Great job, congrats.

CSHR

P.S. only one of Sarducci?

"But rightful Liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add "within the law" because the law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." -- Thomas Jefferson

TaosGlock

Quote from: ABQSC2 on April 29, 2014, 11:39:28 PM
This was my second ever Appleseed, and I had a blast!  Great instructors and fantastic students.  The weather wasn't the greatest, but I still learned a lot.  Ya'll are a great bunch.
Matt, thanks for coming! Hope to see you again!
89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

Colorado Pete

Great! I love that place. Wish I coulda been there. Work schedule prevents me, for now. Great job as always, TG and BF!
"Good shooting is good execution of the fundamentals. Great shooting is great execution of the fundamentals. X's are what you want. Tens are okay, but nines indicate you've got a problem" - Jim Starr
"The purpose of shooting is hitting" - Jeff Cooper

TaosGlock

89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose