Ramah CO, 6-7 September 2014

[Gear Head Patriot]

As the weather in Colorado begins to turn, cooler days provided for an outstanding weekend for our Appleseed Clinic in Ramah CO, 6-7 September. 

In spite of being a small group of only 7 students, the teachable attitudes they brought to the event really made for an awesome weekend.  In one case in particular, one of our younger shooters struggled through a rifle malfunction completing the course of fire.  Upon further investigation we found it necessary to disassemble the rifle on the line to correct an ejector issue.  The students unwavering commitment to completing the course of fire prompted one instructor to comment that "he got his Rifleman on and Persevered!" 

After closing out Saturday the instructors enjoyed a meal together at the club house.  While the program no longer compensates its cadre for the Saturday dinner, we've found that the comraderie derived from breaking bread together makes it worth the effort.  Especially when blessed with TheDud's Green Chili! 

Following his IMC presentation on Sunday, TheDud closed out his progress check requirements for instructor and was promoted according to the Georgia Baptism by Fire standard.  With his orange hat posted at 25 yards, the students and instructors proceeded to put rounds from a 1943 M1903A3 through the hat, thoroughly perforating it.  With his baptism complete, TheDud continued the day as Colorado's newest Red Hat!  Congratulations!

One of our repeat students, demonstrated himself to truly be a Dangerous Old Man on Sunday, achieving a 227 on the Appleseed Qualification Test, Congratulations Lane!  Great shooting! 

[Gear Head Patriot]

Dangerous Old Man

[Gear Head Patriot]

Baptism By Fire

[Gear Head Patriot]

Father Son.

[Gear Head Patriot]

Math.  Hint, count your rounds when prepping magazines... and don't forget to carry the 1. 

[Gear Head Patriot]

Recognition.

[Gear Head Patriot]

Family.

[cognitive dissonance]

Great to see that Lane brought it all together on Sunday.  All day Saturday, you could see he had it in him.  Wish I could have come back on Sunday just to shake his hand.

GHP, it was great to work with you on Saturday.  I wish you the best on your trip and look forward to seeing you next year.  I'll see the rest of you at the next shoot...

Cog

[BrassBucket]

A bittersweet weekend knowing that such a great Shoot Boss and friend will be traveling far from the Appleseed trail in the coming months.

Glad to work with such motivated, positive shooters who made the weekend worth it even though our line was small. Our youngest shooter was polite, safe, and a joy to work with - and his dad wasn't half bad either!

Congratulations to Lane who surprised no one when he shot a tremendous score on the AQT.

And in my defense - math is hard!

[TheDud]

Great shoot.  Great shooters.

We'll keep the home fires burning and perhaps drag Mustang Rifleman along to a couple of shoots while the boss is away.

[Gear Head Patriot]

Just to highlight something for the masses.  Note TheDud's profile picture is of him doing math.  That's funny in itself.  For those of us who've been around awhile, we all remember when his profile picture was of him and BrassBucket (his better half) in their Orange Hats.  We took a picture of the two of them together in their Red Hats this weekend to recreate the image, and he ops to go a different direction...  brave man.