Middlebury, VT Oct 25-26 AAR

[ripersnifle]

Middlebury, VT Oct. 25-26 2008 AAR

12 Students (Youngest was 14, Oldest shooter was 77 AND HE COULD SHOOT !!!)
3 Instructors (Nickle, Farmer, and Ripersnifle as SB)
2 IITs (Firewall99 and Nate)
4 New Riflemen (1 Sat, 3 Sun)
4 Repeat Appleseeders
1 State Representative (Chris Bray) present AND SHOOTING WELL
251 rounds of well-aimed fire on Saturday
471 rounds of well-aimed fire on Sunday
722 total rounds for the weekend per shooter

SATURDAY:

Hit the Safety Briefing first with:
The 4 Safety Rules
Properly Grounded Rifle
Line Commands

Went hot at 9:36AM with a Redcoat.
(1) 100 yd shooter, (2) 200 yd shooters, (0) 300 yd, (1) 400 yd, (1) head shot
We had 7 shooters throughout the day.
Some came late, and some left early.
All had fun and said they learned a lot.
We had enough Instructors to cover the stragglers.

Covered NPOA, Prone Position, Slings, and Mat Orientation.
Shot (3) 1" Squares.
Covered 6 Steps and Talking Targets.
Shot (2) more 1" Squares.
Covered IMC, Zero, and more Talking Targets
Shot (1) more 1" Square.
Covered 1st Strike of the Match (Farmer)
Did Ball & Dummy to check for Flinch, Buck, or Jerk.

Had Lunch around 1PM.

Covered Standing and Sitting positions with NPOA adjustments for each.
Shot (1) stage by stage QDAQT for practice.
Shot (4) QDAQTs (Shoot 2 / Score2 / Break)

Shot the 1st "Deadcoat Challenge" (Teamwork Exercise)
Rules:
-   Shooters have 30 rounds prepared
-   Shooters may fire a Maximum of 10 rounds on THEIR target
(Other 20 rounds MUST go on other shooters' targets)
-   ALL Redcoat targets MUST have (3) hits in them (Head Shot too)
-   Shooters have (4) minutes to discuss their TEAM strategy during preparation period
-   Shooters have (4) minutes to complete the shooting exercise
-   Gather shooters at the targets and "run through" any surviving redcoats with a bayonet (or pencil...)
We had 5 shooters on the line for this on Saturday.
They could have done better.
Out of 25 possible Redcoats, only 10 were dead, and 15 required the bayonet.

Shot the final Redcoat for the day and everyone had improved.
(4) 100 yd shooters, (3) 200 yd, (1) 300 yd, (0) 400 yd, (1) head shot
Handed out (1) Rifleman Patch to Terkdog.
He was a repeat Appleseeder and shot a 226.

SUNDAY:

Went hot at 9:13AM with a Redcoat
1" Squares
Carded Sights
NPOA Shift Drill
Rapid Fire Cadence (with decreasing times)
Zero Confirmation
Practice AQT
Shot ( QDAQTs (Shoot 2 / Score2 / Break)
Covered 2nd Strike (Firewall99) and 3rd Strike & Dangerous Old Men (Nickle)
Deadcoat Challenge:
We had 9 shooters on the line for this on Sunday.
They did pretty well this time.
Out of 45 possible Redcoats, 31 were dead, and 14 required the bayonet.
Much improvement over Saturday's performance.
Shot the final Redcoat for the day and everyone did really well this time.
(7) 100 yd shooters, (3) 200 yd, (4) 300 yd, (2) 400 yd, (4) head shot
We had a few more stragglers to train today.
Enough staff to cover it, though.  (thank goodness)

Handed out (3) Rifleman Patches.
Jamie shot a 215    (Good !)
Brad shot a 229    (Great !!)
Jeremy shot a 237    (Awesome !!!)
All were 1st time Appleseeders and family members of the Range Owner (Ed)
Who managed to shoot a 193 his first try, but didn't quite get up to 210.
Boy, that family can SHOOT.
Thanks for having us.

sk

[SeanO]

Good morning!

First, I want to thank Nickle, Ripersnifle and all the other instructors for making the Middlebury AS clinic another huge success, at least as far as I'm concerned.  It was my third AS and, mostly because of the excellent instruction, my scores improved, getting ever closer to the elusive Rifleman goal.

As I said, Middlebury was a large personal success - my highest score was 189 with iron sights after having taken up shooting only a couple of days before my first AS just six months ago - at the age of 76.  When I finally get Rifleman (and I fully expect to), I will be yet another witness to the excellence of Appleseed's marksmanship instruction.

Appleseed has also inspired me to read with far greater attention and devotion the story of our Founders and of the brave men and women who fought so selflessly to make America possible.  Appleseed has given me a renewed and rock-solid pride in the values that have made America the great country that it has become despite the maunderings of the mindlessly self-indulgent apostles of Change.

Thanks, too, to Ed, the dairy farmer who made one of his pastures available to us for the shoot.  Ed's done surpassingly well at the most important job in life - raising young men we can all be proud of.  It was a great pleasure to watch his interaction with his sons, both of whom shot Rifleman.

And finally, thanks to Nickle and Cheryl for putting me up - it was a pleasure spending some off-time with them.  It sure beat sleeping in my car.

Best, Sean O'