West Point, KY - Oct 25/26 Knob Creek Appleseed

[ReluctantWarrior]

This was my first Appleseed and I was only able to attend Saturday, but I already feel like the ink is drying on my skin.  I've been 'marked', and all of the hunger, hints, dreams and convictions swirling around in my brain have been codified and tattooed on my heart by Lady Liberty herself.

Wow.  What a day.

My buddy Matthew came down with me from church and neither of us really didn't know what to expect.  I had done some reading so I knew the lay of the land, but I'd only shot a rifle a few times.  In fact, the first time I ever shot a gun was this past January.  Matthew was just the opposite; he had hunted and been around guns most of his life, but as far as the AS program he didn't even read the confirmation e-mail.  We were in for it.

Before we even got there, I was bowled over by the (I'm coming to realize pretty common) generosity and kindness of Appleseeders, as FunFaler offered to lend us two LTRs so save some ammo dough.  Thanks, FF!  Instructors this day were Mighty Mouse (shoot boss), Scout34, Slim, BigJohn and Mike.  My apologies if I forgot anyone.  There were about 20 students all said.  We started off by Mighty twirling a bayonet in his hands and recounting the 'first strike of the match' on April 15, 1775.  Pretty potent.  Then we got to go shoot some Red Coats in person!  I actually did pretty good, making all my shots out to 300 yards and even getting the officer head shot.  Beginner's luck.  Then the fun really started.

I've never known ten hours to go by so quickly.  All of the instructors help a really good pace, making the information easily digestible and the shoots steady but challenging.  By the end of it we were all really fired up to kick some AQT ass, and we all had the six steps memorized.  I did 190 on my first AQT, had a malf on my second and let it get to me so I beefed the next two.  I'll get you next time, Gadget!

Afterwards, we were invited to chat about future involvement with AS over Mexicanian food (El Nopal!!!).  You haven't lived until you've sat between a head-sized burrito and Scout34 drooling over the bar TV saying, "mmm, Sarah Palin".  Good end to a good day.

All I can say is, who's next?  Who wants to 'sacrifice' a weekend having the time of their life and learning some valuable (necessary?) skills and heritage in the process.  Not to get philosophical here, but the fellowship, kindness and genuine support of the people at Appleseed reminded me of WHAT needs to be protected in this country.

[hawkhavn]

RW and everyone else,

Sounds like another great Appleseed!  Welcome on board and don't forget there is another Appleseed in 11 days in Evansville.  Dry fire, practice those positions and come whoop on some more redcoats. 

Probably the last AS for the season up here so get it while the getting is good.  I just checked and it is less than a 2 hour drive.  Camping is free and there are plenty of inexpensive motels nearby (I recommend Microtel).

Come out, nail down a 210 or better and get in the 'deep' end of the Appleseed pool.

Hawkhavn

[tpelle]

I'll second pretty much what RW said.  This was my first Appleseed, and it fully lived up to my expectations.  I attended both days, and was very impressed with the quality of instruction and the attitude and helpfulness of the instructors.  I was also impressed when they took one student, who I gather had basically never shot a rifle before that day, and took that student from firing a 2-foot sighter group down to firing an 1-1/2 inch group over the span of one morning.

I had done quite a bit of practicing this spring with my LTR, but due to work travel, injury and illness, having to clean up from Hurricane Ike, etc, I hadn't shot my LTR for about 3 months.  I was hoping to make rifleman, and thought I was going to make it, but was troubled by malfunctions - I had never had much problems from my rifle before, even shooting my habitual WalMart Bulk Pack ammo, but I had never shot that many rounds at a time without cleaning!  Live and learn.

For my next Appleseed (I'm gonna get that Rifleman patch yet!) I plan on making three changes:

1.  Buy a couple of more new Ruger 10-round mags.  My failures seemed to occur more often on my 30 year old mags that came with the rifle when I bought it.  The three new ones I had seemed to be more reliable.

2.  Make sure the rifle is scrupulously clean.  I spend Saturday evening in my hotel room disassembling the rifle and cleaning and lubing it, and Sunday things went a lot better.

3.  I've seen people recommend buying some foam elbow and kneepads.  I thought "I've got a Marine Corps shooting jacket with elbow pads.  I'm good to go!"  WRONG!  I've got raw spots on both elbows and both knees!  Appleseed Badges of Honor (you guys should award Purple Hearts)!

All in all, a great experience.  There are two guys at work I've been talking it up with, and so may have a couple of recruits.  My neighbor, who happens to be an FFL and owns a farm (can we think "range"?) has expressed interest as well.

[slim]

Another great Appleseed in the books and another set of Americans stepping up and grabbing a bucket. Knob Creek Range is truly a great place for pro-2A and as we shot through the weekend it became more and more apparent that pro-2A doesn't always mean great shooters... marksmanship met history this weekend and when the matches were struck, they caught fire! The Appleseeders down on the "lower range" were using just a small percentage of the lead being thrown away "up range" and dare I say, enjoying themselves even more because they were making their hits count. Every single shooter on the line showed dramatic improvement and by the end of Sunday (some even on Saturday evening) everyone was shooting 4-MOA groups. A good safe shoot, improvement all around, and several new volunteers. Succeess.

What a motivated group of shooters. I have to say I've been thoroughly impressed by the Kentuckians I've shot with. I'm guessing there's a reason it was called the "Kentucky" rifle all those years ago..... We had several show up from other states as well; a testament to the pull of spending time on the line with like-minded Americans taking action to further the cause of freedom. I was very impressed with what I saw this weekend. I saw our youngest shooter (who just so happened to be sporting a Rifleman patch on his jacket) humble many of us who've been shooting for years. Now that's "hope and change for our future" that I can vote for! I saw many of our "more seasoned" shooters work through their problems and put up some very good groups. I also saw a brand new shooter come to the line, practice all weekend with an LTR, and then cap off the weekend by shooting an M-1 and hitting a "pumpkin" at about 75 yards. This Appleseed stuff really works!

Best of all we have several new folks who've joined the cause to right the sinking ship and save our great country. "Huzzah!" to all of you!

Lessons learned -

1. Bring a hat. The sun hit us in the afternoon and was directly in the shooters' eyes causing apertures to fill with light and totally erasing the front sights. It also caused several of the targets to be sitting in shadows and the light shining through holes from previous shots caused many shooters to have trouble seeing the silhouettes clearly. Those with hats had an easier time than those without. Several shooters persevered and shot through the sun but it had a dramatic impact in their group sizes down range and subsequently lowered their AQT scores.

2. Know your equipment. Several shooters had malfunction after malfunction and/or problems that probably could've been remedied fairly quickly and easily had they only known their equipment a little better. Once you've practiced enough and are familiar enough with your equipment, even a malfunction is not such a big deal.

3. Bring your lunch. Sure, it's nice to get a hot meal from the local burger joint (if available) but you miss a lot when you leave for lunch. I've learned some pretty important things during lunch time and one of the nicest things about staying is that's the time you truly get to know your fellow shooters. There's not a lot of time for interaction during the event so plan on bringing a lunch and staying through the lunch break.

4. Practice at home. Dry fire. Practice getting into and out of position. Practice NPOA shifts. Practice saying the Six Steps over and over in your head. (Great way to make it through a boring board meeting!) Practice your trigger squeeze and follow through using a cheap ballpoint click pen. So many things you can do while you're not at Appleseed!

7. Spread the 'Seed! Appleseed has set a goal of doubling in size each year and a big part of that is promoting the program and getting more folks involved. Get active on this forum, spread it to other forums. Spend time at your gun show or your local range handing out info on upcoming events. Introduce folks to the program... the list goes on and on. Seventh Step! (Notice 7th Step can be before 6? It can be done anywhere at any time!)

6. Go to more Appleseeds! Each Appleseed is going to have a different Shoot Boss and Instructors (and shooters!) so you're going to learn a little something different at each one. Plus, you'll hear a little different take on "the story" and find more reasons to get energized! And you'll meet more good people who are doing something positive for the future of our great nation.

There's hope that our nation will change into a nation of Riflemen like we once were, and with Appleseed, you can become an instrumental part of that change. Hope to see you all on the line again soon.  (On that note, don't forget Evansville, IN., coming up on Nov. 8-9)

[MIGHTY MOUSE]

All I can say is thank you to all of the shooters who attended.  The weather Friday was so bad that I was afraid we would not have many participate but the sun came out and dried up the pond infront of the target line and it turned out to be prime Appleseed weather.
This shoot has to be one of my favorites thus far.  The level of attention and participation was awesome and really encouraged all of the instructors to go that extra mile.  I have seen very few shoots where almost the whole line started out Saturday shooting 8MOA or less and there were some that were alot less ( we are talking ragged lil 5 shot groups in the target )  I met alot of great people, and saw some that I had not seen in a while and we all had a great time.  I think the greatest thing was seeing a bunch of Freedom Loving Americans so ready to embrace their heritage and strive to regain these traits that are really characteristically  "Only In  America".  Job well done and I hope to see you all on the trail soon.

[friedenmeister]

Hello my fellow Patriots,

Sean here. This was my fifth appleseed to attend and it was a terrific way for me to jump into my instructor training. The range at KC was nice, but I have to second what Slim said about the guys uprange. When we were leaving the range and saw those guys up there blowing tons of lead down the range, all I could say is "what a waste."

Sure, lots of Americans have guns and hold them dearly, but there are very very few Americans who actually know how to use them. This needs to change, so I hope that everybody will remember the seventh step of firing a shot. The seventh step is to share the other six steps with another Patriot.

When you go to your local range next, take a look around and watch the form that other shooters are using. Many of them will be using bench rests and bipods to sight a rifle in at 25 or 50 yards. Many of them think they are a crack shot because they have a tricked out rifle. Luckily, there are some Americans who really do know how to shoot, and you can find a lot of them at Appleseed events.

Look forward to seeing you guys in Taccoa, GA.

Ron Paul Guy

[SamD]

Sounds like you guys had a fantastic shoot.
May there be many more.

Sam

[slim]

When we were leaving the range and saw those guys up there blowing tons of lead down the range, all I could say is "what a waste."

I stood there and watched those guys shoot for a couple minutes, silently counting the hundreds of dollars worth of ammo being wasted, and was taken back to something Ornell said a long time ago, (paraphrasing) "People like that are what drives up ammo prices because the demand increases every time they shoot. If everyone knew how to shoot the way we teach them to at Appleseed, ammo would be so much cheaper than what it is now. Think about how much money you're saving when you use your Appleseed training and think about what a good job you're doing to keep ammo prices low!"

[scout34]

Yep, another great AS.  I can't believe the caliber of the people that I have been meeting since I began going to these events.  In the two months that I have been an IIT I have made several friends for life and feel reinvigorated about the prospects for liberty in America.  I know things seem dark right now, but there are those out there that very much know what they are about.

Ash, if you don't go,"mmm, Sarah Palin", you'se a wooden chair.

I want to thank all of those who braved weather and illness to attend, instructors are pretty useless unless there is an apt pupil.

I will always treasure the way the fibreglass shards, blown airborne by bullet impacts against the wrecked boats imbedded in the berm, twinkled in the light as the sun set over the targets.  At least I had that to look at 'cause I sure couldn't see my sights or the target!  Now I gotta go.  I'm gettin all misty.

[bigjohn]

     Knob Creek Shooting Range is fairley well suited to the Appleseed program (a covered firing line large enough to have around 40 shooters ,valleys surrounded by large berms-<"hollers" to us Kaintucks> and relaxed enough to let the program be run as needed) and the students who attended this shoot put it to good use.

    There was not a new rifleman forged this weekend (older ones renewed thier skill) but there were a couple almost there and the general improvement of student's groups was evidence of the their work, attention to the points of instruction and the program's effectiveness.

    Others have stated how much the groups shrank -from barely on the target backers (not just the target) to actually putting hits on the slow fire "400 yard" target -but the smiles ,confidence and apparent satisfaction for their accomplishment also showed a worthy badge won (just a little more polish and they too will wear the Rifleman badge ) and I'd like to thank the students for their effort- Warms an instructors heart to see such results.

   I watched a lot of the Instructors  throughout the weekend and really appreciate their preparedness and fire- the benefits of coming to a shoot straight from an IBC were not only for the students but I benefitted from the different techniques that the other instructors brought and was challenged by their knowledge.

   Mighty Mouse had everything well organized and prepared for the shoot and weather and a Very well laid out Course of Instruction that allowed the shoot to flow smoothly .

   I believe everyone benefitted from their weekend and expect many new Rifleman and a couple of instructors to form from the event.

Congrats everyone,
Big John

[TnTimberwright]

I have to throw in my 2 cents worth about this shoot. It was my second AS (my first was at Ramseur, NC) and it fully came up to being what Ramseur showed me about how a good AS should be. The Shoot Boss and all the Instructors and IIT's did an excellent job of organizing and coordinating a very good shoot. They wore us out on those AQT's but we kept getting good feedback on what we were doing wrong from them and from our targets. They took the time to keep checking everyone of us on going to the targets and giving helping points on what we needed to work on to further improve. I rank it as a full 5 Star shoot.

Now, I have to say that I was signed up for a shoot at Cumberland, KY and got there late Sat. Shooters did not make it out for whatever reason despite having one fine fellow (Tony F.) who set it up. There were only 3 of us signed up and the other 2 were from Atlanta, GA. I came in from Bristol, TN/VA. We did have some difficulty locating the range and figured out on Sat how we "got lost." Well, since the folks from GA were avid and rabid AS'ers too, we decided to make the long drive up to the Knob Creek Shoot, camp out Sat night and hit the line on Sunday. We did this. Now, talk about devotion to something. I only drove in a hundred miles to Cumberland, KY but then went another 280 miles to Knob Creek near Fort Knox and Louisville. Driving all day Sat was not my original plan.

Making the shoot on Sunday at KC made the expense and trouble very worth while. I did a lot of shooting and got a lot of needed help. I kept having a major problem getting empty mags out of my 10/22, something that I had not encountered before. Even instructors had the same problem with it. Finally, we opted to just open the bolt each time and punch it out. This was the solution that finally worked. This same malfunction kept occurring even after trying some more oil inside the rifle. The mags just needed a slight pressure on top to pop out easily. Afterward on the drive back to TN, I finally figured out what I think was happening since this had never happened to me before and it was happening on 5 different magazines from older ones to new ones. As someone else reported on the KC shoot, we had some real Sun and Heat problems. The sun gave us a fit some being in our faces and on the targets. I think it warmed up my mags causing them to swell just slightly to cause them to stick when fully inserted and needing that slight "bump" with a finger to pop them out. I know I got concerned about my ammo being hot in the sun and actually feeling a burning sensation some from it when picking it up to reload. After getting my rifle back into the shade and cooling of the mags after the shoot, those mags would just fall out when released with my extended mag release. The sun/heat had to be the issue. If anyone runs into this problem, just open her up and give a slight punch to get that mag out and the other one in fast. Once you practice this a few times it becomes a fast mag change and will not interfere with the AQT. My problem learning this killed me on time in getting that 2nd mag inserted. Both myself and instructors lost the balance of the clock trying to jiggle the mag out using two hands. I think the heat was the problem because I've not been able to duplicate the problem at all since leaving the line there.

Lastly, the fantastic time we had to share and meet other AS'ers during lunch and during the camping Sat night, sure made this an outstanding time too. Also, like others have reported, the upper range was loaded with so many shooters shooting every kind of gun imaginable and it sounded like a war when they were firing. Going by there when leaving late Sunday afternoon was something to behold. Seeing people with bipods on benches was one thing, targets at all kinds of ranges and of all types, shooters blowing tons of lead out there in rapid fire, seeing all those centerfire rifles blasting away seemed to be just what Slim and others said, an absolute waste of good ammo. This was something to behold. I had to stop and watch it go for a few minutes and just left thinking of the really great thing we had at an AS shoot with real Instructors working us toward proper techniques and skills.

Now, I'm ready for another AS this weekend in Kingsport, TN. Hard to believe I'm doing an AS two consecutive weekends. At least this one will not eat up much gas, but to me, the gas and driving time was worth the one day, Sunday, that I actually got because of the Quality of the KC event. My Kudo's to all who made the KC event happen. It was a super good shoot (and another good day of learning how to shoot well for us shooters).

Bill in Bristol, VA/TN

[Garand Dame]

A few months ago my husband picked up a Gun News and read that there would be an AS in Kentucky. He got really excited and signed me up. He then proceeded to invite everyone he talked to pretty much. He said here read these 6 steps from Fred, and your gonna need to practice dry firing. Every time I turned around he was on the computer working on more stuff about how to get me ready for AS, ordering sites etc. Over the past few months I would kinda read all the stuff he had printed out for me. Then the weekend of the shoot was fast approaching and I hadn't prepared at all. He loaded the... well everything. I barely got us lunch together. We're on our way I'm less than enthusiastic. We got there and we were greeted warmly. I laid out my tarp etc. My instructor found out pretty darn quick that I had never fired a rifle much less loaded one. He didn't flinch. He loaned me his shooting jacket right away. It's amazing to me really how fast it all began to come together. The beauty of the wooded area, the revolutionary war stories of lives lost and lived, and the gunfire in the background. Thinking about it and talking about it all Saturday night I was sort of in a whirlwind. Sunday morning it all began to come together. Every Instructor seemed to have a special bit of knowledge that sealed the deal. By the end of the weekend I didn't get a patch but, in my heart I became a rifleman. I got my t-shirt, signed up,but the real kicker was when I got to shoot The M1Garand and at about 75 yards I was able to take out a gas can 3 or 4 out of 8 times. That was a blast!!! Now I'm ready for step 7. I'm off the couch and ready to be a leader.
BTW my instructors were pretty excited at my evolution from not knowing... well anything to successfully firing the M1Garand, that they gave me my forum name. Thanks again guys you're the best!


Garand Dame