Newark, Ohio Oct 18 & 19, 2014

[Corvette]

Wow, what a great shoot.  This is just a placeholder but there were a number of really really good shooters at this event. Everyone, feel free to start posting pictures and comments.  Will get the actual AAR done as soon as possible.

Corvette

[Del]

I'll start...

[Birdman]

Thanks to Dillon Sportsman Center for allowing the use of their range. What a fantastic place to shoot!
I am grateful to be in the company of such wonderful folks that stuck it out for two days. Saturday was windy and cold, but they came back and were treated to much better weather on Sunday.
I regret that I did not did not get a chance to get to know those on the right end of the line. Everybody had unbelievable improvement, as could be seen by the first and last redcoats of each day. I hope you all know that you all need to keep dropping down into those positions and dry firing if possible, as often as you can. Please come back to another Project Appleseed weekend...AND BRING SOMEONE (or two) WITH YOU!
Thanks again and I hope all got home safely.
Here are some pictures....and one EPIC one...HUZZAH!

     

[Del]

Well it seems my phone and this forum are having a dispute...

I had a blast this weekend! It was great to see some familiar faces and to meet lots of new ones. I want to thank everyone for the hustle and great attitudes. Always a pleasure to work with shooters that are open to instruction. Hope to see everyone again soon!

[Corvette]

What a great Appleseed! We had 22 dedicated shooters on the line at Dillon Sportsman Center near Newark, Ohio.  Del and his sons were a big help in setting up Friday night hanging flags and setting up for a great weekend.  Saturday dawned overcast but not too cold.  Shooters arrived on time and we got started with a welcome and the safety briefing.  The morning Red Coat was shot and it was clear we had a great group of shooters.  Almost half of the attendees were good at 100 and a third were good out to 200. We had three people join Daniel Morgan's Rangers and we had two people clear the Red Coat.  What a great start.
Instructions on steady hold in prone, the six steps and NPOA were delivered throughout the morning and supporting drills were shot.  Everyone made progress and stayed focused.  The first strike was presented at lunch with the help of Slim's replica Brown Bess.  Back on the line for seated and standing steady hold instructions which were followed by a practice AQT.  The second strike was delivered at the afternoon break and the third at the end of the day. 
Saturday's Red Coat showed that we were successful with our instructional efforts with 2/3's of the shooters competent at 100 and half at 200. We had 6 people join Daniel Morgan and 4 people competent at 400.  Great progress was shown by the group.
Sunday dawned clear and sunny, a great October day.  All but two of our shooters returned (the husband/wife combination wanted to come back but had to relieve the grand parents who were babysitting).  The Sunday morning Red Coat showed improvement which is unusual.  All but two of our shooters were good at 100 and half still good at 200. We had 5 bucket shots and 1 cleared Red Coat.
After the completion of several NPOA drills including carding the sights, we embarked on the AQT grind. During our first side by side AQT, we had two people who shot Rifleman on both targets. This started a string of great AQT scores all day Sunday.  We had seven scores of 229 or better on Sunday. 
Before we knew it, the Sunday Red Coat was shot with amazing results.  Out of 19 shooters, we had 9 people join Daniel Morgan and two people cleared the Red Coat.  Wow.
After the final Red Coat we dropped the line to shoot at distance.  We set up three steel silhouette targets sized for 200, 300 and 400 yards.  The line was instructed on the bullet drop they could expect at 100 yards with 22s and the line was prepared to engage the targets.   When the fire command was given, the most heavenly music was made.  Each target gave off a different tone when hit and the three targets were pummeled by the shooters. 
We nicknamed it the "Bells of Lexington".  The day came to an end with call to action for all of us to become more involved in our communities and one great shoot came to an end.  We had two people reconfirm their Rifleman status (Birdman and James) and made three new Riflemen (Dan, Matt and his son Sam).  Huzzah, what a great shoot.
I would like to thank all the shooters for being so dedicated to working on their skills and for being so safe all weekend.  To the instructors that helped (Slim, Ratchet, Del, Birdman, Chevy Shooter and Dougum) my thanks for your participation.  It is your fine work that led to the great results our shooters displayed.  Huzzah!

I will be posting pictures as soon as I can get them processed. 

Corvette

[Corvette]

Pictures from last weekend.
1. The weekend started off with a great Red Coat.  Dan and James cleared theirs.
2. Slim doing some coaching on seated position with our shooters.
3. Slim coaching up our Blue Hats on how to watch the line.  It was really funny to hear both of them call him Mr. Slim.
4. Del and Dan talking about the finer points of offhand.
5. Our Whittemore brothers Richard and Bill.  They were real troopers all weekend.  Neither wanted to quit on the other and they hung in there all weekend.  Sam Whittemore would be proud of them.\
6. Dan clears another Red Coat on Saturday.
7. Slim, the gun whisperer working with our ladies on Sunday.
8. More clean Red Coats Sunday.
9. The "Liberty Bells of Lexingtion". After the Sunday Red Coat, we hung three steel targets and had a Mad Minute with everybody.  Each target gave off a clear and different tone and we named it the Liberty Bells of Lexington. It was really neat.
10. Notice how centered all the hits were.  This is at 100 yards with 22's.  Wow did they pummel these targets.
11. Dougum hung our steel, guess that makes him our version of Robert Newman (He opened the North Church for Paul Revere.
12. Offhand line, looks pretty good on Sunday.
13. Epic Right.  Great bunch of Mericans.  Pew Pew Pew.

[Scouwa]

Hey guys, I just wanted to let everyone know what a great time we had at the Appleseed this past weekend! I thought all of the instructors and volunteers did a superb job of keeping things fun, interesting, and working smoothly. I think I shot my best score at the end of Saturday, and when I came back Sunday I wasn't shooting as well, and I just didn't feel "in the zone". Well, Del, Birdman, and Slim all pointed out a few mistakes I was making, and I found that as I corrected them, once again I was back in "the zone". From that I realized that it's not so much about some magical state of mind (although relaxing and staying calm is important) but rather, it's mostly just a matter of doing all the things that are taught at appleseed (ALL of them), consistently, on every shot. If you can do that, you can't help but be "in the zone"! I really appreciated the effort you guys put forth in working with my son Sam, coaching him along the way. He kept making steady improvement all weekend long, working up to a couple AQTs in the 190s, and finally on the last AQT of the weekend everything seemed to gel. I told him to treat each target on the last stage as a completely separate stage; rest, get back to normal breathing and heart-rate, and re-aquire NPOA (following all the steps) between each target. It must have worked! When I saw through my scope virtually all his shots had landed in the black, I new he had to be close, but I didn't want to get his hopes up TOO much. I had told him not to expect to make Rifleman at his first Appleseed, but now I thought maybe there was a chance! I'm not ashamed to admit the suspense was heavy on me as we waited for it to be scored. It came back at around 200, and as we were standing there looking at it dejectedly, Slim came over to see how Sam had done. Long story short, he realized that with everything but a couple shots in the black, the score should be higher than that, and it turns out that a few groups that left a ragged hole contained more shots than had been initially counted! That's what NPOA can do for you! Huzzah! So when the score came back at 229 we were all overjoyed! Nice shooting Sam! Nice job teaching guys! Thanks everyone for the encouragement and congratulations, that's what Appleseed is all about! Thanks Corvette, and Ratchet for all your help! Huzzah!!!

[Scouwa]

more pics

[Corvette]

More pics
1. Evan gets his Blue Hat from his dad.
2. Family of Riflemen. Dad, Son and Grandfather.
3. James Requals at 244.
4. Matt makes Rifleman, twice.
5. Paige gets her Luthar Blanchard patch with her Grand Father that introduced her to shooting. Passing the Rifleman Tradition on.
6. Sam gets his Luthar patch.
7. Sam makes Rifleman on his first Appleseed.
8. Steve and Denise working on seated
9. Again, what a great group of shooters.

[Corvette]

Scouwa;

It was great to have you both on the line.  We need you to come back to another shoot so we can put Orange hats on both of you.  We would love to have you both join our instructor corp. 

Great shooting by both of you.

Corvette

[Del]

It appears that the KD lesson isnt for everyone.

[Badge54]

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all the instructors that make such a great event possible.  I know what it takes to volunteer your time and the sacrifices that the family makes for you.  I had a great time with my son and will be bringing the other one next year (he was at hunter safety with my wife)  maybe I'll bring her too.  Give me a good excuse to buy another gun.  I already ordered a Rifleman hat and a couple reams of targets to practice with from the store when I got home.

Thank you for your sacrifices and your dedication to making sure that our heritage is not lost.



Matt
Badge54

p.s. a pic above is noted as having a "made three new Riflemen (Dan, Matt and his son Sam.)"  I believe that was Dan and son his Sam.  Not us.