June 3-4, 2017 Martin GA

[Morpheus]

The beautiful sunshine on Saturday morning welcomed Appleseeders to the Red Hill Range in Martin GA. Thankfully, we had adequate canopies to cover the line and the equipment area so everyone could shoot or rest in relative comfort from the heat of the day. We had a fine bunch of shooters and great attitudes to match!

Saturday's instruction began with the prone position and the steady hold factors, followed by the other two pillars of Marksmanship: the Six Steps of firing the shot and Natural Point of Aim. We heard the First Strike of the Match at our lunch break and then we inserted the 2nd and 3rd Strikes of the Match during some afternoon breaks. This really seemed to help keep the shooters, and instructors, fresh during the heat of the day and offer plenty of hydration opportunities. We did complete one AQT in the afternoon and recognized that Bill S., a returning Rifleman, turned in a re-qualifying Rifleman Score! (211, I think) Huzzah!!

Sunday dawned cooler with some overcast skies. The forecast called for a threat of rain most of the day; and it did threaten most of the day! But the heavy rains stayed to our North, to our South, and to our West, but never materialized over us. A few light sprinkles is all that we had to deal with. Huzzah!
We delved right into our review of Saturday's instruction and after some sighter squares we shot an AQT when everyone was rather fresh. There were no new Rifleman scores (except the repeating scores from Bill) but plenty of improvement from the previous day's groups. The Ball and Dummy Drill brought us to our lunch break were we heard some Dangerous Old Man stories along with an excellent synopsis of Dr. Joseph Warren. After some more AQTs we then discussed actual distance and the tasks of a Rifleman before moving the equipment to the side and moving everyone back to 100 yards. Sighter groups were shot, Inches-Minutes-Clicks were applied, and everyone got first-hand knowledge of what it takes to shoot at distance. Project Appleseed is not just a 25 meter event!!

We finished the weekend shooting steel targets at 100 yards. The ring of the steel, and the smiles that followed, are still etched in my mind. Thank you to all who attended, and thank you to my fellow instructors for your invaluable help!

It is notable that after the clean up and the after-event chatting that Bill S. asked for an Orange Hat! Huzzah!! Thank you sir!, for stepping up and helping us on this quest to awaken more sleeping Americans!

I do hope to see you all at another Appleseed again soon!

In liberty,

Steve

[DrJohn]

It was an inspiration to be with such dedicated and persistent students over the weekend. Watching the improvement over the weekend was most gratifying, and the culmination was ringing steel at 100 yards. Isn't that a beautiful sound? Even more so at 500 yards! Thank you all for your support. Appleseed will be back at Red Hill twice more before the end of the year, and we all hope to have the pleasure of your company again. Blessings to all, and may Liberty increase forever!

[76Patriot]

I just want to say thank you to all of the shooters.  This was a fantastic group and I really enjoyed seeing your marksmanship improve.  Also, a congrats and a thank you to Bill for taking an orange hat.  I hope to see all of you again on the Appleseed trail.

76