AAR - Holland, MI. 10/21 & 22/2017

[Graywolf]

We had eleven shooters come to the line at Holland, MI. this weekend.  The weather was absolutely perfect (except for a little drizzle on Sunday.)  The shooters were enthusiastic and motivated.  You can't ask for a better combination than that.

Congratulations to Coral, Andrew, and Mike on shooting rifleman scores.  Congrats to Amy and Kevin on their requalifying scores as well.  Well done!  Coral also stepped up and took an Orange Hat so we welcome her to the instructor cadre as well.  She will be an asset to the cadre.  I should add that Tara and Sherri came very close to getting the job done as well with scores in the 190s.  Hang in there!  I have no doubt you'll shoot rifleman very soon.

A huge thank you to the Chick-Owa Sportsman's club for providing such a great facility for us to us.  Thank you also for the fantastic lunches each day.  You are the best!  Thank you also to the instructors who made this event happen: Bee Free, SteelThunder, Oz, D.S.S., Rascal21 and Snipette.  You really rocked it!  Thank you for all you did!

Now, I know a whole lot of pictures were taken this weekend, so let's post 'em up!!

[Texas T]

Sounds like a great event. Coral, thanks for stepping up. I believe that you will find the experience very rewarding.   

[D.S.S.]

So much fun happening at Chick-Owa Sportsmans Club!!

Snipette-THANK YOU for allowing me to crash at your place and for feeding me such wonderful food. (I think I gained about 3 lbs over the weekend!) You and Steve are great hosts!!!

The lunch crew in the clubhouse-OH...MY...GOSH! By far THE best lunches I've had at any shooting event. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Shooters-from the left to the right-
     Amy-Congrats on the repeat Rifleman score...see, you were persistent with those pesky tech sights and it paid off.
     Kevin-Sometimes the right call is to save the troublesome equipment for when you can dedicate time to it. Please do so because I'm sure you'll be able to score Rifleman with your tech sights. Meanwhile, congrats on scoring Rifleman with your scoped rifle.
     Michael-"C"-shaped trigger finger to straight as a board finger in the blink of an eye. In spite of that your point of impact groupings are some of the tightest I've ever seen. With that said, I'm absolutely certain that you'll tighten up your groups even more if you work on squeezing the trigger and then holding it to the rear for the follow through.
     Jim-Thanks for bringing (your words) "the old Sears & Roebuck" rifle to the line. Your scores improved over the weekend and it showed that you were employing techniques learned. Thanks for spending quality time with us.
     Roxanne-Thank you for spending quality time with like-minded Americans. You showed improvements all weekend long and, with persistence, will be scoring Rifleman scores soon.
     Marcy-What a hoot! If a smile was needed one would only have to turn to you and you'd say or do something to create a giggle. Keep practicing and we'll see you on a future firing line.
     Liliana-Proof that a willingness to listen and employ new techniques really does work. I'm pretty sure you experienced the largest shooting challenge of the weekend by switching your steady hold factors to make your left side the firing side instead of the support side. It's tough being left-eye dominant yet right-handed!! But by the end of the weekend you made it look completely natural in getting into your firing positions as a leftie. Bravo! Keep practicing and I KNOW we'll be giving you a Rifleman patch very soon.
     Andrew-Thanks for your willingness to apply the techniques you learned even though it "didn't feel right". Keep practicing so you can repeat your Rifleman score. I'm looking forward to seeing you at another shoot.
     Tara-Remember to keep your focus on the reticle rather than the target. Once we figured that out you were knocking on the door of breaking over 200. Unfortunately we ran out of time and you ran out of gas. Thanks for your enthusiasm in wanting to continue to shoot even with the threat of rain. And, by the way, you handled the slam-fire PERFECTLY. Muzzle pointing down range at the berm and then controlling the muzzle after the surprise of the slam-fire. First time I've seen this occur and I will now use your situation as a teaching point of how to handle it. Thanks! See you at a future event when you score Rifleman.
     Sherri-Who knows what happened to cause your scope to lose its center. Thanks goes to Oz for recognizing the perfect groups with the binoculars and then allowing you and me to go down to measure real quick to make the necessary adjustments. With the sight corrections came scores knocking at the 200. I really hope I'm at the event when you earn your Rifleman patch. You are definitely there!
     Coral-Boom!! Rifleman...and now a new Instructor In Training (IIT) with Appleseed!!! Thank you very much for joining with us. Looking forward to seeing you at the Instructor Boot Camp (IBC) in Lansing this February. Its a really good time and you'll learn things from different folks all around the state.

Graywolf, SteelThunder, Oz, BeeFree, Rascal21, Snipette-Thank you one and all! Truly in a class far above...

To everyone on this post-Thank you for spending quality time as Americans doing a fun activity which ended as another Appleseed event which saw great improvement by all (shooters AND instructors). See you all soon!

D.S.S. 

[Oz]

Thank you all for coming out to this event, for the marksmanship, heritage and fellowship!  (Also great food!)  You folks rock!

I could not add much to D.S.S.' post other than to say it was a privilege to be with the fearsome foursome as they chose to stay on the line in a cold drizzle and keep pounding out AQTs.  "Uno mas!"--what great attitudes and awesome persistence!  (I have to admit, I didn't realize how chilled I was until I got home and started to defrost.)

Congratulations again to the new and repeat Riflemen.  Graywolf was mighty close to dipping even further into his box of patches.  I have no question that some of you will earn a Rifleman patch at your next event.  I wish we didn't have to wait 'til spring!  (You don't--there are 1-day events in Lapeer in November and December--it's only about a 2 hour drive, right?)   

Thank you to our instructor crew.  It's always great to work with you.  See you at the IBC! 

Oz

[Corvette]

Great to hear about another great shoot at Holland. 

The burning question is, did the bald eagle make another appearance?

Corvette

[Graywolf]

Apparently the bald eagle only appears when you do. (or so it would seem.)     It is however, a subject that always comes up when we are in Holland.

Great to hear about another great shoot at Holland. 

The burning question is, did the bald eagle make another appearance?

Corvette

[Oz]

There are two photo albums on the Project Appleseed - Michigan page on Facebook for folks who want to scan the skies to see if we missed any eagles--or just see what a great bunch of students we had.  (And that the instructors are total selfie junkies.  And the selfies feel like "Guardians of the Galaxy" cast photos.  And I'm not Chris Pratt.  Maybe I can be Groot...)   

https://www.facebook.com/MichiganProjectAppleseed/photos/pcb.1304200189690147/1304200009690165/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/MichiganProjectAppleseed/photos/pcb.1301796283263871/1301795536597279/?type=3&theater