News:

We need volunteers in sales, marketing, PR, IT, and general "running of an organization." 
Maximize your Appleseed energy to make this program grow, and help fill the empty spots
on the firing line!  An hour of time spent at this level can have the impact of ten or a
hundred hours on the firing line.  Want to help? Send a PM to Monkey!

Main Menu

Journey of a Rifleman

Started by BillP_556, May 02, 2018, 12:03:36 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

BillP_556

Journey to Rifleman

Below is a short summary of my journey to rifleman, after attending (3) 1-day events and (1) 2-day event:

•   2007 - Purchased my first rifle (M1A Soccom16) about 1-week before the event and learned how to zero at the Sunday portion of an Appleseed near Mechanicsville, VA (Black Creek Range).  I think this was the first Appleseed hosted in VA.   Met Fred, VA Shooter, and some other very helpful instructors who took a guy who never shot a rifle before and taught him how to hit the paper. 

•   2008 - After practicing Fred's Guide for the next several months at the NRA HQ range, I attended a 2-day event in Ramseur NC.  At this event I did pretty well, scoring as a upper level Marksman.  I also enjoyed trying the Soccom16 at the distance pop-up targets.  I wasn't very good past 200-yards, but it was the first time I fired my rifle past 100-yards.  At this event, I got a Grey Shirt, and really appreciated the Sunday telling of the story after the 20% attrition rate. 

•   2015 - My neighbor's son was turning 18, and had been really into guns for a couple of years.  He didn't have any money, so I offered to take him to a 1-day Appleseed at the NRA HQ Range as his BD present.  He borrowed a LTR with irons, and shot very well as a Sharpshooter.  By this time, I had sold the Soccom16, and built my first AR15 and designed it for Appleseed by using a 3.5x magnifier, GI Sling and BadLever to assist with right handed loading.  At this event, I made it to Sharpshooter and got an FDE shirt.   I really enjoyed the story telling of 1775, it had come a long way since 2008 with lots of smaller stories about individuals making the difference (dangerous old men & women).   There we're about (6 or 7) instructors at this class, it was the largest instructor / student ratio I had ever seen.

•   2018 - A good friend who's a Desert Storm Vet was interested in attending the NRA HQ Appleseed.  I signed up, and told him it was his turn.  He slacked and it sold out.  I borrowed a "Tim" rifle, an LTR with a 3x Scope, and was amazed at how easy it was to shoot when you can see the targets!  Unfortunately I was using very dirty Agilla ammo, so the rifle essentially stopped working on the 1st AQT (4th stage) and  wouldn't work at all on the 3rd AQT.   However, it did function thru the entire 2nd AQT where I scored a 229 and got the Rifleman patch (and a different FDE shirt)!  I really enjoyed meeting/learning from Alan, Kim & John, they did a great job keeping this Appleseed on track! Since the LTR wasn't functioning anymore, I switched to my AR15 that had a RDS & Magpul sling (not optimized for Appleseed) for the last Red Coat.  Though John tried his best to dissuade me from using the magazine to stabilize the rifle, he eventually came around when I reminded him I wanted to hit 13-red coats!  I ended up hitting 11 of them, but their friends we're really scared!  If only I could see the 300 & 400 yards targets with the RDS…

Respectfully,

BillP_556

The Wolfhound

It is rare to meet someone who has a longer history with Appleseed.  I am sorry I did not catch that your loaner was malfunctioning.  We can usually get them back on line with a bit of RemOil and a chamber brush.  It was a privilege to pass you your well earned patch.  We say a Rifleman persists, you did a great (though somewhat long >:D)job of that.

misawa

Wonderful story of persistence!  Thanks for sharing!

BillP_556

Alan,

No worries, next time I'll spend the extra $15 for CCI  :beer:
Respectfully,

BillP_556