####Unknown Distance Shoot NRA Whittington Center Sept. 15-16 2018####

[TaosGlock]

"The most deadly weapon on any battlefield is the single well-aimed shot."
-Cpt. Jim Land, USMC Sniper School Instructor, Vietnam 1966

Our last Unknown Distance shoot of the season at the NRA WC.
Soon the leaves will turn golden and fall off, the elk will bugle their last call and the snow will fall. 
Then it is on to Winterseeds! Stay tuned for our winter schedule.

We had 11 shooters on the line.   Many were instructors from NM, WY, CO and KS.
The rest came from the same states and had a few Appleseeds under their belt. We had 4 sets of parent/son or daughter combinations! 
And a husband wife team!
Look at that line!


From young to old. Walker and sleepy


All were ready to learn the duties of a Rifleman: Find it, range it and shoot it.

They're out there. They're everywhere. Can you spot them?  Most of our steel targets are well hidden but in plain view.
Ranges are 325-940 yards.
So get to it! Find it range it and shoot it. Which they did, and very successfully!
BlueFeather spots for desert_diver on the 945 yard steel as he uses his AR.


At this event there are no AQT's to shoot, no square ranges or electronic target monitors.
No sir, this is a real world shooting course in a perfect teaching area for Unknown Distance shooting. 
Ask the various other long rang shooting schools that also use the Whittington Center.

History is replete with examples that prove that: "Mountainous terrain held by Rifleman will never be
militarily defeated so you must either drive a rifle or ride a boxcar."-Bill Buppert.
So leave the rimfires home. Rifle calibers were 223, 6.5's and 308's. 
Pretty much the standard of long range rifle calibers as we speak.

There is no better range in the USA for what Project Appleseed teaches than the 33,000 acres of the
Whittington Center to compete, train, learn the fundamentals of precision marksmanship and enjoy
the camaraderie of other Appleseed instructors.



Fred sez..."Your job as a Rifleman involves target detection, range estimation
and firing an accurate shot-in that order of difficulty.
If you can't see the target, you as a Rifleman can still
hit it, but if you don't detect it, you never fire the shot."

As Master Gunnery Sgt. of the 1st Marine Div., Guadacanal 1942 said "Teach them to look in the
air and trees and to learn where the enemy likely will be."

Present day doufous americana has little experience looking for anything except a remote. 
It is no wonder many of the best shots in the military came from folks who grew up hunting and
exploring the woods...vs today's cyberspace warriors.  Our rural life of field and woods experience as
handed down from father to son peaked by the Viet Nam war.



Col. Merrit A. Edison, C.O. 5th Marines and Metal of Honor winner said, "There must be training in difficult observation which is needed for the offense. Only 5% of men can see while observing.


BlueFeather and Long Rifle by our real size IDPA Redcoat at 512 yards! Close enough for "The Rifleman Quarter Mile".
Look at those hits! Scopes and open sights.


...more later as we are just rolling in.

[Lurching Hail]

All I can say is "Woo Hoo!" and I hope you had a great time.  Whittington is one of my goals.

[TaosGlock]

Instruction on the line. Warm up on the fundamentals at 25 yards.
A father daughter team share a backer. Steve and Morgan below:


Frank gets pointers from NMMI9100:


...then on to real distance practice on the 4 MOA squares at 300 yards Battle Sight Zero.
This will now become the base line setting for the shooters. Any scopes with zero stops will be
set at this yardage.  All steel targets will be engaged beyond that to 1125 yards. Shooters will make a
data book to record the required come ups for their rifle/load for these environmental conditions.
Density Altitude was discussed. Many rifles had their loads chronographed on the spot. Thanks to NMMI9100 for the use
of his chrony!

Below: At the 300 yard line.
Shooters were taught mils (base 10 system) as well.
If you are shooting at 300 yards and your group is 6" below center. How many clicks on your mil based scope is
required to move your group up?  A mil covers 3.6" at 100 yards.
3.6 x 3.00 =10.8". So each 1/10th mil click moves your group 1.08" at 300 yards.
1.08 x 6 = 6.48" so 6 clicks is required to center your group.

Same example in a moa based system (base 4 system) then it would be a 2 moa correction.
2 moa at 300 yards is 6" or 8 clicks based on 1/4 moa clicks.



The small white/red circle steel target measures 1Mil and was used to check the accuracy of the mil-dot scope for those
shooters using mil dots/mils.

[TaosGlock]

Shooters make notes and record data.


So the same data can be used later to make the proper adjustments at distance.


Steve and his son 11 year old Ryan shot a 1 moa group down at the 300 yard target. They, like the others are now ready to go full distance now! Bluefeather is proud of this entire group of shooters!

[TaosGlock]

Generic come ups to 1000 yards in minutes and mils.
BlueFeather, NMMI9100 and Long Rifle.


NMMI9100 as line boss in the vast 33,000 acre wilderness of the NRA WC.

[TaosGlock]

Range cards are attached to the rifle. Any competent rifleman can pick up an unfamiliar rifle with
an attached range card and pretty much make 1 round hits.
This is NMMI9100's rig with range card. Range increments are on 25 yard intervals. This makes it effortless on intermediate yardages.
Morgan makes a first round hit at 1125 yards!
Thanks David for the use of your rifle and ammo!

[TaosGlock]

I pass my M1A around as a "back to our Rifleman roots" rifle.
It was built by Ted Brown a few years back. I put it in a birch Big Red stock from Fred's and it drives much nicer now. 
I have an original trigger from a Devine M1A customized by Elmer Ballance himself waaay back in 1972.
Steve goes prone on the 1000M/1125 yd. steel and makes hits as do others:


And in standing too! Note how high the rear sight is.
It is actually on the 900 Meter setting even thought the target is about 1000 Meters.
This emphasizes the fact one need to "truth test" their sight settings as well as their range data come ups
pulled from online sources.

[TaosGlock]

It was 10 years ago this month that BlueFeather and I attended our first Appleseed.
It was the first Appleseed in our state. And it was right here on the Coors Range at the NRA Whittington Center.

Below, BlueFeather lowers the range flag on another successful Appleseed and we now have over a decade of helping
turn America back into a "Nation of Riflemen".
Kodi our dog, on all of our Appleseed journeys, watches.


Huzzah to all Appleseeders who are helping us turn America into "A Nation of Rifleman"

Lord Percy wrote after April 19th, 1775: Whoever looks upon [the militiamen] as an irregular mob will find himself
much mistaken..They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about.


Or as the Bradford Brothers, who owned a printing press in Philadelphia would write to warn King George III said:
This country has raised over a thousand Riflemen. The worst whom can put a ball in a mans head at 250 yards. Before departing England, tell your officers to have their affairs settled.

"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose


This group of shooters would strike terror in the heart of King George III, Lord Percy and his Redcoats.
Remember, the Battle of the North Bridge of Concord tells us that we not only knew how to shoot, we knew who to shoot.

A Rifleman knows that the percentage of Americans who will actually do anything to preserve his nation is so small, that
it is too small to measure. However, a single Rifleman equals over 1000 normal dead beat Americans. 
Thus the efforts of one Rifleman can lead to results which are seen as impossible.

It is the Rifleman who will answer the call and repeat those famous words of
Capt. Isaac Davis on April 19, 1775:
"I have not a man who is afraid to go".


A Rifleman knows that to let down the next generation, is to also let down every
American generation which preceded him.  Those who bled and died to pass on Liberty, did so for naught, if he lets them down.

[TaosGlock]

Did you know...

[libertyhammer]

Thanks to all the instructors and to the students. All were great. This was an event I will remember as special all my life.

[TaosGlock]

Our Data Books that we hand out are a work in progress. 
This is just a sampling of the information in the book.  An 8 1/2"x11" standard heavy paper folded in half.
Then printed in such a way as to add continuity. Any minor corrections or enhancements will be added as needed.

Thanks to BlueFeather for doing the layout and print up.

They will be refined for next year.

[sleepy]

As always, a well done shoot!

I've been to a handful of the Raton UKDs, and never stop learning. And as always, the learning process can be uncomfortable.

Walker still blows me away. It's cool to see a kid with his knowledge and skills, and an inspiration to see a parent who can make it happen in this messed-up time.

Steve and Ryan were a pair to watch, and impressed me as a team. Same with Steve and Morgan. This line is very family-friendly.

Anyone who hasn't gone yet, the program rocks, and the locale is a treat in itself. And if you've invested time in teaching your kids, bring them; you'll see the payoff and they'll have a great memory.

Please come. I look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

[TaosGlock]

Are we repeating history? What are you pretending not to know?


Civic responsibility is much more than flying a flag and voting once every four years.  The answer lies
in a return to what made America great over 240 years ago. A return to critical thinking, mastery of our bodies, minds and spirits, hard work, charity and civility.
And taking personal responsibility for all the choices we make.  Virtues like these will make our Western Civilization peerless in the eyes of the world. We should not be looking to progressive solutions offered up by the political lobbies. All politics is local as they say so get involved and make a difference.



A huge thanks to the NRA Whittington center staff for all your support over the past 10 years for Project Appleseed.


A huge thanks to our Founders who gave all so that we may enjoy Liberty!  'A Republic, if you can keep it.'

We will get out our 2019 schedule soon so stay tuned!

The sun sets on an awesome 2018 season for Project Appleseed at the NRA Whittington Center.

"A large number of red blooded Americans have been striving to make us a Nation of Rifleman. We have succeeded. May we ever remember this, for the prievlidge to bear arms and the ability to use weapons is the greatest guarante of Liberty".

[Laredo]

I look forward to reading your AAR's!  I have made it a personal goal to join you for a KD next year.  Cant wait to meet you all.

[PHenry]

Awesome - truly. 

[BlueFeather]

This is a fun and rewarding event to do and of course it's at one of the most beautiful and expansive ranges anywhere!  We are so lucky to be able to work with Eric and the other Whittington staff.

We don't do many of these classes, but we have just scheduled one for September 14-15, 2019, with a limit of 10 students, so make sure to sign up early if you want to attend!

/Blue Feather