Annapolis, MD April 13-14 - Patriot's Day Weekend!

[Catch-10-22]

What a great weekend to celebrate our history of marksmanship at the excellent rimfire range at Anne Arundel Fish and Game in Annapolis.

It started cool and damp both mornings but in both cases improved as the day went on. Saturday was beautiful in the afternoon - 70F and partly sunny. You only get so many perfect days in the mid-Atlantic between the hot humid summers and the damp cold winters, but this was one of them. Sunday started cool and stayed cool - but at 60F and cloudy it was perfect shooting weather for sure.

Saturday's instruction and first two strikes were followed by 2 AQTs - we had three Rifleman requalifiers and two cleared redcoats by day's send. Great job Andy, Sharif, and Jason!

Sunday was even better - folks had a chance to recover and let the lessons sink in. The redcoats and squares showed immediate improvement in group sizes.

Josh, using a Tippmann Appleseed edition rifle with Troy iron sights, started in the 190s on Saturday and was committed to improving, locking in a lesson in each position, fully engaged in the Rifleman's Dance. His first AQT of Sunday was an agonizing 209 but then he broke through with a 213 and was scoring in the 220s and cleared his Redcoat. He is committed to pushing for his distinguished patch at a future Appleseed. Huzzah!

Jason (also running an Appleseed edition Tippmann) and Sharif continued to re-qualify in the 230s most of the weekend. Sharif was going for distinguished but ended up with anguished, scoring a 237. Next time!

The instructor corps is most proud of the progress of Joe and Quentin, a beginner father and son combo that progressed a lot.

We struggled on Saturday to get a loaner that would fit 9-year old Quentin trying a semi-auto with a scope, moving to a CZ scout with tech sights, and finally coming back to the first rifle with a smaller youth stock on a rest. The breakthrough was IIT Etervigila coaching him one-on-one, moving the scope back to fix the eye relief, building an improvised foam cheek rest, and finally adding a bipod. After rezero-ing, we had locked in a winning combination and Quentin's scores went up significantly on Sunday. This was his first time even handling a rifle and he received the coveted William Diamond patch.

Joe was putting up very respectable Standing scores but the prone and seated positions and timed courses of fire were new to him and each AQT brought a new challenge. Sometimes a rapid AQT is just what is needed to get someone into the Rifleman's bubble - and boy did it work for Joe! In just four minutes, in his first rapid AQT ever, doing all of the transitions between positions, and using a sub-optimal sling he knocked out a 195 - HUZZAH!!!! On the last AQT he was building a qualifying score but in Stage 4, the rifle wouldn't feed or extract anymore (despite multiple rounds removed from the chamber using a rod by an instructor) and he ran out of time. I hope Joe and Quentin come out again - we would love to build on that.

The shooters learned a lot from the history and conducted an impressive memorial volley in honor of those who sacrificed their lives for our Liberty on April 19th, 1775 - we even had one cleared Redcoat. As we emphasized several times in the Strikes, let us remember that we must honor these people with our civic engagement every day or John Adams will repent in heaven and all the fallen patriots will rise again and devour your souls - ok, only part of that is true, but you get my point and isn't it better not to take the chance?

Thank you to all of our shooters for coming out and working so hard to improve - you make everything worth it. Please come back and bring a friend or two.

Thank you to our red hat ABCGarand for coming out on Saturday and our previously mentioned IIT Etervigila for excellent work on both days. And thanks again to AAFG for hosting - everyone expressed what an ideal range it is and we greatly appreciate your support!