Volga, Iowa: 28-29Sep2019

[IXOYE]

We had a fantastic shoot in Volga this weekend. Saturday's weather was absolutely perfect and the predicted thunderstorms on Sunday turned into a light misting for most of the day. We had 6 walk-on's which brought our attendance up to 13.

Several shooters showed significant improvement and everyone was engaged when listening to the "Three Strikes of the Match". Congratulations to Eric for shooting rifleman on Saturday with a score of 212 and then almost qualifying as distinguished on Sunday with a 238. I'm even more excited about your desire to join our ranks as an Orange Hat after you attend your second shoot. I already know you will be a great addition to our instructor core. Congratulations are also due to Jasmine for re-qualifying with a score of 226 and to Mike for re-qualifying with a score of 225.

Thanks to everyone who brought pop-up canopies to keep our line dry. Also, many thanks to Rob (Captain) for driving out from Colorado to help us out and work on your SBIT. We loved your enthusiasm and your excellent teaching skills. Thanks to Brian, James, and Trista for giving up your weekend to help out and work on your IIT progress checks. It won't be long and I expect you will be wearing Red Hats.

Mic and Zach, I'm looking forward to when you get your range setup so we can have an event there.

And  finally, many, many thanks to Steve and Anne for hosting our clinic at your house, for recruiting participants, for providing doughnuts, coffee, and hot chocolate for everyone, and for feeding and putting up the instructors for the night. Your hospitality is overwhelming!

I'll post a few pictures in a separate post.

Rex

[Captain]

Wow, so many great things to say about this event! I'm not sure what my expectations were coming out to an Appleseed "in a pasture in rural Iowa" but this event completely blew me away! First a HUGE THANKS to Steve and Anne for being such incredible hosts and for really making this event so successful. It was truly a beautiful venue in the lush rolling green farmland and woods of NE Iowa. Even the weather (which was forecast to be horrible) cooperated and we enjoyed a sunny and cool Saturday with only some heavy mist on Sunday. It was a fantastic experience for me to watch and learn from Rex who really has his shoot bossing down to an art. Thanks again Rex!

When I left the house on Thursday, there were 5 or 6 preregistered shooters and a tough weather forecast, which sometimes causes some to back out at the last minute. Instead, out in Iowa, all the preregistered shooters showed up . . . and then there were walk-ons to more than double the line expected! Between the entire line being covered with pop-ups and a heated classroom / break area, I am definitely a little spoiled! I think Rex already mentioned coffee, hot chocolate and donuts!!

The shooters really took advantage of their time shooting this weekend. Rex already mentioned our requals and our new Rifleman (and future Orange Hat!). All the participants also received a pocket Declaration of Independence/Constitution from Eric - very cool. In addition to his shooting, he was already helping Conner on the line . . . definitely going to be a good instructor! Our young "minutemen" shooters really showed rifleman's persistence and stuck to it all weekend. Connor was really working his lever gun like a pro by Sunday afternoon. We also had a budding Army-Air Force rivalry with Tom and Zach battling each other for Rifleman glory  . There was also some kind of sisters rivalry happening on Sunday from a couple of champion shooters James brought out! (BTW - I know for sure I beat Trista in clearing the line at least once on Sunday!! . . . plus I think my side had more rifles . . . ) Steve also brought his son Jacob out on Sunday. Even though he missed a good bit of the instruction on Saturday, he quickly caught up with the others by the end of the day - nicely done! Bruce had a couple of big groups starting out Saturday and then went on to show us he was just messing with us; after a couple of scope adjustments, his groups quickly shrunk down to quarter-size. He won't ever be mistaken for an "alarm-lister" as he did every course of fire and position all weekend from beginning to end. One of our hosts, Anne, in addition to doing all the work to host the event also managed to spend the entire weekend shooting! Whenever my wife felt like calling it a day, Anne would be preping more mags which kept motivating Jasmine to shoot until the last Redcoat. It was also nice to see those groups starting to come together on Sunday afternoon in spite of the frustrations of operating a right-handed rifle left handed.

Anyway, it was a super fun and productive event and it was obvious the shooters and instructor crew in Iowa definitely "know very well what they are about." My wife and I are so glad we were able to participate and hope we can make it back again! I can't wait to see the pictures . . .

[IXOYE]

Here are pictures from our shoot. If you click on them they get bigger. Click again and they return to original size.

The group (minus two) on Saturday

Standing tall with iron & red-dot sights	Jasmine drills her target	Connor before he added a sling
Shooting Prone (Thomas, check your sling)	Shooting well after scope and cheek riser mods	Stage one of the AQT
Kneeling during state two	Brian explains finer points of seated position	Oooops! He forgot his sling.
Shooting stage four	Connor receiving his drummer patch	Eric receiving his rifleman patch
Brian teaching the Six Steps	Stage one on Sunday

Seated on Saturday (Thomas, watch that sling)	Shooting squares	Waiting to transition	Our new rifleman!
Stage one	Rob teaching IMC

[Scholar]

I had a great time this weekend, and I am pleased I was finally able to learn more about this organization. I had no idea there was such an emphasis on our nations history. That for me is what finalized my decision to help out. Thanks for everything, and I'll see you out there.

Eric

[MCZplus]

Captain,
If you still have the business card I gave to you with my email on it, could you send me an email of the components for the rifle that Jasmine was using at the Volga Appleseed.
Mike (MCZplus)