South Birmingham/Calera, AL AAR - September 28-29, 2019

Google · September 30, 2019, 11:01:05 PM

What a great weekend at Double Tap Training Grounds in South Birmingham (Calera), AL. The weather was hot and so was the shooting from our 5 students. Everyone arrived on Saturday morning with their gear in order and ready to soak up the instruction. We started the day with the first strike of the match then shot the Red Coat target. It was clear from the beginning that these guys knew their way around a rifle. We spent the remainder of the morning with instruction and drills on the fundamental skills of the six steps of firing a shot, prone position, and NPOA, then put those skills to the test on a squares target. The groups started fairly small and got even better.

We are very lucky at Double Tap to have an air conditioned bunkhouse to escape from the heat during breaks. We heard the second strike of the match while we cooled down over lunch then got back to work in the afternoon. After more prone practice and learning about seated and standing positions we were ready to take on an AQT. On that very first AQT we found two men among us who knew very well what they were about: Gerald scored a 227 and Steven came up with a 213. Huzzah!! Gerald was a first time Appleseeder and Steven had something to prove to himself after ending an event earlier in the year with a 208. Can I get another HUZZAH!!

Steven promptly received an Orange Hat and headed home with a big grin.

Sunday morning dawned clear and hot once more. That didn't deter these guys from coming back and working hard on the line. Following the morning review we warmed up on some squares and started more AQTs. We didn't have any more Rifleman scores this weekend, but we had steady improvement and did see some scores above 200. Will, John, and Stuart, I have no doubt you will cross that 210 threshold very soon. Remember, a Rifleman persists!

Thanks to the students for coming out this weekend and for bringing your teachable attitudes. You guys made great progress on your marksmanship and had good discussions about the history. We hope to see all of you again soon.

Thanks also to Kim and Butch at Double Tap for being such good friends to Project Appleseed.

Here are a few pics:

Seated stage while new IIT Steven/JoystickShooter looks on