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Redmond, WA Interlake Sporting Association AAR Dec 14/15 2019

Started by GTEngineer, December 14, 2019, 01:51:39 AM

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GTEngineer

It was a cold and wet weekend for PNW standards.  Even with the difficult weather, we had 17 who showed up to listen to some great American history and learn some fine traditional rifle marksmanship skills.  I made the call to convert the weekend's event into a WinterSeed event, along with appropriate WinterSeed patches.

It was my great pleasure to award 4 shooters and 1 instructor with their well deserved WinterSeed patches.  Gary showed over and over again he knows how to put into practice what he was taught with repeat Rifleman scores of 212, 222, and a final high of 224.  Hyung demonstrated that he also knew how to shoot with repeat scores of 210, 213, and a final high of 218; even though we debated a bit about whether that 210 was really a 210 or 209, Hyung showed us wrong by turning in an 213 immediately afterwards.  Corey demonstrated his skills by turning in a solid 211 score, some of it may have been lessons learned from the previous December event where he came close to going hypothermic by picking a great spot in between 2 pop ups to put down a shooting mat and enjoy double the rain runoff.  Morris also showed us that he was a man who knows very well what he is about by turning in a 210 under adverse conditions.  Lastly, our instructor Will demonstrated to everyone that Red Hats know their stuff by shooting a solid 221 on his first AQT of the weekend.

For everyone else, the path to Rifleman is a journey, it takes a lot of practice and persistence.  Don't get discouraged along the way, persist, persist, and persist.  Take the time to dry practice at home, using an outlet screw as an aiming point with no ammo nearby.  Practice the positions to where they no longer become uncomfortable, practice, practice, practice.  It is often said that Olympic level shooters dry fire thousands of times for every live fire round they take.  Practice and persist, you will see the fruits of your hard work at the next Appleseed.

Each of you should be extremely proud of what you have accomplished this weekend, you can clearly see the improvement in your groups from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon.  Also, take pride in the fact that not only have you learned a very valuable skill, I hope that you have also been awakened to the sacrifices made by previous generations before us, to protect and preserve the Liberties that we enjoyed this weekend.

Nick, you made a great amount of progress in your groups throughout the weekend, keep practicing and you'll see continued improvement.  Jazmina, you should be proud of yourself at how much you improved, especially on that sighting square of 10 rounds where after you paid attention to your breathing and focus on the front sight, all of your remaining shots were almost touching each other in the black square, you can achieve that level of accuracy over and over by putting to use all 3 legs of the stool each time you shoot.  Xianghan, your groups have shrunk throughout the weekend, showing that you are continuing to improve as the weekend went on, keep practicing getting into the positions faster and acquiring your NPOA quickly, you'll see those groups shrink further.

The weather was making the event more difficult than it typically is, especially with optics easily fogging up and just the wet/cold.  The schedule for 2020 for Washington has been released, please take a look and sign up for another event that works best for you.  Even better, take that 7th step and bring along a friend/family/coworker to the next event.  Tell others about us through word of mouth, social media, or any other means.

Some of the photos taken were uploaded here for you to download your favorite ones  https://drive.google.com/open?id=13lIbHk6YzNbOYLIZQ8bPnI55EwX6Pvty
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;..."
Ecclesiastes 9:10

1st Appleseed: Nov 16/17, 2013. Gurley, AL
2nd Appleseed IIT0: April 19, 2014.  Rising Fawn, GA

KD:
May 24/25, 2015. Manchester TN

RFKD:
Aug 20/21, 2022. Bothell WA

Requal:
Sept 30, 2017 Custer, WA
Feb 9, 2020 Redmond, WA
Apr 11, 2021 Redmond WA

Pistoleerâ„¢:
Nov 23, 2019 Eagle Creek, OR

Pistoleerâ„¢ requal:
May 22, 2021 Parma, ID
Mar 12, 2023 Redmond, WA

NRA Rifle Instructor

Earl

That was a bone chilling weekend, my only wet weather parka was Camo Goretex and I couldn't wear that, so I just shrugged the water off. Not laying on the ground helped me as an instructor, the shooters had to lay on their mats and soak it all up. Great attitude and the lessons were learned quickly. We were a bit slow on Saturday, but still the material was completely covered and the lessons seem to have sunk in very well by Sunday. Everyone came back prepared to perform.
    Thanks, Corey, for stepping up to help the Appleseeds of the future. Some of us are wearing out, always glad to have more volunteers to take up the trail. I will bring some material to share with you in February. I was going to shoot at least one AQT on Sunday, but was carrying less ammunition than I thought. Found all the missing ammunition under the Christmas wrapping and decorations at home. That's my story and I am sticking to it. But my zero on my rifle is still fine, I just need lots of dry practice to fold easier into a solid sitting position, my rifleman's cadence was fine.  At least the instructors did get to shoot, and feel the joy of making the shot. Always a fine feeling to focus on breathing and that front sight. Loved looking through that magnifier and on to the red dot (which I am still unfamiliar with) being so 19th Century kind of a fellow.
    Andy did a great job of talking about the 7th Step, I want to emphasize that we all should keep studying History and our heritage, and take part in making our community better, at that local level where it affects us most. Hope to see you all on the trail in the next few years. Take responsibility for our best shots, and our best actions for a better world.
... to catch the fire in another American for sharing the skills and our heritage to our posterity. Maybe my perfect shots will be made by those I met along the trials and trails of Appleseed. I know that America is a nation of Riflemen.

G3yost

It was a really good time out at the range with everyone. The main thing that was reinforced for me at this shoot was that dry fire pays off. For the week and a half leading up to the Appleseed I dry fired almost every night for 5-20 minutes and I can tell that it helped me to know when to focus and break the shot.

BigLebroski

Cannot say enough how great an experience my first Appleseed was! Signing up blind online you never know what you are getting into and the quality of the program and the instructors was amazing and exceeded all expectations!

Was amazing to see how much NPOA really pays off even with just a hairs difference in aim.  Will 100% be back for another shoot to try and get another rifleman score and will be bringing plenty of others with me!

nah1

The Appleseed event was a fantastic experience despite the weather!  I enjoyed the discussions on history and appreciate using those historical lessons to frame the importance of marksmanship instruction and training. 

I have nothing but positive feedback - the course was taught at the appropriate level (for me anyways) and the instructors were all outstanding.

Since most participants were using an AR platform style of rifle, here is the Army M16/M4 marksmanship manual that covers the shooting topics from our weekend if anyone is interested:  https://usacac.army.mil/sites/default/files/misc/doctrine/CDG/cdg_resources/manuals/fm/fm3_22x9.pdf

Happy New Year,
Nick