Annapolis, MD AAR -July 18, 2020

[Catch-10-22]

What a HOT re-start to Maryland Appleseed, with our first clinic since early March!

We had 7 dedicated shooters on the line, 5 of whom were beginners, who persevered through 95+ degree heat. Luckily the wonderful rimfire range at AAFG in Annapolis is covered and we were able to put up several canopies. But with county and range rules for mandatory masks, it was a scorcher!

We, of course, started with the Red Coat target and got a good baseline for our students. Then we launched into the firehose of instruction and practice with the squares targets.

One of our "beginners" Rachel P was putting on a clinic with her very nice 10/22. While she may have been new to Appleseed, her 2MOA-ish groups on the squares would have made a lot of instructors look bad. Brian B, who was a prior Rifleman but took off a few years on the Appleseed trail to raise a family, also found his zero with his custom 22LR AR. Jas K told us he had not shot a rifle since serving in the Indian Army, but his groups on the squares showed that he knew what he was about. Father-son duo David and Nicolas A also started finding their groove as they got used the prone position, proper sling tension, and proper eye-relief. Jocelyn S required a lot of sighting adjustments on her stock 10/22 but persevered and was able to get some groups. Finally, very experienced shooter Ron S found the prone position problematic physically and ended up doing all the prone stages kneeling - and was still turning in good results!

We switched over to the Green targets, and after lunch and a very engaged group for the telling of the Three Strikes, practicing seated and standing positions, as well as magazine changes.

It was then time for the AQT. The AQT certainly introduced some new challenges as tiredness and heat added to the crush of new concepts. And, as everyone knows, a few mental mistakes (miscounting/losing track of progress, rushing under time pressure, and muscling the rifle rather than changing NPOA) can be deadly in terms of scores.

However, we did have TWO folks make Rifleman: Brian B came out after several years of Appleseed retirement to re-qualify with a solid 213 using a red dot! And "beginner" Rachel P backed up her strong squares and green practice targets with a first time Rifleman score of 216 for the high score of the weekend. HUZZAH!

Due to the heat and general shooter exhaustion, we then wrapped up with the final Redcoat of the day. Stealing a trick from fellow Shoot Boss Cold Warrior, I offered a patch to any shooter that hit Morgan's shingle on their first shot. Several shooters accepted the challenge, but only Brian B was able to make the shot and earned a vintage RWVA oval patch with Isaac Davis prominently featured. I twill go perfectly with his Rifleman patch.

Thanks to Virginia border raider BillP_556 for calling the line in the morning and leading critical components of the instruction. Also thanks to our tireless leader BeSwift who attended his millionth shoot and provided sage advice to the shooters (and instructors). Thank you to AAFG for being wonderful hosts. It was great to have two members (BeSwift and Ron) there to represent the club.

I hope all of our students remember the 7th Step to firing a shot and bring a friend, family member, or coworker. I also hope that all of our beginners find opportunities for dry fire practice of everything we learned. The Appleseed booklets we handed out have all of the instruction from the day summarized. The skills of a Rifleman are honed not just at the range, but safely and quietly in basements, family rooms, and garages around the country. And, of course, we definitely want you to come back to a future Appleseed. One-day courses are a great introduction but it nearly always takes multiple classes and sometimes a two day course to break through and have that "ah ha!" moment with NPOA in the various positions. A Rifleman Persists!

Pictures are available on our Maryland Appleseed Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=264406060313831&set=a.3141334102620998. We may also post additional pictures here.

[BillP_556]

A few more photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/185726806@N05/albums/72157715151574693/

[Captain]

I can't believe those beautiful ranges covered in shade and surrounded by trees. Looks like you all had a fantastic event!

[Catch-10-22]

AAFG has a truly wonderful rimfire range. I learned to shoot there a looooong time ago and so happy others get the opportunity to start their journey there as well.

Of course, with all those trees comes forest animals - including a little spotted fawn that we had to chase off between courses of fire!