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AAR - Cavalier Rifle & Pistol Club, Montpelier VA Sept. 12-13, 2020

Started by misawa, September 16, 2020, 12:06:23 PM

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misawa

What a tremendous weekend at the wonderful Cavalier Rifle and Pistol Club in Montpelier, VA!  The weather was fantastic, the shooters were engaged and very safety minded, and the instructors brought out the best in each other en route to 10 total Riflemen - 4 requalified, 4 distinguished, 6 new and the largest stack of Riflemen scores I have ever seen (I stopped counting at 20).

The day began under some mild drizzle that cleared by the time the safety briefing began. Shortly after 9am the line went hot and the students engaged the first red coat of the day, which showed both promise and room to improve.  Instruction began for this line of shooters, half of which were new to Appleseed.  At lunch BillP_556 told the first strike of the match, then it was back on the range for the rest of the instruction.  The day was capped shooting one AQT and the final redcoat - of note was an increase in the number of shooters to SEVEN who put 3 rounds in the 400 yard target (only one did in the morning).

Day two began with a review of safety as well as some pointers on the prone position, which paid immediate dividends as shooters engaged the third red coat of the weekend - double digits for the 100-300 silhouettes, 9 candidates for Morgan's Rifle Company and 5 cleared the red coat!  Shooters then engaged 3 AQTs before performing the NPOA-Oreo drill - nine Oreos were hit with sights carded!  The Wolfhound told the history of the North Bridge at Concord at lunch, then it was back to the line for 4 more AQTs before the final redcoat of the day and getting the line cleared by 3pm sharp (local range policy).

Aurelian presented a terrific third strike while Dangerous Cook wrapped up the history with dangerous old men, with a reminder that the impoverished Mother Ruth Batherick was indeed not a man.  Our time was ended with the handing out of awards, including 10 William Diamond Patches to our youth shooters (who accounted for half of the line on Sunday) and a LOT of Riflemen patches.  The shooters were encouraged to practice their new skills, hydrate and rest, but most importantly get and stay involved in our country.  All in all one of the best weekends I have experienced. 

Pics of the weekend:
Instructing a youth shooter (SB's son) on the prone position.


Prep for stage 3.


Explaining the red coat COF.


Shooters are constantly reminded of the range's 10 MPH speed limit while traversing the driveway (shared with neighbors).  IIT/Shooter created these stickers as a reminder.

misawa

Taking off my shoot boss hat, I could not have imagined my son's first shoot being any better than this one.  The shooter next to him took Chase under his wing for most of the weekend, constantly encouraging him and checking on him after stages (did you get all your rounds off? did you hit the V?) as well as walking with him to/from the line.  My personal thanks to the instructors that took the time to work with him and a special note of thanks to The Wolfhound for the use of his (pink!) CZ Scout when Chase's rifle had scope/red dot issues - I think he really enjoyed going back to a bolt action (which is all he really shot until this event).

Most important, he can't wait to return.   :)

Monkey

"5 minutes for this stage - that's like a week in people years!"

"Responsibility is a unique concept... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you... If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible."
― Hyman G. Rickover

"Scoring is a function of great execution, and winning Is the result, but thinking about winning can pull your focus off of proper execution in a competition. Thinking about process is the answer."- Lanny Bassham

Just 2B Difficult

This was my first Appleseed. I really enjoyed the course of fire and the instruction. The immersion into the course of fire really served to dull the stress of the transition stages and rapid fire time limits. By the end of the weekend every stage was my favorite stage.

I first approached this from the tubular magazine route at first with a scopes rifle without a sling. It proved interesting making for a bit of nostalgia as this was my Uncle's rifle that we used to groundhog hunt with together and he passed away earlier this year. Making Rifleman(232/250) with that combination really meant something to me. At some point I will go for Distinguished with it. It was a lot of work, but very enjoyable and rewarding.

My second gun was a scoped 10/22 and it was nerve-racking at first, but almost boring after a while. I started with it late in the weekend so I had a bit of a learning curve with magazine changes and rezeroing on the fly during the course of fire. I was surely thankful for the slow fire prone stage to save me from my mental errors in the rapid fire. I ironed it all out eventually to come away with a 244/250 and a Distinguished Rifleman.

I had the best shooting buddy for the weekend. I was fortunate enough to be positioned next to Chase as we both shot our first Appleseed. He is an excellent young man who remained very positive in his outlook despite several changes to his equipment over the course of the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed watching him when he pulled a standing target and achieved 10 scoreable hits. It actually improved my focus and shooting by encouraging him because I knew what I needed to do on each stage and it effectively erased the stress for both of us. We even had a great laugh when he crossfired onto my target while shooting the zeroing square on the morning of the second day. I complimented him on his fine marksmanship (as it was touching the square) and wrote, "Thanks Chase," with a smiley face. I wanted to be sure he remembered that moment in a positive way. When the targets came back to be scored everyone had a good laugh about it as he was termed, "The most generous guy I know because he shares his brass AND his bullets."

Thank you to all those who came out and volunteered their time passing along vital knowledge and skills.
Originally, I had very little suited for an Appleseed. Just to be difficult, I selected a scoped rifle with no sling at all and proceeded to shoot a Rifleman score with it. It was a very rewarding experience and I learned much about myself and my equipment.

misawa

Quote from: Just 2B Difficult on September 16, 2020, 03:28:59 PM
We even had a great laugh when he crossfired onto my target while shooting the zeroing square on the morning of the second day. I complimented him on his fine marksmanship (as it was touching the square) and wrote, "Thanks Chase," with a smiley face. I wanted to be sure he remembered that moment in a positive way. When the targets came back to be scored everyone had a good laugh about it as he was termed, "The most generous guy I know because he shares his brass AND his bullets."
That pretty well sums it up... and here's the pic (thanks for sending!)

BillP_556

Our Shoot Boss (Green Hat) Misawa welcomes the students and introduces the Appleseed Rifle Clinic



Wolfhound explains the "Red Coat" Target.



Students shooting the "Red Coat" Target.



Wolfhound Explains the Prone position & Sling use.

Respectfully,

BillP_556

The Wolfhound

Misawa gets his 25 event pin!

The Wolfhound

Dangerous Cook get her 50 event pin!!!!!!

Ever seen such a stack of rifleman targets!!!!

The Wolfhound

OUR Distinguished Riflemen begin to check in...

Todd



John

The Wolfhound

More distinguished Riflemen....

The Wolfhound


The Wolfhound


The Wolfhound

and more

The Wolfhound

Youth in evidence

The Wolfhound