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Annapolis, MD AAR - November 14-15, 2020

Started by Catch-10-22, November 16, 2020, 11:56:22 AM

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Catch-10-22

We had 8 shooters dedicate their weekend to liberty and marksmanship at our penultimate clinic at AAFG in Annapolis, MD.

While the weather was relatively mild for this time of year, warming up to the mid-50s and sunny on Saturday, it was a VERY blustery and cloudy Sunday. But everyone had layered up appropriately and the wind didn't slow down them down at all.

Tim D kicked us off on Saturday by clearing his Red Coat with a tech sights 10/22 - way to go Tim! With 3 shingles achieved by the students without any instruction, we knew we had a skilled class on our hands. On Saturday we focused on the core instruction, squares targets to zero rifles, the first strike of history, and practice of all of our shooting positions. While no one cleared the Red Coat, 4 shingles were hit.

Sunday kicked off early with some dry fire training with the laser rifle on a squares target. A few folks had expressed that some of the concepts like NPOA were just not sinking in on the line. So we took each shooter through establishing a strong prone position, letting them see the effects of breathing, and doing several tests of their steady hold factors and NPOA:


  • A "recoil" test with an instructor pushing straight back to see where the sights landed afterwards
  • A downward pressure test, to see if their elbow was far enough under the rifle or would lean diagonally
  • Carding the sights - while this is sometimes done on the line with live ammo, we decided to do it with the laser. We let them establish their NPOA, carded the sights with a coveted Rifleman patch, had them go through thie breathing cycle, and checked where the laser landed. Most didn't realize they were involuntarily muscling the rifle till the laser was an inch to the left or right. We then had them adjust body position and do the exercise again. It finally "clicked" for a lot of folks at that moment.
  • Around the squares test - we had them move from the center square to the upper left and right squares using proper NPOA adjustments.
  • One shooter was also struggling with seated and we used the laser rifle for her to see which positions offered the most stability. Cross legged and elbows on the ground won't work for most, but she had the flexibility to pull it off!

These are all things that can be practiced at home. And from the improvement we saw from Saturday to Sunday, I believe all the shooters (and instructors) so how beneficial dry fire practice can be!

After this, we got into the first Red Coat target - 5 shingles hit but several near misses so no one cleared the target. We confirmed zero with 2 more squares and jumped into AQTs.

Armen M (215) qualified on the first AQT. Armen has come close at several Appleseeds but finally broke through to Rifleman - Huzzah! He backed that up with the same exact score later, showing he knows what he is about. Armen's wife Margaret was a first time Appleseeder but hung in the entire weekend and showed real improvement. Her last AQT was her best and we would love to have her back to continue her improvement!

Crystal J (217) also qualified on the first AQT. This was Crystal's first Appleseed but certainly not her first time behind a rifle and her perfectionism showed through. Once she got the rifle properly fitted, she was turning out tiny groups. Crystal's husband, Charles, had been to an Appleseed before but had missed Rifleman by just a couple points. He came back on a mission - but sometimes the pressure to qualify is more a hindrance than a benefit. But on the last AQT he put all 4 stages together and broke through with an excellent 221. While Crystal qualified first, Charles took home the high score for the family. Charles then cleared the final Red Coat as well, working it bottom to top with confidence - its funny how once you break "the Rifleman barrier" it ceases to exist.

Tim D had the high score of the weekend with a 237 using a very nice scoped 10/22 - that one miss on Seated was all that was between him and his first distinguished patch. Next time Tim! But he did clear the final Red Coat as well.

Rex S was running his tech sights 10/22 like a champ all weekend but came up just short on all of his AQTs, scoring consistently in the 190s. Rex talked about bringing out a scoped T-bolt rifle next time - he has what it takes.

Brian M also improved quite a bit with his scoped Marlin 60. His group sizes steadily improved and he was consistently hitting the shingle. He understands it is all about consistency and wants to come back out again.

Ryan J, a previous Rifleman, was trying out a new CMMG conversion AR15 ahead of a 100 yard Rimfire KD in Virginia a few weeks from now. While he didn't qualify this time out, he learned a lot about his rifle and scope combo and is excited to try again at longer distances.

Our final Sunday Red Coat showed what real improvement our shooters had made - we had 4 400 yard qualifiers, 6 hits on the shingle, 2 clears, and everyone qualified to at least 100 yards. I haven't seen this many shingles taken out in one weekend. Daniel Morgan must be smiling upon this class!

I can't thank my fellow volunteer instructors enough for making this a great event. Agent711 has been one of our most active instructors in what has been a difficult year - he handled the three strikes and a good portion of the instruction for the weekend. We really appreciate his hard work. This was FunctionCheck's first shoot as an IIT but you couldn't tell from the way he coached students, demoed positions on Saturday, and confidently ran the line on Sunday. Welcome to the crew!

As we wrapped up, it was clear that this class really got the message of liberty and marksmanship. Every single person asked about future events and several asked about volunteering as instructors. I know I probably say in each of these AARs that this was one of my favorite classes - but honestly, this class really warmed my soul. I drove home with a sense of fulfillment, but also of renewed purpose - these are the Americans we talk about in the three strikes, Americans who are engaged, enthusiastic, and retain a sense of duty and honor. So thank you to everyone who came out - you made your semi-old Shoot Boss proud!

Pictures are available on the Maryland Appleseed Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=264406060313831&set=a.3492645654156506

While we have been almost completely sold-out through the end of 2020, we have plenty of spots open in 2021: https://appleseedinfo.org/schedule/?qstate=MD&state=Maryland

Hope to see you on the line!

k3

Thanks for letting me "walk-on" to my second Seed - learned a lot! And I am continuing to practice - hope to see you all in 2021!
cell: 410-881-0064,  Annapolis, MD
Retired Navy nuke submarine officer, now Microsoft cloud engineer, ham radio K3FOR, '89 Jeep YJ and '77 MGB junkie, scouting and hammock camping, r/c aircraft, World of Warships, rifle/pistol fun