AAR Pistol IBC Ames, IA Feb 6-7, 2021

[ScubaSteve]

Wow what a great group of folks from Iowa.  The cold did not slow this group down. Even though it was -8 at the start of the event on Sunday and only came up to 0 all day long not a complaint from any of them, OK except the shoot boss who was freezing all day.

Saturday was spent working through demos and how a pistol POI should flow. Several instructors had a chance to run their own demos on Saturday. This being the first time everybody saw the pistol demos all did very well.  We did a little shooting after lunch on Saturday wrapping up with our first PQT late in the day.   Mike set the tone with a 216 score on our first PQT.

Sunday morning was spent focusing on our demos.  The classroom was warm so we took advantage of it. Then it was off to the range after lunch. Boy did these instructors soak up the instructional points. We needed to shoot in relays due to only having 5 shooting positions. We ran hard and got many PQTs in that afternoon. We also discovered 5 more Pistoleer™s. Joe (223) Rex (228) Mark (211) Cort (215) and Chris (211) all made score today.

5 instructors will be promoted to Pistol instructor due to there efforts this weekend.   For the rest of the shooters I am sure Pistoleer™  is just around the corner.  All of you are knocking on the door.

Keep with it and practice what you learned this weekend. I look forward to the first public pistol shoot in Iowa.

[IXOYE]

Gotta hand it to Steve and his wife who having never experienced snow in their life drove from the warm climate of Florida to and Iowa blizzard and sub-zero temperatures to help get the pistol program going in Iowa. The entire event was fantastic! The only thing missing was a good snowball fight in the parking lot!

I was particularly impressed with the extra emphasis on safety and to learn some fascinating history regarding the development of the pistol.

I am also quite proud that 60% of the class qualified on the pistol qualification test!   Huzzah!

[IOWA-mark]

First: A genuine Thank you for coming to Iowa and presenting the pistol program.  The instructor's (ScubaSteve) command, confidence and familiarity with all the topics covered were obvious and made the material presented easy to learn.  While I am confident in my rifle skills this was my first instruction in pistol shooting.
I found the Appleseed Pistol Clinic challenging and comfortably above my shooting  level.   Not too difficult to be achievable, but not so easy as not to feel achievement.  The course of fire is both challenging and fun.  I learned much about Appleseed Pistol Clinic, about the topics, how to present them.  I have much more to learn.   I enjoyed working with everyone this weekend, greeting some old friends and making new ones.  Last: Again, a genuine Thank You (Steve & Mrs) for coming to Iowa and presenting the pistol program.

P.S.  To anyone curious about Appleseed Pistol Clinic: I highly recommend this potentially humbling experience.  Get out there and learn it!   

[Twineagles]

Coldest weather of the season and we had Floridians to share it with. The weather presented a challenge as instructors signed up for class kept dropping out as Saturday approached.

Steve did share what a great deal he found on a winter coat shipped to Florida by mistake.

Thanks for coming up and sharing your knowledge with us. Fast paced but a fun weekend. PQT like the AQT is challenging but a fun set of targets.

Mike

[Ames]

I earned my Rifleman patch in 2009 at my first ever Appleseed on the last AQT on Sunday. 12 years later, I earned my Pistoleer™ patch at my first ever Appleseed Pistol Clinic on my last PQT on Sunday.  I like symmetry. (Oh, and three other Appleseeders from that 2009 event were also at this Appleseed Pistol Clinic.  Nice!)   

I have kind of a goofy learning process, I think.  My scores on all previous PQT's of the weekend were far from a qualification score.  But I had very good individual stages at times -- just not all on the same PQT.  As far as the bad stages, there is lots to learn from them. So I never completely gave up hope that I could qualify before the weekend was through. I just had to trust the process and put it all together in one package. I had forgotten how much fun it was to be a student at a shoot.

And as far as qualifying on the PQT, I also had my wife say a prayer for me that Sunday morning. :-)

It's always a good weekend when I get a chance to hang out with like minded folks, who love liberty and love learning how to use the tools our rights give us.  Very much appreciate the time and effort that ScubaSteve and LadyGator took to bring Appleseed Pistol Clinic to Iowa!  (Sorry about that weather!) Very thankful for the high number of instructors who qualified, thus ensuring that Iowa Appleseed Pistol Clinics will have a great foundation to build from.

[Daughter of Liberty]

First of all, thank you so much to ScubaSteve and LadyGator for coming up to Iowa to host this event!  Sorry our state wasn't more welcoming with the weather.  You both are great, and I am very glad I got to come to this IBC, meet you, and learn from you.

The IBC was wonderfulâ€"I was very challenged by it and learned so much.  This was my first pistol training.  I'm excited about the pistol program and am determined to get my Pistoleer™ patch!  Loved the history!  Also, the emphasis on safety was great.  There are unique challenges with a pistol shoot that I feel have been well taken into account in setting up the program.

Also, great job to all who earned their patches!  I am looking forward to more pistol events with you all.

[Drfury]

A huge thanks to ScubaSteve! You are a great American! Thanks for braving the cold and the elements to teach us this material. I am really excited about this new curriculum and I think there are a lot of folks out there that will benefit from it. From teaching the basics of pistol grip, stance, NPOA, to learning the history of the pistol in addition to the 3 strikes of the match, we will pack in a lot of material in these classes. I was also pleased to see that the class is taught as a defensive handgun course and not solely as a marksmanship course (but that is of course important as well). Steve emphasized a good amount of dry fire practice on the first day to keep our round counts down during this ammo shortage, a strategy I think we will continue to employ. Overall a great weekend, thanks again Steve.