Dorr, MI - May 22-23, 2021

[ITB]

What a great event!

Mother Nature threw us a curveball on Saturday with bright sun and temperatures approaching 90° on Saturday.  Stop laughing, Texans and Floridians.  This is Michigan, we still get freezes in May.  Sunday was a more typical Michigan May, with temperatures in the low 70s, clouds and few scattered rain storms.

We started Saturday with 16 shooters, mostly newcomers.  Everyone had great attitudes and came ready to learn.  Although we got off to a bit of a slow start, the students fell into a good cadence and we saw groups starting to shrink.  We managed to get an AQT in the afternoon, and saw some pretty good scores.  We had three Rifleman scores - Matt and Alistair (re-qual), and Mark.

Everyone had fun with the two-bracket fun shoot on the dueling tree Saturday afternoon.  We finished the day with the Redcoat, with significant improvements over the morning Redcoat.  No shooter in the morning scored on the 400-yard target, but in the afternoon, 5 shooters nailed it.  9 of the 16 shooters in the morning scored an effective range, while 15 out of 16 did it in the afternoon.  A few shooters were unable to return Sunday, but we had 14 out of 14 score an effective range on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday brought the cooler weather, quite a few AQTs and many new and re-qualifying Riflemen.  We had a total of 7 Riflemen at this event!  Three repeat Riflemen, and four new ones.  Including a shooter on a bolt gun.  Huzzah!

Many shooters were scoring in the high 100s and low 200s.  Don't be discouraged.  The majority of people don't earn the patch at their first event.  And remember, shooting is a perishable skill, so you have to continue to practice and dry fire!

Thanks to all the shooters for coming out, and thanks to my great instructor crew - Fidget, Rangerat67, MI-Copperhead and Pookie.

[Fidget]

That was a Michigan Appleseed, never knew what the weather was going to do! Saturday we had tremendous heat and sun for May, with 86 degrees, yet three persisted and scored rifleman! Then on Sunday it cooled off to 76 with the intermittent rain sprinkles. The guys stuck it out and we have 3 new riflemen and many repeats! Great job!

There was a group of 9 guys who showed up. They were learning a lot and had a great time, and many of them scored riflemen! The pop ups that they brought gave us a break from the hot sun then the rain! It was great to see everyone at the shoot looking out for each other and being "Safety Buddies" to make sure they had safe rifles.

Steve great job at scoring rifleman, it was great meeting Deana hope to see her at the Ladyseed coming up on June 12, 2021!

Matt & Alistair great job at scoring rifleman (again 😊 )! It was great seeing you again at an event and hope to see you at another soon! (Try your rifle at a Rimfire KD at Watervliet next month? )

Chris, great job at scoring rifleman (again 😊)! Thank you for the work setting up an Appleseed and I look forward to seeing Sparta on the Appleseed schedule soon!

Derek, Mark, & Chad great job you got it together and scored your first rifleman! 

Mitch, Kris, Paul & Dave you are there! Work on your transition timing with NPOA and we will see you getting your rifleman patch soon!

Dan, Eric & Josh practice dry firing with a laser on your rifle. Aperture sights are a fun challenge!

William, Nicholas & Mark you were missed on Sunday. Hope to see you at another Appleseed. 

Pictures from the weekend!

This is what my phone was doing when it took a while to take the picture....


Other pictures from the weekend:

[Trigger-Happy]

Thank you all for a wonderful weekend at Appleseed yet again. We had a fantastic time as always. Thank you Pookie for your enthusiasm during the first strike and Hezekiah Wyman, we had a lot of fun listening to it. Thank you MI-Copperhead for instruction and pointers on the range. Thank you Fidget for your encouragement and support. Thank you Rangerat67 for your quick wit and humor during the weekend. Most of all thank you ITB for teaching us how to put safety first and all the things you do for the Appleseed community. We appreciate all the work you all put in for a smooth shoot.

Trigger-Happy

[Scotch]

It was a great weekend event making new friends with lots of fun shooting and learning about our shared heritage! There was a majority of first time shooters and it was great to see them get excited about the competition and the vision of Appleseed. I appreciate all the instructors and the way they encourage us to be the best marksmen and also the best Americans we can be. One man can truly make a difference in the world with the right heart and skills.

Great to see all the Rifleman scores over the 2 days, with lots of firsts as well. Chad and Steve got Rifleman with bolt guns! 

Trigger-Happy ( ) crushed my best score of the weekend for the second shoot in a row and retained the challenge coin...until next time!? We love the competition and the camaraderie at Appleseed and the satisfaction of a great score. If I have to 'lose', at least it was to my own son. Actually, I couldn't be prouder!

Looking forward to many more events in the future.

"Scotch" out!

[MI-copperhead]

We had a great crew instructing and a great group of shooters drinking from the firehose of Project Appleseed instruction. Keep working on the 6 steps, steady hold factors and NPOA and you will be knocking out those Rifleman scores.

[Rangerat67]

This group of shooters ranks near the top of all the events I have participated in for enthusiasm and great attitudes.  Congratulations to the Riflemen!  Congratulations as well to all the shooters knocking on the door with scores just below the elusive 210.  I look forward to seeing each one of you at an event in the near future. 

(Thanks for the licorice Trigger-Happy!  Next year, I will not have a chance against you "heading quickly down range".)   

Rangerat67
Rick

[The Trying Dutchman]

This was such a fun time with a great atmosphere. I loved meeting you all and seeing how much further ahead of me you all are 

Also 'thank you' to all the volunteers. I SO appreciate how much I have learned and benefited from the excellent instruction, story telling, kindness and patience from you all. You did an amazing job.

I certainly will be practicing the few skills learned and the many still lacking, and hope to be back next year to greatly improve my score! It was a great first try though!

Blessings!
Erik

[Trigger71]

As my first AS event, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, if I had the right equip, if I'd be the oldest guy, etc.  I initially rolled into the SKSC 400 yd range and thought I was in the wrong place, once I found the correct area, I was literally greeted in my car.

As it turned out, the students are of all ages, and everything went just fine.  I started with a borrowed 10/22 and immediately realized that the platform didn't allow the scope to mounted far enough forward for me to get the correct eye relief.  Switching to the CZ bolt corrected that issue, but created a challenge for the rapid fire events.  What I learned after the first day that was I needed a strategy for rapid fire, and the instructors helped me with that:  Get a good NPOA, knock out the first two shots "good enough," reload and focus on the rest more carefully.  Even if I only get 8-9 downrange, if they are in the V or black, it's better than 10 scattered.  Good advice.

The history lessons were actually as enjoyable as the shooting.  Pookie has quite the story telling ability--excellent.  I have told about that part of the day to many of my friends.

Hey, great pics here guys, thanks.  And a general thanks to all the instructors for volunteering for this event. 
Wow, young "Scotch Jr"(trigger-happy?) is a force to be reckoned with, we'll be looking for him in some future Olympics, haha. 
Fidget, I'm working on getting Deanna to an event, and we set up a 10/22 for her. 

This weekend I'm going to try my hand at the 200yd event in Watervilet, now I have some skills to bring with me.

Cheers,

Steve

[Fidget]

Steve, see you there!