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Talkeetna, AK, June 26-27, 2021 AAR

Started by ItsanSKS, July 30, 2021, 02:55:48 AM

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ItsanSKS

Better late than never, right?

The weekend of June 26/27 feels like it was last year, but also just yesterday.  Strange how that happens.

Eight students arrived rather early on Saturday, to find that their instructors had everything prepared for their arrival; this was due in no small part to the addition of two new members of the AppleCore team, Bree1704 and Crosby223- these two ladies helped ensure that everything was organized and ready for action, then helped get the cats students herded through the administrative procedures necessary to placate the attorneys. 

The group of students was a near-even mix of prior Appleseed attendees and brand new to to Path to Rifleman.  The weather couldn't have been better the whole weekend, with skies clear and temps in the mid-70's; picture-perfect for Summertime in Alaska. 

After having taught at some 100+ Appleseed Events, if there's one thing that I've learned, it is that each event is different; in that respect, this event was no different...  With nearly half the firing line already wearing Rifleman patches before the event even began, the instructors faced a conundrum- how do we ensure that the new shooters on our line get the time and repetitions needed to grasp the instructional modules, while simultaneously not boring our more experienced shooters to tears?  KNOWN DISTANCE!  Well, sort of.  The range we were utilizing had 100yards available, so we used what we had.  Thankfully, not but a week prior to the event, I received some of the brand-new Rimfire KD targets, and we decided to do an impromptu 100yd RFKD on Sunday.  With our new-to-Appleseed attendees freshly educated on Steady Hold Factors, Six Steps and Natural Point of Aim, we threw in the bonus lessons of Compensating for Wind and Trajectory, Riflemans Come-Ups, Battle Sight Zero, and Fred's Simplified Wind Rule. 

After presenting an abbreviated instruction module on Known Distance Shooting, our students began shooting at 25, 50, 75 & 100yds.  Prior to beginning the KD exercise, we verified 25m zeroes with a 5-round sighter group on a square target.  Once verified, targets were placed at 50 yards, and shooters were asked to engage this target *with the exact same sight picture* as they had used at 25m.  Afterwards, the students marked their hits, calculated and documented any necessary sight corrections, then moved the targets to 75yds, where they were asked to once again engage the targets with their 25m zero, and the exact same sight picture as they had been using all weekend.  To ensure that all rounds fired could be accounted for, the 100yd RFKD target was posted at the top of a Greencoat target that had been turned around- this ensured that there was sufficient 'clean' impact area to determine group location/size.  This worked well, and upon seeing how well it worked, I put Bree1704 to work creating more of these target backer setups, only to find out that we were almost out of the 100yd RFKD targets! :(

After shooting at 75yds, the shooters were circled up, and a discussion of "battle sight zero" was had, and we worked out what sight adjustments could be made to our established 25m zero, that would enable consistent hits from 25-75 yards.  Some lightbulbs went off, and they diligently recorded this valuable information.

The targets were pasted, put out to 100yds, and the shooters were instructed to engage the targets with their BSZ, and 'standard' sight picture.  This ensured that they could get valuable data with which to compute IMC, and get a proper 100yd zero for their rifle.  We then discussed the concept of 'hold overs', or adjusted point of aim, to allow engaging targets that were just beyond the BSZ range.  We engaged the 100yd target again (with shooters choice of 100yd zero or 'hold over'), then began working back towards 25m.  After completing the RFKD AQT, we then immediately engaged the 25m Redcoat target.  I was quite impressed, in that not a single one of the shooters had gotten 'lost' when making sight corrections; a couple 'went the wrong way' (haven't we all?!), but they apparently took to heart the admonishment that "the dullest pencil has a better memory than the sharpest mind; if you don't write it down, it never happened".  Redcoat results showed the greatest improvement among the new shooters, but the Riflemen maintained their excellent showing from Saturday AM; no easy feat, given that they'd been worked to the bone for two days, and still shot very well- a testament that they were indeed using Natural Point of Aim, rather than relying on muscles to hold them on target.

All in all, our shooters did exceptionally well, and my fellow instructors did a phenomenal job of ensuring that every student, no matter their experience level, received one-on-one instruction and coaching;  this ensured that all students saw their marksmanship scores improve throughout the course of the weekend, and made my job as shoot boss exceedingly simple. 




"Those who would trade an ounce of liberty for an ounce of safety deserve neither."

"To save us both time in the future... how about you give me the combo to your safe and I'll give you the pin number to my bank account..."

Oldmikey

#1
A few more pics from a great shoot.
"Great things have been affected by a few men well conducted"George Rogers Clark

" to old to run"