News:

We need volunteers in sales, marketing, PR, IT, and general "running of an organization." 
Maximize your Appleseed energy to make this program grow, and help fill the empty spots
on the firing line!  An hour of time spent at this level can have the impact of ten or a
hundred hours on the firing line.  Want to help? Send a PM to Monkey!

Main Menu

Memphis, TN AAR - September 25-26

Started by Rustygun, September 28, 2021, 07:28:41 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Rustygun

What a great event we had at Memphis Sport Shooting Association! Can not thank them enough for their ongoing support of Appleseed. Some of our shooters were joking that it was a country club range, and they are right. We had made to order weather, a full line, and a strong cadre of Instructors. We were blessed by Old Navy Doc and Living Hand coming down from Nashville to help, and we would have been hurting without them with over 20 shooters. We had a mix of returning shooters and new shooters. Some of the new shooters were experienced gun hands as we would see before the day was out. Once we had everyone checked in, we started off with the First Strike, then the safety briefing and rifles to the line. Our opening Redcoat showed both promise and room for improvement. We turned on the firehose and were seeing good groups in no time. The shooters were engaged and put the instruction into practice. By lunch we were ready for IMC and soon after got everyone dialed in. By the end of our first AQT on Saturday we saw 3 Riflemen emerge!

Sunday we did a review and got into the AQT grind around 10. After that it was one Rifleman or Riflewoman after another! We ended up with 12 for the weekend which may be a new record for West TN! So without further adieu here are some pics of this incredible weekend! We had many Rifleman and several others who were very, very close and will no doubt earn their patch next time. Everyone left happy and energized.

A great Appleseed with a great group of shooters and just a real good time! Everyone was attentive to the history, but one shooter did nod off during the KD presentation lol


Mark hammers out a Rifleman score at his second Appleseed


Returning Rifleman Tae handles it with a bolt action this time


Stephen is one happy Rifleman at this second event


Mike turned in several Rifleman scores


Josh earns his patch with a centerfire


Mitch earns his patch with iron sights


Mary Jean was our high shooter with 231! She showed up with a bone stock 10-22 but said she wanted to try a scoped rifle after lunch. Bam!
Patches at her first event. She said she had never really shot a rifle before but we are doing a background check on her. Kidding!!!!!


Kristy patches at her second Appleseed


Ron breaks through to get his patch


Alan patches at his first event


Returning Rifleman Chad shows he still has it


Jason patches at his first Appleseed


Our youth shooter gets her William Diamond patch. This kid was really awesome. Great manners, full of energy, safe. I am not exaggerating when I say she would have still been out there at dark if we hadn't called it. And then would have wanted someone to hold a light on her target!


Ebben calling the line Saturday morning. He was reluctant to use the megaphone at first, but the line was long. Then it went straight to his head! It got a little
scary, but he finally let someone else use the megaphone lol


The Second Stike courtesty of Living Hand. He is a history machine


Old Navy Doc and Living Hand with kneeling


Sunday morning review with Rustygun


A look down the line


Mustang working with a youth shooter

I also have to  mention all the help from the Midsouth Riflemen. They showed up Friday afternoon to help set up, then came back out Sunday after to help tear down. This is a huge thing getting the steel, barrels, walls, and all the stuff moved out of the bay, all the pops ups set up, and everything else. Can't thank them enough for their support of Appleseed and helping to make events happen. 







Calaboose Cross

Rustygun had it right when he said that is was a great event at Memphis Sport Shooting Association last weekend. And he had much to do with making it the splendid shooting weekend  that it was. Rustygun, along with Living Hand, Old Navy Doc, Mustang, and Ebben led many fine shooters in a weekend of history, education, and shooting skills that was a credit to the Appleseed organization. Rustygun and the other instructors are second to none in their ability to offer encouragement to the novice and the proficient. They always had time for everyone and their instruction and organizational skills made the weekend work like a Swiss watch. Rustygun was a superb Shoot Boss and hopefully we'll see him wearing the green hat in many more Appleseed events!

SavvySteve

A huge thank you to Rustygun, Living Hand, Old Navy Doc, Mustang, and Ebben for being volunteers for this event and taking the time to be there and make this event happen!  The setup was nice with tents provided to give us shade from the sun.  We were definitely Blessed with great weather.  Ebben needed that bull horn, it was very hard to hear at times on that long row of shooters.

I really appreciate all the flexibility on Sunday and allowing me to attempt an AQT with my AR-15.   I have mainly shot .22 LR the past  couple of years because I don't want to use what I can't reasonably replace.  I really wanted to shoot something bigger.   Old Navy Doc helped me adjust my sights and coached me on my breathing.   I was happy to hit 175 with iron sights on a stock rifle with just a little bit of trigger work done to it.  Mustang also coached me on my breathing on Sunday afternoon.  I managed to do 214 on Sunday and proved my Rifleman patch wasn't a fluke after focusing on breathing and fundamentals.

Yes, thank you to the Midsouth Riflemen that helped with setup and tear down.   One riflewoman in particular helped fold the tents up to Rustygun's liking and we got it done.   ;D





I scored a 217 on Saturday afternoon to get my patch!!!



:snipersmi




Thought these pictures looked cool and wanted to share them.

-> First Appleseed - 11/14/2020 ___ Rifleman - 9/25/2021
-> IBC Memphis, TN - 3/6/2022  ___ Orange Hat (IIT0) - 3/6/2022
-> First KD - 9/17/2022 ___ Rifleman re-qualified - 9/25/2022
-> IBC Jonesboro, AR - 2/11/2023 ___ Rifleman re-qualified - 4/23/2023
-> IIT2 (Memphis, TN 5/20/2023) - 6/7/2023 ___ Second KD, Hit the Morgan Shingle! - 9/17/2023
-> First Appleseed Pistol Clinic Qualified Pistoleer™ -  11/17/2023

SavvySteve

I am posting the images from my last post here inline.  Not able to edit my other post.





-> First Appleseed - 11/14/2020 ___ Rifleman - 9/25/2021
-> IBC Memphis, TN - 3/6/2022  ___ Orange Hat (IIT0) - 3/6/2022
-> First KD - 9/17/2022 ___ Rifleman re-qualified - 9/25/2022
-> IBC Jonesboro, AR - 2/11/2023 ___ Rifleman re-qualified - 4/23/2023
-> IIT2 (Memphis, TN 5/20/2023) - 6/7/2023 ___ Second KD, Hit the Morgan Shingle! - 9/17/2023
-> First Appleseed Pistol Clinic Qualified Pistoleer™ -  11/17/2023

WildCard

What a great event, made possible by an amazing group of knowledgeable, experienced volunteers.

Congratulations to all the new and requalifying Riflemen!
Great job, Mustang - working your way up to green hat!
1st AS: 2020.09.27
2nd AS: 2020.10.18
3rd AS: 2020.11.15
4th AS: 2021.04.18
5th AS: 2021.05.30 - Rifleman (finally!)
6th AS: 2021.09.26
7th AS: 2022.04.24
8th AS: 2022.05.29
9th AS: 2022.09.25
10th AS: 2022.10.15
1st PS: 2023.04.14
11th AS: 2023.04.23 - Full Color Rifleman
12th AS: 2023.05.21
2nd PS: 2023.06.17 - Pistoleer™
13th AS: 2023.09.24

dart67eb

#5
OK, folks.  I have to say that I had a great time on Saturday and wish I could have joined you on Sunday, but you were obviously in good hands with Rustygun.  He's a great Shoot Boss and makes a lot of Riflemen.  Living Hands, Navy Doc and Mustang were great to work with and I hope to work with them again. 

Now about the shooters…. They were amazing!  First timers  and second timers with great groups.  I hope you all (youse guys) liked the eyes closed drill.  I can't think of a better way to prove NPOA. 

Twelve out of twenty scored Rifleman?  Probably a record and we'll get the rest next time.  It took me three times (the average), but then again I'm just average.  Or as we say in Appleseed, you don't have to be the best, just good enough.

About the bullhorn….  Oh, I am so hooked!  I wasn't hoarse after calling the line all day.

I look forward to seeing you all again.  Especially wearing an orange hat.  You know who I'm talking to.

P.S.  Did you do zombies?
Ignorance may be bliss, but it's not a virtue.

Living Hand

What incredible shooters!  This will be a hard event to beat.

Rustygun telling the 1st Strike, to a rapt audience



The future "best shooter in Appleseed" (huzzah!), with her proud grandparents



Thank you all for making this a weekend to remember.
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

"Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as freedom, should not be highly rated."

Midnight Cadence (MJ)

This is a little late to the party but I just created my account. Lol. 

Thank you to all of the instructors who volunteered for this shoot! It was such a fun and well-organized event! With this being my first Appleseed, there was SOOOO much to learn (that water hose reference is accurate! Lol), but the instructors did such a wonderful job explaining rifle marksmanship skills and sharing about the history of April 19, 1775. Everyone seemed so passionate about why they were there and their spirits were infectious. It was such a fun event! It was definitely a challenging weekend for an Appleseed newbie, but the way the skills are taught and the quality of instruction displayed… well, it was "easy" to soak up what we needed to do to shoot well. We had great instructors working with us! I've got experience with shotguns and pistols, but I don't have much with rifle shooting, especially with a scope (any plinking as a kid was done with stock iron sights). I really appreciate Rustygun and all of the other instructors (and participants) who were willing to share their wealth of knowledge and loan out some equipment for me to use/try. I now have a new set of beneficial skills, a desire to learn more about rifle marksmanship, and a deeper appreciation about the history of our forefathers.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this weekend possible! It was a top-notch event, and I am looking forward to the next one!
- MJ

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." - Thomas Paine

First Appleseed: Memphis, TN 9/25-26/21
Riflewoman (231): Memphis, TN 9/26/21
Ladyseed: Memphis, TN 10/30/21