South Huntsville, AL AAR 14-15 2023

[Gator0246]

It was a wonderful weekend at Hobbs Island Shooting Range. We began the day with 11 shooters ready to learn about Rifle Marksmanship. Before that could happen, HardHolder gave them the First Strike of the Match. We then had our safety brief and brought rifles to the line. After teaching line commands, it was time to engage those red coats. After scoring the targets it was time to get into the Instructions. We covered eye dominance, sling use, six steps, NPOA, and prone position. With a few no ammo exercises, and some rifle fitting we covered dry firing and how important it was in perfecting our skills. With that completed we shot our first squares. There were a lot of good groups and a little work that still needed done. We shot a second square and then it was time for lunch. During lunch we heard Maximum Ordinant tell us the Second Strike of the Match. After lunch we got right back to shooting. The wind also showed up and we had a few pop-up targets. We covered talking targets, IMC, and Rifleman's cadence. For the afternoon break we heard Google give the Third Strike. To finish out the day we ran Ball and Dummy to work on our trigger control. We covered mag changes and introduced the stopwatch. We shot a final red coat and the shooters had made great improvements. With the day winding down it was time to issue William Dimond patches to Luke and Drake. The last instruction of the day was 7th stepping. We cleaned up and headed down to the Pit Stop for some of the best BBQ you have ever had.

We awoke Sunday morning to much colder temps and drizzling rain. However, 8 shooters pulled up to the range ready for more Marksmanship Instruction. Of course, we couldn't begin without some history as Google delivered The Rattlesnake. We were then off to the races. We missed HardHolder but were blessed to have Leadslinger66 and New Blood to help out. Once again safety was first on the menu, and once covered with some TPI rifles were once again on the line. We began with a quick review of sling use, NPOA, Prone, and the Six Steps to firing the shot. We shot a morning red coat and saw our shooters had retained what they had learned. So, it was time to post an AQT. We taught transition to prone and shot stage 3. We then covered seated and transition to seated and completed stage 2. Standing was next on the block followed by Stage 1 and finally a relaxing Stage 4. It was once again my favorite part of the day LUNCH. At lunch the shooters were introduced to Known Distance shooting and invited to come to a KD or RFKD in the future. With lunch cleaned up we were back on the line. After looking over the AQT's we decided to run a mag change drill in the seated position. We then jump right back into AQT's and before long we had a man who knew what he was about. Matthew shot a 217 at his first event, and not to be shown up Jimmy shot a 211 also at his first event. Devon requalified multiple times with a high score of 236. A big congratulations to all of you. Luke, Joe C., Joe D., Sam, and Kevin i will say it again. A Rifleman persists and I know with a little dry fire practice you will all have a Rifleman patch soon. It was an absolute pleasure to work with you all and watch as you progressed. I hope to see you all on the line again soon.

[Jdavis7814]

This was my first ever Appleseed event and I must say that I was very pleased with the entire weekend!
First, I want to give a huge thanks to HISR for covering the range fees for everyone and for allowing us to use their beautiful range.
Second, the staff did a great job! Very welcoming and knowledgeable and willing to go above and beyond to help anyone that needed it.
Third, all the shooters there were a pleasure to shoot with. Everyone was in good spirits and handled themselves and their rifles very well.

Overall I'm proud to have been a part of what this organization teaches and stands for and look forward to participating in more events with my family and friends…. And who knows, there may be an orange hat in my future.

[Roswell]

Sounds like an awesome event! Great job everyone! 

[Google]

What a great weekend for liberty at HISR. Gator covered the important parts of the event except that he received a much-deserved Green Hat.  I'll save that picture for a separate post, but share a few others here.

Jimmy earned his Rifleman patch:


Matthew with his Rifleman patch:


Luke and Drake with their youth patches:


New Blood with his Alabama patch for working his first shoot:


A few more pics from the line:

[Willociraptor]

woohoo! Good stuff!
Congratulations everybody!!!