AAR Alton, IL 4-18/19

[yagotme]

Well, got a little damp on Sat, some patches awarded, Sun was off again/on again showers/rain, mostly on.  Few more patches awarded.  Good time had by everyone far as I could tell, (except for laying on damp/wet pads LOL).  Good training, wish more could have shown up.  Was a little close in on the quarters, smallish range, but sure don't have to worry about neighbors!  Got to meet John Ross, of Unintended Consequences fame, as he paid a visit to Sat.'s shoot.  Autographed some books (wish I had had one for him to sign!!), & he watched several lines of fire.  Most shooters brought .22's with Mr. Ruger appearing to have the most on the line, but there were a few .308's, .223's, and Garands on the lines as well.  Everybody I talked to generally showed improvement, with some coming up quite a bit by day's end.  Sure others will have an AAR for y'all, so I'll sign off.

[trowtfshr]

Just a quick note to say I had a great time at my first, but not last, Appleseed (except for the rain sunday). I really wanted to say thanks to TC and all the staff for the great shooting instruction and history lessons. Billy, congratulations on becoming a Rifleman, you really earned it.I know your dad and uncle are very proud of you. And you should be proud of that patch yourself, I know I'm proud of mine. Any way, hope everyone else had as good a time as I did, oh, ME the cookies were great. trowtfshr (Rich)

[Garand69]

Sounds like a great time down in Alton! Mud in the North, Peagravel in the Middle and Hard Rock in the South, I think Illinois covered most conditions this weekend!!!

Great to hear you folks had a good time, can't wait to hear more!

Go Team Illinois!!!!!

[cmidkiff]

Everyone get dried out yet? 

I must admit, it was a bit damp out this weekend.  We got about 10 minutes of sunshine on Saturday afternoon... other than that, the weather ranged from drizzle to deluge.  On the positive side, it wasn't particularly cold, and the winds were calm.  Could have been worse.  Still, I had one recommendation that we switch from the Army qualification test to the Navy one...

Man, did we have some shooters.  I would estimate the average group size on the first target of the shoot to be around 2".  Compared to the scattershot 'groups' I'm used to seeing Saturday morning, this was wonderful!

Our 13 volley target and the reading of the names was caught on tape... I'm hoping to receive a copy soon (Tom?  You out there?).  I'll post it when I can.  M.E. was out with a camera, hopefully she got some shots as well.  I know she had camera in hand as young Billy was dumped into the drink...

Congrats to the new Riflemen we found out there in the rain.  Cookie, well done. Billy, it was a pleasure to work with you.  I'm looking forward to seeing all of you on the firing line again, and soon.

Non-official totals:  25 shooters (Sat), 18 Shooters (Sun), 5 new Riflemen, 1 new Orange Hat, and 1 young man dumped in the drink.  Not a bad way to spend a weekend, huh?

Come back and see us again!  (and bring friends!!)

[Reveille]

       Just wanted to start by saying that we had a team member succomb to illness and had to leave early. Without his efforts in the coodination we would not have had a successful shoot.  I extend my thanks and hope he recovers quickly.  I am proud to have been in a position to assist with the set up on Friday.  
      It felt good to shoot the Nationwide volley as a Rifleman.  Thank you all for helping me reach my first goal.  TC, if you read this I have considered your offer and I have decided to accept.  I am sure that I can make the commitment.  
       I forgot, did it rain?  From what I recall our Rifles did get a nice steady rinsing.  Standing water, hummm, a bit.  Temperature was a plus.  Ya know what is funny?  After drilling a dozen or so holes with a hammer drill that pond still never drained.  Who would of thunk it?  They did however hold the rerod and targets quite nicely.  I look forward to the next shoot!  Thanks to John Ross for generously donating his facility and taking the time for the book signing.  This event was special for me personally because of the 3 major things that were accomplished.
      Congradulations to Cookie, Billy and all the others that made Rifleman.  You guys earned it.  I am sure that this memory will serve you for many years to come.  Thanks, Reveille.

[Garand69]

Excellent!! 5 Rifleman!!!

Congrats Cookie, would have been great to see you all again. But I'm sure it will happen soon 

Thanks for the report Greybeard, I can't wait to see the video and M.E.'s pics
Who scored a 210 and got tossed into the drink? The suspense in killing me!!!

[M.E.]

Whew!  Am I the only one sore today?  But worth it all.  Great weekend spent with great people!  Thrilled to have Cookie on the IIT list now after scoring Rifleman this weekend.  Due to confined firing range the qualifying scores were stepped up to 220 and so no doubt was there he scored a 225 and stepped comfortably into the orange hat spending the rest of the day doing a great job calling the line.  (Do I sound like a proud Mama?)

I have lots of pics to post and am going to try to do it but may take a few attempts so bear with me.

Instruction was top notch in Alton!  5 Riflemen achieved.  Work of course but we had fun too!  TC's nephew Billy faught hard for that coveted patch and ended up in the Drink for it.  I really think he would do it all over again though! 





Although the shooting was wet and on a shortened line the setting was really beautiful.  TC's backdrop for history was outstanding.  Here he is is telling the strikes of the match.





Did I mention it was wet?



We ended Saturday with 3 new Riflemen...Reveille, Major (or as I call him Sgt. Major) and Trowtfshr





Sunday Oddball relayed the story of the Dangerous Old Men, one of his favorites you could tell.



And then got to award the patch to his little Brother "Cookie".  But Cookie will be looking for a new name since he is a Cook NO MORE!



Here are Sunday's New Riflemen:  Billy and Cookie



Now for some random Pictures from the weekend.

Pappy and Oddball demonstrating proper standing position.  Unfortunately Pappy got sick and had to leave us Saturday.  Hope you are better Pappy!  You were missed.



Prone:




Sitting:


One on One Instruction:


Bill & Scott Carding Sights


Great to meet a wonderful group of people.  Glad you enjoyed the cookies....It's tradition.  Can't go to a shoot or IBC without them now!  Lots more pics just trying to figure out the best way to get them to everyone with this slower internet.  If you gave me your email I will be sending some your way soon.  I'm going to try to sort through them to find pics of interest to you.  Bear with me I might have to find some faster internet to do this.

EDITED:  I haven't quite gotten this picture thing figured out.  Hoping to hear from Old Glory for more info.  I believe these are clickable links to bigger pics but they take you to Photobucket you might have to sign up to view them. (sorry) When I figure out how to do them in an easier format I will repost. 

M.E.

[cmidkiff]

Did I really neglect to mention that Pappy got sick?  Thanks for correcting the record folks.... Hope you made it home alright Pappy, and are well on your way to recovery.

Great Pictures M.E.!

[dragonfly]

Congratulations on the new Riflemen at Alton. Great job! To all who were close keep it up practice and persistence will pay off. I know with the great instruction everyone improved on there shooting skill's. Appleseed'ers let your friends and family know what a great time you had and bring them along to your next Appleseed.

I hope your feeling better Pappy.

See you all on the trail.
dragonfly

[M.E.]

Thought I would include this picture just for the Fun of it.  NoFoMoHo took this one of the floor of the Quarry.  With 3 inches of casings everywhere at times it was like walking on Marbles!  But I thought this was a really cool pic!  Enjoy!  M.E.

[Reveille]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY M.E.!!!! (actually in 6 days) How embarrassing huh.   

[M.E.]

Oh yeah let the Party-ing Begin!   Thanks for the Birthday wishes though even if you wouldn't shoot with NoFoMoHo and Me!    We would have BLOWN that star OUT!

[The Guy]

Cookie, congrats!!

So glad to hear it!!

Sounds like a typical Illinois shoot, wet, be it humidity, or rain, or both.

Keep it up all.

[SgtMajors]

Well,time for my first post here.
M.E. I took your advice and signed up as SgtMajors so you can guess who I am.
It was my first appleseed and I really enjoyed it. I think I've got a few other guys on the hook so hopefully next time there will be more of us Missourians. Even though I have been shooting for years I did learn a few things. Now that I can shoot properly sitting and have a much more stable prone position I might have to try another highpower match.... .
Yeah, the rain sucked but I am glad I did it. If I had to i would do it all over again. The history I found quite interesting too. In some ways it scares me a bit more due to modern parallels but I digress.
Thanks everyone for the great time, I can't wait to do this again.

[TreadCarefully]

Great weekend! Glad to have met you all and glad to have seen all the familiar faces.

Reveille is our second new IIT from this event. A hat will be on the way soon.

Cookie and all the other Riflemen - well done and welcome to the club!

Pappy - hope you're better - thanks for all the hard work, no target line without you.

Hope aunt Kim doesn't see these pics.

Thanks to John Ross - looking forward to heading back.

See you all on the trail again soon!

[AFTERMATH]

  <:)

[Cookie]

Hey Cookie here. I can't I went from bad to good to better at my third Appleseed. Being an IIT made my weekend! Can't wait till my next, calling the line makes me feel cool. Billy congrats, SgtMajors glad to see you made it and TC where can I get myself a copy of those line comands?

[Garand69]

Welcome to the Bucket Brigade Cookie

[EEL]

Cookie,
Try these on for size!!  You are oh, soooo lucky your brother adopted me     

[Garand69]

 

[Cookie]

Thanks EEL.  Pappy I hope you are feeling better.

[NoFoMoHo]

Hey everyone! NoFoMoHo here (man is that hard to type!)  I am glad to see everyone who has posted so far and congrats to SgtMajors signing up under that name! (haha)

Man having a terrible cold and being out in that weather was just not a good mix for me! Although I kept up for most of the weekend I just couldnt take it anymore around 3 on sunday i had to get into some dry clothes!

Had a wonderful time!  Thanks to TC who made it all the better and to all the other IIT's who were there to help out! I hope to see you all again soon! 

I think that one of the best things about this shoot was eating dinner out with a lot of the shooters and IIT's and TC! (Cheesecake anyone? ) and thanks for eating off my plate TC! 

However after all the fun we still had a blast "blasting up" stars and getting in some good quality AQTs I hope that those who didnt make it above a 210 (or a 220 for our sake) can do so at their next shoot!

Oh, and Jim/Reveille thanks for having to go shoot the "big guns" and leaving us cool shooters on the right with out your wicked skills! ha ha 

Also, thank you M.E. for posting the awesome picture that I took! It was fun walking, or should I say sliding, all over those casings! 

[Cookie]

Ah, NoFo you are one of those people that makes me remember about things. Greybeard i loved your "experience" with that guy and the targets ('you can just take one target off')  I hope you dont have any hard feelings about your cheesecake. _{BTW it was Wurstmaker who did it} 

[Reveille]

               NoFoMoHo, it was only fair that the three of us split up, to keep it fair and all! I must say that you ladies can definetly hold your own. I really enjoyed the competition with you and your family.  The big boy side of the line was not the same.  Hope to see you guys on the trail soon.  Reveille.

[M.E.]

Rev, you just thought the grass was greener on the other side of the line....we forgive you, you didn't know you were already shootin with "the big boys!"  We will just wait to hear if you beat our 233 and 237 (not to mention the perfect 100 score on the 400yd targets oh did I mention that?)  next time you are on the trail!

GIRLS RULE!!
Ok Guys you know we have to give you Crap....but we love ya all and had a blast with you in Alton. Really look forward to meeting up again.

M.E.

[yagotme]

Umm, I believe the score to beat on Sun was 248!!   Just threw a 3 on the offhand!!! So take that!!  Ha!!!
There, I'm done gloating now!!!!!!!!!

[M.E.]

Oh yeah don't get me started on that one!!!     Can't be countin the use of a tripod!!    You shoot that with a sling and I will bow down to you!! tehehe.    All in good fun!     I can only strive to shoot a 248...maybe next time huh??!!

M.E.

[Reveille]

Rrrreeeeewwww,  kittys got claws and good aim.  I think I would leave well enough alone.

[SavageShootr]

TC and crew,

Great job on the first Appleseed at the Alton range.

CONGRATULATIONS to all the new Riflemen and those who took on the Orange Hat. 

Thanks for the pics M.E., what a beautiful range. 

Thanks for the report.

~SS

[yagotme]

24" hvy barrel, scope, bipod folded, in offhand, used sling.  Kneeling, used sling.  Try hanging 5-6 lbs  of metal on the front of your rifle in offhand and see how hard THAT is!!   Thought I was gonna fall backwards a few times, tryin' to counterbalance that weight!   Left out the part about the NPOA, and firing 2 rounds blind, hitting same part of target, 5 rds in 3 holes!   Kinda freaked out my partner on the 4th round, guess he thought I jerked the trigger when he put the patch in front of the scope.

Went to a combo shoot today, Hi-Pwr a/200 yds, folowed by .22 at 200 yds!  Put 26 clicks up on scope of 10-22, and STILL had to aim at top of target board to get 'em (mostly) in the black! (1/4 click scope)  Scored a 290/400.  Windy, gusts probably up to 40-45 mph, pretty much full value.  Lotta  fun!   Really long reach for the mouse gun.