Griffin, GA AAR - Mar 23-24, 2024

[upacreek]

This was our first event held at the Griffin Gun Club and it was fantastic!  The range is great.  A huge thanks to Mechanic for setting it all up; Roy and the other club members for allowing us the use of the range; and last, but certainly not least, Jason for the indoor plumbing!  All of it was much appreciated.  We were happy to see two other club members shoot with us.

The shooters were revved up and ready to go Saturday morning despite the wet and cooler temperature.  Out of 8 shooters, 7 were returning Appleseeders.  Some we saw just a couple of weeks ago and some hadn't been around for a decade or more.  After Roswell's awesome 1st Strike, we found that they just had a little rust on them - they shot really well for so early in the morning.  Rory even cleared the Hits Count Target -  !  We jumped right into instruction and everyone knocked off that rust.  We saw some great groups over the weekend, but the stars just weren't aligned for many Rifleman patches.  Jason and YankeeDavey were the exceptions.  Jason scored a 211 with iron sights! YankeeDavey took a break from coaching on the line to show us all how to shoot - out of 3 AQT's, his lowest score was a 239. It was great for us to see such a good example of all that we teach in action with the holes in the targets proving it works. Rory and D360 are knocking on the door of Riflemen.  They each got around 200. If I were to bet, they'll earn that patch at their next event.  Matthew and his dad had some equipment issues, but did very well when things were working.  Poor Matthew seemed to be a brass magnet, even from his own rifle.  We hope it didn't hurt too much. 

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend as much as I did.  It's always great to see families shoot together and our Appleseed family.


It was still raining a little bit when we started shooting.  That didn't seem to bother anyone.  The high wind gusts eventually lifted the canopies off the firing line, but by then the rain had stopped.


Mechanic gives Ava some tips


Jason shows off the prone position - looking good


Roswell discussed how to listen to our targets on the target line.


These guys made the standing stages look easy.


D360 and Roswell review the seated position.  It was high 30's Sunday morning and everyone was bundled up.


Shooting Sunday Morning's Hits Count  Many did better than Saturday's targets.  D360 was so close to clearing his target with great groups!


It's always nice to see families enjoying the weekend together.  Chris and Ava came to an Appleseed 4 years ago with bolt actions.  They each sported new semi-auto rifles for this event and showed great improvement by the time they had to leave for another sporting event.


Lefties, D360 and Rory took turns coaching each other during the Ball and Dummy drill




Every shooter got pretty close calling most of their shots when we compared the witness targets to the real deals.


Matthew and Jason teamed up for the Ball and Dummy Drill


Roswell rocked his pajama/pants combo.


Mechanic tries to warm up.  It was already nearly 70.


YankeeDavey shows us how to shoot the standing stage.  He barely moved the whole time.


D360 tried to keep the sun out of his eyes.  His AQT scores jumped about 50 points over this weekend!!!


Rory shows off the easy way to prepare magazines.


Every instructor was able to share a Dangerous Old Man or Woman story on Sunday.  Here, YankeeDavey is telling us all about Mother Batherick and David Lamson.


The last AQT. 


I wish we had timed the pictures right to get all the shooters in the pictures, but commitments and ailments sent people home early.  These guys are always great to volunteer with - and look at part of the beautiful range!
 

[Roswell]

Rainy Saturday:









Rory's cleared Redcoat target:



Yankee Davey showing Chris how to get into the sling:




Mechanic coaching D360:



Shoot Boss told the 2nd and 3rd Strikes of the Match:



Sunday things had dried out and we had some eager shooters, but man was it cold! As Upacreek shared, I had to retreat to my car at one point and put my pajama pants on underneath my other pants! For some reason, the shooters that hailed from the North thought that funny. 



Upacreek gave us the IMC review:



The Sunday morning redcoat showed D360 was a 400 yard shooter and was only 1 shot away from clearing the target. Well done sir!





Jason with a 211 using irons!





Yankee Davey shooting a 243 to earn another distinguished patch!





This event was truly blessed. I know because on the way down there Upacreek saw one of the most beautiful things in the world. And I was fortunate to see it myself on the way back...



Seriously though, this was a great event and I look forward to seeing each of you again on the trail. Keep up that perfect practice. A rifleman persists!

In Liberty,
Roswell

[gearjammer]

I would like to say it was a fun and exciting weekend and thank you to the volunteers upacreek Roswell yankeedavey mechanic and D360 for doing what they do for the shooters there were some good shooters this weekend and was good to see the young lady and her father out enjoying this activity thanks again volunteers and can't wait till the next one I get to attend and hope to see y'all at the next one

Gearjammer921