Ridgecrest, CA April 18/19 Appleseed

[rock-chucker]

What a GREAT event.  As Bob 210 says, "can you believe we actually get to do this?!".

Sometimes I have to pinch myself!

We had a number of early arrivals bright and early Saturday morning, which made setup a breeze.  Thanks for pitching in, guys.  Apparently, the people of Ridgecrest had paid their dues with high winds during the week, and the weather could not have been more perfect for an appleseed.  Sunny, balmy, and just a light breeze.

17 of the nicest folks you would want to meet graced the range Saturday morning.  We had the whole gamut, ranging from brand new shooters (Doug had just bought his first rifle), Fathers, sons, brothers, and a daughter.  I want to give special recognition to the fathers who brought their children.  Passing the heritage on and sharing it with the next generation is what all of this is about!. A brief welcome and introduction to Appleseed with special recognition to this historic day, safety rule briefing (and chorus, of course), and we were off and running.

We had a very attentive class, who asked great questions and really wanted to swallow every drop possible from the proverbial "fire hose".

We very quickly learned that we were going to have to make some adjustments to our target layout to ensure that all bullets stopped in the berm and wouldn't leave the range.  Don't know if we invented it or not, but we coined the term "bifurcated AQT" after separating the standing stage targets and putting them up high and the sitting/prone targets down low. 

The coordinated "volley of liberty" red coat proceeded exactly on schedule.  Just as I was thinking everything was going exactly as planned, a police car pulled up at 12:59.  I didn't know what they wanted, but thought "couldn't you come in about 5 minutes?".  Just in case they had an urgent need to speak with the shoot boss, I handed my clip board to Desert Dog, and he ran the COF right on schedule to the second.  Great job, DD.

Even with messing with target board adjustments and so on, we still managed to get several AQTs in Saturday afternoon.  Chris L posted a 208 late Saturday, but we didn't quite get over the 210 hump; even though we went absolutely as late as daylight permitted.  Fortunately, Chris was one of our 2-dayers and we'd have another chance Sunday...YES!

We had two young brothers: Jeriah and Jordan, both shooting Moisin Nagants.  If you've ever shot one of these rifles, you know you almost need a cheater bar to open the bolt after firing a round.  These are not the easiest rifles in the world to shoot, but they acquitted themselves very well. These rifles will teach you trigger SQUEEZE (drag?) like few others out there.  Perhaps most importantly, they were absolute gentlemen; restoring my faith in the next generation.

The same can be said of Shane and Andrew.  Fine young men.  Kudos to father Walter for bringing them out, even though he did not have a rifle for himself to shoot, and planned on spectating only.  We couldn't stand for that, so handed him a rifle, signed him up, and put him on the line with his boys.

John, Gunther, and Genevieve were another family trio, who were a real pleasure to have.  One of Gunther's first groups on the squares was an honest 5 minute group!  Holy cow.  Genevieve hung in there all day, even with a migraine headache.  Poor thing.  Father John, being an old hand at NRA highpower service rifle showed his stuff with a very nice M1 Garand. 

Norwin, and son Rory also had a great showing Saturday and made real improvement.

JD and Betty were a pleasure to have on hand.  Both had attended the October Appleseed at Ridgecrest.  Betty wasn't able to shoot, but was a real pleasure to have on the range while her hubby JD shot to the very end on Saturday.  thank you for your help, JD.  Very much appreciated!  JD, by the way made real progress.  I think he would have been another 210 candidate on Sunday.  Hope you rejoin us and get over the top, JD.

Then there was our other Chris.  Chris B, with 8 year old son Connor.  Again, it is such a great thing to have parents bring their children.  Both of them shot BOTH days (VERY long ones, at that).  I wouldn't have thought an 8 year old would persist on the firing line like Connor did.  This young man has RIFLEMAN in his blood!  I don't think we've seen the last of these two.

On Sunday, our group consisted of 5 shooters: Doug, Benson, Chris, Chris, Connor, and Doug.

We shot the morning Redcoat "at the North Bridge", and kept up the April 19th 1775 progress checks throughout the day.  I REALLY like doing this.  Thanks for the great idea, Thor.

DD's mom and sister came out at noon time to hear the history, and brought amazing sandwiches for us.  I think I would like to start working shoots a little closer to where MY mom lives...a mom-made lunch sure beats the heck out of anything I've ever packed for myself! 

Doug and Benson (both new rifle shooters) both made HUGE progress Sunday, and were a real pleasure to meet and work with.  Chris B was also looking good.  Connor kept on keeping on.  Chris L blew the AQT out of the water with something like 220.  EXCELLENT.  Chris, I know you have pressing family responsibilities; but I sincerely hope you will consider our offer to join us as an IIT.  Your energy on our staff would truly make a difference in acheiving the outcome we both so much desire for our country.

The day (for me, at least) climaxed with presenting Chris with his well deserved RIFLEMAN badge.

In addition, it was my distinct honor to present Desert Dog with his RED HAT.  all who know this man KNOW he's the very soul of Appleseed and America.  To be able to award a Rifleman badge, AND my first red hat on my first April 19th Appleseed is a memorable day indeed!  I could not possibly wish for a better team mate for this special event.  Congratulations, and job well done, my friend!

While tearing down the range at the end of the day, it dawned on me, DD, and Benson (who stayed late to help with clean up - thank you, Benson), that it was a better use of the remaining day light to ring some steel at 200, 300, and 600 yards...) which we did!.               

Thanks again to all for your part in making the April 18/19 Ridgecrest Appleseed such a memorable weekend for me!

Rock-Chucker

 

[LayloPro]

Well, hey now to this AAR as well!!

DD got his Red Hat!! That is awesome!!  < <
Good grief, it seems like only yesterday we had him show up on our line @ Piru for Sunday AQT grind, with the true Rifleman look in his eye, -ready- to hit his score!!
And now he passes on the orange hat that came from me, to V, to him, in favor of his Red hat!!
How crazy cool is that??!!??!!
Dog, congratulations are in order!! And what an awesome day to get your Redhat!! You -know- you will remember when & where it happened!!

RC, you guys had a great shoot.....as you noted, having the families out at the range, learning, shooting, bonding is one of the best things we can do for Americans.......and to be able to turn the firehose on 'em, is just way too much fun.......
Rock on guys, we will see you in a bit.....

Great shoot!
LLP

[HollywoodMarine]

Job well done good and faithful soldier you deserve it. 

[DesertDog]

Thanks guys!!  I didn't plan it this way when I started, but when I knew I would get it on April 19, I was very excited.  All the Instrucors helped me along the way, I've learned something form every one of you fine men, and lady .  My new profile pic was taken about an hour after I got my hat.

There's really nothing I can add to what RC said, except that I don't recommend Line Bossing for 18 hrs in 2 days!!  I was done at the end of Sunday.  RC also had to show off a little by shooting 225 with 3 saved rounds on an AQT and cleaning a redcoat .  Thanks for the kind words Rock, it's always a pleasure working with you.  You always have a place to stay when you are here, just try not to spill Sam Adams on my kitchen floor

DD

[asminuteman]

.

[Grandson of Liberty]

Great job, Desert Dog! 

[V]

Congratulations DD. Who got the old orange?

[DesertDog]

Congratulations DD. Who got the old orange?

No one yet. I didn't know that you got yours from Laylo.  It just adds to the mystic of that prticular hat!

[rock-chucker]

hmm.  I wonder if anyone got my orange hat.  I gave it to F-Stop, as he was the SB when I Redded out.

I guess I shouldn't have put so much detail in my AAR, DD.  I really wanted to hear more from you about the shoot, other than I spilled precious beer and am too out of practice to get all my rounds off!

Why didn't you talk about how you ran over the trash can and squashed it flat as a pancake ?   

THAT was something I left out of my AAR!

R-C

[DesertDog]

That's what selective memory is all about!  Besides. Jake licked it up and he's a patriot, so it didn't go to waste

[LayloPro]

Hmmmm, I think(?) that's why Fred wanted us to write in our names & date of when we were given the "cap of destiny", so that we could follow it's trail......I gave up two oranges, just from Bob being "out" when the scores came in.....the first one went to "V", who Orange'd at the same time PhoneProne & LtDang did, and then the 2nd one was to MyCRstuff @ Corona, when they gave me a "new" head cover.....the more appropriately colored one......

So keep 'em marked up, & someday, when we have the Appleseed museum, we can admire the trails our hats have ridden......

Meanwhile, take care.
LLP

[rock-chucker]

Agreed, LLP.  I do like the hat trail idea.

One day, even the newest of the newbies now will seem like pioneers one day.

Here's the start of my attempt at putting pictures up.  Will keep posting them one at a time til I get it figgered out how to compress them or otherwise get to where I can put more than one on a post at a time.

Here's our new Rifleman, Chris.  first Rifleman score was 220 (right, DD?) on Sunday.  What was his highest AQT score of the day?  I'm great with remembering everything except, names, numbers, dates, birthdays, my name, etc. .  He's a good man.  Really worked the steps we drilled him on, developed good form, and put it all together.



R-C

[LayloPro]

R-C,
resize your pix......I usually put mine @ about 4.5" x 6" & around 100-150 bpi, depending on whether it's a detail shot or not......that way, they don't "oversize on the screen, & you'll be able to get 5-7 of them up per posting.....

Good luck, soldier......

LLP

[GreyMinotaur]

Hi all.

Just wanted to say hi and to say that I had a great time, and learned a lot from DD and R-C.  I have only seen the tip of the iceberg--much remains to be learned.

Congrats goes to DD for getting his red hat !

GM