Pensacola, FL (ERML) April 18-19th AAR

[boltgun71]

Mark another great Appleseed down in the books! This past weekends shoot at the Escambia River Muzzleloaders Club was a great success. Saturday morning started off with 25 eager American's waiting to learn to shoot and learn about their forefathers.  Better than 80% of them were first time Appleseeders, a clear sign the message is getting out.  Rifles on the line ranged from the typical AR-15's and Garands to lever action 30-30's and pump .22's.  We had a few husband/wife, grandfather/grandson, and father/daughter teams.  I love seeing Appleseed as a family event. 

After introductions and a talk on Appleseed and safety we got to work on the Redcoats.  The first Recoat produced 12-100yd, 4-200yd, 2-300yd shooters, and 1-400yd shooter.  Five shooters got the head shot.  Then the next several hours was spent with classes, drilling, transitions, and learning history.  Just before we would have got into the first AQT of the day we stopped, passed out the Bloody British Butchery article, and prepared the shooters for honoring their forefathers and the men that died on April 19th by participating in the longest firing line in Appleseed history.  Calling out the names of the fallen followed by the shots down range, I couldn't help but hope and think that those brave men that died on April 19th were proud and smiling down on us.  Once that was finished it was time for the famed AQT.  Saturday would produce no Rifleman but I didn't let that bother me as I knew in my heart that would change on Sunday.  To end the first day we posted the Redcoat from the morning again and re-shot it.  What an improvement! We had 14-100yd, 8-200yd, 4-300yd, and 3-400yd shooters.  We doubled our 200yd and 300yd shooters and tripled our 400yd shooters!  Way to go everyone! 

Sunday brought us 12 return shooters who were eager to learn and shoot more.  It also brought us a new IIT!  Josh P. a return shooter from Saturday and already qualified Rifleman and son of another IIT for Appleseed, showed up and donned a Orange Hat and helped to RSO the line.  After a Redcoat and chance to re-zero, as we had some new rifles on the line, we got down and dirty firing AQT's.  Throughout the day we fired AQT's, did some Rifleman Cadence drills, NPOA drills, and fired even more AQT's.  The result?  Two new Rifleman!  Congratulations goes to Landry with a 214 and to Chris with a 210!  Oh and I forgot to mention, Landry is only 9yrs old!  Both would go on to fire at least one other Rifleman score throughout the day to confirm their Rifleman status.  Well done guys!  During lunch on Sunday I also gave a Advanced Rifleman class to everyone that wanted to sit and hear it while they ate.  Turned out everyone wanted to hear it, even some regular shooters at the club that didn't participate in the Appleseed.

Overall the shoot went extremely well and I want to thank all the shooters that came out to participate and learn.  I especially want to thank the instructors, TnTimberwright and our newest IIT Pappy Jr.  It couldn't have been done without yah and I look forward to working with you all again. 

A special thanks goes to the ERML club which went out of their way to accomodate Appleseed.  The RSO Manny was a pleasure working with.  The club has several great ranges/lanes, with more in the planning. The enviroment was spacious, clean, and friendly and provided us with an ideal place to Appleseed.  If your local and not a member you should seriously think of joining this club and supporting them as they will do a-lot for you.  A link to the clubs site is below.
http://www.erml-gunclub.org/index.php

Now feel free to add your comments!  I'm sure there is a ton I missed.

[Alchemist]

This was my third Appleseed (a mini AS and two full AS) and while the best Appleseed is the one you are shooting now, this one was great.

One of the most impressive things about this one specifically was the amount of history and the details that Boltgun71 and TnTimberwright had just off the top of their heads, practically no notes (and no teleprompter). Reeling of fact after fact, making the presentation that much more compelling and significant.  I very much appreciated the book references so I can brush up on our heritage.

It gives me chills thinking about the character of our ancestors and the contrast with the average couch-rider of today.

Well, back to the brighter notes.  I very much enjoyed shooting with my fellow AMERICANS, veterans, active duty military and especially my wife.  This was her first Appleseed and pretty much her first rifle experience.  She is recovering from severe Rheumatoid Arthritis via nutrition and I fully expected her to take a powder by lunchtime.  She hung in like a rifleman for the entire time on Saturday.  As she learned how to clean rifles last night, she was talking about making room in the house or setting up in the yard to dry practice for the next one.  Yippee!  We are even discussing when our six year old daughter will take her first shots (thanks to Landry's success) and maybe become a seven or eight year old Rifleman.

Speaking of our 9 year old rifleman Landry, all I can say is WOW!  we started off Sunday with a review of the safety rules, taking turns sheepishly answering Boltgun71's quiz questions.  We moved on to the six steps and someone was able to call out step one.  Landry was called on next and without hesitating, or even taking a breath, finished the next five.  I don't think he just memorized them, I think he absorbed them into his DNA.  This kid is a Rifleman!  He has cadence down.

I also really appreciated the advanced rifleman topics.  Boltgun71 knows his stuff and is an effective instructor.  I got some great notes out of it.

Thanks also to Boltgun71 for the one-on-one lesson with the loop sling.  That's much better than the Hasty and may help make a rifleman out of me yet.

Thank you to all of the instructors for your time, patience and dedication.  Boltgun71, TnTimbwright and Pappy Jr. are great patriots and great people.  Huzzah, Hazzah Huzzah!

As a member of the ERML range and a recruiting office, I'll be pushing to get another one going in the next three months - one per quarter would be a nice goal.  See you this summer!

Alchemist

[Rooivalk]

This was my first Appleseed event and it was great!! I really enjoyed learning new skills and getting a history lesson in the process. The instructors really knew their stuff and were extremely helpful and accomodating throughout. Way to go Landry and Chris on obtaining your Rifleman status! I will be practicing what I've learnt and will attend future Appleseeds so I can achieve it too!

Botgun71 did an exceptional job instructing us. I felt I gained much insight and newfound knowledge. Boltgun71, TnTimbwright and Pappy Jr. all demonstrated their knowledge, wisdom and friendliness. I was impressed by the way the event was handled and have been trying to convince some friends already to attend an Appleseed at their next opportunity.

Thank you to all my fellow Americans who were on the firing lines with me. I know that if I ever needed help I could count on you all!

Alchemist as a fellow ERML member I think it would be good for us to spread the word and get the range to host more Appleseed events if possible.

Thanks,
Rooivalk

[Alchemist]

Rooivalk,

I copied Botlgun71's AAR and posted it on the ERML forum.  Let's both make the suggestion to the BOD to fit in another in the next few months.  Our RSO and Range Manager are both in agreement that we should consider an AS every quarter.  Late June / early July sounds good to me.

It'll give us some time to practice and maybe accomplish what Landry and Chris were able to do!

[calfret]

This was my 2nd Appleseed.  I'm proud to say that I brought 2 new shooters   to the AS experience.  Both were excited and ready for the next one.  I still have several folks on reserve who want to attend one and have not yet due to various reasons.

I had a blast myself.  The Target ID and range estimation stuff at lunch was outstanding.  I feel as if my skills are improving and soon I shall earn my patch.  

My girlfriend was a bit flustered, however.    When I asked her why, she said that she is not improving.  She then went on about the various things she was doing wrong.  I told her that the first step to correcting a problem is the ability to identify the problem.  The very fact that she is now able to identify her areas of opportunity is proof of her improvement.  When I put it like that she cheered up quite a bit.

All in all, it was a great shoot.  I enjoyed BS'n with John and Bill and Pappy.  Pensacola is a great location for me.  I live in Hattiesburg, MS, but I have friends in Pcola, therefore I have sleeping arrangements there as well.  I look forward to future shoots down there.

[Talon]

I'm glad you fellows had a good time and learned a lot. Yeah, that boltgun71's a good fellow. Sort of a good shot, to boot....
The ERML is a good range with good people, and it's in a great location. A couple of you would do well to become instructors and run the events locally, and it seems you're headed in that direction.

One thing, though.

Next time boltgun71 shows up, someone- anyone- have a goat tethered to the line. I bet Farmer can come up with one or two!

[Alchemist]

Talon! Howdy!

Your a right about Farmer - the man has goats!  We gave up on eatin' 'em but the fresh raw milk is great.  His lamb is great and the chickens and eggs are even better.

I'll see if I can get a couple of loaner billys from him.

It must drive you instructors nuts - all that range time and no trigger time...

Kinda feel like I need to have that Rifleman patch on my shooting jacket before I do any instructing.  Maybe number 3.5 will do the trick.

[gcvaughn]

Just seconding (and thirding) everything said above, I had a blast and really enjoyed the entirety of the event.  Thanks again to boltgun71, TnTimberwright, the ERML and all the shooters- what a great weekend!

Chris

[TnTimberwright]

Terrific Appleseed!!! Also, a very Historic one.
I want to thank everyone who attended for being a great, however, typical Appleseed group of shooters. Of course, our hats are off for Landry and Chris for both getting the coveted Rifleman's patch and showing it was for REAL by shooting a pair of second Rifleman scores later.

From my standpoint, Boltgun71 and I had a great time doing this Appleseed. It was also very great to get an Orange Hat on Josh (Pappy Jr). We need to do all possible to get some more IIT's in Pensacola and I don't see why we can't get all needed right there at the Escambia River Muzzle Loaders Gun Club. ERML has the definite potential to produce a bunch and to be running Appleseeds at least Quarterly. I talked with the RSO and he is all for it. He sat in on a lot of our instruction on both days and he's all for it and says he will push to get more scheduled.

Personally, I will be glad to commit myself to keep on coming back to Pensacola to help get a cadre of Instructors here and get this area into an Appleseed self-sustaining level. Some of our attendees also indicated interest in making an RBC/IBC. We told them to try and get scheduled for Ramseur's next RBC for some real fun.

As Boltgun71 said, this was a very good event and it was indeed a pleasure to be able to take part in it as an IIT. It also gave me the opportunity to do my first "top of my head" First Strike. What really got me was on Sunday when I had a half dozen stay for more history after the official close of the days shooting. I did a good coverage of Dangerous Old Men and Women and they sat/stood and listened and really were absorbing the personal aspects of those wonderful Patriots who gave us so much on April 19, 1775. So, my thanks to them and all the others who attended thereby making this a very good event. I KNOW that everyone got the "bug" to go do some dryfire practice doing the 6 Steps/NPOA and WILL be getting their patch at their next event. It was also inspiring to have some travel in for this one. This location can draw a lot of people from the Florida Panhandle including active military, retired military, all kinds of others, then it also has Alabama close by and Mississippi. So, let's all work to see if we can get at least 4 AS's at the ERML range a year.

Lastly, hats off very much to Boltgun71. I got to work with him at Toccoa, GA a few weeks back and this was a real "treat" to get to work with him as my SB on this event. You guys who know him know what I'm talking about. He's one terrific Patriot and one super good Instructor. I learned a lot from him every time I'm around him. His class on target Detection and Ranging was one we all took notes on.

Thanks again for the opportunity to be a volunteer in service on this most Patriotic Day. I loved the "Honor Roll Redcoat Target Shoot" with the names being read out loud prior to the volley shots. That was a very moving experience to all of us.

Bill/TnTimberwright

[Bama]

This was my 2nd Appleseed.  I'm proud to say that I brought 2 new shooters   to the AS experience.  Both were excited and ready for the next one.  I still have several folks on reserve who want to attend one and have not yet due to various reasons.

I had a blast myself.  The Target ID and range estimation stuff at lunch was outstanding.  I feel as if my skills are improving and soon I shall earn my patch.  

My girlfriend was a bit flustered, however.    When I asked her why, she said that she is not improving.  She then went on about the various things she was doing wrong.  I told her that the first step to correcting a problem is the ability to identify the problem.  The very fact that she is now able to identify her areas of opportunity is proof of her improvement.  When I put it like that she cheered up quite a bit.

All in all, it was a great shoot.  I enjoyed BS'n with John and Bill and Pappy.  Pensacola is a great location for me.  I live in Hattiesburg, MS, but I have friends in Pcola, therefore I have sleeping arrangements there as well.  I look forward to future shoots down there.

I was looking for you guys at B'ham! But, I see that you made Pensacola and that is great! I'm glad you guys are keeping on with it. A Rifleman is made by dedication and persistance, and once the mind is made up the body will follow. Again, great to find that ya'll went to a 4/19 AS.

I know that P-cola is much more practical for you guys, but do remember that ya'll have a friend in Alabama and don't hesitate to let me know if you guys are passing through. See you and your lady on the trail.....

Regards,
Bama

[BOOMER_EOD]

Hey everyone,

Lil Pappy here, great appleseed down here in pensacola. Had a full line on Saturday. Sunday we had 11 shooters. Had to leave early on Sunday but at that time we had one rifleman. I would also like to add we had alot of veterans and people currently serving and would like to thank everyone for your service and spending a great weekend with your fellow countrymen.