AAR - Annapolis, MD Rifle Clinic - November 16-17, 2024

[Catch-10-22]

Another fantastic two-day rifle clinic is in the books at Anne Arundel Fish and Game (AAFG) in Annapolis Maryland. We were blessed with perfect Maryland fall weather - highs around 60 and sunny - that made the weekend enjoyable for students and instructors.

This shoot was a combination of participants from The Leadership Institute and a range of students from Maryland and beyond. It was great to have a sold-out event so late in the year.

Saturday started with 22 shooters, 17 of which were beginners. Despite that, we had 14 shooters that were at least accurate to 200 yards (all three hits in that target or smaller) so we were off to a good start! We worked through core instruction and squares targets, shrinking group sizes and building confidence in 2 relays.

Catch-10-22 was SOOO happy he got to present history and went all out at lunch on first and second strike. Great participant engagement as well.

Instructors were seeing really strong groups, which allowed us to transition to IMC and start practicing other positions after lunch. Seated and standing practice went well enough for us to have a practice AQT before the end of Saturday. Tony, Jon, and Todd all qualified Rifleman on that target - Huzzah! Some of the Leadership Institute folks were very close but the Rifleman patch is no gimme.

We had just enough daylight to do the final Red Coat of Saturday and thank goodness because we had FIVE shooters clean the target and earn their Maryland Immortal 400 patch: Tony, Jon, Todd, Simon (15), and Alexis. Add to that 9 shingles and it was an impressive showing after a long day.

We finished the Third Strike (many folks couldn't make it on Sunday) and then packed-up in the dark (530pm...).

Sunday started a bit colder (in the 40s) but Dominic started hot, cleaning his first Red Coat and earning his Immortal 400 patch as well. Dominic would remain hot, qualifying for his first Rifleman with a 228 and then requalifying 2 more times - Huzzah! Todd (high of 235) and Jon (high of 227) also continued requalifying throughout the day. We did Dangerous Old Men at lunch time and mixed in NPOA drills and tips throughout the day.

We started to see scores declining a bit and called for the last AQT of the weekend. Simon gave it his all and scored a 207 - just missing that Rifleman patch. The last Red Coat didn't have any students clean it, but we saw massive improvement from everyone.

The high score of the weekend went to IIT Rascal (Jessee J). Jessee has shot distinguished, had a perfect RKD score a few weeks ago, but FINALLY broke through with a perfect 250 on the last AQT of the day. Congrats! He then put on a show by cleaning the Red Coat target seated to earn the "vintage" Maryland Front Site patch, one of only a few in circulation amongst old-timer shoot boxes.

We ended with the benediction and got out in daylight this time 

All instructors agreed that this was just a fantastic weekend and a very safe shoot. We couldn't be prouder of our participants and can't wait to see you at a future event. It sounds like some of our students will be signing up for our 200 yard rimfire KD events next year.

Thank you to AAFG for being a wonderful host range for our program. Thank you to The Leadership Institute for exposing future leaders to our program and message. Thank you to our instructors for making the trip to support such a packed and important event.

We have posted a photo album here: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipO7GZ_t4ZZa-HytXfnRZGn8bXLQJgcha-A_AVhXZpSgBDImdNduc_GWF6DrFEpIag?pli=1&key=VmZmOHV3cGdXLXZpbmhQMU9fWTlZazk3bzc0cDVR

Hope to see you all on the line again soon!