Thurmont, MD Pistol Clinic AAR - June 7th, 2025.

[kniwolf]

Another great weekend at TCSC in the books!  8 students made the pilgrimage out to the range on this rainy and then hot and humid day to be on the line for this one day pistol event.

We kicked the morning off with a great telling of the first strike by ProgressNotPerfection.  Afterwards, the morning's hits count target showed that there was skill present, but we also had some work to do. The class stayed attentive and soaked up all points of instruction throughout the morning, despite the rain.  After our morning of instruction and drills, ProgressNotPerfection and Off_paper presented a superb telling of the remaining two strikes to which the students were very attentive and asked plenty of questions.

The afternoon's instruction was well received, and we took some extra time to ensure that our students were well prepared for this afternoon's PQT.  Off_paper provided a great demo of holster and belt considerations between our first and second PQT.   We snuck in our final redcoat of the day and two students were successful in hitting Pitcairn's button!

Great progress was made by all students present. 

Brad came to the event with a very cool Browning 1911-22 (which is an 85% scaled version of the original .45 1911) and showed significant progress throughout, especially after the grip and stance demonstration.  Those small irons proved challenging, but he persisted! 

Donna brought a competition pistol to the line to start the day, but ended up swapping to a loaner after her competition pistol gave her some trouble early on.  She made quite a few improvements overall!

Heather persisted through the many challenges that a subcompact centerfire begets, which is a true testament to her dedication and fortitude towards learning. 

Ed, one of our blue hats, brought a few pistols to the line and ended up being the student with the highest score throughout the day with a 204!

Kyle, using a centerfire with irons, earned a Project Appleseed sticker by being the last one done with stage 5 of the PQT!   

Zach, a former Appleseed Pistol clinic student, came to this event with his eye on that coveted Pistoleer™ patch.  While it escaped him this time, I'm confident that he'll be getting a patch next time around.

Stu started the day almost off paper, but by the end of the day he made great strides with his control of the fundamentals, which resulted in much better groupings and consistency!  I'm confident that he'll continue to improve on his Pistoleer™ journey.

Larry brought a very slick .38 wadcutter gun to the line and had a great time overall.  While the heat had him sit out a portion of the day, he still showed up and participated through all points of instruction.  Talk about dedication!

I couldn't be more proud of the fantastic progress made by each and every one of you.  I highly encourage you all to practice what you learned with both live and dry fire. Working under the pressure of the clock is something that some practice can also overcome.

Pictures are available in an online album here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6pREyitHKkDEMnmz6
and will soon be posted to our Maryland Appleseed Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064405762810

I hope to see everyone on the line at a future rifle or pistol event!