WOW - What to say - I have done some pretty cool things but this was almost over the top (could not qualify Rifleman
but not to worry - I won't be cooking
).
I had never been to an Appleseed and had no idea what to expect. Within a couple of days we settled in around 1 instructor to 1.5 students. We literally had individual private lessons in how to shoot rifle. PaRah spent the better part of a full day laying on the tarp instructing me in the six steps and that was the first time I shot the cadence - wow - I will never forget that - thank you.
Seems to me if you are going to a boot camp, the equipment needed includes a well running Ruger LTR, a Shooting Jacket, a USGI Sling, and a Center Fire Battle Rifle. Having the Rifle systems the same increases group efficiency on the line. I say this, because I had all the wrong Rifles and required more baby sitting than I should have. No one got upset with me and I learned a lot from being so screwed up, but I could have gotten a lot more accomplished had I had the right stuff (went to the Gun Show this morning and met with Mr. Springfield
). Every instructor went way out of their way to help me during the course of the week, with several loaning all the equipment I needed to have a chance, even after coming to the conclusion I might be a bit of a Wack Job
.
The long distance shooting showed me alot. It was windy the day we shot center fire. At 200 the .223 boys were doing great. As we moved to 300, the .223 groups opened considerably and at 400, shots were lost. The .308 did not give a rip about these conditions. We changed the sights for elevation, did nothing for windage and kept hitting the target - yahoo. I had never shot at anything over 100 yards and by the time we got to center fire it was exactly as the Instructors said it would be and I was able to shoot 2 MOA at 400 yards with a .308 using the cadence - thanks SheepDog.
After attending a boot camp, I can honestly say I did not have a clue about shooting rifle other than I was fairly sure which end the bullet exited from. I've been a fusser all of my life. Anyone like me, who wanted to get the most out of it, should seriously consider some kind of training schedule before they go. I hike 4.5 miles with a 40 lb Alice pack 4 to 5 times a week. It helped get me thru but I still got kicked pretty hard. We were on the range 12 hours for several of the days and and by the end of the week my friend Paul and I were eating Vitamin "I" like it was candy. This week was one of the most physically rigorous things I have done and I spent years skiing bumps - think squat thrusts - hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of squat thrusts. We'd go back to the hotel at night, look at each other, and say "how did we get here?" and then break into hysterical laughter - right before we passed out from exhaustion. Today is Friday and I am still licking wounds
but I can't remember laughing this much in a long, long time.
Three Forks has to be one of the most beautiful places I have been. We were squeezed between mountain ranges and got to see the weather and beauty change every 15 minutes. We used all of our equipment i.e. Rain Gear, Panchos, Layered Clothing, etc. and survived pretty well. Our fearless leader, Guy, marched us into the eye of a mean storm to shoot Center Fire. We actually went prone in the mud and fired shots. The bolt on my rifle filled with mud, water was running into the top of my boots, and my layered clothing was soaked thu to the skin. At one point I was thinking "you've got to be frigging kidding".
I had misjudged the severity of it, did not switch to rain gear, and paid for it the rest of the afternoon. No more shorts after that and rain pants went on anytime I saw anything coming over the mountains. Anyway Storm = 1 Me = 0.
I'm fairly uptight as I see the world at the current time. After a week in Three Forks, there is a certain calmness that has taken over and it feels incredibly good.
I can't wait to take my darling wife.
There are not words for the gratitude I have for the Instructors - truly Patriots all - Thank You.
