After Action Report for Rimfire KD event at Fredericksburg, TX March 28-29, 2026

[GenX Minuteman]

Experts Only!

   It appears we may have provided all the sharp-shooters in our area with ample opportunities for attending our 200yrd Rimfire KD events.  We provided enough time for everyone to sign up early, but we were only able to get three students to sign up for the event!  In addition to our three students, we had one of our local Instructors come out and participate alongside one instructor from the host range – Patriot Academy.  Though participant level was low I'm happy to say the marksmanship quality of the student were top-tier. 

   We started the weekend by discussing the additional challenges faced by a Rifleman when faced with real world scenarios.  Target Detection was explained in simple terms and examples provided.  Similarly, Range Estimation was introduced and quickly overviewed with the knowledge a more detailed discussion would happen later in the weekend.  We immediately began to focus on the final challenge of a Rifleman – "Making The Shot".  We introduced the concepts of ballistic trajectory and how it can be accounted for and used to a Rifleman's advantage.  We also briefly discussed wind corrections and specifically the accommodation which should be made to fit the 22LR cartridge.

       Once the introductory information was provided, we began zeroing our rifles at the 50 yrd mark.  We did so because the ballistic maximum for the majority of 22LR cartridges occurs at this range.  Once zeroed, longer distance targets can be addressed by properly adjusting the rifle's sighting system.  Our students were able to accomplish the 50 yrd zeroing quickly, which allowed us to transition to further ranges to witness the ballistic drop.  We made note of the ballistic drop at 100, 150 and 200 yrd distances so our students had appropriate information for the necessary sighting system adjustments.

    While the previously mentioned activities could be summarized quickly, they took more time than you may realize to finish.  We got everything wrapped up right around the time for our lunchtime break.  While getting some much needed nutrition and rest we talked about the bravery and fortitude of Ethan Allen.  His capturing of Fort Ticonderoga and other surrounding fortifications of the Great Lakes area helped form the beginning of a successful rebellion against the tyrannical British rule.

Once everyone felt comfortable with their distance adjustments, we pushed to get our first AQT of the day completed by ~ 2:00 p.m.  We didn't waste time checking our targets between stages because our experts were eager to get going quickly.  We simply dropped into the AQT grind to get as many AQTs as possible on this first day.  Everyone knuckled down, had their thinking caps on and put their nose to the grindstone.  As usual, Randy knocked out an early 50/50 hits (score of 245!!!!!).  Way to go Randy!!!!  I sense I will be handing you another 250 tab shortly sir!!!  Our local instructor, Mark Martinez, was also able to lay down an easy 45/50.  Only a few hits away from Distinguished!  Mark always likes to challenge himself and it shows.  This 45 is his personal record on Rimfire KD.  One of our students, Josh, is also one of our current San Antonio crew Instructors.  Josh nailed an easy 43/50 hits on his first AQT.  Way to go Josh!!!  Our late student sign up, Jonathan, came out this weekend to do one thing – pin down a Distinguished Rifleman Score.  Guess what?  He put down a score of 48/50 hits on this very first AQT!!!!  Way to go Jonathan!  You have clearly mastered your equipment, the distance challenge, and yourself!!!  You are a true definition of a Rifleman sir!  Way to go!!!

   I hope everyone is keeping count!  Out of our five shooters, we already have two Distinguished Rimfire KD Rifleman and two Rimfire KD Riflemen – and this was on the first AQT of the weekend!  We posted up a second AQT and worked our way forward from the 200yrd line to the 50yrd line.  As we finished up the second AQT it was clear, all of our experts basically repeated their prior performance!  Way to go everyone!  Our visiting student from Patriot Academy, Taiyo, was starting to get the hang of the process and the challenge as his score improved greatly from his first result.

   The day had one more AQT opportunity for our shooter to attempt as the daylight started to create more shadows than earlier.  Randy was able to take advantage of calmer winds and put down another 50/50 hits and a score of 246!!!!  Very impressive as always Randy!  Way to go!  At this point, his advice to other shooters is like gold!!!!  Luckily, Taiyo happened to be shooting right next to Randy.  He clearly picked up some advice because he was able to rock a score of 41/50 hits on the last AQT of the day!  This secured him his Rifleman Patch and his Rimfire KD Rocker – using a BOLT ACTION!!!  Way to go Taiyo!  This means all shooters were able to make/or exceed the level for Rimfire KD on the first day!!!!  Truly a gifted set of shooters at this event!

    We retired the day by having a wonderful Instructor's dinner in Kerrville.  The food there is always great and the tableside discussion is always spirited.  We had a great time with a lot of the shooters showing up to participate.  Jonathan was all too sneaky and actually paid for the entire meal for everyone.  Thank you kindly sir!  Thank you for including us all in the celebration of your Distinguished Rimfire KD Rifleman achievement.

The next morning welcomed us with the a bit cooler weather and the possibility of higher winds.  I was happy our shooters would have an opportunity to put some of the wind correction estimation methods into action which were discussed on the previous day.  The first challenge our students faced this morning was making a solid hit on a Cedar Shingle sized target at 125 yrds. properly scaled to replicated Captain Daniel Morgan's qualifying target to become one of his company of Sharp Shooters.  Zboy74 (Zack) was kind enough to make properly sized reactive steel targets for our students to shoot at.  Each student was directed to take a single shot at the steel target and see if they could mark themselves as one of Captain Morgan's Rifleman or become a cook helping the cause from behind the lines.  The challenge proved itself to be greater than most of our participants expected.  After attending three Rimfire KD events, Randy was able to connect solidly with the steel target to gain his third or fourth Catain Morgan's Rifleman patch!  Way to go Randy!!!!! 

    After Morgan's Shingle introductory shot to Sunday morning, we began verifying our rifle's 50-yard zero status.  This only took one or two quick rounds of verification, and we quickly moved on to shotting a few AQTs.  At this point, two of our shooters from the previous day decided they had achieved their goal for the weekend and decided not to return for the second day's event.  This sped things up to a small degree.  The wind started to pick up sooner than expected and made high scoring AQTs a bit of a challenge on this second day.  We got two AQTs finished up quickly right around the 11:00 a.m. timeframe.  After this, we decided to take an early lunchtime break and shortly afterwards do a Range Estimation exercise.

I discussed the needs for doing Range Estimation and the various methods to do so using various tools and techniques.  We went over the mathematics of how to use our rifle's sighting system to estimate an object's range away from us.  While daunting to most, our three students took it up with an eager attitude.  I place a few ranging targets down range and asked the students to first determine each object's measured Viewing Angle in our visible space.  I also setup a theoretical ranging scenario to determine how far away the "Cheerio Galaxy" (NGC 6337) is away from Earth to show them the mathematics are simple and universal, hahahahahahaha!

After giving the students a "theoretical" object size, they returned to me with an answer of the "theoretical" distance away from us the object was.  The person who had the closest estimates won a copy of "Long Range Shooting Handbook" written by Ryan Cleckner.  Everyone did a great job and got results very close to the correct answer.  Taiyo was able to get the closest estimate to most of the objects, so he won the challenge!  Way to go Taiyo!!!!

   After our ranging estimation, the wind had increased to a very challenging point.  Taiyo had to leave after lunch so only Randy and Josh pushed on.  As such, we only finished one additional AQT completed in the afternoon hours because the winds had reached the point where scores were plateauing.  Our two brave final students decided to finish the day up early.  Understandably so since they had done so well on the prior day already!

The varied weather conditions were a wonderful challenge for our students during this event.  Personally, it was an amazing privilege to teach a great group of attentive and eager students.  I hope to see all of them return and potentially become Rimfire KD Instructors sometime in the future because they all certainly have the knowledge to impart to others.

Chad Stovell – GenX Minuteman

Event Cadre
Chad Stovell – GenX Minuteman (Shoot Boss)
Jerry – Twinkle Toes (IIT)

[GenX Minuteman]

[LDB415]

What do those itty bitty teeny tiny too small for old eyes patches say?

[GenX Minuteman]

Hahahaha, sorry about the bad iPhone photography.

The patches earned at this event were two-fold:
Two participants received the "Distinguished Rifle Score" patch along with their "Rimfire KD" patch since they scored 48 hits or more out of 50 while using an optic outfitted rifle.
The other three participants received their "Rimfire KD" patch since they achieved 40 hits out of 50.

Chad Stovell - GenX Minuteman