Rome, GA AAR - Pistol Clinic April 18-19, 2026

[Leadslinger66]

Five patriots and three instructors gathered on a rare Patriot's Day weekend at the beautiful Floyd County Wildlife Club for the first ever Appleseed Pistol Clinic at this venue. A pistol clinic on Patriots' Day you say? I say "Yes, and why not!"

After registration, opening remarks, and a preamble to set the tone, we quickly got to work - on history!
Roswell gave a great first strike as always. We then covered the mandatory safety items before bringing pistols to the line. We covered pistol terminology and familiarization, then shot our first hits count target. We had some good shooters but decided we all still had some room for improvement.

We jumped straight into the marksmanship drills, coupled with some dry fire and live fire exercises along the way. The tripod of pistol marksmanship covering grip, sights, and trigger led the way. Other important blocks included pistol presentation, dry fire, prep and press, rapid fire, one-handed shooting, reloading, malfunctions, target transitions, controlled pairs, and slow fire.

We weaved in the second and third strikes along the way, being sure to get the regulars back to Boston.

One PQT was shot on Saturday. Josiah revealed what he is about, earning his Pistoleer™ patch with a 222! Huzzah! We wrapped up Saturday so everyone could get under some air conditioning and cool off.

Sunday dawned a bit cooler after some overnight rain (but not nearly enough - It's really dry here in the South).

After the necessary administrative stuff, we kicked off the morning with history, as we usually do. We discussed Prince Estabrook - what a patriot!

After covering safety, out came the pistols again! We followed the morning hits count with a review of everything discussed on Saturday, then gave the shooters a 10-minute window to practice any of the material that had been covered. Believe it or not, most wanted to work on one-handed shooting.

Moving forward, we shot a PQT and did ball and dummy before lunch. During lunch, Roswell regaled us with several pistol-related history stories from the revolutionary war. After lunch, we did big dot-little dot, the Whitlock drill, and shot a couple more PQTs. Josiah backed up his Saturday score with a 232! Way to go!

We ended with my favorite part of the weekend - The Memorial Volley. The line boss choked up a little when he got to Edward Barber. It gets me every time.

After the volley and some final remarks, we wrapped up a fantastic weekend.

Josiah, come back soon and earn that Distinguished patch. Jessica, Madison, Alex, and Price, each of you improved tremendously and impressed the instructor cadre with your persistence. Keep practicing. I know you can earn your Pistoleer™ patches soon!

Thanks to all of the shooters for coming out and to Roswell and Kevlar (the instructor formerly known as Two Dogs) for supporting this great shoot. I look forward to seeing everyone on the line again!

If you have pictures, feel free to post them in a reply to this thread.

[Roswell]

Great job shooters! This was an awesome weekend. I enjoyed working with each of you. I hope to see you again soon!