Virginia Beach, VA C2 Shooting Center, July 11-12

[Bob Womack]

The shooting line is torn down, the sound of our shots has died away, and everyone has gone home from an excellent Appleseed that happened this weekend.  I'm writing as a first-time participant.  First the basic facts:  We had five instructors, four (I think) IITs, and 32 shooters on Saturday morning.  Someone please correct my numbers if I'm wrong.

Setting up on Saturday morning

The C2 Shooting Range gave us their most spacious Berm and extended every courtesy to us.  Saturday morning we began on redcoats, progressed to the 1" squares, and worked our way through the shooting positions.  The instructors carefully explained the positions and the points necessary to make each work.  Meanwhile, the first of the three strikes was woven in.  By 6:00pm on Saturday we were starting our first AQT.  We left at 7:00pm that night.

Sunday morning we had about 20 shooters including two new ones.  We had a local ban on shooting until 11:00am, so the instructors reviewed the positions and we proceeded to strike number two.  After a few spotters, we progressed to AQTs and ground through those for the rest of the day, once again weaving in the last two of the three strikes.  By Sunday evening, we had graduated five (I think) Riflemen.

My personal experience, in case that can benefit the instructors:
I really enjoyed and benefited from my experience.  Though I am a relative novice, I took the whole thing very seriously. I scoured the website and forum for info and practiced dry firing in the positions to arrive as prepared as possible.  I built an LTR and took it to the range beforehand to get it zeroed.  As I sipped from the fire hose on Saturday, I showed a typical emotional curve for a weekend retreat: Excitement, followed by that excitement being tempered by realization of the volume of work to be done , frustration, followed by progress, and satisfaction.  Late in the afternoon my groups began to go to pot for no apparent reason, causing me to get frustrated and loose confidence.  In one prep period, I looked down and realized my Tech Sites front sight had worked loose and was drifting to the left.  I grabbed my Allen wrench, re-centered it, and wailed down on it to re-secure it.  That cured the wandering groups and brought my confidence and attitude back up.  It was all starting to gel on Saturday evening and I was showing real progress on the first AQT. I was beginning to spin all the plates without too much anxiety.  Marvelous!  Then, as I broke down my firing position Saturday night and was slinging stuff over my shoulder to carry it out, I managed to whack the side of my face with one bundle. It was a light tap, but the weld on my glasses between the nose bridge-piece and the right lens loop failed and I was left with two pieces hanging off my ears.  That's kind of catastrophic in a sport based upon eyesight.  I drove home holding the glasses together and wondered what I was going to do.

Overnight, I managed to lash the glasses together with tape around the matching clip-on sunglasses so I was able to show up for the second day. However, the combination of the sunglasses reducing the contrast on the already low-contrast targets and my 52-year-old eyesight made it extremely hard to see the 400 yard silhouettes at all, and as you know, that's where the scores really pile up. I actually decreased my score significantly the second day.  Very frustrating.  When I discussed it after the event, a helpful instructor suggested I try a scope on the next go 'round.  As I said, my overall impression was of an enjoyable and productive event.  I'd like to thank the great instructors for their commitment and help and congratulate them on an excellent event.

The constructive criticism:
First the positive:  I was tremendously impressed with conduct of both the shooting and the heritage side.  I socially interact with many liberal-leaning people who nevertheless show an interest in my firearms involvement.  On the heritage side, I had my eye on the possibility of suggesting this to them as an introduction.  In order for that to happen, the event would have to be as apolitical as possible or they would literally RUN for the exit.  I will confess that I had already read up on the history of April 19th, and like a dope, I re-read it to refresh my memory.  I was amazed at A)  How well and how unbiased the telling was, and B) how apolitical the entire weekend was.  The whole point of being involved, of learning a classic American skill, of showing initiative, and considering the cost of freedom, was hammer out very well.  As I viewed the whole thing through temporary liberal-colored eyeglasses, it appears to me that this can serve as an excellent intro to these subject for a liberal-leaning newbie.  These are the minds that need to be won.  Congratulations on an excellent program that was well-executed!

I have to say the the line was extremely well-managed from a safety standpoint.  There were only two safety "events" the whole weekend (both being shooters jumping the gun while waiting for the "fire" command, neither involving risk to individuals).  The instructors knew their material, were extremely helpful, all exhibited excellent attitudes, and were extremely locked into safety.  I asked a lot of questions in group sessions and they tolerated them well.

And now the negative side and some hints:
Target feedback (finding out how you shot after shooting a target) could sometimes be strung out too long.  Sometimes we would take an instructional break between shooting the target and the opportunity to see the results.  In one case we shot a whole target and then were dismissed for an hour lunch without being allowed to read the targets.  You just can't keep the snapshots in your mind that long.

On Sunday afternoon at the peak of the heat, the timing of the line commands began to break down.  Prep times ran sometimes long, sometimes short.  Once we were informed that prep time was over, we would sometimes have a long wait (3-5 minutes) before we were called to load and fire for a fixed position or lock safeties and stand for a transitional.  When that happens, you bake in the sun, the loop sling slits your arm's throat  , concentration drifts, you loose contact with your target and your position, and you stop being "mad at the black."

And now a purely emotional, motivational suggestion:  This morning, the day after the event, while I was looking at my target, I happened upon a piece of information that changed my outlook on things entirely, and can serve as an excellent motivational tool, but wasn't used.  If I may be so bold, perhaps it is a result of the great American thought pattern exhibited in the movie Top Gun:  "The plaque for second place is in the ladies' room."  Here it is, quoted from the target:

Qualification:  Unqualified: under 125  Marksman: 125-169
Sharpshooter: 170-209 Expert (Rifleman): 210 or more

I didn't have the time to read the small print until the event was over.

I shot Sharpshooter (182) the first day, before my glasses casualty.  Had I been aware of that little word, I would have approached the second day in an entirely different light.  A young teenage lady on the line qualified on the first day.  I'm sure that little piece of info would have given her a leg up as well.  Yes, we all want to press on for expert, but any little glimmer of hope can be useful in the confidence arena.

So, following my own suggestion - I've got to say the crew did extremely well and I came out with an extremely positive impression of the program.  Thank you, guys, for your excellent attitudes, commitment, and concern!  I'll be working on my techniques and preparing for another round.

Bob

[VAshooter]

Bob,

I would like to thank you for your comments and I'm glad you had a good time. Sorry about the glasses. We will have another Appleseed at C2 in November and we look forward to seeing you there.

If you can't wait that long we will have an Appleseed at Cavalier R & P Club near Richmond in August and one in Buckingham County in September.

We all thank you for coming.

VAshooter

[Bob Womack]

Thanks, guys.  I've been cleaning my 10/22 LTR this afternoon and think I've discovered a possible reason my groups began opening up on Sunday afternoon.  Why this didn't occur to me before totally eludes my tiny mind...  While cleaning, I heard a tiny "chink" sound when I tilted the rifle left and right.  I felt around for anything loose and discovered that the Tech Sites REAR sight group on my rifle was loose.  REALLY loose.  As in, it wiggled freely probably 1/16" when I tilted the rifle left and right.  I had read warnings to avoid over-tightening the screws into the cast aluminum receiver for fear of stripping and warnings to avoid using too much Loc-tite because it would drip through and seize the hammer mechanism.  Gotcha.  Too conservative on the torque and Loc-tite.  It's no wonder I couldn't get a decent group - it was readjusting itself with every shot.  what did Bill say?  4/100s at the rifle end means no bull at 400 meters?

File that one in your head for those times when someone thinks he is conscientiously going through the steps but its just not working.  Check the sights.  I'll get out to the range soon and see if I don't do better.

Bob

[FiremanEd]

Bob,

Thank you for the nice comments and rest assured that we want and heard your concerns as well.

Yes, the C2 Range is one impressive range and the owner and staff where the most hospitable folks one could ever ask to meet.

Thanks for taking that extra effort to get your glasses back up and running Saturday night. I was happy to see you on Sunday morning. That's the attitude that I personally like to see in Americans!

I also want to thank C2 for the use of their range and to all the American Patriots who came out to learn some of their Countries heritage and exercise their rights to learn marksmanship at the same time.

FiremanEd