Appleseed in Stuart

[lunghd]

I would like to thank all the instructors, the range host & co-attendees at the Appleseed for their extreme patience with a nearly blind dad & his very nervous young son! It was great to meet each of you & the learning was worth much more than the few $$$ paid for attendance.

Having a third party work with my son was fantastic - it took the pressure off of him and allowed him to end the first day hopping up & down to come back the second day. Now that the ice has been broken - he'll be much more at ease going with me to a local range to plink at targets.

Thanks again to everyone involved! I'll see ya'll again at another one!

To anyone who is 'on the fence' about attending - GO. You can read, study & practice 'your way'... or you can go somewhere and learn how to do things right.

Appleseeds will teach you how to do things right!

[Son of Martha]

Welcome aboard!  Glad you were able to spend time with us.  Look forward to seeing you in the future.

SoM

[RifleWoman]

Thanks for your wonderful comments.  I think that should go on the web page 

[Old Dog]

In spite of the heat and so on there were some bright spots in these 2 days.

Swampfox ironed out an issue he was having with his M1 (cheek to stock contact was beating him up resulting in group size issues - hard to hold it close and tight when it's beating you sore) and changed his firing hand hold and cheek weld.  By the end of the first day he had his Rifleman patch with a score of 218 (go ahead and smack me if I didn't remember it correctly).  He continued to shoot well the rest of the Appleseed.

Lunghd worked hard all weekend on his technique and group size.  Talk about perservering!  In spite of the heat and other issues (he's right handed but had to shoot left handed and borrowed a rifle so his son could use his).  He shot with his glasses, without his glasses, the front sight came loose on the borrowed rifle (sometimes even locktite fails) and yet he kept on working with us. 

His son had his own personal instructor most of the day Saturday (thanks Atticus) and fired his first rounds out of a rifle ever at this Appleseed.  After the range session (slightly different location than the main firing line) with Atticus he was so pumped up that lunghd reported he was bounding up and down and saying, "I wanna go back tomorrow, I wanna go back tomorrow, I wanna go back tomorrow!" when they got to the motel Saturday evening.  I know most of the time we may not have the luxury of enough instructors to do this but sometimes we do and after all, that's the idea right?  Introducing new shooters to the sport and getting them pumped up about shooting.

The shooter on the far left (sorry, I don't remember your name right now) with the AR showed improvement over the course of day one but had prior commitments for day 2 and could not make it back.

The temperature was pretty hot during the day with no breeze Saturday and only a little breeze Sunday.  In spite of the frequent breaks one person left prior to lunch Saturday.  Sunday ended early (just about lunch time) when the last shooters decided it was just too hot to continue to get benefit from excessive  perspiration, heat, burning eyes (sweat does that) and shooting.

I don't remember it being that hot last year (Stuart was my first Appleseed - took my youngest son to it last year - same weekend in September) but we were in the lower field which was narrower and probably was shaded more in the morning and earlier in the afternoon.

Folks, look it over, if I left out anything or mistated anything chime in and correct me.

Thanks for showing up.  Take some of you buddies shooting, show 'em what you learned (now that you can outshoot 'em) and do your best to get them to come to another Appleseed with you.

[VAshooter]

I got to Mountain Loggers range near Stuart, VA early Saturday morning. We put up an awning which it turned out was a welcome bit of shade in a hot sunny field. In no time we had the cardboard hung and targets posted. Everyone expected cool mountain temperatures but it was in the 90's both days with hot sun.

I didn't get involved in the sign-in so I'm not sure exactly what the count was but we never seemed to have more than six on the line at one time. We had a young boy of about nine who was extremly gun shy. He just could not handle the noise of a 30 cal rifle so Atticus took him to a separate range where he learned to fire the 10/22. He came back in the evening of the first day with a smile on his face. His father had astigmatism issues that made it very difficult for him to maintain sight alignment, sight picture or to focus on the front sight. He would shoot a good two or three shots and have a couple fliers. He was so concerned with his vision problems that he didn't pay much attention to his trigger control. I'm not sure if we helped him or not. Just when we would think he had it his group would open up again.

One gentleman had health problems and started feeling bad about noon on Saturday. He gave it up and left the rest of us to simmer in the heat. I felt bad because he was listening and seemed to be picking up the points on his position and the six steps. Another shooter fired the entire day Saturday and improved his groups but was not able to return on Sunday.

The shade covered the target line while the firing line was in the sun. This slowed the pace down as the shooters and instructors seemed to want to stand by the targets and discuss the groups until they were called back to the line for the next relay. No one seemed to want to get back to the line to shoot.

One young man showed up shooting well and with a couple hints which improved his position was shooting one hole groups on the squares with a Garand. He left with a Rifleman Patch. I think there were three shooters on the line at that time so 33 percent made Rifleman.

I called the line while Mountain Logger, M1A4ME and Atticus walked the line as safety officers and coached. It was a small turnout but I saw improvement in most shooters. Mountain Loggers new range will be in the shade most of the time and that will be great. The unusually warm weather slowed us down and caused most students to leave before the end of the second day of instruction. We all want to thank Mountain Logger and his wife for opening up their land for us to use.

Doug in Virginia
VAshooter

[lunghd]

I'm not sure if we helped him or not. Just when we would think he had it his group would open up again.

Yes - it helped immensely. Just having the procedure to work on at the local range helps but knowing that I can (occassionally) get a decent group before having things fly away tells me that it's something I'm doing. Sure - my vision is horrible but if I can eliminate my inconsistencies things will improve.

Besides - having my son 'break the ice' without dad breathing down his back was worth it all!

(Next year I vote we build a giant dome and air condition the entire field.  )

[VAshooter]

Sounds good to me. We just have to talk Mountain Logger into building the dome.

Doug in Virginia
VAshooter

[atticus]

Here are a few pictures of the Stuart Appleseed courtesy of Prepared Family.

If you missed this year, I highly recommend attending next year.  The farm is beautiful and hosts make it a very enjoyable experience.

Atticus

[Emmpress Oakley]

Nice deal as always, tho no rain ......lol

[Old Dog]

Appleseed t-shirts.  I was moving some stuff around in the building and came across a container of stuff Colonial Shooter "gave" me before he left.  I'd forgotten there were some Appleseed shirts in there along with all the paperwork.

lunghd, let me know what size shirts you need for you and your son.  I'll check to see what sizes are in there and if I have the right sizes I can mail them to you.  PM me with your name and address I'll get them in the mail to you if I have the right sizes.

swampfox, same deal.

All the two day attendees should get a t-shirt.