Appleseed AAR…

I will just say I highly recommend it!!!

Five instructors, 4 men/1woman; all very knowledgable and patient! 15 students ranging from 8 years old, two 10 year olds, three women, up to me as the old fart…

I’d estimate each instructor had put in 120+ hours to get to the top level, and they give up an average of 1-2 weekends a month to do this, so COMMITMENT in addition to the expense and loss of family time means these folks truly care.

And they are all volunteers!!!

Basically a 4:1 ratio student to instructor, lots of good demo’s on both the M1907 sling and the M-1 style web slings.

I shot with an M1907, since that is what I’m more used to…

They teach the military way to rig both slings, so if you’ve had that training, you’ll be a leg up, otherwise, go look for Blackfork’s videos on you tube about sling rigging!

They worked with folks to find the best ‘positions’ for prone, sitting/kneeling, and offhand (standing) positions.  Having said this, they didn’t try to ‘force’ you into the classic military positions, but worked to get you comfortable (yeah, I ‘know’ comfortable and prone/sitting don’t necessarily go together) and provide constructive criticism where they noted problem areas.

The targets were reduced for the 25m range, and challenging enough to make one work HARD to do things right.  Yesterday was primarily working the basics, a little bit of ‘timing’ (yes, the qualifications ARE timed), and a practice Army Qualification Target (AQT). 

You will need at least two mags, and if you’re shooting an AR, get some 20 round mags.  If you’re shooting .22s or other, try to get at least one 10 round mag.

I’d gotten sloppy on a couple of things, and they pointed those out to me; one of my ‘worst’ was not chicken winging enough on the offhand and dropping the rifle butt too far into the shoulder (Too many years of shooting higher power rifles). 

The history of the battles at Lexington and Concord were used to break up the day into manageable chunks, and give folks a bit of a history lesson (sadly one that is no longer taught in school).  Apparently today’s text books give about 3 sentances or maybe 3 paragraphs total…

Sadly, today I wimped out, I was simply hurting too badly in the neck/back to even try to shoot. I was not about to jeopardize others by doing something stupid to ‘manage’ my pain and lose attention to detail.  On the positive side, I did get some errors brought to my attention, and things to work on, AND info for my surgeon on how badly my back/neck are really screwed up…

The “reference” books are presented below:

I’ve ordered both of them, as the last two days have rekindled my interest in that time, and I know that I’m going to have to ‘teach’ my grandson the real history… Sigh…

Again, HIGHLYrecommend you go do an Appleseed, it will be worth you time, regardless of your proficency level (well, unless you’re somebody like Blackfork), and you’ll learn a bit too!!!

Thanks for the invite .45ACP, truly enjoyed meeting you and your lovely wife! And thank you for doing this for all of us!

Comments

Appleseed AAR… — 23 Comments

  1. Sounds wonderful! (Except for the pain part). Nobody is too good or too experienced to not need a training refresher occasionally. It will do me a lot of good.

  2. Glad to see you appreciated the history, it is harder to measure unless they do like you did, buy the books. I recommend “Fusiliers: The saga of a British Redcoat Regiment in the American Revolution” by Mark Urban – since they were two of the flank companies in Colonel Smith’s mission to Concord. Then all the way to Yorktown, realizing that British officers get assignments away, but stay in their regiment.

    Pain, sorry, one of the things that will happen with lack of young growth hormones and fool attitude – both which burn out too quick. Dry fire positions regularly, do get a doctor to check deep – But I find they look at you strangely when you say what you want to do, how you always could before.

    I also recommend more range time with friends that can shoot well, and more Appleseeds as you can prepare for them.

    I like the people that come to learn, prove it to themselves and stick around to pass it along. Still sometimes age and medical reasons will slow you down – that is why you pass it on! That grandson. Posterity!

  3. Too bad about the neck/back pain. I use an old school (Palmer) chiropractor. No X-rays, etc. Just lie face down and pow, pow ,pow. Hurts, but the next day after a nights sleep I’m on top of the world.

  4. Carteach- It was well worth it!

    Earl- I’ll add that one to the reading list! And yeah getting old sucks…

    WSF- I’m looking at surgery at this point…

  5. Thanks NFO.
    We had a church planning meeting today and when the Men’s Shoot ’em Up was brought up, I mentioned that I had been looking into Appleseed.
    The pastor detailed me to look into it and report back.
    This helps.

  6. Sorry you’re hurting & hope you feel better, very soon.

    Went to the range myself today & they were holding an Appleseed there, as well. Looked interesting, but it was really crowded & I didn’t know about until I was heading out.

  7. I think the history part of it is really nice.
    I’m looking forward to going as soon as my schedule settles down. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of fun adapting to the ‘kneeling’ position as my knees are shot, but I’m sure they’ll accommodate me.
    My wife wants to go, too, but not to shoot. She wants to go to meet the people, and hear the history!
    Good job, NFO!

  8. Really happy you enjoyed it. As I said in your earlier post, Appleseed is for everyone and unless you are David Tubb, you’ll probably come away learning something. I think it is the best training out there and the way the history is taught is second to none.

    I’ve progressed to Instructor in Training 3 (there are 5 total levels prior to “full” instructor) and as you say, the instruction and dedication of the volunteers is superb. I keep getting more enthused by the program with every event I instruct at.

    Kris

  9. I planning an Applseed in May and hope to be able to take my 1o year old grandson with me. I have a Ruger 10 22 and am looking for him a rrifle also. I’ll take any suggestion on what to get him.

    About the history being taught today my Wife asked my 13 year old grand daughter (7th grade) to bring her history book home so we could see what was in it. We were told she was not allowed to take the book out of the school and when Debbie offered to go to the school to see the book we were told we could not do that either. Kinda scary huh?

  10. Sounds like a great trip! There are a number of Appleseed events in Eastern Iowa this year, sounds like I need to free up a couple of days.

    Sorry about the back – been there, done that, still gotta watch it. Something here, my chiro has a specific set of machines to exercise very specific muscle sets. It has made a real difference. If you want any info on thatt, drop a note.

    Thanks again for the detailed AAR, I appreciate it.

  11. I’m glad you had a good time. I may have to keep an eye out for this if it’s in the area.

  12. OldNFO, you were a pleasure to have with us this weekend. I welcome your enthusiasm and participation with us. Somehow, I keep meeting “friends I never knew” on the range. I hope your surgeon can get you straightened out and we can finish what you started. Now that you know where to find us, come on back and don’t be a stranger. I look forward to our next opportunity to convert perfectly good ammunition into noise and smoke. Thanks also for the enthusiastic write up. Word of mouth is our best advertising.

  13. “and dropping the rifle butt too far into the shoulder (Too many years of shooting higher power rifles).”

    I have the opposite problem: from shooting the M16/AR15 so much, I have a tendency to keep the bottom tip of the buttstock on my clavicle. It’s not fun to do this when shooting a Mosin or Remmy 700 in .300 Win Mag.

    I hope you get some pain relief soon!

  14. You will need at least two mags, and if you’re shooting an AR, get some 20 round mags.

    Which is silly, since it prevents you from using the gun’s built-in monopod, but rules are rules. 😉

  15. I highly recommend one of Fisher’s other books to you as well; “Washington’s Crossing”. It made me really think about the kind of people who won the liberties currently being trampled afoot.
    Good on ya for Appleseed!
    I can appreciate the spinal “issues” having worn down all of the cartilage in my neck (something endemic to Boat Guys, apparently). I’m avoiding surgery (so far) with the help of a VERY good Physical Therapist. I wouldn’t let a Chiroprator near me, though…

  16. Before you commit to surgery, I would recommend seeing a “NUCCA: chiropractor. Go to http://www.nucca.org/
    for information and to find a Dr in your area.

    I have gone to a conventional chiropractor (28 years same Dr) who is very good at 95% of things. Recently started seeing a NUCCA Dr, who is also very good, “and first visit fixed a problem other Dr had worked on for months with no results. Neither one seems to be able to fix “everything”

    If you google NUCCA you will find a lot of negative comments. All I can say is it helped me, and quite a few people I know. If it works it works. If it doesn’t, it won’t do damage, and you can always get your surgery. Probably find a lot of negative comments about back/neck surgery on google as well.

  17. Ed- Glad I could help.

    Snigs- It’s worth it!

    drjim- She’ll end up shooting too… 🙂

    Kris- Thanks, and keep up the good work!

    Andy- Do it! 🙂

    Tommy- I’d look at borrowing a 10/22 for him, those seem to ‘fit’ the kids pretty well. Two of the kids this weekend were shooting 10/22s. Re the wife’s comment, yeah it IS scary!

    Eia- I’ll take ALL the help I can get.

    45er- Do it. 🙂

    DT- Nope, hosed the sitting (only got 3 rounds off)

    Julie- It was worth it, pain and all!

    45ACP- Back at ya, and I just call em like I see em…

    Ctone- THAT would leave an owie… 🙂 And Doc appt tomorrow…

    Tam- True, but when you’re a short lady, with short arms, that 30 round monopod makes it a ‘tad’ hard… 🙂

    Boat Guy- Yeah, aviators and boat people… 🙂 Thanks for the Fisher recommendation, I’ll pick it up too!

    Hank- Thanks, I’m checking ALL options at this point.

  18. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I really want to go to another Appleseed. Looks like Michael will be taking his brother to the next one for some quality time with the little bro. I s’pose I shouldn’t intrude and show up little bro 😉
    again.
    Sorry you couldn’t make day two. It’s pretty awesome too.