I'm sure pretty much everyone here has heard of Appleseed and I'm probably only the 100th some person to post about their experience there, but here goes anyways.
I'd heard them mentioned on here and read the NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01Appleseed-t.html) that tried to make them out to be a dangerous right wing militia. I thought it sounded interesting, I can definitely use coaching, and after checking Google I found there was an Appleseed less than 2 hours away. So I signed up and went last weekend.
First off, I don't know what in God's name the NY Times article was talking about. All they did the first day was give marksmanship instruction and a short history lesson on what they called The Three Strikes at Lexington and Concord that kicked off the war; the three strikes being the Lexington Green, the bridge next to Concord, and the third strike being when the militia fired on the British leaving Concord. The history of how the Revolutionary War began is dangerous and right wing?
All they did on the 2nd day was AQTs and coach, no history lessons.
The marksmanship training was excellent IMHO. The only shooting I'd done prior was prone with sandbags and very, very little prone unsupported. I had shot standing up, but only at targets that were 50 yards or less away. They taught natural point of aim vs muscling onto the target, using the sling to steady your rifle, getting into the proper prone position, kneeling, sitting, and standing positions, etc. I'd never been shown how to use a sling before and had only heard about natural point of aim in relation to pistol shooting. There was also a good deal of repetition, ball and dummy drill, 'carding the sights' to check if you're using natural point of aim, and so on.
The range was only 25 meters, which is a good thing since I think only one guy brought something other than a 22LR. There were a LOT of 10/22s and a couple of evil black rifles; someone had a SU-22 (I think that's what it's called), someone had the Archangel 10/22 stock, there was one of those GSG 22LR MP5s out there, and I brought my CMMG dedicated 22LR upper.
I kinda cheated in using a scope, but so did a couple other people, and with my eyesight I can barely see a 300 yard full size silhouette, let alone a head and shoulders one at 400 yards. The new CMMG 22LR upper doesn't have a sling mount on the gas block so I had to use my sling that doesn't need mount points to attach. That sling was made more for carrying the rifle around than for wrapping your support arm up in, but I made do with it.
I ended up shooting right about 300 rounds, but I also left at lunchtime on the 2nd day. It rained most of both days and I had to lay in a puddle the 2nd day while shooting. I discovered the zippers of my wet weather top and bottom aren't water proof. At least my bag and ammo stayed relatively dry inside the tarp I wrapped them up in.
5 of the 35 or so attendees made rifleman, including myself. One of the women there out shot everyone else on the AQTs. Only 15 - 20 people showed up on the 2nd day and all 5 rifleman scores were on the 2nd day. They only got to one AQT round at the very end of the first day.
Of the 3 AQTs I did before I left early I got 191, 214, and 196. That 210 is tough to get.
Ironically, my Rifleman was had on the 2nd round even though I miscounted and shot the left side target on the 2nd row 6 times and the right side one 4 times. I'm happy with it.
Despite the rain it was still a good time and an excellent learning experience. I'd highly recommend Appleseed and after my "investigation" I'd say the NY Times is a sensationalist POS rag. Course, their article probably caused numerous other curious people to sign up for an Appleseed just like I did.
Lessons learned:
bring a wet weather top and bottom (at least I got that right)
bring a tarp or two (got that half right)
bring a rubber mat or two, something like this http://www.discount-mats.com/24seven.html (really wish I'd have done that)
If/when I go to another one I'm going to try and get to one when it's nice out. It would have been a much more fun experience if it'd been dry out. Going to the range in the rain and laying in a puddle was way too much like going to the range at work.
I'd heard them mentioned on here and read the NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01Appleseed-t.html) that tried to make them out to be a dangerous right wing militia. I thought it sounded interesting, I can definitely use coaching, and after checking Google I found there was an Appleseed less than 2 hours away. So I signed up and went last weekend.
First off, I don't know what in God's name the NY Times article was talking about. All they did the first day was give marksmanship instruction and a short history lesson on what they called The Three Strikes at Lexington and Concord that kicked off the war; the three strikes being the Lexington Green, the bridge next to Concord, and the third strike being when the militia fired on the British leaving Concord. The history of how the Revolutionary War began is dangerous and right wing?
All they did on the 2nd day was AQTs and coach, no history lessons.The marksmanship training was excellent IMHO. The only shooting I'd done prior was prone with sandbags and very, very little prone unsupported. I had shot standing up, but only at targets that were 50 yards or less away. They taught natural point of aim vs muscling onto the target, using the sling to steady your rifle, getting into the proper prone position, kneeling, sitting, and standing positions, etc. I'd never been shown how to use a sling before and had only heard about natural point of aim in relation to pistol shooting. There was also a good deal of repetition, ball and dummy drill, 'carding the sights' to check if you're using natural point of aim, and so on.
The range was only 25 meters, which is a good thing since I think only one guy brought something other than a 22LR. There were a LOT of 10/22s and a couple of evil black rifles; someone had a SU-22 (I think that's what it's called), someone had the Archangel 10/22 stock, there was one of those GSG 22LR MP5s out there, and I brought my CMMG dedicated 22LR upper.
I kinda cheated in using a scope, but so did a couple other people, and with my eyesight I can barely see a 300 yard full size silhouette, let alone a head and shoulders one at 400 yards. The new CMMG 22LR upper doesn't have a sling mount on the gas block so I had to use my sling that doesn't need mount points to attach. That sling was made more for carrying the rifle around than for wrapping your support arm up in, but I made do with it.
I ended up shooting right about 300 rounds, but I also left at lunchtime on the 2nd day. It rained most of both days and I had to lay in a puddle the 2nd day while shooting. I discovered the zippers of my wet weather top and bottom aren't water proof. At least my bag and ammo stayed relatively dry inside the tarp I wrapped them up in.
5 of the 35 or so attendees made rifleman, including myself. One of the women there out shot everyone else on the AQTs. Only 15 - 20 people showed up on the 2nd day and all 5 rifleman scores were on the 2nd day. They only got to one AQT round at the very end of the first day.
Of the 3 AQTs I did before I left early I got 191, 214, and 196. That 210 is tough to get.
Ironically, my Rifleman was had on the 2nd round even though I miscounted and shot the left side target on the 2nd row 6 times and the right side one 4 times. I'm happy with it.
Despite the rain it was still a good time and an excellent learning experience. I'd highly recommend Appleseed and after my "investigation" I'd say the NY Times is a sensationalist POS rag. Course, their article probably caused numerous other curious people to sign up for an Appleseed just like I did.
Lessons learned:
bring a wet weather top and bottom (at least I got that right)
bring a tarp or two (got that half right)
bring a rubber mat or two, something like this http://www.discount-mats.com/24seven.html (really wish I'd have done that)
If/when I go to another one I'm going to try and get to one when it's nice out. It would have been a much more fun experience if it'd been dry out. Going to the range in the rain and laying in a puddle was way too much like going to the range at work.
