Geneseo1911
Member
I attended my first Appleseed this weekend, and thought I'd give a little report & some publicity for the program. I think everyone here knows what Appleseed is about, but if not, it is well worth learning about. If anyone is on the fence about going, I'd tell you to jump at the chance.
Our shoot was held in Bloomington, IL, at Darnall's Gun Works & Range. I have to give a hat tip to www.gunssavelife.com, otherwise known as the Champaign County Rifle Assn, and the Sangamon County Rifle Assn. These groups paid the range fees for our weekend.
I was amazed at what I learned. By noon on Saturday, I had progressed from shooting 6" groups from prone (all our shooting was from 25 meters) to 1". This was with a 19" Ruger 10/22 with iron sights (okay, they were Tech Sights, not the crappy factory ones), and several thousand rounds through it, with Federal American Eagle ammo.
On Sunday, we concentrated mainly on shooting AQT's, and my score was steadily improving. By noon Sunday, I was within 20 points of the coveted Rifleman patch. Finally, on the very last target I shot (most everyone else had left), I made it. 215 points!
I was very surprised by how much I learned, how much my shooting improved, and how hard it was to reach the Rifleman level. All in all, it was WELL worth the time & money spent.
I really have no complaints, although I wish we had moved a bit faster on Satuday. That said, some people were still struggling to keep up. My advice to anyone going to an Appleseed is to have your rifle basically squared away before you go. Test several brands of ammo until you find one that is consistent; this is absolutely critical if you are shooting a .22LR. A father-son pair brought CCI Stingers (the only .22 ammo they could find), and couldn't get their rifles sighted in. Because of this, they couldn't follow along with the instruction, and got lost. I would also recommend having your rifle zeroed at 25 meters. Several guys spent their whole day trying to figure out where their bullets were going, and again, didn't learn anything.
Anyway, I'm very, very proud to be able to say that I've joined the rank of Riflemen, and would encourage anyone who enjoys shooting to attend an Appleseed.
Our shoot was held in Bloomington, IL, at Darnall's Gun Works & Range. I have to give a hat tip to www.gunssavelife.com, otherwise known as the Champaign County Rifle Assn, and the Sangamon County Rifle Assn. These groups paid the range fees for our weekend.
I was amazed at what I learned. By noon on Saturday, I had progressed from shooting 6" groups from prone (all our shooting was from 25 meters) to 1". This was with a 19" Ruger 10/22 with iron sights (okay, they were Tech Sights, not the crappy factory ones), and several thousand rounds through it, with Federal American Eagle ammo.
On Sunday, we concentrated mainly on shooting AQT's, and my score was steadily improving. By noon Sunday, I was within 20 points of the coveted Rifleman patch. Finally, on the very last target I shot (most everyone else had left), I made it. 215 points!
I was very surprised by how much I learned, how much my shooting improved, and how hard it was to reach the Rifleman level. All in all, it was WELL worth the time & money spent.
I really have no complaints, although I wish we had moved a bit faster on Satuday. That said, some people were still struggling to keep up. My advice to anyone going to an Appleseed is to have your rifle basically squared away before you go. Test several brands of ammo until you find one that is consistent; this is absolutely critical if you are shooting a .22LR. A father-son pair brought CCI Stingers (the only .22 ammo they could find), and couldn't get their rifles sighted in. Because of this, they couldn't follow along with the instruction, and got lost. I would also recommend having your rifle zeroed at 25 meters. Several guys spent their whole day trying to figure out where their bullets were going, and again, didn't learn anything.
Anyway, I'm very, very proud to be able to say that I've joined the rank of Riflemen, and would encourage anyone who enjoys shooting to attend an Appleseed.
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