Harvard, MA Appleseed April 17-18 2010

Priceless!

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Can you believe that some people stayed home because of the weather?

Thanks to everyone that made it possible[cheers], to JohnJ (for the second time as my instructor) and all the instructors in training that helped me I can’t say enough good things about you guys.[thumbsup]
 
OK - I adjusted the link - my bad, please try again

Ross - I'm not sure about your question - I've had an account to view my friend's albums so long I thought it was good for all - I'll check out the bucket site you suggested - I've never paid a dime or gotten spam if that's your concern
 
Sprocket said:
OK - I adjusted the link - my bad, please try again

Ross - I'm not sure about your question - I've had an account to view my friend's albums so long I thought it was good for all - I'll check out the bucket site you suggested - I've never paid a dime or gotten spam if that's your concern
Click to expand...

OK, the link works now; thanks. As for the login... I'd forgotten that I had to set up an account years ago to see another friend's photos. But I still dislike having to set up an account just to see the pictures. [frown] One reason I like photobucket.
 
Out of 90 pre-regs, 56 shooters came and shot in "New England's cruel second winter" on Saturday, and 43 on Sunday. It wasn't really that cold or that wet out but I guess it looked like it might be. Heck, it was probably like a day at a Hawaiian resort for Cathy but one of the BOD members passing through shook his head laughing, "You guys and the weather." Sadly, this was enough to go from five bays down to four. Ten Riflemen were forged, and so many took orange hats and immediately began working (seven, I think) that I ran out of hats again.

Yes, I did float around the bays on Saturday poking my head into Jon, Ross and TOM's business. I got smarter Sunday and told Fred he should do all that running around. I half expected him to disappear to the Bloody Angle for the re-enactment but all reports indicate he stayed on the range cracking the whip. Can't wait for the instructors in the other bays to post about the stuff I didn't get to see.

When the only "Oh bleep!" moment is when the lunch truck thought it was a one day shoot, it's probably a pretty smooth Appleseed. Cindy and Alex: You are directly responsible for Rifleman Dan who, upon eating three of your peanut butter sandwiches, found the will... the resolve... the strength... to eat a fourth sandwich. And then went and got a 210. All of America thanks you!

Actually somebody on one of the other bays shot down one of our fence posts. That probably was an "Oh bleep!" moment too. [rofl]

This being the Jacqui Welles memorial Appleseed, Fred had the excellent idea of calling her as the 15th name in the volley and putting an extra round down range for her. Since the New England Appleseed motto is "WE SHOOT MORE BETTER!" I was happy to oblige and called on the full might of the U.S. space program to get all our watches synchronized. What impressed me most about Jacqui Welles was putting down her rifle immediately after scoring The Score and helping the people around her. That's someone who really gets it. Kaisha, despite months suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous Ed, did the same exact thing, only pausing to tell Ed to go make her a sandwich. To those of you trapped in one-Rifleman relationships, there is Hope and maybe even Change around the corner... only an Appleseed away! In fact, I heard a story about a guy in CT who finally got to stop hearing "Mr. Caitlin" this weekend!

Kaisha wasn't the only rifleman to put down the rifle and help their fellow Americans immediately. Larry and Matt also spent almost all day Sunday instructing.

Most IITs at their first shoot are shy, hesitant speakers who have to work hard to come out of their shells. Todd doesn't have this problem. And boy can this guy work. He was the center of events from Friday to Sunday. And I'm real happy he's not stopping at making two more riflemen. (You're not stopping, right, Todd?) And all this while under the judgemental eye of Fred's car horn...

The coolest Appleseed family I've met got even bigger this weekend with Izzy, and I'll leave it to Larry to post about what a good team they made. Next appleseed this crew shows up at is not over until one of them makes Rifleman.

I wish I had enough time to write about every shooter in this Appleseed, but you'll all forgive me if I use up the rest of the shoot AAR on Ted. This guy rolled up in a wheelchair and spent Saturday finding the best ways to shoot out of it. Sunday, he decided that wouldn't be accurate enough and found the best way to shoot with his elbows on the ground. He would've toughed it out in that spot all day no matter what the weather. If his rifle and scope weren't finding new ways to break all the time, he would've been shooting way over 210. Ted: Get the scope settled in, work on dry firing with a good follow through, and we'll get her done in Leyden in a few weeks.

Before I send shooters to their last AQT I ask what we've been harping on them to fix lately to make sure they understand what they have to bring home with them to think about individually. I ask the Riflemen and instructors what the last thing they fixed was. Fred's was: "There's only two things all of you need to do. Relax and do what you're told!"

A number of our attendees (instructors and shooters, past and present) proceeded to hop on a bus to DC for the Second Amendment March without even stopping home. Hell yeah!

I somehow managed to wake up and make it to Lexington at dawn on Monday. Felt a little out of place with a watery eye in a crowd of inanely chattering teenagers, but that's what we're trying to change here, right? After the battle three guys came running from the street with WWF style signs:

"BOIL THE LOBSTAH"
"WHO WANTS TO BE A REGULAR? NOBODY!"
"CAPTAIN PARKER FOR MVP"

They came down the hill, yelling "Better luck next year, boys!" [rofl]

We met another Appleseeder at the North Bridge from Texas who was one of the originals. This guy must've been tough, 'cause Fred didn't make any Texas jokes around him. Acton, Westford, and Sudbury, and Bedford (at least) march from their towns to the North Bridge for the parade. A Bedford Minuteman died that morning marching... his name was Neil Hill. We tried to catch up to the Middlesex County Volunteers so Fred could hit on CortJestir's wife, but they either heard he was coming or had another gig because not a single one was to be found at the end of the parade eating balogna sandwiches. Anybody up for marching in this parade with an RWVA banner and some M1A's next year?

Colonel Barrett's farm was open to the public for a rare open house during restoration. We checked out the muster room where the militia met, the kitchen (at least I guessed it was the kitchen) where Mrs. B cooked breakfast, and the attic where kegs of lead ball were missed by a rather triumphant looking grenadier if the photograph was correct... that breakfast must've really hit the spot.

The Concord Museum had Abner Hosmer's powder horn (still with the strap!), Amos Barrett's powder horn, Nathaniel Barrett's sword, Major Buttrick's pistols, Joseph Hosmer's furniture, one of the two signal lanterns from the Old North Church, and an original Paul Revere engraving of the Boston Massacre. Fred found some colonial ladies in Hartwell's tavern to sarge, but he needs a better pickup line than "Did you know Paul Revere was responsible for the deaths at Lexington?" Maybe KoolAid and HollywoodMarine can help him out with that...

All in all, no casualties except a fence post. 10 Riflemen, 7 IITs, going up and down Battle Road four times in 8 days with 13 different people... Not too shabby! Too bad we didn't have 30 more people to teach.
 
wow Cindy great pictures!
I was glad the moment I was baptized in North Bridge water is captured in time forever.

Guys this is great and it was great to see you all and be inspired by you all.

Crak is not joking at all about those 4 sandwiches either...
 
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crak said:
Anybody up for marching in this parade with an RWVA banner and some M1A's next year?
Click to expand...

DUDE! As long as I am not at sea, I am right there with you Brother.

I may have a shiny new Special Grade M1 Garand by them...
 
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crak said:
Kaisha, despite months suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous Ed, did the same exact thing, only pausing to tell Ed to go make her a sandwich.
Click to expand...

It's a great thing to no longer have to hear "ya cook" come out of Ed's mouth any longer. It made earning the patch that much more sweeter.

crak said:
Anybody up for marching in this parade with an RWVA banner and some M1A's next year?
Click to expand...

Count me in!!
 
In and i already got the M1A.

To speak more about Ted shooting on our line, his hands were actually blue and shaking cause he was cold and shrugged off any help offered. I think with a tuned trigger and warm weather he can shoot 210 in a position that is less table than prone.
 
Ted was a joy - I saw him sitting there frowning and rocking to keep warm - I walked up and ask him how he shot, he'd look up smiling and say, "Better than last time" - he said it damn near every time. His rifle was giving him fits for sure but I'm willing to bet he's searching out a few tricks for next time - between his skills from building a 1911 from scratch and the links on RimfireCentral I'm sure his rifle will be tricked out and solid for next time.

Now as for his skill level, I saw some wide patterns get pretty tight until the rifle started acting up - even when his scope shifted he was making Kentucky Windage adjustments and getting fair groups. He really worked hard to find the right position that would work for him and although he was having difficulty with reloads, he got pretty quick by lunch on Sunday.
 
Ted is the man! i saw him shivvering so i offered him my outer shell, and he said he was fine. Then he said something to the afffect of, if i get threw this, i'll shoot way better when it's warm!
 
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crak said:
A number of our attendees (instructors and shooters, past and present) proceeded to hop on a bus to DC for the Second Amendment March without even stopping home. Hell yeah!
Click to expand...

Not to high jack the thread, but this one is for you crak, I know you wanted to be there.

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Hey Guys! Harvard was awesome! Getting ready for Leyden already. I am in the middle of polishing my trigger group on my 10/22 now. I just want to thank everyone for the advice and all the help this weekend.

-Ted
 
I had a great time and I learned a lot. Can't wait to learn more at the next Harvard Appleseed Shoot.
Maybe someday, I'll shoot a 236 like RIjake. You'd never know we hadn't seen each other for 19 years.
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Question, Although I may have shot rifleman I attribute it to blind luck. My Average AQT was in the 180s. My goal is to get the average above 210 and below 251. I'd like to get some more real practice but range time is difficult to come by and somewhat expensive by my cheap standards. My solution, a pellet rifle. My backyard range will be probably 25-30 feet. Roughly 1/3rd of the 25 meter line. I figure I can print off the targets at 33% size to get the appropriate 100/200/300/400 yard size representations. Does this seem accurate? So basically the 300 yard target at 25 meter line will be the 100 yard target at 25 feet.
 
freedominnumbers said:
Question, Although I may have shot rifleman I attribute it to blind luck. My Average AQT was in the 180s. My goal is to get the average above 210 and below 251. I'd like to get some more real practice but range time is difficult to come by and somewhat expensive by my cheap standards. My solution, a pellet rifle. My backyard range will be probably 25-30 feet. Roughly 1/3rd of the 25 meter line. I figure I can print off the targets at 33% size to get the appropriate 100/200/300/400 yard size representations. Does this seem accurate? So basically the 300 yard target at 25 meter line will be the 100 yard target at 25 feet.
Click to expand...

I will recommend you continue to shoot as much as possible - the pellet gun option is where I actually started many years ago - I used spent 12 ga shotgun shells at as far as I could see - scaled sniping - In the end we tried to hit the bases of the shells to make them fly as high as we could, secondary points for how far back we could make them jump

but pellets cost money

For FREE you can practice inside your own home - yes free, gratis, pro bono, etc.

Simply get into position, find your NPOA and dry fire while calling your shots - yes, calling the shot, remember? Suitable targets include but are not limited to:
receptacles
light switches
cats
1" squares taped to the wall
redcoats taped to the wall
random objects of choice
etc.

The important part is to practice all 6 steps, including NPOA skills - actually firing is secondary - if you do the former, the latter becomes easier and easier.

Also, you mentioned your score - I commend you on wanting an average score above 210 - I personally strove to break 210 twice in the same day and did.
 
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Your math is about right. Depending how kosher you want it to be, 25 meters is actually 82 feet, so you'll want to reduce to 30.5% instead of 33% to shoot at 25 feet.

Sprocket's also right about dry firing.
 
MrBB said:
I am in the middle of polishing my trigger group on my 10/22 now.
Click to expand...

Here is the drop in hammer i was talking about at the appleseed. I don't have any of the equipment to properly stone my hammer, and i don't trust myself on a regular stone, so i opted for buying something. It's cheap enough, and makes a HUGE improvement. My girlfriend was shooting a borrowed rifle that has the stock hammer in it, and it was very heavy compared to mine.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=163143

btw, it's made by Volquartsen. I had thought i pronounced it right, but some people were asking me if i had said Volquartsen. as Todd mentioned, i mostly see people refer to them as Volq.
 
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