My wife and I had a great time. Thanks to everyone who had a hand in putting this on. I wish we had done both days.
It was nice to see some fellow NES'ers and Derek.
A few comments:
It was chilly in the morning but once the sun got up over the trees, it warmed up nicely. When we got to the AQTs, my first was nice except for all the extra holes in it from a gent who got mixed up on where his target was. Looking at it and taking what I figure was his shots out, it would have scored higher than 210. Oh well...
The Winchendon Club's range is very nice. It's grass which makes picking up brass easy and no dust. Lunch was provided by the club which was included in the $5 range fee!
My wife had a great time. Her shooting experience amounts to going out in the woods with my years ago maybe once or twice, a pumpkin shoot 2 years ago and an LTC cert course taken last year. She still isn't licensed.
I was surprised that she wanted to do the Appleseed when I asked her about it. She did make it clear that she only wanted to do one day. I think she agreed to come just to humor me but what the heck.
We got up at about 5:30am and made it out of town at 6:20. It took us about an hour and forty five minutes to get to the range. Once there, we got checked in and had a safety briefing. Everyone then brought their equipment to the line.
My wife has never fired a 10/22 before so I gave her a quick run down on it's operation and showed her how to clear malfunction. The instructors were all made aware that she wasn't a shooter and they kept an eye out for her. A big thanks to MrTwigg (Dennis) who was on our end of the line.
Barb made some pretty good shots over the course of the day. I know she was leery about the whole thing but the more she shot, the more fun she had. And it helped having so many other women there. She did get frustrated once. She thought she had a jamb and kept racking live rounds out of the rifle. I saw her out of the corner of my eye and asked her what was going on. She told me "The trigger won't work!" She forgot the safety. I had been telling her all morning "Flat to fire" (safety) but she forgot. She did have one failure to eject and Dennis helped her with that.
Barb didn't make Rifleman but she did have a good time and Appleseed has given her a solid foundation to build on and confidence to continue to shoot.
Some of Barb's comments:
"If you don't shoot Rifleman today, do you have to give them your patch back?" NO!
"Boy, that was fun!"
"Why do they allow scopes? That's not fair. I want one." I explained to her that excluding scopes would exclude a whole lot of people who need them or wouldn't otherwise shoot and Appleseed is about getting people out to shoot, exercise their civil rights and spread what they learn. I also explained that shooting with iron sights is one of the basics of riflery. She understood and will stay with iron sights but said this, "OK. I see why they allow scopes but I think whoever uses them should have to score higher."
"We should have done the second day too. We could have gotten a motel room." I could have sworn that I suggested that back when I asked her if she wanted to do this
But she had such a good time, she wanted another day of it.
"I'm a little sore and tired."
"I'm happy we didn't do the second day!" This was said as she slowly walked down the stairs when she got out of bed the next morning!
I'm hooked on Appleseed and I think my wife is too!
Thanks again, everyone!