Winchendon, MA Appleseed Oct 11-12

[AK panda]

Had a great time over the weekend. Got to sharpen my skills and creeping up on the coveted Rifleman score! Buzzworth was a superb shoot boss and had great assistance by Dwarven1, Mr. Twigg and my pal from Michigan (shall we call him Mr. Redhot?) Nickle oversaw the show to make sure everything got covered.
The only negative was Doober's rifle shot out an ejector so she had to use a loaner. It's at the shop getting fixed already so should be ready for Middlebury.
The pics are great - thanks for posting them!

 

[Twigg]

Had a great time over the weekend. Got to sharpen my skills and creeping up on the coveted Rifleman score! Buzzworth was a superb shoot boss and had great assistance by Dwarven1, Mr. Twigg and my pal from Michigan (shall we call him Mr. Redhot?) Nickle oversaw the show to make sure everything got covered.
The only negative was Doober's rifle shot out an ejector so she had to use a loaner. It's at the shop getting fixed already so should be ready for Middlebury.
The pics are great - thanks for posting them!

Welcome to the forun AK panda ! Good luck in Middlebury !

 

[Steve_P]

I just wanted to thank the club and all the volunteers that put this event on.
Aimee and I had a great time on Saturday. We definitley wish we could have come back for Sunday.
We will definitely be attending again in the future. I also have a few people that I have gotten interested in attending as well.

Thanks again,

Steve

 

[JonJ]

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!

 

[Admin]

"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!

It was good seeing you again Jon.

 

[dwarven1]

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.

Hey, I know that you shot Rifleman already!

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.

YESSS!!!! You have NO idea how much we love to hear this sort of thing! This is what we live for, and why we give up so much of our own time to do this!

"Why do they allow scopes? That's not fair. I want one."

Because some of us have rotten eyesight, unfortunately. Believe me, I'd love to be able to see the 400 yard targets with my Mark 1 eyeball... Unfortunately, I need the help from a scope.

"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.

If you'd come the second day, we'd have merely charged you the balance from the one day fee to the second day fee, not a full one day fee again. Just so you know in the future!

 

[Nickle]

Another great one in the books.

We will be coming back to Winchendon in the future.

 

[Twigg]

All I can say is I've gotten a great sense of satisfaction helping the shooters at the last three Appleseed's and the feedback I've heard about the program is great.

For the record; I get more satisfaction from helping someone to learn shoot better, than I do from shooting a perfect target myself.

The history stories give me a strong sense of national pride and fuel my passion to wake up other Americans to their heritage and re-build our nation of rifleman.

This past weekend we had 817 rounds of well aimed fire.
Three riflemen were forged on the anvil of the AQT.
John (Firewall99) an IIT and New Hampshire state coordinator.
John (johniim) an IIT from Michigan
Daniel from New HAmpshier, he stepped up and put on the Orange hat of an IIT.
Now this kid is only 15 an he's not the youngest IIT I've seen, there is a yound man by the name of Anders who qualified as a Rifleman while shooting a bolt action .22 left handed while participating with both his mother & father at the Bennington, Vt shoot in August.

 

[Nickle]

Actually, Daniel is from NH.

Northeast folks, be proud, be VERY proud. NY and NH have the 2 youngest IIT's in the Appleseed program, at 12 and 15. These 2 young men know their marksmanship, and are now helping others.

 

[matt]

I wish I knew this before the Appleseed shoot, but Winchendon has a "training-field" that was used by militia before and during the revolution. My wife and I drove by it the other day and I happened to notice the sign. Might have made a good object lesson for the instructors to work in.

I couldn't help but look at the field and wonder if we couldn't do the next Winchendon Appleseed on that field... Wouldn't that just be to damn cool!!

It is the field (looks like two on the map) north of teal road, between High street and Hall Road (map link)

ETA: my wife and I were looking at a house on High Street (#390). It would be kinda cool to live next to that field!

 

[Coyote33]

Stopped in Charlton a few weeks ago for a cannon firing. The "Rider Tavern", owned by the historical society, was putting it on. The field across the street was the old training ground/muster site. I thought the same thing there.

 

[dwarven1]

I couldn't help but look at the field and wonder if we couldn't do the next Winchendon Appleseed on that field... Wouldn't that just be to damn cool!!

It would be VERY cool, but I don't see a berm in the satellite overheads; was there one there that just doesn't show up?

 

[matt]

Unfortunatly there is no berm and the houses are too close. But I still like the thought.

Maybe we should search for a fiels like this somewhere else more appropriate? It would make for a particularly meaningfull event.

 

[matt]

FYI:

This event was written up by one of the attendees:
http://www.examiner.com/x-1262-Bost...seed-Teaches-Bostonians-how-to-be-Militia-Men

 

[Kaos116]

Wow! Great article.

 

[Ninsho]

FYI:

This event was written up by one of the attendees:
http://www.examiner.com/x-1262-Bost...seed-Teaches-Bostonians-how-to-be-Militia-Men

That was a good article, she did a good job painting appleseed in a good light.

.... I think that picture may be of my NES AR, which is surprising because I didn't shoot it all weekend, but I had that kind of egg crate mat and an ammo can.