You’ve read here, and in the pages of Backwoods Home Magazine, about the Appleseed Project, a great combination of American Revolution history lecture and strong, basic rifle marksmanship and safety training. Phil Wylie alerted me to a way cool event coming up soon in his home state, Illinois.
The organization is hoping to get its biggest turnout ever, three hundred participants on the firing line simultaneously, at an Appleseed scheduled for September 11-12 at the Aurora Sportsman’s Club in Waterman, Illinois. What better date to make a personal commitment to patriotism and the heritage of the American spirit?
The Appleseed folks expect to have sixty firearms instructors on the line, the best and the brightest of their nationwide cadre of skilled shooting coaches and history lecturers. Maximum cost will be $70, and the event will be FREE for kids, women, military personnel, and graduates of previous Appleseed programs. You can be part of the history of a worthy organization at its largest event to date, and meet a great many like-minded people.
Information is available at www.appleseedinfo.org/300html, and you can make reservations through Illinois state coordinator Dan Hendrickson at IL@appleseedinfo.org. I’d be there if a long-standing training schedule didn’t preclude it, and I think everyone who does manage to get there will have a great experience they’ll remember for a lifetime.
The Backwoods Home cover for the “Appleseed issue”…
…and, thanks to Annie and the headquarters crew in Gold Beach, the poster for the upcoming Appleseed mega-shoot.
Just one point to consider: It pays to practice standing, sitting and prone after you sight in your rifle at 25 yards/meters. This is a pretty physical event and when I did it in April, not one of the 30 people in our class made rifleman. Be sure to use a .22 semi auto and a proper sling. Practice before hand as this is not an easy program and we had “make believe” drill instructors as teachers. The best rifle should be a Ruger 10/22. One young man ALMOST made it with a .223 but no one else came close. I used a scoped .22 bolt action and was very accurate. However I was unable to shoot fast enough to get the rifleman badge. When people with M-16’s couldn’t do it, I knew it wasn’t just me. Maybe your experience will be different. We spent more time learning about Paul Revere than we did shooting. You may want to visit the CMP website to order books before going. Jeff Cooper’s Book of RIfles is also helpful.
Appleseed is a snare and a delusion. A more prudent course would be to buy Jeff Cooper’s wonderful book on rifles, The Art of the Rifle, read it, and practice, practice, practice. The notion of learning the information in a weekend is like learning aikido or polo in a weekend; it won’t happen. And the Revolutionary War stories are not presented by David Attenborough. Well meaning though these folks are, I just made it through one day. On the other hand, if you really want to sweat, almost learn something, and finish off with a half-baked take on our country, go for it.
Myself and a few buddies are signed up for an Appleseed on those dates at Knob Creek Range here in KY….
I’ll be using my Saiga223 that I’ve converted to pistol grip.
they’ll mostly be using 10-22’s….
I know I’m excited about it.
“Appleseed is a snare and a delusion. A more prudent course would be to buy Jeff Cooper’s wonderful book on rifles, The Art of the Rifle, read it, and practice, practice, practice. The notion of learning the information in a weekend is like learning aikido or polo in a weekend; it won’t happen.”
Has ANY military or police agency ever presumed to train new recruits to some acceptable marksmanship and safe-gun-handling level in a weekend? NO!
People will need a lot MORE PRACTICE – a lot more! They’re much better off either signing up for some local .22-rifle club or just getting Grandpa or Dad to teach them.
Love the gentleman here who says to buy a book and practice instead of taking training.
Let me buy you a clue, Mr. Powell: practice without training is merely reinforcing bad habits and flawed technique.
Even a bad class is better than the best book or training video.
And Appleseed is great training at a bargain price. It’s a steal, actually, especially for women and kids.
Unlike Mr. Powell, who “just” made it through one day, I persevered and shot RIFLEMAN after three years of learning, practice and persistence. Today, I do it in my sleep. In fact, I now teach Appleseed as an instructor, sharing good technique and safe shooting skills with others.
Don’t take my word that Appleseed is a great program of teaching American heritage and marksmanship. Go to an Appleseed event in your area and see if you don’t feel the same.
And Mr. Powell, the shoots I’ve been at have had a pretty liberal refund policy. If you were so unhappy, you should have asked for your registration fee back.
John
I learned mor in one weekend at Appleseed than 10 yrs in the army. I shot a 206 my first time and had to come back to get get my rifleman patch. I learned the fundamentals which I practiced by dry firing at home that got me over the top. William, John, can you shoot a 210 on the AQT?
With all due respect to those who learned more in one weekend Appleseed than 10 years in the armed forces, I am frightened for our military. There must me a huge disparity between today’s regular army and the US Sniper School at Ft. Benning, GA.
I shoot with a 79 year old man who shot Expert in the Army. He recently placed very high in the prone position .22 competition at the latest competition at Camp Perry. He has been shooting since he was 12 years old so he was ready when he qualified with a .30 caliber in the army.
I have heard at the Appleseed events (from the instructors) that people learn more in one weekend than they did in 10 years in the army. Mr Eb, with all due respect, were you trained in the post-Vietnam era with a .223 rifle? I understand that the training was much different than that experienced before the Vietnam era when the M1 or M 14 was the weapon that one qualified with? I am just curious.
@William Powell
A teachable attitude is the first thing on the list for what to bring to an Appleseed Event. That you “just made it through one day” is proof of that was one thing that you forgot to pack. I’m of the opinion that one can learn something new from any given class, no matter how skilled one is. In a day and age where civics and basic fire arms training are in short supply the Appleseed project is a godsend. And let’s say that you almost learned something… is it possible that it also go you interested in pursuing further training? Or perhaps inspired you to learn more about our history and how this country works? One misses the big picture when one looks at everything close-up.
Vision – It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own.
I learned that the kid next to me was an absolute moron who couldn’t even load dummy rounds to test for flinch. And I learned that at least someone was not shooting too well, since I finished at least one course with many more rounds somewhere on my target than I had shot.
Should you wish, go, shoot, you will indeed learn something. I merely suggest that this is not rocket science; slings help you shoot better. There I said it! And another thing not covered by the Appleseed group is that putting the lousy rifle on almost any kind of brace, i.e. bipod, sandbag, anything, is an enormous aid to success.
The first group I shot of the day, which was supposed to show how nasty all of this was, was the best I shot. I missed one critter by a small amount. All the rest was down hill.
@ William Atherton-Powell
Rocket Science is easy when you know how and have done it many times before. Maybe, just maybe that kid next to you had his first exposure to shooting period. Perhaps the person who put a round on your target was nervous and intimidated and has never been to a range before. Not every one shoots regularly or even at all and maybe Appleseed is their introduction to shooting.
If you read the previous posts on Appleseed by Mas you would see that even he, who is some one who basically shoots for a living managed to learn something.
SIC: “We’re proud that even experienced rifle shooters always seem to learn something here,” said Florida State Appleseed Coordinator Eric McCabe at the event in Hernando last weekend. He then asked, “Who learned something here in the past two days? Everyone’s hand shot skyward. Including mine.”
~Massad Ayoob From APPLESEED February 1st, 2010
“Putting the lousy rifle on almost any kind of brace, i.e. bipod, sandbag, anything, is an enormous aid to success.” Maybe so, however that is frowned upon at Appleseed as Mas himself learned.
“Mas shoots Clark Custom 10/22, using extended magazine as unipod, only to discover that technique is forbidden at Appleseed. He had to re-shoot.”
~From APPLESEED February 1st, 2010 by Mas
If you can shoot accurately with out resting the rifle on anything then you really have bragging rights.
I merely suggest that others who are not as “Skilled” as yourself are there to learn and should not be labeled or discouraged from doing so.
Many cannot come out for their first event and shoot a Rifleman score. It is mentally and physically challenging. Heck if it was easy, there wouldn’t be a reason to try.
Whether your able to shoot the score or not, the one thing you will take away is an good understanding of the fundamentals required to do so. Use that knowledge and practice after the event. You’ll hear the term “dry-fire” a lot while you are there. Go home and put in the effort and you will improve. I added 50 points to my score at my second event. All I did was take what the instructors coached me on all weekend and worked on it.
Some folks can pick up a book and it works for them, but I learned a lot more in a shorter amount of time by having instructors there helping me along the way. It is a lot of information and it’s good to have someone correct you when you think you are doing something the right way, but you’re not. You won’t get that from a book.
Bring a good attitude and a willingness to learn to one of these events and you will gain knowledge and improve, no matter your prior skill level.
People, can you believe its been almost 10 years to this day. R.I.P. To everyone who died, it was a sad day. 9/11 was a very horrific day. It brought us together and made us closer than ever as a nation. All of the brave men and women who helped in the enormous rescue attempt, I salute each and every one of you. There were over 2000 innocent people who died that day, that still gives me the chills thinking about it. Men and women died, to save the lives of others. Over 300 firefighters, dead. Cherish the day. Remember the memories.
Most of you sound like a bunch of boobs. Go to the shoot and learn something. The old saying goes, You can’t please all of the people all of the time, but for $45. for 7 hrs of marksmanship training… I say go for it. I have taken 4 of my 6 kids (Yes, I’m a good shot in the dark too…) and they have each improved AT LEAST 300%! To boot, they learn safety and REAL American Revolutionary War History that you DON’T get in pudlick school these days. You guys are just too rigid, loosen up and live a little!
Glen
What is the deal with AS new pricing policy where the cops and military shoot free, but others including women and children now have to pay. Lets be move our “public servants” from their exalted perch on the pedestal of media adoration and focus on the ” civilian” component of this movement.
Is and when the stuff hits the fan, there will be two sides of the battle line, you figure out who will be where.
For the doubters – I’d shot no more than 400 rounds through any type of firearm in my entire life and only owned a firearm for about a year before attending my first appleseed. I did a lot of dry firing at home and practicing holding the rifle before attending but didn’t use the loop sling at all and was doing a lot of other stuff incorrectly. After this most excellent training on Saturday, I shot a 216 on my first attempt with a bone stock Remington 597 with a cheapo 4X scope that cost me $25. I then shot 5 more qualifying scores that weekend, only failing twice to achieve an expert score – once due to a malfunction and once due to a miscount on my seated shooting.
I just went back a month later for a day and requalified with iron sights, shooting a 228 and a 230. Then switched to my brand new 597HB with scope and shot a 241 and a 245 with it.
So me, a complete newbie to rifle shooting was able to qualify with ease by having a teachable attitude and applying what I’d learned. No surprise to me that some of the “Debbie Downers” posting above failed to shoot a rifleman’s score or apparently learn much.