18 replies to this topic

[templar223]

I'll drop a write-up of the class in later today.

I'd like to share some photos in the meantime.






Lots of younger shooters present!




Excellent instructors were helpful, patient and good with kids.  Here "Eel" works on one of the younger participants.




Sunday saw lots of AQTs.  Here, shooters are shooting for score under the clock under the watchful eye of the instructors.




Shot preparation time.  Get slung up, find your Natural Point of Aim (NPOA) and dry fire.

[templar223]

Draft:

Bloomington, IL (Guns Save Life/CCRA) - The third annual Guns Save Life-sponsored Appleseed Shoot at Darnall’s Gun Works and Ranges was held May 30-31 in Bloomington.  About forty participants turned out to learn the fundamentals of rifle marksmanship from experienced instructors from throughout the midwest.

The overwhelming majority of shooters used rimfire rifles for this Appleseed, a big change from the big-bore rifles used during the first year when centerfire ammunition was plentiful and comparably inexpensive.  

The course started off with a safety briefing where the lead instructor explained Appleseed range procedures and safety rules for those present.  They even have a cute little “song”:  mags out, bolts back, safety on, flag in.  Participants realize pretty quickly that Appleseed staff are very safety oriented.

Participants then were turned loose with 13 rounds from the prone position on the “Redcoat” target to provide a baseline.  Some students couldn’t keep their shots on paper.  Other rifles shot better, but weren’t sighted for 25 meters (or sighted in at all).

From there, instructors taught the steps of how to fire the shot (sight alignment, sight picture, breath control / finding the natural point of aim, focusing your eye/mind, trigger control and follow through) along with building a solid shooting platform starting in prone and later sitting and standing.

Sling usage is also critical and dramatically improves marksmanship, and the instructors taught how to properly use the sling to aid accuracy.

From there, we began the process of sighting in the rifles, and still more lessons were delivered on how to “listen” to what targets are saying after holes are delivered.  No, they aren’t complaining that getting shot hurts.  Instead, they offer information about how the shooter and the rifle are operating and how much the sights need adjustment.  

Instructors taught the fundamentals of “inches - minutes - clicks” to sight in the rifle with a minimum of rounds fired (and trips down range).  For instance, if your rifle is shooting 2” low (again, at 25m) as mine was, using IMC, I needed to move my sights up eight minutes of angle, or at half-minute increments (per click on my EOTech), 16 clicks. Viola!  Life is good and shots are on target with one change.

Some needed front sight adjustment for gross changes (or, in my case to get it out of the way when co-witnessing my irons with the red-dot).  Others with some rimfire rifles were just out of luck as their sights weren’t set up for precise windage or elevation adjustments.

A great deal of excellent material was showered upon the students throughout Saturday and to a lesser degree Sunday, and for many it was like trying to “drink from a firehose”.

For those who showed up on Sunday, they were almost hopelessly behind the curve as instructors built upon skills learned the first day.  Rifleman’s cadence, for example, sounds easy.  However, if one doesn’t have a good foundation to incorporate those skills, the targets aren’t going to be looking pretty and have nice things to say to those who see them and the shooter will be frustrated.

In addition to learning the fundamentals of rifle shooting, Appleseed also spends a good amount of time discussing the role of rifleman skills during the Revolutionary War and how skilled rifleman in the colonies defeated the world’s most powerful, skilled and best-trained military in the world, the British.

Course tuition was a mere $70 for two days.  Guns Save Life / Champaign County Rifle Association picked up the range fees for the shooters (at $40 per shooter for the weekend) as part of GSL/CCRA’s education mission.  Students gave GSL much applause for their work and sponsorship. GSL had their Great Gun II Drawing guns out shamelessly plugging tickets and many were purchased.

There are a host of other Appleseed events throughout Illinois and indeed the nation later this year.  Go out and take one.  Take your spouse and kids!  Women and children shoot free.  Rimfires are welcome and the instruction is very good.

[templar223]

Mo better pictures:

[Garand69]

Excellent pics, great article! Thanks for posting

[Don Gwinn]

Some of you might recognize my son there in the Bears hat--he's got a big case lid next to him to catch my .223 brass before it smacks him in the face.  
(And if you look closely, you can see me digging my left toe into the ground in exactly the fashion I was told not to do.)

I approached this course differently than most.  I wanted to bring along my wife and sons because there's been some internet drama between "The Appleseed People" and "The Gun Bloggers" this year, and I thought this was a good chance to get opinions from several people with very different experiences, skill levels and reasons for attending.

• I've been shooting for many years, but never very seriously with rifles.  So gun safety is very natural to me, and I have good handling habits and know the terminology, but I'm no rifleman.  I used a Colt AR-15 SP1 made in the early 1970's, with A1 sights, GI sling, triangular handguards, the whole deal.
  
• My wife has only been shooting a few years, and is not nearly as interested in shooting as I am.  She came along because, she said, she wanted to share my interest.  She planned to use a Jager AP74 (a .22 AR15 clone) but ended up using a loaner Ruger 10/22 when she couldn't locate her magazine.
  
• Donovan is 12 years old and has very little training beyond safety.  He's never really used a rifle without a bench rest, but he loves shooting.  He did use a Jager AP74 with one magazine.
  
• Kane is Donovan's twin brother, and he has severe learning delays along with great difficulty using his hands with coordination.  He also has very poor vision and is cross-eye dominant.  Kane was the only member of the family who started without iron sights; he wanted to use his favorite rifle, a Marlin Model 60 with a red-dot sight mounted.  The Marlin 60 is tube-fed, but the Appleseed program advertises that they will work around such handicaps.

The Good:
The instructors worked very hard with Kane.  He was adopted early on by more than one instructor who would spend entire firing strings standing behind Kane and trying to help him.  You must understand that while these guys were preaching the tightness of the sling, getting the elbow under the rifle in prone even if you had to yank it painfully across with the other hand (and I did, every time) and perfect breath control, Kane was holding his rifle in his two hands, without even letting the stock touch his shoulder, most of the time.  He didn't put a single round on paper the first morning.  The instructors had him remove his red-dot sight that morning and try the iron sights, but the truth was, with his vision, he literally could not see the targets.  It was hard for him even to see the paper at 25 meters.  The next day, we mounted a 3-9x scope on the Marlin and he tried again, but by that time, the Marlin was dying of round count.  A friend from SCRA loaned Kane his 10/22 backup with a 3-9x scope and by the end of the day Sunday, Kane was not only on paper but was hitting the 100-yard simulation.
My wife shot day one with a loaner 10/22, but her heart wasn't completely in it.  On day two, she came back with us, but told me in the morning that she wouldn't be shooting; she would read her book in the shade and help Donovan if he needed it.  We were separated by the berm for the morning, but after lunch I came back down a little late, and what did I see?  She was shooting the AQT with her loaner.  She's hooked.  That was great!
The instruction is intensive and anyone who makes an effort will see improvements.

The Bad:
The instruction is intensive, but I'd rather they make the limitations of what they're doing clear.  They're telling the history story throughout the two days, and it's enough to raise goose bumps at times, but what they're teaching is only marksmanship, period.  The story they're telling, of the colonial militias raising 14,000 men in 24 hours to win an eventual victory over British regulars, is a story of people trained in tactics, strategy, maneuver, communication, and organization . . . . these were not people who had shot a great score on a difficult rifle target.  That was one component of what they accomplished, yes, but by no means does being a good shot mean you're in a position to replicate their feat or anything on the same scale.  That is, admittedly, a VERY minor gripe.

Their recommendations as to equipment are very important.  They will indeed work with you if you're using a different type of rifle, or if you have no sling.  BUT if you show up with an unzeroed rifle (as I did) you're going to have trouble.  I don't think I would recommend Appleseed for someone who has never really shot before, as some people do.  Yes, it's possible for those people to come in and make big improvements, but although the challenge is addictive, the shooting is very difficult and the positions are uncomfortable and counter-intuitive.  I would want someone completely new to go to the range on a quiet day and pop reactive targets for fun before trying something like Appleseed.  Appleseed is for people who are good enough to be getting frustrated that they aren't better.  

The program has been criticized as being irrelevant to modern combat training.  This is true.  If you want to learn to clear a block in Fallujah, you probably aren't going to "sling up" for a 100-yard shot, particularly with a standard military sling of today.  You probably won't see targets at 200 meters and beyond unless you're a designated marksman.  And Appleseed teaches nothing about maneuver, communication, or the other things that make the American army so fearsome today.  On the other hand, a lot of the marksmanship ideas do carry over to any shooting, no matter how fast you need to go, and the other important thing Appleseed promotes is intimate knowledge of your rifle.  


Things I learned:

• Can't shoot 62-grain ammunition through an older Colt SP1; it will keyhole at 25 meters.
  
• Two rifles is one; One is none.  Have a backup.
  
• A sling is an excellent aid to marksmanship.  I may add a GI sling to my whitetail shotgun.
  
• My eyes are not what they were.  I may break down and use a scope next time.
  
• The big things in marksmanship are an accumulation of little things that must be done right by habit because there is no time to think about them.
  
• I really can group 4 MOA consistently in prone.
  
• However, without a carefully zeroed rifle, a 4moa group still misses a 4moa target completely.
  
• Appleseed would be an excellent shooting clinic for anyone who shoots NRA High Power competition or wants to start.
  
• The perfect gun for Appleseed is a Ruger 10/22 with adjustable sights, preferably the ones that adjust like battle rifle sights.  Other guns will work, but this is the cheapest, simplest way to go and costs, even including the sights, less than the .223 ammunition I had to buy for my AR15.

[templar223]

Don Gwinn, on Jun 2 2009, 11:37 AM, said:

...there's been some internet drama between "The Appleseed People" and "The Gun Bloggers" this year

...The program has been criticized as being irrelevant to modern combat training.

Don,

Great report.  Outstanding, in fact.

I wasn't aware of drama between Appleseed and Gun Bloggers?  Is this something over at THR or elsewhere?  

Irrelevant to modern combat training?  Bravo sierra.  Close quarters fighting?  Yes, it's not relevant.  However, if a target of opportunity exists at 200-500m and you aren't skilled enough to have the ability to engage, you're going miss out on that opportunity.

More pix:














John

[Don Gwinn]

Templar, did you forget to mention something?  Something important that happened at the Appleseed shoot?  

Well, anyway, there was a brief tempest in a teacup on some gun blogs in the fall.  The whole thing seems to have started with Breda at The Breda Fallacy going to an Appleseed and writing about it.  Her writeup was pretty positive, but others commenting on it had concerns.  PDB was the most blunt.   Bonnie and Caleb at Gun Nuts: the Next Generation did a podcast on Breda's experience at an Appleseed shoot.  Then Fred took offense on the Appleseed forums, and the battle lines were drawn.  Other blogs commented, the Appleseed forums got a little heated, you know how the internet works.

This is what I wrote at about that time:

Quote

OK, so I've only woken up in the past three weeks or so to notice that Appleseed and bloggers hate each other. I'm a blogger, so I hate Appleseed. Don't do it. It's bad.

You didn't buy that, did you? That's why I like you. You're smart.

Before we start, let me get this out of the way: I haven't been to an Appleseed event. Ever.

What I have done is take an old Garand and go shoot NRA Highpower competition at a local 200-yard range. It was three-position stuff, standing, sitting and prone, with smaller targets to simulate going out to 600 yards (nobody told me until I'd been there a few times that these targets were not the standard 200-yard targets; I only knew that some targets were bigger than others and I sucked at the smaller ones.) I learned a lot doing this, but most of what I learned concerned how little I knew and how little skill I really had. It had a lot in common with USPSA "run 'n gun trigger-slapper" pistol competition in that regard, actually.

    * I had very little idea how the rifle should be supported in any of the positions; I spent a lot of time shifting around.
    * I knew I needed to let some breath out and quiet my breathing, but I wasn't very good at it.
    * I knew I needed to find what the Appleseeders call my "natural point of aim" or NPOA, but again, I was bad at it, and knowing that I should be good at it didn't seem to be enough to get hits.
    * I did not have a sling on the rifle, nor did I have any idea how to use one as an aid to marksmanship.

    * I did not know how to adjust my sights, and I frankly thought doing so was more a crutch than anything--until I perforated the steel lane number sign about 13 times in one round with my loosey-goosey sights adjusted for about 50 yards. Windage was sweet, though.

There's more, but I see no reason to humiliate myself. It's my blog. My point is that an Appleseed shoot might really help me, because I DO want to shoot highpower competition, and I think it might be more fun if I sucked less. To argue that Appleseed is lacking because it apes highpower competition doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Are we against the Civilian Marksmanship Program now? They're pretty big on the three-position rifleman training over there, too, you know.

I understand the argument that you're not ready to fight a guerilla action against crack Imperial Stormtroopers (the crack ones still miss, but they don't give away their positions as quickly) just because you can hit man-sized targets out to 600 yards. But it IS a basic skill, and if you can't hit that target on demand at closer ranges, it won't matter much that you also can't hit a moving, camouflaged target on demand. I used to get this argument from karateka a lot. They'd argue that people who studied MMA, or BJJ, or whatever were limited in their approach. All we did was drill basics over and over and over. "That's beginners' stuff!" they'd tell me. "You won't want to go to the ground when the other guy has five friends waiting to put the boots to you while you're down there!"

Well, sure. That was true as far as it went. What that argument missed was that all the fancy stuff they were learning was being applied against air and unresisting "ukes"--people who knew their role was to let the technique work. They couldn't do their fancy techniques on demand against one opponent who was doing his best to stop them or pull off his own technique--but they were lecturing a man who could stop one opponent because he couldn't take five at once!

I feel that way about Appleseed. If you've mastered the basics and moved on, good for you. But I haven't. If you can do all the run 'n gun stuff with your rifle out to the ranges you want, then you might have no use for Appleseed. That's OK. We don't have to like the same stuff just because I'm crazy about you. Another common argument goes like this:
"Appleseed claims to be the gateway for new shooters, but it's way too hard and the wacko stuff about redcoats and the U.N. will scare new shooters away."

And that may be true. On the other hand, I've seen several new shooters introduced by way of a visit to a gun show, and if you've never met a true nutcase at a gun show, you ain't trying very hard. These people think guns and war and shooting people are neat, and they think that's what the rest of us are into, too. We'll never be completely rid of them. Sometimes, they may show up at Appleseed shoots, too--but then I've encountered racists and conspiracy theorists in many places. Ambulance services, tee-ball leagues, checkout lines at big box stores . . . .

For my own part, I think Appleseed may be aimed--very deliberately--at gun owners in about my stage of development. Think of their motto--something about "Don't be a gun owner, be a rifleman" isn't it? What does that mean?
It might mean that they think there are a lot of guys like me. Guys who owned several rifles and knew they couldn't hit anything past 100 yards to save their lives with a single one. Guys who owned battle rifles in calibers designed to put game or enemies down at extended ranges, but realized (or didn't, which would be far worse) that they'd have to rely on dumb luck to get hits at those ranges. Guys who could not really be called new to guns, but couldn't really be called "riflemen" or even "shooters" very honestly.

Monkeys with circular saws, in other words. People with finely-crafted tools who could do no more than admire the craftsmanship and think how cool it would be if they really knew how to use them to their full potential. So maybe what Appleseed is looking for is the transition between the casual gun owner who can't really shoot and the rifleman who has the basic skills to learn all that nifty combat stuff, or train for that elk hunt he's dreamed about, or have fun with his buddies on Sunday mornings at the highpower matches. And if somebody brings a new guy, he's welcome. And if somebody brings a really good "tactical" shooter, or a three-gun guy who wants to try Appleseed's way, so much the better. But if they can turn a wannabe into a rifleman--even if just being a rifleman is not enough to take out the invading Alien/U.N. hybrids--it's still better than not even being a rifleman.

So yes, I plan on attending an Appleseed event, hopefully sometime this fall if one happens near enough. I won't be going to blog about it or have my mind changed. I wanted to go before. I actually planned on going to a shoot in a town called Chillicothe (think Peoria--that's pretty close) but then I got invited to Blackwater and all my funds went there. Will I make Rifleman? I don't know. Maybe not, the first time. Will I be better at the end? Well, Breda says so, and I don't really see how a couple of days of intensive shooting with feedback could hurt me too much. Will I have time to sling up when the narcoterrorist U.N. mercenaries are marching on my hometown? I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

IF. If I come to it. That's what I meant. Stop looking at me like that.

[templar223]

Don Gwinn, on Jun 3 2009, 02:26 PM, said:

Templar, did you forget to mention something?  Something important that happened at the Appleseed shoot?

[Molly B.]

I hope someday when I grow up I can earn a Rifleman patch.

The Appleseed guys are coming to our club's next board meeting to talk about conducting an Appleseed program at our club.  I am SO excited I can hardly wait!!!

I have wanted to do this for years!  What should I do to personally prepare for participating in an Appleseed shoot?

Molly B.

[RacerDave6]

Molly B., on Jun 8 2009, 10:06 PM, said:

I hope someday when I grow up I can earn a Rifleman patch.

The Appleseed guys are coming to our club's next board meeting to talk about conducting an Appleseed program at our club.  I am SO excited I can hardly wait!!!

I have wanted to do this for years!  What should I do to personally prepare for participating in an Appleseed shoot?

Molly B.

We (myself, my girlfriend and another friend) attended the Appleseed over this past weekend at the ISRA range. They will be returning to Bonfield in October, so plan your schedule. I will be there for sure.

The Appleseed forum contains terabytes of information. Info on prep can be found here
http://appleseedinfo....php?board=64.0

Dry fire in prone will go a long way to get you through the weekend. The program moves quickly, with lots of up, down, posting targets. Ibuprofen will be your friend.

A mil type sling that you can both loop and hasty will give you the best chance at rifle(wo)man. I WILL have one for my next Appleseed. Instructors have told me the loop sling will add 20 points to your score.

A solid rifle and good ammo will keep your frustration level lower. Hard to keep your mind in the game if your not sure it will go bang when you pull the trigger. We shot around 500 rounds this weekend, and I had beaucoup stovepipe issues because Federal bulk is very very dirty.

Knowledge of your sight adjustments helps, but isn't necessary. (i.e. 1 click move this much this direction). They will teach you how to sight, MOA, and adjust to get on target.

Elbow pads, and possibly knee pads are a help, but can also be a hindrence.

Bottom line, prone dry fire everyday 2 weeks before the shoot will help you loosen up muscles and joints that you didn't know you had. If the body is willing, the mind can concentrate on the front site.

My AAR of last weekend and some pic can be found here
http://appleseedinfo...27.msg69724#new

[templar223]

Prep?

Racer's right, but make sure you have someone show you good technique before you practice at home or you'll just be learning bad habits.

Get an old Garand sling ($5-10 at gun shows).  Use that as your "sling" with the proper "slinging" (see Appleseed website).  I like to have a dedicated sling on my arm so all I have to do is clip on and I'm ready, regardless of position.  I also taped the clamp closed after I figured out where I wanted it so it didn't come loose on its own or while I'm manipulating into position.  

Once you have the mechanics down, then practice getting your NPOA "naturally".  That way you'll spend less time trying to find it when you're trying to shoot for score.  It's easy.  Just practice going from standing naturally, to the sitting or prone positions and get the "feel" for where approximately you should be so within a couple seconds or three and a scoot here or there you'll be right on.

Lastly, the rifleman's cadence at the range ahead of time.  Practice, after you've got your good platform and NPOA, getting your shots off every breath.  Breath in, breath out, minor tweak if necessary then fire, breath in, breath out, tweak and fire.  Every 2-4 seconds you're getting a good shot off.

Elbow pads are a must if you're shooting center fire.  Rimfire too if you're dainty like me.  Put some skateboard tape on them to keep them from sliding around on your pants or the ground / mat.  (Take a good mat too).

Seek out someone you know who's been to one recently - or better yet an instructor - and have them help you build the positions and that will be half the battle.

If you practice things using good technique and work on your cadence, you'll be shooting rifleman right out of the gate if your rifle is sighted in for 25 meters (which most aren't going into these events).

John

[templar223]

After three years...
by John Boch
Everyone wants one when they go to Appleseed - or at least all competitive folks like me.  It’s the little 3.5” wide black and green badge that says “RIFLEMAN” in big, bold letters on top of a colonial flag (just like the one on the cover of GunNews).  While it probably cost less than a dollar to make, you can’t buy them even on eBay.  They are earned and they represent the proud owner’s marksmanship skills with a rifle.  It means you shoot with the best in the nation - in the top 5%.

It took me three years - three long years and lots of bruises, frustration and spent brass - to earn my Rifleman badge.  Thanks to persistence and perseverance, things came together for me and on Sunday, I was four for four shooting “Rifleman” scores on AQTs and it felt great.

For me, it was an almost zen-like state as most of what Appleseed instructors had taught me over the years had finally cemented together and life was good.  

I’ll share my “secret” for those of you who have been to an Appleseed and didn’t shot as well as you wanted.  These were things that worked against me in the past that I remedied this time through.  (I wish someone had shared these with me earlier!)

1.  Shoot a quality rifle that you are compatible with.  I shot a Garand - a quality rifle - at my first Appleseed.  My soft body parts - shoulder, elbows and jaw were strange colors of purple and blue at the end of the day and I had a big fat lip and a flinch too.  Like a dumb mule I tried to conquer that rifle again the next year.  This year, I chose an AR.  Work smart, not hard!

2.  Use a low-power optic or red-dot.  If you don’t have perfect alignment with your iron peep sights, your bullets will fall up to several minutes of angle away from where your front sight blade resides, costing you hits/points.  

3.  Practice and get critiqued.  Practice building a good shooting position with a skilled shooter (or better still, an Appleseed instructor or rifleman) to critique you.  Dry fire is your friend.

4.  Don’t let yourself get dehydrated or sweat out all of your electrolytes.  Frustration will quickly replace concentration if this happens.

[1957Human]

Templar223, on Jun 11 2009, 02:45 PM, said:

After three years...
by John Boch

1.  Shoot a quality rifle that you are compatible with.  
2.  Use a low-power optic or red-dot.

Those AQT targets are "equivalency" targets (i.e., they simulate ranges out to 400 yards), which means your rifle should have such a capability as well. I'd chose a center fire, such as an AR, over a .22, like  a 10/22, if I was going for the Rifleman's badge. (To learn technique, though, a 10/22 is a great choice.)

Even though there seems to be a good bit of encouragement for iron sights coming from some of the Appleseeders, those of us with "well-used" eyeballs would be far better able to see tiny targets at 25m with magnified optics.

I'm a bit mystified as to the criticism of the organization and its training methods. I'm one of those who shot better when I first got to the Shoot than when I left. But that says a heck of a lot more about me than it does about Appleseed. And while I did learn techniques from Appleseed that I can apply to my own way of shooting, the more important point is that I learned much about myself. Perhaps those who put down Appleseed would rather not experience that aspect of the program.  

What I'd like to see different from the organization is a session where one could attempt to qualify for Rifleman without going through some of the "softer" elements of an already long day. (I do so love the stories of Paul Revere, Bill Dawes and Dr. Joe Warren, but still...)

All in all I found the program to be quite beneficial, the staff to be great, and GSL to be more than generous.

Owing to a family emergency, I couldn't make it to the second day of the event, but still believe even just the first day was worth the full tuition.

[Ashes]

One of the recommended practice exercises is to practice dry-firing your rifle and get comfortable with it. I don't think it matters if it is in standing, sitting or prone positions. The second thing which I will add is to make sure your rifle and ammunition are reliable by using them and figuring out the bugs well before the Appleseed. Make sure you bring this same equipment to the Appleseed.

I spent about a month trying to figure out the feed and reliablity issues on my 10/22 and did a lot of standing shots using a hasty sling (which I discovered later to be doing wrong and was able to adjust at the Appleseed). So get used to your rifle, make sure it is reliable and you will take away two stumbling blocks on your first Appleseed. There is also a huge list of recomended items to bring to an Appleseed.

http://appleseedinfo...php?topic=101.0

[RacerDave6]

1957Human, on Jun 11 2009, 04:40 PM, said:

What I'd like to see different from the organization is a session where one could attempt to qualify for Rifleman without going through some of the "softer" elements of an already long day. (I do so love the stories of Paul Revere, Bill Dawes and Dr. Joe Warren, but still...)

There are those that only come for the second day of the shoot, usually people that have attended 2 or 3 Appleseeds and are wanting to just shoot AQT's to attain rifleman or the fun stuff (stars, tanks etc). Most all the position work is taught the first day, 2nd is putting it all together.

There is still the history portions, but more chances to shoot for that rifleman score on the 2nd day. I think it's 1/2 price for only one day.

Dave

[Molly B.]

I want to thank all you Gents for your suggestions on how to prepare for an Appleseed.  I took your advice to heart, followed as much of it as I possibly could and it all paid off - I can still hardly believe it!

Riflegirl and Mudcat present Molly B. with the Rifleman patch!

[2nd amendment forever]

Molly B., on Sep 13 2009, 09:15 PM, said:

I want to thank all you Gents for your suggestions on how to prepare for an Appleseed.  I took your advice to heart, followed as much of it as I possibly could and it all paid off - I can still hardly believe it!

Riflegirl and Mudcat present Molly B. with the Rifleman patch!

Appleseed_Award.jpg

Congrats!

[templar223]

Congrats!  First time, too, right?

I don't think I've ever seen you in a t-shirt and baseball cap before!

John

[Molly B.]

Templar223, on Sep 15 2009, 06:21 PM, said:

Congrats!  First time, too, right?

I don't think I've ever seen you in a t-shirt and baseball cap before!

John

You've only seen me in my Sunday-go-to-meetin' get up - now you've seen me in my "shootin' gear!