A year ago, I attended my second Appleseed and even though I did not get my patch, I did improve my rifle shooting a lot.
Yesterday I realized that even though I have not done a lot of rifle shooting lately, going back to the basics taught in Appleseed work righteously. I had bore sighted an AR with iron sights only and then checked it in the range at 65 yards from supported standing. Never missed a shot.
Later that day I tried a 6mm Remington rifle, also with iron sights at the same distance and to my amazement, I had no problem hitting the steel. I had never shot the rifle before, and I was truly expecting to be hitting dirt rather than ringing the target.
Both shootings had the same thing in common: I mentally set myself back to that Appleseed class and did what I was taught.
It worked.
So, once again: If you have thought about going to Appleseed, stop thinking and just do it.
I have attended three Appleseed’s. The first, I performed miserably. It was my attitude; I thought, I had been shooting for decades, what could they teach me of the basics?
I brought a new attitude to the second. I listened like I was a beginning student. On the first day I missed rifleman by two points. I earned the patch on the second day.
My goal at the third Appleseed was to be consistent and hone what I had learned. I was asked to start on the path of the orange hat.
Perhaps my favorite exercise was to practice NPA with eyes shut. I thought I had done okay but the instructors raved about my results.
(If the reader wants to know what NPA is, they’ll just have to attend an Appleseed.)
Yes, I encourage every shooter to get to at least one Appleseed. I am looking now at the schedule of upcoming events in my area.
Going back to ‘basics’ works! I can vouch for that!!!