Looking for a place to practice for appleseed in or around cecil co.

Looking for a place to practice for appleseed in or around cecil co.

Not allowed to shoot from positions at NESF.

Thanks.

Larry

Would like to do the same since I have been wanting to do an Appleseed for awhile now.

I get plenty of practice dry firing, getting into position with sling and mag changes on reduced targets at home. I have practice targets and the range commands and timers on MP3 to practice with.

But now Im ready to go live and have done a few sets of practice target at NESF till I got shut down this weekend.

Might have to do it with out the practice, I'm sure there are those that do it.

What's all involved in the Appleseed events? I visited the website, but still unsure of what is encompassed in the event.

It does seem interesting.

There are a whole lot of you tube vids.

But day one consists some revolutionary war history and rifle training.
They teach shooting from positions offhand, sitting/kneeling and prone.
They teach you how to properly use a military web style sling in loop and hasty configuration.

They have shoot some drills, and sighting in.
Then they move you to AQT (army qualification targets) and shoot in 4 stages.

The AQT target is a human silhouette from the chest up.
Shooting is done from 25 yds/meters not sure which.

Stage 1. 2 minutes to fire 10 rds off hand at a 100yd AQt scaled down for 25yds.

Stage 2. 55 seconds you start from standing with 2 rds in the mag and transition to sitting or kneeling (your choice) shoot the 2 rds and do a mag change firing 10 in all at a 200yd AQT scaled down for 25yds.

Stage 3. 65 seconds from standing to prone same deal with the mag change 2 and 8 or I guess if you only have 5 rd mags 5 and 5, this time at 300yd AQT scaled for 25yds.

Stage 4. 2 minutes starting from prone you shoot 10rds at 400yd AQT scaled for 25 yds.

Stages 1 and 2 don't have a mag change unless you only have 5rd mags.

Stages 1,2, and 3 are worth a max of 5o points each.
Stage 4 is double points.
Possible max of 250.
An score of 210 is considered Expert in the army as I understand it and in AS qualifies you for the coveted rifleman patch.

Day 2 is almost all shooting AQT as I understand it.

a semi auto clip fed rifle is recommended for obvious reasons.
Almost everyone shoots a 10/22 with a marlin 795 I BELIEVE is also another recommendation.

They strongly recommend equipping your rifle with a military web sling the kind used on Garands and M14s. I got mine from midway for less than $15 but a lot of places have them and I think cotton is preferred over the nylon because the nylon tends to slip..

They like you to use Irons and since 10/22 irons suck they recommend Techsights or another brand aperture(peep) sights that are receiver mounted for precision and a longer sight radius but most instructors have loaner rifles too.

But they welcome scope shooters too.
Personally I don't shoot Irons on anything and will not be spending $60 on a set of sights I will never use again.

They recommend the you have your rifle sighted in at 25 and be cleaned prior to the event to enhance reliability and you be familiar with its function.

This information all comes from my second hand investigation of the program.

There are places on the web to download printable practice targets and Mp3s of the timed range commands for practice.

Larry

Other than familiarizing yourself with how to load, unload and make your gun safe and figuring out which ammo cycles reliably thru your gun, I would not worry about practicing for Appleseed unless you have a good coach to watch you shoot and correct your form as needed.

At the Appleseed I attended my shooting went from just barely able to keep a group on the 100 size targets to consistently able to group on the 300's - because of the coaching at the event. Running thru 400 - 500 rounds there will be plenty of time to get your form up to qualifying. You will shoot to score lots of times, not just once or twice.

My daughter ended up using a 795 loaner ... even the coaches had trouble loading the Marlin mags ... they are hard. If I had been able to correctly keep her 10/22 running and kept the scope aligned on it, I'm pretty sure she would have qualified. She was close on Saturday, but Sunday was one hardware failure after another for her ... she soldiered on to the end and made me proud of her persistence.

I have heard of people qualifying with bolt guns and Marlin 60's ... but its a lot of extra work with them. I took my 60 and enjoyed the hell out of the event.

My Savage .22 WMR only has a 5 round mag so I've been looking at a 10/22 and the 25 round mags anyway, and though this would be a nice event to attend.

Thanks for the info. Gonna have to get my YouTubefu on.

I think the 25 rd mags might present a problem from the prone position.

frdfandc said:

My Savage .22 WMR only has a 5 round mag so I've been looking at a 10/22 and the 25 round mags anyway, and though this would be a nice event to attend.

Thanks for the info. Gonna have to get my YouTubefu on.

Click to expand...

You'd be fine if you just grabbed a bunch of extra 5 rounders. The course of fire can trace its roots to the time when the Springfield 1903 and it's 5 round stripper clip was the rifle.

...and yes the 25 rounders do tend to get in the way, but if that's what you decide on the Ruger 25s are the way to go.

Two suggestions of how to practice for you to consider.

The first won't help with mag changes or rapid fire but will let you practice sight picture, sight alignment, proper position, breath control, trigger control, and a lot of other basics. Get a good air rifle, at least one approved for 3 position sporter competition and set up an air rifle range of 10 meters or 33 feet. The ten "ring" on an air rifle target is the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Here is a link to the CMP 3-Position Air page: http://www.odcmp.com/3p.htm

Second you could try the new National Match Air Rifle discipline AR Clone Class which uses a PCP air rifle version of the AR and has 10 round rotory magazines. Here is the CMP page for National Match Air: http://www.odcmp.com/Competitions/NMAR.htm

A good coach will help keep you from developing bad habits but the key to good shooting is practice. So look for a coach, the NRA refers people to certified instructors and coaches through their trainning division, if you can't find one visit the CMP coaching resources page for some tips. Here is the link: http://www.odcmp.com/Training/CoachingResources.htm

Also read all the back issues of On The Mark at the CMP site and the list of Gary Anderson articles, Google Gary Anderson and you will know he knows what he is talking about. They are the first two items in Coaching Resources.

Blacksmith101

Thanks Blacksmith I will look at these resorces.
I had given some thought to a good air rifle in the past but spent the money on a fancy 10/22.

Maybe it's time to start looking again.

Larry

I would recommend a pump up gun over a break barrel springer ... shooting a springer is like nothing else. A lot of the hold for accuracy stuff will not translate from a springer to a rim fire.

Aren't most of the precision airguns today PCP.

Many Precision class guns are PCP. The Sporter class is most often single pump pneumatic or CO2 because of cost factors. But the sporter class guns will reliabialy shoot the 10 "ring" from a rest but it is harder to do in position shooting because of triggers and sight issues on the less expensive rifles.

Sporter class under $500 Precision Class 3 to 5 times the cost.

Blacksmith101

Going to sign up for Manheim shoot on the 18-19th.

Success

I signed up for both days but something came up at the last minute and I could only get permission for one day from "She who must be obeyed"

I opted for the first since that had all of the history and instruction.

It went very well and instruction was top of the line.

As for the comment Mark 75H made about not practicing without a coach I wil have to strongly disagree.

There are a great many resources on the web that instruct in the proper positions , and breathing , holding and trigger drills.

The use of these resources with attention to detail was a huge benefit to me.

Like I said I practiced getting into the positions with the sling, Holding and dry firing with reduced AS targets.

I practised the transitions, rapid mag changes and acquiring the NPOA quickly.

When I figured I had it down I went to the range with full size AS targets and the timed range commands in mp3 on my phone and I practised live fire as if were a real AS AQT.

All of this resulted in clean the first redcoat and a score of 235 on the one and only timed AQT we got to shoot on the first day.

I do intend go back and do it with a bolt gun and now I also have a desire to try it with irons but right now Im not willing to spend the money on them.

Larry

Well done

Thank you Mark.

I wish we could get more clubs on board in MD.
I still can't believe clubs aren't standing in line to host these.
The MD shoots are sold out till the end of the year but if You want to go
Manheim PA has room for 30 shooters every month.
I don't know when I'll get to go back but I will be going!