appleseed gun?

Saturday isn't as much shooting, a lot more training and history presentations. Sunday gets serious shooting skills. I used my 10/22 the whole weekend as did the majority. I did see a few military weapons and 223s.
 
Appleseed shooting...

means shoot what you got. Whatever rifle you own will work. It's good if you already know well how to handle and shoot the rifle.

Now, that said, the ideal rifle for an Appleseed is an autoloader with a removable 5-round (at least) magazine, and a recoil you can easily stand. It needs to be at least sorta accurate--An SKS or an AK probably won't fill the bill.

The most common autoloading .22 LR is probably the Ruger 10-22, so that's what a lot of people bring. Centerfire rifles work fine, too.

You do A LOT of shooting over the 2 days, so your level of recoil tolerance is definitely a factor.

I did an Appleseed myself (and earned my Rifleman) with a bolt-action .243 with a blind box magazine. Needless to say, the rapid-fire events later in the program were a waste of time for me.

Nevertheless I had a great time, as I expect you will too.
 
did it with a bolt

shot the appleseed event this past weekend. The instructors looked at my win. model 75 and said few had shot rifleman with a bolt. qualified after lunch on sat. in the rapid fire targets. 8 mags, and alot of npoa's but no problem. it was a fun weekend.
 
Actually a lot of people have shot "Rifleman" with a bolt.
The AQT was designed for the M1903 rifle.

Sam
 
Highest score I've personally seen is a 242, with a bolt action CZ .22.

Second highest is a 241 with a Ruger 10/22 that was SERIOUSLY tricked out with bull barrel and laminate stock with cheek rest.

Any gun is good, but here's guidelines:

-Have a sling that doesn't have a lot of stretch to it. Cotton USGI or leather M1907 style are preferred.

-Have sights or a scope that are scientifically adjustable. Stock ruger 10/22 sights are not scientifically adjustable.

-Have at least 3 10rd magazines. One might get damaged or be unreliable.

-Try to stay away from tube-fed systems if you can.
 
Two Day Appleseed Shoots

Appleseed Shoots are two days if you can do it. But if you can only do one day then try it Saturday if you have never been to an Appleseed Shoot. Saturday is when most of the instruction on rifle marksmanship is taught. Need to learn the steady hold factors of the positions, six steps of firing the shoot, Natural Point of Aim, etc.

It is like drinking water from a fire hose but you will learn the fundamentals of shooting a rifle. The Appleseed instructors will also provide something you can not do for yourself, observe and coach you as you fire your rifle, provide shot group analysis of your targets to focus on causes of large groups to shrink the group size.

Sunday is a review and some drills but most of the time and focus is on shooting Army Qualification Targets with the goal of shooting expert at >=210 of 250. The instuctors would not be able to take Sunday-only shooters and provide the time needed to bring them up to speed for shooting good AQTs if they have never been to the Saturday session.
 
I shot my CM-2, Russian made single shot .22, last year and fell 4 points short of my Rifleman badge, but I still had 5 unfired rounds at the end of the 60 seconds. If I could have loaded faster, ......

Appleseed Shoots are meant to be "run what you brung" events; just like the Sat night races. Take any rifle you like and have fun. If you decide to "get serious" later. you can always buy another rifle and trick it.
 
Shoot what ya bring?

I have three .22 rifles:

H&R Sportster - single shot break open action
Henry Accu-Bolt - single shot bolt action
Mossberg 702 Plinkster - 10 shot semiauto magazine.

Which rifle would you gentlemen recommend for an Appleseed weekend?

I would take the Henry but I just read about a rapid fire section of shooting,,,
I would probably be faster with the H&R that the bolt action.

I prefer the simplicity and laid-back manner of single-shot rifles,,,
But I don't want to miss qualifying due to slow reloading.

Thanks,,,

Aarond H. Graham
 
Personally, I'd start with the 702 (and a spare magazine or two). Once you get a feel for things, you could always change over to something else, but with the numerous reloads necessary, the 702 would probably let you focus more on consistent shooting rather than constant loading.
 
I shot the same iron-sighted AR carbine that stays loaded in the house.

Don't tell me we already have gamers and an equipment race in Appleseed... :rolleyes:
 
Gamers...

Tamara--you said,
Don't tell me we already have gamers and an equipment race in Appleseed..
Gee whiz, I hope not!! Appleseed is about using YOUR rifle well. That said, however, there are rifles that won't work as well as other rifles @ an Appleseed: a single-shot, open-sighted .22 comes to mind, as does an SKS or an AK. The first just doesn't fire fast enough for the rapid-fire events, and all 3 of these examples are too inaccurate.

At the Appleseed I attended, there was an example of each of the above--2 SKS's, for that matter. None of the shooters using these guns got out of the "beginner" classes to try the AQT. Maybe it was the shooters, not the rifles--But IMHO, those particular rifles sure didn't help those particular shooters to do their best!

The Minutemen which Appleseed coaches modern shooters to emulate, were nothing if not accurate, with their Pennsylvania long rifles. The 1903 Springfield, for which the AQT was designed, reloads rapidly from stripper clips.

So, to benefit most from an Appleseed, while it's "shoot what you got," there are rifles which limit your participation and your learning. There are other rifles--a great variety of 'em--with which you can increase your shooting skill, earn a Rifleman patch (no mean feat, that) and have a lot of fun for a weekend doing both.

I wouldn't encourage anybody contemplating doing their first Appleseed, to get themselves a "race gun" specifically designed for the event. Please see my entry above regarding my own "shoot what you brung" experience.
 
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My New Year's resolution is to actually shoot an Appleseed this year. I have heard so many mixed reviews from people about it, which run the gamut of "HOLY SMOKES APPLESEED IS THE BEST THING EVAR" to "It's great if you want to be a high power rifle shooter" all the way down to "it's a waste of time, unless you're into being preached at about 'minutemen'."

So I figured I might as well sack up and go shoot one myself. Because I'm cheap, I'm going to shoot it with an S&W MP-22 that's set up like my HD gun.
 
my half apple

I attended the Saturday shoot. It was historicaly interesting. It was a nice day for a picnic. It was some basic shooting drills.

I learned a lot about want it need for the next time.

10 round .22 that does not extend below rifle sighted in at 25 yards to 25 meters. Extended magazine raise the rifle during prone fire.
 
On a side note…scopes are mentioned…how would a red dot work? I ask because I plan on doing an Appleseed this year and as mentioned here, the gun to use seems to be the 10/22…well mine has a red dot on it. Thanks for the help.
 
Tamara said:
Don't tell me we already have gamers and an equipment race in Appleseed...

The temptation is there. I've seen some .22's geared out expressly for "appleseeding" if the phrase may be used.

However, there's no competition, and no amount of gear will "buy" you a rifleman's patch. It just can't be done, since you don't get the patch if you shoot off a bench or bipod. You have to be a rifleman to earn the patch, no if's ands or buts about it.

GE Minigun said:
On a side note…scopes are mentioned…how would a red dot work? I ask because I plan on doing an Appleseed this year and as mentioned here, the gun to use seems to be the 10/22…well mine has a red dot on it. Thanks for the help.

Red dots are cool. You'll probably want your red dot to cover less than 4MOA though. I have a red dot on my Camp 45 and it is a 3 minute dot. It just barely fits inside of the 4MOA targets we use.

If you had a red dot that was more than 4MOA you could get tricky and use a 6 o'clock hold or a half-COM hold, sighting in so that your point of impact is just on the crest of the top of the dot instead of the center of it. Improvise, adapt, overcome.:p
 
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