chris in va
New member
I just returned from one of the shoots last weekend. I'll be flamed for saying this, but so be it.
I had several misconceptions about the Appleseed project. The site recommends certain equipment such as a 'GI' sling and a semiauto rifle with 5 extra magazines. That's fine and I understand the reasoning behind it. So considering I don't have a Garand or M14/M16, I brought my bolt action CZ and Saiga. The site says "bring what you have". :barf:
That's where the problems started.
First off, an AK platform is a BATTLE rifle, not a marksmanship firearm. They have very small swivels, and the GI sling is much too wide to fit, not to mention replacements are near impossible to find locally. So most of the first day (8 hours) was spent shooting at little tiny 1" black squares trying to sight in my Saiga using stock iron sights in the prone position. Not fun.
Second day was spent doing calisthenics...standing to prone to sitting to kneeling...again trying to hit either little squares or simulated 400 yard prone targets barely bigger than my watch dial. With the sun in our eyes, I simply couldn't see the darn targets. This went on for hours, no explanation as to why I would try shooting a 400 yard target with an AK. Just about everyone was having a hard time with this, regardless of weapon.
So following with the "bring what you have" suggestion, I tried doing an AQT with the CZ bolt as I'm a little more accurate with it. Before I knew it, someone called 'cease fire' and I hadn't even finished half the AQT.
I could go on, but here's some suggestions if you want to attend an Appleseed.
-Bring a Ruger 10/22 with aperture sights and good barrel. Little recoil, and you can actually FOCUS on the target unlike us trying to use the stock irons with the AK. Plus you won't go wasting $150 ammo on some little paper square all day. Go ahead, bring that old Garand or M14, but be prepared to use 350 rounds and have your shoulder beat all to heck with a great flinch to match.
-Be SURE you have swivels that accept the wide GI sling. This was not mentioned on the site. At one point I gave up and started shooting without a sling.
-Know that 80% of the shooting is done prone. Bring something more comfortable than a piece of carpet remnant. We had inflatable camping pads which helped.
-Have your rifle already sighted in for 25 yards!! Very important! This really needs to be added as a MUST for the class. Several of us were so far off as to not even be on paper and spent a good 4 hours tring to get it zero'ed.
-Signing up for just the second day is not a good idea as you are already expected to know how the sling works and various positions, plus one member got barked at for not knowing the safety procedures on the range and wasn't even given the briefing yet. Very unprofessional IMO.
-Know how to use and fire your weapon. Fumbling around with the various levers and mags won't help you in the quicker firing exercises.
Finally, I understand people want to 're-live' the old concept of militia marksmanship training. That's great. But it needs to be understood that many modern rifles are not meant to be slow fired at 400 yard targets 'taking out the officers' like 300 years ago! We now have high capacity magazines and a 'more rounds on target' mentality. Only the very last exercise capitalized on that, and I was very disappointed we didn't do more.
I had several misconceptions about the Appleseed project. The site recommends certain equipment such as a 'GI' sling and a semiauto rifle with 5 extra magazines. That's fine and I understand the reasoning behind it. So considering I don't have a Garand or M14/M16, I brought my bolt action CZ and Saiga. The site says "bring what you have". :barf:
That's where the problems started.
First off, an AK platform is a BATTLE rifle, not a marksmanship firearm. They have very small swivels, and the GI sling is much too wide to fit, not to mention replacements are near impossible to find locally. So most of the first day (8 hours) was spent shooting at little tiny 1" black squares trying to sight in my Saiga using stock iron sights in the prone position. Not fun.
Second day was spent doing calisthenics...standing to prone to sitting to kneeling...again trying to hit either little squares or simulated 400 yard prone targets barely bigger than my watch dial. With the sun in our eyes, I simply couldn't see the darn targets. This went on for hours, no explanation as to why I would try shooting a 400 yard target with an AK. Just about everyone was having a hard time with this, regardless of weapon.
So following with the "bring what you have" suggestion, I tried doing an AQT with the CZ bolt as I'm a little more accurate with it. Before I knew it, someone called 'cease fire' and I hadn't even finished half the AQT.
I could go on, but here's some suggestions if you want to attend an Appleseed.
-Bring a Ruger 10/22 with aperture sights and good barrel. Little recoil, and you can actually FOCUS on the target unlike us trying to use the stock irons with the AK. Plus you won't go wasting $150 ammo on some little paper square all day. Go ahead, bring that old Garand or M14, but be prepared to use 350 rounds and have your shoulder beat all to heck with a great flinch to match.
-Be SURE you have swivels that accept the wide GI sling. This was not mentioned on the site. At one point I gave up and started shooting without a sling.
-Know that 80% of the shooting is done prone. Bring something more comfortable than a piece of carpet remnant. We had inflatable camping pads which helped.
-Have your rifle already sighted in for 25 yards!! Very important! This really needs to be added as a MUST for the class. Several of us were so far off as to not even be on paper and spent a good 4 hours tring to get it zero'ed.
-Signing up for just the second day is not a good idea as you are already expected to know how the sling works and various positions, plus one member got barked at for not knowing the safety procedures on the range and wasn't even given the briefing yet. Very unprofessional IMO.
-Know how to use and fire your weapon. Fumbling around with the various levers and mags won't help you in the quicker firing exercises.
Finally, I understand people want to 're-live' the old concept of militia marksmanship training. That's great. But it needs to be understood that many modern rifles are not meant to be slow fired at 400 yard targets 'taking out the officers' like 300 years ago! We now have high capacity magazines and a 'more rounds on target' mentality. Only the very last exercise capitalized on that, and I was very disappointed we didn't do more.